Just as the title says. I am putting together background for when I do manage to get a DH group going and am not sure if stats are even needed for Inquisitors (outside of combat). Any ideas?

In general it's best not to involve the PCs Inquisitor in combat or skill rolls and what not. It tends to lessen the PCs role if there is this uber NPC around. I tend to only do minimal combat stats wounds, dodge, attack, damage just in case a PC attacks their boss. (Of course in general their always has a few rare items, and backup to handle this.) With other NPC Inquisitors I generally don't stat unless I intend for the Inquisitor to to be opposing the PCs.

Generally the Inquisitors in combat are more in the role of Gandalf vs the Balrog, or Vader vs Kenobi. With he/she holding off the big bad while the PCs run off to do a vital task. In these cases combat resolves itself by plot and not dice.

Amen to Sulcor.

So far, I do not even plan to use the =I= alongside the pc. If I had to, I would not use stats.

No, they shouldn't be needed. In fact, your groups inquisitor probably shouldn't have a major on camera role in the story for quite some time. There's been a few threads on here where the NPC Inquisitor was included in the players cell from the beginning or very early on and it seemed to hurt the game as the players felt railroaded and outclassed by the GM's ego incarnate.

From experience, I find it's best to start with a vague idea of who their Inquisitor is, just a name and a quirk and a look will suffice. As time goes on, tailor his personality and outlook to match the PC's or someone who would have selected those PC's as his acolytes. Once your cell has found their feet and have done a lot of good by the Inquisitor, you should have a pretty good idea as to who he is and what he's all about. Likewise, by that time, the PC's will ave a better feel for who their master is as well as confidence in themselves (because they're finally somewhat competent... unless they're my group...) and including him or her in with the cell wont ruffle your players feathers as much.

No, not really....

Just decide what kind of Inquisitor he or she is in case the Acolytes get smart...

Mine has a Psy Rating high enoug to melt their brains and knows more than they know...oh yeah, she is scary...

Sounds like stats enough...right?

Not immediately, at any rate.

Initially your pcs should know next to nothing about their Inquisitor ... if they even know they are serving one. It is quite possible to be hired by someone"with political clout" to perform duties without ever realizing you've been hired on by the servant of a servant of the Interogator's servant. In my current campaign the pcs will approached first by a member of the Inquisitor's staff and asked to perform a duty - as faithful servants of the Emperor (may his vissage inspire empire and bring the enemies of man to their knees) - of great import to the planet they are on.

Should they succeed at this, (should take 1 lvl worth of xp at lower ranks, or half that at the higher) they will then be introduced to the Interogator, who for the next mission will be their sole employer and even after that mission - should they still survive and seem attractive - he will be their only means of communicating with the Inquisitor ... all information or requests being filtered by the Interogator before being passed on.

Only after they have proven themselves yet more - probably around rank 5 - will I allow them to have a meeting with the man himself in order to be sworn in as Inquisitorial Acolytes. Over the next rank I would expect them to learn bits and pieces of information about the man and the way he thinks/approaches things. Around rank six they might begin working closely with him, even so far as to take the Interogator on their missions - though still the Inquisitor himself should not stoop so low as to attend to matters at the pcs threat level.

Sometime around level 8 they sould have finally got enough status to become members of the Inquisitor's personal entourage.

Of course, in my game, around rank 6 the pcs are going to discover - with the aid of their Interogator - that the Inquisitor as turned heretic and been using them to further his heretical designs. It is at this point they will have to start taking about ways to eliminate their former master .... which should be loads of fun! Likely leaving the Interogator as their new Inquisitor. (and placing them in the enviable position of having been the people who helped bring him to power)

For the battle which will doubtlessly ensue, around their 6th rank, I will then need to stat up the Inquisitor in preparation for their duel. (whatever form that might take)

My =][= nearly always personally debriefed the PCs. (Early missions an Interogator debriefed them.) Given that they were slipped a memory blocker and psychicly probed prior to their debrief they never had a chance to attack their boss. Also they were fairly scared of him as they were all seated on airlock doors during the debrief, and he wasn't about using it.

What I am currently planning is to use Tattered Fates as the starting point, and if the PC's manage to survive the Inquisitor who does the primary debriefing will be their boss (so to speak) for the remainder of their time with the Inquisition. Future missions will see that character being used as a mix between M&Q from the James Bond movie series. Which if you have watched any of the older movies then you know how often both of those characters were in the line of fire . Anyway thanks for the input on this subject .

Ive given my inquisitor Stats more for the fun of working it out than to actually be used, plus if my Inquisitor ever has to use them than he has them but generally he will only interact with the player characters during briefing/debreifigs so doesnt really need stats

I suppose you could stat them in order to show off some of the cool stuff the Acoyltes might eventually be able to do. Use this sort of like Brother-Sergeant Agramorr in PtU: have the NPC around just long enough to be overwhelmed dealing with something (preferably not the big bad, so much as a huge wave of enemies or some difficult technical task), leaving the success of the mission up the Acoyltes themselves.

For non-combat stuff, you could give them very high social stats and some technical stuff, so that the players feel accomplished if they manage to actually slip a minor lie past their boss, or when they impress him by succeeding on a late-game Tech-Use test.

All my inquisitors have mostly been people on the other end of a comm-bead. Though i eventually ran a session where they attacked a ship with several inquisitors and their acolyte groups all out to accomplish and hold the different areas of the large ship. This allowed the group to act as the female lions of the pride and do all the work, whilst the big alpha male, was there to take down the big bad prey. Though my group was a little different than most. They enjoyed the way i played my inquisitor and the way he involved them in tasks.

I never heard complaints of taking away their spotlight or them feeling as though his prescence lessened them, they understood that when he showed up, which was twice in a campaign lasting 4 months, that he wasn't there to do the job for them. but to risk his life for his own duty. If you're unwilling to move your king, then the pawns cannot follow. So i believe that everyone should have some basic stats. I create 3 tiers of stats that I can remember any time.

Elite Stats: Generally high level npcs or bosses,

Rival stats: Characters that rival the PC's on a 1 to 1 basis

Minion stats: The kinda fights you have where it can be deadly, but only if it comes to bad luck, or bad planning

Meekster Stats: The kinda fights that shouldn't happen, and that really almost never need a single die roll. The hobo on the tram, doesn't get a dodge to avoid a gunshot, he dies, sorta thing.

To give your =][= stats or not comes down to the following questions.

What is your =][= to your party?

In my game their =][= is busy with more pressing matters and leaves the party to investigate matters that need attention but are otherwise beneath her notice at least in low ranks.

What is your =][= in goal for your party?

In my game my players are trying to get promote your party to =][=.

Will your =][= ever betray the party as a story line?

Mine will not.

With just these 3 questions I know that my =][= for my party is a aloof unfeeling woman who only cares about the party if they survive long enough to reach her rank. She might talk to them and give them missions but is otherwise unavailable. So she does not need stats if only to keep the god like fear she inspires in the party.

Unless the PCs will need to try and confront the Inquisitor in some fashion (combat, social etc) then no, he doesn't need stats.

I've statted out several of the Inquisitors in my game, mostly because there is potential that the PCs could end up in direct conflict with one or more of them (depending on PC decisions and how they handle things, and which side they choose to take in certain matters) and I want to be prepared if the matter arises.

I made my Inquisitors w/ 25,000 to 35,000 XP with access to two career trees and any alternate career ranks that made sense based on a given Inquisitor's background. Then I just added whatever I felt was appropriate to the character.

Also had to stat up a couple of SM chapter champions as well as a couple of regular marines. Getting those tweaked just right was a real challenge. (I guess I could have just fudged it as they only showed up in one adventure, but I went ahead and did full stats)

I've statted out Vownus Kaede as below for my benefit and to help me describe him -

(stats out of 10)

Lethal Swordsman - 11

Sarcastic Wit - 11

Witty Putdown - 11

Evil stare - 11

Respect of minions - 11

Inspiring Quotes - 10

" The Emperor? He doesn't protect humanity! Its people like Quint, me and Reeze who protect humanity. Its tools like this sword, that flamer, your boltpistol and that chainsword that protect humanity. Its dropping from the skies in a shrieking stormbird, flaming your way through mutants and heretics and fighting back to back with your balls out that protects humanity. That dried-up twiglet seated on its ancient potty can sit there and take the credit if it wants - you and me will be as always, down some dark nameless tunnel, causing screams in the dark and bringing our own painful brand of chaos to those that call themselves chaos "

Respect for Imperial Church - 4

I've armed him with the following -

Dangerous Looking Sword (sharp),

Good armour of dubious Material

Long tatty cape

Floppy hat

hmmmmm, im a noob too. But I would definetly fix up some stats for your inquisitor, but it really depends on the role you have planned for him/her.

I'm going with the White Wolf Theory of Stats, or "Why they never stat antidiluvian vampires":

If you come up with stats for it, it will eventually be killed. Either by PCs or a horrible, horrible die roll.

How uber is an Inquisitor? Uber enough to be scary, but still insignificant alone before the tide of heresy, chaos, and xenos filth.

I have a plan similar to Jack of Tears here. I'm setting my characters up to eventually fight (and hopefully kill) their inquisitor, because she has turned heretic (allied with 'stealer cults, possibly being mindcontrolled by them), they are currently working with a rogue interrogator of that inquisitor that leads them in putting a stop to the inquisitors plan to implant 'stealer cults on several imperial planets around the sector. So after having cleansed several infested systems and finally (at around lvl 6-7) killed their inquisitor, they find on her body the documents that explained what she was really doing, namely carefully and with great precision baiting a huge tyranid fleet (they tend to target planets with stealer cults on, see?) into a starsystem that is going nova. A plan that the characters now have destroyed the timing of, thereby making her sacrifice of billions of citicens worthless. When (if?) their interrogator learns of this, she will try to have them executed to cover her ass by blaming the characters. Then they will be left all alone in the big galaxy, hunted for both killing an inquisitor (and a few acolytes and interrogators along the way) and for causing the death of... well, who knows when the tyranid fleet will be content?

Unless of course... what was that about project ECLIPSE that was mentioned in that document? Was it something about "I cant emphase exactly how strongly I reccomend against pursuing this line of inquiry, even as a last resort"? Does it involve needing the party to hijack a battlecruiser? Does it require the party to go through unchartered warpspace? Does it include being on the inquisitions most wanted list? Does it require deceit, underhand tactics and the-end-justifies-whatever-means? Does it leave them without allies in a cold and uncaring universe? Does it require the players to prematurely nova a star, regardless of civilians in the system? Does it require them to make deals with the star-emotions-and-lifeforce-consuming god that the unliving legions of robotic Necrons whisper about as "the Deciever"? Does it require the transfer of the characters to the rogue trader rules system? Indeed it does on all accounts!

The killing of their inquisitor will be both the grand finale of the first half of the campaign, and it will mark the beginning of the second half, and the transfer to the RT rules. It will be the proverbial trial by fire, the patricide, the ultimate teenage-rebellion that shifts the players from pawns that follow orders to movers that must take initiative and control the board. I am very much looking forward to that moment. My only issue is to make it as epic a fight as possible. I am going to start with how I imagine the flow and phases of the fight to turn out, and then create the inquisitors stats, abilities and most trusted acolytes to cause a sufficiently interesting fightscene. The fight will be divided over several encounters, something like this:

0 The ground work: Finding and bribing/threatening employees of the inquisitor that can give more up to date info on her ship, her companions, the fact that she meditates in stillness for one hour before terran dawn and is not to be disturbed then, etc etc. Maybe hiring space pirates to do a distracting attack on her cruiser to mask the assault. Trading for a shieldbreaker round that will take out her refractor shield. This is woven in over a fair portion of the campaign. At least three distinct gaming evenings will be spent doing investigations, trading, bribing, threatening and in general socialising.

1 The entry. Boarding the inquisitors flagship. First some space combat, not very fun because most players can't participate. Then lots of mooks with guns that needs to be cleared. These serve no other purpose than to tick off a few HPs from our heroes, soaking some ammo and creating a few opportunities for Silent Move, sniping and other skilltests.

2 The warmup. The inquisitor is taken unaware by the NPCs reaching her quarters and fight using only her disrupting psychic powers, refractorfield and what guards she have at hand. I imagine male naked teenage vat-bred courtesan-assassin-guards that will use their dodge actions to take bullets for their chemically beloved mistress and attack the players with strange monoblades. Lots of melee and pointblank pistol/shotgun/flamer job here. After her guards run low in numbers, she will withdraw by a boobytrapped escaperoute that will slow the players for a bit. I don't expect any player to be dead or even out of comission by now.

3 The arms race. The inquisitor moves to her personal armory to don her powerarmor, refractorfield, inherited stormbolter and xenotech sword. Several waves of very tough combat servitors with heavy weapons delay the players long enough for her to get kitted out and tell her most trusted acolytes to meet her at the bridge. Long range battle (200m+), good cover on balconies on either side of the large open factory floor. Some tripod mounted lascannons to be used by pistol toting characters. Possibly some strange all-claws-and-teeth-aliens she releases from their cages behind the players backs (this is a radical ordo xenos after all). These will need to be kept out of the shooters ways, so the CC-only people will have fun things to do as well. The inquisitor will be visible but not hurtable throughout the process. Once she is geared up fully, she retreats to the bridge, via the main hallway of the ship. One or more players may well be on critical by now, or at least have run out of FPs.

4 The Gauntlet. Endless waves of mooks will inconvenience the PCs as they follow the Inquisitor up the main hallway, overcoming automated defence systems. This should be a relaxed interlude that mostly requires some alternating movement between the pillars combined with covering fire to go pretty harmless.

5 The last line. In the room before the bridge. Facing a proper player party, all named characters (maybe custom modded models?), optimized for strange combat situations and equipped with all the bits and tricks that a player party tends to get during a long campaign. Veird xeno weapons, strange psychic powers, shimmering armor, you know the stuff. These have been hinted at as "the tough guys and gals" by the elite troops that the players have fought earlier. The inquisitor is nowhere to be seen (she is at the bridge, communicating to her boss at the higher council that there is a problem). It is fine if one or two characters don't make it through this fight, (large group usually 6 players). They will be able to loot some really clever gear, to give them an edge for the last step of the show:

6 The stand. The inquisitor and a few Deathguard spacemarine bodyguards. 'nuff said. I expect the players to win the fight, hopefully not by any margins.

When she is dead I will congratulate them on winning this saga, allow them to loot the inquisitor and the marines, hand out xp and engage in general backpatting. When everyone is done I will innocently ask if anyone is interested in hearing the postscriptum? On the inevitable "yes", I will give them the handout that connects the dots, so to speak, between the strange clues they have gotten earlier and shows that the players have just done a huge and seemingly irreparable damage to the imperium. And then I will end that evenings session and tell the players we will meet again tuesday in two weeks.

So, this is how I stat my inquisitor. Extensively and as part of a much much larger scheme. Of course some of these plans will have to go out the window as things develop, but I think I have a bossfight that is epic enough.

I would say yes. Make him or her to fit your campaign and what he or she is out to do. Pretty much, making a character in sand box mode.

This way, if the time comes when the inquisitor is in play, you will have a ready character.

But try not to make him/her UBER powerful. Because then it takes the challenge of a situation out.

I just can't wait for the end of my campaign though. My Inquisitor will actually fall to the powers of chaos and betray everyone. (Good thing my group isnt on here!)

I would say no simply because I did it once and writing out all the Inquisitors Skills and Talents was really boring........

But seriously an Inquisitor will have an average stat line of 45-65 for most stats, should have most Investigation based skills and a fair set of combat skills (at least knowing how to use most weapons). finally a couple of fate points and some cool toys and he is ready to go.

My PC's group was put together by the Inquisitors most trusted Interrogator based on a reading of the Imperial Tarot. They have been marked for great things and so get quite a lot face time with their Inquisitor and certainly a lot with their Interrogator.

However he has yet to go on a mission with them. When he does they will almost certainly get seperated.

I don't like the idea that an Inquisitor is supposed to be this uber, superhuman hero. If stats for one are needed, then by all means stat him or her out. Of course seniority of said Inquisitor can and should be an indicator of exactly how formidable her or she is. A young squirt in his early 50's would probably be outclassed in most things against an Inquisitor Lord in his late 180's. That being said, most of them are still human, and while they may be skilled and some of them even latent psykers, I dislike the idea of making them all into this omnipotent super-being capable of killing any insolent acolyte just by looking at them.

The GM is doing something wrong if he can't make the Inquisitor as an NPC asserting his or her authority by other means than using or threatening of using lethal force all the time.

Don't get me wrong now, they should be quite able to hold their own in a fight. But if the Inquisitor (which most oftenly is just a human) is even more scary than all the enemies of mankind, then something is seriously wrong. Here's a list of things that acolytes should fear:

Aliens

Rogue Psykers

Evil Heretics

Daemons

Crossing their Inquisitor

And the last one, not because the Inquisitor is able to beat them all to a pulp single handedly, but rather because of the immense authority even a single Inquisitor has.

As for psychic powers: While some Inquisitors (far from all) do develop latent powers, I think there's something wrong if an Inquisitor is able to beat a tier 8 Sanctioned Psyker in a Psychic combat. Psykers of such levels are usually reserved for the Black Ships, and it is exceedingly rare for Inquisitors developing latent powers to achieve such a level of power. In my opinion, they shouldn't have anything above Psy rating 3 or 4.

I certainly think that the resources and authority an Inquisitor wields should be more powerful than the Inquisitors stat line but equally an Inquisitor doesn't become an Inquisitor by being merely good at his job he should be exceptional.

or to quote Sir Anthony Hopkins "This is mission impossible mission difficult should be a walk in the park"

In any case PC's should respect their Inquisitor rather than fear him in most cases.

Of the inquisitors of I've statted up so far, one is a master telepath and extraordinarily powerful psyker with all the things that entails, so yes he's really dangerous in a fight or out.

However the 2nd Inquisitor I statted out has a different style. He's the guy who KNOWS things. So while they have about the same XP the second one, while competent in combat, if forced into a fight not of his choosing would not likely defeat the combat focused acolyte PCs He does however have most of the entire laundry list of knowledge and intellect based skills, many at +10 and +20. The point being that you can be an advanced, skilled and even brilliant character w/ all the advancement that makes sense for an inquisitor without having to be a combat monster.

In a conflict to the death, Inquisitor 1 would win in a fight, but Inquisitor 2 could well win in the long run. It doesn't matter who is better in combat if you arrange things so the other guy never gets a chance to fight you.

In the caimpaign I'm running the party is effectivly the retinue of a just elevated inquisitor. They are all promising recruits (600 starting xp, more money) who their new master either selected personally or was giving to him less caring superiors. (I won't tell them which because I want to see how they think they were selected)

Being a very new inquisitor and all, this guy is no where near the sort of crazy power of people who solo greater daemons and command larger then sector crusades. This isn't to say he's a pushover he will be wearing (probably good quality storm trooper carapace) with hellweapons (gun and pistol) backed up with a good number of combat traits and knowledge. He's tough but I honestly think that given some good luck the party could defeat him, though this has more to do with the nature of the party then the inquisitor. Though if he's with his customary Arco-flagellant guards things would become harder.

I don't want the party to fear this guy, and to help this he's basiclly a nice guy. I won't play him like a distant master spouting rhetoric and only showing up to kick ass. He cracks poor jokes, gives out small gifts to a particularly pleasing acolyte, he shouldn't hesitate to help if a request is reasonable. For the party being an Inquisitor's retinue will not be as easy as being ones group of errand boys. There will be expectations to uphold his name and in general act properly in social settings. Natually this is different for a feral worlder then a noble born.

I could go on longer but I think my point is there, in my case stats are very necessary.

SomVone said:

Does your Inquisitor have any fate points, or will you fudge it if he catches a stray bolt round?

(or indeed do you have a contingency if he dies?)