HoloNet Uplink – Hazard Troopers

Copyright EA / LucasFilm.

Welcome to the HoloNet Uplink, citizen. This series focuses on Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars Roleplaying Game, with content aimed mostly at the Gamemaster. Threats, adventure seeds, rules supplements, and more are all to come for those who access The HoloNet Uplink.

So as many of you folks know, I am a massive fan of the ludicrously long list of Imperial stormtrooper specialty corps. Regular readers will also know that, not only am I an equally huge fan of the Dark Forces / Jedi Knight games, I just banged out a Jedi Academy play-through (and at Jedi Master difficulty if I may virtue signal). That play-through first inspired some New Reborn stats you can find here. Today we combine my love of stormtrooper specialists with my recent Jedi Academy single player adventure with the Hazard Trooper.

Stormtrooper Specialty Corps: Hazard Trooper [Rival]

Equipped and augmented for threatening planetary environments, hazard troopers provide the Empire with extreme survivability and lethality packed into a single trooper. Hazard trooper candidates are selected from veteran stormtroopers, screening for combat experience and an indomitable will to survive. These specialty troopers are deployed in small teams wherever the Imperial military must undertake missions under near-impossible conditions.

Armed with powerful weapons and encased in heavy, environmentally sealed armor, each trooper is required to undergo complete limb replacement to provide the strength needed for extended missions. While this program proves attractive to grievously wounded troopers, a significant proportion of hazard troopers are uninjured personnel willing to undergo the procedure voluntarily.

Although hazard troopers are known to Imperial and Rebel personnel alike, the origins of the program are shrouded in secrecy. In truth, much of the groundwork was laid during Dark Trooper Phase Zero cybernetic experimentation on aging clone troopers. This early stage in the now defunct Dark Trooper project provided not only the needed technical specifications, but cemented the need to select for unique psychological profiles.

Br 5, Ag 3, Int 2, Cun 2, WP 3, Pres 1

Copyright LucasFilm.

Soak 10, W. Threshold 15, Def M/R 0/0

Skills: Athletics 2, Discipline 3, Mechanics 2, Ranged (Heavy) 2, Resilience 3, Survival 2, Vigilance 1

Talents: Adversary 1 (upgrade difficulty of all combat checks against this target once), Enduring 2 (+2 soak, included in profile).

Abilities: Ponderous (when wearing hazard trooper armor, may never spend more than one maneuver moving per turn).

Equipment: Stouker concussion rifle (Ranged [Heavy]; Damage 10; Critical 2; Range [Medium]; Blast 6, Concussive 1, Cumbersome 3, Knockdown, Slow-Firing 1) or Imperial heavy repeater (Ranged [Heavy]; Damage 8; Critical 4; Range [Medium]; Auto-fire, Cumbersome 4), hazard trooper armor with integrated long-range comlink (+3 soak. Remove 2 Setback from Perception, Vigilance, and combat checks caused by darkness, smoke, or similar environmental factors. Wearer may survive in radiation zones, toxic or corrosive environments, extreme temperatures, and total vacuum for up to 24 hours.).

Adventure Seeds

  • Toxic Titans: A major Rebel supply facility on the toxic world of Quesh has gone dark. The PCs, sent to investigate, discover the base has been torn apart in a massive firefight. Every indication suggests the Rebels were heavily outgunned and killed to the last. As they complete their investigation, two hazard troopers left on a stay-behind mission ambush the PCs.
  • Hazards Resurgent: After the fall of the New Republic, rumors circulate among Resistance fighters that the First Order now fields a heavily armored new stormtrooper. Veterans of the Galactic Civil War recognize it well: a First Order variant of the Imperial hazard trooper. The fanaticism wrought by years of intense psychological conditioning could allow the First Order to implement hazard troopers on mass, presenting a threat much akin to the Dark Troopers of old. The PCs must investigate and ultimately shut down this resurgent program before the First Order begins mass production.

Other Specialty Corps

Hungry for more stormtrooper specialists? Here’s what I’ve done to date:

 

The following two tabs change content below.

Christopher Hunt

Staff Writer at d20 Radio
Christopher Hunt is a long-time gamer and has recently broke into the world of RPG freelancing. Chris’ unofficial Star Wars RPG blog ran weekly on d20radio.com for the past three years. He has written for Rusted Iron Games, Raging Swan Press, and most recently Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars RPG. Chris is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Political Science. Always the gamer, his thesis, which explores conflict short of war by uniting current threats to historical events, was inspired by a historical board game.

Latest posts by Christopher Hunt (see all)