I am having a bit of an issue with my Weapon Specialist. See I rolled Psyco on him so I have been roll playing him as a psychotic killer who only cares about... well killing others... Yes he has more depth than that; but that is a clear focus.

So here lies the problem, he has a plasmagun and I love plasma weapons, and there is a talent Plasma Weapon Mastery which gives +4 to its Blast Quality when using maximal, all in all its insanely powerful. Now I don’t have to take this ability but the temptation is there for several reasons.

1. Only War is very deadly, you can die for literally no reason. So the best defences a good Offence.

2. My character would try and master his weapon of choice.

The problem is thus,

1. I would dominate combat, I already am, and that’s simply because I am the only person who can hit anything, in the last fight I got 12 out of 21 kills, and the other 9 kills where from a chimera.

2. The Gm may adapt to my power, aka stronger enemies.

I can still go down the sniper route but I really don’t feel that it would be useful since we are a Kraskrin assault squad, and sniper are generally more aimed towards solo/stealth, or standing in the back of combat, but since my character loves to get in the thick of it, it does not feel right.

This is only one example, I do min-max a bit I will fully admit that, but in this case I am not sure if it would be OK to power game...

Thoughts? Advice?

I wouldn't worry about it too much unless the other players are starting to gripe. Without trying to take the find out of your sales that kind of kill ratio is pretty common for plasma wielding weapon specialists. Plasma guns have downsides though, the most important being that they can't suppress and force pinning checks, which means that against large enough numbers you still want your squad mates watching out for you.

Basically being the main damage dealer isn't a problem in this game. Starting to think like your carrying the team IS.

As far as two goes, its OW.. When I used to GM Deathwatch I used to find it funny when players would boast about power combo characters. The short answer is your GM will always have something to challenge the group. Its their job.

As far as sniping goes, don't worry about whats useful, worry about what 'feels right' thematically. Now, you say you character loves to be in the thick of it and that's cool, but understand that is a personal choice you made about the 'psycho' demeanour. I've seen people have that archetype and want to be no where near combat (obsessions with ordinance spring to mind)/. Some people just use it as way to make the character have some pretty unhinged ways of acting in downtime (shooting animals, talking about stuff that makes other people uneasy). How you're doing it isn't 'wrong'. But it kind of feels like you're using it as an excuse.

I would go with the pyscho sniper.Talks to his gun, says he 'releases' the people he kills with it. Picture Victor Zasz, but with a sniper.

Plasma can fire semi-auto, right? So it can force pinning checks?

Plasma can fire semi-auto, right? So it can force pinning checks?

Yeah, it can fire semi-auto. So pinning tests are a thing. Full auto does it better, but forcing the pinning test is still good.

And as for that talent, unless he's using a Plasma Cannon, that blast doesn't happen, since it modifies existing blast by +4, not giving a plasma weapon blast if it didn't have it before. It's still a kickass talent, making your plasma gun do 2d10+9 pen 10. But it does not give it blast unless it already has it.

I think being a plasma nut would be a reasonable thing to do being a psychopath, I can imagine a character obsessed with his weapon and with plasma weapons in general, cleaning his gun at every opportunity even when it would be adventitious to be doing something else (such as forgoing sleep or eating) and maybe doing it over and over again maybe even whispering to it and stroking it talking about how you will purge the unclean (bonus points because its creepy while not being something that would probably get into you into trouble as thats pretty much imperial doctrine right there). Maybe have your character disparage any non-plasma weapon, trying to horde plasma weaponry, even taking them from the enemy (which depending on who you are fighting could get you in serious trouble (imagine what would happen to a guardsman who was found with a chaos plasma pistol or one of the tau plasma weapons) and may be very sub-optimal (using a rare plasma grenade where a frag grenade would be okay or even better)).

From the point of view of being horribly overpowered compared to your fellows I wouldn't worry about it, your weapon takes forever to reload, has the chance to melt you if you roll badly, if used on full power it has to recharge, has much harder to acquire ammunition and makes you jump right up the enemies' threat rating. In an infantry unit what most people are there to do is facilitate the specialists to do their jobs, if we look at post world war two soviet infantry doctrine (which I feel suits the generic guard regiment model quite well) the main role of the rifleman is to suppress the enemy to prevent them effectively firing back and maneuvering to force the enemy to react and hopefully drive them out of any beneficial cover, the main killing elements were crew served weapons (machine guns and later grenade launchers both automatic and rocket propelled) and designated marksmen. It makes sense that your character is killing far more then their share of the enemy due to your role but I'm sure that if you were on your own you'd be quickly overwhelmed.

Thanks guys, you made it a simple desision for me, I will be overpowered and not worry about it, I have just had bad experinces with dark heresy.

Hellgun

Plasmagun

Grenade Launcher

Anything I cant kill?

Plenty...but that's why you have a squad and a regiment.

Thanks guys, you made it a simple desision for me, I will be overpowered and not worry about it, I have just had bad experinces with dark heresy.

Hellgun

Plasmagun

Grenade Launcher

Anything I cant kill?

Something or someone that moves very fast. The way I DM/GM is if a player has become Over Powered or gets a really good gun I try and make the enemies faster,more sneaky and right in your face. Aka Dark Eldar. It doesnt matter if you got the most OP gun in the game because whats the point if you cant even hit the target

By RAW, as a general rule you can't carry 3 basic weapons. You're not an octopus. Especially since one of them uses a backpack. I suppose Armsman may help with this.

And with those three weapons, which are quite heavy, you're certain to be encumbered, possibly immobile.

By RAW, as a general rule you can't carry 3 basic weapons. You're not an octopus. Especially since one of them uses a backpack. I suppose Armsman may help with this.

And with those three weapons, which are quite heavy, you're certain to be encumbered, possibly immobile.

Thank you for that on topic and useful post. At what point did I say I was carrying 3 weapons? I merely said I had 3.

Now please read the Weapon Specialists unique talents.

By RAW, as a general rule you can't carry 3 basic weapons. You're not an octopus. Especially since one of them uses a backpack. I suppose Armsman may help with this.

And with those three weapons, which are quite heavy, you're certain to be encumbered, possibly immobile.

Thank you for that on topic and useful post. At what point did I say I was carrying 3 weapons? I merely said I had 3.

Now please read the Weapon Specialists unique talents.

That would be the unique talent that I mentioned, perhaps. Which by RAW does not actually allow you to carry over your encumbrance limit BTW, (although I in fact do let it do so within limits -- obviously a comrade cannot carry 2 basic weapons, one of which requires a backpack, plus his own gun).

If the character is overpowered, perhaps it's because he's carrying an unrealistic amount of stuff, not because of plasma.

I'd say the answer to a character wielding a plasma gun was fairly simple. Throw out one or two really heavily armoured enemies with good damage soaking abilities to force the plasma to be directed where it's needed, whilst sending in an escort of weaker gentlemen for your fellows to fight.

Of course, that is all GM centric. Which really, it's his job to mitigate if he feels your character is causing issues. I know that when the Techpriest in my own game became too powerful, I proceeded to slap him back into humility by drowning him in plasma fire.

I'm not sure you should feel the need to change your character, though, honestly. Not your place to mitigate it.

For what it's worth though, I'm glad to see people who are concerned about the enjoyment of their fellow players. *Thumbs up.*

This is only one example, I do min-max a bit I will fully admit that, but in this case I am not sure if it would be OK to power game...

Thoughts? Advice?

If you like power gaming and min-max your character then all the power to you.Personally I see little fun in this style of play but if you and your group are cool with it then sure.

To be perfectly honest I fail to see the issue in your Psycho guardsman taking a liking to plasma weapons and then over-specializing. that seems reasonable, given his derangement. Also, we all must remember that lovely phrase: "Only the insane shall prosper. Only those who prosper may judge what is sane."

Basically, every squad needs its "I CAN HAZ BIG BOOM WEAPON" guy for those pesky armored vehicles or chaos marines. So really, go ahead. And as SgtLazarus said, if your GM begins to take issue, you'll know. Until then, worry not about powergaming, worry about that Ork Nob with a Choppa in each hand!