First off, if the phrases "Arg's Rogue Trader" and "you killed a man with a chair" ring a bell, please stay away from the campaign-specific spoilers below. You have been warned, darnit.

Howdy all, long-time lurker, first-time poster here. I've been running a DH/DW/RT campaign for 4 years now (started in DH, moved into RT with the core rulebook launch, and did DW on the side).

Anyhow, we're nearing the end of our campaign, and the entire party is close to maximum experience/rank. For a long time, I've prepared the Alpha Legion as the primary antagonists for their RT house, and the time draws near for them to actually be able to encounter (and knowing my party, attack) Alpharius Omegon, the Alpha Legion primarch. Anyhow, I've created a profile for him and I'm looking for feedback on it. Does it fit the flavor? Will it make for a powerful endgame opponent? Keep in mind, my entire party (of 5 players) is near-max experience and are seasoned gamers (read: power-gamers).

Alpharius Omegon, Primarch of the Alpha Legion

WS BS S T A I P WP F

92 88 86(16) 83(16) 89 99(18) 94 99 90

Wounds: 100

Profit Factor: 70

Movement: 8/16/32/64

Fate Points: 9

Skills: All+20

Talents: <Undecided>

Traits: Primarch, Shadow House, Hydraxus Dominus, A Thousand Faces, Unnatural Toughness (x2), Unnatural Str (x2), Unnatural Int (x2), <include all other relevant Deathwatch SM traits>

Equipment: Chaos Artificer Armor [as Deathwatch Artificer armor], any non-relic Deathwatch armory or CSM weapons.

Primarch: Possesses FP equal to WP bonus. Halves all damage taken from enemies with fewer than 5 FPs, and ignores all damage and effects from characters without FPs. Can spend a FP (instead of burn) to avoid death. If a FP is burned instead, the damaging attack/effect is completely and miraculously avoided. Also possesses the ideal version of each of the SM glands described in Deathwatch.

Shadow House: Has effective Influence equal to PF + 50. Can test influence against organizations to suborn their assets; with 3+ DoS, the target organization is unaware of the initial seizure, with 6+ DoS the assets involved are, if desired, also unaware of their changed orders/loyalties.

Hydraxus Dominus: Alpharius Omegon excels at disguise, subterfuge, and deception in general. In combat, up to four allied Alpha Legion CSMs can use Alpharius Omegon’s statline, movement, skills, talents, and traits (aside from Primarch, SH, HD, and ATF) instead of their own (wounds, FP, and PF do not change). They also gain the ability to roll Zealous Hatred, and Alpharius Omegon can spend a FP as a free action on behalf of any of these allies (they gain the FP benefits). Such allies appear indistinguishable from AO in every way except for weaponry (they appear to have, and must use, their own weapons). A Hellish (-60) SL(Tactics) or Arduous (-40) FL(Traitor Legions) test can identify the real AO.

A Thousand Faces: AO can disguise himself (with a successful Disguise Check, opposed by enemy Scrutiny checks) as a regular Alpha Legion CSM. If successful, he can choose each round whether or not to use stats, movement, skills, talents, and traits from his own profile or from the standard AL CSM profile. He always retains the Primarch, Shadow House, Hydraxus Dominus, and A Thousand Faces traits.

The wording on his unique abilities is sub-par, I realize. Any ideas?

Assuming this is actually meant to be Alpharius, make him Stronger.

Primarchs should be as far beyond a Space Marine as a Space Marine is beyond a human. He needs Unnatural x2 for Everything, and probably Unnatural x3 for Perception and Fellowship since he specializes in those, and x3 for Toughness and Strength since he's already beyond a Space Marine.

I like all of his abilities, but this is a being who's been alive since before the Horus Heresy and no matter how experienced your Rogue Trader crew is, they have a bare fraction of the experience, combat ability, resources or capability of a Primarch. The only advantage they might have is he won't have Primarch gear if he's been infiltrating them.

If this is actually an Alpha Legionnaire masquerading as Alpharius (he doesn't need to know), then these Stats should make for a reasonably challenging endgame appointment if he manages to dictate the terms of the engagement. Keep in mind his lack of Unnatural Willpower means if your group contains a high-level Navigator and/or Astropath then this fight has the potentially to be surprisingly anticlimactic though.

I agree with Erathia (though I don't have any personal experience wit end game fights).

The other thing to remember is that this is the Alpha legion, masters of infiltration, subterfuge, and sabotage. Likely, Alpharius knows the Explorers are looking for him, and has log ago put into place backups and plans in case the fight happens. If the Explorers manage to get to the fight (I like the idea of a stand-in, possibly one of his chief Commanders), I'd expect the Explorers allies to turn on them or for things to start failing at supremely in opportune moments.

Killing a Sub-Commander of Alpharius wouldn't destroy the Alpha Legion, but it would at least set them back. Using it as a way to end the Alpha legion's current plans in the Expanse/Far East would be a good start, and as much of a victory as any Eogue Trader could expect in the situation.

Failure, of course, would open the galaxy up to that Commander's plans, and the full predations of the Alpha Legion...

Thanks for the input, both of you. The current plan for the campaign is to have the players (and their characters) totally convinced that this is the real Alpharius they're dealing with. I'm leaving the option open for them to "win" the campaign without actually killing him (a high-ranking AL commander would likely run if he knew he was going to lose). If they do manage to kill him, I plan to introduce a seed of doubt as to his true identity even as the Explorers are lauded for bringing down a Primarch; I might even have their kill "confirmed" by the Inquisition (since they've been so accurate after pronouncing him dead so many times).

In short, killing him is not required to win the campaign, so I can make him beefier. Now, I haven't personally decided if this is the real Alpharius they're dealing with; I think the ambiguity works in the case of the Alpha Legion, though I would like the players and their characters to believe they truly fought Alpharius (except in the case of a kill, wherein a little doubt is in order.)

In terms of stat-boosts, perhaps a moderate buff is needed. The party does have a powerful Navigator, so I think I'll give AO at least Unnatural WP x2 and immunity to Mind-Altering effects. If I wanted AO to enter combat with his own set of unique Primarch gear, do y'all have any suggestions?

Officially the Imperium already says that he's dead. If they started trying to brag about this they'd probably be declared Heretics and executed. I believe that the Alpha Legion itself has been declared dead several times now. I'm sure that's going well. I actually think Alpharius probably doesn't have any unique Primarch gear, because he would rather blend in with his troops so much that anything that would make him stand out would be anathema.

From the Horus Heresy and other books, Primarchs go around tearing down Space Marines like a Carnifex through Guardsmen. If this is meant to be the final boss of your campaign, then have your players go in with the full weight of their gathered forces behind them, meet this ONE enemy and plan to have him absolutely curbstomp people. I've tried designing "big" boss fights, and of my three attempts my players managed to win two of them through clever exploitation, teamwork and great rolling.

Another suggested Primarch Talent.

Preternatural Senses

The reaction time and awareness of a Primarch borders on the impossible. A Primarch has a number of Reactions equal to their Agility bonus, and may spend a Fate Point to succeed on a Dodge or Parry test as if they had rolled a 01.

I´d push the whole doubles aspect. A primarch is practically a (demi)god in many ways and allowing your players to kill one (through skill, planning or plain dumb luck) would diminish the game IMO. Especially in their eyes too once they think about it.

As this primarch likes disguises, double dealings and intrigue etc, why not play to that angle?

Have one of his lieutenants act as the Primarch (and it seems to fit that several would, just to keep the Imperium off balance) and be the main protagonist. Make that lieutenant as bad ass as you can, befitting both a suitable officer in Alpharius' eyes and a veteran of 10,000 years....If they beat him, kuddos to the players for they have defeated a major end boss and presumably gained the spoils of that victory.

And then have (an avatar of) Alpharius either salute them for their actions (or mock them) and warn them that they have succeeded against one of his lesser lieutenants but if they are still willing to play, he can send one of his senior lieutenants......

Where's the "other one"? The players could be screwed funny if they happen to learn that Alpharius and Omegon are actually two separate, yet identical Primarchs.One is a demigod among men, but two would be TPK. Of course, the second one might be halfway across the galaxy, infiltrating or leading the Alpha Legion in some other way, but yeah, that could be a terrible hook.

With their weird history, and penchant for disguise, I would hope that it does end up being a disguised AL Marine, just because I can see them doing it. Enough other Primarchs are dead for going places they ought not have, so I can see where Alpharius, or Omegon, being the slightly junior Primarch, wouldn't be easily drawn out.