Gaff, Boarding

A gaff hook is a long pole with a hook on one end for spearing fish. Pirates often add extra, heavier hooks to both ends of gaff hooks to assist with boarding actions. After the pirates use grappling hooks to draw ships close together, they hook the gunwales together with boarding gaffs to prevent the ships from drifting. Small crafts often use boarding gaffs in place of grappling hooks. Boarding gaffs bite deeply into the wood of the railing. It takes 1 minute to pry a boarding gaff loose. Most pirates use a boarding axe or cutlass to cut through boarding gaffs rather than trying to unhook them one by one. The gaff can also be used for fishing when not in combat.

[This content was created by Paizo Publishing LLC for the Pathfinder rules but is not from the Pathfinder RPG product line.]

Weapon Groups double, polearms

Two-Handed Melee Weapons (Exotic)
Weapon	Cost	Damage (S)	Damage (M)	Critical	Range Increment	Weight	Type	Special
Boarding gaff	8 gp	1d4/1d4	1d6/1d6	×2	— –	8 lbs.	Slashing	double, reach, trip

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder Player Companion: Adventurer’s Armory 2 © 2017, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Jenny Jarzabski, Mikko Kallio, Isabelle Lee, Luis Loza, Joe Pasini, David N. Ross, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.