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Help me Inquisitors, you're my only hope for making this fun for a new player

Started by duffybear1988, December 18, 2018, 08:07:16 PM

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duffybear1988

Greetings Inquisitors,
I'm working on a new warband and it's been years since I last played. My brother has minis but has never played before and I'm expecting him to turn up with a warband that's off the charts, but I would like to bring something that fits how most on the Conclave play their games. I remember there being a lot of talk about the starter stats in the rulebook being over powered and I was wondering if you could make some suggestions for stats for my warband below. I've included equipment, skills and back story for each, which I hope makes it a bit clearer what I was aiming for. Also please shred it and make any suggestions you like. I'm not expecting my brother to come up with much back story, he usually just likes to win, so this is going to be a bit of a learning curve for him.

Apologies for the wall of text that follows and thanks to anybody who takes the time to read/respond.  8) ;)


Name: Inquisitor Arman Garrido

Age: 221

Description: Arman Garrido is an old and battle worn veteran of centuries of service to the God Emperor. What's left of his human flesh is failing, and he requires a medical brace to support his wasting frame.

Garrido was born aboard a bulk freighter transporting agri cargo and indentured workers to new colonies on the frontier worlds. His parents were poor labourers and chose to name him Arman after the very ship they were on; The Grand Duke Armandus. Other travellers aboard the ship believed that children of the void were cursed and took to visiting the shrine to the God Emperor far more frequently.

Life on the frontier was harsh, but no more than life on most imperial worlds. His parents worked themselves to death in the fields and hydro-ponds, while little Arman, like every other child, was educated by the local priesthood. Yes, Arman was taught to fear the God Emperor pretty much before he could walk. As he grew up the priests always complained that he had nothing but questions, questions somebody of his station should not have. He was denigrated and subjected to regular beatings for his lack of respect for authority.

And so it continued until sometime in his 14th year when a Blackship entered the system and Arman was tested with his peers for the mark of the witch. A latent psychic ability was discovered, and he was quickly bustled off planet with the rest of the tithe, destined for further examination by the Ordos.

What he soon found was terror. Arman had been raised to live in fear of anything and everything. He spent his time spent shivering in terror in the cold cell aboard the Blackship, picturing every horrible nightmare the priests at the monastery had warned him of. But it wasn't just Arman living these nightmares, his psychic ability had awoken, and he was forcing these dreams on other children. Once discovered he was collared and sleep induced for the rest of the journey.

After further testing he was regarded as a useful asset and underwent years of training at Inquisitorial facilities before eventually being assigned to Irene Stendhal, a junior Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor who had only recently been awarded her rosette.

He quickly gained experience under her tutelage and the pair developed a good working relationship. She was a stern mistress and sometimes heavy handed, but he respected her openness and desire to improve the Imperium. It was at this time that he first encountered the Recongregator movement. His own upbringing was a stark reminder of how bad men were rewarded at the expense of others. Those agri-barons had whipped their workers and withheld food on more than one occasion and Arman remembered the words of the priests, no comfort to be found there. They blamed the workers for not meeting the quotas. What did they care if fire had destroyed a fifth of the crop. "The Emperor protects, the Emperor expects" was their regular sermon. But Arman knew. He'd seen the overweight barons and their luxurious villas. He knew that food was being siphoned for personal gain. With those old memories, it took almost no effort to convert him.

For a century and more Garrido and Stendhal worked to install their own candidates into positions of power, firstly as master and apprentice, and then as equals when Arman was elevated to full Inquisitor. They had started with simple roles; replacing local leaders, encouraging business deals and mergers between companies, preferring politics to violence wherever possible. They'd even orchestrated the marriage of a planetary lord's son and heir to a level headed young woman who had a far greater grasp of planetary politics than her husband.

Irene's eventual death was a grim affair; a fire at the grand old hunting lodge of one of her nobleman friends. The truth is a darker tale that involves a Chaos cult and sorcery, but that's a tale for another time. Suffice to say that Garrido took the death of his old friend and mentor as you would expect; he burned the heretics and followed up on leads that led him to another Recongregator faction. Yes, the greatest irony of all was that Irene Stendhal had been murdered at the hands of a Chaos cult operating under orders from one Gaius Hemmel, Ordo Hereticus. According to Gaius, her candidates simply weren't satisfactory. They'd moved against Gaius' inadvertently one too many times and now they were paying the price.

Gaius was hunted down and executed, but the whole event left Garrido bitter and angry. He followed every thread no matter how insignificant, chasing down ghosts mentioned once or twice on scraps of parchment and old data-slates recovered from Gaius' study. His reports to seniors only ever mentioned the Chaos cults he had revealed and sent to the flames. Gaius and his staff disappeared without a trace.

Since then he has taken to keeping his own company. Old Recongregator acquaintances and fellow Inquisitors remark that he has become cold and distant. For Garrido must question who he can trust when even the Ordos work for their own benefit.

His most recent exploits have seen him hunting down witch traffickers in the Endymion Cluster. Intelligence gathered by his Explicator Valens, had suggested that a cabal led by a rogue Inquisitor were behind the network. Garrido uncovered the truth, killed the ringleaders, and with the help of the Imperial Navy destroyer, Good Hope, annihilated their flotilla of merchantmen and bulk lifters. He now seeks other cabal members who may have escaped.

Skills: leader, force of will

Psychic powers: distraction, demoralise, terrify, gaze of death

Equipment: short sword, stubber with shot selector, 10 man-stopper rounds, micro-bead, psy-tracker, advanced bionic left arm, advanced bionic heart, medical body brace (sprinting is a risky action and if the test is failed he will fall over and spend the rest of the turn prone), tough clothing (2 points of armour) on all locations except head

Handedness: right handed




duffybear1988

Name: Juna Dae-Soon

Age: 38

Description: Juna is an imposing man, both loud and brash which frequently angers those who purchase his services. He was originally recruited as added muscle for a trade-off when Garrido was investigating witch traffickers operating out of the Endymion Cluster. Juna being the sort of bombastic brute needed for such an operation, made the deal believable and the overall mission a success. 

It was afterward that the inquisitor recognised his true worth. Drinking a little too much to their victory, Juna became solemn and reflective, as he sometimes did after drinking heavily. He spoke of previous jobs and the filth he had worked for, confessed his crimes and at one point even recited from holy scripture. From the outset this man had believed he was destined for execution, that a man of his quality was doomed as soon as he entered the employ of an inquisitor, even more so one who had the telepathic abilities that Garrido possessed. Folklore had it that psykers could read minds and violently rip the truth from a man and Juna could easily believe it, having witnessed a similar action only nights before.

Garrido was quietly impressed by his honesty. He was used to the blathering confession of one who would say anything to stay the headsman's axe, or the bitter tone and stilted speech of a psychically compelled confession, but here was a sincere man. How best to deal with such a rarity?

His crimes were common enough; petty theft, arson, the killing of numerous gang members (they probably had it coming anyway), the murder of an innocent family of five – that was serious and Garrido was ready to hand him over to the local Arbites. Instead, he offered Juna a choice. Either he would march down to the nearest precinct and await trial by the Magistratum, or he accept punishment from the inquisitor himself.  His fate sealed either way, he knelt in front of the venerable old inquisitor and made ready to die.

Garrido broke him. The psyker tore into his memories and flooded his mind with every misdeed and every bad mistake he had ever made, he showed him his life and forced him to live his death, time and time again. This process lasted mere hours but to Juna it felt like lifetimes. When he eventually woke it was to find that he'd been dragged onboard a starship making ready to depart. He had been cleansed, the inquisitor said. Now he was sworn to the Holy Ordos and would meet his end in service to the God Emperor of Mankind.

Skills: rock steady aim, gunfighter

Equipment: average bionic left eye with motion predictor and range finder, 2 average bionic arms, knife, heavy stubber, 2 revolvers, 3 man-stopper rounds (for revolvers), micro-bead, flak armour on chest and abdomen, tough clothing (2 points of armour) on arms, legs and groin

Handedness: right handed




duffybear1988

Name: Myrther Valens

Age: 99

Description: Often found in robes with an armful of books or data-slates. The simple robes and his calm nature bely a strong and wilful man who is as at home in a medicae suite as he is in a bar-room brawl. Aged 99, but feeling and looking 45 thanks to juvenat treatments, he's still a man in his prime.

Myrther was already a skilled physician and a respected member of the community when he first encountered Arman Garrido. The Inquisitor had got it into his head that Myrther would make a fine chief of staff at the principle medicae facility on Gudrun and was intent on assisting him rise to the prominent position.

The quietly spoken man had an aura of calm about him, was approachable, knowledgeable and had graduated top of his class, but as was often the case, had been overlooked because of his peasant bloodline and failure to secure a rich patron from within Gudrunite society.

Upon one of their meetings Myrther broached the subject of working for the Ordos. He'd already been involved in several Arbites investigations as a pathologist and Garrido had called on his support when he'd solved the Seerstone case the year before. The doctor claimed he was growing bored of Gudrunite life and wanted to do something useful. Although fearful of how he might cope with some of the more extreme cases he investigated, Garrido had become firm friends with the man and was pleased to have him on his staff.

It quickly became apparent that Valens had a keen eye for detail and wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty if needed. He was, however, a terrible shot, and became the butt of many jokes when old stories were retold.

Valens now operates as an Explicator for Inquisitor Garrido. When on duty he frequently poses as a traveller or a pilgrim and prefers the simple robes of the penitent where he can hide his knuckle duster and tools for apprehending suspects for questioning.

Skills: medic, subdue

Equipment: medi-pack, micro-bead, pump-action combat shotgun, 6 scatter shells, knuckle duster, drug injector with 3 doses of stun, 3 doses of de-tox, thick robes (2 points of armour) on all locations except head

Handedness: left handed

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: duffybear1988 on December 18, 2018, 08:07:16 PMI'm not expecting my brother to come up with much back story, he usually just likes to win, so this is going to be a bit of a learning curve for him.
Quite. It should always be made clear to new players that while Inquisitor shares common elements with both roleplay games and skirmish games (the latter of which is almost always "play to win" and the former can be interpreted that way), that it is really closer in concept to tabletop improv theatre.

~~~~~

So, Arman Garrido first

QuoteAnd so it continued until sometime in his 14th year when a Blackship entered the system
"Blackship", or "Black Ship"? This would normally fall under the remit of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, and indeed, they're "Blackships" (Where as a "Black Ship" is an Inquisition cruiser), but you then talk mostly about testing by the Ordos and training at Inquisitorial facilities.

I would suggest adjusting the background to the AAT, and then having him picked out by the Inquisition at a later point, as this would be a more normal procedure. Although the process is constantly monitored by the Inquisition, they don't themselves handle the day-to-day work.

QuoteSkills: leader, force of will

Psychic powers: distraction, demoralise, terrify, gaze of death

Equipment: short sword, stubber with shot selector, 10 man-stopper rounds, micro-bead, psy-tracker, advanced bionic left arm, advanced bionic heart, medical body brace (sprinting is a risky action and if the test is failed he will fall over and spend the rest of the turn prone), tough clothing (2 points of armour) on all locations except head

Handedness: right handed
This depends on how detailed you'd be prepared to go. Personally, I'd choose to handle a character like this with a relatively modest base strength and toughness, but then boost his survivability somewhat with special rules for his medical augmetics.

A strength or toughness of about 50 (possibly even a little less, but not too much less, at least on toughness), but then have his medical frame give him a second level of Heavy Injury (so he'd have Light, Heavy, Heavy 2, Serious, Acute and Crippled levels), and perhaps some boost to system shock and consciousness. (Maybe by allowing him to re-roll toughness tests for System Shock and Recovery, possibly even boosting his recovery to D6 rather than D3).
This would represent it being able to hold him together somewhat if he's badly injured, injecting drugs and having enough strength in its own servos to keep him mobile if it detects fractured bones or

Alternatively, you could also also just go with rolling it into his existing toughness value, but personally I like being more detailed about it.

One way or another, that would affect how I'd go about writing his stat-line.

~~~~~

Juna Dae-Soon

The background feels like it's missing a few steps. Juna's fairly extensive bionics aren't really explained, which feels like a fairly large omission. Willing upgrades? One catastrophic injury? Pieced back together on multiple occasions? Before or after he met the Inquisitor?

While Arman's bionics are somewhat explained by his age and failing body, things like this make for background points that can help set up the character.

QuoteSkills: rock steady aim, gunfighter
One of these is more of a precise and level-headed skill, the other is very gung-ho. It's not impossible to have them on the same character, but it does merit being questioned.

~~~~~

Myrther Valens

QuoteMyrther would make a fine chief of staff at the principle medicae facility on Gudrun
This is a bit of a red flag. Gudrun being a canonical world, leveraging non-canon characters into major positions like this can potentially hit issues if canon updates. As it is, depending on when you've got your story set, Gudrun is now supposed to be under attack by the forces of Chaos, since the Great Rift formed.

Unless you have a particularly strong reason to set it on Gudrun, any world could be invented solely for the sake of giving him a home.
S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

duffybear1988