Be a Ranger! Babylon 5: Outrageous Fortune (Re-recruiting)

[Leif]

Hey, Blackrat:

My original thought for a character was a pilot, Han Solo rogue type. But, Dr. Si has advised that you have the pilot schtick pre-empted. I've looked at Sarhat, and here's what I propose: my character, if it meets with the approval of you and Dr. Si, will be more of a gunner than a pilot (we might not have the capability currently for ship-to-ship combat, but a gunner would be a handy thing to have if we ever do get there). My character would be capable (we hope) of filling in as a back-up pilot should the need ever arise. Thinking about it more, now, Dr. Si, how about a "naval intelligence" dude with a passable amount of cross-training as a pilot, perhaps? -- Ex-spook, so to speak, but sufficiently disillusioned with his former service, and 'on the outs' with them, so as not to upset any of the party who may have issues with human military types. Am I going in something approaching the right direction here??

 

[Blackrat]

I've no trouble with another pilot . Just hopefully someone who can shoot a gun too

 

[Leif]

I've no trouble with another pilot . Just hopefully someone who can shoot a gun too

No doubt! He'll be a definite liability when it comes to diplomacy, negotiations, and trade, but, hey, you can't have everything! (Hopefully, someone will be able to shut him up before he can do too much damage? )

 

[Dr Simon]

I was thinking about this last night after logging off. Blackrat's character is an Officer (Fleet), which really revolves around leadership and commanding large ships. There is another branch of the Officer class (pilot) that covers solo craft. If you multi-classed this with, say, Soldier, you'd have the kind of action hero character you originally looked for. Or perhaps Ranger, although there are funny multi-classing rules with Rangers. You'd be replacing Jemal's ranger character who was pretty much full-on action, so it would fit.

If you wanted more in the intelligence-gathering sense, the Agent class would cover that (again maybe MC with Officer (pilot). Ranger would work again, as would Lurker if you wanted someone with more of a shifty past. The classes are quite flexible: an Officer (pilot)/Soldier would not necessarily have to be part of an organised military, they could be security forces or a raider (B5-ese for Space Pirate).

Agent is good for an ex-spook. The Influence rules would cover connections to Earthforce, for example. Use the Hobby feat to gain cross-class skills. I've posted some details on the Agent class a few posts uptopic. They get Pilot, but you'd need Operations (gunnery) perhaps.

Bear in mind, also, that most of the B5 classes don't have many class abilities, but tend to award bonus feats or skill modifiers, so they are quite flexible in terms of how you build a character.

Humans, BTW, have the same racial abilities as every other d20 game - bonus 1st level feat and +1 skill point/level.

 

[Leif]

I remember replying to this post once already, but the reply was evidently eaten by ENWorld. (URRRRP!) Anyway, what I'm thinking of is a Soldier multi-class with Agent. The more I read your post, the more confused I become! Soldier sounds good, Agent sounds good, but Operations (Gunnery) sounds almost crucial, and Officer (Pilot) does, too. Is there a way to get all of these wrapped real purty with a nice bow on top?

 

[Dr Simon]

The Soldier class grants Operations (gunnery) as a class skill. I'm not sure if you meant Operations (pilot) [the skill] rather than Officer (pilot) [the class].
Agent grants Pilot, which is used for solo craft, Operations (pilot) is used for capital ships. Either way you need the Spacecraft Proficiency feat to use them with spacecraft without a -4 penalty.

You could either take some ranks cross-class, or take the Hobby feat which allows you to make any one skill a class skill for you. Alternatively, if you can wait, 2nd level Agent allows you to make any one skill a cross-class skill.

At the moment it's probably not vital to have that skill.

[SBLOCK=Soldier Class]
Initial Hit Points: 8.
Additional Hit Points: 3.

At 1st level: +1 BAB, +2 For, +0 Reflex, +0 Will, +1 Defence

Class Skills
The soldier’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are
Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Computer Use (Int), Drive
(Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (specific local or tactics)
(Int), Operations (driving, gunnery or systems) (Int), Stealth
(Dex) and Technical (any) (Int).
Skill Points At 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points At Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Influence
Initial Influence: 1d4 Military Influence in his native
culture.
Additional Influence: A soldier’s Military Influence in his
native culture increases by +1 each level. He may also increase
one other Influence by +1.

Class Features
All of the following are class
features of the soldier.

Weapon Proficiency: A soldier is proficient with all close
combat, grenade, pistol and rifle weapons. A soldier also
gains the Armour Familiarity feat for free.

Starting Credits: A soldier begins the game with 2d6 x 100
credits.

Combat Training: Soldiers practise in the use of weapons and
combat constantly and will often be taught that their training
is the only thing that stands between them and certain death
when facing the enemy. At 1st level and every odd level
thereafter, the soldier one of the following feats (he must meet
the prerequisites for this feat as normal):
Alertness, Blind-Fight, Brawler, Combat Expertise, Die Hard,
Endurance, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (any), Far Shot,
Great Fortitude, Hobby, Improved Critical (any), Improved
Feint, Improved Initiative, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting,
Lightning Reflexes, Lightning Reload, Marksman, Martial
Arts, Nerves of Steel, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Run,
Spacecraft Proficiency, Surface Vehicle Dodge, Surface Vehicle
Proficiency, Toughness, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus
(any), Weapon Proficiency (any), Weapon Specialisation
(any).
[/SBLOCK]

A note on hit points and Influence:
At character level 1, use the starting hit points + Con bonus for whichever class you start with. At character level 2, just add the additional hit points (no Con bonus).

Use the Starting Influence roll for your class at character level 1, and the Additional influence for your class at level 2. You also have +1 Influence with ISA (political). You can use other points to add to this if you wish.

 

[Leif]

The Soldier class grants Operations (gunnery) as a class skill. I'm not sure if you meant Operations (pilot) [the skill] rather than Officer (pilot) [the class].
Agent grants Pilot, which is used for solo craft, Operations (pilot) is used for capital ships. Either way you need the Spacecraft Proficiency feat to use them with spacecraft without a -4 penalty.

You could either take some ranks cross-class, or take the Hobby feat which allows you to make any one skill a class skill for you. Alternatively, if you can wait, 2nd level Agent allows you to make any one skill a cross-class skill.

At the moment it's probably not vital to have that skill.

[SBLOCK=Soldier Class]
Initial Hit Points: 8.
Additional Hit Points: 3.

At 1st level: +1 BAB, +2 For, +0 Reflex, +0 Will, +1 Defence

Class Skills
The soldier’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are
Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Computer Use (Int), Drive
(Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (specific local or tactics)
(Int), Operations (driving, gunnery or systems) (Int), Stealth
(Dex) and Technical (any) (Int).
Skill Points At 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points At Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Influence
Initial Influence: 1d4 Military Influence in his native
culture.
Additional Influence: A soldier’s Military Influence in his
native culture increases by +1 each level. He may also increase
one other Influence by +1.

Class Features
All of the following are class
features of the soldier.

Weapon Proficiency: A soldier is proficient with all close
combat, grenade, pistol and rifle weapons. A soldier also
gains the Armour Familiarity feat for free.

Starting Credits: A soldier begins the game with 2d6 x 100
credits.

Combat Training: Soldiers practise in the use of weapons and
combat constantly and will often be taught that their training
is the only thing that stands between them and certain death
when facing the enemy. At 1st level and every odd level
thereafter, the soldier one of the following feats (he must meet
the prerequisites for this feat as normal):
Alertness, Blind-Fight, Brawler, Combat Expertise, Die Hard,
Endurance, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (any), Far Shot,
Great Fortitude, Hobby, Improved Critical (any), Improved
Feint, Improved Initiative, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting,
Lightning Reflexes, Lightning Reload, Marksman, Martial
Arts, Nerves of Steel, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Run,
Spacecraft Proficiency, Surface Vehicle Dodge, Surface Vehicle
Proficiency, Toughness, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus
(any), Weapon Proficiency (any), Weapon Specialisation
(any).
[/SBLOCK]

A note on hit points and Influence:
At character level 1, use the starting hit points + Con bonus for whichever class you start with. At character level 2, just add the additional hit points (no Con bonus).

Use the Starting Influence roll for your class at character level 1, and the Additional influence for your class at level 2. You also have +1 Influence with ISA (political). You can use other points to add to this if you wish.

Ok, lots to digest there, but, my initial thought is to go human soldier, with Operations (gunnery) skill. Is starting level 1st? I'm figuring that this game is d20-ish, and so humans start with 2 feats with another one coming at what, L4? If so, the Spacecraft Proficiency Feat sounds like a must-have. I meant Pilot (the skill), but I was thinking of solo spacecraft (fighter-type), so I can let that go in favor of working on Operations (gunnery) and maybe getting Hobby for Operations (Pilot) either now or later.

Am I halfway making sense here? (I don't feel like I am, but.....)

EDIT: So, if I'm understanding everything correctly, which is a mighty big IF, then I'm thinking of:

Race: Human
Class: Soldier
Feat (L1): Spacecraft Proficiency
Feat (human bonus): Hobby [Operations (Gunnery)]
Skills: Operations (Gunnery); yada yada yada.....

 

[Dr Simon]

You're mostly making sense.

Starting level is 2 - the existing characters have just levelled.

Yes, 1st level feat, plus bonus human feat at 1st level. Note that Soldier also grants you a bonus feat at 1st level as well, of which Spacecraft Proficiency and Hobby are both options.

Some other probable sources of confusion are that some of the skills have been combined and re-named, and some of the feats have been altered too. I cover this somewhere in the first page or so of this thread.

(Have just noticed that most of the B5 RPG is designated Open Content, so I can legally put a lot of the crunch up somewhere.)

 

[Leif]

OOC:
Pausing the action for the moment to see if Leif gets his character sorted, as now is a good time for a change in personnel.

Plus a bump after the outage.

I'm perfectly willing to "get sorted". I just don't know what to do next. I'll call this character Kirth, naming him after the protagonist in my all-time favorite sci-fi book series, but I'll change the last name to Warren. So, Kirth Warren is as ready as he possibly can be for the moment.

I'm not even sure whether ability scores are the same as DnD, but since it's d20, I'll assume that they are. Also, I have no idea what the prime reqs are for the Agent class or any skills in the game, so I'm shooting in the dark as far as ability scores goes, but here's a stab at it, anyway. In that case, 25 point buy:
S 12
D 13
C 12
I 12
W 11
C 13

 

[Dr Simon]

Ability scores are the same as standard d20, so you're fine here. Agent works best with Intelligence and Dexterity, perhaps Charisma. Skills are *pretty* much the same as they are for standard D&D or d20 Modern (i.e. you have Medical rather than Heal; Computer Use, Drive and Pilot are additonal skills. Some have been combined - in fact if you look at Pathfinder Beta you'll get a reasonable idea of how, but somewhere uptopic I've listed the skills. I'll link to the post for you. I've done one for Feats too.

So, as I understand it you're looking for a multiclass Soldier 1/Agent 1 - I'll upload further details for you later.

(Just to cover all bases, the classes are:
Agent (generally a spy/assassin/spec-ops kind of guy)
Diplomat (plenty of charisma skills, plus makes good use of the special Influence rules found in B5RPG)
Lurker (low-life type, street skills and survivalism)
Officer (reasonable combat, reasonable charismatic skills, reasonable mil-tech skills. Can be Fleet, GROund POunder or Pilot)
Ranger (mix of fighting and sneaking skills, with dedication to the Ranger way)
Scientist (mostly Int-based skills, can specialise in technical skills, medicine or linguistics).
Soldier (pretty much the Fighter class of this game).
Telepath (you can be a telepath without being in this class, as Telepathy is a feat, but you are pretty limited in your ability.
Trader (a charismatic/streetwise class, if the Diplomat doesn't quite fit the concept.
Worker (kind of the all-purpose NPC class for this game, but possible as a PC class. Can be Blue Collar, White Collar or Performer.