Databank Download: Death Trooper Escort & Dark Troopers

Amid the ongoing attempts by the Galactic Empire to create the perfect soldiers, various experiments and training regimens have been attempted. Moff Gideon has been at the helm of several notable attempts to create especially formidable stormtroopers and combat droids, resulting in the Death Troopers and Dark Troopers, both favored for his own operations. Death Troopers are the older of these two efforts, a specialized force of elite stormtroopers encased in dark black stormtrooper armor to aid in stealth and terror operations. Rarely deployed in large numbers, these soldiers were sometimes used as bodyguards and escorts for high-ranking officers such as moffs, directors, generals, and admirals. More often they were dispatched on priority commando missions including those initiated by the secretive Imperial Security Bureau and its subordinate Advanced Weapons Research division, which Gideon served with during the Purge of Mandalore.

While these soldiers proved their capabilities in many vital operations, Moff Gideon was left unsatisfied by the human factor which resulted in inevitable moments of unpredictability. Dark Troopers were engineered as a more advanced type of combat droid intended to serve in similar roles as Death Troopers, resembling them in battle. Moff Gideon was actively involved in improving these killing machines, using his authority to seize local assets to create experimental variants with augmented durability, such as incorporating Beskar alloys in Dark Trooper armor. Ongoing debate persists regarding whether these technologies are better employed on droids or elite trooper battle armor. A useful compromise has been attaching a veteran Death Trooper Escort to lead a squad of Dark Troopers, thereby gaining the benefits of both.

Each Death Trooper Escort is the very model of Imperial Efficiency. This Tactics Ability allows the Death Trooper or a subordinate to Dash forward to get in position, or alternately to upgrade this movement to a Reposition if the unit has already been under fire and endured some damage. Glancing blows and scrapes do not deter the implacable forces led by a Death Trooper. To add to their ability to operate at the vanguard, the escort can also perform a Tactical Advance, an Active Ability that provides another opportunity to Dash and then make a focus action to augment their next attacks.

Unlike the Dark Troopers they lead, a Death Trooper Escort is a living soldier, but one who is highly Disciplined and not easily fazed. This Reactive Ability allows the escort to stay on mission even under fire, so long as they are not wounded, gaining an immediate Reposition toward an Active Objective, followed by a protective Hunker token if unengaged. The Rigorous Training such a soldier has endured affords it intrinsic Protection and Sharpshooter [1], making the trooper more resilient when defending and better at benefitting from a focus action prior to a ranged attack. These abilities combine to make Death Troopers as inexorable in their advance as the droids they command, requiring foes to concentrate considerable firepower to stop them.

The Escort benefits from Death Trooper Training, a Stance worthy of such an elite soldier. Whether engaging at range with the E-11D Blaster Rifle or in close combat, a Death Trooper is extremely accurate and dangerous. The Stance has excellent Ranged and Melee Attack stats and equally strong Attack Expertise Charts, which offer additional Strikes, possibly one or more Criticals, added Damage, and a Dash at the highest end. The Stance’s Combat Tree offers the choice of prioritizing damage output, along with inflicting an early Strain and potentially Exposing the foe, or otherwise inhibiting a foe by applying less damage but Shoving up to twice, and possibly Disarming and Pinning that foe. Reaching the end of the tree provides a very handy Reposition.

The Death Trooper Escort may seem a glass cannon given its Defense Expertise Chart is not particularly strong, a result of the fact that the armor worn by these troopers possesses a similar durability as that worn by regular stormtroopers, but the Death Trooper’s abilities and training provide greater tenacity and durability than their armor might suggest.

The Dark Troopers fighting alongside the Death Trooper Escort are equally formidable, and at times even more difficult to stop.

Dark Troopers are equipped with a variety of advanced experimental hardware, including Jump Boots which can allow them to Jump to higher ground as an Active Ability. They are also famously Unrelenting, possessing the Innate Abilities of Protection and Immunity to being Pinned. Further, Dark Troopers are Immovable, making them impossible to be Pushed or Pulled by abilities. Those who ordinarily rely on such tricks to slow and delay their foes will find themselves dismayed by the speed with which Dark Troopers close on them.

Dark Troopers also benefit from Coordinated Fire, an Innate Ability that allows them to inflict Strained on nearby enemies that their allies are about to fire upon, making them risk damaging themselves if they insist on employing their own Reactive or Active Abilities during the exchange.

The Combat Programming Stance used by Dark Troopers is simple but direct and effective. It offers solid Ranged and Melee Attack stats and Expertise Charts. Dark Troopers are built and programmed with an emphasis on being difficult to take down, not to be sharpshooters, though they are quite effective offensively. Dark Troopers have a particularly strong Defensive Expertise Chart, able to block a Strike and downgrade a Critical even at the lowest result. In addition to raw damage, the Stance’s Combat Tree offers chances to Shove (up to twice), to Pin the foe, and the choice of either Straining or Disarming their target, along with a bonus Jump.
Any who have observed them in combat can well understand why Moff Gideon and his ilk rely on Dark Troopers and their Death Trooper Escorts. They have proven to be a highly effective fighting combination, one unencumbered by the haphazard morals and conscience possessed by lesser soldiers.

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