Warhammer 40k Dark Heresy - Lord Edge of Grimdark

[Spore]

Greetings,

my voice chat group has decided to move on to Dark Heresy and I like what I have read about the combat system (lethal is my favorite combat style). But the sytem I don't like from what I have seen. So I want - with the help of you guys and gals, to brew up the memeiest character, a grimdark edgelord game like that could offer.

Spoiler

Show

[Anonymouswizard]

Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader are certainly the best bits of the song, where the most shares of grey come through. They would be there with the Space Marines, but it's hidden under all the SPIRITUAL LIEGE.

Onto making the most grimdark character possible, this had a lot more to do with personality. So to maximise that personality go Death World, growing up was a struggle and you lost your patents (to spider lizards) when you were just three years old. You had to teach yourself how to kill crocodile owls for food just to survive until you were found. Than, at age 14 people came and took you from your third set of adoptive patents to begin your training as an Assassin. One piece at a time your brown body was replaced with Congress flesh until nothing original remained. At this point I draw a black due to being afb.

Of course, this is less fun than being a death world tech priest, but you asked for grimdark.

[Spore]

Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader are certainly the best bits of the song, where the most shares of grey come through. They would be there with the Space Marines, but it's hidden under all the SPIRITUAL LIEGE.

Onto making the most grimdark character possible, this had a lot more to do with personality. So to maximise that personality go Death World, growing up was a struggle and you lost your patents (to spider lizards) when you were just three years old. You had to teach yourself how to kill crocodile owls for food just to survive until you were found. Than, at age 14 people came and took you from your third set of adoptive patents to begin your training as an Assassin. One piece at a time your brown body was replaced with Congress flesh until nothing original remained. At this point I draw a black due to being afb.

Of course, this is less fun than being a death world tech priest, but you asked for grimdark.

This sounds fun. It would sound more fun if I understood ANYTHING in the paragraph. I forgot to mention that I do not know anything about Warhammer 40k. But I am intrigued by the emboldened things.

[Chijinda]

This sounds fun. It would sound more fun if I understood ANYTHING in the paragraph. I forgot to mention that I do not know anything about Warhammer 40k. But I am intrigued by the emboldened things.

Basic terminology lesson:

Death World: Almost exactly what it says on the tin. A planet that is completely inhospitable to human life and settlement, whether it is because the atmosphere is incredibly toxic or because every species on it is a flesh ripping predator that could take a squad of armed soldiers in ten seconds flat, or any other reason you can think of. Not that this would ever stop the Imperium of Man, because what's a few thousand human lives, if the bureacrats can say: "We settled a new planet in the name of the God Emperor."

spider lizards/crocodile owls/etc. Just a generic space beast that might be found on your planet. Need an alien life form. Take two earth animals, cross them and add some trait like sweating poison or breathing fire and you're good.

Tech Priest: A member of the Cult of the Machine, one of the two accepted religions in the Imperium of Man. The Tech Priests or Adeptus Mechanicus are dedicated to the worship of machines, which, in the grim dark of the 41st millenium, human understanding of machines has become so limited that they literally believe machines are powered by "Machine Spirits" that make them work, and when a machine stops working, it is because the machine spirit in it is angered or upset, and rely on the Tech Priests to fix them. This applies from pretty much ALL technology, from the giant behemoth cathedral starships, to a wrist watch to a military officer's sidearm. The Adeptus Mechanicus basically has a monopoly on ALL technology in the Imperium of Man, and while you can certain figure out how to fix a broken generator without being one, they are the ones whose lives are dedicated to machinery, and nobody knows technology like the Mechanicus. It's also the Mechanicus that get to decide if new technology is developed, or if that's an insult to the Machine Spirit. As a result, technological progress has largely stagnated in the Imperium thanks to the Mechanicus constantly pushing AGAINST the development of new technology. Also they have a tendency of removing their limbs and organs and replacing them with cybernetics out of a belief that “the flesh is weak”.

Assassin: Exactly what they are in modern society. There are some specialized training groups of Assassins, but that isn't required knowledge for someone just starting. If you want to run an assassin without being tied to any major organization you can do that just fine.

Congress Flesh: With all the macabre experiments in 40k, giving the mother of all makeovers to the point that even someone's skin, muscle and bones have been altered and changed is not anything new. In fact Hive Gangs regularly do this kinda stuff.


Other major key terms you might want to google, if you're going to play Dark Heresy:

God Emperor of Mankind
Imperium of Man
Adeptus Astartes/Space Marines
Inquisition
Imperial Guard
Psyker
Warp

Plenty of others too, but these are probably the biggest ones to be familiar with the setting.

[Swaoeaeieu]

Other major key terms you might want to google, if you're going to play Dark Heresy:

God Emperor of Mankind
Imperium of Man
Adeptus Astartes/Space Marines
Inquisition
Imperial Guard
Psyker
Warp

Plenty of others too, but these are probably the biggest ones to be familiar with the setting.

i started 40k rpg-ing a reletively short time ago. what worked for me is to look up these terms in 1d4chan's wiki. they give short ish explenations with a funny twist, getting you up to speed with some needed lore and the sheer rediculousness of the setting.

[Spore]

i started 40k rpg-ing a reletively short time ago. what worked for me is to look up these terms in 1d4chan's wiki. they give short ish explenations with a funny twist, getting you up to speed with some needed lore and the sheer rediculousness of the setting.

Yeah, that sounds better than the link to fanfics of my DM.

[Anonymouswizard]

This sounds fun. It would sound more fun if I understood ANYTHING in the paragraph. I forgot to mention that I do not know anything about Warhammer 40k. But I am intrigued by the emboldened things.

Death World: a world inherently hostile to human life, through environment or native life forms. 95% chance that the Imperium has tried to settle it.

Animal-animals: as said, standard science fiction naming scheme. This was me being tired and not wanting to come up with more imaginative names.

Assassin: exactly what it says on the tin, although actual Imperium-trained assassins aren't exactly given the best life. Read: probably indoctrinated by their assassin cult and heavily modified.

Brown body: phone autocorrect, was meant to be broken body. Still, the idea of your trainers replacing your tanned skin piece by piece so you look more 'normal' for a hive world citizen or whatever they want is deliciously 40k.

Congress flesh: was meant to be cloned flesh, but the name fits better with 40k, and Chijinda gives a good explanation as to what I meant.

Tech priest: religious nutters from mars who are technically heretics but they've agreed to see the Emperor as a version of their god and they have all the technology. You're not allowed to innovate until you've replaced enough of your flesh with machines. Really, the idea that someone who has spent all their life trying to survive out in a jungle would find the time to learn how to repair technology and sooth machine spirits, as well as getting the right religious education, is relatively hilarious for the setting, although it makes more sense on a world with acid or air or is at about 166 Kelvins. But it's exactly the kind of character that would come to an Inquisitor's attention if competent.

[Chijinda]

As a quick add-on, which edition of Dark Heresy are you guys playing? First or Second? If it's First Edition, there's a LOT of good backgrounds and supplements (if you guys are using them) that can make an EXTRA grimdark character.

[Glorthindel]

Depends on the edition - I have just finished (this weekend) a three-year Dark Heresy (1st edition) campaign, and of my group, easily the two nearest game-breaking characters were the melee Assassin, and the Tech Priest.

Although Psykers are easily the most powerful, they tend to blow themselves up spectacularly, so although they are amazing in the short term, do not expect a character to go the full length of the campaign.

A poorly-built assassin can be nearly-ineffectual, and a well-built one a destroyer of worlds. My party had three, and they all went different directions in theme - one went sniper and was ok with occasional amazing insta-kills, one went pistol gunslinger and became a solid reliable rock for the party, and one went melee, and was basically unkillable. If you go this latter route, prioritise Agility and Weapon Skill, max out Dodge as fast as possible, pick up Side Step (allows you to Dodge twice), Wall of Steel (allows you to Dodge and Parry in a turn), and COunterattack (allows a free attack on a successful parry) and go for swords (for a bonus to Parry). With all of this, you might be looking at near 90% chance to mitigate three hits a round, with a free counterattack. Once my parties melee Assassin piled all this up, I couldn't touch him.

The only downside of the Assassin is it is definitely flimsy if a hit does get through. And it is here the Tech priest excels. Between armour, bionic implants, the Machine trait (at very high levels), and the classes naturally cheap Toughness upgrades and plentiful hit points, the class can soak some of the biggest hits that would take out another class in a single hit. Furthermore, the class gets easy access to many heavy weapon skills, and the one in my party became nothing short of an artillery platform.

[Spore]

Update now: My group has been formed and my understanding of the world is still basic but has improved considerably.

Lady Edge of Grimdark is now played by the DM's wife: A hive world assassin orphan - probably from a death cult or similar.
We have two psykers, one feral world shaman, one noble trading family psyker.

To add the angle of hyper fanaticism I opted out of being a classical edgelord and aimed to be the raging fanatic of the group. If the Psykers loose control, I'll execute them. If anyone so much as scratches Imperial law, they are dead. If I find someone near a warp manifestation - proabably 80% of the times caused by my fellow psyker - they all get detained, scanned and possibly executed for being tainted.

Am the son of a priest from Maccabeus Quintus, worked for the Arbites for 3 years. Found out my brother deals with heretics and got him killed for that. No evidence was provided. Character torn if that was the right decision. Will stay fanatic on the outside for a while though.

Was invited by the Inquisitor for said fanatical devotion.

[The Glyphstone]

Just remember that part and parcel of hyper-fanaticism is the rampant hypocrisy and self-justification. Always have reasons for why you/your fellow acolytes can get away with breaking the law this one time, or why you are sure encountering that daemon left no permanent scars on the group.

[Anonymouswizard]

aimed to be the raging fanatic of the group. If the Psykers loose control, I'll execute them. If anyone so much as scratches Imperial law, they are dead. If I find someone near a warp manifestation - proabably 80% of the times caused by my fellow psyker - they all get detained, scanned and possibly executed for being tainted.

Am the son of a priest from Maccabeus Quintus, worked for the Arbites for 3 years. Found out my brother deals with heretics and got him killed for that. No evidence was provided. Character torn if that was the right decision. Will stay fanatic on the outside for a while though.

Was invited by the Inquisitor for said fanatical devotion.

I first assumed you were a cleric, the tend to be the most fanatical raging fanatics of the Imperium, but Arbitrator works as well. They do sort of try pushing you along the melee route in 1e IIRC, actually if it's 1e or 2e is a good question as that changes a lot. But it definitely fits the setting.

(I'm sad I've never been able to play one of the RPGs, but I hope to run Rogue Trader at some point. Always wanted to play a Tech-Priest or Cleric [Exploratorer and Missionary in RT], I find the religions of the setting oddly charming, and every ship needs a TP.)

[Spore]

They do sort of try pushing you along the melee route in 1e IIRC, actually if it's 1e or 2e is a good question as that changes a lot.

It's 1ed. But why is Ballistic Skill 100 base and Weapon Skill/Strength 250 each then? Or do shotguns and pistols count as "melee" in the context of this setting (for being effective in close quarters or not entailing penalties in melee).

[Chijinda]

It's 1ed. But why is Ballistic Skill 100 base and Weapon Skill/Strength 250 each then? Or do shotguns and pistols count as "melee" in the context of this setting (for being effective in close quarters or not entailing penalties in melee).

They don't, but a lot of the solid guns for Arbites are most effective in close quarters. Well. Point blank range. Shotguns are the gods of point blank in Dark Heresy. If you can get a Semi-Auto burst with a Shotgun off in close quarters, whatever you are shooting at WILL die, assuming you have good Ballistic Skill. Note, though you CAN use and fire pistols in close quarters, while you can't with any other gun.

Also if this is first edition, are you using any supplements? I personally consider it a tabletop crime to play DH1 without at least using the Inquisitor's Handbook.

[Spore]

Also if this is first edition, are you using any supplements? I personally consider it a tabletop crime to play DH1 without at least using the Inquisitor's Handbook.

PHB and CRB currently.