Short story is, one of my players is starting up a Dark Apostle; however, skimming through their equipment I found the Accursed Crozius' stats to be a little powerful, and in my eyes probably too potent.

Thematically I'm well aware that this particular weapon is supposed to be powerful (and given the plethora of special abilities it has, it already is quite powerful). However, mechanically it doesn't seem to follow the pattern for weapons of its size. Typically 2d10 is reserved for very large weapons, but as far as my knowledge goes (having played the miniatures and judging from the fact that it has the balanced property) it doesn't seem to fit that bill. Further, the Crozius from the Dark Apostle in the Only War: Enemies of the Imperium is also only a single 1d10 base damage. An NPC from a sister system may not be the best example, but it does help to ground my belief that from a design perspective it doesn't make much sense to make it have such a hefty base damage.

So is this just a simple error on the writer's part, or is there something I'm unaware of, be it other examples of weapons that break this mold or a specific lore aspect of the weapon?

I believe the 'Accursed' trait adds the d10 to the base dmg. Granted, i've slept since I read the section.

You are right. It also adds the felling (4). So I imagine that its damage and pen are also going down significantly. It seems my Dark Apostle player went from having an incredibly powerful weapon to a rather mediocre one (essentially a power mace).

Thanks for the help.

The listed states are with the Daemon attributes included (but not the +5 to dmg/pen from the daemon's willpower bonus). That means the real stats are 1d10 less and no Felling (4). The +x damage and penetration is correct as listed.

1d10+7, Pen 6, Balanced, Power Field or something along those lines with special rules regarding Hatred talent vs everyone in melee and no defensive stance action allowed.

Daemon version is 2d10+12, Pen 11 and the daemonic attributes etc.

It's basically an "evil" Crozius Arcanum, so its base rules stem from the standard Crozius rules from Deathwatch. You're right in that it is a very powerful weapon (I intended it to be so), but as others have said that's because the profile in the armoury is the Daemon Weapon version. If you look at the Dark Apostle Archetype you'll note that it starts with a non-possessed Crozius.

What you could do is make it into a personal goal for your player, so that they can find a way to possess the Crozius and give it its full profile.

BYE

There should have been some information on how to make a non-possessed into a possessed accursed crozius. It's not eligable for a daemon weapon going by the standard rules (need to be a legacy of slaughter weapon or specifically crafted for it for using in that kind of ritual, and even then it'd take a daemon with lots of infamy) without lots of GM fiat.

What's wrong with using the weapon possession rules from the Core Rulebook?

BYE

What's wrong with using the weapon possession rules from the Core Rulebook?

BYE

Then it'd be nigh-impossible ending up at the listed traits.

Just use the rules for possession and have that give it the traits from Tome of Excess. Not a huge amount of fiat there.

BYE