Posting my prospective characters here for you guys to take a look and let me know if you need something different for party variance/tactics. Again, both are meant to be ranged fighters, with the Assassin focusing on stealth (low wound threshold, no Fate Points). I've already cleared the Characteristics with the GM, removed those to consolidate information. Vardaen also gave me extra gelt to spend.
Vardaen, I've tweaked the Assassin XP crunch. In summary, I got rid of Search skill upgrades and Sprint, and replaced them with Security, leaving assassin with a remainder of 100xp as well. This is so I'd get the utmost out of the cybernetic enhancements when I'd purchase them in the future. I also rolled low on Insanity for assassin, it should be 5 and has been changed to show that.
If any of you have issues with the Battle Sister build/equipment, or roleplaying with one present, please discuss so that we can find a way to fit her in without her faith flipping the party cohesion upside down and in all directions. Otherwise, give me your expectations for Battle Sister characters in play, as I am new to Wh40k and I would appreciate any advice and feedback. I would prefer to use the Battle Sister for this campaign, but I'm also a little fond of the assassin I made, so I don't mind if the former won't/doesn't work out. I noticed you had a new player a while back who has since left, whose character fit the bill for assassin which was something you were looking for at the time, so if that's what you still need I can choose the assassin rather than trying to awkwardly fit the Sister into the team.
The incident in the mine referenced in both characters' histories happened 14 years prior to current campaign time. Battle sister was 8, Assassin was 19.
Name: Merica Luttrell
Homeworld: Sepheris, Schola Progenium
Career: Sister of Battle (Rank 5)
Still needs an alter ego, if required.
Gender: F
Age: 22, "stripling"
Build/Height/Weight: Fit/165m/60kg
Skin/Hair/Eyes: Fair/Blonde/Blue (light)
Image: https://www.artsfon.com/pic/201412/1920 ... -42699.jpg (the lady on the left)
Description: Stern adult maiden molded into a model of fitness. The flaxen bangs of her bob cut are trimmed above her eyes, framing her austere face, which would be flawless but for a scar running from her left cheekbone to the bottom of her chin. Just above her collarbone is another scar where her skin had been removed.
Background: Denounced and Condemned
Divination: The only true fear is of dying with your duty not done." 77, Wounds +2
Talents
Armor of Contempt, Basic Weapon Training (Las, Bolt), Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Mighty Shot, Pistol Training (Las), Unshakeable Faith, Hatred (Heretics), Marksman, Pure Faith, Rapid Reload, Quick Draw, Unshakeable Faith
Faith talents: Holy Radiance, Burden of Guilt, Soul Decay, Repel Demon, Demon Trap
Traits
Witch Sight (Denounced and Condemned)
Condemned Heretic
Skill At Arms (begin with groups of weapon training)
Schola Education (basic skills: Common Lore (Administratum, Ecclesiarchy, Imperial Creed, Imperium, War), Scholastic Lore (Philosophy).
Sheltered Upbringing
Tempered Will
Skills
Awareness, Climb +10, Common Lore (Ecclesiarchy +10, Imperial Creed), Dodge +10, Literacy, Language (High Gothic, Low Gothic), Performer (Singer), Scrutiny, Secret Tongue (Sororitas War Cant)
Nature
Fixed. Merica wants to be recognized again as a Battle Sister. She also wants to requisition arms and armor that indicate one's service with the Sisters of Battle. She expects serious opposition against her and is willing to fight for it. Once upon a time she did want to learn what happened to her mother, but she's long buried her ghost now. She is willing to give her life to service, but not her soul, because she believes it is anathema and stepping to the enemy's level, whose souls were damned for the favor and power their daemons and gods bestow on them.
Inquisitor
Merica was in chains being tortured for witchery on the day she met her Inquisitor. The torturer took a break so that he could talk to her in private. Unsure of his intentions, she immediately turned her power on him, as she became wont to do whenever she saw a new face in her cell. He offered her release from custody to conscription in the Inquisition as his Acolyte so that her power could serve the Emperor, and she gave in to tears, nodding for the chance to serve the Emperor again. When she was out of her chains, she asked a single boon of her Inquisitor: to kill her torturer for heresy, inflicting grievous bodily harm on an Adepta Sororitas while fully aware of her sanctioned status). Without a word, the Inquisitor let her borrow his sidearm.
History
Born on Sepheris, Merica was taken at an early age and raised in the Schola Progenium, after a mining accident claimed her widowed father's life. The Progena did not spare the reason for the collapse: a daemon-possessed noble, fueling her hatred of the heretic and bolstering her faith. No one would speak of her mother, who died before she knew her. She excelled above average scores at everything in the curriculum, and was considered for recruitment by the Adepta Sororitas. After her training she noticed she could tap into a sixth sense of others' feelings. For years, she kept up with the rest of her squad by leaning on this ability, before revealing her secret to her lover, who accused her of witchcraft and turned her in. She couldn't recall the passage of time during her torture, before she was bailed out in person by Inquisitor Sand, but the Ecclesiarchy took her standard issue equipment. They even tore off her tattoo, though it wasn't the worst that she'd suffered.
Gender: F
Age: 33, "Prime"
Build/Height/Weight: Well-built, 1.8/80kg
Skin/Hair/Eyes: Pale/Blonde/Brown
Quirk, 41: Nope. Sandalwood perfume
Belief, 100: Disguise Strength. "Power hidden is power multiplied; always refrain from showing the full extent of capabilities to ensure there are still surprises left to use."
Image: https://www.3dtotal.com/admin/new_cropp ... rheesa.jpg
Description: Mature woman possessing serene beauty and an unnatural calm, but surprisingly strong and quick for her delicate frame. Her shiny blonde hair cascades over pale skin down to her narrow shoulders. Emotionally distant.
Divination: "Know the mutant; kill the mutant." +2 Perception
Nature
Melancholic. Flavia wants to die. In service to the Inquisitor, she hopes to meet her death on assignment, if she's not outright murdered in the streets. The Inquisitor sought her out with prior knowledge of the incident with her possession and exorcism. The next best thing to death is bionic replacements (to pass for her alter ego after getting bionics, she'll cover it up with something resembling skin, like silicon), but it's a double-edged blade: her soul will slip further into the afterlife (she rationalizes), but the improvements will help her kill the enemies of the Imperium with greater ease and precision (and thus decrease her mortality). To break out of her suicidal rut, she needs a reason to live besides "if I kill myself, I'll go to hell".
Inquisitor
Holy servant to the God-Emperor and his voice. She supposes that he needed a tool and came for her, a conveniently mixed coctail of murder and mayhem. What he says, she does. Maybe one day he'll give her an impossible mission, and she'll die.
History
Flavia was born on Sepheris to a mining tycoon father and his socialite wife. Both employed assassins and bodyguards, and Flavia decided that a combination of intrigue and death-dealing would be the perfect cocktail for her lifestyle. She made a pact with a daemon of Slaanesh that her family had kept trapped in an heirloom. One night, with superhuman speed, Flavia planted the cook's cleaver through the heart of a moonlighting assailant, and the daemon began to influence her bloodlust slowly. She executed her father's enemies with great prejudice, and then went to work for his allies. While killing for them, she used her body to turn them against each other, and eventually poisoned them against her own family. After telling her family, she was sent after them until they relented, and she relished in the blood. She repeated the same movements with others to create more opportunities to kill, until the daemon dropped pretenses and began screwing and killing at its liesure. In its revelry, it started making mistakes, and eventually Flavia was cornered in a mine, where she was ultimately detained by her family's request. He pulled every favor he had to make the exorcism happen, and the day the demon was expelled was the first day of the rest of her life. A shell of her former self, Flavia was on deathwatch for weeks, and she nearly ended her own life twice before the staff and guards were no longer allowed to speak to her. To help in its own way, the Ecclesiarchy condemned her, that if she committed suicide, she would be forever damned, and she fell off the face of the planet. Then, the Inquisitor came, and offered a different pact. Flavia now lives for the Emperor, hoping to meet her end in holy service to his will.
Tonya Flash
Lifestyle: thrill-seeker, merc-for-hire
Differs: Doesn't speak High Gothic. Wears everyday street clothing. NOT bionic. Wears opera sleeves. Applies dark makeup. Wears her long hair in a fake mowhawk.
Special powers: none
Maintenance: none
Used: only when cover is needed
Side question, what do you think it would look like for someone to have cybernetic replacement for taste? It's mostly olfactory, right? So one would probably smell the taste if their tongue was no longer functional for tasting? That's so weird. Also, I am imagining that a Good Quality cybernetic olfactory replacement could also function as a permanent re-breather (it doesn't really say if adding the trait in question for senses increases the price, but I would assume it does for purchases after character creation).
Last edited by RorytheRomulan on Wed Dec 13, 2017 2:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
So I haven't taken the time to dig through the Book, but what's the gist for Denounced, Condemned, and Exorcised? Exorcised I can easily guess, but I don't know how bad the other two are. I personally like the look of the Sister of Battle better (if nothing else, 14 vs 8 Wounds is pretty important). But I don't know how badly Denounced & Condemned could screw us in the long run.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
Denounced and Condemned
That's the title, it's one Background. The member of Adepta Sororitas in question gains the Soul Sight psyker power but it isn't treated as a psyker ability, and it doesn't come from having a Psy rating. It's discovered, or they have the dumb sense to talk about it, and they're cast out, and typically die in a dark cell. You can't take Peer or Good Reputation with the Ecclesiarchy, and cannot use resources or favor with the Ecclesiarchy or the Adepta Sororitas. You also take 2d10 Insanity, that's why this SoB begins with Insanity points. Other than that, they leave you alone. On the plus side, there's Witch Sight (what I mentioned earlier) and a free Fate Point. The lore opposition I mentioned in the other thread is my own imagined obstacle in the way of trying to regain recognition as Adepta Sororitas.
Exorcised
One's Fellowship is reduced to 10, Wounds are reduced by 1d5, they gain 2d10 Insanity, Psyniscience +10, and the following talents: Fearless, Dark Soul, and Resistance. They become Immune to Warp Shock, Corruption points incurred from any source are reduced to half and they're Immune to the mutations of Corruption. Any Daemonic Talents acquired are lost, cannot take Daemon Vessel (package) again. Dark Pact and any boons granted by said pact are lost, cannot make Dark Pacts in the future.
I thought the number of Wounds could be tolerable as long as one stays away from the action and does their best not to get hit. I guess I could knock off Agility to spend the xp and keep the Fate Points. Did you guys roll for Wounds, or take max?
My first concern is that with all the flaws these two characters have, why would the Inquisition recruit them? I mean, I know the flaws provide some pretty sweet benefits. But they also bring with them many disadvantages that will fall on the entire group.
None of the rest of us used background packages, so I'm not sure how the balance of those works out for a group.
Out of the two, I'm more inclined to accept the Sister. Denounced/Condemned would mean she's actually recruit-able (rather than in active service), although Damien would be keeping a careful eye on her pseudo-psyker powers to make sure she isn't influenced by Chaos. Exorcised would be harder, since Damien would be more inclined to 'retire' the character, than work with them long-term.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
ManWithDoor wrote:Out of the two, I'm more inclined to accept the Sister. Denounced/Condemned would mean she's actually recruit-able (rather than in active service), although Damien would be keeping a careful eye on her pseudo-psyker powers to make sure she isn't influenced by Chaos. Exorcised would be harder, since Damien would be more inclined to 'retire' the character, than work with them long-term.
Appreciate the feedback. So far all things considered, I will probably play as the Sister, pending this discussion.
Trogdor wrote:My first concern is that with all the flaws these two characters have, why would the Inquisition recruit them? I mean, I know the flaws provide some pretty sweet benefits. But they also bring with them many disadvantages that will fall on the entire group.
"A very few, however, are noticed by powers beyond the authority of their former order, such as a member of the Inquisition. An Inquisitior may see the divine truth in the ability of this fallen sister, and raise her to do holy service, but she can never again count herself among the sisters of the Adepta Sororitas."
I disagree. In terms of fluff, people aware of the status of either character may frown upon the group as a whole, but what hinders the Exorcized or the Denounced or completely obstructs them does so only for them, while the others are able to maneuver with the Ecclesiarchy and Sisters freely. The text says flatly that the Inquisition's authority is greater than that of the church and the Adepta Sororitas. The Ecclesiarchy may not like that the Inquisition bars them from laying a finger on a former sister, but that doesn't mechanically prevent anyone else from taking Peer or Good Reputation with said factions. It doesn't mean the rest of the party can never, ever have dealings with them. I will concede that dealing on behalf of the Denounced maybe invokes a penalty, but definitely not to the degree that applies for the Denounced. Anything beyond that is in the realm of politicking and above the acolyte's heads. I think an Exorcised person's actions while possessed would stain them even after the exorcism, but otherwise their reputation doesn't give anyone else the cooties, especially not after they've had their daemon purged from their body.
Out of the 3 squishies between you (maybe not so much the tech-priest), I figured one of you has to be the face of the group, and so I figured a dive penalty to Fellowship or an inability to get in good with certain factions would be acceptable, as long as it didn't fall to me to open my mouth and try to Charm anyone (albeit the Fellowship stat is good for some of the Faith Talents I took).
On the Exorcised character's weaknesses, I guess it depends on the role. Reduction of Wounds makes them more suited to a squishie career. I was intrigued by it though. I thought the Inquisition liked to take in those with little to lose or everything to gain, and that such candidates would fill the manpower niche and be kept on a leash until they proved they had an adequate measure of loyalty. Once she has, she could be allowed reign to stand in dark corners and be hidden from view while on the job, thus be less likely to get caught in in crossfire or immediately find herself targeted in the first round.
Messing with the Sister's XP now, and I've decided to make her a skirmisher instead. I've replaced Marksman with Die Hard, Dropped Climb/+10, and took Nerves of Steel, and Hip Shooting. Still have 100xp left (bad math).
Further revision: for the Sister, I noticed I had taken Unshakeable Faith and already had it as a starting talent, so I switched the purchase out for Meditation.
I think the Sister is a fine option, all the crap in her history means unlike previous characters who were still tied to other faction, she would have no strings attached and no authority except for what she gains as a Accolyte. I'm good with the background and crunch (I haven't checked all the math in detail).
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring
Thanks, I've filled in her sheet. I can tack on Secret Tongue (Acolyte) before I join, if you would approve it for 100xp. I'm following the career path but it doesn't contain this skill.
No, after some thought, I'd better swap the War Cant out for Secret Tongue (Acolyte). I'll have reason to use the latter far more regularly, and my career doesn't give me any opportunities up to Rank 5 to buy Secret Tongue for 100. Okay, that's 105% done, *finally*. I'm feeling pretty eager to be introduced.
106%: as a feudal world, Sepheris is not compatible with my background, being that my character was raised in a technologically superior environment, I have to pick something else. I'll go with Lo (Drusus Marches). I have also added on a couple years to her age.
