Marine (Character Kit)

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==Marine==
Description: The Marine is the soldier of shipboard life. Marines are trained in the arts of war aboard ship: repelling boarders (or boarding another vessel), operating large weapons, and engaging in the tactics of ship-to-ship war.
Mot all Marines are line soldiers. In most military organizations, Marines have their own hierarchy of command, parallel to the command of the regular shipboard personnel. The Marine commander is subservient only to the ship's captain, and has considerable independence in how he conducts his affairs.
Famous Marine organizations include the Kintiara of the elven Imperial Fleet (which many believe to be the finest force of Marines in the Known Spheres), the Scro Brethren of the Knife (who man the dread scro battlewagons), and the Wing Jen Sen of the Shou dragonships. The giff military considers all their troops to be Marines.
Role: Marines serve organized military space naval forces, providing the muscle for hand-to-hand battle. They also serve aboard merchant vessels as security officers and as tactical commanders in time of battle.
Fighters make the best Marines. The specialized skills of the ranger and paladin are not of much use in the typical tasks of the Marine. Rangers will find life aboard ship and under command too confining; paladins will find it difficult to demonstrate service to their god while serving as a hired sword.
To become a Marine, the character must have a minimum Strength of 12, Constitution of 13, and Intelligence of 11 (Marine forces are generally elite, and do not accept those of below-average intelligence).
To abandon the Marine kit, the character must resign his place in the military forces. Doing this at a crucial time may cause the character to be brought up on charges of desertion. Most Marine organizations require the commander's consent before a resignation is approved, and such resignations will not be approved for frivolous or cowardly reasons.
Secondary Skills:
* Required: Armorer
Weapon Proficiencies:
* Required: The Marine must take proficiency in the weapons of his unit. The specific weapon depends on the unit's preferences; commonly they will include a missile weapon, a polearm (for warding off boarders), and a sword or cutlass. Many units also require proficiency in at least one large weapon.
Space Marines may not train in horseman's weapons (horseman's flail, mace, or pick), nor may they study non-military weapons (blowgun, mancatcher, scourge, sickle, trident, or whip).
Nonweapon Proficiencies:
* Bonus: Spacemanship.
* Recommended: (Warrior) Armorer, Bowyer/Fletcher, Navigation, Weaponsmithing.
Equipment: Marines must first purchase their equipment, which is fixed by their unit. If, for example, their unit uses a halberd and fights in studded leather armor, then the Marine must purchase (and maintain) a halberd and a set of studded leather armor before purchasing anything else.
Special Benefits: Marines receive a free weapon specialization in one of the unit's weapons. The character must pay the base proficiency for the weapon, but the character then gets specialization for free.
The player must designate which weapon is receiving the specialization before play begins. It is not permissible to switch the specialization around; it applies to only one weapon.
Special Hindrances: Marines are required to remain with their units. This means that they may not travel freely, and as a result do not have a lot of time for adventuring. Moreover, as with other kits, the Marine's duties are not always safe, and the Marine may be ordered into a perilous situation; the character cannot refuse.
Wealth Options: Marines receive the  usual amount of starting money (5d4* 10 gp). However, they receive a 50% discount when purchasing the equipment required by their unit, because they are able to purchase it directly from the unit.
Races: Of the demihuman races, elves have by far the most famous Marines. Elven warriors are noted for their skill and tenacity. Dwarves, gnomes, and halflings do not maintain a separate organization of Marines, and few of these beings specialize in ship defense, so they are rarely Marines.
Of the nonhumans, giff are the prototypical Marines. In fact, it would not be unreasonable for every giff in a campaign to take this kit. The scro also maintain an elite fighting force, but its impact (aside from the occasional raid) on the Known Spheres is limited because the scro have so few ships. Most of the other races do not maintain separate Marine forces. Rastipedes find the idea of a career as a professional warrior disturbing.
Category:Character Kit
Category:Character Kit CSH