Hey /tg/, I'm gonna be playing as a Techpriest in a DH campaign. I have the idea that he will be party support/healer, as none of the other party members can get medical until much later than me, and I need tips for actually roleplaying the guy. Obviously he is gonna be more concerned about tech than his team, but to him working with the Inquisition will help him find new and more exotic shiny bits.
>>44381994
Go play as krieger from archer and the game will play itself
>>44381994
You can have him be Magos Biologis. Have him be obsessed with xenobiology, vivisection, bonedrills and general gory dismemberment and you can't go too wrong.
Say "fascinating" a lot when tearing someone in half.
>>44382158
OP here, and I gotta say, that sounds pretty fucking great
>>44381994
Remember be inflexible as possible, decisions involve prayer and meditation, don't do anything without the proper prayers/use if incense otherwise it could lead to CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES.
You aren't so much a medic as a shaman, your surgical tools need appeasing or they will murder your patient out of offense, surgical procedures are more like religious ceremonies.
>>44383323
There was a pic in the Dark Heresy 1st ed book. He had a painful looking surgical device in hand and a tabard with the writing "Make whole the flesh, to serve the Emperor. Mend the Bones to do deeds in his name".
As a techpriest, go further than this. You are a technician returning units to functionality. If you cannot repair a unit, scrap it for parts for others. Have a bedside manners servitor for saying reassuring things to your patients because it is part of the process you needn't include yourself in.
Come to think of it, a creepy orderly servitor in surgical clothes would be great, prerecorded messages of almost motherly caring coming from a lobotomized cyborg sounds deeply wrong.
>>44381994
You may or may not be miffed when people praise the Emperor rather than the Omnissiah.
You will most definitely be livid when people misuse equipment or expose it to needless danger.
>>44384186
So a mix of Q, Krieger, and a Jew on Xmas?
>>44385562
Without humour.
>>44381994
Use every available excuse to attempt and upgrade your crew mates with superior cyborg enhancements.
>>44384186
That seems silly as the mechanicus sees the emperor as the omnissiah made flesh so to praise one is to praise the other.
>>44386058
I'm reminded of Igor from Discworld.
OP again, and I am loving the suggestions so far
>>44386361
>Same as Muslims and Christians
But they're going about it all wrong
Have sex with all the equipment
>>44387561
>Interface with all their equipment
>>44387561
Tempting but no
No suggestions here. Just wanted to share this bitchin drawing.
Maybe this one too
>>44386361
That's a convenient fiction that neither side really believes. The Imperium and the Machine Cult need each other, so they had to come to some sort of compromise.
>>44386361
That was what a treaty made after the Emps beat the Martian people said rather than what they necessarily believe.
>>44381994
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TvN5lCVkRk
>>44381994
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrLZgP-OR6s
>>44387637
>Suble chaos symbols in eyes and on the bottom of robes
>>44387948
Those things in his eyes are cogs.
You do not make whole, you do not heal, you do not tend. You return damaged units to functionality. You do not care, you do not expend more than the expended amount of material on saving a life. You get them back up on their feet, and send them into the fray.
>>44387898
He didn't so much beat them as enter negotiations after the Martians shit all over Terran's feudal century before his return.
The Heretk part comes after the negotiations are rejected by a sub-group of Techpriests.
>>44387980
Reminds me of a quote from Aliens;Nightmare asylum; "When a machine breaks you don't concern yourself with therapy, you either fix it or you replace it."
>>44388023
>>44387980
Maybe one way to look at it is the cyberpunk approach.
The system does not care for the worker drones. They are just a cog in the machine. You only have rights and independence as long as it is of value to the grand scheme of things. If your position becomes troublesome, you get cut.
>>44381994
You are a Priest. That serves the Machine God.
So seek knowledge, look after your charges, be they machine spirits or more fleshy members of the cult of Mars, and curb stomp anyone who fucks with the Omnissiah.
To be honest the body is a machine of sorts, especially the muscuskeletal aspects of it.
The shoulder blade has 17 muscles connecting to it, the spinal cord has 33 vertebrae with a massive cord of nerves threaded through it, splitting off at precise points in the spine. A lack of sensation over the lateral head of the gastrocnemius suggests a defect with the nerve originating from the first sacral vertebrae.
A good medic is one who has studied the textbooks with religous fervour, and wants to test the generally accepted knowledge and demonstrate the value of their knowledge.
Remember to annoy the fuck out of other players by constantly reciting litanies to the machine spirit before working with tech. Preferably a different litany for each piece of tech and a sub-litany for each action with said tech (reloading a las pistol, firing a las pistol, repairing a las pistol)
>>44388555
Will do
>all the people ITT don't understanding shit about Cult Mechanicus philosophy and making them up to be "retarded spergs lol just go full autism and pray to doorknobs kek so randumb"
>mfw I feel like sperging all over the thread and going full autism because of it.
>>44389834
Do it.
>>44389834
I double dare you to do it.
>>44389834
OP here.
I have read the tenets of their philosophy. I was looking for advice on how to roleplay as one. But most vof these ideas are fucking hilarious
>>44389834
I've seen lots of people who think that tech adepts are full autism mode.
>>44389925
>>44390000
Joke's on you - I already made a rant that got saved on 1d4chan, so I'm just going to post that.
Children, I'm fucking fed up with your shit. Cult Mechanicus IS NOT a replacement of rational thought with religion for the sake of operating machines. It's a (in-universe) developed philosophy of collective rationalism. AdMechs don't throw their critical thinking out of the window. They just already took this thinking, put it on a pedestal, brought it to it's apex (Dark Age), suffered for it, suffered for it again (HorusHeresy, Schism of Mars), then looked at it and asked : "What do we do now?" Every Mechanicum is a rationalist, in a meaning that when he goes through all the critical thinking to the basic reason of his existence, he takes on the dogma of Quest for Knowledge. That he exists to Rationalize the Universe, move towards learning and understanding the Universe and it's laws. It's a collective quest - adept doesn't seek knowledge just for himself, he sees all the Adeptus Mechanicus as one single huge Gnostical Engine, a Machine of Comprehension designed to learn. He's a single little gear in the heart of enormous Over-Intellect gathering and producing knowledge.
1/2
>>44389834
Show us your wisdom.
>>44390137
For what sake? AdMechs thought (and fought) a lot about this question, and took one answer - for the sake of Mankind. Now THIS is where shit gets religious. As of it now, humanity utilizes science for egoistical purposes of survival (scientists need something to eat) and/or domination, which can be understood by every human through his instincts. Society of Mars, however, got devoid of this motivators, as they dropped their human instincts, so they had to find new goals. This is where the Schism takes roots, as well as the "Cult" part. Every rational human can tell you that objectively life has no meaning. Accepting that fact is what brought the galaxy Necrons and Iron Men. AdMechs knew that this is what they wish to avoid. And the most effective way to avoid that is to walk the irrational way and create a sense for your existence through faith. This is what they did. They are the fanatics in the sense that they BELIEVE that Universe CAN be comprehended, while they have 0 proof of that. They BELIEVE that critical thinking works, while living in a Galaxy that laughs at any attempts of rationalization. They BELIEVE that Quest for Knowledge can be completed. And it this faith, they are being paradoxical and irrational. And they know it.
2/2
Adding to that - Mechanicus rituals are rituals not because they don't understand how they work (although SOMETIMES that is the case), but because the very operations they are performing, what we see as routine maintenance and protocols, they see as THE theopany experience, the Communion with what they see and as the divine.
For mundane man, changing engine oil is just a thing you do to keep your car running. But for an Adept, such a procedure is seen as manifestation of divine Laws of Friction and Principles Of Solid Bodies Interaction, and an amazing feat of Intelligence that uses the power of High-Boiling-Temperature Liquid Bodies to transcend the mundane and use it for the better of mankind.
>>44381994
You've already given a lot of useful advice on the fluff front so I'll toss in something different: keep an eye on the other characters when spending your XP, and moderate yourself where appropriate. FFG really loves techpriests and their crunch reflects as much - they're not downright broken, it's still 40k and there's still stuff that will eat even the most optimized techpriest for breakfast, but you /will/ have a lot more options to cheese things available to you than the guys and gals in your party who play characters that aren't either techpriests as well or - once you've had some XP rolling in - psykers.
>>44390257
So, are AdMechs just constantly trying to explore the laws and rules of the universe? If so, how does their heirarchy work, is there much conflict of ideas and purposes within their organisation, what do they hate the most?
>>44390137
>>44390257
Which is all contradicted by the Codex Cult Mechanicus.
>>44381994
>no cutey cyborg gf to praise the omnissiah with
>no cutey gf to fuck with robotic tentacles
why live?
I've always wondered why they don't show a whole lot of variation when it comes to the Cult Mechanicus. I mean, aside from the Quest for Knowledge they should be as diverse as the Ecclisarchy is as far as how their faith is interpreted.
I mean, a tech priest from Vostroya shouldn't act anything like a Tech Priest from Mars aside from the fact that they share similar ideals as far as the Omnissiah is concerned.
I'm sure GW just doesn't want to because reasons
>>44392144
They don't. In Rogue trader it explicitly gives you a separate language, simply for being part of the Admech's Explorator sub-division. It further mentions how Explorators have a seperate culture from the more "standard" Forge World Techpriests.
As always with 40k. If you can dream it up, it exists in universe somewhere.
>>44394082
Of course, I'm just saying the Cult Mechanicus is more then just the Techpriests themselves because if you read across the different books (DH etc) they make note of noble houses and general citizenry that also exist on the foreworlds who no doubt contribute to the pool of potential initiates as well as performing whatever other tasks you might find
>>44394082
>If you can dream it up, it exists in universe somewhere.
Like an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters.
>>44395629
>Like an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters.
I'm pretty sure that's how Black Library does most of its writing.
>>44392110
Which is why anyone remotly sane should ignore said codex.
It's shit writing at it's best because GW sucks hard at explaining things but it is quite good at implying things.
Implications made the AdMech a quite interesting organization, which is why people wanted rules for them.
Explanations made them OHLOLSORANDUMBXD.
>>44392085
The AdMech has a shitload of subcults. It's kinda like early Christianity. They mostly get along, but will argue at nauseam to almost open war against each other over seemingly minor things.
While on the other side tolerate each other to insane amounts. Tech Priest A may think the emperor is the Prophet of the Omnissiah, Tech Priest B may see both as the same, Tech Priest C may deem them as two different entities.
In the imperial Cult this would result is HERESY yelling, followed by the smell of promethium in the morning. In the Cult of Mars no one cares as long as shit stays civil and does not result in a shism.
>>44392144
There are, it is just really subtle differences to those not already in admech.
