Just looking for peoples views on the Inq HB, theres been the recent reviews of some of the other books and i'd just like some feedback now that the book has been out for some time, whats the over all usability of the book, for GM's and Players alike.

How do the additional careers and packages work, over a period of time have you found them to be as balanced (or as unbalanced) as those in the main rulebook, and more specifically, whats the Sororitas career path like?

Here is a review I wrote for it back in April of last year.

But before you read the review, let me just say, buy the book. It is so worth it.

Dark Heresy's The Inquisitor's Handbook is a soft cover, full colour
256 page sourcebook released in April from Black Industries and
Fantasy Flight Games. It is written by a slew of people, amongst them
Alan Bligh, Andy Hall and T.S. Luikhart.

It retails for around 30 pounds if ordered from England, with an
American set price at I believe $45.

The book provides a variety of information for players and Game
Masters alike. Primarily new character creation rules (career
alterations and home world additions), equipment and some background
material and updated rules.

I will start with the presentation.

Page count. The page count is somewhat inaccurate, as each section
opens with a huge full page picture wiht a list of the chapter's
content. With 9 chapters, an appendix, a full page ad on the last
page, A title page and two pages of table of contents thats 13 pages
less then what the page count suggests. Which inst an issue in
itself. But there is no Index for quick reference. I think they could
have stuffed in a few extra pages for an index and i wuld have
preferred one over the ad on the last page.

Art. The art is good, B&W and fits the sections properly. However, as
with the other products, less then half the art seems to be new, with
others being taken from previous GW sources, such as Inquisitor,
various codices and other 40K setting books and games. Again, not a
major issue, but it does seem that they cut corners to save money
here. Im fine with that, Im just mentioning it as part of the basic
overall view.

Cover. The cover is nice, seems to tie in with the previous cover
from teh core book and has a Sister of Battle on the cover. It is
cover and titled as THE ULTIMATE PLAYER'S GUIDE, which it is close to
being.

Content. Okay, this is what we all want to hear and read about. The
content. First I will just say this, it is a worthy buy and I
recommend a copy or two for each group out there playing this game.

The book opens up with a little introduction, which is pretty bland
and typical of any book for RPGs in the past 25 years. Then it moves
to the heart and best part of the book, the reason why I give it 8
out of 10 =I= (thats the scale I will be grading these books on).

The new Home World options (Forge World, Noble Born, Mindcleanse and
Schola Progenium) offer a great diversity to the game and allows for
more flexible and varied characters. As with the standard versions in
the Core rules these ones has bonus skills and traits. My only pet
peeve is the same as in the core rules, a few extra real skills
instead of treat as basic skills would have been nice with a couple
of optional choices such as "Common Lore or Trade" would make a bit a
sense.

I also think that both Mindcleanse and Noble Born would benefit from
a new trait called "Home World Variation" or something to that
effect, essentially allowing them to choose one trait from their home
world style of choice. Basically saying that a Feral World Noble Born
is different then a Hive World Noble World, but at this point in time
there are no rules to distinguish one Noble Born from another despite
different home worlds.

Also, the Mindclenase mentions that they occassionally can call upon
skills and talents they didnt know they had. But there is no game
mechanic for this. Personally I have been working on a rule for it
using fate points, insanity points and corruption points, but I will
save that for another post.

Forge World allows you to create a more alien feeling Tech-Priest and
even flavour for playing a skitarii, which could be fun. Schola
Progenium puts you one step closer to actual rules for Commissars.

Following this section is a section on specific worlds of origin from
the calixis system. And its down right cool. It allows you to have
more specific hive worlders and what not. They add to existing home
worlds and tell you what traits/skills/talents are removed from the
originals available and wht new traits/skills/talents are available.
With these specific rules you add so much flavour to the characters
and background and they also provide additional background info on
the worlds.

Then there are the background packages. While they seem to have fixed
stories for each of the three backgrounds provided per career path,
these packages cost XP at the start of a career and provide divergent
starting skills and talents and even alter things like Insanity and
Fate and Corruption points. These are very good, add detail and
provide many options for the players and their characters.

After this comes my favourite sections. Calixian Career paths. Aside
form what I see as pure fanboy delight, the Sisters of Battle career
path is fairly well done up and I only disagree with the raw
cheapness of their characteristic advancements (most start at 250 and
they dont have any 500). But thats not the best part of the book.

The section of modifying existing career paths allows characters of
most careers to choose alternative career ranks at set ranks to
provide different skills and talents to their available of advances.
Its similar to prestidge careers in D20, but a lot simpler, make
sense and often have special in game requirements not just stats and
scores.

This also provides a close to commissar rank, but you will have to
wait for the book for specifics. The second section on these have
even more advanced career options.

Then comes the guns. Guns guns guns. Four Chapters, each providing
weapons armour and equipment for different styles of worlds. And we
see lots of things we all debated these past few months. Cyber
familiars, power fists, variant armours, cyber mastiff and so on.
Very handy for broadening a player's initial gear, especially if you
limit thier purchases to their appropriate home world section. But
int he end these four chapters are nothing but lists and descriptions
of equipment and seem to break up the flow of the book.

For after the equipment come chapters on the holy ordos, religions,
and life as a acolyte. All valuable information covering things such
as alter egos, contacts and variant skill uses. Very useful indeed.

The book then wraps up with a collection of equipment tables and the
before mentioned advertisement.

Overall I give this book 8 =I= out of 10 =I= .

And here is why.

This should be two books. End of story. There should be a player's
handbook and there should be a equipment guide. A few extra home
worlds could fill out a bit of the page count, more career path
options and background packages. 3 per career allow for 3 variant
backgrounds, when 5 is so much better. A few "generic" backgrounds
open to any career.

About the first 90 pages is home worlds and career modifications. The
next 80 or so pages is all equipment. Followed by about 70 pages of
rules, background and information on the inquisiton and then close to
10 pages of weapon tables. (not exact count)

That is enough varied information to be in three books, but im
willing ot mix the character creation and rule updates and background
into one 154 or so page book and the equipment into one 100 or so
page book. By incorporating the material from the core book
(equipment for the equipment book) these page numbers could easily
have been met and been worth thier purchase price. As it is now I own
a book that i feel is broken up and disrupted by this huge equipment
section that unbalances the feel of the book.

Im going to be buying a seoond copy here soon just to cut out the
binding and put in a 3 hole binder to make the material more easily
acceptable and arrange it as it belongs.

To some of you that may seem a minor detail but to me it is weing
heavily upon my purchase, where I want ease of access and the
smallest amount of disruption in the use of the books as possible.

And the lack of an index pisses me off to no end.

As with previous Dark Heresy material there are numerous editing
errors, especially between the table of contents and the proper pages
to find the chapters on as well as spelling and reference. But after
rereading some of my Unearthed Apocrypha, I learned I am not one to
judge in this area.

All in all 8 out of 10 =I=, a next to invaluable resource, I highly
recommend you get a copy ASAP.

Chris

I'm not saying don't buy the book, but I am going to say that it is perhaps one of the most mis-named books. Had it been referred to as the "Acolytes Handbook?" Well, then you would have known what you were getting.

Admittedly you could also have read the back of the book, but - dangnabbit - that's just not the point.

Kage

It's expensive but excellent.but seriously, it is for players rather than GM's. There are some magnificent weapons and packages in there for players that really help personalise your man, and create some great playing opportunities.

I'm very glad I bought my copy of the inquisitors handbook, one of my few complaints I had about it was that it was soft cover other than that It is a good players resource.

I loved it, though the vast amount of guns in it have done some questionable things to games I've been in. The career rank substitutions and background packages are excellent, though, and the stuff concerning contacts, expanded skills and the life of an acolyte at the back are even better.

I rate it: Indispensable

It is a great book, whatever its flaws, it will really add your your DH games.

You will not regret getting a copy of it. It provides good information on the background of the Calixis Sector, the alternate career ranks make the career path system almost work for me, the 4 new origins provide a nice diversity. I do think its gun heavy, but most of the equipment adds a little more info into the setting as well as giving stats.

I dont really care for the Sisters, I think they could have just been done as alternate career paths for cleric, and Im sure I will catch flack for that.

I find the Inquisitor's Handbook an interesting tome full of miscellaneous things that can be good for a campaign. But the book had to grow on me. Especially the pages and pages of equipment seemed a tad boring when I first read it ... gun upon gun whose only real difference was the factory who produced them. All in all, it is too much gear I think, though it's still usable for players who want to shop around. There is, mind you, also gear listed that is immediately interesting: for example the cyber-dog and the psyber-familiar and the cherubim.

The book's highlight are the alternative career options: you now have rules to play a Tyrantine shadow agent, a Moritat reaper assassin, a Maccebeus black priest. All these career alternatives are rooted strongly in the fluff of the Calixis Sector which give them a nice and suitable feel. You can also customize your character's background, make him a hiver from Gunmetal City or even a memory-wiped cleric. And much more.

And then there is some interesting stuff about saints and holy days and a rather redundant section on alter ego's.

All in all, get a copy!

Kage2020 said:

Thing is, it was called the Acolyte's Handbook. Or rather, the first half of it was.

It was actually announced as two seperate books - the Acolyte's Handbook, a 128 page book containing extra character options, and the Inquisitor's Armoury, a 128 page book containing weapons and tools and vehicles (the vehicle rules released online were originally planned to be part of the Inquisitor's Armoury).

At some point fairly early in the design process (before the playtest, at least) it was decided to merge them into a single 256 page book - the reasoning given, IIRC, being that any given player was likely to end up buying both, so they might as well put it all in one larger book (which works out cheaper for everyone - 2x 128-page books generally cost more than a single 256-page book, especially going by Black Industries' prices for WFRP books of that size at the time).

N0-1_H3r3 said:

I would have preferred this. And if FFG is listening, any reprints this style Ill buy LOL

Why all the hatred for the gun porn?

I was slavering while reading about the expensively awesome firearms available.most muskets are wastes of time though.

Locque said:

Dont hate Gun Porn. Some of the info in the guns sections was interesting, colourful and useful. I would just rather have the books stay as two. Its easier on the binding and makes it easier to find what you are looking for.

That of course is my opinion, and my preference.

Is the FFG version of this book (and Purge the Unclean) in "full color" unlike the GW versions?

Peacekeeper_b said:

No flak from me here, nothing but agreement. I think many aspect of the sytem could be handled as such but I think you nailed it in your review the SoB were/are basically fanservice.

Both books are very attractively illustrated in B/W

Locque said:

Because often all I see the Inquisitor's Handbook being used for is to tool up starting characters with some obscene weapon, often making a mockery of the martial challenges ahead. Great stuff for down the line, but the "availability doesn't matter" clause of buying starting equipment means it can cause havoc unless the GM puts his foot down ahead of time.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Actually, now that you mention it, I think that I recall this being discussed on the Black Industries forum. With that said, it still remains the Acolytes Handbook with a bit of a naming snaffoo, even if we are reminded of the reason for it...

Kage

Can some one clairfy if the FFG versions of Inquisitor's Handbook and Purge the Unclean are in color like the core book or are they still grey scale like the GW versions?

Various pieces of art in the FFG versions have been coloured (either returned to their original colours, or are black and white art that's been colourised), but otherwise they're identical in appearance.

Wheres the freaking index? navigating this book sux.

Perhaps a few more weeks before having been published had been well spent :-/

I have a hardcover version of the book. I guess that must have been when Fantasy Flight printed their edition.

I've got the hardcover edition as well, from FFG. It's a beautiful book, and came in very valuable for the campaign that I just started... ended up using 2 of the background packages to add a bit of depth to the pregenned characters I created for my players (none of them had read any of the DH books and decided it'd be easier for me to create the characters based on what they like than to spend a few days on character creation alone) and everyone's been having a blast so far.