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Can any space marine join the deathwatch? Or are they trained from the start to specialize in killing xenos?

Deathwatch draws upon volunteers from every Chapter.

Does the deathwatch accepts all the volunteers wishing to join its ranks? Or does the deathwatch require a minimum of experience in fighting Xenos before joining this chapter? The Deathwatch is supposed to be an elite force, even on SM standards, I guess they only recruit veterans or SM that are highly recommended by their original chapter. But my knowledge on the deathwatch is pretty limited...

Majority of the Deathwatch are veterans i think, I doubt they would send an Initiate into the deathwatch. Though i heard that a scout sergeant served in it for a while so they might accept any volunteers.

inquisitoredd142 wrote:Majority of the Deathwatch are veterans i think, I doubt they would send an Initiate into the deathwatch. Though i heard that a scout sergeant served in it for a while so they might accept any volunteers.

Scout sergeants are typically veterans. Not necessarily members of the 1st company, but they are full-fledged battle brothers who are there to help train the scouts.

inquisitoredd142 wrote:Majority of the Deathwatch are veterans i think, I doubt they would send an Initiate into the deathwatch. Though i heard that a scout sergeant served in it for a while so they might accept any volunteers.

I'm going to fix this notion that "scout sergeants are initiates" or even that "scouts are initiates only".

In many Chapters, the actual Scouts have decades of combat service and are just waiting to be elevated to the main ranks to replace a fallen Battle-Brother.

Scout Sergeants are, quite frankly, full-blooded members of the Chapter with centuries of service in every imaginable combat situation, who have dedicated themselves to teaching and leading the members of the Scout Company. Some Chapters(like the Raven Guard and Dark Angels) will, in extreme situations or high value missions, organize their Scout-Sergeants into a single squad and field them as a Scout Squad.

GW, however, has left that only in the background except for with the Space Wolves.

It prob has to do with whoever the chapter is willing to give and if the deathwatch think the marine is a good addition to the force. I could see a scout being allowed in if the chapter saw this scout as having done very well against xenos, and wished to further his training, maybe as a gift for an extreme heroic battle, the deathwatch i feel like would want to choose marines they think will work well within the force, and will bring something new or useful to the table.

When called upon by the Deathwatch I think initiation would come in two forms, either it will be the chapter master's decision and he picks someone as an honour/punishment or there could be come sort of trial between marines wishing to have the honour, such as hand to hand combat to first blood

BluntmanDC wrote:When called upon by the Deathwatch I think initiation would come in two forms, either it will be the chapter master's decision and he picks someone as an honour/punishment or there could be come sort of trial between marines wishing to have the honour, such as hand to hand combat to first blood

Probably more of the latter there, to serve in deathwatch is clearly more of an honor than a punishment. Aside from the veterancy of those who join they would need to know whether or not the volunteers are skilled at fighting varieties of xenos. Maybe recommendation by chapter masters?

inquisitoredd142 wrote:

BluntmanDC wrote:When called upon by the Deathwatch I think initiation would come in two forms, either it will be the chapter master's decision and he picks someone as an honour/punishment or there could be come sort of trial between marines wishing to have the honour, such as hand to hand combat to first blood

Probably more of the latter there, to serve in deathwatch is clearly more of an honor than a punishment. Aside from the veterancy of those who join they would need to know whether or not the volunteers are skilled at fighting varieties of xenos. Maybe recommendation by chapter masters?

Not true.

You're using the term "punishment" when you should be using the term "penance".

Shadow-Captain Korvydae, for example, from IA8 upon the loss on Kastorel-Novem entered the Deathwatch as penance for what happened.

Majority of the Deathwatch are veterans i think, I doubt they would send an Initiate into the deathwatch. Though i heard that a scout sergeant served in it for a while so they might accept any volunteers.

Did you just called Sgt. Telion a noob..?

You could always read the Deathwatch rulebook, as it does explain this sort of thing.

inquisitoredd142 wrote:

BluntmanDC wrote:When called upon by the Deathwatch I think initiation would come in two forms, either it will be the chapter master's decision and he picks someone as an honour/punishment or there could be come sort of trial between marines wishing to have the honour, such as hand to hand combat to first blood

Probably more of the latter there, to serve in deathwatch is clearly more of an honor than a punishment. Aside from the veterancy of those who join they would need to know whether or not the volunteers are skilled at fighting varieties of xenos. Maybe recommendation by chapter masters?

It depends on the chapter, some chapters are very insular and to be sent out would be seen as punishment. A marine from chapter that hates psykers would be equally punished by having to work with librarians

Mikalichou wrote:

Majority of the Deathwatch are veterans i think, I doubt they would send an Initiate into the deathwatch. Though i heard that a scout sergeant served in it for a while so they might accept any volunteers.

Did you just called Sgt. Telion a noob..?

Telion is not an initiate is he? He's a veteran scout. He even has a place in the honor guard. What I meant was they wouldnt send any new space marines in to deathwatch

inquisitoredd142 wrote:

Mikalichou wrote:

Majority of the Deathwatch are veterans i think, I doubt they would send an Initiate into the deathwatch. Though i heard that a scout sergeant served in it for a while so they might accept any volunteers.

Did you just called Sgt. Telion a noob..?

Telion is not an initiate is he? He's a veteran scout. He even has a place in the honor guard. What I meant was they wouldnt send any new space marines in to deathwatch

Actually...some Chapters do send 'new' Marines to the Deathwatch.

Why wouldn't you? It's on-the-job training!

The Deathwatch don't have to be veterans first but, in the Deathwatch RPG characters start off with 1,000 Experience Points to show that they are seasoned Battle Brothers but even so it would seem unlikely for a scout (any pre-Black Carapace recruit) to serve in the ranks of the Deathwatch. Alternatively an incredibly experienced and veteran Marine could be sent, including officers and other specialists.

Thing you have to remember, again:

Even the most relatively new Space Marine is still a combat monster compared to the Guard.

Yeah but the Deathwatch usually deploy in small teams where they are heavily outnumbered... you would want experienced Marines with you for that kind of job.
It's also worth noting that marines can use almost any weapon in the Deathwatch, jump packs, terminator armour, heavy weapons, special weapons, there is even a reference to a dreadnought in one short story.

Kanluwen wrote:Even the most relatively new Space Marine is still a combat monster compared to the Guard.

Even a scout will have immense physical strength, agility and superior training to your average guardsman, making it easy for them to out-perfom them in that context but the Deathwatch is an elite force even amonst the elite Astartes whose oaths to the Deathwatch and the Inquisition are strict and binding which will require a Battle Brother who is fully seasoned and experienced in more things than mere combat.

Deathwatch members don't have to be of the veteran rank. They just have to be the best xenos fighters in their chapter or at least show a great aptitude for it.
As far as scouts go, a chapter would never send one of its newer recruits to serve in the Deathwatch. Deathwatch marines do have the option of going into combat wearing scout armour.

Ps. The Deathwatch also hires Fallen...

isnt deathwatch about recruiting from many chapters you fight for them for a thousand years them go back to your chapter with xenos killing equipment & knowlegde

Scorpionov wrote:isnt deathwatch about recruiting from many chapters you fight for them for a thousand years them go back to your chapter with xenos killing equipment & knowlegde

The term of service in the Deathwatch is variable. A marine may be seconded to the Deathwatch for any length of time or number of missions, until they return to their chapter under oath of silence. It's extremely unlikely that any would serve for a thousand years, as Dante and Logan Grimnar are considered ancient by the standards of loyalist Astartes, and they are over 1100 and 700 years old respectively.

I haven't read the Deathwatch rulebook, but I find it unlikely that a pre-carapace marine would be requested in service to the Deathwatch, purely for the standard of mission they are expected to carry out. There are veteran scouts who serve however, an example being Scout-Sergeant Cyrus of the Blood Ravens. Also, I don't believe a Chapter volunteers marines so much as they are requested. From certain references in 'Heroes of the Space Marines', it seems that it's certainly not a personal volunteering anyway.

imagine a black templar & a blood raven libarian that wont work out too well in the death watch

That's actually happening in a campaign in my gaming store. As to be expected, the results are hilarious.

Scorpionov wrote:imagine a black templar & a blood raven libarian that wont work out too well in the death watch

Both Librarians and Black Templars are called to serve, and are even placed in the same squad at times.

There are two literary examples I can think of off the top of my head, C.S Goto's 'Warrior Brood' novel features a Black Templar Chaplain and a Librarian from the Angels Sanguine chapter in the same squad, and the Headhunted short story by Steven Parker in 'Heroes of the Space Marines' has a Death Spectre Librarian and an Astartes from the Exorcists chapter (The Exorcists have a similar, although less extreme, view of psykers to the Black Templars.)

Much like Space Wolves and Dark Angels, they are called to place their personal feelings aside in service of the Deatwatch and the Ordo Xenos. They know going into service that they will likely be forced to work alongside a psyker at some point, and still answer the call regardless.

VenerableBrotherPelinore wrote:

Scorpionov wrote:imagine a black templar & a blood raven libarian that wont work out too well in the death watch

Both Librarians and Black Templars are called to serve, and are even placed in the same squad at times.

There are two literary examples I can think of off the top of my head, C.S Goto's 'Warrior Brood' novel features a Black Templar Chaplain and a Librarian from the Angels Sanguine chapter in the same squad, and the Headhunted short story by Steven Parker in 'Heroes of the Space Marines' has a Death Spectre Librarian and an Astartes from the Exorcists chapter (The Exorcists have a similar, although less extreme, view of psykers to the Black Templars.)

Much like Space Wolves and Dark Angels, they are called to place their personal feelings aside in service of the Deatwatch and the Ordo Xenos. They know going into service that they will likely be forced to work alongside a psyker at some point, and still answer the call regardless.

yes and there have been several blood raven librarians in the deathwatch. Is Goto the only one who does books on the deathwatch?

Apart from a short story or two, he's the only one I know of.

Deathwatch marines make an appearance in other books, but they're not the focus, just a supporting character.

inquisitoredd142 wrote:Can any space marine join the deathwatch? Or are they trained from the start to specialize in killing xenos?

I can't remember where I have this info/impression from, so take it with a grain of salt, but...

Space Marines do not join the Deathwatch. Rather, the Inquisition request specific individuals to be seconded to the Deathwatch, based on recommendations by Marines already on the Deathwatch. No special rank or training is required, but candidates are usually picked because they have gone above & beyond the call of duty in a recent Xenos encounter. The Deathwatch is a great honour, not a penance duty, and chapters use it both to learn from and to show up each other - and to impress the Inquisition, of course.

Simsum wrote:

inquisitoredd142 wrote:Can any space marine join the deathwatch? Or are they trained from the start to specialize in killing xenos?

I can't remember where I have this info/impression from, so take it with a grain of salt, but...

Space Marines do not join the Deathwatch. Rather, the Inquisition request specific individuals to be seconded to the Deathwatch, based on recommendations by Marines already on the Deathwatch. No special rank or training is required, but candidates are usually picked because they have gone above & beyond the call of duty in a recent Xenos encounter. The Deathwatch is a great honour, not a penance duty, and chapters use it both to learn from and to show up each other - and to impress the Inquisition, of course.

It's penance duty to some chapters.