It looks like I'll be venturing into running Deathwatch again, with a female player showing interest in playing a tanking human character (inquisitor and battle sister have cropped up as ideas). I did let a different player run a battle sister in a campaign years ago, using the inquisitor's handbook progression leading into palantine, which gave her a lot of skills but understandably less soak. Blood of Martyrs seems to have a better write-up for the battle sisters, but I've never seen it in play.

I plan to start the campaign with Rank 1 Deathwatch marines, with an additional 1000xp to flesh them out a bit more. So 14,000xp in Dark Heresy 1st edition terms.

More mechanical options have cropped up since I ran that campaign and I'd appreciate any suggestions on their viability. I'm inclined to add a bunch of high quality gear to every option bar the Deathwatch-equivalent, since that option already gives astartes-grade gear.

My current list:

1. A Dark Heresy 1st edition character, moved into ascension level.

2. A Rogue Trader character.

3. A Rogue Trader character for a few ranks, then moved into ascension rules for odd combinations.

4. An inquisition servant, massively gene-enhanced and armoured - mechanically identical to a Deathwatch space marine.

5. A variant of Black Crusade character creation.

6. An Only War character.

7. A Dark Heresy 2nd edition character (no guidelines for conversion, even the questionable ones from prior editions, and with a lot of new combat-changing talents).

It comes down to what your player wants and expects from such a character. In general I would recommend against it, as by RAW you will obviously have a massive gap in usefulness between Human and Astartes PCs -- much larger than the gap suggested by GW's tabletop or their own d100 game, as the Marines in Deathwatch are not only stronger and tougher but also get much better weapons (by mechanical necessity, as fighting DW-tier CSM with DH-tier bolters would not work very well).

This means that if you play it by the book, there's a good chance that your new player could end up merely as a sidekick who should step back any time there's a battle to let the manly Marines handle things, but who can at least complement the Kill Team's capabilities by adding more esoteric skills (knowledge or social) to deal with certain problems, provided you as the GM remember to include them as obstacles.

Note that as per other players' reports, some people do not mind playing helpful sidekicks, so this could actually work out depending on your friend. You should probably gauge their opinion in a discussion, and be careful so as to not miss any hints that the player merely agrees to playing a sidekick because they don't want to be a nuisance, but that she would have fun doing so.

Blood of Martyrs seems to have a better write-up for the battle sisters, but I've never seen it in play.

As a fan of the Sororitas, and as someone who tried out both versions of Battle Sisters in DH1, I have to disagree. Blood of Martyrs may have her start out with power armour on Rank 1, but given how all advances are much more expensive than for the version in Inquisitor's Handbook, this character gets surpassed by other classes in mid to late gameplay in Dark Heresy, and would certainly end up much weaker in a Deathwatch campaign.

Not to mention that the BoM version of Acts of Faith essentially turn her into a buff wh*re for the rest of the team, as they do not only improve the Battle Sister character but also her allies, making those Deathwatch Marines even better than they already are.

And as if this was not enough, many of the BoM Acts are clearly supernatural rather than a product of the Sisters' training and zeal, making them less badass whilst simultaneously providing an argument for the Emperor's divinity your faithless Deathwatch Marines will have a hard time denying.

IF you really want to insert a Battle Sister into the Kill Team, I'd rather recommend the Dark Heresy 2 version from Enemies Within, as her Acts of Faith are not only more in line with codex background, but also a much better mechanical fit for your intended gameplay: they improve only the Battle Sister, and the Faith Points spent on activating these abilities can be regained in combat by triggering Righteous Fury.

The easiest way, however, would be to have your player roll up a Battle Sister using the Black Templar from Deathwatch, because this way you actually stay within the same book and don't risk having to mix abilities that work differently or don't even exist within the other ruleset. This is sort of like your option 4, except that you'd not give her either Unnatural Strength or Unnatural Toughness or any of the other Space Marine organs. This would still make her ~4 points squishier than the Battle Brothers, but at least she could do equal amounts of ranged damage by having access to the same Talents and guns, and by not being left out when someone activates a Squad Mode ability.

Since the Sisters of Battle are organised among similar lines to the Space Marines, your player could use the default Tactical Marine (Battle Sister), Devastator (Retributor) or Assault Marine (Seraphim) trees and still gain a faithful representation of the Sororitas; you'd merely have to swap out any Astartes-specific knowledge skills with Ministorum/Sororitas ones.

If you wish to give her something to counter the lack of Strength and Toughness, you could also port the DH2 Acts of Faith into Deathwatch, as they are fairly "standalone" and would function similarly regardless of whether you'd use them in Dark Heresy or elsewhere.

Alternatively, you could have the player roll up a Space Marine Librarian (again without Marine implants) and play it like an Inquisitor with psychic powers. Lack of US/UT could be countered with access to psychic powers as well as advanced wargear (= having the Inquisitor start with higher Renown, which fits to their role anyways).

... or, you could ask your player if she wouldn't be fine simply playing a male Space Marine. This is a roleplaying game, and ultimately, gender is no different from species or profession.

Thanks for the feedback Lynata. This particular player usually plays tanks, combat monsters, etc in computer games but has very little experience in tabletop rp. She is interested in 40k lore and knows a fair bit. I'm leaning towards DW or DH 2 variants, but I'll lay out the options when I next speak with her.

Wiz. Good luck, then!

for a human pc in deathwatch, the Sisters of battle are the ones that have the best chance of surviving due to their armor.

It depends very heavily on the type of game your running. If it is more or less a combat fest/dungeon crawl with briefings in between then a human character (baring maybe the vindicaire assassin) probably isn't really going to have an opportunity to shine.

If your game has a strong social aspect to to or allows the PCs leeway to set their own missions then human PCs can really shine. A sister of battle for example is well respected combined with being less conspicuous than Astartes. In addition she can probably call upon the considerable resources of the Ecclesiarchy in some circumstances. These benefit are exponentially increased with an Inquisitor. Indeed in the right circumstances a mission might consist of an Inquisitor. His retinue. His fleet. His army....and a kill team.

A Sister of Battle who sucks at .. well, battling, and is only around for talking probably wouldn't be the best choice of character for such a campaign. Agreed about the Inquisitor, though, especially if you make them the less-militant variant -- the ones running around with a cloak rather than Terminator armour.

These benefit are exponentially increased with an Inquisitor. Indeed in the right circumstances a mission might consist of an Inquisitor. His retinue. His fleet. His army....and a kill team.

Especially if you consider that in GW's original background for the Deathwatch, Ordo Xenos Inquisitors were regular default leaders for a DW Kill-Team! Also see Captain Artemis' background . My group had an Inquisitor as well, but he was an NPC and stayed behind in the Thunderhawk, only staying in vox comms with our team.

The first post doesn't mention the female player expressly refusing to play a standard Space Marine; is that actually the case, or are we just jumping to the false conclusion that "g-g-g-girls can't play Space Marines"? Two of my male DH players play female Acolytes, and no one bats an eyelash about that ...

As it turns out, the point is moot. That player may or may not join, and has no problem playing a space marine if she does. Still, well worth exploring ideas.

My Deathwatch games tend to have a mix of diplomacy, stealth, and a fair bit (not constant) combat.

I don't object to players having opposite-sex characters, so long as the characters suit the tone and background of the game. Female space marines and male sororitas are out because they don't meet the latter criteria.

We had a female player a while back. She played an inquisitor in training. No real authority over the kill team, but still respected for her rank. She used a sniper rifle I forget which one and used the assassin then the inquisitor paths. She worked out good in combat since she often stayed out of melee range and she helped with a lot of the diplomacy.

But why do so many people assume that female players can't play standard Space Marines? No one gasps in horror when a male player decides to play a Sister of Battle; so why is everyone so desperate to come up with some alternative to SMs (the playing of which is the whole point to Deathwatch ) for female players?

To be fair, female gamers are still something a rarity at people's tables -- at least for 40k, where the (tabletop) playerbase and the setting background aren't exactly oozing inclusivity. This rarity may then summon subconscious preconceptions regarding their preferences and expectations simply due to lack of exposure towards these players.

And one of the groups at my office had a GM who barred any cross-gender playing, regardless whether you were male or female.

Be fortunate that you have a group that seems to be somewhat more accustomed to dissolving gender conventions.

On a sidenote, though, I would argue that the main point of Deathwatch is to deliver a compelling action-adventure with larger-than-life heroes taking on whole hordes of baddies. It just so happens that, traditionally, in 40k this angle has been hogged by Space Marines most of the time, and the game's branding reflects this as well as the intended target audience. You can very easily have a fun game featuring the exact same themes and atmosphere with more than just Astartes, though.

Also, I admit, a "sniper Inquisitor" sounds a bit weird ... if you're going down that route, would a Vindicare not be an even better option? Everyone complains how OP they were in Ascension, but in Deathwatch that might be juuust enough. Perhaps yet another alternative for the future.

It was the person she didn't want to be a space marine. I've had females play men before in other games, just not that time. She went inquisitor because it told a better story than her being just an assassin. If the game wouldn't have fell apart she would have become a full fledged ordo xenos inquisitor. Therefore had something to gain other than a kill tally.

But why do so many people assume that female players can't play standard Space Marines? No one gasps in horror when a male player decides to play a Sister of Battle; so why is everyone so desperate to come up with some alternative to SMs (the playing of which is the whole point to Deathwatch ) for female players?