Since my players are always trying to push the rather backward limits of who can learn what and when for the classes...ive decided to open it all out basically with the following rules attached to streamline character creation and progression>

1) As long as you have whatever the potential prerequisites are and sufficient XP accumulated you can aquire a skill / talent ( Exceptions are for any exotic or special / rare skill / talent you HAVE to invest play time using it ( at appropriate penalties ) in order to learn how to use it correctly ( AKA the PC will use the weapon etc for one full level before being allowed to take the appropriate talent to weild it without penalties..and No it doesnt mean they have to use it everytime...just a good bit of the time and spend spare time ( down time ) training with it ( GMs discretion )

2) If a talent has a class prerequisite it CANNOT be taken by another class ( you have to currently BE the required class in order to take the talent( Example is the tech-priest skills such as luminen shock, charge, etc....

3) MOST IMPORTANT: you HAVE to be able to come up with a good reason ( character backstory perhaps ) as to HOW you aquired a particularly rare/difficult skill..No more random selection based on limited fields..

Remember you are members of the Emperors most important task force...The Imperial Inquisition! We have access to anything given sufficient time and preparation to learn and use...SO lets do it and do it with creative flair

As always i welcome helpful insight and or general/specific questions since they always help us all grow and expand on things. I am afterall only one person and cant think of everything so...input etc is most welcome

One of the things i forgot to add to the previous posting as for the rules to sort of balance things out a bit....

1) The associated XP cost of skills and talents outside your PCs usual set are doubled from whatever the normal listed values are. ( the same as in AD&D with cross-class skill cost ) to reflect the difficulty in time and effort to learn vs your normal class skills and talents. This makes it viable for PCs to gain skills outside their usual envelope of ability but doesnt ruin balance by letting them ****** them all up instead of their own skills or talents due to the XP cost prohibitive nature of gaining cross class skills and talents thereby allowing for some serious Player tailoring of their PCs to their liking ( within reason ) compared to the standard rules but at same time keep them from becoming too overly powerful too quickly due to the higher XP cost of their newfound abilities etc...

I handle this sort of thing with two tools that the game has already given me as a GM:

Elite Packages and Elite Advances.

I will custom-build an elite package based on some characters' background if there are some rather substantial holes in their career. This is so if someone wants to play a Valhallan Guardsman instead of some more generic cookie-cutter trooper they have access to a nice little package of skills and talents that people from their origin are very likely to have: Resistance(Cold), Hatred(Orks), Survival skill, etc.... All the player has to do is spend some XP and add them to their character sheet. There are also a few of these packages that Black Industries and FFG have published in various DH books that can be gained later on in game play but have some sort of "entry requirement"... Having the Adeptus Mechanicus do the Darth Vader thing on your "dead" body or perhaps surviving the Red Cages for example...

Elite advances are for those special moments in your game when events, situations and plot development demand that a character gain some skill or talent that is normally outside their career branch. Player "humbly" requests gaining the skill/talent (or abandons dignity and begs) and explains why it is appropriate and logical for this to happen. If it is not a load of horsecrap then work with them on creating a XP cost and allow them to buy it. Something between 50 and 200 more than what a more typical character would pay for the training is usually about right.

At current i have the DH mainbook , Inquisitors handbook , and Radicals Handbook only....I havent found local stores who carry the others yet ( had to go south to Austin TX to get the ones i do have and that trip isnt a weekly affair anymore ) so these are somthing to "make due" till then. I have read the three i do have and am familiar with the special elite type packages for different classes within the IH and the RH though. A player asked me why not use the basic system for skill and talent gains similar to the AD&D model for things to give it more flexibility in general...till then i hadnt thought about it but once i did it seemed easy enough ( within reason ) similar to the different starting methods ive mentioned in previous post topics. Ive never liked a totally "stock" game system : not a single one ive found could cover anything more than the basics effectively without need for some GM intervention. "Stock" characters are what a player uses to get familiar with a system...the "ins and outs" so to speak...after the basics are figured out and gotten down...then comes the creative flair all players and GMs alike have for whatever system we play / run. Like the old saying..gotta crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run and best be certain you can do all three before you even think about tryin to take flight...lol

As soon as i get things together and get the newer books to use i will then fully half of my houserules will be tossed aside in favor of what the books have.

Also of note however is this....the current campaign is a seriously radical one that will see the tyrant star appear and the mechanicus turned upside down inside out and most likely torn apart as well as a serious upheaval in the Imperium as well ( several radical factions have formed an alliance together and with certain members of xenos species in order to advance tech levels for all and create a alliance that will stand up to the task of solidifying the Imperium as well as the Xenos territories beyond the Imperium by working united to destroy the chaos , tyrannid , and ork threats to everyone ( The enemy of my enemy is my friend line of thought ) Likewise some long forgotten lost secrets from the Emperor walking days WILL be found / crypto-broken and read / carried out as per His wishes whether the Mechanicus or the Imperium likes it or not. Loyalties in all directions will be tested and in some cases random results will be checked just for some "chaotic flavor" thrown into the mix

I've found the ranks to be limiting as well once you take the specialty paths. I've been thinking about overhauling the system to be more like RT, and then have Specialty elite packages for options, like Snipers and Stormtroopers, etc and keep the existing ones in IH. I think this is more versatile but still regulates the power level of the characters.

With a complete open setup you tend to get one trick ponies quickly and balance tends to slip, a problem I've found in games that work that way like WoD.

Ive been doing a lot of work on this issue. Everything from more alternate ranks and background packages to free form character generation to elite packages.

I find, for me, the biggest issue is starting characters being limited to what is currently available. With proper role playing, in story events and common sense most other issues can be solved with Elite Advances and being reasonable (a couple hundred XPs, some thrones, some time and so forth).

Between background packages and letting PCs "buy" extra XP for specific costs (insanity points, corruption points, fate points, reduced stat, reduced wounds and do forth) and thier starting XP I find you can let new PCs create more diverse characters at rank 1.

The way we do it is as follows:

IF its an 'in class skill / talent' ... IE u are you a rank 3 guardsman and want fearless, but you are lower rank then when you would normally get it.

+50 exp for each level above the level you currently are.

+50 if its out of your class path... IE you are a guardsman, path captain, but you want a storm trooper ability.

if it is a 'out of class skill', ie a psyker wanting a heavy weapon plasma ability.

he finds the highest level it is available from another class.

he then pays +250 out of class, +50 per level difference

if you are trying to get heavy plasma as a rank 3 psyker, you would probably go to arbitor 8?

so the cost would be +250 +(50 x 5) = 500

Personally I dont like this method. because some classes have way way more skills than others... But thats the method we use when we play

For instance, a guardsman gets next to nothing, and an arbite gets the mad hook up in terms of skill selection... so the system favors certain classes.