"When a young Imperial Agent succumbs to the Ruinous Powers, it's a crime.
When a Rogue Trader of the Emperor does, it's a loss.
Yet when one of our own falls, that's a tragedy."
--- High Chaplain Marqol Tomasi of the Crimson Fists Chapter

Well, I think the Space Marines in Deathwatch are heroes just too perfect. Great heroes must always be surrounded by a bit of personal tragedy. To that end I have devised Temptation rules, mechanics for modeling a latent weakness in a Space Marine. A small tiny vulnerable spot which may (but for most it never will) devolve into a gateway for the lure of the Ruinous Powers - who will readily and happily try to exploit it... for the Emperor's grand-sons always get a special amount of their attention, trying to lure them to darkness. This way it's possible to model the fall to Chaos in a unique way.

The system works like this: there are categories of "weaknesses" loosely based on the christian Seven Deadly Sins. With using this mechanic, a Marine's hypno-indoctrination is rarely perfect (contrary to popular belief based in imperial propaganda) and as such a Marine may have a weak spot, in fact most do but they have this fully under control and as such the issue never surfaces. Yet it's through this weak spot that a Marine at the end of a long road can fall to Chaos.

The system itself is supposed to work via "Temptation Points", representing the degree by which a Marine is willing to betray the Emperor and his Battle-Brothers. Temptations Points add to Corruption Points for the sole purpose of determining whether a Marine has crossed that all important 100 point barrier and is lost forever.

Since Space Marines rarely succumb to Chaos, the system is designed on a sliding scale: initially it will be very hard to accumulate Temptation Points at all - only through a tempting daemonic force targetting that specific vice or through a very unusual, very strong and mundane, real world temptation regarding that aspect of spiritual vulnerability (aka very rare ). This allows the GM to hand-place such occasions into a scenario, allowing effective callibration of the danger of the lure of Chaos by the GM. These temptations will then act as if "spiritual landmines" - carefully placed in advance by a GM in his missions.

Yet - as soon as ("if") a certain amount is reached, the temptation will grow and the resistance weaken; normal, less extreme triggers for that temptation will start to gnaw on the Marine inside, possibly even ending with the Marine going AWOL and indulging in whatever sin afflicts itself on his mind. At this point it will probably take a heroic action of a Chaplain to save the Marine from eternal damnation. Of course a Chaplain may also detect the temptation earlier on and help the Marine ward it off.

That's the basic idea, I'll post details later... I'd like to have some feedback from you folks.

Any thoughts?

Alex

This sounds like a variation of Corruption as it should have been. Cool idea.

With that said, given our differences of opinion I'll just play possom and wait to see the cool ideas.

Again, though, cool idea. As long as it doesn't end up too much like "Humanity" in WoD.

Kage

Well, it's an idea and the implementation isn't fully thought through and besides I am open for changes.

As for WOD, it's been a decade or so since I played Vampire last and I don't have any bad memories of it. Don't remember quite the mechanics of it either.

Anyway... this temptation thing should be a side-plot at most in the game. The focus of the game isn't the Warp or Daemons though they can and will be encountered. And the fall of a Space Marine is a very unusual event, I'd say. So at most one PC will be struggling at most. As I envision it that will only happen if he spectacularly fails his WP test when encountering one of the scenario-placed "spiritual landmines"... not to mention that the stimulus most also fit his weakness. So if the kill-team meets an unearthly beauty, only those with Fornicatio could be affected at all (see below).

Anyway, these would be the 9 Ruinous Temptations (I left out Gluttony and used sins from different categorizations):

Acedia - Self-Doubt (or Fear?), being at odds with his self.
Fornicatio - Lust. (For those who think that Marines don't have sex ever, consider this to be a mental attraction only. Or otherwise reroll if it comes up.)
Invidia - Envy.
Ira - Undue and excessive anger and hatred.
Luxuria - Desire for a life of comfort and riches; weariness of battle.
Superbia - Self-aggrandizement; seeing perfection in one's self and punishing the imperfections of others.
Tristitia - Despair, being at odds with the universe.
Vanagloria - Greeding for recognition/glory/fame/praise by others, excessively so.
Avaritia - Greeding for power.

A Space Marine may be afflicted in the following manner (supposed to be determined at creation):

Starting Ruinous Temptation:
01-09 -
10-13 Acedia
14-19 Fornicatio
20-25 Invidia
26-41 Ira
40-52 Luxuria
53-64 Superbia
65-76 Tristitia
77-84 Vanagloria
85-98 Avaritia
99-00 Roll again twice for two Ruinous Temptations for the Marine but re-roll all further rolls with this result after that. This Marine is one of the few the Chapter's Chaplains better keep a special eye on.

This Ruinous Temptation will be a Marine's weak spot, the ***** in his spiritual armour. (Btw, Marines of the Grey Knights will never have a Ruinous Temptation, their being set apart can be modelled quite nicely this way.)

Alex

Under normal circumstances I would have said this should be roleplaying-only, but since "Demeanours" are an actual game mechanic, I think this works well to complement them and I actually like this idea very much.

Maybe they could test basic willpower when ever they get 20 points of corruption to see if they start to show signs of a random temptation and / or increased intesity of existing temptations.

I had thought about doing something with character flaws and corruption, I don't like the hand waiving immune to corruption untill you get 100 points.

Not fully fleshed out, in particular I am unsure about how many Temptation points are to be gained here (or subsequenremoved by a Chaplain).

Please keep in mind the intention of Temptation Points: they are a metric for expressing how strongly a Marine feels allying with the powers of Chaos will bring him what he wants (the power to do good, pleasure, revenge perfection or averting the doom of the Imperium).

So here we go...

Degrees of Temptation

All Marines normally start with 0 Temptation Points.

There are the following Degrees of Temptation:
0-30 Level 0(Steadfast): The Battle-Brother is always in charge of himself except under the most extreme of circumstances.
30-60 Level 1(Tempted): The Battle-Brother's indoctrination has worn off regarding his Ruinous Temptation.
61+ Level 2(On the Threshold): The Battle-Brother has fallen for the temptation in a mundane manner, yet not so far so as to ally with Chaos - unless he has 39+ Corruption Points accumulated also.

(Remember Temptation points are added to Corruption points for the purpose of determining whether a Marine has succumbed to Chaos. Whenever the sum reaches 100 or more, the character has caught the attention of a major entity of Chaos, will be contacted at the first available opportunity and offered whatever he wishes and thus made to forge a pact with darkness.)

Gaining Temptation Points

There are two forms of temptation: Mundane and Daemonic .

I. Mundane Temptations:

These are worldy sources of temptation - another brother getting what the PC had desired, an attractive female, a world in ruins. Any Temptation Points gathered this way represent the character growing more susceptible to the offers of Chaos.

Level 0 : Only extremely strong mundane temptations can weaken the resolve of the space marine. For example,
a Marine with Fornicatio as weakness will only be tempted by an unusual beauty, a one-in-a-billion person
(Unearthly Xenos Beauty anyone?). Even then, he can try to resist with WP+20 test. Only on failure ?X?
Temptation Points will be accumulated.

Level 1 : The hypno-indoctrination regarding this particular vice has dissolved. As a consequence, the Marine
has become vulnerable to all sorts of temptations regarding this aspect, just like an average imperial citizen. For
example, the above Battle-Brother with Fornicatio as weakness will have to test WP now whenever he has the
opportunity for physical intimimacy with attractive females, not just in unusual cases. These WP test will be
made at +10 though, unless the stimulus is unusually strong - in which case the test is at -30. Only on failure
?X? Temptation Points will be accumulated.

Level 2 : The character has fallen to vice and will seek to indulge in it. If this means, having to abandon the
sacred brotherhood, he will try to do so at the right moment. At this point he is already almost lost to Chaos.
He will resist to appropriate stimuli only with -30 to his WP test (see above) and in the case of unusually
strong sources, he cannot resist at all. Note that he still hasn't embraced chaos and will not ally with the
Ruinous Powers in any form - even though he can hear the whispers of the Warp in his head without
recognizing it as such. Only on failure ?X? Temptation Points will be accumulated.

II. Daemonic Temptations:

Various daemonic entities (beings, items, places, etc.) might try to tempt the PC, making false promises. Their
purpose isn't to directly influence the Marines behaviour but to wear down his resolve.
If the GM decides to place such an entity in one of his missions (and daemons will not always try to afflict a SM
this way... instead of tempting they might as well fight him or try to trick him or bargain, etc) and a player comes
into range, use the following procedure:

A. Choose Target: The daemonic entity must decide which PC to tempt. Then compare the PC's weakness with
the available lures (see appropriate Random Lure Table below). If there is no match, the entity will try in vain. It
can try to lure another Marine after it has given up on the first Marine which usually will take at least minutes,
unless the Marine makes a forceful statement/act to prove his unshakable resolve which speeds up the process,
ironically.

B. Determine Lure: If the daemonic entity has a matching lure, it can theoretically tempt the Marine. First it will
need to spend an Extended Action(2) to try to detect the Marine's soft spot. The Marine must then make a
WP test (+20 if at Level 0, +0 at Level 1, -30 at Level 2) to ward off the efforts. If the tests succeeds, it cannot
discern any weakness but can still guess. Roll on the appropriate Random Lure Table below and only if it
matches the PC's weakness continue with the next step, otherwise handle like a non-matching lure. If the test
fails, take note of degree of failure as the daemonic entity has the opportunity to inflict Temptation Points.

C. Tempting whispers: The daemonic entity makes a WP test and if it succeeds, it has successfully tempted
the Marine, making its promises ring in his ears long after. The player gets ?1/1D5/1D10? (depends on power
of daemonic entity) Temptation Points per degree of failure on his WP test.

D. Falling for it: If temptation has been afflicted and there is an opportunity to indulge (without turning towards
Chaos - a Marine might fall under such circumstances for a seductive woman... but not if she is a follower of
Chaos or worse a Daemonette of Slaneesh), he will do so, possibly gaining a few corruption points this way.
On Levels 0 and 1, he will regret his doing so afterwards though.

Losing Temptation Points

Chaplain rules (to be done)

Random Lure Tables

Khorne
1-2 Invidia
3-7 Ira
9-10 Avaritia

Slaneesh
1-4 Fornicatio
5-9 Luxuria
10 Avaritia

Nurgle
1-5 Acedia
4-8 Tristitia
9-10 Avaritia

Tzeentch
1-4 Superbia
5-6 Vanagloria
7-10 Avaritia

Generic
1 Acedia
2 Fornicatio
3 Invidia
4 Ira
5 Luxuria
6 Superbia
7 Tristitia
8 Vanagloria
9-10 Avaritia

That's about it for now.

Alex