2nd draft of characters part 1 (Octavian Lars and warband)

[Inquisitor Octavian Lars]

The Characters i put in "My New Characters" were only the first draft as some of you will remember, as that thread seems to have lost popularity and posts have stopped coming in  . This time i am starting a new thread with just three of my characters, Inquisitor Octavian Lars, Arco-Flagelent Greengo 268 and Catachan Bodyguard Major Karazak Johnson. So, here is the fluff, profiles and equipment for those three characters. First up, Octavian Lars.

Inquisitor Octavian Lars of the Demon Hunters
Born on the planet Catachan a fierce world of hardy warriors that specialise in jungle warfare and son of the famous Colonel Griess of the Catachan 2nd regiment and taken to the Schola Progenium on Volag Nok by Lord Commissar von Carstien. As a son of Catachan he excelled in combat situations as expected and bonded well with a fellow Catachan named Karazak Johnson, but what surprised all of his peers and assistants was his willingness to learn and focussed hard on his studies. His areas of focus for learning was small squad combat and weapon studies. On the training field he excelled in close combat he also made a proficient marksman with his favourite revolver nicknamed "Banisher". Another talent he developed on combat situations was in commanding his soldiers with great efficiency even in the thick of combat. This ability soon swelled to a level where he could command all of the cadets in the Progenium and beat an equal number of staff in pitched battle. A quirk of being Catachan was a sense of kinship with his men (especialy Karazak as they were now almost inseperable) and a sense of duty and as such he led from the front more often than not. When the time of graduation came at the age of 22 his studies and abilities in the field had made him the perfect recruit for the daemon hunters of the Ordo Malleus and became a member of the Inquisition. Since joining them he has risen through the acolyte stage while showing progress in anti-deamon studies to a prominent position, at the age of 58 he is an inquisitor held in high esteem and already roumers of his diligance have spred back to Catachan. Even now, he still uses the revolver he learned to shoot with. Although capable of leading huge armies he prefers to fight a secret war with his veteran warband, including the Arco Flagellant Greengo 268R, given to him as a gift from the Ordo Hereticus after commanding a combined army of Battle Sisters and Grey Knights after the battle sisters' commander (Witch Hunter Dictatus) was assassinated by daemons of Slanesh. At the current time he is currently fighting a secret campaign against a Renegade Magos of the Dark Mechanium and his warrior band.

Octavian Lars is right handed.

Equipment: Throwing knife, power sword, revolver with 16 shells, 4 dum-dums and 2 man stoppers, Carapace Armour on chest, abdomen and groin , mesh armour on all limbs, digital las pistol in left hand and digital inferno pistol in right hand, inhaler with 8 doses of De-Tox and 1 dose of reflex, Average left bionic leg, 1 psyk-out grenade, 2 photon flash grenades and 2 frag grenades.

Special Abilities: Leader, Quickload, Fast Draw.

   WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
Octavian
Lars   72   79   69   67   71   68   73   87   78

Next is Greengo R268

Arco Flagellant Greengo R268

Formerly an imperial guardsman, Greengo's previous name was Private James Green and was convicted of heresy, but was offered a chance for redemption through Arco Flagellentation, being given the trigger word Redeemer and was entrusted to Witch Hunter Dictatus who was assassinated and was then given to Inquisitor Octavian Lars for the acts of valour and leadership he showed during the battle that followed. Greengo has since served well under the fledgling Inquisitor Lord in his secret wars against Chaos.

Greengo R268 is left handed.

Equipment: Electro-Flail implanted into right arm, Power Fist implanted into left arm, injector with 50 doses of Barrage, 'Slaught, Psykon.

Greengo R268's trigger word is Redeemer.

Special Abilities: Furious Assault, Nerves of Steel, Force of Will

   WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
Greengo
R269   42   11   85   74   53   94   24   169   28

And finaly, Major Karazak Johnson

Catachan Bodyguard to Octavian Lars, Major Karazak Johnson

Though he looks older than Octavian Lars, he is actualy slightly younger as his ship transporting hm to Volag Nok got caught in a warp-storm and his skin aged by about 5 years. At Volag Nok, he instintively bonded with his fellow Catachan, Octavan Lars and they became inseperable towards the end of their time at the progenium. While Octavian's talents lay in command and leadership,  Karazak's were in extreme loyalty and bodyguarding. When they were both on the training fields, Karazak nearly always acted as Octavian's bodyguard and gained several facial scars both in mock battle, brawls in the weights room and in bodyguard classes. At graduation, when Octavian Lars was taken into the Ordo Malleus, he was also chosen as his bodyguard and as part of his retinue if he surpassed the accolyte stage both by the inquisitor representative and by Octavian Lars. In the years that followed, Johnson has taken many hits for Octavian and had bionic surgery to implant a power claw into his left hand after it was cut off by a cultist while protecting Octavian.Other surgery has included having a spur and a reflex gland implanted into him to make him more aggressive and to increase his reaction times. But as an Inquisitor's bodyguard, he is destined to die protecting him and he takes this with the typical Catachan gung-ho attitude.

Karazak Johnson is right handed  

Equipment: Stubber with 2 reloads, shot selector and 5 dum-dums, 5 flechettes and 5 man stoppers, implanted power claw on left hand, glands with reflex and spur, injector with 20 doses of psykon (automaticaly activates if Octavan lars is taken out of action) 2 points of armour on legs, right arm and groin, knife, medikit, 1 frag grenade and 1 smoke grenade.

Bodyguard: Adept at putting another's life before their own, a character with this skill can 'take the bullet' for another. Before the battle begins, nominate who the character is protecting and, for the duration of the game, the bodyguard must attempt to stay within 6 yards of their client at all times and if forced further away (due to knockback, psychic powers, etc) they must use as many actions as are necessary to get back to their charge. If their protectee is hit by a shooting attack fired by a character, the bodyguard is Aware of, he may throw himself into the line of fire and take the hit on himself, even if the bodyguard has used all his actions. Place the bodyguard between the firer and the target and resolve the impact against the bodyguard as normal. In close combat, a bodyguard must always fight any foes attacking the character he is protecting,even before fighting those attacking him.

   WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
Karazak
Johnson   71   54   63   67   58   51   47   72   74

[Kaled]

thread seems to have lost popularity and posts have stopped coming in 

The last thing you posted was yesterday afternoon so I don't think you needed to give up on it, however the usual reason for not getting any comments on characters is that they're fine.  People only tend to comment is they see an issue and it's only the controversial characters that get a lot of replies.  If people have stopped replying to your thread then you should take it as a good sign - they probably don't require much more work, perhaps the odd tweak here and there but the best time to make those is after you've used them in a few games and have had a chance to see how they perform.


Also, and maybe this is just be being grumpy because it's morning and I'm about to go to work - but the icon you've chosen for this thread is really annoying... 

[Inquisitor Octavian Lars]

Thanks, I'm not used to how forums work yet.

[Myriad]

It does sometimes take a few days for replies to filter through.  There is a drop down menu of icons, so I suppose we can't attach too much blame for using it.  I think you're the first person I recall actually doing so though.

The characters lok a bit more balanced than I recall.  Octavian is toting a psyk-out grenade, which are about as common as pet tyranids, but otherwise has normal gear.  2 digital weapons as well actually - that makes quite alot of unique gear, and digital inferno pistols are pretty nasty toys.

I like the bodyguard rule, but it shouldn't be automatic, since he still has to react pretty fast.  I'd attach a test to it,  probably initiative, and possibly make him set aside an action.

[Kaled]

Thanks, I'm not used to how forums work yet.

That's fine.  Your characters are looking pretty good - the thing now is to start building some models to represent them.  As I mentioned before, you'll really need to use them in a few games before you can properly call them finished - I usually tweak my characters after playing 3-4 games, normally it takes that long to properly see how they perform.  If you try after just one game then the vagaries of the dice make it difficult to really tell if they're under/over-powered.

I like the bodyguard rule, but it shouldn't be automatic, since he still has to react pretty fast.  I'd attach a test to it,  probably initiative, and possibly make him set aside an action.

I had remembered the bodyguard rule as using up some of a character's action - guess I was mistaken.  It does come with some pretty big drawbacks so I wouldn't want to make it too difficult.

[MarcoSkoll]

Personally, I wouldn't use that bodyguard ability. It imposes "mental" restrictions on the character's actions, and I don't like that.
If a character is physically unable of doing X, then a rule is fair - if a character chooses not to do something, it should be roleplayed, not enforced by rules.

Also, it creates a clash of rules. If Octavian is taken out, then the psychon will give him frenzy (another thing I think should be roleplayed in most cases, although drugs are a reasonable exception), so which takes precedent? His "must stay with 6 yards of client", or his "must always move as rapidly as possible towards the closest visible enemy and attack him in close combat"?
I'd say Frenzy, because the other shouldn't be a rule in the first place (but the ability should only work within 6 yards of his client).

I prefer "Shield" as a bodyguard ability, although there are still some modifications I'd make.

While I'm talking about psychon, it seems like a weird choice for a bodyguard to have. Surely an Inquisitor would be more concerned about having his bodyguard act in a rational way to preserve his safety?
For example, if he's being shot from a distance, a bodyguard performing this kind of manoeuvre would be far more conducive to the Inquisitor's prolonged well being than the bodyguard madly charging into the teeth of their guns.
In fact, I can't think of any significant number of circumstances where charging madly around the table is the most effective defence of your charge.

[Inquisitor Octavian Lars]

the reson i made him go frenzied is as, if you read the backround, they were inseperable and were a "perfect team" so that sort of represents his sense of loss

[MarcoSkoll]

But what it says is "taken out of action" - a character who is out of action is only mostly dead, and if you're truly concerned about them, your time would be better put to use making sure they don't end up all dead (because then all you can do is go through his pockets and look for spare change).

If that's the way you see things, then go with it, but if it's meant to be an emotional response, a psychon injector is a pretty weird way to represent it, IMHO.

[Inquisitor Octavian Lars]

Ok hve taken comments on board and changed the rules, here they are.

Karazak Johnson is right handed 

Equipment: Stubber with 2 reloads, shot selector and 5 dum-dums, 5 flechettes and 5 man stoppers, implanted power claw on left hand, glands with reflex and spur, injector with 20 doses of psykon (automaticaly activates if Octavan lars is killed) 2 points of armour on legs, right arm and groin, knife, medikit, 1 frag grenade and 1 smoke grenade.

Bodyguard: Adept at putting another's life before their own, a character with this skill can 'take the bullet' for another. Before the battle begins, nominate who the character is protecting and, for the duration of the game,if  the bodyguard is within 6 yards of their client. If their protectee is hit by a shooting attack fired by a character, the bodyguard is Aware of, he may throw himself into the line of fire and take the hit on himself, this may only happen if the bodyguard "saved an action for this (like overwatch). Place the bodyguard between the firer and the target and resolve the impact against the bodyguard as normal. In close combat, a bodyguard must always fight any foes attacking the character he is protecting,even before fighting those attacking him. If the protectee is taken out of action, the protector must use the first action possible in his turn to drag his charge behind him so as to protect him.

As always comments and criticism are always welcome