I may be in a Rogue Trader game after xmas, depending on what games we decide on for my unis society and I've been thinking of playing a Missionary if RT does run. I've looked through some of the information on them and the Imperial Creed and I think I have a basic understanding.

The Emperor is divine and the Imperium exists to carry out his will.

Humans are perfection, the mutant and the Xeno must be cleansed.

Pyskers must be controlled for the good of the Imperium.

All Imperial citizens must serve the High Lords of Terra.

Every world in the Imperium must pay its tithe to support mankind.

He'd want to do what all Missionaries do, which is simply to bring lost colonies of humanity back into the Imperium, or have them cleansed if theyre tainted by the Xeno or Chaos. My experience with this type of character is limited though, and I'd appreicate any advice offered on playing it.

I'm also a little curious why intelligence costs so much to raise, given how many skills the character has that are based on it.

I've created a missionary once, spent my starting exp on flame weapon universal. recommended if you take the flamer as a starting weapon. medica skills my also be good. all depending on what you want to accomplish. how ever if you want to be good at your job early in game it would also be recommended that you have a fellow ship of at least 40.

The main thing about playing a missionary is walking the paper-thin line on a Rogue Trader vessel. It is in the nature of every missionary and member of the ecclesiarchy to spread the word of the Emperor. To bring order where there is chaos and unite all fringes of mankind under the glorious domain of the Golden Throne.

Here's where the life of a missionary gets tricky.

You're a valued and respected member of the officers aboard the Rogue Traders vessel. You are responsible for maintaining the spiritual purity of the crew, as well as ensure that the Impirial Creed is observed and obeyed amongs the slaving masses of whichever ginormous vessel your RT chooses to go with. This includes rites of cleansing, preciding over most, if not all, trials on the ship, and administering punishment. Naturally the Rogue Trader may want to personally conduct these ceremonies, in which case you should still retain a position of courtroom advisor or prosecuter on behalf of the captain.

Naturally most trials will be held locally on the different decks and carried out by lower officers, but whenever a higher-ranking crewmember is on trial, or whenever the rules have been broken in an extreme enough fashion, YOU would usually be the one called upon to fix it.

So?... not alot of trouble there right?... I mean it's just administering divine justice and enforcing the word of the Emperor. What could possibly be wrong with that? This is swell...... wrong.

Your Rogue Trader has the priviledge of conducting himself in an outrages or semi-heretical fashion on a day to day basis. He can completely disregard the Credo Impirialis (The Impirial Creed), Dictates Impirialis (The Laws, as enforced by the Arbites) AND the Ieus Ecclesiasticum (The Law of the Church), and do so with the authority of the Senatorium Impirialis (The High Lords of Terra). He can make deals with the scum of humanity, lay siege to faithful worlds because of a grudge, or even ally himself with Xenos to further his cause, and there is not an Emperor-damned thing you're allowed to do about it. The Captain could bed an Ork for all he'd care, and it would still be your duty to enforce his rule aboard the ship.

Your only real option to put a stop to these acts (except of course mutiny) is to make an official declaration to a sufficiently influential branch of the Ecclesiarchy, that your Rogue Trader Captain should be surveyed for signs of heresy and warptaint. This would usually be ignored, but make a strong enough case and you might get through. This probably result in either a visit from Ecclesiarchal dignitaries or even worse, the holy Ordos of the Inquisition.

My advice to anyone playing a missionary is to play the type of guy who recognises the captains right to act against norm. This minimizes the inter-party and ensures that your character can operate smoothly with the others, while still being a faithful member of the ecclesiarchy.

This in turn ensures that the RT does not see you as a hindrance or a rogue element that potentially threatens the stability of his vessel and his right to rule. Instead you'd be viewed as a valued asset that keeps the faith and loyalty of the crew high, making your advice and suggestions all the more interesting and reasonable to the captain.

To summarize:

-Play it cool.

-Enforce the Impirial Creed.

-Respect your captains right to misbehave, and instead take notice of HOW he misbehaves. Try to influence things so that he doesn't HAVE to do so later on.

-Hate the Xeno, The Mutant and the Witch and ensure the captain's safety, should he choose to deal with these scum.

-Ensure the spiritual purity of the crew.

This should be enough to ensure a fluent teamplay effort with the rest of the players, without jeopardizing the concept of your character.

EDIT:

oh! Lastly... in terms of build go with whatever you feel adds to your character. The main thing is that he is palletable to YOU. Should you choose to be more ...efficient, with your build and exp-spending I'll give the following advice:

- Take Flame Weapons training. This makes your ballistic skill near obsolete and allow you to fight without getting within groping distance of most enemies. Also flame weapons have nice crowd-control abilities, setting most enemies on fire and forcing a willpower test vs panic.

- Increase your weapon skil, wounds and CQC talents . You are pretty much the only character who becomes competent at melee, and when in a jam that can really save your ass.

- Hatreds can make or break your character . The bonuses when dealing with your hated enemies is great and it gives opportunities for some great roleplaying. However first you should speak to your RT player. If he wants to be all buddy buddy with whatever you hate, then you'll have it rough. If the captain chooses to raid transports for fun and you have hatred pirates for instance.

- Fellowship . As mentioned you are the link between the common deckhand and the officers. I advice you to get some people skills in between the fighty stuff, if only to ensure your crew doesn't break and rout during a full-scale boarding. You CAN of course choose to play a missionary of very little people-skill, in which case you should make up a clever excuse why you were chosen to be a missionary in the first place... but hey?

These are the cornerstones of an all-round efficient missionary-build. Fleshing it out is up to you.

While it has been quite rightly pointed out that this is your character, and you should play it how you feel most comfortable, I'll note there are three particularly common and effective archetypes for a PC Missionary:

1. The Good Shepherd : This is mostly the version described by Nearyn above. Your focus is the spiritual wellbeing of the Rogue Trader and his crew. While you may be called upon to judge the crew, your remit is solely their adherence to the Imperial Creed. Indeed, the Rogue Trader's right to misbehave is enshrined in both secular and Ecclesiastical law.
   As such, your duty is to point out when he does stray, and make him think if there may be another, less extralegal method.
   The Good Shepherd is also the archetype least likely to insist on genocidal purges and pogroms of the benighted heathen worlds you visit beyond the Imperium's edge, and more likely to go with setting up missions and attempt the peaceful conversion of the locals. Just don't forget there's a reason that imperial priests are called "Defenders of the Faith".
   Least likely to cause internal strife in a party. Good examples from pop culture: Shepherd Book of Firefly/Serenity ; Nicholad D Wolfwood ( Trigun ).
   
2. The Redeemer : Pretty much the polar opposite of the Good Shepherd, the only thing they have in common is their strength and conviction of faith.
   If it doesn't fit in a fairly narrow range of "human norms" laid down in your extremist sect of the Imperial faith, it must be purged with fire, blood and steel.
   Yes, this archetype includes members of the Red Redemption, and they've never been known for sanity, so your insistence on burnination could even include the Rogue Trader in its' targets. Highly amusing to play, generally the most combat oriented of preachers, but pretty much guaranteed to cause problems with the party dynamic, especially when played to the hilt. Examples would include Klovis the Redeemer ( Redeemer, Warhammer Monthly ), Torquemada ( Nemesis the Warlock ).
   
   
3. The Baby-Eating Bishop : Not the nicest of people, the Baby-Eating Bishop is certainly no saint. He's the stereotypical corrupt preacher. Morally bankrupt, he's the least likely to have problem with the Rogue Trader dealing with the alien, the mutant and the heretic... for a suitable "consideration" of course.
   As a Baby-Eating Bishop, you may well have been sent out beyond the Light of the Imperium to hide some past scandal, or you may have decided that the greatest opportunity to gather "offerings to the Emperor" without pesky oversight from those pesky moral guardians. In either case, your main motivations are likely to be to stay out of trouble, keep up the appearance of piety and grab as much loot as you can lay your grubby fingers on, although not necessarily in that order.
   Possibly one of the hardest ones to roleplay, but has some very impressive storyline potential. Examples from other works would include the Baby-Eating Bishop of Bath and Wells ( Blackadder II ) and the Patriarch of Jerusalem ( Kingdom of Heaven ).
   

It also might be worth pointing out that the Blood of Martyrs book for Dark Heresy gives a lot of information about the Ecclesiarchy which might come in handy in giving your missionary a bit of theological backstory....

Alasseo said:

I think this is the suggestion I'm mainly going to go for. It will tend towards being fanticial at times however, he'll try to guide the Rogue Trader and other members of the crew if he feels they're going astray and he'll hopefully have an arrangement going that in return for helping him convert worlds he'll ensure the populations of converted worlds are of use to the RT.

However, with covnerting planets, he will be capable of being very ruthless, to the point of outright deception to bring them to the Emperor's Light.

Thanks to everyone for all your ideas, they've been a great help.