Main Menu

News:

If you are having problems registering, please e-mail theconclaveforum at gmail.com

What is the "Conclave Standard" character?

Started by Talon7, August 31, 2009, 08:54:34 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Talon7

Hi. I am realitivly new to Inquisitor and I have heard references to the Conclave Standard character.  My question is what is this character like?  Does he/she/it closely match any of the characters in the =][= rulebook?


  Thanks

1337inquisitor

It depends on the character you're making but here's my rough estimate of stats

stat chart
W/B skils
0-20 Less than nothing
20-35 Nothing
35-45 normal human
55-69 Fighter
70s Above average fighter
80s- A master who spends his days praticing
90s- a once in a millenium master
100s- A GOD

ST/TG
0-20s A cancer patient who is dying
30s A person who sits at a computer all day and eats junk food
40s a normal human
50s a person who is fit
60s Strong
70-80 abnormally strong
90s BEEFCAKE
100 and up Superhuman means

IN
0-20 brain dead
20-35 slow witted
35-45 normal human
55-69 fighter
70s Fast
80s GREASY FAST SPEED
90s LIGHTNING GREASY FAST SPEED
100up super human

WP/NV

0-20 little to no will
20-35 normal human
35-45 consprict soldier
55-69 Fighter
70s can withstand alot of mental punishment
80s Mentally solid
90s BALLS OF STEEL
100up would spit on a greater daemon's face while naked and unarmed

SG
0-20 Brain dead
20-35 Feral human
35-45 normal human
55-69 a smart human
70s had above average education
80s a genius
90s able to plan a siege and win it with only battalion of conspricts
100 up super human

LD
0-20 those motivational groups that came to your school and only make you wish you were back in class
20-35 a blind follower
35-45 a follower
55-69 could make a decent motivational speech
70s a leader
80s an inspirational leader
90s a Charismic pantheon
100 up Could have the chaos space marines and space marines make up and make a new greater force to conquer the galaxy

well i hope it helps to have my opinion
No honey, the true moral of the story is never put down your weapon.

Homer Simpson

Charax

While I don't remember there ever being a big debate about it (although PO had a thread on the Old Conclave concerning the stats of an average citizen). I would imagine "Conclave Standard" would be a character created under the guidelines on page 15 of the Living Rulebook. To wit:
Weapon Skill: Between 50 and 60 for a competent human. 80+ for an expert swordsman (or equivalent)
Ballistic Skill: 30-40 average. 60-80 for an expert
Strength: 50 for a fit human (note the "fit" part, an average human would be lower)
Toughness: 40-50 for a normal human
Initiative: 30-40 for a normal human, 50-60 for a soldier.
Willpower: 35 for a normal human, 80+ for leaders
Sagacity: 50-60 for an educated human. Lower for most imperial citizens
Nerve: 20 or less for an average citizen, 40-60 for an Imperial Guardsman
Leadership: 70 for an Imperial Guardsman

So as you can see, 30s across the board (with 40s or 50s for S/T and 20 for Nerve) seems to be the baseline for an ordinary human. In addition to this, the rulebook also states that stats are rated on a scale of 1 to 100 and that these show the limits of a human character.

In addition to giving hard caps on the values of statistics for humans, this statement also gives a benchmark by which you can judge high stats by - the closer you get to a stat of 100, the closer you get to the absolute maximum possible by any human being - which is certainly something to bear in mind when considering stats in the 80s and 90s. A 100 would represent the maximum possible ability a human can have while remaining an unaugmented human.

So those are the guides lain down in the Inquisitor Rulebook. As well as those, the Conclave has a couple of taboos regarding abilities that have sprung up over the years, and which will draw comment (but not necessarily censure) if chosen:
Nerves of Steel and Force of Will: There is a broad consensus that these two abilities should not be taken together on any creature that is not essentially mindless, as together they basically invalidate a huge chunk of rules.
Nerves of Steel: Most characters should not take this. Immunity from pinning may sound reasonable, but consider that ignoring pinning tests would basically mean a person doesn't take cover when under fire. That's not bravery, that's insanity.
Ambidextrous: Ambidexterity is extremely rare, so this should not be taken lightly. I would generally ristrict this to artificial constructs or beings  that have a good reason not to suffer off-hand penalties. Human beings - even ambidextrous ones - gravitate towards handedness. Generally taken by people who just want to avoid penalties - the same applies to Gunfighter, and when taken together the dual penalty-avoidance is especially frowned upon.
Wyrds: Almost always taken by someone who just doesn't want to have the penalties associated with psychic powers. As such it should have some considerablee justification.
Combinations of abilities: Each special ability is something extraordinary that gives the character a special edge. because of this it's generally not recommended to take multiple abilities that apply to the same aspect of the character unless thay are almost entirely focussed on that aptitude - for example taking both Gunfighter and Hipshooting would imply a character who, regardless of ballistic skill, is an incredibly focussed gunfighter and there would be a tacit expectation that this should be to the detriment of some other ability. The same applies to multiple melee abilities (like combining Blademaster and First Strike)
Number of abilities: For ease of play and balance,three or four is generally seen as the upper limit for the number of abilities (special and exotic) that a character should have. Much higher than that and it becomes difficult to remember all the rules that apply, especially if multiple characters are in the warband.

Wargear/equipment: Attitudes to Wargear tend to vary wildly, so aren't subject to a "Conclave Standard" as such. Anything suitably justified by the background is generally accepted, although I would say that anything more common than a bolter doesn't really require any special mention (although a short couple of sentances about how your Inquisitor came by his revolver and why he uses it in lieu of something more powerful is a great way to flesh out a character).

As to how the rulebook characters stack up to the "conclave standard" they don't - even a Cultist Fanatic is far in excess of even the Rulebook's own stated guidelines, and Slick Devlan's basically an exercise in penalty avoidance. I take the view that the characters from the back of the rulebook are created basically for the purpose of introductory games, hence their high stats (nobody wants to be stuck missing shots in an intro game) and stacks of cool abilities. the Conclave generally takes the view that struggle and adversity are a much better basis for narrative games than superheroics and smashing all before you into dust, hence the emphasis on more conservative stats and abilities.

Bear in mind the whole "create your own character" thing is only in the rulebook as an afterthought - the assumption was that the GM would create all the characters to be used in a game. The way the Inquisitor community has chosen to invert this, with character creation being up to the players with minimal GM intervention - may account for the disparity between the rulebook's characters and what the fandom actually plays with.

As always, though, these are all just guidelines. Ultimately, if you and the players you game with are happy with the power level you go for, then by all means use that character - but the majority of Conclavers aren't the people you'll be gaming with, and so it's hard to judge a character in context without knowing more about the games you'll be playing and the people you'll game with.
(No longer} The guy with his name at the bottom of the page

Kaled

There's no such thing as an agreed upon standard.

A lot of people think the sample profiles in the rulebook are too powerful to make for a fun game; many people work from the descriptions of the stats at the start of the rulebook when designing characters; and others advocate even lower stats.

There is no consensus, but if you use the descriptions of the stats as a guide you won't go far wrong.
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Inquisitor Cade

#4
As Kaled said , there isn't a 'standard' but I think 1337 Inquisitor is just about spot on. The best way to decide stats, in my opinion is to look at the background and compare it to 1337 Inquisitors estimates.

I dissagree with his breakdown of Sg slightly in that I'd average 50 as normal human, and say that 40-60 is normal, 60-75 is gifted, 75-90 genius and 90+ is crazy clever. And going down the way 35-40 is retarded, or feral, and 25 to 10 is imbisilic and 10- is bbrain dead.

So a compotent, dedicated swordsman, who can also use guns, but practices a lot less, is ex-guard and maintains that level of fitness, is very quick witted but not too smart, and is quite stubbon and brave though he follows more than he leads would be some thing like:

Ws 65. Bs 50. S/T 55. I 70. Wp 65. Sg. 45. Nv 70. Ld 50.

When it comes to skills I veiw a combat or shooting skill as the equivalent of 5 Ws/Bs so the character above might have furious assault and Ws 60 instead if it represented his style of fighting.


All that said, a characters devotion to certrain skills is strongly affected by their profession. For this rason I think that archeatypes can be useful. The also help demonstrate what particular values of stats represent, and most of all it helps keep people on the same page when it comes to power level. I'll give my take of a few archetypes then:

Inquisitors

average Inquisitor
Ws 65. Bs 65. S 55. T 55. I 75. Wp 80. Sg 75. Nv 80. Ld 80.
fighty Inquisitor
Ws 70. Bs 70. S 60. T 60. I 75. Wp 70. Sg 65. Nv 85. Ld 75.
scolar Inquisitor
Ws 55. Bs 55. S 45. T 45. I 75. Wp 85. Sg 80. Nv 70. Ld 80.

Guardsmen

recent conscript
Ws 45. Bs 55. S 50. T 50. I 50. Wp 45. Sg 45. Nv 45. Ld 45.
verteran sergeant
Ws 55. Bs 70. S 65. T 65. I 65. Wp 65. Sg 50. Nv 70. Ld 60.
captain
Ws 55. Bs 60. S 55. T 55. I 60. Wp 60. Sg 60. Nv 60. Ld 75.
general
Ws 55. Bs 55. S 50. T 50. I 60. Wp 65. Sg 75. Nv 50. Ld 85.

Desperados

mob antagonist
Ws 35. Bs 35. S 40. T 40. I 45. Wp 40. Sg 45. Nv 25. Ld 30.
thug/gun for hire
Ws 50. Bs 55. S 50. T 50. I 50. Wp 45. Sg 40. Nv 55. Ld 35.
bounty hunter
Ws 60. Bs 65. S 60. T 60. I 65. Wp 55. Sg 50. Nv 65. Ld 45.
renown bounty hunter
Ws 70. Bs 70. S 60. T 60. I 70. Wp 65. Sg 55. Nv 70. Ld 55.
merchant ship captain
Ws 65. Bs 50. S 45. T 45. I 65. Wp 70. Sg 60. Nv 65. Ld 65.

cultists

cult leader
Ws 60. Bs 40. S 40. T 40. I 55. Wp 65. Sg 60. Nv 45. Ld 60.
cult assassin
Ws 75. Bs 55. S 60. T 60. I 75. Wp 60. Sg 45. Nv 70. Ld 35.
fanatic
Ws 55. Bs 35. S 45. T 45. I 45. Wp 45. Sg 40. Nv 60. Ld 40.

Space Marines see -Lord Inquisitors Dark Magenta article.

Adaptus Mechanicus

tech adept
Ws 40. Bs 40. S 40. T 40. I 60. Wp 65. Sg 60. Nv 45. Ld 55.
tech preist
Ws 40. Bs 45. S 35. T 40. I 60. Wp 70. Sg 65. Nv 45. Ld 65.
explorator
Ws 55. Bs 60. S 45. T 50. I 65. Wp 70. Sg 65. Nv 55. Ld 65.
senior tech prest/ magos
Ws 45. Bs 50. S 35. T 40. I 65. Wp 75. Sg 75. Nv 50. Ld 75.
menial servitor
Ws 25. Bs 30. S 50. T 50. I 20. Wp 80. Sg 25. Nv 95. Ld 10.

enforcers

local enforcer
Ws 60. Bs 50. S 50. T 50. I 60. Wp 55. Sg 50. Nv 60. Ld 55.
Arbiter
Ws 70. Bs 60. S 65. T 65. I 65. Wp 70. Sg 60. Nv 70. Ld 65.
Arbites judge
Ws 65. Bs 55. S 60. T 60. I 70. Wp 75. Sg 70. Nv 65. Ld 70.

I hope that some of that help in some way.
*Insert token witticism*

Adlan

I generally find Conclave Standard, is used whever we come across a charatcer with 3 stats in the 90's, the rest in the 70's or more, and equipped with a multitude of gribbly gear.

In other words, a Euphamisam for 'Your character is Overpowered, you might wanna tone it down"

Kaled

Quote from: Inquisitor Cade on August 31, 2009, 01:29:17 PM
Adaptus Mechanicus

tech preist
Ws. 40 Bs 45. S 35. T 40. I 60. Wp 60. Sg 65. Nv 45. Ld 50.
explorator
Ws 55. Bs 60. S 45. T 50. I 65. Wp 60. Sg 65. Nv 55. Ld 60.
senior tech prest/ magos
Ws 45. Bs 50. S 35. T 40. I 65. Wp 65. Sg 70. Nv 50. Ld 65.
I guess like everyone, there are plenty of things on that list of archetypes that I'd quibble with - but in most cases I'm only talking 5-10 points either way (in particular I'd say your Sg stats tend towards the low side - a military commander should be 80+ but you've put the General at just 65).  I do however think you've under-powered the AdMech archetypes pretty much across the board.

For starters, according to the rulebook 'A Tech-adept ... might have a Sagacity of 80', yet even your Magos statline doesn't approach that level.  I'd also say that Ld ought to be considerably higher for a Tech-Priest/Magos - these are the ruling caste of the AdMech and are accustomed to command.  Similarly, their Wp stats could be upped a little - these characters are dedicated, determined and disciplined; they'd have to be to rise high in the AdMech.  Nv is reasonable, although I'd imagine that the Tech-Priests that take to the field in person are likely to be among the braver members of their order so I'd expect most of the characters we see on here to have a higher Nv.

I suppose S & T are reasonable for unaugmented Tech-Priests, but almost all are going to be augmented which may well result in these stats being a bit higher (bionic arms will increase strength and miscellaneous augmentations will result in a higher toughness).  As for WS & BS - there are plenty of examples of Tech-Priests being more than capable when it comes to combat, so again I'd say that these levels are more than reasonable for most, but that many of the ones likely to be leading a warband into combat against an Inquisitor are going to be more competent.  However, I do prefer the idea of using Electro-grafts to increase combat ability - it makes sense that high-ranking members of the AdMech would just download combat skills straight into their brain rather than bothering to train.

Quotemenial servitor
Ws 25. Bs 30. S 50. T 50. I 20. Wp 25. Sg 25. Nv 95. Ld 10.
The main thing I'd quibble with here is Wp - in the Explorator Warbands article, Gav gave servitors a much higher Wp - 90.  While I think that's too high, I definitely think 25 is far too low - as a non-psyker, a servitors Wp will mainly be used in resisting the effects of psychic powers and I'd say that their hard-wired programming would make them single-minded to the point that they'd be far harder to manipulate than some weak-willed menial.
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Ynek

I think people are a bit too hung up on stats, in this discussion.
Bear in mind that equipment plays an important part of a balanced character, as well.

My view on stats is simply to go with what fits the background of the character, but be aware that a weapon or ballistic skill of higher than 80 would require the character to practice for hours a day. Such a character would spend very little time doing anything else, so 80+ WS and BS are mutually exclusive to one-another.

Also bear in mind that this character still needs to eat. To eat, you need money. To have money, you need a job. If you're practicing swordsmanship or shooting every day, a full-time job isn't going to fit in anywhere. Therefore, I would think that any inquisitor who actually does his job properly would not have the time available to earn and maintain any skills of higher than 80, unless he defers most of his duties (in a rather skiving manner, if you ask me) to his acolytes. Similarly, an imperial guard soldier or officer has other duties to perform, and would be unlikely to be able to maintain such a skill level.
So, in my opinion, the only people who should have skill stats above 80 are assassins, who spend all day training, proffessional swordsmen and their ilk.

As far as strength and toughness goes, you have to again think about how the character would spend his time. A strength stat of 30-40 would be your average human, so anyone who has a strength stat of 80+ would probably need to spend most of his time working out to maintain that level of body muscle. We're talking the sorts of men that you see on "World's strongest man", here. These fellas spend about eight hours a day exercising, and this would leave very little time for swordsmanship lessons or firearms training. Therefore, I would think that any character with a Strength or Toughness stat over 80 should have a representatively low WS and BS to represent the fact that he's spent most of his time body building rather than honing his skills. (Unless he has some other reason for having a high S+T... Excessive bionics, for example.)

Mental stats are a bit of a ball of barbed wire as far as this sort of analysis is concerned, as they're all quite wildly different... But I'll give it a go.

Initiative is not something that would be easy to train in. A lot of what makes up your initiative stat are things like your reflexes, reaction times etc. Whilst improvement in these areas is possible, it's very difficult to train to become a quick thinker, in much the same way as it's difficult to train to become smarter (Sg). (Bearing in mind that knowledge does not equate to intellect.)

Things like Willpower and leadership can be trained, but again, stats of 80-90 would need explanation, as these sorts of numbers don't just fall out of the sky. They would probably belong to a fairly exceptional individual.

All in all, I would say that a person who makes a character should look at the stats he's drawn up and think to himself: "Well, here's what I've drawn up as my first draft... Now is it sensible?" Considering the sorts of things that I've illustrated in the examples above. (Time constraints, between work and training, for example.) However, I would argue that any character with more than three stats over 80 is pushing his luck, especially if he has great equipment.

As far as equipment goes, simply think: "Would my character be able to get his hands on it?" For example, power armour is made only by the most skilled artificers across the imperium, and most of these artificers are quickly snapped up by the likes of the astartes, who have great need for such individuals. Power weapons and bolt weapons are also very rare, and it would be very unlikely for two people in the same warband to be able to get their hands on one, unless they happen to be insanely well connected.
"Somehow, Inquisitor, when you say 'with all due respect,' I don't think that you mean any respect at all."

"I disagree, governor. I think I am giving you all of the respect that you are due..."

Kaled

Quote from: Ynek on August 31, 2009, 07:40:37 PM
However, I would argue that any character with more than three stats over 80 is pushing his luck, especially if he has great equipment.
While there is a game balance reason not to give characters with good stats good equipment, I don't think it makes sense to enforce it too stringently.  If a character is the sort of person who would go out and find himself the best equipment (and has the connections to get it), then that's what he should have - whether or not his stats are high.

QuotePower weapons and bolt weapons are also very rare, and it would be very unlikely for two people in the same warband to be able to get their hands on one, unless they happen to be insanely well connected.
Which, given that the sorts of characters we see in the game are Inquisitors with absolute authority, Tech-Priests with access to the vast resources of the AdMech, or incredibly rich Rogue Traders, is not too much of a stretch.
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Kaled on August 31, 2009, 07:31:50 PMIt makes sense that high-ranking members of the AdMech would just download combat skills straight into their brain rather than bothering to train.
Great, now all I can see is a Magos doing jump kicks with a slow motion whirling effect.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

Kaled

Quote from: Ynek on August 31, 2009, 07:40:37 PM
Such a character would spend very little time doing anything else, so 80+ WS and BS are mutually exclusive to one-another.
Thinking about it some more, most people agree that a stat of 80+ represents an expert in a particular field, someone who has trained in that area to the exclusion of (almost) everything else.  So the real question is what level do people think is 'sensible' for their other stats?  Most people would accept that a swordmaster should have WS=80ish, but what BS could he have?  50?  60?  70?  What about his other stats?  Taking each stat in turn and it's relatively easy to agree what level represents what, it's when you're looking at the profile as a whole that most of the disagreement comes in.
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Ynek

Quote from: Kaled on August 31, 2009, 08:04:01 PM
Which, given that the sorts of characters we see in the game are Inquisitors with absolute authority, Tech-Priests with access to the vast resources of the AdMech, or incredibly rich Rogue Traders, is not too much of a stretch.

Power weapons are rare and expensive pieces of kit that the average citizen would be lucky to see in a lifetime.
A rogue trader does what his name suggests... He trades. He chases profits and adventure. He isn't going to spend hours on end sitting in his quarters, writing astropathic communiques to various individuals asking them if they know where he can acquire a rare piece of equipment. He's going to be spending most of his time sending messages regarding trade contracts, making sure that when he reaches the destination that he's headed for, there's someone who wants to buy what he has to sell, and someone who has something worth buying. Even back in the 1800s, during the height of the atlantic shipping trade, trading took a serious amount of organisation, skill and preparation. Factor in the various complications of space travel, let alone warp travel, and you're talking about a 24/7 full time job.

A spaceship isn't cheap, as the crew needs fed, the ship needs fuelled and maintained, and all sorts of costs have to be factored in. Therefore, in order for a rogue trader to keep his ship running, he needs to have a lot of money. To get money, he needs to run successful and repeated trade runs, which will probably weigh heavily on his time, as he has a hell of a lot of arrangements to make for every trip. Delaying the trip for a few weeks for him to go off and ask some questions about if anyone knows where he can pick up a decent bolter is surely going to cost him through the nose.

And let's face it... When you're sitting on board a ship which has lasers which can punch a hole in the crust of a planet, why are you going to go chasing after a puny pistol or sword? A sensible rogue trader would probably see such ventures as a waste of time, and therefore money. Rogue traders are businessmen, after all, and they probably have much more pressing matters on their minds than chasing fancy weapons. Sure, one might turn up in a shipment once in a while, but as these weapons are so exceptionally rare, the odds are that if it went missing, it would certainly be noticed.

Sure, a rogue trader might have a power weapon that once belonged to his grandpappy, but would his crew? The point that I made earlier was merely that the likelihood of two power weapons ending up in the same warband (excluding exceptional circumstances) were minimal. Not impossible, just rather improbable.

To give a better example of this - If an inquisitor went around chasing rumours about the existence of a particular powersword throughout an entire sector, and after months, if not years of looking, he finally found the world where it was rumoured to dwell, and then he managed to penetrate the world and fight his way through the cults that had been secretly hiding the weapon, as they believed it to be a manifestation of the Emperor's wrath, and had navigated through the catacombs of an ancient hive city to finally lay his hands upon the hilt of the blessed weapon.....  Would he really go through all that again so that his acolyte could have a powersword? Or would he say "Great... Now I'm off to chop up some dirty heretics!!!" Or, if one of his warband already owned a powersword, the inquisitor would probably just tell them to hand it over, and would then proceed immediately to the chopping up heretics stage.

If he trusted one of his explicators enough, he might send one or two of them on a mission fetch the weapon for him whilst he attended to more pressing duties, but what would stop the explicator from then running off with the weapon? Such a tool is worth a considerable sum of money, and if he sold it and then claimed that the weapon never existed in the first place, who would be any the wiser?

I'm probably alone in my belief, but I think that power weapons, bolters and plasma weapons are rare and precious relics, lovingly hand crafted by the finest of craftsmen. Therefore, I have my doubts that two of the same weapon would end up in the same warband.
"Somehow, Inquisitor, when you say 'with all due respect,' I don't think that you mean any respect at all."

"I disagree, governor. I think I am giving you all of the respect that you are due..."

Tullio

To a degree, I agree with Ynek - a Rogue Trader and Inquisitor doesn't have time to indulge in a lot of martial pursuits. However, both also potentially have access to vast numbers of men to delegate tasks to - men who can be given some very good reasons not to double-cross thier masters. Indeed, Dark Heresy is more or less built on this concept that Inquisitors have networks of agents given tasks and orders seperate to whatever the Inquisitor in question is directly working on.

The real question therefore is not whether they can find and acquire these knick-knacks so much as who, apart from themselves, is likely to be seen carrying one around

Tullio

TheNephew

It seems more feasible to me that any of an Inquisitor, Magos or Rogue Trader could simply put out the word that they're after something, and it'll find it's way to them.
An Inquisitor has webs of contacts because the job effectively requires them, but this web of contacts can usually find the odd thing like a bolter or something at no extra personal effort to the Inquisitor.
Likewise a Rogue Trader rich enough to afford a power sword will have dozens of subordinates he can delegate the searching to. As to your point that they wouldn't want or need them - the whole Rogue Trader image set up for ages in the 40kverse has them as flashy and ostentatious, so I'd fully expect them to be carrying the nicest of all personal kit they could get their hands on, as a status symbol even if they don't ever expect to need it.
The Magos I suspect could simply request one from a Forgeworld official, and be granted or denied it on the grounds of how many are available and who is asking.

Also, I think you overestimate the rarity of power swords. Admittedly there is canon to suggest that power swords are incredibly hard to make etc., but the sheer production capabilities of the Imperium suggest to me that someone with as much weight as any of the above three would be able to get their hands on one without excessive effort.
Plasma technology is likewise quite widespread, and is also fairly commonly issued to Guard regiments, so I think that would be a matter of local AdMech presence. Bolters would eb again more common than that, I suppose.

The only time I would expect an Inquisitor (or most other characters) to go to as much effort as you describe is perhaps a Daemon or Force weapon of some type, as they really are in incredibly limited production.

Finally - Inquisitors, as a function of the job requirements, will generally be those dealt a really good hand by their genetics and/or upbringing. I'd guess there were a whole lot of natural aptitudes  that caused one person to stand out as Inquisitor material - and that's why an Inquisitor's stats will be higher than average across the board.

Inquisitor Cade

I'll come clean that I'm far from an expert on the Ad mech. If tech priest is a possition of authoroty then I surely have sold them short in the Ld. I assumed that magoses (magi?) were the leaders and tech priests were the followers, but I stand corrected.

My Sg values are alot more 'pure' than those in the rulebook I think. I try to represent raw intellegence without too much reference to knowledge. I equate Sg to IQ/2 as 50 is about average and 100 is the absolute max and is increadably rare. I don't think you'd necessarily have to be a genius to be in the Admech, or to be a military general etc. Smarter than average sure, but only a few will be that smart. The Sg that I figured for a magos would put him easily in the top 5% of the population.

I agree that I've gone to the wrong extreme for servitor Wp.

Ynek, if you look at the Imperial guard, many, if not most, officers have power weapons. They are not so rare as all that. An Inquisitor could request one directly from the administratum and get one quickly. The same goes for bolters and even plasma weapons.
*Insert token witticism*