Also ... if you think that PCs won't grab anything they can, I really have to wonder who/what kind of games you've been playing with.

People that didn´t start out playing dungeons and dragons and other such loot centred games.

Just make it pretty clear for the players that unless that they can come up for a reason as for why they should take something with them do they really not have to loot since it isn´t fitting into the setting, as said in another thread, either is the loot from heritics, owned by other parts of the emperium that wants it back, or from xenos, take your pick of who and how you will piss people of.

Beside that and even more of topic than it already is, throw some limitations on how much they can take with them (1 melee, 1 pistol, 1 basic, 1 "light" armour and 1 grenades with 3 reloads for all things that need that, each other thing that they want costing a point from their combined Strength Toughness stat bonus pool. That is at least how we play.) and you will quickly see them behave.

And back to the subject, there is a single pyromancer power that makes one ignore both toughness and armour... maybe is it time for them to meet a psyker of that school

Seizure to better kill heretics/xenos, to give to AdMech/whoever to study, to examine for information, to run past the records for use in prior activities/events, to deny access to any that haven't been dealt with yet, for use in undercover/deniable operations, give to the AdMech to pacify the machine spirits for having been misused, etc. There are all kinds of good reasons why taking everything you can carry and examining them in detail back at base is a good idea - anything not needed can be allocated to the Acolytes/Inquisitor's version of the Arbites Cold Vaults - the Arbites collect weapons used by recidivists/heretics/xenos/etc that they deal with and keep them in vaults, they serve as a ready resource for research and training, as well as for supplying undercover agents/teams, and the occasional Inquisitor/Judge stops by to see what's been captured recently. Trade them into the quartermaster for goodwill or better stuff.

Knowledge is power. Examining the weapons of your enemies is generally going to be a good idea - if nothing else, it gives you information on how well resourced and backed they are, and at least some of the weapons may be traceable to other events/activities, or other people.

Also ... there is absolutely no way I can believe that anyone would leave valuable items lying around where the next person to walk by could grab them. Nor can I believe that an Inquisitor would be particularly pleased with a team that just left stuff lying about all the time - sure, maybe they don't haul it back themselves, but when possible, calling for a retrieval/verispex team to take a look at things and clear out the stuff and the bodies. True, some of it might well be returned to the rightful owner/heir, but it's going to be examined to be verified clean of taint (be it xenos, warp, heretekal, etc).

Sure, the players very well might not utilize very much of the stuff they grab, but there's no good reason to leave it in circulation for the next batch of lunatics or criminals to get their hands on.

On the carrying stuff ... playing by the weight limits actually works reasonably well. Also, if a GM ever tried to limit what players could have with them that bluntly/crudely on a regular basis, I do not know anyone who would put up with that for long. I can understand making players explain where they're carrying everything, which does a pretty solid job too.

I'm an NPC and see heavily armoured acolytes. I only have the basic weaponry that is reasonable for me to have. Conversely, I know the environment and they don't. What do I do?

Grenade them when they walk past some prometheum barrels.

Seal them in an airtight meat locker or other place where they may well suffocate or freeze to death.

Board that junkyard crane and try to squish them with derelict vehicles.

Get my mutant friends to push down a garbage dumpster or other heavy object on their heads from several stories up.

Armour's awesome. Armour and no gas masks is hilarious. Drug them with hallucinogenics and watch them try to kill each other on a lucky roll.

I say the following.

Characters should only be wearing this kind of armour, which is very bulky and noticeable, if they are expecting serious combat. In which case they should be well protected, or they will die. And presumably the opponents will be similarly equipped. So it's fine.

If they are doing undercover work, or are in any situation other than expecting serious combat, they won't be wearing such armor, or any armor. So it's fine.

I currently have my group of Acolytes run around on a Feudal world looking for stolen relics and books (no, nothing demonic) that got taken from the crypt of a lower saint.

The Sororitas in her P.A. is giggling thinking that nothing here can really hurt her (AP 16 + TB 3.

I deflated her very soon by simply pointing out that:

these black powder using cannons or a trebuchet still dishes out damage with 3d10+8,

she can still fall to her death,

drown in a moat,

get flattened by a big boulder,

5 medium strong peasants could simply carry her away (SB 23 + 20 for P.A. sucks),

...

I did not even mention the possibilities of two-handed mono-weapons, firebombs and other nastinesses.

Just let her run out of power and see how she are doing then

Just let her run out of power and see how she are doing then

Tehee... makes for a good witch-process, throwing her into a river when unpowered...

We have a Tech-Priest to recharge the batteries. That is not the problem (but a good idea).

No, literally 4-5 average humans (SB3) could carry her away. She sucks at close combat, agility and has a low natural strength.

A mighty Daughter of the Emperor ... whisked away by a group of angry peasants.

Well... 1d5 hours of battery time is rather random, and there can happen so many things out in the woods at night, just saying

About the people dragging her away, if they knew that they should pull off her backpack, or just tries to take it because loots... well I think that you get my general idea

Pretty sure that the Sororitas Armor comes with a military grade power supply, meaning a week of powered combat ops.

Unless their armor comes with an indefinite power supply like the Astartes get.

Derp my bad, you are right Javcs, they do actually get the fusion generator power packs, so there are no change of her running out of power soon... Too bad, I would have loved to hear more about the adventures of the unpowered sister :/

The group coughed up the money for a real P.A. (8 instead of 7 armour), and a military grade powerpack for 24 hour duration.

Her problem amongs others is that she is not as untouchable as she thinks she is, her supply of Bolter Shells is very limited, and the Techpriest will not always accompany them. Very soon the group will have to resort to more primitive gear and/or cc-weapons which do not require fuel/energy.

Do remember to introduce them to the composite bow at one point or another. While it is primitive is it also a basic accurate weapon as well, meaning bonus damage if you are lucky. Fun fun joy joy if you want to show them that they ain´t at all untouchable without getting all to tricksy. Sure one of the players do properly want to take it with him, but how many have the basic prim trait

When I played a power armoured techpriest my GM used to make my character fall through wooden floors, or cause the stairs to collapse under the weight. It was really encouraging to not wear the armour 24/7

Do remember to introduce them to the composite bow at one point or another. While it is primitive is it also a basic accurate weapon as well, meaning bonus damage if you are lucky. Fun fun joy joy if you want to show them that they ain´t at all untouchable without getting all to tricksy. Sure one of the players do properly want to take it with him, but how many have the basic prim trait

And don't forget basicly Silent!!

Ambush

I really see this as being more of something that a GM has to design the plot around. If a character is impervious to enemy x, he shouldn't be fighting enemy x as the main point of the scenario.

If you have a feral world adventure and players have power armour, simply design part of the plot so they can't walk around in their power armour. It would quickly tell feral-world heretics that something is up after all, since they;ve never seen this strange thing.

My players (rank 5) can withstand a single maxed cadian hellgun hit (1d10+4E, Pen: 7; S/3/-). I am at that point in the game where my problems is that I can either slightly wound the players with those pesky autoguns (if I roll good), or straight out kill them with some fancy weapons such as the hellgun even on a bad roll. So I really have to work my ass off to make it seem to my players as if they are fighting tooth and nail survive. Sometimes I even cheat on the rolls to make it more plausible.

Last session I threw down a spirit to try and possess the party should they intrude upon his shrine (a small filler I planned and nothing major). To my suprise the psyker failed (YES) and proceeded to absolutely murder the party, so he retroactively spent a fate point (his last!) not to kill them. But, since he spent it retroactively (with my permission), that didn't mean the spirit couldn't proceed to possess the tech priest, who to my delight, also failed the WP check. Needless to say, he too spent his last fate point to avoid possess. All in all, two players burned their FPs and one had to spend (I have a 4-6 players on my sessions) his for a reroll before they ran away from the shrine.

So I gave them 5 Corruption points for running away and leaving a spirit unchecked and dangerous to any other people (NPCs) when they come across it .

Get grappled by a mob of angry feral worlders.

Pray to the Emperor that your armour is fully enclosed and that they have nothing to break it open with.

Also, Radiation/corrosive weapons.

Fun times.

My group stumbled into the adventure form the GM kit, and at one point got drafted to help defending a section of the city wall against invaders. Humans with muskets on both sides, the attackers brought some ladders to storm the wall.

The look on the faces of my PCs was priceless as they were rushed up the wall, handed a musket and shown once how you load, aim and shoot.

Only one the present PCs (the Arbites) had the training and managed to hit every time.

The others looked somewhat dumbstruck and tried to shoot something but with little impact (pun intended).

So while they cowered down and reloaded they got talking and decided to not continue with such primitive tools.

The Sororitas boltered her first target into red mist (Righteous Fury) while the other whipped out their stub pistols and lasrifles. Needless to say they butchered the attackers.

And they made such sad faces afterwards about the spent bullets. No way to get more ^^

Afterwards they swore the officer in charge of the defence to secrecy to avoid complications.

He should just enjoy the laurels for his outstanding accomplishment.