Can you please tell me in what situations a power armor needs to consume energy?

What happens when a player tries to move in an unpowered power armor?

If the power armor counts as a void suit?

What are the caracteristics of a power armor power supply pack(weight and the number of hours will keep a power armor going)?

What is the defence bonus for Advance Helmet Systems and if you can conbine with a normal helmet?

How do you reload digital needles and what are those characteristics?

thor2006 said:

Power armor needs to consume energy as long as it isn't sitting entirely immobile with all of its components turned off. And even then it'll be consuming a bit of energy if the person inside it doesn't want to have to wait for the suit to power up before doing anything (No clue how long that might be though). (Fluff and common sense)

When a player tries to move in an unpowered suit they need to make a Hellish (-60) strength test. How often isn't stated, but I would guess every time they want to move, so likely every round. I think you would also lose the strength bonus provided by the suit. (ItS p 129)

The power armor counts as a void suit so long as they are wearing the helmet. (RT p139)

Power pack lasts 1d5 hours and likely weigh 25kg (RT p 139 and RT p135)

An advanced helmet system isn't a helmet, it is something that is part of a helmet. Thus you use the characteristics of whatever helmet it is being added into and requires that you combine it with a normal helmet. (RT p138)

Very carefully. The characteristics are the same as a needle pistol, but with a clip size of 1. Exact time isn't mentioned, but given the mention of 'exceedingly difficult' I'd imagine the reload time is 'not during combat'(RT p127)

An addendum regarding the power supply: 1D5 hours is for a civilian power supply. For a "military" power supply, it's five days of continuous combat operations (much longer than that if the armor isn't on continuously). This is all from Dark Heresy: Ascension as per the Ignatus pattern power armor.

But can a rogue trader or one of his henchmen buy the Ignatus pattern power armor and where to find them(rarity and how to aquire on set)?

thor2006 said:

Personally, I thnk you are making it a little too complex. Say 'Hey, can I get powered armour and a military support pack, so that it lasts longer than 5 hrs?' to your GM.

I just gave them military packs (based on the ones used in Deathwatch and Blood of Martyrs) when they found their armor. It saves us all from having to make random power rolls, and lets them use their suits for what they wanted them for...exploring hulks and not dieing.

If you need a justification for it, just say their ship's techpriest juryrigged some generators from spares on board their ship.

Or if you want to make them work for it make it an extra when acquiring the armor (-5 modifier to the total), or have it be one or two steps easier to acquire seperately.

Karoline said:

Er, it says that it only takes 1 full action to reload a digi-weapon, and I assume that anyone who went through the trouble of acquiring the talent required for Digi-weapons would have the training to reload it under fire.

thor2006 said:

Presumably: Near Unique. There are rules for the Crusader" MkII-style armor in Into the Storm, but other than that you're going to have to make it up as you go.

thor2006 said:

Extremely Rare (Ascension page 143). Same as the power armours in Rogue Trader (see errata) and Into the Storm.

Dark Heresy uses the same availability ratings as Rogue Trader.

Fortinbras said:

For example for digi-melta I would need melta canisters(pistol).

Where do I find how much a melta canister weights?

For many xeno weapon I don't find the type of amunition that weapon needs? For example the eldar pulse weapons or shuriken weapons what type of amunition it takes and where to find them in the books.

With full power armor can a character take a aditional gloves like Recoil gloves?

They use the Exotic ammunition listing out of the core book. That's basically the catch all for any manner of ammunition not actually listed.

Also you may simply wish to assume that a weapon comes with a supply of ammo and or they can recharge their power packs when they get back on their ship/base/wenibego. The rule of three reloads for each weapon is mentioned in the GMing section, and the acquisition rules state that you only need to find ammo once to have a reasonable supply of it for any weapon.

AS for reloading a digi weapon....I'd say they need time, and a tech use test as these are archaeotech devices, and not the kind of thing you jam a clip into and rack a slide on. Besides, if you ever have to reload one quickly, you're in a situation where you should have worn more, or brought a bigger gun.

AS for power armor acessories. IIRC Correctly both Sororitas and Marine armor comes equipped with recoil gloves and magboots, plus other gadgets. Regular 'civilian' power armor does not. However you can have it added just like helmet senses either at the time of acquisition (-5 to the test for each extra widget), or have someone with trade armourer install them later. A week or two for each installation is often fair, as it can be done in warp travel, and thus has little effect on the adventure itself.

There are rules for crafting and upgrading equipment in the Inquisitor's handbook for Dark Heresy. Plus more guns, and some other fun fluff on various worlds you might find useful. Ignore the rules on force fields from that book though, as they've been replaced by the more recent books.

George Labour said:

Thanks for saying where the crafting rules are. I knew I had seen them but had no idea where.

George Labour said:

So you're saying that a full action to reload a digiweapon is incorrect? Because my source was the core book. For reference, a Plasma Gun takes 5 full actions to reload. Is a Plasma Gun more complex than a Digiweapon? Or would you grief your players with a tech-use test for reloading one of those too?

If you go by the rule book then yes I suppose you can reload them on the fly. But I'd find that rather silly as it kind of defeats the purpose of having them.

You go to all the trouble to obtain this wonderous near priceless bit of possibly forbidden technology that fits the power of a melta gun into your engagement ring so you can go ballroom dancing but still pack a way out. Then....you go and strap melta canisters to yourself as if you'll have time to reload it super soaker style after each shot. Kind of defeats the purpose of the ring right?

If you want a concealable weapon that you can repeatedly fire you're better off with a pistol with the compact upgrade stuck on a concealed forearm mount, or an implanted weapon.

A good example of digi-weapon useage is found in the Eisenhorn novels. The Rogue trader there (who also is pretty much the inspiration for the augmetisist career) wears a plethora of baubles, and multiple rings on each hand. When a sudden fight starts he just melts someone out of the blue with one of the many shiny things he wears. Later Eisenhorn uses a ring loaned to him to escape from Imperial custody since the guards only took his weapons and noticeable pieces of kit.

OTOH digi-weapons in the tabletop game are multiple use items so meh, it's all up to the GM and players in the end.

George Labour said:

The presumption that the ammunition for a digi-weapon would be 20x larger than the actual weapon itself strikes me as unwarranted. I envisioned it more like the size of PEZ candy. Or alternately an injector of some sort with the necessary chemical inside. Using the "Rule of 3" assumption, it's not unreasonable to assume a person could pass with three units of this on his body in a covert situation.

Also, while I think Dan Abnett is the best Black Library author, the Black Library is still a place where, as George Mann stated it, the point is to "tell good stories", not create reliable examples.

I suppose so, though again the idea still seems silly to me (Emphasis on me). It's like having one of those neat James Bond pens that shoots a poison dart, and using that in the big cinematic gunfight instead of your pistol.

Were I to allow on the fly reloading of digi weapons I'd make the PC have to acquire such reloads as a seperate acquisiton (as exotic ammo), and leave off screen reloading as a free thing, or a simple tech use test during downtime. Of course once it's acquired they don't need to go find more compact reloads once those are used, just a bit of in game time must pass.

Another thought is getting the fire selector upgrade which basically adds two more shots. Perhaps this would repres a larger ornamental piece or knuckle bars.

For Digi-Weapons, I would point out that, in Deathwatch, it takes d5 hours and a +0 modifier Tech-Use roll to reload them. I would suggest that that is perhaps a more accurate rule than the one in Rogue Trader.

Fortinbras said:

Ah yes, I was losing my head a bit looking up so many rules in one question and forgot that it was listed in the stats and not in the text. Though I do have to admit that 1 full action doesn't sound like 'exceptionally difficult to reload' it sounds more like 'slightly less than entirely convinent' to me. Still, it is what the book says. And yeah, as for ammo, if you have the weapon (unless you pulled it off a xeno corpse or something) you have a lifetime* supply of ammunition.

*Based on average lifetime of people who venture into the furthest reaches of Imperial space. AKA subject to GM cutting you off due to overuse.

Karoline said:

It is in fact ridiculous that it takes one full action to reload a digi-weapon and 5 full actions to reload a Plasma Gun. =/

Karoline said:

So you can shoot the digi- all you want but dont expect to live long

Something like that

Huh, never noticed DW's weapons had that reloading rule. I think I'm going to apply that to all digi weapons in my game. Though if the player jumps through some hoops I'm sure a quick reload version could be procured.

George Labour said:

Make sure to bring lots of plantains and bananas for that negotiation. I'm sure the jakaero will be more pleasantly inclined to do as you request... If they could just stay on track with their tinkering, that is. They're the "idiot savants" of technology development in 40K.

Digi-weapons; at least digi-lasers, in the possession of an Explorator / Tech-Priest can probably be recharged quicker with their potentia coils.

-=Brother Praetus=-

If the tech priest was so inclined I'd just let him install similar items as augmetic upgrades. Probably in his fingers or eyes.

The books are full of Magos who seem to have some manner of saw, or gun, or nuclear weapon in each of their mechadendrites and there's already the ballistic ones in the books. So miniaturized lasers hidden in your knuckles aren't beyond belief as far as augmetics go.