Wait... what? Shouldn't this be in the Black Crusade forum?

Nope.

I love "what if" stories on alternate universes where the bad guys are good and the good guys are evil. Thus it came to be that I discovered the Dornian Heresy take of WH40K and I quite enjoyed it. So that got me thinking, can these Chapters fit into Deathwatch? Which led to "If I put them into Deathwatch, would I be a heretic?" which then came to the inevitable conclusion of "If the Imperium allowed them to be re-founded, it wouldn't be heretical at all." And thus I came up with the idea of the Absolusion Founding. Where the 2 Lost Chapters return, marking a prophecy where all of the First Founding Chapters are born again to stand united against blah blah blah you get the picture.

So I researched the chapters history on the various wikis and merged them into their portrayal in the Dornian Heresy (mostly, kinda) to get what you see before you. Please let me know what works and what doesn't. And as always feedback is always welcome!

Emperor's Children: docs.google.com/viewer

Thousand Sons: docs.google.com/viewer

Word Bearers: docs.google.com/viewer

World Eaters: docs.google.com/viewer

Very cool idea! Love it

- Emperor's Children: I'd say that the Exceptional Quality gear may only be one that is permanently in the Marine's keeping, so whether it is a Signature Wargear or a Starting Gear...Just because I don't like the idea of "upgrading" for free. Seriously, though, it sounds much more thematic (it's HIS weapons that are in good shape, not those he req's from the Deathwatch Armoury).

The Solo Mode seems very powerful...I don't know, it's like adding +6 (easily) to any and all of his tests while in combat. Or maybe he needs to be in Solo Mode to benefit from it? It's not totally clear (I mean, with the distinction between passive and active Solo Modes, I'm a bit at a loss...), so it may only need that precision. I'd say that you can only use Intelligence or Agility bonus: WS and BS don't have a bonus per se , and adding WS bonus to a WS roll is like saying "if you're good, be better". I'd rather like something that helps those who need some boost, i.e. those who won't max their WS or BS. Plus it helps a lot of buddies anyway: an Assault will surely not have an Agility too low. The Dev and the Tac may be a bit at a loss here, but I don't see it as horrible.

Squad Mode Attack: is the attack a Free Action, or not? If so, is it a Single Attack or can you use Lightning Strike? Does it count towards the one attack/round limit?

I LOVE Phoenix Rising

Soulshield: is it only defensive or does it help with offensive Opposed Willpower tests? I'd say yes, in which case it's very powerful, but hey, it costs a Half action each turn

Whithering Presence seems too powerful, I'd make it an Opposed Willpower test to take a Full Action, Half if lost. If not, it makes you utterly win.

- Thousand Sons: seems strange. First, I don't like the fact that half of the mutations are a bonus and half are a malus. That's somethin I see as bad design, since the table doesn't really have a goal because of that...Are mutations a drawback? (and they should) Plus, you've got that mutation where you are hideous: but if the TS never show their faces, how could it matter? Maybe you can say it alters the brain, like the perception of others.

About Psy Rating: if I understand well, they can take it once at each Rank where it's available, right? So that makes for a PR of 5 maximum? Doesn't sound that impressive, compared to the Librarians out there. And I just thought it would be much cooler to have them available at even ranks, because then you gain new powers at odd ranks, but gain PR at even ranks, which sounds more interesting (having a "smooth" progression instead of gaing more power at odd ranks, and nothing comparable at even ones).

Squad Mode Attack: sounds too powerful, unless if "an Attack" is a Single attack, which makes sense.

Squad Mode Defence: didn't really understand. As long as it is sustained (that is, as long as you wish), you don't take damage, you just "store" them? Is it really that useful?

Curse of the Primarch: I'd add that he gets a bonus in PR when using Psy Powers for the 3rd level of the Curse. You know, so that he has lots of drawbacks, but could become really powerful.

Pavoni power "Will of Flesh and Muscle": making it sustainable sounds a bit sad, as it needs a Full Action move to be usefull So whether it works on a Half and a Full Move, or not sustainable, bith sound OK, the former being a bit more powerful, nothing crazy here though.

Pavoni power "Hardened Skin": "the marine gains additional AP equal to his AP" <=== should be "equal to his PR", I suppose? Cool power, nonetheless

Pavoni power "Stabilize": seems "too easy". The "resurrected" Brother should gain some Corruption Points at least...Maybe even a minor mutation?

Pyrae power "Firebomb": up the damage a bit maybe? Sounds a bit weak as is.

Raptora power "Psychic Boost": maybe allow to do it on contact? So that he may improve his Battle-Brothers' range? And add a duration to the effect (or make it Sustained, which I would personally do).

Raptora power "Soar": same here, add a duration or Sustained (more inclined to have a duration because it would be quite useless to sustain).

- World Bearers: +2 Fate Points? Maybe just one, no?

Sanctified Tabard: effect missing

Solo Mode: requires to be in Solo Mode, I guess? Tremendously powerful, though.

- World eaters: there is a little problem wit the Demeanor (you say they place their lives above that of an innocent civilian's, when it seems clear it's the other way round).

But really, genius work here Love it.

Thanks for the feedback Stormast!

Emperor's Children

-I like your reasoning, so I've made the change to the Execptional Quality bit

-I wasn't too pleased with how I came out with that Solo ability, I think your suggestion made it a lot more manageable. And yeah, he has to be in solo mode to take advantage of those bonuses.

-Tidied up the wording on the Squad Mode Attack

-Cleaned up the wording on the Psychic Talents too, please let me know if that clears things up slightly.

Thousand Sons - I knew that this Chapter would have the most things to fix

-Half of the mutation options may be bonuses, but the chances of actually getting a bonus is 1 in 4, and the bonuses themselves aren't really that big in the long run. I'm content with them for now to see what others may think of them, although I did re-write that one you mentioned to be a little scarier...

-I agree the psy rating isn't as good as a librarian's, but that's ok with me because the Librarian is supposed to be about the psy rating. I don't want to have a Thousand Sons character be a Librarian and an Assault Marine. Those consequences are too scary for me to think of. Though I did boost the overall PR to 6 after purchases, which I think should play out all right. Also changed around when a player can get more psychic powers.

-I had meant "single" attack. So I actually added that word in there this time

-I don't view the damage as "stored", just delayed until the Battle-Brother gets a couple more swings in with his weapon before realiseg precisely what the Ork with the giant axe actually did to him. I don't think it's one of those Squad Mode abilities that would be used on a constant basis, just be around when the GM pulls out a Greater Daemon of Khorne and you may need the Apothecary's attention sooner than you thought.

-I like the cut of your gib, bonus to PR when horribly corrupt is added

-Various Psychic Powers cleaned up.

Word Bearers

-I went with 2 Fate Points because most of their abilities require them to spend Fate Points, I'll try with 1 though for the time being and see how it plays out.

-Changed the Solo Mode ability instead to saving a burnt fate point on a very rare occasion, which should allow for the awesomeness I was envisioning without the overpowerness

-Added the ability of the Sanctified Tabbard, must've been out of it when I was proof reading.

World Eaters

The Primarch's Curse represents a spiral into violence and not caring who gets hurt, which goes against all their sacred oaths to defend the innocent. I added a paragraph or two on the Blood Haze which may clear things up slightly.

I'm not sure it's genius work, just the work of an idle mind with too much time and imagination to play with. I'm actually very surprised no one's come up with this type of idea before. I browsed through Bolter and Chainsword as well as DakkaDakka and a couple other smaller WH40K sites, and no one that I could find has asked the question "What if all 20 First Founding Chapters were around now?" So I'm tackling the issue; Deathwatch style.

Very nice, very complete. I have to spend more time going over these, but yeah, definitely saw the work you put into this.

One comment about the world eaters vs blood angels regading starting skills...

Apparently Blood Angels are as much focussed on Melee combat as World Eaters, IMO they should have comparable talents... Your list is nice and perhaps it's the BA one that is OP but I think you should include a bit more melee talents on your list... IMO Frenzy + Charge + Frenzied parry are almost mandatory.

I'd remove command as well... perhaps sprint ?

Isidro

I agree that they and the Blood Angels are both into melee, but IMO it's the way they approach combat that is different. Blood Angels seem to thrive of melee combat and lose themseves to it.

The World Eaters on the other hand keep their heads at all times while in combat, and fight with a more logical and practiced style than the Blood Angels, hence why I chose the Talents I did. Although as the Blood Haze sets in, I could see frenzy becoming viable... I will ponder.

Also I gave them command because I wasn't sure what other skills would suit their nature. Perhaps Tactics?

Mkall said:

They were a legion of adrenaline-fuelled berserkers who had undergone illegal brain surgery to increase their innate aggression, led by a Primarch who could give the Incredible Hulk lessons in rage-induced rampages. I really don't think "keep their heads at all times while in combat" is an appropriate description of them.

The World Eaters and the Blood Angels are very similar in the way they fight... the Blood Angels tended to try and restrain themselves from going too crazy, and tempered their ferocity with discipline, while the World Eaters embraced their fury.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Indeed they were blood-crazed slaughter-mad fanatics, but not in their "new" form that I've depicted them as. Perhaps I need to rewrite their fluff if there's confusion.

Mkall said:

Fair enough - it wasn't clear that you were doing such divergent alternate versions of them.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

If I didn't, they would've fallen right back to Chaos, and that's something the Imperium of Man cannot tolerate

Good stuff, will not play it but like the idea.

Just one point... The Thousand sons can not be rebuild from their geneseed because they are taint by tzeentch. Cursed from the started the chapter had been almost lost in is early day, SM changing form so fast that their body could not endure the pain and the damage done with one result death, and only a bargain beetwen Magnus and Tzeentch save the legion. only if you take into account the book Thousand sons.

If not the idea is good but I can't help but feel strangely wrong the new fondation of a chapter of psyker SM...