Political Actions in Inquisitor

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+++Subject & Author+++
Political Actions in Inquisitor - Jack Vogel

+++Thought for the day+++

We know that Inquisitors have the unrestricted authority to commandeer the manpower and resources of the Imperium. Inquisitors can order up armies of the Imperial guard, entire chapters of Space Marines, or the searing death of entire worlds, despite the feeble protests of Imperial governors.

That is the theory, but does it work out that way in practice?

We also know that Inquisitorial authority is sometimes defied by those same guard and marine commanders, and that Inquisitors are even assassinated by desperate governors. Then again, resistance to an Inquisitor's commands may be less overt: taking the form of red tape thrown out by corrupt officials, or even contrary orders from other members of the Inquisition.

What follows is an attempt to flesh out a political system for Inquisitor, one that allows the Inquisitor great, but not unlimited power, based on the notoriety he has achieved by his actions in the service of the Imperium.

Awe and Dread
An Inquisitor's actions will accumulate awe or dread as follows:

Awe
Save an Imperial Planet from Destruction: +D10 Awe
Give Aid to the Masses: +D10 Awe for every 10 trade points given to aid the starving masses.
Win A Major Battle for the Imperium or Destroy a Greater Daemon or Daemon Prince: +D8 Awe
Save the life of a Powerful Imperial Servant or Hero: +D6 Awe
Destroy a Lesser Daemon or Daemonic Servant: +D4 Awe

Dread
Slay A Powerful Imperial Servant or Alien Ruler: +2D6 Dread
Order Exterminatus: +2D6 Dread
Destroy a Minor Alien Race: +2D10 Dread
Suppress a Rebellion: +2D8 Dread
Publicly Execute a Witch: +D6 Dread
Publicly Display Psychic Power: +D4 Dread
Publicly Execute a Criminal: +D3 Dread

Note - It is easier to accumulate Dread than Awe. But the use of Dread can cause reprisals, while Awe does not.

Inquisitorial Feats
An Inquisitor can order any of the following actions, if he is in an appropriate location to order it (i.e. he can order up a fleet from the command chamber on Kar-Duniash, but not from the trackless wastes of an uninhabited deathworld), by simply making a successful Leadership test. However, reprisals may follow.

If the Inquistor spends an Awe point before making the roll, he need fear no reprisals, and does not roll on the Reprisal Table If he spends a Dread point, he only needs to roll on the Reprisal Table if he fails the Leadership check for the Feat. If he spends neither an Awe or Dread point, he automatically rolls on the Reprisal Table, regardless of whether or not he is successful in the Feats.

The Inquisitor must always declare whether he is spending Awe, Dread, or nothing before he makes the Feat roll.

Feats
Spies: The Inquisitor may ask the game master any single question, answerable “yes” or “no” only, that pertains to any other character, or to the adventure at hand, before the beginning of the adventure. The game master must answer this honestly.

Favor: The Inquisitor can obtain a favor from a low level Imperial functionary, that may even involve breaking the law or protocol in some minor way. E.g. he can arrange to have baggage go through customs unchecked, track a local politician's whereabouts via the planetary computer net, etc. This Feat can have many functions in an adventure, all of which are up to the game master.

Major Favor: As minor favor, but involves higher level functionaries. The Inquisitor can order a blockade of a major industrial world, the purge of the planetary eclesiarchy, etc. The Leadership roll for this Feat is made at a penalty of -10.

Exotic Item: The Inquisitor can use his Feat power rather than trade points to acquire any common, uncommon, rare or exotic item, simply by requisitioning it from another character whom he meets in the course of the game, who possesses that item (PC or NPC). The Leadership roll for this Feat is made at a penalty of -10.

Legendary Item: The Inquisitor can use his Feat power rather than trade points to acquire a legendary item by requisitioning it from another character whom he meets in the course of the game, who possesses that item (PC or NPC). The Leadership roll for this Feat is made at a penalty of -20.

Recruit: The Inquisitor can use his Feat power to recruit an NPC character to his service (this must be somebody he meets in the course of gaming, he cannot simply say “I want to recruit a space marine.”). If he attempts to recruit a judge, rogue trader or adeptus mechanicus, the roll for the Feat is made at -10. If he attempts to recruit an arco-flagellant or psyker, the roll for the Feat is made at -20. If he attempts to recruit a space marine or daemonhost, the roll for the Feat is made at -30.

Commandeer: The Inquisitor can use his Feat power to commandeer an army or fleet for a crusade against aliens, chaos, mutants or whatever. This normally involves playing the evening's game out as a 40K, Epic, or fleet action, and representing the player characters in the battle. The Leadership roll for this Feat is made at a penalty of -10 for every 500 points of troops, ships, or whatever the Inquisitor seeks to commandeer. Of course, the forces must be available to be commandeered in the first place.

Execute: Yes, the Inquisitor can even execute other characters (PC or NPC) by Feat. If this roll is made successfully, there is no battle. The character is just dragged off by sufficient strength of Imperial servants and vaporized in the most convenient manner. (Trial? What's that?).

Exterminatus: Most terrible of all the Inquisitor's powers is his ability to order the death of a world. The Leadership roll for this Feat is made at a penalty of -50.

Note - the Leadership roll for any Feat can be modified by +10 for each additional Awe or Dread point (after the first) spent for this purpose. Awe and Dread points cannot both be spent on the same Feat roll, it must be one or the other.

Reprisals
As noted above, too flagrant use of power can result in reprisals against the Inquisitor. Each time a reprisal roll is required, roll a D100 on the table below:

D100 Roll	Result
01-30	Grudging Obedience: The Inquisitor seems to get what he wants, but it is flawed in some way (50% chance it will fail whenever needed, or, in the case of a really massive Feat, like commandeering a fleet. He may be supplied with faulty ammunition, etc.).
31-45	Slurs: The Inquisitor loses D6 Awe or Dread points (he can choose which, of those available). If he has less Awe or Dread than he is required to lose, he loses all his Awe and Dread, and must roll again on this table at +10.
46-60	Rival: The Inquisitor has angered a powerful Imperial servant, making him a political enemy. There is a 10% chance that any future Feat roll made by the Inquisitor will be opposed by this enemy, giving a penalty of -30 to the roll.
61-67	Bomb!: Roll a D6 for each encounter in the next adventure (only). On a score of 1, a random grenade goes off within D6 yards of the Inquisitor.
68-75	Desperado: Roll a D6 for each encounter in the next adventure (only). On a score of 1, a desperado or bounty hunter has been hired by the Inquisitor's political enemies. He joins the opposing forces, with the object of killing the Inquisitor.
76-83	Assassin: Roll a D6 for each encounter in the next adventure (only). On a score of 1, an Imperial Assassin (yes, they're serious this time…) has been hired by the Inquisitor's political enemies. He joins the opposing forces, with the object of killing the Inquisitor.
84-91	Revolt!: Someone is so panicked by the Inquisitor's actions that a planetary revolt follows. The Inquisitor must crush it (and can gain no Awe or Dread points for doing so) or loses all of his accumulated Awe and Dread for the fiasco.
92-99	Enemies At Court: The Inquisitor has attracted some REALLY powerful opposition. Each time a roll is made on this table from this point on a +10 penalty is applied to it. This is cumulative with any further rolls of Enemies At Court.
100	Executed or Promoted: The Inquisitor's actions have acquired so much notoriety that he is executed (if he presently has more Dread points than Awe points) or kicked upstairs to a desk job (if he presently has more Awe points than Dread points). Either way, roll up a new character. However, a promoted Inquisitor could occasionally act as a patron for his old warband (game master's discretion).

Political Opposition
Any character who wishes to oppose the Inquisitor's Feat for whatever reason (maybe he is the target of a proposed execution, for example) can do so by making his own Leadership roll, and he may spend his own Awe or Dread points to modify this roll (as under Inquisitorial Feats).

If the opposing character passes his Leadership test by more than the rival, the rival counts as having failed his Leadership test for all purposes.

If multiple characters wish to oppose or support a single Feat roll, they may all contribute awe or dread points, but only the highest ranking character actually makes the Leadership test.
Note - the Leadership test to oppose a Feat counts as a Feat itself, and may be subject to reprisal rolls as any other Feat.

Other Characters and Politics
Other Imperial Servants can also acquire Awe and Dread, and can make Feat rolls, though their powers are more limited than those of the Inquisition. Rogue Traders make Feat rolls at -10, Judges and Space Marine Commanders at -20, Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperial Guard Commanders at -30. None of these characters can order Exterminatus.

All other character types can acquire Awe and Dread points, but can only use them for Political Opposition rolls, or for the Favor or Spies Feat, unless the game master decides otherwise.

How It Works Mechanically
The game master should set up a timetable for political actions (say, once per campaign year) and allow each player to submit written orders as to what actions his characters will take. These orders can be contingent if desired (i.e. “I will spend three Awe points to oppose any character who attempts to have me executed, or attempts to take my daemon sword”).

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