New version of the Eldar Guide is up, added in the missing ship rules and lance weapon. Also went through and updated page references throughout the guide, but I may have missed a few so if you spot any let me know!

I've also done some minor revisions to the Necron Character Guide, including adding the Trade (Any) Skill to the Career Path and adding new starting equipment for Necron Explorers.

I'm going to be doing tweaks and edits to the Xenos Character Guide next, I'll post an update in that thread once they're complete. Hope everyone finds the edits satisfactory!

On a note unrelated to the guides I've started a posting of campaign adventures on my site under the News/Campaign Stories page.

The Eldar seem way stronger than humans. Is it intended that they are better than humans though their completely min-maxed stat lines and ranks? If so, how to you suggest people use them in a campaign?

Changes I would make:

1. Make all of the Rank One 100xp cost talents cost 200xp. They're really good and this is more in line with other classes.

2. They begin with their starting 500 xp already spent. This represents their awesome starting abilities (which is inline with abilities humans would spend in ITS expanded origin path to get similar abilities)

3. Make most Eldar-specific talents start at 750xp as an elite advance only. Most special Eldar abilities come from being a part of a "path" which is really only supported in the lore by spending years training and meditating in a Craftworld. They thusly would require GM approval if your Eldar was able to acquire this specialized training.

4. They should get Rival (Eldar) for helping humans, at odds with Eldar craftworlds.

5. Change Lost Nobility to: remove Rival (Eldar) gain Peer(Eldar), because allowing them to get cheap fellowship works around their main weakness: being bad at interaction with humans. Since I removed their starting XP, just let them go into an xp deficit. Instead it will now let them be better at interacting just with Eldar, which makes way more sense.

6. Change Fellowship to start at 250xp and raise another characteristic for balance. Kroot, Explorators, and Orcs are in the 500xp category. Eldar do not belong in the robots and beasts category with them.

That said I do love all the rules you made and would definitely use it with my changes.

Hi Utherix, thanks for the response! I'm glad you like the guide and feel free to make whatever changes you see fit to make it work for you! The feedback is always appreciated, and I'll try to address each of the points you brought up in turn and explain either how I screwed up or the mechanical reasoning behind my decisions.

1) That's actually a good idea, I've been meaning to go back through and adjust a few things in the Path of the Outcast advance scheme, and that's an excellent place to start. Most of the Explorer Rank 1 Advances are 100 XP, but for the Xenos Career Paths it does generally cost a bit more provided they aren't part of the career's starting skills. I'll add that to the to-do list.

2) Their starting abilities are on par with the Kabalite Warrior (The Soul Reaver), Wych (The Dark Kin: Soul Reaver Web Enhancement), Kroot Mercenary (Into the Storm), Ork Freeboter (Into the Storm), and Tau Fire Warrior (Tau Character Guide), all of whom still receive their starting XP. Because of that there's not any real reason that I saw to remove their starting customization.

3) Eldar specific talents are really not much more diverse than the talents that the Xenos Career Paths mentioned above. They have 16 unique talents, but Outcasts can only ever purchase 10 and Seers can only ever purchase 11, and the price does increase as the ranks do. (I do need to go back and adjust that, I meant for Outcasts to get more flexibility than Seers in that regard. Look for that in the next revision!) Orks get 9 unique talents that they can purchase, all for the cost of 500 XP or lower. Kroot get 7, all of which may be purchased at a cost of 500 XP or less (Though it does require an Alternate Rank). Dark Eldar have 14 unique talents that can all be purchased, with increasing prices as the ranks progress. Tau, by contrast, have 19 and can purchase all of them, though the price increases as the ranks increase as well. That's why the talents are presented in the fashion that they are. What is it about them that you feel makes them worth being so much more? Their power level falls in line with the talents from the official releases, and their other advances (like Unnatural Attribute increases) fall in line with the Kabalite Warrior Path presented in The Soul Reaver.

4) Actually if you read the fluff presented in the Rogue Trader Line that isn't necessarily true.

From Edge of the Abyss, page 60:

The Twilight Swords Corsairs have always been a presence within the Koronus Expanse, for as long as humans have explored there. Their distinctively- coloured livery has often been an uncertain omen for other travellers, as the Twilight Swords are known to be as often friend as foe, though one thing is always certain—they never appear for peaceful reasons.

Many Rogue Traders have found their fortunes bolstered or saved by the intervention of Twilight Swords vessels at a crucial juncture, only to see the Corsairs vanish as the battle is won, or to linger only to pass on some cryptic message. At other times, they have appeared to cripple or crush a Rogue Trader’s aspirations, taking to battle for only the briefest of times before disappearing from augurs altogether.
Many see them as being guided by some prophetic witch, for the Eldar are known to employ such methods extensively, overseeing some grand plan several millennia in the making. Others see their attacks and assistance as little more than the work of a spiteful and capricious mind, revelling in the power
to shape lives at a whim. The truth is both of these.
At the leadership of Caeluthin Baharrudor and his predecessor, the Twilight Swords have struck as and when they desire for no reason other than that they desire it, driven by their moods and their inclination towards thrill-seeking. Yet, amidst this, many Twilight Swords are former citizens of Kaelor, and
still have some loyalty for their old home, willing to accept the advice and the guidance of one of its Farseers from time to time. At Kaelor’s direction, the Twilight Swords have halted the advance of many human expeditions that would lead them to precious maiden worlds or hidden colonies.

The connections between the Twilight Swords and Kaelor have become increasingly apparent as the latter has become a greater presence in the Koronus Expanse, and Twilight Swords vessels have been seen supporting Kaelor ground troops with ever-greater regularity. Amidst this, the Twilight Swords have worked to retain their independence, striking out at their own targets with greater frequency than they have in the past.

This shows that a working relationship between Craftworlds and Outcasts is indeed possible, and though there will be some tension it's not nearly enough to merit a Rival (Craftworld) Talent. If you are referring to lore from outside the Rogue Trader RPG that's perfectly fine but when it comes to lore the RPGs come first for the purposes of my guides.

5-6) That talent is ported directly from the Kabalite Warrior Career Path, where there it is called Trueborn. I changed the name and included it because of the stat comparison of all the Eldar across the Rogue Trader line. The average Non- Psyker Eldar's Fellowship is roughly 32.56, with the highest being a tie for 45 on Istaurmen (EotA p 64) and Baharrudor (EotA p 61). This shows that statistically (in Rogue Trader at least) the Eldar are not much more social than humanity, with some falling below that. Add in that in the comparison between their individual attributes Fellowship is their almost universally lowest Characteristic, meaning that it would be a high cost advance. If you look at the Eldar Corsair (Rogue Trader 376), Eldar Raider (Hosting Acquisitions 126), Dark Reaper, Fire Dragon, Howling Banshee, Shadow Spectre, Striking Scorpion, Warp Spider, Autarch, Guardian (Koronus Bestiary 49-61), Anguished Eldar (Soul Reaver 128), Badb Ra (Edge of the Abyss 143), Pathfinder (Legends of the Expanse 131), and Harlequins (Fallen Suns 64), you will see that their Fellowship is on par with or lower than their Strength and Toughness, reinforcing that it would inherently be a low advance.

Hi Utherix, thanks for the response! I'm glad you like the guide and feel free to make whatever changes you see fit to make it work for you! The feedback is always appreciated, and I'll try to address each of the points you brought up in turn and explain either how I screwed up or the mechanical reasoning behind my decisions.

I agree with you on most of the points you made, but only after looking at the Dark Eldar classes.

I think the only thing I would make different from yours now is to change fellowship to 250xp starting and lower another.

I still don't like that Outcasts can do everything a Rogue Trader can do but better from a skill and talent perspective. I mean they don't have a ship and all, but neither do other classes.

Similarly I don't like that the Seer has more powers and abilities than Astropaths. Astropaths pay dearly for their power and only have two 100xp cost characteristics, whereas a Seer is looking at getting 3-4 cheap characteristics and more powers. I get that Astropaths have more ship abilities, but you could argue they aren't used often in most campaigns.

I feel like the real balancing factor of the Eldar (other than that they're xenos) is that they have 2 fate points. But when you consider that its easy to create humans with only 2 fate points as well, it doesn't actually count. So maybe add 1–6, they begin with 1 Fate Point; on a 7–10, they begin with 2.

I can see where you're coming from but if you look at the statistics and compare them, the others are already average in terms of how high they are in comparison to the low Fellowship. Orks listed in The Koronus Bestiary have the following Fellowship Values (in order starting page 71): 34, 30, 21, 34, 25, 21, 21, and 24. This is roughly the same spread as the Eldar but is ten points lower, represented by their lower starting Fellowship Value of 15. Mechanically it doesn't make any sense to change out the Fellowship and the statistics presented throughout the Rogue Trader RPG numerically are what I based my design choices on. As it stands Fellowship is a weak point for them in terms of Characteristics and as such it is reflected as an Expensive advance cost.
The fact that they have such a diversity in their Career Path is meant to reflect that the Eldar not beholden to a path can flit from one fascination to another. It's also because Humanity tends to overspecialize and have a bunch of different career paths. Balancing is meant to come from the fact that you can either focus on one set of skills or diversify, but there's not really a way to specialize in everything. And I would disagree that they're a better Rogue Trader than the Rogue Trader. With the origin path you can easily gain a boatload of starting Fellowship, up to +13 from just the core Origin Path alone (Noble Born +5, Savant +3, Zealot (Favoured of the Faithful) +5, Dark Voyage or High Vendetta +0, Prestige +0, Rogue Trader) and several Peer talents to make interactions much easier, while the Eldar can only ever have a max of 45 and don't start with those additional connections. Without factoring that in you're right, it's not that difficult but it's also easy to make a Kroot Shaper who is a 'better' Rogue Trader than a human Rogue Trader, and likewise for the Ork Freebooter. The Tau are even more guilty of this, as they get a talent that gives them +20 to Acquisition tests to obtain Tau Equipment and one remove the penalties from Speak Not Unto the Alien, giving them a huge edge over Human Rogue Traders. I felt that with those factors they're well balanced within the existing rules.

The Seer path is also based off of comparing the relative statistics of all the Seer type characters presented in the Rogue Trader rules. You're completely right about the Fellowship, looking back the highest I found (though I may have overlooked some) is a 42 on the Void Dreamer in The Koronus Bestiary, so it would make sense to not have the Lost Nobility Talent in the Seer path. I'll probably remove that in the next revision, thanks for catching that and bringing it to my attention!. Their diversity of skill and attributes are determined through comparison of attributes and skills on the existing Seer Characters in the Rogue Trader lines, specifically the Farseer (Edge of the Abyss, Fallen Suns, Navis Primer), Warlock (Edge of the Abyss, Fallen Suns, Navis Primer), and Void Dreamer (Navis Primer).
The Fate Points are fixed at two because it's not too much and not too little, and since the race is purported to be 'strong in the warp' it made sense to have it be a decent static number.

I actually have a question for you if you'll indulge me, how do you feel about Bonesinger, Phantasmancy, and Spiritseer Psychic Disciplines? I based the Phantasmancy discipline off of the descriptions in the Harlequin Codex but I made the other two disciplines up from scratch. I'm hoping that I managed to keep it in line with their descriptions, but I want to make sure they're not mechanically overpowered or off base.

I actually have a question for you if you'll indulge me, how do you feel about Bonesinger, Phantasmancy, and Spiritseer Psychic Disciplines? I based the Phantasmancy discipline off of the descriptions in the Harlequin Codex but I made the other two disciplines up from scratch. I'm hoping that I managed to keep it in line with their descriptions, but I want to make sure they're not mechanically overpowered or off base.

They seemed balanced, but I am not that familiar with other power in Rogue Trader. Shouldn't Infinity Circuit powers only work on Eldar, though? There s a typo "This power is incredibly training on the Bonesinger" pg 73

Thanks for the heads up about the typo, it always helps! Just finished another big revision/addition to the Eldar Character Guide, which can be found here . Changes include:

• Revision of Rank 1 costs for Outcast and Seer, all costs brought up to 200 to mirror Kabalite Warrior.
• Removal of Lost Nobility from The Path of the Seer Advances after reconsidering the examples provided in Rogue Trader.
• Addition of more instances of the Eldar Talent to the Outcast Career Path
• Removal of instances of the Eldar Talent from the Seer Career Path
• Removal of Lost Nobility requirement from the Harlequin Alternate Rank
• Change of cost of the Eldar Talent Talent in Outcast and Seer Career Path at rank 7-8
• New Basic Technique added to Spiritseer Psychic Discipline
• Revision of Translating the Material Psychic Power
• New Alternate Rank: Chosen of Isha, an Eldar medical specialist
• New Alternate Rank: Wraithguard and Wraithlord - Powerful synthetic bodies powered by the soulstones of fallen Eldar.
• New Wraithguard and Wraithlord Traits and Weapons

It's taken a while but I finally got around to designing and implementing rules for playable Wraithguard and Wraithlord characters. I hope everyone enjoys the new additions, feedback is always welcome here, through email or pm, or by comment on the site.

Hello again everyone, I just finished a revision of the Necron Character Guide with some minor changes, they include:

• Added appropriate Living Metal advancements to Alternate Ranks
• Redone requirements for Cryptek and Necrontyr Merchant
• New Elite Advance: Restored Protocols which allows players to begin play with traditional Necron abilities but at a much higher rank.

Hope everyone enjoy the changes

Not sure if I'm reading it correctly but it seems that Wraithsight and Ancient Memories are traits that can be purchased but as they have only negative affects I can't see why many players would choose to purchase them. Shouldn't they be just part of the basic build so you can't get a wraithguard without wraithsight?

They are indeed a part of the basic build, under Starting Traits section at the top of each Advancement Table you'll see Wraithbone War Engine and Wraithsight. Wraithbone War Engine is supposed to detail that they gain Ancient Memories as a part of it (editing that now, it will be up in just a few minutes) and Wraithsight is also an inherent part of becoming a Wraithlord or Wraithguard. I've included costs just in case a GM rules that the player must purchase these abilities separately or wants to make changes to how it works. It's just a means of covering the bases, like many of the Rank 1 advances for Human Explorers in the Rogue Trader Core Rulebook. Thanks for the feedback, I completely missed that I'd forgotten to include Ancient Memories in the Wraithbone War Engine Trait.

I was wondering if you could make a career path for Tau that non fire cast? (Water, Earth, Air?) The main Tau book only has fire warriors.

Hello again everyone, tis the season for more guide updates! I just finished writing sections for Ascended Eldar Outcasts and Seers and Ymgarl Genestealers. The Talents are copied from Legends of the Expanse so you only need the Eldar Character Guide and Tyranid Character Guides alone to play characters all the way up through Rank 11. Hope you enjoy the new additions, I'm working on updates to the rest of the guides now. Happy gaming!

Homebrew Guides

-Lodge Blackman

Any plans to update Legends of the Expanse with unnatural characteristics for xenos careers/new equipment?

I know this is perhaps too little, too late, but you work is awesome!

I'll try to put it to the test in a series of Necromunda-like events at my local FLGS