Tweaking the Space Wolves

By HappyDaze, in Deathwatch House Rules

I'm aware of the boosts the Space Wolves earned in the errata, but I wanted to make a few tweaks to the Chapter Advances table. I had considered giving them Carouse for free, but I decided that it's certainly possible to have a Space Wolf that can't hold his drink, so instead I opted to adjust the costs of each of the three Carouse entries (Trained, +10, and +20) to 100xp. This makes them half the cost of what other Space Marines pay for them. In exchange, I increased the costs of each of the three Wrangling entries (Trained, +10, and +20) to 200xp. This means that Space Wolves don't get Wrangling any cheaper than other Space Marines, but they can learn it more quickly (all the way to +20 at Rank 1 if desired).

I also made the following adjustment to all Space Marines:

Step 1) Remove Tracking from the list of Starting Skills on page 36.
Step 2) Replace the text for the Neuroglottis with the following:

Neuroglottis: The Space Marine may detect any poisons or toxins by taste with a successful Challenging (+0) Awareness Test. He may also detect any poisons or toxins by smell with a successful Hard (-20) Awareness Test. The Space Marine treats Tracking as a Basic Skill, and may (at the GM's discretion) gain a +10 bonus to any Tracking Tests against an opponent he has tasted. However, it is important to note that none of these bonuses apply if the Space Marine is wearing a helmet for a sealed set of armour (e.g., Power Armour, Artificer Armour, or Terminator Armour).

I think that this accomplishes what I want without drastic alteration. Space Marines will still have a reason to purchase Tracking (from Rank 2 General Space Marine), and both Space Wolves and Storm Wardens will still have an advantage in purchasing Tracking from their Chapter Advances.

I'm still looking at either granting Survival to all Space Marines, or of making it available for cheaper to the more 'feral' Chapters as part of their Chapter Advances. Suggestions?

That change to carouse seems reasonable, or you could just go the mastery route like in the Ascended DH book and make a carouse mastery talent for one price. As survival is described in the books its more for regular humans, but I could see Spacewolfs learning this at a young age.