New Player/New Warband

[ordohereticus]

Hello everyone.

I am new to the Inquisitor system, have have recently been given the opportunity to play in a campaign. So what follows are some ideas and questions about my character; Inquisitor Degart

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Degart was born a Wyrd on the Hive-world of Persius III in the Segmentum Solarus. This of course did not go well for Degart, who spent the majority of his youthful years on the run from an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor named Nostraphex. All would have been lost if not for the intervening hand of Inquisitor Natarlis. Natarlis recognized the untapped power within Degart, and openly challenged Nostraphex, which led to a violent conflict between the two Inquisitors. Natarlis was successful in extracting Degart from Persius III and has since moulded the youth into a powerful weapon. 

Eventually Degart was recruited into the ranks of the Ordo Malleus, where he has worked for Natarlis as a renegade operative, tracking down blasphemous cults and the daemons that they serve, and retrieving whatever useful information/artifacts he can.

When Inquisitor Natarlis dissapeared after claiming to have found a heretical cult that possessed an ancient machine he believed to be a STC, Degart has made it his priority to locate and eradicate this cult, retrieve the STC and save Inquisitor Natarlis if he's still alive.

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NAME: Inquisitor Jeremiah Degart

85   75   87   65   80   85   85   85   85   5

SPECIAL ABILITIES & PSYCHIC POWERS:
Leader, Wyrd, Lightning Reflexes
(Enforce Will, Mind Scan, Crush, Telepathy)
Degart is Left Handed

BIONIC IMPLANTS & UPGRADES:
- Advanced Bionic Arm: Left (Str 55, +2 Armor) Looks like a normal flesh and blood arm. Total strength calculated in profile.
- Psi-booster Implant

ARMOUR & EQUIPMENT:
- Carapace Armour (Chest, Abdomen)
- Flak Armour (Groin, Arms, Legs)
- Psychic Hood

WEAPONS & AMMUNITION:
- Eviscerator
- Pump-action Combat Shotgun (16 Executioner shells, 8 Inferno shells)
- Stubber (30 shots)

Okay, so first order of business is a rewrite to the Wyrd special ability. I've already talked it over with the other players and so far everyone is cool with it. But I just thought I would post here and ask.
Instead of affecting a singular power, such as Wyrd-Telepathy, It now affects all psychic powers the character can cast. The drawback being that he can still suffer from Psychic blowout. What do you think? Too OP?

The other question I had was what is the generally accepted method of generating character stats? As you can tell from the above. We used the standard profile for an Inquisitor. Do people normally use the random generation ie; "rolling for it"

anywho, please let me know what you think?

cheers

[Inquisitor Cade]

Hi there.

[big yellow welcome]Welcome to the Conclave[/welcome]

The background is solid. I assume the part where he went on the black ships to be sanctioned is omitted rather than him being a rogue psyker.

I prefer your take on wyrd to the rulebook one. What is the 'crush' power? It sounds telekinetic rather than telepathic and to my mind at least, a wyrd, a psyker with an intuitive control of a psychic ability, might rarely have more than one power, but not from multiple disciplines. Might I offer the mind shock power that I partially recall, a mental attack that doesn't directly damage the target but can leave them stunned for multiple turns. I think this fit with his over abilities as a versatile telepath.

The lightning reflexes skill is a bit woolly, with multiple rewrites and takes on it. I'd steer clear of it and just give the character a superior I if it is appropriate, though the background doesn't suggest his reflexes or wits are particularly fast for an inquisitor. If you think the skill suits him and have an idea of how to use it then by all means go ahead, as long as you aren't using it to see how many actions he gets before you declare them.

The stats. We at the conclave feel that the rulebook archetypes are not worthwhile. It is not logical that an Inquisitor becomes physically stronger, and more martially capable in every respect upon being elected to an Inquisitor lord, a position likely to involve considerably less field work. Nor should space marines be able to throw a bolt pistol for more damage than shooting with it. We all take the stat descriptions near the beginning of the rule book and work out what is appropriate from there. We discussed this at length a while back. This thread:
http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=162.0
contains approximate definitions of what a stat of a certain value means and there are some broad archetypes that that are closer to the conclave view than the rulebook ones.
Obviously the stats for our characters are typically less than the rulebook versions. We find this makes games much more enjoyable as when you are hitting on 1-80 most every time, there is little excitement to a successful attack, and when you are being hit on 1-80 there is less incentive to take the daring charge from cover etc.

So for Degarts stats. Decide for yourself what would be appropriate.
How good a swordsman is he? No doubt he has had extensive training and a fair amount of experience (Ws 60-70) but is he extraordinarily gifted in this area or does he dedicate most of his training time to mastering the forms of sword play (Ws 70-80). If he is especially dedicated to one activity, other will probably suffer.
If you are struggling for a reference point for the stats my other suggestion would be to take a standard stat line and alter it based on strengths and weaknesses.The stat line I estimated for an average inquisitor, if such a thing exists was
Ws 65. Bs 65. S 55. T 55. I 75. Wp 80. Sg 75. Nv 80. Ld 80.
bearing in mind that the average inquisitor is already remarkably gifted in almost every area. This statline represent someone who has worked to become highly competent at both close combat and ranged fighting but has not specialised at either. Stats of Ws 75 Bs 55 might be right for an inquisitor who has achieved expertise with a blade, but is no more than well trained with guns.
Alternatively a character might be gifted mentally, having a higher Sg, I, Wp or Ld than most of his counterparts. As a wyrd he doesn't have to work very hard to achieve his psychic potential. This is a major strength so I'd say he had a few weaknesses due him. The weaknesses of a character tend to be what defines themas an interesting and memorable character. Take 'try again' Bragg for example. The strength to wield heavy weapons so easily was all well and good, but it was his lack of ability to shoot, and apparent simple nature is what made him a character that peopled love, or Larkin, how many snipers are there who are good shots? But how many are borderline insane?

Finally the kit. Imperial technology covers vat grown replacement limbs and organs etc, so if you have a backstory reason for a prosthetic arm but lack the parts to make a bionic that too is an option. If a boinic has been made to appear non bionic, possible though not common by imperial technology I believe, I'd suggest it sacrifices durability to achieve it. This appears to be more armoured than most however.
There has been an Inquisitor scale eviscerator produced. It's here on the sprue with the hand flamer.
http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Image:Inquisitor_54mm_Chain_Weapons.jpg
In my opinion Malicant's weapon is a chainsword. Maybe quite a bit one but I really don't think it warrants the title eviscerator. If this is the part you have I'd encourage you to call it a chain sword. This might cut out the need for the boinic arm too.
I tend to be suspicious of the simple stubber. With a high damage, a reasonable magazine, semi(2) and a rather nifty range band I feel it is unreasonably powered for the cheap, possibly even scratch built, weapon that it is meant to represent. I favour the 'revised inquisitor armoury' that Marco Skoll made http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=33.0 as it gives a range of stubber options of different calibres, as well as auto pistols, laspistols and revolvers. It has lots of shotguns too, and more types of special ammunition that the rulebook could dream of. He has also powered up most weapons to a more realistically deadly level. As the pistol here seems to a standard sidearm I'd suggest a basic Mars or Triplex pattern laspistol, a standard or heavy duty stubber or a light machine pistol.

[ordohereticus]

WOW!

Thank you for such detailed feedback! I really like your ideas.

I'm thinking I might change his stats around abit. I like the idea of playing a character with a bit more 'character'. Pun intended.

Perhaps something more like;

Ws 75. Bs 60. S 55. T 55. I 75. Wp 85?. Sg 75. Nv 80. Ld 80.
Not sure if Wp 85 is a bit too high, but I figure Natarlis would have trained Degart to control his 'gift'?

And yes, you were correct. The Bionic arm was to compensate for wielding the Eviscerator. But I was going for the "Malicant" chainsword thing. So perhaps it would be better suited as a Chainsword. Thanks.

In terms of weaknesses I would prefer to have something that just fleshed his character out a bit more. However, I'm new and all, and I'm not sure if there is a 'list' of flaws or something that I'm supposed to choose from?

Here's what I was thinking;
The Ordo Hereticus want him dead. For years now Inquisitor Nostraphex has been tracking the movements of Degart in hopes of finally putting a stop to the traitorous actions of Natarlis and Degart.
So 'loyalist' (for lack of a better word) Imperials, after spotting Degart make a Sagacity test. With a modifier according to distance from Degart. If they pass, they recognise him as the Traitor and are filled with a Righteous Strength - They benefit from the effects of the Heroic & Nerves of Steel Special abilities for the remainder of the game. This may only be triggered once per game. Ie: If one character recognizes Degart then a second character cannot recognize him again.  

What do you think?

Also, I have been looking for somewhere I can purchase Inquisitor bitz online from? I just need to grow a little bitz box cause I have some idea's for conversions.

Anywho, thanks again.
 

[MarcoSkoll]

Well, to open, Welcome to the Conclave.

Secondly, a bit of a disclaimer. My post below conforms to how I like to play the game - it might not work for you, so don't feel that you have to conform to what I think. There are lots of ways to play the game...

Okay, so first order of business is a rewrite to the Wyrd special ability.

Technically, Wyrd doesn't have to affect only one power. The wording in the rulebook refers to "power(s)", so plural powers aren't forbidden - I have an Inquisitor (my namesake) who has two Wyrd powers. However, it's generally accepted that Wyrd powers should be used sparsely - even two is a lot.

It's also my opinion (much the same as Cade says above) that they should also be from only one discipline, or can at least be explained as to why they could be (after all, there is more than one way to skin a cat). That is, you have a Wyrd who has Telekinesis or who has Telepathy, but not both.
On that basis, personally, I'd remove Crush, because it's not something that a telepath could really reproduce - possibly they could force the chest muscles into spasm, breaking ribs and such, but I'd write that power somewhat differently (at least give it a different difficulty, as testing against toughness isn't appropriate for Telepathy).

The other question I had was what is the generally accepted method of generating character stats? Do people normally use the random generation ie; "rolling for it"

Random generation is fairly rare on this forum. Most of the time, we handpick stats based on the stat descriptions near the start of the rulebook.

The dice don't know whether the character's supposed to be strong, weak, better at swordplay than shooting...
So we choose stats based on their appropriateness to the background, not how the dice have come up.

Advanced Bionic Arm: Left (Str 55, +2 Armor) Looks like a normal flesh and blood arm.

If it's a true bionic, then all things considered, it should look that way. While in the fluff, you can theoretically get bionics that look normal (although more likely, such things are augmetic, rather than bionic*), on the table, you have WYSIWYG to take into account.

*Augmetic: enhances and repairs what's already there. Bionic: replaces what's already there. Problem is that some writers forget that.

Alternatively, it could be vat grown replacement that was tweaked to make it stronger and more durable. However, I'd keep that only reasonably strong - S50 at the most - and might give it a +1 to its base injury value, but I wouldn't actually give it armour.

Total strength calculated in profile.

While a common practice, not one I recommend. Strength is used to calculate things such as jumping distance, and a better arm isn't going to help you jump further. While the bionic's strength would count if you were trying to break down a door, there are times when it's not appropriate to add the bionic bonus.

Usually, my bionic characters have strength stats like 70/95 (60:35) - where the first number is basic strength, the second number is strength including bionics, and then the numbers in brackets are the strength of each arm for when those numbers are needed. Takes a bit more space on the character sheet, but it does mean all the appropriate stats are available immediately.

So 'loyalist' (for lack of a better word) Imperials, after spotting Degart make a Sagacity test. With a modifier according to distance from Degart. If they pass, they recognise him as the Traitor

There are a lot of traitors in the galaxy. Inquisitors can't be expected to recognise them all, nor are they likely to explode all the more at this one - I don't see that he's done anything that makes him all that noteworthy.

What exactly is it that he's done that makes him particularly traitorous?

and are filled with a Righteous Strength - They benefit from the effects of the Heroic & Nerves of Steel Special abilities for the remainder of the game.

It's probably a better idea to make it so that a rule affects your character.

How about this for an option? If he works alongside another Inquisitor, he must pass a Nv test every turn or be at -1 Speed as he gets paranoid about whether the other Inquisitor is on to him.
If he fluffs the test, then he must pass a Ld test or he becomes completely convinced that his ally is actually out to get him, and must react accordingly.

... that might not be how you see him, but I'm sure that rule would be appropriate to more than a few characters.

Also, I have been looking for somewhere I can purchase Inquisitor bitz online from? I just need to grow a little bitz box cause I have some idea's for conversions.

You might find the Arcadian Smugglers' Ring useful. It's sort of a trading site where you can exchange your unwanted bits.

[Inquisitor Cade]

I'm new and all, and I'm not sure if there is a 'list' of flaws or something that I'm supposed to choose from?

Not really, you don't need rules to work out flaws, decide what the character is weak at and alter stats accordingly. If you want something complex like the paranoia that Marco suggests then, as he did, make up some rules to represent it. I'd not have a rule that grants other characters abilities. If on a case to case basis the GM thought that a character temporarily gaining nerves of steel for example, was appropriate, he could implement it.

The revised stat line looks good to me. It would be nice to see some areas he wasn't so good at, maybe he's not a great shot, or his mind, whilst powerful is methodical rather than quick, so a lower than normal I. Don't think of willpower as psychic power, although unfortunately it often does mean this, in this case it doesn't as he is a wyrd. Think of it as determination and stubborness. How likely is he to risk his life for an objective. 80 is very high, but then you'd expect an Inquisitor to be extraordinarily determined.

I'll echo Marco in advocating the smuggling ring. I find that if you have an idea for a model on the conclave, and mension that you are down by a part you need, people are particularly likely to offer the trade, especially if it is and interesting conversion. Alternatively there is always ebay.

[ordohereticus]

Ok.

So I've decided to drop the 'Crush' psychic power, (found in the Istvannian Sourcebook) in favor of 'Psychic Shriek'. This fits in with my idea of him as a powerful telepath.

I also like the suggestion about changing the flaw.

"How about this for an option? If he works alongside another Inquisitor, he must pass a Nv test every turn or be at -1 Speed as he gets paranoid about whether the other Inquisitor is on to him.
If he fluffs the test, then he must pass a Ld test or he becomes completely convinced that his ally is actually out to get him, and must react accordingly."

I like this better. As being discovered by the Ordo Hereticus would be one of Degart's biggest fears.

So here's the new and improved Inquisitor Degart.

Inquisitor Degart:
Left Handed.

Ws 75. Bs 60. S 55. T 55. I 70. Wp 80. Sg 75. Nv 80. Ld 80.

SPECIAL ABILITIES & PSYCHIC POWERS:
Leader, Wyrd.
(Enforce Will, Mind Scan, Psychic Shriek, Telepathy)

BIONIC IMPLANTS & UPGRADES:
- Psi-booster Implant

ARMOUR & EQUIPMENT:
- Carapace Armour (Chest, Abdomen)
- Flak Armour (Groin, Arms, Legs)
- Psychic Hood

WEAPONS & AMMUNITION:
- Chainsword
- Pump-action Combat Shotgun (16 Executioner shells, 8 Inferno shells)
- Heavy duty Stubber w/ Silencer (from the revised armoury )


What do you think?

[Alyster Wick]

I like him, he's still a consummate  without being too over the top.  I do think the combination of psi-boosters, psychic hood and wyrd are all a little overkill, but if your group uses fancy kit then more power to you.

[MarcoSkoll]

Ws 75. Bs 60. S 55. T 55. I 70. Wp 80. Sg 75. Nv 80. Ld 80.

Providing that you randomise those a bit so that they're not just rounded off to the nearest 5, then that sounds pretty reasonable, depending on how long he's been an Inquisitor (might scale back his mental stats a bit if he's not hugely experienced).

I do have to agree somewhat with Alyster Wick that the combination of every single possible psychic boost going is possibly a little generous, but if you're prepared to model both a psi-booster and psychic hood, then I suppose it's fair enough.

- Pump-action Combat Shotgun (16 Executioner shells, 8 Inferno shells)

Just so you know, the Revised Armoury does cover Shotguns as well. Not that you have to use the rules I wrote, but as you've already started using the stubber rules, it seems a bit odd to mix and match the Rulebook and Revised Armoury.

[ordohereticus]

Okay, I see the point.

I'll remove the Psychic Hood, and replace the combat shotgun with a pump action shotgun. (from the revised armory) I just wanted to make his psychic powers his greatest asset. However, I see what your saying in that it's is rather a tad overkill.

New stat line could be;

Ws 75. Bs 60. S 53. T 54. I 70. Wp 80. Sg 74. Nv 78. Ld 80.

Seem a bit more reasonable?  

Also, I've been thinking about the other members of Degart's warband. I have an idea but I'm not really sure how to implement it. So I'll pose the question to the conclave, and would appreciate any help or advice people could give on the matter.

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Degart is a radical, and as such has no qualms about experimenting with warpspace. His first successful experiment has led to the creation of Subject 223. Subject 223 was a Prisoner sentenced to Arco-Flagellation by Inquisitor Natarlis for crimes against the God Emperor. Subsequently he was 'given' to Degart to act as a bodyguard.

Degart however was not satisfied with mere flesh and metal. After several 'unsuccessful' attempts, Degart has bound a Daemon to the Arco-Flagellant.
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So it's a Acro-Flagellant/Daemon Host. Any thoughts?

[Kaled]

So it's a Acro-Flagellant/Daemon Host. Any thoughts?

That was originally my plan when I started this character, but when I started building him I decided he was too emaciated to be a drug fuelled killing machine and so simplified my plan for the model and instead made him a daemonhost with implanted electro-flails.

[Alyster Wick]

So it's a Acro-Flagellant/Daemon Host. Any thoughts?

Here is my twisted servitor (can't find where it's hosted from, here's the thread http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=502.0) and my possessed character (http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx83/alysterwick/012-1.jpg) for mental stimulation.

Rules wise I'd go for an angle that's more similar to 40K possessed CSMs as opposed to daemonhosts.  Even making the thing twisted by chaos as opposed to straight up possessed may be more what you're going for.  You want a beast that'll smash with it's fists, not its mind.

[MarcoSkoll]

Okay, I see the point. I just wanted to make his psychic powers his greatest asset. However, I see what your saying in that it's is rather a tad overkill.

Well, there's nothing wrong with psychic powers being a character's greatest asset, but to make psychic powers his greatest asset when he's already a top class swordsman and pretty decent shot might be a bit much.

~~~~~

As far as the daemonhost/arcoflagellant, I'd run with Alyster Wick's approach. A good enough argument would be that it was a Khornate Daemon, which would nicely explain a lack of psychic powers.

Add a few Daemonic traits, but...

... now, an interesting question has just occurred to me. How exactly would a a flagellant's conditioned and surgically altered mind be affected by a daemon? And indeed, how would a daemon react to being imprisoned in such a mind?

Would its mind be resistant to the control of the daemon, or would its mind be a blank slate for a daemon to manipulate? Would a daemon be pacified along with the flagellant, or would its rage make the creature almost impossible to contain and control?

You've got some questions to answer...

[Metellus]

Well, pacifier helms project hymnals and such to calm the flagellant down, don't they? So I would imagine that the Daemon inside would be in quite a bit of pain; perhaps a Wp test for the Daemon every turn the helm's still on and if failed the Daemon takes D10 damage?
Or, you could just say that the helm itself has been rewired in some way to counter this effect; how to do this escapes me at this unholy hour but you could probably figure something out that fits in fluff-wise.

[Vladimir]

Hm. I can't help noticing that all your stats are in blocks of five... there's nothing wrong with this, but it does look a tad incongruous...

The daemonhost/arcoflagellant I think is good. Pop a minor daemon in there and give him abilities like regenerate and hammerhand, perhaps. The fig for that could be potentially awesome...

IMHO an arcoflagellant would be hard for a daemon to get into, but once possessed it's control would be absolute. Think of it as a hard outer shell with an ampty space in the middle for the daemon.

[ordohereticus]

Ok.

Well I'm back with some more stuff. Here goes;

After much discussion with my gaming group, it was clear that the general consensus was the Degart just wasn't Radical enough...

Being that he is a Xanthite they believe he should reflect that...

So my idea (the only one unfortunately, please post some if you've got any) was to exchange the chainsword for a Daemon weapon of some sorts. This ties in with the Xanthite belief of using chaos to fight chaos, etc , etc.
Daemon weapons arn't really something I like to throw around, because I like to play good ol' fluffy games. So something like a Daemon weapon is incredibly powerful.

I wanted to create a weapon that was potentially very powerful, but incredibly difficult to control. This way, it would become Degart's last ditch effort sort of thing. Rather than just being a badass sword.

So here's my idea.

The Daughters of Cacophony (A Pair of Daemonic Short swords, with the souls of Daemonette's)
- ThoughtTheif Wp 80.
(Enfeeble, Mind Stealer)
- Grace Wp 88.
(Deflection, Entrance)

Twin Souls, Twin Swords;
These swords were born together, forged together, and will sink into oblivion together. There are intended to be wielded as a pair. As such a character holding both swords gains the Ambidextrous & Daemonic: Impervious special abilities.

Daemon Weapons
These weapons are Daemon weapons, as such they follow all the standard rules for Daemon Weapons. (Ie: If ever the wielders Willpower drops below that of the bound Daemon, he must pass a Willpower test at the start of every turn or succumb to the Daemon)

Intertwined
When wielded singly (carrying one but not the other) their Willpower is as above. But the character does not gain access to the Twin Souls, Twin Swords special rule.

When carrying both swords, the character gains the Twin Souls, Twin Swords special rules, but must now test against the COMBINED Willpower of both Daemons. (ie: 80 + 88 = Wp 168.)

That's my idea.

Still working on the Daemon host/Arco-Flagellant. I'll get back to you on that shortly.