+++Subject & Author+++
Angelical Weapons - Gaz Woods
+++Thought for the day+++
As Daemon weapons are those which contain the essence of an evil, malevolent soul, Angel weapons contain the essence of a good soul, one of a saint or a martyr. Most humans warp presences are absorbed into that of the Emperor's after death, but the most faithful and righteous of his servants are allowed to continue to fight on after death. These Angels often appear in visions to the Emperors servants and warriors, giving them guidance or reassurance. Some however take a more active role, by entering weapons, and granting the bearer with superhuman powers. They can only enter a weapon which has been sanctified and blessed however, not just any old piece of iron or steel.
An Angel weapon can only be used by someone who is "faithful". In game terms this means they actively follow the Emperor's creed. There are varying levels of faith, ranging from simply Faithful, to Devoted, and Righteous. Any Adeptus Ministorum characters, Puritan Inquisitors, or fanatics following the Imperial creed will be at least devoted. Cardinals, Monodominants and Adeptus Sororitas will usually be righteous. Any other character class can be faithful, except for Xanthite / Horusian Inquisitors, Arco-Flagellants, Adeptus Mechanicus characters, and any Daemons. Levels of faith are at GM's discretion, based on character's personality.
An Angel weapon can be created by taking any standard close combat weapon, and having it blessed. This removes any psychic residue from any previous non-faithful users. An Angel can then enter of it's own free will. To call an Angel, once the weapon has been blessed, then a ritual session of prayer and fasting must be observed, to test whether someone is worthy. Devoted and Righteous characters have the greatest chance of success, Righteous ones especially. Once the rituals have been observed, then the Angel will judge whether the praying character is worthy of their assistance. This is at GM's discretion. If so, the Angel will enter the weapon. Once in the weapon, the Angel will strengthen and improve it, altering its structure at the sub-atomic level to ensure perfect structure, weight and balance. After all, if the character is worthy of the Emperor's blessing, then they are worthy of a perfect weapon. As with a power weapon, an Angel weapon can never be broken.
As the Angel is in the weapon of it's own will, it is also free to leave. It can do this if the wielder fails a challenge to their faith, or if the weapon is lost or not adequately cared for. If dropped for whatever reason, and picked up by an Evil aligned character (Chaos cultist, Chaos Space Marine, any Daemon) then an Angel weapon will attempt to hurt whoever picks it up, by setting their arms on fire as if hit by a flamer. If not dropped, the Angel will leave the weapon until cleansed and re-summoned as normal. If picked up by a neutral character, then they can use the weapon, but it simply counts as a normal weapon of that type. Note that it is still unbreakable, and still has anti-daemonic properties as below. If the non-faithful still has the weapon at the end of the game, the Angel leaves and the weapon can be destroyed as normal.
All Angel weapons count as blessed weapons for the purpose of wounding characters with the Daemonic: Impervious property. They also count as force weapons for purpose of wounding Daemons. This means that against Impervious Daemons, an Angel Weapon will do double damage after armour, with one extra level of injury, and +D10 to injury level.
If an Angel Weapon and a Daemon weapon are struck together in combat, then the spirits inside will attempt to banish each other. Each must make a test against their willpower. Whichever spirit passes their WP test by the greatest amount wins the combat, and banishes the opposing spirit. This reduces the opposing character's weapon to a normal weapon of its type.
Angelic Weapon properties
An Angel Weapon may have as many properties as detailed blow. Note that an Angel's WP is only used in combat with Daemonblades, or if the Angel has the Righteous Fury power.
The difficulty for summoning each Angel should be proportional to their powers, as is deemed appropriate by GM.
Properties:
Bound, Breathe, Deflection, Flight, Magic Absorption, Magical Force and Resurrection may be used as with Daemon Weapons.
Blast of Holy Flame, Holy Fire, and Righteous Fury are as Fiery Blast, Warpflame and Deathlust respectively. For Righteous Fury, it is assumed that the Angel is the spirit of a particularly zealous martyr that imparts part of its personality on the wielder.
New Skills
Shield of Faith: The Angel protects the wielder by enveloping them in a psychic energy field. This counts as 2D6 points of protection against all attacks. It may not be combined with any other type of field.
Blinding: The Angel's radiance shines out through the weapon, blinding the faithless. This has the same effect as a photon flash grenade centred on the character holding the weapon. Any Faithful characters are immune to the effect.
Healing: The Angel can heal the faithful. The wielder can "strike" an ally on any location they choose. Any damage done after deductions for armour etc. is deducted from the injury total rather than added.
Aura of Radiance: The Angel can project an image of itself around the wielder. This has the effect of making the character fearsome to neutral and evil aligned characters. Daemons who see this must take a Nerve check or be stunned for one turn. The image also raises the Nerve value of any allied characters within sight range by 10.
Emperor's Guidance: The Angel allows the character to see that which is truth. As such, they can't be affected by vision obscuring conditions such as dark, rain, smoke, etc, and are only stunned for half the normal length of time by Photon Flash grenades (rounding up). In addition, they count the effect blind grenades as of smoke grenades.
Glorious Charge: The Angel imbues the weapon with an enormous weight upon striking. If the Angel Weapon is used to charge, the character struck will receive 2D3 Knockback in addition to the hit. This is cumulative to the effects from hammers.
Proselytizor: The Angel can attempt to bend the will of anyone it comes into contact with. A hit on the enemy causes the weapon to cast Enforce Will on the target using the Angel's WP.
Shattering: The Angel can extend his powers of molecular reorganisation outside the weapon so as to affect enemy armour. This allows the Angel to create small impurities and fracture planes in enemy armour. The denser the armour, the more devastating the effect of fissures. An Angel weapon with the Shattering power ignores 1/3 of enemy armour, rounding down.
