Hello, I have a question concerning the Deathwatch Keeper Advanced Specialty. According to the fluff text Keepers ritually unlock their Clavis and leave it in the care of a Forge Master whenever they go on a mission. According to the rules section they get a power weapon and a Clavis as standard issue wargear. What is it now? Only having access to the Clavis while on Erioch or a Deathwatch vessel would limit the specialty a lot. On the other hand it's understandable if the Deathwatch wants to keep those relics safe.

They're issued it as wargear... it's just they can't take it off of Erioch. There's certainly enough to keep the Keeper good as a class without needing to be equipped with a skeleton key for pretty much everywhere.

Kind of a bit of a relief, as it's the kind of kit that GMs need to be 'on alert' for, as it could be plot-breaking if not first considered.

Having a keeper in the party makes the team an obvious shoe-in for going and getting stuff out when the Omega Vault opens.

I'll admit, it does kinda suck having to leave it behind at the fortress while you're on your adventures. But it makes sense, because the Deathwatch wouldn't want to risk their 'secret decoder rings' falling in to the wrong hands.

Plus you can still include it in the occasional mission. Maybe there's a Watch Station that has something special about it, that requires them to bring their Clavis?

Well, calling something you can't take into battle "wargear" kind of disagrees with me. That's similar to calling the chapel of the Chaplain wargear. It surely boosts willpower, but you can't take it with you.

Also I don't really understand why the clavi (clavix, clavisses?) are multi-purpose keys for all human technology if you can't take them anywhere beside the facilities of your organization. There are a lot of missions I could imagine where a clavis would be more than helpful (anything that involves space hulks, investigations in imperial space etc.) and more than enough where it would be completely useless. (Anything where you mainly have to deal with alien technology).

Personally I think it would be best to decide on a case-to-case basis where the possible rewards outweigh the risks of losing it (I guess the main problem would be to lose one of a limited supply of safe keys, they seem to be guarded against abuse because you need a Deathwatch Forge Master to reactivate them after it was separated from the Keeper). However I wouldn't call that "standard issue". That would make it rather something that you have while on Erioch and that can be requisitioned by a specialist (the Keeper) for missions.

I mean, I could certainly see it being allowed for certain missions. Space Hulk is probably the best example: firstly, the fact of the matter is the Kill Team may not even be able to get into certain ultra-high security areas without it. And secondly, the enemies you will likely face there (Warp Beasts, Daemons, Mutant Horrors, what have you) are not likely intelligent enough to make use of such an item even if it were lost, so it could possibly be retrieved.

GM fiat always overrules everything else. I agree it's kind of silly to list it as wargear and then say you have to keep it at home, it would make more sense as an addendum that "the Keeper may, during special missions, be given a Clavis to aid the Kill Team."