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Check this bloke out. Any suggestions and feedback are more than welcome.


Herr Meinrad Godebert
Age: 40.
Gender: Male.
Occupation: Master Prosecutor (Hound)
Faith: State religion.
Cocnept: Middle aged scholar and philosopher, fiercely loyal to the Empire.
Description: An unremarkable middle-aged man, save for the all-consuming fire in his eyes.



SOCIAL CLASS (Pr5)
Greater Noble

Now some things outside the scope of the book - if allowed.
Lifestyle: Even when at court he prefers simple meals and very rarely drinks brews or wine. He avoids court balls and other social event if possible. He always has at the ready the excuse that "There are issues of grave importance that require his attention" to evade his peers' insistence of joining them. When not in active duty he spends his time in research and a sizeable amount of his income in humanitarian services like hospitals, orphanages, and poor relief.
Possessions: Clothing is of excellent materials and superior craftsmanship, still simple and utilitarian. He dresses wholly in black. Owns a well-groomed white destrier which he calls Ehrlich; Arms: A ceremonial dagger, a decorated rapier, and a brace of engraved pistols. These four items are custom tailored to be worth 12 coin; Armor: Instead of the brightly polished munitions plate and helm - if its convenient - I'd prefer a library of equal worth.
Wealth: Assets 6, Coin 5

ATTRIBUTES (Pr4, 22pts)
Agility: 3
Brawn: 3
Cunning: 5 (+1)
Perception: 5 (+1)
Will: 6 (+1)
Grit: 4 (+1)
Keen: 5 (+1)
Reflex: 4 (+1)
Speed: 3

SKILLS (Pr4; 40pts)
Coercion 4 (+1)
Education 8 (+2)
Manipulation 4 (+1)
Medicine 4 (+1)
Oration 1
Politics 4 (+1)
Lore: Imperial Court 2
Lore: Imperial History 2
Lore: Imperial Law 5 (+1)
Lore: Imperial Religion 4 (+1)
Lore: Occult 4 (+1)

PROFICIENCIES (Pr1; 0pts)
EDIT: Proficiency went down to zero. More in line with character concept.

TRAITS (Pr1; 3pts, +2pt from Noble = 5pts)

• 1dBG Imperial Court Censor (0pts)
• 1dT Trait: Fiercely Loyal (0pts)
• 2d Reputation: A man not to be trifled with (3pts)
• 3d Status: Hound Prosecutor (2pts)
  4pts 3d Faction Power
  -2pt Representing the authority of the faction, but within a limited area of focus

DRIVES

• Accordance with the Mandate of Heaven is the natural way. My duty is to reform those who rebel against this. 1
• Human nature is evil, goodness is the effect of intentional activity. 1
• I humbly serve so that the Empire will endure for a thousand years and more. 3

Ok, some thoughts, need your input guys.

My idea behind the character is a crossbreed between an inquisitor and a Chinese bureaucrat scholar who is responsible for crime investigation and meting out justice.

In truth I'm a bit confused as to how Factions and all work. But its obvious that the Hounds are a faction.

The Hounds
2d Faction: Cost 6pts

I give up the free patronage from noble to get 2pts towards the faction. Meaning that I use those 2 points towards that cost of 6, leaving 1 point for each of you to cover up of the remaining 4.

Then I think he needs some Status within the organization. Breakdown of this:

Faction granting Status is 2d = 3pts cost
Status is Master Persecutor (Representing the full power and authority of the faction within a specific area of that faction) = -1pt cost
Status is due to his faction membership = -2pt
For a net result of 0pts.

I apologize in advance if I misunderstood the rules. Oh, and updating the initial post pronto.

Benedict wrote:Ok, some thoughts, need your input guys.

My idea behind the character is a crossbreed between an inquisitor and a Chinese bureaucrat scholar who is responsible for crime investigation and meting out justice.

In truth I'm a bit confused as to how Factions and all work. But its obvious that the Hounds are a faction.

The Hounds
2d Faction: Cost 6pts

I give up the free patronage from noble to get 2pts towards the faction. Meaning that I use those 2 points towards that cost of 6, leaving 1 point for each of you to cover up of the remaining 4.

Then I think he needs some Status within the organization. Breakdown of this:

Faction granting Status is 2d = 3pts cost
Status is Master Persecutor (Representing the full power and authority of the faction within a specific area of that faction) = -1pt cost
Status is due to his faction membership = -2pt
For a net result of 0pts.

I apologize in advance if I misunderstood the rules. Oh, and updating the initial post pronto.

Alternate take: Since the Hounds alternate in such a fashion that they are all individual operatives, and their appointment is by the imperial crown, I would be fine just calling this a Status and not forcing the cost of the faction itself on you. There are maybe a hundred Hounds in the entire empire, and there's never going to be a situation where the Hounds will act as a cohesive unit.

I'd call it Status
5 pt - (4 Die, from the Emperor)
-2 pt - Representing the authority of the faction, but within a limited area of focus.
(3pt total)

As you technically have the full authority of the imperial crown -- but that authority is effectively limited to your duties as inquisitors and justicars.

If you wanted to haggle though, given that Status can work a bit like Patron and that the purpose of the free patronage/free dice towards a faction is you establishing where you're employed as a greater noble, I could see an argument for "Spirit of the rules" letting you use your 2 points for that given the context of this particular game.

Some questions and concerns.

Agamemnon wrote:I'd call it Status
5 pt - (4 Die, from the Emperor)
-2 pt - Representing the authority of the faction, but within a limited area of focus.
(3pt total)

1st Concern: Factions by themselves can go up to 3d for a whoomping cost of 8pts. There's no option for a 4d faction.

A 4d Status means that we will be tapping 4 dice any time we pull our weight as Hounds, which honestly from a rules point of view seems a bit much to me. Not so with a 2d Faction. Still if everyone is cool with the +4d I'm cool with it.

2nd Concern: That means that everyone involved will have to invest heavily in Status.
5pt (4d, from the Emperor)
-3pt (A station of honor and importance, but with an extremely limited scope of responsibility or influence. Personal champion, bodyguard, herald or messenger.)
(2pt total)

Meaning a min Trait ivestment of 2. Which I fear will complicate builds for the other guys, given they have high priorities in Attributes and/or Proficiencies.

That's why I opted of creating the Faction with my extra noble points. It's a min investment of 1pt per person. Plus they can get Status, Reputaion, temptable Traits, or other goodies more easily.

Agamemnon wrote:If you wanted to haggle though, given that Status can work a bit like Patron and that the purpose of the free patronage/free dice towards a faction is you establishing where you're employed as a greater noble, I could see an argument for "Spirit of the rules" letting you use your 2 points for that given the context of this particular game.

I have no use for Patron the way I think of this character. This could be done too.

And a question. Is it ok to replace the armor with a library?

Don't worry about making us change up character builds. Neith will probably be quite different, or possibly even an entirely different character.

My impression was that it was set at the "edge of the empire". We could reasonably bump the status down to 2 or 3 dice to represent people being less loyal to a king that lives half a world away.

thirtythr33 wrote:My impression was that it was set at the "edge of the empire". We could reasonably bump the status down to 2 or 3 dice to represent people being less loyal to a king that lives half a world away.

My thoughts exactly, from a context point of view. Neglected to clarify earlier.

thirtythr33 wrote:Don't worry about making us change up character builds. Neith will probably be quite different, or possibly even an entirely different character.

You know me, I'm that little filthy minmaxer giggling in the corner.

Jokes aside -- even if everyone opts to change characters all together -- my thought was also to take advantage of the -2pt discount (your character has membership in a faction that exists specifically to fulfill your role in this status., or your status is due to your faction membership) for everyone involved, not just myself. Meaning more leverage for all.

Still, Ag is the final arbiter of this. Just kicking around ideas.

Benedict wrote:1st Concern: Factions by themselves can go up to 3d for a whoomping cost of 8pts.

Yes. This is intentional. It means one character of any social class can technically be a member of a powerful faction with a T5 trait choice. If they are a greater noble, they can use their points to either be a member for 6 points, or a leader for 8. It's absolutely possible for a single PC to still be in control of one of the most powerful political forces in the country on their own.

On the other hand, the more PCs who are involved in the affair, the cheaper it becomes. This is also intentional. The more PCs are wrapped up in the thing, the more focus that thing has in the story by comparison, the cheaper it thus becomes to bring it into play.

If we want to put all this into perspective, though, the previous "greater noble" gains from BoB gave you like 50 dudes and a hall. On a whole, it was probably worth somewhere between a 1d and 2d faction.

Benedict wrote:There's no option for a 4d faction.

3d already gives you a major influence over an area. You're a house big enough to influence national events, yadda yadda. When working out the actual figures for what factions mean (the full-fledged faction system), we had to cut off the scale at the high end of regional. Once you start trying to model kings and nations, things get really silly in terms of scale, and they'd wind up having to have attributes that scaled up way past the 1-10 scale we tried to set for faction attributes. At a certain point, we just cut it off and declared "this is beyond the scope of what we are trying to model."

The characters being the royal house is such a fundamental change to the premise of the campaign that it would need to be cleared with the GM anyway, so if it's something that the GM and players want to do badly enough, they can as easily handwave it, tweak it, whatever.

Benedict wrote:A 4d Status means that we will be tapping 4 dice any time we pull our weight as Hounds, which honestly from a rules point of view seems a bit much to me. Not so with a 2d Faction. Still if everyone is cool with the +4d I'm cool with it.

To be fair, any time you could apply that, one of two things is happening:
1) You're flaunting your badge in front of some poor individual dude who has no means to resist you in the first place, in which case -- as a regular dude on the street you try to refuse one of the Emperor's interrogators? That sounds like a quick way to conjure up some unpleasantness.
2) or you're entering a pissing match with someone who has power/influence of their own, in which case if you whip out yours, they'll whip out theirs and it will be your 4d tap vs their 2d or 3d tap (depending on their own station, the station of their patron, etc). Not as bad as you think.

One also has to keep in mind that if it works against you, it's that much worse (say, the person just hates the Empire), and there are certain people against whom it just won't apply at all -- i.e. trying to interrogate a hardened criminal. Your authority comes from the law. For people who make their living by being on the other side of the law, you're just another jackboot with a badge no matter how fancy or important those jackboots are.

Benedict wrote:2nd Concern: That means that everyone involved will have to invest heavily in Status.
5pt (4d, from the Emperor)
-3pt (A station of honor and importance, but with an extremely limited scope of responsibility or influence. Personal champion, bodyguard, herald or messenger.)
(2pt total)

Meaning a min Trait ivestment of 2. Which I fear will complicate builds for the other guys, given they have high priorities in Attributes and/or Proficiencies.

That's why I opted of creating the Faction with my extra noble points. It's a min investment of 1pt per person. Plus they can get Status, Reputaion, temptable Traits, or other goodies more easily.

Unless someone wants to be an apprentice hound (in which case it'd be 2pts, I'd argue. One step down from you), then no one else really needs Status unless they want a status or faction independent of yours. You're the Hound here. If they are your retinue, any Hound-cred they might have is only through you anyway. The -3pt station would be more like if they were a bodyguard to the Emperor himself. They don't need a status to be your bodyguard/henchman/etc.You aren't yourself important enough to count as a status-giver.

Benedict wrote:And a question. Is it ok to replace the armor with a library?

Sounds good to me, but are you going to try and travel with said library, or is the idea that you have a residence in the region?

ThirtyThr33 wrote:My impression was that it was set at the "edge of the empire". We could reasonably bump the status down to 2 or 3 dice to represent people being less loyal to a king that lives half a world away.

I'd be fine with that, if you want to save some points.

Agamemnon wrote:

Benedict wrote:And a question. Is it ok to replace the armor with a library?

Sounds good to me, but are you going to try and travel with said library, or is the idea that you have a residence in the region?

Now that you mention it, I'd say he has a residence there. And some unfortunate NPC (relative, childhood friend, etc) drops a tale about cultists/demons/cannibals and he requests from HQ to take this mission and/or invites the other Hounds there.

Haven't read the draft yet, so can't contribute much... I'll think about what to make of my char, though I might still consider him some kind of sellsword for the hound, no member of the faction himself. Only if it is mandatory.

EinBein wrote:I'll think about what to make of my char, though I might still consider him some kind of sellsword for the hound, no member of the faction himself. Only if it is mandatory.

Oh, haven't thought about this possibility. I had the impression that everyone is a Hound. No point in making it mandatory I guess.

With that in mind I'd best go with this

Agamemnon wrote:I'd call it Status
5 pt - (4 Die, from the Emperor)
-2 pt - Representing the authority of the faction, but within a limited area of focus.
(3pt total)

and this

Agamemnon wrote:I could see an argument for "Spirit of the rules" letting you use your 2 points for that given the context of this particular game

Only one question remains: is it a 4d Status (emperor), or less as thirtythr33 suggested? 1 or 2 points will drastically alter his Traits.

Benedict wrote:

EinBein wrote:I'll think about what to make of my char, though I might still consider him some kind of sellsword for the hound, no member of the faction himself. Only if it is mandatory.

Oh, haven't thought about this possibility. I had the impression that everyone is a Hound. No point in making it mandatory I guess.

With that in mind I'd best go with this

Agamemnon wrote:I'd call it Status
5 pt - (4 Die, from the Emperor)
-2 pt - Representing the authority of the faction, but within a limited area of focus.
(3pt total)

and this

Agamemnon wrote:I could see an argument for "Spirit of the rules" letting you use your 2 points for that given the context of this particular game

Only one question remains: is it a 4d Status (emperor), or less as thirtythr33 suggested? 1 or 2 points will drastically alter his Traits.

I'll leave that up to you, really. If you were in the empire proper, it'd definitely be the full weight. Since we're up in the hinterland at the imperial border, though, the weight you choose will decide how much that imperial sanction is actually worth.

thirtythr33 wrote:Don't worry about making us change up character builds. Neith will probably be quite different, or possibly even an entirely different character.

I should throw in that Marie will almost certainly be changing as well.

Thanks for all the input guys.

Ok, I think I got it. Just need final approval to update sheet.

TRAITS (Pr2; 4pts, +2pt from Noble = 6pts)

• 1dBG Imperial Court Censor (0pts)
• 1dT Trait: Devout Fiercely Loyal (0pts)
• 1d Trait: Piercing Gaze (2pts)
• 1d Reputation: A man not to be trifled with (2pts)
• 3d Status: Hound Senior Prosecutor (2pts)
  4pts 3d Faction Power
  -2pt Representing the authority of the faction, but within a limited area of focus

DRIVES

• Accord with Heaven and preserver, rebel against Heaven and perish. 3
• Accordance with the Mandate of Heaven is the natural way. Those who rebel against this shall perish at my hands. 3
• Human nature is evil, goodness is the effect of intentional activity. 1
• I humbly serve so that the Empire will endure for a thousand years and more. 1

So, just for clarity, the official decision is that membership in the Hounds constitutes a 3d status within limited area focus, for a total of 2 trait points? And it is the norm for a Hound to have their own retinue of sell-swords and associates that work with them without being formally inducted into the order?

taelor wrote:So, just for clarity, the official decision is that membership in the Hounds constitutes a 3d status within limited area focus, for a total of 2 trait points? And it is the norm for a Hound to have their own retinue of sell-swords and associates that work with them without being formally inducted into the order?

yes on both counts. The concept for "the hounds" is not so loosely based on the WH40k Inquisition. You'd have an individual hound or a pair, and then they would be largely autonomous recruiting their own private retinue of trusted men. This probably would only be a handful of people in all but the rarest cases. At most a dozen. A smaller group is more nimble, can cover more ground, and attracts less attention on the road. It's also easier to tell if one of your people is a spy, that way.

If you ever needed manpower on a larger scale, your authority as a hound would open most doors for you. Sweating nobles into lending you their men and that sort of thing.