Hello all. I am in the middle of story arc number two for my campaign have a couple of concerns...one I will be talking about here...the other I will be scouring the Abyss of for trying to find ways to fix the psychic system in this game...anyway...

1. Has anyone used enemies from the other 40k games? I have started to do so...and it seems like everything is pretty straight forward...but there are some rules that are not in Deathwatch that are in the other rules. For example Corrosive in Only War is not a shared rule in Deathwatch. My group tends to take rules strictly to exploit them (we tend to powergame) but rules that they are not used to make the game a little more exciting.

2. The ruling for Unnatural Abilities have changed as well. Deathwatch has it as, for example, Unnatural Strength (2), meaning that you would multiply the modifier (4 would then be an 8). Comparatively the same score with the same talent Unnatural Strength (2) would mean you would add two to the modifier (4 would then be a 6). It seems to me that because they are Space Marines that I would take the multiplier rule instead, as it makes the enemies a bit tougher.

Am I just making a mountain out of a mole hill or do I need to keep anything in mind?

The unnatural attributes and the corresponding felling need to be looked at on a case by case basis. When converting felling from a DW book to BC/OW, I tend to call it a felling 4 since that is what most spacemarines would be losing off a DW felling.

Corrosive should work fine as written. Maximal for plasma was massively nerfed. Toxic and concussion both have the change of parenthetical penalties. You need to decide how to handle them.

The only other comment is the same monsters have different stats based on whether they're meant to fight SM or humans so keep that in mind when you choose your source book.

Starting from Page 280 of {Black Crusade - Core}, there is a section for neatly (or mostly) converting "old" mechanics from DH1, RT, and DW into the "new" mechanics used in BC, OW, and DH2. Regarding Unnatural Characteristics specifically:

These traits no longer multiply characteristic bonuses, but rather increase them by a flat value. A good rule of thumb is that a 3-5 point increase to a characteristic’s bonus is functionally equivalent to a level of the ‘old’ Unnatural Characteristics rules.

- Black Crusade 284 on Unnatural Characteristics

You can pretty much use this "game converter" for translating any one game's mechanics into another, such as from {Only War} into {Deathwatch}. It's not just for porting games to Black Crusade, you know? Keeping the multiplicative nature of Unnatural Characteristic tends to break a few things, but that could be considered thematically appropriate.

Dark Heresy 1 , Rogue Trader and Deathwatch all us the same basic rules set; Black Crusade , Only War and Dark Heresy 2 use a modified/updated version, some aspects of which don't translate too well between games. With the first three, the only substantial difference with Adversaries is relative power level, so stuff from DH1 and RT can be incorporated in DW pretty easily just by increasing the encounter size and/or using Horde rules.

Here is an example of how I adapted Dark Eldar stats from the RT adventure The Soul Reaver to use in DW :

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/83854-tactica-dark-eldar/

EDIT: Just be sure to keep an eye on an Adversaries' maximum damage vs. the PC's damage soak. There's nothing worse than throwing an opponent at the party, only to realize that said opponent has no chance to damage the PCs...

Yeah - no reason not to take stuff from the other books, but tweaking them will likely be a necessity. In spite of (mostly) sharing the same d100-based mechanics, these adversaries were simply written for another game with another type of player character and another type of narration, so importing them 1:1 will be very risky at best. Cross-compatibility with these games is a potential bonus, not an intended feature.

If a similar type of adversary is already present in DW somewhere (such as another archetype from the same species), then you'd be better off taking that one and modifying it.

If, on the other hand, there is no similar creature in DW anywhere, feel free to take it from one of the other games - just watch out to properly adapt its stats for DW-level gameplay.

I've used dark eldar extensively in DW. I pretty much went about editing all the adversaries from OW and DH. Generally tweaked their stats and strength of weapons. The larger creatures like grotesques and Cronos pain engine in particular need to be seriously upped to take on marines. The other point is that De can be deadly when they fight like DE for example striking from the shadows, using haywire grenades, hell even leaving horde mode to get more shots to overload powerfields.

I also used orks and found them quite weak vs marines so again needed to update the stats slightly. Though actually I found it was the vehicles that needed the most work so ended up homebrewing some tank stats based on the Epic range

Tbh I love Deathwatch but I think they spend an awful lot of time on Chaos creatures considering it is focused on xenos hunters. And the Tau aren't exactly the kind of cosmic horror that you'd need a secret brotherhood of astartes to deal with.

Tbh I love deathwatch but I think they spend an awful lot of time on Chaos creatures considering it is focused on xenos hunters.

I completely agree- I'm really surprised how few original xenos have been created for the gameline about elite xeno-fighting specialists. There are more original xenos in DH1 than in DW - and the Ordo Xenos is by far the most underdeveloped Ordo in DH .

I think it would have been nice for FFG to expand on the Slaugth and the strixis for DW and or some major cosmic horror like Cthulhu. For me it's threats of that scale that the DW exist.

Tbh I love deathwatch but I think they spend an awful lot of time on Chaos creatures considering it is focused on xenos hunters.

I completely agree- I'm really surprised how few original xenos have been created for the gameline about elite xeno-fighting specialists. There are more original xenos in DH1 than in DW - and the Ordo Xenos is by far the most underdeveloped Ordo in DH .

Have you thought about importing races from other universes into DW ? I'm actualy thinking of importing The Hive from Destiny, because I kinda run out of idea when it comes to have a big scarry xenos threat that only the Deathwatch can face ('cause for me, a big part of this game is about "Fighting the unbearable horror lurking among the stars").

Here's some art of the said Hive :

It's a kind of fusion between tyranids and necrons, in my opinion. I don't know for you, but I really think it could be a great DW adventure to discover this race and having to deal with it.

EDIT : Forgot to mention it, but this race has pretty much everything : hordes of zombi-like creatures (Thralls), space marine sized creatures (Knights), witches, ogre, 'regular troops' (Acolytes)

Tbh I love deathwatch but I think they spend an awful lot of time on Chaos creatures considering it is focused on xenos hunters.

I completely agree- I'm really surprised how few original xenos have been created for the gameline about elite xeno-fighting specialists. There are more original xenos in DH1 than in DW - and the Ordo Xenos is by far the most underdeveloped Ordo in DH .

Have you thought about importing races from other universes into DW ? I'm actualy thinking of importing The Hive from Destiny, because I kinda run out of idea when it comes to have a big scarry xenos threat that only the Deathwatch can face ('cause for me, a big part of this game is about "Fighting the unbearable horror lurking among the stars").

Here's some art of the said Hive :

It's a kind of fusion between tyranids and necrons, in my opinion. I don't know for you, but I really think it could be a great DW adventure to discover this race and having to deal with it.

EDIT : Forgot to mention it, but this race has pretty much everything : hordes of zombi-like creatures (Thralls), space marine sized creatures (Knights), witches, ogre, 'regular troops' (Acolytes)

Certainly would not be against importing races from other systems. I would say that it is worth tweaking them enough that the PCs don't catch on as a player saying 'oh like the xxx' from Halo (or whatever) can often break immersion. This happened in a Rouge Trader game when the GM apparently used a alien race from Mass Effect. I thought it was pretty cool but I hadn't played the game so was oblivious until a couple of the players pointed it out.

Certainly would not be against importing races from other systems. I would say that it is worth tweaking them enough that the PCs don't catch on as a player saying 'oh like the xxx' from Halo (or whatever) can often break immersion. This happened in a Rouge Trader game when the GM apparently used a alien race from Mass Effect. I thought it was pretty cool but I hadn't played the game so was oblivious until a couple of the players pointed it out.

I guess it depends of the group. In my case, I know that i'm not that great at describing places/creatures, so I rely on pictures to show my players their surroundings. So, even if I tweak them, I would still use pictures of said creatures and my players will recognize the source immediatly. Plus I don't think it will bother them to play against an import or look-alike, 'cause my players are SOOOO happy to play DW Space Marines (3 of us are huge 40k fans), that they will forgive me. Still need to play the game and make it sounds good of course and adapt them to the 40k sauce, not throw it like "Its a copy of a Destiny race !".

I strongly dislike porting elements from other universes directly into WH40KRP , since I feel it shatters the sense of immersion in the setting. My players would groan and shake their heads if I threw Daleks straight out of Dr. Who at them.

That said, there's noting wrong with drawing inspiration from non-40K sources. An evil expansionist race which spend most of their lives encased in a mechanical fighting apparatus- a combined weapon/vehicle/life support system- would be fine, as long as they didn't look like salt shakers and screech " Ex-ter-min-ate! "

I strongly dislike porting elements from other universes directly into WH40KRP , since I feel it shatters the sense of immersion in the setting. My players would groan and shake their heads if I threw Daleks straight out of Dr. Who at them.

That said, there's noting wrong with drawing inspiration from non-40K sources. An evil expansionist race which spend most of their lives encased in a mechanical fighting apparatus- a combined weapon/vehicle/life support system- would be fine, as long as they didn't look like salt shakers and screech " Ex-ter-min-ate! "

There was quite a funny paranoia adventure in White Dwarf back in the day where the evil robots did look like Daleks and did shout Exterminate. The Gm was instructed to describe the robots without showing a picture and without saying the word Daleks

Daleks. The PCs would know it was Dalek. But if they revealed this it would indicate a knowledge of pre alpha complex life and they'd be executed. Ah paranoia...

Yeah, 40k is chock-full of references and tongue-in-cheek like that. But still, there's a fine line to walk here, as it is still its own setting.

Something like Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau just wouldn't fly anymore ever since 2E, stuff like the Orkilus and Marbo are "borderline" but still perfectly acceptable if you use them sparingly, and Karamazov or San Leor are clever puns whose meaning most people likely won't even realise.

It all depends on how you do it!

as for eldritch horror xenos. I'd argue that role is filled, quite nicely I might add, by tyranids.

I think the big thing missing is DW doesn't have a whole lot of new or "off table" xenos to deal with.

the list of Xenos foes in deathwatch consists of Tau, Tyranids, Orks to a lesser degree, and as sort of a shadow threat not really "woken up yet" Necrons.

I think Tau make an intreasting choice BECAUSE they're not a great eldritch horror. I suspect FFG chose them because they contrast so heavily with 'nids.

Nids being a galatic threat terrifying in it's inhumanity. they cannot be bargined with, cannot be negotiated with. there is no hope for cease fires etc. the Tau meanwhile are a threat, but they're also very reasonable. Indeed, that IS perhaps their biggest threat