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The Piper

Started by Swarbie, December 26, 2010, 07:26:09 AM

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Swarbie

A mysterious being, the Piper follows his own agenda. He manipulates anyone he meets to serve his own ends. He often stirs up long dormant cults of Chaos, bringing them to power, only to watch them fall, rejoicing in the ashes and carefully retrieving the item he coveted from their now-violated vaults.

None know the story of his birth or early life, but those who have somehow gathered some information on him know that he is, in fact, a Slaaneshi cultist. At some point, most likely his early thirties, he was inducted into the Youngling Brotherhood, a group of men who revered Slaanesh's status as the youngest and supposedly therefore the best of the Chaos Gods. When he passed his initiation, his new patron smiled upon him, and gave him a rare ability in music. He was able to create extremes of emotion in his audience, and eventually became able to clearly convey thoughts and ideas through music, after a time abandoning speech entirely.

One night, Slaanesh came to him in a dream and asked him to play for him. Unable to refuse his patron, the Piper played to the best of his god-given ability, and was stunned and surprised when Slaanesh smiled at his music. When he awoke, a pipe made of flawless crystal was in his hand and in his head echoed Slaanesh's command to go forth and make music so that the Imperium might weep.

He left the cult, and began to travel, paying for his way by performing for the traders and merchants who carried him. Wherever he stopped, he would find dissent against the Imperium's rule, however slight, and with his music he would stir it into a fury. Rebellions and planetary uprising followed in his wake; worlds burned in his footsteps. Over time, he discovered his pipe's strange properties and, with great difficulty, communed with the daemon within it. The creature's name was Ha'ama'leen, faithful servant of the Dark Prince. When he understood the true nature of Slaanesh's gift, he was determined to show his gratitude to his patron. Now he not only stirs up rebellion, but also destroys cults that follow Slaanesh's rivals; champions of Khorne, Nurgle and Tzeentch have all fallen before his melodies. From each cult he destroys, from each world he burns he takes a trophy, an item of great power. As he amasses them into a shrine for his dark god, the veil between worlds grows thin. Slaanesh waits, his eyes upon this human, watching for a moment when he might be free to revel in the ashes of an entire galaxy . . .


WS   BS   S   T   I   WP   SG   NV   LD
44   53   52   57   76   74   56   66   32

Equipment- The Pipe, refractor field.

The Pipe: A long thin tube of glittering crystal, the Pipe is the vessel for a daemon that is able to exert a tremendous influence on the minds of those around it. When played, this influence breaks forth at the Piper's wish, causing his enemies to be lulled to sleep or to dance themselves to death. The variety of commands for the Piper's audience is limited only by his creativity; since that is boundless, so too is his power over those around him. However, he cannot force them to cause immediate harm to their own body; this fact does not distress the Piper. He sees such methods as crude, and much prefers the delicious irony of having them attack their own friends or seeing them dance to death; such methods will often mean he is not identified as having been part of the death, allowing him to continue to wreak havoc.

The Pipe is a daemon weapon with the Entrance, Bound and Breathe properties. It has a Willpower value of 62 and can be used as an improvised weapon in close-combat. The Piper may play the Pipe when either standing still or walking. The Pipe can be heard clearly at up to 30 yards and will affect characters within this range. However, it can be heard faintly at a range equal to the listening character's Willpower. If the character is a psyker, they double the range of both effects (heard clearly at 60 yards, heard faintly at a number of yards equal to their Willpower).

Characters that can hear the Pipe clearly must pass a Willpower test with a negative modifier equal to the difference between their Willpower and the Piper's Willpower. If they fail the test, they are subject to the Piper's will as long as they can hear the Pipes clearly. The Piper cannot force them to do something that is immediately harmful to them, such as shooting themselves or jumping off a bridge. However, he can force them to dance themselves to death, walk into the line of sight of a guard armed with a heavy stubber or simply force them to fall asleep. As long as he continues to play, they will continue to follow his will. If he stops playing, they immediately regain their self-control. If they pass the test, they are unaffected by the Piper's will for that turn. If they are still within his area of influence at the beginning of the next turn, they must test again.

Abilities- Mute

Mute: The Piper does not speak, instead conveying his mood and thoughts through music. He cannot speak and takes twice as many actions to 'say' anything. There is also a 10% chance that any character he attempts to communicate with will misunderstand him; they may miss out on an important adjective, verb or noun, or even think they heard something entirely different.
And I saw her body burning,
With it, my world
To dust returning

Kaled

Do the pipes only affect enemy characters? What about characters who cannot hear? Or ones with bionic ears or autosenses? What about pariahs? A Wp test every turn on everyone within 30 yards (which'll include most of the table) means he could just hide and play and play and the probability is that everyone will fall under his spell within a few turns - which will mean a very dull game for your opponents. Other players will have to silence him asap but if their characters don't know what the pipes do then it probably wouldn't be in character for them to hunt down musicians rather than get on with their objective.

In short, I like the idea but think the current version is overpowered.

How do you plan to model him btw?
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat