Dwarven Interrogator/Torturer and Lifepaths?

Burning Wheel Character Burner
1

Hi Guys,

Would someone be so kind as to help our group build a 4 lifepath dwarf who is an Interrogator/Torturer? We seem to be having a hard time making the lifepaths fit the concept.

Thank you!
Mike

2

I don’t think any Dwarven LP gives those skills. So either pick some LPs that match up to other stuff this dwarf might have been doing and use your general points, or else make your own LP (probably in the Noble setting, similar to Chronicler or Seneschal.)

3

I am just thinking some lifepaths that involve persuasion and surgery/khirurgy.

4

They don’t really have that role - bad dwarfs are shunned (e.g. Oathbreaker) or killed.

Anyways, you can just use general points.

5

The lifepaths are secretly the world-building of BW. BW’s Dwarves don’t have institutionalized torture the way Men do. You can make your own lifepath and add it, or you can make a Dwarf who picked it up as a hobby or at need with general poitns.

6

I gave the lifepath creation a try, its part of the Outcast setting

Torturer: 10 yrs, 20 Res, +1 M, Leads: Clansman, Nobility
Skills: 6 pts: Torture, Interrogation, Intimidation, Anatomy, Khirurgy, Shameful Secret-wise
Traits: 2 pts: Ashamed, Dirty Secret

Ashamed char

Dirty Secret Dt:
This trait gives two benefits; First it grants the Torturer a free minor relationship with the person whom employed them as a torturer. Second, unless or until the nature of the relationship is exposed the dwarven community will not treat the Torturer as an outcast. If it is exposed the Torturer will be shunned, run out of town, or killed.

7

I don’t think I would hardwire the reaction to being outed as a torturer quite so much. Why not just grant them an infamous Reputation if they’re discovered?

8

Why not somethign like an outcast life path…

Captured and Tortured: 5yrs, 2Res, +1M, Leads: Clansman, Host
Skills 4pts: Torturer-Wise, Torture, Orc-Wise, Shiv-Wise, Hauling, Scavenger
Traits 2pts: Sick-in-the-head, Horrifically Scarred, Hater

for a Dwarf captured by Orcs and turned into a friken monster… +1M is to show you developed balls under extreme torture.

9

That makes quite a bit of sense. Maybe something like “If it is exposed the torturer gains a 1D infamous reputation among the social circle of his employer”

10

Being under torture rarely gives you big balls of steel, I think. Mostly it warps you somehow. Doesn’t look like a lifepath that should have +1M to me, but possibly a big juicy trait or two - Numb, Thousand-Yard Stare or Fearless. Something that helps you in coping with pain.

EDIT: But the idea of a torture victim becoming a torturer himself is cool. Rife with conflict and drama, so I think it’s a very cool lifepath. Both are actually: Becoming like the enemy works, but torturers being the dirty secret of dwarven society rocks.

11

It worked well in Joe Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy.