Hey guys,

Our Black Templar purchased the "Scourge of Heretics" talent and asked our GM who all it applies to. Our GM ruled that it works against mutants, regular heretics, psykers, and traitor marines. I noticed that the talent says it's completly up to the GM to decide though, so how have you guys interpreted in your games? Sounds like it could be very strictly used against only heretics or like my game almost anything with warp influence.

I'd go for the general rule of "anything which isn't covered by Slayer of Daemons and Hunter of Aliens", kinda. The view of who's a heretic is rather liberal in general, for a templar especially. Some might say it even got some overlap with those two other talents...

I'd go with "any human who is denying the Emperor or his servants". Emphasis on human. A chaos sorceror who has achieved daemonhood wouldn't count in my book. They're no mere "heretic", they're something else.

Decessor said:

How about a daemon and covered by the Slayer of Daemons talent?

For Humans, any Human (and to a certain extent Astartes) rejecting the Imperial Creed. For Marines, any Human and Astartes rejecting the total Supremacy of the Emperor over Mankind, the original purpose of Astartes Legions and their loyalty to the Emperor first and Humanity Second.

tkis said:

For the sake of variety, let that differ -to whatever degree- between chapters.

Alex

Basically i would apply the bonus based on the roleplaying of the character in question, if the character deems a person or group heretical, he should act accordingly, especially on following encounters, those talents go beyond the simple scope of combat, just like the hatred talents do.

@ Alex

i kept those guidelines as generic as possible, as all marine chapters would concord to such views, and as far as i know no marine chapter adheres to the imperial creed.

Beware the old 'well, I think he's a heretic, so I get the bonus' trick.

BrotharTearer said:

Certainly, they're now a daemon after all.

Siranui said:

For that i have my beloved "crappy roleplay and powergaming begets severe GM retribution" trick

'But I *am* roleplaying. I think he's a heretic even though he isn't, so I hate him and should get the bonus.'

Siranui said:

"Scourge of Heretics doesn't work via hatred, there is a separate talent for that, it works via training how to dispatch heretics as efficiently as possible in close combat. Sadly this particular class of enemies has been skipped in your curriculum."

Alex

Siranui said:

Been there done that leads either to healthy group reduction or to reeducation of players for their own good.

Roleplaying is not a democracy, GM is the God Emperor of the group, a benevolent tyrant which strives to make the gaming experience ejoyable and tailored to is own group. For my game a vague guideline i have given is enough, rest is handled by common sense, and on that a good gaming group has to reach a consesus before the game starts. If a player character thinks somebody is a heretic, he better handles the situation accordingly, and shows consistancy on such judgement in the future, otherwise consequences are far less enjoyable, than the small edge he got through powergaming the issue instead of roleplaying it.