The_Glyphstone
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Posts posted by The_Glyphstone
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Funny - the Strangelove reference in the title was good, but when I read the OP, the first thing I thought of was the biker lord Raven from Snow Crash.
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Well, it's the dream of every GM to write stuff good enough that other people want to use it, so I try to patch RAW holes from the start.
I'll probably put it into a Mark of Distinction package with Brothers In Blood, to get the whole 'We Fight as One' thing going - that'd be 1250 for the lot, I believe, which isn't too harsh.
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I'm thinking of brewing up a Distinction for my group after this upcoming campaign arc - it'd be helpful to take a look and tell me if it's balanced, and if so, at what XP cost (500/750/1000?):
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Peerless Unity (Combat)
All Space Marines, and by extension all Kill-Teams, are trained to operate as a seamless unit, operating flawlessly and in perfect harmony. Some Astartes teams, though, develop this talent of cooperation to even more exceptional levels, moving and fighting as if they were individual components of one mind and one body. Their ability to read each other's body language and unconscious signals ascends to a state bordering on telepathy, allowing them incredible coordination. Once per combat, a Battle-Brother with this Mark of Distinction may, as a Free Action before taking any other actions, exchange his Initiative count with another member of the Kill-Team who also bears this Mark of Distinction and acts lower in the Initiative order. His turn immediately ends, and the selected battle-brother immediately takes their turn at their new Initiative count. When the count reaches the original Battle-brother's new Initiative total, he takes his turn as normal.
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I think I worded it right to patch any double-turn shenanigans, but is the concept sound, and the execution (a Kill-Team who can trade initiative totals amongst themselves for maximum effect) balanced?
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From the preview that's available, I'm very, very uneasy and somewhat disappointed. The book is nominally 'Mark of the Xenos' - yet two-thirds of its material is devoted to Chaos and Heretic enemies?
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Exceptional cybernetics gain a bonus/special ability to distinguish them from Common-grade cybernetics, but there doesn't seem to be any such abilities for Master-crafted ones. Was this omitted somewhere, or is a master-crafted bionic supposed to be purely for fluff compared to an exceptional bionic. They do cost an extra 50% relative to Common-grades than do Exceptionals, so it seems odd that they're listed as an option (and a free upgrade for Techmarines) despite literally doing nothing.
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Would it be too powerful to give Assault Marines the ability to make charging Full Attacks at a rank earlier than 8 (say, 5 or 6), the very end of their advancement track assuming they don't branch off into a RoB specialty track? Moving or charging into melee, particularly before Wall of Blades and Step Aside become accessible, is extremely hazardous against anything that's also good in melee and doesn't die to your single charge attack will be able to full-attack you in return. Plus, every enemy and their grandma seems to come with Preternatural Speed standard, from basic Genestealer fodder-mooks on up, meaning that if you don't charge into their full attacks, they'll charge you and full attack anyways.
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postalpatriot said:
don't forget to make them suck at Close combat, and phase out after 2 rounds of combat, gota stay loyal to table top!
The only tabletop DW is loyal to is the White Dwarf Movie Marines article, minus the stunt doubles.
Necrons are fairly badass in melee in the rare times they appear in novels/fluff...and even in the normal tabletop, the only thing that makes them bad at CC is a very low initiative/Agility. They're still MEQ's aside from that. -
That, plus our group already has precedent for "yes" - during Extraction, when we ventured out onto the surface of the Bioship to wreck its spore cannons, we tied the entire group conga-line style to my Assault Marine and cheerfully abused the turbo-boost ability of the jetpack for a direct, Genestealer-free taxi ride to the objective.
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Narkasis Broon said:
interesting idea, if they did want to they would DEFINITELY want to do it on the sly. but it would be interesting if it were the geneseed of a chapter who is particularly insular, the dark angels, possibly even a black shield deathwatch marine. or one of the few marines who remained loyal after the whole incident with the tyrant of Badab. sorry I forget the name of that chapter. astral claws? something like that
Not sure, I'm not up on any Black Library material other than the Cain books. But depending on if the poor guy lives through the next few weeks (we play 1/week, and I'm intending for this arc to last three sessions total), I'll have a nice basis for a potential intrigue plot next time around. Some reason for this particular veteran DW marine to be extremely important would be neat though...maybe he was one of the guys who just showed up at the Watch Fortress without any chapter identification at all, which I think is the Black Shields that you're talking about.
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Siranui said:
Post it back to the home Chapter?
That's what the Astartes would want to do, whereas I can imagine the Mechanicum might instead want it for themselves. Cue the conflict of interests.
Hmmm...maybe someone tells them their orders have changed just before going in (lying, naturally). Depending on if they actually manage to extract the crippled Marine alive or not when they discover him, might be good seeds for future games, now that I think of it. The Inquisition might also want to lay their hands on the 'geneseed'.
The electricity-draining Mynock analogues are another good idea, as is a pack of marauding servitors.
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Narkasis Broon said:
Yeah the deathwatch has ships, I am pretty sure there is a description of at least one type of Deathwatch ship in the core rulebook in the fluff section, it's essentially a delivery system for exterminatus weapons though
[edit] just had a look, pg 335 there is a small section entitled warships
[/edit]Yup, found it. I guess the plot could be massaged into a Deathwatch-exclusive story arc then - it'd feel a bit awkward, but it would probably be indistinguishable to an outside viewer. On the other hand, that brings up an entirely new question...what do the Deathwatch do with the geneseed of their fallen? The key initial hook for the second part of this adventure is retrieving the geneseed (and if possible, body) of the long-lost Astartes from the hulk...but why would they want it and what do they do with it afterwards?
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Peachey said:
I love the idea for this, all the mini encounters sound great and I will be running something similar to this in the next couple of weeks (as we have just finished Final Sanction and Oblivians Edge).
One point that I will address is why have this appear near Ultramar, as the Ultramarines would respond? I would put this in Jericho's Reach somewhere near an automated watch station.
Originally, it was supposed to be on the edge of Ultramar because there were two Ultramarines in the Kill Team, or former Ultramarines at least. With a hulk this big, the Smurfs were (theoretically) anxious to get to their objective before the thing vanished again, so they called for the closest experts to help them investigate, and their messenger to Erioch arrived before their help request to Macragge. Primarily because only the Ultras (or chapter here) would have the records/knowledge to detect the missing strike cruiser buried inside, know who was lost aboard it, and employ the kill team (well, initially the Kill Team and some Ultra Terminators or Marines to get summarily killed off) to retrieve him. Alternatively, a flimsy plot-string to excuse the adventure, as none of the other players are well-versed or pendantic enough about 40K lore to complain on how the Ultramarines wouldn't request DW aid for this. Also I'm not certain if the Deathwatch has their own fleet, otherwise I could indeed just palette-shift the entire story arc to focus only on Deathwatch operatives and ships.
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Narkasis Broon said:
The_Glyphstone said:
I'm now contemplating the notion of surface/exterior-mounted weapon turrets as 'encounters'... Blips? I love the idea, consider it stolen...As a lore note for later - how much damage can an Astartes take before dying, even if they've triggered their Sus-An Membrane?
1. I think thats a really good idea, nice one
2. Sorry if im being condescending here, I promise I am just trying to help but make sure you assign them auspexes or something like that to explain blips
3. Potentially extremely lethal amounts. by the game system approximately 35. thats 20 ish plus 16 for true grit (i think its called true grit) and then you have fate points. but having said that 40k is psuedo mythological and in the latest horus heresy book "Prospero Burns" (which incidentally I really liked, but thought it started off a bit slowly) theres a marine who is seemingly alive and talking for 12 minutes after his life signs have expired due to his sheer need to tell his story or some such voodoo magic. so in short yeah as much as you want, have a marine in sus-an with no arms or legs and he could easily talk for a bit when he's revived in my opinion
1. Thanks. Between the turrets, the roaming lesser daemon packs (ripped directly from DH and Hordified), the micrometeor storms, and any combination of the above, just wandering the exterior should be an interesting experience. I've also allowed for either trying to run the turrets out of ammo, or sneaking the Techmarine up to disable them (Difficult Tech-Use test likely).
2. No worries there, our Devastator is practically religious about taking an auspex, and tries to badger everyone else into spending requisition on backup auspexes. If for some bizzare reason he deviates this time, I'll fiat in free auspexes to the group.
3. Excellent. It'll be a mid-mission objective switch, considering their original goal was just to recover his geneseed, and if possible, his armor/body. Now the objective stays the same, but if they can extract him alive (harder, with demons and stealers running all over the place, and the hulk destabilizing from previous shenanigans), bonus XP and renown. Should be an interesting dilemma for them, especially when the Lord of Change shows up for the chase scene.
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Micrometeor swarms or debris impacts are a good idea - some lesser demon hordes wouldn't go amiss either (and give the Devastator a turn to shine), now that I think of it. Since part of the first session's objectives is now both planting the locator beacon receivers and disabling the hulk's defenses (some of the ships in its bulk still have automated weaponry active, which is preventing the Kill Team's ship from approaching close enough to properly calculate the readings), I'm now contemplating the notion of surface/exterior-mounted weapon turrets as 'encounters'. The party is already starting to think of themselves as a heavy bolter delivery team, it'll be interesting how they react to having a heavy bolter turned against them as part of a remote point defense mount.
Blips? I love the idea, consider it stolen. And thanks for the warning about the Stealers - i hadn't noticed the UnAgi, and thus hadn't done the math on how hard it is for them to be hit. I may take that away if I raise their HP.
As a lore note for later - how much damage can an Astartes take before dying, even if they've triggered their Sus-An Membrane? The big 'tweeeest' I'm planning for the second or third session (whenever they make it to the bridge of the lost cruiser) is that the battle-brother whose body they're trying to recover is actually still alive, though gravely wounded and in hibernation - because the warp is crazy like that, it's only been a few months or years for him, depending on the answer to this question.
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So, I've been 'elected' (via the not-it finger-on-nose method) to be the first of the rotating GMs for our Deathwatch group, having just completed Final Sanction/Extraction. As I'm the second most experienced GM of the five of us, I'm writing my own material and saving the prepublished stuff for the less practiced people when their turn comes around. Now to the meat.
My scenario seed is effectively as such: A space hulk has emerged in a system bordering the Realm of Ultramar, out of which the Ultramarines have detected the distress beacon of a Ultramar Navy strike cruiser that disappeared while on patrol a couple millennia ago. They promptly sent to the Deathwatch requesting a Kill Team to aid them as they locate the cruiser's wreck - of particular value because its records indicate a notable battle-brother was onboard when it vanished. (Our group contains two Ultras - hey, character hooks).
When they arrive at the planetoid-sized hulk, the first problem is pinpointing the distress beacon's location within it, which will require triangulation. They'll need to plant tracking beacons at three specific locations - one on the exterior, the other two just inside it. Later on, as they venture into the depths of the hulk, they'll meet genestealers and demons, but right now I'm at a loss for figuring out what sort of encounters/monsters I can use for the exterior portion of the session. I'd rather not open up with stealers this early (using health-boosted DH stealers instead of the Landsholme ones, just to mess with their heads), but I can't think of anything else that can survive open vacumn. Any suggestions?
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Heh, I plan on doing exactly that, with a few groups of DH Genestealers who have slightly beefed health levels. Their damage output is drastically reduced from the Landsholme variant, but I'm counting on the..."they get how many attacks per round, and can dodge more than once? OH CRAP" reaction to mess with them.
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miggel said:
The problem with lesser demons against Space Marines is, they aren't a danger to ascended lvl PCs (what DW maries are). And their biggest power, their fear level of 3, is hardly of use against marines.
Demonettes aren't a problem for anyone, if they can resist their "charm". And Space Marines will, so they will rip them to shreds.
Dire Avangers suffer from the same problem. They are no match against DW chars. But then i remembered the ascension book. There a leaders for those normal enemies. Add the Dire Avanger Exarch and the Dire Avangers get really better. Still needs a bit tweaking, but the direction is right.
Theres the Herald of Khore, again, boosting Khorne demons and quite good himself. Just create some leader for the Demonettes.
That's what I had noted about the original Flamer of Tzeentch, it just wasn't big enough to threaten a DW marine. The Herald of Khorne is fairly good for an Elite-level opponent on his own, maybe with some beefed Flesh Hounds to back him up, and I can see about using the demons I originally brewed up above as the Herald-equivalents for the other three factions.
One of the problem factors using hordes (at least for this scenario) is tht the game will be taking place in the cramped corridors of a space hulk, so Hordes of anything except Nurglings would feel quite out of place, or at least awkward. Thus, my attempts to, basically, make Herald-esque demons that can stand their own in small groups without needing hordes for backup.
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Sigh. Well, that's two hours of work wasted...I hadn't thought to look in DH core book.
On the other hand, the base DH demons are fairly weak - Horde material for a Kill Team. How much should I do to them if I want to scale them up to individually be, say, Genestealer-level challenges?
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Daemonette of Slaanesh (Elite)
WS 55 | BS 20 | S 55 | T (8) 45 | Agi (12) 65 | Int 50 | Per 35 | WP 55 | Fel 45
Move: 12/24/36/72 Wounds: 22
Skills: Acrobatics (Agi) +10, Awareness (Per) +10, Charm (Fel) +20, Contortionist (Agi) +10, Dodge (Agi) +10
Talents: Lightning Reflexes, Step Aside, Swift Attack
Traits: Daemonic (TB 8), Dark Sight, Fear 3, From Beyond, Hypnotic Musk, Improved Natural Weapons, Multiple Arms, Natural Weapons (Claws), Undying, Unnatural Agility (x2), Unnatural Speed, Warp Instability
Hypnotic Musk: Daemonettes exude an aura of combined pheromones and psychic influence that leave their prey slack-jawed and enraptured. Each round, any enemy within 20 meters of the Daemonette must succeed on a Difficult (-10) Willpower test or be unable to take any actions that round except to stare at the Daemonette. If the target is currently within a sealed air environment, such as a suit of power armor with its helmet on, the test is Challenging (+0) instead.
Armor: None
Weapons: Daemonic Claws (1d10+7 R, Pen 4, Tearing)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Some outside opinions on balance would really be helpful here, since these are the first DH/Deathwatch material I've ever tried to write.
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Having pretty much scoured the internet looking for anyone else's attempts at homebrewing stats for Daemons of Chaos, I finally gave up and wrote some of my own. The Dark Heresy supplement Creatures Anathema was a helpful aid, particularly for the Greater Flamer of Tzeentch (the regular flamer was just too weak for Astartes), noted in a few of the entries. Thoughts/opinions/critiques?
Bloodletter of Khorne (Elite)
WS 60 | BS 20 | S (12) 60 | T 60 | Agi 45 | Int 45 | Per 55 | WP 55 | Fel 20
Movement: 4/8/12/24 Wounds: 20
Skills: Awareness (Per), Dodge (Agi) +10
Talents: Resistance (Psychic Powers)
Traits: Daemonic (TB 12), Dark Sight, Fear (2), From Beyond, Natural Armor (2), Undying, Unnatural Strength (x2), Warp Instability
Armor: Brass Armor of Khorne (Body 6)
Weapon: Hellblade(2d10+12, R, Pen 4, Special)Hellblade: A Bloodletter’s massive two-handed hellblade can scythe its way through entire ranks of lesser enemies, or deal painful wounds to sturdier ones that gather too close. If a Bloodletter successfully damages an enemy with its hellblade, it may make a secondary attack against another opponent within two metres of the first one. The secondary attack deals 2d10+6 damage with a Penetration value of 4.
Blood For The Blood God: As per Flesh Hound of Khorne in Dark Heresy: Creatures Anathema
Servant of Khorne: A Bloodletter of Khorne does not suffer extra damage from the Psy Rating of a wielder of a force weapon. In addition, any Psychic Powers used against the Bloodletter have a -10 penalty on their Focus Power test. The Bloodletter’s Daemonic trait is not ignored by force weapons unless the wielder succeeds on a Difficult (-10) Willpower test.
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Greater Flamer of Tzeentch (Elite)
WS 40 | BS 50 | S 43 | T 55 | Agi 44 | Int 20 | Per 45 | WP 55 | Fel 10
Move: 8/16/24/48 Wounds: 18
Skills: Awareness (Per), Psynisience (Per)
Traits: Daemonic (TB 8), Dark Sight, Flames of Change**, Fear 3, From Beyond, Hoverer, Innate Psychic, Natural Weapons (Teeth), Strange Physiology, Unnatural Speed, Warp InstabilityAArmor: None
Weapons: Teeth (1d10+4, R, Primitive)Psychic Powers (Psy Rating 3): Searing Breath**, Fires of Tzeentch, Storm of Change
Innate Psychic: A Greater Flamer of Tzeentch never invokes Psychic Phenomena when using a psychic power, but it may never attempt to Push.
Flames of Change: As per Flamer of Tzeentch from Dark Heresy: Creatures Anathema.
Psychic Powers:
Searing Breath
Action – Half
Opposed – No
Range – Self
Sustained- Yes
Description: The Flamer’s jaws now churn with the unnatural fires that flicker across its body. While sustained, the Flamer’s Teeth attack now deals 2d10+8 Energy damage and no longer counts as Primitive.Fires of Tzeentch
Action – Half
Opposed – No
Range – 20m x PR
Sustained – No
Description: Bolts of purple-pink fire shoot from the Flamer’s body, charring and melting the surfaces that they strike. Successfully using Fires of Tzeentch conjures one bolt that automatically strikes an enemy within range for 1d10xPR Energy damage, with Penetration equal to PR. For each degree of success obtained on the Focus Power test, an additional bolt may be fired at any target within range.Storm of Change
Action – Full
Opposed – No
Range – Self
Sustained – No
Description: The Flamer unleashed a massive blast of warp-fire from its body that erupts outward in a ring. All creatures within 5m x PR of the Flamer other than Daemons of Tzeentch suffer 1d10xPR energy damage, with Penetration equal to PR. Against Storm of Change, the Willpower test for Flames of Change is considered Challenging (+0) instead of Ordinary (+10).-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Plaguebearer of Nurgle (Elite)
WS 50 | BS 30 | S (8) 45 | T (8) 45 | Agi 35 | Int 40 | Per 45 | WP 55 | Fel 15
Move: 3/6/9/18 Wounds: 28
Skills: Awareness (Per)
Traits: Daemonic (TB 12), Dark Sight, Fear (2), From Beyond, Improved Natural Weapons (Claws), Miasma Cloud**, Natural Weapons (Claws), Regeneration (1), Stuff of Nightmares, Toxic, Unnatural Strength (x2), Unnatural Toughness (x2), Warp Instability
Armor: None
Weapons: Claws (1d10+8 R, Toxic)Miasma Cloud: Any enemy within 5 meters of a Plaguebearer must pass a Difficult (-10) Toughness test or suffer a -10 penalty to WS, BS, Willpower, and Dodge tests for as long as he remains within the radius of the miasma. If he leaves the miasma and later enters again, he must re-test.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Still trying to work out Daemonette stats.
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Kroothawk Totems - what do they do?
in Rogue Trader Rules Questions
Posted
My copy of Into The Storm appears to be misprinted, because the description of what a Kroothawk Totem does on page 146 is cut off by the table for Hunting Rifles and Krootbows, but then seques into the Starships section:
"Many Kroot Shapers carry unique
totems into battle, believing that they carry a special blessing
that invokes the kroothawk’s protection. A Shaper who..."
A shaper who what? The Living Errata is silent on this matter.