A buddy of mine is about to start a game if Deathwatch. He's very resistant to errata and alternate rules interpretations. Do any experienced Deathwatch players have any insight in how important these rules tweeks are? It looks like it'll have serious effect on Squad Mode powers.

…why is he resistant to Errata? It's usually there to fix things.

Anyway, the erratta for the general rules is excellent and settles a lot of issues. There's been debate over the weapons erratta, but in general it keeps damage a bit more predictable, makes core rulebook enemies suitably dangerous, and makes the Heavy Bolter not so hilarious.

I can't recall changes to the Squad Mode powers other than making them fair and clarifying vague wording.

He's very "type a" about game rules and he can be somewhat inflexible about something being different than what he thought it was. I told him myself that errata exist to offer balancing points, but he sort of shrugged that off and accused me of " rules-lawyering" (we haven't even played the game, yet). He's not a bad guy, he just grew up in New York (zing!). I'd like to assure him that they aren't anything to fuss over one way or another… but I'm playing the Tactical specialty and it looks like the most "nerfing" going on in the errata is Squad Mode stuff. I'd prefer not to get blamed for that when my kill- team mows through his game mission with powers printed in the core book to last an entire combat, but corrected later to only affect one game round.

The main sections of the errata are official changes. Some things weren't working as intended so they were errataed. The FAQ section are answers to common questions according to the official rules and intent of play. The Errata weapons are (as listed) completely optional changes. You do not have to use them, but they do have some benefits (and drawbacks as well).

Ninja Dog said:

Crucial.

Corebook Righteous Fury combined with high Space Marine WS/BS, corebook weapon stats and autoconfirming against xenos meant too many incidents of one-shotting *any* enemy. I would never again play in or run a serious Deathwatch campaign unless the errataed Righteous Fury and 'optional' weapon stats were being used.

OH yeah, RAW Righteous Fury is comical at best. Use the Erratta of that for sure!

Having played our first game, I certainly see what you guys are talking about. Our devastator scored Righteous Fury 5 or 6 times with all the damage dice he was rolling on full auto attacks. Thankfully, our GM was won over on the errata change prior to the game's start. I sincerely thank you guys for your posts; it allowed me to sell our GM on this change prior to the start of the campaign!

You're most welcome. Have fun.