Adepta Sororitas Power Armour and Charge

By RMcD, in Dark Heresy Rules Questions

In Dark Heresy 1E Adepta Sororitas has this description:

http://i.imgur.com/GnKD61W.png

In Dark Heresy 2E it says this:

http://i.imgur.com/JEdlRPz.png

The rules for Power Armour state this:

http://i.imgur.com/OsK4dMG.png

Am I right in understanding that between editions all Sister of Battle Power Armour suddenly started running out of charge in 1d5 hours? Does that not seem completely antithetical to how they are portrayed? What do they do with their power armour if they aren't wearing it? What happens if it runs out of charge while they are in heretical places, most Sisters of Battles wouldn't be able to carry it no matter how heavy it is, but it's not just a normal set of power armour which as important as they are aren't portrayed as relics themselves.

Is there any way to increase the length of power armour so that a Sister of Battle would be able to at least spend a day in power armour? Even just travelling from one point to another in a hive city for example could take hours and you're really limited by 1d5/2 if you want to return it.

Edited by RMcD

Adepta Sororitas Power Armour does not require charge. I fear you have misread.

The third image you have included is the rules for the Light Power Armour , not all Power Armour. Heavy Power Armour specifies everything to do with itself, as does Light, and I would treat Adepta Sororitas no differently.

It does not require charge. It does not, however, act as a void-suit and protect you from a vacuum for example. Nor does it increase your Size trait.

You see what I'm sayin'? :)

Edited by TheWorldSmith

http://i.imgur.com/dhqLRzN.png

This is the rules for Heavy power Armour as in Enemies Beyond pg46, which still has a very limited charge.

Can I ask where you're getting those rules for not functioning as a void suit and the such? Don't Space Marines fight in the void inside power armour?

http://i.imgur.com/dhqLRzN.png

This is the rules for Heavy power Armour as in Enemies Beyond pg46, which still has a very limited charge.

Can I ask where you're getting those rules for not functioning as a void suit and the such? Don't Space Marines fight in the void inside power armour?

The Adepta Sororitas Power Armour description.

As you can see by my image my rulebook doesn't have any of that information under the description.

What page are you referring to? Could you take a photo of where it says it has unlimited charge and isn't a voidsuit?

My GM at the moment did not say it had unlimited charge and I would love if it was the case.

As you can see by my image my rulebook doesn't have any of that information under the description.

What page are you referring to? Could you take a photo of where it says it has unlimited charge and isn't a voidsuit?

My GM at the moment did not say it had unlimited charge and I would love if it was the case.

Adepta Sororitas Power Armour does not require charge. I fear you have misread.

The third image you have included is the rules for the Light Power Armour , not all Power Armour. Heavy Power Armour specifies everything to do with itself, as does Light, and I would treat Adepta Sororitas no differently.

It does not require charge. It does not, however, act as a void-suit and protect you from a vacuum for example. Nor does it increase your Size trait.

You see what I'm sayin'? :)

@RMcD I think what TheWorldSmith is saying is that, because it is NOT stated within the description of the Sororitas Power Armour that it requires charging, just as it does NOT mention any capabilities of acting as a voidsuit, therefore the item does not have these properties.

Just because "normal" Power Armour does, does not automatically mean the Sororitas version also has these properties.

If you reread the description; "[sororitas Power Armour] still retains many technological enhancements that give its wearer and edge in battle." The keyword here is MANY, and not ALL. The description then goes on to list the features that it does retain compared to the normal version, Unnatural Strength (1), and always counting as braced. Yes the word 'many' doesn't really fit when talking about 2 things, but I assume fluff wise it will retain many other properties not worth listing and this is stating the only mechanical benefits/constraints retained are those listed.

So, no it doesn't suddenly require a charge every 1d5 hours, unlike the DH1E version, however it does no longer retain the +5 BS or rebreather and comm-link built in.

Please do feel free to correct me if this is not what you were meaning WorldSmith, however even if it's not, this is how I read and interpreted the description of this item.

So if I understand right you're saying the only rules that apply to the power armour is that it gives you unnatural strength (I) and always counts as braced. That is Sister of Battle armour is neither light nor heavy power armour and doesn't follow those rules, since it is its own armour. Does this mean it also does not carry its weight?

If your reading of the rules is that narrow, then sure go ahead and see it that way. That will really get you far with the players at your table...

Sororitas armor is Power Armor as its designation clearly states... in the f*cking name. If you want to have your players lug the suit around even though its described as having the same electro-fibre bundles as every other type of Power Armor and you want to rule that it runs out of juice after 1d5 hours of use even though every iteration of the lore tells you that it wouldn't... then sure, run it that way.

As per the RAW rules the armor only provides what's on the tin, that's Unnat Strength and braced. That's it, no power requirement, no photo-lenses, no mag-boots, nothing. How it provides the Unnat Strength is left to the imagination and why it has a throbbing big backpack is also a complete mystery.

Power Armour, the classification, gives no rules.

Light Power Armour speaks for itself.

Heavy Power Armour speaks for itself.

Adepta Sororitas says what it has for itself, exactly, and only what is in it's own description.

If the item doesn't say that it has something, then it doesn't. It's not a case of "but it doesn't say that it doesn't have something..." because you literally can't refute that.

If your reading of the rules is that narrow, then sure go ahead and see it that way. That will really get you far with the players at your table...

Sororitas armor is Power Armor as its designation clearly states... in the f*cking name. If you want to have your players lug the suit around even though its described as having the same electro-fibre bundles as every other type of Power Armor and you want to rule that it runs out of juice after 1d5 hours of use even though every iteration of the lore tells you that it wouldn't... then sure, run it that way.

As per the RAW rules the armor only provides what's on the tin, that's Unnat Strength and braced. That's it, no power requirement, no photo-lenses, no mag-boots, nothing. How it provides the Unnat Strength is left to the imagination and why it has a throbbing big backpack is also a complete mystery.

For a start as I've made clear it's not my ruling.

Secondly obviously either the Sister of Battle armour is Light Power Armour, Heavy Power Armour or neither of those. I have never made the case that it would have half of the each set of rules. I merely misunderstood what TheWorldSmith was saying though luckily PJP was there to help out that misunderstanding, and TheWorldSmith themself has clarified too.

It seems to me that you are correct on RAW. Not sure what you mean by backpack since it doesn't make a mention of that in the description of either RPG.

It seems to me that the Dark Heresy 2E rules have simply nerfed the ability of SoB to fight in void combat without wearing a voidsuit underneath or over their power armour as well as all the other losses. A bit strange of them to do so, I never played DH1 were SoB really unbalanced that they felt they had to nerf them?

It seems to me that the Dark Heresy 2E rules have simply nerfed the ability of SoB to fight in void combat without wearing a voidsuit underneath or over their power armour as well as all the other losses. A bit strange of them to do so, I never played DH1 were SoB really unbalanced that they felt they had to nerf them?

To be fair, the DH1 Sororitas power armour doesn't say that it allows for fighting in the void without penalty as a rebreather is different from the internal oxygen supply granted in DH2 light and heavy power armour. In addition, only the heavy power armour states that it is environmentally sealed. While the light power armour implies such a function, it doesn't state it so I would not grant such a function. I don't have the books on me but I'm curious to read what the void suit does specifically and whether environmentally sealed suits are useful in a vacuum. I would assume that "environmentally sealed" indicates they can be used in a vacuum but depending on how things are worded that might not be the case.

In any case, I would not consider that SoB having to get out of their power armour to fight in space to be a nerf. Heck, it gives me a good excuse to get them out of their tin cans because otherwise they'll stomp around all over the place, subtlety be damned.

387f2d282c.png

Cheers PJP. I'm now fairly comfortable with heavy power armour being completely fine for use in a vacuum due to being environmentally sealed. I'm still not sure about light power armour as the description doesn't directly state any form of seal even though it is implied with the built-in oxygen supply. You could argue it either way for light power armour but I'd be inclined to say it's not environmentally sealed and it's not suitable for void use. Sororitas power armour is still right out though.

Cheers PJP. I'm now fairly comfortable with heavy power armour being completely fine for use in a vacuum due to being environmentally sealed. I'm still not sure about light power armour as the description doesn't directly state any form of seal even though it is implied with the built-in oxygen supply. You could argue it either way for light power armour but I'd be inclined to say it's not environmentally sealed and it's not suitable for void use. Sororitas power armour is still right out though.

In what situation would an internal oxygen supply, without the suit being void-sealed, ever be useful or able to be used properly? If it isn't sealed, the oxygen will just leak into space, underwater, the atmosphere, or wherever you are.

Light power armour and heavy power armour are vac-sealed and have internal oxygen supplies. Absolutely!

Maybe the helmet itself is sealed but the rest of the suit isn't? It could be that a power armour helmet features the equivalent functionality of a rebreather with the internal oxygen supply but it's only the heavy suits that are fully sealed to protect against the environment. This could mean that light power armour would still be useful while swimming or in locations with poor air quality but it wouldn't provide you protection against radiation or extreme heat or stuff like that. That would be my interpretation of it.

Maybe the helmet itself is sealed but the rest of the suit isn't? It could be that a power armour helmet features the equivalent functionality of a rebreather with the internal oxygen supply but it's only the heavy suits that are fully sealed to protect against the environment. This could mean that light power armour would still be useful while swimming or in locations with poor air quality but it wouldn't provide you protection against radiation or extreme heat or stuff like that. That would be my interpretation of it.

Whelp, power to you. :P I would imagine that the rest of us interpret it as working in the void, however.

Edited by TheWorldSmith

Only a suggestion...

This is what I do with ARMORs - and how I make each a unique suit...

I had a player who got Tempestus Carapace (I "think" the best non-powered armor in the Core Book)

So I gave him its stats and whatnot - then thought to myself - hey wait - isn't this armor really advance - let me go look up ALL THE LORE on Storm Troops and their gear from Codexs to Wiki entries...

After finding out the armor can potentially "feed" them > had built in encrypted microbead > and other junk - I had to scratch my head...

So after all that research I told myself > Best Quality has all the features > while a Good quality suit possesses most > common possesses fewer perks still and finally poor > is what the FFG people authored in the book...

Apply that strategy to your Power Armor > no matter the type and you may end up with a flexible way to handle "canon" vs RPG play

On a side note > I don't recall Astartes nor Sister's Power Armor having a Potentia Coil like the Admech do...

So my point - even though it "nerfs" the players or whatever (I really hate player power bias ALOT) > I would "think" all armor that has electricity running it requires a recharge whether that be 1D5 Hours / Days or Weeks?

Other than pitting players against foes > there is "side stuff" to do in the game > that can create new adventures thru adversity such as "fueling" armor

Then again who's to say once Players get back to base, voidship, or whatever > they always recharge armor and its just automatically a given (I could conceivably respect that)

Just Sayin

Stay GAMING

Morbid

On a side note > I don't recall Astartes nor Sister's Power Armor having a Potentia Coil like the Admech do...

So my point - even though it "nerfs" the players or whatever (I really hate player power bias ALOT) > I would "think" all armor that has electricity running it requires a recharge whether that be 1D5 Hours / Days or Weeks?

That's because they don't need a Potentia Coil. Both designs can run for years at a time , and if you want to run it differently then tell your players that beforehand.

c7bbdcd177624c70b42ef2577adf114a.jpg

3e684ec098b448dbb6836e0654db8ca0.jpg

As for the question if they can operate in vacuum.

174421627a264e7b8b73a32975538eeb.jpg

SCKoNi = applause...

That's how you do it gents > heard research will give you the definitive answers since to lore is soo deep!

Now "even" I know - thanks SCK!

aka "I'm with it"

Stay GAMING

Morbid

My apologies to TheWorldSmith and thanks to SCKoNi for clearing that up. Serves me right for being too beholden to RAW when it comes to a ruleset and setting like 40K.

Edited by Popdart

Sometimes with items like Sororitas Power Armor and generally other rare parts of the universe, it serves better to just bypass some of the rules for a better, more immersive experience. While it may be more "gamey" to have it be tiered, when a player actually purchases an item of that calibre with such a deep place within the lore it doesn't feel right to gyp them that way.

Furthermore, that opens up possibilities for story-telling when such an item is found in higher quality. A BQ suit of Sororitas Armor would have storied history, perhaps even unique abilities to reflect such a relic of the Imperium. Simply limiting access to functions that are supposed to be found en masse, such as the life-support or advanced on-board cogitators in Militarum Tempestus armor is... kinda weak from a GMing standpoint. Looking at you Morbid ;)

Edited by SCKoNi

SCKoNi > LOL