Interesting People: Buffalo Soldiers

So, I fought with this post for a bit. I wanted to make it an "Under the Hood" post, since it deals with game mechanics quite a bit. See, the Buffalo Soldiers are (ideally) the characters on deck for our currently missing player Eddie. However, I hope to use them as NPC's even if Eddie can't make our games - otherwise, people just get to see some of his basic abilities from the onset.

Buffalo Soldier In The Heart Of America.
Originally members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment mustered at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the Buffalo Soldiers were drawn up in the years preceding the Civil War. During the Union's days of westward expansion, the regiment earned its name from the native warriors they clashed with. During the Battle of Utah, the regiment was a part of the Northern Fork, one of three armies that attempted to pierce the heart of the rebellious Utah territory. Years later, the regiment fought valiantly during the war between the States, though they were not a part of the ill-fated Second Battle of Gettysburg.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, the Soldiers broke up. Some remained in the military, clawing up the ranks to the position of officer, while many returned to their home states. Others settled out west, living alongside the Deseret and natives that they once fought. A group of "ten old guns" waited, though. Like the musketeers of legend, they kept their skills honed and uniforms hidden, until the day that the Union would need them again.

All for One, One for All
In the winter of 1895, the old guns of the 10th were approached by Magog. He requested that they follow Mr. Roosevelt on his westward journey, with explicit instructions to keep themselves hidden from Roosevelt and his companions unless absolutely necessary. That in mind, the ten Soldiers struck out through the trail blazed by Theodore, keeping just far enough behind not to be noticed. Riding together, the ten men became one again - as a regiment, they were always greater than the sum of their parts.

Under the Hood: The Buffalo Soldiers
Unlike all the other characters in IT: A, the Buffalo Soldiers are not an individual. They are a group, and being a group means that they get abilities that step outside the normal rules a bit.

For starters, the Buffalo Soldiers have a number of "boxes" next to the Hit Points line, equal to the current number of Soldiers in the group. When the Buffalo Soldiers' HP is reduced to zero, the character does not die, but a box is checked off. This represents the group losing a member, and thus reducing its overall effectiveness. For each Soldier lost, actions are rolled at a 1 point penalty. This doesn't mean that the individual Soldiers lose skill, but that their overall morale weakens.

-NOTE-
A quick note to add. As far as Morale goes, the Buffalo Soldiers only take penalties when they are reduced below 10 members. The penalty only persists as long as they have 9 or fewer members, and they don't get bonuses to actions for having over 10 members... though that might be a decent ability for them to purchase down the line. Say... "Well Led"? a 1 point bonus to rolls for each officer in the group? I've got a comments section, let's see what you have to say.

Second, the Buffalo Soldiers can split up. The Soldiers can break into 5 man groups. Initially, this means the Soldiers can break into two 5 man groups, who can act independently from each other. As the number of Soldiers increases, so does the number of groups they can break up to form, but each group can only take a single action per turn.

Third, the Soldiers start by sharing a single set of statistics and skills. If a Soldier dies, the player can replace it (or add new Soldiers) in major cities through a successful Contacts check and the expenditure of a Character Point (for the uninitiated, these are the XP of our game). For 3 character points, an Officer can be added to the group, to add a new member and bring a skill up by a level.

The following are the other special abilities the Buffalo Soldiers start with:

Fighting On Arrival, Fighting For Survival
A group of Soldiers can reroll dice, equal to the number of members in the group, per turn. No reroll may be rerolled - the second result is the final one. This reroll applies to single dice. For instance, any skill check can be rerolled once, as can a roll to hit, but individual damage dice may also be rerolled.

Strength In Numbers
Any skill check or roll to hit that equals the current total number of Buffalo Soldiers is considered a Critical Success. Note that the Drama Die of Critical Successes can also be rerolled via "Fighting On Arrival, Fighting For Survival."

This is where the Soldiers start off. Like all the other characters, as the game progresses they can purchase new (probably overpowered) abilities, as I concept them.