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Inquisitor Gideon Sterne, Puritan Recongregator

Started by Gideon Sterne, August 11, 2009, 10:39:28 PM

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Gideon Sterne

Puritan and recongregator do not, often, fall in the same sentence; particularly not when describing one's philisophical leanings. I am, and have always been, a staunch defender of the faith, of the Emperor Divine and His Plan for Humanity. I am no heretic, traitor, or recidivist. No, I am a realist, one who has correctly divined the cause of the stagnation and decay that eats at the heart of this most glorious of manifest destinies. Human beings, being human, are fallible, corruptible, sycophantic, stupid, self-serving and dull. They strive to power, for power's own sake, and do their utmost to stay there no matter what. This holds us back. Our institutions are monolithic, foolish, and blind. We are slow to react, and react poorly. We require remoulding, in His own image.

Hark back to the Great Crusade, or the Macharian Crusade. Humanity at its finest. Forward thinking, brave, glorious, clever, flexible. That is how we should be, and how we will be. It is simply unfortunate that, in order to achieve this pinnacle once more, and to surpass it, we must use subterfuge and sedition to create new leaders, indeed, a new galactic order underneath our Ascended Emperor.

~ From Reflections, by Gideon Sterne. Ordo Hereticus archive 1383013/K3813(H)

Inquisitor Gideon Sterne:


   WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
Sterne   92   76   70   67   79   90   87   84   88

Inquisitor Sterne carries a silenced autopistol with three magazines each of 30 rounds. The pistol also has an underslung needle pistol, with a single drum magazine capable of releasing up to 50 darts containing Bloodchoke* toxin. The combi-pistol has a range-finding infrascope. He also wields a power knife, and has filter plugs. He wears pilgrim's robes over a concealed suit of mesh armour on all locations apart from his hands and head, and is tattooed with pentagrammic and hexagrammic warding symbols.

* Combines Bloodfire and Choke toxins.

Talents:
Leader, Fast Draw; Rock Steady Aim

Aidan

The idea seems interesting, but you should flesh out his past a bit more, I think. What has brought him to the views he holds? What are some of his past actions?

His profile is very powerful (I will reserve the judgement of 'over-powered' until he's been compared to your usual opponents), with as it is not explanation as to how he got that good (nearly super-human in the case of most stats). His weaponry is a bit more toned down, but more than powerful enough, given his profile; Personally, I'd do a general cut on all his stats a bit.

Remember that the sample characters are a lousy point to use for creating your own. Most 'clavers, as far as I know, abhor it.

So basically, you're on the right track - this guy isn't too different from some of my early characters - but you should put some thought into expanding his story and softening his profile.

Dust King

Yeah I'd say he's a bit on the powerful side. As a guide I'd say that 80 for any attribute is the limit of unaugmented humans, 70 is professional in that area, 50-60 is trained and 30 is untrained. but that should at bet be a rough guide.

other than that good character 

Kaled

The best place to look for advice on stats is p15 of the LRB - 100 is the best an unaugmented human can possibly reach, so anything over 80 is pretty exceptional and a character would have to have put significant effort into reaching this level.

You character is better than most expert swordsmen, a dedicated marksman, considerably stronger and tougher than most fit humans, and a lot faster than a well trained soldier.  His Wp is high even for an Inquisitor, he's as intelligent as a AdMech Magos, extremely brave, and an excellent leader of men.  While no one would quibble about an Inquisitor being above average, your guy is significantly above average in every way.

In what way is he a puritan?  He might regard himself as one of the good guys, but that's not the same as being a puritan.  His philosophy of change, of restructing and rebuilding Imperial institutions, is opposed to established doctrine - therefore he's a radical whether he chooses to accept it or not.
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Gideon Sterne

His backstory is a work in progress, but suffice it to say that he's biologically almost 200 years old (thanks to rejuvenation treatments provided by his tame Techpriest) and has been floating about the Ultima Segmentum for nigh on half a millenium, thanks to the time dilation effects of Warp travel. In that time he's seen the rise and fall of systems, planets, crusades, and countless plots and schemes. He has had, at least, one notable and major success in the Paridon Sector. Once the Rigel Sector, the invasion of Hive Fleet Kraken devastated it, and, in the aftermath, the conservative and backwards Sector Governor was replaced by a thrusting young upstart from Paridon. Much, and also little, changed, but the fruits of his labours will soon be felt by the Tau, who are about to find out what a real Crusade feels like. ;)

As for his profile, well, as I said elsewhere, I haven't actually played a game for five years now, and have always relied on the random generator that you get in the rulebook. After all - it's random! Obviously, if/when I get playing again, I'll change his profile if he's far too powerful, but I don't think he's that OTT... unless you can convince me otherwise. After all, if you'd been training and fighting on and off for, effectively, a hundred and seventy-odd years, I suspect you'd be a pretty good shot and fairly decent with a blade. And that's assuming that there's no augmentation - say neural-net enhancements that speed up reflexes, or sub-dermal bionics, or... remember what Rogue Trader says; that it may well be the Grim Dark Future where technology is misunderstood and feared, but it still exists: the Tech-Adepts of Mars can provide you with wafer-thin intelligent paper, or a hulking servitor; a nanonic weapon or a power sword. There are technologies that may become part of you, and still leave the essentials intact, and so do not fall under the heading of Advanced Bionics.

Or, alternatively, he's just really hardcore!  ;D

Now, as for why he's a puritan. He considers himself a puritan because he abhors the enemy within, without, and beyond, as well as accepting that the God-Emperor has a divine plan. He simply realises that it is not being carried out properly, which is why he is taking the radical steps that he is.

Dust King

Well fair enough, I just find characters without flaws a bit dull and unimaginitive, as he's described he'd make a perfect antagonist, I just can't imagine him having any struggles against his own limits or any moral dilemmas.

As for his stats;

WS is at Offico assassin levels, these guys live to kill, nothing else, they are supposed to be better than everyone 
BS is guard veteran levels, remember these guys are the best soldiers around, they've spent decades on the battlefield, it's about the best a normal human can get.
S & T nothing to bad here, he's just tough.
I is very high for humans, only assassins and marines have higher. (as a personal note, my inquisitor with over a hundred years hunting genestealers has an I of 72, his main strength is his speed)
Wp is at demonhost and arcoflagelent levels, these guys are almost completely mindless, far beyond human.
Sg is at techpriest levels.
Nv is techpriest and demonhost levels, basically he is afraid of nothing

Basically if he's running round with marines and temple assassins he's on the same level, otherwise he's head and shoulders above everyone else.

As I said a bit of a dull hero but great material for a villian (Even his name 'Sterne' would work as a bond villian ;) ).

Inquisitor Cade

I like the idea of the puritan recongregator. I've got a character who is either a puritan Xanthite or a radical monodominant depending on which way you look at it. I am going to attack the stats a bit though, my opinion is that individually these stats are a little high, but together he is an absolute monster. As Kaled said, look at the descriptions of the stats for example values rather than at the character archetypes.
You said:
QuoteAfter all, if you'd been training and fighting on and off for, effectively, a hundred and seventy-odd years, I suspect you'd be a pretty good shot and fairly decent with a blade.
And I agree completely. But Bs 76 is special forces sniper good, space marine good. A pretty goood shot is Bs 50-60. A remarkably good shot is 60-70 (which is where I'd put this guy). 70-80 is an expert shot and 80+ is masterful.
The same goes for sword play. Ws 60 is fairly decent with a blade, 70 is expert, 80 is masterful and 92 is outrageous (I'm looking at you Tyrus).
An Inquisitor's primary role is investigation, but obviously they would spend plenty of time honeing combat skills too (depending on the Inquisitor, some would be content to leave the actual fighting to their minions). As your Inquisitor is obviously at the more active end of the scale I'd expect an average Ws and Bs of about 70. If the background were to mension that he grew up in a cult of swordsmasters or something then my expectations would be higher.
His S and T are high, but not impossibly so. In general though this sort of strength level would take hours of working out every day to maintain and the model would need arms like Sgt Stone's.
For mental stats I tend to think that 70's are about right for I, Wp, Sg and Nv, With 80's for Ld. Although this average is by no means perfect, I'd say he has the mental stats of a much less active Inquisitor. Inquisitors would all have high I, Wp, Sg and Nv, 70 is a very high value for all of them. As an active fighting inquisitor I'd think his I and Nv would be the higher stats, maybe approaching 80.

On the other hand I like his equipment. I'd concider upgrading the autopistol to one of the SMG's in Marco Skoll's revised Inquisitor armoury, a machine pistol perhaps. I think pentagramic and hexagrammic wards are a bit OTT. As, presumably a Hereticus, Inquisitor who looks into the corruption within, I'd leave the anti daemon wards at home.
*Insert token witticism*

Kaled

Quote from: Gideon Sterne on August 12, 2009, 08:58:54 AM
Now, as for why he's a puritan. He considers himself a puritan because he abhors the enemy within, without, and beyond, as well as accepting that the God-Emperor has a divine plan. He simply realises that it is not being carried out properly, which is why he is taking the radical steps that he is.
Exactly - his views and methods are pretty typical for a Recongregator, so why does he consider himself puritan?  Or does he consider Recongregation to be a puritan philosophy?  He's not even all that moderate in his beliefs - all in all, I'd say he's a pretty typical member of his faction, other than his unusual assertion that he's a puritan.

As for his stats - well, they are somewhat above the level played by many people on here so if you want to bring him to Conclave events you'd might be better of lowering them a little (and if you brought him to the IGT I suspect some people might give you a fairly low score for your character).  You clearly regard your character as exceptional and believe that justifies his high stats - but while he no doubt is exceptional compared to most humans, the majority of characters who crop up in the game are exceptional in some way.  Your character is not unusually old compared to many, and other Inquisitors (theoretically) have access to the same technology and resources.  Why should your character be even more exceptional than most?  Maybe there is a good reason, but it'd be worth explaining.

On the other hand, if you're only going to play in your own group and everyone is at that kind of level then there's no problem.  However, why the reliance on the random generators?  The fact that it's random doesn't mean it's appropriate for the character so surely you'd be better off just picking the right value rather than trusting to chance?

There are good reasons why people tend to play with slightly lower stats than those in the sample profiles.  The main one being that if your characters have high stats then there's less chance of them failing when they try something, so there's less tension and excitement in the game.  Lower stats mean more chance of failure, but when you succeed it's all the sweeter.

Quote from: Inquisitor Cade on August 12, 2009, 12:30:15 PM
I like the idea of the puritan recongregator. I've got a character who is either a puritan Xanthite or a radical monodominant depending on which way you look at it.
Recongregators and Xanthites are radical because they're opposed to established doctrine, whereas Monodominants are puritan because they uphold it.  What I think that what is probably meant is that this character is a moderate Recongregator who doesn't go to the extremes of some other members of his faction.  The same goes for your Xanthite/Monodominant - he's probably better described as  moderate Xanthite or extremist Monodominant due to how far he takes his beliefs.
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Adlan

He's armed with a very nasty pistol, but is an expert at closecombat?

If he is so good at hand to hand, why dosn't he have anything better than a power knife?

He does seem to be a bit powerful, but he might be inline for your group. I echo others comments about his Stat line.

Kaled

The number of shots for the pistol seems rather excessive.  Each autopistol magazine carries 10 more rounds than a normal autopistol and the needle part of the combi-weapon holds 46 more shots than normal.  That must be one rather bulky pistol...
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Kaled on August 12, 2009, 12:57:55 PM... other than his unusual assertion that he's a puritan.
There are no small number of Radicals that believe themselves Puritan. Most don't realise that they've fallen.

That said, there is a more modest Istvaanian amongst the characters I've written. He never actually elicits trouble himself, but very much enjoys finding it and can be found manipulating how the Imperial recovery from them goes about. Belief in "Strength in Adversity" doesn't mean you have to go around being adverse yourself.

I have no problems with a character that doesn't THINK they're radical. Just as long as the player's not lying to themselves.

Quote from: Gideon Sterne on August 12, 2009, 08:58:54 AMAfter all - it's random!
All the less reason to use it. If it's random, the chances of the numbers actually being right for the character and their background get very small very fast.
A high number is still high, even if it was random. A wrong number is still wrong, even if it was random. Random is no excuse. If you think random is acceptable, I present you with a new statline:

WSBSSTIWpSgNvLd
51461392664944584

Every number was generated by a random D100 roll. Each was more random than the rolls you did, so surely this must be a more valid profile... No?
My point. Don't use random to justify a profile.

While I often pick character stats to the nearest 5, then randomise them from there, that's to stop me repeatedly picking numbers that I think are "neater" than others (I'm autistic, I do it without thinking). They may be randomised (very slightly), but they still fit the background.

QuoteAfter all, if you'd been training and fighting on and off for, effectively, a hundred and seventy-odd years, I suspect you'd be a pretty good shot and fairly decent with a blade.
Exceptional he may be - but we have to consider that a regular Inquisitor character is also exceptional. One in a million, or perhaps even one in a billion in some cases.
Your profile is pushing one in many trillions, perhaps more.

Playing with powerful characters is pretty dull. As Saussure's excellent article in Exterminatus 10 said, cranking up the relative power levels does nothing for the enjoyment of the game. Indeed, it very much detracts from it.

To quote from the Introduction page in the Inquisitor rulebook:
Quote from: The LRBWith Inquisitor it is possible to make all conquering heroes who cannot be destroyed, and warrior bands which are far superior to anything they might meet. But that is not the point of playing Inquisitor. Where is the fun in a comic or movie character who is invincible? Even Superman is susceptible to kryptonite. Do we not enjoy seeing our action heroes on the brink of defeat, broken and battered, only to rise against the odds and win through! This is because the challenge of Inquisitor is to create this kind of exciting story, not to win the game simply by designing the hardest characters possible.

Using a lesser power level for all characters creates a game that's got more chance in it, and thus more possibility for entertainment, but still comes out roughly equal.

QuoteThere are technologies that may become part of you, and still leave the essentials intact, and so do not fall under the heading of Advanced Bionics.
You should still make mention of them. They might not be bionics, but seeing "Augmentation" under equipment is another thing to seeing a statline that would make Rambo look incompetent.
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".

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Kaled

Quote from: MarcoSkoll on August 12, 2009, 07:32:26 PM
There are no small number of Radicals that believe themselves Puritan. Most don't realise that they've fallen.
It's not him thinking he's a puritan that I have a problem with, it's that he claims to be a Recongregator and a puritan.  Recongregationism is a radical philosophy and he no doubt knows that - so the question is why does he think he's puritan?  By the sound of it, he's not even particularly moderate in his approach to Recongregation - he admits to using subterfuge and sedition to achieve his aims.  His end may be noble, but Recongregators are (generally) not an evil bunch, they do what they do for the good of humanity - so why does this guy think himself more puritan than other members of his faction?
I like to remember things my own way... Not necessarily the way they happened.

Inquisitor - Blood Bowl - Malifaux - Fairy Meat

Gideon Sterne

I've had a think, rewritten his stats, changed his gear (slightly) and am proud to present the reworked:

QuoteInquisitor Gideon Sterne:

   WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
   69   73   50   58   72   90   87   84   88

Inquisitor Sterne carries a silenced autopistol with three magazines of 20 rounds. The pistol also has an underslung needle pistol, with a single drum magazine capable of releasing up to 25 darts containing Bloodchoke* toxin. The pistol has a range-finding infrascope. He also wields a fighting knife, and has filter plugs. He wears pilgrim's robes over a concealed suit of mesh armour on all locations apart from his hands and head, and is tattooed with pentagrammic and hexagrammic warding symbols.

* Combines Bloodfire and Choke toxins.

Talents:
Leader, Fast Draw; Rock Steady Aim

Interrogator Alice Darque:

   WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
   65   69   62   53   68   80   77   78   79

Interrogator Darque wields a power halberd, and carries a laspistol with laser sight and three powerpacks. She wears a full suit of golden carapace armour, complete with a full-face helmet with integrated advanced sight/sound auto-senses and re-breather. Her armour conceals a knife in the heel of her left boot, and she is wreathed in hexagrammic and pentagrammic wards.

Talents:
Force of Will; Ambidextrous

Acolyte Truly Faithful:

   WS   BS   S   T   I   Wp   Sg   Nv   Ld
   48   55   47   45   59   62   63   76   61

Acolyte Faithful carries a hand flamer with one spare tank, five throwing knives, a fighting knife, and a bastard sword. She also has a compact stub pistol hidden on her person with two magazines of 10 rounds. She wears flak armour on all locations except her head and hands, filter plugs, and carries hexagrammic wards.

Talents:
Medic; Heroic

As for his philosophy, it all comes down to semantics, really. To him, he is a puritan - he purges and burns, believes in the God-Emperor and His works, does the bidding of the Ordo Hereticus, etcetera etcetera. However, he is also a recongregator because he feels the real 'enemy within' is the Imperium's own stagnation. Perhaps he is a hypocrite, in that he is not above using the Emperor's enemies to fulfil His divine plans, but he is driven, cunning, and faithful.

Oh, and Marko - I think that profile's actually a pretty good one, although I'd like to qualify my earlier comment on the random generation of stats. In the =][= book, the statlines are randomly generated to reach a certain range (e.g. 30+2d6, from 32 to 42) rather than from 1-100. So, in other words, the 'randomness' is limited and tailored by the ruleswriters to reflect what they feel is a balanced and playable representation of the various characters. Or compare the DnD system, where stats are entirely generated at random, from 7-18, and provide an excellent starting point for background and development; something I enjoy doing: why is the Elf stupid, and the Barbarian an excellent artist? ;)

Dust King

Nice job, the stat lines definitely look better, the equipment is still on the excessive side but in all honesty it fits in with their characters.

The only real problem I can see is encumbrance, especially on Alice. Her encumbrance is 112 (S+50) and not counting her armour she already has 110 weight of equipment (counting armour and the weight is almost 300) I'd suggest putting something about servos in her armour, making it sort of homebrew power armour with -1 speed but a bonus to strength. (encumbrance rules are in the character section of the rulebook)

Aside from that everything looks good.

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Gideon Sterne on August 17, 2009, 11:08:42 PMSo, in other words, the 'randomness' is limited and tailored by the ruleswriters to reflect what they feel is a balanced and playable representation of the various characters.
Of the class of characters maybe (at least by the somewhat excessive characteristics of early Inquisitor).
However, the dice don't know whether your characters is supposed to be a decent swordsman, a crappy shot or whatever.

That is the point I'm trying to get across - you're supposed to write your character, not have the dice do it for you.

Quote... and provide an excellent starting point for background and development; something I enjoy doing: why is the Elf stupid, and the Barbarian an excellent artist?
That's writing background to characteristics. It's a way of working... but many of the people here prefer to work the other way around - create the background, then put the characteristics to that.

While I have no qualms with using things for inspiration for interesting quirks, I'd prefer to choose what quirks my characters have, rather than have them thrust upon me.

I... grow characters, for lack of a better word. I come up with a draft, then leave it for a while. I come back, prune it a bit, then add an extra bit. I might write them in a story. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Usually, only when they're turned into a topiary clean and dry developed after a few cycles of this do I start to consider a statline.

But I could talk to you like I actually knew them as people in real life.
By the way, if they are people in real life and you should come across them, steer clear of Frost. She's a bit... anti-social. Anti-social with knives.

~~~~~

Also, to comment on your new profiles, mostly fair enough (much more reasonable stats), but why does everyone have hexagrammic wards? Exotic rarity does kinda mean they're not easy to come by...
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