The Path Less Traveled is a semi-regular series in which I’ll be examining a single specialization from the Star Wars Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion/Force and Destiny lines of games. The purpose and hope is to take a look at a specialization that perhaps many players might overlook, or ones that are somewhat new to the game lines. We will look at strengths and weaknesses, synergies with other species and specializations, roles in a party, how to incorporate them into a campaign, and perhaps some uses which are not always obvious at first glance.
I’ve gotten some good feedback on The Path Less Traveled series so far and I’m pleased at the reception. I’ve had several requests for specializations to get to, more than I can actually get to in a timely fashion. But I’m going to keep focusing on the requests. That brings us to today’s specialization: the Big Game Hunter!
Again, an odd specialization of sorts when you think about Star Wars. It appears the Big-Game Hunter belongs more in a Dungeons and Dragons setting. I myself even played a character like that in D & D back in the day, taking down huge monsters for trophies. But in Star Wars, because of a blend of some great skills that the character has, there are a number of creative uses when you take a look.
Talents and Skills
First off, the Big-Game Hunter is an Explorer which gives them Astrogation, Cool, Knowledge (Lore), Knowledge (Outer Rim), Knowledge (Xenology), Perception, Piloting (Space), and Survival as career skills. Now that is a wide range of skills. Piloting with Astrogation can make for a nimble pilot, and the knowledge skills make for a highly intelligent character. The Big Game Hunter then adds another potential rank in Knowledge (Xenology), Ranged (Heavy), Stealth, and another rank in Survival to their career skills. This takes a fantastic, intelligent explorer with piloting skills, and adds combat, stealth, and hunting abilities. Just looking at the combination of skills you can get a sense of the wide range of character concepts one can explore.
The talents that the Big Game Hunter possesses in their specialization tree can straddle the line between hunting and tracking, survival skills, and awareness of surroundings. In fact, the tree itself and the connectors are quite unique and forces the player down almost a single path to get to the bottom two rows of talents. The Forager and Expert Tracker talents remove setback dice from various checks surrounding surviving in the wild and tracking prey. Outdoorsman and Swift remove setback dice from checks moving through rough terrain and reduce travel times as well. Heightened Awareness gives boosts to Perception or Vigilance checks making sure the Big Game Hunter doesn’t let anything slip by him.
The signature talents really distinguish the Big Game Hunter. Natural Hunter allows the character to re-roll any Perception or Vigilance check once a session. Hunter’s Quarry allows you to pass a Survival check and upgrade all attacks against a target at long range. That would be pretty strong with a sniper-type build as well. The sister talent, Improved Hunter’s Quarry, makes Hunter’s Quarry into a maneuver instead of an action for only a small strain cost. This means you can take that shot the same turn instead of waiting until the next round. Last, we come to Bring it Down. This lets you spend a destiny point to add damage to any single hit equal to the target’s Brawn rating. A good sniper rifle + Hunter’s Quarry + Bring it Down = one heck of a shot against a hardened enemy. All these talents make the Big-Game Hunter a quite potent combat character as well as a tracker and survivalist.
Species
Species for this specialization are best when focused around the type of hunter you wish to play. If you’re looking for a long-range shooting type character, focusing on Agility makes sense for an accurate shooter and one that can take advantage of the talents in the specialization tree. This means the Dug, Aleena, Klatooinian, Kyuzo, or Rodian are examples of decent species to use. A strong Cunning would focus on the tracking and survivability of a Big Game Hunter. This means a Gossam, Gotal, Muun, or Togruta might make a lot of sense. Making sure you have a 3 in either Agility or Cunning and a 2 in the other would make a good starting point for a species.
Character Concepts and Working Into a Campaign
The Big-Game Hunter is a character that shouldn’t be too hard to work into any campaign with a little creative thinking. Of course one can make any excuse to be in any party but I like to really make that sing myself. The first would be one of the reluctant adventurer. Perhaps a Big Game Hunter, stationed on a remote world normally hunts for food and/or defense of a town. But then, the Empire spoils everything and invades, forcing the hunter into action, now using his skills to kill stormtroopers who invaded his home and taking him on an adventure.
Another idea could be that of a Big Game Hunter/Hermit (which I outlined in the last edition of The Path Less Traveled here…) who has a similar theme of living alone until thrust into adventure. The ability to add Force Sensitivity and further Survival-based talents can make a vicious character who can thrive in the outdoors on even the most dangerous planets. The ability to add a lot of Ranged (Heavy) firepower to that of a Force Sensitive is quite appealing.
The Trailblazer from Forged in Battle is an interesting choice when paired with a Big Game Hunter. He would be an excellent hunter and soldier who can use the terrain and surroundings to get the advantage in a fight. The survival skills and soldier abilities of PC like that could be quite potent in any campaign that frequents the outdoors.
Combining with a Survivalist is a somewhat obvious choice, but things could get interesting when combined with a Sharpshooter or Assassin. Expanding the talents would make the character quite the killer at range or even up close. A former Assassin who gave up the job for a life of seclusion, hunting on his own, thrust back into adventure could make for quite the entertaining character.
As a GM when you have a Big Game Hunter in your party, make sure you include outdoor sessions fairly frequently, or at least work in some locales for fighting outside or having to deal with the creatures that dwell on the planet they’re on. Edge campaigns are easy to do this in usually, and even in the Age of Rebellion type campaigns, the Empire certainly doesn’t discriminate which planet it invades. Big Game Hunters can easily find themselves at the front lines of the war against the Empire. There are many other combinations as well that can make for a fantastic character concept.
So next time you want to roll up a character you might give the Big Game Hunter a chance! Have you ever run one or had one in your party? Ever GM a Big Game Hunter? In doing so did you have any challenges or great stories? Leave a comment and let me know!
Until next time…!
Scott Alden
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