New to Inquisitor...

[Genovisha]

My friend and I are starting an =][= campaign for the first time and we're trying to avoid using stock characters. I've checked this warband with him & the other players and they seem happy. Can I ask everyone for their advice on the fluff and the stats/equipment/rules - specifically the rules I made up.

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Terrorist, freedom fighter, heretic, prophet, saviour, manipulator; Jaden Vale could be called any of these names throughout the galaxy - if anyone knew who he was. Perhaps more accurately we can say that were Vale to admit to his part in the Goron uprisings, the Tyrellian IV incident or any of the other dozens of disasters which have followed in his wake for the last seventy years, he would become one of the most hunted men in the Imperium. Only a select number of Inquisitors within the Ordo Hereticus have managed to piece together any idea of his activities and they guard their knowledge jealously, wary of losing such a valuable catch to a rival. Yet not even the sum of their information would give them any insight into Vale's true identity or motivation.
Jaden Vale was recruited as an Inquisitor-Acolyte by the Thorian Inquisitor Kirillov some hundred and twenty years ago. Little is known about Vale's origins before this period, and even less about the next fifty years, though we can assume much time was given to training Vale's already formidable telepathic abilities. After this period Vale began to serve his master in the field as an agitator. Kirillov believed that in times of strife, great leaders inextricably emerged from the masses to guide their fellow man towards a better future and that from among these men could be found a suitable host for the God-Incarnate. To this end he had Vale travel from system to system, shaping events to lead to some trial for the planet's populace which in turn Kirillov would observe in order to identify any possible host life-forms.
Yet it is the nature of the agitator to be deniable, with no links or contact to his master until he exits the field. On Rygel Minor this system of secrecy led to a turning point in both men's lives. It was here that Vale killed Inquisitor Cain, who had tracked the acolyte to the moon and cornered his retinue. Whether Vale believed that this act would enhance his cover or whether something snapped in a mind already in regular contact with the warp will probably not be determinable until after his death. In any case Vale continues his mission; spreading destruction is his wake in the hope that it will go some way to aid the search for the God-Incarnate. In reality Kirillov has had to end his search for a suitable host in order to undertake a ceaseless pursuit of his former-apprentice – in part to atone for the death of Cain and in part to ensure that the death is never traced back to him. 

WS    35
BS     50
S        40
T        50
I         70
Wp    90
Sg      85
Nv     70
Ld      70

Speed: 5
Base injury: 5
Vale is left handed.

Equipment: Laspistol with one reload; digi-hand flamer on ring on right hand (Cain's Inquisitorial seal); Rune staff; two photon flash grenades; psychic hood; psi-booster; medi-pack; displacer field over all body; flak armour on chest and abdomen; heavy coat covering all locations except head; comm-link.

Psychic powers: Enforce will; Mind scan; Psychic shriek; Detection; Puppet master; Telepathy, Terrify; Forget me (Istvaanian Sourcebook); Suggest ('Packing heat' article).


The Caspacallians place the highest value imaginable upon learning and knowledge. Indeed they put such a value upon it that they believe that the only individuals worthy to study are those that can defend sources of information from those who might destroy it. Children must show proficiency with weapons before they can be taught to read and only the most skilled warriors may gaze upon the rarest of tomes.
It would be something of an understatement to suggest that being born both a Caspacallian and a data-addict was a mixed blessing for Yolanda. Her desire for greater quantities of any manner of information drove her to extraordinary heights as a warrior many years before her contemporaries could dream of achieving a similar standard. Alas, even this swift progress through the ranks of the Caspacallians could not slake her thirst for knowledge. Two weeks before she would have been named grandmaster of her clan, Yolanda was caught breaking into the most revered of the Caspacallians' sanctums. Custom would have had her hands cut off and exiled to the wastelands had Jaden Vale not intervened. Seeing the potential for Yolanda as both a bodyguard and a walking library, Vale traded her life for the location of the Librarium Solstice. That the clan's warriors unsealing the Librarium to access its data streams would unleash a demon prince upon Caspacallia merely precipitated Vale's plans for that world.
Yolanda now follows Vale almost exclusively on the promise of finding untapped sources of knowledge, spending any currency she acquires on more augmentations to increase her memory and ability to record new experiences. 

WS    85
BS     35
S        65
T        50
I         90
Wp    60
Sg      70
Nv      55
Ld      35

Speed: 6                           
Base Injury: 6

Equipment: Sword; two knives; caspacallia duelling costume (counts on mesh armour) on all locations except head; comm-link.

Special abilities: Acrobatic; dodge; ambidextrous; first strike; feint.

Though a talented telepath, Jaden Vale prefers not to utilise his powers to control individuals for any extended period due to the inherent risk involved in the use of psychic powers. Alas, there are times when Vale discovers an individual whose talents he finds a use for but who lacks the inclination to offer their aid. Conrad is such a man. A convicted serial killer who operated for two years throughout the city-continent of Titan's Reach, Conrad is an expert marksman with a pathological absence of mercy or remorse. He feels a compulsion to harm those he perceives as authority figures. Vale freed Conrad from a penal shuttle in the hope that he might prove a distraction for the municipal authorities as other plans were set in motion. As Vale was leaving the planet, he attempted to convince Conrad that he could hone his skills with a greater variety of prey. When persuasion, charm, threats and bribery failed to have the desired effect, Vale took control of Conrad's mind long enough for an explosive collar to be applied to the convict. Since then the sniper has provided an important, if reluctant, service to Vale.
WS    35
BS     85
S        40
T        40
I         50
Wp    40
Sg      40
Nv     30
Ld      35

Speed: 4
Base Injury: 4
Conrad is right handed.

Equipment: Needle rifle with telescopic sight (see the Recongregator Sourcebook) and two reloads; autopistol with single reload; flak armour on chest, abdomen and legs; camo-cloak (-10% to hit rolls against shooting from >30 yards away); comm-link.
Special abilities: Deadeye shot; wyrd – teleportation (only on self); reluctant
Reluctant: Conrad wears an explosive collar (See 'Lectures on the witch - part 2') which will detonate if he moves to far away from Vale. If Conrad leaves the table whilst Vale remains, or vice versa, the collar will explode (Area 0.5, Blast 4, Damage 4D6). At the start of each turn Vale must pass a leadership test with -10% for every 10 yards distance between the two models, if he fails Conrad will spend one action trying to remove the collar (AV 6, 30pt damage, risky action). Should Conrad escape his bonds he will be controlled by the GM in the most characterful possible; free to flee the table, butcher as many characters as possible or seek revenge on Vale. Beyond these restrictions Conrad may be used as normal.
Sgt. Nathanial Clay stands alone amongst Vale's retinue as both fully aware of the nature of their mission and utterly dedicated to its success on an ideological level. An Imperial Guardsman before meeting his current master, Clay was a veteran of The 3rd War for Armageddon stationed at Hive Infernus. There he saw the bravery of his fellow man in the face of great adversity but also the scale of the threat facing mankind. Whilst deployed in Cadia he came under the sway of Vale, who was attempting to cause sedition amongst the troops against an incompetent command. Over time Clay became convinced that only with a strong enough leader can humanity hope to face the dangers of the universe, eventually going AWOL following a failed mutiny aboard 'The Solar' transport battleship. Clay is dedicated to the cause of bringing about circumstances conducive to the discovery of a host for the God-Incarnate, irrespective of the cost.
WS    65
BS     65
S        60
T        60
I         55
Wp    60
Sg      45
Nv     65
Ld      65

Speed: 4
Base Injury: 6
Clay is right handed

Equipment: Lasgun (MP) with two reloads and bayonet; laspistol with reload; three frag grenades; knife; carapace armour on chest, abdomen & groin; flak armour on all other locations except head; closed helmet with comm-link.

Special abilities: Hipshooting; quickload; 'Devoted'

Devoted: Counts possessing both 'heroic' and 'force of will' special abilities provided that Vale is not out of action and still on the battlefield.

Two-Shadows is one of the finest hunters of the Blindsnake Tribe. He doesn't know why 'She-who-sings' trusts this sky-man but he knows to trust her judgement. The prophecy will be fulfilled and the sky towers will fall.

WS    45
BS     60
S        50
T        50
I         65
Wp    40
Sg      35
Nv     45
Ld      35

Speed: 4
Base Injury: 5
Two-Shadows is right handed.

Equipment: Double barrel shotgun with sixteen shells and four scatter shells; revolver with one reload standard rounds, one reload of dum-dum rounds; knife.

Special abilities: Blademaster; 'Hunter'.

Hunter: Two-shadows is an expert tracker and can pinpoint his target's locations with unerring ease. As such he adds 50% to his hearing ranges and does not suffer an awareness penalty for low lighting. He's also used to sneaking up on his prey and anybody attempting to detect him will suffer a -10% penalty.

[Damon]

I really like the sound of your warband. Some nice background and interesting characters. I've had a quick look through and there's just a couple of points:

Why does Conrad have wyrd-teleportation? It isn't explained in his background and seems out of place with his character.

I do love the idea of him reluctantly working for Vale and the explosive collar is a nice touch. I would add another rule to his collar though. At the moment there is nothing stopping Conrad shooting and killing Vale and thus escaping servitude. It's easy to resolve this though. The collar should also be linked to Vale's life signs so if Vale is killed then the collar explodes.

The devoted rule sounds good to me but I'd tweak it slightly. Instead of it applying if Vale is not OOA or not off the battlefield I reckon it should be if he has line of sight to Vale. If he is near to his master, to whom he is devoted, he would act more heroically to show his devotion.

The stats do seem fair enough. Some maybe slightly high for what I would use, but you have generally balanced high stats with lower ones. Anyway with stats the important thing is they are at a similar level to those you are playing with. As you said you had checked with the other players and they were happy with them I see no real need to change them.

Hope this is of help. Feel free to use or ignore my advice

[Genovisha]

First, thank you for your advice.

The feedback on Conrad's collar and Clay's 'devoted' rule sounds well rounded and a more characterful/logical solution.

Conrad wasn't originally going to be the wyrd, Two-shadows was and I've not updated the bio. I thought that it would explain why it took so long for the authorities to catch him, why Vale would free him and why he'd try and force him to hoin them against his will. I imagined him to be akin to Nightcrawler in the White House in X2 - popping short distances to get to the perfect shooting position. I realise that wyrd powers can be a bit of a beardy way round using psychic powers so that's why I came up with the reluctant rule and the collar as well as restricting his stats to only really make him a good shooter (I'm tempted to limit that to just when he uses rifles, with a pistol or similar it'd drop to around 50ish)... I thought it made for a more interesting character than just a 'sniper'.

[Damon]

No problem. Glad I could be of help.

Ok I see. Pretty much all psykers need to be sanctioned and so you would have to add that to his background. At first I thought the teleportation skill wouldn't go particularly well with a sniper but having given it more thought I reckon it could work well. Sniper's often relocate between shots to avoid blowing their cover. Conrad would excel at this, firing a shot then teleporting to a new piece of cover and firing again. It would confuse his enemies greatly as well as giving the impression they were under attack by several sharp shooters. Maybe you could keep it wyrd but limit the range he could teleport so he could only move say a maximum of 10 yards. That would prevent him being too powerful.

He's definitely a more interesting character than just a sniper and having frictions between warband members always makes for more interesting games.