Hi,

As we just had a session where stealth could have been useful, alas we don't have anyone good at that for the moment. Only my character (VM) and our AM got any decent agility, respectively 70 and 60. However neither of us have training in the relevant skills for the moment.

Most of the group are currently running around in light power armor, but alas AB 7 gives everyone a -30 on concealment/silent move.

Being the most agile, I started looking how I could make these skills better(aside from elite advances). Downgrading to a AB 6 armor would certainly help since I only have basic skills (-50%). Also you have stuff like Chameleoline cloak, nightcloak and more advanced a holo suit.

How does these stack with armor (regular and power version)? only holo suit makes any comment that it's usually used with "light or no armor" but doesn't specify anything. Can one use synskin+holosuit? Are there any rules I missed regarding this? If not I'll just have a discussion with our GM...

First and most important point, 70 is not decent agility, 70 is ridiculous, unheard of levels of Agility. Even Eldar would struggle to raise their Agility to 70 - though they do get Unnatural Agility. Even 60 is ridiculously respectable. You are short on Skills though, which provide the biggest bang for your buck in terms of what you woul dget, especially from you.

You should always have a discussion with your GM when you're planning to min/max. The rules are vague, but you should make your case and so openly. If you try to sneak around them they may well change their minds later if they feel you're unbalanced. My Seneschal has a similar build and yes, he goes the full Synskin, Holo suit and Chameleoline cloak so that he can just sort of... hang out invisibly in combat until someone walks within Inferno pistol range. Since none of those count as "armour", my GM didn't have a problem with it. It's a trick that really only works when you're standing still, but it is quite a trick when you're standing still. Remember that bonuses to your skill apply after the Basic halving so you'll get pretty good.

Armour is a tricky thing in Rogue Trader, because so many people are going to be carrying Plasma pistols or crazy Xenos weapons that their penetration means Armour is not going to make a huge difference for you. So go nuts being your invisible, quiet ninja. Just watch out for when they break out the Flamers.

At least I guess I didn't miss anything about it RAW but yes i'll discuss it next time.

60/70 would be a pretty good start IF either of us had any skills, so I guess that'll have to be worked on... with the meager XP we get an a 3x cost for elite advances, it might take a while!

The combination you mention sounds good. I've been looking at it.. however lately having "high" ap and sealed environment has served us good. (low tech hordes, nurglings, combat in vacuum, viral stuff..). I was thinking to eventually maybe get a lathe wrought carapace to keep some armor and sealed environment... but it's hard to get for us yet

Thanks for your thoughs on the subject.

Since elite advance seems the logical method, why look for something else? And yes, ditch the power armor for something less compensating. Pressure carapace is the bee's knees. It's a voidsuit, it's armor, it protects 1 point less than light power armor. Sacrifice a little protection for a lot of cool. But that's just me.

Mostly because I feel that one should always be prepared.. Even sneaking around with silent move as skill of 70, it doesn't hurt to paint your armor white for snowy places and put something to muffle sound on the boots I mean, most people would try to improve their chances at performing any action, especially as it probably will be a risk for your life or well being.

That Lathe wrought pressure carpace seems hard to get with out current PF, but one must have a goal, right?

The advantage of wearing a holo suit and chameleoline armour is that on top of that you can wear a suit of Augmetic Engine Plate that has Lumen Heraldry, Reflect Coating, and Egarian Geode Mesh giving you something like -80 to Concealement, and basic immunity to las weapons on top of that. Then if you need to be stealthy, you just slip out of the Engine Plate, and no one would ever think that someone who dresses like that would try to sneak around anywhere.

Mostly because I feel that one should always be prepared.. Even sneaking around with silent move as skill of 70, it doesn't hurt to paint your armor white for snowy places and put something to muffle sound on the boots I mean, most people would try to improve their chances at performing any action, especially as it probably will be a risk for your life or well being.

That Lathe wrought pressure carpace seems hard to get with out current PF, but one must have a goal, right?

There's more noise in powered armor than you might realise. The servo motors and actuators probably make some noise while in operation. It's not much but when silence is called for it's definitely gonna be a problem. Additionally, you're roughly twice as heavy as normal and without an Astartes black carapace, you have no sensation of how hard you're actually stepping! Hell, even the Raven guard (The original stealth ninja astartes) make special modifications to a specific mk. of armor in order to render it moderately stealthy! For true silent missions, they use specially modified suits of scout carapace armor.

I would say that while you could theoretically wear a chameleon cloak with powered armor, it would not help you much as the noise would give you away. You could not wear Synskin or other sorts of stealth enhancing equipment with powered armor as the nature of the armor would defeat it. That's why Assassins dress the way they do! Fast and light! You cannot hit what you cannot see!

Also, on a more utilitarian level, powered armor is overkill in most exploration scenarios. It takes specialised equipment and or servitors to put it on or take it off. Further, it requires a power source to recharge it on a regular basis so if you plan on staying in the field for any length of time, powered armor will be more a hindrance than help!