My group have completed Dark Pursuits and Desolation of the Dead and after a short recess, we'll be tackling Forgotten Gods.

One of my players, prior to beginning Desolation of the Dead made it known that he'd like a power sword eventually, but not for that campaign because he knows it takes time to become trained in their use and to acquire one. Now that we're in the downtime between campaigns, I imagine the question might come up again. Is this too early to grant a power sword (or rather, allow him to make the requisition roll?). If he gets it, it'll will affect their subtlety as he walks around with it but as their subtlety is already at 30 and will most likely continue to go down, the power sword will merely speed up that process. As the group is quite blatant in their investigations, certain groups such as the Trade Sable will be taking extra precautions and will be armed better than as presented in the campaign book so having a power sword could help. However, I'm aware this might take me down a road of escalation I may not be prepared to go down just yet, I was wondering what your experiences were in this matter?

Thanks,

Eisenhorn

Well, if you've done Dark Pursuits and Desolation of the Dead, he's already had multiple opportunities to acquire a Power weapon. It wouldn't be too unbalancing in my mind, as that's about the point my party got their first one (and first bolt weapon shortly after).

You could also hand it out in "steps". Maybe they find a broken power swords, and repairing it turns out to be a challenge. Or there is a bio lock, which is hard to remove without ruining the sword. Or the power field is not calibrated properly and it flickers off at the much inconvenient times, until a specialist is found to repair it. Or a combination...

At what total XP is the PC? In my warband (each at approximately 9,000XP, after some home-brewed stuff, Dark Pursuits, Desolation of the Dead, and currently in the middle of the first chapter of Forgotten Gods) there is no power or force weapon yet and only one bolt pistol. On the other hand there are two very powerful psykers ... I guess a single power sword would not be a big issue balance-wise. You can only attack so many targets with a sword (without a lot of additional talents).

Well, if you've done Dark Pursuits and Desolation of the Dead, he's already had multiple opportunities to acquire a Power weapon. It wouldn't be too unbalancing in my mind, as that's about the point my party got their first one (and first bolt weapon shortly after).

That's good to hear. It's probably about time they got something tasty. Towards the end of our last campaign a player replaced his priest with a sniper/gun slinger type so they do have a sniper rifle now but until recently it was basically shotguns/las guns and a solitary chainsword. After two campaigns it's probably time to let them get some more potent gear (although the chainsword is awesome).

At what total XP is the PC? In my warband (each at approximately 9,000XP, after some home-brewed stuff, Dark Pursuits, Desolation of the Dead, and currently in the middle of the first chapter of Forgotten Gods) there is no power or force weapon yet and only one bolt pistol. On the other hand there are two very powerful psykers ... I guess a single power sword would not be a big issue balance-wise. You can only attack so many targets with a sword (without a lot of additional talents).

I can't remember off the top of my head but they're a lot lower, id say somewhere around 4000 XP? Desolation of the dead pays out relatively little XP if done by the book. We don't have any psykers in the group, the two most powerful attacks come from the sniper rifle and the chainsword when they don't have any grenades.