One of my players was browsing the Navigator Mutations table (7-1, pg. 182) and fell in love with the idea of a pampered navigator with the 'Bloated Form' mutation. He even picked out a picture from my Disciples of the Dark Gods book (Coriolanus Vestra, pg 194) and showed it to the group to the guffaws of all. I'm game for some comic releif, so I'm willing to allow it.

The mutation gives bonus wounds and 'Steady', but forbids running (a net positive trait). It has only a 5% chance of being rolled, and a 20% chance of being taken off the table entirely at the start of the game (15% Enlongated Form, 5% Withered Form, both bad effects).

Nomadic, Shrouded and Renegade Houses require a random rolls (95% or worse chance of getting desired trait). Magistarial Houses allows choice, but the list contains only (mechanicly) neutral or negative traits.

Such a beneficial and unlikely mutaion should have some cost involved. Should we:

Make a tweaked noblite house that allows Bloated Form as a choice rather than a random roll (nerfing some other trait to balance)?

or

Imitate the rules on page 26 for the Tainted: Mutant backround and charge him 200 xp or more?

or

Something else entirely (you clever devil, you).

P.S. I fully intend to make the prohibition on running occationaly as a foil.

It's not that "great" of a mutation. Let him have it. Not being able to run seems punishment enough. (if you want you could throw in a -5 Ag for good measure)

It seems to me to be something I'd just give the player for free.

1)It encourages him in developing a character background.

2)The downsides vs the upsides aren't major.

3)He gives up a chance of a better mutation.

Personally I allowed our Navigator to choose a mutation for 200 XP.

I make my players level their characters at the end of each game. So for tests like that I'd allow my player to use a fortune point to reroll his mutation. Now if they don't like it then. I'm a push over GM at times so I'll let my player "burn" a fate to reroll. You'd be amazed at how many characters rolling on the mutation, psychic phenominan, or perals of the warp tables will burn fate to reroll.

I must note that in my game I took fate out all together. I thought it made PC too overpowered and death was not as feared as I think it should be in 40k. Instead I told my players to take their fate points half the number rounding up and add it to their old number. This being the number of fortune points they have. The fortune points work just like normal fortune instead you can burn them to reuse ones already used that game. Ex: A player has 4 fortune points but used all 4 in the last few hours of game play. As the game is the players are fly a gauntlet of autocannon fire in their guncutter. The pilot PC must make a Pilot test to try to dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge (yes the 5 d's of dodge ball) through the blanked of frak to make it out of the atmosphere. The PC rolls a 100. The test fails by a few degrees actually making it easier for the turrets to shoot the shuttle. Fearing death the PC burns a fortune to reroll. Dropping his number of fortune points to 3. He rerolls a 36 and skillfully sends the shuttle into the void.

Note: So in my first statement the player would have burned a "fortune point" not a "fate point" in my game.