Officer

Even the best-trained troops need someone to make decisions and provide direction.  The officer fills that role but also takes responsibility when the troops fail in their appointed tasks.  They frequently also suffer the disrespect of their subordinates, who often see the uniform as a symbol of oppression.  Many soldiers cant perceive the honor of the person inside the uniform.  Very few officers earn the universal respect of their troops and their superiors, but to those who understand the concepts of leadership and valor, it often just comes naturally.

An officer must be comfortable in command, willing to make tough decisions when his men need guidance, and occasionally ordering individual solders to their deaths so that the unit can survive.  A good officer learns to do so without hesitation and only agonizes over his decision when lives are no longer at stake.  The best officers don’t let their distaste for life-or-death decisions paralyze them when their troops are counting on them.  Those who cant find the courage to face such dilemmas rarely stay officers for long – though certainly, a few somehow manage to avoid the issue by shifting blame elsewhere.

REQUIREMENTS

To qualify to become an officer, a character must fulfill the following criteria.

  • Minimum Level: 7th
  • Trained Skills: Knowledge (tactics)
  • Talents: At least one talent from the Leadership (Expert base class) or Commando or Veteran (Soldier base class) talent tree
  • Special: Must belong to an organization with a military or paramilitary division

GAME RULE INFORMATION

Officers have the following game statistics.

HIT POINTS

At each level, officers gain 1d8 hit points + their Constitution modifier.

HERO POINTS

Officers gain a number of Hero Points equal to 6 + one-half their character level, rounded down, every time they gain a new level in this class.

LEVEL BASE ATTACK BONUS CLASS FEATURES
1st +1 Defense bonuses, talent
2nd +2 Command cover, share talent
3rd +3 Talent
4th +4 Share talent
5th +5 Talent
6th +6 Share talent
7th +7 Talent
8th +8 Share talent
9th +9 Talent
10th +10 Share talent

CLASS FEATURES

The following are features of the officer prestige class.

DEFENSE BONUSES

At 1st level, you gain a +2 class bonus to your Reflex Defense and a +4 class bonus to your Will Defense.

TALENTS


At every odd-numbered level (1st, 3rd, 5th, and so on), you select a talent.  The talent can be selected from the Leadership talent tree (Expert base class), Assault Training or Commando talent trees (Soldier Base Class), or from the Military Tactics or Naval Officer talent trees below.  You must meet the prerequisites (if any) of the chosen talent. No talent can be selected more than once unless expressly indicated.

MILITARY TACTICS TALENT TREE

Officers study old battles, looking for historic examples of good military tactics.  You are an expert at leading troops into battle and using the battlefield to your advantage.

  • Assault Tactics: As a move action, you may designate a single creature or object as the target of an assault.  If you succeed on a DC 15 Knowledge (tactics) check, you and all allies able to hear and understand you deal +1d6 points of damage to the target with each successful melee or ranged attack, until the start of your next turn. This is a mind-affecting effect.
  • Commander’s Prerogative: During the first round in an encounter (after the surprise round, if any), you can take your turn before any of your allies, but you must either use the share talent prestige class ability, or a talent from one of the following talent trees as part of your turn: Commando, Leadership, or Military Tactics.  On the subsequent round, you return to your normal place in the initiative order.
    • Prerequisite: Trained in the Initiative skill.
  • Deployment Tactics: You can use your tactical knowledge to direct allies in battle.  As a move action, you can make a DC 15 Knowledge (tactics) check.  If the check succeeds, you and any allies that can see, hear, and understand you gain a +1 competence bonus on attack rolls against flanked opponents or a +1 dodge bonus to Reflex Defense against attacks of opportunity (your choice).  The bonus lasts until the start of your next turn.  This is a mind-affecting effect.  If you have the Born Leader talent (Leadership talent tree, Expert) or the Battle Analysis talent (Command talent tree, Soldier), the bonus granted by this talent increases to +2.
  • Exploit Weakness: When you use the Assault Tactics talent on an enemy, the target takes a cumulative -1 penalty to Reflex Defense each time it is damaged by one of your allies (maximum -5).  This penalty applies until the end of your next turn.
    • Prerequisite: Assault Tactics.
  • Field Tactics: You know how to use existing terrain to best advantage.  By using a move action, you can make a DC 15 knowledge (tactics) check.  If the check succeeds, you and all allies within 10 squares of you can use whatever cover is available to gain a +10 cover bonus to Reflex Defense (instead of the normal +5 cover bonus).  Allie’s must be able to hear and understand you to gain this benefit, and the bonus lasts until the start of your next turn.  This talent provides no benefit to anyone who doesn’t have cover. This is a mind-affecting effect.
    • Prerequisite: Deployment Tactics.
  • Grand Leader: As a swift action, once per encounter, you can grant bonus hit points equal to 5 + one-half your character level to all allies within 20 squares of you and in your line of sight.  Damage is subtracted from bonus hit points first, and any bonus hit points remaining at the end of the encounter go away.  Bonus hit points from multiple sources do not stack.
  • Irregular Tactics: Your tactics confuse enemy commanders and tacticians that can see or otherwise observe your forces in action, such as when using sensors.  After using the share talent special quality, make a Knowledge (tactics) check as a free action.  The result replaces the DC of any talents that use Knowledge (tactics) from the Military Tactics talent tree used against you or your allies.
    • Prerequisite: Share Talent special quality.
  • Lead by Example: If you have already used a talent in an encounter before granting the same talent to an ally with your share talent special quality in the same encounter, any character who benefits from share talent gains one of the following bonuses when using that talent: Reduce the talent’s DC by 5; gain an additional +2 bonus to any bonus to attack, Defense, or damage used by the talent; or reduce the amount of damage taken by the character through use of the talent by 10 points.  If the talent can be affected by more than one effect, the character using the talent selects the desired effect.
    • Prerequisite: Share Talent special quality.
  • One for the Team: As a reaction, you can choose to take one-half or all of the damage dealt to an adjacent ally by a single attack. Similarly, as a reaction, an adjacent ally can choose to take one-half or all of the damage dealt to you by a single attack (even if he doesn’t have this talent).
    • Prerequisite: Deployment Tactics.
  • Outmaneuver: An officer learns to counter the tactics of his enemies. As a standard action, you can make a DC 15 knowledge (tactics) check.  If the check succeeds, enemies in your line of sight lose all competence, insight, and morale bonuses on attack rolls, as well as any dodge bonuses to Reflex Defense, until the start of your next turn.  If one or more enemy officers are within your line of sight, the highest level officer among them can attempt to oppose your Knowledge (tactics) check as a reaction.  If their skill check is higher than yours, your attempt to outmaneuver your enemies fails.
    • Prerequisites: Deployment Tactics, Field Tactics.
  • Shift Defense I: As a swift action, you can take a -2 penalty to one defense (Reflex, Fortitude, or Will) to gain a +1 competence bonus to another defense until the start of your next turn.
  • Shift Defense II: As a swift action, you can take a -5 penalty to one defense (Reflex, Fortitude, or Will) to gain a +2 competence bonus to another defense until the start of your next turn.
    • Prerequisite. Shift Defense I.
  • Shift Defense III: As a swift action, you can gain a +5 competence bonus to one defense (Reflex, Fortitude, or Will) by taking a -5 penalty to your other two defenses.
    • Prerequisites: Shift Defense I, Shift Defense II.
  • Tactical Edge: You can use the Assault Tactics, Deployment Tactics, or Field Tactics talent as a swift action instead of a move action, provided you have the talent in question.
  • Turn the Tide: Once per encounter, after the first round of combat, you can make a Knowledge (tactics) check as a full-round action and compare the result to the Will Defense of all enemies within 12 squares of you and within your line of sight.  If your check is successful, affected enemies must reroll their Initiative checks at the start of the next round.  Allies within your line of sight can choose whether to reroll their check.  Rerolls and other modifiers to the Initiative skill apply normally to this check for all affected targets.
    • Prerequisites: Command Decision, Commander’s Prerogative, trained in the Initiative skill.
  • Uncanny Defense: Once per day, you can add one-half your officer class level to all your defenses for one round.  You must declare that you are using this talent at the beginning of your turn.  The benefits last until the beginning of your next turn.

NAVAL OFFICER TALENT TREE

You are skilled at commanding starships and small fleets.

  • Combined Fire: As a swift action, you may designate a single creature, vehicle, or object within your line of sight as the target of combined fire.  Any weapon batteries attacking that target deal an extra die of damage for every 2 points their attack roll exceeds the target’s Reflex Defense (instead of every 3 points).  In addition, when using the tactical option for a capital ship, you may designate a weapon or weapon battery to make a single attack.
  • Fleet Deployment: As a full-round action, you can designate a number of vehicles equal to your class level and within your line of sight.  Those vehicles may immediately move a number of squares equal to their speed.
    • Prerequisite: CHA 13+.
  • Fleet Tactics: As a standard action, you may designate a single vehicle as the target of a large-scale assault.  If you succeed on a DC 15 Knowledge (tactics) check, all allied gunners within line of sight deal 1 additional die of damage to the target with each successful ranged attack until the start of your next turn.  This is a mind-affecting effect.
    • Prerequisites: CHA 13+, Fleet Deployment.
  • It’s a Trap!:  You are skilled at sensing the plans of enemy naval officers and counteracting them.  Once per encounter as a reaction, you can grant the pilot of any single vehicle within line of sight (including a vehicle you are commanding) an immediate move action.
  • Legendary Commander: When you are the commander of a capital ship, calculate its Reflex Defense using your heroic level plus one-half the ship’s armor bonus (round down), the pilot’s heroic level, or the ship’s armor bonus, whichever is more.  In additional, all gunners on your ship add one-half your heroic level or one-half their heroic level, whichever is more, to damage rolls with vehicle weapons.  Finally, you treat any generic crew as being one quality level higher (maximum of ace).
    • Prerequisites: CHA 13+, INT 13+, Born Leader (Expert, Leadership Talent Tree).

COMMAND COVER


Starting at 2nd level, you can use your allies to shield you from harm.  You gain a +1 cover bonus to your Reflex Defense for each ally that is adjacent to you, up to a maximum bonus equal to one-half your class level (maximum +5 at 10th level).

SHARE TALENT


At every even-numbered level, choose a talent that you already possess. The talent you select must be under the Influence talent tree (Expert base class), the Inspiration talent tree (Expert base class), the Assault Training or Commando talent trees (Soldier base class), or the Military Tactics talent tree (see above). Once per day as a standard action, you can impart the benefits of the chosen talent to one or more allies, effectively granting them the talent even if they don’t meet the prerequisites). An ally must be within 10 squares of you and must be able to see and hear you to gain the talent; once gained, its benefits last until the end of the encounter.
You can share the talent with a number of allies equal to one-half your officer class level (rounded down).
Each time you gain this ability, it applies to a different talent.  By 10th level, an officer has five different talents he can share with up to five allies at a time.
Once you select a shared talent, it cannot be changed.