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To cut a long story short, i'm writing a Dark Souls inspired homebrew.

Problem, a key story trait is the starting character having 'semi-bad' equipment. If my player character(s) are Space Marines, what would be the Marines equivalent of 'semi-bad' Power Armour?

The closest i can think of is Mark V 'Heresy' Armour, but then I would have to try and justify a modern Marine having a comparatively older vintage suit of armour and I'm not quite sure how to go about doing so

Chapters have old suits all the time.

The Carcharadons were known to wear loads of older armour patterns with pedigree back to the Great Crusade because they just didn't get resupplied enough with their operations in the depths of space.

The Marines Malevolent are notable for wearing older patterns because literally everyone hates them and wishes they would just die so they don't get new stuff.

I still need to justify to new players why the 'junk' everyone starts off with isn't particularly good, because the meme 'older is better' is ultra-codified nowadays. Any tips on how to address players asking why the 'junk' is actual junk?

Can't you just give them incomplete or damaged armor that is less protective?

the-gentleman-ranker wrote:
I still need to justify to new players why the 'junk' everyone starts off with isn't particularly good, because the meme 'older is better' is ultra-codified nowadays. Any tips on how to address players asking why the 'junk' is actual junk?

Considering Mk5 is known widely as the cobbled together make shift pattern, the lore is there telling them its substandard.

It's 90% bonding studs because the usual armour production methods were poor and it's covered in exposed cables.
It's even largely hated by many Chapters because it's associated with the dark days of the Heresy.

 a_typical_hero wrote:
Can't you just give them incomplete or damaged armor that is less protective?

This.

And, if you're sticking to 40k rules, note that any given stat number encompasses a range.

A 3+ save is Power Armor, whether it's brand new and top of the line, worn and rugged, or near the end of its use.

The trouble there? Is a lot of Power Armour’s advantages are its systems.

Rebreather, Vox, health/status monitors, auto senses, atmospheric samplers, gyros to aid balance, heads up displays and so on and so forth.

So, you could leave them with a barely working suit. All the protectyness, all the manouverability helpers. But have the other systems on the blink, or the suit prone to overheating.

That last one could limit their actions. You can’t push your powerplant too hard, or you risk a fatal overheat. So….which systems do you keep offline? Do you have to choose some on, some off? How easy do you want it for them to switch between?

There’d also Vandoth the Fallen’s kit, depending how knackered you want it.

You could go spiritual instead of technical. Brand new, out of the box, fresh from Mars. Sure, it does it’s job, but has no stories, no honor, and it’s machine spirit slumbers.

Or unlucky a/o cursed. “This suit of armor was once worn by a great hero when he first doned PA, but every time it was issued after that, the brother died within the year. Good luck breaking the curse.”