I am currently designing a mission that involves some Adeptus Custodes. Could anyone come up with some accurate stats for them considering they are the elite form of Astartes? I know they do no have any squad mode abilities, but I want to be able to capture their pure awesomeness during when I run my campaign. Any suggestions?

Take a regular Space Marine. Add +10 across the board to his characteristics, save for Willpower (which gets a +20). Give him Best-Craftsmanship Artificer Armor, a Gladius (Best-Craftsmanship Power Sword) and a Guardian Spear (Best-Craftsmanship Power Spear with a mounted Best-Craftsmanship Bolter.) Count all of his weapons as blessed, make him immune to Fear, and then erase everything you have written down because Adeptus Custodes never leave the Imperial Palace on Holy Terra and are probably the strongest non-psykers around.

You'll never be fighting less than a few hundred of them at once, plus a ton of Sisters of Silence and the Terran PDF (the best armed in the galaxy), a multitude of Temple Assassins, two Titans, and a couple billion zealous pilgrims.

If Space Marine is only +5 higher in all characteristics compared to exceptional humans, i doubt that Custodes need more of a boost beyond Space Marines than +5 to each characteristic and a few extra wounds. I do agree with the full kit of Master-Crafted gear. Note that they will lack Squad Mode - their reliance on solo action, even when in numbers, has been shown to be their weakness.

Plushy said:

The Horus Heresy series sets some precedents for Custodes being away from the Emperor's side. The Custodes charged with keeping watch over Lorgar and the Word Bearers, for example.

Illithid00 said:

Really? Well, ain't that horrendous. Aren't all of the 'modern' Custodes on Terra, though? Their one and only job is protecting His Most Hairy Wrinkled Arsehole from daemonic assaults, after all. No reason to go elsewhere.

Custodes can be found outside Terra if somewhere in the galaxy a piece of gear, data or anything related to the Emperor appear and need to be secure. (A hair of the emperor should be enough to put on the move a lot of custodes with the only goal to find and keep or destroy if not possible to move it back on earth.

Illithid00 said:

During the Great Crusade and the Heresy, this was true to an extent. However, the Custodes would only leave the Emperor's presence under the Emperor's own orders… and since being interred upon the Golden Throne, the Emperor has given very few orders. Further, after the Siege of Terra, the Custodes gave up their golden armour and took up trappings of black to demonstrate the shame at failing to protect the Emperor from harm - they stopped being a military force long ago. Individual Custodian Guard are still seen outside the throne room, for it has long been their duty to ensure that the Throneworld is secure from external threats.

In short, unless the Emperor tells them otherwise, the Adeptus Custodes will be on the same planet as the Master of Mankind, with the majority of them within close proximity (with 300 chosen Companions who are stationed within the throne room itself).

As everyone else has stated, these guys don't leave Earth today. One good reason, it's better if the Ruinous Powers don't get a chance to see what their current cyber-configuration is. If I remember correctly, the Adeptus Custodes are created by "similar" process to Space Marines, but rather than getting new organs, they become cyborgs. In much the same way that the Grey Knights are so secretive in order to limit Chaos's stockpiling of accurate info on them, it's better to keep the Ruinous Powers in the dark on the current abilities of the Emperor's last line of defense, assuming even Tzeentch, in a moment of drunken, addled lunacy thought that an attack could be launched upon Holy Terra. And again, the legions of Stormtrooper-grade pdfs, the Battle Sisters, the Null Battle Sisters, any Inquisition forces (based out of Antarctica, I believe), their Assassins, the Lord Solar's combined fleet, renforcements from Mars and Saturn, and a number of Titans will see to it that no Chaos force does this again.

Custodes are really cool, and I often wished that, for no good reason, they'd get minis in the TT, but they are a super-niche. As many as their are, they are all on Terra, doing the one same thing; guarding Him on the Golden Throne, so that the Imperium does not fall. If even one Custode was away from the Himilayan throne room/castle/fortress, and something did happen, where one more guy might have pushed the enemy back, it would be a catastrophe, and if the Emperor biffs, I think that the Astronomicon will mostly go with him.

If a bit of the Emperor's past showed up, say a weapon, or a hair, the Inquisition would quietly sweep in, and get it; Custodes are notably unique, and anything that could pull them away from their one task, with no subtlety, would be something a wave of Chaos would be belched out to find, first.

If your players ever want to even see a Custode in real life, they'd have to travel all the way to Terra, poke around the palace, and keep an eye open. Millions of psykers are soulbound to the Emperor, and I don't think even they need to see Him. Even high-ranking Inquisitors aren't allowed into His throne room, and only one has, recently.

venkelos said:

The Custodes are genetically engineered, but they represent a different approach to supersoldiers than the Astartes.

As I understand it, there were four distinct phases to the Emperor's development of posthuman warriors.

Stage 1 is the Thunder Warriors, the beings who helped the Emperor reconquer Terra at the very start of the Reunification. By the time the Great Crusade began, the Thunder Warriors were essentially extinct. Thunder Warriors were individually enhanced super-soldiers, wielding early forms of bolter and power armour (the Mk1 "Thunder" armour).

Stage 2 is the Custodian Guard. Like the Thunder Warriors before them, they are individually enhanced, each one the product of incredible mastery of genetic science. Unlike the Thunder Warriors, however, the Custodians are designed to last, and each one represents the very pinnacle of that particular approach to genetic enhancement. Each is armed with the finest wargear, each is trained to be a superlative warrior, and each is perfectly loyal to the Emperor above all others - no bonds of brotherhood exist to conflict their loyalties. They are, however, not an army, and they are too time-consuming and difficult to make to serve as the Emperor's legions in the Great Crusade.

Stage 3 is the Primarchs. Rather than beginning with existing individuals and enhancing them, the Emperor begins from scratch, manipulating his own genes and merging with that his psychic prowess and a variety of other arcane methods, to create twenty godlike superhuman beings, each one distinct from the others but all of them magnificent. No mortal man has ever or will ever be as swift of mind or mighty of body as the Primarchs are.

Stage 4 is the Adeptus Astartes. With the loss of the Primarchs, the Emperor took remnants of their genetics and created geneseed - organs which can be surgically implanted into a compatible human being to turn them into a super-soldier. Though not as puissant as the Custodian Guard, the geneseed could be implanted by any sufficiently-trained individual, and would in turn provide the means to produce more warriors using the same genetic template. This allowed them to be the legions the Emperor required, and he set about creating a single legion of warriors from each Primarch's genetics.

Now, while we know that the Astartes age, though far slower than humans, we don't know if this is the case for the Adeptus Custodes, who were hand-made genetic masterpieces that pre-date even the Primarchs. It may possibly be that the Custodes who guard the Emperor to this day were the exact same warriors who survived the Siege of Terra in the early 31st Millennium. It may even be that the Captain of the Custodes who visited Alicia Dominica at the height of Vandire's Reign of Blood was Chief Custodian Constantin Valdor, a man who witnessed the birth of the Imperium.

Plushy said:

Well, there's Zarron Feyder, an member of the Custodes on a personal quest to retrive an ancient blueprint that details the inner working of the golden throne. His search has brought him to the Jericho Reach and the Omega Vault, and he needs the help of the Deathwatch to continue his investigations.

I just made that up, and I am sure it will work in my campaign.

But why do I need stats for Feyder? Because I would like to keep his level of ability consistent throughout the campaign instead of deciding on the fly that he can do this and cannot do that, and then have to keep track of those decisions as the game progresses.

-K

In W40k 1st edition, the average custodes was almost as strong as a space marine hero (roughly, captain). They won't have squad mode abilities since the custodes are noted as fighting as individuals, not squads. Their gear should be superb and they should have some training in diplomacy, having to deal with intrigue on Terra itself since before the Horus Heresy.

Actually, post-heresy, Custodes no longer use armour, except for the helmets.

Penpen said:

Oh yeah, huh. They wear black leggings and red capes.

I'd be shocked if those clothes weren't at least mesh armour grade. And with a smattering of force fields hidden in their ranks.

Decessor said:

Then again, if they dropped their armour by the same logic as repentia, don't be surprised if they're just normal clothes.

I'd disagree on "the same logic". Custodes always struck me as utterly loyal without being outright fanatics. They don't need to have faith in a god, they just have to guard him.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Adeptus_Custodes

If I was to make a custodes I would have to start at character creation. Most costodes are really old so you would need to add a lot more than just 1k exp. If each one is the equivilent of a space marine captain they should probably start with something along the lines of 12k exp to bring them to rank 4 and maybe a little extra to buy some rank 4 abilities. Custodes should be the best equipped I think with Hero level wargear. They will need their own advancement charts tailored around them as I guess they don't have specializations. One idea I have is giving them Sisters of Battle like abilities. For being tailor-made genetic warriors they probably should have higher stats, +5 to everything I don't think is unreasonable showing they are just a little better then normal space marines when it comes to physical and mental abilities. I would consider lowering their Fellowship as they are not loyal to anyone except the Emperor, -10 most likely maybe more. All of this is theorycrafting.

Space Marines will have the advantage in groups. They are trained to work as a group and get the benefit of squad mode. They also have the black carapace and power armor.

Decessor said:

Possibly, but we can also think of it this way. If we're going to compare badassery by throwing your average astartes in a fight with your average custodes, look at it like this: The space marine is clad in powered armour rivaling small tanks and armed with an automatic rocket grenade launcher. The custodes has a spear and isn't even wearing a shirt. If action movies has taught us anything, the space marine would only stand less of chance if he was going up against a small, unarmed, elderly asian man.

Penpen said:

The Custodes are armed with a spear with an automatic rocket grenade launcher on the end.

ItsUncertainWho said:

…aaaand you completely missed the point.

Penpen said:

The point being that looks are deceiving. Custodes used to be resplendant in their glorious golden armour and red plumed helmets. They were an ever present force wherever the Emperor was to make it clear that he cannot be got at, hurt or killed. Their failure to protect Him during the Heresy led to their change to funerary blacks and reds and removal of their armour. However their role as guardians of the Emperor means they are still armed, likely just as armoured through the use of forcefields and other devices and still just as brutal in combat.

If you've read any of the Horus Heresy novels you'll know that it took entire squads of Astartes to take down even a single Custodes and quite often it was only the 'special character' marines that could pull this off.

For Custodes stats after a quick look to Honor the chapter I think that you can use the Legion of the Dmaned stats block to give life to custodes with maybe a Fel bonus.

I was thinking of just using the 'Deathwatch Keeper' Speciality with a few equipment tweeks.

Well, even if I am kinda late with my response Ill gie it a try.

To say they have abandoned their gear is kinda problematic because you refer to Rogue Trader Ed. 1, an Edtion nearly everything from has been altered. Though it is a nice sign of devotion I hardly disagree with the Idea that they have abandoned their gear when it comes to combat. I look at them like the swiss guard of the vatican state. They wear their fancy uniforms without their breatplates but when it comes to war they wear their real gear (which makes today no sense^^) So for their status as a Guard a black uniform and a helmet that hides their identity as a result of "shame" is realy nice. But when they fight I would never doubt that they would enter their armorys and bring their old glory back. Also their helmets are discribed as the pinacle of technology. Atleast I would expect a force field with the strengh of at least an iron halo integrated in it, also some sensor arrays like the Ultra Marines Relic has, dunno its name atm. Their armor would be either Artificer or Terminator gear with at least two aditionals armor historys that might be even chosen freely because every custodian recieves only the armor that is suited the best for him. (Maybe even use the armor of the remorseless crusader) They issue relics as other chapters issue standard ordonance bolters.

The staline is realy difficult. There are sources that discribe them as superior to an astartes, as an astartes would be to the average guardsman. And this refers to their combat style. They are not wolves like the Astartes that fight together, but they are Lions that fight alone. Keep any squad ability away from them and give them nice solo mode abilitys that allow them to fight one on one and against hordes. On the other hand increase their statline by 5-10 per attribute and increase their unnatural strenght and toughness by an additional multiplier. They are unique made superhumans, the best of the best. The astartes are the angels of death, the custodes are death incarnate.

As a weapon I would give them only master crafted gear with all kinds of equipment that would be usefull. I would handle their Custodian spear as a relic blade without much change (Or an executioner axe without the unwieldy but un unbalanced). The integrated bolter should only use special issue ammunition and could adapt the Furious Vengeance Relic Bolter Rules. Their backup swords would be great as "The Shadow in the Sky".

For their Skills/Talents dont give them any restrictions. They can learn what they need for their tasks, they have the time and the masters. Their XP should be arranged to match with an Deathwatch "Hero".

I know this would create crazy powerfull individuals. But lets be honest. They are crazy powerfull. Constantin Valdor, the Chief Costodian, was able to defeat Horus Lupercal (Before he recieved his chaos gifts) in a sparring match, a friggin primarch. Also Valdor saved the Emperors life numerous times. The Custodians are the peak of the genetical engeneering that has been invented by the emperor of mankind. They are the absolute elite. They are tasked to defend terra and the emperor, they have the best wargear of the entire empire if they need it and chances are very likely that a lot of them are actual veterans of the heresy itsself. It could even be that Valdor still stands guard in the golden throne.

Returning to this topic, I'll quote a very plausible theory on the current state of the Custodes.

Occasionally you see questions raised on forums regarding their effectiveness after apparently spending 10,000 years on guard duty, suggesting that despite their biological augmentations; without any actual combat experience they might have simply become a symbolic organisation since Terra is so well defended by other means.

In fact the Custodians sat through most of the Age of Apostasy , not participating until the last moment to bring order when the fighting made it to the Imperial Palace. They also were mysteriously absent during The Beheading when the Officio Assassinorum started levelling city blocks. Added to the fact that the admittedly very old pictures of Custodians show them not even bothering to wear their armour any more indicates that they don't actually have very much to do these days.

However, one very important fact remains: The Golden Throne is a portal to the Webway which was broken , and it takes the Emperor every ounce of his concentration to stop that energy spilling out into a new Eye of Terror . Underneath the Imperial Palace Malcador the Sigillite showed one of the human founders of the Inquisition a series of adamantium doors the size of Imperator Titans, and even when standing at the first door it sounds like the greatest battle of all time was going on behind them.

The Custodians are fighting a warp incursion on Terran soil 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for 10 000 years . A battle which cannot be won unless someone figures out how to fix the Throne and seal the breach, and since only the Emperor knew how it operated in the first place it's likely that the incursion can ONLY by held at bay. The Custodians visible throughout the palace are simply being rotated out for rest and recuperation and nobody knows about the major warzone underneath their feet.

So while the Grey Knights are cruising through the galaxy responding to daemonic threats, the Custodians are holding the line at home, fighting perhaps the most significant (and secret) battle in the history of mankind, making them perhaps the most badass of any fighting forces EVER.

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Adeptus_Custodes#Effectiveness