Survivalist

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.

Survivalist Specialization Skills: Knowledge (Xenology), Perception, Resilience and Survival

Beyond civilization, in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, there are places where few (if any) sentients have ever trodden the ground. Places like these are ideal hiding places for those fleeing the law or retribution for their actions. Places like these are where Bounty Hunters who specialize as Survivalists thrive.

The Survivalist's skill set harkening back to the ancient practices of true wilderness hunters. With his talent array, he can keep himself and his companions alive, and he knows where and what to look for when searching for just about anything or anyone. He's also gifted at hunting any kind of target.

Not everything that happens in the galaxy occurs in cities or out in space. In fact, most of the habitable places of the galaxy are rural or wilderness in nature. A specialization in Survivalist ensures a character has the necessary knowledge and training to make his way in such environments, and help the far more urban-minded folks he's likely traveling with.

Despite their capacity to live off the land, Survivalists enjoy credits and the things that can be purchased with them just like anyone else. They will often look to hire themselves out to customers who need their expertise in seeking out (or hunting) something beyond the duracrete and tapcafs.

Potential Backgrounds

  • In It For the Money: Survivalists are yet another group of bounty hunters for whom money might seem largely a secondary concern. They spend their time far away from civilization-traipsing through the trackless edges of the galaxy, carrying only what they need to perform their job, surviving on very little—and live almost ascetic lives. Their bounties are found in mountaintop hermitages amid screaming blizzards, deep beneath caustic oceans of far-flung, abandoned worlds, and in countless places where civilization does not or cannot reach. In these forsaken places, hunting desperate fugitives, the only thing standing between life and death is a hunter’s training and survival gear. Conditioning the body to withstand hostile conditions and making a study of the ways to survive in such places are lifelong pursuits and cost no small amount of credits. No mere training can keep a hunter from freezing to death on a mountainside, however. Survival gear is also shockingly expensive, especially when it is custom-made for specific uses. When a slim survival pack costs more than the purchase price of a new starship, it is easy to see why these hardy freelancers might be concerned with money.
  • Lawbringer: Survivalists with a hearty respect for the law often find their way into the bounty hunting profession due to a deep-seated belief in the sacrosanctity of nature. They often come from far-off, resource-rich fringe worlds where they developed a deep appreciation for nature, and took to bounty hunting when it was threatened. Whether a region is protected by law or merely in need of such defense, these bounty hunters are the first to take jobs to hunt down poachers, smugglers, and profiteers who exploit the natural world.
  • Thrill of the Hunt: Survivalists’ knowledge of tracking sentients and beasts alike through untamed wilds borders on the preternatural. They know just what to look for, just where to place their feet, and just how to track a light-footed fugitive in the dark across a plain of hard-packed clay. The chase comes naturally to these hunters, and those who derive their joy and satisfaction from the pursuit itself have been known to prolong the hunt by taking their time and giving their targets numerous chances to rest or escape.