The Colonial Militia is the person who holds the settlement when the Legion is a year away and the warlords are at the gate. They are not professional soldiers; they are farmers, miners, Mechanics, and settlers who picked up a rifle because nobody else would. In the Nine's corporatocracy, every Rim settlement is a line item: a territorial holding with an expected return. The Militia is the cheapest way to protect that investment. The militia holds ground nobody is paid to hold: the pump Station, the seed vault, the road the relief convoy needs intact. The Kadiss grid barely tracks them; most Militia members are flagged as "civilian, frontier" with no military registration, which suits them fine. What they lack in formal training they make up for in intimate knowledge of the terrain they defend. Every ridge, every choke-point, every seasonal flood-plain is a weapon in the Militia's hands. They operate on the Combat chassis (d10 HD, full BAB, Fort/Ref good, Will poor) -- physically tough and quick to react, but their discipline is self-taught and their willpower is shaped by stubbornness rather than conditioning. Their defining Mechanic is Terrain Mastery: the Militia fights better on ground they know. Where the Soldier is a generalist professional, the Colonial Militia is the defender of last resort -- the person who knows that the creek floods in spring, that the eastern ridge has loose scree, and that the old mine shaft makes a perfect fallback position.
All simple firearms, All melee weapons, Improvised weapons, Shotguns and slug-throwers, Thrown weapons
Notes
Archetype Niche: The frontier home-guard. Colonial Militia is the class that fights best on its own ground -- the settler who knows every gulley and ridge, who can jury-rig a weapon from farming equipment, and who turns a homestead into a fortress. Where the Soldier is a professional generalist and the Ranger-Scout is a wilderness tracker, the Colonial Militia is the defender of fixed positions: settlements, outposts, and frontier towns. Terrain Mastery gives them scaling combat bonuses on home ground that no other Warrior can match. Fortify Position lets them create defensive terrain from nothing. Settlement Defence makes them the anchor of any defensive fight. Knows the Terrain turns their local knowledge into near-supernatural awareness. Their signature tension is roots vs. mobility: the Militia is strongest where they have history, weakest when forced to fight on unfamiliar ground.
Multiclass Notes: Colonial Militia can multiclass with Soldier, Scout, Ranger-Scout, and Survivalist archetypes. Non-humans use simultaneous multiclassing rules.
Level Table
Militia Recruit
Field
Value
bab
1
fortitude
2
level
1
reflex
2
skillPoints
16
title
Militia Recruit
will
0
xp
0
Militia Volunteer
Field
Value
bab
2
fortitude
3
level
2
reflex
3
skillPoints
4
title
Militia Volunteer
will
0
xp
2000
Militia Regular
Field
Value
bab
3
fortitude
3
level
3
reflex
3
skillPoints
4
title
Militia Regular
will
1
xp
4000
Militia Corporal
Field
Value
bab
4
fortitude
4
level
4
reflex
4
skillPoints
4
title
Militia Corporal
will
1
xp
8000
Militia Sergeant
Field
Value
bab
5
fortitude
4
level
5
reflex
4
skillPoints
4
title
Militia Sergeant
will
1
xp
16000
Militia Lieutenant
Field
Value
bab
6
fortitude
5
level
6
reflex
5
skillPoints
4
title
Militia Lieutenant
will
2
xp
32000
Militia Captain
Field
Value
bab
7
fortitude
5
level
7
reflex
5
skillPoints
4
title
Militia Captain
will
2
xp
64000
Settlement Defender
Field
Value
bab
8
fortitude
6
level
8
reflex
6
skillPoints
4
title
Settlement Defender
will
2
xp
125000
Militia Commander
Field
Value
bab
9
fortitude
6
level
9
reflex
6
skillPoints
4
title
Militia Commander
will
3
xp
250000
Regional Commander
Field
Value
bab
10
fortitude
7
level
10
reflex
7
skillPoints
4
title
Regional Commander
will
3
xp
500000
Militia Colonel
Field
Value
bab
11
fortitude
7
level
11
reflex
7
skillPoints
4
title
Militia Colonel
will
3
xp
750000
Frontier Colonel
Field
Value
bab
12
fortitude
8
level
12
reflex
8
skillPoints
4
title
Frontier Colonel
will
4
xp
1000000
Militia Brigadier
Field
Value
bab
13
fortitude
8
level
13
reflex
8
skillPoints
4
title
Militia Brigadier
will
4
xp
1250000
Militia General
Field
Value
bab
14
fortitude
9
level
14
reflex
9
skillPoints
4
title
Militia General
will
4
xp
1500000
Settlement Guardian
Field
Value
bab
15
fortitude
9
level
15
reflex
9
skillPoints
4
title
Settlement Guardian
will
5
xp
1750000
Frontier Warden
Field
Value
bab
16
fortitude
10
level
16
reflex
10
skillPoints
4
title
Frontier Warden
will
5
xp
2000000
Militia Marshal
Field
Value
bab
17
fortitude
10
level
17
reflex
10
skillPoints
4
title
Militia Marshal
will
5
xp
2250000
High Marshal
Field
Value
bab
18
fortitude
11
level
18
reflex
11
skillPoints
4
title
High Marshal
will
6
xp
2500000
Militia Commander-in-Chief
Field
Value
bab
19
fortitude
11
level
19
reflex
11
skillPoints
4
title
Militia Commander-in-Chief
will
6
xp
2750000
The Last Defender
Field
Value
bab
20
fortitude
12
level
20
reflex
12
skillPoints
4
title
The Last Defender
will
6
xp
3000000
Special Abilities
Terrain Mastery
Field
Value
level
1
name
Terrain Mastery
description: When fighting in terrain the Militia has spent at least 1 week in (their home settlement, a patrolled region, or any location they have scouted with a DC 15 Survival check), the Militia gains +1 to attack rolls and +1 dodge bonus to AC. Additionally, the Militia gains +2 competence bonus to Survival, Perception, and Tracking checks in that terrain. At level 8, the attack and AC bonus increases to +2. At level 15, it increases to +3, and the skill bonus increases to +4. The Militia may designate one terrain per point of WIS modifier (minimum 1) as 'known terrain' at any time; changing a designation requires 1 week of presence in the new terrain. This is not training; it is habitation. The Militia knows the ground because they have lived on it, buried people in it, and nearly died on it.
Improvised Arms
Field
Value
level
1
name
Improvised Arms
description: The Militia suffers no attack penalty when using improvised weapons (tools, broken pipes, mining equipment, agricultural implements). Improvised weapons deal 1d6 damage (1d4 for Small creatures) + STR modifier. The Militia is proficient with all improvised weapons. At level 5, improvised weapons critical threat range expands to 19-20. At level 11, improvised weapons deal 1d8 damage. At level 17, the Militia can jury-rig any object into a weapon as a move action, and improvised weapons gain +2 to damage rolls. A Militia fights with what is at hand. A shovel, a mining pick, a length of chain -- these are not last resorts for a Militia. They are tools that happen to also break bones.
Fortify Position
Field
Value
level
3
name
Fortify Position
description: As a full-round action, the Militia can create a hasty defensive position in any terrain with available materials (sandbags, rubble, furniture, scrap metal, earthworks). This creates a 5-foot square that grants +2 cover bonus to AC and +1 to Reflex saves for any creature occupying it. The Militia can maintain a number of fortified positions equal to their class level. Positions last until destroyed (10 HP, hardness 5) or abandoned. At level 10, the cover bonus increases to +4 and the Reflex bonus to +2. At level 16, fortified positions grant partial concealment (20% miss chance) in addition to the cover bonus. The Militia does not build forts; they make every piece of terrain into a fort.
Settlement Defence
Field
Value
level
5
name
Settlement Defence
description: When defending a settlement, outpost, or fixed position the Militia considers home (designated via Terrain Mastery), all allies within 60 feet of the Militia gain +1 morale bonus to attack rolls and +1 to Will saves against fear effects. The Militia gains +2 to all attack rolls against creatures that are attacking or threatening the settlement's inhabitants or structures. At level 12, the morale bonus increases to +2 and the range increases to 120 feet. At level 18, allies in range also gain DR 2/- against the first attack each round that originates from outside the settlement's perimeter. This is the Militia's core purpose: when the home is threatened, the Militia becomes something more than a volunteer with a rifle.
Knows the Terrain
Field
Value
level
9
name
Knows the Terrain
description: The Militia's intimate knowledge of terrain becomes near-supernatural. In known terrain, the Militia can spend 1 minute studying an area (a 60-foot radius) and learn: the number and approximate size of creatures that passed through in the last 24 hours, all hidden hazards (pit traps, unstable ground, toxic gas pockets), and the best defensive and ambush positions. This functions as a DC 15 Survival check (the Militia gains +5 to this check). Additionally, the Militia and allies within 30 feet cannot become lost in known terrain (automatic success on navigation checks). At level 14, the study time reduces to a move action and the radius increases to 120 feet. At level 19, the Militia can sense the presence and general direction of hostile creatures within 300 feet in known terrain (as Danger Sense gene-psionic power, no cost). The ground talks to the Militia. Not literally -- but the scuffed rock, the bent grass, the faint chemical trace of unfamiliar boot sealant -- the Militia reads the land the way a Deck Hacker reads code.
Fallback Position
Field
Value
level
13
name
Fallback Position
description: Once per day, when the Militia or an adjacent ally is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, the Militia can declare a fallback: the fallen creature is immediately moved 10 feet (provoking no attacks of opportunity) and stabilized at 0 HP (stops losing 1 HP/round). Additionally, the Militia and all allies within 30 feet gain +2 to AC and saves for 1 round as they react to the emergency withdrawal. At level 17, Fallback Position can be used twice per day, and the stabilization also grants 1d6 temporary hit points. At level 20, the range of the AC/save bonus increases to 60 feet and the temporary hit points increase to 2d6. The Militia knows every fallback route in their terrain because they planned for the day they would need them. That day is today.