Since the core book is a tad vague on whether corruption point gain can or should be a major part of a Deathwatch campaign, the apothecary special ability "guardian of purity" may or may not be nigh useless. It covers keeping the geneseed pure. Since insanity point gain has far more in game effects that are related to the geneseed (primarch's curse and insanities such as the ancestral influence) I propose the following modification:

The guardian of purity special ability reduces corruption and insanity point gains by 2 to a minimum of 1.

This will help keep space marines fighting fit for longer and their geneseed purer. What says the house?

Decessor said:

Well, I would take Guardian of Purity if I were to create an Apothecary - just because I think nearly nobody else would take it. A nice concept could be built around that (especially in the absence of a chaplain) - moral/spiritual leadership. Of course, I'd eventually ask for a Wisdom of the Ancients elite advance.

But I don't think it's such a brilliant idea tbh. Corruption is fairly worthless in this game, I think. Corrupting a Marine takes either a long, long time or something very extraordinary. 100 Corruption Points is way to go, especially without tangible penalties on the road. That being so, I don't think one should lessen the impact of Insanity points because there is an actual chance of something going on here. And since our nearly fearless Marines aren't bound to get all that many points (are you going to give a SM Insanity Points for a corpse-littered battlefield? really?) we shouldn't provide too many additional means to avoid accumulation of insanity.

I might give the Apothecary Forbidden Lore(Mutants) as a free bonus though if he picks Guardian of Purity. My 2 cents, fwiw.

Alex

Well, my entire point was to make guardian of purity a more viable option compared to toxic weapons and bonus healing. Guardian of purity actually suits a notion I had for a blood angel apothecary but I'm more likely to be GMing DW than playing so that won't be as relevant.

A free FL could be handy. Alternatively, a unique bonus of +10 to biology-related FL tests (mutants, xenos, etc)

Decessor said:

Well, the last bonus might be more relevant to the Create Toxins special ability. I'm okay with GoP - don't forget that Apothecaries have a total of 3 options to choose from. GoP seems to be more the bonus role-play option.

Alex

I dislike the argument that one of the special abilities should only be worth taking for "roleplaying purposes". The other two options can be roleplayed just fine (bio-weapons specialist and elite medic) but also have appealing game mechanics.