Sarge on Deck!

Sarge is the most well-rounded ant on the team, and he’s also in charge. I’ve always thought of Sarge as the second best at everything; he’s the second-toughest, the second-smartest, the second-most intuitive; he’s the go-to guy in a pinch for anything. He’s able to mentor the other ants in each of the things they do well, giving them some pointers. I’ve learned this about teaching – a student can be more naturally gifted than I am, but as long as I have some skill in something, and I understand how it works, I can give valuable advice to do things that I can’t do. Sarge is a teacher. He’s Level 8, so has 48 CPs to build from. If that’s not enough, I don’t know what to do…

Attributes are easy. He’s D8 across the board.

- Body D8 (3 CPs)

- Mind D8 (3 CPs)

- Prowess D8 (3 CPs)

- Spirit D8 (3 CPs)

As with Gunner, by rule he’d be shorted by 4 points in attributes. Glad that I’m dropping that requirement. This leaves him 36 CPs to purchase traits. Hmmmm:

- Aim +3 (4 CPs)

- Intelligence +4 (6 CPs)

- Leadership +5 (9 CPs – this is kind of his thing)

- Medic +3 (4 CPs)

- Melee +1 (1 CP)

- Moxy +4 (4 CPs/+1 shift from ant)

- Munitions +4 (4 CPs/+1 shift from Infantry)

- Toughness +3 (4 CPs)

Wow… that worked out surprisingly well. I didn’t have to make too many tweaks to get Sarge to fit.

As far as Clout… Sarge takes a totally different approach. He carries almost nothing – his basic supplies, the best pistol he can afford (that he’s souped up considerably) and a really nice lighter for his box of cigars (which have no Clout value in the game, so those are just gimmes).

Sarge is Level 8 (we will put him at 400 XP) and is a Sergeant Major (A-8), meaning that he’s earned an additional 200 Clout, for 600 total. He also turned in his AM-15 for an AM-57C that he has upgraded through Munitions (he owed 5 clout on the exchange). He is a no-frills bug, so he will purchase nothing with hit Clout, leaving him 595 banked clout points. He spends his clout every mission on what the team might need – he can requisition a helicopter, get a case of grenades or deck the team out in scuba gear as needed. I’m thinking of including a special rule for a character who does this; you allocate a portion of your Clout to ‘requisitions’. You get a 10% bonus to the Clout you place in the requisitions pool, but you cannot requisition the same thing two missions in a row; you could requisition a helicopter every mission, but you would at the least have to alternate the two helicopters you requisition. You can pool clout in a requisition pool in this way as a team. If three team members each pitch in 30 clout, your 90-clout pool becomes worth 99 clout (someone will throw in 1 more point to get to 100).  

As far as Hits, Sarge will also be quite above average. If we say an average result of 6 per roll, +3 toughness = 9 per level, x8 levels =72 Hits. We’ll keep that. By the way, here’s the (slightly) revised character stat block. I decided to remove tables from character and creature stat blocks, and go more old school with the block text:

Sarge                                                         

Level 8 Infantry; A-8 Sergeant Major

Hits 72; Feat +4

Body D8; Mind D8; Prowess D8; Spirit D8

Aim +3; Intelligence +4; Leadership +5; Medic +3; Melee +1; Moxy +4 (4 CPs/+1 shift from ant); Munitions +4 (4 CPs/+1 shift from Infantry); Toughness +3

Modified AM-57 Pistol (damage D8+3; range 6)

boot knife +1; 1 field grenade; basic aid kit (D4); satchel; basic provisions; bedroll; entrenching tool; standard fatigues (olive drab); basic flashlight (3 cm); canteen; utility knife