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Rivkah of the Blade

Started by mcjomar, February 28, 2017, 11:40:20 AM

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mcjomar

http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2698.0

Age: 23 TS

WS 73
BS 58
S 52
T 54
I 73
Sg 32
Wp 58
Ld 48
Nv 72

Right-Handed

Skills:
Feint
First Strike
Catfall
Acrobatic

Equipment:
1 Sword
2 Knives
3 Throwing Knives
4 Throwing Stars
5 Throwing Needles (counts as throwing stars)

Poisons:
Bloodfire
Hallucinogen
Choke
Stun

Synskin

Background:
"As I think I have said, Rivkah has come recently into my service. She is beautiful, but not very personable, negating the effect. A situation which - if she is to prove useful to me to infiltrate hostile groups, or act undercover - must be remedied. Or trained, at any rate. The day she finds herself weaponless, with naught but her natural charms, is one which she will have to be prepared for. I would prefer my agents to not find themselves in such situations in the first place, but I would be both ignorant and foolish to pretend it is impossible for such to occur. And so, she will have to be trained.

"As an acolyte of the Cult of the Emperor's Death, she is likely about as educated as the average imperial citizen, maybe less so. This does not mean she lacks intelligence, just knowledge. As a trained swords-woman, however, she is extremely capable. Indeed, her zeal is about the only thing I can think of to match that training, and her ability with her thrown weapons is at least respectable - she practices regularly in an effort to improve this to the same standard as her blade skills.

"She is extremely capable in terms of her agility also, and reacts to situations very quickly - necessary, if you wish to survive in the middle of a sword fight. Especially one involving her preferred kind of weapons - blades dripping with poison. The Cult of the Emperor's Death does not focus so much upon blood, as the act of killing. To them, bladed weapons similar to those used by the Emperor are the only acceptable means. Use of poison is deemed tolerable, and her use of such is perhaps her only departure from an otherwise rigorous following of their beliefs. By their standards she would doubtless be considered somewhat open-minded. This is probably why she was sent to me - less open-minded members of their cult do not last so long in my line of work. Possibly they also considered her a problem child. If this is true, it may warrant a second investigation, though given the previous purge I doubt it will be anything more onerous than her having irritated the wrong individual.

"Her childhood is not particularly of note. Parents who joined the cult primarily for protection after the Food Riots of the 980's. Scared, they merely became basic acolytes, seeking protection of the Emperor, and flagellating themselves for their sins in return for His blessing. Outside of this they did little more than work for the public efforts of the cult, acquiring supplies and so on. Rivkah was raised in that culture, and became one of the truest of converts. Not to say her parents were not, but clearly the indoctrinated child was trusted more than the parents who converted out of fear.

"Regardless, she adapted wonderfully to the environment, and grew into a very capable young lady. Assuming such nomenclature can be applied to those focussed on poisoning and slaughtering the enemies of the Emperor.

"She currently eschews doing much else other than maintaining a focus on her combat training. Admirable, in as much as it may stand her in good stead for potential recruitment into the Callidus temple. I have made enquiries as to how she can be surreptitiously tested for polymorphine compatibility, and I remain hopeful that she will test positive. If my own efforts prove fruitless in at least organising for suitable training so that she can understand how to utilise more than a blade in the prosecution of the Emperor's foes, I am sure the Callidus instructors will be able to manage it. If they can train death world savages, I am sure they can succeed with Rivkah.

"Ranna, at least, can sometimes draw her out of her shell. Sometimes through discussion of music, or literature. Other times merely through discussion of combat, or the most recent operational efforts. Otherwise, Rivkah maintains her distance. Perhaps if she is to become an assassin, this may be a good thing."
"Heretics are like cockroaches - annoying to find, and even more annoying to kill." - unattrib.

Cortez

Stats seem reasonable. Wp and Ld might be a touch high for a Death Cultist.

Do you really need both Senbon (throwing needles) and the Shuriken? Seems rather like having two versions of the same thing, unless you're planning on making up rules for the Senbon?

What rules are you using for the Synskin?

mcjomar

#2
Mostly I'm just going with WYSIWYG in regards the model (it displays three throwing needles on the sculpt, but statistically I see no reason to not treat them the same as a throwing star).

Synskin-wise, I am probably going to use LRB rules, but I'll probably drop the protection by some degree (or maybe remove it entirely) given her lack of head-covering.

Ld/Wp I suppose could be dropped by 10 each?

E: to be fair, she might well wear a hood/head covering when necessary/during stealth situations, so perhaps the synskin rules could remain as-is?
"Heretics are like cockroaches - annoying to find, and even more annoying to kill." - unattrib.

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Cortez on February 28, 2017, 12:32:11 PMWp and Ld might be a touch high for a Death Cultist.
I would have said something similar, particularly as her background notes her as "not very personable". To me, I think that would imply a Ld about 15-20 points lower.

QuoteDo you really need both Senbon (throwing needles) and the Shuriken? Seems rather like having two versions of the same thing
Does that matter?

It'd just be fluffy to, for example, list a character's two revolvers as a Raike & Claggan Falcon and a Grozny & Stukovich Model C "Puma", even if ultimately they used the same rules. (After all, the character might well have chosen both pistols so they were chambered in the same cartridge for practical reasons, in which case you could expect them to be broadly similar as far as rules are concerned).
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

mcjomar

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on February 28, 2017, 01:16:24 PM
Quote from: Cortez on February 28, 2017, 12:32:11 PMWp and Ld might be a touch high for a Death Cultist.
I would have said something similar, particularly as her background notes her as "not very personable". To me, I think that would imply a Ld about 15-20 points lower.

Okay, I've tweaked it a little.
I only had them so high because I assumed she'd be more capable of following orders (the Ld) from someone who represents the Emperor's power, and would know her own mind (Wp) from the perspective of faith. The Nv is to represent her sheer combat training, and faith in the Emperor.
"Heretics are like cockroaches - annoying to find, and even more annoying to kill." - unattrib.

MarcoSkoll

I haven't seen Leadership used in the "following orders" sense mentioned in the rulebook in a very long time. The only place the rulebook actually builds on that idea is in an optional rule that I completely ignore - it slows down the game and involves the GM messing with the player's roleplaying.

Leadership as it is actually used in game (which is mostly only through community rules) is almost always used for commanding, charming, deceiving or otherwise talking to others.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

Cortez

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on February 28, 2017, 01:16:24 PM

QuoteDo you really need both Senbon (throwing needles) and the Shuriken? Seems rather like having two versions of the same thing
Does that matter?

It'd just be fluffy to, for example, list a character's two revolvers as a Raike & Claggan Falcon and a Grozny & Stukovich Model C "Puma", even if ultimately they used the same rules. (After all, the character might well have chosen both pistols so they were chambered in the same cartridge for practical reasons, in which case you could expect them to be broadly similar as far as rules are concerned).

It's another thing to keep track of... so I've thrown two shuriken and one senbon or was it the other way round? Better just to lump them all together in my opinion e.g throwing weapons (Stars and Needles) x 9.

I also wouldn't say it's the same thing as using two different models of pistol. There's going to be relatively little difference between firing the Falcon or the Puma, especially if they're both chambered with the same round. While I'm certainly no martial arts expert, throwing a needle seems like it would need a different technique to throwing a shuriken.

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Cortez on February 28, 2017, 01:42:17 PMBetter just to lump them all together in my opinion e.g throwing weapons (Stars and Needles) x 9.
I suspect that's probably how it would happen in game (seeing as they all use the same rules), but it doesn't actually hurt to specify the exact split.

QuoteWhile I'm certainly no martial arts expert, throwing a needle seems like it would need a different technique to throwing a shuriken.
Probably, but it's certainly not impossible for the character to be trained in both, and death cultists are probably amongst the most likely to decided to have done so.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

mcjomar

For my part it boiled down to "These things are on the model and clearly weapons. LRB has no stats for needles that I can immediately see. I guess I'll treat them as same damage/range/etc as the shuriken until I know more".

Admittedly there are only 3 needles obviously displayed on the model (although I'm writing this on my lunchbreak and have to rely on my own photos, so I may need to check as there's also something on one of her wrists), but I was sort of going with a "days of christmas" joke, but with bladed weapons (starting at 5 and dropping to 1).
"Heretics are like cockroaches - annoying to find, and even more annoying to kill." - unattrib.

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: mcjomar on February 28, 2017, 01:55:44 PMI was sort of going with a "days of christmas" joke, but with bladed weapons (starting at 5 and dropping to 1).
The trick is to make it fit the music:

Fiiiiiiiiive thrown needles, four shuriken, three weighted knives, two stabby blades, and a frakking great big swoooooord.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles