I'm thinking of using the BC rules in my DH game, and for the most part it's simple substitutions.

However, BC has Parry as a skill, and you can train it to advanced levels. So, thinking of Dark Heresy and it's careers, where would you put these skills as available?

I'm thinking the easy way is to let it follow dodge. If a Rank gives the possibility of training Dodge +10, then you can also train Parry +10.

But I'm not quite sure... some careers seem more melee oriented, and so perhaps Parry should be more available than the ninja-dodge-bullets-and-flamers skill. And vice-versa.

Thoughts?

Darth Smeg said:

A basic guideline springs to mind - check the career path's WS and Agility advances; if WS is cheaper than Ag (Guardsmen), Parry is available 1 or 2 ranks sooner than Dodge for all levels of mastery. If Ag is cheaper than WS, then Parry is available 1 or 2 ranks later than Dodge for all levels of mastery (Scum). If both are the same (as with Assassins), they're available at the same ranks.

Good call!

Another thing to consider is that all starting DH careers have (by the RAW) the ability to Parry as if they had Parry as a trained skill. This is not the case with Dodge.

Should everyone start with Parry as a starting skill, to maintain this starting state? It seems strange that Adepts have this kind of martial training though...

Darth Smeg said:

To me the Adept and knife work go hand in hand. But I like sneaky, nasty, backstabbing Adepts.

Darth Smeg said:

I would suggest it be granted as an either/or choice available to all careers, chosen during character creation: Either automatically trained in parry, or automatically trained in dodge. Careers may then grant training in either skills, and some might even grant it automatically to beginning characters.

That grants a lot more parity between Dodge and Parry, and basically allows non-melee characters to focus their "stategic redeployment", i.e. cowardice, into more beneficial avenues of exploration.

I really wouldn't recommend introducing parry as a skill from Black Crusade. Black Crusade has new combat rules that rely a great deal more on degrees of success (namely Swift/Lightning Attack) and so the boost to parry isnt too bad. However, with the Dark Heresy system Parry +40 (Parry +20, plus balanced, plus best quality, +50 if you allow Black Crusade's +30 to skills) becomes a lot more unbalancing (also, it really hurst non-combat classes if you don't give Parry as a Trained skill for everyone). The original balancing was based on the principle that you improved parrying solely with improving your weapons.

Well, we're bringing over the other combat rules from BC anyway, and so far the Parry rules are the only thing causing me to pause to think.

Giving everyone Parry as a trained skill for free at Rank 1 is the easiest solution, and keeps the original balance (in as much as there is one).

Free choice of Parry / Dodge as a starting skill is nicer, and the poor starting Acolytes could do with a bit of a boost I guess.