So my players have seen the handiwork of the Widower, killing those with Haarlock blood in the city of Xicarph on Quaddis.

One player has come up with an idea that is as devious as it is nasty: he has given an NPC in their group (an Imperial Guard heavy weapons specialist named Vasquez who is also distantly related to the Haarlock bloodline) a load of explosives to carry. Unbeknownst to her, he as the detonator device. He intends to blow her up once the Widower singles her out, hoping to kill or hurt the Widower as well.

It's quite smart, but also a callous disregard for human life and an NPC who has worked with them on Quaddis and escaped the Red Cages with them. Would the player gain Corruption Points once he sees his plot through?

It's not like I condemn his actions, I will certainly award xp for this smart idea, but it seems the kind of thing that if you do it enough, you become corrupted.

I'd say No.

Corruption points are "awarded" to those exposed to the nastyness of the Warp. Daemons, rendering of the veils, Sorcery etc. It happens to even the most innocent people who simply are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It is not a morality gauge.

This is however, a perfect oppurtunity for insanity points.

He is allowing himself to become paranoid, devious, murderous, callous; he is losing respect for human life. The moment he hits that trigger I'd give him 1d10+2 IPs, and hope that he hits one of the trauma thresholds so he keeps seeing poor Vasqueaz for the rest of the campaign.

KommissarK said:

I agree, this seems like the best action to me.

I agree that Insanity and not Corruption would be in place here, for the reasons already stated.

Agreed. Good Call. But 1d10+2 is too much. Even mind-shattering events and Traumas give at most 1d10 if I recall my charts correctly.

Yeah, I'd go with 1d5 or even a fixed amount of 2 or 3 IP…but I guess that also depends on how much the characters in your group are of the "throwaway" kind (i.e. how brutal of a GM you are ).

Insanity … hmmm … but there is no great fearful thing working on his mind …

I read in a published adventure that CP were awarded when one engaged in especially brutal and callous behaviour, but can't remember where exactly …

CP is solely in the realm of actual warp exposure. One does not mutate into a literal monster simply because one is figurative monster.

Its insanity because the player is actually finding a legitimate justification for ending a human life (beyond self defense). And in all honesty, he is right. The thing to understand in 40k, is that insanity is hardly a punishment. Its the most rational conclusion to reach when presented with the world of 40K.

Insanity is not simply the result of fear either. It can be gained by being presented with the "truth" of the world in 40K. Once again, this PC is finding very rational (quite brilliant really) excuses and plans to murder his own allies. Does he feel guilty about that? Should he feel guilty about that?

IIRC this way of using CP was in Purge the Unclean, but it was clarified/updated since then, I´m just not sure where.

By the way, why punish the PC? I would abolish even the Insanity Points and as reward for good idea gave the player ability to purchase Elite Advance talent Cold Blooded (Chem-geld) for 200 Exp:P

I would hit him with IP as stated unless the character is already 'Jaded'. I would however hit them for 1d5 for carrying out the plan and then a second 1d5 when they realise that the Widower will come back due to his regeneration and they sacrificed a friend/ally for no real gain (assuming that it isn't successful since you need it for the end/it is amazingly resilient until the end).

I would say this because I would expect a group to see that the Widower was brutally murdering single people but hope that they had a chance as a group. And therefore try something a little more tactical first. If they have already established that the Widower is regenerating and requires a huge chunk of damage to get rid of that might negate this.

I am not punishing the character, I merely seek to show him the consequences of staying alive in the 41st millennium

Like I said he will earn XP for such a clever tactic too.

Fact is, he is acting in character. He is a Guardsman who is pretty selfish and ruthless.

IPs are hardly a "punishment" anyway. Early game, they're a solid defense against fear. You really wanna hit that sweet spot of about 40 IPs ASAP.

I'm pretty shocked that nobody here seems to remember "Purge the Unclean". In almost every adventure there was 5 or 6 (total in the book) instances of callous actions granting corruption points. *spoiler* when the acolytes encounter the opposing inquisition squad on Shades of Twilight they get 2 for every acolyte they kill. Let's see, there's also if they gun down the crowd to get to Theodosia, there's also for refusing to make rolls against the horrors of witnessing an innocent man drugged and killed…those all sound exactly like what the OP is mentioning.

Corruption is what causes many creatures in the 40k universe to mutate and the Warp to bleed over into the materium. It's literally a plane ruled by negative emotions, and the callous murder of things in an Inquisitorial fashion is bound to cause some backlash. It's not punishment to hand out corruption points, it's part of the game. I'm not trying to argue, but I'd give that player 1d5 corruption points, 25 xp, and call it good. The player is playing his character, thinking outside of the box, but playing a twisted SOB. This is how I run my game, but I also am not aware of any change to PtuC that takes away the moral aspect of corruption points.

Yes, this was the early approach taken by BI, but it was discontinued by FFG. It has been mentioned in earlier discussions about this very subject

But it really doesn't make sense: If killing innocents should make tentacles grow out of your forehead, then there should be many more mutants in the service of the Imperium