Felix Spurius
History
Felix grew up on a hive world where he fell in to a gang of thieves and hijackers at a young age. He began to fly getaway ships for them and was quickly recognised as a naturally gifted pilot. Aldir Debum, a Glavian pilot who was being hired to guard and pilot an aristocratic noble around the hive for some business saw Felix speeding through the streets, he was impressed with his aptitude and after some investigating he found him and made him an offer.
Felix flew back with Aldir and was inducted into the Glavian Academy for pilots he rose through the ranks and became a well know and extremely promising young pilot. He graduated with flying colours and became hugely well know for his skills on the flight deck and his cool-headed response to difficult situations of intense pressure.
Felix found the life of a renowned Glavian pilot exciting but he never found that he could earn enough money and he found his fellow Glavians tedious and dull, he wanted out and returned to his home world and used some of his contacts from when he was younger to start up his new life as a rogue trader. Within a couple of years he became known as the man to go to if you wanted to get something, he was known for his efficiency and his quick mind.
Stats
WS BS S T I WP SG Nv Ld
55 78 59 56 79 57 65 85 67
Abilities: Hot Shot, Quickload, Right handed
Equipment: Carapace armour (6) on chest and arms, Flak on all other locations apart from head, Sword, 'Ned' his glavian needle pistol with 18 rounds (stun toxin) and 12 explosive rounds, 4 blind grenades, flight goggles (when worn count as advanced bionic eyes), Flight mask (counts as Re-Breather)
Lurpas Stanum
Lurpas is and always has been one for the saying 'fight fire with fire' and this is what has led him to his problems and banishment from the Adeptes Mechanus he was convicted of crimes against mars himself when he combined alien and imperial technology dirtying the spirit of the machine god. Before he was banished he managed to create his pride and the joy the lightning gun it is a mix of both alien and imperial weaponry.
When Lurpas was down on his luck soon after he had been cast out he encountered Felix who helped him out of the situation. After that Lurpas agreed to help him with the upkeep of the ship and the technicalities of running and outfit like Felix's as long as he was alowed a cut of the profits and to examine all the alien weaponry and technology that passed through.
Stats
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld
63 61 52 61 69 70 93 60 60
Abilities:True-Grit, Left-Handed
Equipment: Carapace on chest flak on all others apart form head and arms, Lightning gun (the rules of which I'm still working on), laspistol one reload, chainsword, Medi-Pack
The Robot (Name still unsure of Clunk or possibly LUCK-E)
This robot is the creation of the combined efforts Felix and Lurpas. The parts were won, stolen and bought by Felix in various games, gambles and deals. It was then pieced together by Lurpas. It helps maintain the ship and has come in handy in many a tight situation before.
Stats (I got these from an article about robots for inquisitor, can't quite remember where though..)
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld
35 35 100 100 36 - 35 - -
Abilities: Force of Will, Nerves of Steel, Rocksteady Aim, Lumbering (cannot sprint and if moves faster than a walk it's a risky action if failed he falls over and must either be righted or pass a Sg test to right itself which takes one turn) Ambidextrous
Equipment: Buzz saw (damage 3D6, reach 1, parry -30% ), heavy stubber, advanced bionic senses (sight and Hearing)
Armour:8 on chest and abdomen, 7 legs and groins, 6 head and arms
I was thinking that at the start of the game you are allowed to set him on objective i.e. protect the ship or kill all enemies past this point etc. and it will follow that until the end of the game. Felix can spend an action setting it a new objective but he must be within line of sight and within hearing range the robot will then take a Sg test and if passed will then follow that new objective if it failed more by more than 10 it will continue with its first objective if it fails by 10 or less it will be immobilized for the next turn as is proceses the information then it will follow that objective
That's all what do you think?
Quote from: mirryhalo on December 14, 2011, 11:01:57 PM
Felix found the life of a renowned Glavian pilot exciting but he never found that he could earn enough money and he found his fellow Glavians tedious and dull, he wanted out and returned to his home world and used some of his contacts from when he was younger to start up his new life as a rogue trader.
What sort of contacts did he have that would give a Warrant of Trade to an ex-pilot who never earned much money? A Rogue Trader's warrant gives the bearer leave to travel outside the Imperium and deal with whatever he finds there with the authority of the Senatorum Imperialis. It elevates him to high rank, roughly equivalent to an Imperial Commander or Astartes Chapter Master. They are granted by the highest authorities, such as the High Lords of Terra. Given all that, it doesn't seem likely that a bored pilot would be granted one, so I think you need to work on that bit of the story some more. Maybe it's not a real Warrant?
Also, a Rogue Trader needs a starship (and quite possibly more than one) - whether it's a transport, frigate, cruiser or some other class, it's going to be at least a kilometre and a half long with many thousands of crew. Plus a Rogue Trader is likely to be assigned a small army of troops plus countless administrators and bureaucrats, as well as representatives from the Ecclesiarchy and Mechanicus - and a whole lot more. Again, these don't sound like things his contacts would be able to arrange for him. And if his Warrant is not real, as I suggested above, where has he got them from?
Maybe the easiest answer is to not make him a Rogue Trader, but instead a semi-criminal fixer with contacts across the sector? He knows where to go to procure almost anything and through his contacts can arrange travel wherever he wants to go by hitching a ride on a starship heading in the right direction, then using his own small ship to make planetfall. Perhaps he claims to be a Rogue Trader when dealing with the nobility and authorities, but has no true claim to that title.
It seems to me that the background could use some expansion. Kaled's points are a good place to start. Warrants of Trade are immensely hard to get.
There is also another question I have about his earlier life, why did he go to the Glavian academy if he could already fly quite well, interplanetary transport is hard to arrange especially if it is for something as frivolous as pilot training for someone who is already quite good.
Ruleswise I would decrease the stats for the robot, especially the ws and bs, this kind of technology is hardly understood and an essentially homemade robot would not have such good 'skills'. It already has compensation for it in his weapons. A heavy stubber fires a load of shots and single hit from the buzzsaw would seriously injure most characters. The initiative shouls also go down a bit, perhaps to the early forties or even high thirties. A robot would be slow but looking at how it is equipped and its strength and toughness it would still be a great threat.
Thanks for the advice guys
Kaled
Yeah I was thinking of having him as more of a person who could get things and was a bit of a dodgy dealer with a small ship than an official rogue trader more of an actual "rogue" trader. The idea that he has a fake warrant I think is good, its more like what I was going for when I said his contacts set him up he's unofficial but knows what's what and where to get it. He's the sort of guy who's a well know unofficial means to get what you want so wouldn't have hordes of people working under him. I guess he's a rogue trader in the respect that he travels picking up rare goods but he's not official in anyway.
I do like the idea of a fake warrant, or possibly a stolen one?
Doinikan
Why he would go to the Glavian Pilot Academy when he was already a good pilot, well the Glavian school is the most respected highest order of pilots in the known universe they are the best and pride themselves on it a person however good he is would not pass up the opportunity to become a Glavian Pilot
I've also changed the rules for the robot and put an extra rule in about speeds he can go
I meant that the academy would be unlikely to accept him. Being the best that institution would have some serious snobbery about offworlders joining them, their students will already have trained in their methods for years making a newcomer extra hard to fit in.
The peson who found him and brought him to the school was a Glavian pilot himself and would have vouched for him seeing his skill and knowing that he had inbuilt talent he was almost his protege so the school woud accept him on the grounds that a fellow Glavian would know what to look for in a good pilot
I would suggest not using the term 'rogue trader' to avoid confusion (except when he's trying to mislead people). Perhaps you could write a few different backgrounds for him to represent different cover identities for when he's dealing with different types of people.
As for stealing a warrant - it'd be incredibly difficult as being the basis of a Rogue Trader's power and fortune, it's likely to be well protected. Still, given a good story it could be a way of giving him a nemesis, the real Rogue Trader trying to get his warrant back. Or he could have won it gambling with an impoverished Rogue Trader, but that's becoming an overused idea. Maybe he thinks it's a real warrant, but it was issued by someone without the proper authority? A corrupt governor maybe? Someone trying to buy him off with a fake warrant and a small (non-warp-capable) ship. That could make for a good story as he cons his way through the corridors of power coming into conflict with the Inquisition in your games.
Quote from: mirryhalo on December 14, 2011, 11:01:57 PMBuzz saw (counts as chain fist in all respects)
Doesn't sound quite right to me. Aside from the fact that the absence of its own powerfield would make it vulnerable to parrying or being parried by other power weapons (although it could be ruled as being able to destroy mundane weapons, but vulnerable to power weapons itself).
And how, exactly, a mundane circular saw manages to do as much damage as a mono-molecular chainblade sheathed in a power field is rather questionable as well.
Also, in simple game balance matters, given it's packing a Strength bonus of +10 already, the total 2D10+14 is... well, yeah, it should do some damage, but that's just overkill.
I'd suggest something more like 3D6 damage (which is still a huge amount considering the strength bonus involved*), but perhaps with either the Rending or Tearing rules.
Both are from my own Revised Armoury - or will be, in the latter case - but I admit the latter has been lifted almost entirely from the 40k RPGs.
The former reduces Base Injury Value by 1 against hits from that weapon (or -X in the case of Rending(X) weapons).
The latter adds a damage dice, then discards the lowest (or adds X damage dice and discards the lowest X in the case of Tearing(X) weapons).
Either is enough to make a weapon more dangerous, but without making it giving a damage roll that makes it impossibly dangerous. The guys facing off against this thing are heroic protagonists and antagonists - even a hydraulic circular saw shouldn't automatically be the end of the road for them.
I still don't think the power weapon trait is really appropriate for a non-power weapon though.
*Frankly, I'd tone this back to more like S100. That's still hugely strong, but strength covers both force and speed - if it's lumbering and slow, then it won't be able to swing its arm fast enough to do maximum damage. And that's still enough to heft the heavy stubber (which, frankly, should weigh more - and does, in my Revised Armoury - but if you're using LRB rules...).Lastly, has it got any armour? Because no armour is listed, and in this case, it would be far more appropriate to give it some decent armour (maybe AV 8) but a lower Toughness (~80), else every last hit will be doing damage levels and injury total.
And if it has got armour, Toughness 155 is excessive. (Part of the big problems with the rulebook's version of Space Marines.)
Kaled
I'll stop calling him a rogue trader then, maybe just a rogue..... and I'm currently thinking about how he could have got the warrant if he had stolen it or if it could be a fake still not too sure which one I prefer
Marco
yeah I was just trying to think what was most like the buzz saw I'll use you're suggestion for the 3D6 damage I'll move the strength down to 100 and toughness down to 100 as well, I've put some armour on the profile now sorry I forgot to put it on earlier
I just noticed one more thing, why does Lorpas have the medic skill? He seems to be very technologically minded instead of biologically.
I'm not sure I like him just being called a 'rogue'. I mean, he may be a rogue but why call him one? I'd call him a 'trader' or suchlike and maybe have a grandiose title he gives himself when trying to impress high class clients. Or maybe some boasts to impress fellow criminals - 'the man who made the Carthax run in less than twelve parsecs' type thing. Things like that would add more character than simply describing him by some archetype.
Donikan
I just presumed that someone from the adeptes mechanus would know how a body works as basic training so that kinda factored that in
Kaled
Ok agreed just Felix Spurius it is then or maybe Felix the Acquirer...
Quote from: mirryhalo on December 16, 2011, 12:20:45 PMI just presumed that someone from the adeptes mechanus would know how a body works as basic training so that kinda factored that in
While they might have knowledge of the human form (although Medicae is not by any means a default in either Dark Heresy or Rogue Trader), that does not necessarily equate to the ability to provide meaningful first aid.
I'd typically restrict the skill to those with extensive experience such as high ranking Tech-Priests who have performed multiple "upgrades" or a Magos Biologis.
Also, an important question - if he created this lightning gun (for which the rules for the Xenarch Death Arc would be a good start) before his banishment, why exactly was he allowed to keep it? Given you describe it as tech-heresy, and likely part of the reason behind his banishment (which is usually fatal, anyway), that seems out of place.
Rather than being banished, it would make more sense if he was still part of the Mechanicus, but basically a highly ostracised radical with lots of enemies who would see him punished for his heretical xeno-tech tinkering.
Basically, on the verge of being banished (or killed) rather than having been banished.
Ok I'll remove the medic from the rules fair point
I thought that they wouldn't have found his lightning gun but the general experiments he was preforming with both imperial and alien tech would have been enough to banish him.
Possibly he fled before he could e condemned and then Felix helped him to hide and gain a new identity so that mechanus agents couldn't find him
You could also say that the original was taken from him but that he still knew how to build it. He could even have taken some of his notes with him while fleeing.