I would like to hear from other GM's as to how they handle advancing player character gear.

Generally speaking I run it as your inquisitor/interrogator will give you your starting gear and refill your ammo between missions if possible and 'reward' good acolytes with better equipment. Which to me makes sense from a lore perspective. Generally speaking if the inquisition is sending out the player party as more of 'warband' then a investigation group then yeah they might just give the psyker a flak jacket for the purpose of that raid without him having to 'buy it'. Sometimes the character keeps it sometimes it is returned depending on in game situations.

I personally view the starting money as their own and let them spend it as they see fit. The additional pay is just that more money for them, after all no one really works for free.

I also find that letting the players negotiate getting more money *BEFORE* they deploy to cover forseen expenses to also be reasonable and generally leads to good roleplaying in character. Hotels and apartments do cost money.

This is what i do and it is more of a pendulum depending on the assignment they players are going on but it does raise the 'issue' of balance, what gear might be appropriate for a rank 1 as opposed to rank 4 party?

Do you ever 'restrict' gear? If the cell is supposed to blend in telling the guardsmen he can keep his flak armor but it should be in a duffel bag and not worn around on the streets seems reasonable to me and my players are usually okay with it. Granted no one will tell him not to put it on if they are actually planning a raid on a cultist hide out or whatever it is entirely situational and discretionary.

But more heads are better then one. Thoughts?

While there is no hard and fast rule about what to give out when, I can at least say a few additional things on the matter:

1. Exotic ammunition (manstopper rounds, dumdum bullets, etc.) should generally be restricted in some way. For example, manstopper rounds should generally not be readily available as it invalidates other weapon choices (typically lasguns). In my group, we had to acquire such rounds with our own funds, which meant that filling up that autopistol or autorifle with manstopper rounds was typically not an option; usually, only hunting rifles and handcannons were loaded with them.

2. Some extra leeway should be given to guardsman characters as their base income is generally pretty low. If need be, the guardsman should justify to their inquisitor exactly why they need certain pieces of equipment. For example, my guardsman character, a combat engineer, initially asked for and was granted a melta cutter for cutting through doors and other obstacles. As the threats facing the party increased, the melta cutter was traded in for a thermal lance.

3. The sort of threats that you send against the party will determine to some degree what equipment the group acquires. If the group is always facing massed gangs of unarmored cultists, for example, it makes little sense to waste valuable and expensive boltgun rounds on them when a lasgun or autogun will suffice.

While there is no hard and fast rule about what to give out when, I can at least say a few additional things on the matter:

1. Exotic ammunition (manstopper rounds, dumdum bullets, etc.) should generally be restricted in some way. For example, manstopper rounds should generally not be readily available as it invalidates other weapon choices (typically lasguns). In my group, we had to acquire such rounds with our own funds, which meant that filling up that autopistol or autorifle with manstopper rounds was typically not an option; usually, only hunting rifles and handcannons were loaded with them.

2. Some extra leeway should be given to guardsman characters as their base income is generally pretty low. If need be, the guardsman should justify to their inquisitor exactly why they need certain pieces of equipment. For example, my guardsman character, a combat engineer, initially asked for and was granted a melta cutter for cutting through doors and other obstacles. As the threats facing the party increased, the melta cutter was traded in for a thermal lance.

3. The sort of threats that you send against the party will determine to some degree what equipment the group acquires. If the group is always facing massed gangs of unarmored cultists, for example, it makes little sense to waste valuable and expensive boltgun rounds on them when a lasgun or autogun will suffice.

My thoughts exactly, I tend to run the inquisition as being extremely well connected but attempting to be discreet *most* of the time. Lore wise for guardsmen the Inquisitor has Naval Security and smaller infantry regiment aboard his own ship so simply saying that a guardsmen character was added to the group for the purpose of protecting say an Adept or keeping an eye on the Psyker makes it fairly easy to explain replacements mid campaign if needed. Generally speaking i tend to bump new additions/replacements down to Rank 1 in their chosen career and bump up that players exp gain for each session. After all a Rookie will 'learn' more on a mission then an experienced acolyte so they will catch up over a few sessions.

I also allow players to create their own 'stable' of characters to rotate in and out between missions [sometimes even mid mission!] if they can make it work in game. Everyone 'lives' on the ship and the in game sessions are treated as 'away missions' its just how this inquisitor runs his cadre. Non acolyte contacts are still scattered but he likes to keep a close eye on things.

Normally the justification for taking a thing is the character [not just the player the character] having been trained in it and the mission calling for it. Bolt guns *ARE* a status symbol if visible [and are hard to conceal].

If they want 'custom' weapons they can pay for a good or best quality one out of pocket otherwise they are going to be 'armory standard'.

The inquisitor has a few custom weapons that only his tech priests really produce on board for example a double barreled shotgun where the bottom barrel can be loaded with special 'grenade' like rounds and be used as an under barrel grenade launcher. He has a small stockpile on board but for the most part they are made to order. He has developed a number of fire themed rounds for them to fit his 'pray kill burn' mentality once heresy is certain and uncovered. Naturally it has a double trigger configuration and cannot be bought on the market, it is reward only. Along with the special ammo for it.

Not a GM, but my last DH1 group did something similar to cut down on the D&D'ish looting aspect incentivised by the RAW, and to better portray the Inquisition's role in the setting.

Before deployment, player characters would have a chance at visiting the armoury at the Inquisitor's base, and request items or ammunition they'd believe to be important for the mission at hand. I think we even had a custom Contact Talent representing a character building a relationship with the quartermaster so they'd be somewhat more likely to say yes when asked for something.

Any weapons, armour and tools handed out by the armoury would then be expected to be returned, undamaged and unmodified. Meanwhile, the players could save up their own stipends to at some point buy their own gear which they were then allowed to modify to their hearts' content.

Basically that but sometimes the armory will *GIVE* as opposed to loan when the inquisitor/interrogator feels they have earned it. Story is often more important then 'balance' particularly in role play focused campaigns. Not that there is anything wrong with pray kill burn or only war style dark heresy campaigns