My group will soon be starting any Only War campagin. Usually in my playgroup either an NPC is the healer or i am. As things stand right now my goup is a Weapon Specialist, a Storm Trooper and a Psyker with me planned on being the Medic (I have already made the character). But the more i look at what the sargent brings to the table more I think it should be a PC. I know for one my GM would rather one of the players take that roll because he would rather we make our own decisions rather then just blindly follow his npc. We are a group of gear monkeys as well, believing that the better our gear the greater our chances of survival and a well built Sargent stands the best be at making those Commerce tests to "Work the System". This is of particular importance to me as I really want a Best quality med-kit since the other players in my group tend to ingore healing skills/abilities because thats my job. So the fact that a best quality med-kit will still give them the +20 to heal me if i go down is important to me…but if im the sargent then im not the medic…

So anyway, which do you think is more important to be a PC (assuming you can only have one or the other) a Medic or a Sargent?

Honestly, I think there should be a Sergeant, and he or she should be a player character.

This isn't even due to game mechanics (although the Sarge is very useful with those buffs), but simply because this way the squad has a dedicated leader, which feels almost like a must-have in a military setting.

I would say sergeant over medic because you can always go see an npc medic between missions. However depending on what you did at regiment creation you may be able to turn another character into someone that can be the medic anyway. If you make it so that your regiment choice adds an aptitude you already have then you can always choose intelligence as a new aptitude for free giving you cheaper access to the medicae skill. As long as someone has the medicae skill and even a basic medkit you're looking at a minimum of 42% to heal light wounds, 32% for heavily wounded, although crits will still be very tough to fix. If you're using point buy or rolled half way decently the odds go up by a lot.

I would say that play the Medic. It is infinietly better than the Sarge in Commerce (rememeber, the Skill is Intelligence based!), and you want your Medicae on the top and not in the hands of a random NPC. Remember: the Sarge can't command your wounds to heal. The Medic can.

If you don't like the Sarge as an NPC, then simply don't include him at all. Make the ST to be the squad leader. Problem solved.

Realistically, looking at the mechanics, a Sergeant has nothing that makes it better at requisitioning things. The class, is in fact, worse than either the medic or a tech priest. While to our minds, logically, the guy in charge of the squad would be better suited to requesting things, in this game the mechanics don't back that up. I say play what you want to play.

If I had to pick I would go with the sargeant. Ive watched too many of my friends blindly follow a gm npc to thier easily avoidable dooms to be willing to leave them to that fate, and my experience tells me that being the healer in such situations is just dragging it out.

I do have an alternative suggestion for you: talk with your GM and see if one of your players could have a battlefield promotion to the rank of seargant without being that class. The character's training would be one thing, but they were stuck in the leadership role by circumstance and have to deal with the situation. This allows everyone to play what they want without the GM having to fill the leader position with an NPC.

Baring that, playing without a healer is a "character building" excersize (not the type in which you build a character though), and it is one I reccomend everyone try at least once (it can get brutal, but you can learn alot about staying alive if you learn from your mistakes)

Cryhavok said:

An Excellant Idea - i'm sure the Stormtrooper would make the most logical choice, given his elite training, expert fieldcraft, and UNSWERVING FAITH IN THE GOD EMPEROR OF MANKIND HALLOWED BE THY NAME - due to his Schola-progenium training

…..and chronic main character syndrome.

it depends how good you are at giving orders and not getting people killed. I always maintain that roles such as commissars and officers should only be played by people the GM trusts not to abuse their authority. I believe it would be better to have a sergeant as a PC so the squad can make decisions for themselves and the GM isnt just dragging the PCs along with him. For a good RP experience the squad must be able to make decisions that maybe the GM wasnt expecting or do something that the GM wouldnt do so that you arent just following a set story but RPing through an adventure. However if someone plays an officer who is just going to abuse their power it might be in the squad's best intrest to make the sergeant an NPC.

Malatorius said:

Guilty as charged, sir!

My hero complex has hero complexes, I am chosing the Sergeant though for my groups very first "Only War" session.

I hope I can get everyone to stay alive though