UMBRA

"They thought distance kept them safe. They forgot distance is my domain."

— Kaelen Vix, Umbra Sharpshooter, kill confirmed at 1,030ft

Most combatants see range as a limitation. Umbras see it as momentum. The further the target, the more time the shot has to gather intent, calculation, and lethality. With calm breath and a steady hand, an Umbra doesn’t just account for distance—they weaponize it.

Because for them, the kill zone is everywhere they can see.

And the dead zone starts where you think you're safe.

When making a ranged attack, add +1 bonus damage for every 10ft between you and the target.

This bonus damage is applied after all other modifiers.

Maximum bonus damage is capped at (Dexterity Mod × 3).

"Movement betrays intention. Breathe too loud, twitch too fast, and the moment passes. But stillness? Stillness kills."

— Umbra training doctrine, Line 17

For the Umbra, silence isn’t absence—it’s preparation. Stillness isn’t passivity—it’s the coil before the strike. Remaining motionless transforms the Umbra into a perfect killer: invisible, patient, and mathematically lethal.

From the shadows, every breath counts.

From stillness, death arrives.

"No one saw it coming. Not even the ones standing next to him."

— Final log of Captain Virell, moments before execution on Glasspoint Station

There is the shot.

And then there is the kill.

Umbras trained in the art of True Ambush don’t just catch enemies off-guard—they unmake them. From the shadow of a ruined column or the edge of a scope lens 200 feet away, they deliver single, irreversible moments of death.

A perfect ambush doesn’t start with movement.

It ends with silence.

"You don't need to know everything about a target. Just enough to know where they're going to be."

— Umbra training doctrine, Module IV

There is a language written in the way a body carries itself — the hitch in a step that betrays a wound, the shallow breathing of someone already spent. The Umbra learns to read it fluently. A single glance is enough. Not to understand, but to predict.

"The shot was heard. The shooter was not."

— Field debrief, Operative casualty report, Redacted

The Umbra does not linger where the bullet lands. Movement is not retreat — it is the continuation of invisibility, a final punctuation on an action already complete. Before the echo fades, they are somewhere else entirely, and the space they occupied holds nothing but spent air.

"Walls are for people who need to be surprised."

— Umbra field debrief, redacted

The Umbra does not guess where a target is hiding. It knows. Every surface is a temporary illusion, every blind corner an invitation — the operative sees through the material world as if it were a suggestion, locking geometry and flesh into perfect, killable clarity.

You can see through solid barriers up to 5ft thick, and through Invisibility and Smoke as if they were not present.

If your target benefits from Cover or Concealment of any kind, you gain +2 to Hit on attacks made against them.

This sense is always active and does not require an action to maintain.

"Breathe out. Hold. Let the world slow down until there is nothing left but the target."

— Umbra conditioning mantra

They teach it early: the body is noise. Every heartbeat is interference, every micro-tremor a deviation from true. Stillness is not passive — it is a discipline imposed on a breathing, restless thing. The Umbra learns to make the body a platform. What fires from it is not a shot. It is a conclusion.

"One round. One solution. Everything after that is paperwork."

— Umbra operative, post-mission statement

There are soldiers who shoot, and there are professionals who end things. The Precision Strike is not a matter of luck or firepower — it is the result of perfect stillness, perfect timing, and the cold certainty that the target has already lost. The body simply hasn't caught up.

"They searched for three hours. Found the casing. Never found the angle."

— Investigator's log, unsolved incident file

A shot fired is a position revealed — for anyone less disciplined. The Umbra treats disclosure as a variable to be eliminated. The moment the trigger releases, the sequence is already in motion: fire, shift, vanish. By the time the sound reaches listening ears, the source has ceased to exist in that space.

"They thought the silence meant safety. That was their last mistake."

— Recovered journal of a Phantom operative

The untrained see waiting as inaction. The Umbra understands it as a different kind of violence — compressed, coiled, pointed at a future moment. The kill does not begin when the trigger is pulled. It begins when the decision is made to wait, and the world obliges by walking into the answer.

"The first shot warms the barrel. The third one sings."

— Umbra training doctrine, Chapter 9

Momentum is a weapon. Each confirmed kill tightens the operative's focus, narrows the variables, strips away hesitation until there is nothing left but the geometry of the shot. The Umbra in full crescendo is not a person. It is a process — one that does not stop until it is finished.

Each Critical hit you land grants 1 stack of Precision (maximum 3 stacks).

Each stack of Precision provides:

+1 to Hit on ranged attacks.

+1 to your Critical Range (i.e., the threshold for what counts as a critical hit widens by 1 per stack).

Precision stacks are lost immediately if you miss an attack or voluntarily move from your current position.

Stacks do not expire between turns while the above conditions remain unbroken.

"They kept asking how I got the angle. I kept not answering."

— Umbra operative, classified debrief

Line of Sight is a tool, not a limit. The Umbra learns early that a surface is not a wall — it is a redirector. A ricochet isn't an accident. It's the shot you planned while everyone else was busy staring at the wrong wall.

"The body is a weapon. Like any weapon, it can be refined."

— Phantom field manual, Chapter 9

Mastery is not a single threshold crossed — it is a continuous recalibration, each improvement compounding on the last. An Umbra who survives long enough to reach this point has not simply practiced. They have restructured themselves around a purpose. The refinement shows.

Increase any one Statistic by +1

You may not exceed the stat cap of 6

This increase reflects physical, mental, or cybernetic growth—interpret freely during character development

"Once I see you, I've already decided. The rest is just time."

— attributed to an unnamed Umbra operative

There is a moment, invisible to the target, when the Umbra settles on them completely. Not anger. Not hatred. A clinical narrowing, the way a lens locks onto a point. After that moment, the target has not died yet — but the Umbra has already finished the calculation.

"You can't spray a shadow. You have to find it first."

— Combat instructor, Phantom training facility

The Umbra does not fight from the open. Concealment is not a fallback — it is the operating condition, a permanent state that shapes every engagement. Within it, they are not simply hidden. They are structurally absent. Weapons designed to sweep spaces find nothing to catch. There is no silhouette to fill.

While you are in Cover or Concealment, you cannot be targeted by sweep-type attacks or area effects that require the attacker to confirm your exact position.

This includes: Sweep Attacks from the Automatic keyword, cone effects, blast effects, and similar area attacks where the attacker must know or guess your location to include you.

If an attacker cannot pinpoint your exact position, such effects simply do not reach you — you are not included in their area of effect.

Effects that target an entire area regardless of occupant knowledge (e.g., environmental hazards, untargeted explosions) are not blocked by this ability.

"The muzzle flash lasted less than a second. By the time it faded, there was no one behind it."

— Witness testimony, sealed tribunal record

A flash of light is a lie the Umbra tells deliberately — a false address, a position surrendered only to abandon it. The shot announces a location. The displacement erases it. What remains is a question mark in the shape of a shooter, and the cold certainty that they are somewhere else entirely.

"They never screamed. That's how you know it was us."

— Recovered field log, author unknown

A critical hit from an Umbra operative is not merely a wound — it is a message delivered at the speed of light, a system shock so precise it overwrites the target's ability to function. The body keeps breathing. The mind goes somewhere else entirely.

Trigger: You score a Critical hit on a target.

The target must immediately pass a Willpower check (TN 12) or become Stunned until the end of their next turn.

If the target is already affected by Bleeding when the Critical hit lands, they also gain the Dazed condition in addition to any Stunned result.

Both conditions (Stunned and Dazed) may apply simultaneously if the Willpower check is failed and the Bleeding condition is present.

"They were afraid of the wrong thing. Their eyes tracked the noise. Not the quiet."

— Debriefing transcript, classified

Most combatants fear what is loud, what moves, what rushes them. The Umbra understands this. While others command attention with chaos, the ghost in the distance has gone untouched for three turns — and with each passing second, their aim has grown colder, steadier, and more precise. Neglect is a resource.

For each consecutive turn you have not taken any damage this encounter, gain +1 Hit Chance on all ranged attacks (maximum +3).

This bonus resets to 0 the moment you take any damage, from any source.

The bonus accumulates between turns — it does not need to be spent and applies to all ranged attacks while active.

| Turns Undamaged | Hit Chance Bonus |

|---|---|

| 1 | +1 |

| 2 | +2 |

| 3+ | +3 (cap) |

"The second shot isn't revenge. It's efficiency."

— Umbra tactical notation, pre-mission brief

Some operatives take one shot and vanish. The Umbra takes one shot and lets it ripple. The first round opens the door. The second round steps through it. Both are inevitable — the targets simply haven't been introduced yet.

"The moment I put a round in you, the outcome was written. You just hadn't read it yet."

— Umbra field operative, unverified source

The Umbra does not mourn kills or celebrate them. They log them. Each death in a field of engagement — whether the Umbra delivered it or not — is data confirming what was already true: the target had been touched, and being touched by this operative is a terminal condition. The sharpshooter grows colder with each confirmation.

Whenever a creature you have hit at least once this encounter dies (by any source), gain 1 stack of Precision (as per Sniper's Crescendo).

If you personally deliver the killing blow, gain 2 stacks of Precision instead.

Precision stacks still obey the normal maximum of 3.

Stacks are still lost on a miss or if you move, as per Sniper's Crescendo rules.

"No one heard it. No one ran. That's the point."

— Post-mission assessment, operation details redacted

Sound is information. A gunshot tells the room: someone fired, somewhere, at something. The Silencer Protocol removes that sentence entirely. The death occurs. The room does not update. In the absence of signal, panic cannot organize — and the Umbra remains a rumor, not a threat.

"Forensics couldn't reconstruct the trajectory. That was the point."

— Classified incident report, sector 7-Null

Physics doesn't argue with expertise. The Umbra has long since stopped thinking of surfaces as obstacles and started treating them as infrastructure. Two bounces. Three sightlines. One target that never understood what direction death was coming from.

Trickshot Geometry is upgraded: you may now draw Line of Sight from a second surface that is within the Line of Sight of the first bounce point (two sequential bounces).

The attack still carries Disadvantage due to angle complexity.

Piercing continues to function through all reflected Line of Sight segments.

Additionally, when attacking from an elevated position (higher ground relative to your target):

You gain +1 to Critical Range.

The target must make their Defense flip with Disadvantage.

Both the double-bounce and the elevation bonus may apply simultaneously when conditions are met.

"I don't aim at you. I aim at the space you're about to occupy."

— Umbra operative, pre-mission briefing

The Umbra does not need to see the target in the conventional sense. A position is a coordinate. A coordinate can be fired upon. This is not intuition — it is the culmination of every lesson about geometry, trajectory, and the predictable nature of living things. The round goes where it was sent. Whether you were there is your problem.

"I don't just need you dead. Sometimes I need you unable to act first."

— Umbra operative briefing note

A body under sufficient mechanical stress ceases to cooperate. The Umbra knows this with anatomical precision — not as cruelty, but as engineering. The critical strike is not a moment of luck. It is a deliberate placement, a shot chosen for where it lands and what that landing prevents. Death is one outcome. Incapacitation is sometimes more useful.

When you land a ranged Critical Hit, choose one of the following effects to apply to the target in addition to normal Critical results:

Stunned Reaction: The target loses their Quick Action on their next turn.

Leg Shot: The target's movement speed is halved until the end of their next turn.

Suppressed: The target cannot make opportunity attacks until the start of their next turn.

Only one effect may be chosen per Critical Hit.

These effects apply even if the target is resistant to critical damage, as long as a Critical Hit is registered.

"They built the weapon for a range. I built myself for past it."

— Umbra field record, distance unmarked

Standard doctrine treats the weapon's maximum effective range as a ceiling. The Umbra treats it as a baseline. Out past the point where other marksmen see their accuracy degrade, the Umbra finds something like clarity — the noise falls away, the variables compress, and there is only the line between the muzzle and the mark. Distance is not a limitation. It is a preference.

Dead Zone's maximum bonus damage cap increases from (Dexterity Mod × 3) to (Dexterity Mod × 5).

Shots fired at or beyond the weapon's maximum effective range (the threshold at which Disadvantage would normally apply) deal an additional +2 damage.

This bonus applies even when Disadvantage is in effect — operating at the edge is where the Umbra is most dangerous.

All other Dead Zone rules remain unchanged.

"There is no version of this where you survive. I've already run them all."

— Final words delivered to a target, witness account

A Deathmark is not a threat. It is a statement of completed work — the paperwork filed before the outcome arrives. The Umbra does not mark a target in anger. They mark them the way a surgeon marks an incision line: with precision, with certainty, and with the knowledge that what follows is simply the execution of a plan already finished in every way that matters.

"Armour is a comfort. We stopped caring about comfort a long time ago."

— Umbra weapons systems briefing, restricted

Protective systems are designed around the assumption of average force delivered from average angles. The Umbra is not average force. At this level of refinement, a ranged critical is not a lucky hit — it is a calculated strike that finds the seams in any defence, real or manufactured, and passes through them as though they were never there.

Your ranged Critical hits now bypass Damage Reduction entirely — apply full damage before any reductive modifiers.

In addition, your ranged Critical hits deal an additional +2 damage on top of the maximized or high-tier result.

This bonus applies after all other damage calculations are resolved.

"They found the bodies. They never found the shooter. As far as we're concerned, those are both acceptable outcomes."

— Umbra command review, operation SILENT MERIDIAN

This is the terminal expression of the Umbra doctrine: a state where the operative ceases to be a threat and becomes a condition of the environment — invisible, unkillable, operating from beyond the reach of conventional response. Every shot a potential masterpiece. Every kill a ghost story no one alive can verify.

"At some point, you stop training the skill and start training the person. They become the same thing."

— Phantom program evaluation notes

Ten levels of engagement, survival, and deliberate self-refinement do not leave an operative unchanged. The Umbra who reaches this point has not simply accumulated technique — they have shed everything that was imprecise about themselves and kept only what served the purpose. What remains is efficient, relentless, and exactly as dangerous as intended.

Increase two different Statistics by +1

No individual stat may exceed the cap of 6

"You solved for everything. You forgot to solve for me."

— Umbra, recovered from mission debrief transcript

Every engagement has variables — movement, cover, noise, reaction. Lesser operatives accept that a kill ends the stillness, that the act of ending a life announces them to the world. The Umbra, at full mastery, has removed themselves from the equation entirely. The shot fires. Someone falls. The field remains unchanged. There is no origin point. There is no shooter. There is only the result.

Stillness Preserved: Killing blows do not break Stillness is Death. After a shot that kills a target, your position is treated as stationary — the bonuses from Stillness is Death are retained and continue to apply.

Precision Retained: Precision stacks gained from Sniper's Crescendo are not lost on a killing shot. A kill is not a miss. Position is not broken.

Ghost Kill: When you kill a target, your location is not revealed for the remainder of that round.

Enemies cannot determine the direction the shot came from.

All Stealth and Perception checks made to locate you this round are made with Disadvantage.

These effects apply to every kill, without limit.