Fighter
⚔ Melee / Ranged / SupportThe Essa class. All ten subclasses run on 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.
The Fighter is the most common chassis for Essa practitioners in the Shatterds. Standard military training, imperial or independent, produces Fighters. The Essa system grafts onto that base at Level 3 when a practitioner bonds with a Rig or develops an alternate channel — Momentum, Void, or raw body-expressed Essa. Before that point, a Fighter is a Fighter.
Class Features
Essa Subclass (chosen at Level 3)
Gauntlet Rig. Burn a vial every round, hit harder than anything at the table. Pulse Strike replaces any attack in your Extra Attack chain.
Precision Gauntlet. One target. Efficient Burn makes T1 Glow hit above its tier — at Level 5, 25 gp outputs like a T3 vial.
Gauntlet built into a ranged weapon. Long Barrel means all your Techniques fire at full weapon range. You never need to close distance.
Tracker Gauntlet. Intel system builds 0–4 stacks on a Marked target, each adding +1 DC and +1d4 force damage per stack.
AetherBlade — Essa-forged magic steel. The blade generates its own EP per short rest for T1 Techniques. No vial, no Feedback Save on those activations.
No Rig. No vials. No Feedback Save. Everything costs Momentum, generated by removing threats. The more you put down, the more dangerous you become.
No Rig. Vials, but Feedback DC is 2 higher than standard. No Burn Buffer. On a natural 1, roll on the Wild Surge table instead of taking normal failure.
No Rig. No Essa. The Void is the absence of Essa — undetectable, unseverable, invisible to the Empire's Suppression Grid. You control. You do not strike.
Full Forge Rig exosuit. Deploy autonomous constructs that act on their own initiative. You manage the battlefield. Your constructs handle the direct engagement.
Full Covenant Rig. A specific, binding Oath generates Resonance — free fuel for Mend and Defense Techniques. Break the Oath and the Rig inverts: everything that healed now damages.
Level Progression
| Level | Features |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fighting Style, Second Wind |
| 2 | Action Surge |
| 3 | ⚡ Essa Subclass Unlocks |
| 4 | ASI |
| 5 | Extra Attack (×2) |
| 6 | ASI |
| 7 | Subclass Feature |
| 8 | ASI |
| 9 | Indomitable |
| 10 | Subclass Feature |
| 11 | Extra Attack (×3) |
| 12 | ASI |
| 13 | Indomitable (×2), Subclass Feature |
| 14 | ASI |
| 15 | Subclass Feature |
| 16 | ASI |
| 17 | Action Surge (×2), Extra Attack (×4) |
| 18 | Subclass Capstone |
| 19 | ASI |
| 20 | Subclass Feature |