Sample file. Meet The Challenge Head On! Warmachines of Earth Behind Enemy Lines - Kazakhstan. Armoured Companies.

Transcription

1 9 Warachines of 2089 Earth 2089 Behind Eney Lines - Kazakhstan Aroured Copanies The High Frontier Meet The Challenge Head On! 9

2 1 ' Contents Lead Pilot Prototype Designer August Hahn Matthew Sprange Tactical Coander Ian Barstow Squad Leader Paul Tucker Strategic Coand Alexander Fennell Exterior Iage Designers Brent Chuley, Scott Clark Interior Iage Designers Phil Renne, Scott Clark, Stephen Cook, Stephen Shepherd, Vincent Hie Quality Assurance Ted Chang

3 Contents 3 Covert Missions 62 A Soldier s Life 4 Equipent 87 The Advanced Operative 28 Power Arour 112 Soldier Feats 54 Unconventional Warfare 121 Introduction CONTENTS 2 This printing of Soldier s Copanion is done under version 1.0 of the Open Gae Licence and the draft versions of the D20 Syste Tradeark Licence, D20 Syste Tradeark Logo Guide and Syste Reference Docuent by perission fro Wizards of the Coast. Dungeons & Dragons and Wizards of the Coast are Registered Tradearks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. in the United States and other countries and are used with perission. d20 Syste and the d20 Syste logo are Tradearks owned by Wizards of the Coast and are used according to the ters of the d20 Syste Licence version 5.0. A copy of the Licence can be found at The ention of or reference to any copany or product in these pages is not a challenge to the tradeark or copyright concerned. Portions of Soldier s Copanion are Open Gae Content licensed with version 1.0a of the Open Gaing Licence (see below). Printed in China Designation of Product Identity: All WarMek and other corporation naes and the naes of all Wareks are declared as Product Identity. Designation of Open Gae Content: With the exception of Product Identity, the text of all paragraphs and tables containing echanics and statistics derivative of the Open Gae Content and the Syste Reference Docuent are considered to be Open Gae Content. All gae echanics and statistics derivative of Open Gae Content and the d20 Syste Reference Docuent are to be considered Open Gaing Content, excepting Product Identity, as described above. All other significant characters, naes, places, ites, art and text herein are copyright Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. If you have any questions on the Open Gae Content of this product, ase contact Mongoose Publishing for clarification.

4 Introduction W ll operations by all sides in the Arageddon War are conducted by soldiers, not Meks. Whether they are open assaults, covert operations or the dirty tactics of unconventional warfare, it is peo on foot who are sent to perfor the, ared with the latest of personal weaponry and equipent. Where the WarMeks are the sword, soldiers are the scalpel. The Soldier s Copanion While displaced fro the spotlight by officers, who coand the ight of war vehicles fro tanks and aircraft to the WarMeks theselves, soldiers are still an indispensable force in any ary, national, private or ercenary. WarMek pilots consider infantry the botto rung of the ilitary ladder, used to squashing the like bugs under the tonnage of their achines and watching their anoeuvres as those of insects. But soldiers know better. They know that they are no atch for a Mek in direct confrontation, but they also know that Meks just cannot do soe of the tasks they carry out with their eyes closed. A WarMek ay deal with difficult terrain, but it will never beat the obility of rangers; they can infiltrate eney positions, but not with the proficiency and sheer inconspicuousness of an advance recon squad. A WarMek s sensors ay collect a lot of electronic inforation, but it will never beat the infiltration specialists in the depth of its discoveries. A tea of WarMeks will flatten an eney building, but they lack the finesse of the Special Forces that will get inside to rescue the hostages, disable anti-mek and anti-aerial defences and leave none-the-wiser. As the end of the 21st century draws near, the power of the individual soldier reains as strong as ever, except that it is being applied where such strength works best. This rules supent is a coprehensive collection of options for infantry-type characters in the Arageddon 2089 roleplaying gae. The characters ay be soldiers or officers fro any branch of the ilitary, but they have one thing in coon: they face cobat face to face, unprotected by tons of arour and weaponry. Whether working for a nation, a corporation or as part of a ercenary copany, soldiers are the very definition of versatility, choosing their careers in different fields of warfare, including covert operations and ilitary intelligence as uch as special forces and deolitions training. However, ilitary affairs are not liited to the obliteration of large patches of land along with the eney force that was on it; there are operations where the assets are not sheer firepower but precision, adaptability, speed, stealth and rapid response. For such issions, ilitary forces around the world still train and deploy the oldest and ost versatile achine of war: the soldier. The Soldier s Copanion opens the way to play capaigns focusing on the subtler aspects of war, far fro the deafening roar of WarMek weapons. The first chapter offers a peek into the eaning of being a soldier in a world where wars are fought between etal titans; who the soldiers are and what they do to stay alive. The Advanced Operative presents prestige classes for soldier and officer characters, broadening their fields of expertise while specialising their talents along a certain area of personal cobat and general warfare. New feats follow, with options for honing an operative s skills. Covert Missions explores the shady world of espionage and infiltration, while Unconventional Warfare gives you a look at the dirty side of war: black ops and irregular warfare. Personal Equipent provides soldiers with new tools to iprove their perforance, while Power Arour describes the highly experiental iniature Meks, the fighting chance of infantry against WarMeks. INTRODUCTION armeks. They stride onto the battlefield as if they owned it, ostly because they do. The source of the WarMeks power is also their weakness; they are so big that they are easy to spot. Despite any technological advanceent to hide a WarMek s presence, the ground still shakes with every step. A Mek is not so good to stage an abush, or to perfor rescue operations in confined spaces, nor are their attacks exactly surgical. WarMeks are a big, blunt tool of destruction. 3

5 4 a soldier S life Although the quintessential iage of the soldier is the infantry trooper, there are several roles that any person ay fulfil in a ilitary organisation, depending on his skills and the nature of the organisation itself. The less obvious positions are the adinistrative ones, with ilitary offices all over the world staffed with clerks able (and often willing) to shoot a gun. Even on the battlefield, there are several career options for the soldier to take, exeplified in the various training packages offered to soldiers after basic training. Through blunders and inspiration, the leaders of national aries have slowly learned to adapt to the changing ties, and the leaders of the infantry and ground forces ore than anybody else, faced with a new and overwheling threat called WarMek. Ary soldiers receive better training in anti-mek cobat tactics as they expect to need it ore often than corporate or ercenary soldiers, as they will be guarding sensitive targets prone to assault by Meks. By 2089, there are three ain sources of eployent and training for persons wishing to pursue a ilitary career: enlisting in their country s ary, hiring out to corporate security or join a ercenary copany. State Aries With conflict escalating in intensity between the United States and the European Federation, governents have stepped up the ways in which they strengthen their nubers. Open recruitent is certain to get the ore dedicated individuals, but andatory ilitary service, conscription and drafting have been in full force for years now, ensuring that a nation will have soe for of defence in its civilian citizens while risking the true soldiers out in the front lines. Soldiers in the service of a state ary are disciplined for the ost part; they have a long history behind the to draw a tradition fro, which does wonders for group Only the best and brightest are trained for covert operations, learning to work alone or in very sall teas. They stand apart fro the rank and of the ary and, if they live long enough, becoe the stuff of legends. Choosing a soldier s life is a decision with serious raifications, especially during ties of war but any young en and woen still hear the clarion s call and join the ared forces whether out of necessity, greed or a true desire to serve their country. Given the unstable situation of world econoics, a ilitary career is one of the few options to ensure eployent and a steady incoe, if not fro constant service, at least for assignent opportunities. Soldier's LIFE L et us face it. Soldiers see to be on the way out in the days of WarMeks, but soldiers are uch ore than little specks on the battlefield, covered in gear and wielding a puny assault rifle. Soldiers are the base and essence of an ary. The fighting en and woen of any national, corporate or ercenary force are the core of their organisation s strength. orale and otivation. The ary culture in the European Federation still harkens back to notions of honour and tradition, while United States troops rally behind the ore abstract and easily-isunderstood concepts of freedo and deocracy. The rest of the world s ared forces display a ixture of both positions, depending on how close they are to either superpower. The perks for enlisting in an ary are decent, but do not ensure a life of luxury. An ary soldier can look forward to good health care for hiself and his faily, one of the ain reasons soe peo enlist, along with housing loans or a chance to ove into ary-owned departent coxes and neighbourhoods. A retireent pension is included, increasing in worth as the soldier clibs in rank. Draftees receive the sae pay and benefits as enlisted personnel, but their voluntary corades look down on the until they prove their worth in actual cobat. Corporate Security The rise of the trans-national corporation as a seiautonoous entity began in the id-20th century and began consolidating by the century s end. It eployed retired ary personnel ostly for consulting jobs on site security and training. Aerican copanies were the first to eploy full-blown ilitary units to protect their overseas installations as the United States began withdrawing its presence abroad, so that their interests would reain protected in ore active ways. First eploying the services of flourishing ercenary copanies, corporations soon realised the benefits of literally having their own private ary, and extended peranent contracts to the soldiers of fortune they had been hiring on a freelance basis. Thus corporate aries becae the new players in international conflicts. The corporate sector is happy to welcoe retired soldiers fro any ary, who igrated in droves

6 Mercenary Copanies Mercenaries have existed since shortly after the first organised aries sprang fro a nascent epire, but cae into their own during the Middle Ages, where free copanies terrorised the countryside when they had no client to pay for their services. Due to their excesses, the ter ercenary gained a very negative connotation, with its equivalent of sell-sword becoing a synony for traitor. Lone ercenaries calling theselves soldiers of fortune becae the nor during the late 20th century, when the veterans of any sall wars retired without the ability or disposition to live in civilian society. As the culture of war shifted fro direct confrontation to long-distance and ipersonal engageents, governents, and later corporations, shed the last renants of reticence about hiring ercenaries to do their dirty work. Mercenary copanies were back in force. Corporations wage sall wars of their own. The largest ones can never be sure if the latest attack on one of their facilities was paid for by an eney faction willing to crip their countries infrastructure or by a rival copany who, to date, have used their private aries for defence only, hiring ercenaries for offensive actions against their copetitors. In these silent wars, industrial espionage and sabotage are quite coon, granting retired or even rogue covert operatives a chance to ply their trade away fro state interests. Governents worry with just cause that corporations are now acquiring the know-how of top covert operations and ay soon be training their own intelligence corps. The paycheques are fatter and the perks are better than the national aries offer but, then again, corporations do not keep the sae nuber of troops as countries. Depending on the copany, soldiers ay receive the sae housing and loan arrangeents as other eployees. In light of the bragging of WarMek pilots, soldiers clai that the first odern ercenary copanies were Special Forces units, usually groups of friends who worked together while in service and fored a copany after they retired, voluntarily or otherwise. The less scrupulous started working for criinal organisations and thus causing serious trouble to law enforceent officers without h e a v y cobat training, but Corporate soldiers have a ore individualistic bent than their counterparts in state and ercenary forces, their group tactics are average to poor and there is not quite the sae sense of caaraderie found in the other kinds of aries. Office politics have slowly trickled down to the security departents of any corporations, and any officers and soldiers are accoplished backstabbers. Calling the ercenaries would be an insult to the personnel of true ercenary copanies. Not that everything is bad in the private sector. Corporate soldiers travel a lot if they prove their usefulness, going fro one branch office to the next, either serving as effective security forces or training local personnel. 5 Soldier's LIFE after the privatisation of the U.S. Ary into General Defence Corporation, effectively lifting any of the legal restrictions of retired soldiers working abroad. Experienced and battle-hardened en and woen are given higher rank within a corporation s security departent, soething that attracts any disenchanted officers and frustrated soldiers. The second tier of corporate aries consists on fresh eployees, who would receive the nae of rookie recruit or fresh eat had they enlisted on a national ary. They wish to undergo cobat training but are not quite as keen on being sent to war and the corporate sector offers a chance for siilar training and better pay, with relatively fewer risks. Such rookies are of a lesser quality than even national ary draftees, with the phrase I not paid enough for this being a constant aongst the. Veteran soldiers treat the worse than they treated draftees, but now and then a rookie will prove his worth and be prooted both on paper and prestige.