Starting a DH game soon and I'm thinking to roll a techpriest.

All the "techpriest builds" that focus on being powerful tend to go for the Secutor alt rank and the Helot augmentic. I could do that, but I would prefer to do something different.

What I want to do is have a techpriest with a number of servoskulls, servitors, cybermastiffs, cherubim, etc. as well as a high number of servo-arms and other implants. I basically want to be a master of cybernetics in all its forms. What is the best way to go about this? My end goal is to be comabt effective not by being an utter powerhouse myself (Though undoubtedly I will put some work into that) but rather to have this flock of cyberminions that shoot, stab, and spy for me.

Tech Use, Binary Chatter, and Wrangling

These are probably the most important things for what you are looking for.

Ultimately you shouldn't worry about a "build" your not playing 4E, so make a character you like and find interesting.

Well, as you can see I have a character that I want to play in mind, and I'm not concerned with being the uber-secutor. I am just wondering how to go about making my character most efficiently. No point in picking up Trade (Scrimshwer) for 100 xp, even if it might fit with engraving the prosthetics I make, for example. Only have a limited supply of experience points.

It looks like ItsUncertainWho has a good grip on what you need. I'd add Medicae to that list, though, so you can repair the organic parts of your minions as well.

For augmenics, I'd have to suggest a MIU. It will help if you can set it up to send orders to your minions that way.

I would set asside some XP to spend on conatacts. If you want an army of cyber-slaves, you'll need contacts to get your hands on parts, upgrades, etc. Buy the Peer talents ASAP for the groups you want help from. These contacts will help you get up and running faster.

And of course, most of this will come down to how you spend your money.

Hi Nigh7gaun7,

most importantly, ask you GM what s/he thinks you need to be good at this.

"Aquiring, handling and upgrading of kybernetic minions" is a point not covered by official rules in DH. Or at least "not covered in details" (see IH).

So, it could happen that your GM decides that i.e. "Evaluate" is essential since you need to find the right parts for your task or will end up with shoddy Frankenstein-Thingies. Or that "Common Lore (Adeptus Mechanicus)" is need to manouvre the higher halls of the Tech-Temples in order to get workspace assigned or perhaps to receive an official allowance to undertake such works.

Never-ever forget to talk to your GM. S/He is Judge Dredd.

I talked to my GM and he seemed to think that medicae and trade- technomat were all that was required. I've also started writing up a number of contacts to buy as I get the xp I want. When I rolled up my cuy using the sup/t/g chargen, it gave me a family with two tech-priests, so I fiugre we're a clan of them and one of my contacts is an adept who helps run mechanicus facilities and can provide me with guns, guys, and gear. Another is the instructor who taught me medicae who is a master of cybernetics and who can assist me with designing, building, and installing cybernetics on myself or others. I have a bunch of other potential contacts, but I think those two are the main ones for this particular goal. Unless you have further suggestions?

I just hope my GM is nice and lets me actually utilize all the stuff I pump points into to get where I want : P

Have just found out that (often dickishly) adhering to RAW, our GM will not allow contacts. So much for that idea.

Nigh7gaun7 said:

Oh well. Still, at least they're only asking you to have only two skills. If your GM's on board with your concept, I'm sure they'll arrange for you to find some cool stuff.

Also this just means that you can have contacts without having to buy them, unless your GM is a massive fool who thinks that having a Calixis Sector without people you know SOMEWHERE in it is a good idea...

Well he's only giving us our months salary to begin with and we apparently have to buy everything, including food and clothes if we want different ones, so either our group is going to swiftly turn to a life of crime or there will be some rich heretics somewhere. At the rate we're going, I may end up as a chaos-infused technopuppetteer : P

Huh, aren't contacts, like, part of the RAW? >_>

Indeed, contacts are RAW. In addition, the food rules are so hideously broken you should never use them. Multiplying all food prices by a nice 10% seems to be a reasonable thing to do. Otherwise, even a Noble can't afford three square meals of the worst quality every day. That's just lunacy.

Lynata said:

Yeah, sorry, I meant despite often dickishly adhering to RAW< like the food rules, our GM sees the contact rules as broken. FFG won't let you edit or delete though that I could find.

I'm just going to ignore food and ammo and such unless he specifically asks me about it. And when he does I'll say that when I report back to the mechanicus they give me another nutrient pack that's good for a month or something.

Nigh7gaun7 said:

Nigh7gaun7 said:

Nigh7gaun7 said:

ItsUncertainWho said:

Just a note on this - Wrangling in the Core rulebook states that "Wrangling is of no use against cyber-animals such as familiars, even if they are built to resemble an animal." The Inquisitor's Handbook states under Tech-Use (Advanced) "Cyber Wrangling - You may use your Tech-Use instead on Wrangling, but only when dealing with machines designed to look and act as beasts, such as a cyber-mastiff." Great for the aspiring Mechanicus Ringleader!

And I completely agree with the last comment. Too many people get caught up in Roll-play & forget to Role-play.

A relevant question: where do I get things like cyberskulls and such? I assume I can make them with medicae and armourer. If I make them then I have to go find skulls (not exactly hard in 40k) and then take them home, slap on an antigrav unit and a plasma pistol and call it a day? Can I just borrow them from the local mechanicus or what?

Same question for muderservitors and cybermastiffs and all that jazz. Although I suppose I might be able to borrow a cybermastiff or two from the arbites. Especially if I promise to make more of them for them.

Nigh7gaun7 said:

Oh, THAT'S where baby servitors come from!

how too build servitors! teck use, a few trade skills, money too get the parts you need and some time too get it too work?

your most likely not going too be making them during play but outside of mission time.

if your realy good you might be or you might 'convert' somebody els there meat puppets too join you

Nigh7gaun7 said:

They're made from living things, partly. You need organic brain matter to control the thing, not just a dead skull. I seriously don't think medicae and armourer would cut it.

Well, what other skill would cover the biological aspect of things? It's not like there's Trade - Neuroadept or Trade - Cyberneticist. Between Medicae, Tech-use, Armourer, and Forbidden Lore - AdMech, I should have it covered.

There are many many trades not listed in the character progression charts. Personally if I were GM in this situation I would make one up.

More attention should be given to how servitors work and especially how to interact with them IMO (like, do you persuade/reprogram them using Logic or Charm or Tech-Use)?

bogi_khaosa said:

That's a good point. You might need certain skills in order to give it certain skills or traits. I'd say Logic is going to be your go to programming skill.

My two cents concerning the skill set needed for a cybernetic/servitor specialized Tech-Priest :

- Medicae (and lots of it): This skill governs the installation of implants and bionic components. Pg. 234 of the IH covers these expanded rules. Using these rules, Tech-Use will give you a +10 bonus for such tests. The Master Chirurgeon Talent would also be helpful here. The Cortex Implant is what turns a normal person into a servitor [i think; RAW seems fuzzy in this matter]. Everything else is a matter of installing the appropriate bionic upgrades.

- Tech-Use : The need for this skill is obvious for building, repairing and maintaining Teknical parts of a servitor. This is the main "Interaction" skill for dealing with servitors under the expanded skill rules; Pg. 238 IH: Cyber Wrangling.

- Binary Chatter : Pg. 113 DH: "...+10 bonus to any attempt to instruct, program or question servitors."

- Logic : A must have for any Tech-Priest, this skill will allow you to interpret ready-made servitor designs and may help in their programing.

- Forbidden Lore (Adeptus Mechanicus) : This should give you some insight into the AdMech beliefs and philosophies concerning the use of servitors.

- Mechandendrites : Medicae and Utility. Perhaps Manipulator also [see below].

- Luminen Charge : To recharge or power your servitors. Pg. 118 DH, Toughness Test: Difficult (-10) for servo-skulls, Hard (-20) for servitors. Energy Cache will negate the Fatigue from using this Talent.

- Trade (Wright) : If you wish to construct your own unique servitors, you will have to begin by creating a new design. This skill will allow you to do just that.

- Trade (Armorer) : To customize and upgrade the weaponry and armor of your servitors.

- Trade (Smith) : To forge custom metal parts for your servitor design.

- Ferric Lure/Summons : For grabbing malfunctioning servo-skulls from the air.

- Optional Skills : Common Lore (Machine Cult), (Tech), and Trade (Technomat) [the usefulness of this skill is discussed in a different thread].

- Characteristics : As with most Tech-Priests, Intelligence should be your main focus. A high Toughness will help with the Luminen Charge talent. Willpower will help with the Ferric Lure/Summons Talents. These three Characteristics are the easiest to advance for the Tech-Priest. You might want to also take special consideration concerning the Strength Characteristic as both Trade (Armorer) and (Smith) are based on Strength. This is a rather difficult Characteristic for the Tech-Priest to raise; the first advance is 500XP. At your GM's discretion, perhaps the Strength bonus from a Good Quality Bionic Arm or the Manipulator Mechadendrite may be added into these Trade tests.

- Basic Equipment : Auspex/Scanner, Data-Slate, Micro-Bead, Personal Cogitator, Vox-Caster and lots and lots of Servitors .

Grinnenstadt said:

I was already planning on getting all of that except for Wright, which in the rulebook is described as being for the construction fo buildings and vehicles and even spaceships. And I hadn't thought about Smith, i figured it would be covered by armourer and technomat. I think my biggest hurdle will just be getting all the money and materials needed to start making servitors. I also intend to steal any that don't belong to anyone (possibly because I just crushed their owner's head for heresy) and upgrade them.