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Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire features a large number of crew members who are necessary for the operation of The Defiant. Each crew member has a distinct race, personality, and several job traits that increase with experience. While crew members can be assigned to any slot on the ship, not all sailors are suited for the job. Crew members proficient with a certain job should ideally be assigned to the same job on the ship.

New crew members can be hired from the many ports and taverns of the Deadfire, and recruited during side quests. Once you hire a sailor, they will appear in the "Known Sailors" section of the Ship Management window. To swap out a crew member with another that isn't currently on the ship, you must be in a port.

Your crew consumes both food and drink while adventuring. The type of food and drink you feed them will adjust their morale. More expensive provisions make them happier. Cheap food and drink will lower their morale over time.

Few things will impact your crew's morale as badly as letting them starve. A starving crew with low morale may mutiny. If neglected for long enough, some may even die. Every crew member needs food, water, and money to support. Normally, each crew member consumes one unit of food and water per day, and one copper piece per trait and +1 per trait level above 1 (basically Copper pires (cp)1 per rank).

Jobs[ | ]

There are several jobs on the ship that the crew needs to fill while sailing. Every ship needs deckhands, cannoneers, and a helmsman and all ships benefit from having a cook, surgeon, and navigator onboard. The larger ships even require a boatswain to keep the deckhands in order.

  • Ic ship anchor Boatswain: The boatswain counts as a deckhand, but is more important for their ability to accelerate the completion of special events (such as putting out a deck fire) on the ship by coordinating their actions.
  • Ic ship helmsman Helmsman: A helmsman is required for turning and jibe actions in ship-to-ship combat. Without a helmsman of a competent rank relative to the type of ship in use (see minimum helmsman ranks), shots against the enemy will become less accurate after a jibe or turn maneuver.
  • Ic ship navigator Navigator: The navigator increases speed on the World Map.
  • Ic ship cannon Cannoneer: Cannons cannot fire without a cannoneer assigned to them. The more experienced a cannoneer, the more accurate their fire.
  • Ic ship surgeon Surgeon: The surgeon increases the rate of healing for injured crew members in Reserve, both in combat and while traveling.
  • Ic ship chef Cook: Reduces food consumption while traveling.
  • Ic ship deckhand Deckhand: Deckhands are required to perform any maneuvers in ship-to-ship combat. If a ship does not have enough deckhands, it will move more slowly on the World Map. If the total amount of deckhand ranks doesn't match the minimum required for the current ship type (see minimum deckhand ranks), the ship receives a penalty to its movement speed in combat.
  • Captain: The captain is the head of the ship and cannot be assigned. Crew members look to the captain for orders and morale. A skilled captain will increase the productivity of their crew.

Ranks[ | ]

Each job can have five proficiency levels / ranks (technically six, as each crew member can also be Unskilled):

  • Crew Rank 1Novice
  • Crew Rank 2Seasoned
  • Crew Rank 3Expert
  • Crew Rank 4Master
  • Crew Rank 5Legendary
  • Crew Rank 6Mythic (player captain only)

However, since a crewman can only earn four ranks overall, they top-out at Master level. Furthermore, once they have four ranks (in any combination), they cannot level up anymore. As such, picking specialists is usually the optimal choice. Crew members who already exceed the limit (such as the Legendary Crew - Creath, Doru, and Tylla) cannot earn any more ranks. Emeini is the only non-Legendary Crew crewman who has a total of 5 ranks.

Captains on opponent ships are capped at a maximum of five ranks, and since they usually only have the single job trait - Captain, they are able to be ranked Legendary. Captains with this rank include: Arteiro the Avenger, Captain Furrante, Captain Thaenic, Hazanui Yaro, and Lucia Rivan. The player's captain rank is not limited, therefore they are the only character able to achieve a Mythic rank. Keep in mind the icons for captain ranks (when hovering over a ship on the world map, or in the ship duel window) are always shown as one higher than their actual rank - Unskilled shows as Novice icon, Novice shows as Seasoned icon, etc - the reason for this is unclear.

In scripted interactions involving your crew, your crew's skill in a certain job can be tested. For jobs with more than one slot (for example, Deckhand or Cannoneer) the check will be the sum of the proficiency level of that job for the crew members assigned to that slot, otherwise it is simply the proficiency level of the single crew member in the assigned slot.

Icon-warning-yellow
In ship-based scripted interactions, crew members with a personality of Wilder or Primordial are ineligible for many checks (particularly those where the crew member has to speak). For example, if an interaction requires a Cook and you have Birta assigned as a cook, she won't be able to be used, and so that check will fail.

Crew members with this personality include: Big Mouth, Birta, Mother Sharp-Rock, and Worthless Idiot.

This is likely done for narrative purposes, as Wilder and Primordial crew would likely not be able to communicate effectively (or at all) with kith crew members.

In scripting, this affects the conditionals HasCrewJob, HasCrewJobAmount, and IsCrewCount and the scripts/commands SpecifyRandomCrewMember, SpecifyRandomCrewJobMember, SpecifyCrewMemberWithExpression, and SpecifyCrewMemberWithJobThenExpression. The conditionsls HasAnyCrewJob, HasAnyCrewJobAmount, IsAnyCrewCount, and IsCrewJobRanks are not affected.

Job rank bonuses[ | ]

Other than fulfilling some need on the ship, certain jobs have an underlying effect on ship management and combat mechanics, the potency of which increases at higher ranks. An unskilled crew member will never have negative effects in the job he or she is assigned. The following is a list of stats influenced by a crew member skilled in a particular job.

Job Stat Rank bonuses
Unskilled Crew Rank 1 Novice Crew Rank 2 Seasoned Crew Rank 3 Expert Crew Rank 4 Master Crew Rank 5 Legendary Crew Rank 6 Mythic
All CrewAttributeMultiplier 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Captain CaptainAdvantageBonus 0 10 15 20 25 30 35
CaptainActions 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Surgeon SurgeonHealAmount 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
SurgeonRecoveryRateMultiplier 1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7
Cannoneer CannoneerEventChance 0 0 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
Boatswain BoatswainEventRateMultiplier 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2
Cook CookFoodConsumedMultiplier 1 0.9 0.75 0.6 0.5 0.25 0.1
Navigator NavigatorTravelSpeedMult 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6

Click "Expand" to show legend

  • CrewAttributeMultiplier: Appears to be unused.
  • CaptainAdvantageBonus: Influences D100 rolls made during ship combat.
  • CaptainActions: Number of actions/turns made per round in ship combat. This allows for increased reloading, crew healing, and most events that occur over time during a single round.
  • SurgeonHealAmount: Amount of health healed per turn for each injured crew member in the reserve slot.
  • SurgeonRecoveryRateMultiplier: A multiplier for rate of recovery, which reduces the overall time it takes for a crew member to heal. A multiplier of 1.5 is a +50% increase to the base recovery rate.
  • CannoneerEventChance: The chance (of 1.0, a percent) that a cannon shot will crit during ship combat. This chance is doubled for the player, and halved for the enemy on "Story Time" difficulty. A value of 0.2 is a 20% chance of dealing a critical hit. Crits will trigger a random event on the opponent ship such as a fire, sailor overboard, etc, which can cause the ship to lose resources. See Ship combat - Ship duel events for more info.
  • BoatswainEventRateMultiplier: Increases the rate at which progress is made per-turn during Ship duel events.
  • CookFoodConsumedMultiplier: An overall reduction of the food consumed by the crew on a daily basis. A value of 0.9 means a 10% reduction to the food that would have been consumed per turn.
  • NavigatorTravelSpeedMult: A multiplier to the current movement speed of the ship.

Sailor experience[ | ]

Items in italics are quoted directly from the game.

Completing encounters and defeating enemy captains at sea earns Sailor Experience for the crew and captain. Acquiring Sailor Experience will increase the ranks of a crew member's current job. Crew members can only increase ranks in jobs they already have at least one rank in. The captain always advances their Captain rank.

Crew members gain sailor experience (also called "sailor tales") by engaging in ship combat, with more challenging encounters granting more experience. This directly translates to additional ranks in their currently-assigned job. Unassigned crew members do not gain sailor experience.

  • Crew-based scripted interactions, which occur at random while sailing, all provide sailor experience depending on the outcome
  • When an enemy ship is sunk in combat (as opposed to boarding it), the crew gains 2x the usual experience (both "tales" and normal experience).
  • When surrendering, 1 experience is granted.
  • The Berath's Blessing "Experienced Captain" grants the active crew 15 experience on completion of the prologue.
  • During the Ukaizo fleet battle interaction:
    • 2 experience is gained by killing the creature (requires 4 or more Cannoneer ranks), otherwise 1 experience.
    • Completing the interaction earns 4 experience.

Note that sailor experience differs from regular experience, although both are granted to crew members in combat. Sailor experience is not affected by the morale experience multiplier.

Sailor experience required for rank
Experience Rank
5 Crew Rank 1Novice (1)
10 Crew Rank 2Seasoned (2)
15 Crew Rank 3Expert (3)
25 Crew Rank 4Master (4)
50 Crew Rank 5Legendary (5)
75 Crew Rank 6Mythic (6)

Crew overview[ | ]

Note: You can hold shift while scrolling to scroll horizontally, and shift-click on sort arrows to perform sub-sorting.
Name Race Culture Personality Job Traits Location Requirements
Boatswain Helmsman Navigator Cannoneer Surgeon Cook Deckhand
Aharu Coastal aumaua Rauatai Professional Expert
Expert
Novice
Novice
Sayuka, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)1,000 to hire
Aledh Wild orlan Eir Glanfath Religious Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Queen's Berth, shipyard Copper pires (cp)300 to hire
Azuko Coastal aumaua Rauatai Academic, Fearless Seasoned
Seasoned
Seasoned
Seasoned
Sayuka, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)1,000 to hire
Baltia Ocean folk Vailian Republics Loyal Seasoned
Seasoned
Motare o Kōzi island (7° 46'S 60° 41E) Must save her from the vines
Beodul Mountain dwarf The Dyrwood Professional Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Vilario's Rest Rescued from the Sea Cave during Helping Hands.
Big Mouth Vithrack Deadfire Archipelago Wilder Novice
Novice
Expert
Expert
Dunnage, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)1,000 to hire
Birta Ogre Deadfire Archipelago Fearless, Impulsive, Wilder Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
The Gullet, The Hole Consumes 2x rations
Caergr Pale elf The White that Wends Ascetic Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Queen's Berth, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)300 to hire
Cathenna Stormheart Hearth orlan The Dyrwood Impulsive, Rowdy Seasoned
Seasoned
Crookspur, merchant Copper pires (cp)300 to hire
Chitupec Savanna folk Ixamitl Plains Loyal Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Vilario's Rest Must be saved in prologue
Coin-Counter Foeldas Meadow folk The Dyrwood Greedy, Professional Seasoned
Seasoned
Dunnage, harbor supplies
The King's Coffin
Copper pires (cp)300 to hire
Copperhead Vessel Seasoned
Seasoned
Seasoned
Seasoned
Splintered Reef Must complete A Paradise of the Mind
Coreto [SWP] Hearth orlan Vailian Republics Professional Master
Master
Crookspur, merchant Copper pires (cp)1,000 to hire
Creath Meadow folk The Dyrwood Chatty, Loyal Master
Master
Master
Master
Port Maje, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)600 to hire, only available when Legendary Crew Berath's Blessing is chosen at the start of the game
Daelan Meadow folk The Dyrwood Religious Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Dunnage, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)300 to hire
Disciple Iztla Savannah human Readceras Enigmatic, Irreverent Seasoned
Seasoned
?
Doru Moon godlike Deadfire Archipelago Professional, Religious Master
Master
Master
Master
Port Maje, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)600 to hire, only available when Legendary Crew Berath's Blessing is chosen at the start of the game
Eadulf Island aumaua The Dyrwood Enigmatic, Fearless Novice
Novice
Seasoned
Seasoned
Crookspur, merchant Copper pires (cp)600 to hire
Eld Engrim Meadow folk The Dyrwood Drunkard, Religious Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Vilario's Rest Near the exit to Port Maje
Emeini Coastal aumaua Impulsive, Irreverent Novice
Novice
Expert
Expert
Novice
Novice
The Brass Citadel Requires positive 2 reputation with Nekataka

or Maia Rua's vouch (need positive relation)

Giani Canc-Assi Meadow folk Vailian Republics Drunkard, Fearless Seasoned
Seasoned
Novice
Novice
Dunnage, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)600 to hire
Giordu Red-Handed Mountain dwarf The Dyrwood Malicious Novice
Novice
Seasoned
Seasoned
Temple of Tangaloa ruins Asks to join your crew after being freed
Grim Kuldran Savanna folk Ixamitl Plains Grim, Religious Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Queen's Berth shipyard
The Wild Mare
Copper pires (cp)300 to hire
Haema [SWP] Wood elf Aedyr Chatty, Rowdy Seasoned
Seasoned
Port Maje, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)300 to hire
Handsome Eliam Death godlike The Dyrwood Enigmatic, Loyal Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Crookspur, fort exterior Freeing him from the slavers gives you the option to hire him
Ikiuq Boreal dwarf Naasitaq Chatty Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Port Maje, harbor supplies Free to hire
Irrena Ocean folk Vailian Republics Fearless Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Vilario's Rest Must be rescued from the deck during Helping Hands
Little Leuca Mountain dwarf The Dyrwood Chatty Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Port Maje, harbor supplies Free to hire
Llendreth Wild orlan Eir Glanfath Fearless, Impulsive Expert
Expert
Dunnage, The King's Coffin Copper pires (cp)600 to hire
Luca Ocean folk Vailian Republics Drunkard, Professional Novice
Novice
Queen's Berth, Vailian Trading Company Headquarters Get him fired during Coming to Terms, then talk to him.
Mother Sharp-Rock Xaurip Deadfire Archipelago Religious, Wilder Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Cavern of Xaur Tuk-Tuk at 24° 27' S, 44° 8' E. Must be freed from the cage
Nia Island aumaua Deadfire Archipelago Academic, Greedy Novice
Novice
Seasoned
Seasoned
Queen's Berth, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)600 to hire
Ora the Mad Island aumaua Deadfire Archipelago Malicious Novice
Novice
Port Maje, harbor supplies Free to hire
Oswald Wood elf Aedyr Chatty, Drunkard Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Oathbinder's Sanctum No wage, consumes +1 water ration
Persanale Cianca Meadow folk Vailian Republics Academic, Irreverent Seasoned
Seasoned
Novice
Novice
Crookspur, merchant Copper pires (cp)600 to hire
Pig-Sticker Rukowa Island aumaua Deadfire Archipelago Drunkard, Loyal Seasoned
Seasoned
Tikawara, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)300 to hire
Ponamu Bird-Scorned [SWP] Coastal aumaua Deadfire Lost/Disoriented, Loyal Expert
Expert
Novice
Novice
Tikawara, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)1,000 to hire
Ragged Cerrow Wood elf Eir Glanfath Malicious, Rowdy Seasoned
Seasoned
Dunnage, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)300 to hire
Ralla Blackblossom Nature godlike The Living Lands Enigmatic Seasoned
Seasoned
Seasoned
Seasoned
Crookspur, merchant Copper pires (cp)1,000 to hire
Rawere Island aumaua Deadfire Archipelago Irreverent Seasoned
Seasoned
Novice
Novice
Tikawara, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)300 to hire
Rum-Dumb Riggere Ocean human Old Vailia Drunkard Seasoned
Seasoned
Port Maje jail Must be released from the jail during The Drunk Sailor
Scyla Five Glass Wood elf Aedyr Empire Drunkard Seasoned
Seasoned
Novice
Novice
Dunnage, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)600 to hire
Shieldsister Daelia Wood elf Aedyr Empire Fearless Novice
Novice
Novice
Novice
Port Maje, harbor supplies Free to hire
Tuliak Longfrost Boreal dwarf Naasitaq Impulsive Novice
Novice
Queen's Berth shipyard
The Wild Mare
Copper pires (cp)100 to hire
Tylla Wild orlan Readceras Drunkard, Fearless Master
Master
Master
Master
Port Maje, harbor supplies Copper pires (cp)600 to hire, only available when Legendary Crew Berath's Blessing is chosen at the start of the game
Ushizu Coastal aumaua Rauatai Greedy Novice
Novice
Queen's Berth shipyard
The Wild Mare
Copper pires (cp)100 to hire
Vanizzi Ocean human Old Vailia Academic Novice
Novice
Port Maje, harbor supplies Free to hire
Vektor Mountain dwarf Vailian Republics Chatty, Loyal Novice
Novice
Tikawara Talk to him after visiting Poko Kohara ruins, during The Storms of Poko Kohara
Vela Hearth orlan Eir Glanfath The Defiant Only available if you kept her during Sacrificial Bloodlines, in Pillars of Eternity.
Winking Audr Pale elf Aedyr Loyal, Professional Expert
Expert
Novice
Novice
Fampyr´s Crypt Island (Bent Bough Forest) Save her from the fampyrs and ask her to join your crew
Worthless Idiot Imp Greedy, Primordial Novice
Novice
Periki's Overlook Simply ask him if he wants to join your crew

Crew by rank in job[ | ]

The following is a list of crew members grouped into jobs, by ranking.

Job NoviceNovice SeasonedSeasoned ExpertExpert MasterMaster
Boatswain
Helmsman
Navigator
Cannoneer
Surgeon
Cook
Deckhand
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