With this being a snazzy, updated edition I have a question concerning crossover with other games.

Specifically, I am running a Rogue Trader campaign and I am considering allowing Dark Heresy 2nd Ed., characters in the game. However, in the Rogue Trader book, it recommends that DH players receive 5,000 exp to make them the equivalent to a Rogue Trader Rank 1. That in itself causes problems, making the DH characters slightly more powerful.

With the coming of DH 2nd Ed., are the characters on more equal footing with Rogue Trader characters? Is it necessary to "boost" DH 2nd Ed., characters?

I will probably have to post this over at Dark Heresy 2nd, ed., forums to cover more territory.

Father Gabe

That whole spiel about all these systems being easily converted to the other is a lie. Kind of like how the cake was a lie (redacted). So yes, giving 5k xp to DH PC's to match RT is a headache. Simply have them make RT characters if you are playing RT, DH characters if playing DH RT, or BC characters if playing BC RT. However, ensure everyone is on the same page and system to keep it fair. Nothing is worse than having DW and DH characters mix, and trying to find the rules that match one for the other, or, in your case, DH 2.0 and RT characters mixing and matching.

I've never allowed a crossover character. There are...issues. Serious issues, and they most likely begin with the player.

Many are already redone for RT. Tech Priests, Ministorum Priests, and Guardsmen are Explorators, Missionaries, and Arch-Militants.

Some just don't stand out in a Rogue Trader crew. Adepts and Scum come to mind. RTs have hundreds of both employed, the former running their business for them, and the latter running the bilge pumps.

And that brings us to what nearly every player wanting to play a cross-over character really wants from a cross-over character.

"I want to play an assassin." Yeah, you and every other teenager since Dragon Issue #6. Draw up an Arch-Militant.

"I want to play an Unsanctioned Psyker." No. I have no problem with the concept, but the psyker rules just don't cross over. Draw up an Astropath. Alternately, there are rules for Sorcerers in one of the books.

Which brings us to a Judge. This one I would consider. This one has definite roleplaying potential, and it brings a different political clout to the game. If a ship can have an Ecclesiarchy representative, why not an Arbites one? Still, draw up an Arch-Militant and we can discuss an Elite Advance Package for you.

Space Marines? No. Grey Knights? No. Sisters of Battle? Sure. Draw up an Arch-Militant with breasts and use your initial acquisition for some power armor. We can talk about an Elite Advance Package to permit appropriate Knowledge skills for your character.

For a given XP value, a DH 1e character is generally stronger/more versatile than a RT character, if we discount equipment and intangibles like the RT having a spaceship (and crew) and their Dynasty openly behind them, and the fact that a RT character has a generally higher social and political status than the DH characters until Ascension - a RT is a Peer of the Imperium, and can pretty much ignore any of the DH careers if he feels like it until you get to people like, say, Arbites Judges, a full Magos of the Mechanicum, high ranking members of the Ecclesiarchy, high ranking members of the Inquisition like say a senior Interrogator or a full Inquisitor, and he might be negotiating with a major crime lord, but ... you get where I'm going with this, right?

This is because (a) the 5k xp that is nominally the base RT start package, is a lot less valuable than 5k xp of DH 1e advances, and (b) DH advances cost roughly half the amount of xp that the same advance costs in RT or DW. Not entirely sure how the xp costs line up with BC or OW, offhand.

I know that at one point someone on dark reign put together a partial conversion of RT careers to DH 1e, but last I checked (though it was a while ago), he had put that project on hiatus. That being said ... a rough guideline for RT=>DH 1e career/alt rank conversions is cutting the XP costs for most advances by half or so. That still leaves tweaking cross-line alt rank availability lists, and adding background packages for the RT careers, but that's a YMMV on what you want to do. Plus at high levels, there's the Ascension issues.

Deathwatch and DH1e are in about the same boat as DH1 and RT, though the base Astartes package is a lot more complicated to evaluate. That said, a DH1e character is going to have a lot more skills and talents (probably many of them combat-relevant) than someone who is supposedly a veteran Astartes for a given xp value.

Appreciate it. I duplicated the original posted over at DH2 forum and got somewhat similar responses.

I think ultimately what will happen, is that the DH2 character (if chosen) will get the +25 to Attributes at creation, plus an additional 1000 xp (total 2000 xp) to start with. I messed around with creating a few characters again and this seems to "balance" it out. Deathwatch characters will not be permitted, perhaps as NPC's for an encounter but not run by players. I appreciate all the answers to the question.

Thought I posted last night on this topic, stupid computer.

I am making a number of characters from both DH2 and RT using their standard character generation and comparing a side by side of the two. I will come up with a way to post the results once I am done creating each of the Archetypes (RT) and their DH2 equivalent.

So far my earlier posted results are off. The characters are starting to even out attribute, skill, talent wise. Gear will be different and easily remedied, so I am not worried about that tidbit. I am using the same generated attributes for each character, only difference is the Origin Path and Background Path for each system.

I noticed that DH2 doesnt care about Literacy / Speak skills, that is currently a default area I will have to look at and adjust fire for.

Literacy/Speak skills are difficult in the game. You have to deliberately put them in place as obstacles. Dealing with xenos is the easy part. They speak a different language, but let's face, if the Eldar show up they are going to speak a form of Gothic because it's in the plot, and if the Orks show up, you want some communications just because it will be funny watching them bartering for Teef.

Read? That's another beast entirely. I tried, I really tried to work this into the last game. Star charts were written in Navis Ciphers, or House Dialect, or even combinations with RT Ciphers or Dynasty language. I tried to give the players reasons to buy skills in those areas. Too many games have too many skills that serve little purpose. Really, why would a player spend 200 XP on another level of Speak/Read when they could buy another level of Tech Use?

I provide incentive in my DH game by requiring specific levels of reading comprehension to understand difficult works, which may give access to unique archeo- or xenostech blue prints, warp lore, sorcerous powers or other items a loremaster could shine with, by providing the gateway to accessing them to the party. It helps there, that adept gets minor psy powers later on, and can viably benefit from this often forbidden lore. Only allowing rerolls on a skill or stat increase helps, as does, in the case of studying sorcery, providing insanity points on failure.