Federation RPA Elite ("Raptor")

Overview

The RPA Elite ("Robot & Power Armor" elite) are the FS's specially trained power-armor pilots — the screaming Raptor jet-packs, the Enforcer UAR-1, the Sky Cycle. The Raptor is the icon: a winged, jet-propelled flying power armor with a rail gun and mini-missiles, the Federation's air superiority over the wastes.

It's a power-armor pilot — but deliberately the inverse of the Chromeboy: where the Chromeboy bonds with one legendary suit and locks down to fire artillery, the RPA Elite flies mass-produced, interchangeable FS armor and never stops moving. A fighter pilot in standard-issue gear, not a knight in a relic.

Its defining trait — jet-pack flight from level 1 — is the suit's gear, not a scaling class power (a deliberate carve-out from the project's "innate flight gated to L7" rule). The class scales its weapons and durability instead. And because the armor is requisitioned, not bonded, you can swap suits between missions, and out of the suit you're a competent FS trooper rather than a helpless pilot.

Federation Military training

• FS Indoctrination — +1 status to saves vs. magic/psionic, Intimidation + Federation Warfare Lore, ID enemy sorcery.
• Reaper / FS Armor Training and Standard-Issue Arms.
• No magic or psionics, and the federation faction trait.

At a glance

The Raptor power armor

Your suit is standard-issue FS power armor, not a bonded artifact — you requisition it, and can be assigned a different variant between missions. While piloting it:

• Flight (L1). A jet pack grants a fly Speed of 50 ft (60 at L9, 70 at L17). Its defining capability, available from level 1 — gear, so it doesn't scale as a class power beyond these speed bumps.
• Suit Hardness. Light-power-armor tier: Hardness 12 at L1, rising to 14 (L7), 16 (L13), 18 (L17). Always-on while suited.
• Suit weapons. A C-40R rail gun (2d12 piercing, Penetrating 6) and a mini-missile launcher (5d6, 10-ft burst, Penetrating 4); both scale with level.
• Out of the suit: a trained FS trooper — sidearm, armor proficiency, full skills — but no flight or heavy firepower. Since suits are requisitioned, losing one is a logistics problem, not a class death.

Class features by level

Specialties

Choose one at level 1.

Strike Raptor

The standard winged jet-trooper — speed and the rail gun.

• Built for Speed (L1). +10 ft base fly Speed, and your Strafing Run can begin and end airborne without provoking.
• Gun Run (L7). A Strafing Run can strike up to two targets along the path (multiple-attack penalty after the first).
• Untouchable (L13). If you moved at least 30 ft this turn, ranged attacks against you take a circumstance penalty equal to a third of your level.

Heavy RPA / Enforcer

The UAR-1 Enforcer and heavier robots — trade some flight for armor and bigger guns. The brick of the FS air wing: where the Strike Raptor dances, the Heavy RPA wades in and soaks.

• Heavy Frame (L1). Your suit's Hardness increases by 2 (14 at L1, scaling with the base track to 20), and you can wield heavy and vehicle-scale suit weapons whose Strikes gain Penetrating +2 — but your fly Speed drops to 30 ft (the heavy frame trades agility for armor). The anti-armor brawler of the family's air arm.
• Robot Pilot (L7). Pilot full FS combat robots and giant robot vehicles (the Enforcer, Spider-Skull Walker) as if they were your power armor — applying your proficiency, Aerial Tactics, and Follow Orders, with their mounted weapons as suit weapons. You keep a mobility valve: once per round, engage thrusters to Fly your full base Speed (50 ft) for a single action.
• Bombardment (L13). (recharge die 5–6) Rain heavy ordnance on a 20-ft burst within long range; each creature takes heavy damage with Penetrating 4 (basic Reflex vs. your class DC); critical failures are knocked prone and pushed 10 ft.

Recon Raptor / Sky Cycle

The fast scout — lighter, faster, sensor-laden. The eyes of the FS air wing, and the family's premier spotter (it pairs with Lase the Target, Net-Linked Sensors, and Focus Volley).

• Recon Sensors (L1). Your fly Speed increases by 10 ft, you gain a bonus to Seek and to notice hidden creatures and vehicles, and when you Seek and detect a creature you may Point Out to the whole squad as part of the same action.
• Outrun (L7). Fly Speed +10 ft more; once per round, Fly your full Speed as a single action; and you can grab and carry a willing or unconscious ally as you fly (a battlefield medevac). Creatures take a penalty to pursue or track you through the air.
• Eye in the Sky (L13). While airborne, you share your sensor picture with the whole squad: allies treat any creature you can see as no worse than hidden to them (as Net-Linked Sensors, but passive and squad-wide), and your Lase the Target and spotting affect every ally at once. You also auto-detect ambushes in a wide radius.

RPA feats

You gain an RPA feat at every even level (2–20). Most sharpen the aerial-striker game — flight, hit-and-run, the suit's rail gun and missiles, and feeding targets to the squad — so your feats compound with altitude and tempo.

Level 2

• Combat Pilot. Ignore your FS power armor's check penalty to Acrobatics and Piloting, and reduce its other check penalties by 1.
• Afterburner. Once per round, when you Fly, double your fly Speed for that action.
• Missile Lock. Your mini-missiles gain +1 circumstance to attack rolls against a creature you hit with your rail gun this round.

Level 4

• Barrel Roll. Trigger: you're targeted by an attack while flying. Fly up to half your fly Speed; if you end outside the attack's reach or behind cover, gain +2 circumstance AC against it.
• Hover Platform. While hovering (you didn't move this turn), ignore airborne firing complications and gain +1 circumstance to ranged Strikes — a stable weapons platform (you forgo Evasive Pilot while doing so).
• Tracer Fire. When you hit a creature with your rail gun, it's off-guard to the next attack a squad ally makes against it this round — you mark it with tracer rounds.

Level 6

• Boost Climb. You don't halve your Speed when Flying straight up, and after you Fly you gain +2 circumstance to your next ranged Strike from altitude this turn.
• Evasive Roll. Your Evasive Pilot reaction bonus increases to +3, and when it turns a hit into a miss you may Fly up to 10 ft as part of the reaction.
• Sidewinder. Your mini-missiles ignore lesser cover and gain +1 circumstance to attack rolls against a creature that is flying or that moved at least 20 ft on its last turn.

Level 8

• Wingman. When a squad ally hits a creature with a Strike, your next suit-weapon Strike against it this round gains +1 circumstance and ignores its cover.
• Strafe and Scatter. When you Strafing Run, each creature you move adjacent to must save (Reflex vs. your class DC) or be knocked prone.
• Pop-Up Attack. When you begin your turn airborne, your first suit-weapon Strike against a grounded target this turn deals +1 die of damage (a diving snapshot).

Level 10

• Missile Barrage. Your Missile Volley can target up to four creatures or fill a 20-ft burst, and creatures that fail its save are off-guard until your next turn.
• Aerial Superiority Doctrine. +2 circumstance AC against reactions triggered by your flight, and your Strafing Run never provokes from any creature (not just the Strike's target).
• Spotter's Link. When you Point Out or detect a creature with Seek, squad allies gain +1 circumstance to their first attack against it this round — you feed targeting data to the gunline.

Level 12

• Air Superiority. +1 circumstance to attack and AC against flying creatures, and a creature you've hit this round can't Fly out of your reach without a successful check.
• Coordinated Bombing. Sync a missile volley with an Officer's Focus Fire! or Fire Support: a creature hit by both in a round is off-guard and takes splash damage equal to your level.
• Strafing Mastery. Your Strafing Run can make a suit-weapon Strike at two points along the movement (each after the first at your multiple attack penalty), and the run can change altitude freely.

Level 14

• Overwhelming Salvo. Fire both suit weapons at one target (a rail-gun Strike and a mini-missile Strike, each at your current multiple attack penalty). If both hit, the target is knocked prone or pushed 10 ft (your choice).
• Jinking Ace. While you've moved at least 30 ft this turn, you gain +1 circumstance to AC and Reflex saves.
• Guardian Angel. Trigger: a squad ally within 30 ft is hit by a ranged attack. Fly up to half your Speed; if you end adjacent to the ally, redirect the attack to your suit (you take the hit, and your suit Hardness applies). Once per round.

Level 16

• Ace. A second reaction each round, usable only for flight or evasion reactions (Evasive Pilot, Barrel Roll).
• Suit Swap Specialist. Change Raptor variants in minutes — during a short rest, re-select your suit options and specialty-frame choices, even mid-adventure.
• Death from Above. Your Dive Bomb deals an additional die of damage, and you don't need to spend an action to pull up afterward (you recover automatically).

Level 18

• Total Air Dominance. Your suit weapons gain a +5-ft range increment, you ignore all cover against grounded targets while airborne, and flying enemies within your reach are off-guard to you.
• Rapid Rearm. Your Bombardment / Missile Volley recharge die improves to 4–6, and once per turn you may reload a suit weapon as a free action.
• Evasive Mastery. Your Evasive Pilot and Barrel Roll AC bonuses increase to +4, and while you've moved this round you treat the first ranged attack against you each round as though you had cover (+2 circumstance AC).

Level 20

• Sky Sovereign. Your fly Speed increases by an additional 20 ft (stacking with the capstone), you can Fly your full Speed and make a suit-weapon Strike as a single action, and you can hover indefinitely with full actions in any conditions.
• Annihilation Run. Make a strafing pass along a line up to twice your fly Speed, making a suit-weapon Strike against every creature in the path (each after the first at your multiple attack penalty); rail-gun Strikes on this run gain Penetrating equal to half your level.
• Ace of Aces. You gain a third reaction each round usable for flight/evasion, your Air Superiority applies to all enemies (grounded or flying), and once per round when you drop a flying enemy you may immediately Fly your Speed as a free action.

Shared Coordinated Tactics. In place of an RPA feat you can take the family's Coordinated Tactics feats (the Tac-Net pool, L2–L10) — headlined by Lase the Target (L4) and Focus Volley (L6); see Federation Military. A Focus Volley fired with the suit's C-40R rail gun (Penetrating) turns the squad's reactions into anti-armor fire — the Raptor is the volley member that punches through a heavy target. (Ace, L16, gives a second reaction, but it's flight/evasion-only, so it doesn't grant a second volley.)

Where the class fits the scene

• Where it shines: open terrain, aerial battles, mobile skirmishes — anything rewarding speed and the high ground. It controls the third dimension from level 1: kiting grounded foes, striking from above, repositioning faster than anyone can pin it. Strong solo, and a flying anchor for a Federation squad.
• Where it's reduced: tight indoors, no-fly zones, anti-air, or when its suit is impounded (out of the suit it's a competent trooper, not an ace). Heavy lockdown targets that out-tank its rail gun reward bringing a Chromeboy or anti-armor ally.