Soldier

Some take up arms for glory, wealth, or revenge. Others do battle to prove themselves, to protect others, or because they know nothing else. Still others learn the ways of weaponcraft to hone their bodies in battle and prove their mettle in the forge of war. Classically trained in one of a variety of martial paths, and highly disciplined, the soldier is no stranger to battle.

Class Features

The following are class features of the soldier.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A soldier is proficient with all simple weapons and with light armor and shields. He treats his soldier level as his fighter level for the purpose of meeting any feat prerequisites.

Bonus Feats

At 1st level, 2nd level, 4th level, and every four levels thereafter, a soldier gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement. These bonus feats must be selected from those listed as Combat Feats or Teamwork Feats. He must meet the prerequisites of these feats as usual. Beginning at 4th level, he may instead choose to learn an Advanced Armor Training option.

Each time he gains a new level, a soldier can choose to learn a new bonus feat in place of a bonus feat he has already learned. In effect, the soldier loses the bonus feat in exchange for the new one. The old feat cannot be one that was used as a prerequisite for another feat, prestige class, or other ability. A soldier can only exchange a number of feats equal to his Int mod (min 1) at any given level and must choose whether or not to swap the feat(s) at the time he gains the level.

Loyalty (Ex)

Starting at 2nd level, a soldier gains a +1 bonus on Will saves against fear, charm, and compulsion effects . This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd.

Soldier Archetype (Ex)

Starting at 3rd level, a soldier branches out into a particular field of military training. Select an archetype from the list linked to this page. The archetype chosen grants a variety of abilities to the soldier, and may modify his proficiencies, class skills, hit die, and the like.

Soldiers can train for the following archetypes:

• Cavalryman

• Infantryman

• Officer

• Ranger

• Shock Trooper

Weapon Training (Ex)

Starting at 5th level, a soldier can select one group of weapons, as noted below. Whenever he attacks with a weapon from this group, he gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls.

Every four levels thereafter (9th*, 13th, and 17th), a soldier becomes further trained in another group of weapons. He gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when using a weapon from this group. In addition, the bonuses granted by previous weapon groups increase by +1 each. For example, when a soldier reaches 9th level, he receives a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with one weapon group and a +2 bonus on attack and damage rolls with the weapon group selected at 5th level. Bonuses granted from overlapping groups do not stack. Take the highest bonus granted for a weapon if it resides in two or more groups.

A soldier also adds this bonus to any combat maneuver checks made with weapons from his group. This bonus also applies to the soldier’s Combat Maneuver Defense when defending against disarm and sunder attempts made against weapons from this group.

Advanced Weapon Training: Beginning at 9th level, instead of selecting an additional soldier weapon group, a soldier can choose an advanced weapon training option (see Advanced Weapon Training) for one soldier weapon group that he previously selected with the weapon training class feature. When this feature is selected, the numerical bonus for any groups already selected increases as normal - he simply gives up the selection of a new weapon group.

Weapon groups are defined as follows.

Blades, Long

Double walking stick katana, katana, saber, no-dachi, scythe, seven-branched sword, temple sword, urumi

Blades, Short

Bich'hwa, bowie, kama, knife, kunai, wakizashi

Close

Blackjack, brass knuckles, emei piercer, fighting fan, hook hand, punching dagger, spiked knuckles, spring blade, tekko-kagi, unarmed strike, wooden stake

Double

Bo staff, chain spear, double-chained kama, double walking stick katana, gunaxe, gunblade, kusarigama, quarterstaff

Flails and Whips

Bullwhip, kyoketsu shoge, lasso, meteor hammer, nine-section whip, siangham, urumi

Hammers and Clubs

Blackjack, dan bong, mere club, nunchaku, sai, tetsubo, warhammer

Heavy

Autocannon, heavy cannon, rocket launcher, rotary cannon, stutter gun.

Longarms

Autorifle, binary rifle, double-barreled shotgun, pump-action shotgun, shotgun, rifle, scoped rifle, syringe rifle

Monk

Anything with the monk special property, unarmed strikes

Natural

Bite, claw, gore, hooves, pincers, slam, tail slap, unarmed strike, wing buffet

Polearms

Bo staff, collapsible kumade, kumade, naginata, quarterstaff

Sidearms

Derringer, revolver, scorpion, syringe pistol

Spears

Bayonet, boarding pike, longspear, shortspear, spear

Stealth

Compound longbow, compound shortbow, crossbow, longbow, repeating crossbow, shortbow, shuriken cannon, syringe pistol, syringe rifle

Thrown

Boomerang, chakram, kunai, kyoketsu shoge, lasso, shortspear, shuriken, spear

Exhaustive Training (Ex)

At 6th level, and every 4 levels thereafter (until 18th level), the soldier gains an additional point to allocate to any attribute. If he allocates this bonus point to his lowest attribute (not counting modifiers), it increases by 2, rather than by 1.

He may instead gain an additional bonus feat, following all the limitations normally involved with soldier bonus feats.

Archetype Ability (Ex)

At 7th level, and every 4 levels thereafter (until 19th level), the soldier gains an ability related to his archetype. See the soldier archetype for the particular abilities granted.

Weapon Mastery (Ex)

At 20th level, a soldier chooses one weapon, such as the saber, pistol, or katana. Any attacks made with that weapon automatically confirm all critical threats and have their damage multiplier increased by 1 (×2 becomes ×3, for example). In addition, he cannot be disarmed while wielding a weapon of this type.