Playing as the Skitarii Tech-Guard in an Explorator Fleet

[The Ivory Disaster 0]

I have it in my head to GM for a game where the players are explorators and tech-guard in Dark Heresy aboard a flotilla of mechanicus ships bound for the distant reaches of the Calixis Sector, in search of lost technology and secrets. Obviously this will require some homebrewing of existing classes to be more mechanicus-y and less imperium-y, and to include augmetics. That part I think I can handle, the D20 system and some creative players prepared me for ECL (Effective Character Level) quite well.

 

What I need are more ideas. I have a good many right for what they could do for missions: everything from encountering mutants, xenos, and heretics in the belly of hive worlds and in the ravages of feral and abandoned worlds (not to mention having to work with and around the Adeptus already there) as they scour the sector for ancient Tech to fill their reliquary.... techniquary?

 

My problem is... what do fleets made of entirely tech guard, priests, and explorators do when they're not exploratoring? Do they even have any kind of social interaction between missions, or do they just sit and pray to the engines until the Omnissiah comes home? I can certainly make something up, but I'd prefer to stick close the canon.

[MKX 248]

Skitarii are almost pound for pound, near the toughest thing next to a space marine, they have implants too! I'd recommend loading them up with dermal armour plating (from Rogue Trader), Bionic Respiratory System (DH Basic Book), a Weapon MUI (RT, maybe around Rank 3) probably a Violator Implant (RT) and Dragons Tears (From Inq HB pg 148 at around rank 5 or so)

Gear, pretty much the same as a guardsman would get, though later, depending on just what it is they do, they might get access to things like Carapace or heavier. Skills are also much the same, maybe a background package combined with a bit of Forge World with various Ad-Mech indoctrination and some resistance to pinning as they where remarkably vicious and unstoppable bastards.

[MKX 248]

edit- **** double post

While Im here, their equipment is usually much better in terms of quality than average Joe Guard.

[Gregorius21778 249]

First of all, there is no canon.

To give you a nice example I stumbled across yesterday: The Forgeworld Imperial Armor products for the Siege of Vrak describe the combat drug "Slaught" (and even use the same name) we use in our DH games by RAW...and the FW mentiones it as BANNED.

Dan Abbnet (which is taken as canon by most other people since his ideas are "borrowed" by FFG a lot more then anyone elses I would know about) describes the Skitarri as some kind of lumbering-yet-agile, single-minded, battlethirsty techno-barbarian class rivaling Astartes in Physics... which was never ever before introduced like that in any other mentioning of Skitarii in any other source known to me.

Back2Topic:
Taking Mr. Abbnet as a source, the less-modified Mechanicus seem to hive quiet regular social lifes. If a bit "head-heavy" and less emotional and very formal in their language. Think about people who do everything they do with some hint-sought about "purpose", but still enjoying it somehow. Like regulary going to a gym or doing sports to keep the body in shape. Enjoying competitve sports but always having in mind that the first aim of the afair is to keep the body-machine in good shape.

Think about people playing board games like regicid (chess-variant) during there free-time...but with the hind sought that it trains the logical thought & analyzation process. They could even do gardening(!), but in this Zen-like way of putting up and keeping order and utter control over a naturally non-order system (plant growth; mastership of human toil and administration over nature).

On the other hand, I think there would be nothing wrong with putting the majority of soldiers and other "not regulary needed" people into hybernation till needed. To be more efficient in handling resources like water, air etc.

[Santiago 37]

 Well,

 

According to the Frozen Reaches and The Emperor Protects they have:

Profile scores between 30 and 40
Common Lore (Machine Cult), SL (Techna-Lingua), Tech Use
Bulging Biceps, Chem Geld, Resistance (Fear/Heat)

Most weapon training skills

Synthetic Muscle Graft (+1 SB)
Cybernetic Weapon Arm containing either a Augment Las Weapon, Accurate Boltgun, Heat Lance, Rotary Cannon, Automatic Grenade Launcher
Hellpistol Side Arm

[N0-1_H3r3 287]

Gregorius21778 said:

To give you a nice example I stumbled across yesterday: The Forgeworld Imperial Armor products for the Siege of Vrak describe the combat drug "Slaught" (and even use the same name) we use in our DH games by RAW...and the FW mentiones it as BANNED.

It's been part of the background since Necromunda, and it, like all the drugs in that game, were illicit items not easily obtainable by normal methods.

Just because it's listed in the rulebook doesn't mean you can buy a bottle of it at your local pharmacist. Things being illegal in the Imperium doesn't prevent their manufacture, use or distribution, no different from real life.

It's no different to the inclusion of daemon weapons and sorcery - those things are banned in the Imperium, yet they still exist and are used by servants of the Imperium at times.

Gregorius21778 said:

Dan Abbnet (which is taken as canon by most other people since his ideas are "borrowed" by FFG a lot more then anyone elses I would know about) describes the Skitarri as some kind of lumbering-yet-agile, single-minded, battlethirsty techno-barbarian class rivaling Astartes in Physics... which was never ever before introduced like that in any other mentioning of Skitarii in any other source known to me.

Skitarii are described differently in every single Black Library book they appear in. Then again, Black Library authors get a fair amount of leeway in what they write.

None of that means that any given source is right or wrong... indeed, nor does it invalidate the notion that there are lots of different types of Skitarii all under a single broad name, much as there are lots of different types of Imperial Guardsmen.

And, in my experience working with FFG, we no more frequently 'borrow' from Abnett's work than anybody elses. Indeed, the preference is typically to look at sources like Codices and rulebooks first and foremost. It may be different for other projects (I can only speak of the ones I've worked on), but that's my experience of the matter.

[Gregorius21778 249]

Santiago said:

 Well,

 

According to the Frozen Reaches and The Emperor Protects they have:

Profile scores between 30 and 40
Common Lore (Machine Cult), SL (Techna-Lingua), Tech Use
Bulging Biceps, Chem Geld, Resistance (Fear/Heat)

Most weapon training skills

Synthetic Muscle Graft (+1 SB)
Cybernetic Weapon Arm containing either a Augment Las Weapon, Accurate Boltgun, Heat Lance, Rotary Cannon, Automatic Grenade Launcher
Hellpistol Side Arm

Hmm...seems alot like Dan Abnetts Skitarri are now DH-Canon. ****....

Are any further Descriptions in the Frozens Reaches or TheEmperor Protects about the way the now-official Skitarii log and act? I better pick the new credo up sooner then later.

[Gregorius21778 249]

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Gregorius21778 said:

To give you a nice example I stumbled across yesterday: The Forgeworld Imperial Armor products for the Siege of Vrak describe the combat drug "Slaught" (and even use the same name) we use in our DH games by RAW...and the FW mentiones it as BANNED.

 

It's been part of the background since Necromunda, and it, like all the drugs in that game, were illicit items not easily obtainable by normal methods.

Just because it's listed in the rulebook doesn't mean you can buy a bottle of it at your local pharmacist.

Hi No-One-here,

I do not talk about "banned" like "proscribtion needed" but banned like "the Imperium will not use it". The same drug which FW calls "banned" is mentioned to be standard for Injector rigs (see IH) which sometimes come attached to a Imperial Penal Legion Troopers (see RH).

I do not blame FFG for this one. But it leads to me saying that there is no canon. At least not outside of a given line (Forgeworld; a novell series by one author; the RPGs under FFG publishing)

@Orignal topic author
Sorry for Hijacking, I will stop it at once.

[Santiago 37]

 The emperor protects has more about them, well they are corrupted but there is nothing realy corrupted about their stats and the Skitarii (uncorrupted) in Frozen Reaches have the same stats.

So, yeah, I think they are adequite and you could make a nice rank 3 Alternate Guardsman Career out of them...

[Gregorius21778 249]

Hi Santiago,

what is mentioned about their look, behaviour, organization, uniform, habbits etc?

[ZillaPrime 3]

More to the point, Skitarii are modified, trained and equipped based on the dictates of the Magos that they serve.  In the Grey Knights series it is revealed that the individual Skitarii troopers have those pesky and annoying parts of their brains that generate personality traits and fear reactions excised as a matter of course, but the squad leaders are by necessity left with those parts of their brains, since they must be expected to make decisions in the field.  The troopers are merely there to execute those decisions, so such functions are illogical.

I would base your game off of Rogue Trader, then instead of an Inquisitor or Rogue Trader the team is answerable to a Magos.  I was asked by a player I know recently how I would go about making a Skitarii PC so I have put some thought into this very topic recently.  For DH based character build:  Go with the Forgeworld origin from IH (it covers both actual Forgeworlds and Explorator Fleets) and the Guardsman career.  Replace their lasgun with a combat shotgun (or at higher starting level a Hellgun) and either paint their Flak red or replace it with red enameled Light Enforcer Carapace.  Likewise replace the IIUP/explosive collar/merc license from starting gear with a cog and skull amulet (A charm).  Allow the player to use the trade some starting XP for extra augmetics rule for RT Explorators.  Likewise allow any player making a Skitarii character to reduce their starting Fate Points by 1 and begin play with one of the Cybernetic Resurrection elite packages from IH if they so desire.  For RT based character build: Pick a logical origin and then follow a lifepath that ends in Arch-millitant, then offer the player the same options for starting augmetics and possible Cyber-rez.  

The one major limitation on character choices in a Mechanicus expedition is Psykers:  Other than the mandatory Navigators and Astropaths you will simply not find a wytch, sanctioned or otherwise in a Mechanicus fleet without some massive and unavoidable coersion (Such as an Inquisitor standing next to the wytch and saying "hands off!" or other vulgarly unsubtle reasons.)

[Brother Praetus 11]

ZillaPrime said:

The one major limitation on character choices in a Mechanicus expedition is Psykers:  Other than the mandatory Navigators and Astropaths you will simply not find a wytch, sanctioned or otherwise in a Mechanicus fleet without some massive and unavoidable coersion (Such as an Inquisitor standing next to the wytch and saying "hands off!" or other vulgarly unsubtle reasons.)

 

That's not entirely true.  There are Magos who study the Warp as well as Psychic abilities.  A Psyker character could have been requested by such a Magos for observations within the field and utilitarian functions; maybe also used to test the efficacy of a recently unearthed pattern for what seems to be a Psy Jammer.  It would be rare, but possible.  The 40K universe is not so black and white.

-=Brother Praetus=-