Dark Heresy: Malice

Friday, December 13, 2019

[Setting] Gehenna

Gehenna

Name: Gehenna

Segmentum: Ultima

Sector: Manifestum

System: Eshtiaq

Population: 100,000,000

Affiliation: Imperium

Class: Death World

Tithe Grade: Solutio Prima

Alternate Homeworld Bonus:

The Damned Dance to the Tune of Greater Devils

Gehennite characters gain an additional +10 when the special Inspire use of the Command test along with gaining the Adamantium Faith talent for an encounter when the Terrify special use occurs and succeeds and they are the target.

A Death World and once a prison planet for Shrket. It is a world of long deserts, giant arthropods, and little water. Gehenna was the site of a long nuclear war that plunged the topside into a cold radioactive desert. The land's livable space is a severely tiny fraction compared to the vastness of the lifeless surface. Those who survive Gehenna do so in mountain fortresses known as qlipoths that rise above the irradiated wastes and have settlements built into the rock. These qlipoths are also the few places that potable water can be found in great reservoirs along with clean rain running down. Gehennites are bound together into tightknit puritanical societies that are built around the planet's lost history of punishment. Although unsure of why their ancestors were sent to this hell-rock, the members of each qlipoth keep the forgotten original sin in their hearts and minds that chains them there and act accordingly. The leaders of the fortresses, known as archwardens, keep a strict hand on the water and food supply and totalitarian control over the populace. They do this through the use of khatir corps, which are a mixture of enforcer, overseer, and militia. In the khatir are special investigative judges known as the shofetim. These are men and women chosen by the archwardens to use the archwarden's power to independently pass sentences and carry out justice. They are not unlike arbitrators in that way. To the point that the rare arbitrator on the planet has had to deal with a shofet severely overestimating their power and place to a grisly lead-filled end. One means the archwardens use are special guilds, known as Eanid hosts, of assassins, spies, and professional warriors that archwardens ally with rather than control. Many an upstart dissident, rival fortress leader, or even other guilds have fallen by these archwardens' orders and these hosts' deadly soldiers. These hosts know their own power and the influence they hold and as such are independent organizations that hold equal power with the archwardens of the qlipoths. These hosts take multiple forms from empowered mercenary companies using overwhelming technology scavenged from the surface to more primitive but equally effective death cults of devoted shadowy assassins that kill in the Emperor's name as a sacred rite. The hosts are essentially one of the only ways of upward mobility in Gehenna as the standard citizen is stuck to either forever mining new paths in the underground, farming in great fungal plantations overseen by cruel masters, as disposable soldiers for their qlipoths, or rarely allowed to take up craftsmen work as blacksmiths or potters or as some sort of help to the archwardens. Gehenna's surface holds treasures for those willing to find lost ruins of cities that have lost radiation to the point of relative safety or at least to the archwardens' less discerning tastes that don't mind losing their minions to cancer. These cities may hold weaponry in vaults where they have not been rusted over by exposure, great big machines that extremely few know how to use but can cause great power imbalances between the fortresses, and even simpler tools that can improve quality of life or reap more water or food that the archwardens barter for to jealously guard and keep. There are, however, great monsters on the surface that have adapted to the radiation. Armored fiends of chitin and claws, stealthy predators with reflective surfaces, and flying eye-less beasts that see by sound and senses that use the radiation around them. Along with them are those dissidents that make their home in the irradiated desert and are mutated beyond normal measure. These are the Maleun. These tainted humans are much better equipped to suffer the harshness of the surface and find scavenged remains of the surface. They build in great numbers to attack the fortresses at times.

Gehhena's tithe comes in two forms: first, the light infantry and scout regiment known as the Saeb Shrouds which are often mixed with other regiments to serve as reconnaissance and guerilla units; second, Shadida powder, which is a strong stimulant that is very useful for armored companies needing to be in operation for several days without sleep along with select other troopers.

Gehennite (Troop)

Skills Trade (Pick One), Survival

Gear Rag robes

Prisoners Gehennites are oddly amenable to strangers to the planet. Charm, Command, Deceive, and Intimidation rolls gain +20 bonuses when targeting Gehennites. However, they are also subject to the despotic command of the archwardens and their underlings like Shofets and Khatir Corpsmen so in the presence of those antagonistic to a character those same tests gain -20 penalties as they have extreme difficulty rejecting their betters.

Shadowed Eanid Acolyte (Elite)

Skills Awareness, Acrobatics, Deceive, Stealth +10, Survival

Gear Darkened robes, scavenged flak, 3x caltrop throws (Cover a 2x2 area. Moving into the area requires an acrobatics test that upon failure causes the target to be Snared but not helpless), 3x jury-rigged smoke bombs.

Talents Blind Fighting, Catfall, Face in a Crowd, Hard Target, Swift Attack, Takedown.

We Strike Hard and Fade into the Night A shadowed acolyte using the Shadowing special use of stealth gains +20 on their next stealth test. Success will give them Vengeful (8) to their attacks on a Surprise Round and the ability to make a Difficult (-10) Stealth Test to be hidden amongst a crowd again.

Seraphim Eanid (Elite)

Skills Athletics +10, Awareness, Command, Dodge +10, Intimidate +10, Medicae, Survival +10
Talents Devastating Assault, Die Hard, Hip Shooting, Iron Jaw, Jaded, Nowhere to Hide, Rapid Reload, Resistance (Fear), Swift Attack, True Grit.

Gear 2x Frag Grenades, 3x Magazines for Autogun Manstopper Rounds, Microbead, Reinforced Seraphim Flak Armour, 2x Stun Grenades, Wing Pattern Helmet with Visor.
Smiting Flame As a Half Action, the Seraphim may kneel down activate his specialized armor to shoot flames out in a 10-meter radius around him through multiple exterminators installed within itt.

Maleun Mutant (Troop)

Skills Athletics, Awareness, Dodge, Intimidate, Survival +20

Talents

Gear

Inheritors Maleun mutants have the Bestial Hide, Cannibalistic Urge, Warp Regeneration, and Swollen Brute mutations.
Corruption 40

Unquenchable (Troop)

Skills Acrobatics, Stealth
Talents Double Team
Traits Bestial, Dark-Sight, Unnatural Toughness (3), Flyer (7), Weedy
Bleeding Tendrils An Unquenchable that succeeds on an attack gains half the damage it takes as restored wounds along with being grappled onto the character it attacked. It gains +10 to tests opposing Break Free and Slip Free Grappled Target Options. The character grappled may move normally, however.

Chitin Fiend (Troop)

Skills Athletics +20,

Talents Frenzy, Iron Jaw
Traits Bestial, Dark-Sight, Enormous (+20 Hit, -20 Stealth), Quadruped

Gear Chitin Hide

Earthshake Once a turn as a free action, a Chitin Fiend can stomp its large hooves into the earth with a special vibratory muscle that causes all within 20 meters of it to take an acrobatics test or be flung 1d5 meters and roll on the Scatter Chart to see where they go.

Hell Burrower (Troop)

Skills Acrobatics +10, Navigate (Surface) +20, Stealth
Traits Bestial, Blind, Crawler, Sonar Sense

Burrow As a half action, a Hell Burrower can move into the earth beneath or around it and move up to its half movement length. After this, the Hell Burrower counts the earth as covering all of it and it can move freely. In addition, they gain a +20 bonus on Stealth test while moving underground.

Khatir Corpsman (Troop)

Skills Athletics, Dodge, Survival

Talents Double Team

Gear Flak Vest, Dark Uniform, Canteen, Metal Chained Collar

Cruel A Corpsman that attacks a prone target in melee gains the Tearing quality on their weapons.

Overseer (Elite)

Skills Awareness, Command +10, Common Knowledge (Imperial Creed), Dodge +10, Intimidate +10, Navigate (Surface), Scrutiny, Survival.
Talents Ambidextrous, Devastating Assault, Halo of Command, Swift Attack, Two-Weapon Wielder

Gear Cat of Nine Tails, Lectitio Divinatus remnants

Propelling Lashes An Overseer that lashes at a Corpsman or Gehennite causes them and those within 1d5 meters of them to immediately charge at their nearest enemies. If they are out of charge range, they instead run to get into range and then will charge on their turns.

Shadowed Eanid Guildmaster (Master)

Skills Acrobatics +20, Athletics, Awareness +10, Charm +20, Deceive +20, Dodge +20, Parry +10, Scrutiny, Stealth +20, Survival +20
Talents Adamantium Faith, Assassin Strike, Blademastter, Blind Fighting, Catfall, Combat Master, Constant Vigilance, Counter Attack, Crushing Blow, Death Dealer (Melee), Devastating Assault, Disarm, Face in a Crowd, Hard Target, Inescapable Attack (Melee), Jaded, Keen Intuition, Resistance (Fear), Step Aside, Swift Attack, Takedown, Thunder Chargee, True Grit, Two-Weapon Wielder, Whirlwind of Death
Traits Touched by the Fates (2)

Gear Golden Devil Mask, Lamellar lined cloak, Mesh Armour,
A Cut Above the Rest A Guildmaster treats all characters in their way as normal terrain when moving and can move past them and can stand in the same space as another character. Along with this, they treat all difficult terrain as normal terrain in terms of movements and penalties. Along with this, when they use Thunder Charge, they may use Acrobatics to knock down enemies in the way of their targets to oppose the foe's Opposing Strength Test.

Shofet (Elite)

Skills Athletics +10, Awareness +20, Command, Dodge, Interrogation +10, Intimidate +20, Scrutiny +20.
Talents Ambidextrous, Coordinated Interrogation, Keen Intuition, Iron Jaw, Jaded, Resistance (Fear), Step Aside, Swift Attack, Two-Weapon wielder

Gear Book of Laws, Manacles, Mask of Damnation, Golden Dagger of Stewardship, 3x Hand Cannon Loads, Robes, Treasured Bestial Hide Armour
Punitive Measures A Shofet's weapons cause Crippling (3) on prone or stunned targets.

Archwarden (Master)

Skills Awareness +20, Command +20, Commerce +10, Deceive +10, Dodge +10, Intimidation +30, Parry +20, Scrutiny
Talents Adamantium Faith, Bulging Biceps, Crushing Blow, Devastating Assault, Hardy, Inescapable Attack (Melee), Jaded, Halo of Command, Hammer Blow, Hatred (Gehnnites), Resistance (Fear), Swift Attack.
Gear 3x Bolt Pistol Magazines, Command Rod, Fine Robes, Flak Armor, Jewelry, Lectitio Divinatus, Whip.
The Greater Devils Once a turn, all loyal to the Archwarden from Gehennite to Shofet can immediately use a half-action to attack if he succeeds a Challenging (+0) Command test.

Thursday, November 28, 2019

The Third Beast Pack: a WIP Only War Beastman Regiment

This is the regiment created for an Only War campaign I run. Here's the crunch, which will be followed by the fluff.
Homeworld - Each PC chooses their homeworld
Commander - Bilious
Regiment Type - Guerrilla
Training Doctrines - Sharpshooter, Survivalist
Universal Bonus Equipment - 1 stummer, Chain Mail, Flak Helmet, Micro Bead, Grapnel and Line

The Third Beast Pack is primarily composed, as the name suggests, of Beastmen. Generally speaking, they are let loose in some of the most casualty heavy warzones the guard is fighting in to cause havoc for the Emperor's enemies with minimal supervision and very little to no support from other Imperial Guard infrastructure. The Beast Pack is composed of soldiers from many different worlds, since many planets do not have high enough populations of Beastmen to form and entire regiment and mixing significant numbers of abhuman and human companies can cause serious issues. While
most of the soldiers of this regiment are beastmen, over time the excessivly high numbers of casualties they suffer has caused the regiment to be reinforced by soldiers hailing from different origins. Generally speaking, having your squad or company re-assigned to a Beast Pack is a sure way to tell that, for one reason or another, someone in a position of power is exceptionally displeased with you and your associates.

Given their low status and lack of resources, support specialists are rarely assigned to any of the Beast Packs. In particular, Ministorum Priests, Storm Troopers, and Sanctioned Psykers are virtually never in any of the Beast Packs. Ratlings and Ogryn are relatively much more common, as lumping abhumans together tends to cause fewer problems. There is usually only a single Enginseer assigned to a given beast pack at a single point in time, as they have little advanced equipment or vehicles to require one. The Enginseer is assigned to the Third Beast Pack called Castor, and he is not a happy man. In between maintaining the Pack's limited equipment, dealing with the tech-illeterate animals that make up the regiment, and fending off the frequent attempted thefts of his precious equipment, he barely has time to complain that the destruction of Magos Zaria's most prized possessions was, in fact, not his fault, and his assignment to such a terrible situation is some kind of terrible mistake.
The number of Commissars assigned to the beast pack varies significantly depending on how the Imperial Guard command is feeling at a given point in time. Sometimes, their are next to none, when command feels like sending a highly trained, relatively difficult to replace unit like a commissar to ensure the morality and fighting spirit of a bunch of mutants doomed to die either way is a
waste of resources. Other times, they'll have very high numbers of commissars as command feels like that bunch of mutants must be watched constantly to ensure there is no deviance from the Imperial Creed, however small. Currently, there are only a few in the third pack, mostly due to the previous regiment they were assigned to being mostly wiped out and merged with the Beast Pack, which had also taken very heavy casualties.

In terms of combat operations, the Beast Pack is a typical Guerrilla regiment. Companies and to some degree even squads are expected to conduct independent recon, foraging, and attacks on enemy forces they locate. Upon the discovery of enemy strongholds or forces too large for whatever unit discovers them, more squads or companies are called in to assist with the assault. They are typically
fielded either alone or along with other beast packs, though this is not a hard rule. They are more likely to be paired with pure human regiments when fighting Xenos than heretics or rebels, as many commanders feel that fighting their fellows alongside such distinctive abhumans would
be bad for moral. Whether or not that's actually accurate is neither here nor there.

We've also come up with homebrew homeworlds for beastmen. Here they are.

General - Cost: 3 points

Hyena

Characteristics: Choose 2 between Strength, Toughness, and Fellowship; those stats get +3

Skills: Survival, Command OR Deceive, Scrutiny

Talents: Polyglot OR Disturbing Voice

Inhuman Senses: Start with Darksight and Heightened Senses(Hearing, Smell), but tests to

resist attacks on those senses suffer a -10 penalty

Wounds: Hyenas start with +1 wound.

Komodo

Characteristics: Choose 2 between Toughness, Intelligence, and Willpower; those stats get +3

Skills: Survival, Awareness, Logic

Talents: Cold Hearted OR Jaded

Cold Demenour: Reptiles tend to have different thought processes than mammals, which most

find extremely offputting. They suffer a -20 to charm and command tests.

Toxic Bite: Inside a Komodo's mouth is a horrifying soup of deadly disease and rotting meat. Their

bites count as Natural Weapons with the Primitive (8) and Toxic (2) traits.

Wounds: Komodos start with +1 wound.

Lion

Characteristics: Choose 2 between Fellowship, Strength, and Willpower; those stats get +3

Skills: Command, Charm, Intimidate

Talents: Air of Authority OR Heroic Inspiration

Lion's Pride: Must pass a +0 Willpower test to retreat or allow foes to retreat when not faced

with overwhelming odds.

Noble Demenour: Reduce the Abhuman penalty to interaction by 10

Wound: Lions generate wounds as normal.

Wolf

Characteristics: Choose 2 between Fellowship, Weapon Skill, and Perception; those stats gain +3

Skills: Charm, Awareness, Survival

Talents: Double Team OR Takedown

Pack Tactics: Wolves gain an additional +10 when Ganging Up on a foe

Lonely Wolf: When isolated from their squad, wolves suffer a -10 to Willpower, Weapon Skill, and Ballistic Skill

Wounds: Wolves generate wounds as normal.

Fox

Characteristics: Choose 2 between Intelligence, Perception, and Agility: those stats gain +3

Skills: Tech-Use, Scrutiny, Security

Talents: Technical Knock OR Modify Payload

Cunning like a Fox: When interacting with an unfamiliar mechanical system, reduce penalties to Tech-Use and

Security by 10

Disliked by the Mechanicus: Gain the Enemey: Adeptus Mechanicus Talent, and suffers an additional -10 to

all interaction tests involving them.

Wounds: Foxes start with -1 wound.

Rat

Characteristics: Choose 2 between Agility, Perception, and Ballistic Skill: those stats gain +3

Skills: Stealth, Acrobatics, Awareness

Talents: Light Sleeper OR Ambush

Rat Bastard: When attacking a helpless or unaware target, attacks gain Vengeful: (9) and proven x where x is equal to Perception Bonus.

Nervous: When damaged while not in cover and while already wounded, must make a -0 Willpower check or become suppressed.

Wounds: Rats start with -1 wounds.

Bull

Characteristics: Choose 2 between Strength, Toughness, and Weapon Skill: those stats gain +3

Skills: Athletics, Intimidate, Parry

Talents: Brute of Burden OR Berserk Charge

Red Rage: Gain the Brutal Charge(3) trait.

Seeing Red: When wounded, must make a -10 willpower check to not focus exclusively on attacking the target(s) that inflicted the wounds on your next turn.

Wounds: Bulls start with +2 wounds.

Goat

Characteristics: Choose 2 between Toughness, Agility, and Perception: those stats gain +3

Skills: Survival, Acrobatics

Talents: Leap Up OR Lightning Reflexes

Devil's Hooves: Counts difficult terrain as normal terrain for movement purposes

Fainting Goat Syndrome: When a Goat fails a test that would result in stunning (such failing the toughness test after being struck struck by a weapon weapon with the shocking quality), the Goat counts as having failed by an additional 2 degrees of failure.

Wounds: Goats start with +2 wounds.

Red Panda

Characteristics: Choose 2 between Agility, Fellowship, and Perception: those stats gain +3

Skills: Charm, Scrutiny, Deceive OR Inquiry

Talents: Radiant Presence OR Meditation

Too Stupid to Live: When faced with a mystery, must pass a Willpower test with difficulty determined by the GM to not investigate.

Too Cute to Let Die: Medicae tests performed on a Red Panda gain a +10.

Wounds: Red Pandas with -1 wounds.

Crow

Characterisitcs: Choose 2 between Intelligence, Fellowship, and Perception: those stats gain +3

Skills: Scrutiny, Deceive OR Sleight of Hand, Logic

Talents: Lasgun Volley OR Total Recall

Shinies: Crows are notorious thieves, and most suffer from a deep compulsion to posses shiny objects they see. When confronted by an obviously valuable object, a Crow must pass a willpower test (difficulty dependent on how valuable it is, the difficulty of acquiring it, and the potential repercussions of obtaining it) or do his best to obtain it by any means necessary.

Group Communications: A crow receives a +20 bonus to inquiry checks involving a friendly regiment of Imperial Guards, and automatically passes such tests when specifically related to gathering information on enemy forces.

Wounds: Crows start with -1 wounds.

Lynx

Characterisitcs: Choose 2 between Agility, Strength, and Perception: those stats gain +3

Skills: Stealth, Athletics OR Acrobatcis, Survival

Talents: Heightened Sense (Sight) OR The Bigger They Are

The Harder They Fall: When making an All Out Attack or Charge against a target with a size rating larger that their own, Lynxes may add half of their agility bonus to the damage.

Solitary Hunter: When interacting with groups other than their squad, Lynxes suffer a -10 to all fellowship tests.

Wounds: Lynxes generate wounds normally.