Character Classes

Fighter — The Essa Class

There is one base class. At Level 3, every Fighter chooses an Essa subclass — the choice that defines your resource, your Rig, your Techniques, and your Rule Break.

The Fighter Chassis

In Onan, all 10 Essa subclasses share the Fighter base class. Before Level 3 you are a standard D&D 5e Fighter — Second Wind, Action Surge, Fighting Style. At Level 3, the Essa system comes online. You choose a subclass that defines your resource, your Rig (if any), your Technique list, and your Rule Break — the thing only you can do.

CON modifier drives Feedback Saves and most save DCs. STR or DEX handles attack rolls depending on build.

Fighter Base Class →

Choose at Level 3

Ten subclasses. Each runs differently — different fuel, different hardware, different combat role.

10 subclasses — choose at Level 3

Striker — Close Range

d10

Essa Knight

The standard. Burn a vial every round, hit harder than anything at the table.

The Essa Knight is the flagship subclass — an armored fighter with a Gauntlet Rig bonded to the weapon arm. Every round you burn a vial and hit harder than anyt…

VialsGauntlet

Striker — Single Target

d10

Edge Knight

Precision instrument. One target. One outcome.

The Edge Knight is a precision instrument. Where the Essa Knight throws force like a hammer, you place it like a scalpel. The Precision Gauntlet channels more e…

You don't close distance. Distance is your safety margin.

The Hexslinger Gauntlet is built into the firing mechanism of a ranged weapon — a revolver, crossbow, or hand cannon. Essa flows through the barrel. What you fi…

You know their name before they see you.

You are a collector. A closer. The Tracker Gauntlet is an intelligence instrument first and a weapon second — integrating Scan, Mark, Track, and Profile at the …

VialsGauntlet

Melee / Force Manipulation

d10

Covenant

The blade found you. You didn't choose this. But you chose to stay.

You carry an AetherBlade — Essa-forged magic steel that only resonates with one in a hundred thousand people. The blade generates its own EP. You are never full…

Vials + ReserveAetherBlade

Striker — Escalating

d10

Ironhand

No vials. No Rig. No registration. Just a body that learned to hit wrong.

Ironhand is a discipline — a physical and mechanical school of technique so refined it produces Essa-equivalent output without any Essa at all. The Empire has n…

MomentumNo Rig

Striker — High Risk/High Output

d10

Rawcaster

No Rig. No training. It just started one day and hasn't stopped.

Essa emerged in you without warning. No Rig, no academy, no license. The ability showed up on its own and the Empire has no clean category for it. You hit hard …

Vials (Hard DC)No Rig

Control / Suppression

d10

The Still

No signal. No hardware. No registration. The Empire's grid looks right through you.

The Still is the absence of Essa. Not the absence of ability — the absence of Essa signature. Other practitioners channel Essa through Rigs or bodies and the Em…

Void PoolNo Rig

Support / Field Engineer

d10

Machinist

You don't fight the battle. You build the battlefield everyone else fights in.

The Machinist is an engineer first. The Forge Rig is a full exosuit with integrated construction bays. You deploy autonomous constructs — independent units that…

The Oath is not a promise. It is a contract with the Essa itself.

The Oathbound made a commitment at the moment of Rig activation — a specific, stated, and binding principle. The Essa heard it. The Rig is calibrated to it. Eve…

VialsFull Rig

The Essa System

Every subclass runs on Essa — the physical fuel extracted from the earth and channeled through a Rig or the body to produce force effects. Every activation triggers a Feedback Save. Every failed save builds Burn. The system pushes back — always.

Learn the Essa System →