Codex Astartes: the Space Marines (Version 1.4) Introduction
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Codex Astartes: The Space Marines (version 1.4) Table of Contents Introduction - Why Space Marines? - What is in this Sourcebook? 1. Character Generation Stage One: Homeworld Stage Two: Generating Characteristics Stage Three: Determine Career Path Stage Four: Spending Experience Points, Buy Equipment 2. Space Marine Career Path 3. New Skills 4. New Talents 5. New Psychic Powers 6. Astartes Chapter Armoury New Craftsmanship New Weapon Special Qualities Ranged Weapons Melee Weapons Weapon Upgrades Ammo Armour Armour Upgrades Gear Cybernetics 7. Vehicles Ground Vehicles Air/Space Vehicles Special Vehicles Vehicle Upgrades 8. The Chapters The First Founding The Second Founding Subsequent Foundings Feature: The Red Hunters Chapter 9. Life in the Chapter Life in & out of combat (i.e. character downtime) Roleplaying aspects Inquisition, Ecclesiarchy, IG, Planetary Govt 10. Aliens, Heretics & Traitors xenos traitor marines Introduction Designer’s Note: This is a conversion of information from the years of Space Marine literature printed by Games Workshop into the DH system. This is the Space Marines as the superhuman protectors of the Imperium and is not balanced against the 8 established careers in the DH core rulebook. Although there is a suggestion for allowing a Space Marine in an acolyte group (see Game Master’s Notes), these rules are recommend for an all Space Marine campaign which would proceed from characters being recruited together and proceeding all the way up to company leadership or Deathwatch membership. Chapter I: Character Creation Stage One: Homeworld See DH core rulebook page 13 for details. Stage Two: Generating Characteristics (Modified for Space Marine Recruitment) Game Master’s Note: Before generating characteristics, determine how your Space Marine characters will be part of your campaign. If they are going to be superhuman individuals assisting the Inquisition for the honour of their Chapter in a mixed character campaign, then use Table 1-3: Generating Characteristics on page 23 of the DH Core Rulebook. If you are planning a Space Marine campaign where the majority of the characters will be Space Marines (maybe going through recruitment together) or balance with other party members is not an issue, then use the following table to generate characteristics. Note that the following table falls roughly within human starting standards but is designed to decrease variability and skew the final numbers upwards. Generating Characteristics ---Homeworld Modifiers--- Characteristic Base Feral World Imperial World Hive World Weapon Skill 1d10+ 35 30 35 Ballistic Skill 1d10+ 30 35 35 Strength 1d10+ 35 25 30 Toughness 1d10+ 35 30 25 Agility 1d10+ 30 25 30 Intelligence 1d10+ 25 35 30 Perception 1d10+ 30 30 30 Will Power 1d10+ 30 35 25 Fellowship 1d10+ 25 30 35 Stage Three: Determine Career Path Space Marines “One hundred Space Marines or one thousand Guardsmen, either will do.” Space Marines are the most powerful human warriors of the 41st Millennium. They are no longer human but superhuman, having been made superior, in all respects, to a normal man by a harsh regime of genetic modification, psycho-conditioning and rigorous training. Being few in number compared to the legions of the Imperial Guard, Space Marines are organized into small independent armies called Chapters. Each Chapter is responsible for its own recruitment, training, equipment, organization and strategy, although many follow the Codex Astartes written by the Ultramarines Primarch, Roboute Guilliman. Their unswerving loyalty is to the Emperor of Mankind and no other. Starting Skills: Common Lore (War), Ciphers (War Cant), Speak Language (Low Gothic) Staring Talents: Melee Weapon Training (primitive), Pistol Training (Bolt), Basic Weapon Training (Bolt), Basic Weapon Training (Las) or Basic Weapon Training (Primitive) or Basic Weapon Training (SP) Starting Gear: Reinforced BDUs (AP 2, arms, body, legs), knife, Bolt Pistol (Common Quality) with 2 extra clips, sword or axe or hammer or club, backpack Starting Rank: Recruit Stage Four: Spend Experience Points, Buy Equipment Starting Wealth, Monthly Income & Buying Equipment Space Marines do not begin play with money and do not receive a monthly income. Space Marines receive all the listed starting gear from their career at no cost. They do not buy additional weapons, armour or wargear. Space Marines are automatically issued standard gear appropriate to their Rank and specialized weapons and gear based on mission parameters and their training and talents. Game Master’s Note: In a campaign where the Space Marine is operating outside of the normal Chapter organization, use the “Military Class” entry on Table 5-1: Income and Social Class on page 124 of the DH Core Rulebook to determine income. The Space Marine still qualifies for the Standard and Modified Wargear Talents per his Rank, but he must be able to meet with his Chapter to receive these benefits, which may be very unlikely and very time consuming to make possible. When playing a Marine campaign, equipment should be limited to the Chapter Armoury list as the weapons, armour and wargear are “approved” by the Codex Astartes; in a mixed campaign or with a non-Codex Chapter, the Chapter Armoury section is only a basic guideline of standard issue items. Starting Experience Space Marines begin play with 450 xp, which they may use to increase Characteristics, acquire or improve Skills, acquire new Talents and so on. Game Master’s Note: If a Space Marine character is included with a party of acolytes, then the GM may decrease his starting XP to 200 and award the character half the XP earned by acolytes to help balance character progression with the Space Marine’s Talents and Wargear. Stage Five: Bringing Your Character to Life See DH core rulebook page 30 for details. Chapter II: Career Path Space Marines “Forget all that you know. You are nothing. The Chapter is everything.” The Legion Astartes (Space Marines) are the Imperium’s elite fighting troops, a corps of mobile troops trained to fight anywhere. On the battlefield, Space Marines are entrusted with all sorts of perilous missions, such as lightning raids, infiltration and recon and kill-team missions. They also undertake voyages of planetary exploration and conquest on behalf of the Imperium, earmarking planets that can be attacked later with the support of the Imperial Guard. In the 30th Millennium, research and development was undertaken leading to the creation of Space Marines. The first of these warriors were used by the Emperor to reconquer Earth and subjugate the factions fighting for control of the planet. Later, the Emperor created twenty beings knows as the Primarchs, which snatched from Earth by a Chaos vortex and scattered around the galaxy while they were still infants; surprising, the Emperor was later reunited with all 20 of his creations. While recruitment various with each Chapter, most of its troopers are recruited from feral planets, where traditional warrior castes compete for the honour of becoming a “warrior of the gods”. Because the feral planets are rough, primitive and untamed, their inhabitants make excellent fighting material. The aggression and killer-instinct of hive gangers can make ideal Space Marines and whole gangs have been hunted and captured for this purpose. Some recruits come from the civilized areas of the Imperium, but not many. Like the Inquisition, the most of the great Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes answer only to themselves and the Emperor of Mankind. Like all faithful citizens of the Imperium, the Space Marines give due reverence to the Emperor of Mankind. However, here their orthodoxy ends. They also raise their voices in prayer to their Primarchs while they offer up praise for the founding of their Chapter and the gift of the gene-seed that sustains them. The manner of this praise takes a different form in every Chapter, although Chapters with a common genealogy will often adhere to similar beliefs and traditions. This aspect, at times brings Chapters at odds with the Inquisition, but some chapters have long associations with the Ordos. In some cases these allegiances may stretch back over nine millennia, kept alive by Librarians recording each oath and honour given and received. An Inquisitor would not call upon such precious allies lightly. What is presented here is based on the Codex Astartes, which was written following the Horus Heresy. The Codex covers every aspect of the Adeptus Astartes, from the genetic banks used to create implants and training to the formation of a Chapter and tactical roles, equipment specifications and uniform identification markings. Space Marines that follow this system unmodified are considered to be from Codex Chapters, the most famous being the Ultramarines. Most Chapters do not stick so rigidly to the Codex and have their own variations of organization, tactical roles or other processes established by the Codex Astartes. Many Chapters are largely organized according to the Codex but have slight variations, such as the Blood Angels and Dark Angels. A small number of Chapters are completely structured without consideration for the Codex Astartes; most famous of these are the Space Wolves, who have only followed the will of their Primarch Leman Russ. Space Marine Ranks Recruit I Scout I Battle Brother I -------------------------------------- I I I Assault Marine Tactical Marine Devastator Marine I I I -------------------------------------- I Veteran Brother I --------------------------------------------------------------