1st character - Pathfinder

[TJ-Flames]

Hi Guys

I'm new to the conclave.
Recently some of our local gamers her in South Africa have shown interest in trying out the game, so we decided on Inq28 as a start, as everyone has access to models and terrain.

Thus I'm starting to whip some char's together, unfortunately background will have to come later, as a want to make a couple of playable chars first, and will flesh them out later.

So here goes my first attempt:
I'm using the vostroyan on the left as a pathfinder.


WS  BS  S    T    I    Wp  Sg  Nv  Ld  SP
55   85  55  60  70  60  60  70  50  5

I used the pathfinder and guard vet stats as a base.

Equipment:
Carapace armour-chest
Mesh armour-rest of body(arms, legs, abdomen,groin)
Closed Helmet-Advanced eyesight, Gas Mask, Nightsight

Long Rifle+Infrascope

Should I give him a pistol ass well, or a knife? And what about grenades?
Is his equipment overpowered?

Abilities:
Camouflage (Urban)
Crack Shot
Rock Steady Aim

This guy is supposed to be a sniper. So what do you guys think?

[Sarlen]

Well,
WELCOME TO THE CONCLAVE
(I'm not sure, if I should do it, would rather be the job of someone who's been here for longer)

There is something, that makes commenting rather hard, you didn't write any background, that explains who he is.

[TJ-Flames]

I understand it is tough without background, as it has a huge influence on the char, thing is, I've got 15 or so char I need to do stats and equipment for, and once I have enough to use in some games, I'll start giving them all backgrounds.  So V1.0 chars are just to be usable/playable/balanced. V2.0 chars will be the revised complete ones with background.

[MarcoSkoll]

That doesn't really help. Inquisitor is a very character based game, so regardless of the reasons for not having the background, it's hard to critique a profile in the absence of it. Most of us actually start with the concept and background, then write the stats.

However, I'd say that by the normal Conclave standards - around here, we tend to prefer to play with stats based off the descriptions in the back of the book, rather than the higher sample statlines in the back, because characters who don't excel at everything make for more tense and interesting games - a few of his stats are pretty high.

It seems to be standard fare to give snipers and sharpshooters a very high BS. However, unmodified BS represents someone who is good at snapshots, and sniping is mostly about taking your time to make the shot really good.
For that reason, I'd normally give a sniper a BS in the 60s, but give them a skill that increased the bonus they got from aiming to +30% per action. This is far more representative of the kind of shooting that snipers do.

Next, I 70 is Speed 5, and it's usually a good idea not to have too many Spd 5 characters going around. If he's supposed to be "the quick one" in the warband (although as a character whose job description is "sit very still for ages until there's finally something to shoot", a sniper is an unlikely candidate to be "the quick one"), that's fine, but otherwise I'd nudge him down to a high Spd 4.

Wp and Sg: A 60 on both of these stats implies considerable training.
Bear in mind, Sagacity is not just "intelligence", it has a high degree of education and knowledge built into it, so Sg 60 implies a character who has, while perhaps not the equivalent of higher education, a level of dedicated learning that is unusual in the Imperium, and thus quite unlikely for a sniper.
The Wp is a bit less out of place (a soldier is likely to have a higher Wp than Sg), but would need some justification in the background to explain why he was possessed of such strength of mind/personality.

Ld: Hmm. While I'd give a scout or sniper a lower leadership than most, Ld 50 is pretty low for a trained soldier, so I'd bump that one up a bit.

His Skills are okay, but I'd say Rock Steady Aim was unusual for a sniper - they don't usually blaze away on semi-auto, or try to keep their aim while moving, so I'd recommend dropping it. It seems a bit out of place and not really likely to get used.

Also, as you'll probably get a comment about "Inquisitor is a D100 system, not a D20 system" anyway, I'll make it. Stats shouldn't just be multiples of 5, as it can make the character feel more like a generic "example" statline, rather than an actual character.

Anyway, that's not an unfair statline as is (and very modest compared to many we get from first timers), but I would recommend looking into the more modest statline approach.

As far as his Equipment - perfectly fair. A pistol and/or a knife would be perfectly fine (most characters have at least a token close combat weapon).

~~~~~

Now, as far as Inq28, it's a perfectly valid way to play the game, but it does have some quite easy pitfalls.
Here's my basic primer on the subject:

- Inq28 is fine as long as players:
1) Don't just pick Thomas, Richard or Harold out of their Imperial Guard army, and realise that their models should have more character than just being a faceless goon (Convert them! Make them different!)
2) Understand that despite it being really easy to have Space Marines or make models wearing power armour and toting boltguns or power swords, that these things are devastatingly powerful in Inquisitor and should be kept to a minimum. (And full squads of Devastator Marines are definitely out)
3) Don't overload the table with models. Smaller models make it seem lots easier to have 30 characters on the table, you shouldn't really have more than 3-4 per player, and more than 10 in total can really make the game crawl.

Inquisitor is not designed to handle masses of faceless surly goons with plasma guns, and using smaller models doesn't suddenly change that.
The game rewards moderation in character design and equipment, but punishes arms races where everyone is trying to have the most powerful models with uninspiring and usually brutally short games.

[TJ-Flames]

Pathfinder
WS BS S   T   I    WP Sg Nv Ld SP
55  67 54 60 57 61  53 63 59 4

Equipment:
Carapace armour-chest
Mesh armour-rest of body(arms, legs, abdomen,groin)
Closed Helmet-Advanced eyesight, Gas Mask, Nightsight

Long Rifle+Infrascope
Either a laspistol, or a revolver
Knife

Abilities:
Detection
Camouflage (Urban)
Crack Shot
Deadeye Shot
Improved aiming(+30% Acc per action spent aiming)
------------------------------------------------------------------

All my chars I'm gonna use, I specifically, picked, built for use with Inquisitor, nothing straight from an army. Plus I play Space Marines, so not very usable LOL, I'm gonna do a scout though, will put info on later.

I have access to plenty of superior wargear, but I understand they are very rare in the regular Imperium, auto- and lasweaponry is Imperial standard.

I've recently read the Ravenor omnibus as well as the first 2 Dark Heresy Novels, so I've got a reasonable idea of what wargear gets used, and what not so much.

[MarcoSkoll]

That looks better. I'd say that it's quite a lot of skills now, but I've had characters with more.

All my chars I'm gonna use, I specifically, picked, built for use with Inquisitor, nothing straight from an army.

Sounds good. Just make sure any other players get the message too.

I have access to plenty of superior wargear, but I understand they are very rare in the regular Imperium, auto- and lasweaponry is Imperial standard.

More or less. It's the weaponry of the average citizenry, so it's the ammo you can get and the weapons you use - at least in part because you then don't stick out like a sore thumb because you're carrying around an expensive and rare weapon the whole time.

Bolters, power swords and the like are distinctive equipment that mark the wielder as wealthy, powerful and quite probably an Imperial official - so are very good at blowing your cover.

[TJ-Flames]

Thanx, I'll put another char up tommorow.

[InquisitorHeidfeld]

Why are you creating 15 characters at once? To have some variability in yout entourage? Or because you're using 'x' Ready Reckoner points and that's what you can afford?

It it's the latter then I'd suggest that you abandon the ready reckoner for a start and probably your points limit is too high :-)


In the resources sticky on this forum though you will find a link (IIRC) to a set of twenty questions to help you define a character without needing to do too much research or end up writing a full biography - If you can answer those then it will give us something to work with (and might give you some new ideas too).

[TJ-Flames]

I'll probably make warbands of 3-5, for multiple players, also chars to use as NPC's, seeing as maybe someone wants to try a game, but doesn't have mini's.

I think Ive got that 20 questions printed out, will have a look.

[Adlan]

I understand it is tough without background, as it has a huge influence on the char, thing is, I've got 15 or so char I need to do stats and equipment for, and once I have enough to use in some games, I'll start giving them all backgrounds.  So V1.0 chars are just to be usable/playable/balanced. V2.0 chars will be the revised complete ones with background.

Are you designing all the Characters for your gaming groups first round of Inquisitor?

[TJ-Flames]

I don't know about all, but I'll do a warband for me, plus an extra one as a loner, maybe one more, then I'll do some npc's/villains.

[psycho]

@MarcoSkoll......the whole thing you say about lower LD for Snipers etc is actually a little bit of bull....most Snipers and that are highly trained veterans as your not allowed to specialize unless youve proven yourself (im goin on real life facts here)...also being able to sit for hours in the same position with enemy sometimes walking right past you youve got to have a little bit of resolve about you and know what to do when certain situations arise....

as for the OP i think some of the stats are a tad to high but can be easily rectified...also when most of us make characters the background helps grow the stas...so what your doing here is slightly backwards but each to his own

kerby

[MarcoSkoll]

@MarcoSkoll......the whole thing you say about lower LD for Snipers etc is actually a little bit of bull

Leadership is about more than just discipline and training. It's got a degree of charisma built in.

And in 40k, most snipers are a "lone wolf" of sorts. That's not entirely realistic, but it's the way GW has portrayed snipers for years.
While I, as much as anyone (if not more than most), look to mix believability and realism into 40k, it is important to keep the core tropes and concepts that are within the universe. If we don't do that, it's not 40k.

[psycho]

very true very true...its just that ive always seen snipers and marksmen as the best of the best...being able to pick targets off from long distances and setting ambushes etc etc.....shame GW thinks they should be different

kerby

[MarcoSkoll]

shame GW thinks they should be different

Perhaps, but the Imperial Guard has never been quite the same as the modern army. Progression is more on perceived rather than proven merits (because many soldiers won't live long enough to prove themselves).

As such, the Guard probably look for a high degree of independence and self-reliance in a sniper (which are not bad traits for someone who will frequently be away from support), and those earmarked to become marksmen are unlikely to have call to develop leadership qualities their role doesn't particularly require...

... whereas many of the "other guardsmen" in Inquisitor will have done so, as many will have been squad, platoon or company leaders prior to their involvement with the Inquisition. So it is perhaps not as unrealistic as it first would seem.
(Although, that said, I tend to write my own regiments with a lot more similarities to modern armies.)