Inquisitor Rhian Kolbe

[Chengar Qordath]

Like I said, I was bored. How reasonable/balanced is this?

 

Inquisitor Rhian Kolbe..........175 Points

Inquisitor Rhian Kolbe

5

5

3

3

3

4

3

10

2+/4++

 

Details

Infantry

1 Inquisitor Rhian Kolbe

Psycannon Mordant Blade Terminator Armor

Implacable Determination Battle Precognition Psyker

 

Special Rules:

Implacable Determination: Inquisitor Kolbe and any unit she is attached to have the Stubborn Universal Special Rule, and may always attempt to regroup regardless of normal restrictions.

 

Battle Precognition: Inquisitor Kolbe's psychic talents lie primarily in the realm of divination, and she has refined her ability to detect and avoid any threats to her person in the heat of battle. Inquisitor Kolbe has a 4+ Invulnerable save, and may re-roll any failed invulnerable saves. However, because Inquisitor Kolbe must remained focused on using her Battle Precognition ability, she does not gain any enhancements to her statistics due to having warriors, sages, familiars, or any other retiue options that enhance the Inquisitor's statistics.

 

Wargear:

Mordant Blade: The Mordant Blade is a Poisoned (2+) Power Weapon.

[Brother Ariman]

Lets Math-Hammer

Daemonhunter Codex:

 

Inquistor Lord- 45

Terminator Armor- 20 points

4+ invlun.- 25 points

power weapon- 15 points

psycannon- 30 points

 

Definite Value total-

135

 

plus special extra items-

 

+1 WS- +10?

+1 BS- +10?

Stubborn USR+ squad- 30 points?

2+ Poison Weapon- 20?

 

Total: 205 pts.

[Chengar Qordath]

Just realized a potential problem with the character as written; once a retinue is added she could get another +1 WS and +1 BS, and an Inquisitor who could have WS and BS 6 was not my intention when writing her up. So, should I cut her down to fours, or add a special note that the normal benefits to WS and BS from sages won't apply?

[wizard12]

I would say put in the special note

[Chengar Qordath]

I would say put in the special note

A special rule does make the character a more viable option to run attached to a squad instead of having to have a retinue to get good stats. I like that idea, so I'll make the change.

 

Interestingly enough, that means she won't be able to get Initiative 5 by purchasing a familiar as well. I4 is good enough though.

[- 7eAL -]

plus special extra items-

 

+1 WS- +10?

+1 BS- +10?

Stubborn USR+ squad- 30 points?

2+ Poison Weapon- 20?

 

Total: 205 pts.

Stubborn USR applied to the squad is probably a loss, considering the Inquisitor Lord's Iron Will is functionally better. Since Implacable Determination allows the squad to regroup regardless of restrictions, that probably makes up the whole difference.

[Chengar Qordath]

plus special extra items-

 

+1 WS- +10?

+1 BS- +10?

Stubborn USR+ squad- 30 points?

2+ Poison Weapon- 20?

 

Total: 205 pts.

Stubborn USR applied to the squad is probably a loss, considering the Inquisitor Lord's Iron Will is functionally better. Since Implacable Determination allows the squad to regroup regardless of restrictions, that probably makes up the whole difference.

True, and pretty much what I was thinking when drawing up the stats.

[- 7eAL -]

Hm. Now that I think about it, Battle Precognition almost sounds a little bit like a personal form of Battle Meditation. Are you sure you've not been playing Knights of the Old Republic?

[Chengar Qordath]

Hm. Now that I think about it, Battle Precognition almost sounds a little bit like a personal form of Battle Meditation. Are you sure you've not been playing Knights of the Old Republic?

I plead guilty to having played Knights of the Old Republic through a dozen or so times, so it's entirely possible that Battle Precognition was partially inspired by that. The idea of using "two seconds into the future" precognition in battle is fairly common though; there are even several versions of it WH40k RPGs like Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader.

[Chengar Qordath]

Decided to play around with the character a bit, and added an upgrade character to go into her retinue. I am aiming more for relative parity with other special character in more recent codices than having a character that fits into the current, horribly outdated, codex.

 

Inquisitor Rhian Kolbe..........175 Points

Inquisitor Rhian Kolbe

5

5

3

3

3

4

3

10

2+/4++

 

Details

Infantry (unique)

1 Inquisitor Rhian Kolbe

Malleus Daemonorum Power Weapon Psychic Hood Icon of the Just Terminator Armor

Implacable Determination Xenotech Upgrades Psyker

Fluff:

Rhian's father was a native of Cadia before he entered the service of the Inquisition and the Ordo Malleus, and it is unsurprising that he passed on his fanatical hatred of Chaos on to his daughter. Shortly after gaining the rank of Inquisitor, Rhian's had a life-changing experience while investigating a Chaos cult on the world of Aridura. The cult proved to be far larger and better organized than the Inquisition's initial intelligence had indicated, and despite Rhian's best efforts the cultists succeeded in performing a foul ritual that sundered the veil between reality and the Warp, resulting in a major Daemonic incursion. While those who remained loyal to the Emperor fought valiantly to stem the tide of Chaos, they lacked the numbers and resources to contain a full-scale Daemonic incursion. When the defenders were on the verge of breaking, an Eldar strike force from Craftworld Ulthwé appeared, shattered the strength of the Daemon horde, and then disappeared, not even pausing to offer an explanation for their actions.

 

This incident convinced Rhian that the Imperium must be willing to work alongside some Xeno factions in order to permanently defeat the Great Enemy. This position has brought her under intense scrutiny from her fellow Inquisitors, especially those within the Ordo Xenos, but while her position is indisputably Radical she has yet to cross the line into advocating heresy. The full extent of her occasional collaboration with the races like the Eldar or Tau against both the forces of Chaos and other Xenos like Tyranids or Orks remain unknown to the Inquisition as a whole, and Rhian herself has no intention of revealing just how far down the path of Radicalism she has gone.

 

Special Rules:

Implacable Determination: Inquisitor Kolbe and any unit she is attached to have the Stubborn Universal Special Rule, and may always attempt to regroup regardless of normal restrictions. She does not gain any boost to her base statistics from having a retinue

 

Xenotech Upgrades: Inquisitor Kolbe's dedication to the destruction of the forces of Chaos is so great that she is willing to go to any extreme to gain an advantage over the Ruinous Powers, even to the point of incorporating Xeno technology into her own equipment. Inquisitor Kolbe may use two psychic powers in a given turn, and may re-roll psychic tests.

 

Psyker: Has the following Psychic Powers

Destroy Daemon: See Codex: Daemonhunters

 

The Emperor's Shield: Inquisitor Kolbe and her unit may reroll any failed saves until the start of their next turn.

 

Inspired Aim: Inquisitor Kolbe and her unit may reroll any failed to hit rolls until the start of their next turn.

 

Wargear:

Malleus Daemonorum: The Malleus Daemonorum is a heavily modified Psycannon with the following statline

36" Strength 6 AP 4 Heavy 4 Rending.

 

Gabriel Kolbe: May be taken as an upgrade character, replacing one Acolyte. He retains all Acolyte special rules, but may not select additional wargear from the armory.

 

Gabriel Kolbe..........60 Points

Gabriel Kolbe

3

4

3

4

2

3

1

8

3+

 

Details

Infantry (unique)

1 Gabriel Kolbe

Scatter Laser Refractor Field

Feel No Pain

Fluff:

In life, Gabriel Kolbe was a servant of his sister and, by extension, the Inquisition as a whole. However, over his many years of loyal service, Gabriel suffered many horrific injuries, and each time his body was rebuilt with cybernetic and augmentic components. His right arm was lost while helping to contain a daemonic incursion on Aridura, both his legs were ruined by fighting a holding action against cultists on Belis Corana, and several internal organs were damaged beyond repair after an encounter with a Nurglite witch on Hydraphur. Despite the frequent and horrific injuries he has suffered in the line of duty, Gabriel remains determined to continue serving the Inquisition until death at last claims him.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Neat approach to radicalism: a Malleus working with Xenos. Normally it's just Malleuses using daemons and Xenoses working with Xenos/using heavy Xenotech. (The Ordo Hereticus seems to have issues being radical. They set fire to heretics on instinct, so I assume becoming a heretical radical puts a certain degree of mental strain on them.)

 

Is only giving her a power weapon intentional? Most all imperial psykers tend to wind up with forceweapons.

 

I'm unsure of giving Eternal Warrior to Gabe - it seems out of place on an acolyte, and fluffwise, there doesn't seem to be much precedent for lots of bionic giving EW (Chaplain Cassius, for instance). T4/3+ armor/FnP seems enough to represent it (and it matches up with Cassius, who has similar bonuses for the same reason).

 

Random thought: maybe give Gabe an Eldar Scatter Laser instead of a Multi-Laser, to show the xenos connection. It's basically a multi-laser with +1 shot.

 

Overall no clue on price. I think the current one might be about right, overall strength is balanced by being T3 no EW. Keep an eye out for battle cannons!

 

Points for making a shooty character in an age of close combat monsters.

[Chengar Qordath]

It seemed like a semi-reasonable take on Radicalism; the Ordo Malleus and the Eldar both see Chaos as a major threat, and nothing brings people together like a common enemy.

 

Just giving a power weapon was intentional, though you have a point that force weapons are more the norm for Imperial psykers.

 

Not sure about Eternal Warrior either; it fit with the general theme of bionic rebuild making him tougher, but as you said similar characters like Cassius or Straken in the IG Codex don't get Eternal Warrior.

 

Scatter laser for Gabe seems like a good idea; it fits in well with the xenotech theme, and would compensate for taking away Eternal Warrior.

[Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer]

Come to think of it, a Malleus Inquisitor not having a force weapon makes a lot of sense - their primary enemy, daemons, are immune to its effects, so why bother wasting time/resources maintaining a force weapon? (Although the daemons' immunity is probably more due to gameplay rules than fluff; still, we could surmise that they're much more resistant to it than most others).

 

Good Inquisitor character, unique, effective, but not over the top.

[- 7eAL -]

I feel like a fool, but it'd be a good laugh if Gabe had a buddy called Tycho.

 

And if you're going to have a psycannon that doesn't ignore invulnerable saves built off the body of a reduced calibre assault cannon, might as well take one or the other...

[Chengar Qordath]

I feel like a fool, but it'd be a good laugh if Gabe had a buddy called Tycho.

 

And if you're going to have a psycannon that doesn't ignore invulnerable saves built off the body of a reduced calibre assault cannon, might as well take one or the other...

Amusing as they are, I think the Penny Arcade references ought to be kept to a minimum.

 

I thought that ignoring Invulnerable saves was implicit in the fact that the weapon was a psycannon, but by RAW since I didn't list the ignores invulnerable saves rule that's not the case. I'm not sure where that fits in game balance though; the potential for no save at all is nasty. but a shooty special character needs a pretty badass gun. I might end up changing it's rules around a fair bit; as long I stick with the general concept of super-powered psycannon I'm not terribly bothered about how the exact rules work out.