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Comet
2008-08-12, 10:58 AM
A friend of mine has gotten his hands on the 40k roleplaying game, Dark Heresy. We're set to begin playing in the near future and we're all brainstorming ideas for potential player characters.
The trick is, only the GM has the rulebook and I'm not sure if I want to download the PDF just yet. With that in mind, I come to ask you people: what is your opinion on Dark Heresy? Pros and cons? How lethal is it? How easy is character creation?

I'm also thinking that my first character shall be an "empath psyker", by which I mean a warp-touched individual that can reach into other peoples' minds and controll the emotions of those around him. Think Bene-Gesserit from Dune or some other mind-rape wizard type.
Is this a viable option? Would I have fun playing this in DH? Or should I instead do a more traditional blaster-master-mage? :smallsmile:

Any input will be noted, and appreciated. Thankyouverymuch!

Selrahc
2008-08-12, 11:19 AM
Is this a viable option?

Not til later on. At the start of the game you're really only a minor psychic(If you choose to be a psychic at all).

Mind rape would have to be replaced by mind grope. Minor effects of influencing people rather than outright controlling them.

You can grow into a powerful mind controller later though, if you focus on telepathy.


Or should I instead do a more traditional blaster-master-mage?

They're probably even less viable! It takes a long time before psychic powers come close to the straight up lethality of weapons.

Psychics are fun and helpful. But the powerlevel is low. You're a bit luckier than everyone else. You creep people out a lot. You can see auras. You could cause a weapon to jam. Shooting a fireball from your fingers or ripping out someones mind is a bit later on.

Comet
2008-08-12, 11:46 AM
Psychics are fun and helpful. But the powerlevel is low.--Shooting a fireball from your fingers or ripping out someones mind is a bit later on.

Cool. I think I actually prefer it that way. I've always liked subtle magic more than fireballs. I like my wizards to have power, but in a way that doesn't seem like he's some kind of superhero. Unless, you know, he's a superhero.

Still, I always thought that Wh40k magick was muchly about powerful individuals that could indeed blast you to smithereens with a single word of power. Nice to see that the RPG is more down-to-earth.

Keep the comments a-comin', people!

Prophaniti
2008-08-12, 12:45 PM
Well, as an example, Firestorm, a Pyromancy power (which you don't have access to for a while, if you start out as bottom-tier characters) deals 1d10+5 damage. For comparison, a standard lasgun deals 1d10+3. There's only a few powers that really blow **** up, such as holocaust (1d10 per point of WP modifier, which for a psyker is gonna be at least 4, likely 6 or 7 by the time you gain this power). Thing is, most characters and monsters are going to have less than 20 wounds, and mitigate 2-4 damage per hit from their Toughness bonus. So it doesn't take many shots to put someone down, only one or two if you get good rolls. It's quite a deadly system, and all you need is one cultist with a melta (2d10+4) or a man-portable Lascannon (5d10+10!:smalleek:) to make the party start wetting their pants.

Psykers as direct damage dealers are only going to be useful at higher levels or to attack targets that are hard to hit with BS tests, since most of their powers don't require one. Psykers see their true potential as utilitarians, using crazy powers like See Me Not or Far Sight to gather information and bypass obstacles. Psykers are also useful as hilarious party-killers when a warp daemon eats their mind and possesses them, but that's another thing.

Really funny story, the first game we ran the psyker had an obsession with the Fearful Aura power, which, once you learn the disturbingly detailed and brutal fear mechanics is quite a useful ability. He'd disable whole groups of gangers as they fell to their knees gibbering, or went catatonic, or fled screaming. Thing is, he also managed to turn one of his allies into a paranoid wreck who took minuses on all checks for a while, which made him miss more fear saves, which made him into an even more paranoid wreck... It was quite the viscious cycle, I felt sorry for the poor bastard.

Sinfire Titan
2008-08-12, 01:49 PM
Cool. I think I actually prefer it that way. I've always liked subtle magic more than fireballs. I like my wizards to have power, but in a way that doesn't seem like he's some kind of superhero. Unless, you know, he's a superhero.

Still, I always thought that Wh40k magick was muchly about powerful individuals that could indeed blast you to smithereens with a single word of power. Nice to see that the RPG is more down-to-earth.

Keep the comments a-comin', people!

No, that's DnD. 40K favors beating people in the face with napalm over magic.

Don't compare WFRP to 40K though. CoC is more accurate a comparison, as both systems are actively trying to screw the players over.

holywhippet
2008-08-12, 05:04 PM
I'm also thinking that my first character shall be an "empath psyker", by which I mean a warp-touched individual that can reach into other peoples' minds and controll the emotions of those around him. Think Bene-Gesserit from Dune or some other mind-rape wizard type.
Is this a viable option? Would I have fun playing this in DH? Or should I instead do a more traditional blaster-master-mage? :smallsmile:


I think you need a brief rundown on how classes work in Dark Heresy. Each class starts of with a certain set of skills, traits/talents and equipment. You also have some skills and traits/talents depending on your home world. You start with 400 experience points (or more, depending on your DM). At any given level a class has a list of skills/talents that you can purchase with your XP. Every time you've spent 500 xp you go up a level. This lets you buy skills/talents from the list for the next level, but you can still buy them from the earlier levels. You can also spend xp to improve you basic stats - weapons skill, ballistics skill, strength etc.

Note that the level lists are not linear, sometimes they branch and sometimes they converge. Basically you choose career paths that customises your particular character.

To build a certain character you have to pick a class and then follow a career that leads you towards it.

The system is pretty brutal when it comes to combat. It depends on what class you are though. Imperial Guardsmen and Adeptus Soriatus (Sisters of Battle) both start out with very good armour which helps them survive hits. A Sanctioned Psyker on the other hand starts off only with a quilted vest that protects their chest - and won't stop modern weaponry.

DiabolicalFurby
2008-08-12, 05:25 PM
It does indeed take awhile before you start to see some flashy psyker abilities being used. Honestly they make decent support characters in mid sized parties but if you are playing a small game with only a couple of players I would suggest something more combat viable that can wear armor early on.

Having your psyker becoming a living inferno of destruction later on might be fun, but chances are a cultist with a flamer will introduce you to fire long before you can wield it.

Prophaniti
2008-08-12, 05:31 PM
Don't compare WFRP to 40K though. CoC is more accurate a comparison, as both systems are actively trying to screw the players over.
I've played many games of this system now, as well as games using WFRP, it's fantasy brother. I've never felt it was trying to 'screw me over' or even trying to kill me. I feel a lot more like it's boldly trying to realistically reflect the damage a person takes when a grenade explodes next to you, or just how bad a sword through the gut really is for your health, which is a lot more than other games would have you believe. I think it does a damn decent job of it, too.

Leon
2008-08-12, 08:57 PM
I've played many games of this system now, as well as games using WFRP, it's fantasy brother. I've never felt it was trying to 'screw me over' or even trying to kill me. I feel a lot more like it's boldly trying to realistically reflect the damage a person takes when a grenade explodes next to you, or just how bad a sword through the gut really is for your health, which is a lot more than other games would have you believe. I think it does a damn decent job of it, too.

Yeah, Combat is something that you take pains to avoid damage in - it will happen but you try to stack the chances of that from happening cos all it takes is one good shot and your down (and possibly out)

I remember when we played DH that everyone was insanely jealous of the Guardsman and his Armour, until most of us recived our own set of Guard Flak for a mission (A Mission in which we basicley TPKed ourselves on a pointless target...)

Compartivley in WHFRP my Dwarf is in full plate with a Decent parry and a rather poor dodge (curse you low Agility...)
Its nice to take the Hits that the rest of the team shudder at

Comet
2008-08-13, 09:49 AM
Thank you for the postings people! The everyday down-to-earth blokes were always my favourite part of the 40k universe (which, admittedly, I don't have that much experience of, except for the information I've acquired from the 'net and my friends). It's nice to see that the rpg puts you into the shoes of these ordinary heroes instead of the "I have an ancient artifact powersword and I am a MACHINE OF DESTRUCTION!" type of generals and other demigods.


Honestly they make decent support characters in mid sized parties but if you are playing a small game with only a couple of players I would suggest something more combat viable that can wear armor early on.
Yeah, our party is going to be three people, me included. The other two guys are going to play some kind of pit-fighter and an assasin, if memory serves. With that in mind, is a psyker still a good choice for a character? Our GM isn't excactly the type to shun combat, so I think having some armour would be nice.
He recommended a technological character from the Adeptus Mechanicus for me. Would this be a fun character?

loopy
2008-08-13, 09:56 AM
To this day I've only played one session. My smooth fast-talking nobleborn scum character had his arm blown off in the first combat he ever entered.

EDIT: It was awesome. :smallbiggrin:

Selrahc
2008-08-13, 10:46 AM
He recommended a technological character from the Adeptus Mechanicus for me. Would this be a fun character?

Adeptus Mechanicus are pretty fun, yeah. They can do a lot of neat tricks involving machines, and are really tough. Although for some reason the game attaches a lot of importance to being able to float for ten minutes per day.

If you're cool with playing a barely human, cold and calculating technocrat, they should be pretty fun. In many ways its like playing a more survivable psyker, since the main stuff you do is still support. And you creep people out.

EndgamerAzari
2008-08-13, 11:59 AM
Adeptus Mechanicus are pretty fun, yeah. They can do a lot of neat tricks involving machines, and are really tough. Although for some reason the game attaches a lot of importance to being able to float for ten minutes per day.

If you're cool with playing a barely human, cold and calculating technocrat, they should be pretty fun. In many ways its like playing a more survivable psyker, since the main stuff you do is still support. And you creep people out.

Amen to that. I love my tech-priest. He's also a mutant (Big Eyes) on top of everything else, and his face is paralyzed from an old injury, so he's permanently grinning under his respirator. The ultra-naive combat-cleric in the party was worried about him installing a bionic arm on her, 'cuz she thought he'd make her ugly like him. I wear a surgical mask over my face and hold a hand-massager to my throat to get the warbley timbre to my voice when I'm roleplaying.