Dominus nox returns

By Techpriest support, in Dark Heresy Gamemasters

I an working on a scenario for DH2 and I'll cop to it being based on "the spanish moss murders" ep of "kolchak the night stalker".

Basically, during abby's last black crsade a lone night lords warp talon ended up on a civilized world and terrorized it for years befor being killed. He became a legend, the dominus nox.

His armor was displayed in a museum for many years as an example of the emperor's triumph until people realized a cult was praying to it because the dominus nox had killed many hated figures of authority that oppressed the masses. Many prayed for it to return and kill some of the current ruling class. Many parents used him as a bogey man, telling them the domnus nox would come and punish the evil if they didn't stay close tot he emperor for his protection.

Well, several centuries, or longer, later, government officials are conducting experiments on criminals to control human dreams, to force people to dream of nothing but compliance, obedience, submission and servitude as is their proper place.

Most subjects are crushed into submission but some rebel and are kept unconscious for months while the experimenters conduct their experiment to force them to dream correctly. One with undetected latent psy potential is driving to such agony and insanity by this that his mind breaks away into the warp while his body still lives. A minor entity, not a daemon of the 4 gods, comes thru this hidden portal and derives form from his mind, taking the image of the dominus now, hos vision of a night lords warp talon, and begins killing people this man hated. Other gang members, abusive arbites, judicial officials, etc. Word spreads that the dominus nox has returned. Preachers cream on street the plant's wicked ways had caused the emperor to withdraw his protection, etc.

The players may track down the victims and find they all had connections to one man, and find he's in this dream control experiment. Waking him from his induced coma will no work, he will die as domnus nox kills him to protect itself. Enough people believe in it now it can sustain itself without him, for many dream of their abusers and oppressors being punished.

So i have some questions I could use a bit of help with.

1. what stats would you give dominus now to reflect an idea of a night lord warp talon but not be a TPK?

2. How to stop dominus nox, which in many ways is almost a mindless entity but in some ways a cunning predator?



I don't know books well enough - do we have any Chaos Marine stats in DH2?

Not that I can remember seeing.

Stats in Black Crusade and Only War are compatible, though, and I'm sure it'll be in one or the other. Failing that, start with the Deathwatch marine, and mix in appropriate talents, traits and skills.

It looks like an interesting idea.

  • Ultimately, yes. It's a daemonic assault marine. It pretty much is a TPK if you try and fight it openly.
  • Is it simply a daemonic vision, or is it the actual dominus nox (or at least his armour) now possessed and animate?
    • If the former, then the stats need not actually resemble a marine, but what the average cultist in the street thinks the Dominus Nox is capable of. Stealth, Phase, nasty warp-weapon blades, high fear rating, job done.
    • If the latter, it's power armour with a daemon inside. Given that the Warp Beast (Kymerae) are supposed to be a daemon representing the nightmare of being hunted, I'd start with their stats and rules - Purge The Unclean (DH1), Soul Reaver (RT) and the only war core rulebook all have versions. Take the daemon, add power armour and flyer and remove any traits specific to it being a quadruped animal and you've got your hunting monster.
  • Either way, the way to stop it is to attack its daemonic nature.
    • Be it psychic powers, sorcery, faith, or whatever, you need to trap it and weaken it or banish it without getting into a simple fair fight.
    • As noted, the Dominus Nox will try to kill the dreamer to protect itself if you wake him:
      • Option one is waking the dreamer to draw the Dominus Nox into a trap when it tries
      • Option two is not waking the dreamer - a sufficiently gifted telepath or two (reinforcement character astropath) could potentially reach into the dreamer's subconscious and poke around a bit. Somewhere in there is the fragment of the dreamer's psyche responsible for granting the daemon access to real space - and, most likely, one or two shards of the Dominus Nox's true name.
      • Of course, messing around in the subconscious dreamscape of a partially possessed psyker. That sounds.... safe ....

OK here's the story I'm stealing. Btw this series was good and you might get some ideas watching it.

Now Dominus nox became a legend, a boogie man that parents used to scare children into being good. He was also something of an object of veneration among the downtrodden because he killed a lot of officials and many wish he'd return abd do it again.

So this guy had a legendary, boogie man type vision of a night lords warp Talon. A minor warp entity used it as a template. It did find the original DN armor and use it as a model to base itself on. The armor was displayed for a couple centuries as an example of the horrors facing those who were outside the emperor's light but was. Locked away in a warded vault as. Too many people were seeing it as an agent of vengeance against the rulers.

I talked to a friend and the conversation gave me ideas. One being that if the players get into the vault they will find the armor disintegrating. This is odd as ceramite can last for eons.This was a warp Talon marine, tho, a creature heavily mutated by the warp. Being cut off from the warp by the wards caused it to decay, essentially. This could be a clue that one way to beat it would ve to trap it in a warded chamber abd cut it off from the warp.

I was thinking according to tge legend\history dominus nox was killed by... Something. An inquisitor kill team, a bolt round to the backpack , a shot into his jump pack engines, something kinda specific tge players might have to replicate.

Maybe they need to find a specific weapon, something holy or blessed, maybe a martyr killed DN with a power sword that was entombed with her. Maybe they need that.

Or an exorcism of some sort. I may leave some options open.

44 minutes ago, Techpriest support said:

I was thinking according to tge legend\history dominus nox was killed by... Something. An inquisitor kill team, a bolt round to the backpack , a shot into his jump pack engines, something kinda specific tge players might have to replicate.

Maybe they need to find a specific weapon, something holy or blessed, maybe a martyr killed DN with a power sword that was entombed with her. Maybe they need that.

indeed. Whilst the Dominus Nox this time =/= the Dominus Nox last time, daemons are vulnerable to significant and symbolic stuff, so whatever killed it last time would be a useful tool.

For that matter, if it could be suitably adapted, you could always use the weapons from the Dominus Nox' armour itself!

So, we are talking about lesser unaligned daemon cosplaying Warp Talon. Ok, let's take "Daemon Hunter"...

1. Characteristics: WS 35+2d10, BS 15+2d10, S 30+2d10, T 40+2d10, Ag 20+2d10, Int 20+2d10, Per 25+2d10, WP 20+2d10, Fel 2d10, Wounds 10+1d10.

2. Skills, talents and traits:

Skills - Awareness, Psyniscience, FL (Daemonology, Warp), Secret Tongue (Daemonic) +20, Speak Language (any one).

Talents: Ambidextrous, Dark Sight, Two-weapon Wielder (Melee)

Traits: Daemonic, Daemonic Presence, Fear 1, From Beyond, Natural Weapon (Teeth and Claws), Warp Instabity.

3. Manifestations. It's a copy of Warp Talon, so we don't roll but choose:

Warp Eyes (imitation of the armor's helmet): Heightened Sense (Sight) and now Fear is 2.

Freakish Grasp (imitation of Lightning Claws): +5 penetration to attacks with natural its weapon or a daemonic weapon.

4. Weakness. It's a copy of defeated Warp Talon, so we don't roll but choose:

Bane: there is a substance or object or method that daemon can't abide. If the daemon is struck with its bane it will treat the strike as Sanctified.

5. To show Warp Talon's feature - add Phase trait.

Ok, now all that we need is to convert all the stats from DH1 to DH2, but I need a little break.

Edited by Jargal

DH1 => DH2 corrections:

Skills: Secret Tongue and Speak Language => Linguistic (Chaos Marks +20, any one +0)

Talents: Dark Sight go to Traits, don't know why it's on the "talents" section in DaeH

Traits: Daemonic => Daemonic [5], I think; Daemonic Presence => Baleful Presence [20]

Wow! That was a Lotta work. More than I expected anyone to do. Thanks!

A couple things. According to lore a warp Talon cannot use ranged weapons or any weapons besides their talons . Also they are supposedly so warped they cannot speak in a recognizable way, but I would allow them. To understand speech.

I just got a set of warp talons for my CSM army which is why I learned about them.

I really don't have anything to add, but I would love to hear how this goes because I love where you stole this from