Marshal

Marshal

The Marshal is envisioned as a fighter/rogue; someone who combined martial talent with the ability to command troops, be it a brigade of warriors or a small unit of tomb-robbers and temple-despoilers. Many Marshals will be officers, commissioned or non-commissioned, but others will have gathered their knowledge more haphazardly, in kobars and barracks, wherever warriors congregate, talk shop, and look to others to make the decisions and take the blame.

Marshals tend to be Lawful, but are not restricted from other alignments. Many favor the Old Man, but his worship is likewise not required.

Hit Die (d8)	Attack Bonus	Speed	Initiative	Initiative Die
1
1+rr
2	1		-1
2+rr	1		-1
3	2		-1	1 die better
3+rr	2		-1	1 die better
4	2	-1	-1	1 die better
4+rr	3	-1	-2	1 die better
5	3	-1	-2	1 die better
5+rr	3	-1	-2	1 die better
6	4	-1	-2	1 die better
6+rr	4	-1	-2	1 die better
7	4	-1	-2	1 die better
7+rr	5	-1	-3	1 die better
8	5	-1	-3	2 dice better
8+rr	6	-2	-3	2 dice better
9	6	-2	-3	2 dice better
9+rr	6	-2	-3	2 dice better
10	7	-2	-3	2 dice better
10+rr	7	-2	-4	2 dice better

Combat:
Like a thief or rogue, a Marshal learns to react quickly, gaining improved initiative dice and a reduction of initiative. Their skill at arms also results in a sizable attack bonus, and an eventual speed reduction. Adept at exploiting an opening, they may strike Fleeing Opponents like a thief (effectively allowing a backstab on fleeing opponents with whatever weapon the Marshal wields; see page 52 of the PH).

Weaponry and Armor
Weapons: Marshals may learn proficiency in any weapon at half the usual BP cost.
Armor: Marshals begin with proficiency in shields and all armors.
Specialization: Marshals may specialize in any weapon they are proficient in at an initial cost of 6 BP for Attack, Defense, Speed and Damage. Further purchases cost 2x, 3x, and 4x, as normal.

Talents and Proficiencies
Marshals have reduced cost access to a variety of talents. Any of the below talents may be purchased at half the usual cost; those marked with an asterisk may only be purchased at the lower cost twice each:
Hiking/Roadmarching, Polyglot, Laborer, Phalanx Fighting, Attack Bonus*, Parry Bonus*, Swiftblade*, Damage Bonus*, Crack Shot*, Greased Lightning*.

Marshal's Command
As much as anything, good leadership involves capitalizing on opportunities; Marshals and their allies seem to have more than their share of these. Each level, Marshals have 12 command points (+1 per even level). These command points may be spent by the Marshal similarly to a thief's luck points (see pages 52 and 53), either to their own benefit or to the benefit of anyone whose Honor score affects them through group honor, including those in their chain of command (either above or below them) and fellow adventurers. Note that no individual may benefit from more than 5 command points at a time; if you have 10 Marshals in your service, you cannot get a +120 to your defense roll just because they all love you and want to protect you.

Skills
Marshals need to fill multiple roles and oversee different aspects of campaigning, and study extensively. As such, they have a variety of skills.

At 1st level, a Marshal receives the following skills for free:
Literacy (Native Language, or another language they speak if the native language is not written)
Appraisal: Arms and Armor
Leadership
4 rolls of the mastery dice for History, Ancient, either in different eras or several for the same era.

And four Skills from the following list:
Administration, Diplomacy, Engineering, First Aid, Intimidation, Interrogation, Language, Literacy, Oration, Recruiting

At each subsequent level, they may make 2 free rolls from their core skills (Administration, Diplomacy, Engineering, First Aid, Intimidation, Interrogation, Language, Leadership, Literacy, Oration, Recruiting), as well as a free mastery die in any History, Ancient skill they possess or have been exposed to.

Other Skills: Marshals are exposed to a large number of other skills. These are secondary areas of specialization that they have some familiarity with: Appraisal, Arcane Lore, Blacksmithing/Metalworking, Carpentry/Woodworking, Cartography, Current Affairs, Divine Lore, Fire Building, Leatherworking, Listening, Mathematics, Mining, Monster Lore, Musician, Observation, Religion, Resist Persuasion, Riding and Torture. If the Marshal purchases one of these skills, or one of the ones from their class lists, they receive a +2 modifier to the mastery die (or their attribute modifier, whichever is better). Furthermore, all purchases of Appraisal: Arms and Armor are made at half price.

Knowledge
A Marshal is a learned individual who has been exposed to a great deal of information; as such, they may use the Knowledge ability as a rogue (page 56), though Marshals are less likely to exaggerate their knowledge.

Influence
Marshals have a way with words. They may, by addressing troops, attempt to bolster or restore their morale. If they address common (non-player character) troops for five minutes within a day before a battle, they may increase their effective morale for that battle by one level if the troops fail a saving throw; if the Marshal rolls a 1 for their opposed roll, the troop morale instead decreases by one level (this may be avoided by spending a command point). If a unit begins to break or rout during battle, a Marshal may attempt to rally them. This 5 second action resets the Marshal's and the unit's count, but stops the break or rout for those five seconds, and allows a new morale check (using any Charisma modifier the Marshal gains to Morale). This may only be done once per unit per battle, and has no effect on magical losses of morale.

Cost by race:

Dwarf	35
Elf	30
Gnome	35
Gnome Titan	35
Grel	50
Half-elf (elven)	30
Half-elf (human)	30
Half-Orc	50
Halfling	40
Human	20
Pixie-Faerie	50
Sil-Karg	35

 

Design notes:
This version incorporates a lot of comments from its initial posting. I removed some free TPs, but gave them a big list that they can get for a reduced cost. Their luck points were changed into command points, with a similar function but a broader application (they don't get any more, but they can also spend them to help allies). I limited them like luck points instead of Chivalry points, both because it's less useful offensively and because a Marshal will wind up in situations where they're overseeing skill-based situations (sapping, siege engine or field fortification construction), rather than purely combat.

To that end, I also rearranged some skills. I incorporated Leadership as a core skill for them, and put Engineering in the core list instead of Torture (which got downgraded to an "other" skill). I was reluctant to include something as useful as Engineering, but given the steep prerequisites (Literacy, Mathematics, and Cartography), I figured it as something like Trap Design for thieves... something on their core list, but that they're unlikely to take advantage of early. I also removed Animal Training from their list of "Other" skills, though I kept the variety of crafting skills

I specifically allowed them to take any of the standard weapon talents at half cost, which may seem like a big advantage. However, it makes up for their higher cost of specialization than a regular fighter, or the great talents of a ranger or knight within their sphere of weapons, without allowing them to get really cheap mastery. Limiting them to only 2 weapons mimics the effects of having culturally favored weapons without having to make a specific list for every culture. It does have the side effect of making certain weapons REALLY cheap for some demi-humans (like a dwarf with hammers or axes).