Where does Veteran live?

Veteran is tagged for any habitat, leaving placement to the DM's needs.

Veteran

· · CR Unknown

Ranges across any; Veteran lists at CR 3 as a medium humanoid (any alignment). AC 17, 9 hit dice, 30-ft speed. Speaks any one language (usually common). Sourced from Monster Manual (5e 2014).

Stat Block

Challenge Rating: Unknown
Type: —
Size: —
Alignment: —
Speed: —
Habitats: Any
Sources: Monster Manual (5e 2014)

Ecology

Veterans are seasoned martial professionals who have survived enough campaigns to develop the instincts that mark them as more than common soldiers. They serve as mercenaries, retired officers turned innkeepers, household guards for nobles, tournament fighters, and instructors at military academies. Most veterans accumulate scars, distinctive equipment, and a small network of fellow survivors whose loyalty endures beyond any current employment. They earn good wages, maintain their gear meticulously, and recognize quality in others — a glance at another fighter's stance often tells them more than years of conversation would.

Behaviour

A veteran shows the quiet competence of someone who has stopped trying to prove anything. They speak when needed, drink moderately, and maintain habits — the same daily exercises, the same equipment checks, the same morning prayer or sword form — that have kept them alive. Most veterans hold complicated feelings about their service: pride in skill, grief for lost comrades, weariness with the politics that sent them into bad campaigns. They form deep friendships with fellow survivors and grow protective of younger fighters whose enthusiasm reminds them of who they used to be.

Origin

Veterans emerge from the standing armies, mercenary companies, and adventuring bands that wars and crises produce in every generation. Most survived through a mix of skill, luck, and the small daily disciplines that compound across years. Many carry physical legacies — limp, missing fingers, scarred face — that become part of their professional identity. Some retire fully into civilian life; others can't, and find themselves drifting back to martial work whenever peace lasts long enough to grow boring. Either path produces the figure called veteran.

Any