DC Heroes RPG – Stock soldiers and military stats

Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG

Tell me more about the game stats

The sets of generic stats in this article are presented in rough order of competence and rarity in stories. They go from the most common to the most elite. As with all of our stock NPCs articles, we recommend to seldom use the more powerful profile, so as not to harm suspension of disbelief.

This is doubly true for this article since in many games, comics, movies, etc. soldiers that are meant to be elite forces actually turn out to be inept. They use no recognisable military tactic or training. It is not uncommon for members of “Special Forces units” to have basic grunt stats as they’re just extras with large guns and a fancy title.

Note that writeups.org also includes a speculative article about future era shock troopers.

Rag-tag militia

An irregular fighter, with little to no military training and minimal firearms training. Still, they may have significant combat experience.

These stats may represent survivalists, insurgents in poor countries, war bands in broken-down regions, gangs in feral cities, the military of countries mired in dismal poverty and broken politics, bandits, armed villagers with a bandits problem, the poorest pirates, revolutionaries, threadbare terrorists, etc. etc.

Skills:
Military science (Camouflage): 02, Vehicles (Land): 02, Weaponry (Militia weapons): 02

Advantages:
Area Knowledge (their home area), Rank (Private)

Connections:
Varies by individual, often none

Drawbacks:
Varies by individual – a Minor Rage, or a Minor Physical Restriction, or a Minor Psychological Instability, or a drug or alcohol problem, etc. are likely

Equipment:

• Battered Assault Rifle [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 06, Range: 04, Ammo: 04, R#05, Limitation: Projectile weapon has No Range]. The stats reflect poor maintenance and ammunition quality (R#), poor fire discipline and a preference for automatic fire (Ammo) plus a combination of misaligned sights, poor ammunition, poor training and quite probably poor eyesight from malnutrition (Range).
  And yes, technically it should be an attribute of the character rather than weapon stats, but let’s keep notation simple.
  This weapon will almost certainly be an AK of some older type — there may be something like 100 million such rifles worldwide — and one extra magazine is usually available.
• Convenient melee weapon [BODY 03, EV 03]. Something that doubles as an everyday tool handy for a soldier (and doubly so in a rag-tag force) such as a knife, a machete, a hatchet, an old entrenching tool, etc.

Basic grunt

A standard soldier in most militaries. If you need a soldier and nothing special comes to mind, use those. In many stories, the military gets depicted as being rather stupid and inflexible, and will not use real-world tactics. However this has evolved with the important role of the US military in funding blockbuster movies.

Skills:
Military science (Camouflage, cartography): 03, Vehicles (Land): 02, Weaponry (Infantry weapons): 03

Advantages:
Familiarity (Military equipment and protocols), Rank (Private)

Connections:
Varies by individual, often none

Drawbacks:
Varies by individual, usually none

Equipment:

• Assault Rifle [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 06, Ammo: 08, R#02, Advantage : Autofire] and four extra clips.
• Mook Grenade [BODY 01, EV 05 (Area of Effect 0 APs), R#05, Grenade drawback]. See our Modern Firearms articles.
• Military knife [BODY 05, EV 03]
• One soldier out of 10 or so will have the pleasure of carrying the Radio [BODY 02, Radio communications (Encrypted): 08, R#03, Serious Rage]

Athletic tribal warrior

Their presence here might be a surprise. But comic books, pulp novels and the like are full of those. These low-tech warriors from some wild location (such as the Savage Land, Skartaris or New Jersey) are usually depicted as being more vital, fiercer, stronger and with keener senses and instincts (INT) than “modern” men.

For less impressive individuals, just use Basic Grunt stats above and issue them a regulation loincloth and spear.

Skills:
Acrobatics (Athletics)*: 04, Military science (Camouflage, tracking)*: 04, Thief (Stealth)*: 04, Weaponry (Melee, missile)*: 04

Advantages:
Familiarity (Their tribe’s equipment and protocols), Rank (Private)

Connections:
Varies by individual, often none

Drawbacks:
Traditionally, a SIF of something taboo to their people or seen as supernatural

Equipment:

• A machete, or a spear, or a knobbed club, or a macuahuitl, or somesuch [BODY 03, EV 04]
• Some may have ranged weapons, pick one among :
  • Throwing irons (x3) [BODY 04, EV 04]
  • Blowgun [BODY 01, Poison touch: 05, Range: 03, Ammo: 01, Thief (Stealth): 04, Drawback: Long Reload Time, Limitations: Range requires blowing in the tube, Thief only to muffle the shot, Poison touch cannot penetrate any sort of armour (or natural RV 7+ against piercing attacks)] and four poison darts
  • Low-powered Bow [BODY 03, Projectile weapon: 02, Ammo: 01, Rec. STR: 02, R#03, Bow Advantage (effective EV is 03, effective Range is 04), Limitation : Low Penetration] and 6 arrows

Tanker, pilot, etc.

A crewman, driver, pilot, gunner, co-pilot, etc. within a military vehicle. These seldom appear outside of their vehicles (and are thus essentially invisible) unless the story is about them. The stats assume a solid level of competence. If the military is meant to not be efficient in the story, lower the Vehicles Skill by one AP.

Skills:
Military science (Cartography): 02, Vehicles (By speciality): 04, Weaponry (Infantry weapons): 02, Weaponry (Vehicular weapons in their speciality): 03

Advantages:
Familiarity (Military equipment and protocols), Rank (Varies)

Connections:
Varies by individual, often none

Drawbacks:
Varies by individual, usually a MIA toward Mocking infantry

Equipment:
Medium Calibre Semi-Auto Pistol [BODY 03, Projectile weapon: 04, Ammo: 15, R#03] and, of course, their MILITARY VEHICLE.

Shock trooper

A driven, well-trained professional soldier from an unit reputed for its toughness. The typical example is American stories would be US Marines. The equipment below thus assumes a well-equipped USMC fireteam – a 4-man unit organised around a light machinegun.

Soldiers with these stats will usually be portrayed as competent and fairly intelligent, perhaps even heroic. They will more or less use actual tactics.

Sergeants may have a few extra Hero Points  and some APs in Military Science (Field command), though at that point they’d be characters in their own right rather than stock extras.

Skills:
Military science (Camouflage, cartography): 04, Medicine (First aid): 02, Vehicles (Land): 02, Weaponry (Infantry weapons): 03

Advantages:
Familiarity (Military equipment and protocols), Rank (Private)

Connections:
Varies by individual, often none

Drawbacks:
Varies by individual, sometimes a Minor Rage

Equipment:

• Each person is equipped with :
  • BODY ARMOUR [BODY 06, Blunting: 06, Flame immunity: 01, Skin armour: 01, Limitation: Partial coverage (vest), Drawback: Real armour]. Includes improved Interceptor vest (w/ceramic insets), goggles, a lightweight helmet and possible knee protections, groin-protecting flap and armoured collar. The soft parts can stop EV 4 bullets, and the hard parts can stop EV 6 bullets.
  • TACTICAL RADIO W/HEADSET [BODY 01, Radio communications: 04, R#03]
  • NIGHT VISION SIGHT [BODY 01, Ultra-vision: 07, Telescopic vision: 02, R#03]. A monocular sight mounted on the helmet, which can be flipped up or down.
  • Offensive Grenade (x2) [BODY 01, EV 07 (Area of Effect 1 AP), R#03, Grenade drawback]
  • M9 Handgun [BODY 03, Projectile weapon: 04, Ammo: 15, R#03]
  • K-BAR knife [BODY 06, EV 03 (04 w/STR)]
  • Multiple extra magazines/ammunition for the M16s, M9s and SAW.
• Armament per role:
  • The Rifleman is equipped with :
    • An Assault Rifle [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 06, Ammo: 08, Telescopic vision: 02, Flash (Stdy. illum. only): 03, R#02, Advantage : Autofire]. M16A4 rifle with ACOG sight and a railed-on flashlight.
    • A RPG [BODY 01, Bomb: 04, Projectile Weapons: 09, Sharpness (Projectile weapons): 02, Ammo: 01, Bonus: Projectile weapons and Bomb can be Combined (Bomb rides the Range of Projectile weapons)]. M72 LAW disposable launcher.
  • The Team Leader doubles as a grenadier and is thus equipped with :
    • An Assault Rifle [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 06, Ammo: 08, Telescopic vision: 02, R#02, Advantage : Autofire]. M16A4 rifle with ACOG sight.
    • A single-shot underbarrel Grenade Launcher [BODY 02, Range: 07, Ammo: 01, Drawback: Long Reload]. M203 rifle-attached launcher. Will carry a half-dozen extra grenades.
  • The Automatic Rifleman is equipped with :
    • A Squad Automatic Weapon [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 07, Range: 06, Ammo: 12, R#03, Recommended STR 02 (none when using a bipod and the Bracing Bonus), Limitation: Projectile weapons has No Range and uses the listed Range instead, Advantage: Autofire, Drawback: Long Reload, MPR (heavy and cumbersome – cutting movement speed by 1 – unless your STR is 1 APs above the Rec. STR]. M249 SAW. Ammo assumes a 200 rounds belt container.
  • The Assistant Automatic Rifleman is equipped with:
    • An Assault Rifle [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 06, Ammo: 08, Telescopic vision: 02, Flash (Stdy. illum. only): 03, R#02, Advantage : Autofire]. M16A4 rifle with ACOG sight and a railed-on flashlight.
    • Extra ammunition for the SAW (100-rounds boxed belts).

Special forces operators

Elite commandos, intensively trained to handle very difficult missions – often without any sort of support in the field. In US fiction those will often be Navy SEALs or Delta Force. Less prestigious commandos are usually treated like Shock Troopers.

These characters exist in the cusp of being “named” characters. By real-world standards have impressive physical, intellectual and tactical capabilities.

This profile is rarely featured in fiction as such. Elite commandos are usually the protagonists rather than stock characters, though the less important members of the cast will have about these stats. But the stats do give a sense of scale and skillset for top soldiers with sub-cinematic  numbers.

Skills:
Acrobatics (Climbing): 04, Acrobatics (Dodging): 02, Medicine (First aid): 03, Military science (Camouflage, cartography, danger recognition, demolition, field command): 05, Vehicles (Sea, land): 04, Thief (Stealth): 04, Weaponry (Infantry weapons): 04

Advantages:
Expertise (Military equipment and protocols), Rank (Sergeant, on average)

Connections:
Varies by individual

Drawbacks:
Normally none

Equipment:
Whatever they need. Start with the equipment for the Shock Troopers above, then browse through our Modern Firearms articles for specialised firepower. All the equipment used by these characters will usually have its R# lowered to 02, unless it’s fiddly electronics and other cutting-edge equipment with few providers and no ruggedised version.