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Which models within which units will gain a special rule with this phrase "Friendly units with the X Faction".

If all models within a unit have faction X then that's obvious they all get the rule.

If an Independent Character from another faction joins, does he also gain the rule?

If a Faction X IC joins another faction's unit, do all of them gain the rule?

If the rule says "within 6 inches" and the mixed unit has another faction's model within 6" but the Faction X model is outside of 6", does this qualify?

The specific case I'm looking at is the Ravenwing Darkshroud, of course. If my Dark Angel chaplain joins some Skitarii, but only the Skitarii models are within 6" of a Darkshroud, do they all gain Stealth, Fear, and Overwatch immunity?

axisofentropy wrote:
Which models within which units will gain a special rule with this phrase "Friendly units with the X Faction".

If all models within a unit have faction X then that's obvious they all get the rule.

If an Independent Character from another faction joins, does he also gain the rule?

If a Faction X IC joins another faction's unit, do all of them gain the rule?

If the rule says "within 6 inches" and the mixed unit has another faction's model within 6" but the Faction X model is outside of 6", does this qualify?

The specific case I'm looking at is the Ravenwing Darkshroud, of course. If my Dark Angel chaplain joins some Skitarii, but only the Skitarii models are within 6" of a Darkshroud, do they all gain Stealth, Fear, and Overwatch immunity?

Correct.

Yes. If an IC from faction Y joins a unit from faction X he is "for all rules purposes" a member of a unit from faction X unit.

No. If an IC from faction X joins a unit from faction Y he is "for all rules purposes" a member of a unit from faction Y unit. Because the rule looks for units, not models, from faction X the IC will stop receiving the benefit of the special rule.

Maybe. You don't have enough info here. Withing 6" of what? A unit of a model from faction X? Did an X IC join a Y unit, or did a Y IC join an X unit.

As to your specific case we are looking at "Friendly units with the Dark Angels Faction within 6" of one or more Ravenwing Darkshrouds gain..."

So the unit has to have the DA Faction and at least one model from that unit must be within 6" if the vehicles hull. If a chaplain joins a Skitarii unit then he is a chaplain in a unit with the skitarii faction, not the dark angels faction. The dark shroud would do nothing for this unit.

If however, BA chaplain joined a DA tac squad and they where set up in such as way that only the BA model was within 6" of the dark shroud then the tac squad would get the bennefit.

In this case, an IC joined to a unit of DA will still benefit from the increased save. (He won't have the rule itself, but like Fealess, you only have to be in a unit with a model with the rule to gain the benefit.)

 DJGietzen wrote:

So the unit has to have the DA Faction and at least one model from that unit must be within 6" if the vehicles hull. If a chaplain joins a Skitarii unit then he is a chaplain in a unit with the skitarii faction, not the dark angels faction. The dark shroud would do nothing for this unit.

This sounds good, but is there anything specific in the BRB? I do see at the middle of the IC section:
"While an Independent Character is part of a unit, he counts as part of the unit for all rules purposes, though he still follows the rules for characters."
That's as close as I can find, it's pretty good.

The part about Factions is terribly unhelpful, it only talks about army list formation.

You have a faction for each unit; this is inherent for army list creation and remains as something of an unwritten/undefined rule.

We must accept that the unit purchased under a given faction is a unit of/from that faction(or a that faction unit), otherwise many rules simply do not work.

If faction is a property of the unit, then any ic that joins that unit must take on that property by virtue of being a member of that unit "for all rules purposes".

The only thing that gets sticky is whether or not the ic retains his own faction as well(much of the consensus is: no?). He certainly gains a new faction as part of the unit, and few rules care about the faction of a given model within a unit; but there it is.

If faction is a property of the unit, then any ic that joins that unit must take on that property by virtue of being a member of that unit "for all rules purposes".

You know this interpretation leads to no IC ever being able to join a unit right?

Characters joining unit absolutely can change the unit's properties (size and composition for a start). So whilst this approach to faction has some merit it is not RaW. RaW we have no way to determine unit properties for mixed units. Following the pattern laid out by Kel does give a consistent approach, however it is a HYWPI or best guess at RaI as the RaW is simplynot covered.

You have made a claim and then made some statements that do not back up that claim.

What was said is that ics take on properties from the unit.

Not all properties, just the ones that effect rules(faction, battlefield role, detachment special rules that provide new rules for the unit, etc) the unit's inherent special rules specifically do not get taken on by the ic(a captain does not gain the lotd relentless for example)

Ics changing to unit size and composition does not make it so ics cannot join units. If unit size and composition were a defining property; then any unit would cease to exist the moment it takes its first casualty.

Faction(x) unit would be a unit drawn from that faction, when the ic(say a lord commissar) joins a dark angels tac squad he ceases being an Astra Militarum unit(because he is no longer a unit himself) and becomes part of a dark angels unit. This is also why pe(astra Militarum) would not have an effect on that unit.

Whilst I agree in your example that the Commissar ceases to be an AM unit he is still an AM model. He becomes part of the DA unit. Nothing tells us how to determine faction of a unit from a mixed unit.