1879: Professions High Tiers: The Soldier

1879: Professions High Tiers: The Soldier

While the Soldier and the Military Officer are at separate levels, the Soldier nevertheless rises to positions of leadership. The Warden and Master Soldiers are the topkicks, the master gunnery sergeants, the grizzled veterans who get the real work done. Most of the Skills at Warden deal with being more capable in battle on a personal level, but Rally and Tactics, both Core Skills, focus on the unit around the Soldier. Rally allows an immediate Recovery Test, potentially at a bonus if the Soldier got extra successes on their Rally Test, and allows troops to ignore Harried or Knocked Down modifiers until the end of the next round. Tactics grants bonuses to Attack or Damage Tests if the troops are on the offensive, or to Physical, Mystic, or Social Defense if they’re on the defensive. By Leading Through Example, the Soldier can extend the effects of Rally to include both a Defensive and Action bonus, spending Strain and Karma to imitate the result of two successful Tactics Tests. Stacking this with an actual Tactics Test can grant the troops a considerable advantage for the short time needed to turn the battle.

At Master, again the majority of the Skills gained apply directly to the Soldier’s individual prowess, but Concentrated Assault allows the Soldier to direct the attacks of their comrades to take out critical targets. Stack this with Tactics, and the unit is at two bonuses in all of their Attack Tests against a specific enemy or installation, and can put paid to the hostile in a single round. Something there is that protects old soldiers, call it Old-Timer’s Luck or a deity or a guardian angel or whatever you like. Every so often, what looked like certain death turns into a miss, weird things happen in battle. Old Soldiers know better than to rely on luck, though, and it’s not the round with your name on it you really need to worry about. It’s all the ones addressed to “Occupant”.

By the way, our example Soldier here is a Maori, and when a Maori warrior sticks his tongue out at you, he’s saying, “I am going to eat you”. If you want to house-rule that as a Social attack, be our guest.

Skills and Abilities

  • Warden
    • Core Skills
      • Blind Fire, Life Check, Rally, Steely Stare, Tactics
    • Optional Skills
      • Critical Hit, Defense, Fluid Movement, Lion Heart, Resist Pain
    • Abilities
      • The character gains +1 to their Physical Defense.
      • The character gains +1 to their Social Defense.
      • The character gains +1 Recovery Test per day.
      • Leading Through Example: If the Soldier leads a charge, attack, or rescue action during battle, the character may spend 3 Strain and 1 Karma to make a Rally Test, with the Karma die included. In addition to the effects of the Rally, other soldiers in the Soldier’s unit, and any Friendly forces fighting alongside them, may gain +1 to their Physical Defense and +1 Step per success to their Action Tests, for the Soldier’s Rally Rank in rounds. This affects a maximum of the Soldier’s Rally Rank +1 individuals. The Soldier must take command during the combat action. The Physical Defense and Action Step bonuses are lost if the Soldier takes a Wound and is Knocked Down.
  • Master
    • Core Skills
      • Concentrated Assault, (Multi-Shot / Multi-Charge), Snap Shot, True Shot, Vicious Wound
    • Optional Skills
      • Lion Spirit, Perfect Focus, Relentless Recovery, Second Chance, Unflinching Fortitude
    • Abilities
      • The character gains +2 to their Physical Defense.
      • The character’s Max Karma increases by 15.
      • Old-Timer’s Luck: The Soldier may spend 1 Karma to turn an Attack Test against them that scores more than one success into a failure. This ability may only be used once per week.