Martial Artist

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

Bounty Hunter Career Skills: Athletics, Brawl, Perception, Piloting (Planetary), Piloting (Space), Ranged (Heavy), Streetwise and Vigilance.

Martial Artist Specialization Skills: Athletics, Brawl, Coordination and Discipline

From the Kage Warriors of Quarzite to the enforcers of Black Sun, organizations and cultures across the galaxy have developed their own unique hand-to-hand combat styles to use their species’ physiology to greatest effect. Over decades, centuries, and millennia, these combat forms become more than mere means of inflicting violence; generations of practitioners work to make them into art forms, philosophies, and ways of life. A desire to practice self-defense can become a belief in the value of self-betterment and the innate potential of others, though not all ideologies develop along such lines. More than a few Bounty Hunters have picked up techniques from martial arts styles across the galaxy to help in their hunts. Some are shining examples of their school’s philosophies and traditions, but others are disgraced students, or have never even trained formally, earning their skills through hard experience on the battlefield.

A Martial Artist benefits first and foremost from a high Brawn rating to empower the Brawl skill. However, Willpower is an extremely useful secondary characteristic, as it not only gives the Martial Artist the higher strain threshold needed to activate the specialization’s many talents that use strain as a resource, but also the ability to face intimidating foes up close without flinching. Further, talents like Mind Over Matter benefit from a higher Willpower, and let the Martial Artist fight even longer without becoming exhausted. Finally, the Martial Artist benefits greatly from investing in the Coordination skill, as talents like Martial Grace and Coordination Dodge let the Martial Artist supplement raw strength with finesse both offensively and defensively.

Unlike characters from most other specializations built around close-quarters combat, Martial Artists does not need a weapon to fight competently. Martial Artists generally value precision over brute strength, and strive to execute efficient unarmed strikes. By wasting as little energy as possible, they can deliver extremely forceful blows even when unarmed. This is reflected in talents like Precision Strike, which lets Martial Artists exhaust and weaken foes as they see fit rather than by chance. Martial Artists also seek to leverage their enemies’ strength against them in battle with talents like Overbalance, which allows them to throw foes off-balance after they attack. Martial Artists also have access to Parry to mitigate damage, and can even use Parry when unarmed.

This unique combination of precise offense and controlled defense allows Martial Artists to contend with some of the toughest fighters in the galaxy. Of course, not every battle is worth fighting, and a trained Martial Artist knows to assess not only the enemy but also the situation before deciding whether to join the fray. Many schools of martial arts teach the idea that fights are to be avoided, and that the ideal way to win a battle is to avoid having it in the first place. Unsurprisingly, this attitude is less prevalent amongst Bounty Hunters who wield martial arts, as their profession demands a certain amount of violence, but some still apply these overarching principles to a certain degree.

Potential Backgrounds

  • In It For the Money: Martial Artists live by their fists and training rather than by fancy gadgets or fast ships. Their outlay for weapons, armor, ships, and high-tech gear is the lowest among their peers. It is not the pursuit of gear, or even money for its own sake that drives these individuals to chase the credits, but simple necessity; among their peers, these hands-on hunters have the highest medical bills. Their fighting styles can be extremely punishing, not only for their foes but also for their own bodies, and their list of injuries incurred on the job often reads like a medical dictionary. Martial Artists can easily spend tens of thousands of credits in medpacs and stimpacks, bacta and physical therapy, long hospital stays, surgeries, even cybernetic replacements. Good medical care is eye-wateringly expensive, and no one knows that better than Martial Artists.
  • Lawbringer: Martial Artists devoted to the rule of law might use their skills to pursue those who are guilty of preying on the weak and defenseless. Lackeys in the service of a powerful crime boss or crooked politician may have driven these characters to the bounty hunting trade by harming the characters’ loved ones or destroying the school at which they trained in their chosen combat art. Because Martial Artists do not need to carry the obvious arsenal of other bounty hunters, they are often able to blend in with the ordinary citizens of the galaxy and bypass security measures fixated on conventional weapons—without sacrificing any of their effectiveness.
  • Thrill of the Hunt: Martial Artists see nearly every bounty as a chance to test and refine their skills against worthy opponents. Each target presents a new set of obstacles, and for each new set of challenges, a new set of skills must be honed to overcome it. These hunters prefer the running, sneaking, climbing, and tumbling aspects of the hunt. They usually do not take on contracts that they view as too easy, for these present no opportunity for them to advance their skills.