Alright, I'm making a desperate attempt to get some of my characters IGT-worthy in time, in the event that I can attend. As such, I'm doing proper background and such this time.
Firstly, the Inquisitor; being the focus of the group and whatnot. Bear in mind that this is about as condensed a version of the current profile as I thought I could realistically manage (merely two thousand words or so...[not including stats or anything]) and I'm not trying to be overly defensive if I end up attempting to explain things in more detail (which will almost certainly happen). Note that I've included tags where more detail is held elsewhere that is of such length that it would be unreasonable to post here. The others shouldn't be nearly as tediously lengthy, but apologies in advance for post length regardless.
Inquisitor Ani Lycanson
Physical:
Right-handed male of 45 Terran years and type II skin colour (by this chart here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_colour#Skin_tone_variability)). Stands at roughly 6’2” high with an average/slim build, long, red hair, tied back, with a trimmed beard/goatee and blue eyes.
Occupation:
Ordo Xenos Inquisitor since shortly before the 13th Black Crusade. Thorian in philosophy and generally puritan, although sometimes seen as a bit soft.
Personality:
Generally informal and amiable, as far as an Inquisitor goes. Being brought up grudgingly as a servant made him generally unwilling to treat others as inferior, and the teachings of his mentor reinforced that working with others is much easier if you don’t give them reason to resent you. He’d rather request than order where possible and attempts to remain diplomatically non-authoritarian when dealing with antagonistic people, but he won’t hesitate to play the Inquisitor card where necessary.
Usually slow to anger, he can be quite attentive, inquisitive and calculating when required. He also possesses a strong sense of honour; a trait highly thought of on his home world. A couple of quirks he has include the habit of fidgeting with gloves/wrist wear when idle or nervous and occasionally preening.
He takes a degree of pride in his psychic abilities and enjoys being able to hone them freely, partially as a way of spiting his people who had attempted to burn him as a witch. <cross ref: Lycanson’s Origin> Nonetheless, the fear of psykers they had ingrained in him coupled with the traumatic leave of his home planet makes him innately more wary of the consequences of failed warpcraft than perhaps he has need to be.
Typical Wargear:
He often wears a black long coat and a custom targeting visor that belonged to his mentor. He keeps a servo-skull made from the skull of a heretic during a particularly harrowing investigation as a reminder to not make his mistakes and he held onto the blade he used to slay him, carrying it to this day. <cross ref: Srul Investigation> In combat, he has been known to wear a suit of heavy flak armour and wields a navy-issue assault rifle that had been modified for burst fire - a souvenir from his first major action as an Inquisitor. <cross ref: Assault on T’kar’s Reach> Thus far, he remains unaugmented apart from a psi-booster which was implanted as a gift from his mentor upon becoming an Interrogator.
Capabilities:
He considers himself mostly a generalist and maintains a working level of fitness, focussing on speed over strength, and competence in both ranged and melee combat. Where his real strengths lie, however, are with his Intelligence, mental agility and broad, yet shallow, psychic talent; he would sooner learn a range of basic and moderate level abilities than specialise in just one field.
Colleagues:
He is accompanied by a storm trooper sergeant by the name of Kai Andon (a veteran ex-Kasrkin from Cadia and a staunch fighter), Boz (a hive ganger heavy from Subiaco Diablo and a cowardly show-off), Magos Drake Feron (an explorator with a shrouded past and former colleague of Inquisitor Garvin) and Zane Alvis Mithris (an experienced, hot-headed and playful pilot from Glavia).
History:
Inquisitor Ani Lycanson grew up on a feudal world, Cirse, in the Belis Corona sector as the 41st millennium began to draw to a close. He was the son of a high-ranking servant, named Lycan, naturally, to a noble in a civilisation in its medieval stage, housing a small Mechanicus outpost on the northern pole that the populace treated with superstition. He was mostly ostracised as a child, spending his free time in his lord’s castle’s library as opposed to playing with the other servant children. Shortly before his 13th birthday, and coming-of-age ceremony, he uncovered a book on warpcraft in the cellars and, curiosity overcoming the indoctrinated fear of the dangers of “kaos” preached by the native religion, began to study it.
Time passed, and an army the noble had sent off to war in other lands returned, battered, but intact. Ani was assigned to aid the nurses in treating them, but there was one soldier that seemed to have caught an apparently incurable, wasting disease and was isolated. The young to-be-Inquisitor, from his studies, recognised it as a warp taint and attempted one of the book’s spells which, to his surprise, worked well, curing the man completely. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before he and his book were discovered, and the terrified locals, indoctrinated against magyk, decided to burn him at the stake.
Shortly before, however, the Mechanicus outpost had sent for nearby aid to round up a number of noted latent psykers for their Blackship tithe in a manner that wouldn’t upset the natives. The Explorator Drake Feron and his partner, Inquisitor Tybalt Garvin of the Ordo Xenos, responded. As it happened, they were about to acquire the young psyker as he was discovered, and they managed to scare the locals off shortly before he was burned and vanish with the child, making it look like he had used his magyk to escape, although the whole experience had made him wary of his abilities.
What exactly the Inquisitor saw in the boy is unknown, but he decided to teach him more about the galaxy and, when the Black Ships arrived, expedited his training with the Scholastia Psychana. Four years later, he was brought back to the Belis Corona sector, where Garvin was based, by an old acquaintance of the Inquisitor, the rogue trader Jonah Von Corrington, and he served as part of his retinue for some time. Shortly after his previous Interrogator gained the title of Inquisitor in his own right, Ani took up the mantle of Tybalt’s new Interrogator and received a psi-booster implant as a gift from the Inquisitor. Among others, Tybalt worked with a navigator, who taught a degree of telepathy and theosophamy to the young Interrogator.
In good time, he himself was made an Inquisitor and, shortly afterwards, the 13th Black Crusade was launched upon the sector.
One of his first assignments as an Inquisitor was to be sent to Subiaco Diablo to study the warp plague afflicting the region and to treat the locals, partially on account of skills as a medic he had learned as an Interrogator and his ability to stem diseases. The situation rapidly grew out of hand, however, and he was forced to help coordinate the defences of one of the safe zones as hordes of infected, dying locals tried to get in.
Things got even better when the plague fleet itself turned up on the outskirts of the system, followed by waves of zombies, fresh from the dying populace. As part of a daring offensive-defence action, the Inquisitor stumbled across a lone ganger, nearly out of his mind with terror, but otherwise seemingly uninfected. He returned with the Inquisitor and was treated for mental breakdown. Eventually, the ganger, by the name of Boz, recovered enough to realise that he owed the Inquisitor his life and swore both to protect him and to enact vengeance upon those that destroyed his home. Lycanson realised that some of the damage done to his mind was irreparable, but gladly accepted his aid nonetheless.
It soon became clear that the area was lost, and Ordo Xenos inquisitors in the region were called to investigate one of the Blackstone Fortresses that had apparently been destroyed by necron raiders in the Agripinaa sector, which included both himself and Inquisitor Garvin, although the Magos had been called away to the Sentinel Worlds.
Their investigations were brief, however, as they were both shortly reassigned as part of a strike force assembled against a high-ranking Thousand Son marine, Phosis T’kar, who had led a push into Imperial territory and captured an Imperial fortress outpost on a nearby moon. It had become known as T’kar’s reach. He had been leading daring raids on Imperial supply ships for the front line, and the higher-ups wanted him taken care of. <for full details, see: Assault on T’kar’s Reach>
Everything available in the region was drafted, including the remnants of Battlefleet Corona, what was left of the 812th Cadian regiment, a veteran storm trooper squad, a Deathwatch team, a splinter of a Black Templars crusade fleet and Inquisitors Garvin, Euphrati and Lycanson of the Ordo Xenos, Callidon of the Ordo Hereticus and Mercia of the Ordo Malleus. The Inquisitors led strike teams consisting of troopers and marines into the fortress through structural weak points to sever the head of the chaos forces present while the main forces did what they could as a distraction.
Lycanson’s dropship was forced to make a crash landing on the approach, and the impact took one of the troopers in his team out of action. The pilot of the craft, however, was as a result left without a working ship with which to return, and was able to bulk up the numbers.
During the attack, Lycanson caught Callidon in a library of sorts within the fortress and, upon discovering that he’d dealt with the troopers and marines in his force to acquire heretical texts, attempted to bring him to justice. He managed to escape when part of the roof caved in, however, and was declared MIA. Subsequently, Garvin vanished and was also declared MIA, while Mercia and Euphrati gave their lives holding back waves of chaos warriors to give Lycanson’s team a shot at T’kar. They found him, but only in time to hear his short “just as planned” speech before stepping into a small warp portal, leaving his team to hold off some daemons while he attempted to close the portal.
Meanwhile, the outside battle was failing until aid came in the form of a legion of Skitarii brought by Magos Feron, who had apparently received a non-specific distress signal from Garvin. With the command section dismantled, the chaos forces fell into disarray and were mopped up easily by the reinforced forces of Order. In the aftermath, the sergeant of the storm troopers was the only one of his original squad left standing and he joined the only remaining Inquisitor’s nascent retinue, and the pilot, seeing a chance of excitement and adventure, requested a formal transfer as well, which was granted.
Shortly after the war ended, the Inquisitor spent some time on the Belis Corona station, clearing up any remaining Tyranids. During the time, he took the liberty of developing some specialised telekinetic prowess to combat the current shortage of ammunition and equipment.
<for full details, see: Srul Investigation>
As things began to come back under control, he was sent away to the world of Srul to investigate the simultaneous disappearance of a piece of xenotech and the emergence of an uncannily persuasive demagogue. He had acquired an artefact that psychically imposed his will upon others after a renegade band had looted it and sold it to him. He used it to impose a twisted version of the Imperial creed upon his flock and even the Inquisitor and his team succumbed to it, bar Sergeant Andon and an Arbite they had been working with.
Between the pair of them, they managed to acquire a null collar and used it to immunise the Inquisitor. Attempting an assassination, they infiltrated the enthralled flock and made a daring bid to kill the corrupt echlesiarch, despite a number of controlled civilians impeding them. He managed to possess the Arbite, however, and forced her to impale herself on her sword, which gave Andon a chance to distract him long enough for the Inquisitor to use the same sword to slay the heretic.
And that...that's pretty much the beta-version starting position.
Stats
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld Sd BI SS C Kb H
66 69 54 55 71 76 70 69 67 5 6 11 28 6 R
Upgrades
Psi Booster
Equipment
Heavy Flak Armour [all locations, helmet optional], Long Coat, Light Assault Rifle [Burst Fire modified, Silenced, 2 spare magazines], Sword, 3 Blind Grenades, Melta Bomb, Med-Skull, custom Targeting Visor [Aura Scrye, Range Finder, optional UV Overlay, Comm-Link], Medi Pak, Inquisitorial Seal
Abilities
Sure Strike, Medic
Powers
Force Shock, Force Shield, Mind Scan, Bind Corruption, Seal Warp
Modified Light Assault Rifle:
Type Range Mode Accuracy Damage Shots Reload Encumbrance Special
Basic C Sn/ - 3D6-1 30 2 40 Burst Fire
Sm(3,6)/
Full(9)
Burst Fire - Reduces semi-auto accuracy penalty by 10% when firing Sm(3), but it takes an action to switch from burst to single fire.
Force Shock:
Type Range Mode Accuracy Damage Difficulty
Psychic D Sn - 2D6+2 10
Force Shield is a Psychic Shield equivalent formed on a different principle.
Right...time for the flak.
Overall, very nice. Few small quibbles, the book, and the inquisitors early interactions sound like sorcery, which is different to being psychic. The amount of equipment and skills and psychic powers also seems a little excessive, if only because I don't think you'll remember to use then all in a game.
The book and early psychic activity were intended to appear sorcerous, considering the medieval environment, yet I was personally under the assumption that the term was mostly interchangeable with psychic ability.
And I'll probably drop Sure Strike; there's no particular reason for it, other than I just thought it would fit. It gets iffy after that though...what would you suggest dropping?
Quote from: Adlan on February 04, 2011, 09:35:13 AMThe amount of equipment and skills and psychic powers also seems a little excessive, if only because I don't think you'll remember to use then all in a game.
While I'd agree that it is possible to have "too many skills" (although I don't believe he has), psychic powers are somewhat different.
I've used characters with twenty-five psychic abilities without it being a particular problem. However, I wouldn't recommend that many for a character who isn't a dedicated psyker - in other words, if the character is good enough in other areas that they can be effective without using their powers.
A dedicated psyker however needs that variety so they're not locked into a very narrow range of possible roles.
I'd say that five powers is a comfortably recallable number, although they do feel a little eclectic. Psykers tend to specialise not through choice, but because those are the only ways in which they can manipulate the warp (at least safely). Unless a psyker was particularly exceptional - in which case, I'd suggest they would be used as dedicated psychic support, rather than being trained as an Inquisitor - I'd say they should stick to one or two disciplines. (Even in dedicated cases, I'd limit myself to three.)
As far as I can tell you've got at least four disciplines there (depending on how the "Force" powers are defined). I wouldn't say no to five powers, but I would normally veto four different disciplines on a even a dedicated psyker.
So...what, keep Sure Strike or not? Probably the latter, considering it's mostly tacked on for the sake of a combat skill.
Anyway, "force" is telekinetic...so perhaps telepathic and telekinetic? Replacing Seal Warp with Distraction, maybe? It would require only a minor rewrite, but I'm torn when it comes to Bind Corruption...I'd quite like to hang onto it, perhaps as an innate ability akin to a wyrd, or perhaps a contrived and barely logical equivalent using other disciplines...or perhaps just go with biomancy instead of telepathy...hm...
On the whole, I'm quite happy with how this has gone; only a couple of issues with the psychic aspect so far.
He does seem to be quite an accompished psyker from the background, and at least a few inquisitors (more or less depending on which book you're reading) are quite powerful psykers. Marco is right about trying to specialise.
As regards sure strike, it's OK to tack on one or two combat skill to represent what you see as his style of fighting, since as a serving inquisitor he can be assumed to have learnt a few tricks. There's more of a problem when characters get multiple combat skills and rather than being specialised, just get good at everything.
Quote from: Frostspear on February 04, 2011, 03:05:02 PMOr perhaps just go with biomancy instead of telepathy...
In many cases, I can see ways that it would be possible for Telepaths and Biomancers to replicate some of each other's abilities.
For example, a biomancer could:
- Distraction, Mesmerise or Psychic Shriek could be caused by making the character temporarily lightheaded and faint by constricting a few blood vessels briefly.
- Emotional things like Demoralise, Embolden and Terrify - overload the character's hormones briefly, changing their neurochemistry.
- Enforce Will - either more neurochemistry to make them feel compelled to obey your (probably spoken) command or for simple things, perhaps just taking crude control of their muscles - if you need them to stand up, a sudden jerking contraction of the appropriate leg muscles would work.
- Puppet Master: Same as the latter half of the above, I guess, except I'd rather write new rules - after all the character's own abilities wouldn't come into play when they're a literal puppet, rather than being somehow compelled. (I should note, I don't like the "unwilling puppet" interpretation that sometimes gets written for Puppet Master. I prefer the idea that while affected that they want to do things, but they're not sure why.)
- Psi-Track: "Biomass awareness". I'd remove the clause about knowing where the tracked character has been or about their psychic nature, although they'd probably find out other biological things instead.
Other than "Telepathy" and "Mind scan" (although a biomancer might well be able to tell if someone was lying from various biological cues), I can see justifications for most Telepathy abilities having a Biomancy equivalent.
Just swap any Wp difficulties/tests for Toughness.
The other way is a little more limited, but Choke or Enfeeble could perhaps be represented by giving a character various psychosomatic limits - or in the case of Warp Strength, some psychosomatic "boost", although I'd limit just how effective it could be, and would probably add some injury penalty for the character "over-stretching themselves"
Same note about swapping Wp and T tests in most cases (except, I think in the case of Choke's "number of turns over T/10" rule, which should probably still be toughness)
Intriguing...I was thinking along much the same lines when I typed it, but it wasn't nearly as clear in my head.
...yes, biomancy it is. I do believe it fits, and replicating other abilities would be quite in character. Probably equivalents of Distraction and Enforce Will, I think.
Oops, double post. Oh well.
Anyway, now that that seems mostly acceptable, the next one is Sergeant Kai Andon [whom I named well before learning of Marco's trooper of the same role and first name, so please don't sue me] and, considering that it coincides with Lycanson's history after a shortish while, this post will be drastically shorter. Same rules apply; concise version, not being defensive, using Wikipedia's skin colour chart thingy etc.
Sergeant Kai Andon
Physical:
Right-handed male of 57 Terran years with type III skin colour and green eyes. He stands at roughly 6’3” high with a lean build and short, black hair, and keeps himself clean-shaven.
Occupation:
Inquisitorial storm trooper sergeant, formerly of a veteran trooper team which itself was originally a Cadian Kasrkin squad.
Personality:
Possessing the impressive devotion to the Imperium, hard-line attitude, efficiency and tactical genius of Cadia’s best, he is a model soldier through and through. He knows exactly what should be done in the defence of humanity, and acts as a moral compass for those around him.
He can always be relied upon to keep a cool head in the middle of a firefight, and is a skilled, experienced and innovative leader. It was drilled into him to keep his equipment in good shape, and more than one time when he was let down by equipment failure means he has a tendency to check his gear more often than is probably required.
Typical Wargear:
He generally wears a Kasrkin-pattern sealed carapace suit, recoloured in the black and red of the Inquisition, along with the Kantreal-pattern Hellpistol he became proficient with and, for when the fighting gets a bit closer, a Chainsword. He’s managed to keep hold of all of his original body parts bar his right eye, which he lost to mercenaries that blew the side of his head off. [That bit is Gazkul's fault...him and his stupid bolt sniper...]
Capabilities:
He’s a veteran of many years and proficient in both melee and ranged combat, somewhat in favour of keeping his opponents at a distance, honing his power and endurance to match his abilities. He is also accustomed to commanding troopers and, as the leader of a specialist unit, has learned to be quite creative with his tactics.
Colleagues:
He acts as the lancer to his Inquisitor, Ani Lycanson (whom he joined after his own unit was wiped out), as well as the moral centre for the rest of his team. <see: Lycanson Profile>
History:
Sergeant Kai Andon was born into a nondescript family of one of the higher classes in Kasr Gerth, Cadia. As such, he didn’t know much of his parents, who were both full time officers, and he started training for the military almost immediately, as you do on Cadia. It wasn’t long since becoming a Whiteshield that his potential was realised by his superiors, and he was transferred to training as a Kasrkin. He then began to surpass even the other Kasrkin in almost all fields, particularly on the firing range where he hit with pinpoint accuracy, and was selected for unit command.
Leading a unit, his talent for command shone, and he acquired a reputation for especially daring manoeuvres that his squad managed to pull off successfully, and, when an Inquisitorial fortress on the planet was assaulted by dissidents, his unit was at the forefront of the counter-attack. Proving to be highly skilled and resourceful, he and his unit were officially held onto by the Inquisition as storm troopers, and it wasn’t long before they found themselves sent all over the nearby sectors on high value spec-ops missions and other Inquisitorial business.
When the 13th Black Crusade started, they were on duty in the Belis Corona sector and unable to come to the defence of their home planet. Nonetheless, they did their duty well; performing daring counter-strikes against numerous invading forces in the region before being reassigned to a raid on a recently established chaos outpost.
And that's pretty much where he coincides with the Inquisitor, so no need to clutter up the post with repetition, eh?
Stats
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld Sd BI SS C Kb H
69 72 60 62 64 65 62 71 72 4 6 12 31 6 R
Upgrades
Average Bionic Right Eye
Equipment
Sealed Suit [helmet optional], Kantrael Hellpistol [Thermal Scope, Range Finder, Power Feed backpack], Chainsword, 2 Frag Grenades, 3 Smoke Grenades, Bio-Scanner, Comm-Link, Combi-Tool
Abilities
Deadeye Shot
Kantreal Hellpistol:
Type Range Mode Accuracy Damage Shots Reload Encumbrance Special
Pistol J Sn/ - 3D6-1 8 4 20+30 Blueshift
Sm(2)
Looks spot on.
That went well - time for the next instalment!
This is Boz (yes, just "Boz") the ganger, who was initially Gazkul's vague idea and mostly makes up for him shooting Andon in the head.
Boz
Physical:
Right-handed male of 39 Terran years with type IV skin colour and brown eyes. He stands at roughly 6’7” high with a solid/beefy build and short, dark brown hair, and he keeps himself mostly shaven.
Occupation:
Drug runner before joining the Souljas gang, subsequently destroyed.
Personality:
Growing up on the depths of a hive city gave him an innate street sense and taught him to identify the kind of person who not to pick a fight with or who’s hiding something. He’s most certainly not the bravest despite extensive muscle grafting, and he likes to keep it that way, but he understands the importance of repaying a debt.
When he’s not on the battlefield, and too busy dodging bullets, he takes pride in the powerful figure he worked hard to achieve and becomes something of a poser. As such, he’s in constant competition with Zane, but he’s secretly deeply envious of her much greater degree of courage, which he attempts to hide with displays of his greatly superior muscle mass.
He also developed a slight obscura habit in the underhives. Although it was mostly lost along with part of his mind, he still gets the occasional craving.
Typical Wargear:
He typically wears the defining gear of his old gang; flak-weave jeans, armoured bracers and a black jacket with reinforced shoulder plates. In combat, he totes a massive auto-stubber for heavy support, but always keeps his shotgun in reserve, as it was the first proper weapon he received and he’s deeply familiar with the feel of it. <see: Assault on T’kar’s Reach> In addition, he is often accompanied by an exquisite cyber-mastiff, which was a gift from a noble house to the Inquisitor who passed it on to Boz. <see: Srul Investigation>
Capabilities:
He mostly acts as the muscle of an operation, being powerful, intimidating and wielding a massive gun, although his experience in the underhives can be quite useful when dealing with the seedier elements of the Imperium. He can act as a very convincing bodyguard/hired muscle while undercover...until they get into trouble, at least.
Colleagues:
He owes a life debt to the Inquisitor (after he was saved from a zombie onslaught) and is as loyal as his free-for-all upbringing allows him to be. The rest of the team generally suffer him for the versatility his heaviness brings, but Zane sometimes enjoys teasing him. <see: Lycanson Profile>
History:
Boz never knew his parents; he was raised by his elder brother in a dingy hab-block in the underhives of Subiaco Diablo and, although he was the only family he knew of, Boz never had a chance to get that close to him as he was out all day every day on unspoken errands to scrape together enough credits to survive. Their situation was terrible and the brother always seemed depressed, but Boz was too young to fully appreciate why. After suffering it for eight years, his older brother vanished, to be found shortly after by the Arbites with a bullet in his forehead.
With his only support gone, Boz was forced to learn the ways of the underhive, and he managed to survive by taking mysterious errands from men in big coats, running packages around the streets for a pittance. He managed to get just enough to keep the apartment, and soon learned that his block was run by a gang known as the Souljas; every one of them a towering slab of vat-grown muscle. They were the most impressive figures he’d ever seen, and he quickly came to admire them as much as he feared them.
As he grew older, he grew mistrustful of the dealers he had been working for, and managed to increase his status by selling some of the lesser ones out. As such, he began to increase his income and gain contacts, staying alive by never trusting any of them for a moment and always running away at the first sign of trouble. Throughout it all, however, his one ambition was to join the Souljas, but he was far too scrawny for their taste, so he used some of his contacts to meet shady back-street dealers of various types to artificially beef himself up, diverting all his spare funds towards it until one dealer shared some obscura with him, which resulted in a habit that reduced the amount he could spend on vat-grown muscle.
Soon, he grew too large to run drugs effectively, and began hiring himself out as protection, which worked well enough to get him the funds to beef himself enough to match some of the weaker gangers. Eventually, his experience as a heavy and adequate muscle mass got him accepted into the Souljas as a juve, being assigned easier tasks. As such, it wasn’t until the plague hit that his cowardice was revealed to them; when he fled and hid until being picked up by the Inquisitor after loosing part of his mind from fear.
Stats
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld Sd BI SS C Kb H
46 58 75 76 59 47 53 37 46 4 8 15 38 8 R
Equipment
Flak Armour [arms and legs], Semi-auto Shotgun [8 spare Solid Slug Shells, 8 Dragon’s Breath Shells], Auto Stubber [1 spare clip], Combat Knife, Cyber-Mastiff, Markerlight, Comm-Link, Flashlight
Abilities
Quickload, Ganger Loyalty, Slightly Unstable
Markerlight – Allows the character to specify targets for a Cyber-Mastiff and may be attached to a weapon.
Ganger Loyalty – Lycanson – +30% Nerve while within 6” of Lycanson.
Slightly Unstable – Character looses the guaranteed single action and, if all actions are failed, he’s stunned for the turn.
i'm still amazed you chose to keep Boz. Lycanson seems too nice to be an Inquisitor though, too clean cut and goody goody to be efficient. other than that it looks fine.
I like the idea of a dog chasing a markerlight. It's nice to see a relatively low nerve character as well - I think a few of them help keep the game interesting.
Lycanson too nice to be effective? Skipping through the background, he hasn't had too many major successes, so maybe he does need to find an extra bit of ruthlessness from somewhere. Generally, though, inquisitors are allowed to be relatively pleasant characters, so long as they are prepared to act as they believe necessary. It may even increase their effectiveness to develop a diplomatic manner.
Noted...perhaps a bit more ruthlessness...but only a bit.
Anyway, not done yet!
This is Zane; the ace pilot from Glavia who mostly came into being when Alta decided to run a scenario which required somebody who could fly.
Wing Commander Zane Alvis Mithris
Physical:
Right-handed female of 50 Terran years with type VI skin colour and green eyes. She stands at roughly 5'7" high with a slim build and long, black hair, generally tied back.
Occupation:
Wing Commander of Battlefleet Corona's 8th Navy Fighter Wing, Foehammer squadron, before serving the Inquisition.
Personality
Being a classic Glavian, she is generally headstrong, courageous and quick witted, tending to think more with her ego than her head. As such, she's often playful and light hearted, even during the more serious moments and in the heat of combat, sometimes to the irritation of Andon.
She's at least the equal of Andon when it comes to keeping her head during the fires of battle and is immensely quick both in her head and on her feet, though her abilities are diminished slightly when she insists on doing some impractical-yet-awesome move that almost never works...though it's usually pretty splendid to watch.
She can be something of a show-off when behind the yoke of almost any flying craft, but she's even worse on the ground in the vicinity of Boz, with whom she often spars with in both wit and style.
Typical Wargear:
She usually prefers to travel light, keeping herself fast and agile. As such, she usually just wears her reinforced flight suit and wields a Glavian needle pistol with a backup knife. Her right eye is bionic and she has extensive bio-circuitry laced throughout her skin, evident on nearly any exposed body part, greatly increasing her reflexes and allowing direct neural interface with almost any ship. Slightly more concealed is an in-built gyroscope which renders her nigh immune to the sorts of disorientation a fighter pilot would suffer.
Capabilities:
She's as quick and accurate with a pistol as she is with her tongue and possesses the ability to fire reliably on the move which, considering her augmented swiftness and agility, can be used to great effect. She's best suited to hit-and-run attacks and in trouble if she gets bogged down or engaged in close quarters combat, where she's untrained and comparatively frail. Despite her weak spots, she can always be counted to stay in the fight no matter what, which is probably a bad thing when she decides to prioritise showing-off over staying alive.
Colleagues:
She joined the Inquisitor for the chance of excitement, adventure and being beyond the law in ways she dreamed of while in the Navy (not to mention that he needed a pilot) and she acts as the morale of the team, often keeping them amused with her teasing of Boz. <see: Lycanson Profile>
History:
Zane was born in the city of Etna on the southern continent on Glavia, and she grew up as a single child with her parents both working as civilian transport pilots. Their particular Long-Prow was a fairly basic, unassuming craft in which Zane learned the very fundamentals of flight as soon as she was big enough to reach the yoke. She spent a lot of time racing the other children in her neighbourhood, and all throughout her childhood she was one of the best and most daring pilots, graciously beating the others yet never letting up about having done so.
As she grew, she started competing on greater and greater scales until she was able to take part in the local Rite of Majority; through most of the city, slalom through a series of silicon mesas on the outskirts, through some nearby vortex rapids and back. Despite several hair-raisingly narrow escapes, she performed admirably and managed to come third out of all the participants. Determined to do better, she took to practising almost constantly and, at the next Rite, was able to take first place, receiving a special, bionic gyroscope and the vaunted 'silver'; the famed bio-circuitry of the tech-priests of the Micro-Omnissiah.
It wasn't long before she was offered a place at the Glavian Imperial Navy Academy, which she accepted without hesitation and she began training almost immediately. She was generally well-liked by her peers and, eventually, graduated as one of the best in her set. She was granted a splendid needle pistol as a token of her skill and dedication before gaining a place amongst the fighter pilots of Battlefleet Corona. From there, she joined the eighth wing, known as Foehammer squadron, and took part in a number of minor Navy operations, during which she distinguished herself enough in skill and courage to become a Wing Commander.
At the onset of the 13th Crusade, her squadron was part of the fleet under the command of Admiral Quarren that got devastated at the battle of Frenerax. With the fleet in tatters, it limped back to the shipyards of Belis Corona, during which time the plague of Nurgle began to reap the crews of a number of Navy ships. They managed to make it back before it got too out of hand, and Zane, along with the rest of the uninfected crew, were temporarily quarantined until the situation was under control and repairs could be made. As soon as the ships were able, some working with little more than a skeleton crew, they were sent out to the fortress known as T'kar's Reach as part of the counter-offensive.
Stats
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld Sd BI SS C Kb H
48 71 51 52 74 58 55 82 53 [6] 5 10 [33] 5 R
Upgrades
Average Bionic Right Eye, Glavian Bio-Circuitry, Internal Gyroscope
Equipment
Piloting Suit [helmet optional], Glavian Needle Pistol [Bloodfire Toxin [1 spare clip], Hallucinogen [1 clip]], Combat Knife
Abilities
Hot Shot, Hipshooting
Finally, the Magos Drake Feron.
Stat-wise he seems a bit powerful in my opinion, but he is intended to provide support/utility/transport/plot hooks more than acting as an actual player character [which is why I'm keeping things up my sleeve...even Lycanson knows next to nothing about him].
Explorator Magos Technicus Drake Feron
++Primary Level Communication++
++Encryption Enabled++
++Magenta Clearance Required++
> *****************
++Accepted++
++Transmission Begins++
My lord,
We have successfully managed to infiltrate the Magos’ ship undetected at great expense and have begun our surveillance. The ship itself appears to be a custom built Mechanicus cruiser that doesn’t fit with any known vessel archetypes and it houses a number of unclear experimental systems that we have been unable to gain access to. Fortunately, the crew mostly consists of servitors and tech-priests that don’t examine us too closely. There are, however, a sizeable number of crewmen trained for service to the Inquisition and a small force of Skitarii, both of which are more wary and may impede our progress later on.
With regards to the Magos himself: fortunately he is more hands-on than most tech-adepts of his position, which gives us ample opportunity to observe him, although he is no fool; all his communications and documents are encrypted masterfully and are beyond even our capabilities to access. Physically, he appears modified akin to an Engineseer; all visible limbs appear to be armoured bionics and one of his arms is adapted to resemble a power fist, in addition to a servo-arm and several utility based Mechadendrites.
With regards to his activities: He is occasionally seen entering what appears to be a private workshop for long periods of time during which he is impossible to track. However, the sounds of faint plasma discharges are sometimes heard. We are also unable to monitor him during periods on the bridge and when he’s in the briefing room in session with the Inquisitor. During periods when the Inquisitor is active, the Magos’ hands-on tendencies appear to surface; he seems to frequently oversee missions personally, apparently acting as mission control and even rarely going into the field himself. His motives for doing so are unclear, and are likely to remain so considering the heavy security surrounding all such operations. We were fortunate to learn of his activities at all.
In short, our normally extensive capabilities are severely limited on board the Shadow of Intent. On the other hand, despite the shadows surrounding his history, agents of ours elsewhere have managed to extract various rumours and clues that point to a less than illustrious past. From some of the more reliable sources, we can piece together parts of his background, although much remains murky for the time being.
His place of origin is unclear, but he did indeed begin his career as an Engineseer for a currently unidentified guard regiment. The trail goes cold for a time before he reappears in the vicinity of the Eye of Terror as a Magos. Rumour has it that he was engaged in a number of unspecified yet less-than-savoury practices during that period. After that, his name appears in certain records under the title of ‘Archmagos’, although that doesn’t last long; there are hints of some form of trial, and the name ‘Archmagos Novus Eisen’ appears in an unknown function. Subsequently, he is recorded as an ‘Explorator Magos’ and eventually acquires his own ship shortly after forming some manner of compact with one Inquisitor Tybalt Garvin; an equally shady character in his own right. His activities since then are shrouded with Inquisitorial authority requirements that we currently lack the resources to penetrate.
We shall continue the operation, but be aware that this venture has cost our organisation significantly; both to acquire merely this much information and to secure us a place on board his ship, not to mention the other operations you wish to put into effect.
We are diverting our entire syndicate to your whim on this matter.
This had better be worth it.
++Transmission Ends++
Stats
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld Sd BI SS C Kb H
67 66 [140] [70] 72 79 [97] 71 76 5 7 14 35 14 [A]
Upgrades
Average Bionic left arm, Bionic Left Hand [Magnetic and Thermal Shielding], Luminen Fist [custom Advanced Bionic Power Arm, may be used to parry, grants Luminen Shock and Luminen Charge, Magnetic and Thermal Shielding, Enhanced Neural Interface], Average Bionic Legs, Bionic Head [Comm-Link, 35% Re-breather], Standard Fit Auto-Senses [Auto-Cutout, optional IR Overlay, Pict-Recorder, Memorance Implant], Advanced Circuitry, Memory Coils, Standard Potentia Coil, Auto-Sanguination, Armoured Exoskeleton, Fire Suppression System
Equipment
Flak Gown [All locations], experimental Plasma Repeater, Servo-arm, Manipulator, Utility and Ballistic [Las-Cutter] Mechadendrites, Data Slate
Tech Powers
Energy Field, Haywire Pulse, System Shut Down
Plasma Repeater:
Type Range Mode Accuracy Damage Shots Reload Encumbrance Special
Pistol A Sn/ -10% 3D10 9 1 45 Plasma
Sm(3)
Las-Cutter:
Type Range Mode Accuracy Damage Shots Reload Encumbrance Special
Basic J Sn -5% 2D6+2 20 6 40 Tool, Cutter
Tool - May only make a ranged attack outside of close combat when set to high power.
Luminen Fist:
Range Damage Parry Penalty Special
1 2D10 -25% Luminen Shock, Fist
I've a few comments on the rules from my Tech-Priest article - of course it's up to players how they choose to use the rules, but I've seen quite a few people using them in ways I hadn't intended.
The first is the statline - I deliberately suggested considerably lower stats than most people use with the idea that they should be compensated for using technology. So while a Tech-Priest wouldn't normally have a high BS, he is likely to have a range-finder built into his eye. Or he might not have as high a toughness as other characters, but is likely to have augmentations that make him resistant to toxins and may well have others that help him recover more quickly. If players instead use such augmentations with a regular Tech-Priest profile they can easily end up with a much more powerful character - and the point of the article was to make more interesting Tech-Priests, not more powerful ones.
Another thing is the combination of rules from the rulebook and ones from the article, whereas the intention was to use the rules in DM in place of the rulebook ones. For example, often people use the rules for bionic arms from the rulebook where quality is almost solely related to the amount they enhance a character's strength. My idea was that Tech-Priests could be given advanced bionic arms that do things other than just enhance strength. That idea obviously doesn't appeal to other people, but I'm not entirely sure why people always want arms that enhance strength?
And on a final note, those weapons you've created are rather powerful. That all said, I'm looking forwards to seeing how you model a character with all those augmentations & weapons.
Ah, it seems I've finally screwed up enough to generate a sizeable amount of criticism. Well, 1.25 misses out of 5 isn't too bad.
Normally I would immediately change everything in response, but physically dominating and powerful was actually the intention in this instance [not one that I plan to repeat, however]. I fully understand what you're saying and, were I to create a proper Tech-adept player character, it would certainly be a lot closer to your intentions...but probably not this time. There are a number of weird, semi-formed ideas in the recesses of my mind I would like to see come to fruition and besides, as I said, he's mostly support in actual game terms - not a lot of opportunity to actually dominate. With regards to IGT approval...I probably wouldn't end up using him there anyway; it doesn't really work in my head.
Anyway, that plasma bomb is probably going to blow what remains of his face off as soon as it comes into contact with air, not to mention a lot of time spent aiming to actually hit anything and the long recharge time made even longer after I decide to reduce the maximum power level by 3. High risk, high reward and long cooldowns.
And you'd probably be disappointed with a model; my conversion skills are mostly limited to bolting bits on and switching arms...and my bits box isn't exactly bursting with parts of any use at all.