An Adepta Sororitas warrior of faith, discipline, flame, and bolter fire. Power armor, Acts of Faith, martyrdom, sacred wrath, and absolute devotion.
Faith advances in power armor.
The Sister of Battle requires a Female Human character in Bolt & Blade 1.0. This requirement is handled by class selection rules.
The Sister of Battle is faith given ceramite, bolter, flame, and purpose.
A Sister does not ask the battlefield for permission. She advances through shellfire behind sacred armor, answers horror with disciplined volleys, burns corruption from cover, and refuses despair with a certainty that looks uncomfortably like a miracle.
The class fantasy is simple:
A Sister of Battle survives through Willpower, armor, bolter discipline, sacred fire, Conviction, martyrdom, and the refusal to let darkness decide the terms of the fight.
The Sister of Battle should not play like a generic armored weapon user or a clean divine caster. The class should create moments like:
The Sister should feel more martial and relentless than the Ministorum Priest. The Priest preaches, heals, and inflames the faithful. The Sister executes that faith at bolter range.
Acts of Faith are the Sister of Battle's signature class mechanic.
An Act of Faith is not a spell. It is a moment of impossible resolve, sacred timing, disciplined fury, battlefield prayer, martyr's refusal, or holy violence made real through absolute conviction.
Acts of Faith allow a Sister to endure, advance, protect, strike, burn, resist corruption, and deny the influence of the Warp.
Act DC = 8 + Proficiency Bonus + Willpower modifier
If an Act is primarily about command, awe, or inspiring allies, the GM may allow Presence instead of Willpower.
Acts of Faith are special. Sisters do not gain a new Act every level.
Conviction represents focused faith under fire: the moment where training, belief, pain, and purpose become one clear command.
Conviction is not psychic power. It does not trigger Perils. It does not come from the Warp.
Conviction is a working draft and may be simplified later. It gives the Sister a unique faith rhythm without using spell slots or psychic mechanics.
Faith is not a feeling. It is a loaded weapon pointed at despair.
| Sister of Battle Level | Acts of Faith Known |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 |
| 9 | 5 |
| 13 | 6 |
| 17 | 7 |
This progression is a working draft. Acts of Faith should remain meaningful and powerful, not become a bloated list of minor tricks.
Target: Self or one ally within 30 feet who can see or hear you.
The target gains Advantage on their next Willpower Save against fear, corruption, possession, psychic dread, daemonic influence, or morale-breaking effects before the start of your next turn.
Conviction: Spend 1 Conviction to also grant temporary Vitality equal to your Proficiency Bonus + your Willpower modifier.
The prayer is short. The refusal is eternal.
Target: Self.
Your next ranged attack with a bolt weapon before the end of your turn gains +2 to hit if the target is corrupted, heretical, daemonic, psychic, or actively leading enemies.
Conviction: Spend 1 Conviction to add your Proficiency Bonus to the damage if the attack hits.
Every shell is a sermon with a fuse.
Target: Self.
Until the end of your turn, you may move up to half your Movement without triggering Reactive Fire from enemies you can see. If you end this movement closer to a corrupted, heretical, daemonic, or Condemned enemy, gain +2 Defense until the start of your next turn.
Conviction: Spend 1 Conviction to allow one ally within 15 feet to move 5 feet with you.
Faith does not wait for safe footing.
Target: Self or one ally within 30 feet.
Until the start of your next turn, the target gains +2 Defense against one incoming attack or gains Advantage on one save against a psychic, daemonic, corruption, fear, or possession effect.
Conviction: Spend 1 Conviction to apply both benefits.
The shield is invisible only to cowards.
Target: One visible enemy within 30 feet, or one enemy within range of your flame weapon.
The target must make a Willpower Save against your Act DC. On failure, it becomes Exposed until the start of your next turn. If the target is corrupted, heretical, daemonic, or visibly tainted, it also takes fire or faith damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
Conviction: Spend 1 Conviction to impose Disadvantage on the save.
Purity is measured in ash.
Target: Self.
When you would drop to 0 Vitality, you may use this Act to remain at 1 Vitality until the end of your next turn. At the end of your next turn, you drop to 0 Vitality unless healed, stabilized, saved by Fate, or protected by another effect.
Conviction: Spend 1 Conviction to immediately make one attack, move up to half your Movement, or use Take Cover before the effect ends.
Death may approach. It may not interrupt.
Target: One hostile psychic power, daemonic effect, possession attempt, corruption effect, or warp-touched influence targeting you or an ally within 30 feet.
Use your Reaction to grant the target Advantage on the relevant save. If the effect has no save, reduce its damage by 1d10 + your Willpower modifier.
Conviction: Spend 1 Conviction to also make the source of the effect Exposed until the start of your next turn, if it is visible.
The witch speaks. Faith answers louder.
Sister of Battle progression uses Doctrine Trees.
Doctrine Trees replace the idea of a locked subclass plus scattered feature choices. A Sister does not choose one permanent subclass and then receive a random pile of features. Instead, she earns Doctrine Points and spends them across Sister of Battle Doctrine Trees.
A player may specialize deeply in one tree or spread points across several to become a broader bolter specialist, flame-bearing purifier, armored defender, battlefield healer, or penitent blade.
Doctrine Trees represent the shape her faith takes under fire.
Each rank costs 1 Doctrine Point and requires the previous rank in that tree unless future rules say otherwise.
Sisters of Battle gain 1 Doctrine Point at every even level.
| Sister Level | Doctrine Points Gained |
|---|---|
| 2 | +1 |
| 4 | +1 |
| 6 | +1 |
| 8 | +1 |
| 10 | +1 |
| 12 | +1 |
| 14 | +1 |
| 16 | +1 |
| 18 | +1 |
| 20 | +1 |
This progression is a working draft. Final class balance may change after the other classes are designed.
Bolter Discipline teaches that faith is not wild. Faith is measured, chambered, sighted, and fired in controlled bursts.
Once per turn, when you hit with a bolt weapon, add +1 damage. Against corrupted, heretical, daemonic, psychic, or enemy leader targets, add your Proficiency Bonus instead.
When you use Aim with a bolt weapon, ignore Light Cover on the next attack before the end of your turn. If the target is Exposed, you may also add +1 to hit.
When you use Blessed Bolter Drill, you may mark the target as Judged until the start of your next turn. The next ally to attack a Judged target gains +1 to hit.
Once per scene, one Burst or Suppression from a bolt weapon consumes no ammunition. If the attack was made against a corrupted, heretical, daemonic, or psychic target, gain 1 Conviction.
Once per safe rest, when you hit with a bolt weapon, you may declare the attack a sacred execution pattern. Add your Sister level to the damage. If the target drops to 0 Vitality, one ally within 30 feet may immediately end Pinned or Frightened.
The hymn begins with the bolt cycling.
Design note: Bolter Discipline should make the Sister feel elite and precise, not like a generic gunfighter.