Regimental Drawbacks: Servitor Accompaniment
Regimental Drawbacks: Servitor Accompaniment
Regiments with close ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus are sometimes “By the Throne, what a disaster. Who is leading that rabble?”
known to make extensive use of servitors, bolstering squads with these –Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Loughran, observing the manoeuvres of
hardy and fearless soldiers. Such regiments might also rely on their the 19th Secundian Mechanised Infantry
Tech-Priest Enginseers to ensure that mortally wounded Guardsmen
continue to fight on in the Emperor’s name, although fighting alongside a When designing a regiment, Players and Game Masters may choose one
lobotomised cyborg with the face of a former friend can inevitably cause of the following Regimental Drawbacks. Each Drawback has a point
morale problems. value associated with it (listed in each Drawback’s description). The
Cost: 1 Points number listed with each Drawback is a number of Regiment Creation
Standard Kit: Characters in this regiment may select a Standard Ma- Points a regiment gains for choosing that particular Drawback. This
chine Follower (which replaces their Standard Human Follower and must grants the players or Game Masters extra points with which to buy extra
have the Machine Trait) for their Comrades. regimental options such as Equipment and Training Doctrines or to alter
their Standard Regimental Kit.
Vox Network
Each squad in this regiment is equipped with a vox-caster, allowing them Cloud of Suspicion
to report back their finding and be sent remote orders in the chaos of Whether justified or not, this regiment as come under close scrutiny. The
battle. members of this regiment know that their movements are being watched
Cost: 1 Point by someone, and that the someone does not like them. A siege mentality
Starting Skill: Trade (Technomat) has spread throughout the regiment, along with paranoia and anxiety.
Standard Kit: 1 Micro-Bead per Squad Member, 1 Vox-Caster per Officers see spies and informants everywhere and newly conscripted
Squad guardsmen are viewed with deep suspicion and hostility as their new
squad mates assume they are undercover agents with sinister purposes.
Warrior Weapons Regiment Points: +3 Points
Warriors from primitive worlds are often ill-suited to serve on firing Talents: Enemy (Adeptus Arbites) or Enemy (Inquisition) or Enemy
lines, their savage demeanour making them a poor choice to wield a (Other), Paranoia.
lasgun. Such warriors often serve the Imperial Guard in other ways, Untimely Inquiries: Whenever this regiment fails in an operation or
armed with swords, axes, and mauls, to cut the enemy apart in close the Squad fails to complete a mission or achieve a critical objective, the
quarters. power with a worrisome interest in the regiment rears its ugly head, at
Cost: 1 Points the Game Master’s discretion. When such an investigation takes place,
Starting Skill: Parry even on a regimental level, every member of the regiment suffers a –5
Standard Kit: The regiment exchanges their Main Weapon for an Aver- penalty to Willpower Tests until the interference concludes due to the
age (or more available) Melee weapon and a Laspistol with two charge stress that it causes.
packs.
Condemned
Well-Provisioned Either due to pernicious acts unbefitting a chosen soldier of the Imperial
The regiment has been marked as a supply priority by the Munitorum, Guard, incompetence and failure, cowardice in the face of the enemy,
keeping them well-supplied with ammunition, food, medical equipment, unfair accusations, or simple, terrible luck, this regiment has been
and other consumables. Well-Provisioned regiments tend to be those condemned to die on the battlefield as penance for its sins. Though many
expected to face the worst of the fighting, with regular resupply to allow regiments seek death on the battlefield, these soldiers are not merely sent
them to remain at fighting strength for far longer. into incredibly dangerous situations but are placed against outright sui-
Cost: 3 Points cidal odds, even if there is little to be gained from their deaths besides the
Standard Kit: The regiment increases the number of clips for their semi-honourable and convenient disposal of troops who cannot be trusted
Main Weapon and the number of weeks’ rations they carry as standard or forgiven. Departmento Munitorum support for such regiments is token
by +2, and gains an additional grenade of each type in their standard kit at best, and they receive the most dangerous missions that command can
(if applicable). If the regiment contains vehicles, this also grants a +10 concoct for them.
bonus on all Acquisition Tests to obtain fuel and parts for repairing and Regiment Points: +6 Points
maintaining those vehicles. Talents: Choose one of the following: Berserk Charge, Cold Hearted,
Frenzy, or Paranoia.
Beyond Redemption: Members of this regiment suffer a –20 penalty to
all Fellowship-based Tests made when interacting with members of other
Imperial Guard regiments, their own commanding officers, the Depart-
mento Munitorum, and other officials both local and Imperial who would
have likely heard of the regiment’s reputation. Additionally, its members
suffer –20 penalty to all Logistics Tests. Further, this group is always
assigned to the most dangerous missions on a given battlefront, and is
rarely given respites between its missions to recuperate and reorganise at
the Game Master’s discretion. Finally, at the Game Master’s discretion,
any given Squad from a regiment with this Drawback might be assigned
an Imperial Guard Commissar to oversee its actions.
At the GM’s discretion, this Drawback can be applied to a
regiment or even a single Squad within a regiment after creation, as a
punishment for crimes or incompetence. If a regiment or Squad receives
this Drawback after creation, it does not receive the additional Regiment
Deeds of Renown
techno-lores of Mankind, and to persecute these conquests requires no
few allies and obscene amounts of resources, assets, and materiel. While
Every Rogue Trader House is known by its deeds, many of which are much of the Mechanicus is considered a self-contained empire-with-
intertwined with the rich history of their sector and far beyond. By de- in-an-empire they, much like any other entity within the Imperium, have
termining what your House is known for, you will be setting the tone for need for allies.
many great adventures yet to come. The machine-minds of the techpriests of the Mechanicus have
long memories and they may well think fondly of a noble house who
once aided them, even if the original nobilite who did so has passed on
Trade Wars Veteran some centuries ago. Those in the favour of the Mechanicus can expect
Trade Wars often begin with one Navigator House overstepping the some limited access to the arcane sciences available to the Techpriests of
bounds of some code or contract it no longer wishes to adhere to. When Mars, and even their assistance in matters of tech-lore.
this occurs, two or more Houses go to war with one another, but the
process is actually highly ritualised and subject to a sprawling canon of Ship Points: 8
ancient law, beginning with a declaration defining the belligerents and Profit Factor: 6
the scope of their conflict. In most cases, a Trade War is carried out be- Effect: Members of this dynasty gain the Peer (Mechanicus), and ships
hind the scenes, with those Houses involved dispatching the most deadly from this dynasty may have 1 additional Archeotech Component.
of assassins to slay key rivals, or employing infil-traitors and saboteurs to
destroy their holdings and disrupt their business.
Occasionally, mercenary forces or allied militants are engaged Cold Trade Purgation
to launch raids or even full scale attacks on the estates of rival Houses, in While no sensible man would have truck with the peddling of xenos
which case matters can soon escalate as planetary law enforcement and obscenities there exists a delusion of invulnerability amongst some of the
defence bodies are forced to step in. This dynasty was dragged into one Imperium’s nobility that they are above the law of the Imperium, and that
such unsavoury conflict, drawn in by their allegiances and kept there by no authority in the galaxy could possibly touch them and their interests.
the necessity of their Navigator allies. Fighting in this conflict ultimately The abject wrongness of this delusion rarely sinks in until the prosecutors
has brought the dynasty closer to their allied Navis Nobilite family, but of such crimes are burned at the stake for their heresy, so tainted by the
inevitably created enmity among the other side that persists until the wiles of the alien are they.
present day. No few merchant families have been purged for such heresy
in the past, and sadly they did not serve as a strong enough lesson for
Ship Points: 4 others, as the crimes of trading forbidden works made not by the hands
Profit Factor: 10 of man continue to this very day. While some would profit from these
Effects: Members of this dynasty gain the Peer (Navigator House), Rival means there are no few who are eager to throw in with the forces of the
(Navigator House) (these must be separate Navigator Houses), If a void- Inquisition and aid them, if not out of a moral imperative, then one born
ship of this dynasty’s Navigator is not a player character then upgrade from the wish to eliminate mercantile adversaries serves the needs of the
their Craftsmanship by 1, but if they are a player character he counts Holy Ordos well enough.
Navigational Charts from his House as being one step of Craftsmanship
higher than they are. Ship Points: 10
Profit Factor: 4
Effects: Choose one of the following:
A Light in a Sea of Darkness
The galaxy’s primordial state of darkness is ever encroaching, and the Purgator: Members of this dynasty gain the Peer (Inquisition) and Ene-
even deeper darkness of the Warp is perhaps even more pervasive, for it my (Cold Trade) Talents
can dwell in the hearts of men who stand in broad daylight. This foul evil
must be fought at all turns, and the Ecclesiarchy stands as Humanity’s Conspirator: Members of this dynasty gain the Hunted (Inquisition)
bastion against it. The Imperial Creed is the law, and those who contra- and Peer (Cold Trade) Talents, and ships from this dynasty may have 1
vene it’s word are heretics and traitors to Humanity. additional Xenotech Component
Serving this holy purpose is a great deed for any noble house,
Ship Points: 14
Profit Factor: 4
Effect: Members of this dynasty gain the Peer (Any) Talent
Aptitudes
General
Weapon Skill Offence
Ballistic Skill Finesse
Strength Defence
Toughness Psyker
Agility Tech
Intelligence Knowledge
Perception Fieldcraft
Willpower Leadership
Fellowship Social
Skill Advances
Player Characters learn new Skills or improve existing Skills by selecting Skill advances. The xp cost of Skill advances depends on how many apti-
tudes the character has in common with that Skill. These advances are divided into four ranks of progression levels, which are as follows:
• Known (Rank 1): The character can use the Skill without the –20 penalty for untrained Skills.
• Trained (Rank 2): The character receives +10 on all Skill tests when using this Skill.
• Experienced (Rank 3): The character receives a +20 bonus on all Skill tests when using this Skill. This bonus replaces the bonus for being Trained.
• Veteran (Rank 4): The character receives a +30 bonus to all Skill tests when using this Skill. This bonus replaces the bonus for being Experienced
in this Skill.
When improving a Skill, a character must progress through each of the levels in turn, starting with Known and ending with Veteran. So, for
example, players cannot choose to pay for the Trained Skill advance for their character without first purchasing the Known Skill advance. Note that
characters might have received the Known or Trained Skill advance already through character creation. The Skill Advances table below indicates the
price of Skill advances, based on both the progression level and number of matching aptitudes.
The Skill Aptitudes table below lists the Skills in 40KRPG, along with the Aptitudes linked to each. Refer to Section 3.0 “Skills” for more
information on selecting Skills and Skill descriptions.
Skill Aptitudes
Skill Aptitude 1 Aptitude 2 Skill Aptitude 1 Aptitude 2
Acrobatics Agility General Linguistics Intelligence General
Athletics Strength General Logic Intelligence Knowledge
Awareness Perception Fieldcraft Medicae Intelligence Fieldcraft
Charm Fellowship Social Navigate Intelligence Fieldcraft
Command Fellowship Leadership Operate Agility Tech
Operate
Commerce Intelligence Knowledge Intelligence Tech
(Voidship)
Common Lore Intelligence Knowledge Parry Weapon Skill Defence
Deceive Fellowship Social Psyniscience Perception Psyker
Deny The Witch Willpower Defence Scholastic Lore Intelligence Knowledge
Dodge Agility Defence Scrutiny Perception General
Forbidden Lore Intelligence Knowledge Stealth Agility Fieldcraft
Inquiry Fellowship Social Survival Perception Fieldcraft
Interrogation Willpower Social Tactics Intelligence Fieldcraft
Intimidate Strength Social Tech-Use Intelligence Tech
Invocation Willpower Knowledge Trade Intelligence General
Using Skills knowledge of places, people, and events; the ability to control, drive, or
pilot particular types of vehicles and equipment; the ability to read and
Throughout the course of a game session, the Game Master frequently
understand maps, as well as the ability to plot a course across a world or
calls upon players to make skill tests for their characters. These should
the stars themselves; and the ability to speak, read, or understand one of
be conducted in any circumstance where success or failure might have
the countless languages, codes, or glyphs used by the races of the 41st
a meaningful impact upon the scenario. Routine tasks attempted under
Millennium. A character can take a Specialist skill more than once, tak-
normal conditions should never require a test. However, if there is a
ing a new speciality each time he takes the skill. If he takes a Specialist
reasonable chance of failure due to environmental conditions or circum-
skill more than once (each with its own speciality), then these are treated
stance, even a routine test might be relevant.
as separate skills and must be advanced in rank individually. A list of the
When a character uses a skill to perform a task, he must succeed at a skill
individual specialities within each Specialist skill can be found within the
test. The procedure follows the test rules presented in Section 1.1 “The
individual skill descriptions.
Core Rules”: the player rolls, compares the result to the characteristic
best suited to the task and, if the result is equal to or less than the skill
rating, the check succeeds. Modifiers are applied to take into account any Time and Skill Tests
environmental factors, as well as the character’s rank with the applicable The amount of time required for a skill test may vary substantially based
skill. both upon the skill used and the particular instance of its use. A Tech-Use
test to clear a weapon jam might take only a few moments, though one to
perform a basic repair on a vehicle could take hours. Similarly, a Com-
Untrained Skill Use merce test to negotiate the price of supplies for a journey might be re-
It is unlikely that a character will be trained in the use of every skill,
solved quickly, but a complex negotiation to establish a trade agreement
instead focusing on the mastery of a few and a general knowledge of
between two powerful mercantile groups could take weeks or months of
a handful of others. A character can, however, still use skills in which
resolving minutia and commercial factors.
he has no training when needs must, such as attempting to hide from a
Each skill entry includes guidance on the average amount of time
slavering group of mutants or frantically deciphering the coded messages
that skill usually takes to perform. These values are either measured in
in an ancient tome. In these instances, the character makes a skill test as
actions (in the case of skills that can be performed during a round of
normal but suffers a –20 penalty in addition to any other modifiers. The
structured time), or minutes/hours. Some skills are most commonly used
only exceptions to this rule are Specialist skills (see below) which require
in reaction to, or in combination with, another skill. In these instances,
a level of ability that simply cannot be attempted by the untrained. These
the amount of time required is identical to the skill it is used to oppose
could include knowledge of ancient rites of the Adeptus Mechanicus,
or assist. Keep in mind that these values serve as guidelines but are not
commanding a Mars Class Cruiser, or speaking fluently with an Eldar
always fixed. Game Masters must alter the time required for a skill use
Corsair in its own xenos language. Specialist skills are indicated as such
based upon the overall complexity of the task involved.
both on the Skill List table and the individual skill descriptions.
90 Educate men without faith and you make them nothing more than clever devils.