James Blayke-Inquisitor acolyte

[The emperors chosen]

Inquisitor James Blayke
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld SP
67 60 51 54 72 70 75 69 85 5
special abilities:Leader, First Strike, ambidextrous(only when using a sword), Lightning reflexes(a)
psychic powers:psychic impel, telekinesis, psychic shield
armory:Laspistol(with 1 reload), shotgun with: 15 rounds(normal), 5 rounds(scatter), force sword, 3 blessed stakes( do 2D6 damage to psykers, and 1D10 damage to demons)
armor:flak armor(everywhere except hands,head and torso)
background:
        James was born in the year 973.M41 on the planet Caris, a forest world in the segmentum Tempestus. The people of the world are semi-nomadic, with clans moving around, and heading to the cities in the winter. James's clan was know for being duelists, and James carried on this tradition. His clan had a unique tradition in that when the men fought, they would usually strip of their shirts, to that any blade marks would be seen, and would be felt easily. Unknown to him, he was a psyker.
        In the year 987.M41, a chaos horde assaulted the planet,as part of on of Abbadon's plans, and James clan and family was killed in the resulting invasion. The chaos force's were only stopped when an imperial fleet entered the system, and forced the chaos forces to withdraw. The fleet was led by Inquisitor Varrus, who had been pursuing the chaos for a while.
       When Varrus landed on the planet, he was making a sweep of the outer settlements, searching for any cultists, when he stumbled on the site of Blayke's camp. When he arrived at the site, he saw Blayke lying on the ground, surrounded by dozens of dead cultists, and clansmen,amidst the burning tents of his former home, a sword lying in his hand. Varrus took him back to his ship, hoping to get some answers from him. When James was awake, he told Varrus what had happened.
        The chaos forces struck without warning, and had completely overrun the camp's defenders. Sometime During the battle, James was knocked out, and after that, he couldn't remember anything. Varrus then revealed why he saved Blayke, he sensed a psychic presence in him, and offered to help develop it, and hone it.
  James accepted the offer, as he had nowhere else to go, and was sent to a five year program at the Scholastia Psykana, to hone his powers. After the five years were up, Varrus arrrived at the Scholastia to pick up James, and presented him with a gift, his sword, reforged so that his psychic powers would flow through it and make the blade stronger. With the sword came an offer, to become Varrus's acolyte. James accepted, and a partnership was born. Varrus has worked with James since then, teaching him how to be an Inquisitor, and about the Imperium as a whole. So far, James has shown promise, though he is still learning the ways of the Imperium.
So that's the fluff. I tried to portray him as a "duelist" sort of character, the blessed stakes are the wooden stake on the model, they have been blessed by the ministorum.  The model I am using is the Witch Hunter Magnus from Reaper models

[MarcoSkoll]

Well, first things first, some paragraphs please? Solid blocks of text aren't pleasant to try and read.

Secondly... seems a fair profile.

The background however has a few questions that need answering - they're not necessarily problems, but they may need a little work.

- What actually drew the Inquisitor to this one psyker? Why not another one? Why at all for that matter - how was he being tracked?
- What was it that meant an Inquisitor picked up a body that he wasn't even sure was alive and took it to his ship? (Possible solution: He knows the boy is still alive, and takes him to the ship in order to question him about events.)
- And from there, what meant he thought this psyker who he knew almost nothing of was worth an acolytehood?

Usually, I figure the logical way for an Inquisitor to take on an acolyte is to have taken on someone for other reasons, and later, having seen enough potential, making the decision to train them as such. Knowing that someone has what it takes to be an Inquisitor is not something you can tell in a quick chinwag over tea and crumpets.

Answer those questions, and you've got yourself a nice character with a fair profile.

[Inquisitor Cade]

what meant he thought this psyker who he knew almost nothing of was worth an acolytehood?

I think this is the key issue. Clearly the guy is gifted, with a heathy skill with a gun or a blade, a quick and powerful mind, and a superb leader concidering his position. There is no indication that the Varrus knew this though when he made the offer.

His stats speak of a fair amount of the obsessive training that wanabe Inquisitors undergo, and he is very well equipped for an acolyte so would I be right in saying he has been serving Varrus for a good decade at this point?

[Brother_Brimstone]

Perhaps this is just me being a bit harsh, but is there any reason why he should be ambidextrous? True ambidexterity is exceedingly rare. I had a teacher who was 'ambidextrous' because he had had one of his arms put out of commission for a year or so, and he said that even when you learn to use both hands, you still have an 'off hand' The hand you use only when you cannot use your preferred. I can't remember where I saw it, maybe in the 'conclave standard' thread but someone aptly put it 'If you give someone ambidexterity you'd better have a damn good reason' - and I agree. As it stands, you've not even mentioned it in the backstory - and i don't think 'he's a great duelist is sufficient to justify a rare co-ordinational and developmental phenomena. Generally ambidexterity is reserved for daemons, or those with mechanical arms (who can have no 'off hand' etc...).

To be hones, I realise it may sound harsh, but it seems like you just put that skill in there to avoid penalties, which is not a good reason to be including things in a profile.

If i'm wrong, please tell me, I don't want to be unfair, or pointed, but I do think that ability is one which requires a lot of justification.

[MarcoSkoll]

Perhaps this is just me being a bit harsh, but is there any reason why he should be ambidextrous? True ambidexterity is exceedingly rare.

There are two forms of ambidexterity. Arms of equal skill, and arms of equal preference.

Personally, I don't take ambidexterity to be all that much of a problem in game - all it means is that the character has similar enough skill with both hands for most in-game purposes. Preference, if you want one, can be role-played.

Or perhaps it's something different. I can shoot rifles similarly well in either hand, but I'm not ambidextrous. The thing is, I'm left eyed, but right handed. If shooting right handed, then I'm using my more dexterous hand. If shooting left handed, that disadvantage is countered by the fact I'm using my stronger eye.

[Brother_Brimstone]

I suppose I may be taking ambidexterity too literally then, which is a fair response. My statements were based upon my understanding of the concept of ambidexterity, as I understood it, which was the absolute ability to use either hand interchangably; perhaps too narrow a definition.

[The emperors chosen]

Well as I said, I tried to portray him as a duelist, so being ambidextrous made sense to me, as he would be trained to fight with both his right and left hand.  And yes, this isn't a year or two after he first me Varrus, he's been working with him for a while, and has picked up some skills, it's safe to say that Blayke is very close to being a full Inquisitor. As to why Varrus sent him to be trained, A.) he's a psyker and B.) he's a psyker who can fight

[Molotov]

Well, consider giving him a rule whereby he doesn't count as having an off-hand whilst using a sword. The off-hand penalties would still apply if he were firing a weapon, or using any other melee weapon.

[The emperors chosen]

Well, consider giving him a rule whereby he doesn't count as having an off-hand whilst using a sword. The off-hand penalties would still apply if he were firing a weapon, or using any other melee weapon.

So maybe ambidextrous as long as he is using a sword, but for nothing else?
and thanks for everyone's help, I am still new at this, so any comments are welcome.