Hi Conclave I've recently got back into playing Inquisitor and wanted some of my characters to be a bit more varied so I came up with a number of additional special abilities some of which I have used others I think would be cool but haven't got round to making a character who would actually use them. Some are light weight versions of existing abilities others are completely new.
I'd like to see what you make of them and also I'm interested to hear any abilities that you have come up with for your games.
Quick Whited:
The character can react to developing situations in a heartbeat
The character doesn't have to pause for breath when walking around corners, going through doors etc (this is how I thought the lightning reflexes ability should have been represented orriginally)
Dare devil:
This character skilfully avoids mishaps when performing tasks that would make other men thinck twice
The character counts as rolling one less 1 when rolling for risky actions
Brave:
The character has seen his share of horrors and has been hardened by them
Immune to fear and terror counts as fear
Tough:
A tough character can take considerable damage before it begins to effect his abilitys
Every location has an additional level that has no effect when lost
Deadly Strike/ Deadly Shot:
This character knows how to get the beat out of his attacks each hit causing horrific damage
When rolling to injure roll an additional damage die of that weapons type and discard the lowest
Precision Strike:
An expert combatant a character with precision strike can land blows with deadly accuracy
May + or – 10 from the location roll in close combat
Brutal Charge:
Replacing precision with brutal force a charge from this character is often fatal
The character no longer gets the +10 to hit on charge attacks but his strength counts a double this may no be combined with furious assault
Acute Senses:
Opponents count as being half the distance away when testing for awareness
Defence Master:
Able to parry a seemingly endless amount of attacks a taking down a defence master in close combat seems to be near impossible
Parry as if armed with a shield but still use weapons parry penalty
Over Power:
This Character uses the weight of his attacks to overbalance his opponents leaving them no time to react as they desperately guard themselves
Opponents parry penalty counts as double for the purposes of counter attacking
(example a sword will be –10 to successfully parry but will only counter attack at –30 rather than at –20)
Scale sheer Surface:
A character with this skill can climb a vertical serface as easily as most men can crawl along the ground
Climbing is not a risky action and the character may climb 3 yards per action
Flee:
+20 to any attempts to break off
Defender:
Often possessed by body guards the defender skill allows the character to protect others from attack
The character my parry attacks aimed at friendly characters in the same combat
Evasion:
Often ducking and weaving the character moves in a way that makes him an extremely difficult target
Double the – to hit modifier for targets movement when rolling to hit this character with a ranged attack
Double Tap:
The Character may add 1 to the semi-auto rate of any non-heavy ranged weapon or may fire the weapon on semi 2 if it has single as its rate of fire
Strong Arm:
Double the characters strength for the purposes of the range a thrown weapon can be uses up to
Cheep Shot:
This character is adept at spotting any opening his opponent leaves and ruthlessly exploiting it
The character may make an unarmed attack that is at –50 to dodge and may not be parried once per turn this attack doesn't receive the +20 to the location modifier as it is just likely to be a kick to the knee as it is a headbut, a sword hilt to the face or a knee in the groin.
Defensive Parry:
By sacrificing the chance of revenge this character can overbalance his opponent robbing their attacks of much of their accuracy
Instead of counterattacking the character may cause his opponents next attack to suffer a minus to hit modifier equal to the amount he rolled under the weapons parry penalty, this must be declared before rolling the parry
(example if a character with a ws of 65 armed with a sword rolls a defensive parry he rolls 60 this is a successful parry but causes no modifier on his opponents next attack but if he rolls 45 this will parry and cause a –10 to hit modifier on his opponents next attack)
Hard:
Pain and injury seem to have little effect on this character
An injury roll needs to equal or beat the characters base injury to increase the locations injury level
Dare devil: I had actually used these rules before, but I stopped - it means that if the character is reduced to speed 1, no actions can be risky.
Two alternatives I'm trying are 3+ save on a D6 against risky actions (about equivalent to the above in terms of percentages for most common speed values), and "Count both 5s and 6s" (not quite as effective as the 3+ save, but
Brave: Done this. Called it "Strong Willed".
Tough: Perhaps excessive. I'm currently trying out one called "Hard as Nails", which gives the player a second Light injury box.
Deadly Strike/ Deadly Shot: I'd force the character to specialise in a single weapons for this.
Defence Master:Excessive. I've tried this before, and if you give those rules to a longer weapon (with the Reach bonuses), then it's very tough. Using the Buckler rules is less over the top though.
Scale sheer Surface:Already something called "Scale Terrain" in the Eldar article for this.
Flee: This is in the Callidus Article under the name "Jump Back".
Double Tap: Not very realistic - for example, it wouldn't do a damn thing for a bolt action rifle. +1 to semi is fair enough, but it's more appropriate to write a new weapon, I think.
Cheep Shot: No. Just no. The first hit, even an unarmed one, is a huge decider in CC, so making any attack that much more likely to hit is unacceptable. A caveat like - If you miss, the opponent may immediately counter attack - would help balance it, but right now, it's just a game breaker.
Hard: This isn't particularly good. It's a bit like a generous of points of free armour, except you take it on the injury total.
Thanks Marco most of the ones you have picked out havnt been play tested yet or were rules I didnt know already existed. I apreciate your responce
Dare devil: good point didnt actually think about getting your speed reduced as the guy who had it went most of the game undamaged
Tough: I prefer your version thanks
Deadly Strike/ Deadly Shot: not sure I agree on this one going to have a few more games with it and see if it would make a significant difference either way
Defence Master: maybe the buckler is a better option taking reach into account
Double Tap: I personally would rather keep it as an ability to show it is the characters skill and training and if he goes down any other charater who picks the weapon up won't get the bonus. I see your point about the bolt action rifle but couldnt it relate to the speed the character can cock the weapon (not sure that is the correct term but you know what i mean) in much the same way a professional trick shooter can empty a single action pistol before most people can get the 2nd shot off and a character with quickload can reload faster
Cheep Shot: I like the idea of a character who is a dirty fighter and is well schooled in taking his opponent by suprise I also wanted to make it so the unarmed attack would merrit being used rather than an attack with a weapon that will do considerably more damage but i accept the mechanics on this one are a bit off I'll go back to the drawingbaord, play a few more games and get back to you on this one.
Hard: Your right probably colud just scrap this one alltogether
here's a few, the first is from the chem dogs and the later ones are from my house rules for fielding Orks
Natural Resistance: the character has long been exposed to poisons and has developed a level of immunity to them. They have a basic 10% resistance to poisoned attacks including gas.
Thick hide: the character has 1 pt of armour to all locations as basic
Might Is Right: any ork may substitute his Strength value for his Ld
Strength in Numbers: orks gain +15 to the nv for every other orkish comrade within 8 yds
Small: enemy characters are suffer an additional -10 when trying to hit Grechin in combat or at range.
I've recently been giving some thought to abilities in Inq. As I was writing my PCs for the GT (which I then missed - :( ), it occurred to me that far too many abilities are purely about buffing the PC and not enough are force-multipliers for the whole crew. Leader and Medic are two, but both only come into effect when things are already going wrong.
I was thinking about something like "Clear Orders" - if the PC uses an Action to give orders and passes a Ld test, then he may allocate any remaining Actions that round to any allies who can hear his orders. These Actions are taken in the ordering PC's turn and the allies may still act in this turn if they have not yet done so.
R.
I like your clear orders idea robey, i think that it should work a little like this (in my head)
Character declares actions he starts by saying his going to use his Clear Orders skill, then allocates the remaining potential actions to characters who would potentially hear and understand his orders declaring what these actions are going to be, all actions are then rolled for.
Is this how you imagined it working? or did you have another idea
Quote from: Endemion on March 26, 2011, 02:01:53 AMDeadly Strike/ Deadly Shot: not sure I agree on this one
It wouldn't make a huge difference (as characters usually have a "go to" weapon), but I think that skills that give mastery of the use of a weapon should be restricted to weapons that they know back to front.
For example, when a character has "Deadeye Shot", I play it so they get it only with weapons they could feasibly have mastered. So, your customised revolver - yes. Some piece of junk stubber you've just taken off a hive ganger... you must be joking.
QuoteDouble Tap: I see your point about the bolt action rifle but couldnt it relate to the speed the character can cock the weapon
Not if it's called "Double Tap". The double tap, as a technique, is only appropriate for certain firearms.
However, call it "Rapid Shot", and then you don't have the same problem.
QuoteCheep Shot:I also wanted to make it so the unarmed attack would merrit being used
But it has the same problem as the original Feint Skill - which was basically: "Roll a WS check, then watch your opponent become a sitting duck".
Any attack that bypasses the opponent's defences needs a reason to not make it a no-brainer. Because of the way only a single point of damage can inflict injury levels, it gives you lots of chances to find Stunned, Prone, or weapon dropped results. All of which are very nasty in CC.
So, it does need a reason to make it less perfect. That can either be because the character makes an attempt to go for what he thinks was a weakspot, then finds it wasn't and now he's left himself open to be hit (i.e. automatic counterattack), or it needs a hefty hit penalty to represent that it's hard to find that opening.
Also, why ban (rather than just penalise) parrying? It makes sense that you can't parry shots in CC (bullets are very fast, and very small), but I can't see why you can't bat a punch aside with your sword.
Personally, I'd suggest this as a solution:
"The character may make an unarmed attack once a turn, looking for weaknesses in the opponent's defences. If this attack hits, the enemy suffers an additional penalty to parrying/dodging equal to the amount the hit roll was passed by".
That way, a good hit roll has him find a big opening in his opponent's defence. A bad one was only a slight opening, and it's easier for them to defend against.
Clear Orders + Commlinks seems like a bit of a game breaker - each turn, one character could get 7 or 8 actions...
Not when the ordering character only rolls one Action, though... But yes, I agree. It wasn't a suggestion for a fully-formed ability, but more an illustration of what I meant by "force mulitplier".
Incidentally, if we're going to have a Cheep Shot, can we also have a Quack Shot?
R.
With Cheap shot have been trying out an I test to make the attack if this test is failed the attack is wasted which seems to blunt it but still keep in the spirit that I originally intended. I didn't want to allow parrying as in my mind the last thing the character is going to do is attempt a punch or kick and defiantly wont attempt a head-but if there is any chance of his body coming into contact with a blade or whirling teeth of a chain weapon etc.
With clear orders I don't think that giving characters extra actions is the right way to go maybe have it represent a lower chance of failing their actions by allowing a character under the orders to have a minimum of 2 actions regardless of how many successes they actually rolled (assuming they have a speed of 2 or more) instead of the usual always get 1 action even if they rolled no successes. In my mind this represents the character not suffering from indecision as his superior has already made it for him better than an actually giving the charter more actions which I see more as the job of combat drugs.
Quote from: Endemion on April 01, 2011, 09:31:20 AMI didn't want to allow parrying as in my mind the last thing the character is going to do is attempt a punch or kick and defiantly wont attempt a head-but if there is any chance of his body coming into contact with a blade or whirling teeth of a chain weapon.
Characters are not flawless calculating machines that can work out what their opponent definitely won't be able to parry. If you try something, sometimes you will make that odd bad call that this master swordsman can parry.
You might not like the idea of your character taking a chainsword to the face because they did something stupid, but writing it out with no solid justification because you don't want your character to make that mistake is pretty poor form.
(And if there's no modifier to represent the opening being hard to find*, well, I'm just going to take it that they're going for whichever half opening there happens to be at the time.)
Introducing an unparryable attack also sets a bad precedent. I mean, my weapon has more reach, I don't even need to get as close, surely it's easier for me to find this mythical gap in their defences! I'm going to have an ability which can do this with actual weapons now!
*Quite aside from that, it practically puts everyone on the same level, with you as easily able to find a hole in an expert swordsman's parries as those of a shambling mutant.
In short, I can see no reason to make this unparryable other than "I don't want my opponent to parry it". Anyway, parrying is harder anyway (no +20% for dodge, and an additional parry penalty), so it's not exactly like it's going to happen a lot if you've stacked all those penalties.
As far as I'm concerned, if a player is prepared to take those extra penalties, they should have the chance to parry your leg with a power weapon, dammit!
QuoteWith clear orders I don't think that giving characters extra actions is the right way to go
I'd suggest having it add action dice for the next turn.
If the character passes 2 actions, they can hand them to another character as action dice for their next action roll.
They'll still only get their normal number of actions to declare, but they'll now have extra chances to achieve them.
Loves Master: It suits many inquisitors that their minions be loyal. It makes it far easier to concentrate on the bullets flying at your face if you are unconcerned about ones flying at your back as well. But few inquisitors have any concern for the psychological effects they may have upon their devoted followers. Having joyfully thrown oneself into the heat of battle in the service of one you are absolutely certain is a living manifestation of The Emperor's will, seeing the object of ones devotion become a messy purple stain on the end of a power fist can be a... traumatising moment. (While within leadership range of his dear leader, the character gains +10 Strength. Furthermore, if the character sees that Master is in dire straights and truly needs him, such as lying unconscious or fighting more than two enemies at once, the character gains +20 to S, T and NV until the master is out of Danger. However, if they see that the Master is killed outright, the character will lose -20 from all stats, and will fail all nerve tests they are called on to make.)
Tech Savvy: Oh dear oh dear. Someone's been naughty. Been messing around with xeno archeotech, have we? Perhaps stumbled on an SCT, that we meant to report to the authorities but sort of accidentally on purpose forgot? Or maybe we've fallen in with a bad crowd of heretical Mechanicus, I know the soirees are fabulous but that doesn't excuse walking off with the party bags. Now we've caught ourselves a bad case of what humanity should not know wot of, and everything's covered in engine oil. Again. (The character is very, very good with technology. They gain a plus 10% bonus to sagacity when studying technological devices. Furthermore, if there has been time to prepare before a mission they can modify one weapon in the squad, making it less likely to jam and giving it plus 1 damage. However, scientifically minded as they are, the powers of the warp make absolutely no sense to them. They are likely to try and use things like 'logic' or 'reason' or maybe even 'experimental procedure' when coming into contact with it. They have a penalty of -50% sagacity when dealing with such stuff.)
Fuzzy About Knee-caps: Obviously the emperor is humanities saviour, and wishes only the best for his children. It is in his interest that those who have turned from his divine light be given the chance to repent and be cleansed, rather than die bereft of his light. When punitive action is strictly necessary, you are careful to place your blows with the emperor's divine love foremost in your mind. (The character may reduce the hit location of any placed shots by up to 30 points.)
Always Has Another Knife: Searched his pockets? His belt? How about his hair? Shirtsleeves then. Shoes? It doesn't matter. Strip this man naked if you like; as soon as your back is turned, a knife will be buried in it. (This character will never be disarmed. If any situation occurs in which he would be considered unarmed, he can spend an action unearthing yet another of his concealed blades. Note that these weapons will not be balanced for throwing, so they would count as an improvised weapon if the character wishes to use them at range.)
Quote from: SpanielBear on April 07, 2011, 10:03:52 PM
Always Has Another Knife: Searched his pockets? His belt? How about his hair? Shirtsleeves then. Shoes? It doesn't matter. Strip this man naked if you like; as soon as your back is turned, a knife will be buried in it. (This character will never be disarmed. If any situation occurs in which he would be considered unarmed, he can spend an action unearthing yet another of his concealed blades. Note that these weapons will not be balanced for throwing, so they would count as an improvised weapon if the character wishes to use them at range.)
Odd's Bodkins!! Would you believe I already have a character with this exact rule (the same name and everything)?
It's a recuring antagonist I sometimes use; a mutant matriarch glorying in the moniker 'Mama Terwiliger'.
Quote from: SpanielBear on April 07, 2011, 10:03:52 PM
Fuzzy About Knee-caps:[/b] Obviously the emperor is humanities saviour, and wishes only the best for his children. It is in his interest that those who have turned from his divine light be given the chance to repent and be cleansed, rather than die bereft of his light. When punitive action is strictly necessary, you are careful to place your blows with the emperor's divine love foremost in your mind. (The character may reduce the hit location of any placed shots by up to 30 points.)
Much as I'd love to see a big haired Shepherd with an oddly threatening side take kneecaps for the Lord, I have a strong feeling that this ability would see more use in making gut shots hit the groin... ;)
How about may "may always modify hit location by up to 10% if this would make the shot hit a limb", or something similar? This could work for a bounty hunter/law enforcement character too.
I second that it should be adjusted so that he hits one of the limbs, as i can see an abundance of headshots, and crotchshots, coming.
How about:
Fencing Master - Has a reach of 4 when using a sword, can strike twice for every action, but damage is halved. Can counter attack immediately after parrying against a sword. Something about making parrying swords easier?
Kneecap
If the PC successfully hits in combat, he may choose to attempt to hit a specific leg of his choice. Make an unmodified WS test. If successful, the hit strikes the chosen leg and counts as causing critical damage. If unsuccessful the hit has missed and causes no damage. In addition, the PC's opponent receives +10 on his next attempt to hit the PC.
R.
Does anyone have any rules for an ability to let someone talk their way out of trouble? Someone who'd try to defuse a fight with humour and charm - that kind of thing...
Aurelius 12 and myself often came across situations like that in our games. His solution was the apropriately named "bullsh*t roll", which I believe was a test against the character's leadership, modified by the likelihood of the opponent responding. Incidently, it turns out that Daemons of Tzeentch react badly to being told they are "not impressive."
I guess if you were using rules like that then something like:
Silvertongued: The character could persuade you that black is white and white black; that this really is a primed melta bomb he's holding not a soft drinks can; and that due to the unfortunate invasion of Hive Fleet Kraken he is unable to access the millions of Thrones resting in his account, but if you give him your bank details he can fund an expedition which will leave you with 30% of the profits.... The character gets a +30 to leadership when in conversation with another character.
Given that the warband I'm working on includes a character with exactly this rule you mind reading freak I endorse it fully. Also he has Word of the Emperor for when he starts spouting rhetoric. He is afterall a damn good con man/smoothtalker.
The group also includes an interrogator/torturer. I do like my interpersonal skills.
Interrogator
The interrogator may add 20 to his Sagacity when attempting to interrogate people, if he is interrogating them between games as part of a campaign then he adds 30 to his Sagacity instead. This is due to years of perfecting his art, and having the time to carry out the interrogation properly.
Interrogate
(This is similar to, but importantly different from the Tau 'Persuade' skill)
The interrogator's sole purpose in life is the collection of information pertinent to his employer's investigations. As such he may attempt to interrogate individuals with a Sagacity of 20 or higher (note this may also take place during part of a campaign using captured characters.)
It costs one action to attempt to interrogate another character. In order to do so, the interrogator must declare that he is going to interrogate his opponent and state what question he is going to ask him. Both The interrogator and his victim roll D100. The interrogator adds his sagacity, while the target adds his Willpower minus 2% for every point of damage he has taken.
e.g. Davin wishes to interrogate Joey Bloggs, asking him 'where d'ya burry the stuff?'. He's already broken Joey's leg (8 points Injury total) meaning Joey has a -16 penalty to his roll.
Davin rolls a D100 and adds his Sg of 77, totalling 103.
Joey rolls a D100 and adds his Wp of 62 then takes off 16, totalling 84
If the target rolls higher than the interrogator then he may act as normal. If the interrogator's roll exceeds his opponent's then the victim must answer The interrogator's question truthfully to the best of his ability.
There is no limit to how many times the interrogator may interrogate a character, however after prolonged questioning there is a risk that the character will break down. Characters being interrogated have a 'breaking point' equal to their Wp/10. If a character is successfully interrogated for a consecutive number of actions equal to their break point they must take a Wp test at half their willpower or break down. Characters who break down must roll on the following table:
D10 Roll Effect
1 Too much to bear The character falls unconscious.
2-4 Can't take it anymore The character is reduced to a shivering, sobbing wreck, they are stunned for D6 turns as they recover from their ordeal. They may not be interrogated again until they have recovered.
5-7 Lights are on, but there's no-one home The character closes down mentally, either through choice or reflex. They are stunned for D3 turns.
8-9 I'll tell you everything man! The character caves in to the interrogation, for the remained of the game they may only act as The interrogator tells them, however he may not order them to attack anyone, or risk their life in any way (GM's discretion)
10 Latent Psychosis The mental and physical torture have uncovered some severe mental problems. Roll once on the Hallucinogen effects table[/table]
Silver-tongued is just the sort of thing I was thinking of. I remember at an Inq2.0 playtest the Persuade/Threaten rules were used quite a bit as characters used words as well as force to achieve their goals and it made for an interesting game so I fancied building a character who excels at that sort of thing.
Hmm, thinking about it Aurelius, maybe rather than increasing sagacity with Interogator, how about something to do with lie detection? It makes more sense that an experienced tortu... umm, I mean information extractor, wouldn't necessarily understand all the technical gibberish his target was spouting, but would have a good idea going by body language and speech patterns whether or not they were being truthful. Another option might be something about being able to cause bleeding?
As for Interrogation, it looks a bit complex, but I guess that would become clearer with play. Table looks good though.
I was wondering if there were any more rules as to how fast talking would work, so I'm pleased to hear that Inq2.0 might have something. The leadership test is a quick and simple method, and I guess currently it's mostly up to the GM as to how they want to implement things.
I have another one for the list, if people aren't fed up of my ramblings:
Plodding: Not the brightest bulb in the lantern, the character makes up in reliability what they lack in sense. This skill can only be given to characters with an SG lower than 30 and speed lower than 4. The character may re-roll a single action die, but may only use that action to continue moving in the same direction at the same speed as they were previously (this movement is never stealthy). If this movement causes them to come into contact with a hostile character, they count as charging into combat. Alternatively, if the character is in combat, the action can be used to continue assaulting their current target.
These are all interesting ideas that give food for thought. I like plodding as a suggestion, since low speed characters can struggle to function at all at times. Silvertongued is the sort of skill that can make for interesting games as characters get persuaded.
I've been wondering about an idea for a work in progress of my own, something along the lines of
Evil Hand : The character's linked servo-skull / suit of armour is possessed or otherwise malfunctioning, causing it to have a mind of it's own. Any action rolls of a 4 must be used on actions by the possessed item rather than the character.
Pretty much all of my characters have some special skill or ability that I've made up for them, but It's usually specific to that particular individual and not realy something that I can imagine being utilised widely by other characters (Magos Blitzkreig's magnetic feet, for example).
That said, I have been toying with the idea of this 'toned down' version of Nerves of Steel:-
Courage Under Fire; this character has some considerable experiance at keeping his head in the teeth of incoming fire, and will often put the mission goal ahead of his own safety. The character may (but does not have to) re-roll any failed pinning check (each check may be re-rolled only once).
Perhaps some mutant or assassin characters can use this:-
Spider Climb; whether through technological aid or innate ability the character can effortlessly scale walls, and even crawl across ceilings! The character counts vertical surfaces and ceilings as open terrain and never needs to test to climb steep slopes, however, if he takes damage whilst 'Spider Climbing', then he must pass a Toughness test modified by the amount of damage he took or fall off, taking fall damage as normal.
Edit:- Now that I think about it, this seems like the ideal thread in which to post the house rules that my little gaming group used to use for martial arts:-
Martial Arts; throughout the galaxy there are countless civilizations, both human and alien, which have developed various techniques for unarmed combat. Obviously, many members of the inquisition often make use of individuals trained in these deadly methods, or perhaps practice them themselves.
Attacking:-
All unarmed attacks from a martial artist count as attacks with an improvised weapon, unless otherwise specified.
Parrying:-
An unarmed martial artist may attempt to parry an attack from an armed opponent; there is
no parry penalty, but when parrying, there is a 15% chance of a randomly chosen arm
receiving D6 damage. If this damage comes from a weapon which adds other effects to the
targets it damages (such as a shock weapon, or certain types of daemon weapons), Then the
martial artist also suffers these effects if damaged in this way.
May not parry power weapons.
Special moves:-
A trained martial artist may attempt certain special manoeuvres which cost a certain number
of actions to complete.
Special moves may only be attempted if unarmed.
1 Action:-
Fast strike; The martial artist strikes with lightning speed, landing a blow before the enemy
can get their guard into position. The enemy is at -20% weapon skill for the purposes of
defending against this attack.
Power strike; The fighter aligns his body to deliver a blow of terrific force. However, the hit is
not as swift as usual, giving the target a better chance to avoid or block the attack. The attack
delivers double damage, but the target is at +10% weapon skill to defend against this attack.
Stunning blow; The warrior delivers a precision strike to a nerve cluster, for an attack which
does little damage, but can temporarily disable an opponent. The attack does half damage,
but if the opponent takes any damage from this attack (after armour) then they are stunned
for 1 turn in addition to any other injury effects.
2 Actions:-
Trip; The martial artist positions his hands on his enemy and applies pressure to send his foe
toppling base over apex. The attack does no damage at all, but if successful, the enemy goes
flying D3 yards in a direction chosen by the martial artist, but which must conform to the rules
for 'breaking from combat' as described in the Inquisitor rule book.
Combo; Building up momentum with carefully placed blows, the martial artist softens up the
enemy for a devastating strike. This attack takes only 1 action in itself, but may only be made
if the martial artist has made at least 1 successful standard attack this turn immediately
before attempting the combo attack. The martial artist may make either a standard attack
(which does not count as a 'standard attack' for the purpose of a three action combo) or any
of the 1 action special moves, at either +50% damage, or +20% chance to hit.
3 Actions:-
Combo; Coming at his opponent like a breeze-block of pain, the fighter rains down blows on
his foe, building up to a devastating knock-out. This attack takes only 1 action in itself, but
may only be made if the martial artist has made at least 2 successful standard attacks
immediately before attempting the combo attack. The martial artist may make either a
standard attack or any of the 1 action special moves, at either double damage, or half
difficulty to hit.
So, what does the Conclave think? These are the second incarnation of our martial arts rules, the first stab at it resulted in lots of limbs being torn off which, while amusing, was somewhat unbalanced (also, I should point out that neither I, nor anyone else in my gaming group actually praticed martial arts, so I apologise for any lack of realism contained herein).
Quote from: Kaled on April 18, 2011, 09:29:18 PMI remember at an Inq2.0 playtest the Persuade/Threaten rules were used quite a bit
It might be what you're referring to, but that game from the 2010 Spring 'Clave also comes to mind.
I think it's the only game I've ever been in where only one shot was fired (which didn't really even do anything), but the threats and arguments were certainly flying about to make up for it!
There was of course a chainsword duel, but it was really rather peripheral to the Mexican stand-off going on inside the Valkyrie.
I think Interrogation is less complex than it looks. Mostly its a simple roll off. For example-
I declare Davin is going to interrogate the lowly messenger he's caught. He's going to ask 'who do you work for' 'where is he' and 'is he guarded'. I get three actions so theoretically get to ask all three questions.
Davin has an Sg of 57 and the Interrogator skill for a total of 77. The victim has a Wp of 42 and no injuries.
Each one rolls D100. Davin gets a 79 and the messenger gets a 36. Davin's 156 easily beats his target's 90 so the messenger tells him- Joey Bloggs.
In the second action they roll off again. This time Davin's total is s measly 84 while the target gets a whoping 109. He ain't talking.
For the third action Davin again asks 'where is he?' once again however he rolls poorly. 108 to the Messenger's 113! Clearly some more persuading is required.
A few turns later the messenger has taken 13 points of damage. I declare Davin will interrogate him asking 'where is he' 'is he guarded' 'is there a password to get to see him' and 'is he armed'. Davin gets all 4 of his actions this time.
The messenger is at a penalty of -26 due to his injuries. Davin passes the first roll 132/43, and learns Blogg's location. The second third and fourth all go his way too. At this point the messenger has reached his break point (42/10 = 4.2~4) and makes a Wp test at half his Wp. Amazingly he passes, however if Davin interrogates him again next turn the messenger will have to take aboher Wp test.
Personally, I'd be inclined to scale it back a little, perhaps put a negative penalty on the interrogator's (interrogator with a small I) test, because otherwise it's an even chance for characters of an equal Sg and Wp, and I imagine that with an interrogator and interrogated of equal skill, there isn't a 50/50 of giving into interrogation after three seconds.
This goes double as the interrogator can beat up the interrogated to increase the penalty on him if it's not working.
The other thing is that as it is, the interrogator just needs to keep asking until the dice come up his way. Perhaps some rule that stops questions being asked over and over without providing further "incentive" to answer.
This could either be by "must inflict X percent of the degree a question was failed by in damage to be able to ask again" or that at least starts to stack up cumulative penalties as it becomes clear that the interrogated is holding his ground on this one and will need to be worn down...
Both those points are true, perhaps a -20 penalty to Sagacity unless the interrogator has the Interrogator skill or is Fearsome or Terifying (the latter granting a +100 bonus).
As for the second point I much prefer the increasing penalties rather than the ' "must inflict X percent of the degree failed by...' which is rather complicated. How about 'For every failed attempt at interrogation the interrogator suffers an additional -10 penalty to his Sagacity.'
Quote from: Aurelius 12 on April 19, 2011, 09:38:04 PMHow about 'For every failed attempt at interrogation the interrogator suffers an additional -10 penalty to his Sagacity.'
Sounds good. It encourages the interrogator to rough his victim up a bit first rather than just going straight in - I'm assuming the interrogation rolls don't really come in until the target is actually refusing to answer, so that makes sense.
Quoteor is Fearsome or Terrifying (the latter granting a +100 bonus).
Interesting idea. I like the idea of the bonus for those, but I'd suggest that if you're testing on those criteria, you'd test against Nv rather than Wp - terrifying the victim into talking rather than beating them into talking.
Quick thought: If there is a general consensus that recovery of WP is a good idea in case of failed psychic tests, then how about a skill like medic to improve that dice roll?
Litanies of Tranquility: When a psyker complains of a really bad headache, it doesn't take much obscure knowledge to realise that they might need more care than a simple shot of Doc' Aesculus's Pain Removing Pharmecium. The character is well aware of the mental stress and tension that psykers go through daily, and has become adept at calming down these manipulators of reality after a particularly bad episode. Either through the study of Ecclisiastical texts, the stories of grizzled veterans, or just a few really awkward chats with the warbands resident mind-reader, the character knows the words and phrases necessary to restore a psyker to normality. Whatever that looks like.
This skill may only be taken by non-psykers, and requires appropriate justification in their backstory. To use the skill, the character must be within five yards of the injured psyker. During the recovery phase, the psyker gains a +10 bonus to their willpower recovery roll, and may restore d6 WP damage instead of d3.
Quote from: SpanielBear on April 20, 2011, 10:34:22 PM
Litanies of Tranquility:
That sounds perfectly 40k, the power of the Emperors Words drives the warp away leaving an eyes of the storm (so to speak :P)
Also gives me nice images of characters having to pass nerve tests in order to recite accurately under fire to help the manic mumbling psyker :P
I hadn't thought of that, but it is a nice idea. :)
I now have this wonderful image of some terrified, newbie guardsman cowering in a fox hole. His sergeant is lying dead beside him, entire head blown off by a stray bolter round, the shelling hasn't stopped once in the last twelve days, there's a particularly bloodthirsty commisar yelling over the vox-thrower that if the regiment doesn't start to return fire he will, and now the sanctioned psyker is clutching his temples and crying tears of blood. It's at times like this one really doesn't want to have to ask oneself "Now does the litany begin begin with "In the Emperor's name" or "In the name of the Emperor"?
I like liturgies, it gets a thumbs up from me.
I've been thinking about risky actions, and how frequently actions that ought to be second nature to certain characters still end up blowing their own faces off. To this end I propose a couple of new rules which represent a character's specialisation with particular equipment.
Grenadier
The character is comfortable using grenades and explosives. When rolling for actions involving grenades they may re-roll one '1' on the action dice for the purposes of determining whether the action was risky. (Note this re-roll will not grant them an additional action regardless of the number rolled).
Explosives Expert
The character has spent much of their life dealing with explosive devices. When rolling for actions involving grenades or other explosives, they may ignore one '1' on the action dice.
Plasma Weapon Specialist
The character has been using plasma weapons for some time, and is aware of the risks and dangers involved. When rolling for actions involving plasma weapons they may re-roll one '1' on the action dice for the purposes of determining whether the action was risky. (Note this re-roll will not grant them an additional action regardless of the number rolled).
Plasma Weapon Expert
The character has mastered the difficult art of handling plasma based weapons. When rolling for actions involving plasma weapons (not including plasma grenades) they may ignore one '1' on the action dice.
Sneaky
The character is adept at sneaking. When moving at a sneaking pace, they may re-roll one '1' on the action dice for the purposes of determining whether the action was risky. (Note this re-roll will not grant them an additional action regardless of the number rolled).
Stealthy
The character is a natural master of stealth. When moving at a sneaking pace they may re-roll one '1' on the action dice. This re-roll may grant them an additional action, however it may only be used for sneaking.
Silent Running
The character not only moves quietly, they move remarkably quickly. The character may sneak 3 yards per action rather than two. This movement is still risky, and only characters who are sneaky or stealthy may take this ability.
So, any thoughts? I know things that minimise risk are generally discouraged, but I certainly don't imagine that many characters will be deserving of such rules. I'm thinking of the occasional grenadier, or stealthy ninja-esque character I encounter, rather than anyone who happens to carry a plasma pistol or grenade.
Plus it's not like the risk is removed entirely- it's just a bit safer for those in the know.
"Re-roll one ‘1’ on the action dice for the purposes of determining whether the action was risky" and "may ignore one ‘1’ on the action dice." aren't actually that different.
Admittedly, the first is not a guaranteed cancellation of a 1, but it does give a chance of rolling a 6 and cancelling out a more serious fail. I've lost count of the number of times I've rolled two 1s and some combination of 2s to 5s on the other dice, only for Heroic to completely cancel it out by coming up 6. (Which is usually awesome.)
However, the latter does have the problem that any character acting at Spd 1 (which does occasionally happen), cannot fail a risky action, which is part of the reason I've personally stopped using the rule.
One variant I have been trying out on Maya (who was failing a few too many risky actions to be able to use her psychic powers effectively) is to count both 5s and 6s against 1s.
Surprisingly, while this sounds like it would basically negate the chances of a risky action entirely, it's actually less effective than Heroic. There's about a 30% chance of the dice coming up risky normally, depending on the character's speed value
Heroic tends reduce the chance by to about a third (again, depending on the character's speed value). The 5s & 6s variant hovers around 17-19%, with surprisingly little variation with speed value...
However, while I haven't looked into it, I expect it dramatically affects the chances how likely it is that 2nd, 3rd, etc actions will both be reached and the dice being risky, so it probably makes later actions in the turn much safer. I'll need to do the maths.
Perhaps the 5/6 might be better yeah. I've never encountered a speed 1 character outside of GM control so in my games that point is somewhat academic. I hadn't thought about the posibility of rolling another 6. More thought required methinks.
Quote from: Aurelius 12 on April 21, 2011, 12:06:53 PMI've never encountered a speed 1 character outside of GM control so in my games that point is somewhat academic.
Not entirely. I've had injury reduce characters to speed 1. It's rare (and usually limited to the toughest characters) but it does happen.
NOTE: Error in previous post. It should have been "to a third", not "by a third".
If the goal is to reduce the risk of catastrophic, blowing your arm off kind of problems, then instead of re-rolling the risky action why not change how the consequence roll works?
For example, if I recall correctly then the grenade failure goes something like: roll a d6, 1= dud, 2-3= scatter dice, 4-5=minor damage, 6= boom. If a character was a grenadier, then instead of rolling d6 have them roll a d10: 1-4=dud, 5-7= scatter, 8-9= minor damage, 10= boom. That would mean that they still have some chance of failing, but doing so wouldn't be as outright fatal as for those without training (dropping from 1/6 chance to 1/10)
Maybe this isn't the kind of thing you had in mind, but it does seem to avoid the 'turning failures into successes' problem.
Got to agree with spanielbear, seems a much cleaner solution than fiddling with rerolls and the like, certainly would help with my grenade based character who blew himself up twice at the IGT.......
The reason I went for the re-roll is because they're basically role-specific forms of Heroic. Personally I find it's less hassle to have a re-roll (or Marco's 5/6 idea) than re-writing the tables for plasma weapons and grenades just for your one character!
Fair enough, I bow to the gods of streamlined gameplay :)