Ascetic Warrior (Soldier Alternate Class Feature)
Today marks another new beginning on the channel!
With the advent of Character Operations Manual came a series of new options for customizing your character’s class beyond the archetypes that are available to all classes.
In this way, these alternate class features are similar to the archetypes from Pathfinder First Edition, being specifically for use with a single class in most situations, which I felt was long overdue.
Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy how Starfinder does it’s actual archetypes, but alternate class features tied to a single class allows you to be more specific and show the variety that a single class is capable.
In any case, today we are looking at the ascetic warrior, which replaces training with heavy weapons and armor in favor of mastering hand to hand combat.
Indeed, whether these martial arts have been passed down in an unending chain to the far future, or have been rediscovered, they provide a warrior with a way to hone their bodies into deadly weapons that can even match modern weaponry, making them a foe that few foes that rely on technology and weaponry are prepared for.
Those who master this style of combat become lethally effective with their body, able to deal damaging blows even against foes wearing the armor of the far future, either targeting the weak points or possessing incredible focus and striking power. What’s more, their damage grows over mastery as they perfect the art of striking with their hands. Additionally, for those that are already possess lethal strikes due to their species, they also master using their natural weapons with skill to block and redirect foes.
A relatively simple alternate class feature, you could try focusing on unarmed combat to the exclusion of others, specializing in combat maneuvers and the like, or you could take it as a way to have a backup if you are ever disarmed. Either way, you can easily punch above your weight limit with this option.
This alternate class feature is a natural fit with the qi adept fighting style, for a powerful qi-using martial artist straight out of your favorite animes, but neither the style nor the feature need to be linked. Qi adepts may combine their energies with contemporary weaponry, and conversely, ascetic warriors might be more mundane martial artists, both of which have merits conceptually.
Tremendously insular and patient, the sazaron are a natural fit for martial arts, and they have long perfected a style that makes full use of their clubbing tails to knock aside blows and ensnare foes. Some believe that this technique came about in response to a particularly belligerent dirindi cabal which thankfully no longer exists.
The martial arts can be found anywhere where sapient life has thrived, such as on a remote world, where ruins of a humanoid civilization include guides on a martial art based on the aggressive jetting thrusts of the local jakkerants, squid-like predators that hunt in packs. Exactly what the nature of this civilization was, and where they went, however, is currently unknown.
Though mocked at first for her lack of a weapon, the masked warrior Red Snow has been rising through the challenges of the Duvar Arena’s Tournament of Champions, and many wish to know exactly where this grappler came from.