Salamander Chapter rules

By TempestBlade, in Deathwatch House Rules

Of my own creation, trying to replicate the style and tone of the greyed boxes in each of the Chapter sections of the rulebook. Haven't tested them yet, but wanted to share for feedback (and so other people could play as this awesome Chapter).


Salamander Characters

The Space Marines of the Salamander Chapter are close ranged fire fighters who rely on power, courage and flame.
Salamanders gain the following benefits: +5 Ballistic Skill, +5 Will Power, +5 Fellowship, -5 Agility and the Face of a Daemon, Heart of an Angel Solo Mode ability. They also gain the Skill Trade:Armourer.


Warrior Artisan

Warrior Artisan is a Demeanour unique to Space Marines from the Salamander Chapter.
Salamanders are a self- reliant, self-sacrificing and loyal Chapter. They are as dependable as a storm shield and as devastating as a thunder hammer. They favour the heat of flamers and meltas, incinerating their foes in an inferno of punishment.

All Salamanders are taught the art of smithing, allowing them an autonomy with their arms that few Space Marines outside Techmarines enjoy. To a Salamander his weapons are as himself; powerful , impressive, deadly, and constantly being improved and refined. The Salamanders see it as a point of pride to defeat a foe with a weapon they have forged or to be protected by a suit of armour they have enhanced. For the Salamanders the greatest gift that can be given is one made by the hands of the giver. Thus are the ties of brotherhood strong within the Salamander Chapter between those Battle Brothers who have exchanged weapons, armour or other finely crafted tokens.

The Salamanders have slower reaction speeds than other Adeptus Astartes Chapters. However many attributed the literally grounding force of the gravity of their home planet as one of the reasons for their Chapter’s great humility. While many Space Marines can be guilty of an arrogance that comes with their ability, sometimes turning to disdain towards "lesser beings" or even Marines from another Chapter, the Salamanders know that this is a foolish path. They maintain close links with the populace of Nocturne, their home planet, actually living amongst the people from who they draw their future recruits. This means that potential Space Marines are noted from birth and so only those who have led the finest of lives and lived up to the highest standards will be able to join the Angels of Death.

The blackened skin and red eyes of the Salamanders give them a daemonic appearance, yet this could not be further from their absolute loyalty to the Emperor and the Imperium. While every Salamander is trained to operate alone if necessary, they all appreciate that it is only through togetherness as a Chapter, as Space Marines, and as an Imperium, that victory over the many foes humanity faces can be achieved.

Face of a Daemon, Heart of an Angel (Salamanders)
Required Rank: 1

Effects: Salamanders have a ferocious appearance that has ended many potential rebellions without even firing a shot. While this can attract negative attention occasionally, the Salamander’s put it to powerful use both on and off the battlefield. When used in combat, the ability requires a half-action and an opposed Intimidation Check vs. Target’s Will Power. Each degree of success for the Salamander gives him a 1 degree of Fear (to a maximum of the Salamander’s Rank). When used in Interaction, the power allows a re-roll on any Intimidation checks. Both of these abilities require the Salamander to have removed his helmet.

Let me know what you think

You seem to have a lot of "+5's" and bennefits with out many limits. Is "Face of a demon" something you created? Ihavent played the Salamanders in the TT setting but I have never heard that there visage is too demonic other than being red eyed and black skinned.

There is fluff in the current TT Space Marine Codex stating that the Salamanders' appearance "has intimidated more than one rebellion into submission without firing a shot".

I ended up making rules for Salamanders mostly using the Rites of Battle template with a little modification. I went with +5 Toughness and +5 Willpower to represent their resilience, stubborn nature and determination to fight until the last man standing.

I used the Solo mode from RoB that gives a bonus to all tests using a single characteristic (Rank 1 re-rolls failed tests). In this case i went with Strength, as Salamanders tend to have a slightly stronger and more muscled physique than the average Marine, but not significant enough to warrant an actual Strength increased.

At the same time, they are also slightly slower reactions than most other Space Marines (but noted to still be significantly faster than normal humans). To me, a -5 Agility penalty is too much to represent this, as then most starting marines would be at near Guardsman agility. Instead, I went with a -10 penalty to all Dodge, Acrobatic, Pilot(Personal), and Drive(Skimmer) tests, to additionally represent the chapters inability to properly train with fast attack units.

Finally, to round out these heavy negative modifiers, I gave them Resistance(Heat), Trade(Armourer), and allowed them to take any Craftsmanship Upgrades regardless of the upgrade's renown requirements, but only for any of their personal Signature Wargear items (they still need to pay the associated requisition cost for the upgrade). This is only useful early on when the character has yet to acquire renown, but it is nice and fluffy as it shows how even a Salamander who has been freshly inducted into the Deathwatch will still make modifications and upgrades to their own personal equipment.

The Face of a Daemon... solo mode is kind of interesting, but I ended up just going with the "Behold Our Wrath" chapter advance table from RoB, as it has Intimidation up to +30, along with stuff like Iron Jaw and Duty Unto Death to further represent the Salamanders unwillingness to give up in the face of adversity.