Most common free acquisition.

By llsoth, in Rogue Trader

So what has bee the most common free acquisition your players have picked up? Also what has been the most useful?

In my group it is the rosarious lets hear it for nullifying 2d10 damage. angel.gif

What does that do again?

alexkilcoyne said:

What does that do again?

Rosarius, Amulets of Warding, and Refractor Fields (all found in the Inquisitors Handbook) Basically act as personal force fields that reduce incoming ranged damage by 2-20 points (roll 2d10 for each attack). Though the amulet may be 3d10 I would have to check.

Rogue Trader:
* Better Power Sword

Arch Militant:
* GQ Power Armour

Seneschal
* GQ Cortex Upgrade

Void Master
* GQ MIU

Navigator
* GQ Navis Prima

In all cases cybernetic implants...

Unlike other gear they can't be lost.

Oh! They can be lost, just as my players, its just rather painful :P

My gaming group has some odd ones, mostly due to the freedom our GM is allowing (and the slight boost of allowing the +30 acquisition for one person, which i don't believe is the normal rule)

Our choices include:

1 best quality power armor

1 shuttle (one space marine usually use i believe)

2 assassins(for the most paranoid player)

1 wife(for our rogue trader-me)

1 laser death eye(I forget the actual name)

Yes, you do get the +30 for a single-item.

However, the only way to get a best-quality item (-30) is if the item is Scarce (+0) or better in rarity. So, no best-quality power armor. You can get Good quality items (-10) and increase the rarity (anything up to -20, which is Very rare, I think)

I'd personally consider anything not in the RT book to be GM-request only. Things like a Rosarius might be a bit too rare or individualized to be just purchased, regardless of their rarity. I see it similar to when it says you can't buy a weapon that you don't have a talent for, you can't buy gear that you don't have a good explanation for (like buying extremely rare and costly Ecclesiarchial or Military gear).

I've had one archmilitant go for a heavy bolter, another lucky bastard rolled Unnatural Strength for a mutation, so took Bionic Muscles to make it x3. One of our free form characters took a harlequin kiss just to make a unique character.

I'd personally consider anything not in the RT book to be GM-request only. Things like a Rosarius might be a bit too rare or individualized to be just purchased, regardless of their rarity. I see it similar to when it says you can't buy a weapon that you don't have a talent for, you can't buy gear that you don't have a good explanation for (like buying extremely rare and costly Ecclesiarchial or Military gear).

Yep, since Rogue Trader stacked on the new Extremely Rare, Near Unique and Unique degrees of availability, the GM will have to decide on what fits where. Force Fields and the like would probably be upgraded to the new categories.

Cifer said:

I'd personally consider anything not in the RT book to be GM-request only. Things like a Rosarius might be a bit too rare or individualized to be just purchased, regardless of their rarity. I see it similar to when it says you can't buy a weapon that you don't have a talent for, you can't buy gear that you don't have a good explanation for (like buying extremely rare and costly Ecclesiarchial or Military gear).

Yep, since Rogue Trader stacked on the new Extremely Rare, Near Unique and Unique degrees of availability, the GM will have to decide on what fits where. Force Fields and the like would probably be upgraded to the new categories.

I'm not entirely certain about that. Refractor Fields appear to be relatively common amongst officers of the Imperial Guard (who tend also to have access to power weapons and similar rare items) at the very least, while the Rosarius is worn by a considerable number of those who have some affiliation with the Ecclesiarchy.

Indeed, they are listed as rare. IE more common than power armor, and power armor is still listed as very rare in the new system.

When you look at the examples they give for rarity (on page 275) extremely rare or rarer is reserved for things like Archeotech.

Well, the examples on pg 275 say:

Rare => "Common high end resources ..."

Very Rare => "Very difficult to acquire objects and resources ... such as arcane devices of the Adeptus Mechanicus ..."

Extremely Rare => "The highest level of Imperial goods ... such as objects of forgotten Archaeotech ... "

Ok, now lets look closer ...

Rosarius is listed as rare, and says "...granted to senior members of the Ecclesiarchy's chamber militant and most zealous battlefield preachers..." Ok, nothing about it being very rare.

Refractor Field is listed as Very Rare, and says "Although still very rare, refractor fields are perhaps the commonest form of force field defence available in the Imperium...Sometimes employed by Imperial Guard officers of high rank, the wealthy scions of noble houses, or awarded as a mark of great distinction to senior adepta..."

Odd. So, the refractor field is rarer than the Rosarius, but is the most common force field defence? It explicitly says its very rare in the description, so I believe the Rosarius should probably be Very Rare as well. I think, though, they listed the Rosarius as only Rare because it is easier for an Ecclesiarchial member to get a Rosarius than anyone else to get a Refractor Field. The Rosarius is limited to clergy, while theoretically anyone with a high enough rank or enough pull at high levels could possibly obtain a Refractor field. I might allow the Rosarius to be purchased by a Missionary, since from the description it sounds like it isn't specifically limited to certain people within the Ecclesiarchy (other than 'senior' or 'zealous battlefield preacher'). A Refractor field, however, has quite a detailed restriction to only the highest and most wealthy, or those who exceptionally distinguished themselves. I would probably require a Profit Factor minimum of 50 to get one, or I would require the person to make a detailed write-up of how and why they were able to acquire such a device.

1) Weapons can be taken along with scopes and such as a single Acquisition using the Combining Acquisitions rules on page 271. Could the same be done with matching sets of armour? Would it be unreasonable to allow a Mesh Cowl and Xeno Mesh as a single Acquisition?

2) Does anyone think that offering a bit of a compensation for someone that takes less than the maximum allowed for their one free acquisition? For example, if a character wants Carapace armour but elects to take Common Craftsmanship Enforcer Light Carapace rather than Good Craftsmanship Storm Trooper Carapace - thus selecting a +20 item rather than a +0 item - would it be reasonable to allow him an additional item with a high (+30 or so) total Acquisition Modifier along with his 'lesser' choice?

3) In the same manner as the previous question, I am considing altering the free pick to be either one item with a total Acqusition Modifier of +0 or more OR two items each with total Acquisition Modifiers of +20 or more just to allow a bit more variety. Will this cause any real problems if everyone is allowed this option?

The Glen said:

I've had one archmilitant go for a heavy bolter, another lucky bastard rolled Unnatural Strength for a mutation, so took Bionic Muscles to make it x3. One of our free form characters took a harlequin kiss just to make a unique character.

Well, I hope he has the Exotic Weapon Talent to use it with. Otherwise, he'll be stuck with a hefty -20 penalty to his rolls.

As for my Rogue Trader, the Refractor Field seemed the way to go so that he doesn't have to worry about wearing all that bulky, unseely looking power armour for protection. It's much more dashing, impressive and less socailly awkward, to walk around apparently unarmoured in your Best Quality Flak Coat and wearing a highly ornate belt buckle concealing a Refractor Field. It's especially impressive when you lead from the front of battle and Rogue Traders are all about kicking butt, making profit and looking good while doing it.

As a GM though, I think the rarity of the Rosarius is fine, considering the specific restrictions on obtaining on. I'd only let Missionary or other appropriate characters from the ecclesiarchy or who had the proper origin path to taqke one as a starting item. For every one else, I might bump the rarity up to Near Unique or even Unique if they want to try to 'earn' such a lofty honour. After initial chargen, I'd say an Endevoue would be involved in obtaining one...

I'd argue that the Best-craftsmanship Enforcer Light Carapace that any RT can start with is already a winning fashion statement for the guy that leads from the front. A flak coat is so M39...

Luther said:

The Glen said:

I've had one archmilitant go for a heavy bolter, another lucky bastard rolled Unnatural Strength for a mutation, so took Bionic Muscles to make it x3. One of our free form characters took a harlequin kiss just to make a unique character.

Well, I hope he has the Exotic Weapon Talent to use it with. Otherwise, he'll be stuck with a hefty -20 penalty to his rolls.

Well, the rules for the free acqusition clearly state that you can only purchase weapons for which you have an appropriate talent. So either they have the talents (for heavy and exotic weapons) at start, or they didn't follow the rules. happy.gif lengua.gif

The Hand of War would allow a character to take any desired Weapon Training and thus open up any weapon with ab Aquisition Modifier of +0 or higher to starting characters.

well my players rolled up characters this evening...

the way i read the rule, i allowed them to do the following.

they have 40 aquisition points.

They could then chose something up to -40 and still end at 0, and get the items.

1 power sword

1 servitor

1 power armour

For me, given my love of cerebral characters, I grab a good quality cortex implant every chance I get.

Unnatural Int for the low-low price of 1d10 insanity? I'll take two!

Well, I would if things worked that way.

Aureus said:

For me, given my love of cerebral characters, I grab a good quality cortex implant every chance I get.

Unnatural Int for the low-low price of 1d10 insanity? I'll take two!

Well, I would if things worked that way.

Just watch out for the Eldar and their Haywire grenades - you don't want your brain shorting out in the middle of a fight.

Well, my players picked up the following:

Rogue Trader: Empathically psychic xeno-beast

Void Master: Custom Guncutter

Navigator: Xeno-breed hunting hound

Missionary: Sacred relic made from the bones of an Astartes

Astropath: Medi-skull with in built refractor field

Seneschal and Explorator: I don't recall offhand, but they were cool.

The acquisition part of character creation seems to be a great time to encourage players to flex their creative muscles and come up with something unique or uniqueish at least. Provided your GM likes that idea.

My Astropath had a Good-craftsmanship Force Sword, and kicked ass with it.

One thing we realised is that for many items you can actually up the scale by one step and have enough for the whole player group!

So instead of Good Power Armour, you can have ten Common Power Armours, and share them out, and have the next player do something similar.

One thing we realised is that for many items you can actually up the scale by one step and have enough for the whole player group!

So instead of Good Power Armour, you can have ten Common Power Armours, and share them out, and have the next player do something similar.

The free Acquisition is specifically limited to a single item. Per the rules, you can not do as you suggest and 'up the scale one step" during character creation. For later Acquisitions made during gameplay, this remains a strong option.