This was my first UO character and I wanted to create a fisherman.
I started with a pally template.
I am having a blast with the pally swords part of this character. But, when I started this character I did not know that there were monsters at sea. lol
I have a few questions about my template. This is where it is now:

Fishing
Chivalry
Swords
Tactics
Anatomy
Healing*
Parry

In retrospect maybe I would have been better off to go archer/mage with a fisherman, but this is where I am now. so....

1st question- Can swords kill monsters at sea? I fought serpents and kraken on the riverbank in shame, but havent faced them at sea yet.

2nd- What do I do if I die in a boat at sea?

3rd*- Given the direction this is headed (PVM) , am I better with:
A) 100 healing B) 100 Resist Spells or C) 50 healing / 50 resist.


Thanks in advance for any input.

Just my opinion, but it's going to be a real pain to fight monsters at sea with a melee weapon. Unless things have changed, (I haven't played with my fisherman in a couple years now--so a more current fisher might have better advice) but you will have to extend the plank to hit the sea critters with a melee weapon. Archery or magery would serve you much better if you are primarily a sea-going character.

As a ghost you can still give orders to your tillerman. You just have to sail until you get somewhere with a healer

Don't take option C. 50/50 will help you with neither. I'd want healing and resist...me, I'd drop parry (but I'd also dump the swords for archery). Also you don't have to gm that Chiv.

Pets can enter melee combat with sea creatures from a boat, so... it should be possible to do so with a player character too? It's just certain parts of the boat where you can reach melee range though.

As above, some sort of ranged attack method would be better - but it's not always about what's better, but what's stylish and fun for you

I had fishing on my tamer myself (soulstoned off for now) and it worked perfectly.

Archery or magery is the way to go for a fisher. If you choose archery, be sure to acquire a serpent or reptile slayer bow for the serps, and a water ele slayer bow for the water ele's. For magery, acquire spellbooks with those same properties.

You'll need to GM both Healing and Resist for an archer, 50 skill in those two won't help much at all. The mage can get by without Healing, and can perhaps use that 100 points for Inscription (for the damage increase).

A ghost can give orders to the tillerman, but must be in war mode to do so. You might have read that you should put your boat key in your cargo hold; it is better to insure it so that it is on your corpse when you finally manage to resurrect, this will speed up getting back to your boat before your corpse decays.

My pally archer fisherman works great

Oh, yes, Rhus, I forgot you had to make sure you were in war mode as a ghost. thanks for pointing that out.

I duuno, Paragon. I know you've put some work into this fellow, but I just think you are going to find him awkward and un-fun to play. Give it a whirl, of course, if you have a mind to, but the archer/pally with high healing and resist is the way I like to play it. Many also choose a mage/fisher template. I think your best bet, as your character now stands is to switch weapon skill.

I have a Pally/Archer/Fisher, a Mage/Fisher, and a Fisher/something I can't remember. (I don't play the 3rd one much anymore)

My Pally/Archer/Fisher is the best! One of the new bows is a reptile/elemental slayer combo. Perfect for fishing up water ele's and sea serpents!

Well Im gonna give it a whirl the way he is, just to see how it goes.
I have much more time invested in the pally swords side of this character than I do in the fishing.
Worst case scenerio, I wait until I get enough gold for two soulstones before I do any serious fishing, so I can swap out swords for archery.

Ive never seen one, but is there such a thing as a "uses best weapon skill" bow or xbow? That would be a simple solution.

You will get bored of fishing eventually anyways Especially now that minors are dropping again. Did I mention that minors are dropping again??

You won't get bored of fishing if you throw in some Begging!

A little off topic but I used to have a GM beggar a long time ago. You would beg from npc's and depending on your skill level they would offer you a certain amount of gold to get you off their back. Nobles gave the most gold

Har har that's great beggin rules. What is your char name on atl merc?

Mercenary, Mercenary Jr, L Jack are my mains

Ultima Off Line is my tamer, though I hardly use him, and my other two guys are works in progress not worth mentioning, lol.