I've come up with some ideas for some new characters, but as I'm new to =][=, I'm not sure whether or not they're too overpowered. If they are, please post suggested edits.
My first character is based on Gunnery Sergeant "stonetooth" Harker from the Imperial Guard codex. In fact, it's more of a "what if an Inquisitor decided they wanted Harker's strength on their side?"
| WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld |
| 40 72 95 95 54 57 45 60 45 |
Equipment:short sword; 'payback' (customised heavy bolter with range G, weight 45, shot selector and 10 rounds each of Kraken, Hellfire, and Metal Storm; average bionic eye with rangefinder; flak armour on all locations
Special abilities: Hipshooter; Quickload; Rock Steady Aim; True Grit
don't be kind - if he's overpowered, TELL ME!!!
Well, I'd almost never give a character that kind of strength value, unless they had bionics.
The thing is, stats in the 90s usually represent an almost total dedication to that area, which will hit other stats pretty hard.
With some losses to S & T (I'd say high 70s, low 80s), and perhaps a small drop to BS (maybe compensated by a higher WS), the stat line would be fair enough.
Skills wise... I'd probably lose Quickload (which seems to be there to lose the load time penalty of a HB), and True Grit.
If a character has a very high T, they can soak up loads of damage anyway and probably don't need TG, because that would make them nearly impossible to actually take out of action.
Weapons: Hell no! Even a regular bolter is nasty on the Inquisitor table. A heavy bolter with improved range, weight and lots of special ammunition? It'd turn most enemies into bloody lumps of meat in about 1.3 seconds.
Steer clear of HBs as far as possible. Even regular bolters should be pretty rare on the Inquisitor table.
In response to your "What if an Inquisitor..." question, I'll point out, not all of an Inquisitor's job is fighting. A huge slab of muscle carrying around a similarly sized heavy weapon is probably going to blow your cover when investigating.
how about this new and (hopefully) improved version?
Gunnery Sergeant 'Stonetooth' Harker
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld
48 67 78 82 54 57 45 60 45
Equipment: average bionic eye with rangefinder, heavy stubber, 10 man-stopper shells, short sword, flak armour on all locations
Skills: hipshooter; rock steady aim
also, i was thinking that Harker would be used as a sort of 'reserve member', used to provide heavy fire support, or to act as a bodyguard/way to intimidate rogue traders/desperadoes/other people who respect wealth and power.
Seems far more grounded.
One thing I have to add is that from your first post, I took "based" a little more along the lines of you had based a character on Harker, not that you were using Harker himself. I'd suggest that it's not normally a great idea to use canon characters.
Generally, a better option is to make a character who's based upon a canon character - similar in various ways, but then you have freedom to change things if you want. You also don't have to worry about other people having different ideas about how the character should be interpreted.
My normal rule with canon characters is not to use them, beyond perhaps brief background references - and even so, any interactions should be ones which the canon character wouldn't put much thought into. (Things like having attended a lecture that the canon character once held, or a brief conversation at some point in the past are reasonable examples.)
Being inspired by the legend of some canon character is a different matter entirely.
In other words, try to write as little of a canon character's background and story as possible.
thanks marco :D
btw, I am actually only 'basing' my character on Harker, but I'm just using Harker's name as a stopgap until I come up with my own.
judging by my creative ability regarding fluff, this could be a while... but will be done (eventually) :).
Welcome to the Conclave by the way.
Marco has pretty much summed up what seems to be the Conclave school of thought, if your looking for views on stats, this thread is probably worth a look http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=162.0 (http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=162.0).
Heavy Stubbers can cause inestimable carnage on the Inquisitor board, as with the Necromunda battlefield it's not often you find that you need more.
I have had games which have made use of heavier weapons but they've never been standard, the preceeding games have suggested that more firepower would be required and therefore it's been employed. Had Heidfeld not had access to the armouries aboard the Clarion's Call (the corvette at his disposal) then the opportunities would have been provided during the previous games to acquire appropriate firepower too...
Of course possibly the real problem is the prevalence of characters like Harker, Ox and 'Try Again' Bragg; The ability to handle a heavy bolter solo is not as huge as it is often painted, particularly not if one is working for an Inquisitor and therefore have fairly open access to Suspensors. ;)