/40krpg/ 40k RPG General

A little question here Veeky Forums.
What did your players do to acquire the Crux Terminatus?

Yep, I found the issue more with ship parts. I kind of wish he wrote more straight up tau ship weapons rather than hybrid DE stuff.

I believe one of the Rogue Trader supplements had a Rok started up. You could upscale that.

One of my players was running a spyrer seneschal, up until he decided to take advances from the Reaver class.
Several dozen insanity points later, the rest of the crew were getting a little bit shifty about the, you know, senseless murders and pointless execution of the crew. Before too long this character will be 'retired' and then the player will reuse an old character who is a very mildly mutated missionary of the cult of Russ.

Ship parts? Really? The only ship part I saw that was his snowflake was the Phantomfish and the Startide. Everything other tau component seemed straight out of BFG.

He is a tabletop cruncher and a big tismo about tau.

Which is ironic because his Eldar Corsair is, in my opinion, the best thing he's ever made.

Disintegration Battery
Leech Torpedo
Phantom Lance

Three more snowflake parts. Of the five weapons int the Tau Ships section, three of them are korstla dark eldar stuff.

meant for

My mistake, of the 6 weapons.

That's 50% of the weapons that can only be used by his do not steal Eldar pirates.

>Disintegration Battery
>Leech Torpedo
>Phantom Lance

user...are you okay? And Disintegrators are in Soul Reaver, in the dark Eldar ship section.

Exactly, but they're in the Tau ship section, taking variety away from people who want to build Tau ships.

I don't want Korst'la pirates with Eldar Weapon armed Tau ships, I want Tau ships with more than 3 weapon options.

Oh, I see. I just assumed he lumped the two together for convenience or something.

Naa, you have to get the Tau / Dark Eldar ship rules he's written by taking his Korst'la stuff and separating the two out from eachother, leaving two lacking rulesets on their own.

Where do sisters of battle fit into an inquisitor's acolyte retinue? They seem like something that would get called in if the acolytes failed and shit went south rather than part of the party.

I have my Partys resident Battle Sister either being on some kind of very long penitent mission, or act as an Eccleciarcial emmisary.
The one I have the harder time coming to terms with is higher level Tech-Priests and why in heavens name they'd take any shit from anyone.

Thinking on this:
They might have started early as a low level dude and stuck on.

It could be mentally engaging for them to solve cases and see the galaxy. Quest for knowledge and all that while enjoying professor Laytoning some shit. I imagine that's a huge draw.

It could be nice for some to get away from how rigid the structures of mechanicus worlds.

Alternatively: they could feel this is where their niche is, where they're most useful. That the party needs them and their knowledge.

They might recognise the necessity of the inquisition or the benefits of a good relationship with inquisitors. Especially if they're secutors. This can also be extended to the mechanicus having 'eyes on the inside' and therefore their interests protected within cases. What if an STC fragment was found and it wasn't given immediately to the mechanicus? Unthinkable!

Outrage at tech-heresy things may motivate them to go on with it.

They could be doing it because they were told to by somebody above them.

What kind of magical realm stuff have you encountered in 40k RPG?

None, because I only include sexual themes and scenes after making sure my players are cool with them being part of the game, and when they would make sense within the framework of the game. Magical Realm only exists when the GM tries to force sexual content nonsensically and/or against the players' will. Which is something only douchebags do.

Oh noes! You gentlemen are saying that shas's work might not be 100% canon??? I thought tt canon was his whole deal?!?! I trusted that his work was a straight lift from tt - but it's full of his homebrew wank, you say?
God damn.....

>Ever returned to characters?

All the time. We also have a few "npc" characters that random people who want to check out the game run from time to time.
My favorite is a corrupt arbite who originally showed up for a few missions to replace a pc who had been badly injured. He then turned out to be part of a major conspiracy, we fought him and took him in for interrogation after ripping his arm off. Circumstances later resulted in him showing up in another game, pressed into service to help an Inquisitor escape from an ambush. He's since showed up again from time to time as a kinda sleazy reluctant ally of the heroes, but one who's resourceful and knowledgeable enough that he's extremely useful. He still only has one arm, which makes him fun.

Inquisitors have the authority to requisition just about anyone, and my take is that while Battle Sisters are rare, almost every planet has at least a few to guard shrines and act as bodyguards. Most Sisters would jump at the chance to help an Inquisitor purge heretics, and their Ecclesiastical masters are likely to be happy to have someone very faithful to keep an eye on the Inquisition. Remember, even the lowliest acolyte is someone an Inquisitor sees as having the potential to be useful.
They fit a lot better as Ascension level characters, granted, like personal bodyguards to the Inquisitor, but you can also assume that a younger Sister might be taken in to be trained and groomed, either to be a special liaison or to be an Inquisitor herself some day.

We have had a weird...playing experience is the right term? I would say game, but it was intended to be a series of 4 games that we played. We played almost all of the line, rotating campaigns as the situation called for it.

For instance, we started with RT where we found a planet that was rich in resources but hostile towards the Imperium and beyond our means to deal with, so we call in a few favors to get a regiment or two of guardsmen stationed planet side to kick the natives into submission. Naturally, this stalemates until a squad (OW) takes over an enemy FOB which contains some damning information about who really runs this planet. The Inquisition gets involved (DH) and manages to take out the rogue inquisitor in question while also stealing details of the battle plan. The guardsmen (OW) are then dispatched with all haste to hit their soft flank from a FOB the enemy thinks they can trust. They encounter a surprise when the enemy has CSMs and Knights helping them out, so the call is sent out for backup. A small but elite band of Space Marines (DW) is in the area and surgically strikes into the enemy's command post, crushing the heavy elements and allowing the guardsmen (OW) to call in a lance strike from an orbiting Rogue Trader (RT) on the fall back command bunker. A team of acolytes (DH) later combs through the ashes to find a trace of evidence against the rogue inquisitor.

My old GM later told me that he tried to get a small group of players to play DC and serve as villains, but couldn't figure out how he'd work it and gave up. He was a crazy bastard and will be missed.

...

So, is this you admitting that their accusation is correct? Is your stuff garbage??

I was trying to consider a response, but I decided an anime girl sticking its tongue out was sufficient. But you known, I was looking at my books, and I was comparing the Tau of the first book to the Tau of the second.

Goddamn, the Tau of the first book are garbage.

They come from a time where I wasn't sure what I was doing, and was more comfortable adjusting official things than making new things. And it shows. The Tau of the first book are BAD, just reskinned core classes. It wasn't until I was fucking with the Eldar that I started getting "adventurous" and finding my style. As for why the Tau And DE stuff is put together, yeah it's partially because of my snowflake. I wanted everything in one convenient location. When I run my games, my players flip to one convenient section where everything is available in one place. Everything does work by itself - if you wanted, you can take a Tau hull and only put Tau weapons on it, or a DE hull with only DE weapons. The other ship parts, I never statted because, why bother when counts-as of imperial parts was sufficient. I figured it was best to stat out only new stuff, not placeholder stuff like tau equivalent of life sustainers. I guess, I could take all my personal snowflake stuff out, but that's not very convenient on me. In comparison, it's easy enough for someone to say "Oh, don't use X, Y, and Z gun, and W career." Hell, even the first book is just a compilation of new stuff from one of my games that people asked for, and I gave them the snowflake alongside the official. I think the Tau stuff is the only snowflake stuff (and the old slann, but that is tenuously linked to the 4th edition necron codex). I think at a few points I even say how to convert from snowflake to normal (it's real easy, remove peer underworld). The rest is autismal TT.

Honestly, though, would I go back and fix the older Tau classes? Probably not. Enough people are using the official Fire Warrior that I don't consider worth it.

Well, at least you've 'splained yerself...that's something more than anime tongue. I know nothing of tau but what i've lerned from you, hence my alarm..........and thanx for the wonderfish - lost that particular reaction when my puter died, and i've missed him.

I'm just thinking back. The Fire Caste Cadre Fireblade and Pathfinder I made were reskinned arch-militant with one unique mechanic and reskinned kroot with one unique mechanic, while the Earth Caste was reskinned techpriest with one unique mechanic. In comparison, the Water Caste does multiple new things, uses a lot of new mechanics, and fulfills a role that is normally very hard to find. Even the Air Caste, which has a number of new things it can do, and fulfills a role that no other career really does (vehicle focused dude), pales on comparison to the Water Caste.

But as I said, no point in really going back and changing it up when everyone gonna use the official stuff anyway. Better to make all new stuff, that's fun, is an actual challenge, and fills niches that people need. It really does make me happy when people say my stuff helps, and if people ask for new stuff, I love helping out. But nobody's really free of opinions, and you can really expect my opinions to occasionally leak in if the numbers can't tell the whole story.

>Have you ever returned to characters?

We have. It was supposed to be a short game, but we've come back for an all new game, same characters - Rogue Trader, Explorator, (my) Arch-militant, and Cryptek. We have a better grip on the system, so we're gonna do a lot more than we did before.

Bro, if you want to learn about Tau, I really advise grabbing the codex and giving it a read first. That will give you all the basic information you need. Then, if you want to play as a "normal" one in the RPGs, either grab the Tau Fire Warrior in TCG for a basic crash course, or go into my books, remove "Peer Underworld" from them, and you'll be good to go.

I will stand by my Eldar, Harlequins, Necrons, and Old Slann to the end. The Tau of the first book need a bit of help, though, while the Tau of the second are much better quality, and I highly advise giving them a spin if you ever get the chance.

For fuck sake don't engage shas and don't brimg up his studf. He desperately craves the attention and we all know his stuff is shit so why would you mention it? I'm literally empowering him with this post but consider it a public service.

If you don't like it, don't talk about it.

Chambers Militant is back so you can just say the chamber was called upon.

Looks okay, but could use more necrons.

>Have you ever returned to characters? Maybe you made a character that was for a one shot and you remade them for an actual game? Or maybe you used a former player or character as an NPC? How did it work?

Brought a cleric back from DH1 to DH2 after last session in the old game ended with said cleric's brains all over the floor after three sessions of glorious levels of being an absolute madman. Found out there was a difference between burning ans spending fatepoints, meaning my cleric could have survived. Sat down with my GM and adapted both the cleric and cybernetic resurrection to DH2, sticking as much to the original character in terms or role and background and all that.

What came out on the other side was a horribly optimized monstrosity that hits like a freight train straight off the bad, but with aptitudes all over the place that doesn't spend experience particularly well.

Ur mom

>don't talk about the game or homebrew with TRIPFAGS REEEE
This is you, man. You are telling people to not talk about a dead series when these threads are barren enough.

Anyone familiar with Roll20 Macros want to check out my Naval Combat firing and damage macros?

.Macrobattery
&{template:default} {{name=Macro Battery Fire}} {{Hits = [[floor((?{Modified Ballistic Skill|@{selected|crewRating}}- d100)/10)]]+1}}{{Enemy Voidshields = @{target|voidshields}}

.Damage
&{template:default} {{name=Damage Inflicted}} {{Total Damage (-@{target|armour} armour) = [[?{Number of Hits?|1}*?{Weapon Damage?|1d10+0}-@{target|armour}]]}}

Do you think these are good enough?

That macro shouldn't be called .Macrobattery actually, It can be used for Lances too.

&{template:default} {{name=Damage Inflicted}} {{Total Damage (-@{target|armour} armour) = [[(?{HitNumber?|1}?{Weapon Dice?|d10}+(?{Weapon Bonus|+0}*?{HitNumber?|1}))-@{target|armour}]]}}

That's .Damage that actually works, it only added the "+0" query to the full result, rather than each dice.

I've always wanted to try roll20, but is it always this complicated?

It's as complicated as you want it to be. You can honestly make do by dragging and dropping images and just using it as a visualiser. You can then take things a step further by using the inbuilt character sheets and all the buttons and such that make life easier for that, or a step further again and write your own macros.

I find it to be much more straightforward than Maptools, and the extra layers of complexity you can choose to use make games go a lot more smoothly.

Rather than rolling individual dice, I can just click on a token, click on the "Melee Attack" button, then click on the enemy, it'll do all the rolls and calculation for you.

/me rolls for an Intelligence Check! Result = [[((@{selected|Intelligence} + ?{Modifier|10} - d100)/10)]] DoS

That's a simple intelligence check, that gives you your degrees of success, the ones above are only really complex looking because they're laid out in a table like pic related.

You should give it a go, the inbuilt character sheets are fantastic, and you have a lot of power at your disposal.

Thanks for the explanation!
meh, I've gone thru his shit - his methodology is solid, his builds are good. Despite his cheekiness, he has generally been helpful and good. He responds to questions and to criticism. At least he does for me.
I just know NOTHING of filthy tau, being a 1st/2nd ed grognard. So my only source of tau-fu is Mark of the Xenos and shas. I rely upon my resources heavily, and demand that they be quality.
>If you don't like it, don't talk about it
But user: if we all did that, nothing would ever change....

So in Tome of Blood there's the Wailing Axe and it says you can swing the axe as a half action and you gain the Fear 1 trait. It also says as long as you're swinging the axe you add twice your SB and attempts to parry are at a -10.

So how would you rule this works? My GM and I are having a debate on this. Is it like aiming, once you do it you can immediately attack to gain the bonus? Does the strength bonus only apply to the first hit? Once you start swinging it do you keep the bonus until you're stunned or incapacitated?

The way I see it, Puritan Inquisitors are likely to call upon Sisters of Battle while Radical Inquisitors are likely to enlist anonymous Guardsmen.

I'm not a fan of homebrew either but these games can probably use any attention we give them at this point.

I'd say Fear applies each round you take the action. Up to your group whether the double SB to damage is excessive on all attacks. The axe isn't exactly an amazing weapon otherwise.

...

&{template:default} {{name=Lance Fire}} {{Hits = [[floor(((?{Modified Ballistic Skill|@{selected|crewRating}}- d100)/10)/3)]]+1}}{{Enemy Voidshields = @{target|voidshields}}}

Lance fire macro. Doesn't tell you the Degrees of Failure properly (Since it divides the DoS/F result by 3 either way), but I don't think ship shooting has any effects with degrees of failure anyway.

&{template:default} {{name=Weapons Fire}} {{Hits = [[floor(((?{Modified Ballistic Skill|@{selected|crewRating}}- d100)/10)?{Lance-or-Macro?|Macro, /1|Lance, /3})]]+1}}{{Enemy Voidshields = @{target|voidshields}}}

This works for both Macro AND Lance.

DEAR Veeky Forums

I'M AFRAID THAT WITH FFG LOSING THE 40K LICENSE, MY GAME IS NO LONGER CANON/UPTODATE. WHAT TO DO?

Nice bait

>Restraining himself with canon

I'm gonna run the Rogue Trader intro adventure, Forsaken Bounty, for some friends on Saturday night. It seems pretty straightforward but is there anything I should know? Anybody have any tips? I'm thinking of at least starting them in port and giving the potential of a warp encounter if the translation doesn't go so well (using the Navis Primer rules). Someone was also suggesting throwing in a ship-vs-ship encounter when they are in the Guncutter going to the wreck; thoughts?

Vehicle combat can get kind of swingy unless you have heavy weapons. Does the guncutter have lascannons or another really heavy weapon. Bolters ain't gonna cut it.

Have you seen the up-to-date canon? Why care?

How hard would it be to craft plasteel cranial armour with only 1 rank in tech-use?

My players are out of requisitions and the AdMech Biologis want to get Cranial Armour implants.

Considering he has Medicae maxxed out I tell him that he knows the human body but not the manufacturing processes behind plasteel plating.

Even if he manages to pass a -30(Very Hard) roll of Tech-Use crafting he would only get a +20 bonus on the next requisition destined to get the Cranial Armour augmentation. Is this fair?

For real question, guys: did anyone ever really pay attention to canon?

I mean, aside from staying true to the really essential shit that you need to in order for it to be 40k, I never really gave much of a fuck what was official and what wasn't. I mean, you have examples of shit like the All Guardsmen Party where some of the lesser known "rules," were completely ignored, and it still made for some fun shit.

So who really pays attention to canon? In fact, let's go a bit further; what are some setting-houserules or normally not-established canon aspects that you bring into "your," 40k?

I'll take the leap and expose some of my headcanons to Veeky Forums's tender mercies.

>Most of the people in the Inquisition are surprisingly sensible; most are subtle and prefer to work behind the scenes.
>Imperial conflicts do not often end because the Imperium threw more bodies into it. There are plenty of competent people in the Guard and other branches of the Imperium's fighting forces.
>Kriegers have faces and how they look isn't as much of a mystery. To civilians and ground-pounders, sure. But they get invited to events where they have to eat in the presence of others the higher up they go in the chain, so many people are exposed to just how young and dead these men look.
>I downplay how often Astartes are deployed in large numbers, making it so a platoon or two are often considered quite a devotion to a task. This, along with the "1000 rule," only pertaining to their infantry--allowing for vehicle crews--accounts in part for how in the lore Astartes seem to be fucking everywhere.
>Serfs fight alongside Astartes more often as an auxiliary pseudo-Guard force.
>Just like in the Rogue Trader days, Astartes are not afraid of painting camouflage on their armor. Not because "muh realism," I know Astartes are basically Mobile Infantry from Starship Troopers; I just like the variety it allows. In fact, in my games Astartes are pretty much always represented with images from their Rogue Trader days when I can fit it in.
>Deathwatch, Grey Knights, and Sisters are still Chambers Militant
>Speaking of Grey Knights, they don't kill everyone they see. They're secretive, but known to exist. Rather, they tend to only be called when everyone is contaminated already, so one of their more grim duties is often to massacre or imprison loyal subjects who may well be tainted.
>Chaos Undivided is still a thing. I wasn't aware it ever stopped being a thing until someone told me recently.

That's not all of them, just a few.

I'll drop more, feel free to add your own. I'll steal them if they're good.

>Many Astartes--in particular, Crusaders--are roving fighters that go from conflict to conflict. Many high level Imperial commanders hate when Crusaders arrive; they are an uncontrollable variable that may well shit on any large strategy.
>Traitor Astartes can be generally placed in four categories: 1) zealots totally devoted to the cause of destroying the Imperium, with or without the dogma; 2) believers that see Chaos as the only salvation for humanity for their own dogmatic reasons; 3) burnouts that just don't give a fuck anymore but keep fighting because it's all they know; and 4) maniacs purely out for themselves and see Chaos as a way to gain power.
>The Squats, after the loss of the Homeworlds as stated in previous material, have established themselves on the fringes of the Imperium. These New Homeworlds struggle for acceptance due to the Squats' previous position as an "allied empire," though trade is often not out of the question. They've taken to jetbikes where they can afford, adapting their trike combat tactics to the sturdier and faster platforms.
>Oldcrons and Newcrons co-exist. Several shards of the Deceiver are free and have multiple tomb worlds enslaved to its will. It is slowly subjugating the Necron worlds again and is on a perpetual quest to reunite its whole form. The Nightbringer is still whole and in stasis, as even the most arrogant Necron Lord is reluctant to release it again on any grounds. Necrons that fall in the Newcron category range from superiority complexes to friendly and pleasant, depending on how much brain damage they suffered over the great sleep or what their personalities were like beforehand.

That last one I have because I have two players who feel strongly about them. One hates Newcrons; the other loves them. I use the above to shut them up; I don't care and don't plan on including Necrons in my games any time soon, so it doesn't matter.

It mentions in a few books that augments to a particular part of the body increase toughness for soaking attacks by TB+2.

Is that just for artificial limbs, or stuff like cranial armor, or just any localized cybernetic?

Only things that completely replaces said thing like a bionic arm or leg.

Hey /40krpg/, I was thinking of GMing a Dark Heresy game for two buddies of mine.

Any tips for only having two players? Thanks.

Which DH?

I was thinking 2nd edition.

Make it a thematic team and build their work around it.

For example: I'm playing an assassin who works solo. It's a 1 on 1 campaign with the GM. Another assassin, maybe spec'd for CQC would work very well.
It's a lot of stealth/investigation missions, along the lines of MGS, Splinter Cell, etc.

You could also do stuff like two pilots of an Imperial aircraft, etc. Just build some support NPCs that aren't hands on, but are there to help.

Any implant described as armour stacks with what is worn.
Otherwise, bionic limb or large organ replacement adds to TB

Which system are you using?

In DH2 all augmentations have specific rules. Subskin armour grants +2AP that stacks with Toughness and other armour.

Make a investigation-rich campaing. Allow them to bypass dangerous encounters by being smart and/or subtle; if they screw up and get caught make them fight.

I recommend using the sample campaing found in the DH2 Core Rulebook.

Could go quality over quantity to compensate and give them a bit more exp and slightly better gear or an NPC party member or two.

Is throwing them into combat probably a bad idea? I've heard DH tends to be incredibly lethal. My group, while rp heavy, does tend to enjoy some good combat encounters.

"Large organ replacement"
Like what?

I have two bionic legs, subskin armor, bionic heart, cranial plating and augur array, vox implant, synthmuscle and respiratory filter implant.

DH 1e, though we move around a lot of Rogue Trader and Only War rules.

It can be lethal in larger numbers, but depending on what kind of characters they are, it can be dealt with decently well.

For example, I'm an assassin, so I spend most of combat hidden. But even a good stormtrooper would get cut up by moderate difficulty enemies. Higher level assassins laugh at direct combat. That said, anything I fight can kill me in one round, so I avoid combat if at all possible. I've gone entire runs without any combat.

With only two members, it can get very easy to overwhelm them in normal combat. They'd have to rely on surprise rounds, slowly picking off enemies, and abusing the demolitions special use of Tech-Use.

If you've replaced heart and at least 1 lung that's enough to allow TB bonus in body location, even without other augmentation in chest or abdomen

Any suggestions for dialing the combat down while retaining the difficulty?

Only limbs.

I'm getting mixed answers. What is enough major organs? Is that a game mechanic?

Under "bionic replacement limbs and body parts", it only ever talks about limbs getting the +2 to TB.

Other user here. Bionic heart ( RT Core) also adds +1 armour. Not sure of reference for use in DH1e/2e

Are there rules for Volcano cannons?

Yes.

Making an Only War game here in a few weeks, and have a question - what are the possible deployment options for a squad beyond Grav-Chutes or Devourer Dropships? I'm not beyond fabricating a smaller dropship, but I'm loathe to use Devourers simply because they seem too well armed to be used en masse.

What about against something big? Like a Grand Cruiser?

No.

>What are Valkyries

>Valkyries
Fuck, I'm dumb. Thanks user

Fuck.

IN RT, it is mentionned that personnal weapons are useless against starships. And yes, Voclano Canons are in that categorie.
A 40K Grand cruiser is a a 8 km long monstruosity made to survive building size plasma torpedoes, macro shells, atomics,and nova canon impact - aka a near light speed accelerated plasma shell of fuck you doing 20 000 km diameter explosion.
A volcano canon might do some damage on the outer armour plate, not much else.
Shot inside in boarding party, of course, it can be do tremendous damage at the right place, of course, but using a super-heavy tank or a titan in a boarding party...

The issue is that my players are in an OW game as scouts attached to a super heavy regiment. The ship they're on is under attack from a pirate with a grand cruiser. The escorts are all dead, the transport's weapons are damaged, and a player came up with the idea of using the regiment as a lance battery. Currently, the players are on board the enemy vessel and have laid a beacon for the regiment to focus their fire on. I figured it would work, but now I'm not so sure.

You're about 5 orders of magnitude out of scale. Go look up the effects of a lance strike asset from deathwatch: everything in 500m radius is auto-dead and glassed, anything in 2km is taking a lascannon-equivalent hit

Where would I find that?

Should be in rites of battle, imperial navy assets

if the pirate is really close, the Super heavy weapons might be useful as turret fire, helping a boarding party or to reppel the pirates own boarding party.
You can use your players effort to give time to the transport Navigator to get ready for an emergency war p jump. Will they be able to give nough time ? will they be able to run back toward their own ship before it jumps ?