I have never been involved in a game with Kroot PC. While they get an extra reaction at rank 1, there are two things that make me worry about their durability:

- Medicae tests become one step more difficult when done on Kroot.

- Wearing more than 3* points of armour is discouraged.

- Page 48 says they generally don't have bionics, which makes me really worried about what would happen when they do lose a limb, something that can happen even to the heavily armoured characters.

*I use the base armour, meaning they could get 4 armour with BQ. Anything else means good quality armour, with its shifting armour value, is confusing.

So in the games you have been involved in, how often do Kroot burn fate points compared to human PCs ?

When all goes wrong an a Kroot does lose an arm, how have your gms treated it ?

This is the part that really worries me. When a human or Ork loses an arm, they can get a bionic. But gms are discouraged from doing that with Kroot, and they don't appear to have the ability to regrow limbs, so it looks like a permanent crippling of the character.

In saying that, playing a Kroot with the Stalker kindred does appeal to me.

Bilateralrope said:

I recomend the Dodge skill LOL.

I would allow kroot to regrow limbs as a special ability for the PCs kindred, just assuming they eat a lot of lizards back home.

About the issue of armor, giving the fact that so many weapons have good Penetration, it really does not matter much if you are wearing 3 or say 5 points of armor. So in that light, Kroot's are not so much more squishy then normal humans.

Ork Hybrids, plus a good dodge skill and decent Agility, make for pretty durable creatures.

Kroot are definitely NOT a slugger species, they can't stand up to a protracted brawl against more durable or numerous opponents, but by the Emperor do they have the strength to finish the fight before it gets dire.

Most of all - look at them for their non-combat support role. Polyglot plus three starting languages for three different species, plus Heightened Senses and Unnatural Per at rank 2 make them damned fine scouts, early warning systems and a more reliable translators (compared to bionics/tech) .

The other approach to making sure your krootl ives to eat another day, is to go wih the stealthy chameleon-like Kroot. The increase hiding abilities mean that your unnatural Str and Per will work wonders for ambushing, and quickly dispatching nay foe that might try to make a mess of you.

Our current Kroot is acting as a pathfinder and sometimes-translator for the group (the arch militant is our main combat character, who sees it as the duty of her and her men (she is chief bosun of the ship0 to repel boarders and defend the command staff. Having a xenos show up obviously superior humans would just not do, though the command crew (though not so much the everyman of the ship) tolerate and appreciate the unique abilities the Kroot can provide.

Hope that helps!

Ironically my kroot started as the RT's bodyguard, but I took the stalker mutation. His way of keeping the captain safe involved moving forward under cover of his chamelon abilities, a cloak (now a holo field), and a conversion field followed by slamming a power fist into the danger's face. 2D10+16 with a pen of 9 tends to flatten most things in one hit. He also has a hyper nymune organ and a forearm power blade plus a high agility to keep him from being hit.

Though even with that he's come close to 0 wounds a couple of times, but the kroot ability to heal faster keeps him going. Usually end up spending a fate point or two to recover wounds as well.

But the key for a kroot to survive is doing everything possible to negate the hit before it does damage. Like others said, armor tends not to matter leaving dodges, parries, and force fields as the best ways to stay alive. Of course, never being seen before you dropped the hammer is also a good idea.

Now that my kroot is the NPC shaper on the party's ship he mostly stays in the background commanding other kroot, or doing things offscreen. He only shows up when the party specifically asks for him. But, they now have an ork and an arch militant plus the RT has learned to use his NPC armsmen as shielding materials so he gets to remain an ancillary character for now.

Ah here we differ somewhat. I ask two questions of my players when trying to equip kroot with high end gear: Why does he/she deserve it? and What kind of impression do you think this gives to the Imperium at large?

As for the powerfist, I generally rule that it count's as 'armour in excess of 3, due to the power packs and huge size of the gauntlet. Also, the rarity is increased by atleast one step due to needing conversion for Kroot musculature and hands.

On the topic of forcefields, I can POSSIBLY see our Kroot being rewarded by his/her employers, should he save the life of an important command staff member against horrendous odds, but generally the kroot player has to go through the RT for acquisitions (as with most of the crew if asking for things outside of their usual duties), a process that will highly filter what he/she can get without killing an enemy for it. This isn't so much to gimp the Kroot character, as they can still bargain and work their way into their employer's good graces - but giving them carte blanche to lay down super-stealthed unnatural x 3 strength power weapon hammer blows sticks in my craw a little.

having said that, if it works in your game, i would love to hear more. Always good to see GMing diversity!

Well the kroot's contract is simple. They all do everything in their power to keep the Lord Captain, with his 'greay human sky-shaper' powers alive, and they get to keep what they kill. Needless to say this led to all manner of hilarity when the kroot began using eldar spirit stones as jewelry without knowing what he had.

The power fist was gained after the Kroot put himself between the captain and three orks and held them at bay despite being nearly butchered. After that the captain figured he was better off floating the bill to make his safety net a big wider than bothering with lumping around his own powerfist. It lacks style you see. The tech priest wasn't happy modifying it but he got bribed/tricked into it.

Most of his other equipment that the Rogue trader didn't gift him with has come from kills made in adventures (shuriken weapons and the forearm blade), or traded with his own barter skill on footfall.

Sokahrthumaniel said:

That you are willing to pay your Xeno mercs a lot of money ? Not sure about this as you are probably already paying the Kroot a lot to keep them loyal, so they can probably buy the gear with what you paid them.

For those who know about Xenos, hiring a single Ork is likely to be worse for your reputation as Orks are mainly paid in weapons and foes to fight. For those who only know that you hire Xenos, the gear you give them probably won't matter.

That even Xenos realise that human technology is superior ?

Unless they are sanctioned taking your xenos into the imperium (such as port wander) is a really bad idea unless they are obviously under heavy guard on their way to be sanctioned, or you have in some manner already cleared it.

As to sanctioning, it is probably impossible to get an ork sanctioned unless you can find some way to make them stop shedding spores. In fact taking a ork to any non ork planet would royally anger the inhabitants unless the RT can prove that the ork is "safe" and will not turn their planet into an ork breeding ground. How exactly you do that is big question.

You could get away with the Kroot a lot easier.

As to kroot being to squishy, no not really. They are going to have a better than average dodge and get an extra reaction, not a bad trade for a few points of armor. Also if needed you can just give them a force field.

My Kroot character is of a Stalker Kindred, wears Kroot Leathers, and survives mostly on high Dodge chance, and very good stealth abilities. With Agility 60, Fully trained Concealment and a Cameleoline Cloak. He is also equipped with a Rosarius, courtesy of an Imperial Guard Missionary he encountered during his days as a Tracker for the Tau in the Jericho Reach.

As long as he doesn't get hurt, he's ok, but if anything gets through, he'll be burned down really fast.

I doubt the fact that Orks spore is a widely known fact outside of the Magos Genator, and other Scholars. Not to say that having an ork pop up on an imperial world, even under heavy guard, wouldn't cause mass panic amongst the citizens. They are probably the second most reviled enemy of the Imperium.

In the ork's description in Deathwatch, the spore theory is mentioned as being considered a craxkpot theory by the Mechanicu at large, though Deatwatch marine usually do some serious flamer-based cleanup whenever orks are involved to be on the safe side.

Though its likely, given the Imperium's long experience with ork,s that 'where's there's been orks, there'll be more' is a know and accepted facts even if the how idn't figured out.

Orks are more hated because they're a known galaxy wide scourge. Many cultures refer to them as 'the old enemy' , or 'the ancient foe' since they've been at war with man for longer than anything can remember.

Kroot on the other hand are a mild curiosity in comparison. Largely limited to the Koronus expanse, and the far eastern third of the galaxy they're a relative unknown. They're also more known for their mercenary habits, and diverse culinary habits than they are for killing everything they see. In many ways they're almost the kind of species the imperium might permit to exist, alongside the squats (they still exist!), and jokaero. There's more important aliens to kill before they get around to extirmating someone who's fine to wait until it's their time.

Heck I imagine one could pass a kroot off as some kind of trained animal in many places outside the expanse, and more than a few there as well. Just have it lose the weapons, and only speak in Kroot and the disguise should keep up.