Hi,

apologies if I missed the answer to this one in the rulebook, errata or a previous post, but I'm finally getting to run a game of Dark Heresy and this has come up several times in character generation.

If a character gets the same skill/talent in his Homeworld and Career Path, does he not gain anything from this at all? Obviously Talents can't usually be 'double strength' and skills could be +10 but this would diminish the advantage of having the +10 itself in the career. The only other solution I could think of is an experience point rebate, but this could potentially be unbalancing and it also seems like too much to get 100 points to use as they will (plus they would gain a rank before even starting). So I'm assuming the answer is that they gain nothing from it. Schola Progenium schooled PCs seem to particularly suffer from this problem. Could someone confirm if this is the right answer (and where I've missed the answer to this if it is written somewhere)?

Thanks,

Coatez

Well to be blunt:

The only talents that can be taken multiple times are:

* Wounds
* Talented (but each time for a different skill)

Double skills are generally lost though sometimes you could allow theme to up the skill for a bit more xp (50-100), if you feel lenient.

I use the house rule we started while playing WFRP v1 and which is actually n the rules of WFRP v2 but somehow did not make it into DH. Which is if you get a Skill offered twice durring Character Generation eithier through combination of Home World Choice, Career, Background Package ect. then you may count as having that skill at +10, or if for some bizarre reason you had it three times +20. This is though technically a house rule as I think Santiago is correct that it is a SOL kind of situation if using the RAW.

As previously stated though Talents can only be taken once unless specified otherwise like the Constitution / Wound Skill, Talented, Power Well, Minor / Major Psychic Power, Discipline Focus ect. You'll usally see these types of Talents appear more than once in the same chart or with a * nect to thme and they will detail in the description that they can be taken more than once and what restrictions may or may not apply.

Thanks for the responses. I thought as much, and I wondered what other people were doing. I think for now I'll just be harsh and say duplicates give them nothing at all. Some people are already a bit miffed that compared to WFRP they don't get much in the way of skills, but I'm a big believer in not changing rules the first time you play a game unless there's a really blatant problem.

Coatez

I agree with the above, I use the WFRP 2E rule of skilled/+10/+20 and if for some reason they get it a 4th time, they get the Talented talent.

As for talents, I dont like to short change characters, especially since they tend to suck a bit at rank 1, so I either give 50XP to spend, which doesnt count toward character growth rules, or cash it in for more money, special starting equipment or predetermined "elite" advances they can buy after character generation.

In fact, I think that is a clarification/update Ill toss onto my ongoing 2nd Edition Errata for DH.

The other possibility for a house rule is give your PC's a "free" reroll from time to time, like a fate point, or give them a bonus from their stat modifier.