Short question is I have a player who wants to play a commissar character and I have allowed him but now see he is doing it to try and have more power than the rest of the party, how do I let him play a commissar without it ruining the game for everyone else?

The longer version is I have a first time group where one of them is very knowledgeable about 40K Lore and the others not so well versed and this player has just lost his character. He was killed by a Eldar pathfinder that they never spotted effectively due to plot reasons but also because the player was trying to kill a party member and split the party thanks to out of game knowledge so this already shows he is someone that tries to push things to their limits eg. he said he burned a fate point for his character to survive it but still wanted to make a new character so his old one could come back as a nemesis, something he has done exactly the same in a previous game

Now he wants to play a commissar which I allowed but I can tell its so that he has the ability to execute anyone he wants at any time, I have made the character with him going for Imperial Guard and Hierophant as the most suitable 'commissar' class, how can I nerf him narratively so he doesn't just start threatening to execute the party if they don't do what he wants or killing important NPCs for no reason or consequence. I've made him a cadet Commisar at the moment who is close to promotion to Junior Commissar like the first edition career path hoping this will work however I don't think it will be enough to stop him abusing his power.

He's nerfed himself; he's no longer a Commissar once he's in the Inquisition. Have the Inquisitor make it clear he's not in charge and doesn't have the right to hand out punishments and 'encouragement' all willy-nilly. On top of that, a Commissar can still have consequences for killing important people, even if it was justified; just like Inquisitors tread lightly around Peers of the Imperium so as to not cause a ruckus.

MijRai already has given you the technicals: the Inquisition is not the Imperial Guard, he is NOT anyones senior "just because I used to be".

Besides of this, there is an even more "nasty trick" up the sleeve. Next session, when you all sit around the table, but before you start the round, adress the issue. Tell everybody how you feel about it, then ask around how everyone else sees it and feels about it. The possible outcomes are:

1# you have a LOT of trouble at the gaming table then, and you and your friends will need some time to sort it out, instead of playing. If that happens, it means that THIS was long overdue, so.

2# nobody will admit to having a problem, but the trouble player (?) is made aware, and if he´s not a douchebag, he will correct his own playstyle.

3# the other players state their point of view in a friendly and honest matter, things get solved. Done, get back to playing

Commissars get shot in the back all the time in Only war...... Just saying.

As a small group of elite operatives with minimal supervision, undertaking missions with extremely hazardous consequences, any Acolyte can execute any other Acolyte, as long as they can feed their Inquisitor a compelling explanation about how it happened...

As a small group of elite operatives with minimal supervision, undertaking missions with extremely hazardous consequences, any Acolyte can execute any other Acolyte, as long as they can feed their Inquisitor a compelling explanation about how it happened...

This. Beyond that, the Commisar has no power over the rest of his fellows in conventional 40k fluff. No, not even above the penal colony legionnaire the Inquisitor has in his warband . For an organisation which is the physical manifestation of an ultra-intolerant state, it is very equal-rights when it comes to its employees.

Sounds like this is a player issue not specific to the commisar. You might want to talk to or email him privately to let him know his play style is not conducive to the type of RPG session you are trying to have. To me it feels like he's going to keep pushing anti-party characters and derail everything which can be fun for him, but takes a lot of the spotlight away from the other characters and also forces you the DM to spend time on him instead of progressing the game. It could be that he just doesn't "get" what he's doing.

Also having characters that get to boss around others for whatever reason is almost never fun but it sounds like you know that already. Nerfing his character so he can't claim that murdering other players "makes sense within the setting so it's cool" or pointing out an Inquisitor is going to frown on one of his acolytes killing his others that he has personally selected isn't going to solve it since if he has that kind of mentality he'll figure out other ways to be an ass.

Also, if you really want to dig into Commissarial logic;

A commissar is an enforcer - responsible for the loyalty and determination of the group to which he is attached. He is not, however, an officer - commissars do not sit in the Militarum's chain of command, and as such cannot give anyone orders.

They can take whatever steps they deem required to ensure that orders given are carried out, but they are not commanders themselves and their demeanour would normally reflect this. The Inquisitor would almost certainly not put an ex commissar in command of a warband for this reason...

Plus, as noted: "I'm a Commissar" "Good to know. I'm an agent of the Inquisition. You can salute now."

The party decides to run away from a battle to lick their wounds and regroup.

Guy in question then says "I deem what you are doing as cowardice and an affront to the command of our Inquisitor!" and proceeds to start shooting other players. If his guy is then killed by the group in self defense he creates a new character who is a secret assassin working for a rival inquisitor waiting for the random word that will activate him Manchurian Candidate style and start killing teammates during a climactic battle.

Using logic on this guy to show why he can't do anti-party stuff isn't going to work since he sounds almost certainly like the type of player that wants to be the center of attention at all times and is willing to be disruptive in order to make that happen. He needs to be told to knock that stuff off as a player outside of the game unless your other players really think his actions are fun (which I doubt).

he creates a new character who is a secret assassin working for a rival inquisitor waiting for the random word that will activate him Manchurian Candidate style and start killing teammates during a climactic battle.

If someone ever tried to create a character like that with me as GM, I'd reject the character concept on the grounds that a PC who is loyal to the party until their sudden betrayal is not interesting. If they want to play a traitor, see my thoughts in this thread . To sum them up:

- He will be working for his true master, who wants the PCs alive because they are useful if manipulated in the right way.

- The traitor PC is going to have to work to keep both the PCs and his true master thinking he remains loyal to them.

- The point where he starts fighting PCs is not going to be his choice. It will be because the PCs find out his true loyalties and go after him or his manipulations fail/b] and the party is getting too close to uncovering his true master.

If he tries to surprise me with sudden activation I will retcon it as a PCs backstory is not something you get to hide from the GM.

I can't imagine what would Commissar's role be in Acolyte's cell. He's there on the battlefield to force soldiers to do what others have told them. But outside a warzone? Acolytes often have to change their plans, react to enemy's actions, sometimes make decisions on their own. There are occasions on which they must flee or infiltrate an enemy. Commissar wouldn't help in any of these tasks.

I think he could work fine as a hierophant or warrior with the Imperial Guard background, it's just where the player wants to design a character that gets to boss people around or be a team killer that it becomes a problem. A commissar that understands he is no longer the guy that shoots people for failing their duty (at least other acolytes) would be fine by me.

Yeah, a Commissar is a political officer. Social skills, combat skills, well-trained... That's actually a pretty good basis for an Acolyte, if they can curb some of those tendencies.

I can't imagine what would Commissar's role be in Acolyte's cell. He's there on the battlefield to force soldiers to do what others have told them. But outside a warzone? Acolytes often have to change their plans, react to enemy's actions, sometimes make decisions on their own. There are occasions on which they must flee or infiltrate an enemy. Commissar wouldn't help in any of these tasks.

The codex-compliant "half the class killed the other half" Commissars will never be useful in Acolyte cells. But the intelligent ones could be useful in keeping the party focused on their orders (stop heresy) while keeping them loyal to the Inquisitor. The Commissar would just need to be reminded that the orders he is enforcing are the orders coming from the Inquisitor. Orders that are going to be way less detailed than orders guardsmen receive, orders that leave lots of freedom in how the players complete them.

Probably a reminder that a heroic last stand rarely helps when the cell doesn't have backup, so retreating to come back later when they are prepared for the fight might be the best option.

But there is still a problem. The Commissars that would be useful to an acolyte cell are probably also going to be more useful to the Imperium if they remained working with the guard. The first example of a Commissar working for an Inquisitor that comes to mind is Caiphas Cain. He never became a permanent member of the Inquisitors group, just someone that she called in regularly.

I can't imagine what would Commissar's role be in Acolyte's cell. He's there on the battlefield to force soldiers to do what others have told them. But outside a warzone? Acolytes often have to change their plans, react to enemy's actions, sometimes make decisions on their own. There are occasions on which they must flee or infiltrate an enemy. Commissar wouldn't help in any of these tasks.

The codex-compliant "half the class killed the other half" Commissars will never be useful in Acolyte cells. But the intelligent ones could be useful in keeping the party focused on their orders (stop heresy) while keeping them loyal to the Inquisitor. The Commissar would just need to be reminded that the orders he is enforcing are the orders coming from the Inquisitor. Orders that are going to be way less detailed than orders guardsmen receive, orders that leave lots of freedom in how the players complete them.

Probably a reminder that a heroic last stand rarely helps when the cell doesn't have backup, so retreating to come back later when they are prepared for the fight might be the best option.

But there is still a problem. The Commissars that would be useful to an acolyte cell are probably also going to be more useful to the Imperium if they remained working with the guard. The first example of a Commissar working for an Inquisitor that comes to mind is Caiphas Cain. He never became a permanent member of the Inquisitors group, just someone that she called in regularly.

So in DH2 crunch, he is "Hero of the Imperium" reinforcement character!

I can't imagine what would Commissar's role be in Acolyte's cell. He's there on the battlefield to force soldiers to do what others have told them. But outside a warzone? Acolytes often have to change their plans, react to enemy's actions, sometimes make decisions on their own. There are occasions on which they must flee or infiltrate an enemy. Commissar wouldn't help in any of these tasks.

The codex-compliant "half the class killed the other half" Commissars will never be useful in Acolyte cells. But the intelligent ones could be useful in keeping the party focused on their orders (stop heresy) while keeping them loyal to the Inquisitor. The Commissar would just need to be reminded that the orders he is enforcing are the orders coming from the Inquisitor. Orders that are going to be way less detailed than orders guardsmen receive, orders that leave lots of freedom in how the players complete them.

Probably a reminder that a heroic last stand rarely helps when the cell doesn't have backup, so retreating to come back later when they are prepared for the fight might be the best option.

But there is still a problem. The Commissars that would be useful to an acolyte cell are probably also going to be more useful to the Imperium if they remained working with the guard. The first example of a Commissar working for an Inquisitor that comes to mind is Caiphas Cain. He never became a permanent member of the Inquisitors group, just someone that she called in regularly.

So in DH2 crunch, he is "Hero of the Imperium" reinforcement character!

Sometimes. Though you have to remember that Jurgen is far more valuable to Vail than Cain is.

Now he wants to play a commissar which I allowed but I can tell its so that he has the ability to execute anyone he wants at any time, I have made the character with him going for Imperial Guard and Hierophant as the most suitable 'commissar' class, how can I nerf him narratively so he doesn't just start threatening to execute the party if they don't do what he wants or killing important NPCs for no reason or consequence. I've made him a cadet Commisar at the moment who is close to promotion to Junior Commissar like the first edition career path hoping this will work however I don't think it will be enough to stop him abusing his power.

Playing a Commissar as a character for DH is a cool idea from an RP PoV. Playing a Commissar so you can shoot other Acolytes in the back isn't. Acolyes aren't part of the Imperial Guard and aren't subject to military justice if anybody is going to kill them for not doing their job it's going to be the Inquisitor.

If I was playing a commissar I'd play him as an older man who's got a few years left in him before he hangs up his chainsword. He conciders himself too old to be leading the charge against the enemy trenches but isn't interested in shuffling data sheets and organising court martials/firing squads. I probably wouldn't even have him in uniform most of the time but just have it as something he'd put on when it came to dealing with the Imperial Guard or PDF as a Commissar can be pretty intimidating in those instances.