i decided to house rule these guys on a whim. i suppose they might come in useful if someone is running a heresy or pre-heresy game. Anyways here they are, my interpretation of Adeptus Custodes in the Deathwatch rules set.

Stat Bonuses: +10 to all (custodes are supposed to be slightly more powerful than a space marine and i believe that that is most easily represented in stats than any other way)

Starting Bonuse Skills/talents: Guardian (from DH Ascension)

Demeanor: // undecided at this point, not sure if they even warrant an organisational demeanor, the fluff says that they are an organisation of individuals not a cohesive force like space marines, and as such may not have a chapter identity in the same way.

Advances:

Lip reading 200

Scrutiny 200

Scrutiny +10 200

Scrutiny +20 200

Combat Sense 1000

Counter Attack 600

Deflect Shot 300

Fearless 800

Halberd Master 800 (exactly the same as Blade Master except with a halberd)

Iron Jaw 300

Paranoia 500

Rapid Reaction 500

Sturdy (trait) 1000

Wall of Steel 700

Solo Mode Ability:

Shield Against Harm: The main role of an Adeptus Custode is of a bodyguard, to protect his charge with his life if need be. This can entail interposing himself between his charge or taking damage so that his charge may escape unscathed. During Combat, an Adeptus Custode may perfom the following abilities if he is no more than 4 meters from his charge's side:

• An Adeptus Custode may make a Parry test as a Reaction to Block an attack made against the his charge.
• Sacrificing his next turn, an Adeptus Custode may take all of the damage from one hit just suffered by his charge.

Squad Mode Abililties: NA (custodes were not trained as soldiers, and do not share a spitit of brotherhood that is instilled within the Astartes in order to function together as a cohesive unit. as such i have chosen not to give custodes squad mode abilities)

That should be enough for NPC's. i dont know enough of the fluff, or if it even exists, to give backgrounds or insanity effects.

+10 to all stats seems a lot OP to me...

A base 40 + 2d10 would seem reasonable for stats. I also agree with the no Squad mode for them.

Inquiry, Silent Move, and Concealment, all through +20 should be added to the list.

I think this is an OK start, but for the most part Custodes are really just plot devices that don't need stats.

Draw back :: May never leave Holy Terra!

Unlucky player...

I'm actually going to go out and say that these stats are underpowered for every description of Custodes since Rogue Trader, and particularly since the Horus Heresy book series. They aren't just slightly more powerful than Marines, they are the guys who can, in small groups, give Primarchs a run for their money. They take on several possessed Chaos Marines and win . That said, they aren't suitable for PCs, basically ever. In modern times, the Custodes don't leave Terra, in any significant numbers, as their only job is to stand at the side of the Emperor. It is said that here and there, a Custode will forsake his armour, and leave Terra to the edges of the Sol system. He does this, and then he infiltrates the system, using his abilities and skills to find any flaws in security and fixing them. These guys are too strong to hand over to PCs, and barely within the realm of bothering with the rules to describe how awesome they are.

Data007 said:

You know how 40K works - it just might be a rumour that no Custodes ever leaves Terra. What if small groups in fact do?

Alex

ak-73 said:

They win.

ItsUncertainWho said:

LOL.

Well, you now have a "random" encounter for your first session of Black Crusade.

Alex

Now in mention of a Heresy or Pre-Heresy campaign, a bunch of Custodes did leave Holy Terra. They joined with the Silent Sisterhood and the Space Wolves to go vanquish the Thousand Sons in the name of the Empreror for defying the Council of Nikea.

After the Heresy, it could be decided to send a squad out to go Thousand Son hunting to "finish the job". Maybe even a raid on the Planet of the Sorcerers for a crack at old Magnus himself, or his Sorcerer Supreme.

And don´t forget the "Bloodhunt" !

they do this game for testing the defens of the sol system how near they can com Terra befor they get caught !!