Ork Characters?

[Blunderbooze]

Hello, there!
Yes, you probably know what I'm going to ask and you'll probably think that I did NOT use the search function, but let me assure you - I did.
So, me and my friends are starting an Inquisitor game pretty soon and while a lot of them are doing actual Inquisitors I would like to do an Ork from the Bloodaxe Mercenary Clan. Something between a Kommando and a Flashgit, with more emphasis on Kommando.. but I can't find any good templates/rulesets for the glorious Ork Race! We all know that Green iz Best!
Anyways, I'm sure that one of you guys has something written up on playing an Ork and I'd love to see any materials associated with da Green Tide.

[precinctomega]

The challenge with designing ork characters has never been the profile: that's easy enough to do.  The challenge is coming up with a reasonable justification for their presence/existence inside the shadowy perimeters of the Battle for the Emperor's Soul.

Because of their brutal reputation they cannot operate within the borders of the Imperium's own systems.  Because of their spore-dropping habits, they cannot be trusted by anyone with an Inquisitor's level of knowledge.  In a campaign that centred around scurrilous rogue traders, smugglers and aliens on the very fringes of the galaxy or in a sub-sector otherwise ignored or abandoned by the Imperium, Freebootaz would fit in just fine.  Elsewhere... not so much.

Finally, there's the issue of models.  If you play at 54mm then building an Ork is challenging enough for the GM to bend the circumstances to fit your convenience, if the model's good enough.  At 28mm, of course, it's no challenge at all, which isn't a huge problem but it does somewhat open the floodgates - "Well, if he's got an ork, why can't I have my XV-22 Tau battlesuit/Bloodletter/Genestealer brood/Chaos Space Marine squad/Grey Knight Teminator squad etc.?"

R.

[Blunderbooze]

I agree with you, however, It is possible to come up with a nice back story for an Ork that works for the Inquisition. How about a generically engineered Bloodaxe Ork that has been created by one of the Orders as an assassin that is used to kill problematic Warbosses? For example, the distant, perfected offspring of one of Snikrot's spores, that has been raised over and over again until the perfect specimen was made?
There are many failed experiments in the galaxy, and even though the story does not seem very plausible, think of the many shady and unlikely characters in some of the 40k Novels. Gaunt? Cain?
Honestly, there are so many ways of manipulating an Ork into doing "good" deeds. I mean, look at what the Eldar do all the time - they inspire entire Waaaghs to do their bidding. Promises of da best dakka and choppa, some brainwashing through simple torture/psykic powers..

The question still remains, are there any good templates for an Ork?

[Myriad]

I've seen a few ork models but few rules posted.  I suppose if a mission happened to take you to an ork infested planet you might coerce / bribe a local into helping you, or some of the more radical inquisitors might see the obviouls drawbacks as somehow useful.  I think the biggest bar, as Robey mentions, is probably the lack of models.

I wouldn't treat them as alot different from humans - I'dd add +10 T / WS and -10 to mental stats as basic and work from there.

[greenstuff_gav]

The challenge with designing ork characters has never been the profile: that's easy enough to do.  The challenge is coming up with a reasonable justification for their presence/existence inside the shadowy perimeters of the Battle for the Emperor's Soul.

Because of their brutal reputation they cannot operate within the borders of the Imperium's own systems.  Because of their spore-dropping habits, they cannot be trusted by anyone with an Inquisitor's level of knowledge.  In a campaign that centred around scurrilous rogue traders, smugglers and aliens on the very fringes of the galaxy or in a sub-sector otherwise ignored or abandoned by the Imperium, Freebootaz would fit in just fine.  Elsewhere... not so much.

so, i've been working on an Ork for a long while now.. struggling with the mini of all things :lol:

with such a high reproductive rate, ork genetics have to throw up unusual results now and then and that's what Inquisitor is about; the weird and the wonderful.
An example is [insert name here], Ork Outcast.

From the moment he was spawned in the Bloodaxe encampment on Percei 8 he had to fight to survive. not only small in statue, he was paler than other orks and "smelt wrong"
[name here] is fairly unique; his body does not produce spores and he lacks the unconscious psychic field all orks produce (oft referred to as Waaagh).
It was the lack of this link that kept him alive; Orks can "sense" each others psychic presence. [name here]s lack of this projection offered him a level of stealth held in high regard with the Bloodaxes.

after the tribe shipped out as mercs to the Death Corps regiment (and promptly was wiped out by the guard once hte war was over), [name here] found himself in the employ of rogue trader [plotholeski] who outfitted the ork with proper clothing and forged papers; with a layer of pink paint and a hood passed for an abhuman in the Eastern Frontier's lacklustre border patrols.
It was an action where the Rogue Trader was supporting Inquisitor [madeupistan], that the Inquisitor spotted [name here] was discovered. spotting the unusual biology of the Ork and his exceptional stealth and explosives abilites that the Ork was inducted into [madeupistan]s retinue; proving worthwhile in a multitude of roles, from espionage, demolitions or pure brute strength...

[Kaled]

People have written rules for orks on earlier versions of the 'Clave, and IIRC someone brought one to the Inquisitor Grand Tournament a couple of years ago - however, probably the best thing to do is to make up some rules yourself and then post them here for feedback.  You might not get it right first time, but after a couple of iterations and some help from people here you should be able to come up with something pretty good.

Maybe start by posting some background for the characters in your warband so people have an idea of who you want to use, and then draft up some stats.

[Alyster Wick]

Racially it's hard to come up with a solid profile since specializations vary so much across a species (for example, look at the variety of human stats). 

However, to be of a little bit more help, I'd say WS and BS are based completely on the character (using some common sense, he should have a decent WS and probably rotten BS relative to others in your gaming group, but again, refer to the character).  He should be decently tougher and stronger than the humans you're playing against (and I'd give him the regen ability, though that's a point of debate).  Substandard SG, very low leadership, decent nerves and initiative is really up to you (depending on the makeup of the warband I think it's okay to metagame a bit with Initiative, especially if the Ork is your main character).

I know I didn't give hard numbers for those, the reason being that I'm not familiar with your gaming group and their standard power levels. 

To get slightly off topic, has anyone ever played a campaign that took place on an Ork infested planet or some other location?  I know it's somewhat against the spirit the game was conceived in, but it's entirely possible to play a campaign on an Ork planet with exclusively Ork characters.  Since they live regular (well, Orky) lives involving scheming, fighting etc then it's perfectly plausible to have a game on that scale just using characters to fit the scenario.  I ask out of curiosity and because I (one day) would like to get a campaign going on a daemon world.  Yes, it would require most players to have models specifically for that campaign that may see little use outside of it, but it was a flight of fancy I had/an excuse to make awesome minis.

[MarcoSkoll]

and I'd give him the regen ability, though that's a point of debate

Orks can survive very serious wounds - their wounds do not however knit themselves back together in seconds.

I'd represent them with a high toughness, but not with regeneration.

[Chipperz]

For what it's worth, I once wrote a short story revolving around an Ork Kommando teaming up with an Inquisitor to defeat a daemonic incursion, the idea was that the Ork does it so he can stop the daemons before they wipe out both sides so the Imperium and the Orks can keep beating the crap out of each other.  While it's certainly not canon, and the entire thing was played primarily for laughs, it could work for a short-term alliance?

Also, one of the characters from my 40k Ork army is a painboy by the name of Gul, an albino Ork who got an extra "dose" of the ancestral memory all Orks get, it made him ultra-intelligent and ultra-sadistic (for an Ork) but removed his ability to grow in battle and create new spores.  He got over his lack of size by replacing his body with a Cybork version (that was, at one point, attached to a Warboss he also skinned).  Again, not in any way canon, but I could certainly see mutations in the genetic memory like that happening.

To get slightly off topic, has anyone ever played a campaign that took place on an Ork infested planet or some other location?  I know it's somewhat against the spirit the game was conceived in, but it's entirely possible to play a campaign on an Ork planet with exclusively Ork characters.  Since they live regular (well, Orky) lives involving scheming, fighting etc then it's perfectly plausible to have a game on that scale just using characters to fit the scenario.  I ask out of curiosity and because I (one day) would like to get a campaign going on a daemon world.  Yes, it would require most players to have models specifically for that campaign that may see little use outside of it, but it was a flight of fancy I had/an excuse to make awesome minis.

My current campaign is based on a world in the middle of an Ork invasion, but the player characters are still playing humans.  I'd LOVE to play in a game like that, though - rival chaos... Things and Orks would make for a great campaign, though.  Also, how cool would a campaign playing rival Exodite Knights, battling each other to gain respect from the elders (elder Eldar?) be?  It'd get you some great, characterful models and maybe even some NPCs for when you go back to Inquisitor again

[Kaled]

Now that I think about it, someone asked this question on Librarium Online a while ago and I threw together a sample profile.  It looks like I didn't think about it much at the time and don't have time to revisit them now, but I'll post them anyway as a starting point for discussion.  If I remember rightly, they were meant to represent a pretty standard ork boy;

WS=70 BS= 35 S=80 T=90 I=35 Wp=40 Sg=25 Nv=70 Ld=40
Abilities: Furious Assault, True Grit

[precinctomega]

I would rather suggest giving them a fairly average T but borrowing from Eoin W's Space Marine rules the rule that means you have to cause an amount of damage at least equal to its BIV to cause a level of injury.

I once wrote a short story revolving around an Ork Kommando teaming up with an Inquisitor to defeat a daemonic incursion, the idea was that the Ork does it so he can stop the daemons before they wipe out both sides so the Imperium and the Orks can keep beating the crap out of each other.

The residual obvious question being why the Inquisitor does it.  But notwithstanding accusations of extreme radicalism, there's no short of good evidence for Orks - especially Blood Axes - being employed by elements of the Imperium to do their work for them or as temporary allies (one of my favourite Kev Walker illustrations shows just such an alliance preparing to besiege a fortress).  But that's on a battlefield, where an Ork's natural instincts can be short-circuited effectively towards an alternative outlet, and it's still risky!  Orks have a very physical language and are likely to punch, stab and shoot their allies just to get their attention: it's not their fault humans are so zoggin' fragile.

not only small in statue, he was paler than other orks and "smelt wrong"
[name here] is fairly unique; his body does not produce spores and he lacks the unconscious psychic field all orks produce (oft referred to as Waaagh).

an albino Ork who got an extra "dose" of the ancestral memory all Orks get, it made him ultra-intelligent and ultra-sadistic (for an Ork) but removed his ability to grow in battle and create new spores.

Essentially, both these approaches are the same: make the ork sufficiently un-orky and he becomes a useable character.  Now, it's one way of doing it, but I have to say that if you're having to surgically extract the most essential qualities of a species ot make it a worthwhile character, you're probably playing the wrong character.

I'm not saying Ork characters aren't usable.

Certainly, Ork Freebootaz, Blood Axes and Kommandos all have their place in campaigns centred on Ork worlds, on the fringes of battles with or alongside orks or, as I suggested, far away from conventional Imperial space where pirates, traitors, smugglers and aliens rub shoulders more-or-less comfortably.

But these are rare and exceptional circumstances that would not fit well with the majority of INQ campaigns I've seen.

R.