Editing Mass: the Effecting/Hard-Won Experience (section)

==Combat Training Talents==

Combat in the Mass Effect setting is fast, lethal and dangerous, thanks to the cutting edge technology deployed on the battlefields of the galaxy. Personal protection from armour and shields only goes so far towards securing victory – the rest comes from the training and talent of the commanders and troops themselves.

The different combat training talents are called Regimens. The four Regimens are Assault, Command, Guardian and Tactical. Each point in a Regimen allows the character to pick a single power from the Regimen's list, granting the character the benefits of that power. These powers are picked when the dots are acquired and cannot be changed.

The Command Training Regimen works slightly differently from the others, as noted in its description below.

''Using Combat Training Powers'': Most Combat Training powers grant their benefits all the time. Some allow the character to use new options in combat, such as Suppressive Fire; the character can choose when to use these options and when not to, and no cost is attached to doing so.


===Assault Training===

Assault training often covers close-quarter combat, ambushes, storming defensive positions and blitzkrieg insertion into hot zones.


'''Agility''': Through a mixture of free-running and combat training, the character can ignore terrain penalties on their movement of an amount up to their dots in Dexterity; so a character with Dexterity 4 could ignore up to -4 in penalties. Ladders, crates, low walls and so forth are easy for this character to handle. Their speed is also increased by 1.<br>
'''Ambush''': The character is an expert at close, covert work. When attacking an opponent who is not aware of the character, they add a +2 bonus to the Damage rating of their attack. Perception rolls made to hear the character attacking suffer a -2 penalty.<br>
'''Carnage''': The character is an expert in dealing death with short-ranged weapons in close quarters. When firing at a target within the short-range of a sidearm or shotgun, the character benefits from the 9-again rule, or 8-again if the weapon already has 9-again.<br>
'''Close Quarters Combatant''': The character possesses advanced close combat training. They ignore penalties to their Defence caused by multiple melee attackers, may choose to deal Lethal damage with their unarmed attacks, and benefit from the 9-again rule when making unarmed strikes.<br>
'''Combat Drop Training''': The character has been trained for rapid-deployment assaults into hot zones. When dropping into combat with armour-jets, from an aircraft or from orbit, the character is able to act on the same round they touch down and suffers no other penalties due to combat drops. They also treat all Piloting checks with armour-jets as rote actions.<br>
'''Hard Target''': Keeping a low profile and moving fast, the character renders themselves a hard target for attackers. If they move at least 5 yards during their turn, all ranged attacks against them suffer an additional -1 penalty on their attack pools. Running increases the penalty to -2.<br>
'''Shock Trooper''': The character has the training and experience of a hardened shock trooper and is used to running through hails of bullets and explosions without flinching. The character reduces all penalties suffered from the combat environment by 1, such as from suppressive fire, concealment granted by smoke grenades and so forth. They benefit from a +2 bonus to any dice pool to resist knock-downs, stuns and other disorientation effects, while their Speed is increased by 1.<br>
'''Slam''': Harnessing their raw strength, the character slams foes to the ground. After a successful melee attack at the end of a charge action, the target of the attack must make a Strength check. If they fail to get as many successes as the points of damage taken from the attack, they are knocked down. This technique is a favourite of Krogan.<br>


===Command Training===

Command training prepares a character for the rigours of commanding a team in a combat environment, whether a naval commander overseeing their crew from the bridge of a spaceship or a black ops squad leader directing their team through an intense firefight.

Command Training works differently to the other talents available in Combat Training. Rather than offering a new power with every dot, the character instead gains one additional die into the group's Command pool, a pool of dice that refreshes each scene from which the whole group of characters can benefit. These dice can be drawn on for specific purposes by any characters who are in communications-range of one of the Commanding characters.

''For example, a Soldier has Command 4, putting 4 dice into the Command pool. Another character in the group, a Vanguard, has Command 2, increasing the total dice in the Command pool to 6. At the beginning of every scene, this pool refreshes back up to 6 dice, no matter how many of the dice have been spent in the prior scene.''

As long as one of the characters with Command allows it, anyone in the group can take dice from the pool for the purposes noted below, including the characters with the Command talent themselves. A character can take up to their Wits in dice from the pool in a single turn, and can spend them all on one roll or purpose if desired.

Command dice can be:

'''Concentrate Fire''': Added directly to an attack dice pool, before rolling.<br>
'''Co-Ordinate Action''': Added directly to a secondary actor's teamwork dice pool to aid a primary actor with their action.<br>
'''Priority Target''': Added directly to the Damage rating of an attack against a target who is knocked down, held by a mass effect field, on fire, frozen, stunned or otherwise vulnerable, before rolling the attack pool.<br>
'''Ready For Action''': Added as a bonus to a character's Initiative score after rolling in the first round of combat, adding +1 per die used.<br>
'''Take Cover''': Applied as an additional penalty to an attack roll against a character who is in cover, augmenting the normal cover penalty by -1 per die used, before rolling the attack pool.<br>
'''Stay Alert''': Added directly to a Perception dice pool, before rolling.<br>


===Guardian Training===

Guardian training demands the very best of a character physically, pushing them to their limits and beyond to help them and others stay alive.


'''Bastion''': The character knows how to angle armour plating, shift their profile and minimise the damage from incoming fire. If wearing armour, the character benefits from a +1 to their Armour against any ranged attackers in front of them, as long as they haven't moved this turn.<br>
'''Berserker''': When taking at least one point of Lethal damage, the character may choose to enter a rage, gaining a temporary +2 bonus to Stamina and Resolve and becoming immune to penalties inflicted by suppressive fire. This does result in them gaining two health levels during the rage but, while the health levels are lost once the rage subsides, any damage taken is kept. Many Krogan enter a berserker rage in battle when wounded.<br>
'''Bodyguard''': The Character has the reflexes and training of a bodyguard, able to protect others with their own body. They can choose to serve as cover for allies when they are between the ally and attacker or are adjacent to that ally, inflicting a -1 cover penalty on attacks that increases to -2 if the bodyguard is carrying a ballistic shield.. This increases to -2 if the ally is willing to allow the bodyguard to drop them prone and shield the ally with their whole body, increasing again to -3 if the bodyguard is in heavy armour or is carrying a ballistic shield or omni-shield.<br>
'''Fitness''': The character is in excellent physical condition and has two permanent additional health points.<br>
'''Resilient''': Fists, batons, concussion grenades... Not much phases this character. They benefit from an additional point of Armour against all Bashing attacks and attacks with the Concussive trait, even when not actually wearing armour, and gain a +1 bonus to dice pools to resist stuns and knock-downs.<br>
'''Second Skin''': The character has the training and experience to treat armour like a second skin, entirely comfortable with its power servos and weight distribution. The character benefits from a +1 to their Defence and Speed while wearing armour, and also a +1 to Initiative while wearing heavy armour.<br>
'''Survivor''': The character is too tough or just too damn stubborn to stay down, regardless of his injuries. He never falls unconscious as a result of having all his health boxes filled with damage, and doesn't need to succeed on a Stamina roll to do so.<br>
'''Vigilant''': The character is ever-vigilant for danger. If the character is or becomes aware of an attacker targeting an unaware ally, and the character is within communications range of that ally, the ally becomes aware of the impending attack immediately. The character's Initiative is also increased by 1. <br>


===Tactical Training===

Tactical training prepares the character for the rapidly changing environment of the battlefield, allowing them to react to new threats swiftly and to apply their own firepower with devastating effect.


'''Advancing Fire''': The character may fire when running, suffering a -3 penalty to their attack roll for doing so.<br>
'''Heavy Weapons Training''': The character is experienced in handling support weaponry, and ignores any penalties and restrictions from the Heavy Weapon trait.<br>
'''Marksman''': The character is a skilled marksman. Whenever the character takes at least one aim action with a weapon that has the 9-again trait (apart from shotguns), they benefit from the 8-again rule on the attack dice pool made with the aiming bonus.<br>
'''Outflank''': The character knows how the make the most of an outmanoeuvred enemy's weakness. Attacking a target in the flank or rear when an ally has engaged them from the front grants the character a +1 bonus to attack rolls.<br>
'''Sniper''': The character has the patience and talent of a skilled sniper. After using the aim action and firing at a target, the character does not lose his aiming bonus as long as he continues to fire at the same target and does not have his line of sight to them broken. He may even continue to take further aim actions to increase his aiming bonus, subject to the usual +3 aiming bonus cap.<br>
''For example, a sniper could aim once for a +1 bonus, fire, aim again for a total of +2, fire again, etc.''<br>
'''Squad Reflexes''': After rolling for Initiative at the beginning of combat, but before the first round begins, the character can choose to shift their Initiative to match that of one ally within communications range. The character's Initiative is also increased by 1.<br>
'''Suppressive Fire''': There's a line between effective suppressive fire and just wasting shots. The character may sacrifice the bonus attack dice from autofire to apply it instead as a penalty to the ranged attack rolls of the target for one round. This can be applied to multiple targets as per the normal autofire rules, but it does incur the usual attack dice penalty – so hosing down three targets with long-burst autofire for suppressive fire applies the -3 penalty to all of them but also leaves the character with a -3 penalty on his attack rolls. Suppressive fire doesn't work against opponents who are simply unable to take cover, or are too heavily armoured or mindless to care.<br>
'''Weapon Drill''': Unloading, reloading and returning to the task of providing fire support is a well-oiled practice for the character. Reloading is a reflexive action as long as the replacement heat clip is to hand (such as in armour webbing or laid out within reach).<br>