Specialist Professions

AX.C.07.05 - Specialist Professions, Example Library

The following Professions represent operationally specialized archetypes with narrow but deep capability sets. Each entry is a complete, playable Profession built using the framework in AX.C.07.01.

Pilot / Driver / Navigator

A specialist in operating vehicles and mobile platforms under pressure. This Profession's value scales with the presence of vehicles in the campaign, Genre Catalogs that feature significant vehicle combat or travel should expand the Pilot's Progression Track with Layer 2 Setting Perks suited to their specific vehicle types.

Dominant Attribute: Speed
Favored Save: Speed Save (Speed + Acrobatics)
Power Access: No

Progression Track

Ignore the first instance of Disadvantage imposed on you each scene, from any source (conditions, environmental, opposed effects). The Disadvantage is simply not applied on that first instance. Subsequent instances in the same scene apply normally. For the Pilot, this most commonly represents the ability to maintain control of a vehicle through the first critical incident in an encounter.

Declare an evasive action. Until the start of your next Turn, all ranged attack pools targeting you or your vehicle have Disadvantage. If operating a vehicle, all passengers benefit from this effect. This action does not prevent movement; you may still move as part of the same Turn.

Limit: Once per Long Rest.

Genre Note: Combat driving, aerial barrel roll, starship evasive burn, mounted sprint through difficult terrain, any high-skill avoidance maneuver that requires full concentration to execute.

Execute an exceptional maneuver that repositions you and your allies to maximum tactical advantage. Choose one of the following effects:

Breakout: Move up to Far range in any direction, ignoring terrain penalties and Opportunity Attacks for this movement. All passengers arrive safely.
Intercept: Move to interpose your vehicle between an ally and an incoming attack, absorbing the hit on behalf of the ally. Make a Body Save vs Threshold 3 to reduce the damage by half.
Strike Position: Move to an optimal firing position, all ranged attack pools made by you and your passengers gain Advantage until the start of your next Turn.

Limit: Once per Full Rest.

Genre Note: The specific fiction, cavalry charge, starfighter gun run, armored vehicle break, changes by Genre Catalog. The mechanical effect is identical.

Diplomat / Negotiator / Face

A social specialist who resolves conflicts, opens doors, and shapes outcomes through persuasion, authority, and organizational relationships. This Profession is most effective in campaigns with significant social and political dimensions.

Dominant Attribute: Wit
Favored Save: Wit Save (Wit + Resolve)
Power Access: No

Progression Track

Once per session, invoke your Profession's formal credentials or recognized standing to bypass one standard access barrier without a roll, a locked professional door, a guarded entry requiring identification, a bureaucratic checkpoint that would normally require paperwork. The bypass must be plausible given your Profession's actual authority in the setting.

Limit: Once per session.

Genre Note: A Fantasy Guild Envoy bypasses a noble's gatekeepers. A Modern Corporate Negotiator bypasses a secure facility checkpoint. A Sci-Fi Diplomatic Attache bypasses a station's customs hold.

Once per scene, before an ally within Near range makes a roll, declare Coordinate. That ally gains +2D on that roll. Must be declared before dice are rolled, cannot be applied retroactively. For the Diplomat, this most commonly represents expert coaching before a critical social exchange, feeding an ally key information, or positioning an ally as the authoritative voice in a negotiation.

Limit: Once per scene.

Call in a significant organizational favor, one that requires the organization to spend real resources or take real risk. Scale is proportional to your Stage 3 standing: backup personnel (2–4 NPCs), a cache of specialized equipment, an intelligence briefing on a current threat, or an official intervention that changes the legal or political status of a situation.

Limit: Once per Full Rest. The organization remembers this was called in. Overuse degrades your standing.

Investigator / Detective / Agent

An information specialist who uncovers hidden facts, reconstructs events, and works through knowledge networks to solve problems that cannot be addressed through direct action. This Profession rewards methodical play and thrives in investigation-heavy campaigns.

Dominant Attribute: Wit
Favored Save: Wit Save (Wit + Resolve)
Power Access: No

Progression Track

You have a reliable, named contact within your organization or professional sphere. Once per session, you may reach out to them for one of the following: a piece of specific information they would plausibly have access to, a low-level logistical favor (safe passage, a borrowed item, a covered entry), or confirmation of a rumor. The contact has their own interests and limits; they will not take serious personal risk. The contact is defined at Stage 1 unlock and is a persistent NPC.

Limit: Once per session.

Once per scene, before making a Talent roll, declare Deep Knowledge. You may ask the GM one specific, direct question about the task, target, or environment relevant to the roll. The GM must answer honestly with what your character would know given their professional expertise. You then proceed with the roll normally, informed by the answer. For the Investigator, this most commonly applies before a Notice, Tactics, or Lore roll at a scene of interest.

Limit: Once per scene.

Choose one Talent at the time this perk is unlocked, Notice or Tactics is standard for this Profession. Once per Full Rest, after making a roll using that Talent, you may reroll any dice in the pool that showed 1, 2, or 3. Keep the new results. The Wild Die may be rerolled this way.

Limit: Once per Full Rest.

Assassin / Eliminator / Wetwork

A lethal specialist optimized for neutralizing single targets with maximum efficiency and minimum exposure. This Profession's capabilities are narrowly focused and devastating when conditions are met, most Stage abilities require setup, positioning, or specific circumstances to trigger.

Dominant Attribute: Speed
Favored Save: Speed Save (Speed + Acrobatics)
Power Access: No

Progression Track

Declare before rolling an attack. This attack ignores the target's armor bonus to Defense, calculate Defense as Speed ÷ 3 only. Does not ignore natural Defense from Size or other non-armor sources.

Limit: Once per Short Rest.

Apply a contact compound to your weapon or a surface as a Minor Action. The next attack that successfully hits with the treated weapon, or the next creature that makes contact with the treated surface, must make a Body Save vs Threshold 3. On failure, the target suffers a Moderate Body Condition (−2D to Body pools) until they make a successful Body Save during a Long Rest. The compound degrades after one use or after the scene ends, whichever comes first.

Limit: Once per Long Rest.

Genre Note: Alchemical poison, engineered toxin, nanite compound, digital payload delivered on physical contact, any covertly applied debilitating agent.

Declare a single target as your Mark as a Free Action. Until the end of the scene or until the target is incapacitated, all of your attack pools against the Mark gain +2D and any Conditions you apply to the Mark are applied at one severity level higher than normal (Minor becomes Moderate, Moderate becomes Major). You may only have one Mark active at a time.

Limit: Once per Full Rest.