Dominion War Skills

I am using Dominion-seasoned SF officers to spice up my cmapaign which actually takes place during the war but away from the front.

Does anyone have any input on what skills/attitudes etc might have been earned by the Dominion War veterans.

Justice

I would give them the battle-hardened advatage adn the Starship Tactics ( Dominion ) Skill. Perhaps even Knowledge ( Dominion ).
Regarding the Episode where the DS9 Crew fought the ground war ( something with AR-??? ), you could give them some psychological flaws - bloodlust, phobia or simply some strange behaviour, which makes them paranoid - of course they do not see it that way.

Why does everyone assume that every character who enter combat is going to come out a vengeful, bloodthirsty lunatic?

If a character has some reason, some unusual incident occured (captured and tortured, etc) then give them vengeful or something.

But 85% of people who enter combat (especially naval combat, which tends to be more remote and inpersonal) won't have any "point worthy" quirks...

Nor would they all be "Battle-hardened"...

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"I'd rather die standing than live on my knees..."
Shania Twain

I was thinking about giving them tactics(dominion) and a few other things related to directly fighting the dominion.

I was also thinking about how quickly some skills are learned (by necessity) in a wartime situation. any ideas on what would have been learned (OJT) in a wartime SF battle?

Since the number of roles played in a war is staggering (combat medicine, ground assault, field engineer, starship combat, etc), I normally just assign the requisite number of DPs and let the players improve or buy skills based on the role they tell me their character played. For example, a SF captain who commanded a unit during a tense ground operation (as Sisko did in "AR-855") might gain the Command (Combat Leadership) specialization (or improve it) and probably improve his skill with Planetary Tactics and/or Energy Weapon (Phaser Rifle). An engineer who spent the war keeping his ship operational through multiple engagements will improve his Engineering skills. Ask what the character did, then figure out what skills they would have been exercising to do it.

As for disadvantages, getting Vengeful against the Jem'Hadar or the Founders is a possibility, sure. But how about creating some new ones like Nightmares? Or take the Guilt trait from The Player's Guide - even if a person did the right thing, they might believe they didn't (for example, an officer who sealed a section off on their ship prior to decompression, who knew there were people still trapped in there but couldn't risk the whole ship).

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"The more top brass briefings I attend, the more I want to take a phaser to the whole lot of them..."

Captain Matt Hunter, USS Tempest, NCC-81205

As to views toward ones enemy and that not all would have bloodlust here some interesting facts after World War II the US Army asked three groups of vets there opinion on if they wanted to actually kill the enemy or not these were divided into vets with little combat, some combat and alot of combat further they were split between European and pacific vets results The European vets (all three groups) answered generally 9% wanted to actually kill the enemy (Germans) the pacific vets answer generally 45% wanted to kill the enemy(Japanese). This staggering difference was thought to be owed to the cultural simularities between Americans and Germans and the wider gulf between Americans and Japanese as while the Japanese owen attitude toward their enemy.

In Trek terms chances are very few Federation troops wanted to kill Cardassians, but a great majority have no love loss for the Dominion I would suggest the following for 50% of all Dominion War vet characters either Intolerant, Spieces enemy, or Bloodlust of Jem'hadr and Vorta with a sprinkling of the same toward Cardassians (this should be attached to some event such as witnessing or personal knowledge of a mass killing of POWs by Cardies or the liberation of a Cardassian labor camp (The WWII study showed that American vets who had participated in the liberation of camps had a higher rate of wanting to kill the enemy).

And don't foget in every war there is that one who has to say to his grandchild on his knee when asked "what did you do in the great Dominion War grandad?" and have to answer "Well Son . . . I shoveled Shit in Lousianna."

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Why does everyone assume that every character who enter combat is going to come out a vengeful, bloodthirsty lunatic?

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'Cause war is hard. Killing peaple is not and easy job and seeing your comrade die either...

Not everyone come out vengeful, but a lotttt...

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Originally posted by Cmd.Hentar:
'Cause war is hard. Killing peaple is not and easy job and seeing your comrade die either...

Not everyone come out vengeful, but a lotttt...

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I disagree completely. Especially in space combat, where 90% of the combattants would never see anything except the inside of their own ship during a battle.

I have engaged in combat in closer quarters than that (tank-to-tank) and, other than the compulsion to constantly sharpen knives, have no signifigant quirks as a result.

I submit that such would be the case for 95% of combat veterans as a whole.


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"I'd rather die standing than live on my knees..."
Shania Twain

Right on, claguard. Same here...actually, close quarters has instilled in me a complete disgust of killing...but if called on to do it again? In a heartbeat, baby. Often hating the other guy isn't in the program; just being happy you're still breathing is.

I would expect more shell shock (I'm NOT calling it PTSD. Call it what it is.) than vengeful. Intolerant wpould be a more likely result.

As for skills? Tactics (Dominion or Cardassian); Strategic Operations (Defense in Depth or Invasion); Command (Combat Leader or Non-Starfleet [I figure ordering other ships in your wing -- Klingon or ROmulan -- will require a certain finesse].)

actually leaving war without a quirk, is actually one. Killing People, especially in melee-combat has to change you in any way. War is brutal, cruel, horror! I never fought in one but as I am intensly interested in history I consequently dealt with it intensively. I've seen pictures of which I get sick. People missing half of the face because of a grenade and the like - Imagining to suffer such wounds, see it suffered or even inflict it makes me feel even worse.
But if you feel nothing about it, well I would give such a acharacter the hides emotions disadvantage.
That's the point I think, there are two ways you cope with batle.
You get broken and then get intolerant, vengeful and the like or you get used to it and then get battle hardened or hides emotions, but actually I think then you will have far more serious problems in your innner self and soul ( or however you wanna call it ).
It think this applies to starship combat too. Things explode, people screem some get exposed to vacuum and get killed in cruel ways - see people and especially friends dying cannot leave you without any movement.
I do not speek of small skirmishes those clean combats you see in TNG, well perhaps a Security personel gets killed - well it is his own fault, why did he put the "red shirt" on? but I speek of the battle your senn in the episode of DS) on this planet AR..., those people had quirks and nearly became mad! that is far more realistic I think

Agreed !!!

Starship battle are maybe not as hard for the mind, but someday or another one of your friend will die...

You also have to consider that SF has much better medical, including psych, skills than today. "Shell shock" is a real - and doesn't have to be from direct fire - but (mostly) recoverable condition.

I don't see SF sending unrecovered "shocked" people back out into the field if they can help it - certainly not in large numbers.


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TK

Depending on what the character did during the war would have a profound effect on him or her.

A character that served on the line in every major battle with the Dominion/Cardassians, and seeing many friends, shipmates, and Academey Classmates die probably is going to have some psychological difficulties: Nightmares and the like. Species Enemy (Jem'Hadar) and (Cardassian) disadvantages as well. It really depends on the history of the Character.

Of course this is MHO.

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Originally posted by Capt.Hunter:
(as Sisko did in "AR-855")

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Oppsie! A lota us muck this up! You have the
right numerals but switch 'em around. That episode was titled "The Seige of AR-558" and the number is significant because it was the production number of the episode at Paramount Studios.

Given all of the different ways people react to war, and all of the different interactions they might have had, I think that you'd have to decide the effects, good and bad, on an individual basis.

A lot of the changes might be enough to note for role-playing while not being full-blown disadvantages. Starfleet officers that participated in fleet engagements with massive casualties might be more reluctant to engage in starship combat. Some personnel might be less than sanguine about the Federation's policies after the losses of the Dominion War, advocating a stronger military branch. That sort of thing.

I think the best thing to do might be to chart out a war history of sorts and note significant events, looking at the skills and traits that the person in question might have picked up out of it.

Keep in mind that with Dominion Forces still active and the continued existence of the Cardassian Empire, Starfleet probably won't keep people who have serious disadvantages (such as Intolerance) in positions where they are likely to encounter reminders of past horrors.

-- Roy

Captain Maxwell was able to hide his Intolerence for quite sometime.

And his response to that intolerance made a pretty good episode. I think what most folks are saying is that while a "plot hook" centered around someone's post-war turmoil might be good - having every character that survived the war be "all torn up about it" is to much.

In fact, some of my game's PC's are almost to far the other way - they have put the war behind them and don't even want to acknowledge any affects. (In fact this happened to alot of WWII vets - they came home and didn't talk about it for decades, perhaps not healthy but most had no visible ill effects.)



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TK

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder strikes people differently. Some have night terrors for the rest of their lives, while others (as you said) seem like they have left it all behind...When they really haven't. Which is what makes it difficult to track.

War does not leave you unchanged, phsyically or mentally...It leaves massive scars, some apparant some not.

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