Inquisitor Nerva Marcellinus Flavius Avitus (Ordos Xenos)

[Acolyte Havlan Tome]

Inquisitor Nerva Marcellinus Flavius Avitus (Ordos Xenos)

Stats-

WS-61   
BS-70
S-66
T-60
I-66
WP-79
SG-72
NV-86
LD-45
Speed-4
   
Weapons-Bolter MK III, Force Sword, Knife

Equipment-Melta Bomb, Carapace armour on all locations except head and legs, Re-breather, Medi-pak, Motion Predictor (bolter),Horrorfire penetrator round(combines hellfire and kraken penetrator special rules).

Skills-Nerves of steel, lightning reflexes

Special rules-Fear not a dead man*

*This rule means that all his remaining retinue will try to leave the table if Nerva dies or is unconscious but will immediately start fighting again if he regains consciousness. 

NAME: Nerva Marcellinus Flavius Avitus (Ordos Xenos)
RANK: Inquisitor
AGE / GENDER: 119/Male
SPECIES: Human
HEIGHT:  6' 1''/ WEIGHT: 131 lbs
EYES: Blue

APPEARANCE: A tall and relatively thin man, Nerva has a very noble face with a highly bridged nose and thin lips. His eyes are blue and his pupils are smaller than the average man. His body is free of bionics although he does carry a re-breather to combat the various gases and toxins given off by the aliens he hunts. His lack of visible (any) hair is a commanding feature but Nerva maintains he does have some somewhere.
   He has a slightly arched back on account of leaning over examination tables. For such a slight and unassuming man Nerva has a surprising amount of strength at his disposal. He also takes pride in his amazing reflexes.

ATTIRE: Nerva has a very noble wardrobe. His clothes always show his wealth and authority over others. His clothes tend to take a green side as a result of his order and he will show off some of the many skulls he has collected when trying to unnerve someone by taking the skull out of his pocket and turning it over in his hands.

PERSONALITY & BELIEFS: He believes that aliens are a test of humankinds strength and that the fact they are still a threat to mankind is a show of weakness and cowardly leaders. He will stop at nothing to rid himself of "humankind's weakness". In his acolyte days he frequently made acquaintances with bounty hunters and rogue traders. He will take every opportunity to increase his wealth and this is shown in his clothes, weapons, equipment, accommodation and his ship "The Strength of Man". He has a nasty temper and gets angry very quickly.

ABILITIES / STRENGTHS / WEAKNESSES: Nerva seems to stick with "his lot" and tells that to anybody of any sort of rank that he meets but what they don't know is that he regularly visits the underhive under the alias of Temp Sater though he is careful to make sure no one recognises him. He lacks leadership powers and his retinue follow him because they are scared of what will happen if they don't and not because they want to. His upbringing has caused an above average ballistic skill and his nerve in the face of aliens envied.

WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT: In his acolyte days he frequently made acquaintances with bounty hunters and rogue traders and this is how he picked up the many melta bombs he keeps dangerously armed in his house. His bolter was given to him by a bounty hunter though he would not say where he had found it.  His body is free of bionics although he does carry a re-breather to combat the various gases and toxins given off by the aliens he hunts. His force sword only makes an appearance in the direst of circumstances and so is shrouded in mystery. It is common knowledge that he carries a knife up his sleeve. He carries a medi-pak because of past experience that he regularly needs it despite all the protection he gives himself. He has fitted carapace armour for all his body par his legs and head and his bolter carries a motion predictor (handy when shooting swift, pesky lictors). He also devised the Horrorfire bolter round while stowed away on a ship. He devised it especially for tyranids but it is more than deadly on other species.
   
SERVANTS/ACQUAINTANCES: He has many servants and inquisitors and there acolytes under him but he tends to surround himself with his personal retinue consisting of:
Kanfert Loilon-Bounty Hunter
Jusatt Aclisius-Rogue Trader
Vt. Sgt. Schwarz-Imperial Guard

HISTORY: Nerva comes from the old, established Drustos family that has lived in the same estate for as far as anyone can remember. The family is in a feud with the Mallors family and so Nerva had to get used to armed guards wandering around the mansion.
   Nerva's parents both were killed at an early age by the Mallors family and so he was brought up by his pacifist uncle who refused to live in the mansion which was effectively under siege, so Nerva was brought up by the head servant of the house, a man named Barak. He had a relative freedom of the mansion and the fact that he was only educated within the house was an important factor in his career choice. He was tutored by the head of the defence force in the mansion who, for his job, seemed to be of unusually high intellect. The tutor, named Thaddius was the complete opposite of Nerva's uncle and was convinced that aliens were the reason for all mankind's problems. His thoughts rubbed off on Nerva.
   When Nerva was about 14 years of age Thaddius left the mansion never to return, the local arbites suspected the Mallors family but could prove nothing. This was the moment that Nerva realised that Thaddius was right and refused to be tutored. Instead he was often found practicing with one of Thaddius's old laspistols. At the age of 21 his uncle was killed by the Mallors family. They had now killed four people of importance in Nerva's life. Now the head of the Drustos family, Nerva slowly but surely started to lift the siege on his family's estate. At the age of 24, with the help of his many advisers the siege of the estate was finally lifted and Nerva finally had the freedom of the outside world.
   It was at this time that Nerva acquired a ship off a rogue trader and used his considerable wealth to turn it into a formidable weapon. He renamed it "The Strength of Man". For the next few years of his life he used the family wealth to live comfortably and built up a considerable wardrobe of noble and expensive clothing.
   At the age of 32 he started making regular trips into the manufactorums and underhive under the alias of Temp Sater to find more information on the Mallors family. He started to collect Melta bombs and kept them armed in his house as a constant reminder of the danger mankind was in. He acquired these and many other things from a rogue trader named Jusatt Aclisius who is known to make a regular appearance at Nerva's side. Among the other accomplices that he picked up was a bounty hunter named Kanfert Loilon, of whom he bought his bolter from, and Veteran Sergeant Schwarz.
   At the age of 51 Nerva gave the mansion to his cousin and left, with his accomplices on his ship. The head of the Mallors family and his three sons were found dead soon afterwards. The Mallors house crumbled over the next few years. On the way to his new beginning on a different world Nerva devised the Horrorfire round for his bolter.
   When they reached the new world they were ambushed by underhive scum. Nerva was not troubled and his new bolter round was given its first use. Inquisitor Metalus who had witnessed the incident decided to induct Nerva into his own retinue as an acolyte. Inquisitor Metalus died three years later while investigating a genestealer infestation. Nerva was assigned to Inquisitor Ravion of the Ordos Xenos and at the age of 82 become a full inquisitor.

   830.M41-Nerva Marcellinus Flavius Avitus born
   832.M41-Both parents killed
   836.M41-Tutoring starts from Thaddius
   844.M41-Thaddius killed and Nerva begins self-tutoring
   851.M41-Uncle killed and Nerva becomes head of the family estate
   854.M41-Sige of estate lifted
   856.M41-Acquires ship from rogue trader
   862.M41-Starts to make trips to the underhive and acquires weapons and accomplices
   881.M41-Leaves mansion and destroys the Mallors family
   881.M41-Devises Horrorfire round
   882.M41-Ambushed by underhive scum and inducted into Inquisitor Metalus's Retinue as an acolyte
   885.M41-Metalus dies
   885.M41-Assigned to Inquisitor Ravion of the Ordos Xenos
   912.M41-Recieves full inquisitorial status

EDIT 1-Changed stats and equipment
EDIT 2-Added history
EDIT 3-Changed formatting

[Shannow]

I can't remember but did you say you were playing in a high power gaming group?

I ask again as this guy is incredibly tough and well equipped! Bolters will kill in one shot, flame cannons are massive things that would require strength greater than 70 to carry as an implant and will also kill in one hit, carapace armour all over plus a high toughness will negate a lot of attacks, a force sword without being a trained psyker is just a sword essentially, a crossbow seems very pointless with a bolter and flame cannon, melta bombs are again one hit kills, and the horrorfire rounds compound the power of the bolter. Added to all this his lowest stat is 70.

These powers and stats even against a space marine are extremely deadly, if your group is playing at this level, IMO I would suggest that they consider scaling the power down a lot, the level that most conclavers play at is discussed and "set" (though not hard and fast rule set, more like a guide) in this article:

http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=162.0

The reason most play at this level, is that it adds tension, your not always hitting with every attack ranged or close combat, you might not make that jump across the gap, will you parry? In my first game I ended up rolling around on the floor whilst bleeding to death from my left leg as a crazed pitfighter swung buzz saws at me, the tension if I would survive or make every dodge was fantastic!

I apologise for the long ranting post, I don't mean to put you down honestly, and if this is the power level you and your friends are happy playing at then be happy and kill till your blood lust is sated (not in real life...they don't allow it...) but as I said I would sincerely recommend a lowering of power elvels to add that level of tension and hollywood drama in to your games

Apologies for the long and critical post!

Rob

[Acolyte Havlan Tome]

The weakening ray is warming up

[Acolyte Havlan Tome]

If i make him an inquisitor lord will that justify his stats? I could of probably make up some background for the crossbow but would never use it so i have dropped that. The armour is slightly weakened and the flame cannon is also dropped. The force sword is now a power sword (slightly embarrising mistake). I have kept the melta bomb on account of me imagining up a moment when hundreds of hormagaunts sprint round the corner towards him only for a melta bomb to go off in the midst of them. I have kept the bolter because i imagine it as a suitable symbol of his inquisitorial power. Feedback has helped me keep my characters on an acceptable level thanks
-------------------------------------------
P.S I not in a gaming group, the space marine and assasin campaign with my acolyte was a one-off
P.P.S The background really is coming soon!!

[Acolyte Havlan Tome]

I have edited the original post with the changes from my last post

[JoelMcKickass]

I think the physical stats could do with getting dropped by 5-6 points, and maybe either the WS or BS getting dropped by 10 points, so he favours one over the other. I do like the mental stats, i think they represent an older, more experienced Inquisitor.

One thing though, i don't think Lightning Reflexes is the best skill, just because it's so...confused. There's been a few rewrites of it, so there's several different versions of it.

[RobSkib]

Just as a side note, there's an edit function for your posts so you don't have to triple post - I know in some circles it's frowned upon, just makes it easier on the eye I guess!

For starters, I know it's really picky, but melta bombs don't work like that You'd be lucky to take out a single hormagaunt in that situation - they have really small, focused blastwaves as they are designed to melt holes in bulkheads and vehicles, not to take out mobs of lightly armoured foes - something like a demolition charge or plasma grenade would be more suited that that.

Stats-wise, he's incredibly powerful. He doesn't really have any failings, which doesn't make for interesting scenarios - you know that whatever he shoots at, he's going to hit and kill due to a crazy BS and super-powerful ranged weapon combined with insanely powerful ammunition. You know that whatever he gets into close combat with is going to be torn to shribbons with his 80+ WS and power sword. You know that he's always going first in a turn, so your opponents have no time to counter him. He's always going to be left standing as well, due to carapace armour and 70+ toughness. Tough characters are not fun to play against, and it won't take long before you realise he's not fun to play with, either..

My recommendations would be drop ALL his physical stats (WS, BS, S, T, I) by 10-15 at least, and his mental stats by about 10, just to get him to a baseline. Then you need to do some soul-searching and brainstorming to work out the character's background, his history and what he is good and bad at. You can't be good at everything, and it's often more fun when you're not!

You need to decide whether he's considerably better at shooting or close combat, or average (low 60s is what I would consider average for an Inquisitor) and adjust his stats accordingly. Same goes for the rest of his stats - decide what he's good at, and where you want his weaknesses to be.

Also, what model are you going to use for this character?

[Acolyte Havlan Tome]

I have edited the original post and i'm going to base him on eisenhorn. I've posted up some background and changed his stats as well as adding a special rule

[MarcoSkoll]

If i make him an inquisitor lord will that justify his stats?

Not really. In my mind, Inquisitor Lords are very unlikely to take to the field themselves (well, not the small scale field of the Inquisitor game) - they're more likely to be involved in politics and have a horde of underling Inquisitors and acolytes that do most of the field work.

In many cases, I think Inquisitor Lords would be less effective combatants - out of practice. And they're also harder to justify being on the table.

[Jamas Orian]

Inquisitor Lords are generally the old-and-sage sort; so they will have many robust metal stats(high 80s), but will probably be pretty useless in combat, especially their S stat.

[MarcoSkoll]

I wouldn't say useless by any means - even if out of practice and quite possibly old enough that the anti-ageing processes can no longer keep up properly, they've still probably got years of experience.

They'd probably be second to a younger, healthier Inquisitor (or indeed, members of the Inquisitor's entourage, as the Inquisitor probably shouldn't be the most competent fighter in a given warband), but they definitely shouldn't be taken lightly in combat.

[Jamas Orian]

I wouldn't say useless by any means - even if out of practice and quite possibly old enough that the anti-ageing processes can no longer keep up properly, they've still probably got years of experience.

They'd probably be second to a younger, healthier Inquisitor (or indeed, members of the Inquisitor's entourage, as the Inquisitor probably shouldn't be the most competent fighter in a given warband), but they definitely shouldn't be taken lightly in combat.

^ This is what I was trying to state. =]

[Acolyte Havlan Tome]

 
I've finally managed to edit his history into the original post.
I have left out the events of when he was an acolyte and so far as an inquisitor as i am going to write a couple of short stories on them but hope you like what i have put up.

[Jamas Orian]

Background sounds good to me =]

Raises some interesting questions. If he found a straggler from the Mallors family, what would he do?

[Acolyte Havlan Tome]

Hmmmm.....................probably turn them into an arco-flagellant
Thanks