Despite my best attempts to locate an answer to the following questions I have been unable to. So please bear with me if this has been asked before.

I recently started a new Rogue Trader game and one of my players is a dual-bolt-pistol-wielding Arch-Militant. She has a BS of 57, Weapon Master (Pistol), and Ambidextrous. She also aims to get the Two-Weapon Wielder talent at rank 2. They have begun to use burst-fire attacks and after reading the Two-Weapon Wielder talent, the burst fire actions, and the Two-Weapon Fighting section more than once my understanding is still fuzzy as to how these talents and action all interact.

I'm confused by the descriptions of Two-Weapon Wielder, Semi-auto Burst, and Two-Weapon Fighting. Two-Weapon Wielder states: "When armed with two weapons of the same type, he may spend a Full Action to attack with both [weapons]. Both tests made to attack with the weapons suffer a -20 penalty...." Meanwhile, Semi-auto Burst states: "If the character has a pistol in each hand, both capable of semi-automatic fire, he may fire both with this action...." In addition the Two-Weapon Fighting section makes no mention of whether or not Two-Weapon Wielder would be required to fire two bolt pistols in a semi-auto burst.

My questions are,

1. Is Two-Weapon Wielder required to fire two bolt pistols semi-auto at the same time?

2. If Two-Weapon Wielder is not required, what benefits does it garner as burst fire is generally considered to be better than single shots?

3. When firing two bolt pistols semi-auto, would our Arch-Militant make one BS test for both pistols, or one test for each?

4. If only one test is required, how do degrees of success interact as she is firing two pistols? Semi-Auto Burst grants 1 extra hit for each 2 degrees of success. Does this mean that she would need to get 6 degrees of success in order to hit with all 4 rounds fired?

Thanks for your help!

Kosem said:

1. No. Basically it breaks down like so: two weapons a single attack with each -20 mh -40 oh; resolve each hand's attack roll separate. Ambidextrous reduces penalties to -10 mh -30 oh.

2 Two-Weapon wielder talents simply reduce the penality for using the off-hand weapon by 20.

3. Resolve each hand's attack roll separately. Dual shot and dual strike are the only talents I can think of that combine the two attacks into a single roll and are very specific on how the attack is handled.

4. See 3.

See Two-Weapon fighting on 246 of the Core rulebook for more information on limitations.

It should be noted as well if the player wishes to wield a melee and range weapon together, and attack in the same round he must possess both two-weapon wielder melee and ballistic or be treated as having neither.

The section on "two weapon fighting" (RT core rulebook, p. 246) is pretty clear.

1. Yes, you need Two-Weapon Wielder to make two attacks in the same round. Making two attacks is always a full action, by the by.

2. Not applicable.

3. I think you need to make 2 different tests, one for each weapon. (Use of the Dual Shot talent is an exception.)

4. Not applicable.

Note that the character can choose to fire her pistols in different modes - i.e. she could fire one semi-auto and the other single shot. Or, she could choose to fire both semi-auto for maximum firepower.

Cheers,

- V.

Thanks for the clarification, must have been misreading something.