Military Scientist

A Military Scientist can capably lead an increasing number of troops as they improve their skill. They can prevent their troops from fleeing after they have gained their confidence. The main ability of a Military Scientist is to anticipate and react to enemy manoeuvres quickly because of their knowledge of tactics.

Restrictions

A Military Scientist must be able to read & write in at least one language at Rank 6 or above if they wish to advance beyond Rank 2.

Specialised Fields

This Skill has a number of specialised fields. One is gained at each of Rank 0, 3, 6, 8, and 10. Once a character has achieved Rank 10 they may learn extra fields at a cost of 1500 EP and 4 weeks of training, each. The fields are:

AERIAL: planning for or against magically or naturally flying troops.
BATTLEFIELD: formulating and implementing battlefield level tactics, involving from hundreds to tens of thousands of troops.
LOGISTICS: the ability to organise and control a military organisation.
NAVAL: tactics involving from one ship up to fleet actions.
SIEGE: conducting or defending against siege actions.
SKIRMISH: tactics involving from one to fifty troops, includes guerrilla and resistance tactics, and operating behind enemy lines.
STRATEGY: overall campaign level command of a military force.

Benefits

COMMAND: A Military Scientist may control a much larger number of subordinates than is possible with most skills. Also, a Military Scientist's subordinates need not be practising this skill, nor need all be using the same skill. A Military Scientist could thus command a Mechanician, who was in turn in charge of building siege engines, and a Healer who was supervising other Healers and teams of stretcher-bearers. Any subordinate may be replaced by a unit of labourers or soldiers. A Military Scientist may have up to (WP/2 (+1/Rank)) subordinates. A Military Scientist with the Battlefield specialisation may have up to (WP +2/Rank) subordinates.

PERSONAL GUARD: After drilling for (12 - Rank) months, or being in combat situations for a like number of weeks, a Military Scientist may form a personal guard of (WP + 5 + [2x Rank]) troops. These troops will be steadfastly loyal to the Military Scientist. The Military Scientist gains a (2 x Rank)% bonus when attempting to command, rally, etc. their personal guard. A personal guard will automatically follow all rational commands from the Military Scientist in all but the most stressful situations. In addition, a personal guard may be commanded as a single unit, replacing only one subordinate, even if there are more than 10 individuals in the guard.

RALLY TROOPS: A Military Scientist may attempt to rally fleeing troops that have been fleeing for less than 30 (+5 / Rank) seconds. The Military Scientist must declare how many troops are being rallied during one round. If the Military Scientist is on the Tactical Display, a rally attempt requires a Pass Action. The Base Chance of rallying is ( 2 x WP ) + (10 / Rank) - Number of troops to be rallied. If the roll is within the Base Chance the troops rally, and will begin to follow orders again; if the roll is greater than the Base Chance the troops continue to flee. The Chance of a being rallying is decreased by 25% for each time after the first that it has broken during the battle. Because of this it is possible for a successful rally attempt to affect only some of the fleeing troops.

RAISE MORALE: A Military Scientist may temporarily increase each of their direct subordinate's WP values by (Rank / 2) round down, provided that the Military Scientist takes a Pass Action every second round. To use this ability, the Military Scientist may not be engaged, stunned, or otherwise incapacitated.

PERCEIVE TACTICS: A Military Scientist may be able to perceive the tactics being employed by the enemy, as they are put into use, but before they come to fruition. To use this ability, the Military Scientist must be unengaged, in a position to see the majority of the combat, and the combat must be of a type with which they are specialized. In addition, if the Combat is on the Tactical Display, the Military Scientist must take a Pass action to implement this ability. The Base Chance of Perceiving Tactics is: PC + (7/Rank). The GM rolls D100; if the roll is within the Base Chance, the GM informs the player of the enemy's plan in general terms. If the roll is greater than the Base Chance but less than twice the Base Chance, the Military Scientist is unsure of the enemy plan. If the roll is greater than twice the Base Chance, the GM should mislead the player as to the enemy's plan, with the information becoming completely false as the roll approaches 100.

INITIATIVE: If a group involved in combat on the Tactical Display are led in combat by a Military Scientist with the Skirmish field, the Military Scientist may add (2 x Rank), minimum 1, to the group's initiative die roll, provided that they are not Stunned or otherwise incapacitated, or engaged in Melee or Close combat.

TIME OUT: If a group involved in combat on the Tactical Display have a Military Scientist with the Skirmish field leading them, they may have more time to plan their actions between rounds of combat. The Military Scientist may request a break period of up to 20 seconds (+10 / Rank), between each and every Pulse, in which to plan their actions and those of their companions. This time simulates the orders and pre-arranged battle plans of the Military Scientist. The players may speak with the Military Scientist, and with each other, but should limit their conversation to the matters at hand. Only the Military Scientist leading the group in combat may use this ability.

LOGISTICS: If the Military Scientist learns the Logistics field, they gain knowledge of logistics management, billeting and supplying troops, organising foraging parties, posting watches, running patrols, and the general day-to-day smooth running of a complex organisation. The number of people that may be effectively controlled by one organiser is ((WP / 2) + Rank) x 100. This need not be an army, but could also be an exploratory expedition, merchant caravan, etc. If the Military Scientist has the Naval field they may also control the logistics for (Rank + 1) ships. 
Rank 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
EP 300 125 350 950 1500 2350 3100 4150 5400 6750 10000

Design Notes

The major change here is the introduction of specialist fields. The intention is to allow for different flavours of Mil Sci. Most PCs will wish to acquire the Skirmish field, but all need not, and there are some Mil Sci's within the guild who had demonstrated over the years that they should certainly not lead troops on the hex grid. The leadership ability (ie. the number of troops that a Mil Sci can lead) has be altered, and in conjunction with the Supervision ability forms the backbone for either a player or GM creating a chain of command. The other notable alteration is the use of 2 x Rank in the unengaged Initiative calculation. Currently the calculation is (PC + Rank + D10). 2 x Rank would mean that skill would count about as much as Perception and more than luck.

Existing Mil Sci characters may choose the fields that they want. GMs helping with conversion should ensure that Players understand that to be an effective Mil Sci on the tactical display they will need to have the Skirmish field.

Copyright 1999, Martin Dickson.