Marauder

Of the 8 Career Skills, choose 4 to get a free rank. Of the 4 Specialization Skills, choose 2 to get a free rank.

Hired Gun Career Skills: Athletics, Brawl, Discipline, Melee, Piloting (Planetary), Ranged (Light), Resilience and Vigilance

Marauder Specialization Skills: Coercion, Melee, Resilience and Survival

Marauders don't necessarily mind shooting their opponents, but they would much rather get mixed up in a melee, weapons in hand, smashing and slashing their way through. Marauders are tough—probably the toughest combatants in any conflict. They tend to take a great deal of punishment while dealing out far more to any who dare go against them.

Marauders make excellent "leg-breakers," among other things, and they usually know quite a bit about how to survive in most situations. In combat, they are masters of dishing out and taking lots of damage.

Marauders may come from low-tech worlds, where advanced weaponry simply wasn't an option for them. Alternately, they might come from a culture where melee combat is considered far more honorable and worthy, and they keep to their traditions. Moreover, many pirates and raiders of starships favor melee weapons in order to avoid damaging vital systems aboard a ship they're in the middle of trying to take.

A character who chooses to be a Marauder might be an ex-pirate. Alternatively, he could be in the adventure to make money in the only way he can—with his fists. It could be that he's simply along for the ride, ready to bash his way through whatever adventure he encounters.

Potential Backgrounds

  • Yesterday's Hero: Marauders can be anyone who likes to do their fighting up close, and one such person is a gladiatorial combatant. An arena fighter known and lauded for his combat ability might grow older, slower, and eventually be overshadowed by his younger, stronger rivals. Dreaming of the halcyon days of his youth, the character might turn to mercenary work as the only means to keep himself in the life to which he is accustomed.
  • Ex-Military: A Marauder might be a former assault specialist whose lust for battle and violence was never sated in war. His bloodthirsty nature and love for combat mean he's turned to working as a Hired Gun not for the money, but because he knows that if he doesn't indulge his bloodlust, he could be a danger to himself or others in civilian life.
  • The Avenger: A Marauder who is a pirate or raider by profession could have been captain of a small band of corsairs, only to be betrayed by his crewmates. Marooned on a backwater world, he managed to find his way off the planet and back into the larger galaxy. Payback against his treacherous shipmates is high on his agenda.
  • Scion of a Legacy: A Marauder who is the scion of a famous pirate could be in the unenviable position of not wanting to follow his parent's footsteps at all. Mercenary work might be a compromise the character comes to because it utilizes some of the skills he learned as a child, but better fits his moral code than outright criminal activity.
  • Peace Turned to War: A Marauder could have started life as a shockboxer or other competitive athlete. His athletic prowess would translate well into hand-to-hand combat. However, his prior experiences as an athlete could affect his preferred fighting style and approach to combat. For example, the character might prefer fighting with his bare fists instead of any number of more advanced weapons, or he might avoid killing his opponents in favor of incapacitation. A competitive attitude could lead him to start unnecessary fights just to test his skills and "keep in practice."