Couple Questions - Talents, Traits, Skills Mechanics

By Rhoaran, in Only War Rules Questions

Greetings.

My friends and I have got three sessions of gaming in. We've really enjoyed this system, despite being lifelong D&D / Pathfinder gamers. There have been a few issues raised in our early experiences with this RP platform though. Please help us out.

1) Jaded Talent - What is considered a Terror of the Warp? Since there is no trait with that name, I assume it is up to the GM. Against daemons is it useless? Can you shrug while face to face with a carnifex?

2) Warp Weapons - Do weapons and creatures with this rule ignore vehicle armor? It seems appropriate to think that a daemon blade would scythe through carapace but perhaps a Leman Rus. How have you all handled this?

3) Skills - We like the system a great deal, but it seems ridiculous to have -20 to everything but a select few starting skills. Definitely makes sense for specialized knowledge such as hotwiring & piloting a valkyrie or speaking with authority on a subject that you would have little concept of (daemon anatomy, interracial coupling on a frontier world half the Segmentum away). But athletics, awareness, deception, stealth,...it is foolish that these do not start as known skills. We have house ruled that all skills are 'known' (use basic ability modifier) except for those deemed 'specialized'. This is a fundamental change I know, but morale was flagging when reasonably seasoned troopers could not manage the most basic things. I understand circumstantial modifiers and used them liberally when conditions were favorable, but it shouldn't be an uphill battle to set a character up to succeed in a pull up. Just got out of hand. Ttoughts?

1) Jaded: yeah. It's up to the GM, but I've found it to usually be obvious enough.

Daemons and sorcerous rituals are terrors of the Warp.

A huge ork warboss squishing a whole squad in a single round isn't, nor are the mangled bodies he leaves. :)

2) Warp Weapons: I have allowed Warp Weapons to ignore vehicle armour (in a Rogue Trader session), but it can be argued either way. My experience says that at long as you're consistent about it (rules the same way every time), either would work.

3) Skills: earlier versions of the 40K RPG had something like this (some skills you simply couldn't roll for if certain skills if you didn't have that skill),

But please note that a +0 roll is challenging. Trivial tasks might be rolled at +30 or even more.

3) Your "seasoned troops" troops start as regular grunts of their regiment. They get "seasoned" when their XP gets higher.

Also you might have created the regiment as a Guerilla Regiment (Hammer of the Emperor) and every guardman would have the stealth skill and ambush talent.

If you are not trained in athletics, awarness etc. you are bad at it. They are basic skills so you can still try and as Tenebrae statet your chances on a trivial tast are quite good. But yes, on a challenging task you are quite likely to fail. That seems quite okay for me.

Personally, I have never had a problem with the skills being "too hard" to succeed with. It is really why situational modifiers exist.

If your boot Guardsman is standing watch, at noon, with no obstructions, and some troops are approaching, even with a modest Per 38 and Very Easy (+40 - or is this called something else, I forget?) puts them at having to beat a 78. The odds are stacked in their favor. If they fail, then they are just boot Guardsmen thinking about suzy rottencrotch back home.

You have to remind your players that this isn't Pathfinder or 3.5 and you don't start out as heroes. You have to earn the rank of BMF through battle after battle and blood and fire. Yet, even still your regiment will give you very specific boons which frees up experience expenditure to buy things like athletics and awareness. And it is a great roleplaying opportunity to showcase the various PCs actually becoming good at these things, not to mention hilarious when they inevitably fail.

The grim darkness of the future is dark and grim.

My grouphouseruled a few "bootcamp" skills for our penal legion PCs; awareness, athletics and common lore: imperial guard

Awareness because you are trained to be vigilant (and our commander was paranoid.)

Athletics beacuse of forced marches, etc. and years of penal servitude in the mines.

Common Lore: IG, It follows you`d know what the Imperial guard is, a few of the most common regulations and how to recognise rank insignia (basically the stuff in the uplifting primer.)

Common Lore: IG, It follows you`d know what the Imperial guard is, a few of the most common regulations and how to recognise rank insignia (basically the stuff in the uplifting primer.)

If it is the stuff in the Primer, why dont they read it? That way they do not need to test the skill at all because they have it black on white. But if they already know all the regulations etc. they must have some quality training and would not require it as a free gift.

Actually imho the creation rules are quite decent in that regard and you get what you want. If you spend your starting XP for some combat skills and not those skills you consider the very "basic" you either made some mistake by creating the regiments or your priorities on your PC.

@FieserMoep.

Really? Primer contents are basically refreshers from a guardsman's fundamental and preparatory training, which unless they are suicidally negligent they should recall at least partially. This we know because the primer has been released by Black Library (three times.)

In other words, it full of Common Lore: IG.

Also testing to recall things you'd reasonably already know, is almost the entire point of common lore skills.

Also testing to recall things you'd reasonably already know, is almost the entire point of common lore skills.

Well, I handle it different then.

Lets say Common Lore Imperial Guard. I do not test for the things everyone should know, like what ranks are important to him. The Guardsman knows what a Sergeant or a Commissar is, but besides some hierarchy he does not know per se what the real difference between a Colonel and Major is, besides the former being boss. With a test on CL:IG they could figure that out.

Or another example. Everyone knows that his basic equipment is coming from the Munitorium but how the logistics actually works requires a test.

You do not need the Skill CL to actually know Common Lore.

Or do you really think that everyone without CL Imperial Creed does not know he has to worship the emperor?