Arglebargle III posted:

I don't play any of these games actively right now, but I had this idea for a Salamander character inspired by a long-ago White Dwarf issue Chapter Approved for the Salamanders that pointed out (correctly in my view) that traditional assault marine tactics didn't jibe at all with their style or even work very well on a world known for its wildly fluctuating gravity.

So in the chapter-approved, a lot of the assault marines ended up fighting with thunder hammers and/or flamers and meltas, and no jump packs at all, working more closely with the tactical squads than normal. So naturally this got me thinking about an assault marine character from the Salamanders who would not, in fact, have a jump pack or a chain sword.

Then I saw the Salamander rules in First Founding which are, in my opinion, insulting. Okay, I know, everyone has their favorites and the Sallies are my favorite First Founding dudes, but they got the shaft really drat hard in the First Founding book. If I recall they had one (1) melee weapon which was basically a snazzy chainsword, one ranged weapon which was basically a heavy flamer but worse, and the one super-iconic wargear they had to have, the Salamander's Mantle, ended up with a "counts as" rule.

The extra tech use and toughness stats are really appreciated, I won't fault anything there, but the chapter... trait, I think it was called? was Resist Heat. I think if you level up enough you get to be actually resistant to fire damage. Okay, but that's 1: boring and 2: makes no drat sense. How often is Resist Heat going to come up in a game compared to an interesting trait? How do Salamanders get fireproof skin? Couldn't they have had some kind of bonus to using flame weapons or something, something that made sense and could be flavorful? Oh, and their Primarch's Curse gives them worse cohesion penalties than the Iron Hands'. Salamanders - worse than the Iron Hands at working with allies.

But this next thing is just great; it really sets the tone for the Salamanders treatment through the whole book. In the included scenario, the Killteam lands on a volcanic world in constant tectonic flux, with massive volcanic eruptions and earthquakes all over the drat place. To recognize that one First Founding chapter hails from exactly this kind of planet, the book gives a +10 bonus to navigation test to... Space Wolf characters.

I know there are people who work at FFG in some capacity in the thread and I have to say from what I've seen the company has done a great job with all these titles. I have to admit I don't even own this title that I'm complaining about, but, but the Salamanders... Three pieces of wargear. The other chapters have how many? Heat resist is ever going to get used? The volcano planet gives a bonus to Space Wolves?

But what I was really, really hoping to see in there was what I mentioned at the beginning of this post, now rant. Some alternative assault squad rules.

So for people who actually have gotten to play this game and have some experience: how hard would it be to get a Salamander assault marine character a thunder hammer and/or storm shield as standard issue?

And if you think that's not ambitious enough, how about that storm shield being made out of a big shieldlike salamander skull? These Deathwatch guys are supposed to be badasses already, and Salamanders kill like three salamanders before breakfast on a normal day already, so I'm thinking this guy took an especially impressive specimen back to his forge, dipped its skull in adamantium, and then built a storm shield field emitter into the underside/brain cavity. You have to admit, building wargear out of dragon skulls is kind of what the Salamanders live for.

So if you're still thinking, "okay, that's not really overpowered or unrealistic in Deathwatch" how about we stick a flamer through the skull's nasal passages so the nozzle sits just inside one nostril hole, and the pilot burns in the other, and then connect the whole drat thing to a backpack tank through the foramen magnum. I guess in the rules you'd call that an arm-mounted flamer that is also a storm shield, depending on how you want to use it that turn.

So now you're looking at an assault marine who doesn't have any of his normal assault marine wargear, and instead has a thunder hammer in one hand, and a flamer/storm shield in the other hand, and probably a bolt pistol, and a Salamander's Mantle of course. I mean just duh. I don't think they even let you into Salamander meetings unless you're wearing pieces of at least three different native reptiloids.

Oh and he probably would need like, an entirely new advance scheme, because he sure as hell isn't touching all those dual wielding attack skills or anything that mentions rending damage.

So GMs, how game-shattering is this guy, and how much XP would you have to spend to convince someone to let him take that poo poo? I think it's pretty fluffy but I can see it being somewhat unorthodox. Crush my dream. Or don't.

There is no tl;dr. The post is not coherent enough for that.

Arglebargle III posted:

Riso posted:

The only reference to a Corvus Helmet I can find is page 155 when they tell you using one with a certain set of armour doesn't work.

chapter advances posted:

SKILLS
Lore Forbidden (any) 200
Lore Forbidden (any)+10 200
Lore Forbidden (any)+20 200

Lore: Scholastic (any) 100
Lore: Scholastic (any)+10 100
Lore: Scholastic (any)+20 100

sleight of hand 100
sleight of hand +10 100
sleight of hand +20 100

deceive 100
deceive +10 100
deceive +20 100

TALENTS
Infused Knowledge 900
Foresight 500
Hatred (Chaos Space Marines) 500
slayer of daemons 1000
strong minded 1400
hammer blow 400

Primarch's Curse posted:

Level I: Need to Know The Blood Raven develops a desire to collect and possess knowledge. He must pass a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test in order to forgo the chance to learn something new. If this knowledge is obviously corrupting or dangerous, or his hesitation would put his fellow Astartes in danger, the Willpower Test becomes Routine (+20).

Level II: Knowledge Is Power This is identical to the Level I Curse except that corrupting or dangerous knowledge never makes the Willpower never becomes Routine.

Level III Dark Secret The Blood Raven's quest for knowledge has led him to a secret so terrible it would shake the very foundations of the Imperium. The nature of the blasphemous secret is left to the GM to decide. Outrageous and horrible fates await the character should anyone discover what he knows.

Blood Ravens Past Events - Roll a 1d5 and consult below. posted:

1. The Purging of Cyrene - You were part of the Company that accompanied Captain Gabriel Angelos to Cyrene for the Blood Trials. But something occurred on the planet that lead to the Inquisition declaring Exterminatus upon the world, leaving it a blasted world devoid of life. What lead to the Exterminatus has been classified to the highest degree, and you have sworn never to reveal what transpired.

2. The Fall of Tartarus - You fought on the world of Tartarus under the command of Captain Gabriel Angelos against Orks, Eldar of the Biel-Tan Craftworld and Chaos Space Marines of the Alpha Legion. Though Tartarus was lost to a warp storm, you managed to escape with Gabriel Angelos along with many of your Blood Raven brothers.

3. The Kronus Campaign - You fought on the world of Kronus under the command of Captain Davian Thule against a multitude of foes, including Orks, Eldar, Tau, Necrons, Chaos and even the Imperial Guard loyal to the Imperium (though that incident has been covered up from the rest of the galaxy). Under Davian Thule's command, you and your brothers managed to seize victory and crushed all opposition, claiming Kronus for the Imperium.

4. The Kaurava Campaign - You fought in the system of Kaurava under the command of Captain Indrick Boreale against a multitude of foes, including Orks, Eldar, Tau, Necrons, Chaos, Dark Eldar and even the Sisters of Battle and the Imperial Guard (though those incidents have been covered up from the rest of the galaxy). Though the campaign was a dismal failure that cost the lives of many Blood Ravens, including Captain Boreale himself, you were among the few who managed to survive and return to the Chapter.

5. The Aurelian Campaign - You fought in the sub-sector Aurelia under the command of Force Commander Aramus against the forces of Orks, Eldar of the Ulthwe Craftworld and a splinter fleet of Tyranids that was once part of Hive Fleet Behemoth. Though the Blood Ravens were few and your enemies many, you managed drive back the forces of Orks and Eldar and destroyed the Tyranid Hive Fleet with the aid of Captain Gabriel Angelos at the final moments.

InfiniteJesters posted:

How do Blood Ravens have a disturbing voice? Doesn't seem more disturbing than any other typical Astartes.

Riso posted:

chapter status: understrength
chapter friends: adeptus mechanicus
chapter enemies: tyranids (nothing to steal)

Mechafunkzilla posted:

SPESS MEHRENS

quote:

To be a bit more canon, they seem to have a rivalry with the Black Legion (at least in Retribution). If you're running it pre-Retribution they've also got some sort of ties to the Alpha Legion, indirectly.

Riso posted:

Nothing is worse than an enemy you can't nick equipment from.

Beer4TheBeerGod posted:

Also does anyone know what the Mk 6 "improved bio monitor" from Rites of Battle refers to? This is the history option where part of your power armor is replaced by a Corvus helm, which supposedly includes some kind of bio monitor improvement. I've been assuming it actually refers to the improved auto senses.

Riso posted:

5. The Aurelian Campaign - You fought in the sub-sector Aurelia under the command of Force Commander Aramus...

InfiniteJesters posted:

Looking at the cover for that adventure I'd like to say holy gently caress that's a bigass knife.

At any rate I know what I'm doing June 16th!

TheKingslayer posted:

I think my next session is going to involve the Kill Team making a run at the Ork HQ with the their Astartes allies under the cover of a large sandstorm sweeping towards it.

I could just imagine the scene of the storm falling over the Orks. Then suddenly Space Marines appear within meters of them with no warning.

That sound any kind of cool to you guys?

TheKingslayer posted:

That's what I'm hoping for. Lots of chaos and until the Warboss comes stomping right into the Kill Team.

Riso posted:

Blood Ravens.

Neo_Crimson posted:

What? Not even one instance Signature Wargear in their advance table? For shame.

Mechafunkzilla posted:

Have the Astartes start getting picked off by a mob of Kommando Nobs in the dust storm. Should be really eerie for the players when even space marines are disappearing into the dust. This is also a good excuse to have the party get separated from the marines when a Nob appears in front of them that they have to fight, since actually fighting alongside space marines can make combat kind of dumb. Then after the they kill it the marines reappear through the dust storm, wounded but victorious and covered in ork blood.

Riso posted:

It's a general advance at rank 1

Penguingo posted:

I've not played Deathwatch - how much of a challenge are killer kans and dreadnoughts to space marines?

SleazyBakeOven posted:

I was talking to my GM, who said that to the best of his knowledge, there are no stats for dark eldar and craftworld eldar wargear (save for shuriken weapons and guardian armour). Is this the case, and if not, where can I find the relevant wargear stats? Thanks in advance!

SleazyBakeOven posted:

I was talking to my GM, who said that to the best of his knowledge, there are no stats for dark eldar and craftworld eldar wargear (save for shuriken weapons and guardian armour). Is this the case, and if not, where can I find the relevant wargear stats? Thanks in advance!

Pharmaskittle posted:

The players are the space marines.

Mechafunkzilla posted:

Oh, so in other words combat is kind of dumb all the time

TheKingslayer posted:

I've come close to killing my kill team many times. Combat is just more difficult.

Dark Eldar are my main enemy in my game and I just kind of make it up. mandrakes can be vicious in a surprise attack. Lots of Eldar weapons appear in Hostile Acquisitions.

SleazyBakeOven posted:

Thank you very much!