We know it's a beta and they're listening to feedback, but what houserules are you using in your game right now?

Other than Homeworlds I'm doing:

Scatter gives an additional hit for every two degrees of success in short range. At PBR I'm debating whether they do Tearing or deal an additional hit per DoS.

Bipods give +5 BS when braced. Tripods give +10 when braced. When using a Bipod or Tripod, Suppressive fire is only -15 and -10BS respectively instead of -20 from Suppressing Fire.

Called Shots are the Dark Heresy version. As in, -20BS/WS to attack a specific location. You CAN autofire/swift attack a specific location, but it still follows the Multiple Hits Charts (IE: five shots from full auto on Called Shot: Body won’t all go on the Body). Note that you cannot use Called Shot for All-Out Attack.

Point Blank Range is now within 2-3m instead of 2m.

Carry/Lift/Pull weight is SB+TB+2, not SB+TB

For Regiment Generation, when getting an additional item, roll 1d10 if it’s for grenades or 1d5 for Clips. You get that many per purchase.

Storm Troopers get finesse in BS, since they kinda suck for shooting without it.

Commissars get Fellowship aptitude because why the hell don’t they have that?

If it doesn't say how many Clips you have for the equipment you get for specialty, assume you get 2 spare clips.

Everyone starts with a Sharpened Entrenchment Tool.

Debating whether to allow Minions to actually attack.

Wait, when is the last time you've heard of a Commissar who was likeable? Or charming? Aside from the free RPG day lady, who has a few ranks in Charm… which would be up to the player of that character.

Anyways, they've got plenty of Aptitudes. I'm not really for or against adding in a Fellowship Apt, just the idea of anyone getting along with a Commissar seems highly uncharacteristic in 40k. There have to be talents that make fearing your superior officer, well, y'know, better at making the leader command the soldiers, fall in line. IDK, I'm writing this way too late in the morning.

I just hope I'm not the only one who noticed the Commissar's talent "choices:" Chem Geld or Unshakable Faith. Speaks volumes to me of 40k, and how it mirrors some of our cultures

jordiver2 said:

Except Fellowship doesn't just show likeable someone is, to quote the rules, "A characters ability to interact with others, and represents his ability to charm, command, or deceive ". Command relies on Fellowship, the Terrify special use is exactly what many people think of for Commissars, someone the Guardsmen are more afraid of than the enemy. Clearly this makes Fellowship vital to the core of what the Commissar is, hence why it would make sense for him to have an apptitude in it, obviously he'd have to lose another one to balance it out but it seems, to me at least, to be a needed change.

jordiver2 said:

Commissar Cain…. And Gaunt too.

And Yarrick.

Note that alot of that can be abstracted out as situational bonuses to the command test

"+30 Followers have high morale or commands are very simple to follow."

If a commissar is doing their job, they won't need to get their command/fellowship too high.

Pretty sure a bolt pistol to their face is at least worth a +20 situational modifier.

Each Lasgun (save hotshot) and pump action shotgun get the Melee Attachement upgrade for free…

Reason: My player know they are royaly *censure* when they here the order…FIX BAYONETS!!!

docs.google.com/document/d/1kCmPqlXb5QWJS1cyYPkTx1mAXEO3SdwnyG3O3O_ZjqE/edit

Here's a collection of some made off of a message board and FFG

Moved to this location

Lets take this opportunity to expand on the rules a little. Just as a suggestion.

Remember those chapter specific special weapons in DW? What if regimental favoured weapons were something more like that. Except not so much of a relic, more regiment specific, and less special. Tieing directly in with the favoured weapon ethos. Because lets be clear. If this game is any less cool than DW. It would be a wast.

How about this: At the start of the requisition roll for a regimental favored weapon they get a +3 (baring in mind the +10 for well-provisioned doctrine). They then get to roll however many times (1-2) on the 'weapon histories table'. Similar to the "armour histories table" in DW.

You could also put a section describing that if the character has already used his weapon in a previous campaign he may select one and only one "weapon history" from the table.

These rules will be distinct form the weapon customisation rules as they could be dependent on terrain (trench, jungle etc) or do things like give a +3 initiative bonus. However weapon quality should probably stay unchanged.

Afterall, if theres anything that should have a history in an imperial guard regiment, its heavy and assault weapons.

This will make them extra valued by the squad, and should they be lost grave consequences will ensue.

I wrote up some additional Orders for Comrades (thread can be found in the Game Mechanics) subforum but I haven't had a chance to test them out in actualy play yet.

Besides that I've changed Called Shots back to their DH variant and jams don't force you to reload your weapon (but if you have the Quick Release customization on the weapon it does).

Made these rules for a character a while back based on the one in dawn of war. It would be awsome if fantasy flight included it as a relic similar to deathwatch in the game. It would be even DOUBLE awsome if they commissioned art of a Commissar wielding it, as these things seem as if they were meant to be wielded by the black coats!

Name: Class, Range, Damage, Penetration, Special, Availability

Arm mounted powerclaw: Melee , 1d10+2R, 3, Proven (3), Tearing, 5kg, Near Unique

Thrice bladed power assisted extensible claws. While not power weapons per-sey, the lethality of the 3 extending blades within each forearm is considerable, and the bane of any non armoured foe. Only matched by lightning claws themselves, which are usually too cumbersome for normal humans and the preserve of the astarties. A lightning claw is the favoured weapon of the emperor himself and a clear indication of the emperors authority vested in that officer to other nobles, much less the positive effect on guard morale when they are in full view. For this reason, it is unlikly to be seen in the hands of any heretic any time soon. It is not uncommon for them to bear art detailing imperial creed, specific regimental insignia, or heraldry. It is easy to see why any senior officer or nobles would pay private artisans large sums to have one in there possession.

They do an additional +1 point of damage for every degree of success. If they are used as a pair, this increases to +2 points of damage. They provide AP6 armour to the arm wearing them. They permit the officer to use both hands freely, but when making an attack they must decide which weapon they will do it with. However, no balanced weapon can be used by the same hand which has the powerclaw with primary weapon attached, as it is allready too heavy.

They also may come made with a permanently attached primary weapon, usually a storm bolt pistol, but others can be attached by the artisan, which must be bought separately first. ReplacingModifying the weapon in the field requires a (punishing -50) armourers test to avoid damaging it.

Name: Class, Range, RoF, Damage, Penetration, Clip, Rld, Special, Wt. Availability

Storm Bolt pistol: Pistol, 30m, S/2/-, 1d10+5, 4, 12, 2full, Tearing, 6kgs. Near Unique.

Spending a fate point to staunch the Blood Loss effect. It stinks to die from a righteous fury attack, and just happen to lose that roll next turn.

Tbere definitely need to be way more types of lasguns. I can think of a few.

Ryza pattern 'las lance'
Basic 90m S/2/- 1d10+3E 0 80 3Full Reliable, Unbalanced 3kg Scarce

Termed las lance because it uses a large focusing lense and a proprietary beam which focuses to a point. Thus the closer the guardsman is to the target, the larger the beam and the more energy is delivered. It is thought that it was designed this way to eliminate the need for a fixed bayonet. For this reason the weapons magazine is securely fixed so that it will not be removed at point blank range.
At half the standard range the laspike deals 1d10+4. At point blank range it deals 1d10+4 ap1. It uses a special pattern charge pack which is not exchangeable with ther las packs and require an armorers tool to remove. If the guardsman is an armorer, it changes to 1full. This gun does not comply with rapid reload skill.

My "house rules" so far…

All Specialties and Support Specialties gain Common Lore (Imperial Guard) as a starting skill if they don't already have it.

Sergeants gain Common Lore (War) as a starting skill.

The Covering Fire sweaping order is changed to Cover Me, a general order any PC can give to his Comrade granting the PC a +10 Dodge bonus.

Our group's going to be scrapping the One/Zero aptitude costs in favor of the Allied/Opposed values in Black Crusade. Paying two and a half times the base cost for something you're not trained for is a penalty enough, no need to go all the way to 5x like OW did. None of us were too fond of the illusion of choice the aptitude/alignment system got turned into.

Also Las Weapons get Variable Settings back and Weapon Tech applicable.

Overheat gained through settings/flaws does not ignore AP. This includes Stormfield weapons, overload las settings, etc, but not weapons that 'start' with it in their default modes such as Plasma. Of course, an overheating lasgun has far less Pen and Damage in the first place anyways.

Standard Las

High: +1 Damage +2 Pen, Ammo use Doubled.

Overload: +2 Damage +4 Pen, Ammo use Tripled, Reliability -1 [reliable loses it, non-reliable becomes unreliable, unreliable gains overheat]

Hell Weapons

High: +2 Damage +2 Pen, Ammo use Doubled

Overcharge Pack: +1 damage, 75% capacity. Adds +1m, +2 damage and pen to charge pack explosion values if detonated [this is mostly a cook-off penalty]

Hot-Shot Pack: +2 damage +2 pen, Clip 1, adds tearing, non-variable[obviously], catastrophic incompatibility with Overheating [it explodes like an overcharge]

Kiton said:

I used something similar with my DH group. We also established that Hell Weapons can use normal charge packs but each shot uses 4 "ammo". Simply put, we had some trouble picturing an elite unit as the stormtroopers using a weapon that has such an ineffectiive clip system, as the RAW hellguns.

Actually several hellgun patterns can do this in RT, I believe the Lucius is one of them.

Far as I can tell, "hot shot lasguns" are exactly this, but built for that mode in the first place.

Another type of rifle that could be added :

Twin Lasgun Basic 100m S/2/– 1d10+4 E 0 18 Full Tearing, Unreliable 7kg 220 Rare

Or

Twin Lasgun Basic 100m S/2/– 1d10+4 E 0 18 Full, Storm, Proven (2) Unreliable 7kg Rare

Because tearing is more of a boltgun thing. This is even more deadly when combined with barrage. A good short range sniper.

"The last line"
Basic 25m S/–/– 1d10+5 X 4 clip1 2Full tearing 3kg Rare

A very rare weapon originally designed by Col. Brohn, for issue to heavy bolter gunners, should their main gun jam. While the gunner attempts to sooth the machine spirits pain it can fire a single bolt before needing reloading, to keep armoured enemies at bay. Its machine spirit is very simple, it barrel is swisted and then its collar unlocked, removed and charged with a boltround from the main weapons belt. Then placed against the bicep and pulled rearwards with the other arm to fire. They are a two handed weapon and can never be upgraded.

It is disposable and can only be fired a maximum of five times. Several hundred thousand were made for the Cadian shock troops heavy weapons betallion, but production ceased soon after.

However it has found popularity with the inquisition as it is more concealable and has high firepower, it can be orbital dropped with a few bolt rounds behind enemy lines to inquisitors and their retinues and resistance fighters alike. It is said that they maintain the only manufactorums producing them. They give +20 to conceal test

Kiton said:

Thanks for the note, I haven't checked my RT materials for a while.

Archeotech 'Storm' Lasgun


Designed during the Dark Age of Technology by a forgotten corporation of security contractors, the 'Storm' Lasgun is without a doubt the most deadly of all laser weapons built in existence. Although the rapid rate of fire exhausts the clip within a short time keeping the gun on semi-automatic and single round rates of fire allow soldiers to work around this limitation. However, the corporation saw that these designs were prone to overheating and the components required to make said lasguns was too high for it's purpose. It was dropped in favor of the rapid expansion of various other forms of firearms, which did more or less the same thing as a Storm Lasgun, but were much more cheaper to produce in the vast quantities needed at the time.

Thousands of years later, the Forge World of Ryza has found the STC print-out of the Storm Lasgun, and is currently producing a few token models for use by members of the Inquisition, and to a much more rarer extent, the Imperial Guard. The power behind such weapons make them a deadly in the hands of any soldier. It is said that the Storm Lasgun has "an extra kick to it that will knock an Ork Boy off his feet", to quote Guardsmen who had the privilege to use such weapons exactly.

Storm Lasgun (Class: Basic Range: 75m S/2/4/ DAM: 1d10+4 PEN: 1 Clip: 30 RLD: Full SPECIAL: Overheats, Storm Wt.: 4.5 Availability: Near Unique)

Tell me what you think of this weapon and if you'll use it in your games. The gun uses a standard las-charge pack but a backpack is advised since it consumes half the regular amount in a charge-pack. Such as where for a Regular Lasgun it'd be 60, for this, it's 30. So if I charge-pack has only 30 lasbolts left, if popped into a Storm Lasgun it's 15.

Also, is Near Unique too brutal or is it fair?

MajorMurray said:

I have quite a few problems with the Fluff.

An archeotech lasgun shouldn't have any real flaws. Archeaotech represents the tech of the hight of humanity, the time were they created the men of iron and similar machines. Furthermore an STC print-out would mean that this weapon could be mass produced like a knife on a lot of worlds.

So how about the mechanicus found a damaged STC print-out of the weapon and used it to make a new lasgun, the result being the Storm.

I'd also argue that it's not the most deadly of all laser weapons in existances. There's the las cannon which is a las weapon, the duelling las that quite a few rogue traders wields and probably a variety of hellguns that could outperform this weapon (that is ignoring vehicle and heavy weapons because then it gets even worse in comparison).

Edit: Near Unique is too harsh, that's Force Sword level rarity.

MajorMurray said:

Terrible idea. There will be no archeotech within the armoury. EVER.

corporation of security contractors,

There are no corporations in the imperium

the 'Storm' Lasgun is without a doubt the most deadly of all laser weapons built in existence.

Its not even as good as a hotshot or hellgun.

Thousands of years later, the Forge World of Ryza has found the STC print-out

STCs probably dont code for Archeotech… although they do code for superior technology. Archeotech was made at a time where all great technologies were available. An STC would only contain a few old technological methods. Leaving production of the rest a mystery.

Storm Lasgun (Class: Basic Range: 75m S/2/4/ DAM: 1d10+4 PEN: 1 Clip: 30 RLD: Full SPECIAL: Overheats, Storm Wt.: 4.5 Availability: Near Unique)

Too mary sue.

An archeotech would be similar to the archeotech laspistol and probably cost a rogue traders fortune to get. Also, they would never overheat. Also storm weapons are a relativly new technology.

LazerTracer said:

There actually are quite a few (going from the DH handbook). For one you might as well call trading dynasties or rogue trader dynasties corporations because that's what they are, the only difference is that the CEO position is heredetary (although adopting a promising person into your family is a way to get capable leaders anyway).

Examples include House Krin, the Cestelle Alliance, the Devayne Incorporation, the Machenko Dynasty and the Skaelen-Har Hegemony (p. 313, 314 in DH Core Rulebook).

Especially the last one is a corporation (the others are more "Houses").

Right, thanks for the replies. I will make sure to change the Storm Lasgun accordingly at a later date.

"the only difference is that the CEO position is heredetary"

Yeh, and, well, all the other things that make them different to a corporation, dummy. Like being a noble house/dynasty/guild or even hegemony or alliance.

Its nice that the writers took all that time to give you a complex political and geographical structure using diverse ancient systems and you just went.

"they must mean corporations, like in america"

"oh look, they make products, see, corporation"

Religious forms of government do not tend to allow private enterprise that is separate from god himself. They dont expressly forbid it. But you'd better have permission and will be subject to purity checks.

The Devayne Incorporation… "is an unusual sector house that was originally a large and powerful religious order"

I think you meant to add that bit in didnt you? Because you read it, right?

There are also loads of artisan houses in the inquisitors handbook and they all make carefull note to stay in line with a noble house religious order or both.

Ya know? Its kinda exactly like the way the nights templar would have churches produce or repair their chainmail for them, and only them.

But nice of you to correct me.