Sentry

Of the 6 Career Skills, choose 3 to get a free rank. Of the 4 Specialization Skills, choose 2 to get a free rank.

Sentinal Career Skills: Computers, Deception, Knowledge (Core Worlds), Perception, Skulduggery and Stealth

Sentry Specialization Skills: Coordination, Lightsaber, Stealth and Vigilance

A Sentinal begins play with a Force rating of 1

Despite the grand legends of the Jedi and their sweeping battles in half-forgotten wars, neighborhoods still needed day-to-day protection. Padawans may have dreamt of striking down an evil general or forging alliances between powerful armies, but when they became Sentries, they patrolled the streets, city blocks, and alleyways to help the overlooked, the common people. These foot soldiers gained none of the glory of their peers, and their thankless tasks have not been preserved in Jedi myths, but their work has benefited countless lives throughout the years.

Although both have a lightsaber-focused specialization, Sentries and Shien Experts differ considerably. Whereas Shien Experts approach life and combat as tactical exercises, Sentries concentrate on the immediate and the personal. They reach their targets through speed or subterfuge, stay aware of potential threats, and strike sure and quick.

Sentries are concerned with the present: a crime committed is a violation too far and stopped too late. While other Sentinels concern themselves on the bigger picture, Sentries pick up the pieces in the moment. They catch those who slip through the cracks and are forgotten, and stop those who break through safeguards to do irreparable damage. To Sentries, the details are the real picture, and allowing one person to suffer in order to promote justice is no justice at all.

Perhaps the most personally engaged of the Sentinel specialists, Sentries defend individuals, whether a specific person they are charged with protecting or a random person walking down the street. During the days of the Jedi Order, Sentries were accused of being too attached to the singular, becoming too emotionally involved with people and losing sight of larger tasks. However, the Sentries remained steadfast, channeling grief, anger, and love into pushing themselves to their limits to save their charges, and finding strength in their personal attachments.

Despite their efforts—or perhaps because of them— Sentries don’t have a glowing reputation for purity. They revel in their reputation, utilizing fear and surprise against their opponents. Sentries can only maintain this reputation among their adversaries if their communities fear them as well. They must become the monster who the monsters fear.

The Force guides Sentries to be in the right place at the right time to prevent violence. They move unseen, sometimes on rooftops to get a higher perspective, sometimes in the shadows to get an up-close point of view. Their senses expand as Sentries search for an opportunity, an opening to get the jump on evil.

Once engaged in combat, their priorities change. After slipping out of the shadows or dropping down from above, Sentries operate visibly and encourage their enemies to target them. Sentries want to be the most intimidating and to be the most dangerous-looking so that their enemies will fear them and fight them rather than their charges. Their talents lie not in ending a fight quickly or attacking directly, though; Sentries work best when surprising opponents, removing them one by one and giving the rest a chance to run away or surrender. In this way, This lets Sentries use the negative emotions of fear and anger to disorient their opponents.

Potential Backgrounds

  • Activist: Activists tend to be targeted by the forces of the status quo. A Sentry intercepts those forces to allow fellow activists precious time to continue vital work undisturbed. Often the strength behind the podium, the Sentry protects the voices of the people, letting others inspire while tamping down unchecked violence both inside and outside the movement. Many start off as a bodyguard for major political figures, but some serve as faceless muscle. In either case, the Sentry remains out of the spotlight, allowing the Force to indicate when danger surfaces.
  • Aristocrat: An aristocrat-turned-Sentry rejects peers and high-class society, much as an Investigator does. This Sentry uses money and privilege to protect vulnerable people. Dissatisfied with charity fundraisers and public relations campaigns, this character craves a more direct way of making the galaxy a better place. Never having felt want, though, a Sentry of this type struggles to understand what the oppressed need; still, the Force comes to those who strive to be better.
  • Gang Leader: Sentry gang leaders adopt a higher code of ethics, sometimes acting as police or working with the police (at least with trustworthy members]. Gangs often end up sharing similarities with their leaders. Most Sentry-led gangs operate on the principle of might for right, but some gangs take on community service work. If the Sentry is particularly spiritual, the gang may end up sharing some similarities with the Jedi Order: welcoming young members, training them in combat, and instructing them to follow a path of morality. Many Sentry gang leaders have given up their leadership positions, though, as they are unwilling to lead their friends into danger for their own moral crusade.
  • Laborer: Sentry laborers’ backgrounds as bouncers, hired muscle, or even strikebreakers has exposed them to the inequities of the galaxy. Their desire to make a difference—and to do so physically—is what first brought them into conflict with a local boss or a petty governmental official. It is what brought them in contact with the Force. That same drive moves Sentry laborers into every new clash they have with the galaxy’s corruption and injustice. For some Sentries, this sense of ongoing purpose gives them peace of mind. For others, the turmoil between right and violence remains a struggle, but at least they have a goal and the guidance of the Force.
  • Official: Sentries who once worked in a corporate or governmental structure may have served as bodyguards protecting government ministers and foreign dignitaries, corporate leaders, and other important people. They now struggle against a world that assigns importance via a different metric, a metric that brute power and violence. Sentries from this level of society have earned powerful enemies by abandoning their charges to save someone more vulnerable, or their former employers may want them apprehended or dead since they know too much about their shady dealings.
  • Refugee: Refugee camps need their own police force and a Sentry can help fill this role. As one of the downtrodden, a Sentry earns the trust of local communities. However, the host planet’s police may have a different agenda: to prevent the refugees’ culture or crime from “infecting” the host society. Where this is the case, enforcement stops at the border of the camp. In the worst case situations, authorities may use the refugees as easy scapegoats for the host planet’s own problems. A Sentry can act as an intermediatory authority, sometimes working with the host planet’s authority, but always trying to bring justice to those who have no power or rights. Refugee camps are a hotbed of frustrated, disenfranchised people, and agents of the dark side are ready to exploit them. These agents can also prey on the host community’s fear of the refugees, influencing both sides and fostering conflict and pain as they clash.