House Rules

Pages in this section are:

+++house rules main+++

+++optional rule changes+++

+++faith points+++

+++armoury+++

+++experience+++

<<<equipment faults>>>

+++new talents+++

+++non-character rules+++

+++additional psychic powers+++

YOU KNOW how, in the background, experienced fighters favour simpler, more reliable weaponry because it is less prone to breaking down and leaving you with no gun just when you’re about to be attacked by 2,000 orks? Well, here are some rules for that sort of thing that should wipe the smiles off the faces of all those bolter-happy warbands.

Obviously it's also good fun, and helps with the character-building side of the game by forcing players to trade off reliability with power, just like their characters would have to. You're going to be away from your base for a while; will you risk lugging your heavy bolter around and hope it doesn't break down, or settle for set of lasguns?

The Equipment Flaw rules haven't been as thoroughly playtested as the other ones on the site, and as such are still at the 'draft' stage. Hopefully we'll find a way of simplifying them a little more. Any suggestions (including "ditch them you fools, they're rubbish") would be welcome; see the Contact section.

Campaign timescale

These rules are probably best used sparingly; when supplies are available, experts are on hand to sort out maintainence and there's plenty of time before the next mission, they're just a pain. However, the equipment flaw rules can add an entertaining level of resource management when specifically required; for example if the characters are cut off from their supplies, or if a criminal group's gunsmith is in a coma for a bit. Do you risk the plasma gun now, or do you think you'll need it later..?

Basically, if you decide you like the look of this (masochist) you need to use some common sense in deciding which scenarios these rules should be used after, implementing them in special cases rather than as a default. Anyway, on with the rules:

Developing faults

Weapons like bolt guns are notoriously fickle and only certain characters will have the knowledge to keep them running, whilst other equipment may require constant recharging or have hard-to-find spare parts. Maybe a firing pin shatters, a plasma cunductor burns out, or a circuit overloads and fries itself.

After each game, some equipment (listed below) has to test to see if it develops a fault, represented by a percentage roll. If an item wan't used in the scenario it doesn't have to test, although force fields count as being used if they are switched on during the game, even if they are never hit. Equipment not listed here is assumed to be either simple, reliable or expertly crafted, so does not have to test. If a piece of equipment develops a fault, it is useless until the problem can be fixed.

Note that a weapon's chance of malfunctioning takes into account craftsmanship as well as complexity; psycannon are just as complex as bolters but as sacred artifacts, they will have been meticulously and expertly constructed.

The “Power lasts…” column indicates how many games the equipment will remain usable for should the character ever become separated from the facilities needed to recharge or refuel it. Characters with the right skills may be able to knock up temporary solutions (e.g. plugging a power sword into the mains), which grants half the games’ worth of power that the proper facilities do.

Effecting repairs

Right, your assault cannon's stopped working. Now what? Any time before the next game, you can try to fix it. Note that in order to effect repairs, a character must have a few hours to spare, and must have access to at least a tool kit or something; whatever the Adeptus Mechanicus might tell you, praising the Omnissiah and hoping for the best just won't do it!

Characters skilled in technical stuff (Tech Priests, gunsmiths etc) can make a Sagacity test per item per game to fix faults. A passed test means the item is back on line in time for the next game; failure means it's still messed up, and you'll have to try again next time. These skilled characters can attend to flaws in their companions’ equipment as well, but do so at the rate of one attempt per game. If there's any doubt, the GM decides whether a certain character would know about x item of equipment or not.

Characters without the appropriate skills can attempt to repair/clean equipment at the rate of one attempt per game, by passing a Sg test with a penalty equal to the weapon’s chance of malfunctioning. If failed, nothing happens and the weapon is still jammed – the character must try again later. If failed with a roll of 96-100, the attempt fails and the character either loses a vital part or can’t work out how to put it back together again – it is useless until a skilled character can attend to it.

Inquisitor, assassin, military, security forces and certain other characters (GM’s discretion) are assumed to be able to maintain their own weapons and armour as a skilled character, but must test as an unskilled character for other equipment.