I recall them fondly from WarCraft II!
For some reason, I feel like they’d be more appropriate for Dwarves. But I suppose Orcs could use them too.
And I’m REALLY not sure about these two.
Boat Burner
Time 10 years, Res 20, Stat +1 M
Leads Black Legion, Chattel
Skills 3 pts Incendiaries-wise, Munitions, Artillery (I know Munitions is restricted to Man. I’m cheating)
Traits 1 pt: Missing Digits, Pyromaniac
Requires: He Who Burns Ships to the Waterline and Basks in the Glow requires Servant of the Gate
Shipbreaker
Time 10 years, Res 30, +1M
Leads Black Legion, Chattel, Great and Black
Skills 5pts Shipbreaking, Shipwright, Falsehood
Traits 1 pt. Greedy, Brutish Efficiency
Requires: He who Breaks the Spines of Ships like the Necks of Geese requires Boat Burner, Prize Taker, or Woodcutter.
Counts as Gate Forger.
Shipbreaking - A skill that allows a ship to be looted systematically. This process destroys the ship. Test vs the Ob to build the ship -1. Or something.
Do either of them deserve Mending, or is it more orcy for them to be unable to fix things? Should Forger and Woodcutter be possible requirements, or should it be restricted to The Rites and possibly Prize Taker? I’m thinking maybe Shipbreaker should be a prerequisite for Prize Taker, but I don’t want Woodcutters to be able to become captains that easily. Maybe Forger and Woodcutter should link to Boat Burner instead.
He Who Hunts the Beast of the Deep
YES PLEASE
YES LEVIATHAN HUNTER LP PLEASE.
Just modify the Boatwright LP from Man, and make it orky.
Orcs are all about Mending. As most of their stuff is scavenged and looted, they’re expert fixers, but poor creators.
In fact, maybe there’s no Boatwright at all, but instead a Boat Mender that custom orkifies stolen human galleys.
Also, Leviathan Hunter LP.
Good point about mending. I’ll rework the Shipbreaker lifepath.
Here’s my first crack at the Leviathan Hunter. I think it may be too complex.
Leviathan Hunter
Time 4 years, Res 20, Stat +1 M, P
Leads Black Legion, Chattel, Great and Black
Skills 4 pts Spoor of the Great Beast-wise, Chum-wise, Harpoon
Traits 2 pt: Quarry, Lame, Trophies, Beasthunter, Swimmer
Requires: Named, or any Seaorc lifepath other than Oarc or Sea Reaver
Is a prerequisite for Named and Prize Taker.
Quarry: Increases Hatred by 1. Gives a 4th belief about the target creature. If the target is changed for any reason other than its death, the trait is lost. The target must be unique - no I will kill a White Whale. It has to be I will kill Moby Dick, the white whale that took my leg.
.
Beasthunter: Allows Perception to be used as Aura Reading, but only for incredibly large, stupidly dangerous animals.
Swimmer: +1D to Speed in water. Leviathan Hunters often dive (or are pulled) in after their prey, and finish things with teeth.
Harpoon- Harpoons count as javelins, but with a Pistol’s range dice. On a Midi result or higher, the harpoon is lodged in the target, and its cord and drogue inflict an additional +1Ob to all tests until removed. The thrower can decide to keep a hold on the line. If so, in order to open range, the victim must position with Power. Failure means the maneuver fails, and the victim takes an additional wound. Success means the thrower must either let go of the cord, letting the range open, or be pulled off his feet. The victim can also attempt to sever the line with some sort of cutting attack. Removal occurs after wound treatment. Unsuccessful wound treatment inflicts an additional wound as the barbs are torn free from the flesh.
Dude needs Sea Legs to get that steady shot with his Harpoon.
And I guess Maimed is redundant for Orcs.
I like Beast Hunter!
Making an Ahab lifepath feels a bit over-specific to me. If the character wants to play Ahab and the group agrees, then he should be able to customize his character using normal rules. For the same reason, I think Spoor-… should be moved to the end of the skill list, as an optional skill to support Ahabs, rather than mandating it. Perhaps if you want to keep Quarry, you could move it to the end of the trait list. I agree it needs Sea Legs.
Sea legs added, and I’ve moved Quarry further back. I’m keeping Spoor of the Great Beast-wise first… in order to hunt a thing, you need to be familiar with it’s spoor. I’ve also added tracking, and removed Swimmer. I’ve replaced Maimed/Lame with Terribly Scarred, which counts as an extra lifepath for the purposes of rolling on the orc maiming table.
It’s not necessarily an Ahab lifepath, it could be a Great Black Hunter. No one goes after Sea Dragons for sport unless they are obsessed. If you want the Quarry belief to be about revenge, that’s cool. It could also be ‘gotta catch them all’.
Leviathan Hunter
Time 4 years, Res 20, Stat +1 M, P
Leads Black Legion, Chattel, Great and Black
Skills 4 pts Spoor of the Great Beast-wise, Tracking, Chum-wise, Harpoon
Traits 2 pt:, Trophies, Terribly Scarred, Sea legs, Quarry, Beasthunter
Requires: Named, or any Seaorc lifepath other than Oarc or Sea Reaver
Quarry [Die[: Increases Hatred by 1. Gives a 4th belief about the target creature. If the target is changed for any reason other than its death, the trait is lost. The target must be unique and identifiable.
Beasthunter [Die]: Allows Perception to be used as Aura Reading, but only for incredibly large, stupidly dangerous animals.
Terribly Scarred [Die]: Counts as an additional lifepath for the purposes of determining orc maiming. If the roll is failed, the player can choose to either not take the trait, or suffer the consequences. If the trait is required and the player opts not to take the maiming result, the lifepath may not be taken.
Harpoon- Harpoons count as javelins, but with a Pistol’s range dice. On a Midi result or higher, the harpoon is lodged in the target, and its cord and drogue inflict a +1Ob to all tests until removed. The thrower can decide to keep a hold on the line. If so, in order to open range, the victim must position with Power. Failure means the maneuver fails, and the victim takes an additional wound. Success means the thrower must either let go of the cord, letting the range open, or be pulled off his feet. The victim can also attempt to sever the line with some sort of cutting attack. Removal occurs after wound treatment. Unsuccessful wound treatment inflicts an additional wound as the barbs are torn free from the flesh.
I also fiddled with the Boat Burner and Shipbreaker. Boat Burner now has throwing instead of Artillery. Considerably less useful and more thematic, but if you want an artilleriest, you could take Siegemaster and then Boat Burner. Shipbreaker now has Mending and Rude Carpentry, and has replaced Shipwright with Boatwright. He can build dugout canoes and maybe longboats or small fishing boats, but can’t build ships anymore. I reduced the time on both of them to make them less powerful.
Boat Burner
Time 7 years, Res 20, Stat +1 M
Leads Black Legion, Chattel
Skills 3 pts Incendiaries-wise, Munitions, Throwing (I know Munitions is restricted to Man. I’m cheating)
Traits 1 pt: Missing Digits, Pyromaniac
Requires: He Who Burns Ships to the Waterline and Basks in the Glow requires Servant of the Gate or Keelhauler
Shipbreaker
Time 7 years, Res 30, +1M
Leads Black Legion, Chattel, Great and Black
Skills 5pts Shipbreaking, Boatwright, Mending, Falsehood, Rude Carpentry
Traits 1 pt. Greedy, Brutish Efficiency
Requires: He who Breaks the Spines of Ships like the Necks of Geese requires Boat Burner or Prize Taker.
Counts as Gate Forger.
Shipbreaking - A skill that allows a ship to be looted systematically. This process destroys the ship. Test vs the Ob to build the ship -1. Or something.
Can you Track in the ocean?
You might be able to if you establish with Spoor-wise that the great beast leaves a trail. You could also track a path of destruction. But your point is well taken… it may get removed again. Maybe research? Interrogation?
How did Ahab track the whale? Knowing whales’ migration patterns, knowing the sea currents, knowing that birds circle over feeding whales, knowing the best feeding grounds for that time of year…
Sounds like the realm of wises. Leviathan-wise, surely. Sea-wise, probably. These two ought to cover the knowings above.
Circling birds and droppings (floatings? which are also useful for finding whales… it’s possible to train dogs to find whale scat) would come under spoor-wise. Beasthunter is also useful for reading monster’s BITs. But Tracking may be wrong.