One of our players (relatively new to 40K) is interested in the Salamanders Chapter for his Astartes. I took the liberty of working up some basic info based on existing lore and fluff. I suspect the Salamanders will be detailed in a future supplement, so I didn't break my back trying to come up with new Chapter Squad Mode stuff; I kinda doubt this player will opt to be leader often, or at all, so it's probably moot anyway. Same for psychic powers, I'll adapt from what we have already if needed.

I would like some input on the rest of it, though, especially the Solo Mode ability. I don't THINK it's too powerful, but it can't hurt to get second opinions.

I realize there are some Salamander Chapter builds already on the forum, but I wanted to keep this as simple and streamlined as possible.

Salamanders Chapter

Attributes
+5 Intelligence
+5 Toughness

Solo Mode Ability: Promethean Fire

Through a combination of deep familiarity, weapon modification, and extensive training, Salamanders have unparalleled control over their favoured instruments of death. When fighting on his own, or in a detachment of Chapter battle-brothers, a Salamander can achieve superior performance with these chosen weapons.

Required Rank: 1
+10m range with all flamer and melta weapons.

Rank 3: -10% penalty to enemy Agility tests with flame weapons, +2 damage with melta weapons.
Rank 5: +20m range with all flamer and melta weapons.
Rank 7: -20% penalty to enemy Agility tests with flame weapons, +4 damage with melta weapons.

Chapter Demeanour: Stalwart Ally
The Salamanders have become renowned as sturdy and dependable allies, a reputation which is not shared by other, more unpredictable, Space Marine Chapters.
Many Chapters fought in the name of the Emperor on Armageddon, or for personal glory. Of the fully twenty Space Marine Chapters that deployed for the Third Armageddon War, only the Salamanders truly fought to save the lives of the people of Armageddon. They are even today much respected for their willingness to stand up against one of the Marines Malevolent's captains who had left civilians to die because they "hadn't time" to defend them from the Orks.
Each Salamanders Company recruits solely from one of the great clans of Nocturne, and each Battle-Brother is a clan brother as well. The companies each maintain huge, tracked fortresses that crisscross the volcanic surface of their homeworld, serving as an easy way to interact with their fellow companies and the various Nocturnan tribes. Because each Battle-Brother in a Salamanders Company is a clan brother as well, the Salamanders have been known to fight like their savage namesake to rescue their fallen and wounded.

Chapter Attack Pattern
Brothers of the Clan
As Lead by Example (Ultramarines)

Chapter Defensive Stance
Unyielding Perseverance
As Immovable Defence (Dark Angels)

Salamanders Chapter Advances
Charm 400 Skill --
Charm +10 400 Skill Charm
Charm +20 400 Skill Charm +10
Performer (Any) 200 Skill --
Performer (Any) +10 200 Skill Performer (same skill group)
Performer (Any) +20 200 Skill Performer (same skill group) +10
Tech-Use 600 Skill --
Tech-Use +10 600 Skill Tech-Use
Tech-Use +20 600 Skill Tech-Use +10
Trade (Armourer) 400 Skill --
Trade (Armourer) +10 400 Skill Trade (Armourer)
Trade (Armourer) +20 400 Skill Trade (Armourer) +10
Cleanse and Purify 500 Talent --
Duty Unto Death 800 Talent WP 45
Good Reputation (Any) 800 Talent --
Hatred (Orks) 500 Talent --
Resistance (Heat) 200 Talent --
Talented (Armourer) 500 Talent --

Not so sure about the Charm, Looks good though, only thing i would say is missing is some kind of Crafting. Given vulkan waskinown for making some really Mean war gear.

postalpatriot said:

He listed Trade(Armorer) as well as Talented(Armorer). That should cover it.

I just wanted to point out that there is a write-up for Salamanders on Dark Reign. I haven't sat down and read through it in detail, so your ,ileage may very, but a good bit of effort seems to have been put into it.

would exchange the Charm (+10, +20) with Intimidate (+10, +20). Though they are properly the must humane chapter (relatively speaking since they still are space marines), they appearance tells a different tale altogether. With completely black skin and “daemonic” red eyes, they are pretty intimidating. Else I would say that it looks good.

Good call, Rex, I think I'll do that.

I think that I would probably try to find some way to give them Resistance (Heat) as a automatic trait. It seems pretty well established for Salamanders. Perhaps they should have a penalty to their Agility Bonus for the purpose of Initiative? Some people hate that, but it was, at least at one point, a distinctive portion of the Salamander on the TT.

My own instinct would be to remove the extra range from Flame Weapons and boost them up generally with all Flame and Melta weapons. First, the extra range is quite substantial (especially for Hand Flamers), and second, they are just as fond of Melta weapons as Flamers, to my knowledge. The Tactical Marine gets +10% in solo mode with Bolters. Maybe a base of +10% with Melta (and -10% to Dodge his Flamer) would work, with improved chances to hit, improved damage, or even rerolls for hits and damage as advances?

Our potential Salamander decided to stick with the Space Wolves, so I'm not going to continue developing them. Anyone who wants to take this info and use it for themselves or their group is welcome to, of course. Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.

I will comment that I don't think attribute penalties should be applied to any Chapter, though; even if Salamanders (in this case) are slower than other Marines, they still have superhuman reactions compared to everyone else. I don't think that a drawback that is mainly fluff should penalize a player character.

I do agree that giving them Resistance: Heat as a bonus Talent is not excessive, and I would have done that if I I still needed to work on this more.

What of the Chapter insanity? Red Rage?

And why not continue to work on it anyway? I mean, it's always good to see more stuff for the game, especially if it looks and feels balanced.

Hiromoon said:

I'm not familiar with the Salamanders suffering from any latent madness; they're not derived from Blood Angel geneseed. Maybe 'Volcanic Temper'?

I'm currently working on three other campaigns for games that I'm actually running, rather than playing in; I was just trying to help our Deathwatch GM out with the Salamanders. If I end up with more free time, I might revisit Salamanders, but fine-tuning homebrew rules for a Chapter that we aren't using in our game is unfortunately not a high priority.

Sorry, I pulled Red Rage out of my head after looking at the audio book from The Black Library.

If anything, maybe they'd be more 'Put self in harms way for civilians' or 'Quest for Perfection' given the ritual scarring and the constant testing they do on Nocturn.

And if you'd like, I could do some of the background stuff. I mean, what's here is pretty good so far, so we just need Chapter Histories, Chapter Trappings, and Chapter Insanity.

So far I have, from the background books for the Space Marines, Salamander's Mantle and something like Technological Marvels, letting the players one of three items, one of which is a Signum...

This is sweet!

A few Salamanders Psychic powers from my Salamader build:

Breath of Vulkan
500xp, no other req.

Action: Full
Opposed: No
Range: 60m
Sustained: No
Description: The Librarian issues forth a blast of incandescent heat, utterly destroying anything it touches. This power works exactly like an Astartes Multi-Melta gun. However, due to the horrific nature of the psychic incineration, the Penetration of the attack is equal to 9+PR. No Ballistic Skill roll is made, but the Focus Power test is made as if the Librarian were making one (modifiers for range, lighting, enemy talents, etc).

Flawless Tactics
1000xp, Rank 3, WP50+

Action: Half
Opposed: No
Range: 5m x PR
Sustained: Yes
Description: The Librarian connects the minds of his battle brothers, allowing for perfect unison in battle. So long as the Librarian does not move, he may reduce the cost of any Squad Mode Ability by one. Doing so causes a level of Fatigue to the Librarian. The power’s advantage need not be used every round if sustained.

Molten Hellfire
2000xp, Rank 5, WP 50+

Acts in all ways as the Dark Angel power Hellfire, except the attack also possesses a Penetration value equal to 2x PR.