Heck yes.
5 FP
Mark 8 Armor
scars
1 up Blood of a battle brother +1 kill team cohesion
Storm Warden Assault Marine
Wings of Angels.
Aspire to glory.
Replacing Knife with Sacris Claymore
Looks pretty good so far.
Advances Demolition 500, Strength 200, Weapon Skill 200
as there will be casualties.
Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.
Aurilous sat in quiet meditation. He was not alone when he had taken the oath. He was now. Even now he could remember the Hadex anomaly. He and his battle brothers had been fighting the Stigmartus Covenant when it happened. He heard the death cries of warriors not yet born. He had seen the brightest of stars done. He had...seen his Primarch. There had been five men in his squad. Three fell to the Black Rage, with only himself and Brother Xanthus not succumbing.
Brother Xanthus had taken the Apocryphon oath. He remembered the day clearly, for in his heart he could feel his brother slipping into the black rage. He could feel his fear, his anger, and he could understand his brother’s desire to flee. Aurillous has taken the oath as well, for he wanted to be there when his brother either died or slipped into the rage.
His brother was dead. He had been right about the rage. He had seen it. He had been there at the end. The geneseed had been harvested. But he still missed his brother. He still dreamed of the day when his squad was lost. He still felt the madness that had blasted his soul.
The only comfort was that he had access to the archives of the Deathwatch, and had been able to research the anomaly that had cost his chapter so deadly, as well as the biotoxins of species he didn’t even know existed. He had knowledge to bring back to his chapter. But first...he would have to survive. For he had taken the oath, and would soon be sent into a space hulk. The chances of survival were not great. He knew why he was being sent. He would likely be needed to bring back geneseed from this mission. He kept his mind clear as he meditated. The future would be as it was. The only things that were certain in life were duty and death.
50 requisition:
* 10 spent on Diagnostor Helmet (+10 medicae)
* 9 spent on Chainblade Attachment (Bolter and Chainsword put together!)
* 25 spent on 2x hellfire rounds (Ignores Natural Armor And May Inflict Righteous Fury On A 9 Or 10)
* 6 spent on telescop sight (No Long Or Extreme Range Penalty When 1 Full Round Aiming)
So...builds so far.
(1) Dark Angels Librarian (force sword)
(2) Blood Angels Sanguiniary Priest (chain sword attached to Bolter)
(3) Storm Warden Assault Marine (claymore)
I think we could use some more firepower. Though pure close combat could be interesting...
If no one else wants to go ranged I can rebuild as a Raptor Tactical Marine.
I have a ranged option: I can shoot people with lightning.
I am interested, if I copy paste any of the relevant bits would you consider chapters outside the Core Rulebook? Quite happy to go with just core rulebook though it does occur to me if it's a suicide mission it'll be the kind of thing that a Black Shield would be earmarked for.
...what has this guy been through?
Before Chapter Modifications
S 39, BS 38, S 55, T, 39, Agi 39, Int 43, Per 32, WP 45, Fel 47
I suspect I'm going to be RPing these stats as a Black Shield with a serious number of old battle wounds.
High WP, Fel and Str. Subpar...other. He’s probably the oldest and wisest of all of us. Perhaps injured enough that another marine would have been eligible to be put in a dreadnaught, but due to pure stubbornness he goes on.
Aquila
Core Rulebook
So 8, 9 or 10
8-Lead from the Front
Still working on the background.
Brother Scipio
WS 39, BS 38, S 55, T 44(8)*, Agi 39, Int 48 (43+5), Per 32, WP 45, Fel 52(47+5)
AP: Head 8, Chest 10, Arm 8, Legs 8
Wounds: 21
Fate Points: 3/3
Toughness +5 500xp
Demolitions 500xp
Skills: Awareness, Ciphers (Chapter Runes), Climb, Command, Common Lore (Adeptus Astartes, Deathwatch, Imperium, War), Demolition, Dodge,Concealment, Drive (Ground Vehicles), Forbidden Lore (Xenos) Intimidate, Literacy, Navigation (Surface), Scholastic Lore (Codex Astartes), Silent Move, Speak Language (High Gothic, Low Gothic), Tactics (Recon and Stealth), Tracking.
Starting Talents: Ambidextrous, Astartes Weapons Training, Bulging Biceps, Deathwatch Trainning, Heightened Senses (Hearing, Sight), Killing Strike, Nerves of Steel, Quick Draw, Resistance (Psychic Powers), True Grit, Unarmed Master.
Starting Traits: Unnatural Strength (x2), Unnatural Toughness (x2).
Tactical Expertise
When initiating a Squad Mode ability, the Tactical Marine may share the benefts of his Chapter’s Squad Mode abilities with the members of his Kill-team as if they were part of his Chapter. This requires a successful Hard (-20) Command Test. At Rank 3, the Command Test becomes Challenging (+0). At Rank 7, the Command Test becomes Routine (+20).
UNKNOWN WARRIOR
Black Shields are often grimly determined to work smoothly together with their Battle-Brothers in the Deathwatch. A Black Shield Space Marine gains the following benefits:
The Black Shield Advances replace the Space Marine’s Chapter-specific advances. His normal Space Marine, Speciality, and Deathwatch Advance options remain unchanged. The Black Shield Space Marine may benefi t from a Chapter-specific Squad Mode ability even if he is not of the Chapter in question.
The Black Shield Space Marine possesses no Chapter Solo Mode ability. He may use Codex Solo Mode abilities (Feat of Strength, etc.) as normal. The Black Shield is from an unknown chapter, who may have a wide variety of Attack Patterns and Defensive Stances.
To represent this, the Black Shield may choose any one Attack Pattern and any one Defensive Stance from any other chapter (or even two different chapters). He gains this Attack Pattern and Defensive Stance and may use both as if he is a part of the chapter to which they originally belonged. The Black Shield should choose a new name for both the Attack Pattern and the Defensive Stance, as these are the tactics of a different (and unknown chapter). For example, “Pack Tactics” may become “Brotherhood of Steel.” This is purely to aid roleplaying and represent the fact that the Black Shield is from a different chapter—the mechanics of both abilities remain unchanged.
Honour the Chapter page 48
CONFINED COMBAT Stand with your Brothers
Action: Half Action
Cost: 2
Sustained: Yes
Effects: Squads of Marines Errant are often required to fight in the close confines of ship to ship boarding actions, pressing down cramped corridors or leading assaults through rents in bulkheads. While this is a skill which is most useful in space combat it can be translated into any situation where Battle-Brothers must fight shoulder pad to shoulder pad with little or no room to manoeuvre. The Battle-Brother and those within Support Range of him do not obscure lines of fire for each other or incur penalties to hit because they are in the way. In addition, Battle-Brothers may move through each other or switch positions during their movement even if there would not normally be enough room to do so.
Improvement: At Rank 4 Battle-Brothers gain the ability to aid each other in melee combat even though they may not be able to reach their foes; any Battle-Brother making a melee attack can gain a Ganging Up bonus (see page 248 of the DEATHWATCH Core Rulebook) for other Battle-Brothers which are adjacent to him even if they cannot make melee attacks on his foe. At Rank 7 Battle-Brothers using this Squad Mode ability do not reduce their movement when fighting within confided spaces.
Core Rulebook page 225
Rally Cry Call to Arms
Chapter: Ultramarines
Action: Free Action
Cost: 0
Sustained: No
Effects: Ultramarines are natural leaders and the embodiment of the Codex Astartes. In battle their purity and natural authority is a power force, able to rally their fellow BattleBrothers and reinforce their will to fight. When a BattleBrother uses this ability, it instantly restores a number of
Cohesion equal to his Fellowship Bonus. The reverence the Ultramarines hold for their Primarch and the strength of will required to make a Rally Cry is such that a Battle-Brother may only use this ability once per game session.
Improvement: This ability cannot be improved.
PRICE OF REDEMPTION
A Black Shield has chosen to join the Deathwatch to redeem himself some past dishonour, a memory which burns in his every waking thought and drives him on to great feats of courage. This recklessness can make other Battle-Brothers wary of a Black Shield as they are likely to act unpredictably in battle, though none would question their valour. In addition to the normal ways in which a Battle-Brother may use Fate Points (see page 204 in the DEATHWATCH Rulebook), a Black
Shield may choose to expend a Fate Point for the following effects as part of his redemption.
• Reckless Assault: The Black Shield doubles his movement and gains a +10 to all Weapon Skill and Ballistic Skill Tests until the start of his next Turn.
• Only in Death Does Duty End: The Black Shield can ignore the effects of a single Critical Damage effect (not including death or the loss of a limb or eye) for the remainder of the encounter.
• Strength in Ignorance: The Black Shield may automatically succeed at a Willpower Test to resist a psychic power or other such ability that affects his mind (counting as if he had achieved a number of degrees of success equal to his Willpower Bonus).
Gear
Astartes power armour (Aquila, Lead from the Front), Astartes bolt pistol, 3 Astartes frag grenades, 3 Astartes krak grenades, Astartes combat knife, repair cement, Astartes bolter with fre selector, one clip of Special Issue ammunition (not exceeding 25 Requisition per clip) per mission. Note that you must still meet the Renown requirement for this ammunition.
@Radavel Are you going using the revised weapon stats? Having played and run a lot of games of Deathwatch I would advise it.
The books after Rites of Battle use weapon stats based off these so as long as you watch any stats from the Core Rulebook and Rites of Battle they will be grand. They line up with Black Crusade and other later games stats better so lets Radavel pull a greater variety of opponents for us to fight.
Just a note. I’m familiar with this kind of system (WFRP) but I haven’t actually played deathwatch, dark heresy, etc before. So please bear with me as I get the rules down.
We'll show you the ropes. Squad modes my friend, its not the super high stats that make the Space Marines deadly it's the Squad Modes.
Great! I appreciate it. This is why I shotgunned the healer slot. Figured that even being new, I could contribute by being the doc.
Mind giving me a quick breakdown of how squad mode works?
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It's a huge boon to have an Apothecary in the party and it's not like he'll be bad in combat. All the Space Marines are good in combat but obviously the Devastator and Assault Marine are more focused.
Mechanical question for you Aurilous are you going Blood Angels Apothecary or Blood Angels Sainguinary Priest? It's in First Founding.
There's a few concepts to tackle here.
Mission Objectives: Generally you'll be given a mission briefing detailing your Primary Objective(s) and Secondary Objectives. On mission we may be given or uncover secret Secondary or Tertiary Objectives. Completing the Objectives is how we complete the mission but Secondary and Tertiary aren't 100% necessary to complete but we're playing fanatical super soldiers so we'll generally try to get many of them done... technically there are these weird things called Kill Markers to track them but everyone I've seen running the game ignores them because they seem very artificial.
Requisition: We'll be given an amount of requisition points to get gear. Each of us has a pool but we can give unspent amounts to others. Some gear we wont have access to til we have higher renown. Stormbolters and Power Swords are only available at the Respected renown level or higher 21+. Your character probably has more renown back in there parent chapter than the Deathwatch.
Squad Leader: When the Kill Team is given a mission and it's objectives they choose a Kill Team Leader to help the group co ordinate, it generally changes between missions but sometimes a group finds someone who they are happy with. The first game I was in my character was Kill Team Leader for about 70% of the missions.
Oath: The Kill Team Leader picks an Oath for the mission. Assault, Devastator, Techmarine, Tactical, Librarian each have access to different Oaths. Some Chapters have access to extra Oaths. Ultimately you pick one and this gives the group a mechanical benefit (Oath of the Emperor means a bonus to WP checks, Oath of the Astrates gives +2 Cohesion etc). It also determines the Codex Squad Modes the group will have for the mission.
Cohesion: The groups cohesion is something that is determined at the start of the mission. It's based off the Kill Team Leader's Fellowship Bonus but is increased at certain Ranks and by how much command the leader has. This will be the starting and cap for cohesion. We will spend it to do squad modes, it can be damaged by members in Squad Mode taking damage from certain weapons like those with the devastating trait (the Kill Team Leader can potentially negate this with a command test). Other ways we lose it is we come across something with fear, we wont turn tail and run but the Kill Team will lose cohesion equal to it's fear rating if the leader doesn't past a fear test. We can spend a fate point we can regain a point cohesion, when we complete and objective we regain a point of cohesion.
Squad Mode & Solo Mode: Marines can be in Squad Mode or Solo Mode. Some solo modes are passive and some are active. Active ones damage the groups cohesion if you use it while in squad mode, passive ones don't however sometimes it's a good idea. They give bonuses, there's a few codex ones everyone can use but each chapter has at least one chapter solo mode.
Anyone in squad mode will be able to benefit from the squad modes that we get from the oath or one you know. Activating a squad mode costs a certain amount of cohesion. It'll take a certain action to activate as well. Some of them are sustained, if they aren't sustained then they have an affect and then end. The sustained ones keep going as long as ye are in squad mode. We need to be close enough to each other to benefit from squad mode, but not the whole squad necessarily just two or more battle brothers.
Tactical Marines are weird, you can take something to make you better with bolt weaponry or a thing called Tactical Expertise. Scipio for example took Tactical Expertise so he can try and share his chapter* squad modes with other people even though they aren't members of his chapter. If pulled off it's another option and can work really well. There are other ways for Kill Teams to get an ability like this but it's really really hard to get those.
I will not be the most deadly marine in the party with Scipio but a good tactical marine is a support character, a force multiplier helping make sure the group has extra tactical options in the form of squad modes to help them overcome the challenges. I'm going with a Squad Mode that'll help us in the confined spaces well be finding in a space hulk and use the terrain to our advantage when it suits our needs.
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Just a heads up on expectations, I will run the combat as fast as I can. Post as fast and as often as you can. I will avoid too much rules to make it fast and enjoyable. Minions die quickly if you penetrate armor and toughness with at least 1 point of damage (Minion Rule).
But bosses are tougher of course.
Kevin, you are a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you for the explanations!
And Aurilous will be a sanguinary priest. I believe that the profile is correct with requisition and abilities.
Nemiel is probably one of the last characters that should be leading anyone. Fellowship is his poor attribute, and he's a Dark Angel to boot, so he's all secretive and whatnot.
@Radavel I'm currently running two games, one since March, but I doubt I'll be start another 40k rpg game but will keep you in mind.
I'm curious to see how Wrath and Glory works out. Given that the company is doing Dark Eye and Fading Suns I have some hope but since it's running off D6s it seems there'll be no more iterations of improvement in the game. I run Deathwatch using DH2nd edition as the engine for the game so to speak.
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@Aurilous which WHFRP edition did you play? I started roleplaying with first edition but played a lot of second edition as well. I've played half a session of third... halfway through the GM who had spent good money on the book turned and asked me for the 2nd edition book because we found it unplayable, the line that broke him was when he went looking for the movement rules and read out after much searching "We've intentionally left the rules vague so you can make up your own to better suit you game."
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Oy, some of the current editions of games make me sad. I have been looking over the beta for L5R and it feels off in so many ways.
Also, completed battle-brother ready to go.
WFRP1 and 2. Loved the games and got great mileage out of them. We always hand waved movement.
But movement is on page 129 of the rulebook, table 6-1
Just need to track how many yards each square represents.
Sorry I should have said movement in third edition... it's definitely there in 2nd.
I do like the various 40krpgs and the incremental improvements they were making along the way. Starship combat was a big thing still due for an overhaul.
This battle brother is fully prepared to die for the God Emperor.
Only in death does duty end. I stand ready.
I stand ready to do the Emperor's Will, for I am his blade.
If your life is given in service to the Emperor, your death shall not be in vain.
For Russ and the All-Father!!!
I count four Marines. Will there be a fifth?
Beware your heretical math, brother Ulf. There are indeed five of us here already.
Brother Nemiel, one does not question the math of a superior.
"It is reliance on math which led to to the dark age of technology." Aurilous said this with a wry smile, in the hopes of diffusing the situation.
*Brother Driscol continues to clean his claymore.* "Has anyone attempted contacting (insert Misterlurch's character name here)? He seems to be absent. Maybe slowed in transit."
"As always, we await with the patience of the Emperor's chosen."
I am sorry for the long absence. I have had a lot of RL stuff fall on my head. I have got it mostly sorted, mostly, and am ready to get back to the fun stuff. If my spot is still good I will finish up the character real quick and if you had to replace me then I understand.
Emperor be with you...
I am sorry for the long absence. I have had a lot of RL stuff fall on my head. I have got it mostly sorted, mostly, and am ready to get back to the fun stuff. If my spot is still good I will finish up the character real quick and if you had to replace me then I understand.
Emperor be with you...
Wilco, Iron Hand Techmarine incoming
What are the rules for armor/armor history selection?