RULE INTERPRETATIONS

The following is a random collection of rules interpretations on various matters:

I do not enforce a direct tie between fellowship and attractiveness. To be exceptionally attractive you must have a good fellowship, but you can be nice to look at without being “good with people.” Likewise you can be very good with people and ugly, if you so desire. Keep in mind Fel is used for a lot of investigation skills.

Knowledge Skills are the mechanic for determining what your character knows, regardless of what you as a player do or do not know. Please remember in this game your characters probably know much less about the universe than you do. There is no such thing as a “Research” skill. You must know something about a subject to look it up. All “Research” will be based on a Knowledge roll with situational modifiers depending on the resources available to you at the time. I will be giving out a few basic knowledges at very, very low scores to represent some information on certain Forbidden topics the Inquisition has given you. VERY low scores.

The Command skill is for using on common soldiers and other people used to taking orders. It does NOT work on fellow PC's (and I frown on using social skills on any other PC, thats not what they are intended for). You will be at penalties to try and use this skill on anyone who is not under your command. (In other words this is NOT the Compel psychic power. It's just a skill. Use common sense.)

Any damage caused to fuel psychic powers (Corpus Conversion, Holocaust, etc) may only be healed with time. It cannot be healed with first aid or psychic means.

Psychic Blade: Swift/ Lightning attack function with this power. Dual weapon attack does not. Any modifiers that would affect your to-hit if weilding a physical weapon affect your to-hit with Psychic Blade. Attacks from a Psychic Blade may be dodged, but not parried.

Hexagrammic Wards: The clause about them functioning normally with warp weapons is ambiguous. They provide full (not double) armor points against any warp-based attack that would ignore armor and count any such attack as being Penetration 0. This includes psychic powers. They have double protection against psychic powers and similar that do not ignore armor.

When am I in close combat? You are in close combat if you make a melee attack on a target, or if they make one on you. With a ranged weapon (assuming neither of the 2 previous states apply), you are in close combat when you are adjacent to the target, and declare yourself to be in close comabt. This means two targets can theoretically stand next to each other at Point Blank all day if they choose. Declaring yourself in close combat with a viable target using a ranged weapon places them into close combat with you as well. Being in close combat with a ranged weapon has 3 principle effects:

• You no longer get the Point Blank bonus, but neither do they.
• You are no longer at risk of hitting any comrades in close combat
• You only count for the outnumbering rules if you are in close combat

Shadowing, Silent Move, and Concealement:

• Shadowing is used for following people and not being noticed. It covers the visual and auditory aspects of this act, regardless of the particular method you're employing (doing it stealthily or doing it by acting like you're not paying attention to them)
• Silent Move is used for avoiding detection while moving but NOT following someone. It covers the visual and auditory aspects of this act. Sneaking past guards or trying to move quietly through a sleeping house fall under this skill.
• Concealment is used for avoiding detection while stationary. It would be used for hiding to avoid guards or to set an ambush.

Opposed Contests
Per pg 184 of the core rulebook, with opposed tests, if both parties fail, one of two things happen:

• a stalemate where there is essentially no effect
• both parties re-roll until there is a clear winner

My ruling on this:

• If you are trying create or initiate an effect, it falls into the stalemate category. In these cases, if the initiator of the contest fails, there is no effect. Examples of this include: feints, tests to damage while grappling, tests to take control of a grapple.
• If you are trying to avoid something happening (such as being noticed), it falls into the re-roll category. Examples include silent move and concealment checks.
• Telepathic opposed WP contests will be interpreted differently depending on the target, meant to favor PC's and major NPCs, simply because the Telepathy discipline is very bogged down with drawbacks.
  • If the target has a fate points attribute, failures on both sides fall into the stalemate category (no effect)
  • If the target does not have a fate points attribute, failures on both sides fall into the re-roll category.

Psychic Powers, Dodging and hitting with are by the strictest interpretation of the rules as written. This means:

• The power description will dictate whether or not the psyker has to roll a to-hit. If it does not mention one being required, then none is needed.
• Psychic Powers are not ranged attacks, and hence cannot be dodged unless the description specifically states a means of avoidance, or you have a talent that lets you do so.
• Not being ranged attacks, aiming, range bonuses, and other modifiers do not apply to the psyker's to-hit roll if the power requires one.

Dual Strike and Dual Shot cannot be combined with Lightning Attack or Swift Attack. See FFG Errata v2 Incorporation for more detail.

And the warp gazed back...