ConstantineRoth said:

No problem. :-)

Anyway, it looks as if the First Founding chapters might be in Rites of Battle, including rules for creating custom chapters. It'll be interesting to see which interpretation FFG is going to pick, though quite honestly, I don't expect it to deviate much from your chapter rules here. More tactics or no, sword fighting boosted through the solo mode ability or a new talent, some slight differences in the advance scheme, some IF specific psy powers perhaps. But I'd be surprised if their rules were not more or less the same as yours. A good job done overall.

Alex

Bump for comparison. Anyone with RoB inclined to do that? It's the first time we can compare a previously homebrewn chapter with a later official one after all.

Alex

This version is mechanically far better than the published one. The similarity is Attack Pattern is striking, although once again the fan-generated version is better in that it stacks with bolter drill and is sustained.

IFs get a much shorter skill/talent list, and though it does include Tactics(any), there isn't very much there.

I was about to post my own version of the Chapter. However; I've hit a problem. Is it not possible to simply import/paste content into forum posts (utilising Chrome)?

Psyx said:

Make sure your pop-up blocker is set to allow pop-ups from this site. To paste, these forums pop-up a box that you paste into.

Thanks for the positive comments on these rules guys, I'd like to hear what everyone thinks in comparison to the canon/published rules as it'll only make me better at any future fan made Chapter rules I do

Here we go. I'll skip the fluff, as you all know the score there:

Statistics
Imperial Fists are famed for their steadfast nature. They embrace pain and seek to conquer it and are strict disciplinarians. Members of the Chapter gain +5 Willpower and +5 Toughness. Imperial Fists lack the Bletcher’s Gland and Sus-an Membrane, so can neither spit acid nor enter suspended animation.

Chapter demeanour - Disciplined
The Imperial Fists concern themselves with perfection and attending to detail. They are harsh disciplinarians who seek to eliminate their flaws. Failures are punished severely and Marines are often subjected to the ‘pain glove’ to atone for their sins. Above all else the Fists are taciturn and highly disciplined warriors, who call upon their training and iron will to pull them through difficulties. They may trigger their demeanour whenever their stern disciplinarian attitude and attention to the minutiae would be beneficial.

Chapter advances
Command 500
Command +10 500
Command +20 500
Tactics (assault) 400
Tactics (assault) +10 400
Tactics (assault) +20 400
Tactics (defence) 400
Tactics (defence) +10 400
Tactics (defence) +20 400
Trade (Bone carving) 200
Trade (Bone carving) +10 200
Trade (Bone carving) +20 200
Duellist 500 [WS 45]
Duty unto death 800 [WP 45]
Fearless 800
Peer 600 [Fel 30]
Resistance (any) 200
Sound constitution 400
Sound constitution 400

Peer
To reflect the reputation that Imperial Fists possess the Marine may purchase this advance for any of the following categories: Astartes, PDF or Imperial Guard.

Duellist
The Imperial Fists duel with elegant tungsten epees and bear the scars from such encounters with pride and a great sense of honour. They believe that such a tradition is character-building, and they have a point: A character possessing this talent gains a +5 bonus to Willpower tests in all circumstances, save those related to using psi powers.

Chapter trappings

Hand of the fallen
These engraved skeletal hands are a sign of honour. The player may one attribute to represent the hand’s blessings:

Hand of honour: Grants a +3 WS bonus when parrying.
Hand of greatness: +3 on all tests against cohesion loss.
Hand of destiny: +1 to kill-team cohesion
Hand of courage: Grants a +3 bonus on WP checks
Hand of glory: The marine and his kill-team gain an additional point of renown each mission.

Chapter relic – Hero’s hand
The skeletal hands of the Chapter’s heroes are presented to especially honoured marines. Each has been carved with declarations of devotion, prayers and chapter maxims. A Marine carrying such a relic gains a +10 bonus to their Toughness and Willpower, and +1 Cohesion, due to the extra determination they can muster. This relic costs 60 points to requisition.

Chapter abilities

Chapter solo mode ability – Perfect discipline [active]
This ability may be triggered once per combat, for a number of rounds equal to the character’s rank, divided by two (round up). During this time the Marine may make one re-roll per turn or modify an existing die roll, as though they had spent a fate point. From Rank 4 the character also gains an additional level of success on every skill test successfully performed in solo mode – whether in combat our outside it. At Rank 7 the character’s discipline is such that the kill-team gains 2 points of Cohesion.

Chapter attack pattern – Fortitude of Dorn
Action: Free
Cost: 3
Sustained: No
Except for being an attack pattern, this ability is initially identical to the Blood Angels defensive stance, as detailed on page 224. Until the start of his next turn, the battle brother and those within support range halve any damage taken after Toughness and Armour have been accounted for. However; they may not use their reactions to dodge or parry and must make an attack action of some kind each turn in order to maintain the benefits. At forth rank and above this ability differs from the Blood Angel’s pattern in that the character may still not parry or dodge with their reaction(s), but may instead use each available reaction to make an additional standard attack (either ranged or melee) or throw a grenade.

Chapter defensive stance – Rally
This is functionally identical to the Ultramarine defensive stance on p225. The Marine’s rally call reinstates Cohesion points equal to their Fellowship modifier.

Primarch’s Curse

Level 1 – Burden of Honour
The marine is bound to a tradition of honour. The Chapter often uses honour duels to settle matters of dispute, and the marine will often turn to this in times of conflict. If the character has a dispute with another kill-team member or feels their honour is insulted, they will wish to settle it via an honour duel. Although they are professional enough as to not demand satisfaction mid-mission, cohesion is reduced by a point until the matter is resolved or until the mission ends and it can be resolved in downtime. Successive ‘issues’ cannot cohesion lower. Such honour duels are non-fatal, and closely resemble German Academic Fencing bouts.

Level 2 – Solace in pain
The Imperial Fists castigate themselves regularly and regularly train and practice to the limits of physical and mental endurance, as well as using pain itself as a training instrument. This can lead to Marines pushing themselves too far, to the detriment of their active duties. The character must make a Willpower Test prior to each mission. Failure results in the character starting the mission with a level of critical damage, which may not be healed for the mission’s duration. This does not affect the character’s wounds, which start at their full allotment. This level of damage is ignored for the purposes of healing, and the Marine may be treated as lightly wounded still, despite it. It merely represent the damage that the marine has done to himself via over-excursion.

Level 3 – Never fail!
The Fists tolerate no failure – either in themselves or others. If they witness any member of the Kill-team fail in performing a Challenging (+0) or easier skill check outside of combat, he will no longer accept that characters leadership, will not benefit from squad mode actions triggered by that character, and if the Imperial Fist himself was the leader then the Squad loses 2 coherency. This lasts until the end of the current mission, or perhaps earlier at the GM’s discretion.

Some general comments and notes to accompany the crunch:

The Chapter was designed to be physically and mentally tough, capable of firmly holding ground, but also capable of offensive action. The stats and skills were chosen with those facets in mind.

Given RoB, I would also add the Siegmaster talent to the list.

Trade (bone carving) seems to have been over-ridden by trade (Rememberancer) in RoB. Feel free to use whichever is preferred.

I find the Patterns given for the Chapter in RoB to be singularly uninspiring. Although I like the RoB solo mode ability, I still rather like the one I created (I've made it 'active' in RoB terms). In the light of RoB, I'd be tempted to keep my own Solo Mode ability and Attack Pattern. However, I'd probably replace my rather lack-lustre Defensive Pattern with a modified version of the Solo ability from RoB:

Dorn's Strategem - Chapter Defensive Pattern

Action: Full

Sustained: No

Cost: 2

For the remainder of the combat all kill-team members in support range increase the AV of any cover they are in by 50% and half the AV of any cover that their foes are in.

All comments are welcome.