We have been going over the Ascension rules since my campaign has recently moved into that level of game play (Tattered Fates is a good transition adventure since it strips them of their gear in the beginning, so no weirdness with gettting new gear at Ascension) and the "This One Thing I Ask...." rule for Influence tests seems really broken. I posted in another section about how one of my characters is already planning a Naval Cruiser, Stormtrooper Company and a Space Marine squad as PERMANENT simply by burning 1d5 Influence for each Test. His argument is that a loss of 3 to 15 Influence (averages about 9 total) is worth having their own ship-of-the-line, grunts and elite Astartes warriors. As long as their modifiers allow them to have even a 1% chance of success on the roll, then they can use the "This One Thing.." rule to auto-succeed.

My suggestions to ton this down are:

1. Instead of burning 1d5 Influence for an auto-success, the character must burn a Fate Point instead. This will be a much rarer occurance as the characters manipulate fate to an auto-success. Basically, they will only use it when they think it is That Important.

2. Instead of a random loss of Influence, the characters can burn Influence at a rate of 1 point per +20% to the Influence Test (comes out to 5 points for +100% which is closer to the cost with the original rule but still has a chance of failure.)

Any other suggestions would be great. I have yet to make a ruling on this in my campaign and I would like to say I had some open feedback before making a change to the rules in the book.

-Cynr

I like it but prefer the second one. That way it's tagged and equitable to the actual difficulty/value of the resource that is being requested.

You could also just veto any use of it for Permanent acquisitions. What's the point of "One thing I ask..." if I never have to ask again

Mechanics wise the Inquisitor could do the 'This one thing I ask...' option like you put.

But in an RP sense I would require them to have a NEED for what they've asked for. After gaining a Navy Cruiser, Storm Trooper regiment and Astartes squad I would immediately send them out to the edges of the most dangerous parts of the sector to fight Tyranids, Ork Worlds, Warp Twisted systems, etc... They wouldn't be just tooling around the Calixus Sector with all that hardware busting small time stuff.

Also with all that hardware they would be inundated with request forms by almost every system or planet that has any problems that only the Inquisitor and his army can handle. It'd be a bureaucratic and logistical nightmare for them. They'd eventually have to start requisitioning armaments and a steady supply of supplies from someplace... That'd take some influence that they may not have. They'd also have to compensate for any losses taken by the various Storm Troopers and Astartes. They're going to have to make normal tests to make up for losses, upkeep and any other thing you can think of.

Let them find out how difficult it'll be in the long run.

None-the-less, I'd give them the option between the two you set up. Both are good. Though I'd tweak the second one saying a roll of 96 or higher is a failure no matter what (5% failure rate isn't much but just enough to make the test interesting ). One guarantees success at the cost of fate, while the other isn't a sure thing and they risk influence.

I also agree with 6Kilgs... There would be some things I just wouldn't allow them to use this on.

You as GM should always keep the last word,

I would never allow my characters to have permanent Astartes on standby, I would deem it inpossible.
Soom mooks and personal servants I have less trouble with, they die easily.

A ship of the line is also a no no, my characters are rank 6 going on 7, they have a small Q-Ship (Merchant vessel with hidden guns), granted it has a Teleportarium.

Only allow that you feel comfortable with!

A permanent loan of a squad of Adeptus Astartes is really less of a strain on my suspension of disbelief than having an operative of the Officio Assassinorum on permanent retainer in the Cadre, but since that is allowed...

HappyDaze said:

I kinda feel the same way, esp. if you are part of the Ordos Xenos; a kill-team to command isn't a stretch of the imagination.

-Cynr

if you want a xenos combat team then wait for deathwatch, its what they are for

I'm sure a Chapter Master (or Watch Commander) would respond to an request from an inquisitor (unless the have issues with the big i, i.e. SW or DA) however i feel that DW and Marine Masters would never allow a permanent loan unless it was a crusade, even then at the end of the crusade the marines would return the the chapter.

I think this is matter for the GM to have the final choice, it's a matter of applying sense to the rules.

jesusjohn said:

So don't go for permanent. 25 or even 50 years likely covers a DH campaign, and it's a rather short time to a SM.

While I understand where you are coming from, from what I understand in ascension you are an Inquisitor and so have a lot of resources at your disposal. Now an inquisitor taking space marines, space cruisers and such is allowed it just isn't very secretive. It should be noted though that an inquisitor does have limits in power. Some examples are he has a cruiser class ship flying around doing the emperors work. All of a sudden a massive ork armada is seen leaving the warp and an order is given that all able ships must muster to fight the greenskin menace. Now if the order came from a planetary leader the Inquisitor is well within his rights to say "sorry busy at the moment". Of course said leader would then contact the high ranking members of the inquisition in the area and bascially say "Hey whats with traitor over there not loving the emperor". Remember you answer to high ranking Inquisitors and the top of that ladder is the High Lords of Terra; so having the power to take control of a ship is possible but absolute authority over it is not.

With Space Marines it is even easier. Best example would be Dark Angels and their desire to hunt and kill all of the fallen. It is recorded how they have abbandoned entire crusades and defense campaigns at the hint of a fallen being near by. Space Marines are used by the Inquisition but within the Inquisition is a smaller order that is dedicated to studying and finding ways to kill marines. If the Chapter Master sends his boys a message saying come home now you are needed, the chapter is mustering for war; or the planets the chapter has control over are under attack, don't be shocked when the Marines leave in an instant. Now should said Inquisitor say refuse don;t be shocked when they shove a chain sword through your chest. There is a reason why the inquisition does not like the marine chapters. The big one it was marines that caused the horus heresy and lead to the greatest level of destuction the imperium has ever felt in one war. The other problem lies within chapter loyalty, marines have left Inquisitors during times of need. A marines is loyal to the emperor and then to his chapter master. A marine has no loyalty to the inquisition, the inquisition bases its power as it is the divine hand of the god emperor. Most space marine chapter do not recognize the emperor as a god.

@Cynr

I was musing over Ascension about this. Good post. I think I'm going to copy your second idea for a future Ascension campaign.

I personally won't allow space marines or temple assassins to be permanently assigned to Inquisitors (I'm banning the Vindicare class for PCs). They're too valuable and their services are in too much need to be left hanging around on the whim of a single Inquisitor.

Reading some of the novels for Warhammer 40K I notice that the Adeptus Astartes aid Inquisitors when necessary but won't work for them per se. Many, such as the Space Wolves, distrust them and others like the Soul Drinkers are concerned as too what would happen if their background would be found out by them.

Also, depending on the Ordo, some Inquisitors already have Space Marines: Malleus has the Grey Knights, Xenos has the Deathwatch (coming soon...WHEEEE! ), and the Hereticus has the sisters, which is even a player class. So you could get Space Marines from almost any Chapter for some missions.

Actually... I think it is even easier than that. If you read the text for "This One Thing I Ask of You" it starts out specifically saying:

• In certain desperate cases ...

So if this is not a desperate situation (which it doesn't sound like it is, merely someone trying to play the rules) the answer is:

"No. You cannot use that rule. For what you want, you are at a -120 on your influence roll (Unique Astarte, Naval Ship, etc. -70; Company, Cruiser, etc. -30; Permanent -20). Would you still like to try because if you fail by 4 degrees or more you will lose 1 influence and gain nothing. With your current Influence level, you can't even make this better than -70 so you will automatically lose 1 influence for even trying this. And for the three things you want, you will lose 3 Influence and gain nothing."

Done.