Dear fellow brothers in arms, dear developers,

Asking for it or not, here are my 18 Cents on this chapter:

1.) Placing of Sanctioned Trait within AAT is odd. Only Psykers have a use for it and Psykers from other Backgrounds lack it (even as they shouldnt, e.g. because they serve sanctioned in the ImperialGuard). Also the free Psyniscience in AAT does not fit to non-Psykers (the skill doesnt allow them to have it above rank 1)

--> Sanctioning should be an option in the Psyker package and should have either additional costs or a negative flavour like in DH1. Psyniscience as Skill in AAT should be optionally exchangeable with Resistance (Psy)

2.) I really miss the Mechanicus implants Package fluffwhise. It would be really nice to include it, best would be if it even had a benefit of some kind (without it, I somehow dont have the right feeling of being a real techpriest)

--> it could be Adeptus mechanicus only (otherwhise aquired via Heretek) and allow for 50% more cybernetics than normally allowed. This also would take this tough limit from techpriests a little.

It could be a part of the Adeptus Mechanicus background (remove subterfuge or Mechandrite use in return). At least return the Potentia Coil somehow...

3.) Homeworlds did feel a little more special in DH1

--> it would be great to add an additional benefit and a flaw to each to make it more special

4.) Missing the schola progenium (possibly as backgound ?)

5.) Missing the Mind cleansed (possibly as Elite Package ?)

6.) Adding the Imperial Navy as Background would be great

7.) Adding the Officio Assassinorum as Background would be great

8.) Adding the Adeptus Astartes as Background would be great (NOT for Space marines, but for servants/support staff)

9.) Untouchables dont really feel Untouchable anymore

--> make it possible for them to become real nulls in a certain area, completely disrupting psychic powers. Eisemhorn didnt chose them for no reason...

10.) Some names of roles feels a little strange.

Especially I dont like Chirurgeon (sound too specific), Sage & Hierophant (sound way too high rank, especially after Ascension also coimed this terms)

--> I would prefer Cleric, Medic & Adept/Scribe

11.) The sage has one more "100" costing skills than the others - is this intended ?

--> take away medicae from his strenghts to differ him more from the chirurgeon

12.) Why has the Sage a benefit for agility ? I didnt think of them so agile

--> exchange it for Willpower, as they often have to study disciplined and resist corruption from dark books

13.) Highborn, Feral Worlder & Forge Worlder feel a little weaker regarding their special bonus ability

14.) The Desperade special bonus ability seems a little strong

15.) Looking at the chirurgeons special bonus ability, First Aid should be based on Int instead of Ag, and I think the general use of First Aid needs to ne limited in some way, for it can easily be abused (maybe you should only be able to use it once in an hour per acolyte)

16.) I am not a fan of the Fate-Point-Auto-Success Abilities. They dont have mich flair to me and seem a little colourless

17.) I would love to have an additional step, where the imitial Ordo of service is chosen, giving an additional benefit

--> for the beginning Ordo Xenos, Hereticus, Malleus and maybe 1-2 minor ones (Sicarius ?)

18.) Rank 1 Skills should have a higher penalty than -10

--> -15 would be more appropriate, as the character never really got any experience so far

Your comments and additions are very welcome

Regarding #1, I think the Sanctioning trait is a bit of an odd duck. Conceptually, it fits with the Adeptus Astra Telepathica because they are the ones handing it out. If you're a sanctioned psyker, the AAT is going to have a significant impact on your past (and even psykers attached to the Imperial Guard aren't "true" guardsmen.) Furthermore, the AAT is clearly written with a "you are a psyker!" angle in mind.

But as written it does open up for the idea of sanctioned non-psykers with psyniscience which is... odd to put it mildly. I do like the idea that you can play a lowly AAT clerk who has no psychic powers, but it doesn't really seem to be the intend behind the background.

Secondly, I think the choice of playing an unsanctioned psyker (ie. An anything-but-AAT/Mystic) should be a more significant choice than just because you happened to think a different background fit your character concept better. Being an unsanctioned psyker should have a pretty significant impact on any campaign. You are the Emperor's unclaimed tithe, after all!

I'm not entirely sure how to fix it in the current character creation setup (except just being a really hardnosed GM ), but one small fix could be to divorce the Sanctioned trait entirely from any background or role. Make it an optional trait for any character that starts the game with a Psy rating.

Furthermore, the AAT background could really do with some alternate starting skills/abilities so you can either start with that psyniscience, or something else in case you're not a psyker.

But yeah. I don't know what a good fix would be. You also don't want to shut down any interesting character concepts. Perhaps, ultimately, it might be fine to leave as is and maybe add a sidebar explaining how it's up to GM fiat exactly how true to they want to handle the AAT/Mystic combo.

I've already posted a lot of my comments on various other sections of the forums.

1- Sanctioning does not have its place there, should be changed. It should go on an expanded Psyker table which includes the ability to go rogue psyker, so opposes an "unbound" trait.

2- The coil would be very cool, but not necessarily as part of the adeptus mechanicus. Do Skitari get a coil? They should give Tech-priests back their flavor.

3- Give players something UNIQUE. UNIQUE. UNIQUE. That people will not be able to buy later. TWO choices, and something relevant to where they are from. We've already discussed this in various threads on the specific origins.

4- Schola would be cool, but I suspect they are leaving it for an expansion.

5- Mind-cleansed as well, as an Elite Advance that clears away corruption and Insanity perhaps.

6- Sure, the navy would be great. But see the Schola problem.

7- Again, I Agree with you- but see the above comment. Likely leaving it for an expansion.

8- Ehhhhh, that part I don't agree. Leave the entire lot of them in their chapters where they belong.

9- Remove the entire Untouchable elite advance talent tables. I mean it. Go back to how they were and use the space for the Psyker table.

10- I agree with the names, a bit of change to make them more familiar and fluffy would be great.

11- Further agree with that here, amongst other character option changes.

12- Same here. Problem that needs fixing.

13- I agree with this: again: UNIQUE ABILITIES> that are COOL. Giving people CHOICES. TWO choices to reflect different aspects of the Origins, and ONE ABILITY that works based on the SPECIFIC nature of the type of world you come form.

14, 15, 16- I agree with all of the above. Special abilities of BACKGROUNDS should again, give people CHOICES and should allow them to SPECIALISE but in an interesting manner, not in an "I WIN!" method.

17- Great idea for the Ordos.

18- I agree that it should be a harsher penalty, others don't. I would say that -15 is a good compromise.

To be honest, it always annoys my players when they have to roll fate points. Right now the current method for determining Fate Point Threshold feels a bit haphazard. I can't really tell why homeworld 1 has a better Fate Point Threshold than homeworld 2.

I know its a bit "mechanical" but couldn't players just get a flat amount of fate points and simplify the propblem? As it is now I could get players that just want to toss their characters now if they roll poorly on the test (I know highborn implies being born lucky in the setting, but at the cost of having 0 fate points at the start of play is a bit serious).

Certainly to echo what has been said above, it would be nice to see homeworld/background/role bonuses indeed be unique things and not merely purchasable as talents (Mystic getting psyker notwithstanding). X or Y options with the skills, talents, and gear would also be welcome.

As far as Sanctioning... Its hard to say. Personally I feel it could just be offered as a cheap elite advance, but I don't think it should be, and 100% do not want it attached to Mystic. Personally I'd be fine with AAT just offered an option of Sanctioned or some other bonus (for non psykers). I'm of the school of thought that a character that served in the Imperial Guard as a sanctioned psyker should pick the AAT background, not the IG background (AAT having had a far more meaningful impact on the character's life). That said, if a player really wants the IG background, I personally see little issue "calling" them sanctioned, and just saying their time in the field has cause them to pick up the CP generated by being an unsanctioned psyker. Obviously there are social benefits to being sanctioned, but I don't see that being weighted in with the current "cost" of Sanctioning.

AAT offering Psyniscience is OK, as long as its made clear that non-psykers at least do actually get it to rank 2 (ignoring the current wording in Psyniscience skill of its rank cap). I think it would be flavorful that members of that organization do have some skill with working around psychic activity.

Honestly, I'd prefer to keep Psyniscience something rather exclusive --> tying it to psykers only would be very preffered by me. Give the coice if the AAT character wants either psyniscience, or, if this is not possible, Resistance (Psy)

A choice inside the psyker elite package would be best in my oppinion:

a.) you are unsanktioned, get the Corruption and the social problems (which are huge in my oppinion if the wrong guys get to know)

b.) you were sanctioned. This has no additional costs, but coined your character very much and gives him a negativ side like it was in DH1 (physically or mentally). Sanctioning is not really a...nice process.

I could totally agree on fixed fate points though. Especially at char generation, I do not like the luck factor.

If another origin has more, than give them fixed more (void born ?).

One other comment about chargen, and sadly this is something pretty ingrained in the system:

But how should I handle allowing players to assign their randomly rolled characteristics. In other words, I don't want to have a point buy, but I feel rolling stats in place is a particularly cruel mechanic if a player has a desired role in mind at the start of chargen (e.g. a player wants to roll a psyker, but rolls a 5 the first time on WP, and a 2 the second time when they use their reroll).

So if I do want to allow my players to assign their rolled stats, how should the + characteristics and the - characteristics be handled? A straight modifier doesn't work because that can violate the 45 cap. But allowing something like an extra roll after the fact (i.e. I've already assigned my statistics) could allow for some odd metagaming.

I also dont like point buying. And I also dont like too much random

Therefore at DH1, I did the work with excel to create randomly 10 sets of equal value for each player to chose from.

All sets have the same sum in points, but are totally random distributed.

There is always one that fits more or less to the players concepts.

The + and - of the homeworld is something I would try to calculate into the excel formula then.

But you are totally correct --> this is awfully complicated, because you have to keep the 45 limit.

If I have an hour or two...I will have a look into it...

The way our GM for Deathwatch did it was pretty interesting: He assigned groups to the attributes and had us roll all of them, and then we could assign the attributes freely within the group.

As an example: WS/BS, S/T/A and I/P/WP/F were the groups. You'd roll as many times as there were attributes in the group (e.g. three times for the physical attributes) and then assign the results within the group (so if I rolled 42, 38 and 50, I could for example assign the 42 to strength, 38 to agility and 50 to toughness if I wanted a less agile, more tanky character, or put the 50 to agility for somebody a bit faster). You still got to reroll one result of your choice, before actually assigning it.

In our current group we go with allocating points, but I believe the above system really is a nice compromise between control and randomness. The homeworld bonus is a bit hard to work into this system, but could be represented by simply adding +5 to the relevant characteristic if this wouldn't bring it over 45, although that would probably lead to higher overall stats instead of a boost to the specific homerworld specialty.

The main thing the +/- does, is, making the % higher that you have a higher / lower value.

If you use a system where you want all characters to be at an equal level, it would not even important to consider this at all.

At least not in my system where I generate 10 sets to chose from. The sets are equal anyway in sum.

The "Bonus" wouldnt change it, as it would rather be portray one of the equal sets where your "bonus" attribute is higher (and another one lower).

Maybe it would be better to grant a "real" bonus, that can go over 45 ?

Otherwise it is only a shift of % to get a little higher values there.

And one more thing I forget:

Please call the Desperado Scum again ;D

Desperado sounds a bit too "cool". I want my scum to be scum !

If someone comes from the deepest darkest filthiest underhive - he is no Desperado - he is just Scum who made it.

But inside still Scum. Scummy Scum. And that has more feel to it.

Honestly, I prefer Desperado. It actually evokes a character type in the mind, whereas Scum is basically an insult that doesn't have much in the way of associated skills and talents.

But Scum is how society sees him. And thats also his strenght as he can be unremarkable to them therefore.

But thats by far not my most important concern

Thing is the role doesn't have to mean your typical underhive ganger or something to that effect. It could easily be a savvy noble duelist, for example.

Wouldnt that rather be a nobleborn outcast Warrior ?

The new system has indeed a lot of interpretation. But thats a good thing.

Nah, desperado covers a duelist type pretty well. Skilled in social situations and good with a pistol in each hand. Scum was a very thematic term but it was a little pigeonhole-y. Although really it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to call ALL nobles scum

And if you are a noble, you call all others scum. Including other nobles than yourself

To me, Desperado is just as much a derogatory title as Scum. I like Desperado because it evokes a strong image: a Wild-West style gunslinging scoundrel who relies on his wits, charm, and six-shooter to keep him alive. Scum doesn't have nearly as strong an image associated with it.

I like the possibilities of someone having psy-sense and possible latent abilities, but including Sanctioning in the background of a non-psyker IS a bit odd.

It raises, among other things, the question of why they would be Sanctioned and not fed to the Astronomicon or something. I do think the Sanctioned trait should be de-coupled and put somewhere else.

I want to echo Saldre here, there need to be more choices at character creation. Adding a binary choice at every step when creating a background (Homeworld, Origin and Role) will go a long way toward making PCs interesting and allow players to feel like they're playing something unique.
A choice between Homeworld specific abilities, like what Saldre suggested, would go a long way toward differentiating Fuedal/Feral worlds or Hive/Fortress worlds so that you don't have to clog the system with a ton of redundant Homeworlds in the future.

I think Scum is more appropriate as a title for the Outcast background than the Desperado role.