Mornin' Each,
In possible preparation for the Autumn Conclave I was thinking of a mind-wiped Ogryn as a useful meat shield. I suppose he technically counts as a Servitor , since he's essentailly brainless and has a couple of replacement hands. I'm leaning towards a Dark Mech warband at the moment, so he's likely to be infused with the gribbliness of the warp to some extent as well.
The Ogryn stats as posted in Dark Magenta give what I see as a more flavoursome view and provide an extra injury level to represent the sheer muscle mass involved. However, these are ''functioning'' Ogryn with whatever neural and physiological effect this has.
Servitor stat lines (at work - can't remeber where from) are more human based, but mention Ogryns as being the base for some Praetorian servitor types. This suggests to me they would be very combat orientated and covered with armour plate - but wierdly the stat line is less formidable than the Dark Magenta Ogryn article.
I favour the DM stat line as a base - he isn't armour plated by any means (probably a crude flack vest at most) and is not primarily combat orientated - though obviously on the table-top that will take up most of his time. However I would like to reflect his background with some sort of minor regneration ability countered for example by some chance of - I don't know - chanelling a minor warp entity/vortex, as a result of the reckless meddling of his Dark Masters.
Thoughts?
I'd say go with the DM ogryn stat lines for physical characteristics 100%. For the mental/skill ones (including WS and BS) do a combination of the servitor stat lines or what feels right. If it's Dark Mechanicus than there's a wide berth for variation as opposed to your standard combat servitor. Did they completely mind wipe this guy or was he upgraded willingly out of his desire to serve the dark gods (perhaps he willingly opted out of anesthesia)?
For the regeneration thing it sounds perhaps a tad over-powered seeing as this guy already may have an extra injury level. That said, if he is essentially a mindless musclebound servitor used primarily for loading/unloading of heavy cargo and he's rather slow and lacking in battlefield prowess than it could be balanced. I like the idea of gribbly creeping warp effects but I'll reserve judgement until you've posted something more substantial.
Ah, good point, I hadn't really developed a background as yet - I was getting carried away by the opportunity to chop up the old Warhammer Giant model. Of course ,I may abandon this as the days tick down to the Conclave and I fail to come up with enough models...
True - there is every reason a subject (even as slow and suggestable as an Ogryn) would want to avoid being mind wiped, and my Dark Mech lot are perhaps just on the wrong side of (admittedly very) heretical - depending on your viewpoint - so not obviously slavering minions of the Dark Powers. I wanted a group that could pass muster as adherants of the Omnissiah to most Imperial authorities, but would quickly be tagged as abominations by those in the know. Thought that would make it easier to fit into a campaign.
Agree that full blown regeneration is way over the top, and a minor version dosn't really add to the character does it?
Maybe some form of Warp Strength to suggest the mix of bionics and warp fuelled wierdness would be better; a mechanic that would up his physical stats on demand, but then increase the chance of some unexpected failure, frenzy and/or warp breach. Perhaps some other derivation of a biomancy power, as he already has strength in spades; I shall give it some more thought.
That has the potential to make him very nasty in CC, but then he's not going to be the smartest/quickest bunny, especially as WS is most likely to be in the 40's (he's not equiped with any ranged ability).
Either way, I will need some sort of drawback, Ive never played with an Ogryn character and I want to make sure he's equally likely to be a liability as an asset.
I can see you've dropped the regeneration idea, but if you are adding some chaotic powers, be careful about what the drawbacks are.
Minor warp entities appearing during a game might sound neat, but if that game is already very stretched for time (as any event like this inevitably is) then adding in a daemon to vanquish it may not prove a welcome distraction.
Of course, letting him get possessed and the GM have fun with that is another matter...
I'd suggest playing through an encounter or two with a normal ogryn (even if it's just on paper rather than a proper game) to get a feel for one before you start adding a whole load of extra rules to them - especially ones that enhance their physical abilities. They may be slow and pretty stupid, and in close combat they may not hit all that often, but they're easily capable of crippling most characters when they do hit (and if the first hit from an ogryn doesn't put a character out of the game, the second almost surely will!). Also, the extra damage level might not sound like much, but I've had ogryn take massive amounts of punishment and still fight on.
Thanks- good points there. I'll definately take up the idea of a couple of run throughs to see how the mechanics of playing an Ogryn work, and will most likely try and come up with some warp fuelled 'skill' that avoids upping any physical stats. I think I'll go with Mr Wicks idea of a willing volunteer, so some sort of mental bonus or warding ability might be more fitting.
The drawbacks of unstable meddling are going to be focused on either the GM taking control of the character - the warp fries the brain and so forth - or something suitably catastrophic; I do quite like the idea of a small pop and the Ogryn being replaced by a vortex, along with the chance of bystanders being hit by overlarge chunks of flesh and bone.
I'm a little concerned with adding to the physical stats of an Ogryn with warp abilities... particularly one who has already been modified for duties with the Adeptus Mechanicus (let alone a Praetorian - equivalent to a dreadnaught in many respects).
As others have said, if he trundles slowly across the field, soaking up damage then as he goes then that's one thing, but if you're thinking in terms of a giant Arcoflaggelant or ChronoGladiator then it's probably going to be heavily overpowered unless your opponents make regular use of Marines...
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