Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Even with a painted model and a backstory, an Inquisitor PC isn't truly complete until his character sheet is filled in. The nine little boxes along the top of the sheet actually go a long way towards to governing how we play our characters in game. They represent our characters' strengths and weaknesses, and mould how our characters act in the scenarios arrayed against them. I am not a fan of randomly rolling for characteristics as it can upset your perceived plans for the character. It's all too easy for a nicely modelled, chainsword-wielding fanatic to end up with low Weapon Skill and high Sagacity for example, or a nicely modelled trickster presenting an image of force with a chainsword to end up with a high Weapon Skill and low Sagacity. I much prefer to settle on characteristics myself. However, it is important to impose limits.

An Arco-flagellant is unlikely to be another character in disguise, so expect a high Weapon Skill!

One of Inquisitor's strengths is that players and GMs are free to stat and equip characters in any way they feel. Some players prefer high end campaigns, where stats in the 80s and 90s prevail, and some prefer middle of the road campaigns with stats in the 50s and 60s. I dare say there are some that play with no stat above 40. It doesn't really matter, as long as everyone involved is playing at the same level. As soon as one war band has stats which are more than +20 above everyone else’s, and brings meltaguns to a knife fight, it's often the case that that war band will dominate even with careful scenario design on the GM's part, and that can suck the fun out of a campaign for others.

A fair fight?

The Inquisitor rule book is an interesting beast when it comes to giving characteristics to characters. At the start of the book, it gives a rough idea to appropriate stats (p.15 Living Rule Book), with suggestions including: “a normal human would have a Toughness of 40-50” and under Nerve “a trained Imperial Guardsman would be in the 40-60 range”. If we turn to the back of the book and look at the sample characters, a Desperado is given a Toughness of 60 and a Nerve of 75. Is it the case that the authors are ignoring their own advice, or is the argument that the characters involved in an Inquisitor campaign are on a pedestal above the massed ranks of humanity? It could be taken either way.

For what it's worth, I prefer to play with stats around about the 50-60 mark, with particularly weak characteristics dipping down to 40, and focussed specialities going up to 70 or so. I do so as it means that actions aren't always a formality. To me, this makes games far more interesting as nothing ramps up the tension like a make or break roll to take out the big bad at the end of a scenario.

The savant Pret Hirschfield is one of only a handful of PCs with an Initiative in the 40s.

After settling on characteristics, I often look over the Special Abilities section of the rule book and the Carthax Wiki to see if there are any I feel appropriate to my character. Selecting Special Abilities can be a bit of a slippery slope however, and once you've chosen one or two, you start seeing others that might just fit. All of a sudden you have six or seven and you struggle to remember them in the heat of the action. Your declaration of actions slows down as you try and work out how the combination of abilities on your sheet will affect the turn; you remember you could have done something the previous turn; or half way through the game you bring out the ability that was scribbled on the back of your sheet as there wasn't any more room on the front much to the annoyance of the GM who now has to implement a do-over. I'm a big of fan of keeping games of Inquisitor flowing quickly, so I limit the number of Special Abilities I take, usually to two, but quite often some characters will have none.

Psychic and Exotic Abilities don't crop up too often, but as with Special Abilities, I tend to stick to a smaller number so things don't get out of hand. Usually, I don't give characters psychic powers from more than two disciplines as in my mind, psykers tend to focus on one discipline, and perhaps can draw on another power they trust themselves to use in the hectic action that constitutes an Inquisitor scenario.

Telepathy is unsurprisingly the Astrotelepath's primary discipline, but here he shows some telekinetic abilities by levitating spookily.

Equipment is the final piece of the puzzle for me, but most of the time I am governed by what looked cool during the modelling process and is already stuck to the model. The vast majority of my models are armed with stubbers, shotguns and more mundane hand to hand weapons as I have found through bloody experience that things like bolters and power swords can quickly end scenarios and character's lives! That's not an absolute rule of course - the only rule that matters when building characters is the Rule of Cool.

Every now and then, one of my characters comes with a fearsome weapon.

Where does Inquisitor Casimir Fearon come in in the character sheet department then?

	WS	BS	S	T	I	Wp	Sg	Nv	Ld
Fearon	59	63	57	58	68	72	70	68	71

Inquisitor Fearon is right-handed

Special Abilities: Compelling (see Additional Rules on the Carthax Wiki), Leader

Equipment: Auspex (Motion Tracker), Padded Robes (AV2) on all locations except head, Short Sword, Stubber with Infrascope and two reloads

Painting is underway... only now do I realise I forgot to add a pendant to the cord around his neck!

Fearon then is a bit of an all-rounder, with higher mental stats than the average, befitting his position as an Inquisitor. His experience in dealing with the varying branches of the Inquisition means that he can convince many of his course of action, and is reflected with the Special Abilities Compelling and Leader. His equipment isn't that unique or noteworthy, but as an investigative type, he doesn't need to be dressed for battle. With his auspex and infrascope he can track down his quarry in a multitude of environments.

That wraps it up for this entry. I'd love to see some other takes on character creation, so please share your ideas on Facebook and Twitter (@T_C_Inquisitor).

The Carthaxian Inquisitor 

Who are you?

Work on my Ordo Obsoletus war band is progressing. After selecting and assembling the raw components last week, I have been adding equipment with bits and pieces and sculpting details where needed. Although I had a vision in my mind of how I wanted the models to turn out when I began, it's not until things are underway that you can really get a feel for what will look good and what just won't work. It's not unusual to end up with something completely different from what you planned when assembly started. Some components won't combine without a lot of cutting and re-sculpting, and some things just don't look right together. So far I'm happy with how the Inquisitor looks; he turned out pretty much as I imagined; the Arbitrator is progressing nicely; the Psyker has undergone a transformation; and the Techpriest just isn't quite right yet.

The Inquisitor

The Inquisitor now has a lantern in his left hand, a gun sight on his stubber, and some bits around his belt. The lantern is a more “grimdark” source of light than a handheld torch, and adds to the investigative air I am hopefully building around him. It will also allow me to paint some source lighting, which is always a nice challenge. The gun sight is there for no other reason than because I thought it looked good (the Rule of Cool), and the pouches on his back help add detail to an empty space. The doll from Quovandius has found pride of place on his belt. It's an odd little piece, but there must be a story behind it (more on that later).

The Arbitrator

The Arbitrator has had his shoulder pads altered with ProCreate, adding detail to the right in the form of an Aquila grasped in a fist, and has had the left smoothed over. Initially I had intended to alter the winged symbol of the Inquisition on the left into a symbol more fitting the Adeptus Arbites, but in the end kept to the traditional decoration of the right pad. I have also removed the gemstone from the centre of his helm after trying and failing to get it to look like a convincing bionic eye. It has been suggested by users on DakkaDakka and Warseer that I add an Aquila atop his head and a shock maul, and I am heading in that direction next.

The Psyker

The Psyker has had the most work since the last blog entry. I replaced the head from the Judge with Jan Van Yastobaal's alternate head as it conveys more emotion and the strangeness of it works well with the inhuman oddity of psychic characters. His arms have been added, with his hands clasping a human skull. This is his psychic focus, allowing him to better sample the energies of the warp. I plan to paint the skull so that an aethereal glow emanates from the eyes. Finally a selection of equipment was added to his back to fill in a rather uninteresting void. I am pleased with how he is turning out – I hope he carries something of the supernatural with him.

The Techpriest

Lastly the Techpriest. Plenty of gubbins arrayed around him now. He certainly looks like a disciple of Mars, and couldn't be mistaken for anything else. Why am I so unenthused with him? I am wondering whether or not he's just too much of a conventional model. There's nothing new about the combination of parts used here, and he's undoubtedly the safest of the builds in the war band. If he was paint, he'd be magnolia. Tear him up and start again, or make further alterations? I have added sleeves since these photos again at the suggestion of a DakkaDakka user so that he no longer has a flak wife-beater, but I'm not yet convinced. All suggestions welcome!

Getting back to that freaky doll on the Inquisitor's belt... what's that all about?

Inquisitor characters are personalities after all, and it's important that every one has a story. How long that story is really comes down to the player's choice, but I think it needs to be more than just a name and occupation. In most cases a sentence or two will do. Let's take a long-standing character of mine as an example. Inquisitor Tomashek Goddard was originally conceived as a foil to Mikael Van Helser; a puritan daemonhunter on the trail of the daemonhost Voor'acht that Van Helser had fallen under the sway of. That's a compact description, but I think it's enough to grasp the character's motivation and plants an enemy as a plot hook. Of course, there's far more to Goddard (his biography can be found in the Amalathian Sourcebook), but if I was GMing a game where a number of unfamiliar players and characters were attending, as happens at most Conclave gatherings, I would only want the short, snappy version of his story so that I could throw him into the story of my scenario and get on with the game. However, if the player could only tell me his name, and that he was an Inquisitor, I would struggle to tell if the model was responding “in character” to events in the game.

Inquisitor Tomashek Goddard

My Ordo Obsoletus Inquisitor's story starts now, and that doll is an important part of it. I will keep a loose framework to begin with, as undoubtedly, I will have better ideas down the line. I'll keep things compact for now for the same reasons, and to make it easier for others to understand who he is. Allow me to introduce Inquisitor Casimir Fearon:

A student of the discredited Schola Perceptus, the young Casimir Fearon served in the Carthaxian fleet's Arbites corps. Fleeing from a purge of Perceptus alumni, he found himself indebted to Inquisitor Epsis of the Ordo Obsoletus for concealing him from his hunters. After six decades of service, the elderly Epsis elevated Fearon to the rank of Inquisitor, suitably impressed with his acolyte's deductive skills and open mind to the shrouded face of the galaxy. Inquisitor Fearon now travels the breadth of the Carthax sector lending his expertise to events the Ordos cannot fathom. Secretly, he desires to expose the truth behind the purge of the Schola Perceptus, and uncover the conspiracy that saw his alma mater and classmates put to the pyre. He carries a doll he plucked from the ruins as a memorial to those lost.

I will be getting back to the models now, and trying to work out just what to do with the Techpriest. Check for updates on The Conclave, Facebook and Twitter.

The Carthaxian Inquisitor

The Box of Shame, and the Renaissance

Sometimes we start projects and fail to finish them. Quite often in wargaming circles, new shinier models come along and grab our attention. Sometimes we start something with great enthusiasm, but find our excitement sapped by the sheer amount of work required to turn our vision into reality. Sometimes we're just plain lazy. Put your hand up if any of these apply to you.

My hand is raised. I am so bad at completing things. I think I have made over 50 Inquisitor figures, and failed to finish at least another 20. Why? I'm not sure I can come up with an honest, comprehensive answer. I'm probably over-critical of my output, and if something doesn't look like it will live up to my expectations, it never gets to see the light of day. I'm also lazy, and I have a demanding job. I am listing excuses here.

Just a selection from the box of shame...

If I was a fanatic, I would stand up here and swear that I will never again fail to complete a project and make it my life's goal to dig out all the half-built, half-painted models from my attic. I'm not though, so I have a far more mundane promise to make.

The point of this blog is to get people excited by Inquisitor again, whether they are old-timers like me, or a potential new recruit that's never heard of the game. The principle I am working from is that content inspires more content, and that dormant Inquisitor players need to be reminded of the joy that the game brings, and new players need to have their attention grabbed. My promise then, is to get building and painting Inquisitor models and show them off to the world. It's not much, but it might just catch the attention of enough people to get them in a building mood and start them sharing their new creations.

With all that said, let me show you how I go about building models.

I usually have a simple, one or two word basis for any war band I dream to put together. Monodominant, Ecclesiarchy, mutant rebels, Genestealer cult... you get the idea. This nucleus lets me start thinking about the general philosophy of the group. For example, is the Monodominant bombastic and outspoken, or does he work behind the scenes? Once I've worked out the answer to the question, I think about which archetypes would lend themselves to the group. A bombastic Monodominant might draw to him followers of the Red Redemption, while the more subtle Inquisitor may have a cadre of silent assassins.

Whole bodies, legs and torsos from my bits box.

Once I've settled on the plan for the group, I sort through my bits box to start piecing components together. I usually start with legs and torsos and try out combinations that look like they'll roughly fit together without too much work. Severina/Sevora's legs clearly aren't going to work with Tyrus's body, but there are plenty of combinations that work, or will work with a little bit of sculpting or disguising of the join with ammo pouches, holsters, books or whatever other bits of ephemera the denizens of the 41^st millennium lug around with them. I love Sergeant Stone's legs – their wide stride lends a great sense of dynamism and menace to every character that includes them, and Slick Devlan's quilted flak jacket-wearing torso works for just about every possible archetype. I usually look at arms next, often in combination with weapons to work out what suits the pose and finally the head. The head is the focal point of every model, so it's important to have it well-positioned. This often means cutting or extending necks and sculpting hair and hoods to get things right. I find Slick Devlan's head to be a good all-rounder, as it's in the mid range of sizes and comes with a reasonably lengthed neck. Heads that are trickier to work with are the Judge's, which are quite a lot smaller, Covenant's, which is a lot bigger, and Tyrus has an incredibly long “neck” so that the head sits above the collar of his armour. Sawing it to fit other torsos is a necessity.

Parts for four new models laid out.

I have started a new war band this week to further explain my building process. The nucleus for this group was “Ordo Obsoletus”. This minor Ordo investigates the mysteries of the galaxy, and is something I haven't yet covered in all my war bands thus far. My Ordo Obsoletus Inquisitor would need a group of skilled investigators to cover every potential branch of study. To this end, the group thus far consists of the Inquisitor, a sort of Noir detective, a Techpriest to apply the knowledge of Mars, a Psyker to divine the answer, and an Arbitrator to get the truth out of suspects.

The Inquisitor has one of Kal Jerico's heads, two of the Bounty Hunter's arms, Eisenhorn's torso and Josef's legs.

The Techpriest has Gruss's head, legs and unattached mechadendrites, Slick's torso and bionic arms from the "Cyborgs" by everyone's favourite Russian manufacturer of 54mm toy soldiers.

The Psyker has Sergeant Stone's dynamic legs, Sergeant Black's torso under the ProCreate and Von Castellan's coat tails. His arms are from Malicant, but haven't been secured yet.

Lastly, the Arbitrator. Eisenhorn's legs with the Thorian's torso and attached head (previously sawed from his legs for another model), the Judge's shotgun arm and a bionic arm from the aforementioned "Cyborgs" with cut down 40k bolter.

There's a long way to go. I have started some sculpting to fill in gaps and align parts, but there are many components to be attached yet. This process will likely take a few weeks, so stay tuned. I will be updating a thread on The Conclave as I go. As always, feel free to share your WIP pictures on Facebook or on twitter (@T_C_Inquisitor).

The Carthaxian Inquisitor