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Inquisitor Lyra Rhodes and warband.

Started by MarcoSkoll, December 14, 2009, 03:48:13 PM

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MarcoSkoll

Although these characters are going to get tweaked, here are the profiles as I used them at the IGT.

~~~~~

Inquisitor Lyra Joandra Rhodes began her life as a daughter to a family of successful tailors, and on reaching adulthood chose to pursue an education in archaeology. After successfully achieving the title of Doctor, she was introduced to Inquisitor Byssus as part of his search for the elusive Asirael archives.

During the two years this search took, the Inquisitor had grown sufficiently fond of Lyra to discard his plans to mind-scrub her to contain any knowledge of the archive, and had instead taken her on as the third of his series of acolytes.

Eventually reaching the rank of Inquisitor herself, Lyra has proven efficient and for the most part respected by her peers, and is believed to currently be hunting the Palix Array, an ancient warp lens rumoured to have been constructed within the Carthax Sector by Pre-Imperial civilisation.

She rejects the title of Inquisitrix, calling it an unnecessary and sexist differentiation. She is rumoured to harbour a fondness for Byssus' later acolyte, Marco Skoll.


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Skills: First Strike
Traits: Pure Luck

Weapons: Low Magnum revolver (4 reloads); Light Compact Stubber (1 reload); Shock Maul; Power Knife, Graviton Grenade
Armour: Flak Fibres woven into lining of jacket (AV 3 to chest)
Equipment: Comm-Link, Energy field (2D6 Forcefield)

Pure Luck:
Lyra seems to be favoured by a higher power, and for whatever reason, things seem to go right for her disproportionately often. Bullets will miss by centimetres, her wild guesses will be right, and she seems to avoid catastrophes by a hair's breadth.

In-game, this confers the following bonuses:

- Lyra is at -10% to be hit with both shooting and close combat attacks. (For simplicity, full auto shooting and blast weapons are not affected.)
- Lyra's auto success band is expanded by +5, giving her auto success on rolls of 01-10.
- Lyra is treated as rolling one less 1 on her action dice for the purposes of calculating Risky Actions.

Graviton Grenade:
Creating a negative gravity pulse, this highly exotic grenade is a bit of a mystery. With little foreseeable use for such an expensive non-lethal weapon, they are believed to have been created on the whim of a techpriest too far through his life to retain the sanity to realise the illogic in his creation.

Range E, Weight 10, Acc 0. Replicates the effects of the Repulsion mode of the Graviton Gun from the RIA.

~~~~~

Thoughts:
Lyra worked out well enough. She seemed to be around the right skill level on the table, although of course 3 games aren't much to extrapolate from.

I was perhaps a little concerned about "Pure Luck", which is supposed to be a passive "Plain Dumb Luck" with a dash of "Heroic", but it seemed to work well enough.

In the end, I think she's a perfectly worthy addition to my collection.

~~~~~


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Skills: Rock Steady Aim
Traits: Adrenal Surge

Weapons: Kantrael Hellpistol with Trajectory calculator, Sabre, Knife, 2x Frag Grenade, 2x Smoke Grenade
Armour: Carapace on all locations except head.
Equipment:  Infra-Goggles

Adrenal Surge:
Able to push his body to the limit in an emergency, Kai is capable of incredible feats of speed and strength, but this exertion is highly damaging to him, particularly if prolonged.

Kai may activate his Adrenal Surge skill at the start of any of his turns. During this time, he counts as under the effects of an adrenal spike (+20 S and I; T test each turn or D6 Injury total), and the Pain is Nothing skill.

He may deactivate this surge at any time. On deactivating the surge, he takes an automatic +1 to his Injury total for each turn the surge was active. Should Kai go out of action for any reason, the surge is automatically deactivated.

Pain is Nothing:
For the purposes of System Shock and Consciousness, the character's toughness is increased by half. The character ignores the first point of speed lost on the damage tables.

Infra-Goggles:
If worn, Kai gains the advantages of the thermal sight from the RIA.

~~~~~

Thoughts:
Kai worked out well on the day. Proving to be a mostly efficient character (perfectly justified for a Kasrkin Sergeant), he mixed success and failure in about the amounts I was hoping for.

He will however need considerable medical attention paid to his groin after Orla Riall scored a critical hit with her energy blade (a very painful 30 points of damage in one hit!).

Like Lyra, Kai is going to end up a welcome addition to my collection. The one change I can foresee is that he'll become left handed to better fit the way I was using the model.

~~~~~


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Renatus is right handed.
Skills: None
Psychic Powers: Fragment Image; Chameleon; Nightmare; The Darkness; Blinding Flash

Weapons: Needle Pistol loaded with Explosive needles, one reload; Sword; Knife;
Armour: None
Equipment: Channeller Staff

Channeller Staff:
Acting as a filter through which a psyker can channel their powers, this staff is a valuable tool for a psyker.

If carried in either hand, the channeller staff confers the effects of a psychic hood. Additionally counts as a Force Weapon with Reach 3, D6 damage and -10% PP.

Illusion
An ability that is part passive telepathy and part pyromancy, Illusionists are rather rare psykers.

Fragment Image - From "Lectures on the Wych"

Chameleon - From "Lectures on the Wych"

Nightmare - Difficulty 15, Persistent
Wrapping their body in roiling flames, and broadcasting a telepathic aura of dread into their surroundings, the psyker instils pure terror in those around them.

The psyker gains the Terrifying ability. The chances of seeing them are doubled.

Darkness – Difficulty 0, Ranged
The psyker creates a visual void, swallowing light.

Pick a point anywhere within line of sight of the psyker as the source of The Darkness. If successful, treat this point as if it were hit by a blind grenade.

~~~~~

Thoughts:
As I've already said in the modelling thread, Renatus is going to be changed. While I think there's both virtue in the basic character concept (a psyker with a "smoke and mirrors" power) and the character appearance, I shoehorned them together somewhat and don't think they work as one.

I already have plans for the new appearance of the character – female this time around. The change will be combined with a hefty trimming back of the stat-line, because looking over it again, the stat-line alone is pretty decent, even without the assistance of five psychic powers.
The plan is for the end result to be a psyker who utterly depends upon their power in order to be effective.

The plan for the appearance (although it will demand a new model) is for it to be passed off to a Rogue Trader, who'll have his own warband. Having re-read "Hitchhikers" recently, I'm considering calling him Hotblack Desiato – it sounds like a good name for a Rogue Trader.

The Model - I'm happy to write it off as a learning experience.
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

Inquisitor Cade

QuoteHellpistol with Trajectory calculator
This seems like an odd attachment for a weapon that isn't affected by wind or gravity (much), or for a pistol

Seem to be interesting characters, I'd have liked to be there to see them, but alas... Could we see the backgrounds for the other two?
*Insert token witticism*

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Inquisitor Cade on December 14, 2009, 07:15:37 PMThis seems like an odd attachment for a weapon that isn't affected by wind or gravity (much), or for a pistol
Perhaps, but Kasrkin and Stormtroopers are supposed to have scopes that help compensate for range.

QuoteSeem to be interesting characters, I'd have liked to be there to see them, but alas... Could we see the backgrounds for the other two?
Well, what I've actually provided you with is a bit of a reformatting of my IGT "character reference sheets", with only the very summarised background for Lyra.

I hadn't the spare time to try and get the others summarised neatly. Still, in short...

Kai's story is simple enough for a Kasrkin. His early career was about what you'd expect of someone who reached the rank of Kasrkin Sergeant (Inducted into the regiments early and with lots of violence from there), and eventually he was assigned to assist Rhodes in a operation to clear out a cult from a tunnel network. Although far from the typical massacre that tends to go with this kind of story, the operation lead Lyra to take him on as an able replacement for the Arbitrator she had previously employed and who had died a few months previously.

Renatus' concept was that he was a born into a noble family and was a psyker who had used his power to avoid the Blackships - any soulhounds on the prowl for him would be presented with seemingly empty rooms and other such trickery.
He later set himself up as something of a vigilante, using his power to great effect in hunting criminals. The Arbites' lack of success in capturing him eventually lead to them calling in the Inquisition. The Inquisitor involved was Rhodes, and eventually managing to capture him, she elected to have him serve under her as an alternative to the sentencing of the Arbites. As that presented him with both a path out of punishment, and a path into beating up bad guys, he accepted.

... of course though, that background is going to need changes for the female version of the character.
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

Inquisitor Cade

Did Rhodes insist that Renatus (or the female version) got sanctioned once she had caught him/her or does s/he employ him as a rogue psyker?
*Insert token witticism*

MarcoSkoll

Renatus did later receive sanctioning - That's very much the way Lyra (and the other Inquisitors within the Order Perditus) work - it's set out within the background I've written for the Order that while psykers are plentiful, rogue psykers just aren't seen. They're too much of an unknown quantity for the Order's sensitive work.
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

Myriad

The scenario I played against them they seemed to play pretty well as a unit.  The psyker didn't do much, but I think he failed a few tests early on?  Having said that, I like the idea of making him more dependant on his powers.

Kai is quite a dangerous fellow, but Lyra's less dangerous than several inquisitors, and I liked the adrenal surge power.

I had better point out, that some of the clubs I represent are of a military bent.

You know what you are?  A plywood shark!

Inquisitor Cade

I like the adrenaline surge too, but unless the character has a syringe etc, of the stuff, I don't think he should control when it comes into play. I'd say it should activate by itself if he has been hurt, maybe using rules similar to the displacer feild, or is being shot at etc. Lots of GM input I'd have though.
*Insert token witticism*

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Myriad on December 16, 2009, 02:06:26 AMThe psyker didn't do much, but I think he failed a few tests early on?
Failed a risky action, then failed a psychic test (even with the re-roll from his staff). It eventually cut his Wp down to a less pleasant 67.

A considerable contrast to his critical success in the first game, where he pulled off a blinding flash despite the -50% penalty for being stood mere feet from a Pariah.

QuoteKai is quite a dangerous fellow, but Lyra's less dangerous than several inquisitors, and I liked the adrenal surge power.
Kai is meant to be the powerhouse of the warband. Lyra is competent (more than half a century of combat will make you at least capable), although possibly slightly more than I intended.

Renatus does however need fixing. I'll have Maya Avens'* profile and background roughed out sometime soon.

*Working name at least. And it's yet another rock guitarist inspired surname for the warband. The name Maya seemed appropriate - it's the Sanskrit for "illusion".

Quote from: Inquisitor Cade on December 16, 2009, 09:08:27 AMI like the adrenaline surge too, but unless the character has a syringe etc, of the stuff, I don't think he should control when it comes into play.
That assumes somewhat that I just use it when it's to my advantage to have him do so. It's something that I only intend gets used with some kind of "emergency". I may come up with a set of guidelines for how it's used in future, but the general rule is it'll be used only when an objective is about to be failed. (I may also work on playing up the nasty side of it to make it less appealing, but I have no plans to abuse it anyway.)

It was only used once at the IGT, largely because I wanted an opportunity to judge its power. Admittedly, it wasn't a perfect excuse for it (still, he had been shot at), but as it was the first time I'd had the characters on the table, I wanted to give them a reasonably thorough test.
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

Myriad

It's certainly simpler for the player to decide when to use this kind of power and to trust themselves to roleplay it appropriately.  When I was designing Lok I thought through various 'you look like a heretic' rules to try to represent his paranoia, before deciding they added a level of complexity to the game.

Is Kai biologically modified at all, or merely a hardened veteran able to use extra reserves when needed?
I had better point out, that some of the clubs I represent are of a military bent.

You know what you are?  A plywood shark!

RobSkib

I've come across situations like this before, and more often than not, if its just you who is going to be using the characters, then I wouldn't bother adding any prerequisites to using the adrenaline surge. You strike me as the sensible sort of chap who would roleplay their own character well, so I'd just leave it to common sense as to when to activate it.

However, if you're planning on 'leasing' your guys out at any point (I know I have had instances when others are playing with my models) or he falls under the effects of puppet master, then maybe you should have a rudimentary system in place just to avoid any arguments.

One idea I had was making the % chance of the adrenaline surge occurring equal to double (maybe triple?) his current injury total, with the player choosing when to test?
An Inquisitor walks into a bar - he rolls D100 to see if he hits it.
                                     +++++++
Gallery of my Inquisitor models here.

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: RobSkib on December 17, 2009, 11:53:16 PMYou strike me as the sensible sort of chap who would roleplay their own character well, so I'd just leave it to common sense as to when to activate it.
In the end, it's Kai's choice when to push himself to the limit, and trying to force lots of rules upon that would be like having a whole horde of rules about when the character is allowed to shoot or walk...

... now refer to flow chart E to determine if conditions are met to swing your sword.

For the most part, my characters are played only by me, or at least someone else who will keep the right mindset. I do rarely lend them to others, but as for the most part, I'm the GM when that's the case, I can rein in any daft exploitation of my character sheets.

I hadn't really considered Puppet Master as a possible problem, so there's a little thinking to be done.

QuoteOne idea I had was making the % chance of the adrenaline surge occurring equal to double (maybe triple?) his current injury total, with the player choosing when to test?
That's tying it to injury, and he doesn't lunge into his surge (necessarily) when injured.

I might make it a little less reliable (so he has to pass a Wp test or something), but I don't intend to make it so that it's entirely out of the player's hands, or reliant on injury.

Quote from: Myriad on December 17, 2009, 08:23:31 PMIs Kai biologically modified at all...
Interesting idea, but the plan is for it to just be a natural skill.

Oddly, I hadn't realised quite how alike the basic profiles of Kai and Silva (from Marco's warband, of course) were, which is entirely unintentional.
They are then separated quite nicely by skills and equipment, so I'm not worried, but I'll need to keep it in mind for the next time I'm writing a Guard veteran.

~~~~~

Last things last, given the general savviness of this forum, I'm a little surprised on the lack of commentary on Lyra's similarity to a certain film character. Favourite brown hat and jacket, Doctorate in Archaeology, revolver, more than a little luck...

In short, she's about as close as I thought I could really get to doing Indiana Jones without going completely over the top. There were other reasons for doing such a character, but sometimes you just need to throw references out there.
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

RobSkib

I think it's the gender-swap and lack of trusty whip that does it - it hadn't even crossed my mind before you mentioned it!

The adrenaline surge was just a suggestion, I do think that it should be tied to a test of some description - whether he has to test to see if he can activate it, or it's a random % chance that it activates when under certain situations, you'll just need to use all your cunning to come up with a fairly catch-all clause for it.
An Inquisitor walks into a bar - he rolls D100 to see if he hits it.
                                     +++++++
Gallery of my Inquisitor models here.

Inquisitor Cade

At least she isn't in short shorts and a tank top with dual stubbers.
*Insert token witticism*

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: RobSkib on December 18, 2009, 08:30:36 AMI think it's the gender-swap and lack of trusty whip that does it - it hadn't even crossed my mind before you mentioned it!
Yeah, well... I didn't want to be too horrendously blatant.

I'm not going for a direct port here anyway - Lyra isn't the kind who'd get involved with Indiana Jones type stunts*, and actually gets involved with proper archaeology (as and when necessary - hunting long buried artefacts and the like).
Still, when I first saw the drawing which Lyra was based off, I immediately got the idea of an archaeologist Inquisitor in my head, and as there are worse characters to use as a base, I just went with it.

*Of course, I do have a character who will act in that kind of way, but that's mostly because I use Indiana Jones as guidelines for how a Heroic character should act.

QuoteYou'll just need to use all your cunning to come up with a fairly catch-all clause for it.
I guess a start is making it a Wp test to activate, with possible bonuses or penalties depending on conditions.
Possibly even a test from turn to turn to keep the surge going, and really drive home that it's raw strength of will forcing him beyond mortal limits.

I don't want to make it so that it's solely dependent on injury, but I might make it so there's an automatic test to activate under certain injury conditions - perhaps if he was going to go out of action due to a failed system shock test or sufficient injury total.
However, if activated under those circumstances, when the surge ends, he'll go out of action automatically.

I'll go and poke a keyboard until something worthwhile comes out of it.

Quote from: Inquisitor Cade on December 18, 2009, 08:58:10 AMAt least she isn't in short shorts and a tank top with dual stubbers.
Lara Croft is hardly my favoured fictional archaeologist. I'm no great fan of the franchise - it's alright, but not much more.

While we're here, I should note that the similarities in the two character names are completely coincidental.
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

MarcoSkoll

For whatever it's worth, here's the WIP profile for character who will be replacing Renatus.

I've got the basics of her background set down in my mind, but when I came to post this, I came to the realisation I've yet to get most of it down in writing. I'll follow up this post when I've actually got enough of it written down that it would be worth reading.

~~~~~

Maya Avens

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Maya is right handed.

Skills: None
Psychic Powers: Blinding Flash; Chameleon; Distraction; Fragment Image; Flame of Wrath; Nightmare; Static
Weapons: Short Pattern Mars Laspistol; Knife.
Armour: None
Equipment: Channeller Staff

Short Pattern Mars Laspistol: As per Mars Laspistol from RIA, except with a Short Barrel.
NameTypeRngModeAccDamShotsRldEncSpclModes
Short MarsPistolESg/Sm(2/3)-2D6+132210LRLow

Channeller Staff: Acting as a filter through which a psyker can channel their powers, this staff is a valuable aid.
If carried in either hand, the channeller staff confers the effects of a psychic hood. Additionally counts as a Lesser Force Weapon with Reach 3, D6 damage and -15% PP.

Lesser Force Weapon: As per force weapon, but with the exceptions that additional damage on a successful Wp test is only D6, and it is not immune to destruction versus power weapons. (If destroyed in combat, the psychic hood ability can no longer be used.)

Illusion
An ability that is part passive telepathy, part micro-telekinesis and part overt pyromancy, Illusionists are rather rare psykers. Although "Illusion" is something of a misnomer, their powers can make them a problem for the Imperium, as they are presented with the abilities that allow them to avoid the Blackships, and many Illusionists are therefore rogue.
Those of the mental strength to survive and avoid possession are however rather sort after by Inquisitors - an ally who can disappear into thin air is a valuable one...

Nightmare - (Difficulty 15, Persistent): Wrapping their body in psychic flame, and broadcasting a telepathic aura of dread into their surroundings, the psyker instils pure terror in those around them.
The psyker gains the Terrifying ability. The chances of seeing them are doubled.

Flame of Wrath - (Difficulty 15, Persistent): Channelling their anger into their weapon, the psyker sets it aflame, feeling it and them flow into one.
This power may only be used with force/rune weapons. While this power is active, the character gains +10 WS with the weapon, and they automatically pass any Wp tests for the additional force weapon damage.

Chameleon & Fragment Image - From "Lectures on the Wych"

Blinding Flash & Distraction - As per rulebook.
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