Can i get some clarification on how these work.

If i have a guy at the rank threshold for alternate career x who then chooses that alternative, does that then replace his entire career from that point on. IE, can he, from then, only pick advances frm the alternative's list (such as Moritat Reaper)? Or does that only replace his rank at the time he chooses that package. So for example, if alternative x has a rank threshold of 3 and the character is rank 3 and decides he wants to take that, does he go back to his regular career path when he reaches rank 4? (And what if he is higher than rank 3 to begin with?)

Thanks.

signoftheserpent said:

It's called Alternate Rank , not Alternate Career. So it's basically just a side-step in a career's path.

And from what understood, u can pick up advances from any other path at the level at a +50 points cost

Yeah, an alternate rank replaces the current rank entirely, you go back to normal when you get enough XP to access the next rank. But you can generally buy any advances from the rank you replaced at +50 xp cost, at the GM's discretion.

Can you take an alternate rank at a rank other than the one listed?

Can you buy from that rank later on, when at a higher rank, as you can with normal ranks?

Thanks.

I believe you can buy into an alternate rank at a later rank than what's listed. The ranks are listed as prerequisites, which seems to imply to me that it's a minimum, not an exact value.

So, conceivably, a character could take multiple alternate ranks, from different sources?

I do that question one time, and the answer was "Yes"

For the fun of unnecessarily spelling it out further, here we go:

So, you are playing in RT, and you are playing a Void-Master character. For the first several Ranks, you play him as normal, grabbing all of the stuff that makes your character fun to you. Now, as you reach Rank 5 and decide your VM has achieved a very "piloty" feel, with a penchant for crazy stunts, and bossing around other fighter pilots, to follow in their example, you choose to grab the Flight Marshall AC Path (you could grab it at 4, but my opinion is 5 loses you less good stuff that Elite Advances would have to get you back). Thus, you replace the Rank 5 table (RT, p.70) with the Flight Marshal Rank Table (Into the Storm, p.81). You still have access to everything in VM Ranks 1-4, and now the Flight Marshall, but NOT the Rank 5 VM; those demand Elite Advances to pick up, as you deviated from the "regular" progression. Thus, you have yourself a great Ace Pilot, right at hom aboard your ship, ready to rush down to the fighter bay, and fly out to defend the ship, or strafe ground units on a planet you don't like.

But it doesn't have to stop there. Once you hit Rank 6, you pick up that Rank on the VM table again, able to continue on the path of the Void-Master, and also still the Flight Marshall, if you weren't able to get everything you wanted, already. Now, say you continued to grow as a fighter ace, and survive numerous dogfights against terrifying foes, maybe Eldar Raiders. Eventually, your name might spread throughout the region, and make you become larger than life. As you progress through Void-Master, you get to Rank 7, and choose to become a Legend of the Expanse (ItS, p.89) (more than likely, you did not choose to, but your rep got you there, anyway.) In that case, you lose the Rank 7 table of VM, and gain the table for Legend of the Expanse. Again, the stuff for VM 7 is off the table, barring Elite Advances, but the stuff for Legend might make up for it nicely, as you become the Red Baron, or the Wedge Antilles of the Koronus Expanse. If you make it to Rank 8, you gain VM 8 table, and can now draw from VM 1-4, Flight Mashal, VM 6, Legend of the Expanse, and VM 8, as well as the use of Elite Advances to pick up anything from VM 5 & 7, and anything else none of those covers that you want, and the GM feels you should get. There are some other little requirements I didn't touch on (required skills, or minimum PF), but I have no doubt you understand how they work.

Well, I hope that this fun little read helps illustrate how this works, assuming I have not botched anything up.

In hindsight, I now remember that I am typing on Dark Heresy, not Rogue Trader, but even as these games have their own, sometimes considerable differences (yes psykers, I'm looking right at you), I'd be willing to claim that this particular mechanic would remain constant. You could easily pick up Penal Legionnaire (The Radical's Handbook, p.57, and definitely one of my favorite Alternates from that book) for your Guardsman PC, and later grab any other Alternate that Guardsman could qualify for, assuming it fit with the character, and the GM okayed it (none come to mind, but I don't have every book, and RT did a slightly better job, IMO, with their Alternate Rank stuff). Maybe Agent of Reliquary 26 (Daemon Hunter, p.47), or Ordo Sicarius Initiate (Daemon Hunter, p.55), if they can rise to a trusted enough level, after ending up in a Penal Legion, but the Inquisitor had to see something in the grunt to keep him under employ. Okay, that should be it from me.