Sharpshooter Specialization

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

Soldier Career Skills: Athletics, Brawl, Knowledge (Warfare), Medicine, Melee, Ranged (Light), Ranged (Heavy) and Survival

Sharpshooter Specialization Skills: Cool. Perception, Ranged (Heavy) and Ranged (Light)

With a love of firearms and a pride in personal accuracy, the Sharpshooter is the most desirable asset a team can ask for when a firefight erupts. He maintains his composure under a blanket of blaster bolts, takes careful aim, and eliminates threats with ruthless efficiency and lightning speed. Sharpshooters are, simply, the masters of personal-scale ranged combat.

The focus on personal-scale ranged weapons is a natural fit for Sharpshooters, and their ability to take in their surroundings completely and assess targets carefully under high-stress situations is essential to their survival.

Most Sharpshooters are thoroughly comfortable with any ranged weapon, though many will focus attention and effort on mastering a single (often highly-personalized) weapon. Some prefer a sniper role, taking up a hidden position and removing threats from the field as invisible dealers of death. Other Sharpshooters prefer a more direct approach, blaster energy blazing in waves of destruction as they cover their teammates against hordes of Imperial soldiers.

The focus on individual excellence within the Alliance elevates the Sharpshooter over his typical counterpart in the Empire. He is encouraged to train to higher degrees of proficiency, and he is encouraged to master techniques of survival, depending on his team to stay alive. The average stormtrooper is given a decent amount of training, but the lack of attention to personal excellence means he will never reach the pinnacle of accuracy and deadly effectiveness attained by a Sharpshooter in the Rebellion.

Potential Backgrounds

Avengers: Sharpshooters in the Rebel Alliance might have been enslaved, like the Elomin, using their steady hands and attention to detail to become patient, devastating snipers. Devaronians might have learned to hunt from their parents, who were then victims of the Imperial massacre at the ancient Devaron city of Montellian Serat. Any number of backwater cultures might have a large population of youth who engage in hunting for food, pest control, or sport, many of whom have suffered under Imperial rule.

Idealistic Recruit: Sharpshooters tend to hail from worlds with endless plains or vast deserts, where game hunting with long-distance hunting rifles and slugthrowers is commonplace. Most recruits from such worlds have been shooting long-distance targets since they were shorter than their parent’s rifle, and only need minimal instruction in concealment and other basic matters of soldiering before qualifying for deployment.

Imperial Defector: Sharpshooters often come to the Rebel Alliance after a crisis of conscience. While most take no issue with blasting military personnel at long range, the Empire occasionally calls on them to fire on “suspected rebels” who most snipers identify as peacefully protesting civilians. Some find themselves sympathizing with their targets and end up switching sides.

Mercenary: Sharpshooters for hire are another highly skilled, valued asset once they commit to the Rebellion. The rebels have far too few snipers with formal training, and often provide trained shooters additional objectives on missions in the form of assassinations and reconnaissance operations. Rebels also rely on mercenary snipers to train promising recruits, often in the field.

Veteran of the Clone Wars: Sharpshooters who fought in the Clone Wars are prized warriors in the Rebellion. No matter if their skills were honed fighting clone troopers or Separatists, Clone Wars-era snipers were masters of their craft. The Rebellion often pairs them with less experienced snipers who can benefit from their elders’ wealth of experience in finding shooting positions and setting up ambushes.