Outlaw Merchant - Quick Loadouts and Psykers

John Blanche

Following in the footsteps of Jim's Bastionland loadouts for Dolmenwood, I ended up on the lighter end of things for Outlaw Merchant. Perhaps I can do a deeper dive of each as playtesting goes on and add some creative flair based on HP and Thrones? We shall see, but these will do for now.

When it comes to fluffy loadouts, Jim puts it best with this:

Given that Bastionland is essentially a classless family of games, the "classes" below are not hard and fast. I like to look at them and their related style of play as "class = background + items," that is, what you're holding and why you're holding it informs me as a referee to understand how you can reasonably interact with the world. "Oh, you're a hunter so you would be able to track this"/"You want to talk to the priest? Well, you're a friar so you should have no problem getting a word" etc. 

So here are some past lives for new agents of the Inquisition. Pick one or roll 1d8 to see who you were and what gear you have. Use these as a basis to tweak and tinker for your own dreadful hive cities.

(1) Adept

"Knowledge is power. Do not waste it on the masses."

• Stub automatic (d6)
• Imperial robes
• Auto-quill
• Data slate

(2) Arbitrator

"No shield may stay the blade of justice."

• Shotgun (d6, +d6 at point-blank range)
• Truncheon (d6)
• Enforcer carapace (Armour 1, Bulky)
• Manacles

(3) Assassin

“The Emperor wills all things, even death. Some deaths He wills swifter than others…”

• Scoped rifle (d8, Bulky)
• Sword (d6)
• Black bodyglove (Armour 1)
• Throwing knives (d6)

(4) Cleric

"One who is without faith is without a soul. Suffer not the soulless in thy ministry, for they make doors for dangerous forces."

• Warhammer (d8, bulky)
• Stub revolver (d6)
• Aquila necklace
• Ministry robes.

(5) Guardsman

"Life is war. And I'm gonna win!

• Lasgun (d8, Bulky)
• Great Knife (d6)
• Guard flak armour (Armour 1 against explosions only)
• The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer

(6) Psyker

"I have stood within the palace of the Throne of Holy Terra itself. There my soul was shattered and re-formed, a living weapon forged on the Emperor's will."

• Staff (d6, Bulky)
• Cloak
• A sanctioning brand somewhere on your body
• Psykana Mercy Blade (d4)

SPECIAL:

• You possess Witch-Sight and can sense the currents and eddies of the Warp in real-space.
• You belong to a Psychic Discipline and have mastered a simple Psychic Power (d6):
  1. Biomancy: Smite. You can shoot arcs of bio-lightning (d6, ignores Armour).
  2. Divination: Warp Perception. Perceive the world with unnaturally heightened senses.
  3. Pyromancy: Manipulate Flames. You can control, move, or extinguish open flames.
  4. Telekinesis: Telekinetic Control. You can grasp distant objects with invisible eldritch hands.
  5. Telepathy: Telepathic Link. Allows "reading" or "sending" of surface-level thoughts.

(7) Scum

“Yeah, crime pays. Why else do you think I do it?”

• Autogun (d8, Bulky)
• Brass knuckles (d6 each)
• Colorful streetwear
• Ganger regalia

(8) Tech-Priest

"I am a child of the Omnissiah, cultist of the Machine God. The rites of manifold applications, the liturgies and the songs of Engine-seeing are mine own to know. I speak to the spirits of ancient tech machines, from the warrior heart of a battle tank to the secret wisdom of a cogitator."

• Laspistol (d6)
• Metal staff (d6, Bulky)
• Red robes and cult vestments
• Vials of sacred Machine Oil

SPECIAL:

• You have begun replacing your weak flesh. You have Mechanicus Implants (You always have at least Armour 1)

I believe this piece is by Paul Dainton

Psychic Powers

As delightful as it is, the common ItO/EB approach of "spells as items" isn't exactly appropriate for psykers and their powers. I'm going to use Cosmic's Exhausting Magic for this and heavily utilize EB's take on Unions when it comes to furthering your psychic mastery (or your descent into damnation).

In short:

• Sacrifice all HP to use a Psychic Power.
• Cannot (safely) use powers again until HP is recovered.
• Unlimited powers per day.
• As long as you have HP to sacrifice you can use powers.

Powers Without HP

• Possible but dangerous and costly.
• For each power used while not having HP, do one die of CHA damage.
• Increase the die size for each spell cast without HP; d4 → d6 → d8 → and so on.
• If this reduced you to 0 CHA, really bad things happen (possession, explosions, reality breaking, etc.). Beware the Perils of the Warp!

Next time, I'm going to be looking at coming up with some weird and macabre Inquisitors to serve as Patrons for the group of agents, letting the youngest player determine what weirdo controls your life now. Perhaps I'll post some of the adversaries and NPCs from my first playtest as well!