So, my players want to travel an interesting path and play a Sororitas theme game. We discussed it, and decided that using the Sororitas from DH would be too easy given how imba some of their faith talents are. Hence, the choice fell to only war. Now, here's what I came up with so far:

Homeworld: Schola Progenum (3 pts)

Commanding Officer: Supine (1 pts)

Type: Close Assault (3 pts)

Doctrines:

Reliquary (1 pt)

Crusaders (3 pts)

Close Quarters Battle (5 pts)

Drawbacks:

Cult of Chivalry (-3 pts)

Honour Bound (-4 pts)

Characteristics: +5 WS, +3 WP, +3 to WS or BS, -3 INT

Wounds: +1

Skills: Common Lore (Adepta Sororitas), Common Lore (Ecclesiarchy), Common Lore (Imperial Creed), Common Lore (Imperium), Common Lore (War), Linguistics (High and Low Gothic), Dodge or Parry

Talents: Lightning Reflexes, Frenzy, Double Team or Combat Master, Air of Authority or Unshakable Faith, Peer (Ecclesiarchy)

Equipment of note: Holy Reliquary, Light Carapace Armour, Flame pistols, las carbines, chain swords

Now, question is, did we miss anything? Are there better choices that fit the adepta sororitas? I'm not quite the expert on them as I'd like to be, admittedly, so some things may be slightly off.

Maybe 3 pts on Well-Provisioned. My math shows three left over points, and the Adepta Sororitas are granted access to some of the best gear, both due to their alliance with the Ordo Hereticus, and their possession by the Ecclesiarchy.

I'll whine forever toward people who make Battle Sisters, and then don't get the Power Armor every Sororitas who isn't a Repentia seems to wear, but I do accept that it can be hard to wedge in, even with SoH FINALLY giving it for Tech-Priests who ALWAYS wear it; sorry, my TT experience is often reflective in my take on the game.

Shield does have Shrine World, which might be more accurate, but I can see where Schola might fit, too.

Maybe 3 pts on Well-Provisioned. My math shows three left over points, and the Adepta Sororitas are granted access to some of the best gear, both due to their alliance with the Ordo Hereticus, and their possession by the Ecclesiarchy.

I'll whine forever toward people who make Battle Sisters, and then don't get the Power Armor every Sororitas who isn't a Repentia seems to wear, but I do accept that it can be hard to wedge in, even with SoH FINALLY giving it for Tech-Priests who ALWAYS wear it; sorry, my TT experience is often reflective in my take on the game.

Shield does have Shrine World, which might be more accurate, but I can see where Schola might fit, too.

The "Power Armour"-thing I've boiled down into being a Carapace (Light Carapce, in some cases) with Power-Assisted, with the helmet having Advanced Helmet Systems. It makes for a smaller, light-weight kind of Power Armour, without making it a Power-Armour by the rules of what a Power Armour actually should be, and it makes more sense to me personally, when comparing how Sisters of Battle Power Armour looks in the background fluff and how other Power Armours look.

So naturally, that's what I'd suggest. In-universe, it's just an "Adepta Sororitas Militarum Power Armour", but by the rules, that's what I ended up doing, and it sits well with me.

That being said, don't confuse the Adepta Sororitas and the Sisters of Battle. As far as I know, all fully initiated Sisters of Battle wear power armour of some kind, but the Adepta Sororitas itself is larger than that. I don't think that the Sororitas Famulous wears Power Armour, for example.

So, my players want to travel an interesting path and play a Sororitas theme game. We discussed it, and decided that using the Sororitas from DH would be too easy given how imba some of their faith talents are. Hence, the choice fell to only war. Now, here's what I came up with so far:

Homeworld: Schola Progenum (3 pts)

Commanding Officer: Supine (1 pts)

Type: Close Assault (3 pts)

Doctrines:

Reliquary (1 pt)

Crusaders (3 pts)

Close Quarters Battle (5 pts)

Drawbacks:

Cult of Chivalry (-3 pts)

Honour Bound (-4 pts)

Characteristics: +5 WS, +3 WP, +3 to WS or BS, -3 INT

Wounds: +1

Skills: Common Lore (Adepta Sororitas), Common Lore (Ecclesiarchy), Common Lore (Imperial Creed), Common Lore (Imperium), Common Lore (War), Linguistics (High and Low Gothic), Dodge or Parry

Talents: Lightning Reflexes, Frenzy, Double Team or Combat Master, Air of Authority or Unshakable Faith, Peer (Ecclesiarchy)

Equipment of note: Holy Reliquary, Light Carapace Armour, Flame pistols, las carbines, chain swords

Now, question is, did we miss anything? Are there better choices that fit the adepta sororitas? I'm not quite the expert on them as I'd like to be, admittedly, so some things may be slightly off.

Similar to how the Ork Waaagh works. To have it work "on command" is straight-up witchery.

Now, I'm not sure which of your choices gives what, I'm just looking at the end result. And I can see no reason why the Sisters of Battle would receive Frenzy. Some of them yes, for sure, the Sisters Repentia for example. Choosing between Air of Authority and Unshakable Faith also seems odd - they should all get Unshakable Faith.

I don't have the tables in front of me, so I'm not sure about the tiers, but maybe choosing between Frenzy and Air of Authority would be more appropriate.

For equipment, see my response to Venkelos, but also, I would not give them Las Carbines. The Sisters of Battle primarily uses either flamers or bolters, with some using meltas or other special equipment such as plasma or launchers.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Adepta_Sororitas_Armoury

Maybe 3 pts on Well-Provisioned. My math shows three left over points, and the Adepta Sororitas are granted access to some of the best gear, both due to their alliance with the Ordo Hereticus, and their possession by the Ecclesiarchy.

I'll whine forever toward people who make Battle Sisters, and then don't get the Power Armor every Sororitas who isn't a Repentia seems to wear, but I do accept that it can be hard to wedge in, even with SoH FINALLY giving it for Tech-Priests who ALWAYS wear it; sorry, my TT experience is often reflective in my take on the game.

Shield does have Shrine World, which might be more accurate, but I can see where Schola might fit, too.

The "Power Armour"-thing I've boiled down into being a Carapace (Light Carapce, in some cases) with Power-Assisted, with the helmet having Advanced Helmet Systems. It makes for a smaller, light-weight kind of Power Armour, without making it a Power-Armour by the rules of what a Power Armour actually should be, and it makes more sense to me personally, when comparing how Sisters of Battle Power Armour looks in the background fluff and how other Power Armours look.

So naturally, that's what I'd suggest. In-universe, it's just an "Adepta Sororitas Militarum Power Armour", but by the rules, that's what I ended up doing, and it sits well with me.

That being said, don't confuse the Adepta Sororitas and the Sisters of Battle. As far as I know, all fully initiated Sisters of Battle wear power armour of some kind, but the Adepta Sororitas itself is larger than that. I don't think that the Sororitas Famulous wears Power Armour, for example.

I suppose I can see this, and with the power-assisted carapace plan, one does get around that ever-terrible restriction of powering Powered Armor. If you aren't a Space Marine, granted a pristine Naquadah generator/Arc Reactor, or blessed with a potentia coil, making you AdMech, your armor is good for five hours, and then it is your tomb, and your method does alleviate having to try and suck up to the GM for the obviously existing, prevalent enough to give to 1 million Astartes component that says "your suit just works, and Sisters never get a Faith power that says it counts as suit-fuel Certainly, I'd WANT the light Power Armor from SoH, that DOESN'T make Battle Sisters easier to hit, and that can allow them to use Seraphim packs, but carapace is more readily available, and easier to come by, more believable, too.

Also, yeah they could be Adepta Sororitas soldiers, but not full Sisters of Battle, and then I complain even less. Most of the soldiers who fight for the Eccliesiarchy, just as for the Departmento Munitorum, would have "lesser" arms and armor, rather than Space Marine-like power armor and boltguns.

So, my players want to travel an interesting path and play a Sororitas theme game. We discussed it, and decided that using the Sororitas from DH would be too easy given how imba some of their faith talents are. Hence, the choice fell to only war. Now, here's what I came up with so far:

Homeworld: Schola Progenum (3 pts)

Commanding Officer: Supine (1 pts)

Type: Close Assault (3 pts)

Doctrines:

Reliquary (1 pt)

Crusaders (3 pts)

Close Quarters Battle (5 pts)

Drawbacks:

Cult of Chivalry (-3 pts)

Honour Bound (-4 pts)

Characteristics: +5 WS, +3 WP, +3 to WS or BS, -3 INT

Wounds: +1

Skills: Common Lore (Adepta Sororitas), Common Lore (Ecclesiarchy), Common Lore (Imperial Creed), Common Lore (Imperium), Common Lore (War), Linguistics (High and Low Gothic), Dodge or Parry

Talents: Lightning Reflexes, Frenzy, Double Team or Combat Master, Air of Authority or Unshakable Faith, Peer (Ecclesiarchy)

Equipment of note: Holy Reliquary, Light Carapace Armour, Flame pistols, las carbines, chain swords

Now, question is, did we miss anything? Are there better choices that fit the adepta sororitas? I'm not quite the expert on them as I'd like to be, admittedly, so some things may be slightly off.

I would dump the Faith Powers as described in Dark Heresy in a ditch. From a fluffing standpoint, they're pretty ridiculous. Only in Dark Heresy have I ever seen Acts of Faith depicted as some kind of Divine Magic á la DnD. Acts of Faith have always, to me, been about the effects of faith upon the materium. Large concentrations of strong emotions resulting in sudden and mostly unexpected effects or subtle reactions.

Similar to how the Ork Waaagh works. To have it work "on command" is straight-up witchery.

I WOULD complain if the Battle Sisters (maybe not every Adepta Sororitas) didn't have some Faith ability; that's what makes them cool, to me, and shows that the Emperor is still doing something individual people can see. Sure, he's fighting the Ruinous Powers, and keeping them from eating Humanity, but they fight each other plenty, too, and may just be waiting for a 14th Black Crusade. He lights the Astronomicon, and helps keep the psyker pop under control by eating them, but many people never leave their world, or see the Emperor's light (I have a Navigator who is strangely religious toward the Emperor, though not the Ecclesiarchy, so much, because she actually KNOWS He's there, as she is guided by His light; a really fun littl bit of that story), so it doesn't always FEEL important, but Acts of Faith show that He is still there, even if that's BS, and the Sisters are actually just using latent power; while people who need proof of miracles can be said to in truth not believe in them, I argue that, sometimes, a little incidental proof doesn't hurt.

As for DH's Faith at Will, no, I don't really care for that, either, but I do like my Priests and ASors to have SOMETHING that says "I am more than just a simpleton with a weapon; what I am saying is TRUE!" Might not hurt to whip up a Faith trait, ala Pure Faith, but like Psyker (X), or Untouchable (X), and assign some more limited powers to them, like Ork psykers do, and MAYBE make each cost a Destiny point, like last-ed Star Wars Saga did with Force Secrets. A little less availability, and a little less surety, but the power to make the unnatural happen, because the power is there.

[...]

Also, yeah they could be Adepta Sororitas soldiers, but not full Sisters of Battle, and then I complain even less. Most of the soldiers who fight for the Eccliesiarchy, just as for the Departmento Munitorum, would have "lesser" arms and armor, rather than Space Marine-like power armor and boltguns.

There are no other soldiers fighting for the Ecclesiarchy, due to the Decree Passive. There is the loose rag-tag Frateris Militia, but they aren't actually soldiers for the Ecclesiarchy and don't belong to any kind of command structure, they're just plebs and peasants out with pitchforks.

The Adeptus Ministorum (the Ecclesiarchy) are specifically prohibited from keeping any men under arms. Which is why they have women under arms. Because in the Grim Darkness of the 41st Millennium, the spirit of the law is poppycock, the Lex Imperialis is mountainous, and the Ecclesiarchy has good lawyers.

And those of the Adepta Sororitas that are soldiers belong to the Orders Militant are the Sisters of Battle. The only argument I could see is the one they actually present in Dark Heresy, where the lesser-equipped members of the Sisters of Battle (that you are assumed to play, as far as I remember) are Initiates, barely fit from deployment, and then you get swooped up into the Inquisition.

I WOULD complain if the Battle Sisters (maybe not every Adepta Sororitas) didn't have some Faith ability; that's what makes them cool, to me, and shows that the Emperor is still doing something individual people can see.

From a strict observers objective viewpoint, the Emperor absolutely do not grant miracles. Now, some people within the universe thinks he does, and their faith are so strong in the God-Emperor that their combined efforts sometimes results in clear manifestations of the warp. What the Sisters of Battle and the Adepta Sororitas practice is pretty much mass hysteria and unwilling witchery.

[...]Sure, he's fighting the Ruinous Powers, and keeping them from eating Humanity, but they fight each other plenty, too, and may just be waiting for a 14th Black Crusade. He lights the Astronomicon, and helps keep the psyker pop under control by eating them, but many people never leave their world, or see the Emperor's light (I have a Navigator who is strangely religious toward the Emperor, though not the Ecclesiarchy, so much, because she actually KNOWS He's there, as she is guided by His light; a really fun littl bit of that story), so it doesn't always FEEL important, but Acts of Faith show that He is still there, even if that's BS, and the Sisters are actually just using latent power; while people who need proof of miracles can be said to in truth not believe in them, I argue that, sometimes, a little incidental proof doesn't hurt.

As for DH's Faith at Will, no, I don't really care for that, either, but I do like my Priests and ASors to have SOMETHING that says "I am more than just a simpleton with a weapon; what I am saying is TRUE!" Might not hurt to whip up a Faith trait, ala Pure Faith, but like Psyker (X), or Untouchable (X), and assign some more limited powers to them, like Ork psykers do, and MAYBE make each cost a Destiny point, like last-ed Star Wars Saga did with Force Secrets. A little less availability, and a little less surety, but the power to make the unnatural happen, because the power is there.

That a single priest or sororitas would be able to pull out a Faith power on command is nothing short of straight-up psykerdom or sorcery. And what's worse, the truly learned of the Imperium would know this to be true, to one degree or another.

Now, it would be really cool to play a Sororitas that actually is a psyker, that genuinely believes that the powers she uses is straight-up from the God-Emperor himself. Hell, unless she's in bad luck, she might even become a Saint because of it, pulling off faith-healing and burning the wicked, left and right.

But more likely, they're recognize her as a psyker and off to the League of Blackships she'd go, because the Sisters in the fluff absolutely hates that kind of stuff, and I'd be surprised if the Sororitas didn't screen for that on initiation. The Schola Progenium does, and as I understand it, a lot of the Sororitas recruits come straight from there.

If faith powers were psychic, Psyniscience would detect them. So they're not.

If faith powers were psychic, Psyniscience would detect them. So they're not.

I agree, but then someone is going to say "what are they?" Ork specials are their own psychic, Nids the same. Sorcery is just a weird psychic act, and the Emperor's great power, whether He can still direct any of it to people, or not, is psychic. If Faith miracles ARE NOT psychic, then another, possibly unnecessary descriptor would be needed, because it must be SOMETHING.

As for me, I have no idea. I think that they ARE at least sort of psychic, and if the Ruinous Powers can thrive in the Warp, and grant powers to their "faithful", based on the numbers of Cultists who empower them, then the God-Emperor's spirit-self, reinforced by trillions of loyal souls, SHOULD have similar capacity; that astral self of Him SHOULD be roughly the same thing as the Four Gods of Chaos. Otherwise, we DO know that some Sisters of Battle and Priests can OCCASIONALLY perform a miracle, but have no idea what they do.

Yeah, we ditched DH's faith mechanics for a reason. We felt it wasn't fluffy in the manner we wanted to play an ecclessiarchal order. Some of these ideas are rather neat, but they may mean going beyond the three doctrine limit, unless I turn reclaiming the reliquary into plot point number one, which, the more I think about it, the more I'm liking it. Time to drag it to the players