Special Abilities Ideas

[Endemion]

Hi Conclave I've recently got back into playing Inquisitor and wanted some of my characters to be a bit more varied so I came up with a number of additional special abilities some of which I have used others I think would be cool but haven't got round to making a character who would actually use them. Some are light weight versions of existing abilities others are completely new.

I'd like to see what you make of them and also I'm interested to hear any abilities that you have come up with for your games.

Quick Whited:
The character can react to developing situations in a heartbeat
The character doesn't have to pause for breath when walking around corners, going through doors etc (this is how I thought the lightning reflexes ability should have been represented orriginally)

Dare devil:
This character skilfully avoids mishaps when performing tasks that would make other men thinck twice
The character counts as rolling one less 1 when rolling for risky actions

Brave:
The character has seen his share of horrors and has been hardened by them
Immune to fear and terror counts as fear

Tough:
A tough character can take considerable damage before it begins to effect his abilitys
Every location has an additional level that has no effect when lost

Deadly Strike/ Deadly Shot:
This character knows how to get the beat out of his attacks each hit causing horrific damage
When rolling to injure roll an additional damage die of that weapons type and discard the lowest

Precision Strike:
An expert combatant a character with precision strike can land blows with deadly accuracy
May + or – 10 from the location roll in close combat

Brutal Charge:
Replacing precision with brutal force a charge from this character is often fatal
The character no longer gets the +10 to hit on charge attacks but his strength counts a double this may no be combined with furious assault

Acute Senses:
Opponents count as being half the distance away when testing for awareness

Defence Master:
Able to parry a seemingly endless amount of attacks a taking down a defence master in close combat seems to be near impossible
Parry as if armed with a shield but still use weapons parry penalty

Over Power:
This Character uses the weight of his attacks to overbalance his opponents leaving them no time to react as they desperately guard themselves
Opponents parry penalty counts as double for the purposes of counter attacking
(example a sword will be –10 to successfully parry but will only counter attack at –30 rather than at –20)

Scale sheer Surface:
A character with this skill can climb a vertical serface as easily as most men can crawl along the ground
Climbing is not a risky action and the character may climb 3 yards per action

Flee:
+20 to any attempts to break off

Defender:
Often possessed by body guards the defender skill allows the character to protect others from attack
The character my parry attacks aimed at friendly characters in the same combat

Evasion:
Often ducking and weaving the character moves in a way that makes him an extremely difficult target
Double the – to hit modifier for targets movement when rolling to hit this character with a ranged attack

Double Tap:
The Character may add 1 to the semi-auto rate of any non-heavy ranged weapon or may fire the weapon on semi 2 if it has single as its rate of fire

Strong Arm:
Double the characters strength for the purposes of the range a thrown weapon can be uses up to

Cheep Shot:
This character is adept at spotting any opening his opponent leaves and  ruthlessly exploiting it
The character may make an unarmed attack that is at  –50 to dodge and may not be parried once per  turn this attack doesn't receive the +20 to the location modifier as it is just likely to be a kick to the knee as it is a headbut, a sword hilt to the face or a knee in the groin.

Defensive Parry:
By sacrificing the chance of revenge this character can overbalance his opponent robbing their attacks of much of their accuracy
Instead of counterattacking the character may cause his opponents next attack to suffer a minus to hit modifier equal to the amount he rolled under the weapons parry penalty, this must be declared before rolling the parry
(example if a character with a ws of 65 armed with a sword  rolls a defensive parry he rolls 60 this is a successful parry but causes no modifier on his opponents next attack but if he rolls 45 this will parry and cause a –10 to hit modifier on his opponents next attack)

Hard:
Pain and injury seem to have little effect on this character
An injury roll needs to equal or beat the characters base injury to increase the locations injury level

[MarcoSkoll]

Dare devil: I had actually used these rules before, but I stopped - it means that if the character is reduced to speed 1, no actions can be risky.

Two alternatives I'm trying are 3+ save on a D6 against risky actions (about equivalent to the above in terms of percentages for most common speed values), and "Count both 5s and 6s" (not quite as effective as the 3+ save, but

Brave: Done this. Called it "Strong Willed".

Tough: Perhaps excessive. I'm currently trying out one called "Hard as Nails", which gives the player a second Light injury box.

Deadly Strike/ Deadly Shot: I'd force the character to specialise in a single weapons for this.

Defence Master:Excessive. I've tried this before, and if you give those rules to a longer weapon (with the Reach bonuses), then it's very tough. Using the Buckler rules is less over the top though.

Scale sheer Surface:Already something called "Scale Terrain" in the Eldar article for this.

Flee: This is in the Callidus Article under the name "Jump Back".

Double Tap: Not very realistic - for example, it wouldn't do a damn thing for a bolt action rifle. +1 to semi is fair enough, but it's more appropriate to write a new weapon, I think.

Cheep Shot: No. Just no. The first hit, even an unarmed one,  is a huge decider in CC, so making any attack that much more likely to hit is unacceptable. A caveat like - If you miss, the opponent may immediately counter attack - would help balance it, but right now, it's just a game breaker.

Hard: This isn't particularly good. It's a bit like a generous of points of free armour, except you take it on the injury total.

[Endemion]

Thanks Marco most of the ones you have picked out havnt been play tested yet or were rules I didnt know already existed. I apreciate your responce

Dare devil: good point didnt actually think about getting your speed reduced as the guy who had it went most of the game undamaged

Tough: I prefer your version thanks

Deadly Strike/ Deadly Shot: not sure I agree on this one going to have a few more games with it and see if it would make a significant difference either way

Defence Master: maybe the buckler is a better option taking reach into account

Double Tap: I personally would rather keep it as an ability to show it is the characters skill and training and if he goes down any other charater who picks the weapon up won't get the bonus. I see your point about the bolt action rifle but couldnt it relate to the speed the character can cock the weapon (not sure that is the correct term but you know what i mean) in much the same way a professional trick shooter can empty a single action pistol before most people can get the 2nd shot off and a character with quickload can reload faster

Cheep Shot: I like the idea of a character who is a dirty fighter and is well schooled in taking his opponent by suprise I also wanted to make it so the unarmed attack would merrit being used rather than an attack with a weapon that will do considerably more damage but i accept the mechanics on this one are a bit off I'll go back to the drawingbaord, play a few more games and get back to you on this one.

Hard: Your right probably colud just scrap this one alltogether

[GAZKUL]

 here's a few, the first is from the chem dogs and the later ones are from my house rules for fielding Orks

Natural Resistance: the character has long been exposed to poisons and has developed a level of immunity to them. They have a basic 10% resistance to poisoned attacks including gas.

Thick hide: the character  has 1 pt of armour to all locations as basic

Might Is Right: any ork may substitute his Strength value for his Ld

Strength in Numbers: orks gain +15 to the nv for every other orkish comrade within 8 yds

Small: enemy characters are suffer an additional -10 when trying to hit Grechin in combat or at range.

[precinctomega]

I've recently been giving some thought to abilities in Inq.  As I was writing my PCs for the GT (which I then missed - ), it occurred to me that far too many abilities are purely about buffing the PC and not enough are force-multipliers for the whole crew.  Leader and Medic are two, but both only come into effect when things are already going wrong.

I was thinking about something like "Clear Orders" - if the PC uses an Action to give orders and passes a Ld test, then he may allocate any remaining Actions that round to any allies who can hear his orders.  These Actions are taken in the ordering PC's turn and the allies may still act in this turn if they have not yet done so.

R.

[Stormgrad]

I like your clear orders idea robey, i think that it should work a little like this (in my head)

Character declares actions he starts by saying his going to use his Clear Orders skill, then allocates the remaining potential actions to characters who would potentially hear and understand his orders declaring what these actions are going to be, all actions are then rolled for. 

Is this how you imagined it working? or did you have another idea

[MarcoSkoll]

Deadly Strike/ Deadly Shot: not sure I agree on this one

It wouldn't make a huge difference (as characters usually have a "go to" weapon), but I think that skills that give mastery of the use of a weapon should be restricted to weapons that they know back to front.

For example, when a character has "Deadeye Shot", I play it so they get it only with weapons they could feasibly have mastered. So, your customised revolver - yes. Some piece of junk stubber you've just taken off a hive ganger... you must be joking.

Double Tap: I see your point about the bolt action rifle but couldnt it relate to the speed the character can cock the weapon

Not if it's called "Double Tap". The double tap, as a technique, is only appropriate for certain firearms.

However, call it "Rapid Shot", and then you don't have the same problem.

Cheep Shot:I also wanted to make it so the unarmed attack would merrit being used

But it has the same problem as the original Feint Skill - which was basically: "Roll a WS check, then watch your opponent become a sitting duck".

Any attack that bypasses the opponent's defences needs a reason to not make it a no-brainer. Because of the way only a single point of damage can inflict injury levels, it gives you lots of chances to find Stunned, Prone, or weapon dropped results. All of which are very nasty in CC.

So, it does need a reason to make it less perfect. That can either be because the character makes an attempt to go for what he thinks was a weakspot, then finds it wasn't and now he's left himself open to be hit (i.e. automatic counterattack), or it needs a hefty hit penalty to represent that it's hard to find that opening.

Also, why ban (rather than just penalise) parrying? It makes sense that you can't parry shots in CC (bullets are very fast, and very small), but I can't see why you can't bat a punch aside with your sword.

Personally, I'd suggest this as a solution:
"The character may make an unarmed attack once a turn, looking for weaknesses in the opponent's defences. If this attack hits, the enemy suffers an additional penalty to parrying/dodging equal to the amount the hit roll was passed by".

That way, a good hit roll has him find a big opening in his opponent's defence. A bad one was only a slight opening, and it's easier for them to defend against.

[DapperAnarchist]

Clear Orders + Commlinks seems like a bit of a game breaker - each turn, one character could get 7 or 8 actions...

[precinctomega]

Not when the ordering character only rolls one Action, though...  But yes, I agree.  It wasn't a suggestion for a fully-formed ability, but more an illustration of what I meant by "force mulitplier".

Incidentally, if we're going to have a Cheep Shot, can we also have a Quack Shot?

R.

[Endemion]

With Cheap shot have been trying out an I test to make the attack if this test is failed the attack is wasted which seems to blunt it but still keep in the spirit that I originally intended. I didn't want to allow parrying as in my mind the last thing the character is going to do is attempt a punch or kick and defiantly wont attempt a head-but if there is any chance of his body coming into contact with a blade or whirling teeth of a chain weapon etc.

With clear orders I don't think that giving characters extra actions is the right way to go maybe have it represent a lower chance of failing their actions by allowing a character under the orders to have a minimum of 2 actions regardless of how many successes they actually rolled (assuming they have a speed of 2 or more) instead of the usual always get 1 action even if they rolled no successes. In my mind this represents the character not suffering from indecision as his superior has already made it for him better than an actually giving the charter more actions which I see more as the job of combat drugs.

[MarcoSkoll]

I didn't want to allow parrying as in my mind the last thing the character is going to do is attempt a punch or kick and defiantly wont attempt a head-but if there is any chance of his body coming into contact with a blade or whirling teeth of a chain weapon.

Characters are not flawless calculating machines that can work out what their opponent definitely won't be able to parry. If you try something, sometimes you will make that odd bad call that this master swordsman can parry.
You might not like the idea of your character taking a chainsword to the face because they did something stupid, but writing it out with no solid justification because you don't want your character to make that mistake is pretty poor form.

(And if there's no modifier to represent the opening being hard to find*, well, I'm just going to take it that they're going for whichever half opening there happens to be at the time.)

Introducing an unparryable attack also sets a bad precedent. I mean, my weapon has more reach, I don't even need to get as close, surely it's easier for me to find this mythical gap in their defences! I'm going to have an ability which can do this with actual weapons now!

*Quite aside from that, it practically puts everyone on the same level, with you as easily able to find a hole in an expert swordsman's parries as those of a shambling mutant.

In short, I can see no reason to make this unparryable other than "I don't want my opponent to parry it". Anyway, parrying is harder anyway (no +20% for dodge, and an additional parry penalty), so it's not exactly like it's going to happen a lot if you've stacked all those penalties.
As far as I'm concerned, if a player is prepared to take those extra penalties, they should have the chance to parry your leg with a power weapon, dammit!

With clear orders I don't think that giving characters extra actions is the right way to go

I'd suggest having it add action dice for the next turn.
If the character passes 2 actions, they can hand them to another character as action dice for their next action roll.

They'll still only get their normal number of actions to declare, but they'll now have extra chances to achieve them.

[SpanielBear]

Loves Master: It suits many inquisitors that their minions be loyal. It makes it far easier to concentrate on the bullets flying at your face if you are unconcerned about ones flying at your back as well. But few inquisitors have any concern for the psychological effects they may have upon their devoted followers. Having joyfully thrown oneself into the heat of battle in the service of one you are absolutely certain is a living manifestation of The Emperor's will, seeing the object of ones devotion become a messy purple stain on the end of a power fist can be a... traumatising moment. (While within leadership range of his dear leader, the character gains +10 Strength. Furthermore, if the character sees that Master is in dire straights and truly needs him, such as lying unconscious or fighting more than two enemies at once, the character gains +20 to S, T and NV until the master is out of Danger. However, if they see that the Master is killed outright, the character will lose -20 from all stats, and will fail all nerve tests they are called on to make.)

Tech Savvy:  Oh dear oh dear. Someone's been naughty. Been messing around with xeno archeotech, have we? Perhaps stumbled on an SCT, that we meant to report to the authorities but sort of accidentally on purpose forgot? Or maybe we've fallen in with a bad crowd of heretical Mechanicus, I know the soirees are fabulous but that doesn't excuse walking off with the party bags. Now we've caught ourselves a bad case of what humanity should not know wot of, and everything's covered in engine oil. Again. (The character is very, very good with technology. They gain a plus 10% bonus to sagacity when studying technological devices. Furthermore, if there has been time to prepare before a mission they can modify one weapon in the squad, making it less likely to jam and giving it plus 1 damage. However, scientifically minded as they are, the powers of the warp make absolutely no sense to them. They are likely to try and use things like 'logic' or 'reason' or maybe even 'experimental procedure' when coming into contact with it. They have a penalty of -50% sagacity when dealing with such stuff.)

Fuzzy About Knee-caps:  Obviously the emperor is humanities saviour, and wishes only the best for his children. It is in his interest that those who have turned from his divine light be given the chance to repent and be cleansed, rather than die bereft of his light. When punitive action is strictly necessary, you are careful to place your blows with the emperor's divine love foremost in your mind. (The character may reduce the hit location of any placed shots by up to 30 points.)

Always Has Another Knife: Searched his pockets? His belt? How about his hair? Shirtsleeves then. Shoes? It doesn't matter. Strip this man naked if you like; as soon as your back is turned, a knife will be buried in it. (This character will never be disarmed. If any situation occurs in which he would be considered unarmed, he can spend an action unearthing yet another of his concealed blades. Note that these weapons will not be balanced for throwing, so they would count as an improvised weapon if the character wishes to use them at range.)

[Inquisitor Goldeneye]

Always Has Another Knife: Searched his pockets? His belt? How about his hair? Shirtsleeves then. Shoes? It doesn't matter. Strip this man naked if you like; as soon as your back is turned, a knife will be buried in it. (This character will never be disarmed. If any situation occurs in which he would be considered unarmed, he can spend an action unearthing yet another of his concealed blades. Note that these weapons will not be balanced for throwing, so they would count as an improvised weapon if the character wishes to use them at range.)

Odd's Bodkins!!  Would you believe I already have a character with this exact rule (the same name and everything)?

It's a recuring antagonist I sometimes use; a mutant matriarch glorying in the moniker 'Mama Terwiliger'.

[Simeon Blackstar]

Fuzzy About Knee-caps:[/b]  Obviously the emperor is humanities saviour, and wishes only the best for his children. It is in his interest that those who have turned from his divine light be given the chance to repent and be cleansed, rather than die bereft of his light. When punitive action is strictly necessary, you are careful to place your blows with the emperor's divine love foremost in your mind. (The character may reduce the hit location of any placed shots by up to 30 points.)

Much as I'd love to see a big haired Shepherd with an oddly threatening side take kneecaps for the Lord, I have a strong feeling that this ability would see more use in making gut shots hit the groin... 

How about may "may always modify hit location by up to 10% if this would make the shot hit a limb", or something similar?  This could work for a bounty hunter/law enforcement character too.

[JoelMcKickass]

I second that it should be adjusted so that he hits one of the limbs, as i can see an abundance of headshots, and crotchshots, coming.

How about:

Fencing Master - Has a reach of 4 when using a sword, can strike twice for every action, but damage is halved. Can counter attack immediately after parrying against a sword. Something about making parrying swords easier?