this is a new thing I try out in the game...

the basic idea is to give 1-2 chars some pets and or familiars... I made some stats for a Death world giant wolf, from little puppy to huge riding beast, and an Eldar WraithGuard as a Familiar.

they have very cheap XP rates, so even if they die you can reboot them fast, will post the stats somwhere, just need a good place to upload, any ideas?

so, what I made:

3 ranks, basic playerlike stats, basic skill and talent list, and the system thats used to train the pet, and the means to comunicate with the guard.

is anyone interested in it? I can write down many infos if you are

Let's see what you have, I'm curious.

1st, there origin:

My storry has many Eldar in it, as the sector that I made has 2 craftworlds slowly moving in it, again, self made. My players went on a jurny not so long ago to stop a chaos attack on the subsector they are in, and so they needed to get some ally... they wouldnt had a problem if the part where they where hasnt been cut off from the rest of the subsector because a deadly warpstorm (warp tsunami), so theys needed to make friends with one of the technologicaly advanced imperial colony, with the eldar, who where arch enemies of that same planet, an Inquisitors right hand RT, and lastly a newly discovered allien race (who they destroyed with a little crusade after this). As they made the quests to be friend with all of them, they had a mission to get an artifact from a catacomb, and there they had a new (still weak) farseer with them to help, but she died there, but luckily for her, the Astropath of our group got her soulstone and brought it out safely. She was a strong mind alive, so in stone form she could speak to the Astropath and requested to serve him if he made a body for him out of one of the Eldar wraithguards head that they keept for suvenier... so the Astropath asked the RT (who is an NPC) and got permission to craft (sing) the body of the guard, so he did... they build some safe guards in the guard, namely explosives in there arms, so if he missbehaves they can neutralize him fast...

The wolf on the other hand is a personal missions reward. My Arch millitant is a Death worlder, who was been taken away as a child from his homeland, so he is a bit lost in the world, but not long ago when we went by a nice little death world he had felt it familiar, and turned out its his home planet, so he asked for a day off, and went to the planet alone, and there he found the town he grown up, but turned out that he isnt a man here, untill he goes out on a ritual hunt for the great wolf of the woods. A monster this wolf was, his head as big as a child... but he went and used the lowest weapons he could, so the fur of the beast wont be hurt that much, so with an autogun and a bayonet on the end he went and fought the wolf, and had won the day, but there he found 2 little wolfs, the size of 2 regular dogs, and took them in, as he will ride the great beasts when they grow up... he doesnt have the skills to train a wolf, so he got a helper from the planet, and has requested a part of the cargo to store and to train the wolfs...

2nd, the ideas origin:

I read many things about tech pets and skull servitors, but never seen any real pet or companion for any of the other classes, so I started thinking what would benefit the storry, but didnt ruin the gameplay, the Eldar wraith guard, who is more like a wraithlord in game terms (because it can use telepathy to speak with the Astropath) is a good one for my plot, as we need many Eldar infos, and that the guard can provide. and it is a nice body guard for the Astropath too... The wolfs on the other hand are more like and extension of the Arch-millitants body, he wanted to have some ppl to boss around, so he could make nics tactical advances and so on, but we experienced that when you have thinking NPC's there will be problems, as they want to have there own way, specialy when they have higher stats or more extras on a roll... so I thinked about it and remembered the Space Wolfs, who sometimes use great wolfs from there home planet as mounts and war beasts... and so I made 2 of them 1st for tactical reasons, but later he can ride them into battle too...

3rd, the stats:

I used the basic stats, so 25+2d10 but modified it heavily, the Eldar has 0 fellowship, as nobody can relate to a walking statue (only eldars, who see it as a normal char with 50 fellowship), that 25 points went on other stats, as it is very strong phisicaly... (cant post the real stats, because I'm at work place and forgot to bring it with me)

The wolf uses the same system, but has no Ballistic skill, as he cant use guns anyways, and even if they will build some armor that has weapons on them, it will use a cogignator or a servo skull to aim, so wont use the wolfs stats (most likely it will be like 15 or so, as cogignators arent that good, but with upgades it can go quite high)...

As said before they have 3 ranks that they can reach, to the wolf it represents a growing state too, on the 1st rank its just a little wolf, on the 2nd its as big as a horse and can be taimed to make a mount, and on the last rank its as huge as it can get, and can even transport the Arch-millitant in his big power armor... the wolf has skills of a hunter and talents of a great melee fighter...

The eldar on the other hand has 1st melee and pistol use, but later as it regains its memory, can use basic and on the last rank even heavy weapons like the wraithgun... the wraith guard has many lores of the eldar, the warp and many other things, as it is like a walking library that my players can use for more info on some situations... but because it is considered as a machine it has unnatural strength and tougthness... and because of this and the fact that its made from bone, it can only be repairedby the astropath who sings new layers out of its body with his psy

4th, relation with the player:

I wanted to start the helpers on a random relation to the player using them, so I made them roll a 1d10 where 1 was -60, and 0 was +30, to determine how hard the tests will be for them to gain there pets trust... the astropath has a bit easier thing to do, as he can speak to it directly, and the eldar can reply (GM talks), that only the astro can hear as a telepatic message... the arch-millitant can use wraigling to train the wolfs, and to give out commands, but for now, he has no skill for that, so he only trains them on the ship for a while, because no matter how good the hired trainer is, he cant train them to respect somebody who has no skill for them.

5th, leveling and xp:

I had a problem with this, I wanted them to be able to train or level them up as they wish, but at 1st I given them normal XP, that would be like starting a new char next to the one they play, so no matter how much they would gain, the companion would never reach the same strengt as the master, that sounds good on paper, but then the players wont investate much of there power leveling up something that can never reach a realy usefull level. so I 1/4-ed the costs, and lowered the xp limits so they can level up fast, but can be specialised many ways...

for the eldar the ranks go like: 0-2k, 2k-4k, and 4k-20k...

the wolfs ranks go like: 0-1.5k, 1.5k-3k, and 3k-20k...

the actual limit of the xp can be gained is ~15k...

we didnt have to many gameplay with them till now, but when we do, I give the companions 50% or 75% xp of the chars xp using them, this means that I give 100% for the player and a part of that as bonus to the companion, this promotes the gameplay, as the players want to have more xp, so they try to play better, to be more inchar

will post the stats fully when I go home

well... here are the stats:

Great Wolf of Death World Juno

Weapon Skill (WS)
30+2d10
Ballistic skill (BS)
0
Strength (S)
40+2d10
Toughness (T)
40+2d10
Agility (Ag)
30+2d10
Intelligence (Int)
10+2d10
Perception (Per)
30+2d10
Will Power (WP)
15+2d10
Fellowship (Fel)
5+2d10

Start skills: Basic: Swim, Intimidate, Concealment, Acrobatics, Dodge, Climb, Carouse
Trained: Awareness, Evaluate, Silent Move, Shadowing Tracking, Scrutiny
Wounds: 5+TB+1d5

Start talents: Bestial, Quadruped, Size (Scravny), Natural Armor (4), Natural Weapon, Heigtened Sences (Smell)

XP for stats:
Weapon skill 50 75 100 125
Ballistic skill 0 0 0 0
Strength 50 75 100 125
Toughness 50 75 100 125
Agility 100 150 200 250
Inteligence 200 300 400 500
Perception 100 150 200 250
Will power 100 150 200 250
Fellowship 200 300 400 500

Rank 1
Advance: 0 Xp - 1 500 Xp
Skill:
Swim 25 Xp
Intimidate 25 Xp
Concealment 50 Xp
Acrobatics 25 Xp
Dodge 25 Xp
Climb 50 Xp
Carouse 25 Xp
Awareness +10 50 Xp
Search 25 Xp
Silent Move +10 50 Xp
Shadowing +10 50 Xp
Tracking +10 50 Xp
Talent:
Catfall 100 Xp
Berserk Charge 100 Xp
Disarm 100 Xp
Sprint 100 Xp
Leap Up 50 Xp
Rapid Reaction 100 Xp
Crusing Blow 100 Xp
Sturdy 100 Xp
Heigtened Sences (Sight) 50 Xp
Heigtened Sences (Sound) 50 Xp

Rank 2
Advance: 1 500 Xp - 3 000 Xp
Skill:
Swim +10 50 Xp
Intimidate +10 50 Xp
Concealment +10 100 Xp
Acrobatics +10 50 Xp
Dodge +10 50 Xp
Climb +10 100 Xp
Carouse +10 50 Xp
Awareness +20 100 Xp
Search +10 50 Xp
Silent Move +20 100 Xp
Shadowing +20 100 Xp
Tracking +20 100 Xp
Talent:
Size (Average) 0 Xp
Takedown 150 Xp
Brutal Charge 150 Xp
Iron Jaw 150 Xp
Jaded 150 Xp
Hardy 150 Xp
Frenzy 200 Xp
Swift Attack 150 Xp
Sound Constitution (x10) 50 Xp
Unnatural Strength 200 Xp

Rank 3
Advance: 3 000 Xp - 20 000 Xp
Skill
Swim +20 100 Xp
Intimidate +20 100 Xp
Concealment +20 150 Xp
Acrobatics +20 100 Xp
Dodge +20 100 Xp
Climb +20 150 Xp
Carouse +20 100 Xp
Search +20 100 Xp
Talent
Size (Hulking) 0 Xp
Melee Weapon Training (wolf) 500 Xp
Double Team 200 Xp
Cripling Strike 200 Xp
Combat Master 200 Xp
Lightning Attack 200 Xp
Sound Constitution (x10) 50 Xp
Unatural Agility 200 Xp
Nerves of Steel 200 Xp
Sure Strike 150 Xp
Precise Blow 150 Xp

WraithGuard

Weapon Skill (WS)
20+2d10
Ballistic skill (BS)
30+2d10
Strength (S)
30+2d10
Toughness (T)
40+2d10
Agility (Ag)
15+2d10
Intelligence (Int)
20+2d10
Perception (Per)
30+2d10
Will Power (WP)
40+2d10
Fellowship (Fel)
0 (50 for eldar)

Start skills:

Basic: Awareness, Evaluate, Dodge, Speak (Low Gothic), Search, Climb, Navigation (Surface)
Trained: Command, Forbiden Lore (Eldar), Psyniscience, Speak (Eldar), Scrutiny

Start talents: Strange Physiology, From Beyond, Size (Hulking), Guardian, Unarmed Warrior, Unarmed Master, Dark Sight, Machine (5),
Melee Weapon (Power), Pistol Weapon (Shuriken), Resist (Cold, Hot, Psy), Warp Conduit, Auto-stabilised, Peer (Eldar), Unnatural Strength, Unnatural Toughness

Wounds: 10+TB+1d5

Rank 1
Advance: 0 Xp - 2 000 Xp
Skill
Awareness 50 Xp
Evaluate 50 Xp
Dodge 50 Xp
Search 50 Xp
Climb 50 Xp
Navigation (surface) 50 Xp
Common Lore (Ecclesiarchy) 25 Xp
Common Lore (Imperium) 25 Xp
Common Lore (Rogue Traders) 25 Xp
Forbiden Lore (Pirates) 25 Xp
Forbiden Lore (Xenos) 25 Xp
Forbiden Lore (Psykers) 25 Xp
Forbiden Lore (Inquisition) 25 Xp
Forbiden Lore (Mutants) 25 Xp
Scholastic Lore (Astromancy) 25 Xp
Scholastic Lore (Beast) 25 Xp
Talent
Iron Jaw 100 Xp
Armor of Contempt 50 Xp
Polyglot 100 Xp
Hatred (Pirate) 50 Xp
Sound Constitution (x3) 100 Xp

Rank 2
Advance: 2 000 Xp - 4 000 Xp
Skill
Awareness +10 100 Xp
Dodge +10 100 Xp
Navigation (surface) +10 100 Xp
Psyniscience +10 100 Xp
Scrutiny +10 100 Xp
Forbiden Lore (Demonology) 50 Xp
Forbiden Lore (The Warp) 50 Xp
Common Lore (Imperium) +10 50 Xp
Common Lore (Rogue Traders) +10 50 Xp
Forbiden Lore (Xenos) +10 50 Xp
Forbiden Lore (Psykers) +10 50 Xp
Scholastic Lore (Cryptology) 50 Xp
Scholastic Lore (Astromancy) +10 50 Xp
Scholastic Lore (Astromancy) +20 50 Xp
Scholastic Lore (Beast) +10 50 Xp
Talent
Basic Weapon Training (Shuriken) 250 Xp
Strong Minded 150 Xp
Luminen Charge 150 Xp
Hatred (Chaos) 50 Xp
Sound Constitution (x3) 100 Xp

Rank 3
Advance: 4 000 Xp - 20 000 Xp
Skill
Awareness +20 150 Xp
Dodge +20 150 Xp
Navigation (surface) +20 150 Xp
Psyniscience +20 150 Xp
Scrutiny +20 150 Xp
Forbiden Lore (Demonology) +10 75 Xp
Forbiden Lore (The Warp) +10 75 Xp
Forbiden Lore (Xenos) +20 75 Xp
Forbiden Lore (Psykers) +20 75 Xp
Scholastic Lore (Cryptology) +10 75 Xp
Scholastic Lore (Beast) +20 75 Xp
Talent
Heavy Weapon Training (Shuriken) 300 Xp
Heavy Weapon Training (Wraithcannon) 500 Xp
Bastion of Iron Will 200 Xp
Rite of Fear 200 Xp
Hatred (Necron) 50 Xp
Guide 300 Xp ( consider psy rate 1 for this )
Sound Constitution (x4) 100 Xp
Infused Knowladge 300 Xp

so, what do you think about them?

Khensu said:

So many things wrong with that entire explanation

Errant said:

That may be true, as I dont know all things there is to know, so plz let me know why its wrong?

Btw I read that a WraithLord still can comunicate and do many things that it did as alive, so I'm only switching the soul stone of the lord into a smaller body... If I know right it uses a soul of a Farseer, and is considered in many games like the SM Dreadnough...

Ohh and what about the wolf? is that ok?

It's largely the part where the astropath built a wraithbone body that bothers me. And the Farseer requesting to serve the astropath. And the Farseer volunteering to become a wraithlord given that it's the social equivalent of making out with your dead grandmother.

Man, quit the buzzkill. I think it's cool and a nifty storyline, even if it's not cannon. Good rules too. *Thumbs Up*

one little secret to the wraithguard, it doesnt serve the Astropath for the fun, it has a purpose... but as some of my players read this too, I wont tell, but be sure, that it has its reasons...

and my astropath had his mind overtaken by the farseer before she died, so it made permanent damage to him, and after becoming a soul stone he still heard her in his mind... and so she could teach him to be a bone singer if not a good one, but at least he could give it a try... and he had some material to start with, so it was a bit easier, but still had to perform for a long period with no sleep and no rest, with full psy power and a very hard extended test

It may not be cannon, or at least it doesnt look that way that much, but still it has its reasons behind it, and in the greater picture it makes sense, even for who think its not entirely true to the eldar mindset... the one thing I can tell you, that its a mission for the farseer to prevent some horrible thing in the future