Well, how would you construct a Ratling? Those are the two major types of abhumans.

Says who? My impression is that there could be hundreds or even thousands of abhuman breeds in the Imperium.

As for ratlings, I think they (and squats and beastmen) are being swept under the carpet by Games Workshop. I doubt if there will be anything offcial on them. They're not mentioned anywhere in Dark Heresy or Rogue Trader. A player who wanted to play one would have to work something out with the GM. (+10 Agility and Scrawny size would be a reasonable mutation IMO.)

To specify - Ratlings and Ogryn are the two that are mentoned in a codex. Which makes them more 'GW' official then any others, as they (usualy) place the codeces above all others.

@Iku Rex

Says who? My impression is that there could be hundreds or even thousands of abhuman breeds in the Imperium.

Could be? Sure. But the two iconic ones are ratlings and ogryns and when people ask for abhumans in the forums, I don't think they're asking for some kind of never-seen-before non-canon slap-a-mutation-together creature, but for exactly these two (and maybe squats, but only if they think they can beat the GW-black-ops teams sent to their houses).

As for ratlings, I think they (and squats and beastmen) are being swept under the carpet by Games Workshop. I doubt if there will be anything offcial on them. They're not mentioned anywhere in Dark Heresy or Rogue Trader.

While squats and beastmen are being subtly swept under the rug, ratlings are still existent - I don't know about the current codex, but the previous one had them as snipers and the Uplifitng Primer also mentions them.

A player who wanted to play one would have to work something out with the GM. (+10 Agility and Scrawny size would be a reasonable mutation IMO.)

So there is no support in the current rules for them.

Cifer said:

Cifer said:

There's no source, and I'm not sure what it's based on, but if that's the official line I wouldn't be expecting a lot of material on ratlings in the future.

I'd have to check my materials, but I wouldn't be supprised if someone editing the wiki confused ratlings for squats. Ratlings are found in the new codex, and indeed, are a useful unit now.

That not withstanding, there is a defined difference between a mutant and an Abhuman. Abhumans are stable, inharitied and sanctionsed variations on the normal human form. If two ratlings have kids, they will have another ratling, who will not have any more chance of random mutation then a 'normal' human in the same situation. So playing someone with the 'mutant' trait is not playing an abhuman, it's playing a mutant.

(a note on the wiki - it's still fairly early-stage-development and still has a fair amount of gaps and fannon, a fact not helped by the self-contradictory nature of GW's fluff. Things can change greatly by which edition of books you hold to be most 'true')

Quicksilver said:

Seems plausible. Good news for the ratlings then.

Quicksilver said:

No. Abhumans are mutants. However, like you said, they "differ from ordinary mutants in that they conform to a recognizable physical standard, breed true, and are no more prone than normal humans to further mutation". (Rogue Trader page 309, my emphasis).

Edit: This is getting off topic though. I think a new thread is in order if, for some reason, anyone wants to continue talking about abhumans in RT.

Oh how I like that kind of book description.... If I would know that there are rules for Eldar in the book I would have already preordered. Now I have to wait until it is finally revealed what exactly is in it.

SWEET! I have been waiting for something like this for awhile....now something to use to expand both DH and RT

Mjoellnir said:

Why would it have to have Eldar rules in it to be worth pre-ordering? From someone who's read it back to front several times already, it really, really is worth getting, Eldar rules or no Eldar rules.

Iku Rex said:

I would not trust that online wiki. Use Lexicanum instead.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Ratlings

Ogryns have Unnatural Strength and Toughness, going by what's in Disciples of the Dark Gods. They're also Hulking and have poor scores in Agility, Intelligence, Perception and Fellowship. Unless you stick some intelligence boosting stuff in their head the only thing they can do is fight (clumsily at that). Even the average ork is smarted and quicker than them. A Rogue Trader PC ogryn would naturally be an exceptional one but those Unnatural Attributes are fairly powerful. The penalties would also be pretty severe as well.

MILLANDSON said:

So what you are really saying is that there are no Eldar in it

UncleArkie said:

Erm.. no. Read again.

I was just curious why whether the Eldar are in the book or not would be a dealbreaker for him.

Hmmm, so is it too much to speculate that the two Xeno careers are mercenary warriors and... something else? Perhaps rogues/thieves of some kind? I'd vote alien scholars but that's more of a personal wish then any reasonable guess.

Personally, I'm waiting for it to arrive and THEN make flambe out of it.

@Snidesworth

Unless you stick some intelligence boosting stuff in their head the only thing they can do is fight (clumsily at that).

Not quite - there are whole planets of ogryns out there, so while they are rather slow, they're not too stupid to create and run a low-level civilization. Just don't expect the planetary pastime to be math quizzes.

Moving back to discussing the other options, I must admit I'm curious to see what the alternate career paths are. The example Sensechal alt. intrigues my more business-oriented characters...