Charge Packs and Catachan Reloading

By Cifer, in Game Mechanics

The box on page 138 deals with the process of reloading lasgun chargepacks (and is AFAIK taken straight from the Inquisitor's Handbook). It's nice that the topic is covered at all, but I have a couple of issues with it:

Firstly, the "reload by sunlight/warmth" option that is described by the Imperial Infantryman's Uplifiting Primer isn't touched upon which I find a pity since it's one of the primary things that make las-weaponry such a godsend for the Departmento Munitorum in their quest for the perfect supply chain.

Secondly, the Catachan Reloading (putting the clip into a fire) is just plain bad. It not only makes the clip less reliable (which is canon), it also takes ages , which is somewhat strange considering it's primarily used when everything has gone to hell - when you have no access to electrical outlets, chances are you don't have 24 hours to sit still either.

So, the following would be my idea for a fix (it has about the same size as the original box):

Recharging Power Packs

Las power packs can be charged from most power sources. With a suitable power source available, characters may test Tech-Use to recharge any power pack. The difficulty and time required to do so are determined by the kind of the source, with several hours being usual. Alternatively, power packs may be recharged by placing them near a fire or in direct sunlight, a process that typically takes about 24 hours of exposure. Should the situation warrant a quicker recharge, the pack can be put into a fire. This takes only two hours, but carries several risks: On a successful Challenging (+0) Survival test, the clip's weapon loses its Reliable trait or becomes Unreliable if it wasn't Reliable before. On a failed test, the clip size is also reduced by half and on a failure by more than three degrees, the clip is rendered permanently useless.