Just looking for clarification here. I'm creating a new Blood Angels Assault Marine and I was hoping to start off as a Sanguinary Guard newly initiated into the Deathwatch. However since newly initiated Deathwatch Marines start off with only 1,000 xp and the xp for Sanguinary Guard is a whooping 2,500 xp that means that newly initiated Marines cannot be Tyrannic War Vets, Sanguinary Guard, or members of the Deathwing right?

Carnage1138 said:

By the rules I guess you are correct, even though this would seem odd that this is supposed to represent your background. Perhaps your Gm will let you go in the hole a bit or some other arangement. I only use the Vehical section from RoB, the rest is garbage.

Those distinctions are meant for players coming in with new characters at higher levels, not really for rank 1 characters. If you loose your character and your group is at rank 4 and you roll up a replacement rank 4 marine, these distinctions become a defining part of the characters background and give a lot of RP fodder to fill in your back story vs the well established history the other players will have with their characters since they have been working together from rank 1.

I'd still say that you could still be that or RP reasons. Discuss with your GM if it's ok, and then as soon as you have enough skills that you feel comfortable saving up for it, go ahead and take it. Maybe your GM will even offer you a discount on it.

And it's not all Garbage Nim. Some of it is really good.

Distinctions are meant to be earned in play- they're not designed for starting characters.

Evilgm said:

But distinctions like Tyrannic War Vet isn't something you can take later on, itìs related to something that happened about 100 years before DW timeline.

Lucius Valerius said:

They're example distinctions, meant to show you what can be done with the distinction rules as much as anything else. A distinction is a package of abilities composed of 1-3 Marks of Distinction purchased at GM's discretion for roleplaying reasons to represent some great achievement or honour. They're like your way of earning the Special Rules that turn your Battle Brother from "generic space marine CCVLI" into what would be considered a "Special Character" in wargame terms. Imagine Marneus Calgar as a Rank 8 Ultramarines Tactical Marine/Captain with a Distinction ("God of War", to use the name of his special rule from the wargame) made of Chosen of the Chapter (Ultramarines), Mighty Lineage and Tactical Experience, for example.

Distinctions aren't permitted as background packages - they have to be earned. The example ones all list a requirement that must be met before the distinction can be taken (and even then, only at GM's discretion)

I have worked the First among Equals distinction into the custom created Mentor Legion Chapter, i will post both the Mentors and Fire Hawks on the Forums soon. Some Distinctions are perfect ideas for custom Chatpers

Consider that you don't have to purchase a Distinction you've earned right off the bat. You can always wait until you got enough XP to purchase your Tyrannic War Vet. A little iffy I suppose, but plausible.

I'll second the point that Distinctions are quite viable for starting characters - if your starting character is of high enough Rank. Not all SMs seconded to the DW are Rank 1 when they arrive.

HappyDaze said:

Indeed, one of the Deeds is written with exactly such a character in mind...

HappyDaze said:

The Ranks in DW I thought were ment to represent a Rank 1 DW marine. Of corse you are not a rank 1 coming into DW, or you would be a scout or maybe a devastator. The Deeds, and all the other BS in RoB is for the powergamer on roids.

Nimon said:

That's not really true. Especially considering a majority of the things in RoB isn't really good looking through my powergamer glasses. Comparatively there's more powergamer friendly things in the core rules I'd say.

Example of a mark of distinction worked into rules for new characters of the Mentor legion , take a look www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp

It'd be a bit odd if you have a Tyrannic War Veteran as per Past Event of Rank 1 who can't afford to buy the distinction with the same name.

Alex