Hey all,

I'm brand new to the game, trying to get a group of my friends together to play so I'm reading through the rules becuase more then likely I'll be the GM so you'll probably see me on here a lot, ha.

My openning question is do you have to buy skills that you already start with? An example would be in the First Founding book a character from the Ravenguard chapter can buy both Concealment and Silent Move for 200xp each (pg 18) but in the core rule book it says Space Marines start the game with both skills at the trained level (pg 36). Another example of this is that Apothecaries in the corerule book start with Medicae at the trained level but he can also buy Medicae at Rank 1 for 400 xp (pg 69). It doesn't say +10 or anything (which comes at Rank 2) so what would be the point of buying it again? If they do have to re-buy these skills can you give a reason and maybe a pg # to point it out to me.

Another question is can Ravenguard characters take his free Tactics (choose one) skill as his chapter's Tactics (Recon and Stealth)?

Thanks,

Will

No, you do not need to purchase advances your character begins the game with.

Those advances are listed in the advance tables for some very good reasons.

First, while the characters begin the game with them, the advances should be available to the characters at the starting rank. In other words any advance a rank 1 space marine should be able to get at rank 1 (including those he gets automatically) should be in some rank 1 advance table.

Second, as an RPG there are situations in which a character could loose skills. WH40K has mind wipes for instance. In the event something like this occurs it would be pretty sucky if the character lost a starting skill and there was no way to re-learn it because it is not in any advance table.

Third, FFG has stated it is also for "future proofing". In other words, some characters in the future may not begin the game with all the skills your basic marine does and they should have access to them. A very valid argument, and it was the simplest explanation and most readily swalloable by most gamers.

The concealment and Stealth advances are more expensive in the general advances. Were your character to forget their training, they could more easily re-aquire them.

I see no reason the Tactics (Choose One) at character creation could not be Recon and Stealth.

Thanks herichimo. I didn't know about the possible skill loss outcomes of the game but I guess I would make sense. Now that I know I can finish up a handlefull of NPCs I might run beside my friends characters.