My girlfriend and my best friend's wife aren't against us playing Deathwatch, but they don't want to play Space Marines. So, I asked them if they would be willing to play as Sisters of Battle; and that, they were ok with.

The rest of the KT will be starting fresh, but I don't think fresh Adepta Sororitas (even with the best gear) could begin to compare. What can I do to at least give the illusion of some balance? Boost the Sororitas Wounds? Boost the power of their gear? Start them at higher XP? Start them Ascended?

Any insight or opinions would be greatly appreciated!

Use the Blood of Martyrs rules for Battle Sisters, not the IHB career. Is better. Start them off Ascended (using the pdf supplement for the Cannoness Ascended rank maybe, or as Interrogators/Inquisitors/Crusaders or something; Sororitas get a few options).

Maybe give them their own form of Cohesion/Squad Mode that lets them use Faith Talents more frequently/more easily. Buff their armor a bit, perhaps give them the shields from Blood of Matrys for free. They should not expect to do as much damage or take as much damage in combat without heavily overhauling the system, though. They may be Daughters of the Emperor, but they're not 8-foot-tall genetically-modified killing machines. There is inherent inequality there that IMO it's inappropriate to just nullify; I'd say really good Battle Sister armor might give Unnatural Strength, but not Unnatural Toughness. If anything else, it could create some interesting tensions between the Astartes and the Sororitas. Seraphim Sororitas especially might work to skirmish with enemies who batter themselves against the Astartes, but a Sororitas in melee with a CSM, a kroot horde, or a Tyranid Warrior is going to be in a lot of trouble.

Also realize that an Ascension-level DH character will do things that Astartes find difficult trivially easy (social and noncombat challenges mostly), given they went through their full un-Ascended career and spent all that XP.

Great advice! Thanks!

In my game the gal's are doing fine with IHB and oodles of experience. Sure they don't hit as hard or take a hit quite as hard but their skills and varierty of skills are better. 13000 experience to play with can go a long way. I would definitely grant them power armor of the best quality to make that a little more equal. The big problem your going to run into is the thingg that battle brothers take for granted (bleeding, toughness checks etc) that you'll have to track. Also have you considered jsut allowing them to play femalde space marines? *Holds up umbrella to shield from the shower of rotting fruit and bricks*.

I did want to clarify that i have one Sororitas and two female space marines so i'm not suggesting something i'm not putting into practice.

I'm trying to stay away from the female Space Marine thing. Its just a line I'm very hesitant to cross. And plus, I've read a lot of novels and really try to capture the feel of the setting. And honestly, there's no real masculinity; at least in a sexual nature. Without a sex drive, it becomes much closer to gender neutral. So, if my players aren't willing to bend a little, then I'll work with them, but they can deal with some consequence.

And besides all that, they made me play Mouse Guard... they owe me. lol

Not necessarily true. SMs don't start with Chem-Geld, after all. Many are indoctrinated to not care at all or think about sex, or are so into their duty that they have no interest, but others (Space Wolves come to mind) do enjoy comely maids and the like.

As an idea, if you have more than one sister, give them their own "squad-mode/cohession" type of thing. Based loosely on the faith point rules from the Witchhunter codex:

Pool of Faith: The sisters have a pool of faith points equal to the number of sisters in the team. These points may only be spent to activate faith powers, and may not be burnt. This pool is one pool among all the sisters, not an additional bonus to each of them.

Add a relic that is a, well umm, relic that adds 1 faith pool point (see the sisters relic bearer models for ideas) and you should be good to go.

This way, they can bust out more miracles to keep themselves equal, but very different, from the big-boyz.

Edit: just realised that Kshatriya suggested the same idea. Consider this a slightly fleshed out form of that idea.

My gf wanted to play with my Deathwatch kill team as well so we decided to roll her a Sister of Battle. Once we caught her up to the same XP as the rest of the team it turned out that she was a death dealing machine. She mainly just upped stats for combat and bought skills and talents more for fighting than anything else and seems to be a good addition to a fight alongside the Space Marines.

So many people seem to think that, because Sisters of Battle wear power armour and use boltguns, they are the best choice of non-Space Marine characters to include in Deathwatch . I really doubt that's the case. I've read that Crusaders from Ascention , combined with Acts of Faith from Blood of Martyrs , can hold their own next to SMs, but I have to think that combat-focused characters will feel like they are being shortchanged next to genetically-modified supermen. If I had to add a female character to a Deathwatch campaign, I would make her an Inquisitor (Ordo Xenos, naturally); she won't be able to go toe-to-toe with a Space Marine in combat, but she will dwarf the Battle Brothers in terms of non-combat skills, making her the "brains" to the SMs "brawn", with everyone having a chance to shine in their speciality and not leaving the female character to feel like they are simply a weaker copy of a Space Marine.

Aye, Adeptus-B: a fine comment! The biggest, most mysoginistic goon marine still bends knee to boss inquisitor!

Zappiel said:

Only if they're the mission authority- as per the writing of the core rulebook Inquisitors are not the 'bosses' of the Deathwatch, but rather equal partners.

I think the key takeaway from Adeptus is that as a partner, playing an Inquisitor would allow the player to truly shine in non-combat scenarios while being able to participate in combat scenarios. Kind of the inverse of the typical Marine, who does fantastic in a fight, and while decent in social situations would lag behind the Inquisitor PC.

So rather than try to come up with a combat monster that can stand side by side with the Marines play a character that can aid the group in other ways. And as a GM this might be easier to deal with/balance rather than trying to come up with ways for the sister to shine.

When the Holy Inquisition says "Boo!", you jump. Not even the mightiest space marine chapter in existence trifles with the Inquisition. One inquisitor's signature will wipe out yer Chapter (just ask the Relictors, or those poor Astral Claws...) - oh, and the inquisition are a vindictive bunch.

Besides, when i said 'on bended knee', it was not my intention to imply subservience...merely respect. And, just why is an inquisitor hanging around with a bunch of marines if she ain't their boss, pray? (ooh! a prisoner! but, ok, besides that...)

With all the testosteroney grrrr hereabouts re space marines and their uberness, the girl of the group is gonna need some kick-a$$ power backing her up just to stay on an even keel with the big boys in armour. So, a battlesister will work (tough, and with more Faith than a whole chapter of marines), as would an inquisitor (authority, lots and lots of authority); ooh! or a tough-as-nails arbites champion/judge - i'd guess that'd work, too (skills, knowledge, and The Law!); oh, and the obligatory assassin (we just love those killa gurlz). Heck, even a tough techpriest would be a viable option for a female character, i s'pose...hmmm, there seem to be a fair number of options, if one has the Dark Heresy material at hand...

Zappiel said:

Retcon in the core rulebook. Deathwatch is no longer truly the militant arm of Ordo Xenos, but a partner in their mission, as dictated by an ancient pact. To violate the pact (by either party) would likely cause some real problems. But as has been discussed on numerous posts in the past, neither organization is likely to do any of that for a list of reasons.

Zappiel said:

Respect I hear you. Though I can also see plenty of Marines thinking themselves a little too awesome to bow to a 'mortal' As for not being their boss, the Inquisitor could be hanging out with the marines because they're working towards the same goal. As Adeptus points out, the Inquisitor is going to have allies, contacts, knowledge, and social skills the Marines aren't going to have in great supply. While the Marines are going to have guns, brawn, equipment, training, and specialized knowledge that can't be beat by the Inquisiton. They both are getting something out of the relationship.

Sisters create an interesting problem with me- while they're theoretically part of an Inquisitorial Ordo they're part of an Ordo that the Marine don't particularly subscribe to. A lot of the things Marines say, do, and think would kind of fly in the face of the Imperial Cult. Now again, if you had mutual goals in mind and a fulffy reason to associate, knock yourself out. The culture clash could also create some great RP experiences.

For the Champion, Jundge, Assassin, or Techpriest, it kind of depends. I feel the more you move out from the Inquisition proper the harder time you have justifying their presence with in-game fluff for more than a handful of missions.

An ascension-level battle sister has decent combat capability, useful faith powers and a tonne more skills than any marine character at that level. Sure, they won't be the combat monster in a killteam but that's not the be-all-and-end-all of playing in Deathwatch. I had a female player take Inquisitor's Handbook battle sister into Crusader (Blood of Martyrs wasn't quite out then) and a Imperial Psyker into Primaris Psyker as a backup character. As for why they were working with a killteam? Their Inquisitor Lord Hereticus master was on unusually good terms with the Ordo Xenos in the Jericho Reach and has his reasons to ensure his servants were in the field...

Decessor said:

Sure, but Sisters of Battle are, as the name makes clear, combat-focused characters, and thus will always pale beside the Astartes. I still think it's better to make the add-on female character specialized in something other than combat, so the Battle Brothers are forced to defer to her superior expertise in her specific field(s).

Adeptus-B said:

Aye, but there's a difference between a mortal who is combat focused and a space marine who literally only trains and fight. Even a combat focused mortal is going to have a more rounded skillset. Hence the points on skills.

Decessor said:

Yes, a 9th level SoB will have far more skills that a 1st level SM, but they are both primarily focused on combat . My point is that being better at secondary focus stuff doesn't really offset being weaker at their primary focus, and it would be better for the female character to have a different primary focus than the SMs (like investigation/stealth/xenolore in the case of an Inquisitor), so that they are not expected to compete in a rigged contest, and instead get to take center stage on a regular basis.

And, on a semi-different subject: who are all these female players, constantly reffered to throughout the DW forums, who absolutly refuse to play male characters? I have a male player in my Dark Heresy campaign who plays a female character, simply because he found a miniature that he really liked which happened to be female. I thought women were supposed to be less obsessed with gender roles than men, not more ...?

If stuck with a killteam who are likely as not going to be thrown into combat, there is an argument for having as much combat capability as possible to ensure you live long enough to use your secondary skill set. I do see your point but not every non-astartes need be utterly helpless compared to the astartes in combat.

I asked my one female player if she wanted to play a space marine or not. She didn't want to and I wasn't keen on forcing someone to cross gender just to play in that campaign. So I brought up the notion of Acension or Rogue Trader characters. The other players were quite happy to play space marines so no issue there.

As for who thinks what about gender, I'd take that with a grain of salt.