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Character no.1 - Maggit

Started by dumdeedum, May 27, 2010, 07:27:09 PM

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dumdeedum

I was a member here a long time a go for a brief time and now after quite a long hiatus am trying to get back into the run of things with a new concept (for  me  at least), so suggestions, criticisms etc. are all welcomed.

Name: Maggit
Gender: Male
Notes: Not particularly bright and born to be led, Right handed
Statline:
WS: 44 BS: 65 S: 51 T: 58 I: 67 Wp: 42 Sg: 36 Nv: 63 Ld: 20
Equipment: Quad-Barrelled Rifle(QBR) w. 1 extra clip, Demolition Charge
Armour: Bits and Pieces (AV2 on all locations except head)
Abilities: Utterly Unfailing/Loyal

QBR: A 4 barrelled single shot (to an extent) rifle
Type: Basic   Range: B   Mode: Single x4   Acc: -15   Dam: 2D6   Shots: 60   Reload: 5   Weight: 45

Utterly Unfailing/Loyal (Don't know which is a better word, or if theres a better one out there): He is utterly devoted to 'InsertNameHere(INH)' and if Maggit is given a task by 'INH' he gains the Heroic ability until the task is finished.

Background:
The idea is still a work in progress and this is where suggestions would be most appreciated, though suggestions about everything would be most welcome and appreciated.

I have only really been thinking of what kind of person he is so far and havn't really come up with the circumstances of him being in an inquistor game, though once 'INH' (probably a rogue trader but yet to be decided upon) is thought up this should sort it self out.

Basically hes a not particularly clever guy, who finds life much more to his liking if theres someone there to tell him what to do and how to do it within reason. I think 'INH' treats him almost like a servant, so Maggit does pretty much whatever he wants and is by no means an equal or a friend, but he does get rewarded for what he does in some form or another.

As for the QBR, I was thinking it was some kind of reward for something he's done, maybe it was part of a collection or cache of goods if 'INH' is a trader. Maggit is also easily impressed and follows the logic that bigger is better, though not to a unhealthy, carry a gun bigger than me level, which is where the demolition charge comes in, he likes the big explosion and hes happy enough to carry it around for 'INH' whereas other people might be unsettled by the large amount of explosives on them.

Thats pretty much all I've got so far, hope people don't think he's too boring

Chipperz

I like him!  just a few thoughts...

For someone who is unflinchingly loyal, he's got a tiny leadership.  Leadership is the ability to follow orders (I've always imagined that you need the "Leader" ability to give them, too), so I'd imagine this guy has oodles of it.

Does the Singlex4 on the Quad-barreled Rifle mean it shoots four times as one action, or it shoots once and a hit rolls location and damage four times?

Lastly, this may be a stupid question, but this guy's a mutant, right?
Proud devotee to Mork.  Or the Emperor.  Whichever one doesn't get me killed.

MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Chipperz on May 27, 2010, 10:14:50 PMLeadership is the ability to follow orders
Not necessarily. I use it as a stat for general communication (both "sending" and "receiving"), charisma and loyalty. The fact that the stat is a rather wide abstraction means that it may well not work for some of the things under its "umbrella".

That said, I would agree that Ld 20 is very low for someone who is supposed to be unswervingly loyal.

QuoteI've always imagined that you need the "Leader" ability to give them, too
Wouldn't really agree with that. Leader is an ability to inspire courage and loyalty in those around you - not the ability to give commands. Although that said, those with that kind of infective charisma will be better at giving orders.

I don't see the Leader skill as an absolute pre-requisite for Inquisitors either. Many will have that kind of force of personality, but some just aren't combat leaders.
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

Flinty

I agree that his Leadership should be raised, and I follow Marco's lead on how Leadership could be viewed/used as a stat.

How about he reciecves a modifier to his willpower rather than becomes Heroic. Thus he is still a drone/unthinking sidekick, but becomes very single minded once that 'special person' gives the word. A bit of careful role playing/GM'ing should be able to iron out the minor kinks, but it also reflects aspects such as psychic attack potentially not deviating the 3 firing neurones form thier set path...type thing.

Im also intrigued as to how the 'QBR' is going to work
- does it have a selector to allow individual fire and/or unloading all 4 at once?
- 60 shots though, thats 15 rounds per barrel before a reload, where are they all stored ? I imagine a reload of 5 could be a bit short...
Neanderthal and Proud!

dumdeedum

Anyone have any ideas on what would be a suitable Leadership then? I was considering it as just his ability to lead and inspire others, which is my fault for not reading the rulebook properly. Would his singlemindedness in following orders mean a really quite high leadership?

For the 'unfailing' rule, I think the willpower might work quite well, I just used heroic for its description really "willing to brave tasks that would leave normal mortals quivering in fear."
Would doubling willpower be too much? Or if I give him a lower initial Wp such as 33 maybe, do you think it would work?

For the QBR, I had imagined it as having one fire mode only being firing all 4 barrels at once, I've seen rules for this having 1 to hit roll at slightly reduced accuracy giving 4 hits but I think thats a little overpowered, so i'm consdering it to effectively be semi(4) but without the additional -40% modifier, so fired at the guns -15, though I might change it to -20.
Think I'm going to reduce the number of shots to 20, meaning 5 firing actions and therefore 1 action to reload everyshot. I'm not sure how loading such a gun would work, I'm currently hoping that maybe loading it something like a pump-action shotgun would work and it would therefore have a reload value of (4).

Think I'm going to try and flesh out some details of him later.

Thanks for the advice so far everyone

EDIT: I've started trying to write some information and history about him, so here goes:

Maggit is what a lot of people would call ugly, and quite often hideous or disgusting. He has a slight hunchback, a face that looks like it has been screwed up and a sense of being mis-proportioned. So mistaken for a mutant on more than one occasion, he has gotten used to persecution, beatings and the occasional mob. Then when he's not being mistaken for a mutant he is being taken advantage of, for he is not the smartest idiot in the village, and a born follower to boot. So he lived the first 2 decades of his life as slave among normal emperor-loving folk moving from settlement to settlement once the previous one has had some misfortune blamed on him, having to go further and further and further afield each time.

The first step on his journey towards his current position was moving from the rural towns into the big city or 'the little city' as it was known by most. He immediately found himself in the gutters being used as a slave, but this time he was not put to just menial tasks, but ones of violence as well for the company he found himself amongst were the thiefs, murderers and other miscreants of the city.



Well that is the start of it, I'm still trying to work out how he meets his current master, probably through ending up in a criminal-for-hire kind of organisation in the city and then ending up with the hirer(rogue trader maybe?) through some happening on the job.

Besides that, you've probably noticed my writing is a bit naff, particulary how I've described him, I was just trying to say that he is quite deformed, so mistreated, but equally, not a mutant.

My thoughts on what the model would be like (though I doubt I could actually model it how I want it) would be to have a fairly sure man with a bit of a messed up face, wearing a smart get-up on his torso, something a noble would wear and then torn sleeves at the shoulder(as he wants to look smart but he doesn't like having clothes on his arms for no reason he can explain). Besides that he would have a backpack which would contain the demolition charge, worn to try and hide his hunchback and his nice big gun in his hands.

dumdeedum

I'm not sure what peoples views on double posting are, but I figured my last post was pretty long and was a few days ago, so sorry if this offends.

After looking around at models, I found Jeremiah Crowe, the gravedigger from the smart max store, and I thought he looked perfect for Maggit.
Since I'm not too confident about my modelling skills I figured I would leave the model as close to the original as I could, which meant a slight change to his story and stats etc.

So here is the new Maggit:





Name: Maggit
Gender: Male
Notes: Not particularly bright and born to be led, Reasonably short, Right handed
Statline:
WS: 38 BS: 65 S: 51 T: 58 I: 67 Wp: 42 Sg: 36 Nv: 63 Ld: 70
Equipment: Quad-Barrelled Rifle(QBR) w. 12 extra shots, Demolition Charge, Gas Mask
Armour: Bits and Pieces (AV2 on all locations except head)
Abilities: Singleminded

QBR: A 4 barrelled single shot (to an extent) rifle, the bullets are loaded in a smilar fashion to how a revolver is loaded and it uses standard autopistol ammunition.
Type: Basic   Range: B   Mode: Single x4   Acc: -15   Dam: 2D6   Shots: 4   Reload: (2)   Weight: 45

Single x4 works in the same way that Semi(4) works except there is no additional -40% modifier
If there are only 2 bullets in the gun, it can still fire as Single x2, it just has to fire all the bullets in the gun at once.

Singleminded: He is utterly devoted to 'InsertNameHere(INH)' and if Maggit is given a task by 'INH' he gains a doubled willpower for the duration of the task

Background/Details:

His family was just his parents, both dead from an illness/plague that swept through their city when he was eight.

Survived the illness that killed his parents, but was left horribly disfigured/scarred because of it and his growth from here on was affected leaving him as quite a short and scrawny individual.

Wears anything as long as it covers up as much of his flesh as possible, and always wears his gasmark as he thinks it will protect him from more illnesses.

Is reasonably stupid by anyones standards and always ends up in master-servant relationships than friendships due to his obeying nature, besides these mental flaws, physically he is in good condition aside from his skin.

First used a gun at the age of 14 when he became a lackey in a small gang within the criminal community of the city. Used a knife a few years earlier but didn't like them nor have much skill with them having cut himself often.

He likes to try and look as impressive as possible so trys to have clean clothes and equipment as much as possible. He doesn't realise that his bad quality clothes aren't impressive, clean or not.

Obtained his gun from the collection of his current employer (master), who was happy to give it to him as it kept him happy and was only a curiosity, not a particularly useful or exotic gun (almost certainly a rogue trader but I'm sure there are other people who collect stuff out there).
He bought the gas mask at quite a young age to hide his face and to stop himself getting any more illnesses and has never been seen without it since.

Has few acquaintances besides his master, a couple (to be created at a later date) of other employees only, generally deemed not worthy of friendship. Equally he is too meek to have any enemies besides those his master tells him are enemies.

He is easily impressed and tries to impress others, but in his own convoluted way of carrying about loud and destructive equipment, and bright and clean clothing.

He doesn't have much a moral code, he does what he is told to do without out much if any thought into wether it is right or wrong. Similarly he doesn't see himself as anything other than a servant and has no real goals in life besides trying to get that little bit more impressive.

Still havn't worked out the exact circumstances of his employment yet, probably became involved in some kind of fighter/criminal for hire enterprise and ended up staying with the employer for some reason.




Reached the limits of my imagination for a while
But will have the others imagined up at some point

Shannow

I really like the concept and also think that the model you've picked is a really good fit. Now I'm not very experienced at all in Inquisitor so my 2cents is likely to be worth little (some kind of intellectual inflation perhaps?) but I would say that perhaps give him True Grit as well when he is given a task? I like the idea of him being so utterly devoted that he brings himself from the brink of death, to crawl guts out, across a bullet torn street to do as he was commanded...

Though having said that, I'm sure careful thought may have to be put into what exactly constitutes a task perhaps? 'Go over there' seems a bit to trivial, but as I said I'm not so experienced so a large salt shaker may be required :P

Rob
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Time to die.

Brother_Brimstone

Just a quick warning. That model is 50mm high. I too planned to use him, but that's almost half a centimeter too small... I've not seen him alongside an Inquisitor model, but i fear his scale may just be too small to justify.

I don't wish to dishearten you, just warn you so that you don't spend about 20 quid for a model, only to find it's too small.

Chipperz

Quote from: Brother_Brimstone on June 01, 2010, 08:00:30 PM
Just a quick warning. That model is 50mm high. I too planned to use him, but that's almost half a centimeter too small... I've not seen him alongside an Inquisitor model, but i fear his scale may just be too small to justify.

I don't wish to dishearten you, just warn you so that you don't spend about 20 quid for a model, only to find it's too small.

Couldn't that be explained away by saying he was born on a high-gravity world (or something similar)?  I'm using that basic excuse (I'm saying my model based on Lady Grigoryan was born on what ammounts to a space station with slightly overcompensated artifical gravity)

Besides, a small model fits the background pretty well :)
Proud devotee to Mork.  Or the Emperor.  Whichever one doesn't get me killed.

Flinty

Nice background, I like the way he's developing. Stats look fine and I like the QBR set up. Shannow's suggestion of True Grit is nice if you think he'd really be that single-minded.

I think an awful lot of the character is best bought out by a bit of thinking/role-play during a game, once you have the basic set up and appropriate rules.

Brother_Brimstone obviously has a Smart Max figure as his avatar and is probably best placed to advise - but  you might want to think about the figure not just being short, but being slight in comparison as well - which unfortunately makes the high-grav home world approach difficult. He might well just be small all over due to his childhood plauge exposure stunting all sorts of growth?



Neanderthal and Proud!

Brother_Brimstone

I would say that Flinty's suggestion is right on the mark. I added something into Zophar's background about him being noticably small and scrawny and thus becoming the type who tried to compensate through fighting training. I think Flinty's idea of his growth being stunted by the childhood plague is a great one - he is small and scrawny, eaten away by disease and yet he has an uncrushable resolve to always follow orders. That, to me, sounds like a great way of connecting the model to the character.

dumdeedum

Then I think I will stick to that model after all then and include the scrawnyness part in his background.

Think I've got near everything covered now besides a few things:

Is the new leadership of 70 fitting of his willingness to follow orders?

In the 20 questions for character background it stresses about locations quite a bit, and I have no idea what settlements might be like in 40k besides a bit on hive cities, is there anywhere with guides on this kind of thing?

Do people think him being in the employ of a rogue trader is most likely?

Then finally I think true grit might fit well but equally I think it would only come into effect if he is persuaded of the importance of his task. I seem to remember there being some persuasion rules somewhere, and so if he is succesfully persuaded then he gains true grit in addition to the willpower bonus. Anyone like/dislike this?

Once I've ironed out those few things I think he'll be done.

Shannow

In terms of leadership, I'm kind of stuck with what values should be given so I can't help sorry!

In terms of who employs him I think as long as the background fits then it will be fine either way

E.g. a crimelord of an underhive gang stops him from getting a beating and he adores him, a rogue trader throws him a penny and he follows him ending up shooting someone who was trying to mug the rogue trader (not that he needed help) and the rogue trader takes a liking yada yada you get my druft.

I really like the inclusion of the persuade idea, makes me think of an adult explaining to a child why its important, but in the way that adults lie to kids but sound very superior and logical :P
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Time to die.

Myriad

Like the concept.  Leadership seems a bit tricky for this guy, since he'd be good at following orders but bad at giving them.

As far as height is concerned, if you don't mind him looking small I don't think it's an issue in terms of background - the inquisitor range probably tends to be a bit too uniform.  The average height varies between different countries quite markedly (according to wikipedia), and it can be assumed that various planets do have quite different average heights.  Ogryns / ratlings come to mind as extreme examples, no longer exactly 'human'.  I'm not certain if we really know what effect different gravity might have on height, but various sci-fi writers have certainly speculated on this.
I had better point out, that some of the clubs I represent are of a military bent.

You know what you are?  A plywood shark!

Flinty

Leadership is what he falls back on if he fails a Nerve test, so whilst being 'normal' Maggit and under no pressure, he does what he's told; should things go pear-shaped he might start wondering if it wasn't time to be elsewhere. Perhaps somewhere in the 50's, maybe 60's?

The front of the Rule Book gives a couple of good pointers and there are several threads on what the Conclave Standard character/stat ranges are and are well worth a read.

I really wouldnt worry about it too much, as most of this will be how you decide to use him, and role-play will see you through that.

Background is out of my remit, but there are Hives/Underhives, Forge worlds, Agri worlds, Death worlds - you name it, there's one out there in the universe somewhere. Lots of people here have read (and even written, I think!) the Black Library material and Im sure can recommend some suitable titles describing the Imperium; and Black Heresey is also seen as a good Inq. source, which I keep meaning to investigate at some point...

I tend to look up stuff/browse here http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page and then check its okay as fluff by asking around on here.
Neanderthal and Proud!