Marshal

“I’ve seen soldiers break and run from things that should have killed them all. I’ve also seen those same soldiers hold the line against worse — because someone stood in front and told them they would. That’s the difference a Marshal makes.”

Marshals, like all warriors, stand in the teeth of danger. They share the same brutal schooling in steel, armor, and pain — trained to hold a line, break a charge, and make their bodies the wall between their allies and whatever wants them dead. A Marshal carries that warrior discipline into every fight. They just refuse to stop at their own blade.

Where other warriors turn inward, sharpening themselves into sharper weapons, a Marshal looks outward. They read the rhythm of a battle the way a conductor reads an orchestra — not from a safe distance, but shoulder to shoulder in the front rank, bleeding with everyone else. The difference is that when a Marshal shouts, scattered fighters become a unit. Wavering lines hold. Reckless charges find discipline. And off the battlefield, that same iron presence can settle a restless crowd, hold a negotiation together by force of will, or make a petty warlord reconsider the wisdom of starting trouble.

Role & Identity

A front-line commander and supporting warrior who turns a party into a coordinated unit. The Marshal feels like a battlefield captain or hardened mercenary leader — respected, loud when they need to be, and very hard to ignore. The Marshal fights in the thick of it with a weapon in hand — not a distant general or a lone glory-hound, but the one shouting “On me!” while standing in the worst of it. Their Stratagems drive the flow of combat: Gambits that punish enemies for overextending, Edicts that harden allies who refuse to yield. As the fight develops, allies who attack, defend, or spend Hero Dice build the Marshal’s Tempo, fueling bigger, round-shaping calls. Outside of combat, the same commanding presence that cuts through battlefield chaos gives them weight in negotiations, interrogations, and tense standoffs.

Choose a Marshal if you want to be in the melee making everyone around you hit harder, stand longer, and act as one.

Profession Table

Profession Group: Warrior · Hit Die: 1d8 · Trained DR: Guard · Skills: 3 · Profession Resource: Tempo

Linked Paths: Spellbreaker, Deadeye, Morrowborn, Gambler, Saggitar — all currently concept-stage only (name + theme, see /paths/), but confirmed as the intended Path options for this profession.

Execute Stratagem (Level 1)

“Your command turns chaos into choreography.”

You may execute a stratagem in the heat of a moment, directing allies with practiced command. This is a Utility Action that costs 1 Action Point.

To use it, choose a Stratagem you know (Gambit or Edict) and spend the Tempo cost listed in that Stratagem’s entry. The Stratagem’s effect is then resolved as described in its description. If a Stratagem calls for any d20 Challenges, those rolls are made according to the Stratagem’s entry.

Battle Rhythm (Level 1)

“Every motion on the field has purpose.”

Once per round, when you spend an Action Point on your turn (Attack, Execute Stratagem, Move, etc.), you may spend 1 Tempo to gain one of the following benefits:

• Flowing Step. Move up to 5 ft.
• Surging Guard. Gain Fortified I.
• Directed Action. You direct an ally within 30 ft, who can see or hear you, to take the action instead.
• Marked Weakness (level 7). Choose one creature who can see or hear you. That creature suffers a –1 penalty (luck) to all DRs until the start of your next turn.
• Guarded Poise (level 7). You gain a +1 bonus (luck) to all DRs until the start of your next turn.

Unyielding Command (Level 4)

“Hold steady. I see the line you cannot.”

Once per round, when an ally within 30 ft that you can see or hear makes a d20 Challenge, you can steady their resolve.

• After they roll, but before the outcome is described, you may spend 1 Tempo.
• If you do, and the d20 result was lower than 10, treat the d20 as if it were a 10 instead.

You decide whether to use this after seeing the die, but before knowing the result.

Command Doctrine (Level 7)

“Every step and cut feeds the trap.”

You choose a Command Doctrine — a style of leadership unique to Marshals that shapes how you use Tempo and Stratagems.

Tactician’s Tempo. You specialize in precise, coordinated maneuvers.

• Your Tempo cap increases by 1.
• When you Execute a Gambit, its Surge effect triggers on the second time that Gambit’s effect triggers in a round, instead of the third.

Captain’s Standard. You specialize in anchoring the battlefield around a physical symbol of your command. You carry a Battle Standard, a visible banner, icon, or relic that serves as a focus for your orders.

• When you use Execute Stratagem, you may, as part of that action, plant or reposition your Battle Standard in a space you occupy. It remains there until you move it again or the Moment ends.
• Your Edicts now additionally affect allies within 15 ft of your Battle Standard.
• When you plant (or reposition) your Battle Standard, you immediately gain 1 Tempo.

Heroic Cadence (Level 10)

“When courage surges, you ride the beat.”

When you or an ally within 30 ft spends one or more Hero Dice on a d20 Challenge, you can seize that surge of momentum.

When this happens, you may immediately spend 1 Tempo to gain the benefit of one Battle Rhythm option. The chosen effect resolves immediately, even if it is not your turn.

You can use Heroic Cadence multiple times per round, as long as each use is triggered by a separate instance of Hero Dice being spent and you have enough Tempo to pay the cost each time.

Using Heroic Cadence does not count as your once-per-round use of Battle Rhythm, and reapplying the same option refreshes its duration instead of stacking its bonus.

Legendary Command (Level 12, Capstone)

“Your orders aren’t just heard — they’re remembered.”

Your command at this point is the stuff of war stories. When you spend Tempo on a Stratagem, you can push it beyond its usual limits.

When you use the Execute Stratagem action, you may choose to spend 1 additional Tempo to make that Stratagem a Legendary Stratagem. You can do this once per Moment.

• Legendary Edict. The Edict’s effect lasts for 1 additional round.
• Legendary Gambit. The Gambit’s Surge effect can occur a second time in the same round, triggering when the Gambit’s effect triggers for the 4th time that round.

Additionally, you reach greater heights of renown as a Marshal. Whenever you make a d20 Challenge using the Charm, Guile, or Menace skills, you may treat yourself as a valid target for Unyielding Command, allowing you to use that feature on your own roll.

Stratagems

Gambits and Edicts, executed via Execute Stratagem, distinguished by a type field. See /professions/warriors/marshal/stratagems/ — the catalog is currently empty; Notion’s own Stratagems database carries no real entries (schema is Name-only, one blank row), so this section has nothing to link to yet.

Design Notes for Future Work

Preserved from the source rather than resolved here — none of these are settled:

1. Profession name. A standalone callout on the source page lists other name ideas considered: Myrmidon, Warlord, Vanguard, Tactician, Commander. Marshal is used consistently everywhere else and is treated as current.
2. This content predates the Trial system rename and needs a terminology pass before it can be locked. “d20 Challenge” appears throughout — Execute Stratagem, Unyielding Command, Heroic Cadence, and Legendary Command all use it — rather than the current Trial terminology. Preserved verbatim rather than silently corrected: unlike Arcanist’s single stray “Invoke Spark” mention, this is pervasive across the whole profession and reflects genuinely stale content, not an isolated editorial slip.
3. The Stratagems catalog (Gambits and Edicts) is confirmed empty. Notion’s database schema is Name-only with a single blank row — the profession’s central resource-spending mechanic (what a Marshal actually does with Tempo, beyond Battle Rhythm/Heroic Cadence) has no designed content yet. Unlike Powderjack’s Concoctions, no local combined-professions document exists to backfill from — professions v1_5_2.md lists Marshal explicitly as “to be added.” This blocks /moments/combat/actions/execute-stratagem.md from resolving to anything concrete.
4. Editorial correction, not logged as an open question: the Profession Table’s level-1 row lists the feature as “Issue Stratagem,” but the feature is named Execute Stratagem everywhere else on the source page (body text, and the already-migrated Combat Action). Standardized silently to Execute Stratagem, same treatment given to Arcanist’s “Invoke Spark”/“Ignite Spark” slip.
5. Migrated status: draft per Brad’s explicit instruction — not a judgment call weighed against a locked recommendation like Harrower/Lux. Brad flagged that this content was written before unspecified subsequent rules changes and needs a real update pass; it stays draft until that triage happens, independent of (and in addition to) items 2 and 3 above.