So we're in early chargen at the mo, and one of the players wants to be an ex Sister of Battle. How would you go about doing this?
Sister of Battle….
With difficulty……..
It's pretty much unknown territory really since Battle Sisters don't really quit and give it up and if they do then people come looking for them because they must have fallen to chaos…. which means at least Enemy: Ecclesiarchy, Enemy: Adepts Soritas and Enemy: Inquisition at character creation. You also wouldn't have the power armour/bolter/other gear unless you stole it and had a way to maintain it.
Maybe better in Black Crusade
Like UberMutant, it's difficult to play a former Sororitas in RT since the setting doesn't seem to support it.
The other option is to have the Sister of Battle as the Rogue Trader, which actually happened once in canon, as explained in Blood of Martyrs. The only problem with this is that only Canoness do ever move away from the Sisterhood, which means it would have to be an extremely powerful character in comparison to his teammates (or just a regular Rank 1 RT with a pretty background that doesn't reflect the actual skills of the character at all).
What you could do, is that the group's Missionary (or the NPC Missionary of the ship if not a player) somehow was granted a Battle Sister has his bodyguard for wathever reason you can come up with, that way she is still part of the Sisterhood but can be on a RT ship. She could even be the RT bodyguard if the Dynasty has ties with the Ecclesiarchy and it's very religious in nature.
Anyway, you should use the Battle Sister career from Blood of Martyrs (the career in IH isn't that good) and allow the character to start Rank 3-4 to be on the same level as the RT characters.
Not all of the Adepts Soritas are combat focused, if destroying thine enemies in holy combat isn't necessarily the player's main focus then other career paths exist. A Sister Famulous or Sister Dialogous could make an acceptable replacement for a Seneschal while a Sister Hospitaller could take over for a Missionary. It would probably be much easier to just say they're an active member of the Adepts Soritas and for whatever reason the Rogue Trader has been given use of their services for an undisclosed amount of time.
Another option…
For this one you will require a copy of either (or both) Blood of Martyrs (BoM) and the Inquisitors Handbook (IH) for DH.
Build character up the DH way to say 4th rank (2,000xp-2,999xp) as either a Battle Sister or using one of the 'Sister' paths (templates in BoM). At 5th Rank, which roughly falls in line with starting xp for RT characters, either apply the Sister Repentia package (BoM pp. 91-92, start with 40 corruption points), or from pp. 78-79 of IH apply the Sister Oblatia template.
Either way, the 'ex-sister' functions outside of the Adepta Sororitas, though until the Sister Repentia atones for her sins probably won't be able to use her 'Faith' due to her taint (in sessions previously ran the G.M. houseruled that the moment any PC suffered 20+ CP the faith powers stop functioning).
This is probably the only way I can think of having an ex-sister.
Eh. Use the Blood of Martyrs sourcebook. Allow the player to use the Origin Path with Motivation as a free row. Don't start them at Rank 5, that just doesn't work.
I would simply take the Missionary and give the player access to the BoM Faith Powers…
Perhaps change the starting equipment a bit.
In terms of game mechanics, it's probably best to just make her a Missionary… Unless you've got a ton of sourcebooks from other games and a very competent and understanding GM, that's the way to go. Porting characters from other 40KRP games into Rogue Trader is possible, in theory, but in practice the systems don't mesh well at all.
The difficult bit is actually going to be the backstory and roleplaying. Sororitas are, by definition, very zealous adherents of the Imperial Creed. They typically don't leave the convent unless they're on a mission to burn heretics. How is a sister with such a stern moral upbringing going to react as part of a Rogue Trader crew? Rogue Traders do have a justified reputation for being scruffy misfits who are in it for the thrones…
*Lumen globe over head turns on* Hm, wait, let me answer my own question… I'll make a trio of suggestions as to why a sister might be aboard ship:
1) Fallen sister. She has done something, or seen something, that caused her to flee the sisterhood, and is taking refuge in the Expanse. In this case, the Ecclesiarchy, especially her former sisters, is going to want to hold her to account? Perhaps she's developed a mutation, or worse, psychic powers?
2) Sister Dialogus. This is one of the non-militant orders. They are scholars, with a specialty in languages and cipher-breaking. Potentially very useful in speaking to a heathen society that hasn't heard Low Gothic in millennia.
3) Sister Famulous. The Order Famulous are chamberlains and advisors to royalty throughout the Imperium. A Rogue Trader dynasty is effectively royalty. An old dynasty might well have an advisor as part of their Warrant, or have earned one later. Since one of the Famulous' duties is to ensure correct, moral behaviour, that could put her at odds with the rest of the crew. There is also a subset of the Famulous, the Order Sabine, that works hand in hand with the Missionarius Galaxia to prepare heathen worlds for re-integration. Such a sister is clearly a missionary.
The latter two orders are detailed in Blood of Martyrs, by the way.
Just my 2 thrones worth,
- V.
I second the idea that the sister's order could have close ties with a very pious Rogue Trader and was given as an ambassador of sorts.
Or her Order could have been nearly wiped out and disbanded as a result. Or she could have been outcast as a result of 'office politics'. Or, or, or…
awesome suggestions all, thanks everyone!
I'd say she's a member of the Ordos Sabine and run her as a Missionary. If she took the Torchbearer alternative career from Into the Storm at Rank 2 she'd pretty much be there.
People have covered this quite well so far, but i feel that the Famulous, Dialogous and Hospitaller options from BoM would work well at same XP levels as RT characters. All of them work on the front lines of the imperium and with noble houses (such as RT dynasties).
I ran such a character once, but in my case she was only an ex sister of battle because she eventually found herself promoted to an Inquistor. Generally we just ported it over directly from DH, only with a slight change by matching up skill costs with their RT equivalents. It worked fairly well since the RT crew were allowed to start off at a higher rank herself. Though I admit by this time the former Serephim pretty much agreed to spend most of her time looking after the crews spiritual health in the chapel, being pragmetic enough (after some years as an inquistor) to realise hanging around the bridge would make her want to shoot the rest of the party.
Well other then the Navigator, who she tended to shoot as an obscure form of flirting. And the tech priest, who she'd use for sparing practise, as he was the only thing on the ship tough enough not to collapse after a few light blows.
It worked rather well most of the time, well except for how I managed to convince the GM to let me use both Untouchable AND Pure Faith on the same character. Well that and not revealing the former DH character had been promoted to an inquistor until after she first used the power.
Worked rather well really.
A more traditional Sister might be on bored because the Traders Vessel is transporting a holy relic, and she and some of her sisters were assigned to guard it. Kill off the redshirts in the first main battle, and use the theft of the relic as a plot piece, with her looming over them until its recovered.
Hello one and all,
I thought I'd address my problem in this thread, so as not to create a new thread.
I have a Player who wants to run a Sister of Battle in our Rogue Trader group, and I think this is doable principally because the other PCs are role-playing their characters as devout zealots of the God-Emperor (and it's been very fun). Everything on this ship is done with reverence to the God-Emperor; even shift changes are done with either the Missionary or one of the adherents ringing out an angelus. They are operating a Conquest-Class Star Galleon called the Righteous Partisan and they have already amassed a sizable empire in the Koronus Expanse, and have been at war with another Rogue Trader faction who has had dealings with xenos (notably, green-skins of the Undred-Undred Teef).
I've thought of making her just take Arch-Militant rather than Missionary, but there is the issue with general power level. I mean, wouldn't such a Sister of Battle be something akin to a Canoness?
Whew, quite the old thread you dug up ..
Backgroundwise there is a lot of potential for this combination of characters, especially if one of the other players is a Missionary or some other type of Ecclesiarchy cleric (for which the Battle Sister could be the bodyguard, providing a reason for her presence). However, whilst the various 40k RPGs developed by Black Industries and FFG are using a compatible foundation in the d100 system, the individual product lines are using different narrative styles of play and different levels of power, including talents and equipment or even NPCs using remarkably different stats to cater to the respective "degree of epicness".
Another potential issue is to consider what your player and the rest of your group actually
mean
when they talk about "a Battle Sister", for contrary to what Maese Mateo's post above may suggest, the 40k franchise does not actually have a canon policy, often resulting in confusing contradictions and differences in portrayal all depending on which book/novel/game you're looking at. The Sisters of Battle are no exception, and have in the past been portrayed as anything from chaste and pious Marine-level heroines all the way to slightly-better-cannonfodder, and anything inbetween. Even Dark Heresy currently offers two versions of the Battle Sister - the gritty amazon in the Inquisitor's Handbook (written by Black Industries) and the space magician that shoots light from her eyes in Blood of Martyrs (written by FFG). My own personal preference sits with the former, as that career is closest to what I know from Games Workshop's own material, and perhaps slightly more balanced in that you start out as a novice rather than a power-armoured warrior right away, whilst avoiding the "XP-trap" of the BoM version that lets her start out as overpowered (due to gear) and later become underpowered (due to the cost and availability of certain skills/talents) as the group progresses.
Ultimately, you need to gain an idea where your people's own expectations and preferences lie. With any luck they won't be too far apart.
Generally, your concerns regarding the power level are warranted, at least if we're talking about Codex-style Battle Sisters. However, aside from her faith and symbolic nature, a Sister's primary advantages are the trademark Angel-pattern Power Armour and Godwyn-De'az Boltgun, and comparable equipment should not be too difficult to come by for other martial-minded player characters in a Rogue Trader campaign.
The Arch Militant is probably the best way to represent a Battle Sister within the Rogue Trader ruleset. From the Dark Heresy material, my own recommendation would be the Inquisitor's Handbook version, which also does not feature the weird space magic introduced with the BoM. But given the aforementioned awkwardness when transporting things from one product line into another - be them classes, enemies or equipment - your way is probably safer and easier, whilst keeping the spirit of the character's background intact.
If you're really convinced that a Battle Sister would be "too much" for the group/campaign, the only good solution I could think of would be to deny this class altogether, just like you might deny a Space Marine for the same reason. At least in my opinion this would be better than scaling either of these characters down to a level where they'd be indistinguishable from, say, an armsman wearing carapace. Keep in mind that you could offer alternative paths from the Sisterhood, should your player be interested in the Adepta Sororitas in general and not just the Orders Militant. The Orders Sabine, for example, make for good infiltrators, and using the Missionary class a character might easily set themselves up as a subversive prophetess of the Emperor whose mission is to undermine the heretical faith of whatever civilisation your ship comes across. There is also the possibility that your player's Battle Sister has not actually attained that rank yet but travels with the group as a young novice, perhaps accompanying a senior Sister, or having been picked up as a sole survivor from a destroyed convent or a crippled Sororitas corvette - instantly giving rise to the myth that she's blessed and triggering a religious movement elevating the confused girl to a sort of saint who then goes on to declare her own crusade rather than begging to be returned to the nearest Imperial outpost. Plot hooks abound!
As for the comparison between Battle Sister and Canoness .. that's a bit more complicated, I think. Whilst it is true that, in many cases, there isn't much difference in their basic equipment (at least for the Minor Orders that generally don't have too many relics to be fielded in battle), there exists a huge gap in experience and influence:
I'm going solely by GW fluff now, but in the original material, your newly inducted Sister of Battle starts out as a seventeen year old girl who has just finished a decade of grueling training and indoctrination in the Schola Progenium and a harsh and degrading novitiate, all in the effort of turning her into a brainwashed, fanatical tool for the vast machine that is the Adeptus Ministorum, ready to be unleashed upon anything from innocent civilians doomed by ecclesiarchal decree to alien empires and CSM warbands, throwing herself at all of them in a whirlwind of zealous fury, intent only on bringing the Emperor's wrath down upon them.
By contrast, a Canoness is a seasoned veteran of many campaigns, her fury tempered by battle and the wisdom of an entire century in service to the Order. She was elected from amongst her fellow Sororitas for a specific reason, and inducted into ancient secrets so subversive they cannot be entrusted to the minds of a mere Sister, lest they corrupt her pure and innocent mind. With their rank, they are not only granted the privilege to bear powerful relics into battle, but they command the devotion and loyalty of their entire convent - dozens, perhaps even hundreds or, in the case of the six Major Orders, even thousands of Battle Sisters ready to martyr themselves at a word from their mistress. Their tactical advice is valued not just amongst the Ministorum but almost all the Imperial forces, and with a simple message they can secure the assistance of entire worlds.
Needless to say, an ordinary Battle Sister would be the preferable character for an RPG campaign. As a symbol of the Emperor's might and the power of the Church Militant, she would still have an effect on the common people far above her actual station, which should more than suffice for what you have in mind.
I hope this is of any help. If there are any specific questions, I'm always open to discuss the Sororitas.
Thanks for the awesome reply. It has been quite informative.
I've been concerned that maybe the Battle Sister, or any member of the Soritas, might be too fanatical, even for my group of fanatics. The least fanatical of the bunch is, argubly, the Rogue Trader, who sees the zeal as eminently useful to his goals of carving out his own empire in the Koronus Expanse and displacing the Ork Freebooterz. The second-least fanatical is the Seneschal, who often has to deal with other xenos, notably the Stryxis, but he has since been more and more devout as the campaign progressed. The most fanatical is certainly our criminal-turned Astropath Transcendant, who never makes a decision unless he's talking to the Emperor (or, so he thinks). I'm concerned with perhaps the Rogue Trader's lack of zeal, compared with her own or especially the Astropath's, might cause an internal conflict that might get ugly. The Rogue Trader keeps an Untouchable around him most of the time to prevent the Astropath from reading his thoughts, which stray into the carnal (the man is trying to have a child to succeed him), and the Astropath thinks heresy might be afoot (and is always a source of delicious tension among the group - the Astropath has actually attempted to have the Untouchable killed, only to be thwarted by the Seneschal).
Another concern would be to give her things to do. All of my players have their own goals that coincide with one overall agenda, and if I decide to let her go with being a Sororitas I want to give her personal goals that coincide with her duty to her order that doesn't always involve what the Missionary is always doing, which is about converting the lost heathens and scouring out the heretics. And I want to give her something cool to do, not just putting heretics and Chaos to the flame, like finding lost relics and such.
My thought was that she was sent out to Koronus to renew her faith. That she encountered Chaos forces that weakened her zeal, and now she's somewhat aimless. One of the themes of our campaign that we've drifted into was Fighting Entropy Itself, that our heroes create the kind of empire of their own out of a sheer need to fight not only boredom, but dying the death of a thousand cuts that comfort brings, and I want to continue with that.
"Too fanatical" is certainly a threat, especially with a younger and less experienced Sister. If you do have a Missionary, however, he'd be the perfect buffer to keep the character's zeal in check - assuming she defers to his authority. At least at first this should be no problem, as the Sister is almost automatically thrust into the role of a bodyguard and enforcer. There's a certain risk that the character could turn against the Missionary and invoke the Orders Militant' task of policing the Church, but that should take some major "mistakes" on part of the Missionary's player.
In a way, you could actually see the Sister's presence as a sort of diplomatic challenge for your entire crew, chiefly the Missionary (whose player would occasionally have to defuse situations and provide guidance) and the Rogue Trader (whose player might have fun paying "lip service" to the Creed in order to maintain the peace). You said that the inter-group friction has been fun so far, which sounds like a good basis if the Sister's player is capable of slightly steering the character on that thin, interesting line between fanatism and cooperation. The worst possible scenarios in such constellations would only come into being if one player is dead-set on providing potential for conflict and another is dead-set on jumping at the chance of escalating it. A good group will be capable of walking the middle way and have fun doing it.
As for providing tasks or goals for the character, I believe that in the case of a Sororitas, this should be tightly connected to how exactly the character was picked up. I hope it's okay if, for the purpose of this post, I am going more by GW material than anything else, as this is what I feel most familiar with: The Sisters Militant do not usually send their members away on their own, as they are a tighly knit organisation that practices an extreme level of isolation, basically locking themselves away in their convents until they are needed and march to war. Whenever lone Sisters or small squads of them travel on their own, it would be on a specific mission, such as guarding a holy shrine or protecting a pilgrim convoy - and even then it would likely be under the firm guidance of veterans who can "cope" with being away from their convent for a prolonged duration and thus provide a spiritual anchor for their younger charges.
However, there are some possible exceptions. One would be the path of a Repentia, who have been cast out of the Order to find their redemption in battle. This may not be what your player is looking for, as it basically means to sacrifice the "classic" image of the iconic power-armoured Battle Sister in favour of a reason to travel. Still, it is an option to keep in mind, and perhaps the story of Sister Anastasia (a tie-in from GW's Inquisitor RPG to the Thirteenth Black Crusade tabletop world campaign) might provide some inspiration:
http://web.archive.org/web/20071218114030/http://es.games-workshop.com/especialista/inquisitor/bestiario/repentia.html
Coincidentally, it also offers some more insight into how a Battle Sister is raised and trained, should you wish to adopt this source into your interpretation of the setting as I have done.
Alternatively, you could circumvent the issue by rendering that particular Sister the sole survivor of a Mission, as outlined in the previous post. There are not many reasons for the presence of an Adepta Sororitas Strike Force outside Imperial space, but possibilities could include plot hooks such as the vanguard of an Imperial crusade, a secret recovery op that aims to capture powerful relics or technology for the Orders Pronatus, or perhaps they were pursueing a renegade Space Marine Chapter. The apparent failure of the Mission and the death of her Sisters, along with a healthy dose of "survivor's guilt" could have the effect you are looking for, whereas the zealots amongst your crew take the character's survival as a sign of the Emperor's will. Eventually, the Sister could try to convince the crew to continue her original assignment, and the Rogue Trader either has to find a way to distract them, or consider how to profit from such an endeavour.
With regards to zeal and faith it is worth noting that not all Adepta Sororitas are Battle Sisters (nuns with guns). There are also the following options open to your Sister player:
Sister Dialogus - Translators and scribes, the Sisters are often used by the Inquisition when dealing with Xenos, so could easily be justified as being used by Rogue Traders with the right connections.
Sister Repentia - Sisters that have either personally failed or have taken another's failure upon themselves and become outcast from their Order. They travel as pilgrims fighting whatever injustices and enemies of the Emperor they can find. Could easily have found her way on board the Rogue Trader's ship for a while.
Sister Famulous - Are attached to Imperial houses to maintain order and remind them of their duty and loaylty to the Imperium. A Rogue Trader dynasty is pretty much the definition of an Imperial house. Think of them as Supernanny/battle-matron.
Sister Hospitallier - Doctors, medics and surgeons that serve all departments of the Imperium except the Astartes. Again easy enough for a Rogue Trader to have one's services.
Sister Sabine - These sisters accompany missionaries exploring lost human colonies and are adept at infiltrating primitive societies and introducing aspects of the Imperial Creed. Totally justifiable in your crew!
Sister Pronatus - Tasked with the retrieval and safeguarding of artifacts deemed important by the Ecclesiarchy, it could easily be that a solo-working Pronatus agent has been given a check list of things to bring back from the Koronus expanse and has signed on with a Rogue Trader crew to expediate the recovery of these items.
As you can see you have many optiosn beyond playing a 2-dimensional nun-with-a-gun type Adepta Sororitas.
Well, apparently the player explicitly wished for a Battle Sister.
Also, I'm not sure I would agree with Sisters of Battle being "two-dimensional". Much like Space Marines, Storm Troopers or Commissars there is certainly a much greater degree of conformity due to their indoctrination and lifestyle, yet that does not make necessarily make all of them the same. What I will say is that it is certainly more
difficult
for a player to portray such characters in a way befitting said indoctrination and lifestyle
without
falling into that two-dimensional cliché. Imho, a lot of novels suffer from this issue by having such personae either be too bland or "too human", not paying sufficient homage to what sets them apart. But there certainly are exceptions, fortunately. Amongst novel writers just as much as amongst the players. With any luck, MaxWylde's player is one of those.
Okay, basically, here's what I've decided. She's basically going to play an Arch-Militant, but I'm going to give her the option of having Pure Faith if she wants it. And I've decided that she's a survivor of a lost pilgrimage, and unfortunately encountered the Rak'Gol. She knows of a planet that has a shrine to an exploring saint from the time of the Horus Heresy. This world has been lost on star charts for centuries but she knows the location, and I'm going to make this a Grand Endeavour for the party to conquer before their rival Rogue Trader (or another) beats them to it.
And I'm basically going to put her under the Missionary's wing. The Missionary, who we all call the Deacon, is a very compelling character in our group and he has the pulse of the entire crew. The man single-handedly fought off a Chaos Daemon and saved the life of the Navigator, and he is a little insane (12 Insanity Points isn't too bad, under the circumstances). He does have missions for the Rogue Trader that irritate him, but they are necessary, and he's kept the crew's morale quite high.
If your going to give her Pure Faith and access to the Pure Faith line of Talents, you need to balance it out by talking away the Arch-Militant's Weapon Speclization ability.
Cpt. Harkonnen said:
If your going to give her Pure Faith and access to the Pure Faith line of Talents, you need to balance it out by talking away the Arch-Militant's Weapon Speclization ability.
Agreed - you need to offset the power of Pure Faith by taking away an existing class feature. I'd also suggest using the Pure Faith options from Blood of Martyrs BUT limiting your player to a single power at each Rank otherwise they could soon dump all their XP into Faith Powers and destroy any challenge in your campaign.
Removing the Weapon Specialisation talent is probably a good advice in terms of balancing it out for Pure Faith, as it essentially just switches two advantages between two classes (Missionary <-> Arch-Militant).
However, personally I would recommend against using the Blood of Martyrs variant of Pure Faith due to balancing and progression concerns (combat effects & "XP trap") and because I remain adamant in my conviction that BoM twists a Battle Sister's role away from having her own moments to essentially becoming the buff tool for the party. Instead, I would have the Sister use the Pure Faith from the Inquisitor's Handbook, and throw in Wrath of the Righteous and Blessed Radiance as optional talents the player can purchase for a hefty XP cost later on (the exact point at which these talents become available could even depend on the campaign and the character's personal conduct and experiences).
The way I see it, IH's Pure Faith and the two talents are a good compromise between balancing concerns and the neglection of the character's martial affinity. As mentioned before, however, this depends hugely on how one stands on the issue of "divine magic in 40k", and how they prefer to see the Adepta Sororitas or what books they are going by. Best consult with the player or maybe the entire group before deciding for either IH or BoM.
Also, you may want to modify some starting skills and equipment. My thoughts, attempting to combine my penchant for GW's fluff with standard Rogue Trader RPG rules as best as possible:
- Change Scholastic Lore (Tactica Imperialis) to Common Lore (Imperial Creed)
Equipment:
- Good-Craftsmanship Light Power Armour w/ integrated Micro-bead, no helmet
- Mesh Robe w/ Coil (3 AP all locations, 3 kg)
- Good-Craftsmanship Boltgun w/ Red-Dot Laser Sight, Meltagun, or Flamer
- Good-Craftsmanship Cutlass w/ Mono-Upgrade
- Lily Pendant, Chaplet Ecclesiasticus w/ hidden Knife, Scoriada (counts as Primitive Improvised weapon), one copy of the Rule of Sororitas (abriged)
In case you consider this gear too much for a starting character in RT (depending on what your other combat-focused player characters are toting around right now), you could perhaps rule the power armour damaged and inoperable due to a previous combat encounter (but keep it around to have it be repaired and become available at a later time).
Alternatively, the character could have been a mere novice and arrive carrying only this equipment:
- Good-Craftsmanship Carapace Chestplate
- Mesh Robe w/ Coil (3 AP all locations, 3 kg)
- Good-Craftsmanship Lasgun w/ Melee-Attachment
- Good-Craftsmanship Cutlass w/ Mono-Upgrade
- Lily Pendant, Scoriada (counts as Primitive Improvised weapon), one copy of the Rule of Sororitas (abriged)
Good call on the Missionary, by the way, that should work out nicely. Best of luck for your game!
I've taken your advice, and will implement. I think it's great. I just wanted to give my player what she wanted, and we're going to have a good time. Especially after tonight, after, in the game I'm playing in as Rogue Trader, I just freakin' killed Caligos Winterscale, Scarface Style!!!