Full ReBuild Friday - Onslaught
- bjacobt1
- 28 minutes ago
- 12 min read
It's time for the first official commander build, and what better full release commander to start on than the one I built for the playtest? Plus, I get to pull from my favorite franchise for this one! As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
You can certainly take the time to check out the video, but I'd also appreciate it if you took a moment to vote on the next character to be rebuilt over on the Discord or the YT poll.
Get your war face on and let's charge into this Onslaught from Transformers!
ONSLAUGHT
SOURCE Transformers
BUILD GOALS
o The leader of the Combaticons, a militant unit of fierce soldiers that serve the Decepticon cause
o Onslaught is a tactical genius who excels at designing battle plans and strategies for his soldiers to carry out
o He prefers to be hands-off, able to observe his plans coming together but doesn’t hesitate to stride into the fray when things go awry
o However, such instances fill him with a rage that has terrified even in his comrades
o His most common alternate mode is a long-bed truck with a missile trailer. While in robot mode, his most common weapon is his sonic stun-gun rifle, which unleashes concussive force
o As part of his preparations, he readily makes use of traps, snares, and explosives
o His origin is usually marked with betrayal – in the cartoon, he was being detained by the Decepticons for going renegade while some comics had him as Autobot Elite Guard that fell to his darker desires
o In the Earth War game, he uses a grenade launcher as his primary weapon and launches missiles in a line as his special ability
Summary of Goals: Onslaught is a terror on the battlefield but more in the sense of how he manages to make his squad of psychos come together to accomplish his goals. As a Decepticon, he’s pretty heavily associated with fear and tyranny while he tends to wield big, heavy weapons. His ability to transform into a vehicle will be very difficult to represent and might mostly rely on taking speed buffs and flavoring it as transformation.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Mage Automaton
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Intelligence
o Ancestry Feat: Reinforced Chassis
o Innate Spells: Cantrip – analyze target
Background: Veteran
o Ability Boosts: +Constitution, +Intelligence
o Skill Increase: Athletics (T), Warfare Lore (T)
o Background Feat: Armor Assist
Class & Subclass: Commander
o Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Crafting (T), Intimidation (T), Medicine (T), Society (T), Stealth (T), Survival (T), Thievery (T)
o Class Feat: Deceptive Tactics
o Tactics: Double Team, End It!, Gather to Me!, Reload!, Strike Hard!
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +2, Dex +1, Con +2, Int +4, Wis +0, Cha +0)
I’ve taken a shot at the Onslaught build already and I was pretty happy with that one, but it was done before the proper release of the commander. Since the class has since come out, I’m taking another pass and seeing what changes have happened. We are sticking with the automaton ancestry, but where I originally used the sharpshooter heritage, I switched to the mage heritage for this time around. I think the mage heritage is still nice, but I had a different idea that I wanted to try with this concept. He likes analyze target so that he can figure out how to best come at a foe though he’s back on Reinforced Chassis for his ancestry feat. I traded out the cannoneer background for the veteran since in almost every iteration, Onslaught served in some sort of military capacity, sometimes even in the Autobot Elite Guard. That being said, he doesn’t get the most use out of Armor Assist – but the background in general fits him. We’re obviously sticking with the commander class as well as its Deceptive Tactics class feat. He also still has a couple of the same tactics though Form Up seems to have been replaced by Gather to Me, which I still like for resembling the rest of the Combaticons converging on his position, possibly to form into Bruticus. He adds End It to his tactics, giving his team a way to move towards foes and strike terror into their hearts.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Adaptive Stratagem
o Skill Feat: Snare Crafting
o Gear: dermal plating
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Crafting (E), Warfare Lore (E)
o Gear: tactical stellar cannon, dermal plating, reusable grenade shell
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Tactical Expansion
o Skill Feat: Alchemical Crafting
o Tactics: Pincer Attack, Tactical Takedown
o Gear: golden legion epaulet, tactical stellar cannon, tactical grenade launcher, dermal plating
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +3, Dex +1, Con +3, Int +4.5, Wis +1, Cha +0)
o Ancestry Feat: Arcane Eye
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (E)
o Gear: advanced stellar cannon, golden legion epaulet, backfire mantle, tactical grenade launcher, dermal plating, reusable grenade shell
One aspect of this rebuild is that it allows us to work in some different weapons for Onslaught – specifically, he can get some area or automatic weapons from Starfinder, which suit the commander particularly well as a martial class that becomes a legend with their class DC. However, the lack of Strikes made with such weapons saw me leave a number of the Strike based feats in the original build at the wayside. As such, while he still takes Adaptive Stratagem, he does swap Guiding Shot for Tactical Expansion so that he can add more tactics to his portfolio. Through this, he gains Pincer Attack and Tactical Takedown, both of which provides his teammates with additional mobility that also happens to debuff enemies. There’s no real changes to his other aspects – he sticks with Snare and Alchemical Crafting so that he can build traps and bombs to set up for his plans, uses Toughness because he’s a big and burly bot, and then slaps in some Arcane Eyes so that he has his nods.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Efficient Preparation
o Skill Feat: Intimidating Glare
o Gear: +1 reinforced chassis, advanced stellar cannon, fireburst chamber, golden legion epaulet, squire’s tabard, tactical grenade launcher
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (M), Warfare Lore (M)
o Tactics: Alley-Oop, Demoralizing Charge
o Gear: ring of the ram, +1 reinforced chassis, fear projector, advanced stellar cannon, golden legion epaulet, boots of quick marching
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Defiant Banner
o Skill Feat: Battle Cry
o Gear: stalwart’s banner, lesser grub gloves, ring of the ram, +1 reinforced chassis, advanced stellar cannon, blazing banner
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Core Attunement
o Skill Increase: Crafting (M)
o Innate Spells: 1st – fleet step; 2nd – Kgalaserke’s axes
o Gear: +1 resilient reinforced chassis, boots of bounding, stalwart’s banner, ring of the ram, fear projector, advanced stellar cannon
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +1, Con +4, Int +5, Wis +1, Cha +1)
o Class Feat: Drilled Reflexes
o Skill Feat: Battle Planner
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (T)
o Gear: guise of the smirking devil, +1 resilient reinforced chassis, tactical speed suspension, stalwart’s banner, ring of the ram, advanced stellar cannon
He sticks with Efficient Preparation for his first class feat of the block, allowing him to prepare even more tactics, but then since I had him take Tactical Expansion earlier, he swaps in Defiant Banner instead. This provides temporary Hit Points to the Combaticons and defiance is a cornerstone of many of the Decepticon movements that Onslaught has taken part in. For similar reasons as changing out the Guiding Shot from the previous block, Onslaught changes Targeting Strike for Drilled Reflexes to make sure that his teammates stick with his plans. Speaking of, Piranha Assault got made into a higher leveled tactic, so he instead takes Alley-Oop and Demoralizing Charge. I actually really like the first of these two, especially when you keep in mind that he has Swindle in his squad who is sure to have some goods on him that Onslaught can encourage him to share with the rest of the class. He sticks with a slew of Intimidation skill feats, but he does swap in Battle Planner because this is too perfect a fit for him when it comes to skill feats and it has the added benefit of using his Warfare Lore. Though if he doesn’t roll well on this, he does have Incredible Initiative to help him get the jump on foes. He does grab Core Attunement as his ancestry feat for the block rather than Rain of Bolts. Through this, he gains fleet step as a way to reflect on his ability to transform into a vehicular mode as well as Kgalaserke’s axes so that he can empower his allies. The former is honestly more important to the concept of this build than the latter, but both work quite nicely for him.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Pick Up the Pace
o Skill Increase: Athletics (E)
o Gear: superior stellar cannon, guise of the smirking devil, bravery baldric (haste), +1 resilient reinforced chassis, boots of bounding, stalwart’s banner
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Tactical Expansion
o Skill Feat: Terrified Retreat
o Tactics: Buckle-Cut Blitz, Take the High Ground
o Gear: +2 resilient reinforced chassis, superior stellar cannon, superior grenade launcher, guise of the smirking devil, banner of piercing shards, tactical speed suspension
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Enlarged Chassis
o Skill Increase: Athletics (M)
o Gear: elite stellar cannon, +2 resilient reinforced chassis, standard of the sure-footed, superior grenade launcher, guise of the smirking devil, bravery baldric (haste)
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Contact With the Enemy
o Skill Feat: Tech Crafting
o Gear: propulsive boots, elite stellar cannon, swift standard, +2 resilient reinforced chassis, admiral’s bicorne, superior grenade launcher
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +1, Con +4, Int +5.5, Wis +2, Cha +2)
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (L), Warfare Lore (L)
o Tactics: Ready, Aim, Fire!; Roaring Charge
o Gear: +2 greater resilient reinforced chassis, greater banner of piercing shards, elite force field, elite stellar cannon, greater ash gown, advanced null space chamber
Once more, this build trades a Striking ability for Tactical Expansion, providing him with a few more tactics. Buckle-Cut Blitz can leave enemies clumsy, which he can’t quite take advantage of because it’s two actions, but he might be able to at least set up his allies. Meanwhile, Take the High Ground suits a lot of the flyers that make up the Decepticon ranks and within his own squad, Onslaught can use this to make Brawl help Blast Off or Vortex get airborne. He builds out of Adaptive Stratagem with Contact With the Enemy since he already has Drilled Reflexes, expanding the usefulness of that earlier feat and letting him adapt with more potent plots. He has some more Intimidation skill feats so that he can dominate his enemies’ will just as he dominates the battlefield and then I slipped in Tech Crafting so that he can make grenades and the like. I also decided I wanted to play into his size with the Enlarged Chassis feat. For his general feats, he takes some speed-themed feats to reference the vehicular alt modes of himself and his companions. In addition to the Ready, Aim, Fire of his original build, he adds Roaring Charge as a great way to open combat – charging the enemies and leaving them terrified by the oncoming Onslaught.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Quickening Banner
o Skill Feat: Scare to Death
o Gear: greater swift standard, +2 greater resilient reinforced chassis, 14, elite force field, elite stellar cannon, advanced speed suspension
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Greater Augmentation – Enlarged Chassis
o Skill Increase: Athletics (L)
o Gear: ultimate stellar cannon, tactical flaming module, greater swift standard, +2 greater resilient reinforced chassis, elite force field, propulsive boots
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Demand Surrender
o Skill Feat: Legendary Professional
o Gear: cognition accelerator, ultimate stellar cannon, superior undermounted grenade launcher, greater swift standard, +2 greater resilient reinforced chassis, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Caravan Leader
o Skill Increase: Crafting (L)
o Tactics: Cry Havoc!, Insta-Ballista
o Gear: +3 greater resilient reinforced chassis, cognition accelerator, dread blindfold, ultimate stellar cannon, tactical flaming module, greater swift standard
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +1, Con +4, Int +6, Wis +3, Cha +3)
o Class Feat: Pennant of Victory
o Skill Feat: Terrifying Resistance
o Skill Increase: Deception (T)
o Gear: paragon stellar cannon, +3 greater resilient reinforced chassis, ultimate grenade launcher, cognition accelerator, ultimate dermal plating, superior undermounted grenade launcher
Given the loss of Undaunted Discipline in the full release of the commander class, Onslaught swaps in Quickening Banner to urge his Combaticon companions to fight with greater ferocity. I also swapped in Demand Surrender within this block. The released commander seems to get more tactics baseline, so I didn’t need to take Tactical Expansion here and could instead use this other feat, which I love to envision as Onslaught taking advantage of the gentler nature of the Autobots. He does stick with Pennant of Victory as her capstone feat so that he can supercharge his allies for a brief but potent duration. His legendary skill feats, Scare to Death and Legendary Professional, are still in place, and Terrifying Resistance is also from his original build. It’s just coming in a little bit later than before. He takes Greater Augmentation for Enlarged Chassis in this version of the build so that he can correct his Armor Class rather than getting a miniscule chance of turning a crit into a standard hit. I also like building Caravan Leader out of Lead the Pack so that he can make his soldiers Hustle for a longer period of time. This leaves his tactics for the block, which actually switch up a bit. Cry Havoc gets the gang into the thick of it, blasting and roaring as they go while Insta-Ballista lets the whole team come together and combine into a powerful weapon – which you could interpret as them briefly combining for Bruticus (or being a bit more Power Rangers-esque).
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Another boon granted to us by the release of the Starfinder 2e rules is that the Soldier Dedication is a fantastic fit for Onslaught with its ability to enhance his usage of area or automatic weapons. The action economy it provides is also good with picks such as Shot on the Run, Collateral Witness given his Intimidation investment, and perhaps something like Run Hot. Outside of that, the marshal archetype would be a great get, likely focusing on the Dread Marshal Stance to eke more damage out of those under his command – it does also seem to be a bit more in the style of Decepticon command.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Onslaught is a mage automaton commander with the veteran background, which is based on his storied service record – whether that be as a member of the Elite Guard or simply a high-ranking officer of the Decepticon forces. And as part of those forces, he does make use of the Deceptive Tactics feat as well as tactics and skills alike that allow him to terrify foes upon the battlefield. He expresses his strategic genius through the Battle Planner feat and just the commander class, allowing him to organize friends and foes into the plans that he carefully concocts. I sought to focus on tactics that commanded multiple allies at once so that he can bring the full force of the Combaticons to bear, and I even took some tactics based on his teammates such as Swindle and Alley-Oop. When it comes to representing his alt mode, I used his mage heritage and Core Attunement to pick up fleet step, allowing him to adopt a much faster form though a good bit of that will be flavor. I’d tap into Starfinder weaponry for him, using the likes of a stellar cannon and a grenade launcher, the area fires of which will work nicely with the class DC of the commander. He does also use Snare, Alchemical, and Tech Crafting so that he can control the battlefield with traps and explosives though he’ll need time to actually assemble them. He uses the likes of Gather to Me and Insta-Ballista to call his team together and form up for a powerful attack, referencing his ability to combine with the Combaticons into Bruticus and otherwise focuses on aggressive tactics such as Strike Hard, Pincer Attack, and Ready, Aim, Fire!
This chrome-coated captain captures command of the Combaticons and conflicts alike with cunning contrivances and copious concussions, combusting the combat zone into a calculated conflagration.
Lemme know what you think and what other builds you would like to see!
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerds, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog. Next week should be a lot of fun - I did a lot to plan it, so I hope you treasure it!
Have a fantastic Friday!
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