For ranged weapons, best quality weapons never jam but miss on any roll that would result in a jam. Good craftsmenship gives the weapon reliable. Reliable weapons only jam on a natural 100. It doesn't say anything about rolls that would result in a jam, missing instead. Is this intended?

RAW it seems there would be very little reason to upgrade a weapon from good to best. Added to this the lasgun already gains nothing from going from common to good. Perhaps rethinking the benefits of ranged weapon craftsmenship may be in order.

Odorata said:

I *THINK* that Best automatically includes the benefit of Good as well.

For ranged weapons, I think they kind of stack, yeah, but not melee weapons or armor. A sword with +15 to hit and +1 Damage? Carapace armor that is both AP7 and +1AP vs the first attack each round?

Actually, in OW it is REALLY hard to get that Best quality, so I could see that being the case. Man, I am great at convincing myself against my own intended point.

But I propose being a bit creative with Craftsmanship Qualities. Make Poor weapons easier to maintain. Anytime the player rolls doubles and fails, the gun goes off, maybe give them a fate point if you're like that. Best weapons or armor give bonuses or Unnatural Bonuses on Command or Charm. Give extra slots for customization, but they take Corruption points for customizing these near-relics beyond the point of reason. Good quality Rippers could be a beacon of hope to the unit, giving everyone a bonus vs Fear/Pinning/etc as long as the Ogryn is standing.

There's a post on DarkReign40k.com that I think is pretty inspired when it comes to Poor quality items, I'm sure you can find that if you're interested. Heck, hand out a Poor trait with an item, which could justify giving a higher craftsmanship from the rest of the item. Like giving "Noise and Smoke" to a Chainsword, and the player was purchasing it at Good qualtiy but decided to take the negative trait as well, so you treat the final result as Best Chainsword with "Noise and Smoke."

Joined up just to comment on the beta, so I'll jump right in:

There's good versions of craftsmanship available already: They're just inexplicably avoided like a squat. I'm fairly certain the Orks [its not surprising for the Space Marines] would not have recieved an improved variant had melee not caught up so well from the days of Dark Heresy, with multiple attacks and added damage, compared to what it did vs ranged before. Fact is, you're going a step greater in rarity each time: a Best Quality 'very rare' item is Near-Unique, and a Best Quality Archeotech Laspistol might get its seller a nice planet.

We're still left with a few oddities, though. Right now there's no word of cancelling each-other when going 'downwards' from Standard Quality to Poor. A reliable lasgun in poor conditions is unreliable. Reliable weapons gain nothing from Good Quality. Reliable weapons, whether regular or from Good Quality, gain very little from Never-Jams. Even against psychic powers: if "never jams or overheats" overrides tech scorn and friends, then so would the Deathwatch version of Reliable [on such results; roll a 1d10: only on 10 does the jam actually happen], otherwise neither offers protection.

That aside:

Orks: Good Quality adds +5 BS, Best Quality also adds +1 Damage and a Kustom Bit. This last part makes a lot of sense: if you're crafting a top-notch weapon, chances are you're including a sight, custom grip, or other made-to-order specials on the thing.

Astartes: Never Jams or Overheats, for reliable things that almost never do [not that overheat means much to Astartes beyond the forced cooldown time], comes with +2 damage.

Personally I'd suggest the Ork version, with a note that most commonly, we're probably looking either at a sight, or a sanctified weapon, if its just found or offered rather than custom-ordered by a Rogue Trader. Maybe without the increased weight: surely all those purity seals are counterbalanced by how much metal the engraving has shaved off.

Kiton said:

Actually, the main reason that Ork weapons got their own craftsmanship rules is because it didn't make sense for Ork guns to get more reliable the higher-quality they got - a higher quality Ork weapon is larger, louder, flashier and often has extra shiny bits on.

At least it gives something to the Mekboy though. Reliable, free kustom bit AND +5BS and +1 damage? Sold.

Still, if we wanna keep it simple:

Poor: Adds unreliable, or removes reliable if the weapon had it [a quick fix]

Good: Adds Reliable. If weapon is already reliable, instead add one customization [not counting against the usual maximum of 4]

Best: +1 damage OR integrated Upgrade, in addition to the benefits of Good

Kiton said:

I would say that Good should give Accurate if the weapon has Reliable.

And that Best add +5 to hit and +1 damage. Just my idea.

Edit: this to me is a bit closer to how melee weapon craftmenship works, while still being diffrent.