I plan for my character to become a dreadnought in the nearish future. Have any groups done this and if so, has it been successful? Have other players found it irritating? (ie, is it reallly overpowered/inconvenient?)

To me, the Dreadnought PC thing seems a bit silly. Dreadnoughts lie dormant and only comes out to play every couple of 100 years. And unless your charater has gained enough renown to be a legend almost alongside the heros of old and all that, I really doubt you would be deemed worthy of the honor.

Steve Parker's Deathwatch short stories (the first "Headhunted" is in the "Heroes of the Space Marines" anthology I think (might be "Legends" rather than "Heroes") the others are in the Hammer & Bolter e-zine) feature a Dreadnaught as part of the Kill-team so I think teh concept is valid. Especially as with most things the way Deathwatch behaves is unlike a standard Chapter.

That said I've not seen one in play - as a Gm I think it would mean tweaking some scenarios to accomodate (but I'm all in favour of writing *for* the characters you have) and I'd try to persuade any Dreadnaught player to have a back up Pc - ( or a series of playable guest star/mission specialist NPCs) that could be played when teh mission really wouldn't suit a Dreadnaught (i.e. an extraction mission in a tight tunnel complex or a stealth mission).

There is some precedent for it. Also, as Nerd King pointed out., it wouldn't be every mission since Dreadnoughts...well, you know. As for being a legend, it really depends on what my character *has* done, yes, but considering the stuff the Deathwatch regularly fights, it's not that unlikely. (eg, I killed a hive tyrant pretty much by myself while the rest of the kill-team held off swarms of lesser tyranid.

My advice would be to review your campaign up 'til now, and ask yourself "How would this play out if I was playing a vehicle instead of a person ." If your games take place almost entirely outdoors, and focus largely on 'frontal assault'-type combat, then go for it. If, however, your group goes on any sgnifigant number of 'stealth' missions, or missions that involve going indoors (never mind 'tight tunnels'- a Dread couldn't fit through anything smaller than a garage door), then you might want to rethink that plan...

Yeah I've thought about that- we've been outdoors a lot, but there have been some definite 'small spaces' that a vehicle wouldn't fit through. I may have to make a second character for those situations.