I had a similar problem with Rogue Trader's rules for making units of mass combat, where the rules they spell out don't then, sometimes even in their own book, mesh, but how do you build a Reinforcement Character? Also, while I can certainly see the difficulty in persuading a group of Deathwatch Marines, or Grey Knights, to follow you, and the Eversor is certainly a loner unit, a Sororitas Canoness seems a bit high and mighty to get, and to get alone, pulling her away from her force, her bodyguards, and her mission. Is there a way, likely a second test, to also requisition her small entourage? (I'm imagining a cadre of Celestians, or maybe Seraphim, depending on her flavor. I suppose her priests etc. group, from the table top,could work, too, but whatever.) I know on one hand, it just appears like making cheese cheesier, but I can see some people, say an Arbites Captain, who might bring along some backup/mooks to assist; some people just don't travel alone.

Sadly, right at this moment, I can't remember any of the small number of ideas that I had, once to make Reinforcements of, and then couldn't make the system work; math and I have a love/hate relationship, where we both love to hate the other. If a stat block might help to make an example for me, I am very partial to the RT on p.399, and can see where being able to call in such aide, whether because such money brings great gear, or maybe just as part of being delivered to a locale secretly, could be of great benefit to Agents of the Throne. If that stat block isn't good, doesn't work for some reason, maybe tell me, in a way more simply than the game book does, what one does need to make a Reinforcement Character? If you have any you've made, and want to use as an example, that would also be great. If I can figure it out, maybe I'll rekit the Eversor, my overall least favorite Assassin (Deadpool possessing a drug chest through the fourth wall, masquerading as a human being) into a Culexus, or Callidus.

This is my first post on the new DH stuff, so sorry if it's a bit of a doozy, and thanks to anyone who takes a crack at it. Have a good one.

For the Canoness I thought she was a bit high to be going on a solo mission with a bunch of acolytes too. I wouldn't waste to much time on it though I'd just rename her a Celestian or such and get on with it.

You can use characters that you made in other lines as reinforcement characters so they would come with any retainers. Of course the best use of this I can think of is Black Crusade with minions (which is allowable funnily enough). Mind you you would need to be a radicial warband or the BC character would need to be super subtle or in some kind of crazy denial.

I don't have all of the splat books. Do none of them have rules for designing reinforcement characters?

I don't know, personally; with most of the other lines, I was somehow willing to splurge (DH 10, RT 13, DW 7, and OW 5). I limited myself on BC because I'm not too keen on a "dedicated evil" game, even knowing my friends, and the deeds the other games can allow players to legitimately commit, and I only bought the one DH2 because I wasn't sure if it was destined to floy, or flop, and was rather certain, by that late point that none of my friends were interested enough in the 40k universe, for role-playing . Also, "Scooby Doo in Space wasn't so appealing to me, after RT eclipsed it, in my eyes. That being said, I don't know what all the DH2 line has stepped up, and incorporated into their line, be it new material, or the typical copy/paste, but converted to their better system. Do any of the other books have further examples of the Reinforcement options their additions would synergize with?

With some free time, I might have to just read the rules on it over again, and try to make something. Part of it, for me, might be that the books of these lines have never really told a person what some of their examples cost. You might never know what was an "elite advance", and I think they often do like the Star Wars lines currently do, and just say "NPCs aren't built as players are; you just give them the stuff they need, and the narrative will cover the rest", as opposed to "the NPC wizard Elminster is a 46 HD wizard, with 20+ levels of wizard, 5 levels of Archmage, some levels of cleric, fighter, and possibly rogue (I don't feel like actually looking him up, right now)", so knowing how much XP they are worth, and thus using it to adjust their Influence value/minimum/cost, is a bit tricky, at least with my seemingly limited grasp on how those rules work. Maybe I'll take their Eversor, and see if I can convert it into a Culexus, using the RT stats for one, and the Null rules DH2 already provides, and see if I can make something cool. I'd rather do the Callidus, as they've never tackled one before, but the psyker-slayer might be a lot easier.

I don't have all of the splat books. Do none of them have rules for designing reinforcement characters?

It's part of the core rulebook.

You basically have to determine the minimum Influence required, how much it will cost and an objective to reach.

The stats, skill, talents, equipment, ... for the reinforcement character is identical to a npc.

Oh, that's why I don't remember them. The rules are literally just, "Make a PC. Spend influence to switch to that character."

Also venkelos BC isn't the dedicated evil game, it's the game where you're freedom fighters rebelling against an oppressive and crumbling empire ruled by a corpse. And sometimes your a supersoldier with tentacles for arms fighting other brainwashed supersoldiers who worship a corpse.

Oh and reinforcement characters are a new thing in DH2. You won't find rules about it in other game lines.

Reinforcement characters are one of the more disappointing game mechanics in DH2 , i.m.o. When they were first hinted at in the beta test, I assumed that they would represent dedicated rules for PCs throwing their authority around and 'drafting' NPCs into their mission- cool! But no, it's just "Set your character aside and play this other guy"- blech ...

Having played Inquisition when Codex Daemon Hunters and Codex Witch Hunters were the books (and the last time SoB were really good, in table-top), I can see where the mechanic for an Inquisitor drafting people to serve their needs would fit well, but I can think of better ways to spend a session than spending my Influence to temporarily borrow someone, even if the idea of drafting a Deathwatch Kill-Marine, or an Eversor Assassin DOES seem like one that should cost Influence, and while I assume gaining Influence is similar to gaining Profit Factor in Rogue Trader (read: most of the point), it still doesn't appeal to me. Oh well, I still might try to fabricate a few, just to do something with the DH2 book, but it'll be a bit later.

I can see, though, depending on how it works, using this to net a military commander, maybe even one of the Governor's top generals, and use it to have him mobilize their forces, to cover, or support, the Throne Agent's actions, as they do whatever they need to, and here, too, I can almost see that costing Influence. On paper, an Inquisitor has limitless power, but in practice, it's only as good as who they know, and how much the people they are dealing with fear their hypothetical power.