One of my Players wants a Storm Shield. The current Profit Factor their sporting now means he probably won't get one anytime soon but would still like to know if they're available (which I assume since this is Rogue Trader they are... for the right price/favors).

So I've scoured the Core and supplements but can't seem to find it or an appropriate facsimile to tinker with mechanically. I know there is an Astartes Storm Shield in Deathwatch. I don't know if there's a Storm Shield somewhere in Dark Heresy. So I'm looking for some help here.

Is there a Storm Shield out there that isn't Astartes? If no, should I tone down the Astartes or just port it over? Should I give it the same Rarity as Power Armor or increase it?

I've read a bit about the 40k universe thanks to the Eisenhorn novels but I don't have years under my belt with the universe like some others do so all assistance is appreciated!

Many thanks,

A New Rogue Trader GM.

Stormshields are Astartes kit; they're not generally issued to other people. If you wanted to make something similar available, you could borrow the rules for it from Deathwatch but maybe reduce the Field Rating to represent it being a lesser version. Alternatively, they do some favours for the Astartes/loot their corpses.

If you want a shield that's designed for normal humans and not Astartes, you have a few other options. There's the Arbites Suppression Shield in Into the Storm, and there's also the Praesidium Protectiva from Blood of Martyrs. There are a few other shields as well, but they follow the rules for cover so although they can block damage they do degrade when they take damage.

Many thanks, I shall suggest these to him and thanks for the clarity on the Stormshield being Astartes only!

Well the Stormshield is just a shield with a forcefield right? So have him buy/earn the two pieces then curry favour from the Mechanicus to craft him a custom made piece of gear. As a nice touch, make it a family crest-bearing shield from the time of his father's great grandfather's grandfathers.

Its only Astartes if its in your fluff (I think i should put that into my sig now).

He can still get a normal Energy shield, which gives the effect of a conversion field, while being mounted in a shield.

Bombardement cannons were Astartes only once. Heck pretty much every Astartes only weapon exists in RT anyway. You can simply extrapolate from there. The DW book simply upgrades everything to nerdrage marines then.

Yeah, the easy way would be to treat it as a combination nonprimitive Combat Shield (+3AP to body and arm, Defensive weapon) and Refractor Field (protection rating 30).

Off the top of my head that would make it an item with a -5 Acquisition Modifier: +30 for single Scale, -30 for the Refractor Field being Extremely Rare, and -5 for an item with two components. It would benefit from being better Craftsmanship, of course, for an extra -10 or -30 to the modifier.

Uhh just a spanner.

The true storm shield has a rating 70 (66) shield installed. But there is a normal human version with a rating 50 shield possible. There is also a combat shield which does not prevent any weapons being held, but only has a rating 17ish shield installed (yeah beyond crappy).

Dont make it worse than buying separate items.

For a true Storm, shield id request mroe than a simple roll though.

Ehm, as far as I know there are storm shields for normal humans, at least in the tabletop. Don't the crusaders in the inquisitorial henchmen squads use them?

Mjoellnir said:

Yes what i keep trying to bring up.

Saves on a 4+ or a shield with a rating of 50.

Voronesh said:

I was under the impression that that was the version from the 3rd edition inquisition codices (which was that way for Astartes too). Doesn't the one in the new Codex Grey Knights save on a 3+?

It depends.

Normal human from Codex Witch Hunters saved on a 4+ against everything. Space Marine storm shields work on a 3+. AFAIK though, coudltn find a non marine shield in Grey knights yet. But i am mainly playing WW2 wargames now.

But the Codex is fun enough. Power armour/Artificer armour/Terminator armour all for normal humans without a black carapace. So yeah, maybe they dont dodge as well, but they certainlky carry exactly the same armour as Space Marines. (Some strange MIU maybe?)

The archeotech shield from ITS is rather similar (but not exactly).

Or you could make a archeotech shield + supression shield combo as some one else mentioned. And crusaders use suppression shields.