Necroes

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

@Jbcool Yea, it'd be the second one.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

As Urgrugg turned the corner, he was met with a cascade of surprises. First, he discovered that what he'd been tracking was a space marine, but in very unusual looking armor. He had basically nothing by way of knowledge about the various chapters, so the symbols and color of the armor told him nothing at all. The second surprise was a very sudden and very bright light turning on and shining directly into his eyes. Accustomed as he was to the dark of the hulk, this blinded the ork, causing him to real back. Finally, he heard something that sounded like gunfire, but of a magnitude he'd never encountered.

When the first bolter round struck his chest, it hit him hard. The marine had aimed for the ork's center of mass, which was by no means a small target, and true to form he'd hit his mark. Luckily for Urgrugg, though, the marine had aimed at the one spot on his body with any sort of protection on it. As the rounds slammed into his chest, they left deep dents in the thick armor plate wrapped around his torso. Alone, that would have been enough to knock him down. The explosions that followed each hit threw him backwards, making him land about a foot back.

Once he felt himself on the ground, the ork quickly rolled to one side, putting a large chunk of hull between himself and the armored marine. Looking around, he saw the mist that told him his newest 'ally' was more worried about running than making a counter attack. Though, when Urgrugg heard another set of armored footsteps approach, accompanied by further firepower and a battle cry, he quickly decided engaging might not be the best idea after all. If nothing else, there was no telling how many allies the marines had coming, and more than likely it was several.

Taking a moment to concentrate, Urgrugg quickly opened his mind to his surroundings. As he expected, there was a significant number of life forms headed their way, and coming from behind the marines. He couldn't tell how many, or even really how far away they were beyond 'behind the two marines.' However, he was only able to tell that much because of the stark contrast between the two warriors and what was coming from behind them. Urgrugg realized quite quickly, the things coming were not there to aid the marines. If anything, they were coming to feast on the bodies of the old battle field. That, and everything else in the large room.

Gritting his teeth, the ork made a decision. If he was going to make it off this hulk, he would need allies. As had just been proven, his current company would be no help in a fight. That meant making nice with things that would. As he let out a ragged cough, heavily laced with blood, Urgrugg knew that he had found just such a potential ally.

Once more, Urgrugg reached out to the warp. Gathering energy, he felt the loose fabric of his clothes begin to flutter with the sounds of wind coming from seemingly nowhere. His eyes crackling with raw power, he stood, forming the energy he had drawn out into a ball of flame, which floated in his open palm. He waited for just a moment, chanting a spell to contain the powerful sphere he held in his hand, until he heard what he'd been waiting for. As the door behind the marines opened, and a dozen or so mutants began charging in behind them with weapons draw, the ork stepped back out of cover.

Throwing his hand out, he willed the flaming sphere forward. Shooting past the marines, it slammed against the chest of the lead mutant. When it struck it erupted, turning into a massive ball of swirling fire. The hungry warp flame grabbed at every bit of exposed skin, latched tightly to each and every piece of cloth and hair, eating away any unprotected source of fuel for its immense heat. When the flame finally cleared, there were maybe four of the original dozen of mutants left. Each was badly burned, and the bodies of their allies laid around them, smoldering on the ground. The four that were left, though, were larger than the others. Each had at least one extra limb, and growths that looked like insect chitin covered small patches of their bodies. All four wielded some large tool, such as a sledge hammer or a shovel. From the looks of things, they were all still ready to fight.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

@Jbcool
In order:

My original point was that a psykers abilities are limited less by the psyker himself, and more by the amount of warp energy on hand. If I was mistaken about the amount of latent warp energy present, then that's my bad. That said, there is still a greater amount than normal on hand, so a psyker would be far from hard-pressed to go throwing powers around.

Quoting Warhammer 40,000 Wikia, page Immaterium; Emphasis mine:
"The Immaterium (also referred to as the Empyrean, the Aether, the Sea of Souls, the Realm of Chaos, Warpspace or most commonly, the Warp) is an alternate dimension of purely psychic energy that echoes and underlies the familiar four dimensions of the material universe. It is the source of all psychic powers and known instances of so-called "sorcery" or "magic" as well as the home dimension of the Chaos Gods and their myriad daemonic servants"
Strictly speaking, warp energy and what can be done with it is a bit better explained in 40k than in most settings. However, it still operates on the same basic lines of logic and reasoning as magic generally does. It has little to no actual rules, it's random by nature, and as a source of power it's shaped not by any inherent laws of nature, but by the sheer willpower of the one using it.

Orks are odd, in terms of psykers. Yes, they need to learn to control it, but gathering and expelling energy, and great deals of it at that, is how weirdboyz work in general. Any weirdboy, regardless of his skill or general power level, would easily be able to murder three of four tactical marines in a single blast of power, only to do it again a minute or two later. Skill only determines how likely they are to die when gathering the energy they need to do it. What's important to note here is that Waaagh energy is still psychic energy, and thus warp energy. The only thing that makes it special is that it exists in the matterium because orks constantly radiate it like heat from an open fire. This also means that normal weirdboyz are all but immune to the influence of chaos. Urgrugg isn't, but he's special.

Naturally, ork weirdboyz are more than capable of competing with librarian and sorcerer level psykers, at least in terms of damage output. How they work is straightforward. When around other ork, they absorb the latent psychic energy of the Waaagh field that all ork emit. In fact, they tend to absorb so much that if the Don't unload it, they'll explode, or die in some other horrible manner. This energy is so powerful, it allows them to spew gouts of warp-plasma from their mouths that will reduce lightly armored tanks to molten slag. Throwing out massive blasts of damage is just how ork psykers work, in general.

In terms of skill, Urgrugg is what is known among orks as a warphead. This means that he has learned how to regularly gather, manipulate, and wield Waaagh energy. When he was young, and still living with his tribe, he spent about forty years doing this, all while regularly participating in combat. For that to be true, and him to have lived so long, he would Have to be at this level of skill. Otherwise, he would have killed himself within a year or two just trying to handle all the Waaagh energy that is naturally produced in massive sums on an ork battle field.

What makes Urgrugg unique among weirdboyz are two things:
1.) He's able to draw power directly from the warp, and not just the warp energy that makes up the Waaagh field. The reason he can do this is what I've been keeping secret. It all ties back to his home world, and even further back to the creation of the orks as a race. Originally, the ork race were called Krork, and were created by the Smart Boyz (know to everyone else as the Old Ones) to defeat the Necrons during the War in Heaven. However, when the Old Ones were defeated, and the Necrons retired to their tombs to wait out the death of all other things in the materium, the Krork were still alive. In some cases, like that of Urgrugg'ss tribe, the death of the Smart Boyz left them stranded on an isolated planet.
Keeping in mind that they were created by the Old Ones, who were able to bend reality to their will like gods because of their sheer mastery of the Immaterium, and who also created the Eldar, I thought it wouldn't be a stretch to think that the psykers of their warrior race would be able to draw power from the warp. The ability to be powered by the presence of other warriors seemed like a logical solution to fighting the necron null-fields that cut off areas of space from the warp entirely.
The idea of Urgrugg is that he was born as one of these psykers, a remnant of the latent potential that resides locked in the DNA of all orks, but has been selectively culled out of them over the millions of years since their creation.

2.) Naturally, as there basically aren't other psykers like him among orks, he had to learn how to master his non-Waaagh powers some other way. This is where his dealings with daemons comes in. In exchange for teaching him to control his powers, giving him access to a much wider variety of abilities than the average weirdboy, he promised them his body and soul as a prize when he died. Wanting the secrets of the Old Ones, the daemons excepted. As a trick, though, they inscribed runes of power into him that mutated him, and cut him off from the Waaagh. This forced him to rely even more on the daemons, which led to further mutation and insanity which is generally common among normal psykers. Being trained by daemons, specifically those of the ranks of Tzeentch, he naturally is a very well-trained psyker.
All that amounts to the basic concept behind how Urgrugg exists, mostly because I couldn't think up anything less elaborate that would allow a weirdboy to have powers without an army of ork around him.

At the end of the day, it's hard to pinpoint where Urgrugg stands on the Imperial Assignment chart. Being an ork, he'd probably be classified as an Iota-Eta level. However, when you compare known and frequently used weirdboy powers to what librarians are able to do, at least in terms of destructive combat powers, he's fully capable of competing with shadowseers and librarians. All weirdboyz are. That would put him somewhere around Epsilon-Zeta level, possibly higher. However, as I've said, when it comes to small, subtle things, he's basically useless. Where a normal Iota level sanctioned psyker could easily manipulate a pen to write his name with ease, Urgrugg would probably blow up the table trying. That's why everything he's done so far has only been large-scale.

I'm sorry that people are feeling upset for Urgrugg's power level. Unfortunately, that's just the standard M.O. for ork psykers. They're not like humans, and the rules for how they work are completely different. From day one, they begin immersed in power that they are forced to expel violently through acts of devastating destruction. Unlike humans, they also don't need training to learn to control those massive sums of power. They were literally purpose-built to do just that. If he didn't know how to control it, then as a battle-hardened ork Urgrugg would be dead by now. So, he has to know how.

That said, my intent was never to harm the other players. My plan was to have some genestealers show up, then to make a show of blasting them and not the marines. You know, as a show of good faith.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

Is that seriously what's wrong? Everyone is mad because my character can put out a lot of damage? It's 40k. Everyone has the potential of massive damage output. Hyper-advanced technology does that.

Hand the ogryin a lascannon-he's big enough to wield it like a lasgun-the space marine an eviscerator, and just put the techmarine in the same room as any of the dozens of flavors of Imperial heavy artillery. There, they've all got the ability to open up a landraider like a can of tuna. Don't get upset that someone could kill your character with relative ease. It says nothing about any weakness in the character. It's just a byproduct of the scale of the setting that any number of weapons exist in mass-produced numbers that could just kill any of us. Hell, the tech-marine has a plasma torch strapped to his back that could burn a hole through his armor like it was tissue paper, only to then turn him into an insta-cook turkey dinner.

Psykers aren't the end-all in the 40k universe. They're powerful, sure, but in a setting where Anyone can be. Their benefits are that they're versatile, and don't require technology and gadgets to function. Their negatives are that they require warp energy, are massive targets, and on rare occasions can spontaneously be sucked into the warp, head-first through their own ass.
Urgrugg, specifically, has the benefit of specializing in big, flashy, destructive spells. His negative is that he can't do small-scale at all. He's as dangerous as a tank, but also as subtle as one, all while being barely more resilient than any given human, in the terms of the setting.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

@Wraithblade6 All of this coming from the guy in the chaos campaign who's not devoted to chaos...

And, to rebute:
1.) Combat magic is nearly instantaneous. It's like pulling a trigger on a weapon. Another psyker can sense the energy and try to disrupt it, but once it's done it just happens. There would be no point in putting psykers on the field of battle if they couldn't manifest their powers quickly enough to respond to a gun being pointed at them. This applies to all powers equally, regardless of size. The exception is ritual magic, which is explicitly not used in combat for that purpose.
2.) Over the past several hours, he's manifested 5 spells. Yes, psykers are limited. On average, a properly trained librarian can cast two to three spells reliably within the time frame of discharging his bolt pistol in a single burst. He would need to focus himself again, in somewhere around two to three minutes.
The primary limiting factor on what a psyker is capable of is how much warp energy he can control at one time, and how much is on hand. The actual act of manifesting warp powers isn't particularly straining in any physical sense, because none of energy being used comes from them; it all comes from the warp. That of course means that, were we in an area without a great deal of latent warp energy, psykers would be severely hindered. However, we are currently in a place where the warp is literally Bleeding into the Materium. There's plenty of energy on hand, which would give any psyker a sever power boost if they wanted it.
3.) No. Just no. As previously stated, the power manifests instantly. That power in question is a sudden blast of telekinetic energy that would literally detonate immediately between the two of you. No warning, no time to react, no cover to hide behind. And, before you say anything, remember; We are talking about Literal magic. By definition, it doesn't have to follow the laws of physics, let alone adhere to any kind of common sense.
4.) Yes, there exists a chance whenever a psyker manifests a power that it could backlash on him. Such events are uncommon, and experienced psykers rarely have any issue with them. Equally as likely, by contrast, is a phenomena where in the psyker channels too much warp energy, and channels the excess out through his body in the form of sheer power. This gives the psyker the rough equivalent of warp-energy terminator armor.

As for the number of people who play the tabletop game... Well, there's a reason that the company who owns the property is a miniatures company, and not a publisher.
Example: This website has about 72,000 registered users. By comparison, Dakka Dakka-a website dedicated to Warhammer 40,000, specifically to people who play the game and buy and use the miniatures to do so-has a registered user count of well over 100,000. But, of course, it's not like it makes sense that a website dedicated to people who enjoy narratives and roleplaying has primarily heard of a popular property via its roleplaying games and novels... Oh, wait.
Also-I'm in my twenties, and I live on less than 10k US a year. I watch Bruva Alfabusa too. He's funny, but even he openly admits the 90% of the things he depicts as cannon is nothing but horse-shit that's poking fun at older depictions of the world that no longer apply.

As for handling my character; Well, I'm not the one who opened fire on another PC without any provocation whatsoever, with the only justification being that you're distrustful of xenos because you're an imperial, in a Chaos-controlled RP. If you'd have just asked, I could have told you that would be a Bad idea. And it's not like Urgrugg hasn't just murdered people before for exactly the same thing. Between the two of us, I'm the one who's yet to actually do anything wrong.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

@Klomster That's the thing, though. In fluff, the abilities of a single marine vary dramatically. In books, they can be as potent as a single marine taking on entire legions of enemies, to standard foot-note level extras. Yes, any Named marine will usually accomplish amazing feats of skill, but that comes with plot armor. In other games, though, their powers vary even more. Some games depict them as being monsters of combat, being more akin to titans than humans. Others make them out to be just tougher humans.

Which is why the majority of people I know use the table-top game as a basis for determining average abilities. For one, the codexes are simply stated as being the most cannon source of information, until a new codex comes out. For another, they compare averages, not individuals.

@Wraithblade6 The afore-mentioned demolisher cannon shell from his face. That wasn't a joke, that's something psykers are fully capable of doing. It also originates from a point of his choosing, so unless one of the two marines has a null-rod lodged in his cologne, they'd both take a direct hit capable of destroying a land raider. And, I'm assuming, you don't think a space marine is more resilient than one of the imperium's most heavily armored personel carriers. That would just be silly.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

<Snipped quote by Necroes>

Okay, with all due respect, it is things like this that make me want to GM your character out of existence. He appears to have near-infinite power(s), apparently from all over the goddamn spectrum of psychic powers, is also capable of close-quarter fighting because of both being an Ork AND due to his force weapon.

The very fact that you can't find a way to NOT paste two Astartes - the Emperor's most capable warriors - without flooding a place with genestealers should really give you some indication that you've gone too far.

Feel free to write a rebuttle, in fact I would be happy if you did, as to why I shouldn't just plant the entire Preceptory of Sororitas right on his head.

@Jbcool

I asked you what source we're using. For exactly this reason, I asked you what we're using as the core reference for this campaign.

In 40k the table top game, space marines are Pansies. They're pushovers that will reliably be killed by the most basic ork weirdboy power. A shot from a hot-shot lasgun will punch through their armor, and has a pretty good chance to just take him out of combat. In addition, on the table, force weapons are standard-issue psyker wargear. Anything that outranks a wyverian psyker has one.

As for why I can't think of any solution that doesn't result in the death of two marines... That would be because any offensive power I have as a basic reference for a frame of scale that would be used against a lightly armored, fairly feeble enemy, would just kill them.

I wasn't the one who allowed a psyker. I'm sorry you were unaware of the power of sorcerer/librarian/weirdboy level psykers. However, nothing I've had Urgrugg do would be outside the realm of completely realistic and even very safe depiction of psyker power, for even a low-level weirdboy.

If you want to kill him, fine. You didn't know what you were giving me access to. Without realizing it, you gave me access to a great deal of power, and threw a piss-ant in front of him that was important to the plot. It's your right as GM to direct the RP as you see fit.

However, make no mistake. I did nothing wrong here. Everything I've said Urgrugg could do, he could do on the table top, all while being considered a less potent combatant than a tech-marine. Your dissatisfaction with him is entirely your own fault, because you underestimated the power of psykers, of any race, and severely overestimated the potency of space marines.

Now, I'm fully able to play Urgrugg as what he is; A very powerful ally, who's easily manipulated and exists as a glass cannon in combat, while being a tank overall. However, that plan only works if people are willing to work with him.

A group that's supposed to be dedicated to chaos, made up 50% by people who notedly Aren't devoted to chaos, does not allow for that possibility. If you're going to get mad at someone for not following the rules, maybe don't stick your foot in your mouth and selectively decide to ignore how half your 'chaos' party is still devoted to their Imperium-loyal faction.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

So... I'm gonna just flood the place with genestealers. There's nothing I can think of otherwise that would result in the two marines not just getting pasted.

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

@Jbcool*shrug* Your original description of him included the phrase 'huge hands,' without a frame of reference. Given that, I assumed that meant his hands were larger than a space marine's hands are supposed to be, thus mutated.

Back to the point, would a grievous and debilitating, but not explicitly fatal, wound be acceptable?

Are We the Bad Guys? - A WH40k RP [Mature]

Hmm... @Jbcool would it be okay to off the mutated decurion as a show of force, or do you need him for something special?