Character Generation Table

[Brother Aiwass]

Hello brothers, I've been working on a Character Table Generator, and I think I might share it, to help people like me who likes a bit of randomness and sometimes need help in the creation process. Originally I did this (not entirely mine, as I took inspiration from the webway and bits from here and there) to help me create some basis for my Black Shields background, and can be used without problem to make Shattered Legion or Knights Errant characters; however, it can be used to help you with your legion/chapter/DIY chapter just not rolling in certain tables.

This uses various dice types, and for those of you who don't actually have them, here is an Online Dice Generator.

My intent is to update that table eventually, adding a High Gothic names, and specific Legion names generator tables, aswell as a Title generation table. But no promises here. However, any help and contribution will be very appreciated.

Former Legion

Legion or Chapter of origin.

Roll 1D20

01 Dark Angels
02 Unknown
03 Emperor's Children
04 Iron Warriors
05 White Scars
06 Space Wolves
07 Imperial Fists
08 Night Lords
09 Blood Angels
10 Iron Hands
11 Unknown
12 World Eaters
13 Ultramarines
14 Death Guard
15 Thousand Sons
16 Sons of Horus
17 Word Bearers
18 Salamanders
19 Raven Guard
20 Alpha Legion

Former Rank

Rank within his Legion of origin.

Roll 1D6

01 Initiate
02 Battle Brother
03 Sergeant
04 Veteran
05 Centurion/Consul
06 Praetor

Agent of Change

Event that motivated him to abandon his Legion.

Roll 1D12

01 Killed a battle brother
02 Envy
03 Deceit
04 Befriended xenos
05 Accused of treason
06 Pride
07 Vanity
08 Zealousness
09 Conflict with a Staff Member
10 Disagreement with Legion/Imperial policy
11 Separated long time from the former Legion
12 Unknown

Fame within former Legion

How well known the character was in his parent Legion.

Roll 1D3+Rank

02 Unknown

03 Known only by his Sergeant

04 Known only by his squad members

05 Known in his Company

06 Well known in his Chapter

07 Known by most of his Legion

08 A Champion of Renown
09 Known by other Legiones and the Militia

Sanity

Current sanity rating, after the Agent of Change events, war and Crusades.

Roll 1D4

01 Insane
02 Unstable
03 Troubled
04 Sane

Reputation

Current reputation.

Roll 1D8

01 Brave
02 Coward
03 Cruel
04 Honest
05 Reckless
06 Trickster
07 Evil Incarnate
08 Good hearted

Speciality

Combat specialization.

Roll 1D3

01 Close Combat
02 Ranged Combat
03 All rounder

[Nomus Sardauk]

Okie-dokie, I rolled up an Imperial Fist (7) Initiate (1) who abandoned the Legion after a severe disagreement with Legion/Imperial Policy (10), he was known by most of his Legion (2) and while the state of things in the galaxy have left him completely insane (1) he is still known for his complete, if brutal, honesty (4) and he remains a capable all-rounder in battle (3).

Hmm, this poses some interesting questions... How would a Marine be known throughout most of the Imperial Fist Legion while still being an Initiate, and what policies would be enough to make him abandon his barely-begun career? Most curious...

Second try... A White Scar (5) Battle-Brother (2) whose Vanity and thirst for fame (7) refused to be sated despite his name being imfamous throughout the 5th (2), prompting him to leave them to seek greater heights of power & infamy on a quest that has left him with scars both physical and mental (3), thus does he vent his turbulent emotions both on the battlefield and upon his helpless captives in horrific fashion (7), reaping both loyalist & traitor lives alike with his trusty Autocannon (2).

[Brother Aiwass]

Hey, I like it. As for your question, well can we call it randomness oddities or work around that. I don't know what is the Rite of Initiation of the IF, but if is likely as others, he may be known by utterly crush other Space Marine aspirants in an unprecedented manner, making him some sort of legend/youngster with promising career, maybe?

 

EDIT:

 

About the policies, well. He may disagree of the Xenocide, killing innocent villagers because their governments refuse to comply (sp?), he may also believe that the Emperor is a God Incarnate (aligning him to what the Word Bearers preach), etc.

[Brother Aiwass]

Okie-dokie, I rolled up an Imperial Fist (7) Initiate (1) who abandoned the Legion after a severe disagreement with Legion/Imperial Policy (10), he was known by most of his Legion (2) and while the state of things in the galaxy have left him completely insane (1) he is still known for his complete, if brutal, honesty (4) and he remains a capable all-rounder in battle (3).

Hmm, this poses some interesting questions... How would a Marine be known throughout most of the Imperial Fist Legion while still being an Initiate, and what policies would be enough to make him abandon his barely-begun career? Most curious...

Second try... A White Scar (5) Battle-Brother (2) whose Vanity and thirst for fame (7) refused to be sated despite his name being imfamous throughout the 5th (2), prompting him to leave them to seek greater heights of power & infamy on a quest that has left him with scars both physical and mental (3), thus does he vent his turbulent emotions both on the battlefield and upon his helpless captives in horrific fashion (7), reaping both loyalist & traitor lives alike with his trusty Autocannon (2).

Hey! I love your second try, very characterful.

NOTE: Edited and updated the Fame table in pursuit of coherency. I think that way would bring less weird results.

Cheers.

[Nomus Sardauk]

What the hell, the best things come in three's...

A Thousand Son (15) Sergeant (3) whose special assignments led him on a lonesome path across the galaxy, ultimately leading to his disillusionment with the Legion he's barely known (11). Although his Chapter know of his sacrifices and long service he ultimately remains an outsider (6), and when the XV were purged by the Wolves, he found himself unmoved (4). As he travels across the war-torn galaxy he finds himself leaping to the defence of the innocent caught in the crossfire, assisting refugees and others in need (8), whether with inspiring words, his Bolter & blade, or his expansive repertoire of ethereal knowledge (2).

[Conn Eremon]

Always been a fan of random tables, not really sure why. All of my Chapters began with Rites of Battle. I'll take a crack at it at some point today.

[Olis]

I've spent ages looking for my copy of the old Inquisitor rulebook because the Living Rulebook pdf omits (as far as I can tell) the little extra NPC character creation tool which basically boils down to four psychology statistics generated by D6. I wanted to introduce it here to contribute but hell if I can find the damned thing.

I'll keep looking. It must be in a box somewhere...

[CYGNUS]

I will happily join my voice to the chorus singing the praises of good old Dice-Based Creation Tables; I think that what we love about the results they generate would have to be the way that dice rolls produce the sort of randomly-generated results that frequently demand ingenuity to reconcile apparent contradictions AND help add an element of unpredictability that I think helps bring Fiction closer to Real Life (or something like it).

That's one of the major reasons I'm a big fan of the Chapter Creation Tables from DEATHWATCH; I will freely admit that it's one of the things that made my write-ups of The Judged Chapters possible - whether this is a Good Thing or a Bad Thing I leave to my readers to decide - and also that I will HAPPILY spend hours using the mechanics to 'Roll Out' Chapters that have been named and illustrated, but never described!

I've also used the Dark Heresy character generator to 'roll out' some Historical Figures from the WH40K Timeline; among the more unexpected results was that Sebastian Thor had a nose ring and Saint Basillius was a void-born with a fondness for whittling (as well as a mind wipe courtesy of the Inquisition).

For the record my rolls on this particular table produced:-

- V Legion 'White Scars' (One of my favourite Legions, although I have yet to put a finger on WHY).

- Initiate.

- Precise reason for quitting his Legion Unknown.

- Known only to his squad members.

- Sane.

- Reckless.

- All Rounder.

I shall call him Narin, this bold youth of Chogoris who finds himself torn away from his Khan and the Legion; this novice who has endured without flinching away from Hard Truths revealed amidst misfortunes that have maddened veterans of campaigns spanning the breadth of the Great Crusade (perhaps because he has only come to know the Galaxy as Mankind tears itself to pieces); this young man who may yet be returned to the Emperor's Service - for after all even amongst the Blackshields there are those who have been separated from their Legions by the anarchy of the Times and strange shifts of Fortune rather than through their own Free Will.

Even for the Quicksilver sons of the Khan, some journeys are swifter than others for sometimes the only route left to them is the Path less Travelled.

[Wargasm40k]

I ended up with an interesting fellow.

 

A warrior of the Alpha Legion (20) Who's deeds and feats of leadership earned him the rank of Praetor (6) abandoned the Legion after a Conflict with a staff member (9) He was recognized as a Champion of Renown (8) But the mighty Champion's mind was shattered and he was left Insane (1) Though his mind was broken he was of a good heart (8) and slew his enemies with whatever means were demanded (3)

[Brother Aiwass]

First and foremost forgive my english as is not my native language. Second, I'm really happy that my efforts can bring you interesting characters and ideas for your own background. The rolls you gently presented and developed here had come along in a smooth manner, specially by the effort yourselves took to work around those rolls to make an interesting story.

That was really my intention when posting this ( be honest, I tried a couple of times and get interesting results, however, it is more satisfying when you can see that your work -as little as it can be- works well for others. In short, I'm glad to contribute to this -mine, if I can say this- community. So thank you very much to all of you who took the time to try and make it work. Really, thanks.

 

@Olis, don't worry, take your time and if you got lucky, everybody does. As I said, any contribution will be appreciated. Without any intention to hurry you up (say no more), if you could find that book will be awesome (nudge, nudge).

[Olis]

Alrighty then, I'll give it a crack for a late night giggle.

 

I have a... (20) Alpha Legion (3) Sergeant who (11) was separated from his Legion for a long time and so, at the advent of the Heresy, chose to leave his legion and operate alone as a Blackshield. He was (3+3) well known in his chapter. Despite the horrors he had seen in his years of service, his resolve stayed strong and could only be described as (4) sane. Reputed as a (1) brave man, he fought every battle (2) at range with his prized Snipe Rifle.

 

I'm going to assume, as a little bit of backstory, that this Sergeant is a decorated recon veteran. An assassin of sorts. Known to be capable and brave during missions, he was sent, alone, to the northern marches of the Ultima Segmentum to "tidy up" the bureaucratic problems with the recent manpower tithes. After years of operation, he learned of the burgeoning rebellion and tales that the Alpha Legion had turned. Putting little stock in such news, but not content with ignoring them, the Sergeant blackened his armour to remain as unidentifiable as possible and chose to operate independently until his death on Rudyard's World. Four astartes commanders, of varying loyalties, have been retroactively attributed to this "Blackshield Sniper" and the destruction of the high anchor plate at the rebel-aligned forge world Universalice was claimed, explicitly in writing, by him.   

[Brother Aiwass]

Another interesting story, the Dice Gods would be as happy as I am.

 

Regarding my Blackshields (after my post here on the Liber Astartes), I tried just for reasons to roll my main character (Black Zarono). I got him being from the Alphas aswell, a Delegatus nonetheless (5), who in his zealousness (8) about his duty got disappointed at the end, because war after war, he was doing his duty, but no reward or goal seemed to approach, only an endless, wantonly war. He was a Champion of Renown (3+5), but no glory could bring him peace. Within the years to come, he finally turned an insane maniac (1) with a cruel (3) reputation, who will tear anyone apart, no matter if has to be close and personal, or at long range (3).

 

Not what I thought in the beginning for my Blackshields, but is growing on me, actually. Also, sorry for the poor the BG construction, is too late and I have a final tomorrow!

[Kelborn]

Cool stuff.

I will give it a try later on. Think that it can help me creating some side characters for my own blackshield band or their enemies.

 

Furthermore those allready posted examples are quite entertaining. :)

[TDF]

I rolled an (1) Emperor's Children (3) Sergeant who left his legion for (12) unknown reasons. Although once an obscure member of the III, known (1+3) only to his squad members, since abandoning his legion he has established a reputation as an (2) unstable (6) trickster. He lures his victims into traps and then picks some of them off (2) from range, but always leaves survivors for apparently arbitrary reasons. He counts among his victims individuals from all sides of the civil war.

[Brother Aiwass]

Maybe he leaves survivors because he wants people spreading his name, building a reputation?