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So I've been looking over Death Watch and have to say i am impressed by the power wielded by guys it does look fair to me though and the solo + squad is pretty cool but it looks a little confusing but i think i get it. Requistion is more or less a simple solution. But does anyone have any idea how marines improve themselves with bionics or... well anything really from basic starters; requisiton made sense but constantly returning the tools? What about a marine who gets access to newer and cooler things? Just not in the cards?

ontop of that, any suggestions/tips to avoid more confusion down the line if i decide to play this game. basically things I might not be aware of ect.

It's really hard to say what you wouldn't be aware of because I can't read your mind.

Yet.



Solo Modes are easy, because everyone uses them individually. Some people say that they're the most 'video game-y' part of the Deathwatch rules, but for me I see them as rules-heavy method of representing the divine acts and feats of strength that the Marines are always pulling off in the fluff.

Squad modes are a little more complicated, and by 'a little' I mean 'a lot'. Additionally some of them tend to be very powerful, and can make some combat encounters a bit of a wash. Generally speaking though they are similar to Squad Modes in that they allow Marines to perform above and beyond what they can normally do, but they involve the team rather than individuals. Just make sure the team leader and the guy taking the oath keeps good track of the team's cohesion. It's very important.

Bionics are more of a case-by-case thing. You can't return them, so I wouldn't have people just requesting them willy-nilly. My Storm Warden Tactical Marine recently had his hand blasted off by a Crisis Suit Commander (while fighting him on top of a Manta that was heading into space and also on fire!). He'll get a bionic hand, but only because he needs it. I wouldn't have Marines, other than perhaps Tech-Marines and Iron Hands, just asking for bionics at a whim. Marines are not that careless with their bodies.

I appreciate the response, like always yeah i looked over it pretty well and was pleased also any rules for eldar out there or death watch equal orks? like an advesary compendium or something for death watch?

H.B.M.C. wrote:Bionics are more of a case-by-case thing. You can't return them, so I wouldn't have people just requesting them willy-nilly. My Storm Warden Tactical Marine recently had his hand blasted off by a Crisis Suit Commander (while fighting him on top of a Manta that was heading into space and also on fire!). He'll get a bionic hand, but only because he needs it. I wouldn't have Marines, other than perhaps Tech-Marines and Iron Hands, just asking for bionics at a whim. Marines are not that careless with their bodies.

Unless a PC was an Iron Hand marine, I personally as a GM only allowed bionics as a response to an injury on the damage charts (like when you got a crit result saying your hand is mangled or blown off). DW players got a standard no frills/no benefits/exactly like the original bionic version for free as part of their service in response to injury... if they wanted an improved version and had the necessary renown, they had to use Signature Wargear to get it. This prevented any voluntary amputations to get cybernetics with requisition and the uncomfortable "returning" of them after the mission with the other gear.

reading up on the fear effects of space marines right now in death watch and I am a bit confused... It says the shock table which mirrors RT games isn't really designed for space marines it states instead they take -10 willpower tests against each "level" of fear. meaning a fear 4 hive tyrant will impose a -40 willpower tests to a librarian who is in solo mode. Correct?

If everyone was in squad-mode they instead would take 4 cohesion damage unless the squad leader can pass his willpower -40 test. is this correct?

That's the way we read it. Fear with marines only tends to affect librarians in a meaningful way most of the time. I guess when you just start beating up and shooting at 12 year olds in between painful operations, they tend to ignore most other stuff.

warboss wrote:That's the way we read it. Fear with marines only tends to affect librarians in a meaningful way most of the time. I guess when you just start beating up and shooting at 12 year olds in between painful operations, they tend to ignore most other stuff.

lol i see insanity points (acrewed through less traditional methods) create battle traumas and primarch curse levels ... so a decent off setting to it as the team starts acting less and less unified.

besides the book itself any idea where i could find more xenos and enemies for them to fight deathwatch style?

i'm noticing a lack of eldar, dark eldar, necron and even orks and nids to some extent

The main enemies in the official setting of DW are Nids, Tau, and chaos so you tend to find alot of them spread out through the various books. There are currently no DW level stats for Eldar but the Mark of Xenos book has a decent amount (although far from complete) of orks. Necrons make a small appearance in the Emperor Protects missions but the setting of DW is about 1,000 years before current 40k and prior to the mass scale emergence of Necrons.

warboss wrote:The main enemies in the official setting of DW are Nids, Tau, and chaos so you tend to find alot of them spread out through the various books. There are currently no DW level stats for Eldar but the Mark of Xenos book has a decent amount (although far from complete) of orks. Necrons make a small appearance in the Emperor Protects missions but the setting of DW is about 1,000 years before current 40k and prior to the mass scale emergence of Necrons.

curses... :( Eldar i imagine will be making an appearance soonish... RT has almost EVERY weapon and gear piece out there lol all i am missing is a race

You'll have to wait for this book to get Eldar stats. There are some others floating around:

1. Guardians, Dire Avengers and Eldar Rangers in the Creatures Anathema (Dark Heresy).
2. Dark Eldar Warriors and Warp Beasts in Purge the Unclean (Dark Heresy).
3. Dire Avenger Exarch in Ascension (Dark Heresy).
4. Farseer, Warlock and Wraithguard in Lure of the Expanse (Rogue Trader).
5. Eldar Corsairs, Harlequins, sort-of Dire Avengers, sort-of Wraithguard and sort-of Warp Spiders in Fallen Suns (Rogue Trader).
6. Harlequins, Shadowswwrs, Kabalite Warriors, Mandrakes and Incubi in the Black Crusade Core Rulebook.

Orks have rules in a few places, have a small section in Mark of the Xenos and, as you can see from that link above, will also apparently be in the Koronus Bestiary again. Into the Storm has a decent amount of Ork stuff as well, including the Ork career and tons of Orky weapons.

The Emperor Protects, as already mentioned, as Oldcron Wraiths and Tomb Spyders. The BC Core Rulebook has Necron Warriors, Flayed Ones and the Tomb Stalker. The new Black Crusade adventure book has some more Necrons, confusingly, but I don't have that book yet so I'm not sure what's in it.

Another thing to keep in mind now that HBMC mentioned the DH books is that creatures do get tweeked a bit (some more than others) when they go from DH to RT to DW. Just peek at the genestealers from each to see an example of it. Eldar that are ridiculously awesome in DH might be meh in DW since you're starting with so much more as a PC.

Aye, Deathwatch has a remarkably higher "narrative power level" than the other games, so rules and stats are sadly not really compatible between the books - it should be fairly easy to tweak things, however. Most of the time you just have to increase weapon damage a bit so that enemies actually have a chance of dealing at least 1 wound to a Marine character (without "Horde mode"). Depending on what type of enemy you want to depict, you can also raise armour/toughness or agility a bit to make them more robust or more likely to dodge. Needless to say, the latter would be more fitting for Eldar or Dark Eldar.

I wouldn't say that. Putting Black Crusade aside, all three games are built upon the same rule set, so porting one creature to the next works quite easily. It's just about scaling the encounters correctly. If 5 Tyranid Warriors would be a big fight for a small group of Marines then just 1 or maybe 2 will do for some Acolytes. It's rare that I've taken something from another game and ported across to DH without problem (except the Broodlord... that thing was altogether too powerful... but so it should be!).

Just don't port the Horde Rules, as those don't work all that well in DH/RT.

H.B.M.C. wrote:It's just about scaling the encounters correctly. If 5 Tyranid Warriors would be a big fight for a small group of Marines then just 1 or maybe 2 will do for some Acolytes.

Can't quite agree there. It's the way Toughness works that breaks the system, I think. Unfortunately, corporeal resistance in FFG's RPG doesn't work like in GW's Inquisitor where increased Toughness just means you deal a better with injuries, but rather it provides an additional layer of armour capable of completely negating an attack. And especially with DW Marines, this can result in 50-100% of additional damage immunity compared to Acolytes or RT characters. Few weapons in DH can hurt a Marine, and this includes Eldar guns. What's the likelyhood of a DH Dire Avenger's Shuriken Catapult (1d10+4, Pen 4) doing a single wound to a Marine, for example?

Conversely, taking DW enemies and using them in a Dark Heresy game without scaling back their stats would result in the Acolytes not being able to breach their armour/toughness, or being insta-gibbed by weapon stats designed to be a threat for power-armoured characters with DW Marine Toughness. A lot of times, anyways - I'm sure there are some exceptions.

H.B.M.C. wrote:Just don't port the Horde Rules, as those don't work all that well in DH/RT.

Yeah, I noticed. As of last Thursday, my SoB is KIA from a single attack in the form of a bunch of arrows. No joke.

thanks for the advise guys so far been helpful... though now i am curious how to have this rogue trader group reliably fight an orkish waaagh that is starting on their home planet of operations (the Space marines and Imperial navy are backing the planet n short notice and it needs to remain intact until the guard arrive.)

Big Mek Wurrzog wrote:though now i am curious how to have this rogue trader group reliably fight an orkish waaagh that is starting on their home planet of operations (the Space marines and Imperial navy are backing the planet n short notice and it needs to remain intact until the guard arrive.)

Ohh, do you have the "Battlefleet Coronus" book, by any chance? It includes some rules for strategic warfare. Not the best, actually quite flawed in a few places, but it's doable.

Or ... if your RT group has access to fighter craft ... how about an air campaign? Relocating from base to base, dealing with fuel shortage, raiding enemy convoys ... might be a cool thing to do in-between the normal stuff.

hey gang, mk so i feel more or less ready for a proper DW adventure in the future but i did have two topics to bring to question and was hoping for some clarity and opinions

So Squad mode and solo mode i think i more or less understand but lets go over it... While in Solo mode a rank 1 Death watch marine should have access to his chapter solo mode, and burst of speed and feat of strength effects correct?

Meanwhile in squad mode it is the squad leader (AND ONLY THE LEADER) which calls out actions in which he calls actions like Bolter Assualt for example. While the team is in squad mode they are all able to act like badasses during the leader's phase and then continue to act like normal during their own... correct? basically it's a chance to really gather up and kick alot of ass if I understand it more or less.

Along with that the idea of spending fate points to regain cohesion... which way does that work. A) the leader uses the fate point to regain cohesion and only cohesion. B) the squad leader may use anything for his fate point like normal and consequently regains cohesion as an added benefit?


Also......


I am thinking of starting a epidemic involving enslavers swarming all over the planet gathering the last few minds they could from it. The reason death watch is getting involved is due to the fact that their watch captain is needed to see if this intentionally caused by and act of a willful defection of the planetary governor to the Tau Empire. The Enslavers are really just a known creature that isn't likely to succeed against the marines due to their resistance psychic techniques as well as hypno-conditioning granting them knowledge of their methods. Thus it means that the group might adopt a evasion strategy until needing to secure an objective like the upper Hive City in which the Govenor had lived only to find stealth suits trying to purge all evidence of their dealings with the Govenor to claim ignorance and declare undue aggression by the Imperium as a scapegoat to more or less whip their society into a frenzy and take over the planet after they purge it of the Enslaver threat with a proper drone search and destroy protocols upon the planet after the mind slaves died from starvation (a short 3 month gameplan to expand the empire with more or less zero casualties)

Is it a decent plot-line? I know it makes the Tau alot more grim-dark than many are use to but it's really just using the Imperium's tools against itself which is convince they would like to tempt a planet with alliance that is often overlooked by the Imperium and tell them a strange request like "We of the Tau empire are open to a union but we cannot bare to see how you treat your gifted minds, we do not possess potent psykers such as your people do and thus are interested in a fair trade for independence from your tyrants. Cease the cruelty of your pysker citizens and allow us access to them and we shall consider your proposal in 2 months time. We are well aware you are potentially at risk but we won't leave you exposed should you require aid we will come to your side... let us hope for the greater good it doesn't come to that shall we?"

Any opinions help and improvements are welcome

I haven't mastered the Quotes so I will do my best...

POINT ONE: You are correct in regards to Solo Mode abilities for a Rank 1 character.

POINT TWO: Mostly correct. The final decision is the squad leader, however, my group discusses which squad ability works best in the current situation they are in. Keep in mind, though, the other squad members ONLY benefit from the squad mode as long as they are within support range. At Rank 1 that is Close Range meaning the members must beR within Visual distance and no more than 30 meters apart. (DW Core Rules page 213.)

POINT THREE: Fate points spent to regain Cohesion do just that.. nothing else, otherwise the Fate Points become too powerful.

POINT FOUR: Do NOT discount the Enslavers.. I don't recall any actual stats... BUT... the ENTIRE First Company of the Storm Wardens fell victim to Enslaver Domination during the Nemesis Incident and had to be placed into statis until they could be helped. That was over 4,000 years ago!! (DW Core Rules page 50.) I'm not sure how familiar you are with the "fluff," but the First Company of every Chapter contains the absoloute BEST of the BEST. They are the ONLY ones who wear Terminator Armour, they are the Sternguard Veterans. SO if the Enslavers got them then they are WICKED POWERFUL. Also.. the Raven Guard literally hate the White Scars.. there were numerous events which led to this.. but the event which raises the most hatred happened during Operation Chronos when a venerated Raven Guard Chaplain fell to Enslaver Domination while a nearby White Scar force could have intervened but didn't. (DW First Founding page 15.) Once again.. a Space Marine Chaplain represents the highest in a stalwart mind and regimented thoughts... yet he too fell to the Enslavers... They are incredibly dangerous.... Well.. I hope I helped you and GOOD LUCK... Deathwatch, IMHO, is one of the best RPGs out there!!

Almost forgot... on the FFG website there actually is an 8 page background fluff on the Nemesis Incident... here is the link...

http://fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/deathwatch/minisite/support/nemesis-incident/The%20Nemesis%20Incident%20DLC.pdf