Crusaders, Regiment, Stuff [P.E.A.C.H.]

By Magus Black, in Only War

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These are just things I couldn’t get out of my head so I figured to post them here. Any input or additional ideas would be promising…also any help with the wording of descriptions and names and the like would be helpful too. :D

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“Crusader” Specialization

Characteristic Bonus: +5 Willpower.

Starting Aptitudes: Weapon Skill, Strength, Toughness, Willpower, Offense, Defense.

Starting Skills: Athletics, Awareness, Common Lore (Adeptus Arbites) OR Common Lore (War), Parry, Scholastic Lore (Heraldry) or Scholastic Lore (Tactica Imperialis).

Starting Talents: Combat Formation, Nerves of Steel, Weapon Training (Low-Tech), and either Weapon Training (Shock) OR Weapon Training (Power) OR Weapon Training (Chain).

Specialist Equipment: Best-Craftsmanship One-handed Low-Tech Melee Weapon (with Mono-upgrade) OR Good-Craftsmanship Chain Weapon (of Rare or Better Availability) OR Common-Craftsmanship Shock or Power Weapon (of Very Rare or Better Availability), Best-Craftsmanship Shield, Best-Craftsmanship Feudal World Plate OR Common-Craftsmanship Storm Trooper Carapace

Wounds: 12+1d5

Experience Points: 300exp (Counts as Support Specialization)


COMRADE ADVANCEMENTS

These are Advances that may be purchased by the Crusader to enhance the abilities of his Comrade.


Shield Lock, Advance!:

Type: Passive

Cost: 250exp

Benefit: You and your Comrade lock shields together and advanced forward as one, protecting each other all the while. When performing the Defensive Stance Action (page 244) with your Comrade in Cohesion you may make a Half-Action Move Action. (page 247). Both you are your Comrade must be using a shield to use this Advance.


Steel Wall

Type: Passive

Cost: 600exp

Benefit: Your Comrade watches your back and throws his shield in the path of any danger sent your way. As long as you are in Cohesion with your Comrade any success hit upon your character has its damage reduced by the Comrades Shield defense*. Your Comrade must be using a Shield to use this Advance and you cannot benefit from this advance and Shield Lock, Advance! in the same round.


*this is the Amour Provided by the Shield, the one in the Core Rulebook provide AP 2 (3 if the Shield is Best-Craftsmanship), other shields may provide different degrees of Protection.



Regiment Type

Heavy Crusader Regiment

A throwback to the ancient days when wars were fought with steel and bows and where the valor of men meant the world. In today’s Age they are ill equipped for the supremacy of ranged combat but even still these archaic regiments, often found in feudal worlds, still refuse to quit the battlefield despite the dangers. Extremely tough in mind and body these regiments are known for not breaking despite bombardments or onrushing hordes of Tyranids, and the despite the devastation they refuse to bow before the Age. These heavily Armoured and melee centric regiments can represent either old-school steel-clad knights or even Arbites riot-units pressed into war.


Cost: 8

Characteristics: +6 Toughness, +6 Willpower, –6 Agility

Starting Skills: Athletics or Survival

Starting Talents: Tireless, Weapon Training (Chain or Shock or Power)

Standard Kit: Best-Craftsmanship Feudal World Plate (with inbuilt gear of Very Rare Availability or Better) OR Best-Craftsmanship Armour of Very Rare or Better Availability. Best-Craftsmanship Shield (Two free Weapon Upgrade) OR Common-Craftsmanship Suppression Shield. Best-Craftsmanship Low-Tech Melee Weapon (Two free Weapon Upgrades) OR Best-Craftsmanship Chain Weapon (of Very Rare Availability or Better with 1 Free Weapon Upgrade) OR Best-Craftsmanship Shock or Power Weapon (of Very Rare Availability or Better) OR Common-Craftsmanship Melee Weapon of Extremely Rare Availability.





Weapon Upgrades

Like a lot of people I noticed a general lack of cool stuff for melee weapons and so I’m providing a few of my own (insane) mind for consideration. All upgrades below are “Upgraded: Melee weapons only”.


Serrated (Availability: Scarce): These weapons possess blades or edges that are designed to rip and tear flesh with cruel efficiency. The weapon gains Crippling (1) or increases its Crippling Quality by 1 and increase the weapons weight by 0.5 kg.


Layered Weight (Availability: Scarce): Weapons with this upgrade have had extra layers of material spread evenly to increase the force of each swing, resulting in a weapon with greater power but also greater weight. The weapon deals an additional +2 Damage but its weight is increased by +50% (+1kg minimal).


Repulse Mod (Availability: Rare): After the fine workmanship install the small repulse generator into the weapon the weapon is capable of sending out an explosion of force that can knock foes to the ground. The weapon gains Concussion (0) or increases its Concussion Quality by 1 and increases the weapons weight by +25% (+1kg minimal).


Ogryn-Proof (Availability: Scarce): Exactly what its says on the tin! The weapon gains the Ogryn-Proof Special Quality and increases its weight by x2.


Honed (Availability: Rare): The edge of the blade has been sharpened to an incredible degree, and can potentially carve though any armour. The weapon gains the Razor Sharp Special Weapon Quality and increases the weapons weight by 0.5kg. This upgrade can only be up on Rending Melee weapons with a Penetration of 1 or higher (as can Rending weapons with the Mono upgrade).


Perfect Weapon (Availability: Extremely Rare): This extremely rare upgrade is seldom seen in abundance and those that have seen it seldom forget the sense of awe they leave behind. Using ancient modification rites the weapon is made nearly perfect and terrible to behold. This modification can only be applied to weapons of the “Best” Craftsmanship and grants the weapon Proven (6) and reduces its weight by 50%


Blessed (Availability: Very Rare): Dipped into sacred oils, marked with Scripture, blessed by priest of the Emperor and forged in the fires of zeal. These weapons have been blessed to combat the daemons and other foul thing of the cosmos, each a shining light for Mankind to grip in their hands. The weapon gains the Sanctified Special Weapon Quality.


Armoured Shell (Availability: Scarce): Layers of material and added to these shields to enhance their protective capabilities, and as such protects the lives of Man. This upgrade can only be applied to Shields and their ilk and grant a +1 AP to their rating and increase the shields weight by +3kg.


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Interesting! But I think a Crusader (From the order of the same name) would more properly be an elite advance for a DH2 character.

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This seems to have an incredibly high level of starting gear. Also the quality of available power and shock weapons fluctuates through the entry from common to best.

How on earth do you justify these Imperial guardsmen (who are essentially disposable wall of meat) having access to best quality gear on a regiment-wide level?

As for the mods:

I`d change serrated to barbed and lose the edge requirement. Serrated should be a tearing mod if anything like a weaker chainsword. (although chainswords are kind of poorly handled in FFG games so it`d actually end up being stronger.)

The rest are fine they are basicaly just buying a special rule but hey that`s what they are here for.

drop perfect weapon and repulse mod they as just seem to be out of keeping with the setting.

A best quality weapon is by definition perfect and Proven (6) is insane for an upgrade that can be applied to a set of knuckle dusters.

The repulse mod just seems to be a turn-into-thunderhammer module

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Interesting! But I think a Crusader (From the order of the same name) would more properly be an elite advance for a DH2 character.

These are not really ‘those’ Crusaders per say its just that I couldn’t think of any other catch-all name for a combat unit that engages in melee with heavy armour and shields (knight, legionnaire, Hoplites, Phalangite, etc. didn’t seem appropriate ). In the end I settled on the name taken from the Witchhunters book and it kinda fits (Has Sword, Will Travel) and if you wish to model it after a Arbites you could say that they’re crusaders of JUSTICE!

This seems to have an incredibly high level of starting gear. Also the quality of available power and shock weapons fluctuates through the entry from common to best.

How on earth do you justify these Imperial guardsmen (who are essentially disposable wall of meat) having access to best quality gear on a regiment-wide level?

Ah did I make a mistake writing it our, I had meant for the Specialization to only have access to Common-craftsmanship power/shock weapons (amusingly there are no ‘listed‘ Shock weapons in OW core rules) and the Regiment Type would allow access to Best…partly because melee-centric units need it.
As for how and well it depends on the regiment. Feudal world may have them as their utmost Elite warriors, at least for where they are from, and since they are more likely fighting against spears and bows than anything ‘modern’ they are very effective. Hive City regiments may be drafted into the guard to meet quotas and may bring a strange stability to the Guard (Military Police the max). Still while they may use outdated weapons and tactics (like the Guard isn’t guilty of that on a daily basis) they can find great use in peculiar warfronts (like tunnel fighting, or urban warfare) so a…reasonable Commanding Officer can make use of them without wasting their lives.
As for way such high end gear well it is 8pts out of 12 so they should definitely get the good stuff (sense they focus on melee and defensive fighting they will need it) since Grenadier (to use an example) gets a crap-ton more equipment points per character for half the price; and I am considering the Sentinel Walker to be Extremely Rare for the purpose of allowing Extremely Rare gear and the like.

As for the mods:

I`d change serrated to barbed and lose the edge requirement. Serrated should be a tearing mod if anything like a weaker chainsword. (although chainswords are kind of poorly handled in FFG games so it`d actually end up being stronger.)

Sounds good, and I agree that Chain weapons tend to get the short-end of the stick.

drop perfect weapon and repulse mod they as just seem to be out of keeping with the setting.

A best quality weapon is by definition perfect and Proven (6) is insane for an upgrade that can be applied to a set of knuckle dusters.

The repulse mod just seems to be a turn-into-thunderhammer module

I sort of figured that those might be a problem. I took the idea for Perfect Weapon upgrade from the Salvaging Solace’s reward weapon the Traitors Penance and it seems somewhat annoying that there is no way to get Proven for Melee weapons but Ranged Weapons can get it and all the other cool toys.
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Don`t misunderstand me, proven melee weapons are fine but it should be a percentage of the weapons damage (20% maybe) rather than such a high a flat value (so you don`t get proven (6) on weapons that do 1d5 damage like the aforementioned knuckledusters.)

Also while a regiment`s homeworld might kit them out in the best they have to offer the munitorum almost definately wouldn`t continue to issue such rare, dificult to acquire high-end gear without a serious incentive.

If it did why do almost all the noble regiments in the fluff have flak armour and lasguns?

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Don`t misunderstand me, proven melee weapons are fine but it should be a percentage of the weapons damage (20% maybe) rather than such a high a flat value (so you don`t get proven (6) on weapons that do 1d5 damage like the aforementioned knuckledusters.)

Oh I’m aware of that I’m just venting a bit on the disparity, and the fact that since melee weapons are the weapons with d5 damage kind of brings a pang of great annoyance.
On the other hand since rolling damage for d5 weapons is by rolling d10 and dividing it by half (rounded up) it may not be too much of a bend to simply say that Proven applies to its equivalent (Proven 6 would mean that you always inflict 3 points of damage).
…or maybe it is too much of a bend ,and I’m a fool. :lol:

Also while a regiment`s homeworld might kit them out in the best they have to offer the munitorum almost definately wouldn`t continue to issue such rare, dificult to acquire high-end gear without a serious incentive.

To be fair our Departmento Munitorum is much more efficient than the one in canon, we at least get all the stuff from our Regiment lists without much difficulty, while those in the novels and war-game are lucky for the clerks to get anything right. Truly blessed are we the Cheese Makers!
To be honest the reason for the high end gear is in part due to the fact that while high in point costs these likely to be less disruptive in game. Good weapons and armour do exactly what they are supposed to do (inflict damage and reduce damage) but wont help you in any other area; while other more gear-heavy regiments have stuff for just any situation (a Vanguard, Grenadier Regiment for example) and can throw even the best laid traps to ruin.
…that and of course it limit’s the Players from always looking to loot or Acquisition better gear at every interval (though this may vary between group dynamics and GM cruelty :ph34r: )

If it did why do almost all the noble regiments in the fluff have flak armour and lasguns?

That depends on the lore and Regiment in question, many ‘high born’ regiments are little more than dandies playing at war. While others are well-equipped badasses with better than average gear (in the Guants Ghosts series the Jantine Patricians are noted as wearing heavy armour and being generally better provided than most other regiments) and the only High born regiment we have written up (the Scintillan Fusiliers) do in fact have a lot of high-end gear (at good quality even).

Also do you have any melee weapon mods that you use, or have thought of, to share?

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The Jantine patricians are noted as wearing heavy flak armour (but this is Abnett, father of Barbisater the semi-sentient force/power sword so it might be light carapace) also their gear was ony really ever compared to the ghosts who are a lightly equipped scout/recon regiment and have a serious dent in their supply train because their homeworld isn`t there anymore to put their standard gear into the munitorum`s armouries.

In short the Jantines gear was amazing but only when compared to a guy with a lasarbine in a light flak vest who has to accept whatever the munitorum give him because his standard gear is unavailable.

As for weapon mods I tend to invent unique new weapons from the ground up and give them to enemy NPCs (we had a lot of fun with D5 damage dice too because the D10 base doesn`t have enough wiggle room before you start messing with established weapons) rather than modding the group`s existing gear much the group favorites were:

The five barrelled sawnoff shotgun called the meat hammer it was a fantastically heavy. short ranged hand cannon with scatter that did 5D5 impact damage and devoured five shotgun shells per blast and took three full actions to reload.

The toxcryst was a toxic knife made of an unknown orange psychoactive crystal that did 3D5 damage and ignored TB (this was back in DH1) but had a chance of breaking equal to 10xAV of the location it hit, each time it breaks it loses a D5 of damage.

Off the top of my head:

A shock enhancement for a shield seems right (a good reason to make shield attacks too) so would spikes (increasing damage and weight) ablative armour layers would fit nicely. As would specialised types for improved performance against specific damage ypes reflec/ceramite for energy, plasteel for rending, flakweave for impact. (I love making damage types matter.)

If you want to get to weird scifi weapon mixing I seem to recall a swordpistol in the DH1 Inquisitors Handbook but maybe you could do a concussive maul with a deployable monoblade (to stun and stab.)

My personal wishlist as always had a shock sword on it, the most popular killing instrument in human history, present in every other type of melee weapon (power, force, chain, nemesis, phase the list goes on.) and it never got into the shock type? no way.