Hello, this is a question from a friend of mine who's in a Deathwatch game at his university and a Dark Heresy game I'm GMing over the summer. he question he has is: "What should be the starting Ballistic Skill for a Space Marine?".

He's noticed that some of the starting character classes within DH can end up with an equal BS to some of the Space Marine characters generated in the Deathwatch game and was curious in case they had missed a bonus somewhere in their Deathwatch character gen.

Any thoughts/answers appreciated.

2d10+30 should be the standard characteristic, plus potential bonuses from chapter.

It is not impossible for a dark angels devastator to be created with 60 BS (max 50 +5 for DA +5 for simple BS advance)

I think something to remember is that a dark heresy character with equal bs will still be horrendously outmatched by the sheer power of space marine weapons, not to mention the (generally) greater number of fate points, squad modes, demeanors, 20 odd wounds, 8 odd toughness, 8/10 armour at character creation, dodge trained at character creation, darksight, the list goes on and on

Dark Heresy characters typically have around a 30 something for BS since they have 20 +2d10 for their stats generally speaking. Some starting packages may modify that like those hivers from Gunmetal City who get +5BS. However Space Marines get 30+2d10 for thier stats. Thats 10 points higher on average than any DH character. Dak Angels and Ultramarines can get an additional +5 to also. As a rule its pretty easy for Space Marines to have better everything than a DH character. They are even smarter on average. if a DH character gets 2 10's on his stat roll then yes he may have a 40 with a potential 50 if he is from Gun Metal City and buys a +5 to his BS with his starting xp. By the same token a Dark Angel Devastator can have a 60 BS by using starting xp and a similalry good roll.

Well, first, as people said, the Marine will still have a +10 when we talk about starting BS.

On the other end of the scale, however, you may find that Ascension-level characters could equalize that. It's to be expected, since they reach the XP range of a Marine. And the Marine will still have a crazy Toughness and Strength, whereas someone who is dead set on BS in DH will surely not have upped that.

Bear in mind that Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader characters are *not* typical humans. At the very least, they are people with potential. At higher levels, they are the amongst the very best mortal humanity has to offer. It's completely plausible that elite mortals could match or beat space marines in specific areas of combat, at least for a time. Temple assassins have insane levels of augmentation and training. Older tech-magi are barely human with their amounts of bionics.

Decessor said:

An especially gifted Inquisitorial Acolyte can be better at shooting than an Astartes who rather prefers close combat. And that's okay.

Alex