Rogue Trader can be pretty vague about what the actual differences are between greater and lesser warrants of trade.
There are militant warrants that give easier access to requisition military hardware, but that come across as more of a type of warrant rather than a strength.
Older warrants are supposed to be better, but the fine print about *how* isn't made very clear.
Is the strength of a warrant solely down to age, wealth, and reputation?
Or is there something I'm missing?
I think it's mostly about prestige, and I belive it's represented by the Profit Factor in game terms.
Warrants can, and often are, constructed with caveats, clauses and conditionals. The less of these one has, the better off your warrant is.
Pretty much what Quicksilver mentioned. IIRC, the fluff stated that older Warrants were free of nonsensical clauses/caveats/conditions dictated therein of more recent Warrants. How much free, well, that depended on who granted it and what it was for.
A very old Warrant signed by a High Lord of Terra in M32 would probably be better than a Warrant signed by an administrator official from the Calaxis Sector, about 100 years ago. Probably, but maybe not. Maybe the High Lord of Terra put clauses in the Warrant stating the bearer was subject to Imperial Mandate 32.456.221bE and 32.777.5yD.90, which has been changed about 1000 times, separated into 100 different other Mandates, with even further references. While the admin Calaxis Sector one signed 100 years ago, only has 4 clauses in it, which are still in effect with only minor wording changed since produced.
So, it’s completely up to the GM, players, and setting. Happy gaming.
Another factor pointed out to me in one of the fanfictions here - some warrants have a name on it, and by extension, that person's lineage. Other warrants have no name other than "the bearer of this warrant." This second kind of warrant is technically a target on the RT's back, since other people will want that Warrant.
Also related is that I imagine some warrants may be allowed to be in secure data vaults, but others may have as a condition that it is on a ship.
A very old Warrant signed by a High Lord of Terra in M32 would probably be better than a Warrant signed by an administrator official from the Calaxis Sector, about 100 years ago.
Aren't all warrants signed by either High Lords of Terra or the Emperor himself?
Ancient warrants had much less restriction-tape, since they weren't as cautious, back then. One might also argue that, depending on who can give you a Warrant, it might determine what THEY can allow you to do. I believe that Lord-Sector Hax, for instance, can occasionally grant warrants, but that might mean that Lord-Sector Volk, of the Scarus Sector (I pulled a name, who knows any other Sector Lords?) doesn't have to acknowledge it, since they are on par, while back in the day, the Senate gave them out, and no one active can counter their edicts. The first warrants were signed by the Emperor, and with His august cheese-might, and limited pool of applicants, He could afford to be much more vague and far-reaching with the allowances of warrants He penned, while others must be leery about giving such power to some such a-holes. Let's be honest, other than a few RT's I've written, your average Rogue Trader is several parts crazy, some narcissist, and only as loyal to the Imperium as he feels like being, some really terrible, possibly degenerate people, and sometimes they HAVE to be that kind of wtf, to survive and thrive in their environment. Big-time CEOs today might not be very nice, decent people, certainly not behind closed doors, outside public scrutiny, and these people (RTs) have resources to dwarf them all, and some worlds, in a setting that punishes them significantly less for being significantly worse.
With the galaxy so large, and so much going on, many other governing bodies CAN authorize Warrants. If they make poor choices, it can come back to bite them, of course. There are many Warrants signed by the Senate, though many of those are OLD, and none of the names on them are CURRENT High Lords of Terra, while the current body can, if they find time, and care to (so much of an RTs power depends on being beyond the Imperium, and that's so far from where the High Lords actually are) and any the Emperor signed are obviously 10,000 years old, and I doubt too many Warrant lines can trace back that long (I flubbed it for my super-cheese RT, Korvallus, but I'm known to cheese when I'm writing for myself, and his Warrant does have a several thousand year break (ran for much of 6,000 years, fell empty for about 4,000 years, and Korvallus reclaimed it about 100 or so years ago; a rare example of quality bookkeeping on the part of the Imperium.) Nowadays, many Rogue Traders get their warrants from Sector Lords, heads of powerful organizations, or similar folks who can persuade the Senate to pen one, as far as I know. This is what gives such agencies some pull over various Rogue Traders, at least initially. Like receiving your ahip from Jabba the Hutt, at the start of a Star Wars game, the gift comes with some strings attached, and they might stay tied to you for quite some time.
Edited by venkelosThanks for the feedback folks. I'm considering writing up (or copying and editing) text for an ancient warrant but that obviously would require specifics. I've found a few neat links by googling "rogue trader warrant of trade conditions". Reposted in case anyone else is interested.
https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/64682-rogue-trader-warrants/
The Talent Renowned Warrant gives a clue.
I typically tend to go along two lines. One is if you're in a pissing contest at a dinner party you can one up your rivals. Sort of like being a knight, you're both knights but if one was knighted by the kind that's pretty cool. More importantly the older the warrant is, the less likely it is to have various strings attached. That's not always true, but if you get handed a warrant tomorrow it's less likely to be a blank check than it was back in 30k.
The Talent Renowned Warrant gives a clue.
Sure. But only a clue. If the warrant is actually reknowned, it should be reknowned regardless of what talents the rogue trader pc has picked up. At the very least, that talent should be only obtainable during character creation.