The Guild

[DapperAnarchist]

Sure Strike and Reaper from the Istvaanian sourcebook would both be useful - on representing a precise strike, the other broad sweeps of the knives.

[Swarbie]

So, I slept on your problem, Dust King, and a possible answer came to me.

Butcher
The character has studied human anatomy all his life, and knows how best to deconstruct it. In combat, his blades flash like lightning, slicing muscles, severing tendons and puncturing arteries with contemptuous ease.
When using knives in close combat, the character counts his opponent's Base Injury Value as being one lower than it actually is. For example, a character with a BIV of 6 would count as having a BIV of 5 against this character's close combat attacks, provided he is attacking with a knife/knives. This rule does not apply to Power Knives, only ordinary blades.

[MarcoSkoll]

I'm not sure that has the necessary punch behind it.

Knives do so little damage that even with that bonus, it's unlikely they'll do enough damage to do two injury levels. (Almost zero when armour is involved) You'd need at least -2 to BIV to make it reasonably worthwhile, and some ability to allow them to handle armoured foes.

That said, I find simply making it so knife fighters can land a heap of attacks to inflict a load of injury levels one by one is a perfectly valid way of making a lethal character. (As lots of hits also wears down the opponent's parry/dodge chances, particularly so). Some kind of parrying bonus can help here, to add counter-attacks.

[Kaled]

I don't think I've ever really used them (most of the characters I commonly use like to keep their distance from their foes), but the 'Up-close' rules ought to give an advantage to someone armed with a knife. They'll have a reach advantage and their opponent will find it more difficult to avoid being hit.

[Inquisitor Cade]

Regarding the initial topic, while I like a lot of the idea there are a few things that make me oppose it overall.
The being older and arguably superior to the Inquisition isn't appropriate for a fan made, non-canon, institute in my opinion.
The latent psychic powers that cause identical abilities in the vast majority of the assassins without any psychic risk nor danger of subjection to all the imperial protocol to psykers disregards the canon for convenience.
The 'against religion' stand point is also compatible with them being an imperial group, or acting majorly within the imperium.

I thought of something that would sort these issues though. What if the guild members weren't human but a very humanoid alien species, or a race with alien and human ancestors, resulting in the varying strength of the psychic based powers based on the purity of alien decent? The skill bleed, sight, part the crowds etc, would therefore be latent abilities of the species psychic awareness rather than convenient rules with little or no fluff justification. Their viewpoint, atheism, is entirely plausible, and they could look almost human, strange irises, slightly disproportionate limbs or something else barely noticeable, and not suspect.

I'd also say the stats are excessive, but I'll see what you think about what I've said about the concept before I attack the execution.

All that said, I too like the assassins creed franchise and encourage you to incorporate it into the 40K universe in some way, but my guideline would be to twist Ass Creed to fit, and by no means twist the 40k setting to help it fit.

[Swarbie]

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah there a few incongruities with the 40k canon.

I'm still not sure about the background to the origins of the Guild though. I was thinking on it and a little verse popped into my head that I still have no idea about, but it sounded cool. Maybe someone can clue me in on where my subconscious is going with this? 

"At the Heart of the Guild sit the Men of Bone.
The Men of Bone on their Thrones of Stone.
The Bone Mens' Stone Thrones make you moan;
Once you've Joined the Guild you're never Alone."

- Rhyme taught to children of Guild members.   

[Dust King]

Since other people were interested in assassins I thought I'd post a number of rules I came up for them.


Assassin strike: any role of maximum damage causes the opponent to test for system shock
Precision: attacks with the concealed blade count BIV at -2 and ignore D6 armour
Counter Expert: all counter attacks have double chance to critical


The Sight: The assassin becomes aware of the basic details of everyone in their line of sight (basically if they're hostile or important to the mission, little else) it takes a turn of concentration to activate or deactivate. While active the character suffers a 50% penalty to awareness tests. Also when activating it take a Wp test or the user will start to suffer visions and memories. If the Wp test is failed roll a D10 and apply the result for a turn unless specified. Strong psychic activity, emotional stress and memory triggers can also result in a roll on this table as GM sees appropriate.
1: Prey; randomly select a character in LoS, the assassin now believes they are their target.
2: Mark; randomly select a character in LoS, the assassin believes they must follow them undetected.
3:Pick-up; a random piece of terrain now contains an important item, they must retrieve and protect it
4: Thief; randomly select a character in LoS, the assassin believes they stole an object of importance and must retrieve it
5: Flee; the assassin must attempt to escape imagined pursuers
6: Age; the assassin begins to feel weary and sore, lose D10 toughness for D3 turns
7: Loss; the assassin witnesses the death of an imaginary companion
8: Awe; the assassin witnesses a profound memory, they are stunned for D3 turns but gain D10 to Wp for the game
9: Skill; the memories of an old master enter the assassin, add D10 to Ws and Bs for D3 turns
0: Insight; the assassin gains a hint of the immediate future, they gain the just plain lucky ability for the game

Might be useful if anyone else is looking for material or rules to modify.