Great book, lots to like about it.

Didn't like the fact its so **** thin...

Gregorius21778 said:

Don't underestimate how big a deal it is to give up a fate point. The majority of characters will only have 2 and having that drop to one is a big deal. The Proven Innocent background, unless you hand out fate points like candy, takes a major sacrifice to get into.

That said, this package fall squarly into GM's option territory for me and would require heroic roleplay and backgroud writing.

a price list for those cybernetics would have been nice,, any ideas?!

oi oi

! : ?

We had an arbitrator join up at Rank 6, using the Proven Innocent background.

It worked perfectly, since it gives the character a great reason to re-join (in our case) the Inquisition after helping with an investigation, and it suits the tragic hero archetype that so many role-players love.

He started with 0 fate thanks to it though, which is definitely a big disadvantage. Also, +3 to every stat is not THAT great. Like sure it's good, but for an arbitrator that +3 agility, fellowship, and strength, in our case, isn't going to get him too far. Not being able to re-roll, and having the first death be final is a big price to pay.

Also, the Indoctrination rule is a disadvantage, in my opinion. You're immune to tests that make you think poorly of the Inquisition? Sure... I'd never make my players act a certain way just because the enemy rolled well on Charm. So for us, it's pretty much just a role-playing guide, and being FORCED to act a certain way is always a disadvantage.

Secondly, the part about needing -30 WP tests to betray your team-mates or the Inquisition is also a negative. You could say "Why would you ever want to anyways", but the point is that it's taking some control out of your hands. In our case, if it was the Precinct Marshal screaming at him that these imposters have broken the law, he's going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. He might not even get the priviledge of choosing his actions, thanks to the background package.

All in all, I'd say it's one of the cooler things in the book. That and the gutterforged armour.

After reading the whole book throughly I must say it's a comparatively weak publication. It has a little bit of everything and not much of anything usable.

- The paragraphs on the Lex Imperialis are diffuse and not particularly helpful. So what exactly falls into the jurisdiction of the Arbites? Name a few common crimes and how they were solved or not. What sort of crimes get their attention and how? Examples, details!

- There's next to nothing on Enforcers. I would have hoped for descriptions of a few Magistrate officers from different hives, planets, ships. What are their uniforms like? Are they well equipped? What kind of weapons do they use? Who controls/commands them? Do they have their own rituals, secrets, weak points? Especially the Naval Enforcers have the potential to be extremely peculiar.

- Speaking of secrets, do the Arbites have any? Organisations? Fraternities? Cults even? Are they worshipping the Lex Imperialis?

- Among other things the adventure feels like a bad copy of the (quite excellent!) Edge of Darkness.

All in all I get the feeling that Deathwatch got the better writers.

Dok.

Dok Martin said:

An odd thing to say, given that most of the writers of Book of Judgement have also worked on Deathwatch books.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

What else then? I keep rereading The Achilus Assault because the sheer mass of useful material just won't get into my head in one go. BoJ got the same page count and still feels oddly... empty.

Dok Martin said:

Is there anything on an Enforcer to make "playing one" an option? Seeing how mt lastest DH PC was going to be Enforcer who was "picked" to join with the ]I[. I was hoping there would be a Background for them.

Hi "Angel of Death",

their is a Background Package, but since your PC is already existing I do not see how you could profit from it. Besides this, you will find no Career or Rank

Gregorius21778 said:

Still putting him together, so I might benefit from the background package , so is it a good background?

Uhm, someone knows where is the cost of cybernetics in the book of judgement? I have been looking for but nothing.....Could be an errata?

It would be well worth putting in a ticket to customer service and/or the Question Answering service.

I think that another errata is the Arbites Shotgun. 1D10+9.....On BC the Legion Shotgun does 1D10+6.

CodenameXXIII said:

DW Astartes Shotgun does 1d10+9.

The Legions are just using 10,000 year old outdated and worn out junk.

Dok Martin said:

And the shotgun is just absurd. The Space Marine one is a bit silly, but at least balances with the rest of the gear in DW, until someone slaps penetrator rounds into it, at which point it gets stupid. Something built on similar lines really had no place in DH...

Finally found some time to look over this book. The whole last part of this book makes me cry. There are so, so, so many mistakes in the adversary and NPC profiles that it's not funny. Talents sitting in Skills, profiles that don't include Unnaturals, missing (Int) and other little notes. It's not good...

BYE

There is one passage that makes no sense to me at all. In the discussion about Detectives it seems to say, flat out, that detectives sometimes provoke trouble just to arrest people. I know the Imperium is a harsh place (not helped by the stupidity of the organisation as described in the book unfortunately), but this makes no sense at all.

signoftheserpent said:

signoftheserpent said:

Actual law-enforcement organizations do this, as Gregorius said.

signoftheserpent said:

Book of Judgement is a little gross and over the top in regard to what the Adeptus Arbites do (at least in my opinion). A little too grim-dark and often just for the sake of it without making any deeper sense at all (as the example you just mentioned).

I think it is in part meant to be a whole "well, if they were truely loyal obedient citizens they wouldn't be tempted even when given a direct provocation by an undercover arbites.

But yes, it is silly. Like the whole "Reading?!?! RAGE!!!!" thing they have going on.

Luthor Harkon said:

So, entrapment is legal in the Imperium. Did anyone really think it wasn't?

Played my first session of Dark Heresy today, making an arbitrator for my first ever. Can't wait to get this book, since I found the background on arbitrators to be a little light in the main DH book. Not being that familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 world, I'm fascinated by how much detail and history there is to the game... Looking forward to learning and playing more!

Funny thing:

The background-fluff given in the book states all Arbitrators to be hailing from a Schola Progenium. The rules regarding what "homeworld" one is to take was not changed, so. Personally, I willsimply ignore this "Schola only" (even background-wise) as long as the rules are not changed.

Gregorius21778 said:

Well, in my opinion it depends on when you enter the Schola Progenium. That all Arbitrators (and Commissars btw) are from a Schola Progenium has been always rather clear backgroundwise in my opinion. Regarding the homeworld origin, it depends on when you entered the Schola Progenium (sooner or later). My groups Arbitrator has an Imperial World background as he originally came from an Agri World and was dumped at a Schola Progenium because his father was killed when he was 11 years old. Some are more or less brought after birth to a Schola Progenium (Kindergarten Progenium...?) and those should have the Schola Progenium homeworld origin instead, as they have never seen anything else in their life.