This is my attempt to offer players interesting ways to expand their character’s skillbase in a way which is true to the setting of Dark Heresy, without breaking the careers advancement system. Hope it's useful!

Elite Advance skill packages

Elite Advance skill packages are an alternative method of advancing your character’s development. They are an expansion of the Elite Advances rules on page 229 of the DH rulebook.

Unlike alternate career ranks, as featured from page 52-85 of the Inquisitor’s handbook, they do not require a player to “swap” ranks for any alternate progression in a different career. Instead they offer a system for enabling players to purchase skills from a specific, discrete skills set they would not otherwise have had access to under their career.

However, there is a trade off for this: the skills are more expensive in terms of XP to learn than they would otherwise have been, and there may be restrictions on the order in which they can be learned. Additionally, being able to learn these skills is dependent upon finding a suitable teacher, roleplaying out interaction with the teacher and meeting whatever demands the teacher has for instructing players in these skills.

Each elite advance skill package will contain a varying number of skills. Each skill which can be taught will set out an xp cost. A player can only spend up to one third of all xp awarded at any one point on an elite advance skill package: the remaining two thirds awarded at any point must be spent on normal advancement along the career path.

Xp spent on elite advance skill packages do not count towards the total number of xp required to advance a character along a rank for the purposes of their career.

Example: Javid the Imperial Guardsman decides to train under the wing of an expert Glavian sky-pilot in the hope of advancing his Inquisitorial career. Javid finds a tutor, pays his fees and is able to begin learning advanced flying skills from the Glavian.

Javid then completes an adventure, and gains 600xp. He is now able to spend up to one third of this (200xp) on the Glavian-trained flyer advanced skills chart, and chooses to do so. He spends the remaining 400xp awarded on advancing his normal Imperial Guardsman career. He is counted as only having spent 400xp in total for the purposes of his advancement along the Guardsman career.

Learning some skills can be a complex process. Certain skills and talents are damaging to the mind, the body, or even the soul. Occasionally there will be additional costs for learning these skills, which are set out on the individual elite advance skill table

Set out below are a number of sample elite advance skill packages.

Glavian Trained Flyer

There are certain planets in the Imperium where the use of airborne vehicles, flyers and skimmers offers more than just tactical advantage or convenience. For the inhabitants of these Imperial worlds, being a skilled aviator is more than just a luxury: it is an absolute necessity and a way of life.
Many classic examples exist: the surface of the planet Phantine is so extremely polluted that travel between the mountaintop cities demands the use of flyers: unusually the world actually inducts PDF flyer units directly into the Imperial Guard rather than the Imperial Navy. The planet Achaean, which falls within the domain of the realm of Ultramar, is famous for its strong martial culture and the tendency for its children to compete fiercely for the right to enter the Imperial Navy’s fighter wings. On the gas giant Turana, in the Segmentum Pacificus, the absence of any ground at all forces human colonists to utilise flyers to herd sky-manatees simply to survive: the list goes on .

These planets, by virtue of their unusual topography or culture, tend to produce unusually skilled pilots. These aviators are in constant demand throughout settled space both as pilots and instructors.

A prime example of such a race of skilled flyers relatively local to the Calixis Sector are the Glavians. These dashing sky-pirates hail from a world where children are taught to fly an aircraft before they can even walk. Indeed, it is common for a newborn to have his hands placed on the stick of the family skycutter before he has even had his first feed.

The skills of a Glavian are legendary, and many have learned to trade on this reputation. Some are inducted directly into the Inquisition as guncutter pilots, others join the Imperial Navy and become famous aces and squadron leaders.

The cannier and greedier Glavians set up flying schools. They locate a civilised, pleasant Imperial world, travel there and set out their skills to the locals, offering flight training at an exorbitant cost. For those wealthy and dedicated enough, they find the finest teaching in the arts of dogfighting, navigation and air acrobatics available anywhere outside of the Imperial Naval flight schools.

Glavian-trained flyer elite advance skills package
Skill/talent Xp cost special
Pilot (Civilian aircraft) 150
Navigate (Surface) 150 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Tech use 150 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Trade (civilian pilot) 150 The player receives a pilot’s licence good for the world the school is on
Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Pilot (Civilian aircraft) +10 150 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Pilot (military craft) 200 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Navigation (stellar) 200 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Pilot (spacecraft) 200 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Pilot (military craft) +10 200 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Pilot (civilian aircraft) +20 200 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Pilot (spacecraft) +10 200 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Pilot (military craft) +20 200 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Pilot (spacecraft) +20 200 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Talent: Good reputation (pilots) 200 Must have all the skills set out above this one before this can be taken
Talent: Good reputation (Glavians) 200 Must have all the skills and talents set out above before taking this
Tech use +10 200 Must have all skills and talents set out above before taking this

Getting a Glavian teacher:
Glavians are a cheerful, open and freewheeling people, and they are relatively common throughout the Calixis Sector. There are Glavian flight schools on Scintilla, Malfi, Hredrin, Alactra, Merov and Grove’s Fall. They are happy to provide students with training aircraft, airstrips, the necessary paperwork and indeed everything except bed and board for the duration of their training. They are happy to teach students at their own pace, and are used to students “dropping out” for years at a time, only to reappear and expect further training.

However, whilst finding a Glavian flight school isn’t hard, affording them is another matter. Glavians know that they are the best, and expect to be paid as if they’re the best. Glavians charge 1000 thrones to teach each skill and talent on the chart above, and expect to be paid in advance.

Xeno Baccalaureus Hetaireia: Academic qualifications in forbidden topics

The Hetaireia Lexis is one of the most respected and prestigious teaching institutions in the entire Calixis Sector. Formed by Lord Sector Caracella over 600 years ago, it offers training courses in highly morally questionable topics such as Xeno studies, Theology and Comparative Historical Heresies. The Inquisition monitors the various institutions which operate under the ambit of the Hetaireia Lexis very carefully indeed, and many Inquisitors are actively looking for excuses to shut the entire institution down and burn its staff at the stake.

However, other Inquisitors, particularly those inclined to take the longer view, regard it as a useful sounding board for alternative views on the nature of humanity’s enemies. Many acolytes are encouraged to study there in order to increase the store of knowledge available to the Inquisitor, and indeed some Inquisitors themselves have been known to take courses.

There are three levels of degree offered at the Hetaireia Lexis: an undergraduate’s degree, a master’s degree and a doctorate. The most widely known and respected is the Xeno Baccalaureus Hetaireia, (which in game terms provides the character with the Forbidden Lore (Xenos) skill,) but the facility also offers training in Comparative Historical Heresies (Forbidden Lore: Heresy) Imperial Theology (Forbidden Lore: Cults), Archaology under the infamous Professor Zandiana Hijonezz (Forbidden Lore: Archaotech) and Human supraevolutionary studies (Forbidden Lore: Mutants). The facility does NOT offer courses on subjects like the Black Library, Daemonology, the Inquisition, the Imperial Ordos, the Adeptus Mechanicus, Psykers or the Warp.

Undergraduate Degree in forbidden studies elite advance skills package
Skill/Talent xp special
Forbidden Lore: (any from the above list) 200 See below for entry requirements.
Scholastic Lore: (choose any which complements the forbidden Lore selected) 150
Ciphers (secret society – Hetaireia) 100

Inquisitorial sanction must be sought to commence one of these courses, and each prospective student is interviewed by an Inquisitor or one of his acolytes: note that this will not be the player’s Master. This difficult interview must be roleplayed: the Inquisitor will want to know precisely why the player wants to study this forbidden topic, and whether they have the moral strength to be allowed to live with the knowledge they will learn.

Courses are expensive and time consuming. An undergraduate degree costs a standard 15,000 thrones and takes three years of solid, full time study to complete. Thus acolytes will be out of action studying for a while!

Master’s Degree in forbidden studies elite advance skills package
Skill/Talent xp special
Forbidden Lore: (same as the undergraduate degree) +10 200 See below for entry requirements.

Must have also completed undergraduate degree package in full.)
Scholastic Lore: (same as the undergraduate degree) +10 150

In order to enroll on this course, the player must pass another gruelling interview, with a different Inquisitor who will feign ignorance of the findings of the first Inquisitor. The player must pay 5,000 thrones to his tutors. A Master’s degree is also time consuming, but the player has more control over when he studies for it. He is required to spend roughly 6 months attending various courses, and during this time he must write a thesis. The player must, at the end of this period, take a single unmodified intelligence test for each skill he wishes to gain from the chart above. If he passes, he can pay the xp and gain the skill. If he fails, he must pay another 500 thrones and resubmit the thesis in 1 month’s time. However, the xp is not lost. The player can try again as many times as he likes.

Doctorate Degree in forbidden studies elite advance skills package
Skill/Talent xp special
Forbidden Lore: (same as the undergraduate degree) +20 200 See below for entry requirements.

Must have also completed the masters degree package in full.)
Scholastic Lore: (same as the undergraduate degree) +20 150
Trade: lecturer in forbidden studies 100

In order to obtain the skills set out above, the player must pay the facility 5,000 thrones and then spend three years writing a highly detailed thesis. For each year, the player must make an intelligence test, again unmodified. If he fails any test, he must start again, and the time spent on the thesis so far is wasted. He can take as long as he likes.

Once the thesis is complete, he must present it to a panel of three Inquisitors by reading the entire thesis aloud. If the majority of the Inquisitors present regard the thesis as heretical, it will be nailed to the student’s face, and both it and he will be burned at the stake. This encounter must be roleplayed.

Malfian shadowguild trained safecracker elite advance skills package

The planet Malfi is a world not only of Byzantine courtly intrigue, but of grinding poverty . Many seek to rise above the seething hive underbellies, but scope for social advancement is limited. Thus, the poor often turn to crime.

Over the centuries, many criminal fraternities have come and gone, but one in particular has proven to have the staying power to talk on equal terms with the great noble houses: the Malfian shadow guild.

This loose collective is unusual for it consists of resolutely non-violent criminals who use their skills only to steal. In the twisted morality of the Malfian underhives, this commitment to non-violence is regarded as the work of holy fools, and the guild is both respected and pitied at once. However, its members are undeniably skilled, and it is said that no security system is beyond their power to crack open. Indeed, such is the strength of their reputation for contravening tech-security, that an Adeptus Mechanicus kill-team was sent in to find the guild and break it up. This was a complete failure, as the guild simply melted away and waited for the techpriests to lose interest.

For those who want to learn how to burn through a five foot thick steel vault without damaging the priceless ancient parchments held within, the shadow guild is the only logical choice. The guild has a deep and abiding respect for the ecclesiarchy and the teachings of the God-Emperor, and has been known to assist His agents in time of darkest need by teaching them the skills required….

Malfian shadowguild trained safecracker elite advance skills package
Skill/Talent xp special
Demolition 200
Demolition +10 250 Must have demolition skill
Demolition +20 200 Must have demolition +10
Security 200
Security +10 250 Must have security skill
Security +20 200 Must have security +10

Finding a shadowguild member willing to tutor a student is a small adventure in itself. The Shadowguild are hard to find, and GMs must be prepared to put the work into creating a short chronicle for giving players a chance to find a tutor. The players will have to put some real police-style legwork into it, using Inquiry skills, Talents like Peer(Underworld) etc. The guild’s love for supporting ecclesiarchical charity work is well known, however, and smart players will work on this angle by approaching the guild through local clerical contacts.

The guild will not necessarily expect payment for this training, but it will expect the players to provide the equipment. They will also expect some sort of favour from the players, thought the precise details should be left to the GM.

Most intersting rules and well constructed fluff - nice work - will be nicking and perhaps using.

Sort of things that is needed I feel