For all your questions on Dark Heresy (1st and 2nd Editions), Rogue Trader, Deathwatch, Black Crusade, and Only War. Not the wargame. Not Chapter Master. Or Space Hulk.
There is a new Homebrew Megafolder option in above MEGA directory containing several things formerly listed individually on this post.
40K RPG tools, a site that contains stats or references for almost all weapons, armor and NPCs/adversaries. Not updated past DH2 core. 40krpgtools.com/
40k RPG Combined Armory (v6.45.160417), containing every piece of gear in all five lines. Now containing some of the DH2 content up to the first supplement. mediafire.com/folder/i3akv9qx9q05z
Fear and Loathing (Ver 1.5.2) and The Fringe is Yours (Ver 1.6.0), Veeky Forums made Rogue Trader homebrew supplements for playable xenos, Knights, Horus Heresy gear, and other things. Now found in the Homebrew Megafolder.
Additional Resources: Now found in the Homebrew Megafolder.
I thought more that vortex grenades are already described in RT Faith and Coin, and in the tabletop it gains the vortex rule. Wouldn't it be more logical to adapt already existing RPG mechanics? That question is more out of curiosity to understand your thought process.
Jordan Collins
Okay anons, I wanted to grimdark but my party is trying to go full noblebright. Has someone already been confronted with this? How did you solve it?
Long story short, I had planted a horrible scene with lots of dead Eldar and even an agonizing baby because that's what your rogue trading ass gets, as a warning that there were DE in the vicinity. Through a magical save roll of 1 the magos biologis and medic managed to save the kid and they gathered the soulstones and want to "do the right thing" and bring all that back to some other Eldar.
I'm completely torn between a "it's not that kind of game" thing and reminding them there is such a thing as "kill the xenos, purge the heretic", OR going fuck it, it's a nifty side quest thing, letting them have some ray of sunshine Star Trek moment even if it's not fucking canon. What do.
Daniel Perez
So I want to make the strongest character I can in only war on account of our bloodthirsty GM and I want to know what power tastes like
Carson Moore
Keep it serious, and try to see how long they can keep going with being noblebright.
Benjamin Clark
I DID adapt already-existing RPG mechanics. Check the Deathwatch Vortex Grenade. I decided it was much simpler to adopt the descriptors and mechanics of the Deathwatch Vortex Grenade, rather than the Vortex Table of Faith and Coin.
You know, I think that if I did change the weapon to use the RT Vortex Table, it would become FAR more powerful than it currently is. I could run some numbers, see what happens as a sort of standardization.
Eldar are known to kill you even when you return soulstones. The question is that since you want grimdark, and they want noblebright, why not part ways and let everyone find better luck in a game they want to be a part of?
Julian Cruz
Ahh I understand now where you got the basic rules from, it makes it more balanced than rogue trader yes. But even death watch mentions "Those who fail, along with everything else in the area, are dragged into the warp, never to be seen again." why did you replace that with a flat increase to damage? Another balance concern because of vehicles beeing a likely target? Again, I'm just curious.
Nathan Edwards
It depends on the kind of eldar. Biel Tan will, while some of the minor craftworlds probably wouldn't. They're a dying race, getting soulstones back for free and without a fight is a deal they'd take.
Camden Lee
Because on tabletop, the weapon starts at Str 8, and transitions to D on a 6. Remember, the Graviton Singularity Cannon is NOT a Vortex Grenade. It has NO connection to the warp. It is more akin to Grav weaponry that supercompress stuff. Instagib via being sucked into the warp is not what the weapon does.
It merely shares the Vortex rule with it, which would turn the weapon from a battle cannon equivalent to a Destroyer equivalent, examples of which exist throughout the lines.
tech priest. then get the splat that let's you tech priest even harder
Jason Bennett
He said only war you ding dong, not dark heresy first edition
Gabriel Bailey
>He doesn't know about Crimson Exemplar.
Liam Williams
>OP bullshit that no GM actually allows in a game >thinking it matters
Brandon Rivera
Let them do it? I mean, it's a hard row to hoe, and the slow journey to apathy is a fun one.
Julian Watson
Even regular tech shit can be busted.
Austin Hernandez
Is the idea of a Rogue Trader becoming an Imperial Knight (via doing some hefty favors for the AdMech) plausible? My GM and I were talking about it. He thinks no, because any knight houses that are tied to the forge world that the RT would be getting the Knight from would see it as dishonorable and would stop protecting/supplying the forge world in question. I don't see why the AdMech would care, assuming the RT in question has done enough for them to earn it (I mean, it's basically the same reason they give Knight suits to the worlds that supply them), and I doubt a Knight House would be in a position to argue with the FW about it. Thoughts?
Jacob Davis
>Is the idea of a Rogue Trader becoming an Imperial Knight (via doing some hefty favors for the AdMech) plausible?
Nope. Knight orders are incredibly insular, some with bloodlines and titles going back to Old Night. You couldn't possibly suck enough dicks and ship enough payola to skip yourself to the head of the line for assignment of one of their coveted (and potentially ancient) Knight Titans.
Now, could you just get the Knight anyways? That's a very conditional maybe. Leaving aside how the fuck you're even going to begin to learn how to operate it, that's a boon on par with being gifted a free warship. And much like being gifted a free warship, production times are typically measured in decades. In addition, you'd be dealing with a singularly powerful forge world, as not every two bit cogboy convention is crapping out Knights. Entire Space Marine chapters don't get gifted Titans of any stripe; the favors you'd have to pull off would need to be of a similar order of magnitude. Also, the time they're dedicating to fabbing you a Knight is time they're not spending fabbing a frame for whatever noble house they usually service. Expect this ancient, exclusive, haughty, and ludicrously powerful organization to ask questions -- potentially via pointed use of obscene firepower.
Samuel Lee
You could maybe get the robot itself. not the title.
Jace Martin
Bro, you wouldn't get the knight from the forge world The ONLY plausible reason your RT could become a knight is if he basically single-handedly saved a knight world himself while all the knights where like incapacitated or something. You get the knight from the family, not the admech. And even then your RT would HAVE to be nobel born, and would probably have to get married to someone in the knightly house as well.
Gavin Sanchez
And again, I have to reiterate. You would have to do something so incredibly amazing and substantial that the debt the knightly house owes to you would somehow go beyond them simply swearing a blood oath to protect and serve your line. You would have to prove, beyond and glimmer of doubt, to every man woman and child of the knight house that you are worthy of being a knight. But if you were capable of such a feat you wouldn't even need the knight at the end of the day anyway.
Adrian Collins
When they hand them over the other Eldar may attack them as they have good reasons to suspect any kind of foul play. It is easy for a long lived race to count the number of times the Mon'keigh have been co-operative with their interests. The crew may not be entirely on board and drop some whispers that draw the attention the Inquisition if the Rogue Trader works a bit too closely with the Xenos rather than Imperial interests.
Christopher Scott
On the plus side: You could totally getting an Imperial Knight ON your ship. You offer a Knight Errant the chance to fight grand foes of the emperor everywhere in the imperium and quests that few have ever attempted before.
Ethan Rivera
My Only War party is going to board a rogue trader vessel next session to capture its resident rogue trader for interrogation.
He's nobody tremendously important in the house and he's not the smartest tool in the shed. His game wasn't as clever as he thought he was and now he's in deep trouble. Also, the party's resident enginseer found out that there's (of course) a magos aboard the rogue trader vessel and, them being Mechanicus, they want to get to him first because you can't have him be caught and interrogated just like any other walking piece of meat.
I still have to decide whether this Magos was just doing his job, behind the shit that was stirred or just full-on warpsmith, but what I actually need help with is:
How the fuck do I design a 40K boarding action?
Julian Edwards
There is 2 ways, have your players fight hundreds of armsmen, have them be ambushed on regular intervals and make their life as miserable as possible or have them sneak through narrow rarely used maintenance corridors and vents. However that would require that they know the exact layout of the ship, wich probably not even its own crew knows fully. Boarding is hell.
Charles Johnson
There's one way this could happen that stretches belief but doesn't actually come close to breaking it. The Rogue Trader dynasty in question would have to trace its lineage back to some intersection with one of the Knight Houses. Let's say that house was going through a difficult period of contested succession from unforeseen assassinations and the Rogue Trader shows up not long after pure coincidence :^). He could then press his claim to the house and the Knight Titan.
Jonathan Ross
Is the scatter quality ever worth a shit outside of point blank shootouts no one with sense would get in?
Aiden Fisher
Later editions give you a +10 to hit at short range aswell. Point Blank shootouts are retarded, but sometimes there's a situation where a point blank salvo is a good option (especially in the earlier systems). Also they usually deal more damage than lasguns and autoguns as long as you are not in long range or further away. In short, it's a nice quality to supplement this specialist weapon in the niche it occupies, CQB in boarding or urban combat where enemies can pop up in point blank range.
David Cooper
Quick RT question, if my party faces a Tau, will the Tau have a fucking clue what a navigator is and will it hurt the Tau if the navigator decides to be a portable lidless stare machine again?
Michael Rivera
>will the Tau have a fucking clue what a navigator is Not...quite. They'll possibly consider them a sort of auxillia for navigating ships but they don't really understand anything psychic or warpy. >will it hurt the Tau if the navigator decides to be a portable lidless stare machine again? Yes. If a Culexus' anti-psykershit can kill one, so can lidless stares.
Elijah Taylor
Depends on how in the know the Tau in question is. The Tau know far more than they let on in the newer canon.
Brayden Roberts
Hello, im looking for a specific image of a Black Crusade group.
Ok so theres four of them in this hand drawn image, 1 is chaos undevided and is just black with a visorless mask. The others are aligned to various gods inluding slannesh and khorn.
Any help would be appreciated.
In return: my favourit RT crew image. Which took ages to find.
Going to be running session 2 of my OW game tomorrow. Players only lightly know the setting, some more than others.
By deciding to live up Imperisl nobility's famed dickishness (second only to Eldar), they more or less managed to recreate the Scintillan Fusiliers by building their own regiment.
They've faced ducal troops and collaborationist locals, tearing through them with only limited difficulty. They're about to tip into grimdark territory, but I'm not sure how dark I want it.
>Patrol around recently recaptured town finds town deserted, conscripted PDF gonre >Allied unit gone rogue, sets up their own bloodsport arena using captives and locals for shits and giggles >Switch to alternate squad, same company. Players play similar characters... and feel the brunt of a losing battle they get led into by their CO's arrogance >¿?
Robert Campbell
What is their regiment breakdown?
Daniel Roberts
>We are here >to drink your beer >and steal your rum >at the point of a gun >your alcohol >to us will fall >cause we are here to drink your beer!
Parker Bailey
If you're playing anything other than Rogue Trader space pirates, you're doing it wrong.
I have some questions regarding NPCs stealing player items.
I've been planning an encounter in Dark Heresy that involves an unsanctioned psyker fighting a team that has a PC psyker with a force weapon. The questions are if the unsanctioned psyker beats the party, but doesn't kill them because plot reasons, would it be massively dickish for the enemy psyker to jack the PCs force weapon? If so, is it even possible to treat item theft like this not dickishly?
Connor Wright
Just do it. If he complains, ask what the player would do if the roles were reversed.
Kevin Ramirez
There should always be repercussions for defeat so you are good my man. Besides it gives them more incentive to hunt them down to get it back.
Caleb Hill
Let them do it. Remember that they did it and if an opportunity for someone else to learn that they did it comes up let it happen. The Inquisition needs your influence with that friendly Craftworld, you wouldn't say no now would you?
Blake Sanchez
Doesn't the Knight mess with your mind so you only really care about fighting to protect people?
Dylan Murphy
If any anons are up for a text-based Deathwatch game: I'd like to run a RP-focused campaign about an all-Blackshield party with focus on unveiling each other's identities and pasts.
You can find me as ThaHummel on Discord, I'm active on the 40k-general server: discord.gg/hShwP
UTC+1, evenings and afternoons depending on what everyone's schedule allows.
Adrian Lopez
Hi, I am thinking of running a deathwatch game with my friends, I was wandering which published scenarios are amazing and which are dogshit, I know FFG have been a little hit and miss with their published scenarios before.
Elijah Ward
Boarding is hell, and getting a VIP out of a fortified position moreso. Normally this kind of task is what an Inquisitorial retinue would do, which makes me think that the Guard are providing the punch to this thug punch.
To answer your question, it depends on how grueling you want it to be. The three ways that immediately spring to mind, from most to least, are the party is the tip of the spear, the party holds the beach head/extraction point, and rear guard. Other considerations are how the voidsmen and their families are treated by the Trader and Captain, and would someone be willing to sell out the Trader to end the fighting/people nosing around Family Business. He sounds low on the totem pole, and there's always a more ambitious family member.
Thomas Bailey
My not make your own scenarios? Ark of lost souls has a generator.
Grayson Ramirez
Should I buy a Core Rulebook of Black Crusade even though it will be 400 years before I'll ever find people to bring it to the table? It's the Limited Edition version and it's at a ridiculously cheap price.
Christian Lopez
Might as well. They don't make those anymore.
Christopher Reed
The scenario in First Founding is pretty awesome. My players and I had a blast with it.
Dylan Russell
What is the most fun setting?
I've been thinking either Rogue Trader or Dark Heresy
In Deathwatch, Only War and Black crusade, it's implied you will be focusing on mostly fighting,
But Rogue trader is free and Dark heresy seems like investigating some kind of a mystery or a plot, with Fighting and exploration balanced
Liam Ward
The better question is can an Imperial Knight become a Rogue Trader?
Samuel Williams
If you're going real old school, the short answer is yes. Iirc, 1st Edition 40k mentioned Space Marine commanders being made Rogue Traders, more or less as a way to get rid of the ones who were two crazy without admitting that they'd done anything wrong.
A Knight could be granted a warrant of Trade for any of the myriad reasons you could think of. Reward for gallant service, a means of sealing some sort of political alliance between a Knight House and another faction, a way of booting the firstborn from the line of succession without inviting a bloody civil war, etc.
Personally, I think it'd be better to have a Knight as part of an RT's crew rather than as the RT themselves. Could be a good way to make two players who want to be arrogant, high-ranking space nobles happy without treading on each other's toes.
Jayden Richardson
In old fluff, yes. In newer books, ask your GM.
Aaron Rogers
While we're on the subject of knights, how often do knights deviate from the "Northern European Chivalrous Mounted Lancer" culture aesthetic? In the books, it seems they're pretty uniformly French/English in form and function. And yet, in our game, we've met Neon Cyberpunk Knights, Space-Islam nomadic desert Knights who dig calligraphy, and jungle-borne Knights of Space-India, complete with an origin story taken from the Bhagavad Gita. Basically, how common are the "standard" knightly cultures compared to more exotic knightly cultures?
Jayden Collins
>In our game
Chase Cooper
True Knights are uniform 100% English and French Chivalry because GW is English and wants an internally consistent setting. But then FW made knight houses that broke the mold and retards everywhere thought this game them permission to make make-believe fake knight houses. Forge world's knights are not canon. All knights are chivalrous and noble unless they fall. NO exceptions.
Robert Miller
IIrc it's a techpriest emulating one
Owen Butler
>Forge world's knights are not canon The Horus Heresy is not canon? Holy shit.
Jace Turner
>Basically, how common are the "standard" knightly cultures compared to more exotic knightly cultures?
I can only really think of the Anglo-Saxon styled reaver house from the Horus Heresy books. So, very rare. Though, I wouldn't find it out of place to make Knight Houses inspired by chivalrous classes of non-european nations if you don't try to break the mold too much. Hell, blending historical cultures from wildly different parts and throwing them into the grimdark hellscape that is the 41st millennium is a time honored tradition in 40k fluff. That said, even Europe in of itself presents plenty of ways to pull off Knights that aren't just inspired by French and English chivalry.
>Grimdark Byzantines in giant robots brb fapping furiously.
Brayden Campbell
How do you make a good black shield for Deathwatch?
Jacob Green
>Step 1: Determine his history, Chapter, background, and friends >Step 2: Determine what his secret terrible shame was that robbed him of his very name and brought him to the brink of honor-related suicide. >Step 3: Lock everything from Step 1 in a deep dark box and try to avoid speaking of it for any reason, because it is now a giant raw, red, pulsing emotional trigger. >Step 4: Try to make amends for whatever happened in Step 2. Congratulations, you have a good Black Shield.
Michael Sanchez
I do suppose that's the general gist of it. It just seems difficult to make one that doesn't feel forced to me.
Noah Bell
I was thinking of implementing something like ascension rules, where acolytes can roll acquisitions to just get thrones instead
Accessing an account requires a Routine (+20) Influence Test with no other modifiers, and provides the Throne Agent with 500 Thrones. For every additional 500 desired, the Test becomes one degree more difficult.
What do you guys think, is this usable?
Also yeah I know that DH 2e doesn't have prices but I'm using the ones listed for dh1
Adrian Stewart
The Horus Heresy books also had a Vampire Counts knight house, greek occultist knight house, and a knight house whose nobles are just brains in jars. But still, even they emphasize how typical the european-style knight houses were.
Colton Carter
>they emphasize how typical the european-style knight houses were. Remember, the Cadian Shock Trooper pattern is extremely typical of the Imperial Guard and is the "default" form for the Guard to take, because Cadians are popular, efficient, and widely imitated. Are they the only form the Guard takes? Fuck no they aren't. Are, say, Catachans or Elysians special snowflakes who don't fit the setting? A matter of taste, but no. Same goes for Knights, except that Knights are much rarer and somewhat more standardized. As long as you keep the knightly tradition intact and keep in mind that such houses are atypical, you're good.
Liam Torres
Honestly it becomes really cool to look at knightly cultures from other countries. The Golden Age of Islam had "furusiyya", India had the warrior caste of Kshatriyas, ancient Meso-american people had warrior cults dedicated to various animals, Rome had the Equestrians and later the Taghmatas, naturally the Japanese had their Samurai, and so on. I'm not familiar with the history of sub-saharan africa, but I'm sure they had some sort of knightly group too, at least in terms of philosophy if perhaps not mounted warfare tactics.
It can be a good thing to draw from, as long as you remember that to 99% of people, when you say knight, they won't accept anything else except English/French armored guy.
Andrew Smith
What would a Knight turned Rogue Trader be like? You guys got me curious.
Adam Martinez
I don't think that the powers that be would allow the marriage of power between a knight house and a rogue trader dynasty
that's just asking for trouble
Jack Taylor
user, what is the absolute worst that can happen?
Jeremiah James
Biologist mixed with nid DNA, was more of a warrior.
T. Seneschal
Owen Phillips
>Oh, a Space Marine chapter is cultivating political power and using Heresy-Era combined arms and auxilia tactics. They're cultivating alliances with other Space Marine chapters, but they seem loyal, what's the worst that could happen?
Nicholas Nelson
There's a difference between a Knight pilot and and a Rogue Trader wanting to be together as husband and wife and some idjit with an unpronounceable first name until he changed his name who wanted to launch a crusade against a Warp rift. If you can't spot the difference then you my friend need to take off the Inquisitor hat for a while.
Aaron Sanchez
>take off the Inquisitor hat for a while. Fuck you, my hat has a PR 55 forcefield generator in it.
James Long
I'm planning on doing a Dark Heresy campaign with some chums. I'm reading the rulebook but so far i'm not sure on something - as it will be my first GM session, how high should I aim in storytelling?
Xavier Evans
Does it also cause a Fear (2) check if heretics see it?
Nicholas Smith
I didn't know, user. But still. You're going to need to take it off eventually.
Jayden Ortiz
You should be very, VERY flexible when it comes to what the PCs do because they can do some amazing, stupid, stupidly amazing, and amazingly stupid things.
Cameron Young
Yes
That sounds like heresy. Are you a heretic?
Dominic Garcia
I swear on the Emperor's multiple personalities I'm not.
Luke Wood
which adventure has the massive assault on a hive spire noble's household?
Eli Bennett
How many skulls or images of skulls does your character have displayed on their person?
Ethan Wilson
What are the protocols for deployment of Titan legions? You can't just drop scout Titans on the surface in a matter of hours, can you?
Adam Hernandez
You have to suck 37 magos dicks to get the rights to do so. Then they deploy the maniples via big dropships, unlike Knights which can apparently be shot out like drop pods themselves. Usually a maniple is for every 2 Warhounds, you get a Reaver, and for every 2 Reavers you get a Warlord. This can be supported by weirder titans like Nemesis pattern or others. It will probably be explained better in Adeptus Titanicus next year.
Samuel Wright
Runnin' 40K for the first time, Rogue Trader and the players can only play in core. I was wondering what would be a good psyker supplement book to help make encounters against a nigh-immortal PC.
The details are: 20 wounds arch-militant with about 14 total armor, and slowly gathering a shit ton of talents to negate various effects (leap up, resistances, etc). And he actually knows to use his hellgun proper so cant just "ignore the tank".
Aside from psychic shenanigans, how would you take him on as a DM?
Chase Foster
So he has high armor, I assume high toughness, but low damage output. I did not see a shield listed. You need to see what his dodge chances are, and attack with lots of medium damage, high penetration weapons, OR high-damage, low penetration weapons that can overload the number of dodges he has. Clovis Plasma Repeaters and Pulse Rifles from ITS can be useful, and autocannons can always put concern into people. Blast weapons, assuming they are bigger in blast than his ability to move, can help by either guaranteeing a hit or moving him out of cover.
You should also look at weapons with the Corrosive quality - these remove armor from peeps, and if they have no armor, function as supercharged toxic.
Worse comes to worse, you can always just fire phosphex at him.
