Special Abilities Ideas

[precinctomega]

Kneecap
If the PC successfully hits in combat, he may choose to attempt to hit a specific leg of his choice.  Make an unmodified WS test.  If successful, the hit strikes the chosen leg and counts as causing critical damage.  If unsuccessful the hit has missed and causes no damage.  In addition, the PC's opponent receives +10 on his next attempt to hit the PC.

R.

[Kaled]

Does anyone have any rules for an ability to let someone talk their way out of trouble? Someone who'd try to defuse a fight with humour and charm - that kind of thing...

[SpanielBear]

Aurelius 12 and myself often came across situations like that in our games. His solution was the apropriately named "bullsh*t roll", which I believe was a test against the character's leadership, modified by the likelihood of the opponent responding. Incidently, it turns out that Daemons of Tzeentch react badly to being told they are "not impressive."

I guess if you were using rules like that then something like:
Silvertongued: The character could persuade you that black is white and white black; that this really is a primed melta bomb he's holding not a soft drinks can; and that due to the unfortunate invasion of Hive Fleet Kraken he is unable to access the millions of Thrones resting in his account, but if you give him your bank details he can fund an expedition which will leave you with 30% of the profits.... The character gets a +30 to leadership when in conversation with another character.

[Aurelius 12]

Given that the warband I'm working on includes a character with exactly this rule you mind reading freak I endorse it fully. Also he has Word of the Emperor for when he starts spouting rhetoric. He is afterall a damn good con man/smoothtalker.

The group also includes an interrogator/torturer. I do like my interpersonal skills.

[Aurelius 12]

Interrogator
The interrogator may add 20 to his Sagacity when attempting to interrogate people, if he is interrogating them between games as part of a campaign then he adds 30 to his Sagacity instead. This is due to years of perfecting his art, and having the time to carry out the interrogation properly.

Interrogate
(This is similar to, but importantly different from the Tau 'Persuade' skill)
The interrogator's sole purpose in life is the collection of information pertinent to his employer's investigations. As such he may attempt to interrogate individuals with a Sagacity of 20 or higher (note this may also take place during part of a campaign using captured characters.)

It costs one action to attempt to interrogate another character. In order to do so, the interrogator must declare that he is going to interrogate his opponent and state what question he is going to ask him. Both The interrogator and his victim roll D100. The interrogator adds his sagacity, while the target adds his Willpower minus 2% for every point of damage he has taken.

e.g. Davin wishes to interrogate Joey Bloggs, asking him 'where d'ya burry the stuff?'. He's already broken Joey's leg (8 points Injury total) meaning Joey has a -16 penalty to his roll.
Davin rolls a D100 and adds his Sg of 77, totalling 103.
Joey rolls a D100 and adds his Wp of 62 then takes off 16, totalling 84

If the target rolls higher than the interrogator then he may act as normal. If the interrogator's roll exceeds his opponent's then the victim must answer The interrogator's question truthfully to the best of his ability.

There is no limit to how many times the interrogator may interrogate a character, however after prolonged questioning there is a risk that the character will break down. Characters being interrogated have a 'breaking point' equal to their Wp/10. If a character is successfully interrogated for a consecutive number of actions equal to their break point they must take a Wp test at half their willpower or break down. Characters who break down must roll on the following table:

D10 Roll   Effect
1   Too much to bear The character falls unconscious.
2-4   Can't take it anymore The character is reduced to a shivering, sobbing wreck, they are stunned for D6 turns as they recover from their ordeal. They may not be interrogated again until they have recovered.
5-7   Lights are on, but there's no-one home The character closes down mentally, either through choice or reflex. They are stunned for D3 turns.
8-9   I'll tell you everything man! The character caves in to the interrogation, for the remained of the game they may only act as The interrogator tells them, however he may not order them to attack anyone, or risk their life in any way (GM's discretion)
10   Latent Psychosis The mental and physical torture have uncovered some severe mental problems. Roll once on the Hallucinogen effects table[/table]

[Kaled]

Silver-tongued is just the sort of thing I was thinking of. I remember at an Inq2.0 playtest the Persuade/Threaten rules were used quite a bit as characters used words as well as force to achieve their goals and it made for an interesting game so I fancied building a character who excels at that sort of thing.

[SpanielBear]

Hmm, thinking about it Aurelius, maybe rather than increasing sagacity with Interogator, how about something to do with lie detection? It makes more sense that an experienced tortu... umm, I mean information extractor, wouldn't necessarily understand all the technical gibberish his target was spouting, but would have a good idea going by body language and speech patterns whether or not they were being truthful. Another option might be something about being able to cause bleeding?

As for Interrogation, it looks a bit complex, but I guess that would become clearer with play. Table looks good though.

I was wondering if there were any more rules as to how fast talking would work, so I'm pleased to hear that Inq2.0 might have something. The leadership test is a quick and simple method, and I guess currently it's mostly up to the GM as to how they want to implement things.

I have another one for the list, if people aren't fed up of my ramblings:

Plodding: Not the brightest bulb in the lantern, the character makes up in reliability what they lack in sense. This skill can only be given to characters with an SG lower than 30 and speed lower than 4. The character may re-roll a single action die, but may only use that action to continue moving in the same direction at the same speed as they were previously (this movement is never stealthy). If this movement causes them to come into contact with a hostile character, they count as charging into combat. Alternatively, if the character is in combat, the action can be used to continue assaulting their current target.

[Myriad]

These are all interesting ideas that give food for thought.  I like plodding as a suggestion, since low speed characters can struggle to function at all at times.  Silvertongued is the sort of skill that can make for interesting games as characters get persuaded.

I've been wondering about an idea for a work in progress of my own, something along the lines of
Evil Hand :  The character's linked servo-skull / suit of armour is possessed or otherwise malfunctioning, causing it to have a mind of it's own.  Any action rolls of a 4 must be used on actions by the possessed item rather than the character.

[Inquisitor Goldeneye]

Pretty much all of my characters have some special skill or ability that I've made up for them, but It's usually specific to that particular individual and not realy something that I can imagine being utilised widely by other characters (Magos Blitzkreig's magnetic feet, for example).

That said, I have been toying with the idea of this 'toned down' version of Nerves of Steel:-



Courage Under Fire; this character has some considerable experiance at keeping his head in the teeth of incoming fire, and will often put the mission goal ahead of his own safety. The character may (but does not have to) re-roll any failed pinning check (each check may be re-rolled only once).



Perhaps some mutant or assassin characters can use this:-

Spider Climb; whether through technological aid or innate ability the character can effortlessly scale walls, and even crawl across ceilings! The character counts vertical surfaces and ceilings as open terrain and never needs to test to climb steep slopes, however, if he takes damage whilst 'Spider Climbing', then he must pass a Toughness test modified by the amount of damage he took or fall off, taking fall damage as normal.




Edit:- Now that I think about it, this seems like the ideal thread in which to post the house rules that my little gaming group used to use for martial arts:-



Martial Arts; throughout the galaxy there are countless civilizations, both human and alien, which have developed various techniques for unarmed combat. Obviously, many members of the inquisition often make use of individuals trained in these deadly methods, or perhaps practice them themselves.

Attacking:-
All unarmed attacks from a martial artist count as attacks with an improvised weapon, unless otherwise specified.


Parrying:-
An unarmed martial artist may attempt to parry an attack from an armed opponent; there is
no parry penalty, but when parrying, there is a 15% chance of a randomly chosen arm
receiving D6 damage. If this damage comes from a weapon which adds other effects to the
targets it damages (such as a shock weapon, or certain types of daemon weapons), Then the
martial artist also suffers these effects if damaged in this way.
May not parry power weapons.


Special moves:-
A trained martial artist may attempt certain special manoeuvres which cost a certain number
of actions to complete.
Special moves may only be attempted if unarmed.



         1 Action:-

Fast strike; The martial artist strikes with lightning speed, landing a blow before the enemy
can get their guard into position. The enemy is at -20% weapon skill for the purposes of
defending against this attack.

Power strike; The fighter aligns his body to deliver a blow of terrific force. However, the hit is
not as swift as usual, giving the target a better chance to avoid or block the attack. The attack
delivers double damage, but the target is at +10% weapon skill to defend against this attack.

Stunning blow; The warrior delivers a precision strike to a nerve cluster, for an attack which
does little damage, but can temporarily disable an opponent. The attack does half damage,
but if the opponent takes any damage from this attack (after armour) then they are stunned
for 1 turn in addition to any other injury effects.



         2 Actions:-

Trip; The martial artist positions his hands on his enemy and applies pressure to send his foe
toppling base over apex. The attack does no damage at all, but if successful, the enemy goes
flying D3 yards in a direction chosen by the martial artist, but which must conform to the rules
for 'breaking from combat' as described in the Inquisitor rule book.


Combo; Building up momentum with carefully placed blows, the martial artist softens up the
enemy for a devastating strike. This attack takes only 1 action in itself, but may only be made
if the martial artist has made at least 1 successful standard attack this turn immediately
before attempting the combo attack. The martial artist may make either a standard attack
(which does not count as a 'standard attack' for the purpose of a three action combo) or any
of the 1 action special moves, at either +50% damage, or +20% chance to hit.




         3 Actions:-

Combo; Coming at his opponent like a breeze-block of pain, the fighter rains down blows on
his foe, building up to a devastating knock-out. This attack takes only 1 action in itself, but
may only be made if the martial artist has made at least 2 successful standard attacks
immediately before attempting the combo attack. The martial artist may make either a
standard attack or any of the 1 action special moves, at either double damage, or half
difficulty to hit.




So, what does the Conclave think? These are the second incarnation of our martial arts rules, the first stab at it resulted in lots of limbs being torn off which, while amusing, was somewhat unbalanced (also, I should point out that neither I, nor anyone else in my gaming group actually praticed martial arts, so I apologise for any lack of realism contained herein).

[MarcoSkoll]

I remember at an Inq2.0 playtest the Persuade/Threaten rules were used quite a bit

It might be what you're referring to, but that game from the 2010 Spring 'Clave also comes to mind.
I think it's the only game I've ever been in where only one shot was fired (which didn't really even do anything), but the threats and arguments were certainly flying about to make up for it!

There was of course a chainsword duel, but it was really rather peripheral to the Mexican stand-off going on inside the Valkyrie.

[Aurelius 12]

I think Interrogation is less complex than it looks. Mostly its a simple roll off. For example-

I declare Davin is going to interrogate the lowly messenger he's caught. He's going to ask 'who do you work for' 'where is he' and 'is he guarded'. I get three actions so theoretically get to ask all three questions.

Davin has an Sg of 57 and the Interrogator skill for a total of 77. The victim has a Wp of 42 and no injuries.
Each one rolls D100. Davin gets a 79 and the messenger gets a 36. Davin's 156 easily beats his target's 90 so the messenger tells him- Joey Bloggs.

In the second action they roll off again. This time Davin's total is s measly 84 while the target gets a whoping 109. He ain't talking.

For the third action Davin again asks 'where is he?' once again however he rolls poorly. 108 to the Messenger's 113! Clearly some more persuading is required.

A few turns later the messenger has taken 13 points of damage. I declare Davin will interrogate him asking 'where is he' 'is he guarded' 'is there a password to get to see him' and 'is he armed'. Davin gets all 4 of his actions this time.

The messenger is at a penalty of -26 due to his injuries. Davin passes the first roll 132/43, and learns Blogg's location. The second third and fourth all go his way too. At this point the messenger has reached his break point (42/10 = 4.2~4) and makes a Wp test at half his Wp. Amazingly he passes, however if Davin interrogates him again next turn the messenger will have to take aboher Wp test.

[MarcoSkoll]

Personally, I'd be inclined to scale it back a little, perhaps put a negative penalty on the interrogator's (interrogator with a small I) test, because otherwise it's an even chance for characters of an equal Sg and Wp, and I imagine that with an interrogator and interrogated of equal skill, there isn't a 50/50 of giving into interrogation after three seconds.
This goes double as the interrogator can beat up the interrogated to increase the penalty on him if it's not working.

The other thing is that as it is, the interrogator just needs to keep asking until the dice come up his way. Perhaps some rule that stops questions being asked over and over without providing further "incentive" to answer.
This could either be by "must inflict X percent of the degree a question was failed by in damage to be able to ask again" or that at least starts to stack up cumulative penalties as it becomes clear that the interrogated is holding his ground on this one and will need to be worn down...

[Aurelius 12]

Both those points are true, perhaps a -20 penalty to Sagacity unless the interrogator has the Interrogator skill or is Fearsome or Terifying (the latter granting a +100 bonus).

As for the second point I much prefer the increasing penalties rather than the ' "must inflict X percent of the degree failed by...' which is rather complicated. How about 'For every failed attempt at interrogation the interrogator suffers an additional -10 penalty to his Sagacity.'

[MarcoSkoll]

How about 'For every failed attempt at interrogation the interrogator suffers an additional -10 penalty to his Sagacity.'

Sounds good. It encourages the interrogator to rough his victim up a bit first rather than just going straight in - I'm assuming the interrogation rolls don't really come in until the target is actually refusing to answer, so that makes sense.

or is Fearsome or Terrifying (the latter granting a +100 bonus).

Interesting idea. I like the idea of the bonus for those, but I'd suggest that if you're testing on those criteria, you'd test against Nv rather than Wp - terrifying the victim into talking rather than beating them into talking.

[SpanielBear]

Quick thought: If there is a general consensus that recovery of WP is a good idea in case of failed psychic tests, then how about a skill like medic to improve that dice roll?

Litanies of Tranquility: When a psyker complains of a really bad headache, it doesn't take much obscure knowledge to realise that they might need more care than a simple shot of Doc' Aesculus's Pain Removing Pharmecium. The character is well aware of the mental stress and tension that psykers go through daily, and has become adept at calming down these manipulators of reality after a particularly bad episode. Either through the study of Ecclisiastical texts, the stories of grizzled veterans, or just a few really awkward chats with the warbands resident mind-reader, the character knows the words and phrases necessary to restore a psyker to normality. Whatever that looks like.
This skill may only be taken by non-psykers, and requires appropriate justification in their backstory. To use the skill, the character must be within five yards of the injured psyker. During the recovery phase, the psyker gains a +10 bonus to their willpower recovery roll, and may restore d6 WP damage instead of d3.