Trailblazer

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

Trailblazer Specialization Skills: Knowledge (Outer Rim), Perception, Stealth and Survival

When facing a numerically superior enemy with access to better weapons, armor, and supplies, an army must leverage absolutely every advantage possible. The Soldiers of the Alliance to Restore the Republic have grown accustomed to fighting while outnumbered and outgunned, and have honed their wits to compensate and regain the advantage against the Empire. One area in which rebel Soldiers frequently have the edge is in knowledge of the terrain and how to use it. Even stormtroopers, the supposed elite of the Empire, frequently fall prey to its rigid modes of thinking, and Trailblazers can use their superior knowledge of the terrain and unorthodox tactics to surprise and overwhelm their foes.

Catching the enemy off-guard is one of the oldest and most diverse tactics in the galaxy, and Trailblazers seek to turn it to their advantage at every turn. Survival makes the Trailblazer better at tracking foes and setting clever traps, while Stealth helps in avoiding enemies who might uncover the Trailblazer’s presence.

Trailblazers tend to favor patience and indirrect solutions, pitting the foe against the wilderness or using the features of the terrain to eliminate enemy advantages. Heavy walkers cannot function in the confines of a forest, for instance, nor can massive infantry surges push through urban environments without exposing themselves to risk. Trailblazers work to make the best of cover and prefer to fight on their own turf, where they can turn every piece of their knowledge to their advantage. The Cunning Snare talent, in particular, shines here, giving the Trailblazer the ability to set up a devastating trap for unsuspecting foes. While this talent takes some setup to use, the payout can be considerable, levelling a fight with a numerically superior or better-equipped foe. The Trailblazer can even use this talent without advanced supplies, using cleverness and wood- craft to overcome dire situations if the PCs are ever stranded without access to optimal gear— and on the shifting battlefields of the Galactic Civil War, Soldiers of the Rebellion can find themselves cut off and without support in an instant.

Trailblazers often act as guides to other members of their squads, helping them to avoid the dangers of the wild and the battlefield alike as the group moves to the most advantageous position possible. A skilled Trailblazer can not only allow a group of PCs to win difficult battles through subterfuge and trickery, but also to avoid unnecessary battles entirely. The Rebel Alliance frequently needs to achieve objectives without the Empire noticing, and so the best battle is often the one that was never fought. A Trailblazer can be a substantial boon to any group in other contexts, too, whether the PCs are moving through the wilds or the streets of a city.

Potential Backgrounds

  • Avengers: Trailblazers often begin as local freedom fighters conducting covert raids against the Empire on their home soil. The Wookiees have been resisting Imperial slavery from the wroshyr forests of Kashyyyk since the end of the Clone Wars. The Talz have also maximized their environmental advantages to fight the Empire on the windswept snowdrifts of Orto Plutonia. The Dressellians are perhaps the most famous wilderness fighters standing against Imperial occupation of their homeworld, but any untamed planet under Imperial control probably has a local resistance largely made up of Trailblazers.
  • Idealistic Recruit: Trailblazers typically come from underdeveloped worlds of vast wilderness. Their familiarity with their home terrain makes them quick students of guerrilla warfare, and with a little training, they become a serious threat to local Imperial operations. The bulk of rebel recruits receive training in this sort of asymmetrical warfare to fight the Empire effectively anywhere.
  • Imperial Defector: Trailblazers are a rarity within the Empire, whose overwhelming numbers and strong logistical support make such skills less important. However, there are specialized stormtrooper divisions dedicated to fighting in extreme climates, and Trailblazers within the Rebellion might have once belonged to—or acted as a civilian instructor for—such a unit. Those few Imperial storm commandos who have defected also possess elite wilderness survival skills.
  • Mercenary: Trailblazers originate on countless worlds, though the Shistavanens of Uvena III are among the more competent wilderness combatants in the galaxy that work for hire. Mercenary guerrillas have a significant advantage over others in that they have fought on countless worlds, honing survival techniques that are universal, while others may only be familiar with the flora and fauna of a single planet.
  • Veteran of the Clone Wars: Trailblazers were once within the ranks of planetary resistance forces fighting for both factions of the Clone Wars. These local citizens learned how to live off the land and engage those invading their homeworlds in asymmetrical warfare. They can use the terrain to set lethal ambushes, launch devastating raids, and then vanish without a trace. Veteran Trailblazers often deploy to Imperial-occupied worlds with untamed terrain to train locals in their unique brand of combat.