Chalice-class Cruiser

By vastrix, in Rogue Trader House Rules

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This is the first ship from the Brotherhood of the Silver Chalice. Now while Battlefleet Drakis has grown beyond just the core elements of what was the Brotherhood, it remains to be a force within a force. The Brotherhood is a pre-Great Crusade force that fought against a powerful Chaos sorcerer and his army across the span of centuries. When the Great Crusade came, it was at the discovery by the Thousand Sons. It was this ancient space marine legion that found many of the worlds in what was to become the Anubis Sector held psykers or mutants with unique powers to be found no where else. While a few were discovered and tested by the Emperor himself, a few races were hidden away by the Thousand Sons so that they could learn from their abilities. At the defeat of the Chaos sorcerer by Magnus the Red, two of the sorcerers top champions were sealed away by blood rituals cast by the Thousand Sons. Rituals that call for Thousand Son blood to be sacrificed even to today...there are Thousand Sons known to be hidden in the Drakis Sector (its new name after the Horus Heresy was finished) and those without. Those Thousand Sons who have turned from the light are known as Sons of the Daemons by those native to the Drakis Sector.

Yes, as long as this background is....it's the really short version. I have not actually used this setting yet as it's still in development and my gaming time is really limited. I'm taking my players on different missions in the Expanse before we make it for the Drakis Sector in the Segmentum Ultima.

CLASS: Chalice
Hull TYPE: Cruiser
ORIGIN: IoM

Dimensions: 5.5 km long, .6 km abeam at fins
Mass: 25 megatonnes
Crew: 70,000
Accel: 3.5 gravities max sustainable acceleration

This class of cruiser is the symbol of the Brotherhood, created at the dawn of the Brotherhood's gathering, in the region now known as the Drakis Sector, when the shipping lanes began to close at the start of the Age of Strife. The Silver Chalice is proclaimed proudly on the sides of the prow in place of the Aquila. It is seen in every battle formation and in every part of the Drakis Sector.

Speed: 6
Manoeuvrability: +15
Detection: +15
Hull Integrity: 60
Armour: 18
Turret Rating: 2
Space: 75
SP: 75

Weapon Capacity: 1 Prow, 2 Port, 2 Starboard

TRAITS:

The Silver Chalice: To those who lived in the Drakis Sector for generations, the sight of the Silver Chalice is one of open relief for friendship and help is not far away. To those of the Brotherhood of the Silver Chalice or those who had been in the Drakis Sector for generations, a +10 is granted toward Fellowship tests. To those of the Imperial Navy outside of the Drakis Sector, for outside Adeptus Mechanicus, and for many of the common folk...not placing the Aquila over the Silver Chalice once they had joined the Imperium of Man was a dreadful insult. To deal with these is a -20 penalty to Fellowship tests. To the Inquisition, they are potential traitors due to an Inquisition vessel being destroyed in the Drakis Sector while exterminating a rebellious sect of powerful assassins. The Brotherhood destroyed the vessel, claiming that the Inquisitor had turned heretic and was burning an innocent population. An investigation is ongoing...providing a -20 (or more) to Fellowship tests involving the Inquisition.
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Interesting idea, it is a highly agile full cruiser with light armor and cut down internal structure. It falls somewhere between the Ambition cruiser and the Chalice battle cruiser, both from Battlefleet Koronus . Speaking of Chalice class there already is a class of vessel under that name in the Battlefleet Koronus book, I would suggest calling them Silver Chalice or Argent Chalice class considering you're background for the sector. Also, way overcosted compaired to other classes similar to it, I would drop the points and still add a special ability.

Since it has light armor and hitpoints I would give it the ability to have Evasive Manoeuvers tests be challenging instead of difficult. This gives it a slight boost to it's defence and adds some additional character to the fleets from your sector, fragile but vicious in a cunning officers hands.

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Sounds awesome. Thanks for the input. For the background it's meant to be a symbol of a fleet of vessels who joined the Imperium and yet retained their own ID and pride. Allies of the native people who lived in the Drakis Sector more than the Imperials who came later.

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Interesting design, but you do realize that there is already a Chalice-class battlecruiser in the Battlefleet Koronus sourcebook?

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I actually only noticed that after making up the design for the ship. As was stated it may be a good idea to change it to Silver Chalice-class Cruiser and tweak the abilities a bit. I just hadn't gotten around to it.