The Thunder of the Guns, the Thunder of the Hooves (GLOG Class: Soldier)

You were once a servant of the great states of the exiled west, fighting in their wars and killing their foes. Now, for whatever reason, you've left that service, whether retired in honor and glory, wounded too badly to be of further use, expelled in ignominy, deserted in disillusionment or the heat of the moment, or even simply abandoned now that the need for bodies is past. With a tide of other rejects and drifters, you journey to the distant east to begin a new life away from that overpowering thumb of banners, uniforms, and bugles.

 

Starting Equipment: A leather duster and a bandanna or an old uniform, a bottle of whiskey, 50 "silver" pieces (counterfeit), and a tattoo with a minor magical effect (see table at end of class or make up your own along those lines), as well as whatever equipment your Archetype grants.

 

Skills: Marching and 1d3: 1. Digging, 2. Escaping Notice, 3. Logistics

For each template of Soldier you take, gain +1 weapon skill and +1 inventory slot. (Weapon skills are basically +1 to-hit for a certain type of weapon, i.e. Pistols or Swords.)

A: Archetype

B: Seasoned Campaigner

C: Take No Shit

D: Indomitable

Archetype: Pick an Archetype from the list at the end of the class, and gain its ability as well as its starting equipment.

Seasoned Campaigner: You can fall asleep anywhere at any time, and will always awake instantly any time a conscious person on watch would notice something awry, but only if it's actually dangerous. Once per day, taking a nap of at least 30 minutes reduces the healing time of a wound by one day.

Take No Shit: Your force of personality, when unleashed, is utterly overwhelming. You can cut through bureaucracy, snap raw recruits out of shock, and scare the hell out of just about anyone by yelling at them for a minute.

Indomitable: If reduced to 0 Strength by wounds, you can Save to remain conscious rather than being knocked unconscious. If you do so, you take another persistent wound and must Save again every time you take a wound while still at 0 Strength.

 

Archetypes:

• Artillerist: 
• Starting Equipment: A single-action revolver with 6 rounds, a shortsword or a hatchet, a Gatling gun with 100 rounds and a horse to pull it, a bag of oats.
• Ability: You get a Gatling gun, I think that's plenty.
  
• Brawler:
• Starting Equipment: Brass knuckles, a big-ass knife and a broken table leg or a break-action shotgun with 2 rounds, a two-shot derringer with 4 rounds.
• Ability: You have 2 skill with Improvised Weapons (not otherwise a weapon skill you can take) and can improve it as usual. Your unarmed attacks can be as deadly and effective as a knife, if you choose, and any melee weapon you use can be as deadly and effective as a sword.
  
• Cavalry:
• Starting Equipment: A cavalry saber, a trapdoor carbine or a single-action revolver (12 rounds for either), a horse with tackle, a bag of oats.
• Ability: You have the Horsemanship skill and can train horses to do simple tricks with a week of training, and your penalties for firing from horseback are reduced by two.
  
• Grenadier:
• Starting Equipment: 3 black powder grenades, a rifled musket with 10 rounds and a bayonet.
• Ability: When you throw explosives, they always go exactly where you wanted them to.
  
• Gunslinger:
• Starting Equipment: Two single-action revolvers and a quick-draw revolver, each with 6 rounds.
• Ability: You don't need to roll to perform regular trick shots (throwing a card in the air, drawing a gun, and shooting it before it comes down; shooting through a noose) without a roll and absurd, impossible trick shots (shooting a coin dead center at a hundred yards between your legs) with a roll. You have advantage on Quickdraw rolls and your first attack roll with a gun in a fight.
• Infantry:
• Starting Equipment: A trapdoor rifle with 30 rounds and a bayonet, a portable moonshine still.
• Ability: You can fit your entire body behind any piece of cover bigger than a small dog.
  
• Officer:
• Starting Equipment: A saber, a single-action revolver with 12 rounds, a horse with tackle, a bag of oats.
• Ability: People will always listen to you unless they have a very good reason not to, and soldiers will follow your orders by reflex. Your side has a +1 to initiative rolls.
  
• Pioneer:
• Starting Equipment: A shovel, a pickaxe, a lever-action carbine with 12 rounds.
• Ability: You and anyone working under your direction can dig trenches and tunnels, build earthen ramparts, lay or cut barbed wire, set or destroy stakes or abatis, and otherwise fortify the landscape three times as fast as usual. You can see normally within 10 feet of you in the darkness even with no light at all.
  
• Scout:
• Starting Equipment: A lever-action rifle with 12 rounds, a tomahawk, a compass, a telescope.
• Ability: You have the Scouting and Stealth skills, and have advantage on all rolls to search, hide, or conceal in the wilderness. If traveling alone, you aren't impeded by any natural obstacles.
  
• Sharpshooter:
• Starting Equipment: A falling-block rifle with 10 rounds, a knife, a telescope.
  
• Ability: You suffer no penalties for range up to the absolute maximum range of your gun.

d20 Magical Tattoos:

1. Campfire: If you would be on fire, burns instead of you. After 5 cumulative minutes of being on fire, it burns up completely, leaving a permanent red scar.
2. Anchor: You cannot be moved against your will.
3. Pinup: You become more attractive to people you are attracted to the more intoxicated you are.
4. Mug of Beer: You can't overdose or suffer injury as a result of overindulging in drugs. Does not prevent you from passing out, blacking out, or making terrible, horrible, awful decisions.
5. Eye: Commanding officers and others with authority over you won't notice you incidentally. They'll still see you if you're attracting attention or if they're actively searching for you specifically.
6. Ex's Name: Gives you a tingly feeling when you're about to do something really fucking stupid (read: once per session, your DM will warn you if they think something you're about to do is a catastrophically bad idea).
7. Scripture: If a wound to the body part this tattoo is on would instantly kill you, you make your Luck check against instant death with advantage.
8. Barbed Wire: Small stabby objects (barbed wire, thorns, needles) don't hurt you, although they can still catch your clothes.
   
9. The Sun: Hostile supernatural creatures will attack you last, after any and all of your allies.
10. The Moon: You can see in starlight as in moonlight and in moonlight as in torchlight.
11. Teapot: You can heat liquid-containing vessels (and only those) in your hands, all the way to boiling if desired.
12. Skull and Crossbones: You know the most valuable thing in the room you're currently in, but not necessarily its location or its actual worth.
13. Tree: You can climb trees like a squirrel if carrying nothing heavy, or like a leopard carrying a dead impala if laden. 
14. Raven: You have a perfect memory for faces.
15. Cat: Your attacks have +1 to their wound severity rolls if your target is surprised.
    
16. Dolphin: You can hold your breath for five minutes.
17. Raccoon: You have an extra inventory slot which can only hold non-preserved food.
18. Map: Provides a constantly shifting map of the area within two miles, poorly detailed and without labels or key.
19. Cattle Brand: You can tell how any scar on any person or other creature you can see was caused.
20. Occult Symbol: Once ever, summon an otherworldly being of 2d4 HD. This being rolls reaction as normal (not automatically friendly or hostile). Once used, turns into a permanent red scar. Will probably get you run out of town if seen.