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1 year ago ::
Apr 29, 2012 - 7:04AM
#1
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Regarding the Rank & Benefits system for military organizations (Galaxy at War)...
From what I gathered, if I used the rank & privilegie system as written, my group have a private (5), a corporal (6), a seargent (7) and two second lieutenants (12). The rules limit the ranks, so only one player can be the commander and can use the special orders.
But what about the benefits? From what I can see, the players keep benefits from all previous ranks, if they didn't it would be "useless" to be ranked Chief Warrant Officer for example. That said, the Sergeant ability seems very powerful if three of your players have it because that's 3 extra moveactions per combat for the entire group... Especially if used in the first round of combat to move an additional 18 squares!
7 Sergeant: Sergeants are in command of squads. Once per encounter as a swift action, a sergeant can grant an additional move action to all allies with in line of sight.
8-9 Warrant Officer: Warrant officers are specialists in a given field. Once per encounter, a warrant officer gains a +5 insight bonus on one INT-based skill check.
10 Chief Warrant Officer: The rank of chief warrant officer is an honorific that , provides no mechanical benefit.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 29, 2012 - 9:32AM
#2
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Date Joined:
Oct 10, 2007
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I can't figure out what book you're working from but based on what you wrote it looks like you only benefit from your current rank.
Chief Warrant Officer shouldn't have any benefit since it's only an "honorary rank" meaning that it is bestowed upon someone who may or may not actually be part of the military and who would have no influence over his subordinates or superiors. So it makes sense that you gain no benefit from that "rank".
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1 year ago ::
Apr 29, 2012 - 9:48AM
#3
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im pretty sure he is working from galaxy at war
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1 year ago ::
Apr 29, 2012 - 11:38AM
#4
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I can't figure out what book you're working from but based on what you wrote it looks like you only benefit from your current rank.
Chief Warrant Officer shouldn't have any benefit since it's only an "honorary rank" meaning that it is bestowed upon someone who may or may not actually be part of the military and who would have no influence over his subordinates or superiors. So it makes sense that you gain no benefit from that "rank".
Like Resh1138 guessed it's Galaxy at War. The way the ranking system works, the Seargent benefit is so good that it's almost like it's robbed from you kicking and screaming once you level up (since then you gain +1 rank and you become a Warrant Officer instead).
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1 year ago ::
Apr 29, 2012 - 11:45AM
#5
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then just get yourself either ranked up or back down to what you need if your gm doesn't allow you to keep them; personally i would allow them to keep their bonuses since having nothing but the special orders sucks
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1 year ago ::
Apr 29, 2012 - 12:19PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Oct 10, 2007
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I overlooked the section in the index of GaW that listed the priviledges. I would say the benefits are cumulative with the following caveat. Very, very few NCOs get to go to OCS (officers candidate school) therefore you should not allow characters who started "in the Ranks" to carry over their benefits to their officer levels unless they are very well known. Most Sergents don't think much of Lts and advise rather than accept advice from them.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 29, 2012 - 12:23PM
#7
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It appears that we are looking at table 2-9 on pg 77 of GaW.
I'm inclined to say that a group can only have one commander (as noted somewhere else) and that character is the only one who can take advantage of the benefits and duities section of that table. That person can pick from his rank down but you shouldn't be able to have three Sergeants all granting move actions to everyone.
Like all organization "benefits" things need to be carefully considered. Some benefits look innocent enough until you figure out how they combo into something much stronger.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 30, 2012 - 2:25AM
#8
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I am not going to use the rules as written since my players aren't part of a military organization, they are starting one. I only look at GaW as an inspiration.
The two "highest ranked" players are;
1. A noble/officer who since level 1 have been told that he have academic training as a leader and also have the Champion destiny. I as a GM feel that I have loaded this guy with promises but couldn't deliver. In combat he simply never felt significant. One issue is that "Born Leader" is a fire-and-forget ability that adds no extra control in combat.
2. A deserted COMPFORCE soldier with heavy military experience who is very good at dishing out damage but isn't used much outside combat. The player himself also happens to be a war-geek who GM's Twillight 2000 (military rpg).
In the next few sessions will be an excellent opportunity for me to put these two in the spotlight. For the first player it's actually the most important step in his destiny up to date, where his academic training becomes reality. I consider giving this guy all the benefits and I do not believe that would hamper the balance at all considering how "useless" he is at the moment. I then have to come up with something else for the other guy.
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1 year ago ::
May 02, 2012 - 12:58PM
#9
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From reading the bonuses, it sounds like they are not intended to be cumulative. For example, the Warrant Officer is described as specialist and gets a bonus for being a specialist. A 2nd degree Lt. outranks the Warrant Officer, but an Lt. isn’t a specialist, he’s a command officer and his bonus reflects that. Personally, I would give the characters all bonuses within a similar rank number (on the left side of the page), so a Master Chief would get both the Warrant Officer and the Master Chief Warrant Officer bonuses, but might lose them if he accepts a commission as an officer and a command rank. Similarly, a colonel would receive the benefits of being a major, but not those of a captain. More specific to your question, you might want to limit the use of a given rank’s ability to once an encounter, even if multiple characters have that ability. That seems a fair way to enable the lower ranked characters to use their abilities without the characters getting 18 squares of free movement round one. Assigning ranks to characters based on their ability is a little flawed. The system in Galaxy at War would have many characters eventually rising to officer status after a while, but this might not reflect their actual role. Consider Han Solo in Return of the Jedi: he’s a general, but most generals don’t lead ground troops on tactical assaults. I wouldn’t hold characters to the ranking system in Galaxy at War too tightly, although it is a decent quick and dirty way to establish rank. If you want to encourage tactical thinking on behalf of your player’s second Lt., there are a few things you can do. One is to give the characters encounters that benefit from tactical thinking. Let’s say there’s some stromtroopers imbedded at the end of a canyon with an e-web blaster, and there are two narrow cervices to either side. Assaulting the position head on would be suicide, but attacking one of the crevices would be equally difficult because a few troopers could hold the crevice while they reposition the e-web. The solution might be for some of the party to draw the e-web’s fire from a head on assault while the others go through one or both of the crevices. Another cheap and dirty way to encourage tactics is to make interesting battlefields with plenty of environmental hazards, places for cover, etc. You may also want to occasionally give the characters some advance warning on encounters (represented by information gained from scouts in the vanguard or bothans or something). This enables the party to plan out their tactics ahead of time. Don’t do this all the time as it can get stale and slow up the game, but providing this information on occasion can help the party to think as a military unit. If you do this, don’t forget to throw in a few surprises that the scouts didn’t notice once in a while. Finally you may want to encourage your players to offer suggestions to their officers. This is particularly helpful if the players portraying the officers aren’t necessarily tactically minded. The officer PC can always voice what another player has said as a tactical direction. Don’t let this overshadow the other characters though; everyone should have some spot in the limelight at some point.
Rule one isn’t “The DM is always right.” Rule one is: Everyone should be having fun at the table.
Plans for 5e: Kill the d20, and replace it with a bell curve for task resolution.
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