Couple of questions 'n things I'd like to run by you...

[GhouraAgur]

Well, first off, I'm rather new to this particual game, which should be pretty apparent from some of the question I'm going to be asking, so, here we go!

• Pause for Breath counts as an action, right?
• Does armor stack?  Such as wearing robes over a flak jacket?
• Could a fellow wear different armor types over different sections of his body?  For instance, Carapace over his chest, but flak over his abdomen?
• Basic weapons are explained in the rulebook as being weapons that can be fired singlehanded, but are most effective used with both hands.  Now, I've seen cases of this with certain sub-machine guns, but, if you've ever noticed, outside of movies, most folks fire pistols with both hands aswell.  In fact, some pistols are so powerful as to make it insane to even attempt to fire them with one hand.  Others fire so rapidly, it would be dangerous to the user and all around if he tried to control it with a single hand.  I guess that's not really a question...
• Are special attributes, characteristics, equipment, etc found in the various .pdf's running about only usable by the characters therein?  Can no one besides CSMs be Sadistic, can no one but stormtroopers carry hellguns?
• Does anyone have any pictures of the different sorts of lasguns?  All I know is the standard Kantreal produced lasgun, which for all intents and purposes, is probably as effective as the Mars pattern.
• Sheesh!  People in the Imperium have the propensity to live a long time!

I've some character ideas I'd like to run by you.

• First would be an Imperial Guard commander who went rouge with his unit, and now sports the big black hat and cape of the Comissar he killed during the revolt.
• Expanding on the first, what manner of fun might be had if his unit, were, say, Penal Legionnaires?  His goons would not just be Traitor Guard, they'd be psychopathic criminal traitor guard.  Probably with their numbers tatooed onto their heads.
• Then comes a Renegade Space Marine who fled before the final surgeries could be performed.  I think there were twenty one all together?  This essentially means that, not only is he not as well trained/super-powered as a full fledged Marine, he also doesn't have access to an entire suit of power armor.  Perhaps any power armor at all, as, IIRC, that doesn't come in untill steps 20-21.  Anyhow, I imagine he'd be selling his services out as some sort of hired gun, way out where the long arm of the Imperium can't reach.  Perhaps it was some of the Primarches genes that made him go wacko and leave? (Alak!  I used to know all the Chapters! 
• My last idea is a Monodominant Inquisitor, shamed and despairing, perhaps for some failure or maybe enteraining an unclean thought, who's taken up some Solarian, Thorian, and Horusian ideals, and is out to reincarnate both the Emperor himself and Horus, hoping that they'll finally have the chance to settle their differences. 

Gotta go, chaps, thanks for your time!

[Kaled]

• Pause for Breath counts as an action, right?

Yes.

• Does armor stack?  Such as wearing robes over a flak jacket?

No, just count the highest AV on the location.  So three sets of robes don't provides the same protection as carapace armour.  Some bionics give bonuses to armour, and shields and energy fields are also in addition to any armour on the location.

• Could a fellow wear different armor types over different sections of his body?  For instance, Carapace over his chest, but flak over his abdomen?

Yes - and they frequently do.

• Basic weapons are explained in the rulebook as being weapons that can be fired singlehanded, but are most effective used with both hands.  Now, I've seen cases of this with certain sub-machine guns, but, if you've ever noticed, outside of movies, most folks fire pistols with both hands aswell.  In fact, some pistols are so powerful as to make it insane to even attempt to fire them with one hand.  Others fire so rapidly, it would be dangerous to the user and all around if he tried to control it with a single hand.  I guess that's not really a question...

You're right, it's not a question.  In general, the weight of a gun tells you whether you need one or both hands in order to properly fire it.

• Are special attributes, characteristics, equipment, etc found in the various .pdf's running about only usable by the characters therein?  Can no one besides CSMs be Sadistic, can no one but stormtroopers carry hellguns?

The GM is the person who gets the final say over which characters can have which skills/equipment, but in general any character can have skills/equipment from any source (as long as it is appropriate for the character in question).

• Does anyone have any pictures of the different sorts of lasguns?  All I know is the standard Kantreal produced lasgun, which for all intents and purposes, is probably as effective as the Mars pattern.

The lasgun carried by Sgt Black is, IIRC, a Catachan issue lascarbine.  I always thought of the one at the top right of this picture as the Necromunda pattern.  Lasguns are easy to convert, so just use whichever rules best fit the model/character you've made.

• Sheesh!  People in the Imperium have the propensity to live a long time!

Yes, they can do if they're rich enough to afford things like juvenat treatments etc.  Most citizens will have a life-expectancy no greater than, and in many cases much less than, our own.

• First would be an Imperial Guard commander who went rouge with his unit, and now sports the big black hat and cape of the Comissar he killed during the revolt.

I assume you meant 'rogue' rather than 'rouge' - the idea is fine, but how do they travel from world to world?  It's something worth thinking about as you don't want them just stuck on a single planet, and normally the IG have no acess to interstellar transport.

• Expanding on the first, what manner of fun might be had if his unit, were, say, Penal Legionnaires?  His goons would not just be Traitor Guard, they'd be psychopathic criminal traitor guard.  Probably with their numbers tatooed onto their heads.

That's fine - but remember that Inquisitor is about the shadowy battle for the Emperor's soul - you need to be careful not to create a warband more suited to Killteam than Inquisitor.

• Then comes a Renegade Space Marine who fled before the final surgeries could be performed.  I think there were twenty one all together?  This essentially means that, not only is he not as well trained/super-powered as a full fledged Marine, he also doesn't have access to an entire suit of power armor.  Perhaps any power armor at all, as, IIRC, that doesn't come in untill steps 20-21.  Anyhow, I imagine he'd be selling his services out as some sort of hired gun, way out where the long arm of the Imperium can't reach.  Perhaps it was some of the Primarches genes that made him go wacko and leave? (Alak!  I used to know all the Chapters! 

Could work, but how are you going to model a marine without his power armour?

• My last idea is a Monodominant Inquisitor, shamed and despairing, perhaps for some failure or maybe enteraining an unclean thought, who's taken up some Solarian, Thorian, and Horusian ideals, and is out to reincarnate both the Emperor himself and Horus, hoping that they'll finally have the chance to settle their differences. 

He sounds a bit optimistic  - he's planning a big family reunion and hopes they'll all end up living happily ever after?!  Why does he want to bring Horus back?  What purpose would that serve?  Why not just bring the Emperor back?  Does he even think such a thing is possible?  What has led him to the belief that this is a good idea?

[GhouraAgur]

Aye, most of your answers were on line with what I was thinking, and I thank you for them, o' speedy and masterful one!

• First would be an Imperial Guard commander who went rouge with his unit, and now sports the big black hat and cape of the Comissar he killed during the revolt.

I assume you meant 'rogue' rather than 'rouge' - the idea is fine, but how do they travel from world to world?  It's something worth thinking about as you don't want them just stuck on a single planet, and normally the IG have no acess to interstellar transport.

Drat, no, the chap isn't red.  I just figured on the character being the basis of a smallish set of missions.  Maybe he stumbles on something nastier than he on his own private moon, something that brings the Inquisition on over instead of the "Hammer of the Emperor" IG.

• Then comes a Renegade Space Marine....he also doesn't have access to an entire suit of power armor.  Perhaps any power armor at all, ...

Could work, but how are you going to model a marine without his power armour?

They can take the armor off, can't they?  I've read about them wearing, whilst resting on their homeworlds and such, robes and other such things.  Anyhow, I figure he'd look a bit like an 8 foot tall Catachan, build wise, that is.

• ...a Monodominant Inquisitor... is out to reincarnate both the Emperor himself and Horus, hoping that they'll finally have the chance to settle their differences. 

He sounds a bit optimistic  - he's planning a big family reunion and hopes they'll all end up living happily ever after?!  Why does he want to bring Horus back?  What purpose would that serve?  Why not just bring the Emperor back?  Does he even think such a thing is possible?  What has led him to the belief that this is a good idea?

Ah, I should have put "settle their differences" in quotes.  He's hoping to bring about the Apocalypse, or, whatever they'd call it in the 41st millennium.  "End of the World" doesn't carry the same weight when "Hey!  We've got a bomb for that!" I may have misrepresented him above though.  He wants to resurrect Horus so the galaxy will descend into utter turmoil and then the Emperor can arise naturally (that is, without his intervention, such as him arising in a Sebastian Thor (Gad!  I just saw the connection between Sabastianism and Thorianism!)), and defeat him.  Of course, if the Emperor isn't reincarnated to save the Imperium,  he's pretty much screwed the entire human race.  Which he'll probably be okay with anyway.

Oooh!  I just though of another idea!  Some Chaos Marine way back from the days of the Horus Heresy decides that besieging Terra and blowing the corpse-gods head off is a bit complicated, so he's helping (indirectly, of course) some Thorian in his attempt to have the emperor reincarnated.  Once that's taken care of, he'll blow that guys head off.  I can just imagine some Inquisitor, full of hope at finding his next lead, quite sure that this next saintly fellow is the Emperor come back, and *Bang!* back to the drawing board.

[Kaled]

Drat, no, the chap isn't red.  I just figured on the character being the basis of a smallish set of missions.  Maybe he stumbles on something nastier than he on his own private moon, something that brings the Inquisition on over instead of the "Hammer of the Emperor" IG.

That's fine, but if you want to use them outside of those missions, you could have them be recruited by an Inquisitor, Rogue Trader, or rich nobleman or crime boss as a mercenary group.  That way you'd have more excuse to use them in other campaigns.

They can take the armor off, can't they?  I've read about them wearing, whilst resting on their homeworlds and such, robes and other such things.

Yes, normally they can take off their armour - although 'normal' doesn't really apply to many chaos marines, and in some cases their armour has been warped and become part of their body.

Anyhow, I figure he'd look a bit like an 8 foot tall Catachan, build wise, that is.

7' to 7'6" is about the right height for a marine according to Jes Goodwin... but yes if you did a robed model with the build of a big catachan then that should look about right for a CSM without armour

Ah, I should have put "settle their differences" in quotes.  He's hoping to bring about the Apocalypse, or, whatever they'd call it in the 41st millennium.  "End of the World" doesn't carry the same weight when "Hey!  We've got a bomb for that!" I may have misrepresented him above though.  He wants to resurrect Horus so the galaxy will descend into utter turmoil and then the Emperor can arise naturally (that is, without his intervention, such as him arising in a Sebastian Thor (Gad!  I just saw the connection between Sabastianism and Thorianism!)), and defeat him.  Of course, if the Emperor isn't reincarnated to save the Imperium,  he's pretty much screwed the entire human race.  Which he'll probably be okay with anyway.

Okay, I get you now... (all to easy to misread things when tired).  Sounds like his ideas really are a mix of many philosophies - Monodominant-Horusian-Thorian-Istvaanian.

[Dust King]

They can take the armor off, can't they?  I've read about them wearing, whilst resting on their homeworlds and such, robes and other such things.

Yes, normally they can take off their armour - although 'normal' doesn't really apply to many chaos marines, and in some cases their armour has been warped and become part of their body.

From what I understand the character he suggested went renegade before he had the black carapace implanted and so is physically unable to ever put on marine armour. I see this as a interesting idea for a character, especially if he struggles to get decent equipment. A marine with rough armour, a club and some sort of primitive gun sounds like it would be something interesting to add to games.

Also I'd love to see a model for him 

[RobSkib]

It's not legit by any means (I mean, a basketball player at 7'6"? ), but it seems pretty solid in terms of fluff, so I use it. The main thing I'm trying to say here is that space marines are mahoosive, not just in height, but in width as well, you'll need a seriously butch model to do a naked space marine justice, I don't think even a Conan the Barbarian model from Andrea would come close!

You have some great ideas for warbands, but what you might find is more fulfilling is to take the essence of a penal legion warband and condense it to a single model, I know there is a great wip scratch-built penal legion trooper knocking about on the P&M forums if you're looking for inspiration.

[Adlan]

A Dirty Dozenish Band might work. Obviously not using the full dozen at one time though, Maybe more along the lines of a 40k A-team (with less of the actually being innocent, and helping the =][= instead of people who need help).

And, If the Space Marine ran when he was half way through the process of becomming one, he might well die, his organs are kinda unstable for a while. But on the positive side, he could not yet of finished growing, and a model could be, while needing to be pretty massive, more easy to find.

Might be good motivation for him actually, A scout who deserted maybe? or Found out some dark secret of his chapter, on the run and desperately seeking some help before his organs start to kill him.

[Dust King]

Nooo! no more "chapters dark secrets" renegades.

How about he just didn't get fully indoctrinated and still shows those greatest of human characteristics greed and selfishness? Not a nice guy but aside from a healthy sense of self preservation isn't nearly as psychopathic as a normal marine.

Not sure about the organs starting to kill him though, as GhouraAgur described him it sounds like all he's missing is the black carapace and hypno indoctrination. Still he would probably have a kill team or two out to kill him, and probably some inquisitors who want to get their hands on him. Giving him no real goal other than survival would give you a lot of room for character development.

Will he persist in trying to help and save the people who want him dead?

Will he take what he can, grab what power he can get and fall to the dark gods?

Or will he keep his head down, do what he needs to survive, stay free and without masters?

Does seem like a interesting character with room for development.

[GhouraAgur]

Hmmm....as I understood it, there's really only a few implants that are in desperate need of one another, and so they're generally installed around the same time.  They're also installed when the neophyte is 10-14.  It's a rather funny thought to think that this hulking killing machine is not but a teenager!

And while I should like his fleeing to be a result of say, a bad reaction to the gene-seed (perhaps it threw him into a blood-rage and he killed a bunch of Imperial citizens, the thought of which sickened and shamed him so he fled the Chapter.  While that would be an interesting back story, especially if the Chaplain sent his brother Marines to bring the mourning Astarte back) that's really not where I was taking the character.  I was thinking of his own bastard sense of liberty conflicting with the constraints of the order, and for him to be driven, not by any hatred for the Imperium or mankind, nor by a love for the Ruinous Powers, but simply by his own greed and sense of self preservation, thus his being a hired-gun.  Perhaps he was a scout (yup, just checked, and apparently scouts have received all implants save the black carapace) who's hit-and-run style was mistaken for cowardice, and he figured there was just as much killing to be done, and with far better pay, outside the Imperium as within.

Back to that inquistor fellow, imagine, if you would, a Puritain who in his travels, eventually decided that, though Xenos and Chaos be utterly corrupt, humanity itself is also depraved, and so seeks purge the universe of it too.  Under him, though, (His Interrogator, I suppose?) has not yet lost his zeal, his faith in the God Emperor and humanity.  Perhaps, though, as time progresses, he'll slowly come to see that his mentor is not out to usher in a new golden age for humanity, but rather it's destruction.  Cue conflict 

If I may throw up a modeling idea, I'm sure you've seen that fellow who modified some Warhammer Ghouls into Plague bearers?  What's the scale like, between 28 and 54?  I was thinking of using them like a mass of, oh, what do you call them?  Nurglings!  Yes!  But they must have red sashes and hoods, the contrast with the muted greens and browns, I think, would be splendid!  Just like that illustration, in the old 40k rulebook!

• If you could suggest a single model, and not necessarily one of GW's, to represent the 54 miniature range as a reference for scale, which would you select?

[Kaled]

• If you could suggest a single model, and not necessarily one of GW's, to represent the 54 miniature range as a reference for scale, which would you select?

Well, Sergeant Black is pretty average when it comes to the heroic proportions of the 54mm Inquisitor range, but models vary a great deal in their proportions (which is fine, because so do people). 

[Tullio]

First things first -

Oooh!  I just though of another idea!  Some Chaos Marine way back from the days of the Horus Heresy decides that besieging Terra and blowing the corpse-gods head off is a bit complicated, so he's helping (indirectly, of course) some Thorian in his attempt to have the emperor reincarnated.  Once that's taken care of, he'll blow that guys head off.   I can just imagine some Inquisitor, full of hope at finding his next lead, quite sure that this next saintly fellow is the Emperor come back, and *Bang!* back to the drawing board.

A completely insane idea, so insane in fact, that's it's plausible a Chaos Marine might try it. I am rather more sceptical about the idea of a runaway space marine, however

Tullio

[precinctomega]

It's not legit by any means (I mean, a basketball player at 7'6"? )

Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal was Phil's original template for that "tall human" at 7'1".  He just added the extra 5" to put it in line with Jes's illustration.

R.

[Kaled]

Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal was Phil's original template for that "tall human" at 7'1".  He just added the extra 5" to put it in line with Jes's illustration.

The marine in Jes's illustration (assuming you're thinking of the life size one) is 7' tall (although he's labelled as 8', but the soles of his feet are at the 1' mark).

[GhouraAgur]

 I've been going over a "evil-genius"  (Cognitea) type character, who would obviously have high mental stats and what not, but such is his story, he's not really a chump in close combat or with a gun.  Point being he isn't a pushover, be he's definately not the best when it comes to getting his hands dirt.  Regardless!  I wanted to give him one of those MIU weapon thingies, but, ah...what weapon should I go for?  I mean, he's got all sorts of underworld contacts, and is absolutely unscrupulous, so he could pretty much shoulder the nastiest weapons around, and that nastier the better, I should think, since that is his character.

But at the same time, the notion is he's on his way to become a super villain, he's no where near there yet, and even if he was, I don't want to set up some sorta Astartes tank.  A las gun seems too plain! (Though the triplex pattern is a slight improvement, it seems more high tech) an auto gun (or any projectile weapon, for that matter) sounds a bit loud to have right next you your ear, I'd get the jitters even holding a plasma gun, how much more so sticking it next to my head!  A web gun seems it would better fit a bounty hunter type guy.

So that leaves me with, I think, three options, a neural shredder (it even sounds mean!) a needle gun (pistol seems about the right size for something shoulder mounted) seems suitably advanced/exotic.  And then there's the melta gun.  I hope that doesn't seem like a powerplay, I've just...always had this thing for meltas...Something about microwaving your enemy, turning tanks into mush...Hmm...it doesn't sound that subtle, now that I think about it...Maybe when he graduates to "super-villain".  I hadn't even considered xenos weaponry untill now.  Can you shoulder mount those?  Now that I look over the list, one of these babies might be interesting to add as he progresses.  It enforces the idea of him having no concern for spiritual corruption via wielding such devices.  Maybe he's cutting a black market deal for some xenos tech, and quite unexpectedly (as always) the Inquisition shows up.  Hmm...I can see it now, they come in guns-a-blazin', every ducks away, and the sneaky git creeps on over to the "super-zappy-alien-gun" and either turns it on the Throne agents (and then the Rogue trader) or makes a break for it...

Anyhow...What would you classify a two handed mace as?  A great hammer?  I mean, it is awful smashy.

How prevalent are power weapons?  From my 40k days, they were something of a badge of office in the Guard, with chainswords being the basic melee flashlightsabers.

I've a thought of a fellow who's these boots/grieves, see?  From the knee down he's completely covered in thick armor, trouble is, the chap doesn't wear much in the way of armor over his thigh.  So, I've resolved to take one step down on the armor scale, rationalizing that the 50/50 chance of hitting armored vs unarmored leg should lead to a uniformly averagly armored leg.  Thereby, he gets mesh instead of carapace.  Well, I guess 6 in half is flak armor, but that so...aha!  Thick robes!  He's got this skirt, robe, coat thing going about his legs (fluttering behind him dramatically)  That means (2+6)/2 is mesh!

*sob* It wasn't the 4 armor I was after! Honestly!  But what love could I possibly have for flak after my time in the Guard?  's gotta be some sorta scrambling problem.

A modelling idea I've had: I would sculpt a shoulder pad, make a mould of that, and fill the mold with some sort of clear resin, so that I could now attach a glassy looking, translucent shoulder pad to the character.  Maybe add something to it so it can be smokey looking?

My ultimate goal is to make a Champion of Malal, half his armor opal/marble, the other half a smokey glass.

Oh, and does Demonbane seem out of place in a deamonsword of Malal, the Chaos-hating Chaos God?  And how useful is Bound?  The very idea of a character streching out his arm and his sword flying right into his hand it totally awesome.  

Does a Out of Action character count as an inanimate object?  Like, say, for instance, could someone attach, oh, a meltabomb to the dying Inquisitors chest? OOH!  Better idea!  Meltabom's on a timer, and the team has to race against the clock to deactivate the bomb and free the inquisitor (probably drag his sorry hide), and probably escape the compound, cause you know, baddies, sometimes they really are just that thorough.  

Could I replace a characters eyes (both of em) with, ah...infrascopes?  So he pretty much has two bionic eyes?  Glowing red ones, that pop out like goggles from under his black executioner's hood?

[precinctomega]

I would generally encourage new players to stay away from Malal.

Not that he isn't cool and everything, but he is horribly overdone by people new to INQ.  It tends to be the case that new players think that they have to plunder the dark corners of the background and drag out Malal, Grey Sensei and the Illuminati when, in fact, these dark corners are already astonishingly well-populated.

There are so many other corners - far darker and buried in cobwebs so deep they are positively stratified - to explore.  Come back to the Big Themes once you've had a chance to work up to them and found a path into them from other, less-familiar geography.

R.