Core-Gel is in the book! W00t! That makes me so happy.

And Catalytic Mass Drivers… what a fun weapon. I'll be interested to see how effective people find it.

Follow-up question/s, and this is regarding patterns.

You mention, the Combat, Security and Medicae Servitor. Do they have specific Patterns like the "[Whatever]-Pattern Medicae Servitor"?, and if so, what are they? Ditto for the Power Glove and Vision Cowl.

And one more (two part) question:

Are there any section on new Skills/Talents listed, and if so, what are they?



This book can't arrive fast enough.

BYE

What's the deal with the venator blade and psybernetics? And what's a coil whip?

Do we have a full list of Alternate Ranks?

Are there any new Home Worlds?

Enemy stats?

Meridien said:

H.B.M.C. said:

Hmm. I was chatting with some nice fellows online and everything we've heard about this book so far makes us crave a party using largely this book, with everyone getting jump packs and mechadendrites. Horrify some natives with our "sorcery."

You probably could. The Lords Dragon are the Calixis Mechanicum's own internal "Inquisition", so a group of Acolytes working for them (with a few Agents of the Lords Dragon in there) could work quite well, taking orders from the Ad Mech rather than the Inquisition.

BYE

H.B.M.C. said:

So, how close can we get to playing Skitarii with this book? We have our base Tech-Priests, and now Mech-Assassins and Crimson Guard… Are there Mechanicus psykers? Clerics?

Crimson Guard are as close are you're going to get to Skitarii I'm afraid. The AdMech don't have psykers. And they're all clerics (so to speak). They're Tech-Priests, after all.

BYE

NO bp and cell advances? Shame, still looking forward on this like hell. CAT is nice somebody read his Hero of the Imperium. Venatorii (I prefer high gothic names) sounds cool, but one question comes to my mind, are the Lords Dragons mentioned to be Calixis specific? Becouse I swear a read about them in Necron 3ed. codex and in Horus Heresy novels.

Also, Malatek, it sounds awfuly similiar to Maltek Stalker from RH, what is he about? Renegade tech-priest but no warp-tech? Also is there any stuff on Logicians, Phaeonites and briefly mentioned Empyrean Engineers and Sinophian Tech-wtiches?

Item number 1: I haven't been able to fully scour the book. There seemed to be some REALLY interesting/scary enemy profiles (I'm talking about you Myrmidon… <.< …>.>).

Item number 2:

Spatha Pattern Combat Servitor

Remidium Pattern Medicae servitor

Velox Pattern Security Servitor

And yes I completely forgot about the new skills/ talents!!! There is now the Diplomacy skill which allows players to essentially debate with other characters to make them see their point of view on a subject matter. Theres also Logis Prophesying which is a skill for tech priests which allows them to piece together past and present information to predict a future event, a sort of "techno divination". New Talents include Luminen flare and Luminen surge which are beefed up versions of blast and shock respectively. Theres also Luminen shield and barrier which are awesome additions.

Cool. The pattern names are in the book. I'm happy about that. And yes, that's Spatha, not Sparta, in case anyone was wondering.


Ever since DH came out it always bugged me how the Luminen powers didn't really scale. Say you got Blast, well… that's all Blast ever did. You would end up with these Talents that were fine if you were unarmed, but that's about it. So… I wrote some bigger ones, and added the shield. And they get even better with the Enhanced Potentia Coil. That thing effects all those Talents - Luminen Talents, Maglev Talents and Ferric Talents (and Integrated Weapons, but not by a huge amount; they're pretty dangerous on their own as it is).

And The Flesh is Weak is in there, right?

BYE

Yes TFIW is in there as well!!! And I completely agree with you on the Luminen issue. My first character was a tech priest and I was super excited to take all of those talents. But as I really started looking at them I was a bit displeased that they capped out pretty early. So far so good!! I'm also reading the adventure through right now. First impressions are kinda ok but im only just beginning part 2 of the adventure, so anything can happen.

Factor of the Lathes is something I've wanted to work into a RT Explorator for a long time. The character is the mouthpiece for the AdMech contingent aboard the RT's vessel, so it's more important he can interact well than have ever-higher levels of Tech-Use. This is the answer - now to covert it.

I'm hearing some horrifying things about the Crimson Guard. They sound pretty brutally OP… They have a lot more utility than I expected, and could probably outgun most Only War characters. A lot better gear than we've come to expect out of Rank 1.

Personally I'd be very careful about making any potential snap decisions. And all I will say is that, as a Rank 1 alternate rank, the Crimson Guard's advance list has to be extensive because a lot of what he needs can't usually be obtained by the Guardsman career, so the table has a bit of a "kitchen sink" approach.

BYE

H.B.M.C. said:

I'm a bit more worried by the gear. It's good stuff - really good - and might overshadow any other option out there for pure starting combat ability. He's just as devastating as the Battle Sister, but with the ability to scale in power. I do like it a lot, though. The Lathesmaster, too!

I won't deny that the weapons they have are good, but no one's talking about the drawbacks of these guns. They're like Luminen abilities in that they can cause Fatigue from over-use, and that can seriously mess up a character (especially as a Jam just affects that gun, whereas Fatigue affects everything you do). The weapons themselves aren't universal either. Not everyone has (or can even get) Mechanicus Implants, and even if you jury rig one of these guns they're never going to be as effective as the 'pure' version. Plus if you unplug one they run out of power pretty soon and just stop working!

BYE

I heard discordant are technological untouchables? How is that explained? Pariah gene spliced into their DNA?

H.B.M.C. said:

Yes, of course the Mechanicum hoards all the best toys to themselves. Even with the fatigue issue, the basic integrated lasgun is almost as good as a bolter. Look at it, it has the same damage, same RoF, two less penetration, and even has Tearing. For a *starting* Dark Heresy character, that is pretty darn good. There aren't many low level opponents that can stand up to that sort of abuse.

Cheers,

- V.

Van I think you're right in that there arent many low level enemies that can stand up to that. However, Its an alternate rank, and like all alternate ranks they are governed by 2 EXTREMELY important factors. 1: does the GM even allow this in the game? 2: Even if it's in the game will the GM allow the player to take this alternate rank?

I think this is one of those alternate ranks where it can create some really interesting situations and problems. Yeah the CG power scales, but how often will they be able to replace their weaponry? Will the character WANT to use any old hive world weaponry, or will they have such high standards since they are from the lathe worlds? Couple this with the insanely high price tag of most "good" hive/forge world weaponry and the next to nothing salary they are paid and you have some great material. It may seem powerful on paper, but until it's seen out in the field we wont know for sure.

I have to agree that the Crimson Guard's starting equipment is very impressive by DH standards. Compared to most other character types (excepting the Battle Sister), it would appear unbalanced at first glance. OTOH, since I rarely start DH characters off at less than 3,000xp - by which point most other character types have better gear and the talents to use them - such things don't really bother my games at all. Of course, by that point the Crimson Guard has at least one more freebie cybernetic, and that improved potentia coil is very nice…

Hey,

So, I'm reading and re-reading the traits Luminen Barrier and Luminen Sheild, and I can't see a difference between them (other than xp cost and availability) am I missing something or is this a typo?

Haxtes

Shield should have a rating of 5xWPB.
Barrier should have a rating of 10xWPB.

BYE

H.B.M.C. said:

This made me curious. What happens when your WPB is 12? (Unnatural Willpower, plus 60+ Willpower)

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the rule says their base WPB, so Unnaturals wouldn’t matter.

BYE