[W40KRP, DH Ascension] Fire and Rain

susan

PbP Adventure: Fire and Rain

In the whirling void of the warp, a leviathan sleeps. Five kilometers of steel and hate and plasma and death filled with a hundred thousand damned souls all ready to descend upon a world of the Imperium and burn it to cinders. It sits, silent, resting, waiting. Waiting for a signal. The world below rests blissfully unaware of their doom. They do not know about the predator above them.

But you do.

You serve the Inquisition of Mankind, as Inquisitors and Acolytes, and through your work you discovered the impending doom of the Imperial world slowly growing in your crystalline viewing ports. You have been tracking the Chaos ship and it’s bloody progress through this sector. You have been infiltrating the death cults that spring up in the wake of the teachings of the Damned. You know the place of the attack, and you know that you don’t have much time to do anything about it.

Local traffic control voxes you from the ground of Cleria IV, a peaceful Agri-World and home to some 1.7 Billion Imperial souls, and you are soon descending rapidly with your new found clearances in place. Very soon, from somewhere down on that surface in some form you don’t know, a signal will be emitted by a hidden cult festering in the cities and towns below, a signal that will begin an attack that will likely kill all of those people and millions more beyond who will come to contest this world from the hands of the Enemy. Each second is precious and time is running out. No one will save this world if you fail.

It is better to die for the Emperor than to live for yourself. Time to go to work.

---

Game Type: Warhammer 40k Dark Heresy, Ascension Power Level
Submissions: One per person. I don't need more than a few sentences or so of background and personality, but hey, if you want to write more, by all means. You should mention how you came to be a part of this Inquisitorian cadre; I’m assuming you’re all friends already by this point and have eachother’s trust.
Character Creation: Standard planetary and character generation rules. Starting as newly-minted Ascension Inquisitorial Agents. Standard starting methods, either Top-Down or Bottom-Up creation is acceptable. We’re using the Max HP rule (25hp). I hate random stat-rolling, so I’m using the Rogue Trader point system here (you get a flat 100 points to add to your base ability scores as you choose; no more than 20 points in an ability, and the points are not scaled.). You also start with 50% of your max Insanity/Corruption rolls rounded up (ie, if you start with 3d10 Insanity, you start with 15 Insanity) and a base of 3 Fate Points before any class/transition package modifiers. Assume you rolled Max HP for your starting characters; Divinations are to be randomly rolled (and posted) and you may select the Divination rolled or the Divination one below or above what the Dice say.
Starting Wealth/Items/Influence: In addition to the equipment you receive from your starting Dark Heresy and Transition packages, you each receive 1 Extremely Rare item of your choice (subject to GM approval) and have 5,000 Thrones to spend on Very Rare items or below (if you really want a rarer item, check with me first) or to bank for special occasions. Starting Influence is 40 for your group.
Party Makeup: No preference. One of you should probably be an Inquisitor, though I’m flexible and could be talked into accepting another class as the primary Inquisitor. You could also have several Inquisitors in your party if so preferred; maybe you were all on a team-building camping trip/rope course when things went down, and are all chasing the same bad guys. Your choice, I will modify the adventure based on decisions.
Grammar: Strongly preferred.
Dice Rolling/Sheets: I am a fan of Invisible Castle for rollers, though if you know of other good ones, I always love to learn new things. Don’t know of any sheet hosting sites for Dark Heresy, so just Spoiler your pertinent stats here and they’ll get grouped up.
Story and Setting: This is designed to be a fairly action-heavy investigative adventure. Can be a one shot, might expand further if so desired if we still have steam. I understand that these games can end abruptly; I’ll try to make it fun whether this lasts a year or a week.
Players: 5ish. Maybe more, maybe less.
Posting Schedule: I ain't gonna lie, there's probably gonna be times where I can't post for a couple days, and I know that real life happens to people too. I'll try to keep up at least 1 post per day when I'm able, though, and hope that I can keep my players enthusiastic enough throughout so they do the same. If you're gonna hit a rough spot (finals, big project, etc) and want someone to take over your guy for a few days, cool. And if you're in the game and need to drop for whatever reason, please do post a quick message either on the board or to my Inbox; it happens, it's alright, it was fun to game with you, just please let us know so we can move on and decide whether to bring someone else in.
Books: I think I have most of the books. If you’re using equipment/stuff outside of the Main book or the Ascension book, list where it’s coming from. Official materials only, please.
Submission Cutoff and Game Starting Date: At least one week from today, Monday the 13th at 11:59pm PST.

Let me know your thoughts and questions, and I look forward to the game .

Tanon

I have a character sheet in the works, Feral Death Cultist. I'm a HUGE fan of Ascension level adventurers, and I've lurked these forums for ages. Nice to finally see an awesome game like this coming around. I'll edit in my sheet once I get it finished. I do have a question: I was planning on getting master-crafted carapace armor as my item of choice. The armor itself is very rare, and best raises it's rarity by two, so that'd be Near Unique. Since the starter piece is limited to Extremely Rare, could I pay some of my thrones toward getting that last bit of rarity? If not, I'll do some other things, but I'm just curious. Also, can we sell any of our unused starter gear?

EDIT: Here's my character sheet. I tried to post it earlier, but it got eaten with the server rollovers, apparently. Background to come. Thoughts/comments are very much appreciated!

Name: Gideon Kael
Home World: Feral World
Divination: "Trust in your fear." (+2 Agility, +1 Fate Point) http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3060755/
Career: Assassin -> Death Cult Assassin
Rank: 9
Gender: Male
Build: Stocky
Skin Color: Tan
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Clean-Shaven (Black)
Age: 28
Wounds: 20 (+6 Sound Constitution)
Fate: 4 (+1 Divination)
Transition: Baptism of Blood (+10 WS, +3 Insanity)

WS: 70 (+20 Advances, +10 Transition)
BS: 30 (+10 Advances)
S: 50 (+10 Advances)
T: 50 (+20 Advances)
Ag: 60 (+2 Divination, +20 Advances)
Int: 30
Per: 30
WP: 30 (+5 Advances)
Fel: 27

Corruption: 13
Insanity: 28 (+3 Transition)

Skills:

Acrobatics +20 [Agi]
Awareness [Per]
Climb +20 [Str]
Concealment +20 [Agi]
Dodge +20 [Agi]
Navigation (Surface) [Int]
Security [Agi]
Speak Language (Low Gothic, Tribal Dialect) [Int]
Stealth +20 [Agi]
Survival [Int]
Tracking [Int]

Talents:

Basic Weapon Training (SP)
Berserk Charge
Blade Dancer (Paragon Talent)
Death Blow (Paragon Talent)
Furious Assault
Lightning Reflexes
Melee Weapon Training (Primitive, Power)
Pistol Training (Las, SP, Bolt)
Quick Draw
Step Aside
Storm of Blows (Paragon Talent)

Traits:

Cult of Blood (Autoconfirm RF, +1 Weapon Penetration)
Iron Stomach (+10 to Carouse to resist ingested toxins, poison, tainted food)
Preternatural Speed (Lightning Attack as HA and Charge)
Primitive (-10 on Tech-Use and Fellowships in formal environment)
Rite of Passage (Int Test to staunch Blood Loss as a FA)
Wilderness Savvy (Feral Skills, listed above)

Gear:

[strike]Autogun w/ 1 clip[/strike] (Sold, 100 throne)
Badge of Office
Black Bodyglove (Common Quality Clothing)
Bolt Pistol (Best-Craftsmanship, Fire Selector, Red-Dot Laser Site, Bought, 2575 throne)
Charm (Corpse Hair)
[strike]Compact Laspistol w/ 1 charge pack[/strike] (Sold, 100 throne)
[strike]Knife[/strike] (Sold, 5 throne)
Micro-bead
Power Sword (Best-Craftsmanship)
Power Sword (Best-Craftsmanship)
Slaught (3 doses)
Stimm (3 doses)
Stormtrooper Carapace Armor (Best-Craftsmanship)
[strike]Sword[/strike] (Sold, 15 throne)
Synskin (Best-Craftsmanship)
2645 throne

Advances: 12950/13000

Weapon Skill +20 1600
Ballistic Skill +10 350
Strength +10 1250
Toughness +20 2500
Agility +20 1600
Willpower +5 250
Sound Constitution +6 600
Dodge +20 200
Concealment +20 300
Acrobatics +20 300
Security 100
Stealth +20 300
Berserk Charge 100
Furious Assault 100
Sure Strike 200
Climb +20 300
Swift Attack 200
Two-Weapon Wielder (Melee) 200
Lightning Reflexes 100
Melee Weapon Training (Power) 100
Lightning Attack 200
Blademaster 200
Assassin Strike 100
Counter Attack 200
Dual Strike 200
Crushing Blow 200
Combat Master 200
Crippling Strike 200
Precise Blow 200
Wall of Steel 200
Quick Draw 100
Step Aside 200
Pistol Training (Bolt) 100

WS: 70 S: 50 Ag: 60 Int: 30 Fel: 27
BS: 30 T: 50 WP: 30 Per: 30

Wounds: 20/20 Insanity: 28
Fate: 4/4 Corruption: 13
Armor: 7/7

*Best-Craftsmanship Power Sword (Melee, 1d10+6+5+2E, Pen 7, Balanced, Power Field)
*Best-Craftsmanship Power Sword (Melee, 1d10+6+5+2E, Pen 7, Balanced, Power Field)
*Best-Craftsmanship Bolt Pistol (Pistol, 30m, S/2/-, 1d10+5X, Pen 4, 8 Rnds/8 Rnds, Full, Red-Dot Site, Selector)

susan

I've no problem with taking Best Quality Stormtrooper Carapace as your starter item; my limiting it to 'Extremely Rare' was mostly to ensure that y'all didn't take anything ridiculously overpowered and unbalancing from the start, and the difference between Good and Best quality armor is not that overpowering in that respect .

And yes, you can sell unused starter gear at 100% of value.

Anon the Felon

I'm in.

First PbP I've actually gotten in on, but I have some extensive experience with DH and D&D stuff. I'll build and post my my rolls/character tonight.

Tanon

Edit: Deleting extraneous sheets. WTF.

Tanon

Sheet's editted in my post

susan

Character looks good . Anyone else out there have a character concept they want to submit?

Chrysis

I've been GMing some DH, and about to start some DW, so I'm interested. I'll have a think, but I'm looking to submit a Tech-Priest. Got to read through Ascension, never really looked at it before.

Are things from the Inquisitors Handbook OK? Specifically I'm thinking of the background packages.

Anon the Felon

I'm going to go Desperado, but I wont be able to get my sheet done till tomorrow some time. Spending the night looking over traits and such.

susan

Chrysis wrote: »

Are things from the Inquisitors Handbook OK? Specifically I'm thinking of the background packages.

Yep!

Chrysis

What happens if a Tech-Priests Fellowship hits 0 because he turns himself into a robot? It is a very real threat given they can't take Fellowship advances.

EDIT: Actually, probably not a big problem unless he gets disfigured. Less things subtract from Fel than I thought, and he's not going to end up a Secutor. And Cyber-Resurrection is probably not needed.

susan

Then I get to put him in awkward social situations and watch him squirm . Seriously though, unless there's a rule I'm not knowing about, I'm gonna house rule that you always have at least 1 Fellowship at all times, and when taking advances you can sub out any Fellowship prereqs for Intelligence if it makes sense.

Chrysis

If Fellowship gets reduced to 0 by damage the character enters a Catatonic State and isn't allowed to talk or test Fellowship. I guess other people aren't really relevant when you've got 8 arms.

EDIT: How much is a Best Quality Hellgun worth for trade ins? Ascension doesn't list a price and the Handbook has completely different stats.

EDIT 2: Gah, building a 13000 XP char from scratch is tiring.
Here is a Google Spreadsheet with all my working data
I'll try and tidy it up eventually, but not right now.
Also, would it be acceptable to swap out the Power Armour for Dragon Scale (Inquisitors Handbook, Pg. 137)?

susan

Not sure about the price for the Hellgun; if it's not listed anywhere, we could say it costs the same as a Bolter (500, I think; don't have my books handy), and Best Quality means 10x that, so 5k? Jeebus that's some coin.

Same goes for the Dragon Armor; don't have my books handy, but if they cost the same then that's fine, or you can sell the power armor and pay the difference.

Chrysis

Actually, the Dragon Scale is about half the price of power armour, but is Tech-priest only. Essentially Power Armour with half the strength bonus but without requiring an extension cord. Apparently it's what front-line Enginseers end up with in Imperial Guard armies. I'm pretty sure there's a hefty discount included on the tech-priest only items anyway.

So in the interest of not walking out of character creation with better gear and more money than I started I'm going to do a straight swap on the armour and take and trade the common bolter rather than the hellgun.

Matev

Ooooh, color me interested. I'll have to see what it takes to build up Octus Drake, Agent of the Holy Ordos.

Payot

I'm working on a few builds. I never got very high with a DH character so I'm reviewing my options, trying to find a concept which appeals to me more than the others.

Chrysis

I guess another question. A Best Quality Meltagun is, unless I'm mistaken, Extremely Rare. Would it be possible to get the backpack Ammo/Power pack for that? I could drop the Meltagun to Good and then I'm pretty sure it would be fine, but I really don't want to jam the meltagun and spew all the fuel over the floor on the first shot.

SanderJK

I'm very much interested in this. Going to toy around with what to make, I chose rolling:

Divination: Divination (1d100=90) "The wise man learns from the Death of Others"

Smart, agile, strongwilled and a decent shot...and he/she has seen plenty of death (Not surprising). Possibilities!

I will recommend: This Excel sheet (If you use Open Office, read the readme page, it's almost but not quite compatible) for anyone considering what they want to make. It is a great great tool to make characters with, especially with the bookkeeping of a higher level WH40kRP character. (Loads of xp, loads of xp buys) The newest versions even allow you to buy, carry and equip gear. It incorperates all books, though I think in char. generation only backgrounds, alt. career ranks, and equipment can come form non Main/Ascension sources.

Edit: I missed the bit about not statrolling, will do a 100pt build then. I'm looking towards a Psyker at the moment.

susan

Chrysis wrote: »

I guess another question. A Best Quality Meltagun is, unless I'm mistaken, Extremely Rare. Would it be possible to get the backpack Ammo/Power pack for that?

I will allow this, if only for the hilarious/horrifying mental image.

Alright, so for characters/interest so far we have:

Gideon Kael, Death-Cult Assassin (Tanon)
Attilas, Magos (Chrysis)
Octus Drake, Agent of the Holy Ordos (Matev)
(Anon the Felon)
(Payot)
(SanderJK)

Chrysis

I'm not sure random stat rolling was an option. Op seems to indicate that only the divination gets rolled.

Background/Appearance

Magos Attilas has been a member of Inquisitor <TBA>'s cell since the Inquisitor was an acolyte. Originally seconded as Adeptus Mechanicus Liason and Technical expert, the countless missions have forged a bond of trust that has yet to be broken. Attilas's growing need to acquire and research Archaeotech, coupled with the recent honour of undergoing the Rite of Pure Thought, have left him a changed individual. He views the chaos vessel being pursued as an opportunity to discover further lost technologies, even if they must be purged due to corruption.

A once tall man, the weight of his cybernetics have left him perpetually hunched and significantly bulkier than he began. What skin is visible through the extensive cybernetics is gaunt and pallid, although this is probably in equal parts due to his birth on an explorator fleet as the replacement of significant portions of his flesh.

EDIT: I'm sure I can squeeze the power pack somewhere in amongst the mechadendrites. The other half of the pack is going to be taken up with the free voxcaster. Sorely tempted to buy more robo-bits.

SanderJK

I'm not familiar with the max HP rule. Anyone able to enlighten me?

Also holy crap the amount of powers a Psyker gets at high level DH is silly.

Chrysis

I assumed it meant that for the initial roll for wounds you get the max result which will usually be 5. For Example, Forge World Characters get d5 + 7 wounds at creation so you assume the d5 gets 5 for a total of 12 wounds.

susan

SanderJK wrote: »

I'm not familiar with the max HP rule. Anyone able to enlighten me?

Also holy crap the amount of powers a Psyker gets at high level DH is silly.

It's nothing major; you just can't have more than 25hp when all is said and done. And yes, high-level psykers are quite silly, and I look forward to seeing what happens when you glitch .

SanderJK

Ah. No danger of getting there anytime soon then. Currently I have all Sound Constitution talents, and it brings me up to 16 so far.

The Ascendancy Psyker rules make not ending up with Perils of the Warp a bit easier at least. Though when the going gets tough, risking that Pushing cast (with guaranteed "hilarity") may be a risk I'm willing to take. (I enjoy some hilarity). Picking Disciplines is a hard choice though.

Edit: The combo "Fearful Aura" with "Into the Jaws of Hell" may need looking into. Because that ends up really terrifying at higher Psy Rating.

Tanon

Yeah, psykers are crazy powerful. I'm excited about this game, looks like a good crew building

Chrysis

If you're going to be making yourself terrifying I'm glad I elected to excise those parts of the brain. I'm not sure other players count as Minions.

SanderJK

I'm keeping the minor power, but I've lost the talent due to switching tracks, so no worries there. (Still fearless myself though).

I think I'm going to give my character loads of minor powers, which leaves him physically a bit weaker. If it wasn't for the 1 power / round rule Ascension Psykers would be near invulnerable.... but now you have to chose to be well defended or any use at all offensively.

Susan, how do you feel about divination powers? I know that as a GM, I'm not much of a fan (mainly because it can potentially lead to a lot of plot shortcuts).

susan

I feel... 'Nervous' about them. I don't want to say 'Don't take them', so if you do end up wanting to take one, let me know which one and I'll read it through and think of the potential ramifications before I make a final ruling.

I want you to be sure that I don't plan on this being a railroad or anything, and if you players figure out a cleaver way to short circuit one of my plots, well, such is life and there are other plots out there. As you said, though, Divinations can make games considerably simpler almost to the point of insta-wins if used properly, so I'll have to look into it.

Matev

Ok, got the Experience Points spent up to Ascension, now to actually make Drake an Inquisitor.

...I think I'll do that tomorrow when I'm slightly more lucid.... o.o;;

Chrysis

Yeah, I found that it gets really tiring trying to spend 13,000 XP in the Bottom Up style. So many options.

Matev

It wasn't too terrible, at first I was worried I wouldn't have points left to buy things from the later ranks, but it balanced out.

Honestly, I'd find top down slightly more harrowing, at least you still have a semblance of structure in place for bottom up

Chrysis

Am I just blind, or are the stats for a Power Axe not in any of the rulebooks? Seems weird given they're given to a Magos for free.

There's one in Rogue Trader, so I've copied those stats for now until someone finds one more relevant.

Tanon

I did it top down, and just went through and wrote down all the talents that I wanted/needed. Then I tallied that up and cut/fillered til I was at 13k. Wasn't too terrible. Then again, death cultists are pretty straightforward

Anon the Felon

I started with bottom up, but I found that I kept forgetting to buy things once I ranked up in place to picking advancements when I should have waited till a later rank. So I found out I was switching to top down just to get everything I needed.

Honestly it worked out (a little bit, I'm still missing a few things I wanted), I ended up at 13000 on the nose. I'm going to refine it a little and sort out my gear. I also ended up with a few questions for Mr. GM on transition packages.

I went Scum, who as we know is the talker and socialite with a fair bit of combat. All the Scum transition packages to Desperado kind of hinge on having a "Criminal Organization" already in place. Since we're starting at ascension, I'm wondering what to do here. Take the "Death Cult" for example, he can get a +10 to WS (his core skill) just to become an assassin. Desperado gets bonus's to his organization and his interaction with established contacts.

I'm just curious if I'm starting from scratch, or can have an established criminal organization (which provides an influx of cash/information)? Priests also suffer from this, but not to the same extent as Scum/Desperado.

I'm also curious if we're going to need/have a pilot. I'm willing to sink a few hundred XP into drive/pilot (happily), but only if we need it.

susan

I'll say that, even if your character has never been to this particular planet before, he'll have a certain amount of credibility and knowledge around the local criminal organization(s). Perhaps it's a multi-world mafia organization, and you know the contact for the local planet system. If you mention the type of Organization that your character is most familiar with, I can figure out the logistics to have it make some kind of sense, or if you even want to flesh it out a bit more on your own I wouldn't be opposed to that. The bonuses and penalties your character has earned will still come into play.

As for a pilot, I could certainly see your group appreciating having one. Of course you'll be on an Imperial world, and if noone wants to do it themselves there are ~1.6 billion NPCs who could do the job for ya.

Tanon

Otherwise I could stab the controls til it flies itself I'm good at sneaking, infiltrating, and murdering. 'Bout it.

Anon the Felon

Great, I'm glad to know it's an option. I'll draft a background for myself and incorporate my organization/information for you. The organization stuff I'll probably PM you simply so we can work out how it works without cluttering the thread.

SanderJK

My Psyker is void born, so he has Pilot(Spacecraft) as a basic skill. Basicly means he won't crash any ship under calm conditions though.
Still working on details (mostly powers/equipment), there's a lot to choose from, a lot to read. There's something to be said for a "I have a big gun, where do you want me to point it boss?" character.

Matev

Excellent, my noble-born Arbite turned Inquisitor is going to have a bunch of Jonathon Q. Murdermachines to throw at his problems it seems. (Not that he isn't one himself) I'll show you all the sheet later (Thanks for the template to ape Chrysis)

Anon the Felon

It'll be interesting to see how you handle my highly criminally minded Desperado Matev. I've always enjoyed the "upstanding law man v roguish criminal" play that can happen in a group. The DH format can really amp up that dynamic too.

Good to know we at least have a group pilot.