Let me start by saying I'm not talking about a D&D style returning, but more like a "Led by Wire" sort of system, for throwing knives/razor disks and the like. What sort of costs would a PC have to pay to make/install one, and would there be any penalties/bonuses to having them installed?

Also a useful thought for characters that tend to have to drop weapons to pull different ones, as a leash.

I had the thought on this because certain throwing weapons (Fedrid Razor Disks, Crimson Crowns, BEST quality throwing knives (be them normal, razor, or in my case, chain)) can be very expensive to replace/remake after every use, and the idea of having a Razor Disk/Chain knife on a wire to snap back to my hand is a cool thought (in my mind at least)

I was thinking an Ag test to catch the weapon on the rebound with out hurting yourself, and it taking a half action to return the weapon. That way you can't throw them nearly as often, but you don't have to go looking for them later should you miss/your target run off with a few of them embedded/cut clean through and keep going.

Kylen said:

The closest i've found is the clip/harness for 25tg in DH p.147, The clip/harness i imagine would have a retractable wire spool type device, so someone could probably jury rig the spool/winding device to an arm rig using Tech-use or something similar. It would all depend on the skill of the person MacGyvering it. It would probably reduce the damage the weapon does if the quality is poor (wire is slow to unspool when tossed), and terrain would affect how fast you get the weapon back (caught in bushes). You'd probably want a padded gauntlet type thing attached to it as well. Feral/feudal worlds might have some kind of natural elastic material or something in place of the 'modern' harness rig.

Dont forget though, the razor disk have holes in them that make noise when thrown, so hunters can track its direction, so there should be a bonus to retrieving it after combat. Since its effective range is about 10m, it isnt really going to go much farther than that. You could also drum up some rules for mini-tracking devices to attach the weapons so you could find them easier...at a significantly high cost and rare availability.

How far are your players throwing those weapons anyways? The ranges are about 5-10m for the thrown weapons. That isnt exactly a football field worth of a distance. Does the GM not allow you to retrieve them after the combat is done? If not, stick with a bow or something, because best quality throwing knives seems like a waste.

Well, I was thinking this up more as a faster way for him to use something other then pistols at medium /close range, but I thought range was generally something like 2 or 3 x SB (I know one or two weapons are like, 4 or 5 x SB)

Kylen said:

for GRENADES, yes, that seems to be the case. For throwing knives/discs though, they have their own range. In the IH, it seems the grenades all have a standard SBx3 range. However: bolas, javelins, throwing spears, razor disc, throwing knives, all have specific ranges. Which makes sense, as you are generally trying to throw the grenade as far from you as possible, whereas with a throwing weapon you are trying to hit a specific target in a specific place. You still have those long range/extreme range penalties for throwing weapons beyond their max range.

Well, as far as actually putting something like that together, I can't imagine it would be too hard or expensive attaching a string or wire to a knife isn't exactly rocket science. Of course, this would be a crude and quick solution. A retracting spool might work quite well, as mentioned above. Depending on how fancy you want to go, cost and effectiveness would vary greatly.

My main concerns would be running the risk of maiming yourself when the weapon comes back (I trust most of these devices are not designed to actually be caught, but rather to injure others). Also, I think it would be rather annoying to have your razor knife embedded in someone's skull while the bloody thing is tethered to your arm especially in the midst of combat. There would always be the risk of having your weapon be stuck in your victim, and then tied to your arm.

Of course, that's just how I would rule it as GM.

From my experiences with historical melee weapon fighting, I sure as hell wouldn't want to have a bunch of wires attaching enemies or furniture to me in a fight. I assume they could just as easily get in the way while doing a mobile firefight. However, it is a really cool idea, and the 40k universe runs on Rule of Cool, not logic. So I say go for it. Maybe make the blades mounted in underarm holsters that include a retraction wire and a motor/spring/similar. As a free action after a successful throwing attack, the player may make an easy BS +20 test to retrieve the thrown weapon(s). If he fails he will automatically detatch the wires instead, counting the weapons as lost. A catastrophic failure (four degrees or so) will cause one hit on himself with the weapon or just tangling himself up. This could make for completely awesome fightscenes with wired daggers all over the place. Maybe even let him use them for cool wirestunts! And it's not like thrown weapons are gamebreakingly overpowered, so go wild.