Dark Heresy Revamped : Chapter IIIb - Skills Part 2

So in my last post I went over the two new skills that I've added to the game in this revamp of Dark Heresy. This time I'm going to deal with the skills that I've altered, so lets get straight into it.

Rules Alterations :

The existing skills have been altered as follows.

Athletics :

• The “Endurance” special use of Athletics is moved to the new Endurance skill.

Common Lore

• All uses of this skill have been folded into the Lore skill.

Forbidden Lore :

• All uses of this skill have been folded into the Lore skill.

Linguistics :

• All characters begin play with Linguistics [Low Gothic] and Linguistics [Origin Language] at Rank 1 (Known).

Lore :

• Common Lore, Forbidden Lore and Scholastic Lore have all been collapsed into the Lore skill, which represents both a formal education in a particular Specialisation as well as rumours gleaned from gossip, hearsay, independant research and any other sources.
• All three kinds of Knowledge apply to each Specialisation, for example Common Lore [Imperial Guard] will allow a character to learn about local regiments and recent millitary actions. Scholastic Lore [Imperial Guard] represents an education in the Tactica Imperialis as well as knowledge of the organisation and deployment of the Imperial guard as well as their millitary history. Forbidden Lore [Imperial Guard] will allow a character to learn about regiments that have been destroyed in horrific circumstances or fallen to the worship of the dark gods, as well as the specifics of those unfortunate events.
• Different Characteristics can be used for Common and Forbidden lore tests at the GM's discretion,. The use of Perception for Common Lore tests representing information gathered in the characters daily life, overheard rumours, and common knowledge amongst the local populace. The use of Willpower for Forbidden Lore tests represents the inherently corrosive nature of some forbidden knowledge, and the characters ability to parse and understand it in a legible fashion.
• Common Lore tests are performed using either Intelligence or Perception at the GM's discretion and have a +20 bonus to them in addition to other modifiers such as those suggested on p.103 of the core rulebook. Common Lore tests may be made Untrained, at the GM's discretion.
• Forbidden Lore tests are performed using either Intelligence or Willpower at the GM's discretion and have a -30 penalty to them in addition to other modifiers such as those suggested on p.105 of the core rulebook. Forbidden Lore tests may NOT be made Untrained.
• Scholastic Lore tests are performed using Intelligence and have no inherent bonuses or penalties to them. Scholastic Lore tests may NOT be made Untrained.

Medicae :

• See the Combat chapter for alterations to how Healing works.

Operate :

The Operate skill uses an altered selection of Specialisations, see later in this document.

Scholastic Lore :

• All uses of this skill have been folded into the Lore skill.

Security :

• Security has the aptitudes Agility or Intelligence, and Tech.
  Security tests to unpick physical locks rely on Agility, while tests to hack digital locks rely on Intelligence.

Sleight of Hand :

• Sleight of Hand has the aptitudes Agility and Fieldcraft.

Trade :

• The aptitudes of the Trade skill vary depending on the Specialisation being purchased. Exactly what aptitude is used is up to the GM, though some guidelines would be the use of Fellowship for Trade [Performancer] and Perception for Trade [Explorator]

Design Notes :

Most of the Aptitude and Characteristic alterations are aimed to, well, make more sense of certain skills. I've no idea why Sleight of Hand used Knowledge as an aptitude, and likewise I think when piloting a Lunar Class Cruiser it's less important that you're agile and more important that you can calculate thruster burst times and navigational data whilst simultaneously keeping an eye on stellar phenomena and the stress tolerances of your vessel.

Lore's been collapsed into one skill for a few reasons. Firstly because it's always bothered me that a character needs to take 3 skills to have a comprehensive knowledge of a particular subject, especially when going by that logic Common Lore would be a prerequisite for Scholastic Lore and Scholastic Lore for Forbidden Lore. Otherwise a character with Ecclesiarchy based lore skills could learn all about Imperial Saints that have fallen to chaos or been corrupted, whilst having no idea about the actual rituals, rites and practices of the Imperial Creed. It doesn't make sense. Likewise when this edition has collapsed a few skills into each other, such as combining Concealment and Silent Move to create Stealth, the Lore skills have remained separate from each other.

I've mentioned the Beta of Dark Heresy 2nd Edition a few times, and one of the many things it did right was replacing the Lore skills with Remembrance, a single skill that worked in conjunction with a system of Specialisation talents with the different Lore types being made using different characteristics. I've kept elements of that, whilst not keeping the Specialisation system and I'm happy with what I've come up with.

We're not quite done with skills, as I want to take a quick look at the rules for Crafting as well as go through some of the specialisations for Linguistics, Lore, Operate and Trade. After that we'll move onto Talents, and at some point soon I'm going to start putting together a compilation document that I can host and that will contain the latest iteration of my rules alterations.

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael

Dark Heresy Revamped : My Thoughts So Far...

So, I've been busy the past couple of weeks with work and college assignments, but I've still had time to do a bit of pondering and playtesting with regards to my Dark Heresy Revamped project. I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to split this little project into two distinct but interlinked branches, due to different player groups having different expectations of what I'm doing, and my own desire to be able to accomodate both.

Essentially, I'm going to be splitting it into Dark Heresy 2.5, and Dark Heresy 3.0. 2.5 will be, in effect, an updated version of the Dark Heresy rules, essentially updating a few of the issues that irk me and incorporating a few mechanics that I've been making use of with my groups for a while now. Dark Heresy 3.0 on the other hand will take this revamp considerably further, with mechanics undergoing significant alteration due to my own belief that they improve the game.

For claritys sake, here's what I'm planning to alter / incorporate into these versions...

Dark Heresy 2.5

• Altered Character Creation : This is in line with what I've done so far, and incorporates updated and altered Homeworlds/Origins, Backgrounds and Roles as well as a few other minor tweaks. This is more or less complete.
• Altered Skills and Talents : This incorporates my new skills (Endurance and Resolve), as well as tweaks to the Lore skills and a few talents thanks to the changes I'm making to the system.
• Altered Consumables Rules : These are alterations to how ammunition and other consumable resources like medical supplies and the like work. I'm doing this to cut down on book keeping and make the game flow faster, with more of a narrative feel to it.
• Zone Based Combat and Movement : This is perhaps the biggest change I'm making from 2.0, with the rest just being updates and alterations. There are also a couple of tweaks that I want to make to the combat system, especially with regards to Fatigue.
• Updated Equipment and Weapons : Obviously the above changes require some alterations to the existing statistics for weapons and equipment. Not only that but a fair few items have very nebulous rules, and I'd like to nail them down properly with more specific mechanics.
• Updated Psychic Powers : 

Dark Heresy 3.0

While the above alterations are pretty set, those that follow could be considered "Plug Ins", with anyone using them able to treat them as optional house rules and pick and choose. 

• Alternate Resource Systems : This is an expansion on the above alterations, but taken to the next level with Influence being replaced with a series of statistics that are dependant on character actions and rewards, such as Influence, Reputation and Wealth. Each taking the form of both permanent statistics and consumable temporary rewards.
• Benefits of Success / Consequences of Failure : I've already explained this little system in my earlier posts, and it's one that I'm playtesting, along with...
• Damage 3.0 : This is a modified damage system, which replaces the existing Wounds and Critical Damage tables with a system of Injuries and Damage Thresholds. This is currently the most contentious change and the one that I'm playtesting the most heavily.

I'm working on another update tonight, so I'll be posting that up too shortly. I've actually got a week off from work and college, and though there's plenty I want to do, I'm also going to try to catch up on my writing.

For the purpose of this project, I'm going to focus on the components of 2.5 for now, while I playtest those of 3.0 in the background. That'll let me get more content out to my readers, while simultaneously accounting for all the basic changes for my play groups.

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael

Dark Heresy Revamped : Chapter IIIa - Skills Part 1

And now we're moving onto Chapter III, Skills. The most important thing I've done here is the addition of two new skills, followed by a few alterations to aptitudes and specialisations and a revamp of the Lore skills. Let's have a look at the new skills today shall we?

New Skills :

In addition to the skills presented in the Dark Heresy Core Rulebook, characters have access to the following new skills and begin play with both at Rank 1 (Known). After the description for each skill are several Benefits of Success and Consequences of Failure that additional degrees of Success/Failure can be spent on after determining the result of the roll.

Endurance [Toughness] :

Aptitudes : Toughness, Defence
Skill Use : Free Action, unless otherwise noted.

Endurance covers acts of physical resilience, such as fighting off the effects of a disease or poison, or withstanding physical trauma over short or long periods of time.

This skill is particularly valuable to explorers, labourers, and others with physically intensive and exhausting professions. Likewise mercenaries, soldiers and the like often develop this skill as they take and survive injuries and trauma.

Whenever a character would (under the basic rules) be called upon to make a Toughness test, they instead make an Endurance test. Likewise any Athletics tests that would deal with acts of physical endurance or stamina become Endurance tests instead of Athletics tests.

The GM can call on a player to make an Endurance test when...

• They are travelling in harsh conditions and must withstand the effects of exposure.
• They wish to push past their usual limits even when they would normally be exhausted (This has been moved from Athletics to Endurance).
• They need to withstand sudden physical trauma or torment that would leave them incapacitated.

Resolve [Willpower] :

Aptitudes : Willpower, Defence
Skill Use : Free Action, unless otherwise noted.

Endurance covers acts of mental resolve, such as fighting off a psychic assault, resisting interrogation, or maintaining your composure when a foe is taunting you or attempting to drive you into a frenzy.

This skill is vital to anyone who risks physical violence as part of their everyday life, as it allows them to keep calm under fire and push forward instead of panicking. Likewise anyone who has secrets to keep or regularly comes into possession of valuable information would do well to develop this skill in order to resist intimidation or interrogation.

Whenever a character would (under the basic rules) be called upon to make a Willpower test to resist Fear or any sort of mental influence, they instead make a Resolve test.

The GM can call on a player to make a Resolve test when...

• They are resisting interrogation and torture.
• They are under fire and need to resist their opponents attempts to suppress them.
• They encounter a terrifying foe or situation, and need to prevent themselves from fleeing in fear.

Design Notes :

So this one's nice and short, but let's have a look at why I've changed what I have.

Endurance and Resolve have been added for reasons I've already gone into in an earlier post. They allow characters to be particularly tough or strong willed without necessarily having to spend insane amounts of XP on increasing Characteristics they may not have the aptitudes for, especially when it's so easy for antagnoists to add bonuses to the tests to resist Shock, Toxic, Fear and the like. It's a balance issue I've run into more than once.

As usual, if you've any ideas or feedback please let me know, and I'll be carrying on with this in my next post.

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael

Dark Heresy Revamped : Chapter IId - Character Creation Part 4

With this post we're getting to the end of my alterations to Character Creation in my revamp of Dark Heresy. This time we're going to take a look at Roles and how I've decided to alter them. These are pretty much all alterations to the roles Role Bonuses, so this is a much shorter post than the last two, thankfully. I'm sorry for the late update too, but it's been a hell of a week and I've been very busy. Unfortunately it seems like that'll be the case for at least the next two weeks, but I'll do my best to keep up regular updates.

Ace (Enemies Without p.38) :

• Role Bonus “Right Stuff” : An Ace character may spend a Fate Point to automatically succeed on an Operate or Survival skill test involving vehicles or living steeds with a number of degrees of success equal to the appropriate Characteristic bonus.

Assassin (Core Rulebook p.62) :

• Role Bonus “Sure Kill” : After hitting an opponent with an attack, an Assassin character may spend 1 Fate Point to deal additional damage equal to their Weapon Skill bonus for melee attacks, or their Ballistic Skill bonus for ranged attacks to the first hit made with that attack.

Chirugeon (Core Rulebook p.64) :

• Role Bonus “Dedicated Healer” : A Chirugeon character may spend a Fate Point to automatically succeed on a Medicae skill test with a number of degrees equal to their Intelligence bonus.

Crusader (Enemies Beyond p.34) :

• Role Bonus “Smite the Unholy” : A Crusader character may spend a Fate Point to automatically pass a Fear test with a numer of degrees of success equal to their Willpower bonus. Additionally the first time in a round that a Crusader character hits with a Melee attack against a target with the Fear trait they increase the Damage and Penetration of that attack by X, with X being equal to the targets Fear rating.

Design Notes :

The Ace has been altered slightly to bring them in line with my alterations to how the Operate skill works, namely that not all Operate tests are based on Agility. We'll get into the details of that in the Skill section, but safe to say your Agility counts for little when you're at the helm of a Luna class Cruiser...

The Assassin's Role Bonus has been altered in line with some changes I'm making to the Combat Rules, based around the Benefits of Success / Price of Failure mechanic I introduced in an earlier post. Allowing them to benefit from their degrees of success twice would be somewhat unfair, whilst giving them a set bonus streamlines things a little.

The Chirugeon has had the effects of their Role Bonus broadened to apply to all Medicae tests instead of just First Aid. Whilst admittedly being skilled at first aid is useful, it is purely a combat based benefit when I think Chirugeons should be equally skilled at distilling curatives, analysing outbreaks, and performing autopsies as they are at stitching people back together. Likewise they can use this ability to simply pass a test in the same manner as a Sage, Seeker or other Role.

The Crusader has been...toned down somewhat. Their base Role Ability makes them terrifyingly powerful against anything with a fear rating, which as it stands can lead to Daemons, Aliens and the like huddling in a corner, screaming their apologies whilst the Crusader beats them to death. I've limited their damage/penetration bonus to only being applied to one attack per round in order to bring them down to the same level as other characters, that said I'd like to alter their role ability so it's a little less specific, so we'll have to see if anything else springs to mind in the future.

When I get around to finalising my alterations to the combat system, the Desperado and Warrior may see some changes. However we'll see what happens once I've done a bit more playtesting with them.

Well, that was nice and short compared to the last two posts. That's it for character creation, as I'm not going to take a look at Elite Advances until I'm further on with this little project. As they draw on so many other rules (especially in the case of Psykers), I'd rather get those rules set in place before I start to mess around with them. For the same reason I'm going to leave Alternate Character Creation rules and the like alone until I've done some more work on the system in general.

As usual, if you've any thoughts or recommendations please let me know!

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael

Dark Heresy Revamped : Chapter IIc - Character Creation Part 3

Today we're moving onto Backgrounds, my issues with those that have been released and how I'm going about adjusting / remedying them.

Adepta Sororitas (Enemies Within p.30)

• Starting Skills : Replace Common Lore [Adepta Sororitas] with Lore [Adepta Sororitas]

Adeptus Administratum (Core Rulebook p.46) :

• Starting Skills : Replace Common Lore [Adeptus Administratum] and Scholastic Lore [Pick One] with Lore [Adeptus Administratum and any one other]
• Starting Equipment :  Replace Medikit with Tomes of Lore.
• Background Bonus "Master of Paperwork" : An Administratum Adept character may re-roll any Logic or Lore tests once, and may substitute their Intelligence bonus for the degrees of success on these rolls.

Adeptus Arbites (Core Rulebook p.48) :

• Starting Skills :  Replace Common Lore [Adeptus Arbites] and Common Lore [Underworld] with Lore [Adeptus Arbites or Enforcers] and Lore [Underworld]
  
• Starting Talents : Weapon Training [Any two from Low Tech, Shock and Solid Projectile]
• Starting Equipment : Shotgun or Shock Maul, Carapace Chestplate or Light Carapace, Manacles, Uniform, 3 doses of Stimm with Injector or 12 Lho Sticks or Abridged copy of the Lex Imperialis.

Adeptus Astra Telepathica (Core Rulebook p.50) :

• Starting Skills :Replace Common Lore [Adeptus Astra Telepathica] and Forbidden Lore [The Warp] with Lore [Adeptus Astra Telepathica] and Lore [Psykers or Warp]

Adeptus Mechanicus (Core Rulebook p.52) :

• Starting Skills : Replace Security with Lore [Technology]
• Starting Talents : May take Weapon Training [Las] instead of Weapon Training [Solid Projectile]
• Starting Equipment :  Autogun or Hand Cannon or Laspistol, Monotask Servo Skull or Augmetic with an availability of Very Rare or better, Mechanicus Robes, 2 vials of Sacred Unguents.
• Background Bonus "Designs of the Omnissiah" : An Adeptus Mechanicus character begins play with either two Trade skills of their choice at rank 0 (Known), or one Trade skill and their choice of Scrutiny or Security at rank 0 (Known).

Adeptus Ministorum (Core Rulebook p.54) :

• Starting Skills : Replace Common Lore [Adeptus Ministorum] with Lore [Adeptus Ministorum].

Exorcised (Enemies Beyond p.32) :

• Starting Skills : Replace Forbidden Lore [Daemonology] with Lore [Daemonology].
• Background Bonus "Touched By A Daemon" : Replace "Additionally, he can never again become possessed by the same Daemon that once possessed him." with "Additionally, they can never become possessed, being functionally immune to Daemonic Possession save in truly exceptional circumstances such as the direct intervention of a Daemon Prince or other extremely powerful Daemonic entity."

Heretek (Enemies Without p.32) :

• Starting Skills :  Replace Forbidden Lore [Pick One] with Lore [Pick One]
  
• Background Bonus "Master of Hidden Lores" : When a Heretek makes a Tech Use or Trade test to comprehend, use, repair or modify an unfamiliar device they gain a +20 bonus if they have one or more relevant Lore skill specialisations as Rank 2 [Trained] or higher.

Imperial Navy (Enemies Without p.34)

• Starting Skills : Replace Common Lore [Imperial Navy] with Lore [Imperial Navy]

Imperial Guard (Core Rulebook p.56) :

• Starting Skills : Replace Common Lore [Imperial Guard] with Lore [Imperial Guard].
  
• Starting Equipment : Replace Grapnel and Line with one Tool with an availability of Common or better (at the GM's discretion).

Mutant (Enemies Within p.32) :

• Starting Skills : Replace Forbidden Lore [Mutants] with Lore [Mutants or Underworld]
• Starting Equipment : Replace Grapnel and Line with one Tool with an availability of Common or better (at the GM's discretion).

Outcast (Core Rulebook p.56) :

• Starting Skills : Replace Common Lore [Underworld] with Lore [Underworld].

Rogue Trader Fleet (Enemies Without p.36) :

• Starting Skills : Replace Common Lore [Rogue Traders] with Lore [Rogue Traders]
• Starting Talents : Weapon Training [Las or Solid Projectile, Low Tech or Shock]
• Background Bonus "For Gold And Glory!" : A Rogue Trader Fleet character may re-roll any Command or Commerce tests once, and may substitute their Fellowship bonus for the degrees of success on these rolls.

Design Notes :

Let's start explaining what I've changed, and why. All of the Backgrounds that grant access to Lore skills have had them altered in the descriptions above.

The Administratum Adept has lost their Medikit, simply because it's not a piece of equipment that makes sense for a quill pusher, especially one who doesn't even begin play with the Medicae skill. Instead they can take a selection of tomes that may at the GM's discretion give them a bonus to the appropriate Lore tests. To me that simply makes a lot more sense. As for their Background Bonus, I'm trying to eliminate bonuses based on Acquisition entirely, as they can very easily be abused and it doesn't make sense to me that an Administratum Adept is better at getting their hands on heavy weapons, power armour and the like when they've spent their life collating tithe records or ensuring that the local Administratum data-shrine has the collect allotments of tea and synth-milk. Instead I've given them a bonus based around Lore and Logic tests that works in the same manner as the Arbites “Face Of The Law” bonus. To my mind it reflects the background a lot more accurately.

I have some issues with the Arbites background for fluff reasons, the most prominent one being that going by the established lore all Arbites are drawn from the Schola Progenium. To me this is less an "Arbites" background and more an "Enforcer" background, reflecting the law enforcement organisations of worlds across the Imperium. I was tempted to change the Background name but...we'll see. At some point I'll write up a Schola Progenium Origin, which could then be used in concert with the existing background to create proper Arbitrators. This split between types of law enforcement is why I've given them the option to take Lore [Enforcers] instead of Adeptus Arbites, and altered the "cosmetic" elements of their starting equipment. I've also noticed that the Arbites background has a very limited selection of Weapon Training talents when compared to the other martial backgrounds, even the Adeptus Ministorum background gives more options, which is why I've increased their number of starting talents and broadened the selection of talents they can choose from.

Adeptus Astra Telepathica, as a Background, is mostly unchanged apart from Lore alterations right now. I've given them the option of taking Lore [Psykers] purely due to my belief that they'd learn about their own kind as well as about the mysteries of the Immaterium, so I want to give them the option to take whichever Lore is more appropriate. This background will undergo further change as I'm going to be undergoing a re-write of the Psychic Power rules as part of this project. For now though I've left them as they are as I'm still working on the final details of that particular system.

The Adeptus Mechanicus background has undergone quite a few changes. The replacement of Security with Lore [Technology] simply seems more appropriate to me, I can't imagine an Enginseer crouched in a corner with a lockpick after all. Not that it's an inappropriate skill with regards to digital security, but I'd say that members of the Cult Mechanicus would have a better grounding in Technology than in overcoming locks and breaching data-vaults. The fact that these skills stack with those from the Forge World origin is very much deliberate, as such characters would in my mind have a very good education with regards to both the organisation they're devoted to and to the mysteries of the machine. The addition of Las weaponry to their weapon training options is simply due to the fact that the Mechanicus produce basically everything, and a simple, easily maintained weapon that can be powered by their potentia coil would appeal to many of them. I've also modified their starting equipment both to allow them to take a Lasweapon and so that that they're not forced to take a Skull or Mechadendrite if they want to be more subtle, or want to take an Augmetic that better fits the players character concept. As for their background bonus, as already stated I am removing Acquisition based character abilities from the game, and for the Adeptus Mechanicus after pondering I decided that giving them a selection of technical skills to choose from would be an appropriate replacement for their improved access to cybernetics.

The Adeptus Ministorum background is currently unchanged, however I will be altering how Fate Points work going forwards, so I'll be coming back to this particular background in the future.

The only thing I've altered about the Exorcised background is how their immunity to Possession works. Back in the old days of Slaves to Darkness and the Lost and the Damned exorcised individuals were stated to be immune to future Daemonic Possession. In fact, that's one of the core concepts behind the Exorcists space marine chapter and I massively disagree with Fantasy Flights alteration to that little snippet of lore. So I've changed it back.

The Heretek has been slightly altered to bring them in line with my alteration to how Skills work, which I'll go into more details about when we get to that section of this project.

The Imperial Guard, Mutant and Outcast backgrounds have been altered slightly, both to accomodate the Skill alterations and to give a bit more variety to their starting equipment. I'm not, for example, entirely sure why a member of an Artillery regiment or a mutant from the dark holds of a void ship would be carrying a grapnel and line with them... Likewise I've given Mutants the ability to take Lore [Underworld] intead of Lore [Mutants] seeing as just being a mutant doesn't mean you understand what you are, and for such individuals knowledge of how to survive amongst the outcasts and pariahs of an Imperial world would be far more useful than scholastic knowledge of their condition.

The Rogue Trader Fleet background is an odd one. Whilst I know what they were going for with it, it doesn't really represent the bulk of a fleets membership, who would be better represented by other backgrounds such as Imperial Navy our Outcast. Rather it is a Rogue Trader "Dynasty" background, that would suit the leaders of such a fleet, the members of the dynasty, and their closest advisors. Anyway, mechanically my major alteration to this class is the adjustment to their Background Bonus with the rationale that just because someone is a member of a Rogue Trader fleet, it doesn't mean they interract with Xenos in any way other than down the barrel of a gun, if they do so at all. Indeed I think that a re-roll based ability that gives them advantages to both making a profit from their findings and commanding the servants of their dynasty makes more sense. This is one that I'm not entirely happy with, so I'll probably come back to this one in the future once I've let it percolate around in my head a bit more.

Anyway, that's all for this section, feel free to let me know what you think and next time we'll be moving on to Roles.

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael

Dark Heresy Revamped : Chapter IIb - Character Creation Part 2

So in my last post in this series I went over my alterations to the basics of character creation. This time I'm moving on to my alterations to the Homeworlds, or as I've renamed them, Origins...

Rules Alterations :

Agri World (Enemies Within p.24) :

• Origin Bonus - Strength From The Land : An Agri World character gains a +2 bonus to their Fatigue Threshold.

Feudal World (Enemies Within p.26) :

• Characteristic Modifiers : +5 Perception, +5 Weapon Skill, -5 Intelligence.
• Origin Bonus "Live By The Sword" : A Feudal World character gains the Weapon Training [Low Tech] Talent and the Parry skill at Rank 1 (Known).

Forge World (Core Rulebook p.28)

• Origin Bonus "Omnissiah's Chosen" : A Forge World character gains the Lore [Technology] and Tech Use skills at Rank 1 (Known).

Frontier World (Enemies Within p.28) :

• Origin Bonus "Rely On None But Yourself" : A Frontier World character gains a +20 bonus to Tech Use and Trade (Any) tests when applying personal weapon modifications. They also gain a +10 bonus to those skills when repairing damaged items.

Highborn (Core Rulebook p.36) :

• Characteristic Modifiers : +5 Fellowship, +5 Perception, -5 Willpower
• Origin Bonus "Do You Know Who I Am?" : A Noble Born character begins play with any two Peer talents and one Enemy talent of their choice. They may take the Peer talent twice for the same social group, stacking its effects.

Penal Colony (Enemies Without p.28) :

• Characteristic Modifiers : +5 Perception, +5 Toughness, -5 Intelligence

Quarantine World (Enemies Beyond p.30) :

• Origin Bonus "Secretive By Nature" : A Quarantine World character begins play with the skills Deceive and Stealth at Rank 1 (Known).

Research Station (Enemies Without p.30) :

• Origin Bonus "Pursuit of Data" : A Research Station character gains who reaches rank 2 (Trained) or higher in a Lore skill gains a +10 bonus to any Forbidden Lore tests made with that skill.

Shrine World (Core Rulebook p.40) :

• Origin Bonus "Insanely Faithful" : Once per encounter a Shrine World character may spend a Fate Point upon failing a Fear test. If they do so they count as having passed with 1 Degree of Success, but also gain 1 Insanity Point.

Design Notes :

Ok, change by change from the top...

The alteration to the Origin/Homeworld bonus for Agri-Worlds is simply a case of me changing the ability to something that makes more sense. The first time I read that entry I was immediately confused, why on Terra does being a farmer or herder make you better at melee combat? A straight up buff to Fatigue Threshold makes a lot more sense to me, as such folk would in my mind be hardy, used to working long shifts in tough conditions.

For Feudal Worlds the characteristic modifiers had to be altered to reflect the removal of Influence, and I think that an Intelligence penalty is the best choice as a reflection of the lack of opportunities for education and the pursuit of intellectual passtimes on such a world. That's not to say there aren't any, but the Feudal Worlds of the Imperium are (in some cases deliberately maintained as) dark and violent worlds, where skill with a blade is far more valuable than scholarly ability. The Origin ability has been changed as it was already hilariously overpowered, being replaced with a skill and talent that I think are thematically very appropriate. Now, technically this origin can't represent everyone from a feudal world, it's not appropriate for the peasantry for example, but instead it should be used for characters who are men at arms, soldiers, warrior aristocrats and the like. Anything from a plate armoured knight to a 41st Millenium samurai.

The alteration to the Forge World origin is for fluff reasons, as the Origin Ability from the Core Rulebook only offers combat based abilities. To me it makes more sense to instead give characters from the Adeptus Mechanicus' worlds a basic education in the technology they surround themselves with, as it makes no sense to me that a character could have Weapon Tech yet know absolutely nothing about the weapon they're augmenting...

Frontier Worlds have just had a slight tweak to the phrasing of their ability, reflecting alterations of my own to the games skills and how they're used, again we'll get to that in the Skills section of this project.

Highborn has been altered a few times, the Characteristic Modifiers being altered both due to the removal of the Influence characteristic and my opinion that the aristocracy of the Imperium are not necessarily physically frail. They do however seem prone to excesses, to aberrations of behaviour, to moral failings and the like and replacing the T penalty with a WP penalty and giving a bonus to Perception both plays into that and makes them better at taking advantage of others, to sensing blood in the social water. Their Origin Bonus has been changed for similar reasons, with Influence removed it was useless as it stood, so giving them talents that reflect their web of social contacts as well as the enemies of both an Aristocrat and their family, dynasty or clan. This is closer to the 1st Edition version of the Homeworld/Origin, which in my mind better reflects this particular character archetype.

Penal Colony is another Origin that's had to be changed due to the removal of Influence. It took me a while to settle on a negative Characteristic, and with none of the physical characteristics being appropriate I ended up undecided between Intelligence, Willpower and Fellowship. In the end I went for Intelligence as it seems to me the least essential characteristic for the scum of a Penal Colony, with a lack of smarts potentially being the reason they succumbed to their base natures and committed crimes against the Imperium in the first place... Remember, a plea of Innocence is guilty of wasting my time, Guilty!

Quarantine World as an Origin has been altered due to my personal dislike of highly circumstantial bonuses. Subtlety is a characteristic that not all players even make use of, and for those that do there is a time when a mere 2 point reduction isn't necessarily of much use. Replacing that with skills appropriate to a character who spends their time slinking for place to place and evading both local threats and Imperial authorities makes a lot more sense to me.

Research Station has been another Origin altered due to my changes to how the game works, specifically Lore skills. Again I'll get to the specifics of that when I get to writing that section, but for now I'll mention that I've collapsed the Common Lore, Forbidden Lore and Scholastic Lore skills into a single "Lore" skill, with Common and Forbidden Lore being made with bonuses and penalties as appropriate. I'll go into more detail of that when we get there but that should give you a little insight.

Finally we have the Shrine World Origin, the alteration to this Origin being due to both the weakness of the existing Bonus and that due to it being incredibly luck based its entirely possible (if somewhat unlikely) for it to never come into play. Instead I've taken the Origin Bonus from Ossuar (Enemies Beyond p89) and applied it to Shrine Worlds in general, echoing the option from the original rules to take the Insanely Faithful talent. In my mind it's a lot more likely to come into play, and is in general a far more useful and characterful ability.

And that's all for now, in the next post we'll be moving on to Backgrounds, and thank the Emperor there are fewer of them than "Origins".

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael

Dark Heresy Revamped : Chapter IIa - Character Creation Part 1

Here we go again, this time we've got my first set of alterations to Chapter II of the Dark Heresy 2nd Edition rules, and the reasoning behind said changes. Let's get straight into it...

Rules Alterations : 

 

Generate Characteristics (p.31) :

• All Characteristics start at 20, with that number being altered by the characters Origin.
• In order to generate their Characteristics, players roll 2d10 nine times, after which they apply these rolls as they wish to their Characteristics.
• If a player wishes to buy their Characteristics instead of rolling for them, they have 100pts which they can split amongst them however they wish. They may add no more than 20 points and no less than 2 points to any given Characteristic.

Aptitudes (p.79) :

• In addition to the Aptitudes a Character gains from their Origin, Background and Role, they may choose one additional Aptitude of their choice.
• Should a character gain the same Aptitude twice from multiple sources, they may choose their replacement Aptitude from ANY available, not just the Characteristic Aptitudes.

Characteristic Advances (p.80) :

• Characters lacking the Psyker Aptitude may purchase upgrades to their Willpower treating that Characteristic as having the Defence and Willpower aptitudes.

Skill Advances (p.80) :

• The Sleight of Hand skill has the aptitudes Agility and Fieldcraft.

Equip Acolyte (p.81) :

• As the Influence Characteristic has been removed, Acolytes simply select 3 items of up to Scarce availability during character creation.
• Instead of selecting 3 items of up to Scarce rarity, an Acolyte may select a single item of up to Rare availability.

Divinations (p.84) :

• When rolling for their Divination a character may either take their initial roll, or they may reverse the digits and take that alternate Divination instead.

Basic Skills (New Rule) :

• All characters begin play with a selection of basic skills at Known (+0). Two of these are new skills, the specifics of which will be detailed in the Skills section of this document.
• These skills are Endurance (T), Linguistics [Low Gothic or Origin Language] (Int), Lore [Origin] (Int), Resolve (WP)

Design Notes :

Now the changes have started to creep in. Like I said the core mechanics of Dark Heresy are solid, but the devil is as always in the details, and this is where I start to tinker with said details. Here is my reasoning behind what I've tweaked...

As far as the generation of Characteristics goes, I like my players to actually be able to create and play the characters they want. The system in the Core rulebook doesn't allow that unless you're fairly lucky, as it's all too possible to have a character concept in mind and generate characteristics that are completely inappropriate and that leave you forced to run something else. So yes, I think you should be allowed to choose where your rolls go, my loosening up for the Point Allocation system follows the same reasoning, with characters no longer being forced to have at least 25 in all their Characteristics.

I've also changed up how the Origin Characteristic modifiers work, making it a flat bonus or penalty. This replaces the rolling systems “Roll an addition dice, and take the two highest/lowest” rule, as well as the Point Allocation system's restriction on how high a Characteristic could be, which always struck me as being completely and utterly pointless.

The basic alterations to Character Aptitudes are due to my firmly held belief that players should have plenty of customisation options. I've had a few incidents over the years where, due to the Aptitude layouts of particular builds, players haven't quite been able to create the characters they want. I'd rather avoid that and let them have the Acolyte (or Heretic, whatever floats your boat) that they want to run. While this does lead to characters being somewhat more powerful and versatile than the norm, I don't mind at all as it allows me to throw tougher challenges and deadlier threats at them.

As for the more specific alterations, namely to Willpower and Sleight of Hand, these are to me simple common sense. Knowledge is NOT an appropriate aptitude for a skill based around manual dexterity and cunning, likewise allowing non-psyker characters to use Defence instead of Psyker for Willpower upgrades allows said characters to have scores that reflect their courage, determination and sheer grit. Something that's very difficult under the core rules as anyone who isn't a psyker has to pay at least the “medium” cost to increase their Willpower.

Letting Acolytes simply take three Scarce items is a necessary alteration due to the removal of the Influence Characteristic. Potentially allowing them to take a single Rare item is another nod towards making characters a little more customisable, a little more powerful. GM's should of course feel free to veto this if they feel the need, but personally I think it's perfectly fine and allows greater character customisation. I've tweaked Divination for the same reason, as it's all too easy to get a highly inappropriate Divination, though oddly in my Girl's party everyone's tended to make creepily appropriate rolls...

Finally we come to the Basic Skills, and the addition of Endurance and Resolve to the game. I'll go into the latter when we get to the Skills section of this project, but for now I'll simply say that I think they're a more than necessary addition. The Basic Skills are just that, skills that I honestly think every character should have access to. It can be assumed that all Acolytes can at least speak Low Gothic, but I'm the kind of person that likes to have such things down on my character sheet. Likewise I'd assume that almost all characters have some knowledge of their homeworld or place of origin, it just makes sense to me.

On a related note you may have noticed that I've been refering to Origins instead of Homeworlds. I've decided (for the purpose of this project) to rename Homeworlds, due to several of them not being, well, homeworlds. Highborn and Voidborn don't refer to specific planet types, and even amongst those that do you could argue that multiple “Homeworlds” could be applied to a single world.

So there we have my basic alterations to Character Creation, but there's plenty more to come and I don't want to overload these posts TOO much. There will be three or four more posts dedicated to Character Creation, which will contain my alterations to the Origins, Backgrounds, Roles and Elite Advances provided by the four published rulebooks, as I think a fair few of those are in need of alteration. Stay tuned for those, and as usual I'd love to hear any and all feedback.

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael

Dark Heresy Revamped : Chapter I - Playing The Game

Today we've got my changes to Chapter I of Dark Heresy 2nd Edition, as well as my reasoning behind said changes.

Rules Alterations :

Characteristics (P.21) :

•  The Influence characteristic is removed, no longer being a core Characteristic.

Degrees of Success and Failure (p.24) :

• Degrees of Success and Failure, once accrued, are spent by the rolling player or the GM in order to elaborate on the effects of a characters roll for good or ill. This for the most part replaces modifiers to a Test that are applied due to
• Degrees of Success are used to improve the effectiveness of a roll, such as allowing attacks to be more accurate or deal more damage, and skill attempts to be made faster or with greater efficiency
• Degrees of Failure are used to apply consequences to a characters actions, such weapons jamming or misfiring when used, or failed skill attempts to causing a character to damage their tools or worsen the circumstances they've attempted to improve.
• These "Expenditures" of Degrees of Success / Failure are referred to as "Benefits of Success" and "Consequences of Failure".
• For the exact details of Benefits and Consequences with regard to particular rolls see Chapter III : Skills, Chapter VI : Psychic Powers, Chapter VII : Combat, and Chapter VIII : Narrative Tools.

Taking Your Time (New Rule) :

• When not under pressure, threatened or distracted a character who needs to make a Characteristic or Skill test may choose to "Take Their Time".
• The GM has the final word as to whether or not a character is able to "Take Their Time" with regards to a Characteristic or Skill test.
• Instead making a D100 roll they instead treat the test results as if they had rolled a 50 on the dice.

Design Notes : 

So I've not changed a huge amount with regards to this chapter, as the core mechanics of Dark Heresy (and indeed the other 40k RPG's) are pretty damn solid. Here's my reasoning behind what I HAVE changed though.

The removal of the Influence characteristic is due to me regarding it as a statistic that is not directly linked to a character, in that it isn't an ability inherent to them unlike their physical and mental prowess. To me Influence is closer to Subtlety or Profit Factor, being a statistic that changes regularly over the course of gameplay as it is accrued, used, and lost. Influence has not been removed entirely from my revamp of Dark Heresy, but it has been substantially altered, something I'll go into detail about when I get to Chapters V and VIII.

The alteration of the rules for Degrees of Success / Failure are inspired by the Momentum / Consequence system from the 2d20 System used by the Mutant Chronicles RPG. This alteration makes the game a little more dynamic, by allowing players to decide how they benefit from their rolls after making them, instead of having to "front load" themselves with penalties whenever they want to do something special like making a called shot. Likewise introducing Consequences to their actions makes the effects of failing a roll more dramatic and interesting than "you've missed" or "you fall down the cliff", simultaneously making failure a far less binary result. One of the effects of this alteration is the effective elimination of "Optional Modifiers", such as for making a Called Shot, though bonuses and penalties due to circumstances, environment and equipment do still apply.

The rules for Taking your Time are a variation on the rules for Taking 10 from Dungeons and Dragons/Pathfinder. While page 24 does state than in situations where there are no real consequences for failure or success characters should simply be allowed to pass tests, this doesn't account for variations in ability between characters. For example a climb up a rockface may be no challenge at all to a fit and athletic character, whilst a less physically capable one would struggle to accomplish the climb. I decided on 50 as the dice result for Taking your Time due to the human average for most characteristics being 30-40, meaning that such characters taking their time should automatically pass tests with a difficulty of Routine (+20).

So that's Chapter I. If you've any thoughts on what I've written so far I'd love to hear from you, whether in the comments or by email so don't hesitate to get in touch and share your comments and criticisms. Next time I'll move on to Chapter II : Character Creation.

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael

Dark Heresy Revamped : Introduction

(Because I can't leave anything well enough alone...)

Over the past decade or so I've played quite a lot of the assorted Warhammer 40,000 roleplaying games, from Dark Heresy to Rogue Trader, and from Only War to Deathwatch. I'm a big fan both of the setting, having been a 40k player since I was about 10 years old (Yes, I was one of those annoying kids in the shop badgering everyone with stupid questions and getting my greasy mitts all over rulebooks and carefully painted models, I'm sorry), and of all of the RPG's that I've played the Warhammer 40,000 RPG's have been amongst my favourites.

Dark Heresy 2nd Edition is particularly good, and it's got a lot to recommend it, although as I pointed out in my review long ago there's still a lot about it that needs fixing and tweaking. The games I've run for my friends (and especially the narratively focused adventures I've been running through with the girl over the past two years) have taught me a lot, and highlighted for me plenty of issues with the rules, issues that I think I'm capable of fixing.

Today I'm going to start outlining my attempt to do just that, taking everything I've learned from running the 40k RPG's over the years, as well as my experience of other rules sets and gaming systems, to take the Dark Heresy rules and modify, homebrew and tweak them into what I think to be a better system. Some of the rules modifications I'll be introducing have been long standing house rules, others are more recent alterations, and yet more are entirely new having sprung into mind as part of this little project.

For the purpose of this revamp I'm going to be drawing on quite a lot of sources including...

• Dark Heresy 1st Edition
• Dark Heresy 2nd Edition (Beta)
• Black Crusade
• Deathwatch
• Only War
• Rogue Trader
• Inquisitor
• Dungeons and Dragons
• The Dresden Files RPG
• The Mutant Chronicles RPG
• World of Darkness
• and lots more!

Going into this project I've a few goals in mind, which are as follows...

1. To simplify certain aspects of the rules that I see as being overcomplicated, keeping the game as accessible and easy to play as possible.
2. To modify the rules to encourage more cinematic and narrative gameplay.
3. To reduce the need for book keeping and other numerical minuteae.
4. To allow players a greater degree of freedom and customisation with regards to their characters.
5. To bring certain aspects of the game (such as weapons, wargear and psychic powers) more into line with their Fluff and Tabletop equivalents.

The plan is to go through the Dark Heresy 2nd Edition rulebook chapter by chapter, bringing up the rules alterations I've decided to implement as I go whilst simultaneously explaining exactly what the reasoning behind these changes is. To that end my next post in this series will begin with Chapter 1 : Playing the Game.

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael

Codex - Deathwatch : Review

(Kill The Alien, Before It Can Speak It's Lies!)

So...this was a little unexpected. After very little activity on the 40k front over the past few months, Games Workshop have released another codex for one of the many factions that until now has lacked anything more than the most basic of rules, the Deathwatch. Unexpected, but not unwelcome...

Overview :

The Deathwatch are one of the Chambers Millitant of the Imperial Inquisition, that is to say they are one of the major millitary forces bound by ancient oaths of allegience to answers the Inquisition's calls for millitary aid. The Deathwatch are specifically the Chamber Millitant of the Ordo Xenos, the Alien Hunters, and specialise in combatting the Alien in all it's myriad forms, from the technologically advanced forces of the Tau and savage hordes of Orks, to the relentless hunger of the Tyranids and the perfidious schemes of the Eldar.

Much like the Grey Knights, the Deathwatch are a chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, however whilst the Grey Knights are a chapter into and of themselves, recruiting, training and equipping their warriors as they see fit, the Deathwatch are actually made up of warriors seconded from other Space Marine chapters that have pledged to support the Deathwatch. Space wolves fight alongside Dark Angels, Minotaurs alongside Ultramarines, all putting their differences and ancient grudges aside in service to the Emperor and Imperium.

Less bound by doctrine and tradition than the rest of the Imperium and the Adeptus Astartes, the Deathwatch put combat effectiveness and lethality above almost all other considerations. They usually fight in squad-sized Kill Teams, each composed of the most appropriate specialists for that mission, each equipped in a manner that best complements their abilities rather than adhering to the strictures of the Codex Astartes. Likewise their equipment is of the highest quality, with their armouries containing everything from suits of advanced MK VIII Power Armour and Tactical Dreadnought suits, to a wide array of specialised bolt rounds and the lethally effective Corvus Blackstar dropships.

Basically, the Deathwatch are awesome.

Fluff :

I've given a brief overview of the Deathwatch, who they are, and what they do above. Beyond this however the Games Workshop canon had little information in regards to them until the release of the Deathwatch RPG by Fantasy Flight games back in 2010 and more recently the release of Deathwatch : Overkill earlier this year. Before this they were limited to a single Chapter Approved article, and a handful of short stories and mentions in the fluff in relation to the Tyranids, Necrons and other alien threats.The Deathwatch Codex takes the information from these sources and elaborates on it to an excent, as well as containing the usual handful of short stories, vignettes and the like.

The book begins with an introduction to the Deathwatch, who they are, and what they do, more or less mirroring the overview I have above but in somewhat greater detail. This is followed by a two page spread on their equipment, including their armour and the specialised bolter rounds they make use of. One little nugget of fluff that I quite like in this section is that it's mentioned that the Deathwatch do fear the "Sin of Innovation" in the same manner as the Adeptus Mechanicus, and that they are constantly reassessing, fine tuning and modifying their geat to make it ever more lethal to the foes they face. I like this, it ties into their "Black Ops Astartes" aesthetic and it's nice to see at least one Imperial faction with a grain of common sense...

Next up we've a map of the Imperium with a number of Deathwatch Watch Fortresses and Watch Stations marked upon it followed by examples of Deathwatch heraldry and an overview of the structure of the Deathwatch and details of it's tactics and the roles typically filled by Astartes from it's different constituent chapters. I have to admit I rolled my eyes when looking at the list of Watch Fortresses, Fort Pykman watches over the Ghoul Stars eh? Oh dear... Next up are a few more pages of art and general information followed by a timeline, which has some pretty awesome events mentioned on it. My personal favourite being the Deathwatch luring an Eldar force into direct battle by the simple expedient of incinerating massive swathes of a Maiden World. Simple, but effective. It's also good to see that a fair few of the timeline events are chronicles of battles against foes that aren't the major Xenos races, with battles against Ur Ghul, Sslyth, Psychneuin, Hrud, Lacyrmole and more are mentioned therein.

Next up we've got the "Bestiary" section, that gives further information about the different units available in the codex. It starts with the Watch Master, who is the Deathwatch equivalent of a Chapter Master, with one of these venerable warriors being in charge of each major watch fortress. Whilst the fluff for the most part is what you'd expect, extolling their virtues of wisdom, tactical ability and strategic cunning, there is one little item which caused my interest to flare. That being that the Watch Masters are each armed with a Guardian Spear, the weapons used by the Adeptus Custodes, modified to use the specialised bolt ammunition favoured by the Deathwatch. That's...interesting, and not to me in a bad way. According to the book these spears were granted to them as a sign of the trust implicit in their role, and as a sign of their role as guardians of the Imperium, and to me at least that makes sense. Plus I really like spears in general.

After the Watch Masters we move onto the rest of the Deathwatch units, Watch Captains, Chaplains, Librarians, Veterans, Vanguard Veterans, Bikers, Terminators, Dreadnoughts and Transport Vehicles (Rhinos, Razorbacks and Land Raiders). These are all what you'd expect, with their fluff entries giving a bit more detail as to how they're utilised by the Deathwatch whilst emphasising their versatility and the lethal power of the weapons they can requisition from the extensive armouries of the Deathwatch. At the end of this section we have a new unit, in the form of the Corvus Blackstar, and it's pretty impressive. The Blackstar is a Deathwatch exclusive transport and gunship, which unlike a certain heavily armoured space potato actually looks like it's vaguely capable of flight. It's a sleek, low profile vehicle that I think looks damn cool as well as tying in well to the aesthetics of the Deathwatch, whilst it's variety of weapons leave it capable of fulfilling all manner of combat roles. Just like the warriors it carries it's an eminently adaptable vehicle.

The rest of the books fluff is dispersed through the Army List and Equipment sections, and for the most part it's more of what's come before, just giving a little more detail or a few more lines of information with regards to pieces of equipment and unit selection. Again there are some interesting bits and pieces scattered throughout, such as details on the archaic Clavis devices wielded by the Watch Masters and the dizzying array of armaments available ranging from mighty Heavy Thunder Hammers to eldritch Xenophase Swords adapted from Necrontyr technology.

The fluff throughout the book is solid, well written, and with plenty of interesting little tidbits that have both piqued my interest and set part of my brain pondering another Deathwatch game at some point, or at the very least taking some of the lesser used Xenos species and throwing them at my Inquisition and Penal Legion Dark Heresy groups.

Crunch :

Ok, so we know what the Deathwatch are, the next question is how do they perform on the table?

As you'd expect really, the Deathwatch are an elite, well equipped force intended for brutally effective precision strikes and their rules and army list reflect this. The Deathwatch are, in terms of points cost, expensive even by space marine standards, with their basic troops being the equivalent of Sternguard Veterans, and though they have plenty of options with regards to customisation these can quickly cause their points cost to rack up. They also have a rather limited roster of units to choose from, and with the exception of their basic Veteran squads no unit can contain more than 5 models. This leaves them VERY vulnerable to taking casualties, especially considering that even if you equip them with Storm Shields and the like (Yes, you can pretty much give every model in this army an invulnerable saving throw), they're no more resistant to massed small arms fire than any other Astartes.

Here's a quick overview of what units are in the codex. Many are almost identical to the standard Space Marine units, so I'll only go into detail with regards to the differences from the base Astartes codex.

HQ :

• Watch Master : A Chapter Master equivalent, armed with a Guardian Spear (which is essentially a Relic Blade with worse Strength, better AP, a built in bolter, and the ability to block one enemy attack per round) and equipped with Artificer Armour and an Iron Halo, as well as the "Clavis" which nerfs the BS, WS and I of nearby enemy vehicles. He can't really be customised in terms of weapon loadout but then he's a credible threat to anything short of walkers and monstrous creatures in combat. Give him a decent escort and he'll make mincemeat out of most other units.
• Watch Captain : A Space Marine Captain with Special Issue Ammunition and access to Deathwatch equipment.
• Chaplain : As above, save a Chaplain.
• Librarian : And again, save a Librarian.

Elites :

• Terminators : Deathwatch Terminators come with Fearless as standard, and units start at One model with the ability to take up to four more. They're otherwise identical to standard terminators save for their weapon options, and by the Emperor what options they have. In addition to the usual option to take Lightning Claws, Storm Shields, Thunder Hammers and the like, ANY model in a Deathwatch Terminator Squad can take a heavy weapon and/or add an auxiliary Meltagun to their powerfist. Yes, you can have a 5 man terminator squad where every model is armed with an assault cannon.
• Dreadnought / Venerable Dreadnought : Save for losing a few weapon options (such as Autocannons and Heavy Bolters), these are identical to standard Space Marine Dreadnoughts and Venerable Dreadnoughts.
• Vanguard Veterans : Like the Terminators Vanguard Veterans start with one model, and can take up to four more. They're mostly identical to standard Vanguard Veterans save that they have Special Issue Ammunition for their bolt pistols and a few new weapon options. Any member of the squad can take an Inferno Pistol, a Hand Flamer, or the hilarious new Heavy Thunder Hammer. Because who doesn't love a Strength 10, AP 2, Concussive weapon that causes Instant Death on any to wound roll of a 6?

Troops :

• Veterans : These guys are amazing, being the (un)holy fusion of a Sternguard Squad and a Company Command Squad. The basic five man squad are near identical to Sternguard, but they have the weapon and upgrade options of a Command Squad. Any model may take a Special Weapon (including a Deathwatch Shotgun with its own selection of special issue ammunition, or a Stalker Pattern Boltgun), Heavy Thunder Hammer or Storm Shield. Four (yes FOUR) models may take Heavy Weapons, ranging from the standard Missile Launchers and Heavy Bolters to the amazing new Deathwatch Frag Cannon (an Assault Weapon which can either fire a pair of S 6 AP - Templates per turn, or a pair of S7 AP 3 shots that become S 9 AP 2 when fired at targets within 12") and Infernus Heavy Bolter (An Assault 3 Heavy Bolter with an underslung Heavy Flamer. Yup.). The Sergeant can take a Xenophase Sword, which is a power sword that forces creatures it wounds to re-roll succesful Invulnerable Saves, and one squad member can be upgraded to a Black Shield who doubles their number of attacks if locked in combat with an Independant Character, Monstrous Creature, Vehicle, or if outnumbered. These guys are amazingly versatile and can potentially deal with almost anything. However all of these upgrades come at a price and though it'd be tempting to have a veteran squad armed entirely with plasma guns and storm shields such a loadout would cost almost 500pts for a unit that's perfectly susceptible to being tarpitted or wiped out by massive amounts of Lasgun fire. Use them properly though, and make sure they're deployed in the right place at the right time, and you've a unit that can crack almost any target.

Fast Attack :

• Bikers : Deathwatch Bikers are another unit that start with one model, and can take up to four more. These are Space Marine bikers with a Veteran stat-line and Special Issue Ammunition for their twin linked bolters. Each model can take a power weapon, but unfortunately they have no other weapon upgrade options nor can you take a Deathwatch Attack Bike. They can however take Teleport Homers and with their statline and increased toughness they're great for skirmishing and picking on smaller units. The unit also has Split Fire, Skilled Rider and every model can take Melta Bombs, increasing both their manouverability and ability to threaten enemy vehicles / monstrous creatures.
• Corvus Blackstar* : The newest addition to the Imperium's vehicular arsenal, the Corvus Blackstar is a reasonably durable flier (with Armour 12 / 12 / 11 and 3 Hull Points) which comes with a Twin Linked Assault Cannon, four Stormstrike Missiles, and a Blackstar Cluster Launcher (which fires either a volley of 1D6 S 4, AP 4, Skyfire bombs, or a S 5, AP 4 Large Blast bomb that Ignores cover). It's an Assault Vehicle with a transport capacity of 12 and the ability to carry both Bikes and Jump Infantry. The Assault Cannons can be replaced with a Twin Linked Lascannon, the Stormstrike Missiles with a Blackstar Rocket Launcher (Firing either 1d6 S 6, AP 4 Skyfire shots, or a single S 4, AP 5, Large Blast that Ignores Cover), and it can take a Searchlight, Extra Armour, Locator Beacon, Hurricane Bolter, and either an Infernum Halo Launcher (which allows the Blackstar to re-roll failed cover saves when jinking) or an Auspex Array (which gives the Blackstar the Strafing Run special rule). It's a wonderfully versatile aerial toolbox, perfect both for deploying a Kill Team and for providing them with support fire once it's dropped them off. The model too looks really cool and I'm definitely getting one when I get around to doing some more modelling and painting.
• Drop Pod / Rhino / Razorback* :Your standard Dedicated Transports.

Heavy Support :

• Land Raider / Land Raider Crusader / Land Raider Redeemer : Same old Land Raider, same old schizophrenic awesomeness.

*Also available as a Dedicated Transport to Veteran squads.

So, as I said, a fairly limited force selection, though all of it's components are highly customisable and if used carefully very dangerous. The Deathwatch also have a replacement for the standard Chapter Tactics, in the form of the Mission Tactics special rule which allows the commanding player to select one enemy unit type (HQ, Elite, Troops, Fast Attack or Heavy Support), against which all units in the army re-roll To Hit rolls of a one. This can be changed once per battle at the start of any turn after the first, or twice if the army contains a Watch Master. It's a useful little rule, that encourages you to systematically pick apart your opponents army, eliminating one threat before moving onto the next.

The Codex also contains the standard selection of Warlord Traits and Relics, all of which are nicely flavourful and all of which have their place in the army. I particularly love the Dominus Aegis, a tower shield which, if the bearer hasn't moved, grants their unit a 4+ invulnerable saving throw as they slam it into the ground and activate its built in force field generator. Beyond these relics (and the armaments I mentioned in the unit analysis above) the Deathwatch's armoury is identical to that of the Space Marines. One thing I do really like however is that the rules for Special Issue Ammunition have been broadened to apply not just to normal Bolters, but to Bolt Pistols and Stalker Pattern Bolters as well. If only they could also be used in Storm Bolters and Heavy Bolters... One day, one beautiful day... The Deathwatch Shotgun is also pretty cool, being capable of firing Cryptclearer Rounds (16", S4, AP -, Assault 2, Shred), Xenopurge Rounds (16", S 4, AP 4, Assault 2), and Wyrmsbreath Rounds (Templace, S 3, AP 6, Assault 1). Who wants to charge a squad where every member is armed with some sort of flame weapon?

Finally the book contains a selection of Formations and an alternate army selection method in the Black Spear Strike Force. I'm mostly going to gloss over this as I've never been a fan of them, and honestly think that the standard Force Organisation Chart is the best way to deal with army selection, but still there are a few bits and pieces I'm a fan of, such as the fact that all non-vehicles in a Black Spear Strike Force gain Deep Strike, and the ability to create Kill Teams. Kill Teams are a single Veteran unit, backed up by Terminators, Bikers, Vanguard Veterans and Librarians, all of which are formed into a single squad on the battlefield. Whilst this does have some major mobility issues it allows them to share their special rules, with Terminators granting the squad Fearless, Bikes Split Fire and Vanguard Veterans Heroic Intervention. It's a nice concept, though I think it could have been refined a little more.

On that subject, we've finally come to my handful of issues with the codexes rules, all of which can (I think) be easily fixed with a couple of house rules. These are that despite their presence in the RPG and Fluff, a Deathwatch army cannot contain any Apothecaries or Techmarines. Secondly that Bikes and Vanguard Veterans that are part of a Kill Team must stay within the normal Coherency limits of a unit, and the Kill Team may only embark into a transport that all of its members can fit into.This massively limits their manouverability, especially as a Kill Team may not split up using the Combat Squads special rule.

• Deathwatch Apothecary / Techmarine : A Veteran Squad may upgrade one model to an Apothecary and one model to a Techmarine. In both cases this costs 30ts, with the Apothecary gaining a Narthecium (Codex Space Marines p.195) in addition to their normal equipment, while the Techmarine gains a Servo Arm (Codex Space Marines p.193) and the Blessing of the Omnissiah (Codex Space Marines p.132) special rule.
• Dispersed Deployment : This House Rule states that when a unit embarks on a transport any Jump Infantry and Bikes may remain outside, so long as they move with the transport and maintain Coherency with the vehicle itself. Furthermore Jump Infantry and Bikes increase their coherency distance to 4".

Apart from those two little quibbles, the rules are solid and clearly written. There are a couple of strange equipment limitations, such as RAW a Deathwatch Captain can't take a Relic Blade unless they're equipped with Terminator Armour, but that to me smacks of being an oversight and I'm sure it'll be fixed in errata. The army itself is self balancing, with its high power and customisability being weighed against small numbers and the rapidly increasing cost of its powerful units. To be honest they're an army built for small games, or to be taken as an ally contingent for a force that can throw more bodies into the battle. Such as the Inquisition or the Imperial Guard, how apropos.

Art :

I don't have a lot to say about the art in the Codex (and as a sidenote I'm merging my thoughts on the models I've seen into this section), as overall it's very solid without any John Blanche or the awful artist (who's name I'm not aware of) who has been providing static, wierdly proportioned pieces for the last few codices. Indeed I'd say the books illustrations are some of the best art I've seen in a codex in some time, though I admit I may be a little biased due to my own love of the Deathwatch. There is one strange choice though, that being that for the most part the art for the DEATHWATCH codex portrays members of the DEATHWATCH, the double page spread on pages 8-9 instead depicts...an Ultramarine. Not a Deathwatch Ultramarine, just your average Smurf charging a Tyranid Warrior with a knife, as the Codex Dictates.

Bloody Ultramarines.

The one section I really dislike in terms of art direction is the heraldry / colour scheme guide that starts on page 46. Since the Necron Codex the new Codices have dedicated a good dozen pages to these awful, copypasted images of the appropriate army depicted in a variety of different colour schemes. I'd personally rather have either more painted models, or a smaller number of detailed images in the style of Osprey's millitary books, a style that Forge World have made use of in a fair few of their publications. I know it's another way of showing heraldry, unit insignia, alternate colour schemes and the like, but it's just so damn UGLY.

As for the models, they're absolutely lovely. Almost to a man they're equipped with MK VIII armour which just looks really cool, and the plastics are both crisp and detailed, with the new weapons and wargear all looking really amazing. My only issue is the design being used for the Stalker Pattern Boltgun, which does NOT look like a sniper rifle at all, looking more like an ugly little bolt carbine. It's something that I'd definitely convert to look more like a proper sniper weapon. That however is my only model issue, and I'm definitely going to be grabbing some models when I next get around to modelling / painting. In fact I was planning to pick up Death Masque, only for Element Games to run out of copies before I could order mine. Very sad.

Conclusion :

So, my final thoughts. Though I honestly think that Games Workshop would have been better served to re-release one of the older Codices in need of an update (Chaos Space Marines and Tyranids spring immediately to mind), or to provide a proper codex for a faction in desperate need of one (The Sisters of Battle and Inquisition), I can't be displeased with this one. As I've repeatedly mentioned I'm a big fan of the Deathwatch, and the quality of the codex and models alike definitely does them justice. They're a great looking army that looks like they'd be a lot of fun to play, and I'd definitely advise anyone with an Imperial army to pick up the book and see what the Deathwatch can do for them in the form of an ally contingent, or even a single Kill Team formation.

Seriously though GW, come on, we NEED a new Sisters Codex.

Until Next Time
Happy Gaming
Michael