Alright, so possibly this weekend I am running Dark Heresy for the first time. I had some ideas to start with, but I also had some mechanics issues. Before I start rambling, let me lay out my questions.

1. First, is there anything broken I should worry about as far as class balance goes? Nothing looks broken, but this is my first time running Dark Heresy (just Dark Heresy, not doing Deathwatch or Rogue Trader) so I want to put a stop to something before it gets started. So far I have an Arbiter, Adeptus Soriatus, a psyker, an imperial guardsmen and an assassin.

2. Second, do you role out critical damage for NPC's? That seems very tedious for no-nothing henchmen, guys that are killed by the dozen. I can see rolling for a boss, but I am curious as too what the consensus is. By RAW, I would assume you do, but it seems tedious to me.

3. When it comes to the Inquisition handling bad things in the galaxy, I see Inquisitors as more like today's doctors. They can deal with most simple illness's, injury's and such, but all doctor's specialize. I picture inquisitors orders as specialization's, but an Ordos Malleus inquisitor will deal with an Dark Eldar if it crosses his path, as its his duty. Am I right in this assumption?

4. Pinning. This seems broken to me. It makes me think that you should have someone with an automatic gun in all Acolyte parties as forcing people to keep their head down ALL the time would be beneficial and broken. Even with the Autostubber, with a 40 round clip, that means 4 out of 5 rounds he's pinning NPC's (with the exception of Orks or Daemons, but normal human NPC's are all subject to this). Am I right or wrong in this?

5. Is it possible for the PC's to find places or items that give them permanent stat and skill bumps that are not Chaos bound items or places? Like a holy temple to the Emperor on remote planet X? It just seems like most of the magical stuff is meant for Chaos and Acolyte's have to sell their souls to get powerful artifacts.

Thanks to those that read this. I appreciate any and all positive feedback.

Emperor be with you!

1. I don't think there's anything outright broken but be carefull when it comes to the Sister and the Psyker. Especially the Psyker has the potential to be very good at a lot of things from what I've heard. My party does not have a psyker so I can't really speak from my own experience.

2. For mooks / goons / minions you can easily adapt the critical hit chart to your liking. I usually go with

1-2: Bleeding
3-6: Loses body part, lots of bleeding (i.e. dies faster)
7+ Dead.

3. Inquisitors are a topic onto themselves. I'd say they are as diverse as humans can be so I'd assume even though an Inquisitor belongs usually to a certain Ordo they'd decide based on their personal preferences rather than on allegiance.

4. I think it's interesting that you'd consider pinning broken. Once again I can't speak from personal experience on this one since my players have never employed pinning in their combat tactics but it doesn't seem broken to me. Seeking cover should be the first order of business anyway once the shooting starts and since close combat can be extremly powerful (for certain acolytes and enemies as well) it's only logical that there is at least some way of buying yourself some time.

5. I wouldn't hand out permanent stat or skill boosts even when dealing with chaos artifacts (mutations are a different story). There are a lot of items that give temporary attribute or skill increases that usually either last until the drug wears off or as long as the item in question is used / carried like the +20 to Strength when using Power Armor. Another example would be the plus to Medicae when using a Medical Mechadendrite.

If you still need to hand out "magical" non-chaos items to your players for whatever reason you can either go xenos-tech or archeotech since both of those are capable of doing whatever you want (more or less). It's archeotech I don't have to explain ****.

Renvale said:

Psykers are quite power compared to other careers, especially at low levels. This is somewhat counterbalanced by the risk of Perils of the Warp, but it's debateable if that's enough. One House Rule I've read on the Forums that nerfs psi powers a bit is substituting Psi Rating for WP Bonus in the descriptions of a power's effects.

As for the Sororitas, I flat out wouldn't allow power armour at Rank 1- she will be immune to most weapons that can lay waste to the rest of the party. I would absolutely House Rule that her Order requires a detailed report of her actions as an agent of the Inquisition, to ensure that she is serving the interests of said Order, before releasing her power armour (i.e. she has to be at least 5th level before she gets 'free' power armour). Or use the Sororitas from the Inquisitor's Handbook , modified with bits and pieces from Blood of Martyrs .

Renvale said:

For nameless 'grunts', I track their damage normally, until they hit 0 wounds. After that, any amount of Critical Damage kills them flat-out. For named NPCs, I use the Critical Tables, which can produce some entertaining results...

Renvale said:

They certainly specialize, but ultimately they have broad powers to persecute the enemies of the Emperor. Check out the Eisenhorn trilogy: Inquisitor Eisenhorn is a member of the Ordo Xenos, but he spends most of the trilogy chasing heretics...

Renvale said:

I haven't had any real problem with it. I guess the trick is to split up the Bad Guys so that they can't all be pinned at once.

Renvale said:

I assume you mean other than cybernetics or tools? Not that I can think of.

A final bit of advice: be sure to check out the Dark Heresy Living Errata - there are lots of tweeks in there that make the game run better.

1. First, is there anything broken I should worry about as far as class balance goes? Nothing looks broken, but this is my first time running Dark Heresy (just Dark Heresy, not doing Deathwatch or Rogue Trader) so I want to put a stop to something before it gets started. So far I have an Arbiter, Adeptus Soriatus, a psyker, an imperial guardsmen and an assassin.

I wouldn't worry about this beyond the Sororitas which IMO is overpowered compared to other starter characters. If some build or combination proves 'broken', just ban it on the gounds of game balance. Most players accept this without too much protesting, especially if you allow them to rebuild their character again from scratch. I would be careful with the Sororitas. With their canonical equipment, they are mini-Space Marines. As said by Adeptus-B, use the rules from Blood of Martyrs and don't give out the power armour and bolt gun until a later level.

2. Second, do you role out critical damage for NPC's? That seems very tedious for no-nothing henchmen, guys that are killed by the dozen. I can see rolling for a boss, but I am curious as too what the consensus is. By RAW, I would assume you do, but it seems tedious to me.

The DH monster manual has excellent mook rules to solve this. I mostly give my low level NPC's 2 hits, e.g. if they are hit 2 times with decent damage (more than 3 damage over their toughness + armour), they die. And depending on morale or intimidation value of the acolytes, they flee after incurring just 1 hit. Fast and easy and it leaves the NPC bosses and lieutenants as something special. Plus it allows me to send more goons after the players ;-)

3. When it comes to the Inquisition handling bad things in the galaxy, I see Inquisitors as more like today's doctors. They can deal with most simple illness's, injury's and such, but all doctor's specialize. I picture inquisitors orders as specialization's, but an Ordos Malleus inquisitor will deal with an Dark Eldar if it crosses his path, as its his duty. Am I right in this assumption?

Indeed. Inquistors are bound to deal with all threats to the Imperium but often focus on 'preferred' threats. By banding together (an Ordo), they pool resources and knowledge. But that's all, Inquisitors can personally deal with anything or hand it over.

4. Pinning. This seems broken to me. It makes me think that you should have someone with an automatic gun in all Acolyte parties as forcing people to keep their head down ALL the time would be beneficial and broken. Even with the Autostubber, with a 40 round clip, that means 4 out of 5 rounds he's pinning NPC's (with the exception of Orks or Daemons, but normal human NPC's are all subject to this). Am I right or wrong in this?

It may seem a bit beardy but its actually sound tactics. The side which gets the drop can pin the opponents (who can then only use a half action e.g. no semi or full auto fire). It therefore is smart to not bunch up and to be able to flank opponents. Besides small unit tactics however, pinning also forces a more fluid rpg encounter instead of just 2 sides blazing away at each other. Get pinned? Now you need to crawl away and try to flank the shooter. Who might well have buddies covering his flanks....And there's always grenades....

5. Is it possible for the PC's to find places or items that give them permanent stat and skill bumps that are not Chaos bound items or places? Like a holy temple to the Emperor on remote planet X? It just seems like most of the magical stuff is meant for Chaos and Acolyte's have to sell their souls to get powerful artifacts.

Anything is possible, its your game after all. If you want equipment that can give stat boosts etc., just make it. I'd second the archeotech or xenostech angle to explain its rarity. If it is wise to do so is another matter entirely. The game already offers background options and character advances to players so adding even more boosts risks pushing ordinary humans in space marines territory...If you limit it to certain equipment providing a bonus, the player will value his gear and you can take it away when necessary for story purposes (or replace it with even better stuff). Another option is purity seals...In my game, I have added one-shot bonusses to purity seals awarded for specific actions performed in sessions. For example, if a player was badly wounded in a previous game but kept going, he gets a purity seal with 1 extra wound which is then discarded after he is wounded again. If a player shot the main bad guy, he gets a purity seal to add to his gun for a one time +5BS bonus etc. etc. etc.
In addition, Blood of Martyrs has the option of getting some priestly WP assistance in exchange for money. This effectively strengthens your willpower by +10 once.Its an excellent way to soak player cash and can easily be modified to provide other bonuses. Call upon the God Emperor to steady your hand and get a +10BS for a single shot after having beseeched a priest to bless your aim....
Or go the route of blessed tokens etc. The fingerbone of a saint can provide a tangible bonus. Of course there will be religious fanatics after you to take it away but as long as the player has it, its all good....

Hope this helps....

The other thing about pinning is there are several talents that allow you to ignore it copmpletely. ''Fearless'' being the obvious one. If you find your players are too often making fights too easy by pinning through a few people that ignore it and watch your players have to run for cover!

Also remember that an action trying to pin uses up a lot of ammo, so your characters are going to have reload and/or buy ammo. Make them track it properly and they will sometimes have to think twice about just blazing away.

Renvale said:

1. The Soritas from the Imperial Handbook is more in tune with the power levels of DH than from DeathWatch. As far as unbalancing, you can tune the game as it goes. The psyker has probably the most opportunity to run rough-trod over your game, but play up the sactioned psyker bit. People are *afraid* of psykers. They're basically kill on sight without their Imperial Sanction, and even with it everyone is more or less waiting for them to be possessed by demons and start f*cking up the joint. Don't be afraid to call in all kinds of hell if they start invoking side effects. In fact, going in blunt and stubborn probably should raise all kinds of hell to begin with. Reward creativity, resist (somewhat) the most obvious course of action.

2. Combat is slow-ish. I don't bother for anything other than named NPCs or if it's a high crit and I feel like adding some color (usually blood-red) to the game. If you can, print or copy out the crit tables ahead of time, sort them into a folder, put tabs on the different types of damage. You'll thank me later.

3. The ordos is just what the Inquisitor's "calling" is. If an Inquisitor sees a threat that can't be handled by the Arbites or the Planetary Defense Force, he takes care of it. That's his duty. You're generally spot on here. But for stuff that is beneath him and not a direct threat to the Imperium, he probably hands it off to the Arbites if it's a significant threat (think of the Arbites as the FBI), and the PDF if it's something minor. Unless it piques his interest of course or is part of his investigation. Technically, inquisitors are only answerable to the Emperor himself and other inquisitors, and the Emperor is the only entity by writ in the Imperium who is above suspicion. In practicality very powerful individuals can screw with the Inquisitor. Silk glove vs iron fist might be preferable at times like this. Point is, if an Inquisitor thinks something is worth his or her time, it's under their jurisdiction.

4. If your enemy is scattered out, pinning becomes *very* difficult. Also, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Pin the PCs. Make them move under cover, get creative.

5. Sort of. There *are* holy relics that probably can buff your stats and skills. There is equipment that naturally can buff stats. The supernatural stuff you see "missing" is actually folded into the character progression of certain classes. There is, for instance, True Faith rules that allow you to do some insane stuff with fate points. As far as stat boosts, while there is nothing in canon, I'd be very, very hesitant to hand out permanent buffs. I gave the psyker a +1 die to his psy roll as a major part of the plot I'm running, and he's paying for it by being a very desirable target to kill now. He kind of regrets the incident from ever happening. A +5 or +10 for base stats is a very large increase in this system surprisingly.

Hope you enjoy the game!

1: … is there anything broken?

I agree that the Psyker rules need work, as there are several systems out there, and running say RT rules for your Psyker seems very unfair (sorry Fil … he knows who he is). With that said, my first character was a Psyker so I might be a bit biased. OTH I also have to deal with the same issues when I run, which is often. With all that said, just be very sure that you have read through all the errata on Psykers. Don't let your Psyker use a half action to activate a power on a round and then try to say, shoot a weapon in the other half action (this is against the rules, but many new GMs miss this and think that they can do it). Unnatural aim for example lasts until the end of the NEXT round. If they get to do a half action on the first turn with a +30, and then a full auto with an auto-gun the next round for a total of +50, your Psyker will rule, and others will just drool. The thing to remember… if the enemy is sharp enough (named NPCs probably, mooks - awareness rolls) they will figure out you've got a Psyker and go for him first.

2: … do you role out critical damage for NPC's?

like the above examples, 2 hits for mooks, or if they hit critcal wounds they just die.

3: … Inquisition handling bad things

Inquisitors will handle anything. Certain orders have certain other responsibilites. Order Malleus for example handles internal investigations of Inquisitions matters… this is something I only learned recently, and I've been playing & running the game for three years.

4: … Pinning

This is a solid military tactic. Ever seen the cop show where the guy yells out to his buddies 'Cover me'? That's what they're doing, laying down cover fire to pin the enemy, so that their buddy can move into a superior fire position. And as mentioned there are talents designed to overcome this.

5: … permanent stat and skill bumps

Any item, if it exists, will be rare to the extreme. Not something you gain accidentally, and will be fodder to be turned over to Reliquary 26 (Daemon Hunter). If you gain something like this, the ability gained should be akin to that of a divination… never more than a +3 (or less) to a stat or a new talent that may use while they own it.

One other thing not mentioned, be sure to read through the rules… you might use sticky notes to tab your rulebook on important pages, like the fear table, critical hits, Psyker rules, etc, etc. etc…

Good Luck!

Whether you want the critical effects to apply to "mooks" depends on if you want mooks, which depends on what kind of game you want to run.

Dark Heresy as originally conceived was not an action game with players laying waste to large numbers of NPCs, but an investigative game a la Call of Cthulhu (but with a somewhat lower PC body count). Note that the adventure in the book has very little actual combat. In such a setting, there are no mooks. FFG seems to have been moving away from that, but it's there. If you want an action-movie feel, use the Sudden Death rules for cannon fodder, which kills an NPC when he hits 0 Wounds.

I haven't tried a BoM Battle Sister yet, but I don't know if she's overpowered.

1. She can't get any equipment other than what her Order gives her, the stuff listed. That means she doesn't have a helmet. She's going to be well-armoured everywhere else but there, where she has nothing. She also can't get a melee weapon until Rank 2. She also doesn't have extra ammo beyond reloads (admittedly, the Godwin holds quite a bit of ammo).

2. Her advancements are incredibly expensive, especially if she wants to buy Faith Talents. Look at the prices of those advancements!

3. This is an investigative game! That means she can't lug that armor around half the time.