When you are on fire, do you have to first succeed with willpower check to be able to take normal actions and thus try to put down the flames OR can you instead try to start immediately to put down the flames with the difficult AG check?

The Core book allows two interpretations of the matter.

IMHO you throw the willipower check if you want to fire/move/etc. or do something else other than start to dowse the flames.

Whats your two cents for this?

Natural reaction would be to dowse the flames, so I'm all for it. But if you wan't to do anything else I would say a willpower test than.

Can't imagine having to fight your fear to try to put out the flames that are burning you.

Pg. 266, Only War Core Rulebook, "Fire":

While on fire, a character must make a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test at the beginning of each of his Turns in order to be able to take Actions normally; otherwise, he may only run around and scream, which counts as a Full Action.

I allow characters immune to Fear (Frenzied, Fearless talent, ******* demons) the ability to ignore that willpower test. Frenzied characters obviously can't take the time to put themselves out, but the rest can.

I allow characters immune to Fear (Frenzied, Fearless talent, ******* demons) the ability to ignore that willpower test. Frenzied characters obviously can't take the time to put themselves out, but the rest can.

Oh God, you're right. I never noticed this, but Frenzied characters can't actually put the flames out. They are immune to Fear, so they won't Panic from the flames, but they are also forced to attack the nearest enemy, so they can't Stop, Drop and Roll to put out the flames.

After bringing this to the attention of my resident berserker in my Black Crusade Campaign, I took the decision to allow him to do a Willpower Test to snap out of the Frenzy as if Combat just ended. If he succeeds, he may attempt to take the Test to avoid being panicked, and then if he Succeeds, he may attempt to put the flames out.

But dear god.

I've also ruled that if you are On Fire and Frenzied at the same time, all Charge and All-Out-Attack Combat Actions gain the Flame Special Weapon Quality.

I must put my players up against some on-fire crazy people at some point.

If their toughness bonus is high enough they probably won't care about the fire at all. My understanding is that you can't suffer a crit from fire, so if you have a character on fire with a toughness bonus of like 8 (frenzied ogryn) they're immune to the fatigue so most rounds they just don't care about being on fire.

Being on fire in Deathwatch was endlessly amusing. 10 TB. Fire? What fire?

It's disappointingly ineffective a lot of the time.

The power of On Fire really lies in the Panic effects, taking someone out of the equation. If that disappears, it's often quite underwhelming on really tough enemies.

By RAW, though, On Fire is not a Fear effect. But that's stupid, so I have chosen to ignore it.

Also it gives you a level of fatigue each round. Which is bad. OTOH, someone who is frenzied doesn't care.