Hi all. I'm new to Deathwatch, and want to run it for my group, but I had a few questions. How lethal is combat? I'm not a fan of games where the players have unquestionable power and can't be challenged. I want a game where they have to think, and the threat of death is constant if they make the wrong move. Is this the game for me?

WillisRBC said:

Infinitely weak or infinitely strong, depending on how you employ them. The kill-team can take out the biggest enemies the core rulebook provides within a round or two of concentrated fire. However the BBEGs usually can do the same, some excel particularly in close combat. And then you have the horde rules where lethality depends on one single number: numbers (=horde magnitude).

Also if you want a constant threat of death you will need to ditch the fate point rules. Fate points are get-your-bottom-out-of-jail-free cards of which the players have 3 to 5.

But in all honesty, I wouldn't choose a game based on that. Any game can be tweaked towards being that lethal or not lethal at all. I would choose a game based on setting and because I like the core mechanics (whether it's D100, D20, point-based vs random char generation, etc)

If you're looking for lethality where "the threat of death is constant if they make the wrong move" out of the box, my advice would be the old Recon RPG. Vietnam War RPG. Yep, as lethal as it sounds.

Alex

How lethal is combat?

Well: PCs are playing what are supposed to be the toughest human soldiers in the galaxy and get to gun down literally hordes of foes. So don't expect it to be too gritty. That said, it's as dangerous as you let it be, and WFRP-based games have a well-deserved reputation for messy critical hits and arbitary maiming and death at the hands of outrageous foes.

If you want gritty in the 40k universe though; Dark Heresy may be a better bet, as the characters are a lot more flimsy and a lot more outgunned. Deathwatch is essentially about causing carnage on a fairly epic scale.