Hormagaunt Idea

[Brother_Brimstone]

As you may have seen from my brief mentionings in P&M, i had the idea of an istavaanian inquisitrix  who smuggles hormagaunt eggs into populated areas to instigate 'survival of the fittest'. A question i had was regarding the gaunts themselves, but it crosses into both rules and fluff. When hormagaunts are separated from their hive, they become just feral scavengers/predators. Would it be possible, perhaps with the aid of drugs/lobotomies etc... to, relatively speaking, 'domesticate' one, as we once did with wolves and other feral predators?

I ask this, because i quite like the idea of fielding my inquisitrix with a 'pet hormagaunt', and think it would be rather cool! What do people think? In terms of rules balance, it would be less powerful than a regular hormagaunt, due to it being all drugged up and lobotomised, but still fairly powerful in combat, being a born killing machine and all.

All input and opinions appreciated.

[Adlan]

I don't see why not, it seems like it'd be a fun concept. Domesticate, I don't think so. But control, with drugs or technology or perhaps even psychic power, might be possible.

[Brother_Brimstone]

Yeah, that was why i put domesticate in quote marks. I don't mean make it loyal to its master like a dog; it most likely wouldn't even have the loyalty of a cat, but in the same way some people can 'tame' lions (i.e. make it so that the lion doesn't attack them and maybe even follows a few simple commands), i can't see any reason why the same couldn't be done to a hormagaunt who is no longer under the influence of the hivemind - especially with 40k's noble tradition of lobotomising and drugging up creatures such as servitors to make them obedient (obviously i'm not implying anything as scaled up as servitor control, but i'm sure those techniques could be applied to a lesser extent by someone who is sufficienctly crafty...

Anyway, the reason i posted it here rather than the Dark Millenium thread was, assuming people think it's a plausible concept, what kind of special rules i could use to represent the gaunt? Should I use him with a 'command' system like cyber-mastiffs, or a character in his own right, or something else entirely? Like i say, this warband is very much just an expansion of a single, vague character concept, so all input is appreciated.

Thanks for your comment.

[Myriad]

Well, at the outside some process akin to servitorisation could certainly bring one to heel, at the cost of certain of its abilities though.  The most interesting possibility is finding some way to 'dupe' the hormagaunt into accepting you as the hive mind - while I can't think of any fluff supporting this, logically there's a possibility, at least on a small scale.

Looking at the 40K tyranid list, hive mind synapse seems to be relatively short ranged even for hive tyrants and a hormagaunt so duped would be quite dependant on the surrugate hive mind, likely becoming confused as distance was placed between them.  In any event I'd see them as naturally inclined to run amok and hard to keep on a leash.

Has no-one done any rules for trained animals?  I use a knarloc on occasion and treat it as a character, roleplaying the peculiarities of the character.  While this is simplest, it does place a certain contingency on the player to think like a large aggressive plant eating dinosaur.

[Ramnok]

Modeling wise its pretty easy to make one, pick up a tyranid warrior and just enhance the head a bit to show its thicker cranium like in the tabletop. You may cut the head up enough to add "mechanical" pieces to it like it had its brain replaced but you'd have to show the slower mechanical nature of the horm, It has possabilities tho!

[MarcoSkoll]

It might be possible. A hefty dose of psychic suppression and/or brain surgery to cut it off from the hive mind, then all sorts of drugs and bionic pain/euphoria inducers to get it under control. However, I'd suggest it would be somewhat tentative and unreliable.

One bigger issue though. The lifespan of a Hormagaunt is measured in days - maybe a couple of weeks at the outside. They don't need to live long, so they're not built to.  They've also got a voracious appetite - they have to eat huge amounts of raw meat almost constantly, so taking it out on long missions could prove an issue.

Those are two points you'll need to explain.

I'd suggest lots of nasty chemicals and a few bionics could in theory slow its metabolism and boost its lifespan to a few months (although at the cost of its physical performance, as you suggested). After that, the only option is to break out another Hormagaunt egg from the freezer (as the gits - one of the few 'Nid strains that can reproduce - can lay hundreds of the things, having eggs available ain't too hard) and starting afresh with a new lobotomy, reused bionics, and hopefully a neutering...
That's also a quite neat explanation for what happens if it dies in game: "New one."

Personally, ruleswise, I'd suggest starting with something like an Arcoflagellant - almost certainly with the Galthamor Syndrome trait.

With even an more suppressed metabolism in transit, it would go a little longer between mealtimes, and then... well, when it's let loose, it's starving and not very controllable. Stand clear of the carnage.

[Brother_Brimstone]

Glad to hear that people think this is a workable idea, as i'm rather keen on it. Thanks for the fluff guidance for its life span, Marco, will definitely come in handy, and I have no problem with the hormagaunt being used each game being a different one. Inquisitrix Weaver may be obsessed with the destructive power of the nids, but she certainly isn't going to mourn their passing, and won't have any qualms with using them as disposable weapons (and as you suggest, she will have a ready supply of eggs!).

The rules i was intending to use were;

Speed: 5/4 ( regular hormagaunt would almost definitely be in the region of 6, maybe even 7, so I reduced this for reasons of lobotomy/drugs and for game balance)
Ambidextrous
Bestial Face
Beweaponed Extremities
Bony Crest
Chitinous hide
Enhanced senses
Envenomed Claws
Fangs
Force of Will
Furious Assault
Nerves of Steel


- Upper-average  WS, extremely low BS, upper-average I, low SG, high T, high S, high WP, high nv, extremely low Ld,

Also, Marco, what's Galthamor Syndrome trait? Never heard of it; where'd it come from?

Thanks for the comments, all.

[greenstuff_gav]

It might be possible. A hefty dose of psychic suppression and/or brain surgery to cut it off from the hive mind,

it's often stated the Synskin of a Culexus it efficient at blocking psyonics; in a RP featuring Adept Stein he grafted it to the inside of a hormagaunts skull to reduce the psychic signature of the beast; blocking the alien from the Hive Mind and from the Hive Mind detecting the monster...

The Culexus Assassin wears an advanced Aegis Suit known as the Etherium, which is built into the Culexus Assassin's own synthskin. This, combined with the Culexus Assassin's innate anti-psychic abilities, means that psychic attacks pass right through him as if he were invisible.

[MarcoSkoll]

Also, Marco, what's Galthamor Syndrome trait? Never heard of it; where'd it come from?

Simeon 38X article. To quote:

~~~~~

Gathalamor syndrome: Simeon 38X's conditioning is not perfect and on occasion he will not respond to his trigger word once activated.
When activated, there is a 10% chance he will not respond that turn, although further attempts can be made. When attempting to de-activate Simeon 38X by means of his trigger word, he will only respond 50% of the time, otherwise he will continue to attack in his frenzied fashion.

Personally, I choose to read "50% of the time" in  the same way as the earlier passage - i.e. "a 50% chance he will not respond that turn". Not that it would be hugely practical to attempt to make two deactivation attempts in a turn (and even that's not a sure thing), but it would take a little bit of the punch out of the trait.

Bestial Face
Fangs

Envenomed Claws

Firstly, I wouldn't combine Bestial Face and Fangs, as both represent a bite attack. Bestial face would probably be the appropriate one.

Secondly, I know Hormagaunts can have the Toxin Sacs biomorph, but that is a variant strain and presumably less common.
But in simple rules terms, stunning a character (or otherwise incapacitating them for the turn, as most toxins do) is a little bit harsh when there's a Hormagaunt involved - with plenty of attacks (remember that bite attack, as well), the basic injury effects would appear plenty.

One thing I would add - Cannibal Hunger. As I said, a primary driving force with Hormagaunts is their metabolism and need to eat.

[Holiad]

I'd personally think only average S or T, but a pretty good damage marker for the claws-hormagaunts are pretty low down the hierarchy of tyranid bio-organisms, and their role as expendable cannon-fodder isn't one which requires exceptional strength or resilience. That said, a certain resistance to stunning and system shock would be entirely appropriate-while hard to kill, it woud be very difficult to subdue with sub-lethal injuries.

As far as controlling it goes, 'taming' it is pretty much out, since even without the hive mind they're a lot more violent than even a wild animal, and have little concept of pain or fear which might be used to influence them. While the hive mind is what keeps them coordinated as a swarm and aimed towards the enemy rather than each other, the psychotic tendencies are pretty much inbuilt. I would agree with other posters, however, that the more extreme methods used on arcoflaggelants and servitors could certainly be adapted to, at least mostly, enslave a hormagaunt in a similar fashion.

[InquisitorHeidfeld]

Ignoring the total idiocy and wastefulness of Tyranid "biology"...

Is eggs the right term? they're built full grown rather than maturing aren't they? (another bit of stupid biology).

Almost no juveniles would have a value to the Hive Fleet after all.

[Brother_Brimstone]

Is eggs the right term? they're built full grown rather than maturing aren't they? (another bit of stupid biology).

While this is true of most of the 'gaunt' genus, Hormagaunts are a special exception. Myetic spores filled with eggs fall on a planet, pre-attack and the eggs hatch, the hormagaunts quickly maturing, and their hunter-killer instincts kick-in. They wreak merry hell, and then lay a clutch of eggs before dying, ensuring that with their passing comes a whole new wave of pointy, bounding terror.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Hormagaunt#.Trfc4PRCqso

[MarcoSkoll]

I'd personally think only average S or T

I'd probably give them about S80 & T70 - and that would be rather conservative, as Gaunts are 200 kilos* of optimised bioweaponry!
*Imperial Armour Vol 4

I suggest that because it sounds like a fair figure and I can imagine that with growth suppression (because it's probably best to not give it access to its full power in case it proves uncontrollable) and drugs slowing down its metabolism, that would be an achievable limitation of its system.

As it's not going to have much armour, it's going to have to be reasonably hard to put out of action to still feel like a threat, so T70 probably isn't too far off the mark.

I have no problem with the hormagaunt being used each game being a different one.

As an idea that's just come to me, how about a "Complications table"?

Start with a basic profile, but roll D10 at the start of the game to find out how well this particular gaunt worked out. It might be stronger/weaker than normal, perhaps more/less controllable, maybe its at the end of its life and is rapidly dying - that kind of thing.

[Darksinger]

Ah, Hormagaunts. I've faced pure-breed hormagaunts before- nasty things they are.

Alta had a rather good Profile for Hormagaunts (Amongst other things). Reduced, and with the rules you guys have up... well, it gives me goose bumps thinking about the fun you could have.

I hope this project goes well for you.

[Ynek]

As an idea that's just come to me, how about a "Complications table"?

I like this idea.

To re-cycle an old idea that you and I batted around a while ago, how about using something similar to the "robot programming" rules?

I.E. The character who undertook the task of 'leashing' the hormagaunt rolls a sagacity check at the beginning of the game to see how good a job they did with this particular hormagaunt. However much they pass or fail by is noted down.
If the character fails the sagacity check, for every 20% that they failed by, the hormagaunt develops one complication, which is rolled for randomly on a table. (You tend not to choose where you screw up, in most cases, so this being a random process seems to fit the bill.)
If the character passes, for every 20% that the character passes by, the hormagaunt selects one perk from a table. (People tend to choose where they are going to put in any extra effort.)
A roll of 96-100 always fails, and counts as one extra complication in addition to those earned for 20% margins. (So, for example, if the character with Sg79 rolls a 100, the hormagaunt will roll twice on the complications table.)

This is pretty much a direct port from the "robot programming" thread, but I felt that the rules were relatively elegant in this case.
Another way to handle it would be to say that the hormagaunt starts with D3 complications, and for every margin of failure, he gains an extra one. For every margin of success, he loses one complication. I feel that this would be a nice way to represent that the hormagaunt will never be top of the line, always held back by his 'leashing'.

Although, let's be honest.... A hormagaunt servitor would probably take a lot of explaining, particularly to the likes of the Admech and Inquisition who might see the creation of such a creature as an abomination.