Inquisitorial Mandates

[DapperAnarchist]

Inspired by the coincidental thoughts of myself and tilinder on Inquisitorial Mandates, I decided to throw together some rules. Originally I considered simply renaming all the Word of the Emperor abilities, but on reflection thought that they should do more, and that some of those are rubbish (really, NoS and FoW for every ally in earshot? That's seriously powerful.)



Issued by a Inquisitor, a Mandate is a binding charter, compelling those addressed in it, or its bearer, to fulfill certain actions or be considered damned and their lives forfeit. It also grants what powers and resources the Inquisitor considers necessary to fulfill that mission. A Mandate can come in various forms. The most common ones are parchment, vellum or similar scrolls (the flayed skins of Heretics and Rogue Psykers are often chosen for the more aggressive Mandates). Other forms include dataslates, books listing the various and extensive conditions and powers of the Mandate and, for some of the Inquisition's bonded servants, tattooed text covering the head and chest.

Bring the Heretic and All Who Stand By Him To Justice – Mandates with this or similar wording instruct their bearer to capture those listed in it, so they may be questioned and led to repentance. The bearer counts as having the Lex Imperialis from The Long Arm of the Emperor's Law article.

The Emperor's Will Is Merciless, Let None Survive – This Mandate is often issued to Stormtrooper and Execution units. Rather than specifying certain individuals as targets, it tends to target organisations or regions. It is also, in extreme cases, the document that entitles the agents of an Inquisitor to call an Exterminatus. Those who carry this are made fully aware of the level of sin and debasement in their enemies. The bearer counts as having the Demagogue Special Ability from the Recongregator Sourcebook.

Stand Not For the Works of The Witch – Often issued by Witchhunters to their pursuit teams, this Mandate condemns the work of the Unsanctioned Psyker, and provides chants known to disrupt the ability of psykers to concentrate and access the warp. The character may spend actions chanting the text of the Mandate, with the result that any psyker within 15 yards is at –50% to any attempt to use psychic powers.

Obey Him, For His Word Is Mine – Granting the bearer the full power of their patron Inquisitor, this Mandate is issued only to the most trusted of Acolytes. The bearer counts as having the Leader special ability. If they already have it, they count as having the Ultimate Leader ability from 'It's All in the Mind'. If they already have Ultimate Leader then there is no benefit.

To Surrender Is To Be Damned – Mandates of this type have the most fearsome threats for those who fail. Servitorisation, Deathmasking, length Excruciation, and other, darker, punishments are all common. The fear induced by this is such that those bound under it will go to nearly any lengths to accomplish their mission. The bearer counts as having the Draconian Tyrant ability from 'It's All in the Mind' which also applies to himself, and all those listed in the Mandate ignore the effects of Fearsome characters (though are still affected by Terrifying characters)



These are mostly aimed at Interrogators, Stormtroopers and other agents of the Inquisition, rather than the Inquisitor himself. Part of the idea here is actually that often an Inquisitor is more powerful as a mysterious force off stage, able to send immensely powerful agents to do his work - in real life, they are real people who can bleed and die, and hence immediately less terrifying.

[DapperAnarchist]

No comments?

[Myriad]

I think I meant to comment.  I like the idea, they add a bit of character to a warband not led by an inquisitor.  They also provide plenty of possibilities for scenarios.

It occurs to me that someone mandated by the inquisition with performing a certain task would be scared of failure, and that this might be reflected somehow.  It'd be good if they weren't simply bonuses.

[Flinty]

Sorry to be slow in replying - I think these add a nice fluff/colour element, especially as I assume mandates are given to hired/co-opted ''help''rather than Acolytes/Inquisitorial staff?

Nice idea for the non-Inquisitorial staff, as otherwise who's going to believe this apparently random individual is not just some bluffing underhive scum etc. Humm...scenarios galore right there!

Not sure they need a drawback - that presumably comes from the particulary gribblies targeted by the mandate - I see them as useful for warbands that might otherwise be lacking an obvious leader and/or need a little bit of help (in character and with the dice) every now and again.

Useful for generating warbands of unusual characters, a bunch of tramps able to infiltrate a minor nurgle cult for example - I can see Coughin' Henry (?) Foul Ole Ron, Gaspode and the Man With A Duck On His Head making a much needed apperance now....

[Sarlen]

I like most of the Mandates, but I was left wondering about the following few, somewhat the benefits didn't seem to fit perfectly.
But nevertheless, I'm glad, that someone did all the work, just not sure how to use them yet

Bring the Heretic and All Who Stand By Him To Justice – Mandates with this or similar wording instruct their bearer to capture those listed in it, so they may be questioned and led to repentance. The bearer counts as having the Lex Imperialis from The Long Arm of the Emperor's Law article.

I think, the effect of the Lex Imperialis doesn't quite fit, since heretics will most likely ignore imperial law. In my Opinion, some effekt strengthening for example Nerve-values of the Mandate bearer and his/her companions would be better, representing that they know to have every right needed for their job.

Stand Not For the Works of The Witch – Often issued by Witchhunters to their pursuit teams, this Mandate condemns the work of the Unsanctioned Psyker, and provides chants known to disrupt the ability of psykers to concentrate and access the warp. The character may spend actions chanting the text of the Mandate, with the result that any psyker within 15 yards is at –50% to any attempt to use psychic powers.

I guess, it might rather impose something like fear than reducing the chances of using psychic powers sucessfully. I just can't see a mere chant to be any more effective than shouting at the psyker, but that might be me. At least, the 50% is a bit height, it makes the character close to unharmable by most psykers.  Of course that depends on the Psyker in this case, but at least for me WP in the 80s is already quite hight, resulting in 30 base Wp when trying to target the chanter(?). and that is just insane risky then.

[DapperAnarchist]

Most of the abilities are closely based on existing equipment or whatever, so I feel roughly ok about their balance...

The idea behind "Bring the Heretic" is that basically, the bearer can shout at his target "We're coming for you, Mr. McHeretic! The Inquisition is Coming For You!!!", and terrify the hells out of them. It wouldn't affect Daemons, so I didn't give it Word of the Emperor, but it would affect most humans and many aliens, so Lex Imperialis seemed suitable.

Stand Not is based on the Pariah ability. Perhaps it is a little powerful, but I think you've overstated its power - one, anyone outside that 15 yard (perhaps should be smaller) range is as normal, able to launch fireballs and summon warp beasties at will, and two, it can be a double edged sword, as it affects ALL pyskers, enemy or friendly.

Chanting suitable phrases has been effective against Psykers in 40k for ages. Its a form of sorcery, but an acceptable one.

[Kaled]

For the anti-psyker one, I'd make it a bit less powerful but have it affect all psykers who can hear the chanting rather than having a fixed range.

[Sarlen]

Most of the abilities are closely based on existing equipment or whatever, so I feel roughly ok about their balance...

Stand Not is based on the Pariah ability. Perhaps it is a little powerful, but I think you've overstated its power - one, anyone outside that 15 yard (perhaps should be smaller) range is as normal, able to launch fireballs and summon warp beasties at will, and two, it can be a double edged sword, as it affects ALL pyskers, enemy or friendly.

Chanting suitable phrases has been effective against Psykers in 40k for ages. Its a form of sorcery, but an acceptable one.

I wasn't talking about any imbalanced one, exept for the one I did mention, and even this, as I said, is only based on the power-level of the acting psyker. I was only trying to give an example of how it does affect a character.

Anyone using close-range abilities will be more or less useless(at least in the psy-part), while it may happen, i think the effect is stronger than what is reasonable.

For me it was always the Person believing in the power of the specific chant, not the chant itself, that undid the powers of a psyker. It might be something where our views differ, so obviously feel free to ignore it.

Therefore at least to me, it is different, if one person chants the right words or if multiple persons do it, resulting in a different strength of the effect, in this specific case, it would only be one person to throw his/her believe behind the chant, so for me I'd say it should be much weaker, more in the 10 to 20 percent range maybe.

Of course the effect would gain strength by adding more persons to it.

I'd agree with Kaled on the fixed range never the less.

The idea behind "Bring the Heretic" is that basically, the bearer can shout at his target "We're coming for you, Mr. McHeretic! The Inquisition is Coming For You!!!", and terrify the hells out of them. It wouldn't affect Daemons, so I didn't give it Word of the Emperor, but it would affect most humans and many aliens, so Lex Imperialis seemed suitable.

I still don't see a reason, why someone should more or less freeze when hearing about the Inquisition approaching, rather than run away or fight even more desperately (to not get caught alive), depending on the specific situation.
I guess I need to add, that I'm no fan of Word of the Emperor or Lex Imperialis, due to their rather strong Effect on humans(averagely losing 1 out of 2 actions). It doesn't seem to fit to the source of this "freezing".
For me at least, the believes of a normal human(in for example Lex Imperialis) won't have that much of an effect on another human being, at least if the first on isn't a psyker or close to being one.



I hope my comments didn't seem to harsh, I really like the ideas, it's just some details, that seemed to need tweaking.