Ogryn as a Space Marine candidate?

By Valtonise, in Deathwatch Rules Questions

Greetings all. My first time posting here.

I have been looking through death watch, and rogue trader, and have not been able to find any rules that are RAW, that prohibit a young male Ogryn from being screened and inducted into the space marine program. The idea came from a player that wants a Ogryn Assault Marine for our Death Watch game. I know Ogryn are used in the Imperial Legion, and as body guards to important people. I can not so far find any reasson not to allow him this type of character. As someone that loves Ogryn and assault style, i was curious. I turn to you all for help finding anything that prohibits this from happening. They are a abhuman yes but still human and human ancestry. I kinda like the idea of a character that with out going through the program is taller and just as strong as a space marine in his power armor. I think the lurring of the two would be OP as hell, yes i do not deny that. But it deffintly pulls at my curiosity. So any help with rules and building such a character. This Death Watch game will end up with them being moved into Rogue Trader.

And who would try that? Except maybe some CSM.

Pure strain human male only by design.

Spess Wolves have geneseed adapted to mildly engineered humans of Fenris, but it's not compatible with anyone else any more. AFAIK.

Yeah, the fluff makes it clear that no 'genetic deviants' are allowed in the hallowed ranks of the Adeptus Astartes.

And, frankly, why would you want to play an abhuman space marine? SMs will certainly have superior abilities and stats, and there is undoubtedly a SM Chapter that already incorporates the flavor/personality traits of any given breed of abhuman.

Thank you both. I was figuring that would be the case. All well. He can play Ogryn arch-millitant if he wants or a space marine.

@Valtonise

This thread should probably be under House Rules forum rather than (Official) Rules forum.

That being said, there ARE official set rules for Ogryns, from the short-lived Only War series.

Adapting the Ogryn player itself is easy enough.

- 1. Only War starting Rank-1 begins at 600 XP, where-as Deathwatch starting Rank-1 begins at 13,000 XP.

- 2. So you simply have to level-up the Ogryn PC to Deathwatch XP levels.

However... RolePlaying-wise, to plausibly incorporate an Ogryn into a Deathwatch Kill Team will also require sacrifice on the Players' part.

There is NO viable individual reason (note italics & highlight ) for a Kill Team to accept a lone Ogryn onto a Kill Team; especially if one of the Astartes members are playing from a Chapter that actively disdains Abhumans, such as the Dark Angels, the Black Templars, or the Red Scorpions (or many others).

There is, however, viable group reason to have an Ogyrn as part of a Kill Team: an Inquisitor . As many examples in WH40K are the case, exceptionally bright/skilled Ogryns (such as Player Ogryns) are recruited/assigned as heavy duty bodyguards to important personages, often to Commissars and Generals, but to Inquisitors is not uncommon either.

So an Inquisitor that brings along an Ogryn bodyguard among a Kill Team is solidly plausible, because while Deathwatch Space Marines are loyal to the Imperium and the mandate of the <Ordo Xenos>, they are not beholden to individual Inquisitors. So an Inquisitor can have an Ogryn bodyguard, since they are capable protectors and personally loyal to their charges.

So that is the Players' sacrifice... Your Ogryn-desiring Player may play an Ogryn, but another Player must then play an <Ordo Xenos> Inquisitor to balance out the "why" of having an Ogryn on the Kill Team, for only the presence of an Inquisitor can (plausibly) override such a disrupting (Ogryn) presence on the Kill Team.

You can NOT have an NPC Inquisitor, either. A NPC Inquisitor is a very bad route to go, because the Inquisitor is in-charge of the Ogryn (player) as much as the Ogryn is there to protect the Inquisitor. A NPC Inquisitor would burden you (the GM) with having to direct the NPC Inquisitor, and the Ogryn Player would very likely not enjoy having to take orders from an NPC (which destroys Player investment in the game).

So there is... Any less of (players') sacrifice, and you may as well try making and explaining a Tau Water Caste Space Marine. <_<

Edited by pendrake71