The Warp Hound - WIP fluff

[Shannow]

Here's my thoughts on the Warp Hounds back story so far, suffering a bit of writers and rules block so I'll see what you guys feedback and go from there.

The Warp Hound

Identified by his family as having psychic powers from an unusually early age, Allion was confined in an exquisitely furnished cell due to the status of his family within the spire. Here he received only members of the ecclesiarchy who tutored him in the many and varied means of repentance that he should be subjected to once the Blackships arrived.

Thankfully, from his parents perspective, it was but a mere year before the Blackships cast there shadow over the spire, denying even the rich the kiss of the sun. Allion left his family with the emperor in his heart, ready to pay penance for the sin that lay within his talent. It was not until he was aboard the Blackship that he revealed in detail his particular skills; that of crude telepathy and telekinesis.

It was shortly before his arrival on Terra that Allion's future was forever changed by his encounter with Inquisitor Mishael. He saw in the blind devotion and talent of Allion a malleable tool, ready for his own shaping. And so the Warp Hound was born.
Allion was willing to be subjected to any experimentation Mishael saw fit to create in him the perfect tool to hunt and destroy those psykers that refused the emperors light. Fused to his spine were large motored blades, his lower limbs were transplanted to be but mercilessly sharp tools of death. Mishael's logic was ostensibly that a psyker who was able to open doors with telekinesis had no need of his hands.

Finely and physically honed into a supreme physical specimen, quite unusually for a psyker, he was unleashed when necessary, sensing the fluctuation in the warp and being zealous on ripping his way through buildings, scum and even innocent citizens in pursuit of one rogue psyker.

However this physical lethality as might be expected severely dampened the great potential Allion had a psyker. Though his ability to communicate with his superiors telepathically was honed to perfection and he was capable of doing all daily task and even throwing considerable large object with his telekinesis; these abilities were stretched no further.

His role was too feel the pull of the heretic, sense the undulations of the warp and with a snarl and a command from up high rip his way through the world in pursuit of that one heinous creature, to tear them limb from limb and roar in domination over there corpse.

He was, and will remain, the Warp Hound.




Stats
Ws   Bs   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
62   54   61   63   72   77   56   78   55

Right Handed, Left Clawed (ipsilateral motor connection adjusting 'handedness')

Back claws are bionic arms with 30 S

Equipment:- 4 monofilament blades – reach 2 parry penalty -10% 2D6 + 4 Mono weapons divide the AV of any location struck by 2 for the purposes of calculating the damage of the strike. In addition, an attack will be considered Critical on an unmodified result of 1/5th or less of the required roll to hit, rather than the usual 1/10th.

, Psychic Hood with inter-com, carapace armour all over 6, except head 3.

Special Abilities:- Lightening Reflexes, Dodge

Special Rules:- See Zakkegs post below - lazy? Possibly....


In terms of background, I like the idea that he has been trained from an early age to be this zealous engine of death, with the implants added and updated through puberty, the pain of this all part of his sense of penance for being a sin in the eyes of the emperor, at least as he has been taught.

I also particularly like the idea of Mishael seeing no use for his powers other than it free's up his hands to be weapons, something I find delightfully pragmatic and inquisitorial to me.

The special rule I am very uncertain on, I think its too complicated but I can't quite think how to represent what's in my head. Essentially I imagine the character to literally sniff at the air in a feral manner and then pursue the psyker down using this warp scent. I want this to be a test of his self control, a conflict between his loyalty as a dog and his zealous desire to purge.

Ideas on a postcard if you please:)

Rob

[Zakkeg]

Background's fine for a first draft; nothing sticks out as particularly unfeasible. I take it that, if he met Allion shortly before hitting Terra, Mishael hitched a ride on the Blackship. Did the Inquisitor come aboard specifically looking for a test subject, or was this more of a chance meeting? More importantly, did he let Mishael go through the sanctioning process, or simply spirit him away (perhaps seeing his procedure as a viable alternative)?

As for the rules:

Discipline and self-control are better represented with Leadership than Willpower, per page 15 of the LRB. Not that Willpower's an entirely illogical stat to use either, but doing so for this sort of thing tends to make Ld look a bit redundant for anyone without the "Leader" ability.

I'd increase his WS by at least 10 and possibly as much as 20, given that he's supposedly a supreme physical specimen who's designed, trained and employed to chop things up and little else. (I find that when I can't decide what a character's stats should be I invariably refer back to this post.) For the same reasons, I'd give him about the BS of an arco-flagellant; he has neither the training nor the physical ability to operate a firearm. I'd also increase his Nv and reduce his I, Wp and Sg a touch, but that's just me.

Speaking of chopping things up, I don't think his blades justify reach 3. I'd probably make them implanted mono-shortswords or mono-axes. My take on the subject

Mono: Mono weapons have specially fashioned blades with superfine edges, which can easily cut through armour and never lose their edge. Any edged weapon classified as standard (i.e., not chain, power, etc.) can be a mono weapon. Mono weapons divide the AV of any location struck by 2 for the purposes of calculating the damage of the strike. In addition, an attack will be considered Critical on an unmodified result of 1/5th or less of the required roll to hit, rather than the usual 1/10th.

Finally, his special rule. It's a bit clunky, but not too bad. But as I'm a bit bored just now, I suppose I'll have a bash at it:

Warp Hound: The Warp Hound is automatically aware of the presence and general direction of any psyker within 2D10+5 yards (roll anew at the beginning of each turn). Should there be one or more psykers in range he must pass a Ld test or attempt to track them down. Once his target is spotted, he gains Frenzy and Furious Assault, and will focus on his prey to the exclusion of all else until there's very little left of them but small red chunks. His master may pull the Warp Hound out of his rage by means of a failsafe in his psychic hood; this leaves him Stunned for one turn but thereafter able to act normally until a new target presents itself.

Alright, still a bit clunky, but there you go.




(Still not fond of the hat, Lrrr's endorsement notwithstanding. )

[Dolnikan]

I like the background and the stylish hat.

For the stats, I would reduce the Bs, I and Sg a bit, the Bs because the lack of hands, the initiative because now it is very high and he nowhere looks like the type of character to be that fast. The Sg because he might once have been well schooled but I think that he will have lost a lot of that due to the rather traumatic events of his life.

However, I think that the nerve could be quite a bit higher, he will have become nearly fearless by now.

Which version of lightning reflexes will you be using?

[Bergtorp]

Do you expect him to be able to use telekinesis to operate doors and such by default?
Using psychic powers is dangerous, no matter how good you are.
Maybe give him telekinesis, and make him actual use it everytime. That way he might wait for a companion to open door, instead of him just open it up on the run for the entire warband.

[Shannow]

Right you'll all wait your turn! And if you eat your meat you can have some pudding.

@Zakkeg - Good point about the Ld I hadn't read the description of the stat for a while:)

As regards WS I did have it higher but it makes him particularly overpowered when carrying so many weapon, as it mean he could parry twice in a round, with a +20% modifier for using two weapons which seemed a bit overkill to me, so I'm thinkinh that his skill might be represented better in that sort of lightening fast parry but because of his zealous red mist his actual ability to hit is less refined and more brute technique? Opinions?

As regards BS he is capable of throwing with his telekinesis and this is what his BS represents so not having hands has no impact on it.

I prefer your special rule version so much obliged, will hopefully get to test out at an event and let you know how it fits.

Also thanks for the monofilament rule, I was a bit lazy in not looking for it... and fair enough on the Reach I will edit accordingly!

@Dolnikan - Glad you like the hat!I haven't given much thought to which rule to use yet, will get onto it tonight!

In terms of SG I think I would role play this heavily, I like the image of Mishael reading books to him as he recovers from yet another  implant and this is a good basis for knowledge but probably heavily tainted by propaganda and he probably believes things literally like for example if a door is jammed he might pray first for an action before trying to meddle with its cricuits via telekinesis but still knows what he's doing a bit. His torment is righteous and just to him so not as psychologically damaging I think.... Feel free to argue against:)

@Bergtrop - I actually love the in game idea of him trying to open a door and his head blowing up:P He will have to pass Wp tests to pick up anything throw anything etc etc, but at the same time I reckon he is strong enough with the two extra arms to climb the side of a building jabbing his blades in so plenty of entry points:P

Oh forgot to say to Zakkeg, it was a chance encounter, Mishaels interest taken by Allions calm as he accepted his fate - I had assumed that he would have been sanctioned but equally your idea that Mishaels plans were possibly adequate alternatives, or perhaps Mishael paid his own pound of flesh.....

Cheers all!

Rob

[Bergtorp]

Yea, climbing is no problem. Just look at Servitor-Warrior Gryx.

[Shannow]

I am still working on this, just hit a busy spot at work combined with running/training pretty much nullifies model and fluff work.

However, as an alternative identity for the same model, an idea has just struck me, but it may be stupid/I don't know enough about Eldar to make sound feasible.

Basic summary: Warp Spiders jump through warp for short periods (give or take for time/space shifts) and are so named after the 'immune system' of the infinity circuit. So my though is that the figure would represent a crazed dark eldar who having caught a warp spider (as in the aspect) has jerry rigged his gear with haemonculus help or other nefarious dark city denizens, as in his crazed mind the risk of jumping through the warp for small moments of time is A) an adrenaline rush and B) he thinks he can somehow gain entry to the infinity circuit and munch on souls (this is the sketchy and possibly really stupid bit)

But anyway, suggest, rend and otherwise gorge yourself as you see fit.

[Dolnikan]

That sounds like a very interesting idea. He could have indeed ried to do that, but there would be a few complications, in the warp he would lose his soul very quickly, but of course, he would also be in great demand for his services, after all, teleporting is immensely useful. It however probably will not work in the webway, taking a lot outof its value. As for entering an infinity circuit, that would be very hard. Those are well-protected and he would have to get onto a craftworld first.

[Inquisitor Goldeneye]

...in the warp he would lose his soul very quickly, but of course, he would also be in great demand for his services, after all, teleporting is immensely useful. It however probably will not work in the webway, taking a lot outof its value.

I'm not an Eldar player, so I could be (for 'could be' read 'probably am') wrong here, but I always thought that the Warp Spider aspect warrior's teleportation power used the webway; that they were basically just opening a small, one-man webway portal in one loacation in the Physical world, and then opening another with the material-world end of it somewhere over the other side of the battlefield (or wherever).

Of course, the Infinity Circiut thing doesn't have to actually be possible, it just has to be something that your crazy Dark Eldar Believes to be possible. This is the beauty of insane characters; their motives don't have to be realistic (or even possess basic, internal logical consistancy), they're car-ayzee, man!

[Dolnikan]

Waro spiders actually go through the warp for short jumps, that's what makes them very special, the webway doesn;t go everywhere, the warp does.

[Mordenkenain]

Just out of interest, what would the warp hound's response to blunts, blanks and nulls be

[Shannow]

@ Dolnikan and Goldeneye - thanks for the responses!

I was aware his soul would be in danger during a jump as a warp spider/grotesque thing but would this be greater than a normal warp spiders? Because he's a dark eldar would this mean his soul calls to slannesh with greater intensity? Obviously in a game sense EYHBTIAL would cover any death event due to this but just for clarity?

As goldeneye states, the infinity circuit is more a deranged aim he believes he can achieve than an actual possibility, and due to its difficulty it also works a plot hook for working with Inquisitors etc.

@Mordenkenain - I presume you're referring to the fluff for him as the hound.. Its a very good point I hadn't considered.

Though I would class him as educated I think this is an area that might have been neglected as a rarity. Possibly if he were too detect these empty spaces in the warp it might be characterful to pass a Nv test before approaching, or otherwise steer clear as an element he just doesnt understand and on a primordial level fears - as this bluntness would obviously be greatly pronounced to him as a warp sniffer so to speak.

Good question by jove!

[Mordenkenain]

I was actually asking cause my psychic inquisitor has a really odd warp presence, as does the inquisitor of one of my gaming group, so I was wondering what would happen if they met (my guy's aura looks black, from a distance he looks like he should be a null, while the other guy's is really diffuse, so at first glance he seems almost like a blunt)

[Dolnikan]

The hound would be at quite some risk, his soul would get drained quite quickly in the warp, so he would have to feed on quite some souls to survive.