In the Starfall Galaxy, "Soldier" is rarely a job title—it’s a survival strategy. While any hired gun can pull a trigger, true Soldiers are often remnants of the Sider Stratiotes programs or elite enforcers for the Commission's mercenary legions. They are "Ironclads," walking tanks who have modified their bodies and gear to survive where atmosphere turns to acid and physics begins to weep.
To a Soldier, armor isn't just protection; it's a second skin, often sealed for weeks at a time during Rift-crossings. They are the breaker of sieges and the anchor of every Guild expedition. When a Chronologist team needs to tune a Metronome in the middle of a jagged waste, they hide behind the Soldier. In the neon-lit underbellies of the Inner Sphere, they are the unmovable objects in a galaxy of unstoppable forces, their armor scarred by plasma burns and claw marks that tell the history of the Commission’s dirty wars.
The Soldier is the ultimate battlefield anchor, prioritizing Constitution to withstand punishment while unleashing devastating area-of-effect attacks. Their primary function is "tanking" through threat generation rather than just high AC; abilities like Suppressing Fire and Primary Target force enemies to focus on them or suffer debilitating penalties. With the Walking Armory feature, they ignore the bulk of heavy munitions, allowing them to carry an arsenal that would crush a lesser combatant. They excel at soaking damage, controlling space with automatic fire, and punishing foes who ignore them.
Soldier
Non-Combat Applications
Hazardous Environment Search & Rescue: With their high Constitution and heavy environmental sealing, Soldiers can walk into radiation leaks, Rift-blistered ruins, or toxic chemical spills to retrieve data or survivors that others cannot reach.
Heavy Logistics: The Walking Armory capability isn't just for guns. Soldiers often serve as human forklifts in salvage operations, hauling critical reactor cores or salvage plating that would require a powered exo-suit for anyone else.
"Hard" Diplomacy: In the lawless markets of the Outer Sphere, a Soldier doesn't need to speak. Simply standing visible at a negotiation table, clad in half a ton of scarred composite plating, often ensures that contracts are honored and "fair" prices are maintained.
Societal Impact
The existence of the Soldier class drives the heavy industrial economy of the Inner Sphere. The Vlaan Yards and independent wildcatters dedicate entire production lines to "Soldier-grade" munitions—rounds too heavy for standard rifles and armor plating too dense for civilian transport. They are the linchpin of the mercenary economy; a company without a dedicated Soldier is seen as a "soft target" by rivals. Their prevalence has led to a tactical evolution in gang warfare, where ambushes are designed specifically to isolate and overheat these juggernauts before they can spin up their rotary cannons.
Adventure Hooks
The Rusty Legion: A distress beacon from a pre-Cataclysm Sider Stratiotes dropship activates in the Tibburat Marches. The players must escort a retired Soldier NPC who believes it’s their old squad calling for extraction, only to find the "survivors" have been fused with their armor by Rift-taint.
Ordinance Shortage: A trade embargo by the Commission has made heavy ammunition scarce. A local Soldier hires the party to help heist a shipment of depleted uranium rounds from a corrupt Guild quartermaster before a rival gang claims it.
The Walking Wall: A Chronologist needs to repair a Metronome inside a zone of "heavy gravity" distortion. The party needs a Soldier specifically because they are the only ones with the physical fortitude (Constitution) to carry the calibration equipment into the crushing field without passing out.
Faction Hooks
1. The Chronologists Guild: "Cycle-Keepers"
Role: You are the scalpel used to excise paradoxes. When a timeline begins to drift because a specific warlord survived a battle they shouldn't have, you are sent to "correct" the error.
Reputation Hook (Major Favor): "Silence the Echo." A localized time-loop in the Outer Sphere is being caused by a rogue scientist. Infiltrate his lab (which resets every hour) and disable the device without triggering the failsafe.
2. The Ebon Syndicate: "Debt Collectors"
Role: Enforcers of the black market. You ensure that deals are honored and that those who can't pay their Yoms pay with something else.
Reputation Hook (Moderate Favor): "The Repo Job." A Free Captain has defaulted on a loan of refined Rift-fuel. Board their ship in transit, bypass security, and jettison the cargo into a Syndicate pickup zone without alerting the crew.
3. The Commission: "Adjusters"
Role: Corporate espionage and deniable assets. You steal prototypes from the Archivists, plant evidence on rivals, and ensure negotiations go the Commission's way.
Reputation Hook (Minor Favor): "Competitive Analysis." Break into a rival corporation's local office and download their Q4 projections. Do not kill anyone; bodies generate paperwork.
Initial Proficiencies
At 1st level, you gain the listed proficiency ranks in the following statistics. You are untrained in anything not listed unless you gain a better proficiency rank in some other way.
Key Ability: Constitution; At 1st level, your class gives you an attribute boost to Constitution.
Hit Points: 10 plus your Constitution modifier; You increase your maximum number of HP by this number at 1st level and every level thereafter.
Perception: Trained in Perception
Saving Throws: Expert in Fortitude, Trained in Reflex, Expert in Will
Skills: Trained in Intimidation; Trained in a number of additional skills equal to 3 plus your Intelligence modifier
Attacks: Trained in simple weapons; Trained in martial weapons; Trained in unarmed attacks
Defenses: Trained in light armor, Medium Armor, and Heavy Armor; Trained in unarmored defense
Class DC: Trained in Soldier DC
Soldier Feats
Level 1
Whirling Swipe: You swipe your weapon in a wide swing to create a deadly arc.
In a galaxy defined by the fragility of life and time, the Soldier is the stubborn refusal to break—a living fortification of flesh and steel that holds the line against the encroaching dark.
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