I'm about to start my first RT game (have already a group of DH) and was wondering what the ideal mix of careers is for four players. One has to be a RT obviously, but the other three? Does it really not matter or is it 'wise' to have at least one eg void master or navigator?

Advise is most welcome

I'd say the typical 4 PC group would be Rogue Trader, Navigator, Explorator and Void Master.

The Rogue Trader handles the talking, trading and commanding. The Navigator handles warp travel and spooky stuff (Forbidden Lore [Warp], Psyniscience), and kills people by looking at them funny. The Explorator handles all sort of tech (Tech-Use), and can become a good tank and medic. The void master handles transportation and also makes a decent gunbunny.

You don't need any Career though. Including Rogue Trader. The only possible exception is if the GM insists on rolling for warp travel with an NPC Navigator, in which case you pretty much need a PC Navigator to get anywhere safely and in a reasonable amount of time. You sort of need a few key skills, but that can be handled though the origin path or elite advances.

Depends what your crew is most interested in, combat, ship combat, exploration, social interaction, or ?

Rogue Traders are incredibly useful for the +10% they can give to other people. They're also a bit of all rounders, since they get commerce (which only seneschals get to late otherwise), and pilot (your ship) which only void masters get otherwise and command which only missionaries and arch militants get.

Arch Militants are your go-to guy for killing things. In ship to ship combat they'll not have much to do except shoot, though (or command hit and run actions if you're really, really close to other ships). At a base level, unless you've got things to punch, or you want PCs to be luggin around heavy weapons (which is what NPCs are for, really) I'm eh at them. They tend to pick one style of weapon and get bonuses for it.

Astropaths are basically glorfied space telephones. That being said, they can be built really nasty personal combat. In space combat, they tend to just give bonuses to people, which can be not fun for some people, and low stress fun for others?

Explorators are ridiculously useful, in ship combat, or in personal combat (they can be brutal, if slow, but so tough!). They also have a bunch of skills other people can't get until much later and have a very different feel to them.
Missionaries are all about a) burning things (so a high ballistic skill is bit of a waste) and b) exhortation of crowds. In ship to ship combat they're kind of useless (except for stopping loss of morale). One important thing to note is that missionaries are frequently presented as quite puritanical, which puts them immediately at odds with *every other* crew member. I'd go against them.

Navigators have a bunch of powers that are useful in ship combat (by which I mean stacking the deck, which is brutally awesome) and can flay people with their gaze which certain players really like. If you use alternate careers (and your navigator has decent fellowship) then the navis scion from Into the storm. One very important thing to note is that *every ship has multiple navigators* and this specific navigator is coming along because a) he's the most expendable/least mutated or b) He's a navigator, roughly on par with the rogue trader in importance to the ship and he decided to, so what are you going to do about it. Navigators are a really good fit for the decadent noble type. They also work quite well as NPCs if lazy & decadent because they refuse to leave the ship.

Seneschals are ninja accountants. Some are more ninjas, some are more accountants. It's probably the sneakiest/black marketiest role.

Void Masters are really focused on the ship. They're one of the two classes that can drive the ship (before rank lots) and also get a lot of skills in driving ground & atmospheric craft. If you don't want the ship, and ship combat to play a big role, I'd reccommend against.

My picks would be, in order:
Explorator (probably over every other)
Rogue Trader (because they can fill other roles and get to ponce around the best)

Navigator or Astropath (probably navigator) - both fill a similar role of squishy weirdness magnet / skills no-one else has / "mage" kind of character
Seneschal or Void master (dependant on if you wanted to make it more about ship combat/exploration or more about trade/black marketeering/forbidden knowledge)

Ones I'd probably leave off would be:
Arch Militant (unless you have a player who likes biffing things, in which case I'd probably reccommend a Void master, and have them biff it with the ship)
Missionary (because they can very easily cause a lot of inter party conflict)

Hope this is helpful!

Remember that you have a ship of 30,000+ crew, so you can always find NPC minions to run these roles.

As a GM, my opinion is that the two easiest classes to avoid are the Astropath and Navigator. Both are very easy to run as an NPC with very little work. In fact, I tend to prefer NPC-navigator as I can use that as a plot device when needed.

You really can run with most any mix. However, if I had to go with a 3rd that is easy to drop, its Explorator. I am playing on in an RT game, and I really love the Mechanicus. However, the Mechanicus are a faction that again is easy to use as an NPC when needed.

So if I had to go with 4, I would probably go with this:

Rogue Trader
Seneschal
Arch-Militant
Void Master

I couldn't care less about min-maxing skills or whatever; but from a purely game-play perspective this would work great. All the characters can go to social gatherings without issue (Mechanicus always get shafted on this one), none are mutants, and all could easily be "off ship". This leaves your GM to run the more odd-ball factions like the Adeptus Mechanicus and Navis Nobilite as NPC's without alienating any character in some situations.

Just my $.02

Thank you all! This is very very usefull. Moreover I can convey this straight to my players. Eventually they need to pick.

What if one of them wants to play an Ork?

BYE

wolph42 said:

There's really no need for a Rogue Trader, my upcoming game doesn't even have one. The Explorator (Genetor) has been issued a Warrant of Trade. So far we have an Explorator and an Ork, the other two players haven't handed in their characters yet but I'm hoping for a Seneschal and a Void Master.

H.B.M.C. said:

I'm GM at a group with an Ork, and I don't really recommend the experience at all. Orks just don't make much sense in most Rogue Trader games. I'm still regretting having allowed an Ork on my game.

Maese Mateo said:

Try playing in a group with a xenophobic Explorator and a Mekboy on the same ship. That was a recipe for fail.

In my game I'll just hand the Ork a beat up old raider to modify to his hearts content once he gets his Mekboy advance. This will allow him to stay with the group and prevent him from destroying their ship with all of his Orky tek.

Getting this back on track and to head off any possible thread jacking, can you provide an example of why an Ork would not be an acceptable party choice? What specific problems are you encountering?

Maese Mateo said:

Our group started with four - an RT, Navigator, Arch-militant and Ork. In combat they were awesome and they each had other skills and a role that worked within the team.

The thing was that the Ork player very soon got tired of playing an Ork - they are fun but ultimately limited in scope - so he was retired from play (he's still on the ship, working below decks as the Twist Catcher) and the player now runs an Exploratopr - which suits him better and fits with the party very well (they often noticed the lack of a decent Tech Use skill in the party).

Also we were joined by a fifth player who took on a second Arch-militant - fortunate really as teh original has recently died and the player is bringing in an Astropath to replace her.

So we started RT, Navigator, Arch-militant, Ork and (nine sessions later) have RT, Navigator, Arch-militant, Explorator & Astropath. Same campaign, two different "party make-ups" but possibly one of teh most fun games I've run in 30 yrs of GMing.

At the end of the day I'd say that if players have got interesting ideas and concepts for their characters, and as a GM you are prepared to work with what they throw at you you could run a game with four of the same career if you wanted to.

memespawn said:

Minor note: Void Masters also make good Shuttle Pilots, so if you plan on a lot of planetside adventuring, they can be a key character type.

Essentials-

Rogue Trader, fairly solid career with a lot of melee skills and can double in a pinch as the Seneschal with a few elite advances

Navigator, you will not get anywhere difficult, fast or survive very long without a PC navis, the warp is a really sh*tty place to be!

Recommend-

Seneschal, can live without one, but its tough to get equipment/parts etc... and they have a number of stealth and social skills that make their worth

Explorator, the tech and knowledge skills are highly desirable, especially if you like making a spaceship do things it wouldnt normally do!

Nice to Have-

Missionary, makes a good 2IC, plus they're fairly fighty in a pinch and covering things in fire never gets dull.

Archmilitant, provided the player makes the character interesting, they're not just a combat machine. Also makes for a good 2IC at R3+

Void Master, if you like spaceships that are extra mean, the gunnery and pilot specialists make them extremely valuable.

Astropath, take one of these if you like ruining the GM's plans by brain-****** NPC's for info, they are very dangerous psykers if you tool them up right

WTF = R3+ ?

this further comment is so the forum accepts this post as long enough

I would say Rank 3 and over.