I really don't like this rule overall in Dark Heresy, although I understand why it's in the game. It's an extension of the same rules used in Rogue Trader.

First off, while I realize that it may take 20-30 years of real time, to catch on in the vein of AD&D (if in fact it ever does to that extent), it still seems to be a form of communism, and since I live in a country that promotes capitalism I feel that this 'closet' form of promoting communism is in bad taste at the least, and possibly treasonable at the worst.

Further, for game purposes, I have a character that has, over a period of time in the campaign that she ran in, developed an increasing level of piousness. After ascending, strict interpretation of this rule means that the character would no longer be able to pay her tithe to the church. Worse, in her eyes, it allows the Inquisitor of her group to have full control over how much income the group then makes or has... which seems to place the Inquisitor on a pedestal above the Emperor.

However, with all that said, if you use a payroll system, then one would have to spend large amounts of time trying to put a value on every piece of equipment in the game that has not been tagged with a price.

This rule is a modification of those rules that I use in my campaign.

Basically all it is is you reduce the amount of Influence for Acquistion by a percentage, and then give that same percentage to the players as per 'Pocket Money & Monthly Incomes'.

For my game I reduce the player's Inquisitor Influence by 20%. This reduction is counted off for making rolls...but the actual percentage is used in case of a failed roll.

For example, in my game the player's Inquisitor has a base of 60 Influence. A reduction of of 20% lowers this number to 48 for the purpose of actually acquiring items. But if a roll is made that misses up to 60 (the actual base amount) would not cause Influence to fall for 'Decrease due to failure'.

For the player's pocket money, this then works out to them receiving 200 thrones per rank level, per month.

I would like input on this one... although I do not anticipate changing my view on it, I want to see if others out there might have had similar thoughts, and didn't know how to share them... or might have been afraid to?

Denmar1701 said:

Aside from this statement coming off as very McCarthyan ... you do need to realize that the characters are supposed to be members of the Inquisition, not freelancing mercenaries. I'm actually somewhat surprised that, given how irritated people were that they had to buy their own gear in standard DH, there seem to be players who embraced this.

To clarify: You are working for the Imperium, and the gear or services you acquire is either property of the Imperium (like a real world policeman getting his weapons from the state) or confiscated (like the same policeman stopping a car to pursue a criminal). The Influence is, as the book explains, a rough estimate of what your characters can "pull off" by the connections they have established or the renown they have acquired. The Inquisition is, by the very basics of 40k fluff, built from layers upon layers of favors and personal bonds. I recommend re-reading the appropriate passages in the book to get a better understanding of how influence and acquisition are supposed to work in the background (as the execution of this extremely complicated process is very simplified - what you do in a single roll of dice could actually take the characters hours or even days, depending on the circumstance).

Denmar1701 said:

If not owning money would be a problem for pious characters, the entirety of the Adepta Sororitas would be in real trouble.

Denmar1701 said:

All that said, I actually agree that Acquisition shouldn't be everything. I do believe a good solution would be in the middle: The Inquisition gives you some very basic gear such as a crate of lasguns. On top of that you get a monthly stipend for expenses - not much, but enough so that characters can begin saving up to some day buy better and/or personalized equipment to replace what they've been given. And on top of that you gain Influence which you can use to borrow or requisition the stuff that money cannot buy. I believe this would be the most "realistic" way to depict the financial situation of an Acolyte cell, but of course this is just my interpretation.

Lynata said:

This is how I deal with it in my games also, especially since in IH it gives sororitas a monthly wage, then in BoM its all requisition,I decided to do both. Really this is realistic, that is how it is in the military. The Government supplies the gear, anything else up to you to get with the modest wage provided. So as far as mechanics, how I did it so far was just cut wage in half. I am still playing with the requisition part of it since I am now kinda mixing DH and DW system in my game that has charcters from both.

It's a bit trickier for Sisters, as those are the only characters not yet considered members of the Inquisition - unless they request permanent transfer out of their Order and into inquisitorial service, essentially leaving the Sisterhood to become a Crusader or a Junior Inquisitor. It's fitting that they do not get a wage, though I do remember the Ministorum assigning them vouchers of Imperial Scrip when they are travelling, just so that they don't have to starve.

I generally like the idea about Sisters having the option to "loan" two weapons from their Order, even though the list is far from complete (so far my group has added grenades, the plasma pistol and weapon upgrades to it). I've heard a few things about a pointbuy system in DW, and this sounds like something that would fit for Sororitas characters as well. Might have to take a look at it and see if it can be converted for DH.

What I forgot to mention about the stipend in my earlier post: This amount of money would be assigned to the entire group. Ruleswise, take all the "monthly income" of the group (except that of Scum), apply any modifiers that you see fit, throw it into a pot, and then make it available to the Acolyte cell as a whole (possibly rounded up/down). Have the Acolytes figure out themselves what to do with these Thrones. This will encourage spending on minor items and services that would fit into the roleplaying but likely minimized due to people "hoarding" their own money, as well as character interaction on how to spend it and what kind of equipment to get. In addition to that, the Scum can also make his classic roles for conning and thieving and (if he so wishes) add his "unique income" to the pool.

Lynata said:

Not a bad idea, that is how the requisition works in DW, you get a set number of req points per mission(not counting any extra your team recieved for completing secondary and tertiary objectives) and the whole team decides what equipment they will need for that mission. In DH I could see thrones spent on information, and contacts also so they would have a higher need for actual money.

You seem to have missed the point of what these systems represent. The idea is that you have access to near unlimited rescources, the only problem you have is whether or not the items you seek are actually available. When you are using these you are wealthy beyond having to worry about day to day monetary needs. You have access to multiple accounts and lines of credit as to never need to worry about whether you have 200 thrones in your pocket or 2,000.

Need to bribe someone with 500 thrones, you probbably have that on you. A 10,000 throne bribe, takes you a day to get. Need to bribe someone really big, roll your Influence.

If your pious character wants to tithe a specified amount each month, they do. No need to worry about the mechanics of it, it just happens.

ItsUncertainWho said:

ItsUncertainWho said:

I guess eventually you would be in that situation, but initially as an inquisitor I would like to see how my acolytes can budget a modest sum befor I open the swiss bank account.

Nimon said:

Ya... that's why the Influence system was introduced in Ascension (rank 9) ;-)

Graver said: