Is it possible to do like the default ASCII tileset is and have two different spites that change color based upon profession and if they're in military or not, or do I have to make something for each profession.
The custom race I've made for myself is kinda hard to just squeeze in a 16x16 spot and then it gets even worse if I should try make it each spite look like their profession.
You can tell the game to either use the graphic as it is (that is, you give it color) or let the game decide the color (usually that means the visible pixels of your sprite are white or at least greyscale), which would result in what you want.
The Graphic Set page on the wiki linked above tells you details. Look for AS_IS and ADD_COLOR, respectively.
So you have two possible solutions: either you draw one graphic, and write in the text file that all professions should use that graphic and color it automatically (i.e. they all point to the same coordinate and have ADD_COLOR).
Or, if for some reason that doesn't work as you want, you can draw one graphic, duplicate it below or next to it again and again and give them all different colors. Then you would write AS_IS and a different coordinate for each profession in the text file.
Another use case for the second option is if you don't want to write so much yourself and base it on an existing graphic set that has all the professions you want.
That way you'd have a minimum amount of work for both, writing the text file and drawing the graphic.