The Arcane weapon modification in RoB seems absurdly abuseable. It allows you to add one weapon quality to your weapon for 15 requisition. But if you consider it, there are some very silly things you can do.

- twin linked lascannon

-storm heavy bolter

-concussive [anything with a high RoF]

Sure, common sense should rule, but this seems like a particularly abuseable option...

Huuuum, concussive should only apply to Melee weapons, doesn't it?

As for the storm Heavy Bolter...Yeah, that's silly. And there's nothing to prevent that from happening?

(I'm at work so I don't have RoB right now, will see to that later)

The problem is, storm heavy bolter actually makes a crazy kinda sense...it's just OP. Sure, concussive only works with melee weapons...oops...but there're plenty of OP combinations that are 'legal' .

It's something that jumped right off the page to me and screamed 'Munchkin alert. Do not allow players to take!'

It's open to massive abuse, and I'd feel completely justified in just saying 'no' to pretty much anything suggested. If players want fancy guns, there are plenty of Relics to choose from. Always remember that as GM, your word is final, especially in the case of very clearly broken rules.

Where in RoB is this Arcane weapon modification? I cannot find it!

Siranui said:

I think a limited list would be fine, but it seems poorly thought out and easily loopholed.

Got it under Inquisitorial Assests. If I get this right the KT can requisition a modified weapon out of the Inquisition arsenal, but do the Inquisition uses Astartes Weapons (DK cross the border)? And even if they have some Astartes Weapons I would rule the player has to pay the Req for the weapon and the modification. So a Storm-augmented HB ( this would really be 2 linked HB so it should be heavier than a normal HB) would cost 35 Req. I know the rules only mention the cost for the modification, but this is illogical, because this is a new weapon and not the old the SM already got.

The GM should have the last call on what is possible, a Sanctified Chainsword or a Razor Sharp Lightning Claw should be possible, a Scatter Bolter wouldn't work. Relics can't be modified because they are unique.

That depends on perspective.

*pulls out his pipe and warms his arthritic bones by the fire*

Years ago, everyone seemed to understand rules to be suggestions. There was whacky stuff buried in every rulebook for every game that you could bend over your knee and break the campaign with. Typically it was buried three quarters of the way through a rulebook as ad hoc cool off-the-cuff ideas. Or in the appendix, in the case of the 'overbearing' and 'psionics' rules...

And then came 3.x, and suddenly there was this thing called RAW, and if the rules said you could do it, you could beat your GM to death with it. Roleplaying became a required pass-time for future contract lawyers.

Indie games still hold to the old standards and are flawed, but we still love 'em. Everyone seems to understand that and cut them some slack.

Deathwatch was blessed with a budget for glossy pages and *gasp* colour artwork. And it seems to be being held to the same boilerplate standards as a top tier game such as 4.0 because of it, despite being still quite Indie in its rule style: You can bend it, and you can break it, and you need a sensible GM to smack abusive players with a copy of the rules and rub their noses in the mess they tried to make. Arcane weapons seem to be something that was written in with the old 'yeah, here's a suggestion for the GM to think about' kinda way, without real thought for consequence, and without any disclaimer.

fleshbearer said:

well the concussion grenades and missiles have concussive so it's not just melee. I actualy think that one makes more sense on something other than melee, as long as it's something that makes a big boom. if it weren't one of the most broken special ability to add to something I could come up with a few nice ways to use it.