The rules in First Founding outline a new Talent for the Salamanders Chapter.

"Artificer" This talent - which can be applied multiple times to an item upgrades its craftsmanship level each time.

What happens if the player wishes to upgrade his standard issue Power Armour twice to create a Master-Crafted Suit of a power armour?

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"Fluff" would dictate that hes essentially built himself a suit of Artificier Armour... but RAW it would imply that when you master craft your power armour all it does is give you +1AP on all locations and half the weight of the item.

The talent also mentions that when you purchase the talent "the battle-brother must still possess the normal Renown Requirement to possess an item of higher craftsmanship" (In this case distinquished)

If you wished this talent to create a proper suit of Artificer Armour, would he require only Distinguished renown, or Hero (as required to acquire Artificer Armour normally through signature wargear hero)

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Its worth noting, for those of you that do not have the First Founding Book, attempting the above involves quite the expenditure of XP (2800 xp), require at least Rank 2 and "use up" 2 of your 3 "Artificer Talent" purchases.

Thoughts?

~ Zilla

There are levels of armour between starting suits and artificer. Simply apply the exceptional or master-crafted quality to the original armour and there you go.

Not official errata, but as I created that particular Talent, I thought I'd share my thoughts...

g0dzilla said:

You get a suit of Master-Crafted Power Armour.
g0dzilla said:

Actually, Artificer Armour is a whole step beyond Master-Crafted, and doesn't fall within the boundaries of the Craftsmanship rules (and, indeed, if you were so inclined, you could obtain a suit of Master-Crafted Artificer Armour).

If you apply the Artificer Talent (which wasn't it's original name; I can see where some of the confusion might come from) to a suit of Power Armour, you improve the Craftsmanship of that armour. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't magically become Artificer Armour.

If you want Artificer Armour, you buy it as Signature Wargear. You could then purchase the Artificer Talent for that suit of Artificer Armour to make it Exceptional or Master-Crafted, but that's a whole other matter.

Indeed Decessor, I thought I had mentioned that in my post. Ill edit it to make it clearer.

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Not_Here :

Aren't suits of Artificer armour always considered to be Master Crafted?

It seems like a bit of an odd distinction to me - perhaps, in Deathwatch the definition of Artificer Armour is intended to be the upper cusp of power armour quality - rather than a more obtuse definition (that I am more used to from a table top perspective). I wasn't intending to imply the name of the talent was influencing my explanation of what "artificered" power armour was, I am used to Artificer Armour being an embellished, more finely crafted type of power armour - exactly what seems to be happening when utilizing this talent

The XP cost to "master craft" your power armour, goes well above and beyond the XP cost to simply buy Artificier Armour. And the benefits of each armour are widely different. (Artificer armour provides an MIU and potentially other benefits, as well as vastly increased armour coverage on the extremities).

Thanks for the insight

It does say in the description of Artificer Armour that it is always Master-Crafted.

g0dzilla said:

As I understand it, Artificer Armour isn't merely "embellished, and more finely crafted", but rather a unique construction of the highest standards, a work of art and a masterpiece of the armourer's craft. Power Armour is, afterall, composed of standardised components, while a suit of Artificer Armour can be designed to be a perfect suit, with perfectly interacting pieces.