Combat Specialists

## **The Precision Violence of the Stonehearth Arms**

The **Infantry Soldier** of the Stonehearth Arms is, collectively, the most dangerous force on Faerûn. Whether the Dragoon or the Musketeer, these formations – and the cannons behind them – can turn mountains into valleys.

There are points, however, where special terrain and environmental restrictions require a different approach. For these situations, Stonehearth has applied martial science to devise an evolution of their soldiers into specialists. These specialists are particularly trained and equipped to handle the challenges that would otherwise preclude deployment to that battlefield.

The specialists are divided into two forward classes which are *usually* mutually exclusive: the Marine and the Ranger. Both have a minimum commitment of two years in the infantry, achieving and certifying as Level 6 before entry. This critical component is not only for the general combat experience, but also the level-6 training that provides resistane to mind control.

The Guard is the third technical specialist and is a more recent addition to the Stonehearth arsenal of military capacity. A highly political move, guard duty was once the purview of the infanty rotated through the barracks local jurisdiction. As Stonehearth began projecting force, people started protesting the length and distance of the deployments, fearing they were left undefended. The Guard became the answer: a dedicated defensive force that will always remain based from their barracks – and will serve as gendarmeries for their jurisdiction.

### **A Roleplay Note**

While a highly-motivated individual may be inspired to put in early for specialist duty, the majority of Marines and near-entirety of Rangers serve their full 6-year tour in the infantry before making that jump. Those who do so after the 2-year limit are often looked at with a jaundiced eye – and for good reason: impetuous youth often gets itself killed, and that does no favors for completing the mission (or the rest of the unit that will haul their body back to North Point).

The Guard, naturally, do their own version of this – but the guard also protect the likes of the Royal Treasury, the Royal Mint, the defensive Mythallars and so on. Guard candidates are required to complete a full six years of service, primarily for the mind control resistance. Upon selection to the Guard, they go through a specialized training cycle, then are reattached to infantry – but now as Guard. After these 2 additional years in Fire Companies, they are assigned to a jurisdiction for their next four years. The last year of this has an additional 6-month rotation through the field just before their final six-months on-post.

#### **Multiclassing**

The combat specialist roles necessitate multiclassing a character. While shooting and hacking as Infantry shares certain traits as shooting and hacking as a specialist, the remaining supporting skills differ that it is truly a fork into a different combat-oriented lifestyle.

The possibility of more than one class, and the follow-through to levels beyond 20, is distinctly possible. This is especially true for long campaigns, where players are determined to see the Stonehearth initiative against the greatest of the Far Realms invaders followed through to completion.

The Primal Magic campaign utilizes optimized multiclassing rules:

* **Primal Multiclass Characters**

### **Specialist Roles**

#### **Stonehearth Marines**

* The Marines are over-the-beach commandos and maritime gendarmeries, fulfilling the role of the Guard aboard Stonehearth ships and port facilties.
* **Stonehearth Marines**

#### **Stonehearth Rangers**

* The Rangers are long-distance reconnaissance, mountain troop and direct action soldiers, specially trained in survival, tracking, hunting and camouflage techniques.
* **Stonehearth Rangers**

#### **Stonehearth Guard**

* Defensive specialists, they are a military-grade rapid response force and law-enforcement gendarmerie.
* **Stonehearth Guard**

## **The Sergeants-at-Arms**

The Sergeants-at-Arms (SA) are the final stage of the Stonehearth military progressions. These are, officially, the personal bodyguards of the marquis. The selectively-confirmed truth is that they are far more than personal retainers, they are spies and assassins in the service of House Stonehearth.

An extraordinarily capable special operations unit, they can perform certain discreet, highly sensitive missions and operations on behalf of the House, even functioning as diplomats and attachés.

There are three ways into the SA: the *Rangers* (50%), the *Marines* (40%), and*Other* (10%). Candidates may petition for entry after four years of service in one of the specialist roles.

The majority of the "Other" are protection specialists from the Guard, but this also includes non-traditional recruitment routes, where a candidate may offer the SA a special or unique capacity, such as unique magical or psionic skills.

* **The Sergeants-at-Arms (SA)**