Dark Eldar Liquifier Rules

[Brother_Brimstone]

Since creating the Magos Biologis for Inquisitrix Weaver's band, i've started to wonder about rules for his liquifier gun arm.

I've come up with the following:


Liquiefier:

Liquiefiers are often fitted to Haemonculi’s creations, using the acidic, alchemically enhanced blood of their bearer as ammunition.

Magos X has extracted this weapon from a dead Dark Eldar creation and fitted it to himself, although his replacement for the original ammunition is somewhat less potent.

The liquifier gun, as fired by Magos X works exactly like a flamer, except that whenever it fires it adds d3 to his injury total, representing the extraction of some of his chemically enhanced vital fluids, and instead of having a 25% chance of catching fire, anyone who takes damage, after armour deductions, from the liquifier must pass a T test, or be stunned for one round, representing the toxins playing havoc with their nervous system.

While the guns on the model look 'twin linked', i figured i would have them fire together as one acidc burst, further representing the fact that the Magos had to downgrade the weapon quite a lot to get it working for him.

What do people think? Comments/criticism appreciated.

[MarcoSkoll]

I can't provide too much commentary, having never really properly read the latest DE codex (I do have an air-quotes "copy", but only really read certain sections like their resurrection fluff), but if we're assuming that the injury total damage is a complete trade-off against ammunition for what's quite a nasty weapon, D3 sounds a bit low.

[Brother_Brimstone]

I think that's a fair comment. D6 any better, or still too low?

[InquisitorHeidfeld]

/emote continues to be dumbfounded by current fluff ideas...

The human body contains approximately five litres of blood, even a small proportion of that lost results in light-headedness, poor decision making and slight euphoria... Which is why in combat scenarios the idea is generally to keep as much of it inside your body as possible.

As the guy is Biologis specialised he thinks in terms of bionetics in general I would assume...
Might it be viable to take the concept without taking the weapon - he could perhaps install a toxin gland in each forearm with a sphincter in the wrist - the glands manufacture a blend of toxins from what the blood supplies them (so dietary modification would be required) but without actually requiring blood as a vehicle...

By flicking his wrist in a certain way (and I'd avoid the "thwip" style movement  ) he triggers a muscular spasm which empties the gland in a jet of liquid - he doesn't lose blood in the process and so it would be quite viable for him to feel that he'd improved on the design with superior Imperial bionetic technology.

In game terms they'd probably count as a pair of digital flamers - though you could always change the range...etc to suit - with your toxin rules rather than catching fire.

[Ynek]

Magos X has extracted this weapon from a dead Dark Eldar creation and fitted it to himself,

Why fit it to yourself? Why taint your own body with xenos technology? Every puritanical member of the Adeptus would look down upon you as something tainted, making you something of a social and political pariah, which is something that in the upper echelons of Imperial society, is only one phone call away from being assassinated.

It would probably make more sense if it were fitted to a servitor or other lackey / disposable subordinate. That way, he can maintain a certain distance of objectivity, and can't really be accused of embracing xenos technology and making it a part of his own body. Instead, he simply appears to be studying it, using the servitor as a guinea pig.

Although I must confess that I find the idea of a weapon that fires your own bodily fluids at a target just a little bit silly. As has already been said, the body doesn't contain much blood, and even a comparatively small loss can have detrimental side effects.

[MarcoSkoll]

Although I must confess that I find the idea of a weapon that fires your own bodily fluids at a target just a little bit silly.

You've got to remember, the liquefier was invented by the Haemonculi, and is fitted primarily to creatures which it's spent years torturing and warping.
It's exactly their kind of thing to build a weapon that would inflict pain and injury on its wielder as it was used - I'm sure they'd find that kind of self-inflicted torture amusing.

My own logic for the weapon is that blood is only part of the ammunition, a necessary sacrifice to... I dunno, act as a catalyst for the primary acidic components or something.
Pseudoscience, yes - but as Dark Eldar technology is described as being only one step short of magic, then there's a bit of room for that.

[DapperAnarchist]

The only human group I can imagine making use of a liquifier type weapon would be the Death Cults (well, Chaos too, I guess, but they use everything). The idea of turning your own blood against the enemy suits their ideas very well. So, could Magos X be a member of a Mechanicus/Omnissiah Death Cult?

[InquisitorHeidfeld]

Yes, the original Eldar weapon is "designed" to harm the wielder - but I don't see a Biologis specialist seeing the blood loss as anything other than a huge design flaw to be eliminated in the installed version.
Assuming that the blood is a volumetric carrier (or assumed to be) then there are several other bodily fluids which cost the body less to make and are therefore more suited to the task, the most obvious of course being urine.

If we're dealing with a true Technoheretic with a wierd fixation with the Eldar then he may consider the installation of such technology as a significant step towards his goals - though of course he's likely to have taken many others before (attempting to graft waystones into his body for example*)...


*Dark Eldar, Craftworld Eldar and Exodites are not different species, their cultural differences are entirely lost on most people within the 40k 'verse IMNSHO - and as the information you're likely to require to gain an insight into those differences is likely to get you killed anyway there aren't even many ways to find out.

[Brother_Brimstone]

As Marco said, the DE Tech is often referred to as being basically magic and like 'alchemy', so i imagine the blood as being like in old alchemical rituals, where you are required to give some of your lifeblood to fuel the transmutation .

Considering this crazy sort of hermetic-science background, i don't think it's too far-fetched that a member of the Imperium couldn't make enough sense of the whole thing to be able to replace the blood with something else. Maybe he tried substituting and it didn't work? Maybe he's convinced that the alien machine spirit of the device thirsts for his blood, and if he wants it to do his bidding he must first appease this bloodthirsty alien spirit? If it were Imperial technology, then the scientific reasoning behind it all would need to be more science and less mysticism, but with DE technology, i think a healthy dose of mysticism is not out of place.

The only human group I can imagine making use of a liquifier type weapon would be the Death Cults (well, Chaos too, I guess, but they use everything). The idea of turning your own blood against the enemy suits their ideas very well. So, could Magos X be a member of a Mechanicus/Omnissiah Death Cult?

I very much like this idea, and may well use it. Maybe that's why he fetishises the DE so much, He admires their revelry in bloodshed and torture. He's a magos biologis who has come to see the DE as being the peak of humanoid form and understanding of biological technology. He could still believe humans are 'better', just because, you know, we're humans, but that we could learn a lot from the ways of the DE. He would not be the first to pursue that kind of line of reasoning...

Thanks to all for the comments.

[DapperAnarchist]

He might even in think that the humanoid races (which are effectively two, though he might think there are more - differentiating between Craftworld and Commoragh, for example) are actually all one, split apart by some terrible cataclysm. Though that might be too crazy...

[InquisitorHeidfeld]

As Marco said, the DE Tech is often referred to as being basically magic and like 'alchemy',

It's worth noting that Imperial Tech is often described in the same terms...
It has been noted that the Mechanicus focus more on the asthetic in terms of many of their artifacts than in the limitations of their technology for example - because a conversion field built within the flaws of a gemstone on a signet ring is just as effective as one in a large backpack covered in cooling vanes and exhaust ports... It's just a question of how the individual Mechanicus wishes it to look.

[Zakkeg]

While it looks as though I'm a bit late, if you want liquifier rules that properly reflect the weapon's horrific effects (though admittedly have no place in a game that the characters are expected to live through) might I suggest having a dekko at these here? You'll find them under "destructor", which I've always preferred the sound of. Making it Recharge: 2, like the corrupter above it, and adding the "+d3/6 to injury total per shot" thing would more or less complete the implant-package, I reckon.