Looking for stats on a mono garrote. My assassain has a combat gauntlet outfitted with the garrote, retractable poisoned mono knife and a built in 3 shot needle pistol.

Ah, the Garrotte, the most difficult to stat in any rpg.

Well:

System:
Step One:
Make WS test as usual but targeted at the head (-20 WS), before you do this you must first succeed at the appropriate stealth test

Step Two:
The target may give up his reaction to make an agility test (+0%) to escape the attack

Step Three:
Each round the target must make a Toughness Test or suffer a level of fatigue, once the target has suffered a number of fatigue equal to his toughness bonus he or she is rendered unconscious.
If the target suffers another level of fatigue after he or she is rendered unconscious the target is dead.

Each round the target may make a resisted agility/strength vs. strenght test to get out of the grapple.


This how I would handle a regular Garrotte, a Mono Garrotte is a cutting weapon so should be handle differently.


Mono Garrotte: 1d5 R, Pen 2, May only be used in a grapple
In addition to possibly gaining a level of fatigue the target also suffers damage from the Garrotte.

A Garrotte however would be an exotic weapon in my eyes.

Step One:
Make WS test as usual but targeted at the head (-20 WS)

Sounds too easy - I imagine wrapping a length of wire around an enemie's neck would be a little harder than trying to cut him there.

Agreed, you must first succeed at a stealth test, resisted as usual, to be able to make the attack

Sounds like a Grapple to me. Once the enemy is grappled, then the damage that one can inflict is 1d5+SB, has a pen value (2), and inflicts rending damage to the head as opposed to impact damage. It still inflicts 1 level of fatigue but due to the monoing, the attack is no longer primitive.

Edit: oh, and the first time damage is inflicted, the victem will begin to suffer from Blood Loss

The first rules were for a normal garrotte, which does not realy cause damage but strangles the victim.

The mono garrotte does do damage and idd after the initial "grapple" you automatically inflict damage each round you sustain the grapple.
Step 1 and 2 still apply with the mono garrotte.

I wouldn't apply the bloodloss since that is a critical effect and would make the weapon unbalanced gamewise.

Santiago said:

Not sure how that would make the weapon unbalanced, first you have to sneak up, second you have to succeed in a grapple and third you have to actual do enough damage to get by the toughness to me their needs to be some kind of reward to the player that can pull this off - blood loss seems the perfect addition

Edit: Also, the garrote targets the arteries on the neck, if you don't start bleeding after those get cut then there is something wrong

Not sure how that would make the weapon unbalanced, first you have to sneak up, second you have to succeed in a grapple and third you have to actual do enough damage to get by the toughness to me their needs to be some kind of reward to the player that can pull this off - blood loss seems the perfect addition

Er... apart from the "Sneak up" part, that's the procedure for every attack. And they also don't give that fancy "10% chance of dying per round" bonus.

Edit: Also, the garrote targets the arteries on the neck, if you don't start bleeding after those get cut then there is something wrong

Yay, let's go for realism! So.... how did you survive that bolt round to the head again?
Why don't we try it the other way round, seeing what the rules are and making the reality fit them: The victim of a garrote attempt tries to hold your hands away from his neck. Once he accumulates sufficient fatigue to pass out, you managed to break his hold and slice him open/decapitate him.

Cifer said:

#1 So what do you suggest then, as you suggested before, it should be at least -20WS to hit the head during combat, the result has to be worth the effort of making a -20 attack or it wouldn't be a feasible choice of weapon

#2 every attack is not the same as succeeding at a grapple

#3 While I agree there has to be certain seperation from realism, even in 40k an attack designed to cut arteries should be dangerous

As in my original (edited) post you can only make the attack if you manage to win at a Stealth vs. Awarerness test.
In the middle of a combat such attacks just fail, unless the Assassin is realy good or hasn't shown itself yet.

#1 So what do you suggest then, as you suggested before, it should be at least -20WS to hit the head during combat, the result has to be worth the effort of making a -20 attack or it wouldn't be a feasible choice of weapon

I daresay that it isn't. During combat, the chances of garotting someone would be rather low, but with the +30 bonus for an unaware opponent, you arrive at a +10.

#2 every attack is not the same as succeeding at a grapple

A grappling attempt consists of a WS test which the enemy can answer with an agility test if he spends a reaction (and if he's aware of the attack). That looks suspiciously like a standard attack which can be dodged to me.

#3 While I agree there has to be certain seperation from realism, even in 40k an attack designed to cut arteries should be dangerous

Well... it is. It's about as dangerous as a mono knife slash aimed towards the head.

What? Grapple rules? Grapple is for martial arts style ground play. They work for finding out if you succeed in doing damage but that's about it.

If you ask me, I'd replace the grapple damage for the suffocation rules ( ) for all chokes, which are plenty lethal as is so in the interest of game balance I'd give a garotte bonus on the opposed strenght tests. If game balance allows I'd give the mono garotte an extra five or ten in bonus on the normal garotte, it'd be harder to grab it and pull it off.