Hi all.

Got a small problem, and I didn't know where else to post it, so please excuse me if I should have made it elsewhere.

Me and a bunch of friends of mine play Dark Heresy on saturdays. My Acolyte is a scummer named Severus Ontus. Severus has been in the inquisition under Astrid Skane since he was 16 years old (special circumstances, I won't be detailing here). Now however he works for Vownus Kaede with the rest of the rabid dogs that form our Angelae, and they've become fast friends(enemies).

Severus was raised in the upper-underhive of scintilla, lived as a con-artist, joined the church of the hopeful(covertly the tzeentch cult Contra Mundi, smuggling psykers offplanet before the black ships could take them) without knowing the cult's nature. A Heretek in the cult introduced him to mechanics and as the years went by mechanics turned into a hobby. When the Contra Mundi were attacked and destroyed by the Ordo Hereticus, he turned sides and thankfully was picked up by a radical inquisitor (Skane).

He now serves the Inquisition and has done so for the past 10 years, conning people, gathering intel, breaking through cogitator security and reverseengineering any technology he could lay his annoyingly curious hands on. He became a VERY capeable heretek and Skane has used him to increase the efficiency of her intelligence gathering for a long while. So much so, that our GM granted me permission to buy the (homebrew) skill Forbidden Craft (HERETEK, +10, +20)

During his years Severus joined the Reclamaitors to develop a network of contacts he could use for his private pursuits, and as such has also aquired the talent (Technomat) and the skill (tech-use +10)

Now here's the 1000$ question.

When a skill is +20 it represents the pinnacle of understanding for that particular subject. +20 is the highest skill rank attainable, and in my oppinion a person who has scholastic lore (Legend), +10, +20, is as knowledgeable on that topic as he is ever going to get. (intelligence score aside)

So... WITH +20 HERETEK, Trade(Technomat), Tech-use + 10 and an intelligence score of 45, how good an understanding of Technology does Severus have and what would he be able to do with it in terms of crafting and so on and so forth?

my GM said it represents somewhat near a present day understanding of technology equal to that of an 8th grader, and while I'm gonna go with her ruling in this campaign, I can't help but feel.... I dunno... Like it's perhaps a bit too smallminded, when considering the HERETEK marvels out there amongst the big bad evildoers we're supposed to be fighting. I mean... Cloning, AI, Nanotechnology, these are all things we've seen done with techheresy.

This is not a matter of whether my GM is right or wrong in her ruling, because as a golden rule the GM is always right. It's more of an objectivist view on Tech-heresy as a whole and matter of what is and what is not understood and made possible when you attain +20 skill as HERETEK

Thank in advance, for any help you might be able to offer.

Well, as I understand you are another player in the same campaign...

Well, just report him to the local Tech Priest, they'll deceide what Heresy is...Tech Heresy that is...

sorry, that's me expressing myself badly xD...

I am playing the HERETEK, and I was wondering what i am capeable of doing and how deeply my understanding of technology run with a +20 on forbidden craft (HERETEK), +10 tech-use and Trade (technomat)?

Don't forget the Talented talent for further "advancement."

point heard. Of course.... I will make sure to ask for that elite advance

well... still... doesnt give me that much of an idea of what a HERETEK is capeable of. Still, thanks

You know how to jury rig stuff without all the meaningless rituals of the Ad Mech.

Your character should be able to most things the Tech Priests could also do, but do mind the Tech Priests themselves know very little, they know how to make minor repairs and utilise technology.
If tech priest want te construct something marginally complicated, say a logic machine they would need their holy standard construction templates.

Though if your character could steal some of those templates he should be able, given the right materials, be able to construct and the Omnisiah forbid alter, rewire or grossly deviate from the template, mutilating the actual designs and their intented purpose.

Without those designs you possibly rewire devices but often damaging them but achieving your intented goal.
For example:

* Rewiring a Lascutter to release one or two actual las blasts

* Perhaps alterating an Auspex, linking it to a Vox caster making it to send out a frequentie to make the Mechadendrites of a Tech Priest go haywire

* General A-team stuff?!

BRILLIANT! thanks *writes notes*

keep them coming. I never even considered that. I've been thinking primarily in simple crafting patterns. Of course there's the idea that he can commit the sin of reverseengineering, and thereby make his own STCs, with a degree of proffesionalism, but all in all I've had my sights set on smaller things xD... It's nice to get some input from people who actually know the universe XD.

For now all I've done is more or less trickcrafting. For instance the buttons on severus coat. They are actually small brass skulls. Once pulled off one can pres the outer edges of the skull inward and turn it, to arm what is essentially a compressed KRAK grenade. The buttom then becomes a powerful short-range explosive. He has buttons on his shirt too, shaped like a crosshair, if turned 90 degrees to the left, the buttom mixes two chemicals and acts as a choke gas grenade with a range of 15m. Those are more or less the only things he's made, but he's not about to let himself get stopped ^^ especially not now that I've become inspired. Wonder what he could do with a whitescars trek bike and a workshop?

But those ideas of yours have me intrigued.

Also remember, most of the STCs were corrupted/destroyed by people trying to fiddle with them.

Your character is also potentially the MacGuiver of the group as well now. Remember, all 'new' designs have to be sanctioned by the Ad Mech, but your character won't have any qualms about trying to jury rig and make new things based on older designs

Nearyn said:

I don't think many 8th graders could pull that off... If the grenades are smaller than normal and just as effective, it sounds like you're surpassing the general level of Imperial tech when it comes to grenades.

Well based on what it says about crafting in the IH I would have to say a character with a +20 skill would know quite alot. Saying that a tech priest actually knows very little and that he has basically only memorized some things HAS to be way off the mark. Tech Priests in the fluff (and core rules) can and do on a regular basis repair/juryrig damaged (by battle, crash, etc) any number of complex systems. Mummery alone will NOT suffice to do that. In addition another constant is that the tech priest seem to want to study new findings to the extent of having a entire carrer path devoted to it. Study leads to knowledge (and possibly becoming a HERETEK). Which leads us to what makes you a heretek? Usually it is because you invented something that the Mecanichus deems heretical (whatever that is seems to be VERY err well... adaptable).

In short I just don't buy it being all mummery and rote memerization. The tech level and sophistication of the objects they have to deal with are too high for that, a certain level of knowledge would be needed to troubleshoot problems.

In short I just don't buy it being all mummery and rote memerization. The tech level and sophistication of the objects they have to deal with are too high for that, a certain level of knowledge would be needed to troubleshoot problems.

That merely depends on how many rotes you can memorize (using hypnodoctrination and quite a few other high-tech methods, ironically). The battlefield technology of the IG doesn't look that much more complex than modern day tech.