This is one of the ship upgrades in Into the Storm (page 163).

So, what is the point of it and why does it do what it does? It says that that the crew doesn't really like these guys much so making a place for them to be away from the crew.. lowers morale??

After that, you get a small amount of bonus achievement points. I mean really low. So low that, as far as I can tell, will never actually help.

Now, perhaps our group is doing achievement points incorrectly but basically sets of 100 help when everything is totaled up and any remainder is lost. Having components that give less than 100 mostly help when they add up to full sets of 100. So, even with a best quality version of this upgrade it is unlikely to help as it wont stack to 100 with pretty much anything.. We have components that give 100, 50, 25.. 50 + 25 + 20 = 95, which is then lost. If another 25 component was installed then 20 points are over, the cherubim aerie, and are wasted.

What am I missing? Reducing the morale seems to go against what the component is designed to do and the achievement points seem to be useless, even at best quality.

this one is more a RP module, as cherubim aerie for powerful familly are made from the expendable childrens of the familly...hence the family is still with them event if they can't claim the warrant now...

to natives Cherubim may seam like little angels flying around the RT and is party and what not, but crew members know what they are made of and that most cherubim are actually pretty nasty little creatures.

Note that the Aerie adds its bonus to each objective, not just once per endeavour. So that would mean 60 achievment points bonus. Not to shabby. Then, if you have one of your PC's in the High Factotum ship role,you can save up all those less than 100 achievement point totals and put them onto your next endeavour, so they don't get wasted and will add up to extra PF down the track.

Well worth the cost of 1 morale personally, especially as the very next entry in the book, Crew Improvements, can more than offset that loss and is rather easy to aquire.

Looting ork frigates is worth 10AP per ship, taking out a few of them would help with that.

I think that the way your group seems to be handling Achievement Points is the cause- there are two reasons to keep track of achievement points: collecting sufficient to complete an Objective (and, in the more general sense, enough to complete an Endeavour), and, having completed the Endeavour, earning extra Profit.

In the first case, your GM is responsible for setting the Objective and Endeavour thresholds, and is perfectly within his rights to set them at, say 417 per Objective. Even if s/he goes for a nice round number, the Aerie is still pretty good, as you get to roll the bonus Achievement Points from it once per Objective. Admittedly, it's only 1d10+10, but given that Achievement Points carry over within an Endeavour, and it really starts to pay for itself on long Endeavours. Even if the GM sticks with 3 objectives it's 33-60 Achievement Points (assuming Common Quality).

It's only after an Endeavour is completed that you have to start worrying about getting it all sorted into neat 100 Achievement points, and that is over and above the threshold the GM has set to consider the Endeavour successful. And yes, if you wind up with 124 Achievement Points over the threshold, then 24 will be "wasted" without a High Factotum, but at most you "lose" 1 PF. Considering how easy it is to rack bonus PF in addition to the formal reward to the Endeavour (I've seen a well-built ship and party earn 13 PF for a Lesser Endeavour, with a very stingy GM), that "loss" is pretty minor.

It's also worth noting that you should (by RAW) be earning Achievement points for challenges and encounters related to the Endeavour. Logically, this means that any fight you get into, every lock you have to pick, every room you search, every foo-local noble you bluff, charm or bully in the course of plundering the spaceways during an Endeavour should be granting you between 10 and 300 Achievement Points.

They are there for roleplayers who want something cool to have around end of story. We have one on one of our ships, and the Lady Captain loves the creepy little bastards. My character can't stand them and given the opportunity will kill them on sight. Its fun.

Usefulness aside they are sort of cool if you like the idea of them.

Did I mention we got ours from a ship whose entire crew was converted into servitors, and her captain wired directly into the command throne? Yeah, having them around rubs my character the wrong way. What did they see, what did they do, what are they capable of? The thought of it is too much for him, but he stays on another ship and only has to deal with them occasionally.

If you like the ambiance I say grab 'em the moral hit isn't significant anyway.

Gamewise, they do indeed bring a small benefit, with a small malus slapped on it. And they are very iconic : after al, you have cherubs everywhere on each 40K rulebook, they add t the gothic aesthetic like headtubes and skulls.

NGL, you forgot to mention that the said Lady-Captaintreats her cherubs as pets, is on an Haunted Starship, and that she asked specifically for a very large organ in a Melodium to play ominously with her dear little ones... And if one particular Master-of-Arms try to harm them, there is a levitating augmenticist lady-captain with handflammers who will burn someone until he is crispy enough.

Forgot that part

crisaron said:

To my knowledge it's not ever explicity stated how, exactly, cherubim are constructed, other than that they are servitors. Furthermore, even if they are actually made from children (which, again, would be an assumption) why would a noble family sacrifice its own children in this way? Sorry, but that doesn't make sense, and it sure doesn't account for the sheer number of cherubim that could be on a ship.

If I remember my fluff right - an Inquisitor supplement on cherubs-, most of cherubs are vat grown. Though, the ones that are psy-conducts might be made from real children, but they are very rare... We can imagine imperial worlds were children criminals are converted too to servitors, and if small enough, will be used as cherubs.

[/Quete]
To my knowledge it's not ever explicity stated how, exactly, cherubim are constructed, other than that they are servitors. Furthermore, even if they are actually made from children (which, again, would be an assumption) why would a noble family sacrifice its own children in this way? Sorry, but that doesn't make sense, and it sure doesn't account for the sheer number of cherubim that could be on a ship.

[/Quete]

It might be a method mostly used incase of "wild parties" to prevent dispute about heirs, or in case some children dont show promis, and thus simply cleaning up the heirs and maintaining a survival of the fittest in the noble house, this is 40k it properly happens somewhere.

This could be a bit upsetting for some so if you are feeling a bit fragile about kids please skip my post.

I'd always assumed that Cherubim were made from still-born babies, or ones with birth defects. There would be no lack of either "resource" on an Imperial world. And hence also the morale penalty. Not only are they mishevious little buggers, but that one looks an awefull lot like that bub that cousin Milly had that died.

Cherubim are made from any available material.

I read this in a BL novel, the planetary governor was a very old lady and most of her unpromissing children had been turned to Cherubim.

In another book, the ancestor of a guy is gone trough a taxidermist and is used as a coat hanger in the cabin and it is a tradition for renowed member of the familly to be kept around in this fashion after their death...

Oddly enough I was reading this earlier today: Page 192 Inquisitors Handbook. Describes Cherubim as of 'uncertain origins' and that they are 'one of the few permitted examples of such bio-sculpted homunculi allowed within the Imperium'.

'Cherubim are not truly alive at all... needs neither to eat nor sleep... powered by internal powercell.... Controlled by an Augmented cortex and nervous system usually harvested from lesser creatures... simian, bird, swine and felid.'

Note I've shortened the text down.