Player-owned port/Captains and crew

A player recruits captains and crew through the crew roster interface. This is also where the player may get the most detail about individual captains or crew members. A player may have a maximum of 5 captains and 25 crew members at any given time.

Captains and crew members are assigned to ships through the Shipyard interface by clicking on the plus sign under the ship stats at the top of the window. At any given time, a ship may have only 1 captain, but may have up to 5 crew members assigned to it. Captains and crew members add their stats (Morale, Combat, Seafaring, and Speed) to those of the ship to determine a voyage's chance of success. They may also possess other traits that affect the rewards for success or penalties for failure.

Captains and crew members become better through experience gained by successfully completing voyages. The farther you progress into the Wushanko Isles, the better will be the captains and crew available for hire. Although there are free captains and crew members available, replacing them with better crew members hired using chimes and port resources will be critical to advancing through the game.

Captains

Main article: Captain (Player-owned port)

A ship must have a captain before it can go on a voyage. Until a captain has been assigned to a ship, crew cannot be assigned to it and previously assigned crew will not be shown. Each ship may only have one captain assigned to it.

Only one visiting captain is available for hire at a time. If the visiting captain is hired, the spot will remain vacant until reset at 00:00 UTC unless a Captain Reroll is used. Captain rerolls are available as rewards for completing the port random event minigames. At reset, or when rerolled, the visiting captain (if any) is replaced by a new randomly determined visiting captain, and the current visiting captain is lost.

Base stats and specialities

Captains have base stats determined by their quality. Their base stats are the same for 3 stats while a fourth stat, their speciality, will be approximately double that value. The player starts with a free captain of the lowest quality. The first two tiers of captains are available immediately, but additional tiers of better, more expensive, captains become available as more areas are unlocked.

Base stats	Speciality	Cost	Unlocked
50	100	0	The Arc
100	200	100
200	500	2,500	The Skull
350	700	10,000	The Hook
N/A			The Scythe, The Bowl, The Pincers, The Loop
Varies, see table below			The Shield

The Shield
Morale	Combat	Seafaring	Speed	Cost
1,050	550	600	350	35,000
600	1,050	550	350	35,000
550	600	1,050	350	35,000
550	550	550	950	27,500

Some high-level bar upgrades increase your chance of attracting captains with particular specialities. These are not available until the Bowl region has been unlocked.

Your crew

The Crew Roster shows your currently recruited units on the left and a recruiting interface on the right. You may get more information about individual captains or crew members by selecting them in the crew display. Information on the selected captain or crew member is shown below your crew display. If the unit is not on a voyage, it may be dismissed from the roster by clicking on the icon and then clicking on the red button in the bottom left corner.

Captains and crew members are assigned to ships from the Shipyard interface.

Statistics

Each captain and crew member has statistics in Morale, Combat, Seafaring, and Speed. These are determined by four factors:

• The base stats of the particular type of unit, which are shown in the recruiting interface. The base stats alone determine the xp gain of the unit.
• The level boosts gained by the unit.
• Any traits that the unit has.
• Personal bonuses specific to an individual unit. These do not appear in the crew roster until the unit has been recruited.

When a captain or crew member has been highlighted in the Crew Roster interface, if you hover your mouse over the Stat name (Morale, Combat, Seafaring, or Speed), you can see how much of the stat value is due to base value, level boost, personal bonus, or named traits.

Level

Each captain and crew member has a level (which starts at 0) and can be increased by gaining experience on voyages. When captains and crew members gain a level, their stats are increased by 10% of their base stats. This level boost is not affected by previous level boosts, personal bonuses, or traits. Therefore, for example, a Smuggler (with base a stat of 70 Seafaring) always gains exactly 7 Seafaring per level.

Jagex has never commented on whether there is a top limit to the crew level.  However, no player has yet reported a level greater than 10.

Traits

Captains and crew members may have between zero and four traits, which are permanent modifiers given in addition to the unit's base statistics. It is possible to have the same trait in multiple trait slots, thereby stacking the trait's effect if the effect is stackable.

Some crew member types start with specific inherent traits, such as the Merchant trait for the Ardougne Shopkeeper, or the Staunch trait for Golems. Only inherent traits are shown in the recruiting interface under the picture of the crew member prior to recruitment. Any other traits are only shown after recruitment.

Captains tend to have a much higher chance of having traits at recruitment than crew members. Some voyages list a trait for your captain as a reward. If completed successfully, the captain used to complete the voyage will gain the listed trait. However, the traits are (as mentioned above) permanent, and can't be replaced once they have been gained.

Effects of the traits can be seen when hovering over the trait. The effects appear to be processed by crew placement from left to right, which can be important for abilities that do not stack. For example, if you have a First Mate and an Eastern Overseer on a single voyage (both with Solidarity), if the First Mate is to the left of the Eastern Overseer, his lower Solidarity bonus will be applied first and the Eastern Overseer's higher bonus will be ignored. The possible traits are:

Name	Trait Type	Bonuses	Amount
No trait	Miscellaneous	No bonuses	-
Albatross	Ship Modifier	Reduces ship speed	-1% total speed
Awe-Inspiring	Morale	Improved Morale	+100 Morale
Cowardly	Combat	Reduced Combat	-40 combat
Cursed	Multi-Trait	All stats reduced	-50/100 morale -50/100 combat -50/100 seafaring -100/200 speed
Eager	Morale	Improved morale	+40 morale
Eagle-Eyed	Seafaring	Improved seafaring	+40 seafaring
Fast Learner	Experience	+10% experience gain	+10% experience for that Crew member
Feeble	Life / Death	Increased risk of death	-
Good fortune	Miscellaneous	Increases the chance of gaining a random event on completing a voyage (does not stack)	-
Glutton	Speed	Reduced speed	-150 speed
Gloombringer	Ship Modifier	Reduces ship morale	-1% total morale
Landlubber	Seafaring	Reduced seafaring	-100 seafaring
Leader	Ship Modifier	Improved ship morale	+1% to total morale
Liability	Ship Modifier	Reduced ship combat	-1% total combat
Lookout	Ship Modifier	Improved ship speed	+1% total speed
Loyal	Life / Death	Chance to prevent captain death	-
Merchant	Miscellaneous	Improve the goods retrieved from a mission by X (does not stack with multiple merchants but does stack with warehouse upgrades)	+10% (Shopkeeper) +20% (Trader) +25% (Merchant) +30% (Jade Merchant) +33% (Terracotta Merchant)
Misery Guts	Morale	Reduced morale	-40 morale
Multi-talented	Multi-Trait	All stats improved	+50 morale +50 combat +50 seafaring +100 speed
Mutinous	Life / Death	Increased risk of Captain's death (Captains can also have this trait)	-
Opportunist	Miscellaneous	Better returns from partial mission success	-
Pacifist	Combat	Reduced combat	-100 combat
Pilferer	Miscellaneous	Reduced chance of partial mission success	In the event of mission failure with partial rewards, the message will change to reflect that those rewards were "pilfered" and you will not receive any experience or goods.
Plucky	Combat	Improved combat	+40 combat
Quick-Footed	Speed	Improved speed	+80 speed
Rallying Cry	Experience	All exp gains for this crew member's boat are increased by 10% (does not stack)	-
Resurrects	Life / Death	Crew lost on a mission are returned from beyond to serve you in death.	-
Seafarer	Seafaring	Improved seafaring	+100 seafaring
Seafriend	Ship Modifier	Improved ship seafaring	+1% to total seafaring
Short Sighted	Seafaring	Reduced seafaring	-40 seafaring
Slayer	Combat	Improved combat	+100 combat
Slow	Speed	Reduced speed	-80 speed
Slow-Witted	Experience	10% reduced XP gain	-
Solidarity	Multi-Trait	Adds X to all stats per each unique type of crew member aboard, including the captain (does not stack).	+25 (First Mate) +50 (Eastern Overseer) +75 (Bureaucrat) +100 (Judge of Dice) +125 (Kharidian Exile)
Staunch	Life / Death	Will give its own life to save a crewman in distress	-
Storm Magnet	Ship Modifier	Reduced ship seafaring	-1% total seafaring
Tactician	Ship Modifier	Improved ship combat	+1% total combat
Tough as Nails	Life / Death	Chance to avoid death	Unknown
Undead	Life / Death	Undead keep ONLY their initial stat bonuses from life, but gain no more xp	-
Vapid	Morale	Reduced morale	-100 morale
Workhorse	Speed	Improved speed	+150 speed

Crew members

Only 3 crew members for hire are displayed at any one time. When a player hires one, a reroll is consumed and a new crew member is generated to fill the slot. Only 15 crew rerolls are available each day--if no rerolls are left, the slot remains empty. If a player does not want to hire a crew member, they may click the green reroll button in the corner of the crew slot, consuming a reroll to immediately forfeit them and generate a new crew member for hire. The crew reroll count is reset to 15 at midnight UTC. Any crew left in the three slots will carry over to the next day.

Up to 5 crew members may be assigned to a ship. Only crew members assigned to a ship have an effect on that ship's voyage.

For the single-stat crew members, the dominant colour of the icon can be used to tell what type of crew member they are; green is morale, red is combat, and blue is seafaring. There are also unique crew members in each region. Every region has an unlockable crew member (Cyclops, Siren Whalerider, Chimera, Sea Witch, Judge of Dice, Oxhead and Horseface, Wisp and Kharidian Exile). Most regions also have a Golem unit, which costs fewer chimes but more of that resource of its type (for example, a Slate golem costs 400 chimes, but also costs more slate than a single-stat crew-member like a Golden Katana Clansman). Many regions have a unit with the Solidarity trait, such as the First Mate, which will boost stats based on the number of unique units aboard their ship. Some regions also have a unit with the Rallying Cry trait, offering bonus experience to everyone aboard when they are sent on voyages. Finally, most regions offer a single-stat Speed unit.

Not all crew types are available to the player at the start of the mini-game. As the player unlocks new areas and accomplishes certain voyages, more (and often better) crew types will become available. For example, one of the first additional unlocks is the Cyclops, which is received when the Island of Cyclosis voyage is successfully completed.

The base statistics, costs, and other data for the crew types are listed in the tables below.

Crew Type	Statistics				Unlock Area or Task	Inherent Trait
	Morale	Combat	Seafaring	Speed
Drowned ghost Indentured Zombie	30	30	30	60	Resurrection1	Undead

¹ If a unit with the Resurrects trait is aboard, a failed voyage resulting in a lost captain or crew member may instead result in the lost captain or crew member being replaced by an Indentured Zombie.

The Arc

Crew Type	Statistics				Cost To Recruit		Unlock Area or Task	Inherent Trait
	Morale	Combat	Seafaring	Speed
Travelling Drunk	70	0	0	0	-	-	The Arc
Stowaway	0	70	0	0	-	-	The Arc
File:Smuggler (POP).png Smuggler	0	0	70	0	-	-	The Arc
Varrock Chef	150	0	0	0	80	-	The Arc
Brimhaven Pirate	0	150	0	0	80	-	The Arc
Catherby Fisherman	0	0	150	0	80	-	The Arc
File:Dwarven Engineer (Player-owned ports).png Dwarven Engineer	0	0	0	400	60	30	The Arc
Ardougne Shopkeeper	50	0	0	0	60	30	The Arc	Merchant (+10%)
Bamboo Golem	60	100	0	0	60	30	The Arc	Staunch
First Mate	50	50	50	0	100	100	The Arc	Solidarity (+25)
File:Cyclops (Player-owned ports).png Cyclops	100	150	0	0	300	200	Cyclosis	Rallying Cry

The Skull

	Morale	Combat	Seafaring	Speed			Area / Task	Trait
Eastern Bannerman	350	0	0	0	250	80	The Skull
Eastern Musketeer	0	350	0	0	250	80	The Skull
Eastern Guide	0	0	350	0	250	80	The Skull
Fireworks Enthusiast	0	0	0	800	100	120	The Skull
Palmist	0	0	200	0	100	120	The Skull	Good Fortune
Exploding Golem	170	200	0	0	100	120	The Skull	Staunch
Eastern Overseer	120	120	120	0	400	300	The Skull	Solidarity (+50)
Siren Whalerider	0	200	350	0	600	300	Siren's Shell	Rallying Cry

The Hook

	Morale	Combat	Seafaring	Speed			Area / Task	Trait
Blazing Lantern Clansman	500	0	0	0	600	120	The Hook
Golden Katana Clansman	0	500	0	0	600	120	The Hook
Storm Riders Clansman	0	0	500	0	600	120	The Hook
Firework Expert	0	0	0	1,200	400	160	The Hook
Trader	150	0	0	0	400	160	The Hook	Merchant (+20%)
Soothsayer	0	0	300	0	400	160	The Hook	Good Fortune
Slate Golem	250	300	0	0	400	160	The Hook	Staunch
File:Feral chimera.png Feral Chimera	350	500	0	0	1,200	400	Chimera Straits	Rallying Cry

The Scythe

	Morale	Combat	Seafaring	Speed			Area / Task	Trait
Card Sharp	750	0	0	0	1,000	140	The Scythe
File:Sniper.png Crows' Nest Sniper	0	750	0	0	1,000	140	The Scythe
Cartographer	0	0	750	0	1,000	140	The Scythe
Explosives Expert	0	0	0	2,000	500	220	The Scythe
Merchant	250	0	0	0	500	220	The Scythe	Merchant (+25%)
Cherrywood Golem	300	500	0	0	500	220	The Scythe	Staunch
Bureaucrat	250	250	250	0	1,200	500	The Scythe	Solidarity (+75)
File:Seawitch.png Sea Witch	350	0	750	0	2,000	600	The Winds' Home	Resurrects

The Bowl

	Morale	Combat	Seafaring	Speed			Area / Task	Trait
Farcrier	1,000	0	0	0	2,000	200	The Bowl
Bounty Hunter	0	1,000	0	0	2,000	200	The Bowl
Sea Dog	0	0	1,000	0	2,000	200	The Bowl
Firework Maniac	0	0	0	2,500	1,200	450	The Bowl
Jade Merchant	300	0	0	0	1,200	450	The Bowl	Merchant (+30%)
Sacrificial Soothsayer	0	0	450	0	1,200	450	The Bowl	Good Fortune
Jade Golem	400	650	0	0	1,200	450	The Bowl	Staunch
Judge of Dice	450	450	450	0	4,000	1,000	Crescent Isle	Solidarity (+100)

The Pincers

	Morale	Combat	Seafaring	Speed			Area / Task	Trait
Travelling Band	1,200	0	0	0	4,000	600	The Pincers
Ferocious Tiger-Rider	0	1,200	0	0	4,000	600	The Pincers
Harem of Fortune Tellers	0	0	1,200	0	4,000	600	The Pincers
Oxhead and Horseface	500	500	500	0	6,000	1,000	Shambling Lair	Resurrects

The Loop

	Morale	Combat	Seafaring	Speed			Area / Task	Trait
Party Animal	1,500	0	0	0	6,500	750	The Loop
Sea-fort Guard	0	1,500	0	0	6,500	750	The Loop
Pearl Diver	0	0	1,500	0	6,500	750	The Loop
Reef Rider	450	450	450	2,500	7,000	600	The Loop
Terracotta Merchant	650	0	0	0	5,550	1,250	The Loop	Merchant (+33%)
File:Wisp (PoP).png Wisp	300	750	750	800	5,550	1,250	Light Under Sea	Rallying Cry

The Shield

	Morale	Combat	Seafaring	Speed			Area / Task	Trait
Zhonghu Player	2,100	0	0	0	8,000	850	The Shield
Gu Bodyguard	0	2,100	0	0	8,000	850	The Shield
Stargazer	0	0	2,100	0	8,000	850	The Shield
Azure Golem	900	1,100	0	0	2,500	1,500	The Shield	Staunch
Kharidian Exile	450	450	1,450	850	7,000	1,500	Exile's Point	Solidarity (+125)

Flavour text

Every crew member has a flavour text providing information about his or her personality or history. These flavour texts have no effect on the crews performances.

• A little less briny than the sea.
• Ate a cake, and has it. Reference to the phrase "You can't have your cake and eat it (too)".
• Ate a whole shark in one bite. Reference to the fact a lot of large fish are single-bite food items in RuneScape.
• Ate all the pies. Refers to the song Who ate all the pies?
• Believes penguins are our friends. Refers to the penguin quest series and Hide and seek activity.
• Believes penguins are our enemies. Also refers to the penguin quest series and Hide and seek activity.
• Black belt in troll-fu.
• Carves spoons from teak.
• Claims to have invented rope. Reference to Ned's similar claim.
• Dances a fair hornpipe.
• Dances when nobody's watching.
• Dances, whenever, whatever. Reference to a song by singer Shakira.
• Dedicated follower of fashion. Reference to the 1966 song "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" by British invasion band The Kinks.
• Demands additional biscuits.
• Didn't get custody.
• Didn't really solo Nex.  A reference to an old saying by players that they "solo Nex", before doing so was possible.
• Doesn't know port from starboard. - nautical version of the phrase "doesn't know his left from his right".
• Drank the spittoon for a dare.
• Earned the Fremennik name 'Farstink'. Could be a reference to the webcomic Homestuck, in which a character is jokingly named "Farmstink Buttlass".
• Eats only hardtack
• Enjoys long walks on the beach. Reference to flavour texts and descriptions found on dating sites. (which in turn might be a reference to the popular quick chat phrase 'This is not a dating site.'
• Gets terrible land sickness. Reference to sea sickness, just a joke about it, because who wants a sea sick crew member?
• Getting over a bad breakup.
• Gives love a bad name. Reference to the song "You Give Love a Bad Name" by the band Bon Jovi.
• Got scurvy before it was mainstream. Referencing to the "... before it was mainstream" Internet meme.
• Grumbles only mildly in inclement weather. Reference to the computer game Dwarf Fortress.
• Had a cake, and ate it. reference to the saying "Having your cake, and eating it too".
• Has a butterfly tattoo. Don't ask where. Reference to a "tramp stamp", which is often a tattoo of a butterfly.
• Has a citadel in the sky. Reference to Clan Citadels.
• Has a phobia of the ship's wheel.
• Hunts sea monsters for fun.
• Is a connoisseur of fine cheeses.
• Is currently reading YOUR stats page. Reference to Spy Stat lunar spell.
• Is constantly dropping the bass. Reference to the musical technique of a brief stylised pausing in percussion instrument(s) and resuming with a large scale burst typically alongside with other bass instrument(s).
• Is constantly dropping the shark. A pun on the flavour text above, as Bass and Shark are a type of fish.
• Is constantly jumping the handcannon. Referring to the common saying "Jumping the gun", with a Handcannon being the closest equivalent in RuneScape.
• Is constantly jumping the shark. Referring to the "Happy Days" television episode which coined the attention grabbing gimmick phrase.
• Is secretly a vegan.
• Is the evil twin. Like the random, this is a reference to the old folk-belief, that one twin will be good and one will be evil.
• Is the fly in the ointment.
• Is the reason the rum is gone. Reference to the hit movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl in which Captain Jack Sparrow asks "Why is the rum gone?" This quote is itself referenced in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
• Is the symptom; not the cause. Reference from Rocky Horror Picture Show ("I'll remove the cause, but not the symptom")
• Is wearing rainbow-striped pants.
• Keeps cats on board.
• Knows about the puppy. Reference to a flavour text below.
• Knows that wasn't rum.
• Knows where the bones are buried. Usually when pirates hide their treasure caskets they killed part of the crews that helped digging, so no one would discover it.
• Knows why the rum is gone. Reference to the hit movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl in which Jack Sparrow asks "Why is the rum gone?" This quote is itself referenced in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
• Lied about being a pirate.
• Lied about liking rum.
• Lost a party hat in a shark attack.
• Loves life in all its forms.
• Makes earwax scrimshaw.
• Not a fan of pies.
• Not to be underestimated.
• Once ate the whole thing. Reference to Homer Simpson's high school yearbook quote "I can't believe I ate the whole thing".
• Once dated a mermaid. Reference to the fact mermaids were mystical creatures capable of enchanting pirates to death
• Once married a mermaid.
• Once divorced a mermaid.
• Once gazed into the Abyss. Reference to Friedrich Nietzsche's quote "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an Abyss the Abyss also gazes into you."
• Once got King Roald's autograph.
• Once punched a porpoise.
• Once had a wash.
• Once threw up off Brimhaven Dock.
• Once wrestled a bear.
• Once wrestled a shark.
• Once wrestled a moral dilemma. Pun to the other "wrestled"-lines.
• Passionately hates tea. Reference to Truth Tea pun
• Plays the flute. Badly. Reference to Katy Perry's ability to play flute.
• Prefers the helm over the aft.  Reference to the saying "Has his/her head up his/her ***".  The aft-end is the rear of the ship.
• Ran away from the circus.  Reference to old Circus workers.  Whenever children would run away long ago, they would often travel with a travelling circus.
• Reliable only when drunk.
• Reliable unless drunk.
• Saving up for a top hat.  Likely a pun-based reference to the Achievement Banner personal message "Working towards a Phat", as Party Hats are significantly more expensive than Top Hats.
• Seventh child of a seventh child Reference to the folk belief, around since the Middle Ages, that the seventh son of a seventh son is born with tremendous magical and/or healing powers.
• Sings a fine shanty.
• Smells remarkably like an admiral pie.
• Sometimes comes on too strong.
• Survivor of five keelhaulings. Reference to a form of punishment given to sailors at sea, in which a sailor was dragged under the hull of a ship by a long rope. Few people managed to survive this punishment.
• Thick as two short planks. Proverb, meaning "Exceedingly/Very stupid".
• Thinks nobody knows about the puppy.
• Vicious and heartless.
• Voted 'Most Hairy' at nursery school.
• Wants a pet unicorn.
• Wants to be a captain.
• Wants to be a hero.
• Wants to be buried at sea. A reference to a common burial method for pirates and seamen.

Trivia

• The unit Oxhead and Horseface is a reference to the traditional Chinese guardians of the underworld of the same names.
  • Prior to the Player-owned ports update on 7 January 2014, the Oxhead and Horseface had base stats of 600 for all characteristics except for a speed of 0. These were then lowered to the current 500.
• During a failed voyage resulting in a lost captain being replaced by an Indentured Zombie, it is possible to have more than 25 crew members. Once a captain has been replaced by an Indentured Zombie the 26th crew member will be inaccessible until one of the twenty-five visible crew members have been dismissed. At the moment the number of crew members attainable from captains being replaced by an Indentured Zombie is unknown.
• It's possible for a Sea Witch to die in a voyage, resulting in said witch resurrecting herself as a Drowned ghost.
• The Drowned ghost's dismissal button has the word "Dismissed" replaced with "Jettison". This does not apply to other crew members.
• It is possible to have two opposite traits that cancel each other out (such as plucky and cowardly), have multiple of the same traits, and having traits on captains that do not make logical sense, such as mutinous (chance of killing the captain) and loyal (chance of saving the captain).
• The Zhonghu Player crewmember plays the Zhonghu, a Chinese stringed instrument developed during the 20th century.