Warhammer 40k: deathwatch <d100>

[Apophis775]

What do you guys think? Our group is thinking of trying it. Anyone played it or have any opinions?

[Goonthegoof]

Tactical marines are boring to play and pretty mediocre, blood angels are too good at melee, librarians using powers at any strength beyond fettered will eventually kill them. Keep those in mind and you'll probably have fun, it's finally a game that lives up to the fluff about space marines.

[The Commander]

Four words: You need an Apothecary.

FFG also released some errata meaning healing's even more difficult now. Specifically, an Apothecary can only heal the maximum damage taken from a single hit, so if Brother A gets shot with an Ion Cannon for 20 damage and Apothecary B heals him for only 12 wounds, then that extra 8 damage cannot be healed by the Apothecary at all unless as part of extended care.

Devastators pretty much destroy any ill-equipped Hordes with ease due to a Space Marine's high natural BS, coupled with Full Auto and Horde Size Bonus, means they're going to hit unless they jam and, if rolled well, can break a Horde right from the get go.

If your group prefers roleplay over combat, this isn't for you. This game is heavily combat based and you often (depending on how cunning your GM is) have to make interesting tactical decisions depending on your circumstances.

[Mooch]

I am currently in a campaign IRL. We have an dark angel apothecary, ultramarine tac marine, ultramarine librarian and blood angel assault marine.

I would have to agree the game is heavily based on combat so if they isn't your think you might want to look else where. Because of this the apothecary is very useful.

The biggest problem I have found with the system is that some rules are ambiguous this should be hopefully fixed by the errata coming out soon. It does help to have the dark heresy book for additional rules specifically vehicles. You should look into modifying the righteous fury rules because the RAW ruling causes ridiculous damage that can be abused quite easily, instead of getting another attack just add 1d10 damage for each die.

[Apophis775]

Intresting. I had heard that this was more roleplay than combat.

How does combat work? Is there a MM or similar source-book? Cause missing that annoys the **** out of me in star wars.

[hamishspence]

At the moment- Deathwatch has a few monsters in the main book.

However- other books can be used to increase the variety. Dark Heresy, and Rogue Trader- both have splatbooks which could be used (Rogue Trader for vehicles for the bad guys to pilot, Dark Heresy for various aliens and the like).

[The Commander]

You could style the game in such a way that would make it more roleplay than combat, but honestly, that's no fun. You're Space Marines; you kill stuff mostly, not talk to stuff.

Without trying to go into detail, combat is handled like this:

-Surprise - If anyone has the drop on someone, they get a free round of action
-Initiative - If no-one is surprised or after the surprised round, everyone rolls initiative
-Attack rolls - Attackers tests either WS (for melee) or BS (for shooting and grenades), with modifiers, against a d100, if the attacker rolls equal or less than target number, they hit. Degrees of Success, each degree being every 10 rolled under the target number, is significant if you're firing on Semi or Full Auto or attacking a Horde
-Reactions - Defending NPC or player may attempt (if they haven't already) to dodge or parry an attack, if they are unsuccessful...
-Damage and Hit Location - Reverse the number rolled on the attack die, so if you rolled a 58, you'd hit location 85, 41 would be 14 and so on. After consulting where this would hit and (if on Semi or Full Auto fire) where other hits may have landed, damage is rolled, with defender toughness bonus and armour removing damage first

Then the cycle repeats again in order of initiaitive.

As for monsters, Deathwatch has a very limited number. If you know the Universe 40k is set in, you could have a go at creating your own, although I'd strongly suggest in investing in Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader for ideas and possible stats.

[Attilargh]

You should look into modifying the righteous fury rules because the RAW ruling causes ridiculous damage that can be abused quite easily, instead of getting another attack just add 1d10 damage for each die.
Seconding this. A few months ago, we played one session of the game. Highlights of the game were me accidentally shooting our squad leader in the knee for around 400 points of damage and the other Devastator killing a Tyranid Warrior about thrice over. As it is, DW's Righteous Fury makes the combat a game of rocket tag where the one with the most Heavy Bolters wins, which I don't really feel appropriate for Marines. Yes, they should be epic badasses, but this goes too far.

[Suedars]

Seconding this. A few months ago, we played one session of the game. Highlights of the game were me accidentally shooting our squad leader in the knee for around 400 points of damage and the other Devastator killing a Tyranid Warrior about thrice over. As it is, DW's Righteous Fury makes the combat a game of rocket tag where the one with the most Heavy Bolters wins, which I don't really feel appropriate for Marines. Yes, they should be epic badasses, but this goes too far.

It isn't so lethal for the PCs, since only NPCs with Fate Points (major recurring villains) get Righteous Fury. I'd still automatically run with that house rule, as well as one to knock 3 or 4 damage off all Bolters whenever I played Deathwatch though.



Tactical marines are boring to play and pretty mediocre, blood angels are too good at melee, librarians using powers at any strength beyond fettered will eventually kill them. Keep those in mind and you'll probably have fun, it's finally a game that lives up to the fluff about space marines.

Tactical Marines are more of a support class. The actual heavy killing comes from the Devastators and Assault Marines. You can still do pretty well with your fire selector and special ammo if you load out well though. And an Ultramarine TacMarine gives you a sick cohesion score letting you the group use far more squad mode abilities than they'd normally be able to.

Also Librarians can channel powers at unfettered fairly safely if they've got Fate Points they're willing to spend, since they can always spend a Fate Point on a doubles roll to reroll it and avoid Perils of the Warp (though this can also frustratingly turn a successful roll into a failed one).


At the moment- Deathwatch has a few monsters in the main book.

However- other books can be used to increase the variety. Dark Heresy, and Rogue Trader- both have splatbooks which could be used (Rogue Trader for vehicles for the bad guys to pilot, Dark Heresy for various aliens and the like).

A lot of enemies in older books might be underwhelming when facing Deathwatch characters. Remember that thanks to Astartes Power Armor and Unnatural Toughness, a Space Marine literally ignores damage that would take a starting Dark Heresy character from unwounded to Critical Damage.

Hordes are a good solution to this, and for the more bigger enemies like Daemons and Genestealers you can probably buff their stats a good deal.


Intresting. I had heard that this was more roleplay than combat.

The game's rules lean heavily toward combat, but they have done an excellent job of pushing several roleplaying opportunities and showing that Marines are more than just faceless killing machines. I wouldn't expect a game that mostly eschews combat in favor of social challenges out of it, but it's not just "PURGE THE XENOS FOR THE EMPRAH!".

[Psyx]

Great game, great fun. give it a go.

It might not be suitable for overly lengthy campaigns, and it is fairly combat-based, but it's still a lot of fun.



Intresting. I had heard that this was more roleplay than combat.


Ahahahhahahahahahahahahahahaha!!

No.

It's definitely about killing things by the hundred.

That doesn't mean that it's not a great game, though. Very epic in scope, and it allows you to do all the things that SMs should be able to do, putting them much more on a par with the superhumans of BL literature, rather than the 'slightly better than imperial guard' level of tabletop interpretations.

There are a couple of minor problems with the rules (Righteous Fury having been mentioned already and being the most obvious one), but nothing that can't be fixed with common sense.



How does combat work? Is there a MM or similar source-book? Cause missing that annoys the **** out of me in star wars.

Not yet there isn't. Although there is an MM-style book published for Dark Heresy that works perfectly well, as the systems are compatable.

Combat works similar to DH and 'classic' WFRP, if you're familiar with those. To streamline the slaying of dozens of hapless mooks, the game introduces a nifty 'horde' mechanics, which simulates fighting dozens of people without driving the GM insane. It works well. The other mechanically interesting and unique thing is the idea of 'squad mode', where the kill-team gain team-work benefits in combat and can use special tactics. It's rather cool, but not overly well explained in a couple of places.

[The Commander]

There is Errata out for Deathwatch. Part of it details what happens when a player rolls Righteous Fury. Here, in the Errata, it says that you only roll an additional 1d10. No modifiers, just an extra 1d10. Scoring a 10 on that would then obviously repeat the cycle. Find the errata here:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/deathwatch/minisite/support/deathwatch-errata-v1.pdf