In Nomine Revisited: Ogiel.

Another one of my favorite characters, although I totally derived him from a character in GURPS IOU. I just figured that you’d get Cro-Magnon angels, right?  Made sense, really.

ogiel-michael-google-docs

Ogiel

Ofanite Hero of the First Incursion

Angel of Hitting Bad People With A Really Big Stick

Corporeal Forces: 6 Strength: 12 Agility: 12

Ethereal Forces: 4 Intelligence: 7 Precision: 9

Celestial Forces: 5 Will: 12 Perception: 8

Word Forces: 12

Vessel: big, burly male/4, Charisma +1

Skills: Dodge/4, Emote/1, Fighting/6, Knowledge (Literature/2, Philosophy/3), Large Weapon/6 (Really Big Stick), Move Silently/2, Savoir-Faire/2, Small Weapon/2 (not so large a stick) Tactics/3, Throwing/4

Songs: Healing (Corporeal/3), Light (Celestial/6), Might (Corporeal/3, Ethereal/1, Celestial/1), Motion (All/3), Shields (Corporeal/4, Ethereal/2, Celestial/2), Tongues (Ethereal/2)

Attunements: Seraphim of War, Ofanite of War, Malakite of War, Proficiency (Really Big Stick), Howl, One to One, Sure-Footed, Hero of the First Incursion, Angel of Hitting Bad People With a Really Big Stick

Hero of the First Incursion: For those without Superiors 1, Heroes (or Champions) are Michael’s higher Distinctions (thus, Ogiel also happens to be a Master of Valor): they are given out for extremely valorous deeds. In Ogiel’s case, he got it by single-handedly shutting down the first demonic Tether ever made, five minutes after it formed. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the only demonic Tether formed that day, but that’s not Ogiel’s fault.

Angel of Hitting Bad People with A Really Big Stick: Ogiel’s a sentimentalist. The Word is usually translated these days as “Fighting Evil”. Ogiel always recognizes Bad People (Fated and Hellsworn, mostly), and ignores any kind of armor or toughness when he Hits them.

Rites (Ogiel will give them out to anybody he likes a lot):

  • Hit a Bad Person with A Really Big Stick
  • Make a Really Big Stick out of some wood and leather

Artifacts: The Really Big Stick. This is a truly enormous, primitive club (treat as a Long Sword). It serves as a Corporeal Artifact/6, Reliquary/3 and is Instantly Summonable (not to mention indestructible). This relic is useable on all three planes. Ogiel didn’t set out to make this artifact: it was just the first Big Stick that he ever picked up in order to Hit a Bad Person, and he’s kept it ever since (he never saw another Big Stick that he liked better). 20,000 years in the hands of a Word-Bound has made it into an artifact.

Ogiel is Michael’s oldest Word-Bound Servitor. He’s so old that he predates the Fall. Even back then, there were times when humans would be forced to use violence to defend themselves, and Ogiel had a certain affinity with large chunks of wood. His major goal back then was to get humanity to use a Big Stick only when it was really necessary. Ogiel is a stereotypical “guy who can afford to be gentle because he can rip a car in half if he needs to”.

This essential sunny nature of his probably kept him from turning into a Malakite during the First Rebellion. He felt tempted, sure, but Ogiel doesn’t like the idea of losing control. When he loses control, bad things can happen to less durable people. He was doing all right as he was, anyway.

Ogiel has spent a very large part of his time since the Fall on the Corporeal plane. Once the demons broke out of Hell, it became obvious that humanity was going to need a lot of help. Ogiel figured that while the tools for that help might get more sophisticated, in the end it would boil down to somebody standing up to Evil and whaling on it with whatever came to hand. He might as well stay close to the action.

Most of his peers tend to discount Ogiel’s brains. To be fair, Ogiel does come across as very large, not overly bright, and essentially unsophisticated (it happens when your vessel is six feet, two inches tall and you wander around with a four-foot club). Most other angels like him, mind, because he’s a nice guy, but they don’t really expect him to understand a lot of what goes around him. That might have been true in the past, but Ogiel these days is a little smarter than the average celestial. He’s been making an effort lately to catch up on all the stuff out there that doesn’t involve Hitting People With A Really Big Stick, with a fair amount of success.

In combat, Ogiel has two strategies: he splatters demons who haven’t encountered him before and chases down those who have. The real trick is to get him into combat in the first place. Ogiel has seen it all, and he’s not interested in kicking ass for the sake of kicking ass. If you’re not actually abusing humans in his presence, or don’t have a reputation for doing so, or if Ogiel’s Malakite Attunement isn’t ringing alarm bells, then he’ll just sit there with a slight smile, and have another beer. Prudent evildoers flee when he stops smiling.

The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use with the In Nomine and GURPS systems from Steve Jackson Games. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Steve Jackson Games.
In Nomine and GURPS are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games, and the art here is copyrighted by Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by SJ Games. This material is used here in accordance with the SJ Games online policy.