I do really like these NPC builds, but they would be terrifying to encounter at 4th level! Two of them should be a tough but fair encounter for four 4th level PC's per the encounter rules. But I think it is very likely that those would wipe the floor with the PC's.
I'm still waiting for Steven's PbP adventure that's going to absolutely destroy all of us with our less-than-perfect PC builds :D
But where's the fun in that!? Beside that I HATE seeing "perfect" builds from PCs if perfect means "min/maxed to do one task and basically only one task well." I'll do it for the NPCs to make them a challenge but I firmly believe you can accomplish a lot with lower CL opponents instead of relying on opponent's that are higher CL than the players have levels. Now the scary thing is when the two are mixed together and it's not immediately apparent who's "the boss" and which are minions.
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: FakDendor on May 29, 2020, 05:52:11 am
Quote
I do really like these NPC builds, but they would be terrifying to encounter at 4th level! Two of them should be a tough but fair encounter for four 4th level PC's per the encounter rules. But I think it is very likely that those would wipe the floor with the PC's.
I'm still waiting for Steven's PbP adventure that's going to absolutely destroy all of us with our less-than-perfect PC builds :D
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: StevenO on May 28, 2020, 07:47:04 pm
While it may not be done is it said you couldn't go from heroic levels to non-heroic ones? Besides that at least I'm generally starting them with 15 point buys and if these characters get "heroic" buys I generally value them at +1 CL because of it.
Well, it has been clarified that this is not intended to work. But I'll get back to you if I find it... I guess that per RAW there is no stopping you from doing so. The multiclassing rules imply that it can be done, even if they don't mention NH levels.
As much as we all may love clarifications it can also be noted that the "source" for those isn't always that much better than another option especially when there were times two developers would have DIFFERENT thoughts on exactly how something was apparently "supposed" to work.
I fully know that none of the source books seem to place non-heroic levels after starting in a heroic class but after 1st-level is generally doesn't make much difference how a character's levels are added. And when it comes to stats those "official" stat blocks are already all over the place so saying if the NH8/Soldier1/ET1 takes a level of Soldier at 8th-level for the second +1 ability boost or not is pretty foolish of them when they can't even keep everything else straight.
I also fully admit that counting the NH8 as CL2 is really pushing what CL2 can be.
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: MERC_1 on May 28, 2020, 06:59:34 pm
While it may not be done is it said you couldn't go from heroic levels to non-heroic ones? Besides that at least I'm generally starting them with 15 point buys and if these characters get "heroic" buys I generally value them at +1 CL because of it.
Well, it has been clarified that this is not intended to work. But I'll get back to you if I find it... I guess that per RAW there is no stopping you from doing so. The multiclassing rules imply that it can be done, even if they don't mention NH levels.
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: StevenO on May 28, 2020, 03:49:41 pm
... Well, that last level of NH would not be strictly by the rules. But as the difference is so small I guess it could be OK anyway. Also, those stats are pretty min/maxed. But most of that could be moved around a bit as is needed.
I do really like these NPC builds, but they would be terrifying to encounter at 4th level! Two of them should be a tough but fair encounter for four 4th level PC's per the encounter rules. But I think it is very likely that those would wipe the floor with the PC's.
While it may not be done is it said you couldn't go from heroic levels to non-heroic ones? Besides that at least I'm generally starting them with 15 point buys and if these characters get "heroic" buys I generally value them at +1 CL because of it.
While I may not really appreciate min/max for PCs when it comes to NPCs I do it so they can punch hard and actually present a challenge to higher level PCs. I'm sure you've seen the GMs who throw higher level heroic types at PCs and while the CL says it should be a slaughter the PCs often seem to win because the NPC isn't played to the fullest. My goal with these CL4 Elite Troopers isn't so much to use them against 4th-level heroes but rather against say 7th-12th level heroes who now think "they're too good" to face "weak" troops.
Against your 4th level heroes these certainly have a better BAB than the Soldier 4 although the sample Soldier does have higher DEX. REF is similar between the two because armor is used as a great balancer otherwise the Soldier would have a small edge there. Where the NH-ET is really hurting is in that WILL Defense department and while I've got the Soldier4 at WILL 15 the NH-ET is only WILL 11 providing an alternative angle to attack.
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: MERC_1 on May 28, 2020, 12:35:43 pm
Took me a bit to find it but that was a bad cut/paste from the base model where those 14s should be 12s as seen in the second post. The three 14s would cost 18 points which is your starting 15 with +1 at 4th level and +2 at 8th (figuring Soldier there before NH8 @ 9th and then ET).
Well, that last level of NH would not be strictly by the rules. But as the difference is so small I guess it could be OK anyway. Also, those stats are pretty min/maxed. But most of that could be moved around a bit as is needed.
I do really like these NPC builds, but they would be terrifying to encounter at 4th level! Two of them should be a tough but fair encounter for four 4th level PC's per the encounter rules. But I think it is very likely that those would wipe the floor with the PC's.
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: StevenO on May 28, 2020, 08:42:51 am
NH8/Soldier1/EliteTrooper1 STR 14, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 8, CHA 8, (+6 remaining, up to +4 in any one) BAB: +8; Defenses: REF 19(16)*, FORT 18, WILL 11; hp 59 Feats: AP (light, medium), Martial Arts I, Point Blank Shot: +2 starting feats, +2 General Feats Talents: +1 ET requirement, +1 from Elite Trooper Trained Skills: Any one except UtF
What is that "+6 remaining, up to +4 in any one"? You are already at PB 16 per my calculations, that is one more than NH normally get.
Took me a bit to find it but that was a bad cut/paste from the base model where those 14s should be 12s as seen in the second post. The three 14s would cost 18 points which is your starting 15 with +1 at 4th level and +2 at 8th (figuring Soldier there before NH8 @ 9th and then ET).
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: MERC_1 on May 28, 2020, 05:38:25 am
NH8/Soldier1/EliteTrooper1 STR 14, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 8, CHA 8, (+6 remaining, up to +4 in any one) BAB: +8; Defenses: REF 19(16)*, FORT 18, WILL 11; hp 59 Feats: AP (light, medium), Martial Arts I, Point Blank Shot: +2 starting feats, +2 General Feats Talents: +1 ET requirement, +1 from Elite Trooper Trained Skills: Any one except UtF
What is that "+6 remaining, up to +4 in any one"? You are already at PB 16 per my calculations, that is one more than NH normally get.
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: StevenO on November 27, 2019, 10:14:55 pm
When it comes to hp I used the same methods for calculation as I use for PC types. I could use the average hp for NH levels (which I'll round up) which would cut 4 hp from the NH8 total I use but I generally don't believe that's significant especially as I'll have low hp NPCs try to withdraw/retreat instead of simply fighting to the death. For the heroic levels I'd better give the NPCs the same benefits as I'd give the PCs.
I'll also admit that using NH8 here does make them pretty optimized and can see where you might want to count them as CL5. If used against lower level PCs (which I probably don't recommend) I'd consider that but when used against higher level PCs, which is really where I want them, I'd be treating them as CL4 even if they punch at the highest end of that.
When it comes to hp I guess it might bear remembering that they may not have quite the defense scores a hero type would have and even with a better BAB they may not hit all that much better and without the damage. To look at the heroic CL 4 equivalent I guess you'd be looking at a Soldier 4:
Soldier 4; STR 14, DEX 16, CON 14, INT 10, WIS 12, CHA 8 (PB 25, I normally use 28 for heroes) Feats: AP(light, medium), WP(simple, Pistol, Rifle), Martial Arts I, PBS, +2 general; Talents: +2 from Soldier; Trained Skills: +3 from Soldier BAB +4; Defenses: REF 19(15), FORT 18, WILL 15; hp 59
Compare this with: NH8/Soldier1/EliteTrooper1 STR 14, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 8, WIS 8, CHA 8, BAB: +8; Defenses: REF 19(16)*, FORT 18, WILL 11; hp 59 Feats: AP (light, medium), Martial Arts I, Point Blank Shot: +2 starting feats, +2 General Feats Talents: +1 ET requirement, +1 from Elite Trooper Trained Skills: Any one except UtF
There really isn't a lot of difference between the two. The NH-ET is +4 BAB and also +3 skills ahead of the Soldier but -4 behind in WILL (the NH-ET weakest defense), missing the +1 DEX, INT, and +2 WIS modifiers when it comes to skills and that +1 DEX for ranged damage. The NH-ET is also -1 behind in damage. Comparing feats and skills both have 2 general feats that aren't assigned and while the NH build has 2 unassigned starting feats those would need to go to buy the Soldiers 3 weapon proficiencies and 2 additional trained skills so you could say the Soldier is +3 on that. Delay Damage is certainly an edge the NH-ET has over the Soldier (which is why we're building using ET) but mark that against the starting feats/skills a Soldier gets and maybe you take the +3 edge down to +1 instead of just +2.
TL-DR: The NH8/Sol1/ET1 vs. Soldier 4 comparison is very close. If you want a bit more attack you use the ET but if you're looking for something that might resist a WILL Attack, has more trained skills to utilize, and has more utility in the weapons used you'll look at the Soldier.
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: Dessertblade on November 27, 2019, 08:27:54 pm
Really nice builds!! You gave me some ideas to make nice encounters!! Only thing I disagree with you is the HP those builds have. I prefer to stay in the margins of the 50% (soldiers have 5/6 more HP for each level, for example) so they can really punch enemies but die easy. I would say that the CL4 is not real as they are, in reality, very optimized. CL5 is my valoration.
With these two things, typical NPC would have 28HP (2+3+2+3+2+3+2+3 +8*CON) for the three first CLs levels and 13 for the last two, 41 for a CL5 character is above non combat heroic classes with a really high BaB.
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: StevenO on November 18, 2019, 06:05:09 pm
Now if someone has comments I'd be interested in hearing them? Disagreements or something you would want to see expanded on? I know I don't go into the talents available to Elite Trooper or really those that could get you into the class but I'm figuring that there'll be something you could find to help fill your vision for the character you are creating.
A beauty of SWSE is how versatile things are even when they share so many components. This example of using Elite Trooper for your NPCs, and I suppose you can draw some inspiration from part of it for your PCs, should really help show that. You run into a group of NH8/Soldier1/ET1 opponents you may be surprised at all the different things they can do even if they share the same core.
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: StevenO on November 18, 2019, 06:04:36 pm
Increasing the challenge beyond CL 4
Now there is a good bit of variety in those CL 4 builds, and you could do more, even if they all have the same class structure. The offensive ones can have attack bonuses that may still threaten even 10th level heroes which the rules say should almost be able to ignore CL4 opponents but if you look at the hero 10 as having REF Defenses of 22-26 those CL 4s can still hit those. Give the troopers some good officier support and tactics they can easily be punching well above their weight class and I believe provide a good experience for what I consider to be high level PCs. Of course you may eventually want to increase the challenge potential of these Elite Troopers so that's what I'll talk about here.
You have two pretty basic ways to increase the CL of the base NPC Elite Trooper: One is to simply add more class levels while the second is to replace some of the levels that are already there.
The first is pretty straight forward, you start with your 10th-level Elite Trooper and then simply add heroic, PrC, or even more non-heroic class levels. Adding base classes is easy as they have no requirements to meet and can thus be used as desired. PrCs have requirements that need to be met which can complicate adding those a bit but the examples I provided for CL4 ETs show some that can be met without going too far out of the way. At CL6 you could do a NH8/Soldier1/ET1/Gunslinger1/Officier1 which happens to hit all of those +4 class bonus to Defense scores although there's not a lot of wiggle room in this build. I mention adding heroic base and PrC levels but adding Non-heroic levels can also be done. Going up from NH8 these may not always be the most efficient but it can push the BAB with the least CL cost although it doesn't do much more to expand the character; NH16/Soldier1/ET1 is supposed to be CL 7 with a +14 BAB and base skill modifier moving from +5 to +9 but the Defenses haven't increased any, hp go up 8d4 (32 with my base although CON increases could push it higher), two or three +1 ability boosts, and it just gains three more feats to work with. Now if you're just working to boost attack and hp a bit this is actually pretty nasty but we're making them into glass cannons.
The second way of advancing the CL 4 Elite Trooper is a bit more nuanced as it requires changing out some of those non-heroic levels for heroic levels to boost the overall CL. Taken to the extreme you get back to your purely heroic character although if you're going to keep the Non-heroic at the start of the build you should keep NH4 for the +3 BAB for +1 CL. When replacing levels if you replace a level that gives BAB it needs to be a level that provides BAB thus making Soldier and Jedi levels ideal uses for replacement although it is possible to squeeze in a PrC level it it doesn't require a +7 BAB. To that end NH7/Soldier1/Officer1/ET1 and NH7/Gunslinger1/Soldier1/ET1 (both CL5) are possible while the NH6/Soldier1/Gun1/Off1/ET1 (CL6) may be possible only if the species selected can kick in one of the needed feats. More likely "replacement" versions take up to 4 level of NH and replace them with heroic levels. NH4/Soldier-Jedi4/ET1 works at CL6 although it actually drops overall character level. Going with a NH4/Soldier1/other baseclass can let you meet the requirements for other full BAB PrCs to put in to meet the ET requirements; NH4/Scout3/Soldier1/BountyHunter1/Elite Trooper1 is now up to CL7. Now all of this may make the substitution method of increasing the CL more complicated but if the overall build goals require other PrC levels trading out the additional NH levels that get you a CL for more base heroic classes can let you meet various PrC requirements at a lower overall CL.
One thing to note with all of these higher CL Elite Troopers is that the addition of more heroic levels will make the character less dependent on armor which is really needed to make the CL 4 version live up to the Defense expectations of it's CL. This means these characters may abandon armor completely or they may need to look toward the Armor Specialist talents to keep wearing their armor or even keep using it to boost REF Defense. A CL5 NH8/Soldier1/ET1/Gladiator1 may do fine wearing armor without talent support but move that character to a CL7 NH4/Soldier4/ET1/Gladiator1 you may start reconsidering. Now the Armor talents can be used to enter ET so there's not a loss there but to keep armor alive it'll need to be used but in the case of Battle Armor Improved Armored Defense could still be adding +4 to the REF of these characters.
Title: Re: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: StevenO on November 18, 2019, 06:03:55 pm
The base CL 4 Elite Trooper: NH8/Soldier1/EliteTrooper1 STR 12, DEX 12, CON 12, INT 8, WIS 8, CHA 8, (+6 remaining, up to +4 in any one) BAB: +8; Defenses: REF 18(16)*, FORT 17, WILL 11; hp 49 Feats: AP (light, medium), Martial Arts I, Point Blank Shot: +2 starting feats, +2 General Feats Talents: 1 from Armor Specialist, Weapon Specialist, Commando, or Mercenary (FU), +1 from Elite Trooper Trained Skills: Any one except UtF Equipment: Combat Jumpsuit (+4 armor) because an ET is going to wear armor until heroic level dictates otherwise.
This build is using the non-heroic (average) stats equivalent to PB 15 and then includes a total of +3 in level boosts with no more that +2 in any stat. You can get a 16 with it but should stop there. Hit points are calculated using fixed hp/HD equal to 2/3 or 3/4 max (depending on how you round) hp for each level; this means I'm giving 3 hp/level in Nonheroic, 7 for Soldier, and 8 for ET plus the CON bonus of course. With only 2 heroic levels and all of these armor feats this character REALLY should be wearing armor; I included the basic Combat Jumpsuit here but really would expect 'trooper armor or medium battle armor in most cases.
This build also uses NH8 which is counted as CL2. Now NH6 is also counted as CL2 and stepping up to NH8 may give the biggest variation in power (BAB and hp/HD) you'll find in a single Challenge level equivalent. It may not be spelled out anywhere in the books but it takes 3 full levels of NH for a +1 CL (basically +1 CL for each additional feat it earns) so NH6 and NH8 are both CL2 despite one being a good bit stronger. A future post will talk about pulling back the levels in NH but we need the +6 BAB from NH8 to go with Soldier's +1 to reach +7 so it stays. If facing stronger (higher level) PCs this little bit extra at CL2 does help the NPC present itself as a challenge.
Now what you should notice is that this basic build still leaves 7 "slots" to fill although the Soldier talent is somewhat restricted. Starting with feats we're figuring that AP (light and medium) in the ET requirements are coming as starting feats from Non-heroic and possibly Soldier which leaves two starting feats, most likely for Non-heroic, which will likely provide the character with it's Weapon Proficiency and possibly Skill Training/Focus if it doesn't want/need the weapon proficiencies. As a 10th-level character this would start with four general feats but two of those go for the ET requirements leaving you with two general feats that could be spent on most anything. Unless feats/talents dictate specifics this build doesn't require any specific trained skill so the skill is left unassigned. With the talents you need the Soldier talent to meet the ET entry requirements but the ET talent can be any it qualifies for.
Now where to go with this base? Here are some examples:
Now Autofire Sweep is actually very sick depending on what template you use for it; I've got house rules in the works for it but sufficient to say it covers a MASSIVE area in which the first pair of this group suppresses with Improved Suppression Fire to give them all -2 on their attack even if they don't suffer any damage. This group is all utilizing Controlled Burst from ET to reduce the attack penalty from autofire which will help them deal damage. The damage dealer is trading the control aspect for the single shot potential of Burst Fire which can be very helpful if an attack needs to be aimed to avoid cover as the cover means the attack needs to hit REF anyway for any damage.
Still need to pick a weapon with this one or could pick another skill. May also drop to 'trooper armor for more mobility. In any event this is the kind of character you could put beside almost any other character and essentially give that character an additional 70 hitpoints. A load of hp for the CL and plenty of resistance to damage. Harm's Way requires planning but can make sure shots go toward this elite bodyguard instead of the charge; Bodyguard's Sacrifice is there to make sure he can take the damage even if he can't activate Harm's Way and also to cover the things that might get around Harm's Way for damage. For the extra feats Never Surrender will give this character a chance to soak a shot that would drop it to zero hitpoints; Stay Up is a way to make sure that shot dealt little enough that Endurance has a good chance of working with Never Surrender. Take Second Wind when you get the chance and remember that Delay Damage can keep you protecting your charge even after you should be dead.
Want to make the primitive tribesmen dangerous? Here's one wy. You can vary the weapon and also add more armor but charge in with +15 on the attack that's got chance against MUCH higher level hero and the damage shouldn't be ignored. Fleche makes the charge that much more dangerous as crits come more easily. The talents are little up in the air but Merc's Grit was taken to really stick any CT penalties this might get to the PCs. When it comes to the ET talent there were so many that dealt with criticals making them more dangerous but it's also a strong melee option.
Perhaps your most basic "Elite Trooper" as this guy really isn't out to do anything fancy but just layout hurt with a rifle. You could move feats/talents around depending on what you want but if you want someone who just shoots with a good bonus for high damage this works.
Probably not the first thing you think of when you think Elite Trooper. While the Bodyguard can soak/prevent damage this guy can heal damage very efficiently. He's got an open starting feat for a weapon if he carries one otherwise it might be another trained skill. With his surgical skills he can patch up a number of allies pretty quickly. Indomitable is taken so he can be sure he's a the top of his game when it's time to heal while Strength in Numbers helps him stay going despite nuisance fire.
Boom, boom! Haven't really worked a lot on what general feats work well but the talents help a bunch. Mandalorian Advance was taken to enable him to get close to a place he wants to place an explosive but wants to minimize his time there; the talent will let him move out there before using the Full Round action to place an explosive or disarm one if needed.
These stubs are just showing how this CL4 build can already have all the requirements lines up for entry into a couple OTHER PrCs. You may also notice that some of these do NOT overlap and you could me the requirements for Officer and one of the +4 REF Classes with the CL4 build.
Additions: These are specific variations on the normal CL 4 Elite Trooper intended for use in vehicle operations. They do not specifically benefit from the standard reasons for wanting ET in your NPC build (that being Delay Damage & FORT) but rather point out some of the other reasons for taking the class. The Pilot version is ready to enter Ace Pilot and shows a high damage version using Burst Fire/Controlled Burst and then the high accuracy version utilizing Weapon Focus/Specialization/Greater Focus. The gunner version isn't as Ace Pilot ready (but could still serve as a good pilot or in another skill position) but instead looks at two ways to start boosting the vehicle damage potential; the burst fire option is the same as for the pilot except that it now benefits from Focus/Specialization (and if he were the pilot using the pilot controlled weapon it'd be +9) while the other is going with the multiple attack option which can be very strong on vehicles. Neither of these stat blocks includes the vehicle's fire control/INT modifier or other modifiers from the vehicle.
Addition/Edit: The vehicle versions may show a lower CON but for these examples I make the assumption that you want a character with more than a few hitpoints and thus the CON 12 assumption as a base line. If you want more of a glass cannon type character you could start dropping CON and use those points to boost some other ability scores. For each point lost in CON modifier you lost 10 hit points and -1 from the FORT/DT; at CON 8 you pick up 4 more points to spend in other abilities but drop to FORT 15 and hp 29. If one figures average damage taken at 15 points a hit at CON 12 I'd figure you could take four hits and just be standing yet but going to CON 8 you now go down after just two hits; if that's what you're going for you might even expect them to withdraw after getting hit once.
Title: Elite Troopers for the NPCs
Post by: StevenO on November 18, 2019, 06:03:30 pm
Elite Trooper. As a name it invokes images of the toughest enemies you'll likely face and what you may aspire for if you are inclined for a good fight. As a class in SWSE it can certainly help a character taking levels in it meet that image especially as it has a few features that are mostly unique to the Elite Trooper PrC. The first of these is really the less spectacular and that is its d12 HD; it only shares this feature with Independent Droid but those droids aren't going to be adding a CON modifier to it so the d12 is the largest HD in the game and will give characters in this class a slight edge over those with d10s but it is only a slight edge. The second I'll mention is the class's DR granting feature; most PrCs have a distinguishing feature they gain every even level and for the ET it's DR. While this feature is nice all it's really doing is making the character a little harder to kill so it's building off the bigger hp and if you're taking DR off before comparing the damage to Damage Threshold it helps there but it starts small at 2nd level and rarely soaks all the damage plus it wouldn't stack with other sources of DR should they be available. The last feature which sets it apart is the Delay Damage ability; a few PrCs get an extra ability besides their even level feature which puts DD in select company but when it comes to features this is what you're really looking at to define the Elite Trooper class. The class also features a +4 bonus to FORT which is great to resist the effects of damage and of course has access to a wide range of talents.
Delay Damage: "Once per encounter as a reaction, you can choose to delay the effect of a single attack, ABILITY, or EFFECT used against you. The damage or effect does not take hold until the end of your next turn." It seems so simple yet it is so powerful as well when used correctly. The first time a character takes damage in an encounter is almost never the correct time to use it; this is even true if that damage would normally cause CT movement provided any CT movement will NOT prevent the character for taking any planned action. Waiting to use Delay Damage until the damage you'd delay would drop you to zero hp may not always be the best use of the ability but if you haven't used it this may be the last, best time to use it as it'll keep the character up longer. While using it to avoid going down is usually a good use of the ability, especially if you can get healing to stay up once the delayed damage kicks in, as you have the chance to get in "one more round" there are other times it may be very useful. These other correct times are when you're really using DD to put off suffering some ability or effect that would mess you up when you REALLY need to act. An example of this might be to DD the effect of getting hit by Force Grip; this may put off when you suffer damage and any CT from that but more importantly it would delay when the character is reduced to a single swift action giving one more round of acting and also discouraging keeping the power up as reducing you to a single swift twice doesn't do anything extra. Using DD on your own turn also has interesting repercussions as the effect is delayed until the end of your NEXT turn so you can finish what you're doing and perform next round before whatever it is kicks in. Unless you're delaying an effect that will completely mess you up it may be best not to use Delay Damage until you've dropped below half hp and can thus use Second Wind; delaying big damage early can lead to a situation where a character may drop down far enough that the delayed damage will drop them BUT not far enough for them to use 2nd-wind which leads to bad things.
While that covers some of the class's feature it's also important to look at what it takes to enter a class. Elite Trooper requires a +7 BAB, four feats, and one talent that pretty much always comes out of Soldier. Now that +7 BAB is pretty hard requiring at least 7 levels and possibly more. When it comes to feats you've got Point Blank Shot (or Flurry which is really only good for the lightly armed melee fighter) which isn't at all bad if you ever make a ranged attack. Next up you have Martial Arts I; now maybe you don't want to fight unarmed but at least with this feat you're always considered armed but even better this feats gives you a +1 dodge bonus to REF which pretty much anyone can enjoy. The last two feats are Armor Proficiencies for light and medium armor; now these are what throw many people although both are available as starting feats but if you're a hero starting in a class other that Soldier it may seem expensive. I'll note that for the NPC the Armor proficiency requires are ok as you might be wanting to wear that armor. Now the talent requirement offers a number of options which can vary depending on what you're trying to do but if you consider that the level in Soldier to get the talent is also likely to get you an Armor requirement it's a good thing.
So what's it going to take to get into Elite Trooper? As a PC you're likely looking at Soldier7 to get into ET at 8th level although Jedi could be thrown into the mix; as an NPC such a character would be CL 8. If you're NOT a pure Soldier/Jedi then getting into ET is going to take longer and possibly have you at CL 9 or even CL 10 once you get in. Now you may be thinking "those are pretty high challenge levels for an NPC" as I think they are but for the NPC you have that wonderful Nonheroic class at your disposal and with it you can get into Elite Trooper at the low, low cost of CL4 which is half of what a heroic entry is valued at. This starts with the powerhouse CL2 that is NH8 while adding the level of Soldier we need and topping it off as an Elite Trooper. This NH8/Soldier1/Elite Trooper 1 is actually a pretty potent start and after the minimums are covered it leaves you with two starting feats and two general feats to spend as well as you selection on talents and determining just where to place you ability scores. More on the CL4 Elite Trooper to follow...