The Conclave

Bored. Posting profile for the Kaede Mack I've been working on.

~~~~~

... sssssshh, don't say it so loud. You don't wanna be seen to be looking fer 'im. He'll find yer, or tha 'Forcers will, and I dunno which is worse. I ain't telling you nothing. 'S 'fer your own good.

'Ow much? Sure, I'll have fifty Thrones off yer if yer gotta yerself a death wish.

Whoa, where'd yer get tha? Tha's mint fresh - yer from tha upper hive?

'kay, 'kay, ferget I asked. Right, if yer gotta find him, last I 'eard, he could be found in one of tha bars down in tha underhive. Jarrak's joint on tha 33rd levvel.

Nah, I dunno what he looks like. He wears a mask o' some sort - hides all 'is face and 'is voice. Still, yer'll know him when yer see him. He's got hisself a long coat, weapons tha' I ain't e'r seen the like of - musta had 'em crafted special - and an 'at I weren't 'alf minding myself. But what'll do it for yer is that he's wrong ter look at, like 'is soul knows he's a killer and wants ter warn yer ter start running.

Tho' if yer gotta job for him, he'll get it done - he doesn't stop. Bullets, blades, 'and grenades, lasbolts - just shrugs 'em off. But don't be sure yer'll get yer target back alive...

~~~~~


Kaede is Ambidextrous
Skills: Heroic, Swordmaster, True Grit
Traits: Phi Level, Hard as Nails, Plain Dumb Luck.

Weapons: Heavy Pistol (with 15 rounds), Sub machine pistol (with three reloads), Hale sabre, Knife
Grenades: 2 Frag, 1 Krak
Armour: Carapace on chest and abdomen. Flak on all other locations except head.
Equipment: Gas mask, Reloading rig for Sub Machine pistol, Monocular Range finder, Nice hat.

Swordmaster: When using his Hale Sabre, Kaede's subsequent parries are taken with the Buckler rules, (3/4 WS, 1/2 WS, then 1/4 WS for all remaining parries).

Hard as Nails: Injury appears to barely phase the character, and wounds that would leave most men screaming and writhing in agony hardly slow them. The character has an extra level of light injury on all locations.

Plain Dumb Luck: Once per game they may re-roll any one Difficulty test and choose to keep either result OR may force a -60% modifier on any opposing character’s roll that directly affects the lucky character OR immediately negate any risky action.
GM’s must be prepared to judge if there is any incongruity in whether the character is affected by a roll.

Phi Level:
The character is a weak psychic null. Any successful psychic test for a power directed at the character must be re-rolled. This re-roll will not cause a psychic overload.

Ranged Weapons:

Name	Type	Rng	Mode	Acc	Dam	Mag	Rld	Enc
Sub Machine Pistol	Pistol	A	Sg/Sm(4/5)	-	2D6+1	20	2	15
Heavy Pistol	Pistol	B	Single	-	3D6+3	1	2	20

Reloading Rig: May reload appropriate weapon one handed.

Hale Sabre: Manufactured from materials similar in nature to those found on the Lathe Worlds, the Irnal cluster and the Oligean nebula - exceptional durability, hardness and resistance to effects of power fields - Hale blades cost a king's ransom, but are amongst the finest weapons in the Carthax Sector.

Reach 3; Dam 3D6; PP -5%; Cannot be destroyed by power weapons.

Nice hat: The craftsmanship is exquisite, and other characters must have the Philistine trait not to be impressed by his hat. Effects of being impressed by his hat include envy, dissatisfaction with their own headwear (GM’s discretion to ignore if they also have a nice hat), and wondering if it would fit them.

~~~~~

As a quick note, he's designed as a lone wolf, which is why he's a bit of a badass and has skills like True Grit, Hard as Nails, Plain Dumb Luck as well as minor psychic immunity to stop him going out easily.
There's not much in the way of background, but then he is a Mack, and is supposed to be vague and mysterious.

Model on the way - eventually.

He looks appropriately bad-ass, I have to say. I like the Hale Sabre and Reloading Rig, they're nice touches.

Although I do feel a war of the Nice Hats coming on  ;) . Inquisitor Prometheus Steel is very proud of his. It's pointy. And has a feather.

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on April 21, 2011, 04:09:21 PM
Bored.

And you haven't commented on my character thread?! I'm hurt!  ;)

Gentle hints aside, I like him, as you say he's rather high up on the badassery scale (a 7.3 in fact) but then as a one-man-band he ought to be really.

My one question would be why the heavy pistol and the SMP? If the heavy pistol is sort of a coup-de-grace sort of thing then that makes a little more sense, and the sabre/SMP combo seems more interesting and gives him more versatility. Given his leaning towards the blade, maybe you could have a form of ambidextrous that applies only to swords? Likewise, the knife seems somewhat redundant in the face of everything else.

I imagine the only complaint I'd have is that with all the boosts he has to his defence, he's going to be exceptionally hard to put down- maybe it's just my luck but I've seen my warband of three pretty much go down in a single turn, and I suppose for the sake of balance he might be a little too tough. I think it's the plain dumb luck- it just feels a tad excessive.

Everything else I like!

Quote from: Aurelius 12 on April 21, 2011, 05:54:47 PMAnd you haven't commented on my character thread?! I'm hurt!

Trust me, you do not want me making comments on character threads while I'm that particular kind of bored. Refer to the rules for his hat for the approximate sensibility of the reply you would have got.

QuoteMy one question would be why the heavy pistol and the SMP?

I see him using the SMP and sword mostly (as that is how he is modelled, holding both - although I am considering adding a Chainblade to the SMP) - but he's based off the Eldar Ranger, and there's a pistol grip sticking out from under the Ranger's coat.

Between removing it or giving him another weapon, I thought it would be fair enough to give him something with a little more punch. After all, he is a one man band and has to be able to handle whatever range of threats on his own.

QuoteLikewise, the knife seems somewhat redundant in the face of everything else.

Redundant as a weapon, yes. As part of his character, no. Many of my characters end up with a knife on their equipment lists simply because they wouldn't consider not having a knife for whatever reason.

Perhaps it's a last resort, they like weapons, it means something to them and/or it's a tool.
And I know I'm not exactly an example of a mentally well balanced person, but I have five on my person as I type this. Hell, I had them on me at the IGT.

*Cue everyone suddenly cancelling on the Autumn Conclave*

Saying something like that immediately says something about me as a person. Probably the wrong thing (you're probably all thinking "Psychopath") but it says something. In my case, it's actually an autistic obsession with always having tools.

To list the various tools about my person: Two large multi-tools (one with a belt of 11 screwdriver bits), two mini multi-tools, a penknife, two multi screwdrivers (one for larger screws, one for smaller screws), scissors, a magnifying glass, a compass, a whistle, two torches, a laser pointer (needs new batteries though), a reel of electrical tape, a tape measure, mobile phone, a cigarette lighter, a mechanical pencil (B leads), three erasers, a four colour multi-biro, a 16GB memory stick, a comb, six elastic bands, nine hair ties, three dog poo bags, a wallet, a watch, a leather bracelet (which gets used as an emergency oven glove) and two 300 mg Aspirin.
But I've run out of string (proper fibre string, not plastic faux string), and I will need to buy more - as well as more Aspirin.

What people carry, even if parts of it might be redundant 99% of the time (and quite possibly even more so under the specific circumstances of an Inquisitor game), can say a lot about their personality. And in my case, the size of my pockets.

So, I don't particularly care about the apparent redundancy of minor trinkets on a character's equipment - spare weapons, keepsakes and the like give interesting ideas about who they may be. Indeed, I intend to add more trivialities, a way of giving hints about who this Kaede is without outright stating anything.

QuoteI imagine the only complaint I'd have is that with all the boosts he has to his defence, he's going to be exceptionally hard to put down

Boosts or not, he is still only a T60 character in moderate armour. Hard as Nails lets him shrug off light damage, True Grit might give him a second shot and PDL might save his butt from those occasional major misfortunes, but it still won't take that many bullets his way to give him a very bad day.

But as he will be my only character on the table, he does need to not be put down by a lucky shot - else it's the end of that game for me. In fact, I'm not even sure I shouldn't give him a rule that lets him recover from stunning on a T test so he doesn't end up seeing stars for a huge chunk of the game.

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on April 21, 2011, 11:29:07 PM

To list the various tools about my person: Two large multi-tools (one with a belt of 11 screwdriver bits), two mini multi-tools, a penknife, two multi screwdrivers (one for larger screws, one for smaller screws), scissors, a magnifying glass, a compass, a whistle, two torches, a laser pointer (needs new batteries though), a reel of electrical tape, a tape measure, mobile phone, a cigarette lighter, a mechanical pencil (B leads), three erasers, a four colour multi-biro, a 16GB memory stick, a comb, six elastic bands, nine hair ties, three dog poo bags, a wallet, a watch, a leather bracelet (which gets used as an emergency oven glove) and two 300 mg Aspirin.
But I've run out of string (proper fibre string, not plastic faux string), and I will need to buy more - as well as more Aspirin.

Christ you are bored!

Other than top notch character! I remember seeing the wip at he IGT looked absolute class :)

Course, you could reduce the amount you need to carry if only there were such a thing as a sonic screwdriver... or increase how much you carry if you had Time Lord clothing!

Wasn't there a Girl Genius-referencing character recently with a Nice Hat as well? None of my characters even have hats...

QuoteNice hat: The craftsmanship is exquisite, and other characters must have the Philistine trait not to be impressed by his hat. Effects of being impressed by his hat include envy, dissatisfaction with their own headwear (GM's discretion to ignore if they also have a nice hat), and wondering if it would fit them.

If I ever play you (unlikely, being an aussie), my characters will have an almost irresistable urge to acknowledge the clothing in question before any resultant shootout.

(Deathly Silence as two figures stand in the middle of an abandoned warehouse):
Inquisitor Koth: *nods at hat* Nice Hat.
Mack: Thanks.
*Queue all hell breaking loose*


Otherwise, he seems quite well balanced.

Quote from: Shannow on April 21, 2011, 11:54:06 PMOther than top notch character! I remember seeing the wip at he IGT looked absolute class

Ultimately, most of this was finding a use for the Ranger model - it had once been a character I was no longer happy with, and not being inclined to Ebay, I thought I might as well put it to work.

It's not exactly a major conversion - but then, it is a bit of a pig trying to do much with the Ranger, because the body and legs are all one piece. I could've remade the arms, but I did like the way they had been on the previous model (and I would've had to find to find something else to do with them!)

Quote from: DapperAnarchist on April 22, 2011, 12:17:42 AMor increase how much you carry if you had Time Lord clothing!

How exactly do you think I fit all of that into my pockets?

QuoteNone of my characters even have hats.

Then you have some very deprived characters.

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on April 22, 2011, 12:00:04 PM

QuoteNone of my characters even have hats.

Then you have some very deprived characters.

I am now tempted to write in "unseen suspenders" as equipment.

Rumours about this character nocturnal habits are rife, and any movement action may cause opponents to freeze as they attempt to glance at his ankles. In certain circumstances it may result in them moving directly toward the character as they are enveloped with a peculiar feeling...

That aside I like the character.

R.E the amount of kit. That all makes sense I suppose, as I mentioned in the meaningless trio thread I've started taking a rather streamlined view to kit in my campaigns, assuming that various elements such as knives, vox devices are all taken as standard, at least if the characters have a base of operations.

Perhaps its just the style of campaign I play/run but I don't tend to balance characters so that one person can go toe to toe with a whole band- sure they can try, and in certain circumstances they may have to, but that's a massive risk and they'll go down as easily as any other character would. Giving them various extra defences feels a little artificial to me, but then that's just the way I tend to play!

Quote from: Aurelius 12 on April 22, 2011, 05:47:40 PMI don't tend to balance characters so that one person can go toe to toe with a whole band.

And nor do I. He is not balanced to go toe-to-toe with a whole band, he is balanced to be moderately more competent/tough than a character I expect to have a warband to help them.

He is probably the better of an average character, but not even close to a match for two - unless played interestingly and intelligently.

QuoteGiving them various extra defences feels a little artificial to me

Not really. If you look at it from an in-story point of view, he's not a badass because he fights on his own, he gets away with fighting on his own because he's a badass.

I could pose all sorts of reasons for why he's unusually tough.
Perhaps he's a mutant, wearing a mask to hide that he has no lips and long gloves to cover hands sprouting tough scale plates. Or perhaps he's had his body interlaced with biological implants - after all, he does seem to have a hell of a lot of money, and it can't all have come from bounty hunting, surely? Perhaps he's not entirely human, the missing part of his soul already traded away to daemons in exchange for some of their "gifts". Perhaps he has already seen the moment of his death, and knows that this pain cannot be his end. Or maybe, just maybe, he's the real Kaede Mack - the legend that inspired all the imitators.

I don't know, and I don't want to. That is, after all, the point of Kaede Mack.

I think the pooint I was trying to make is more that my lone-wolf characters are barely any different from my regular ones; I ask myself if I had a band of two or three of these guys would I consider the group overpowered, and if the answer is yes then I generally tone them down a touch. Obviously there are extenuating circumstances in some cases- for example a band of ogryns, servitors, or assassins would be pretty powerful but then the point is these guys fill a specialist niche, and so I'd expect a high BS or Toughness etc. This Kaede is by the very nature of his stats a good all-rounder, and that's fine; it fits the background perfectly well. My only point is that he looks like he'll be more than a match for most warbands, but again that might just be due to how things work on my table!

Other than that, I look forward to seeing him, especially his hat!

Quote from: Aurelius 12 on April 22, 2011, 09:26:02 PMI ask myself if I had a band of two or three of these guys would I consider the group overpowered

To be honest - no, I wouldn't. I do have characters in a similar league to him who have been used perfectly successfully with warbands.

Silva or Kai are in a similar league to him in skill and damage potential, if slightly behind on toughness - both have lost their fair share of scraps.

And as far as survivability, Jax has T65, Regeneration, True Grit, Feel No Pain and Hard Head. Even though she's unarmoured, she's tough on an entirely different level - but it's quite possible to do her enough mischief to get her out of your hair. Well, for a while, at least.

New skill:

It would look better on me
When the character kills an opponent in close combat, roll a D6.  He must spend this many Actions removing an item of clothing (not a weapon, item of equipment or anything with AV >2) and putting it on.

R.

Quote from: precinctomega on April 25, 2011, 12:54:44 PM
New skill:

It would look better on me
When the character kills an opponent in close combat, roll a D6.  He must spend this many Actions removing an item of clothing (not a weapon, item of equipment or anything with AV >2) and putting it on.

R.

Good lord, that's brilliant. An incredibly vain Rouge Trader (a Rogue Trader who usually ships cargoes of very expensive cosmetics) springs to mind . . .

New character? Methinks it be so.