NECRONS

Due to the extremely challenging roleplaying required to actively portray a Necron character, Necrons are not recommended for beginner gamers and are not included as part of the normal character creation process. In order to create a Necron player character, the player must receive the permission of his or her Game Master, who ought to think carefully about the kind of campaign he or she is going to run. Necrons are a mysterious and ill-understood race within the Imperium, making relations between a human crew and a Necron traveller very difficult to maintain, and as such Necrons may not be appropriate for every campaign. Also, Necrons make for very powerful characters, something else that the GM should keep in mind.

Necron Explorers are, by the very of their race, a varied breed. Most Necrons view the lesser races such as mankind, Eldar, and Orks as nothing more than vermin to be exterminated – these are not the kind of Necrons that make for an Explorer that can work within a roleplaying party. Instead, the player should examine the motives and idiosyncrasies of Necrons who would be willing, even excited, by the idea of cooperating with humans. While it sounds impossible, Necrons such as Trazyn the Infinite are often able to ignore their differences during the pursuit of a specific goal, while others, such as Nemesor Zahndrehk, simply are not in possession of enough of their faculties to distinguish the lesser races from his own Necron subjects. Even the Silent King, the Lord of the entire Necron race, recognizes the need to ally with humans and other xenos to ensure the survival of their race, and many Necrons possess a modicum of ancient honor that a savvy player can use to justify maintaining long-term relations with a human crew.

ALIEN BIOLOGY

Necrons differ from every other xenos race in this most basic trait: they are not biological entities, instead existing as a race of machines piloted by the disposed souls of their parent race, the Necrontyr. Trapped within immortal bodies of necrodermis – living metal – but their once-gods, the C’Tan, the Necrons are cursed to live out an endless existence of cold unfeeling. To portray their mechanical natures, a number of Talents and Traits have been generated.

MEDICAL ATTENTION

Necrodermis, the living metal that makes up Necron bodies, is unlike any other substance on earth. Indeed, necron technology does not even passably resemble that of humans, surpassing even the fabled archeotech of the Dark Age of Technology. Necron Explorers can only be healed by used of the Tech-Use Skill in place of Medicae, and attempts to do so by a Non-Necron impose a -30 penalty. This penalty can be alleviated through use of the Forbidden Lore (Xenos) Skill. It is likely that this will not be necessary, as Necrons and their bodies have an uncanny ability to self-heal. Drugs and Consumables intended for human consumption, as a general rule, have no effect on Necrons, although the GM may deem that certain substances that could feasibly alter a Necron’s functioning may have other effects. Finally, bionics of human manufacture are very easily attached to Necrons, as their necrodermis can reshape to accommodate the new limbs. Necrons should remember that human technology is of primitive stock, laden with superstition and poor quality, and should not be excited by the prospect of such a graft, and should instead wait for their necrodermis to generate a new limb.

APPEARANCES

Unlike the Eldar and their dark kin, who bear a passing resemblance to humans and can likely forge their identities as such, Necrons possess no such likeness. Their cold, skeletal metal features, abstracted like ancient sculptures and glowing with sickly green light, is obviously of alien design and cannot be disguised. Even the donning of robes does not truly alleviate the issue, as the sound of servos and the ghostly hum of the Necron’s power source can be heard beneath the fabric. Attempts to do so suffer a -30 Penalty to their Disguise Skill against another character’s Scrutiny.

ARMS AND ARMOR

Necrons are theoretically capable of using human-made weapons and technology, but why one would choose to resort to such primitive means is unfathomable. Human-made gear generally seems underwhelming and laughable to Necrons. Necrons cannot wear human armors, as their Necrodermis bodies provide armor enough and make them too bulky to fit into human-made armors.

TRAITS AND TALENTS

All Necron characters possess the following Skills, Talents, and Traits:

COMMON SKILLS

All Necrons are familiar with their history and that of their empire. All Necrons begin with Common Lore (Necrons), Speak Language (Necrontyr), and Tech-Use as trained skills.

NECRODERMIS

The Necrons are assembled from living metal that can grow, reform, and heal like flesh, but is more resilient and impervious to damage. The bones of the Necrons are of strong steel, and their hearts like iron. All Necrons character possesses the Chem Geld, Unnatural Strength and Toughness (x2), Machine (6), and Regeneration (4) Traits, along with the Intimidate Skill.

REANMATION PROTOCALS

The most infamous ability of the Necrons is their ability to return, corpse-like, from fatal injuries and body-shattering blasts. Necron player characters begin play with the Reanimation Protocols Talent. This talent allows a Necron player character that has been killed to make a Challenging (+0) Toughness Test to revive himself, in lieu of burning a Fate Point to stay alive. If the test is successful, the Necron rises with a number of wounds remaining, equal to it regeneration Trait. The test can be attempted every turn, but failure by three or more degrees means that the Necron has been so badly damaged that its repair mechanisms are not functional, and it’s broken body disappears in a flurry of green light. Fate Points spent to re-roll a Test such as this one count as being burned.

NON-IMPERIAL

Necrons characters suffer a -10 Penalty to all Lores relating to or concerning the Imperium of Man.

LOGISITCAL NUMEROLOGY

The psychic and eddies and currents of a living mind are replaced by cold circuitry and heartless knowledge. Necrons gain the Logic Skill trained.

DARKNESS IN THE VOID

Necron Characters may never use or gain psychic powers, sorcery, or the like, and count as “blanks”, or entities without a soul or psychic presence, when targeted by sensors such as soul sights or the vision of an astropath.

SPEAK NOT UNTO THE ALIEN

The Necrons are an alien race, and one with a long history of genocide, terror, and an implacable lack of mercy. Necrons suffer a -30 Penalty to all Fellowship-based interaction tests when dealing with humans or other xenos races. When interacting with other Necrons, Necrons use Intelligence in place of Fellowship with the relevant Interaction Skills. Also, the presence of a xenos specimen aboard a ship is extremely unsettling, reducing Ship Morale by 3.

AN ALIEN MIND

Necrons never gain Corruption Points for any reason, as they are impervious to the soul searing and psychically damage effects of the warp, along with the mutagenic effects of certain toxins or ammunition. Necrons count as non-psykers for all intents and purposes, and cannot be targeted by phenomena that require a target to have a “soul.”

However, Insanity for Necrons is a very potent force, as their programming inevitably breaks down over time, with age and damage, leading to psychoses and senility. A Necron must make Fear Tests and gains Insanity Points as usual, but should be role-played not as fleeing or blubbering but as making a “tactical retreat” – at least that’s how the Necrons put it. In addition, Necrons gain Insanity Points whenever they take Critical Damage, and therefore suffer a permanent number of Insanity Points equal to the total amount of Critical Damage they have ever received. Prayer, fasting, or the like may not remove these Insanity Points.

Two New Necron Mental Disorders are as follows: The Flayer Curse, and the Destroyer Plague. Both are Mental Disorders available in Minor, Acute, and Severe ranges. The Flayer Curse represents a compulsion to decorate the body of a Necron with the dismembered flesh of their foes, in a cruel, twisted jealousy of the lifeblood of the lesser races. The Destroyer Plague functions similarly to the human disorder The Flesh is Weak, but instead drives the Necron to augment his body with implanted weapon systems, such as Gauss Cannons, Destroyer Bodies, and Targeting Masks.

XENOS MOTIVATIONS: MIND IN THE MACHINE

Necrons hail from a number of historic dynasties and powerful tomb worlds, each maintaining its own robotic legions, deadly courts, and royal line. Also, each Necron may have their own personal drives, ambitions, and wants, despite their biomechanical hearts. Choose one of the following options during character creation, which can also be used to explain why a Necron character would cooperate with the crew of a Rogue Trader vessel to begin with.

The Great Game

The Necron hails from the noble courts of the Necron nemesors, and as such is a master at the games of maneuvering, assassination, and politics that are rife within such halls. Necrons such as these may be fleeing from Tomb Worlds where they have become untouchables, or may be working with the lesser races in order to gather more resources to assert their power. The Necron gains the Deceive Skill and Inquiry Skills, along with one other Interaction Skill of the player’s choice.

Nemesor

The Necron serves as a lesser lordling to a powerful Overlord, or a military commander amongst the Necron legions. Such characters may ally with humans out of a desire to learn more about the warfare and technologies of a lesser race, or to enjoy the experience of commanding primitives. The character gains the Command and Forbidden Lore (Necrontyr Tactics) Skill, along with the Deadeye Shot, Crushing Blow, or Sure Strike Talents.

Hunter of Relics

The Necron seeks forbidden knowledge, wishing to unlock the secrets of other races and the mysteries of the universe itself. Archeotech, xenotech, ancient structures, and bizarre stealer phenomena serves as the Necron’s intellectual meat and wine, forcing them to pursue their academic interests beyond the harsh castes of the Tomb World. The Necron gains two Forbidden or Scholastic Lore Skills of the player’s choice.

Reverse-Transferring

The Necron seeks to return to the ways of the flesh and abandon the cruel circuitry of its necrodermis body. The Necron only suffers a -20 Penalty to Interaction Tests with non-Necrons, along with the Medicae Skill, but also gains 1d10 Insanity Points upon character creation.

Traveller

Travellers are Necrons who, out of a variety of reasons, seek to scour the galaxy and often have been doing so for millennia. These Necrons, such as the Triarch Praetorians and the famed Anrakyr, commune with the lesser races and, due to their own experiences, possess a great variety of knowledge from beyond the Tomb. The Necron gains one Common or Scholastic Lore Skill of the player’s choice, and does not suffer the Non-Imperial Penalty on Skill Tests using this Skill. Additionally, the character gains the Navigate (Surface) and Navigate (Stellar) Skills.

NECRON CHARACTERSITICS

For Necron player characters, characteristics are generated similarly to those of human characters. However, where humans roll 2d10 and add 25 for every characteristic, Necrons have a different base modifier for many characteristics. Consult the following table when generating Necron characteristics:

Table 1-1: Necron Characteristics

Characteristic

2d10+

Weapon Skill

25

Ballistic Skill

25

Strength

30

Toughness

30

Agility

15

Intelligence

30

Perception

25

Willpower

30

Fellowship

15

Wounds

2x TB+1d5

GM’S GUIDE: NECRON PROFT FACTOR AND SHIPS

For Necrons, Profit Factor comes not from a Warrant of Trade, but from the resources of the Tomb World from which the Necron hails. Necrons generate Profit Factor as per a beginning Rogue Trader group, but this Profit Factor serves the Necron and the Necron alone – theoretically. Of course, liberal Rogue Traders who wrongly consider themselves old friends with senile-seeming Necrons may of course lend out a few thrones to acquire a gift for their xenos allies, while a canny or deceptive Necron might make a gift of shared resources to foster false trust between itself and a party of unwary humans.

In many situations, it makes sense for Necron Explorers to come equipped with their own ships already, especially if the character is a Necron Lord or possesses the Forbidden Knowledge or Traveller Motivations. At the GM’s discretion, a Necron Explorer may begin play with a xenos void ship under his command. Generally, Necron players are not recommended for beginning parties, so ideally Necron characters will only be generated when the party has accrued enough resources to potentially possess more than one human ship of their own – in which case, the Necron should definitely begin with his own craft. In game terms, Necrons possess a number of Ship Points equal to the Necron’s Profit Factor minus 90 (as per other beginning Rogue Trader groups) and may spend them accordingly. For Necron Ship generation, use the guide included in this document.

For non-Necron characters, acquiring Necron gear should be an adventure unto itself, but if Game Masters wish for Necron Gear to be available through their xenos ally for purchase, each item should count as Unique and of Best Craftsmanship when making an Acquisition Test. Profiles for Necron Items and their availabilities can be found in the Black Crusade Supplement Tome of Fate and the Deathwatch Supplement The Outer Reach.

NECRON LORD CAREER PATH

Necron Lords are the commanders of the robotic legions of the Necron armies, along with the rulers of their own Tomb Worlds and personal fiefs, and as such as treated with cordial respect by other Necrons. They are also the most charismatic and diplomatic of the Necrons, able to negotiate both with other races and their own. In combat, Necron Lords often favor personal melee duels, in accordance with the honor codes of the Necrontyr, a hallmark of a bygone age that their ancients’ minds still stubbornly cling to.

Starting Skills : Awareness, Charm, Command, Common Lore (War), Deceive, Parry, Scholastic Lore (Bureaucracy).

Starting Talents: Combat Master, Counter Attack, Necron Weapon Training, Swift Attack.

Starting Gear: Staff of Light (Ranged) (Basic; 25m; S/4/–; 1d10 E; Pen 7; Clip –; Reload –; Volatile) and (Melee) (Melee; 1d10+3 I; Pen 6; Balanced, Power Field), or Warscythe (2d10+8 E; Pen 9; Felling [2], Power Field, Unwieldy), or Hyperphase Sword (1d10+8 E; Pen 6; Balanced, Power Field), or Voidblade (1d10+2 R; Pen 4; Felling [1], Razor Sharp, Tearing, Unbalanced), or Gauntlet of Fire (Ranged) (Pistol; 15m; S/–/–; 1d10+9 E; Pen 5; Clip –; Reload –; Flame) and (Melee) (Melee; 1d10+7 E; Pen 5; Tearing, Special), semipiternal weave, one phylactery or one resurrection orb, ankh pendant, icon of tomb world. If the Lord selected a Staff of Light as his primary weapon, it functions as a Lord-Captain’s Baton – otherwise, he begins play with a suitable xenos equivalent.

For the purposes of spending Experience Points, Necron Lords use the Rogue Trader career path advance scheme, which exceptions and specifications as made by the Game Master. Alternatively, Game Masters wishing to use the “free” XP spending system of Black Crusade should count Necron Lords as beginning Unaligned.

CRYPTEK CAREER PATH

Crypteks are the scientists, arcanists and tech-lords of the Necrons, constructing bizarre wonder weapons and devices for usage by their immortal armies. Some Necron Crypteks are always hunting for knowledge of other races and their artifacts, while others condemn the lesser races and their technology as being little more than cattle to be culled. Crypteks are aligned into specific disciplines based on the ancient alchemical elements of Necron mythology – Despair, Storm, Transmogrification, Destruction, and Eternity.

Starting Skills: Chem-Use, Dodge, Medicae, Tech-Use+10, Scholastic Lore (Astromancy, Chymistry, Numerology), Trade (Armorer).

Starting Talents: Concealed Cavity, Necron Weapon Training, Talented (Tech-Use), Swift Attack.

Starting Gear: Staff of Light (Ranged: Basic, 25m, S/4/-, 1d10+8 E, Pen 9, Clip -, Reload - ; Melee: 1d10+2 I, Pen 1, Balanced, Shocking, 10kg) or alternatively one Staff of Office and one item of gear from the Cryptek disciplines, combi-tool.

Harbinger of Despair: Abyssal Staff, Veil of Darkness.

Harbinger of Destruction: Eldritch Lance and Gaze of Flame or Solar Pulse.

Harbinger of the Storm: Voltaic Staff, Ether Crystal.

Harbinger of Transmogrification: Tremorstave, Seismic Crucible or Harp of Dissonance.

Harbinger of Eternity: Aeonstave, Chronometron.

For the purposes of spending Experience Points, Crypteks use the Explorator career path advance scheme, which exceptions and specifications as made by the Game Master. Alternatively, Game Masters wishing to use the “free” XP spending system of Black Crusade should count Necron Lords as beginning aligned to Tzeentch.

TRIARCH PRAETORIAN CAREER PATH

Triarch Praetorians are the ancient keepers of the Necron laws, an honor code and rite that are passed throughout the galaxy by these mysterious beings. Hailed as angels on some world and daemons on others, the Triarch Praetorians traverse the galaxy in their bid to not only spread the seeds of Necron supremacy but also to assess and examine the development of the lesser races. It is believed that the Praetorians may have had a hand in the engineering of the pariah gene within the primordial ancestors of humanity. They also serve as lawmakers and custodians to other Necron worlds, and only the most insane Lord would dare to challenge their judgment.

Starting Skills: Awareness, Charm, Deceive, Dodge, Forbidden Lore (Archetoech, Xenos), Navigate (Surface, Stellar), Parry, Pilot (Personal), Scholastic Lore (History, Judgment).

Starting Talents: Ambidextrous, Hip Shooting, Swift Attack.

Starting Gear: Rod of Covenant (Basic, 15m, S/-/-, 1d10+12 E, Pen 10, Reliable; Melee, 1d10+17 E, Pen 8, Power Field, Reliable), or Void Blade (1d10+11 R, Pen 5, 15kg) and Particle Caster (Pistol, 30m, 2d10+5 E, Pen 4, Concussive, Reliable, jump pack, scrimshawed bones, ancient talisman, triarch icon.

For the purposes of spending Experience Points, Triarch Praetorians use the Void Master career path advance scheme, with exceptions and specifications made by the Game Master. Alternatively, Game Masters wishing to use the “free” XP spending system of Black Crusade should count Triarch Praetorians as beginning aligned to Slaanesh.

NECRON SHIPS

Should a character opt that he wishes to begin play with his own ship, use the following guidelines.

Go through the starship creation process as normal. Any components selected, regardless of their human origin, are considered to be of Necron equivalent – for example, a Luna-class Cruiser hull could be used to represent a Cairn-class Tomb Ship. Do not roll for Machine Spirit Oddities or Quirks – instead, all Necron ships begin ship creation with access to one architect component of the player’s choice (again, a Necron equivalent) and the Servitor Crew and Cold Quarters upgrades found in the sourcebooks Into the Storm and Hostile Acquisitions.

Servitor Crew: This ship’s crew never counts its morale as being below 100, and counts its Crew Rating as being 10 points higher. The crew may only be repopulated or repaired from a Necron tomb world.

Cold Quarters: All losses to Crew Population are reduced by 1d5.

Example

James’s character, the Void Master Acemyth “Matchstick” Malakai, has died. Because he is playing in a Rogue Trader campaign where the other characters are devout radicals, he asks his Game Master if he can elect to make a Necron character. Andy, his GM, sees that the rest of the party is very advanced, clad in power armor and wielding weapons such as power fists. He deems that the Necron careers are likely equal in power to these, and agrees.

James begins by generating Statistics, deciding to do so randomly, letting Fate decide. He rolls the following Characteristics: WS 43, BS 38, S 42 T 48, Ag 26, Int 41, Per 37, WP 42, Fel 26. James notes that many of his combat-related charactersitcs are very high, especially Weapon Skill and Toughness. Evidently, he Necron must have been a powerful warlord, so he chooses the Nemesor Motivation, selecting Crushing Blow. Now it is time to select his career path. James decides that this Necron is a born warrior, and selects the Lord Career path. For his wargear, he chooses a Hyperphase Sword, and a phylactery. Now, he decides a name: Nemsor Duahzahn – and prepares to create his ship.

Not bad, but like in Fear and Loathing the initial starting traits might be a bit overwhelming. I'd recommend doing something more like the Ork Freebooter Path, where they get Unnatural Strength and their other bonuses later on, because front-loading all of those abilities can lead to balance issues. The same problem arises with the gear, as a lot of it operates well above Imperial starting equivalents. Additionally, Necron Lords and Crypteks wind up with Machine (10) and (8) respectively in the book, and several other abilities that aren't present if you just use preexisting career paths. You might want to add in an instance or two of that in their career paths. I did a similar thing in my Necron Character guide here: https://sites.google.com/view/lodge-blackman-games/ .

Also, if you look at the characteristics of the Necrons that are presented in the book, any Necron with higher functions has a bit higher Agility and Fellowship, roughly 20 or so base. The other attributes are high, but it's only their Toughness and Strength that are the highest amongst the rest. I did a comparison of every Necron in Deathwatch to that effect.

I like that idea for ships, it's easier than what I was thinking to do, and representative of Necron starships. Kudos.

For Necron ships, I'd consider automatically upgrading the quality level of components one step, as let's be honest here, Necron tech = hax.

I'd also either add in that Necron ships either get the Dolmen Gates, and treat their usage similar to how Webway access was done (although I'd probably refluff it to be something other than a Necron!Webway, maybe spin it as something more like slipspace from the Andromeda tv series), or give them straight Nav(Stellar) with their FTL inertialess drives (that Wardcrons lost).

LodgeBlackman99: Good idea on the Unnatural Toughness and Strength - I didn't know that's how Orks did it, so that's definitely the right option. As I mentioned, you can purchase additional instances of the Machine Trait for 500 xp - although who knows, you could be right and I forgot to add it in. If so, I'll correct it. I took a look at your character guide, and I like how it is structured, especially with the rank advances. I do want to include career paths in mine, however.

Regarding the career paths, I've looked at the paths for the other races - Ork Freebooter, Tau Fire Warrior, Dark Eldar Kabalite - and they only have one career path each. Perhaps the career path for Necrons should be "Necron Courtier" - a courtier being a lesser-ranking noble of the Necron Dynasties. Courtier implies the same power level as a Necron Warrior - which would be balanced for a starting party - but explains how they are able and willing to function outside of a Tomb World's A.I. In this case, I would probably create a Rank Scheme using a mix of the Seneschal and Explorator abilities, to represent a mix of political intrigue and xenotech. Things such as the Necron Lord, Cryptek, Triarch Praetorian, Lychgaurd, etc... could all be alternate Rank Advances.

With regard to the starting gear, perhaps I should change it up so that the Lords/Crypteks/etc start with less powerful items - perhaps just the xenon version of a power sword/power axe/etc? Along with a number of items befitting their class - for example, the Lord could start with a xenon power spear that functions as a Lord-Captain's Baton, while a Cryptek begins with a power spear that functions as a combo tool, etc...just an idea. What are your thoughts? That's if I don't go with the Courtier idea - if I were to go down that route, starting gear would probably be a power spear (capable of functioning as both a Lord-Captain's baton and a semiautomatic ranged energy weapon), a scarab familiar, some sort of arcane xenon war gear like a weaker phylactery or gem pendant.

Regarding ships, I will indeed use Dolmen Engines, and will probably apply the effects of "Remnant of the Endless" in Stars of Inequity's generator table to all components (not factoring in Morale Loss).

NECRON COURTIER CAREER PATH

Starting Skills : Common Lore (Necrons), Logic, Speak Language (Necrontyr), Tech-Use.

Starting Talents: Marksman.

Starting Gear: Necron Power Spear (Melee, 1d10+3, Pen 6, Power field) with integrated guass pistol (Ranged, Pistol, 30m, S/2/-, 1d10+4, Pen 5, Guass) or Good-craftsmanship Guass Flayer (Ranged, Basic, 100m, 1/4/-, 1d10=4, Pen 5, Guass) with melee attachment, canoptek scarab familiar, xenos mesh (4 all), tomb world pendant, combi-tool, and the Necron equivelnt of one bionic implant of the player’s choice, xenos lord-captain’s baton.

Guass: This weapon inflicts Righteous Fury on a 9 or 10, and when attacking vehicles deals a minimum of one damage to structural integrity. It never needs to reload or expend ammunition.

For the purposes of spending Experience Points, Necron Courtiers use the Explorator career path advance scheme, which exceptions and specifications as made by the Game Master. Alternatively, Game Masters wishing to use the “free” XP spending system of Black Crusade should count Necron Courtiers as being Aligned to Nurgle, Allied to Tzeentch, and Opposed to Khorne and Slaanesh.

NECRON SHIPS

Should a character opt that he wishes to begin play with his own ship, use the following guidelines.

Go through the starship creation process as normal. Any components selected, regardless of their human origin, are considered to be of Necron equivalent – for example, a Luna-class Cruiser hull could be used to represent a Cairn-class Tomb Ship. Do not roll for Machine Spirit Oddities or Quirks – instead, all Necron ships begin ship creation with access to one architect component of the player’s choice (again, a Necron equivalent), the Haunted Quality, and the Servitor Crew and Cold Quarters upgrades found in the sourcebooks Into the Storm and Hostile Acquisitions. Essentially, the ship counts as having the Haunted and Emissary of Mars quirks. The ship begins play with Dolmen Engines instead of Warp Engines.

Finally, Necron Plasma Drives generate 5 additional power.

Servitor Crew: This ship’s crew never counts its morale as being below 100, and counts its Crew Rating as being 10 points higher. The crew may only be repopulated or repaired from a Necron tomb world.

Cold Quarters: All losses to Crew Population are reduced by 1d5.

Dolmen Engines: Necron ships use a combination of faster-than-light travel and access to the Eldar Webway for rapid space travel. Necron Ships still must roll to Navigate the Webway (as per Navigating the Warp), but always count as rolling an additional Degree of Success on the Charting the Course stage, and do not need to roll to locate the Astronomican. While travelling through the Webway, roll for Warp Travel Encounters as normal, but represent them with a suitable xenos variant – for example, a Daemonic Incursion could be an attack by a band of Harlequins, while a Reality Erosion could be a stumble upon the eldritch aspect of an Eldar construct.

Dark Eldar actually have two career paths.

The second is in the Dark Kin, the Soul Reaver Companion. It allows one to go down the career path of a Wych.

Revisions have been made to my Necron Character Guide. Necron Starship Rules are included, along with some minor changes to the Operator Alternate Rank. I'd love to have any feedback!

https://sites.google.com/view/lodge-blackman-games/

Ooh I'll have a look at it!

As a heads up, I wound up taking out the Operator Protocols talent. With some of the additional Talents in the career path and the ship bonuses I was giving, their bonuses to operate vehicles are still quite high, and it more accurately reflects the fact that Necrons are, unfortunately, not terribly agile. The highest Agility in the entirety of Deathwatch, for example, is the Necron Lord with 52. Everyone else ranges much lower than that, averaging about 32 but going as low as 20. While the attribute now has a high cost, I'm hoping that the other talents and bonuses help make up the difference mechanically while keeping in tune with their low and hard to gain agility.

That makes sense.

I'm currently working on a Rank advance scheme for the Courtesan clAss.

Cool. If you want I could send or post the reference compendium I made of all the Necrons in Deathwatch if you want to make the path from those.

Also, how are you going to be doing the sentience aspect? I'm curious as to different ways to do it since normally only a miniscule portion of the Necron Host actually has full access to their faculties, and even then it's mostly Lords, Overlords, Crypteks, and their immediate Guard. Given the networked nature of the Necrons, my way was to basically nuke the entire command protocol network to the point where giving sentience to those that reawakened was that was the only option, but I'm always looking for more interesting ideas to give to players.

I recently went through and completely overhauled the Necron Starships section of my guide to include actual Necron Starship Hulls. I made some other changes, listed below. I'd love to have feedback since I only recently got my hands on a copy of Battlefleet Gothic Armada to use as a base for the ships and abilities and while I think I did a decent job of conversion am always open to new ideas.

Minor graphical changes and cleanups, additional graphics added
Redid Necron Starships Section
Added Necron Starship Hulls Section
Necron Operator re-named to Harvestmaster

How convenient! My player traveling trough the Webway just rolled a 100 for his Webway Travel Encounter, and I use the "higher is worse" system. So, Necron Starships, you say? *cackles gleefully*

Now I have a few comments and questions:

Regarding the Necrodermic Interface - are Necrons good pilots? I haven't read battlfleet Gothic so I can't comment on this, but I just found it a bit surprising.

I actually recently made my own rules for Webway navigation - I just figured I'd post them here in case you were interested.

NAVIGATING THE WEBWAY

Navigating the Webway functions very differently from navigating the Warp. The blessed light of the Emperor’s Astronomicon is not present within the sealed confines of the Eldar Webway, and as such “conventional” methods of navigating – reliance on the Warp Eye of the Navigator along with the aid of Imperial star charts and warp maps – is not a realistic option. Navigating the Webway uses the same rules as navigating the Warp, but with the following differences:

Stage 1: Duration of Passage. The Webway is a far more labyrinthine construct than the endless seas of the Warp, but successfully maneuvering through its corridors greatly reduces travel time. Time taken to travel through the Webway operates at a rate One interval of time faster – for instance, a journey between two close systems takes mere hours, while a journey across an entire sector requires only a few weeks instead of multiple months. The Navigaotr’s Estimate is determined using the Forbidden Lore (Webway) Skill instead of the Navigation (Warp) Skill.

Stage Two: Locate the Astronomicon. Within the Webway, the Astronomicon always counts as obscure, imposing a -60 Penalty to the Navigation Tests required. However, this penalty is only in effect as long as the Navigator is relying on normal human navigation techniques. The usage of xenos ship components, Webway maps, and the like can provide alternative methods that do not follow this penalty – in any case, navigating the Webway by an alternate method usually requires a Forbidden Lore (Webway) Test.

Stage Three : Charting the Course. This stage works as normal. The Navigator makes a +10 Awareness Test to help modify rolls on the Webway Encounter Table.

Stage Four: Steering the Vessel works as normal, although, if alternative aids are used, the penalty from an obscured Astronomicon can be mitigated.

Stage Five : Leaving the Webway functions similarly to leaving the Warp.

WEBWAY ENCOUNTER TABLE

0-10: All’s Well: A safe journey.

11-20: Specters: Shades of lost Eldar souls or potentially humans lost in the webway come to the Explorers in their dreams, seeking aid.

21-30: Xenos Madness: Flashes of ancient runes, non-human geometries and unknowable tongues assault the minds of the crew.

31-40: Dark Eldar Raiders: A Dark Eldar ship – either a Torture-class Cruiser or Excrutiator Escort – attempts to board the ship and raid it for its riches.

41-50: Craftworld Defenders: An Eldar ship belonging to a powerful Craftworld intercepts the Explorers in an attempt to expunge such foul vermin from their precious webway.

51-60: Collapsed Zone: The ship has entered a collapsed area of the Webway, where shards of reality flicker in an out of sync.

61-70: Psychueinin Swarms: Hordes of these vicious mites infiltrate the sealed hull of the ship and spreak ruckus throughout the crew.

71-80: Daemonic Incursion: A breached corridor of the Webway allows foul daemons of the warp into the fabric of the vessel, free to torment and corrupt the crew.

81-90: Reality Erosion: The fabric of time and space aboard the vessel is distorted, resulting I bizarre psychic phenomena and disturbing, insanity-breaking paradoxes.

91-97: Dolmen Gates: The Webway channel leads into a zone controlled by the ancient Necrons. This may take the form of an enemy xenos ship or a pocket fiefdom into which the ship’s masters are teleported.

98-100: Eldritch Wards: The ship has stumbled upon ancient arcane seals binding a foul entity within a pocket prison. The entity might be a powerful daemon, a fragment of an Eldar God, a foul C’Tan Shard, or something even older.

Boy, this topic sure is a blast from the past, feels like I'm raising the dead! I just finished the final details on a new update for the Necron Character Guide. It now includes rules for Ascendant characters and includes all the relevant talents so that Legends of the Expanse is not needed. Hope you enjoy the update and happy gaming!

-Lodge Blackman