I just got my copy of Ascension in the mail, and I do like it, but something doesn't quite make sense to me. I'm talking about using Influence to get somewhat mundane items.

Let's say I'm playing a new Inquisitor and I want a Sacristan Bolter, a powerful bolt pistol made for the Inquisition.

It seems the standard roll to get one forever would be against 40 -10 (rare) -20 (Permanent requisition) =10. Just getting one bolt pistol, a type produced for the Inquisition, is so hard that there's more than a 1 in 2 chance to lose Influence for just trying to get something to fill your holster. And that's just for one .

Now, let's say I just want to buy one with the rules for Ascended income. Although I would have to find a buyer, once I did I could buy a whole crate of them with a month's income! With no Influence loss risk.

And if I want to commission a Best quality Sacristan Bolter to be made for my personal use, the test seems to be considerably easier than to get a standard one. Rolling against 40 -10 (rare) instead of against 10. The only downside is I have to wait a while for it to be made.

And how do the requisition rules work for ammunition, which can't exactly be requisitioned for a set amount of time and given back?

I admit, I don't have the Rogue Trader rulebook to see if this is somewhat explained by the Profit rules, but it seems to me that there is almost no reason to try and get items you can buy through Influence, ever, except in extraordinary circumstances. I hope I'm reading this wrong.

The Duration modifier does not always apply to a requisitioning roll; except in the case requisitioning services, such as a naval vessel or squads of storm troopers, or maybe an Aquila Lander. In the case of something like the acquiring 1 Sacristan Bolt Pistol, I wouldn't use the duration modifier. Otherwise using influence to requisition ammo for a loaner weapon; like say psycannon rounds for the Malleus PsyCannon, would be entirely impossible at lower levels of influence, and not just nigh impossible like the cannon itself.

Also remember that the proper Peer talent can add to your influence score when going through those channels... And I don't know about you, but my little Adept has three Peer talents currently, and I plan on having more before I hit Sage.

Honestly, while the base system s fairly sound, I think I might implement some options for additional modifiers. Or I may go back over the rules for Profit in RT and see what I might pull from there; after all, they are described as being parallel systems.

-=Brother Praetus=-

I think the concept of duration for ammo works if you consider it to be the ammount of ammo you have access to. A single mission might represent 2-3 clips while permanently essentially means as much ammo as you want.

Granted even while I say this I recognize that this makes it very difficult for a Vindicare assassin to maintain a constant supply of ammo.

"Sorry brother Nihilus, your last check bounced so you must suffice with a las pistol for your next mission. The Emperor protects."

That seems to be a rather elegant way of using the duration rules for consumables. I'll be using them in the future.