Would it be too powerful to give Assault Marines the ability to make charging Full Attacks at a rank earlier than 8 (say, 5 or 6), the very end of their advancement track assuming they don't branch off into a RoB specialty track? Moving or charging into melee, particularly before Wall of Blades and Step Aside become accessible, is extremely hazardous against anything that's also good in melee and doesn't die to your single charge attack will be able to full-attack you in return. Plus, every enemy and their grandma seems to come with Preternatural Speed standard, from basic Genestealer fodder-mooks on up, meaning that if you don't charge into their full attacks, they'll charge you and full attack anyways.

In some ways, I think it is supposed to function as a capstone ability, for the sort of "I'm THAT badass" feel that the highest level (or rank, in this game's case) is meant to convey.

I also think that It makes charging a single opponent a very deadly thing to do, in the way you describe, and really aught to be available to players long enough to actually enjoy its fruits for more than a few sessions.

Will it unbalance the game? Meh. You have a better chance of killing whatever you charge, but that thing probably has friends waiting to pounce on your with their own preternatural speed.

Yes and no, if you are going to add Death Cult Assassins as pc's I would say yes, otherwise no.

In a regualr DW game absolutely NO, this makes the Blood Angel Assault incredibly dangerous....

Charge....mince meat....jump away....Charge....mince some more meat....jump away...repeat...

The_Glyphstone said:

Bearing in mind that a Genestealer is hardly a weak creature in its own right - these are creatures with a reputation for tearing apart Marines in Terminator Armour, let alone those in Power Armour, and are (and have pretty much always been) some of the deadliest melee combatants in the entire setting.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Yeah, they are definitely elite-tier enemies. But OP is right: the charge system is broken. I suggest allowing swift attacks on the charge or/and Furious Assault. If you got the Swift Attack route, then allow to use it either if the user has the talent or if the user has Lightning Attack (so he loses one attack ont he charge under that ruling), depening on how ubiquitous you want to make a second attack on the charge.

If anybody has thoughts on that idea, I'd like to hear feedback.

Alex

In my campaign i have been allowing swift attacks on the charge to our assault marine, since we all felt it balanced his damage to be more comparable to standing around and firing bolters on full auto.

However, i will warn you that my campaign also has quite a few rules changed/ignored/made up, as i have a very interesting bunch of players who are more interested in awesomeness then the rules of the game (although i do make an effort to cause some sort of balance between the players capabilities at least, its never fun to be the useless PC)

Do your PCs get the WS bonus for charging for all their attacks?
It feels strange to me that someone should get a bonus to hit from charging after his initial attack.

BTW: I think a damage bonus would be much more fitting for charge than a to hit bonus.
If anything the defender should get a bonus to parrydodge as he can see the attack coming.