Hey there, figured i've been here for a few days, and should get some of my characters up. I'm building two of them concurrently, the good and the bad effectively, and i've got one model from the bad warband, though the "ugly" warband of mutants may get done eventually, Andrea and Enigma have some mighty fine models.
So, i'll start with Tyr Wen Wokin, the Inquisitor Swordsman i've been converting (Eldar Ranger Model with Marauder shoulder pad as a mask).
Born on the planet of Miya IV, a Feral Planet with an emphasis on fighting to earn ones right in the hierarchy of the planet. When born, each Miyan infant is placed in front of a variety of weapons, the one they clasp their tiny hands onto is the one they spend their life time developing, alongside their own bodies, in order to operate without them.
Tyr was born into the Wokin household, the son of the established Swordsman Wen, took after his father with abandon. However, around the time of adoloscense Tyr began to develop into something more. His strength would often increase sharply, without any apparent control, and was able to react to blows and attackers with almost preternaturally fast reactions. This resulted in Tyr having to spar with men sometimes twice his age. Eventually the Black Ships arrived and found Tyr to be a psyker, however the disciplined nature of the Miyan martial arts meant that he was able to control it to some effect, though not fully. After being taken on the Black Ships, he was found to have extensive biomantic powers, to the extent that he was able to lock onto any bio signatures nearby. Fortunately, due to Miyan training, he was found to be fit to go into Inqusitorial service.
He was taken under the wing of one Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Mihail Bennett, (who intended to use his ability to detect people as a way to track down heretical cultists and his Lord, Marcus Skaro and began his "formal" tutoring of Imperial Culture, something that the Miyan's didn't really know about, their way of life meaning they had more pressing matters to worry about. He took to the learning with the same determination he devoted the his martial training, and began trying to combine his psychic powers with his Miyan based maritial arts, though his preference for his sword meant that his ability with firearms suffered, and has on more than one official occation shown to have some Thorian tendencies. His psychic powers have grown greatly since his induction into the Inquisition, his ability to detect the biological presence of people around him has advanced to being able to sense any disturbances in the area around his own body. He trained extensively in order to be able to combine this power and his own swordsmanship, in order to use the weapon as an extension of his own body. Furthermore, his ability to sense the biology of people means that he is able to read them, using their own body language to determine whether they're lying or not.
After the murder of Inquisitor Bennett, in what appear to be a mugging, yet was in fact much more sinister, and subsequent investigation headed by Tyr, he was promoted to full Inquisitor by Skaro. Since his promotion he has begun some fruitful and ambitious work in the Ordo Hereticus, and is showing potential, whether he fulfills that potential however, is yet to be seen.
He truly flourished during the Bennett investigation, however the battle against the actual murderers meant he lost his precious Miyan sword, his birthweapon, due to a shot which he deflected back into the shooter, the same man who had killed Bennett. Since that day he has perfected the technique, relying on skill more than luck this time. He claimed the fallen revolver, the same one which had been pressed into Mihail Bennett's temple and had it's trigger pulled, and Skaro repaired his sword as a gift, with a few augmentations and improvements from the original.
The rest of Bennett's followers were rolled into Skaro's own, except for the Imperial Guard Preacher Quintus Huss, who has stayed on to carry on "teaching the young Warrior the ways of the Imperium", and Bennett's sniper Shimo Hayev. He has been known to use the Services of one Amagdylae Dervish as an investigator, and has befriended an Adeptus Arbites Judge by the name of Artus Grimm. Furthermore, whilst only young, he is not above the use of Gun-Hounds Ridian Jago, and his partner Elle Huxley.
WS BS S T I WP SG NV LD
81 46 68 61 74 79 64 71 73
Equipment - Power Sword, Carapace armour on Chest Abdomen and Groin, Revolver with 6 shells. Single gas grenade with Hallucinogen toxin, and Hunter's Mask (2 points of armour on front of head)
Skills - Furious Assault, Feint, First Strike, Deflect Shot, Martial Arts (Blademaster, yet unarmed).
Psychic Power - Detection*, Warp Strength, Hammerhand (note, Hammerhand becomes an improvised weapon, so he wont benefit from martial arts at the same time)
*if talking to someone whilst using Detection, his sagacity is increased by +20 when determining if they're lying or not, to GM's discretion of course.
I'll be adding the rest of the warband soon enough, and will even have a few models done O.o, except i'm waiting for the Ranger model to get it's bottom over to my place. Mail order is a bitch.
Quote from: JoelMcKickass on April 01, 2010, 02:26:16 PM...though his preference for his sword meant that his ability with firearms suffered...
There's a bit of a difference between "ability with firearms suffering" and BS 23.
Given that an untrained member of the public has a BS of about 30, BS 23 is a number I would give to someone who actually has some problem that stops them using firearms properly*. Someone who actually has an idea what to do but hasn't really practised should probably be in the 40-50 range.
*Coming from a feral world might prevent mastery. It doesn't prevent someone grasping the basics.Quote...and Bennett's sniper Simo Hayha.
While I complement you on your military knowledge, actually naming your sniper character after the real world sniper with the highest number of confirmed kills is a little too direct a reference, I think.
~~~~~
Other than that, seems fair enough to me.
That was his exact name? Crap, i've got two written down, his real name and the converted one Shimo Hayev, guess i messed up, gotta swap that badboy ASAP.
I dropped it down to that level due to the fact that 3 of his stats are above 70, yet with what you've said in mind, how would 39 sound? It kinda say's he's aware of what to do, yet doesn't put it into practice much.
Reading the background I was scepticalabout yet another master fighter who discovers powers and becomes an Inquisitor, but getting to the stats my concern was clearly unfounded. His Ws is not absurdly high and his psychic power very limited.
QuoteAfter being taken on the Black Ships, he was found to be fit to go into Inqusitorial service.
I think this needs fleshing out a bit. Who decided he should go into inquisitorial service, and as an Acolyte rather than just a sanctioned psyker? I'd suggest that the obvious way of doing this would be to say that Bennitt was there, and when he observed a psyker performing some impressive sword drills inquired into him, and learning of his powerful will, decided to give him a chance as his acolyte.
Though his Ws is merely extreamly impressive, he has all the combat skills. I'd have thought that his training would not be particularly facy, just very good, so if I were you I'd give him a higher Ws but lose the abilities. Or maybe give him one if he has a particular style of fighting (e.g. one of my sword expert characters uses a matched sword and dagger style so has blademaster, another is a fencer so has feint. The best character with swords I have doesn't have any special style though, so just has a really high Ws.)
But maybe you inviosion his training as covering many diverse styles.
I suspect most people who've fire a gun once have a higher Bs than that. I'd say an appropriate stat for having been trained, but being lax in practicing would be low 40's, probably a bit higher in this case as he'd have had expert teachers.
Unless his fitness has slipped conciderably since he left Miya I'd expect his S to be at least 10 higher and his T at least 5 higher.
I think the disaplined nature of his upbringing should result in a better Wp, somewhere in the 80's, especially as it is referenced a few times in the background.
His other mental stats are low too, for an Inquisitor at least. I think his Sg appropriate, he is smart, but not a genius and showing that his common knowledge suffered in his youth in exchange for sword training. Hi I though should be above 70, possibly nearing 80. I don't see a young martial artist as being one of the mentally slower Inquisitor around. And as brave and inspirational as he is, his Nv and Ld are below that of most Inquisitors, though that isn't necessarily a problem.
I think that a psyker may well have an aptitude for an area, even a very specific one, but to have only one limited power seems unlikely. I'd say he his able to augment his biology so would give him warp strength (and it fits the background better) and perhaps regenerate that he can only use on himself. If you want him only to have one power I'd say warp strength is much more appropriate than hammer hand.
On deflect shot, I don't think it is reasonable for many characters to have deflect shot. One exception is Kaled Admech sword mistriss, who could explain it by mothin predicting trajectory calculators plotting the path of a bullet and the precise bionic arms to put the sword in the right place fast enough. The other exception I can think of is psykers, with awareness or prescience abilities, so I would give him detection, or else a power to represent limited foresight, and then I would feel that deflect shot is a plausable ability for him.
Surely he would have a few spare revolver rounds on him. As he doesn't favor guns I recon Marco's compact revolver might be the gun for him.
Quote from: JoelMcKickass on April 01, 2010, 03:16:51 PMThat was his exact name?
Pretty much, at least an Anglicised version of it. The actual version has diaereses over each A (Simo Häyhä) - but I can't remember how ä is supposed to be pronounced in Finnish (although I have a gut feeling it's like the long E sound in Daemon).
QuoteHow would 39 sound? It kinda says he's aware of what to do, yet doesn't put it into practice much.
Sounds fair enough to me. Not that there aren't reasons to give a character BS 23, but they come down to more than "neglecting their training".
Quote from: Inquisitor Cade on April 01, 2010, 03:33:36 PMWho decided he should go into inquisitorial service, and as an Acolyte rather than just a sanctioned psyker?
I'd note that it doesn't say he was taken on as an Acolyte.
And assuming he wasn't, that works for me - usually, the background stories for my characters have them taken on for other reasons, and later promoted to acolytes as the Inquisitor decides that they're appropriate.
Someone being an acolyte from the get-go always seems questionable to me - personally, I think it'd be months or years at a minimum before you could judge people as suitable to be an Inquisitor with any reliability.
QuoteIf you want him only to have one power I'd say warp strength is much more appropriate than hammer hand.
I would agree. More powers is certainly acceptable, but Warp Strength seems to better fit the background.
QuoteAs he doesn't favor guns I recon Marco's compact revolver might be the gun for him.
But in this case, his weapon wasn't chosen based on its suitability for him.
QuoteI'd note that it doesn't say he was taken on as an Acolyte.
Well yeah, but the next sentence is about which Inquisitor 'took him under his wing' and started training him. An if an inquisitor was to employ someone as a psyker, a person only with the ability to boost their strength is not the obvious choice.
Being perfectly honest thats one of my weaknesses, i can come up with Origins, and the ending, yet that middle part always escapes me. I can get from A to C, getting to B is a bit of a challenge, at best. So how would he be selected from the Black Ship? I like the idea that he was taken as a bit of a psychic muscle, especially seeing as how Bennett doesn't have any psychic powers himself.
Okay, as for a re-up on the stats they're not looking like:
WS BS S T I WP SG NV LD
76 46 68 61 74 79 64 71 76
Skills - Furious Assault, Deflect Shot, Martial Arts (again, Blademaster but unarmed, can't be used alongside psychic powers)
Psychic Powers - Warp Strength, Hammerhand, Detection.
Maybe 12 shells instead?
Given his history and that you've taken away some of the abilities, I'd boost the Ws by another 5 odd.
With the detection power he would serve a use as a psychic radar for an inquisitor, so I'd buy that he entered the service with the inquisition as just another henchman but the Inquisitor saw potential in him and accepted him as an acolyte.
Why wouldn't he be able to use martial arts with warp strength?
Quote from: JoelMcKickass on April 01, 2010, 02:26:16 PM
When born, each Miyan infant is placed in front of a variety of weapons, the one they clasp their tiny hands onto is the one they spend their life time developing
- I'm sorry, i'm still trying to get over how awesome that sentence is....
Sweet, i'll put that into the fluff at some point, i like the idea of a psychic radar.
As for Martial Arts and Warp Strength, in game terms it's a lil powerful, but in fluff terms, i see it as being pretty hard trying to channel the powers of the warp whilst simultaneously trying to probe and wait for your opponents weeaknesses. Though, as he gets older and perfects his mental and physical abilities, it could be a possibility...
Thank you Brother_Brimstone ;D I can turn a phrase sometimes.
QuoteAs for Martial Arts and Warp Strength, in game terms it's a lil powerful
Not as powerful as the powersword though.
True, but the powersword is his primary weapon, the martial arts thing is a back up. It's just that in my head i can't see him being able to concentrate on both at the same time, watching to see when a guy is gonna hit you is hard enough, whatching where he's going to punch whilst trying to counter it with another punch and then concentrate on opening a psychic link to the warp in order to make the punch go through ceramite is kinda...hard.
However, i do actually like it, and allowing him to use warp strength rather than hammerhand can be written off as his martial arts mojo being used to focus his abilities. It is interesting i'll give you that.
Wouldn't he use the power, then be stronger without needing to focus for a while, during which time he could fight with all the skills he had before.
As I understand it (mainly because warp strength is a persistant psychic power) you'd have to constantly focus on channeling the power to increase your strength. So its not really a case of do i t once then focus on hitting the guy more constantly focus on drawing strength from the warp.
Of course i could be wrong but thats how i see it.
Quote from: Herald on April 04, 2010, 11:25:28 AM
you'd have to constantly focus on channeling the power to increase your strength.
I quite like that as a way of imagining it for a martial arts character, and think it would be quite fitting. It's like in the old martial arts films where the zen masters have a constant silent focus. You can imagine that the martial artist character has the calm calculated focus of the zen master - in fact you could argue that the character doesn't even know it's a psychic power - he just believes it's his 'Ki' or 'zen'. After all, in Aikido, for example, you are taught that if you use your Ki correctly you can strike much more powerfully etc... Those who truly believe in the Ki of martial arts believe it can do many unusual and amazing things (for example, there is the case of the monks who can voluntarily raise or lower their body temperature through meditation).
Hehe, i just found about 4 sides of A4 on background, ranging from the death of Bennett to the origins of Wokin's name, to the fact he has 2 (Reynard Grimnir), one important aspect fits in with the Detection, when Bennett was killed Wokin was the first one to find out.
With Brimstone's addition, and Cade pointing out what was staring me in the fact (persistant powers), i'll have it so he can use Warp Strength and Martial Arts, but would have to use Warp Strength before Martial Arts.
As for the Warband, i've got a couple of additions, a pistol slinging mercenary who will have an abundance of pistols but very little ammunition (if anyone has ever seen The Boondock Saints, that scene where Il Duche is shooting at the brothers, he has 8 guns but no reloads), a Death Cult Assassin, and a Deputy Enforcer recruited by Grimm. I know i'd never use them all, but they'd all have different skills and abilities, so much like Eisenhorn and Ravenor, they'd have large warbands, but only use them when the need arises.
The badguys warband however, it's just looking like daemons right now...
FINALLY, i've been working on the Adeptus Arbite guy, but whilst doing his background i was painting the Gun-Hound, so i figured i'd do his background and stats first. His background is pretty short however.
WS BS S T I WP SG NV LD
54 71 53 58 72 67 49 71 64
Jago is Left Handed
Equipment: Flak Armour on all locations except head, double barrelled sawn off shotgun with 10 shells, 2 revolvers with 1 reload each, stubber with reload, meltabomb.
Skills: Gunfighter, Deadeye Shot.
Born in the slums of Jural Primus, Ridian Jago was the son of a a low level thug, and the prostitute he had fallen in love with. Growing up in the whorehouses of Jural Primus was unpleasant to say the least, however, Jago's father was nothing if not devoted. He was introduced to the gangs at a young age, who often frequented the brothels, whilst not being put off by the children who called them home. The gangers would often amuse themselves by watching the children fight, betting on which would win.
Jago was always eager to charm the gangers, none more so than his father, and would often try to accompany them as they left. As he grew older, the gangers began to see him as one of their own, however, he never made any one affiliation, being seen as a dangerous youth in his own right. When he reached the age of 16, he turned down his hereditary place in his father's (now a Lieutenant in one of the larger organisations) gang and hired himself out to whomever could pay. This led to his father disowning his son, stating he had "taken after his whore of a mother".
Despite his father's anger at the snub, Jago managed to prove his worth, using the contacts he'd made from his youth to get jobs as a Gun-Hound, a hired gun for gangs who needed extra firepower, and could afford it. Over time, he became one of the highest sought after Gun-Hounds, his experience and tendency to target the known hang outs of those he was sent against meant that people would often pay him to simply leave them alone.
His overt tactics did, however, draw the attention of the Arbites, who could never actually pin anything on him, despite suspecting him of the majority of Destruction of Imperial Property they had encountered in recent years. The Arbite put on the case was one Elle Huxley, who was disgraced after it was found they were in fact romantically involved. Huxley disappeared with the help of Jago and his contacts, and was a wanted criminal. She kept in contact with her close friend Artus Grimm, who believed that she was disgraced due to her unwillingess to turn a blind eye to some of the other crimes, such as the illegal sale of Imperial Armaments which was rife on Jural. Grimm was responsible for introducing both to Inquisitor Tyr Wen Wokin during his investigation of the Bennett Murder, and have been in his employ since, Huxley believing since is once again benefiting the Imperium, Jago simply wishing to keep her happy, and making a tidy profit.
Definately gritty background there! I appreciate the background is short - but Id be interested to hear about how his partnership with Elle developed.
Only one possible quibble, I take it he is not nearing retirement or sneakily took a couple of university correspondance courses - his Sg seems a little high to me for someone who sounds as though he didn't necessarily spend much time at primary school.
Its a personal view, but I like the rule book statement that very few Imperial citizens are educated. I take that to mean as not beyond basic secondary/high school level (literate, numerate, ''religeous'' education/stories about the Emperor, art, gym and woodworking classes only!).
A high Sg to me - anything over 50 - represents those who have dedicated some time to actual intellectual and/or academic development - ie the Ad Mech priesthood, those in the upper Administratum, extensive additional study under an Inquisitor etc etc. These high skills then come at the cost of lower ability elsewhere in the stat line. That high Sg means that as well as being exposed to more arcane knowledge, there is a little more (I stress little) mental disipline - ie basically smart types might think things through a bit more.
A characters ability to pick locks, pilot a lander, run a business - do all the things that they would ''know'' about through life experience, I expect the GM to allow or modify the roll in some way.
Edit: sp
I can see what you mean about the Sagacity, i'll drop it by around 16 points, he is just there for the muscle.
The relationship with Elle will be explained when i do her back story, it's something that's affected her more so than him, the downside is that i probably wont get onto her's for a while, i've got the model of Wokin to do, and then Grimm's model and background (which is nearly done), before i even think about ordering her.