Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I was driving down the main drag here where I'm at when I got to thinking about a possible way to both save Repentia, while keeping to their (somewhat awful) fluff.

Facts:
1) They have no way to get into assault - no fleet move that they can assault after, and no dedicated transport.
2) They swing too slowly to kill anyone - Eviscerators are slow as all get out.
3) They have a poor save - it's not invulnerable, and it's not good enough to get them where they need to go on foot or for them to last long enough in combat to swing

Solutions:
1) Throw them in the trash when a new codex comes out (after my unborn children graduate college). This would suck because I, at least, have already got a whole bunch and think they'd make a nice centerpiece to an army.
2) Give them power armor and a transport - BoLS has the SoB Strike Force mini-dex that allows Repentia to assault out of their drop pod after taking a 4+ save for being so fanatical they slice themselves up in their haste. This might be do-able, and the power armor would allow us to raise their save to 3+, which makes 20-ish pts/model closer to reasonable.
OR
3) (My personal favorite) Give them their own special rules for Acts of Faith:
-Sisters Repentia are watched over by a Mistress who constantly tests their faith to ensure that they have not swerved in their personal quest to regain the Emperor's favor. As such, all successful tests must be re-rolled and the new result must be accepted, to reflect the constant physical, spiritual, and mental abuse that the Repentia undergo on a regular basis. The Mistress makes the unit faithful, and adds one faith point to the Army total, and the Army receives a faith point back if she is martyred, much the same as a Sister Superior.
-A unit of Repentia may make one, but only one, test for each Act of Faith per player turn, as the Mistress is constantly testing them for any sign of spiritual weakness.
Not sure yet whether the buffs should stack or not. Thoughts?

Acts of Faith
1) Fury of the Ascension If the unit rolls under the number of models in the squad for the Test of Faith, they swing their Eviscerators with blinding speed and strength. The Repentia attack with their Eviscerators at I5 and re-roll any failed rolls to wound, but lose bonus attacks for charging. The Mistress gains no bonus, as she has her scions under too close an eye to fully give herself over to the combat.
2) Smite the Heretic! If the unit rolls over the number of models in the squad for the Test of Faith, their eyes suddenly burn brightly with a holy fury as they strike, pulverizing their enemies until their is nothing left except a spray of blood across their blades. Every wound the Repentia inflict counts as two wounds inflicted. The Mistress gains no bonus, as she has her scions under too close an eye to fully give herself over to the combat.

The only other ones I could come up with at the moment is a fleet move that gets them where they need to go faster, or giving them Spirit of the Martyr to improve their save. I do think that these enhanced acts of faith, and the subsequent re-roll to accomplish them, beef the Repentia up a bit. What do y'all think so far?

Of all the units in 40k Repentia should be the ones to vanish completely 40k doesn't need 40k S&M Nuns with chainswords.

If they really must exist I'd like to see their rules amalgamated and streamlined (sic) with the Arco-flagellants with which they share a great deal.

Feel No Pain, Rending, Fearless and Fleet would cover the special rules and plus one Weapon Skill, Strength and Toughness added onto the standard Sister of battle profile would be fine.

You could justify the stat increases by saying they take combat drugs, but hint at it in a semi-religous/ritual way.

Perhaps a drop in armour save to 5+ would be in order as they are half naked.

Those stats would double for Arco-flagellants for those that hate S&M combat nuns.

Okay, here's what I've come up with independently, although I like your idea of acts of faith.

Sisters Repentia Squad (70 points)
Repentia WS4 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I3 A1 Ld6 Sv4+
Mistress WS4 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I4 A2 Ld10 Sv3+

Unit Composition: 1 Mistress, 4 Sisters Repentia
Unit Type: Infantry
Wargear:
Repentia: chainsword, combat blade, carapace armor
Mistress: two neural whips, power armor

Special Rules: Holy Rage, Righteous Zeal, Adepta Sororitas, Faithful, Only in Death Does Duty End
Options:
Any Repentia may exchange her chainsword and combat blade for an evicerator for +10 points.
Up to ten additional Repentias may be added to the squad at +10 points per model

Holy Rage: Models affected by this rule who are not already engaged in close combat must move at their maximum Movement rate +D6 towards the nearest enemy unit. This extra movement is not affected by Difficult Terrain. In addition, they must always charge in the Assault Phase if they are able to do so.

Righteous Zeal: Should they ever fail a moral check, they will move 2D6" towards the nearest enemy unit, instead of falling back at the end of the Shooting Phase. Should this put them into contact with the enemy, they count as charging in the subsequent Assault Phase. In close combat, the squad has the fearless universal special rule.

Adepta Sororitas: the unit consists of Sisters of Battle, and therefoer benefits from the Shield of Faith special rule (psychic powers have no effect on them on a roll of 5+)

Faithful: The Mistress is faithful, and may lead the Repentias in Acts of faith as normal.

Only in Death Does Duty End: Sisters Repentia are only concerned with restoring themselves in the eyes of the Emperor. They may not be joined by any unit with the exception of a Priest and they may not embark on vehicles.

Note that the weapons they are equipped with has not been added to their profiles.

I have also been looking at how to make them work. I have had a few different ideas, such as making them something like Black Templar, or what I wrote about here.

I think those rules mentioned by the OP seem pretty good. I'll playtest them this weekend.

I say give them outflank. Isn't there something in the fluff talking about how they don't normally deploy with the other sisters? I thought I read something like that in 'Faith and Fire'... or maybe I just assumed that was going on...

Elric, making them like Black Templars in what way?

Sorry, that was not very clear.

Repentia: Expensive unit that, if you kill off the only member likely to contribute to combat (and most expensive model at that), will move forward in the opponent's shooting phase. They have few attack.
Black Templar: Expensive guys with cheep ablatives you can kill off to allow them to move forward in the opponent's shooting phase. They have many attacks.

If you mixed Repentia with Frateris Militia and made them a little more like Black Templar, you could have a unit of cheep ablatives that have many attacks with a bunch of hidden fists, all of which surges forward when you kill one of the ablatives. It is only a random idea I have had, and not really developed, but it seems like it would do the trick.

I say remove their save entirely, they're half-naked.
replace it with Feel no pain.
Replace the eviscerators with power weapons and bolt pistols.
I also like the idea of making them cheaper, with eviscerators as a buyable option.

That seems fairly close to what I have here. Instead of "possibly" having holy rage, they have it all the time, which basically makes them fleet. Additionally, with optional evicerators, you can get a few of the more expensive ones and a bunch of 10 point ablatives as well. That was sort of the point.

OP's acts of faith are pretty interesting, though.

Sisters Repentia:

WS4 BS3 S3 T3 A2 I3 Ld8 Sv5+
USRs: Fleet of foot, Perfered Enemy, Counterattack, Feel no Pain
Weapons: Eviscerator (Sisters), Neural Whips (Mistress)

While the Mistress is still alive, fleet rolls are made on 2D6, taking the highest.

While the unit is not faithful and can not use acts of faith, this unit provides a faith point when it is destroyed.

Interesting. You didn't mention a points cost...Same?
I'm going to be playtesting my version tomorrow evening. So we'll see.