Greetings FFG Forum!

In an upcoming Rogue Trader game I plan to have the BBEG be a sorcerer pirate (short version: ties in with the Rogue Traders "Unseen Enemy"). Now, any possible confrontation is still miles away, but I want it to be truly epic in the end and since my group likes ship combat and has a fat Cruiser I have good reasons to expect the final showdown to end up being a big space battle between the Rogue Trader's fleet vs. the Sorcerer-Pirate's fleet.

Therefore, what I was thinking about is: "How can I make this fight special?"

A: Using special rules and traits of course! And that is how I came to the idea of what I will refer to as "Void Sorcery" here. These are basically sorcery rituals that are specifically meant for space combat. However, this idea is fresh and the example rituals are not playtested yet, so I would like to ask you fine ladies and gentlemen about your input on these and maybe ideas for even more rituals.

Here goes:

Void Sorcery follows the same universal rules as Sorcery. In addition, these rules apply:

-Void Sorcery is a long and arduous process and requires even more commitment than standard sorcery. Any Void Sorcery ritual is an Extended Action except where noted otherwise.
-Using Void Sorcery rituals over the gigantic distances between ships can be difficult. The standard range of Void Sorcery rituals is 5 VU. For every 1VU above that the Focus Power Test suffers a cumulative -5.
-Sorcerers that have mastered Void Sorcery know how to make best use of the special “resources” at their disposal aboard a ship. The resources might not always agree with their use though...
The sorcerer can sacrifice up to 3 Crew Population and/or 3 Morale to power their Focus Power Test for a ritual. Each sacrificed point grants +5 to his Focus Power test, to a maximum total of +30.
-In the security of their ships sorcerers tend to be more willing to make sacrifices themselves to harm those that stand in their way in the depths of the Void.
The sorcerer can sacrifice 1d10 Wounds for +5 to his Focus Power Test up to two times per ritual for a total of +10.

Rituals:
Dark Summoning : The sorcerer opens a warp rift on a hostile ship, inviting Daemonic boarders to take their due. Lesser Daemons and Daemonic Beasts enter the ship to bring the Glory of Chaos to the blind.

Action: Extended

Test: Intelligence

If the test is successful a Daemonic horde has successfully been summoned and is slaughtering its way through the enemy ship.
The defending crew can counter the boarding action as normal with an Opposed Command Test. The Daemonic horde has a default Command rating of 45 and gets +5 for every Degree of Success on the Focus Power test.
However, daemons have little regard for damaging a ship and prefer to go straight to the slaughter. Roll only 1d5 for a Critical Hit once, but the ship suffers 1d5+1 Crew Population and 1d5+1 Morale damage. Furthermore, if the character that lost the Opposed Command test is a player character or important non-player character he suffers 1d5 Corruption Points.

Aid of the Warp Spirits : Sorcerers can call upon the malign spirits of the Warp to bind them to their service within the ship to do what mortal hands failed to. The ship is suffused by various Warp spirits that aid the ship and crew in operating the vessel.

Action: Extended

Test: Intelligence

If the Focus Power test is successful the ship counts as being one step higher on the Crew Population chart than it actually is for 2 rounds + 1 round for every degree of success. If the ship is still above 80 Crew Population the ship instead increases its Crew Rating by 5.

Protection of Dark Visions : With this power the sorcerer counters anyone that dares to be foolish enough to board a vessel of Chaos. Visions of madness, nightmares and vicious half-truths assail the attackers aboard the ship, breaking their spirits.

Action: Extended

Test: Intelligence

This ritual is used as a counter to a Hit and Run or Boarding Action. If the Focus Power Test is successful the boarders suffer -20 on their Command test and a further -5 for every two degrees of success on the Focus Power Test. In addition, should the sorcerer get more than four degrees of success on his Focus Power Test the Crew Population of the ship increases by 1 from boarders betraying their masters and swearing themselves to Chaos or sheer madness. Furthermore, if the attack is led by a player character or important non-player character he suffers 1d5+1 Insanity or 1d5+1 Corruption as chosen by the GM.

Insane Cacophony : With this power the sorcerer causes mad howls and praises to the Great Pantheon to course through the ship of the blind, breaking their minds and concentration.

Action: Extended

Test: Intelligence

If the ritual is successful the targeted enemy ship suffers 1d5+1 Morale damage and +1 Morale damage for each degree of success. In addition, player character or important non-player character aboard the ship must make succeed at a Difficult (+0) Willpower Test or suffer 1d5 Corruption or 1d5 Insanity as chosen by the GM.

I just noticed I screwed up. All the tests should be Intelligence of course.

Even so... *YOINK*

This would work as an ideal complement to the Night Lords warband* I have hunting down the previous party (and inevitably crossing paths with the current... if they ever leave Scintilla).

* Don't worry, it's justified: they stole a load of slave/cultist/potential recruits from a feral world the Night Lords considered theirs, plus a cargo hold of high-grade adamantium, and a few discarded astartes weapons. Then they got lucky, crippled the Night Lords cruiser, uploaded a piece of infosphere-crashing scrapcode to the Night Lords' primary ship'c cogitator and ran like hell. It would have been a clean getaway if they hadn't been hit with a stupidly powerful Focussed Augury- completely mapped their frigate's hull, made the superstructure ring like a bell and spot-welded most of the aft airlocks shut.

Interesting idea.

But I think I would go another path (requiring less rules and work on part of the gm) and have the sorceror conjure up powers of the warp that simulate existing components without the normal space/power need. With the quality of the component being determined by the invocation roll (if quality affects something other than power/space need).

I just steal your names as fit.

Example:

• Dark summoning: count as either fighters or bombers and don't need a launch bay. They can either defend the own ship or attack an enemy ship like the normal small crafts could.
• Insane cacophony: counts as a hymn caster, but using unholy voices.
• Unholy animation: Counts as crew reclamation facilities, exept that the dead are not turned into servitors but animated dead (zombis).
• Unholy animation II: As an alternative have some of the player's crew losses arise as zombis that count as doing a hit and run attack that does damage to crew and morale

Just the realisation of what is going on should warrant a fear or warp shock check.

Umbranus said:

I agree with Umbranus, and think this is probably a better way to go about things... Especially for Insane Cacophony . Generally, you don't keep track of Insanity and Corruption for the "common" NPCs. Significant ones who are Touched by the Fates , sure. Count that particular ritual more like the Broadband Hymn Caster ( ItS p. 160-161) ship component and I think you've got a good go. Maybe, give the PCs a chance to gain Insanity and/or Corruption if they fail a WP test.

-=Brother Praetus=-