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Completly agree, if they had to be 'Awake' all of the time couped up in they're tombs with nothing to do, they would get very aggitated and probaly go insane.

You have to remember that between battles where they are needed, dreadnoughts may not get used for hundreds of years, even a Thousand years in Bjorns case and even then he is only woken up to tell the tales of Leman Russ, then he is put back into stasis.

A Dreadnought like Bjorn is only ever used in Dire circumstances, such as the defence of the Fang.
Only a former Great Wolf and Wolf Guard to Leman Russ himself could have led the skeleton forces left behind to Victory and stood upto Magnus the Red himself.

In summary Dreadnoughts need their sleep otherwise they get grouchy

What I have learned from this thread.

Dreadnaughts are like old men, they need lots of sleep or they go nuts and annoy the Chapter Brothers.

Alexzandvar wrote:What I have learned from this thread.

Dreadnaughts are like old men, they need lots of sleep or they go nuts and annoy the Chapter Brothers.

An excellent way of putting it lol

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Blood_Swords#.TxgOEvk70cs

One of the Blood Angels second founding chapters has a Dreadnought as the chapter master, I think he died in one of the books. But he must of been awake almost all the time to run a Chapter.

Hope this helps.

Panopticon wrote:I personally think Chaos Dreads go crazy because, well, that is what you do when you fall to Chaos. But there seem to be exceptions there too, The detachment of Violators on Torvendis were commanded by a Dreadnought, and he didn't go berserk and murder anyone on his side even once. Source: Daemon World novel.

If I remember the chaos codex says that the chaos dreadnaughts go crazy because the other chaos marines see giving up ones flesh to be entombed in a dreadnaught and become like an undead as the ultimate insult. A lot of the point of chaos is the feelings and expressions of living which dreadnaughts don't do. So in a way the other chaos marines tend to abuse their dreadnaughts. This includes not letting them sleep, but also chaining them down so they cant move either. In short the go mad because they can remember all the things they used to be able to do, and are allowed to do now that they follow chaos, but they cant anymore, add to that resentment at being kept chained and immobile and things start to break mentally. Of course, with regards to the dreadnaught leader, never let it be said that sanity was never a prerequisite for leading the forces of chaos.

With regards to space marine dreadnaughts, I am not too sure. I think a kind of cabin fever would be the main problem. Also dreadnaughts seem to get some brain damage in their process. Which is to be expected as they would have effectively been chapter heroes that died in battle. Similarly the conditions that allow a space marine to become a dreadnaught are pretty slim. There are very few injuries that would be fatal enough to warrant being put in a dreadnaught without outright killing the marine. An example is Magnus Calgar who is really more machine than human now, but still not a dreadnaught. All these things kind of add up and compound on a persons mind while sitting immobile as the tech priests do their daily maintenance on the body.

hotsauceman1 wrote:I think it is the really old ones that get put into stasis.

No, that really is the standard for all - at least if you go by GW's fluff. However, as mentioned, there's a ton of novels and other licensed products that don't really care for the details printed in some Codex or other studio material, so it'd be up to the individual player which interpretation he prefers. We just need to keep in mind that there really are a lot of different viewpoints on this all depending on which source you're looking at. In essence: authors are like players.

Lynata wrote:

hotsauceman1 wrote:I think it is the really old ones that get put into stasis.

No, that really is the standard for all - at least if you go by GW's fluff. However, as mentioned, there's a ton of novels and other licensed products that don't really care for the details printed in some Codex or other studio material, so it'd be up to the individual player which interpretation he prefers. We just need to keep in mind that there really are a lot of different viewpoints on this all depending on which source you're looking at. In essence: authors are like players.

In the codex doesnt it say that it is not uncommon for dreadnaughts to serve on chapter councils?

Spetulhu wrote:Letting the dreadnought deal with recruits would be useful in several ways. The recruits hear his advice and see what might happen if they one day get to become great heroes and then blown to pieces. The dreadnought gets to practice on all those faces and names, hopefully keeping his memory sharp.

Once he starts refering to scouts by the names of long-dead marines you know it's time to either put him in stasis or let him perish in battle so the shell can go to a new hero.

They do do that, but not all the time. Its more like they may wake up a particular dreadnought on a particular chapter ritual to pass on his wisdom to the younger generation, then they send grandpa back to bed.

hotsauceman1 wrote:In the codex doesnt it say that it is not uncommon for dreadnaughts to serve on chapter councils?

Hmm, I don't recall having read that, but I will admit I only glossed over the 5E one. I'll recheck. That said, aren't Chapter Councils only happening once every few years, anyways? It's not like they would get together every day to discuss routine.

Don't forget that the Iron Hands, at least, have 2 (or more) Dreadnoughts in their clan council -

Warleader Bannus and Iron Father Gdolkin.

I'm not sure if "crazy" is the right thing to call them if they're awake too long. They certainly become more unstable and events start to blur together.

Basically the human mind is not constructed to hold memory for more than 500-800 years. In the novel Fall of Damnos, one of the ancient dreadnoughts believes he is fighting somewhere other than Damnos, and not against Necrons but rather Chaos cultists. This does not stop him from tearing the Necrons up though. One of the Astartes next to the venerable dreadnought notes this but does not say anything about it. As long as Dreadnoughts want to continue taking the fight to the enemies of mankind, that's quite alright. lol

Most all dreadnoughts releive themselves of their posistions once they are inturned. Iron Hands are a blatant exception to this. However the oldest and most experianced will still be present on councils. Remember that many of them are going to be older than their current chapter master. Some may well have been in the running for that posistion until they fell.

Not everyone gets to be a dreadnought. That honor goes only to the select and afterwords noone is going to simply ignore them advise.

Two points of interest: (Spoilers?)
In the black templar comic book, the dreadnought goes into suspended animation because of being 'tired.' Fighting physically is not as demanding on them so much as the mental wear of being around for so long, losing squadmates, and only knowing battle. Also bear in mind that to be in a dreadnought you need to be badly injured, so i'm sure that adds to the stress.

Also, in the firedrake novel they discover a salamander marine that has been entombed underground so long that the ship he is in is essentially falling apart, and his armor has rusted to the point of not moving. He is physically alive, but his mind is decayed due to being alone for so long and losing his battalion.

I can't remember if it is in the 4th or 5th SM codex but there is a passage something along the lines of "dreadnaughts are often the oldest and most experienced members of the chapter and it is not unheard of for dreadnaughts to have seats on the chapter leadership". If they were asleep, it seems like it would be a little difficult to do their job.

-cgmckenzie

If a dreadnaught was in stasis and only awake for a few days of the years, he'd actually age extremely slowly.
Say 3 days a year, that's only 3,000 days over 1,000 years.
Obviously a normal Space Marine would age 365 days a year...

What exacly is the dread doing if he isn't in stasis, its not like he can play cards, he is going to be bored out of his mind when abored the battle barges and not fighting. So its probably better for him to be in stasis. Besides, I'm not entirely sure its comfurtable in there, the Marines may be in constant pain, unless their pain receptors have been shut down, which i dout. PAIN KEEPS YOU SANE, it lets you know your still alive, but it can be just as bad to not feel pain, as to feel nothing but pain.
So if i were a dread, i would probably ask to be put in stasis when not needed.

Veldrain wrote:Most all dreadnoughts releive themselves of their posistions once they are inturned. Iron Hands are a blatant exception to this. However the oldest and most experianced will still be present on councils. Remember that many of them are going to be older than their current chapter master. Some may well have been in the running for that posistion until they fell.

Not everyone gets to be a dreadnought. That honor goes only to the select and afterwords noone is going to simply ignore them advise.

Although to ignore the council of a dreadnaught during battle(even on from another chapter) is considered fool-hardy.


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Vice_Grip wrote:What exacly is the dread doing if he isn't in stasis, its not like he can play cards, he is going to be bored out of his mind when abored the battle barges and not fighting. So its probably better for him to be in stasis. Besides, I'm not entirely sure its comfurtable in there, the Marines may be in constant pain, unless their pain receptors have been shut down, which i dout. PAIN KEEPS YOU SANE, it lets you know your still alive, but it can be just as bad to not feel pain, as to feel nothing but pain.
So if i were a dread, i would probably ask to be put in stasis when not needed.

Maybe the dreadnaught armor is equipped with solotaire.
Also if i was a dreadnaught in my spare time i would fill up my assault cannon and missile launcher wth candy, Go to an orphanage or school and open fire with a candy barrage to al the kids and tell them stories of my battle.