What about Point Blank?

Because Tau ~love~ getting in a fight that close...

maybe Cold Sun? Or Dark Stars? Something space-y and far away.

Cold Space sounds good to me tho.

Yeah, well the name can wait.

To keep things uncertain (HURR) I was thinking about making a big part of the game a Fire Caste run through an alien vessel...

...with randomly generated aliens/mutants. Now, the scary part is, since they're RNG'd you don't know what their strengths are, their weaknesses, intelligence, weapons, cooperation... and above all... psyker abilities.

For all you know, you could be running-and-gunning your way through an alien vessel filled with relatively weak intelligent snails.

...until you figure out, they're Chaos tainted and they summon fucking demons everywhere.

Also, let's ignore DoW 1. That game was all over the place, except the canon.

Just play Star Trek.

>>10799524
Also saves us a lot of shitstorming.

Sooooo, how do we call the organisation the PC's work for?

I doubt it's a standard part of the army. Maybe some shadow group set up by some inner circle of Ethereals.

Like the Spectres in ME, with some X-Com thrown in.

You got a council, they give you money. You buy stuff, deal with it, get back to your council, get more money.

Like halfway Dark Heresy and halfway Rogue Trader.

Not as much freedom as Rogue Trader, but more freedom than Dark Heresy.

>>10799541
Star Trek is on Extacy all the time.

Everything is happy.

Doesn't really flow with OP's idea of unknown horror.

>>10799494
What about an RNG for environments?

Like deadly air, plants, animals, geographical objects...

Also in ships. Maybe these aliens use some dangerous construction methods in their space ships, because they're radiation resistant, or they can survive extreme temperatures?

Imagine a Tau team getting on board of a ship used by creatures that can survive temperatures of 500 degrees celsius?

I think the first thing to do would be figure out how to adapt regular DH character creation to Tau.

We'd need to figure out stuff for homeworlds, stat generating, and careers first, and then figure out talents, skills, and equipment that are Tau-specific

OH MAN DARK HERESY WITHOUT THE DEMONS, THE NEED TO SCROUNGE FOR TECHNOLOGY, OR ANY SORT OF CHARACTERIZATION DUE TO THE CASTE SYSTEM

SOUNDS LIKE A FUCKING BLAST

>>10799680
Let's do this.

People with Tau codexes, digital or analog... we need info on the Tau systems.

Also, might be smart to look in the maximum Tau travel radius... that way we can decide which areas of space are unreachable.

I can work on figuring out possible world traits and skills. Are we going to have different castes available, or only Fire?

>>10799705
>no demons

Dude what?

Demons are everywhere.

Just because Tau aren't that easily possessed doesn't mean we can't use Kroot, humans, Demiurge and various other aliens that CAN be possessed.

I propose that we merge our ideas. I've come up with a setting and a backstory for the organization that the players belong to; I could attach this to your other fluff ideas and crunch.

>>10799774
I think this thread is specifically because you flamed up the idea, but they don't want to work with you.

Dark Heresy campaign in Tau setting is a brilliant idea.
The universe seems to be a place full of wonders and interesting new civilizations and then...BOOM, the space horrors hit on the pcs like a Juggernaut with a Ferrari motor.
Alien and Even Horizon meets Star trek and Babylon 5.

>>10799733
I think any Caste would be nice...

Just expect some serious shifts in stats.

Also, consider using various Tau-aligned allied Xenos, and maybe even mercenary Xenos, such as the T-something Dog soldiers, Orks and Corsair Eldar.

>>10799786
If so, it's unfortunate, but I'll make the offer in any case.

>>10799774
I'd love to use your crunch but that's where the intellectual exchange will end.

Space Hulk appears in Tau space.

"That mass of ships is ancient! Get a team up there and investigate."

Cue: "OH AUN THE PAIN"

>>10799793
How about the different castes being the possible starting classes? I think that would probably be the most effective way to incorporate more than just the Shas caste

>>10799812
"It was horrible, the natives where mutated and deformed by some kind of parasitic lifeforms and when we retreat to the upper levels we found and ancient robotic construct which had a fire power which nothing you had ever seen!"

-Unknown Sha'sui, interrogation performed in the psych ward of a classified hospital institution.

>>10799793
There shouldn't be huge shifts in stats

>>10799929
>>10799855
I absolutely feel the classes should be the castes.

The Tau would be tied to castes much the same way the imperium is tied to careers. It would be hard to come up with the variety, though.

All of them are tied into the military arm in some way. The fire castes are the ground pounders, air caste the space and air pilots, the earth caste are the builders, and the water caste are the diplomats. Ethereal caste would probably take the place of the inquisitor. That or a Shas'o.

>>10799929
Well, the fire caste are stronger, tougher, and have better eyesight that the other castes
Water would have high fellowship, but be much weaker, Air would have good eyesight, and be natural pilots, but have low toughness. Earth would be a bit stronger, and be good with tech. So, the differences don't have to be drastic, but they will be there

>>10799855
Yep. I'd see it as something like this:

The tau have their careers fixed to their castes:
Fire - roughly Feral Guardsman with a Tau statline.
Water - Scum, starting at higher Fel?
Earth - Hmm... Adept? Surely high Int and Per.
Air - not sure if it would be of any use outside of a space campaign, but if so, an equivalent of a voidborn.
Ethereal - not sure if playable, I'd see them as equivalents of Clerics/Scum outside of combat and a bit like Psykers inside(using pheromones to add buffs to the party or some shit to that extent, maybe a version of Deathwatch's Squad Mode)
Human - like in DH, but cannot be a Cleric, Adept, Arbitrator, or Psyker. Can be a nascent psyker though, no GM would want to lose his LOLDAEMONHOSTS.
Kroot, Vespid, Demiurg - no idea ATM.

>>10800002
You wouldn't feature the Ethereals as playable, I think. It's not too hard to come up with more than one idea. The Earth Caste could be split into artificers and combat engineers for instance, or xenotechnologists. The Water caste can fill both the Diplomat and Adept roles.

There has already been significant work been put in to a serious Dark Heresy conversion for Tau. It has had to be put on the back burner for a few months because of real world issues, but we have significant development on weapons, stats, things like that. More help is always appreaciated!

http://z10.invisionfree.com/DHTauConstruction/index.php?act=idx

>>10800021
Forgot my Techpriest, FFFF-

>>10800005

It's an idea. I was thinking two or three different careers within each of the castes. Like earth would have the general builder and the researcher. Course, that could just be the branches later on down the road.

Well, coming up with good traits for each world is a bit harder than I thought, so if anyone else would like to contribute ideas, feel free.

I'm thinking of using T'au, Vior'la, Dal'yth, and Vash'ya as the home worlds, instead of having to stat out all known Tau planets

Thanks, /tg/, for taking Exalted's candyland noblebright ideas and making them more palatable.

Pic related.

>>10800024
Shouldn't Ethereals be like inquisitors, except "for the greater good"?

>>10800021

I keep forgetting the other species in there. It'd definitely be interesting to play a kroot.

>>10800087
Yes, but Inquisitors aren't playable in base DH. Make them an option for a higher-level game.

Working on stats, but a couple of tough questions I feel require consensus:

Do we default to a WS of 15+2d10? How about S?

>>10800060

It'd have to be that way, since the different septs have the specific traits. I can't see it being done any other way.

For the other coalition species, A homeworld will definitely be needed.

Could air caste be a sort of techpriest variant? The Earth caste would mainly fix the machines, but the Air caste would be the expert in actually using them and applying the tech to the correct situation. Also maybe have the Air be the one who maintains contact and correct encryption/decryption for special requests like reinforcements or logistical support. That would fit with the role of messenger, I think.

>>10800127
Well, physically Fire caste Tau are as strong as most human soldiers, so I'd leave S at 20+2d10 for now

>>10800178
That's the Earth Caste too, though. Look to the RT Void Master for Air Caste ideas.

Rough stat draft. Don't really want to default to 15 for Weapon Skill, but I figured someone would bitch if I didn't. Sort it out.

WS/BS/S/T/Ag/Int/Per/WP/Fel
>Fire Caste
15/20/20/20/20/20/20/25/20
>Air Caste
15/25/20/15/25/20/25/20/15
>Water Caste
15/15/20/20/20/25/20/20/25
>Earth Caste
15/20/20/25/15/25/20/20/20

>>10800178

Nope. I don't think so. They'd be good with tech, but someone has to come up with it first. The Earth caste deal with the technology all the time. I do think the air caste would have a high tech use, though. Then again, so would the rest of the tau.

>>10800211
Drop the rest of the Castes, other than Fire, to 10 WS, and it should be fine

>>10800268
WS 10 is like, OW, though. I did consider it for Water, and giving them a Fel boost to 30.

As per the 'using tech' argument, it should be notable the sample Water Caste merchant/diplomat in Inquisitor came with an Earth Caste/Archeotech/Xenotech (depending on what you rolled) Gizmo that had a variety of effects. I don't think it's Caste-restricted. Working on Xenos stats now.

>>10800144
The septs can be done like the Inquisitor's Handbook unique worlds.

>>10800127
Of course we do. And Fire Warriors with 20 + 2d10. For Air, if we want them playable so bad, 10 + 2d10.

>>10800063
It's not like much is done yet, save your praise for later.

Also, tons of stuff like pic related.

>>10800300
>Kroot
25/20/25/20/25/15/20/15/15
>Vespid
20/20/20/20/25/20/20/15/20
>Demiurg
20/20/20/25/10/25/20/20/20

So maybe make the Air Caste the generalist Scum type minus diplomatic abilities, and make Water the Face?

>>10800322
I figured it was better to hit the Air Caste with an additional toughness penalty than with two penalties to strength.

Revising overall WS and S down, now.

Here's what I have done so far:
Home Worlds

T'au
Traits:
Skills: Common Lore (Tau), Speak Language (Tau), Speak Language (Low Gothic), Tech Use, Forbidden Lore (Mon'Tau)

Vior'la
Traits: Hot Blooded (Tau from Vior'la have a chance in combat to enter a rage. Whenever they successfully wound an opponent or receive a wound, roll a d10, on 8+, they count as under the effects of the Frenzy Talent), Natural Born Fighters (Have +5 WS and S, but -5 Fel)
Skills: Awareness, Common Lore (Tau), Speak Language (Tau)

Dal'yth
Traits: Xenos Contact (Tau for this Sept have had the most contact with other races, and therefore get a +10 to their fellowship when dealing with anyone who is not Tau)
Skills: Speak Language (Tau), Speak Language (Low Gothic), Barter, Charm

any input?

Guys, you're doing it wrong; instead of playing Tau, play humans who've grown up on a human planet within the Tau sphere who signed up with the Tau to infiltrate deep into the Imperium for the Greater Good. So you're humans without the xenophobia and who believe, in general terms, the Greater Good and with a Tau-like education about the laws of physics and reason, including the belief that demons and the warp are something like local myths. Maybe they have some neat Tau spy tools like hacking terminals etc.

>>10800389
>Traits: Hot Blooded (Tau from Vior'la have a chance in combat to enter a rage. Whenever they successfully wound an opponent or receive a wound, roll a d10, on 8+, they count as under the effects of the Frenzy Talent), Natural Born Fighters (Have +5 WS and S, but -5 Fel)
This is too awkward, and Natural Born Fighters too strong.

Common Lore (Tau) and Speak Language (Tau) should be Tau skills, not Homeworld skills. In general if these are the sort of benefits you want to provide, an Inquisitor's/Radical's Handbook style background package fits better.

>>10800411
Humans will of course be an option. The way it is now we have four Tau Castes and four alien races - there are eight careers in default Dark Heresy.

I'd probably look at removing the Vespid though. Is there another good vassal race?

>>10800411
But that's not what we want to play.

Anyway, one good idea that came from some random person in one of Exalted's threads was to make the atmosphere like that of the USSR. Shining on the outside, but with tons of corruption and deviancy lurking just below. In addition to dispatching these teams to anomalous contacts they could function as a sort of KGB supression squad against insurgents. It would keep a lot of the cult-hunting flavor from DH, one of the things that makes it fun.

Fuck, I was thinking about this exact thing on the way home. Reading up now.

>>10800443
This is too awkward, and Natural Born Fighters too strong.
I was unsure of those, which is why I was asking for input. Any ideas on how I could change them?

>Common Lore (Tau) and Speak Language (Tau) should be Tau skills, not Homeworld skills
This does make sense, thanks. I think I'll make Tech Use a basic skill for all Tau as well

>>10800411
The idea is that anything Tau-allied, by Greater Good , or by a bag of cash can be played.

>>10800540
Yeah, that's a good idea. They are operatives after all.

I'd say make Natural Born Fighters +5WS +5S -5Fel -5WP. Just balance out the bonuses. I don't know what to do about the rage, I don't think you should have a mechanic like that in DH. Just give them a high wounds base so they keep fighting longer or something, or have them make a WP test to disengage from a fight.

The problem with playing Tau or any of the "helper" races is that you'd be blammed on sight in most places in the galaxy.

To operate openly as Tau, you'd have to be within the Tau sphere, or out in the middle of nowhere Rogue Trader style. Definatelty would be fun to run a game in which you go after an Inquistor who is stirring up problems in the Tau empire, just to run into a chaos cult on a human world.

>>10800540
That makes the Earth Caste less useful. What about making it a basic skill in some circumstances, i.e. a Fire Warrior being able to disassemble his gun blind, or the Air pilot being keen on the way stuff in his cockpit works, but not really much more?

>>10800582
It doesn't make Earth Caste less useful, because they have it as an Advanced Skill.

>>10800573
This would be focused on the Tau Empire and free space.

Revised stats. Air Caste feel gypped, they need a good trait or another boost to even out. Water Caste can't fight for shit, but have a default Fel of 41.

WS/BS/S/T/Ag/Int/Per/WP/Fel
>Fire Caste
15/20/20/20/20/20/20/25/20
>Air Caste
15/25/15/15/25/20/25/20/15
>Water Caste
15/15/15/20/20/25/20/20/30
>Earth Caste
15/20/20/25/15/25/20/20/20
>Kroot
25/20/25/20/25/15/20/15/15
>Vespid
20/20/20/20/25/20/20/15/20
>Demiurg
20/20/20/25/10/25/20/20/20
>Gue’vesa
20/20/20/20/20/20/20/20/20

Still wondering what to replace Vespid with.

>>10800598
The need for them becomes less urgent. Also, I like to imagine the Fire Caste as almost completely unfit to live in a real society, like in Hurt Locker for example(Also, if I made a Tau campaign, it woluld be War on Terror references all over the place).

>>10800582
The Earth caste are already basically adepts though. Do they really need to be the techpriests too?

>>10800582
Earth Caste could start out with a boosted Tech Use, and possibly gain the Security skill as a basic one

>>10800573
Duuuude. Tau do have a severely limited travel range.

If the Tau were to assault Ultramar, you'd have Space Marines dropping in on a Tau fleet, only to find hundreds and hundreds of dried up corpses.

Tau ships are just too slow.

So your point is kind of pointless. Sorry.

>>10800389
What about Sa'cea?

>>10800661
Sa'cea seemed too much like Vior'la, in that it is a heavily militaristic world. I could work it in, I was just worried that it wouldn't be unique enough for it to matter

My own thoughts on this;

Keep the idea of an "Ethereal Dawn" style organisation. The higher ups have done some thinking and come to the conclusion that the Tau must adapt in the face of the numerous threats to the Empire that cannot be fought openly or directly. The organisation takes promising (and sometimes troublesome) individuals with useful skills and a knack for more original thinking than their fellows, forms them into teams and trains them to deal with the unexpected.

The organisation might not be popular. Members of different castes working so closely together might be seen as a violation of the caste system and there may be rumors that the Ethereals were not unanimous in their decision to form the organisation.

What this does, as I see it, is give different castes (and potentially non-Tau) a reason to work together, provides them with the authority to tackle various and unusual circumstances and gives players a chance to play characters with more independent thinking than the average Tau.

>>10800635
How does it become less urgent? Basic skills are tested on half skill, dude. And only Earth Caste/Water Caste will have easy access to Int boosts.

>>10800644
They should probably start with or be able to buy both from the start. Although Security runs off Ag, as I remember?

>>10800640
The Adept role will be split between Water and Earth Castes, as well as the alien Demiurg. Demiurg and Earth Caste -will- fill the Tech Priest role.

>>10800649
Rogue Traders, pirates, other aliens. Maybe they get the warp drive and get other races to navigate for them.

>>10800682
>Although Security runs off Ag, as I remember?
Ah, indeed it does. Maybe make it Int based for them?

On Hot Blooded: you do not want to be rolling an extra dice each and every time you deal or take an injury. It's too cumbersome.

I am extremely interested. If you guys are serious about this, then you should get your own suptg page. That way once this is in a beta stage, you can release a pdf or word document collection of everything. That's the only reason my group now plays STALKAN. Because they got a page, and released a PDF plenty of people now play it.

>>10800622
For Tau, I don't think 20's work for anything but Fire in the first four stats.

>>10800707
This was my thought.

>>10800706
That's definitely a decent idea for an Earth Caste trait: Security is (Int) for Earth Caste on any lock or system it might reasonably apply to. It's more like The Doctor pointing a gadget at the right part than a thief tuning up the key card registry. On your standard mechanical lock, he's still going to have to bust it open, blow it out or pick it by hand though.

>>10800677
Bork'an, then? It would make a good starting world for Earth and Water Caste members.

>>10800635
Excellent. Allows for faction infighting, spionage, assasination...

As for the role of the Adept. Keep in mind that the concept is dealing with the unknown.
So converting the Imperial adept into a Tau adept won't work.

Tau know too little about the universe.

>>10800680
Love it. Run with it.

>>10800738
They aren't notably less tough than a human and although their eyesight is a little worse they are comparable shots and have superior compensating technology. Thus the base for Toughness and Ballistic Skill stand at 20. The Tau in general are weaker and less trained at close quarters, so the base Strength and Weapon Skill are 15. Fire Caste training and Earth Caste bulk raise their Strength to 20, but their Weapon Skill remains at 15.

>>10800680
Why make it a public organization? Just say it's some very downplayed branch of the military with each operative cell under direct control of an Ethereal. Due to the "delicate operations" that are conducted. They could be anything from KGB style political assassination and dissent monitoring to space hulk investigation or Rogue Trader negotiation.

>>10800770
>>10800680
There is no reason to decide between these, both are firm foundations. Let us offer a choice between covert or public in the setting document once it is finished.

>>10800765

Wouldn't it be better to put the eyesight compensation in the equipment?

That way you can really fuck with the players if they're fighting against some enemy with electro-magnetic interference.

>>10800770
Why not just make it the Tau KGB or NSB equivalent? Something that has always existed but nobody talks about for THEIR greater good.

>>10800765
>>10800622
I'm considering allowing Air Caste to reroll any Initiative and/or Perception check to balance out their overall stat deficiency. Thoughts?

>>10800785
Honestly, I strongly considered this, but I don't feel the Tau deficiency is sufficient to warrant a 15+2d10 rather than a 20+2d10. There is still the possiblity Tau gear should give a flat +5 to BS and even if it does not, it should be packed with sights and aiming gadgets.

Guys? Why not make Castes into alignments instead of racial groupings and classes amongst Tau only? So a "Water Caste" doesn't mean just Tau Water Castes, but also humans or Kroot who undergo instructions in Water Caste schools in diplomacy but specializing instead in spying, assassination, etc? Likewise, a Fire Caste just doesn't need to be a soldier, he can be a military intelligence type, an explosives specialist, an infiltrator, etc. And you can bond within your Caste for certain bonuses.

>>10800785
Excellent idea.

>>10800793
Not sure about perception, but initiative seems like a solid bet. Flyers are generally "fast" and need decent spatial awareness and reaction times.

>>10800818
That's not how Tau work though. The military intel people aren't Fire Caste because Fire Caste fights, ect.

>>10800682
It's not just that. When your team has Tech-Use, you can't play myriad kinds of shit with them. The weird-looking screen with undecipherable signs on it in the middle of a tangle of wires, making disturbing noises stops being a mystery and becomes a simple cogitator. The pale, sick-looking, mutilated Gue'la moving slowly towards you with a terrifying clanking noise stops being that horror after an Easy Tech-use test, which reveals it to be a dead human, a servitor. No Tech-Use, no test. The GM retains his twisted mechanical abomination.

>>10800818
The different castes are physically different though. Greatly so. Look at >>10800520. Air caste are tall and gangly, earth caste are short and squat.

>>10800818
It absolutely should be the case that each Caste offer a range of possiblities for class advancement. Already we have considered the possiblity that the Earth Caste is the lab guy, the xenotechnologist, the adept and/or the combat engineer.

The idea of making each Caste 'class' (as opposed to race) extend to aliens also has merit. When you want a combat-focused Demiurg, you can simply select the Fire Caste path and go from there. It's a pretty decent idea, but I'm still firmly in favour of making the Castes races as well. The differentation is sufficient, in my mind - easily equal to homeworld differentiation in default DH.

Oh, and aliens cannot be bonded, of course.

>>10800867
Yes.

Either we give the Adept a new use, or he's gonna get gimped, or we better kill him off.

>>10800867
It doesn't have to be like that if we don't want it to be. We are writing the rules here. It could apply only to Tau tech and in-depth study by an Earth or Air caste is needed to determine the function of other things.

>>10800867
Surely that would be Common Lore (Imperium or Scholastic Lore (Imperial Tech)?

>>10800867
Why would Tau Tech-Use cover Servitor recognition? I can see it being a very difficult test to mess about with Imperial circuits, but knowing basic technology doesn't mean you recognise the Imperium's trademark fucked-up corpse servant.

>>10800876
>Oh, and aliens cannot be bonded, of course.
I'm not sure how bonding could play into this. Normally, only Tau of the same caste can be bonded. Seeing as we seem to be making our own mini-organization within the Tau empire, we could possibly make everyone in the "team" bonded, regardless of caste.

>>10800872
The Tau are stuck to their Castes, but why do non-Tau have to be? In the codex, it states outright that the Tau don't look for traits in aliens that compensate for their weaknesses, but rather look traits that compliment them. So, to Tau, it would make sense to train non-Tau in their Caste ways in order to complement and strengthen their Caste. Just because they're all about the Greater Good doesn't mean they aren't proud of their Castes and are always looking for ways to promote their Caste's value to the Greater Good. So you should start seeing them inducting non-Tau into their Caste institutions to power them up.

>Alright. Let's make a /40k/ approved Tau addon for Dark Heresy. One that actually sticks to the fluff.
>One that actually captures the feeling of Tau.

Hey, Sarge! I found an unconcious Fire Warrior here?

Sarge: What? Let me see... my Emporer, it is!

What should we do with it sarge?

Sarge: Burn it! Falmer, over here!

Falmer: One Fire Warrior, Fired Up and Crispy, coming up!

* And thus the Purgation of Sector X4-221 began, in one simple yet toppling step *

>>10800936
Well, it would be an option to include the basic bonding in a Tau Caste (a lowish level talent offering X benefit) and then a later 'organisation' bonding (a future or mid-level talent offering a different but uniform benefit, appliable to all operatives).

>>10800936
Another cause for controversy. As for the organisation being secret, sure, but the people in the know might well still be disapproving.

>>10800972
>Falmer
2/10.

For some clearance on the subject Adept, let's find out what Tau don't know.

Imperial history.
Eldar history.
Necrons(current and history). (Hahaha)
Chaos(current and history).
Alien races outside their sphere of influence.

That basically means, that whatever you're fighting, there's an big chance you don't know what you're up against.

>>10800969
I disagree completely. Alien races should feel distinct. Look at Rogue Trader; the ork freeboota and the kroot mercenary are each getting their own careers.

Talking of aliens, Kroot are a problem. They have Unnatural Strength and Unnatural Perception.

Here's an update on the home worlds, still need to figure out a traits for the T'au sept.

T'au
Traits:
Skills: Speak Language (Low Gothic)

Vior'la
Traits: Hot Blooded (Tau from this Sept must pass a WP test in order to disengage from combat), Natural Born Fighters (Have +5 WS, +5 S, but -5 Fel and -5 WP)
Skills: Awareness

Dal'yth
Traits: Xenos Contact (Tau for this Sept have had the most contact with other races, and therefore get a +10 to their fellowship when dealing with anyone who is not Tau)
Skills: Speak Language (Low Gothic), Barter, Charm

Vash'ya
Traits: Born to Fly (Tau from this sept can re roll any failed drive or pilot checks. The re rolled result stands.)
Skills: Drive (Vehicle of choice), or Pilot (Military Craft)

Sa'cea
Traits: Disciplined (Sa'cea Tau are more likely to keep their cool in and out of combat, giving them +5 WP)
Skills: Command

Alright. Statguy here, signing off. I've made a bunch of other posts, like:

>>10800876
>>10800810
>>10800739
>>10800682
>>10800569
And more besides since post 17, so hopefully you feel I've contributed something.

I would like to continue to work on this. I will check the archived threat and hopefully we will be acquiring a sup /tg/ page or a forum somewhere. If not, do with any contribution I've made as you will.

>>10801029
Dal'yth is overpowered. Unless they get a choice of one of those three skills.

>>10801029
Perhaps a +5 fellowship boost when dealing with Tau Empire races?

>>10800886
No Adepts, look up my earlier post.

>>10800897
>>10800924
I also have the compatibility with the original DH in mind, but if I were to drop it, it works.

>>10800903
Come to think of it, I think the Lore system needs a revision when considering the Imperium.
Common - a mix of propaganda, prejudice and gossip.
Scholastic - practical knowledge, i.e. what's the Inquisition, military structure, etc. Source is intel and the like.
Forbidden - what a Tau would get to know from spending a year in the Imperial society(logic aside).

>>10801022
Well we can either scrap Kroot, lose the Unnatural or deal with it. Melee is considerably underpowered at higher levels anyway.

>>10801070
I say keep them, just make the actual Tau Castes hopeless in melee. It gives them a good role to fill.

That said, I'm not sure what use they would be outside of combat.

>>10801059
>Come to think of it, I think the Lore system needs a revision when considering the Imperium.
Yes, definitely.
>Common - a mix of propaganda, prejudice and gossip.
Yes, but Common Lore in default DH is fairly useful too, so some truth.
>Scholastic - practical knowledge, i.e. what's the Inquisition, military structure, etc. Source is intel and the like.
Yes, except:
>what's in the Inquisition
Haha, no.
>Forbidden - what a Tau would get to know from spending a year in the Imperial society(logic aside).
Bad benchmark, IMO. This should be where things like the Inquisition go.

>>10801070
Keep it in I say, but compromise the Kroot in other ways. We're undoubtedly better off waiting for Into The Storm before trying to deal with Kroot. I say that, for now, people should focus on the Tau alone. Let the four castes be the core of the game and work other species in as specialists.

>>10801121
>>10801107
Okay, I support these. Out of combat they'd have access to some Kroot only racial skills and talents (shaping), skills and talents relating to intimidation and mercenary work and skills and talents suited to tracking or stalking prey.

ACTUALLY off this time. Please, get a forum!

Where does this fucktarded meme about sucking in CQC come from? They're WORSE than humans, not useless. If they MUST do hand-to-hand you'll find the average Firewarrior can take care of himself.

>>10801107
This.

It also makes investigating human cults a lot scarier when a single cultist with a dagger behind the corner can actually harm you.

After all, we're building this on DH, not RT... and certainly not DW.

>>10801148
15+2d10 isn't useless, it's definably worse than human.

>>10801107
>>10801161
There is no need to drop their WS and S below 15, Kroot being extra good already does the job of focusing melee on the Kroot. Just don't give them as much melee support if you feel the need to drive the nail home.

New codexs.. just when I polished off my old armies. -_-

Archived the thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/10799324/

and, one more update on the worlds, I think it's mostly balanced. Each world does cater to specific Castes more than others, but that's how it is in the fluff.

T'au
Traits: Elders (Other Tau look up to those of this Sept as naturally wise. They get a +5 bonus to Fel when dealing with other Tau)
Skills: Speak Language (Low Gothic), Literacy

Vior'la
Traits: Hot Blooded (Tau from this Sept must pass a WP test in order to disengage from combat), Natural Born Fighters (Have +5 WS, +5 S, but -5 Fel and -5 WP)
Skills: Awareness

Dal'yth
Traits: Xenos Contact (Tau for this Sept have had the most contact with other races, and therefore get a +10 to their fellowship when dealing with anyone who is not Tau)
Skills: Speak Language (Low Gothic), Barter or Charm

Vash'ya
Traits: Born to Fly (Tau from this sept can re roll any failed drive or pilot checks. The re rolled result stands.)
Skills: Drive (Vehicle of choice), or Pilot (Military Craft)

Sa'cea
Traits: Disciplined (Sa'cea Tau are more likely to keep their cool in and out of combat, giving them +5 WP)
Skills: Command

Posting a couple of interesting Tau images in support of the work.

>>10801118
Common - Stuff someone on the street or in a bar might be able to tell you.
Scholastic - Stuff you need to study at to know.
Forbidden - Stuff that is actively concealed from people.

>>10801148
This is 40K. Worse than humans IS useless. If it were up to me they'd start with 10 base in WS and S, and Fire Warriors would get 15. But that's too low to really be enjoyable to play, so something has to give.

>>10801185
Well Kroot are also likely going to be a bit more... limited in gear selection as well. That should help balance out the innate advantages they will have.

>>10801236
Yeah, that's better.

>>10801233
My only change:
>Tau for this Sept have had the most contact with other races, and therefore get a +10 to their fellowship when dealing with anyone who is not Tau
To:
>Tau for this Sept have had the most contact with other races, and therefore reduce the difficulty of any fellowship test by one step when dealing with anyone who is not Tau.

Same benefit, no direct bonus.

>>10801022
>Talking of aliens, Kroot are a problem. They have Unnatural Strength and Unnatural Perception.

Reduce their language and social skills appropriately? In Tau society they are still abnormal... possibly play them off like wookies in Star Wars; the tall, strong and bestial creatures who rarely speak a decipherable language.

>>10801244
Gimping them too much can ruin the game.

The general feel of the game is less "Oh fuck 30 cultists with stubbers, with a reasonable chance of a high priest somewhere who can summon Blue and Pink horrors".

Weak characters along with much unknown about your enemy can become a quick death for inexperienced players.

>>10801161
Speaking of cults: Assuming there are human quarters in Tau cities, there would be alot of trouble coming from them.

From Chaos cults that dont get properly supressed because the Tau just dont get it, to Emperor cults starting shit because of "EMPRAH SAYS HATE THE ALIEN LETS DO THIS AAAAAAAAAA", and lets not forget GENESTEALER CULTS.

>>10801299
Your default Carbine is going be something like 1d10+6 S/3/5 though.

>>10801299
Yeah, exactly. Just like how a DH human with a bit of focus in melee has a reasonable chance of taking down an Ork Boy in a clash of blades.

>>10801318
> GENESTEALER CULTS
Tau genestealer hybrids would be interesting... slightly purpler than average, perhaps a family organisation under the cover of a political party ostensibly supporting the ruling Greater Good while couching it in familial terms

>>10801318
There should probably be a great deal of prejudice against humans lurking under the surface of "Oh let's all be friends for the greater good!"

After all, we Tau don't call all this trouble. It's every other day I see a skimmer heading into the Gue' slums to put down yet another riot.

My thoughts on castes and careers; they should be one and the same.

A Tau's caste defines who they are, physically and mentally. The culture, what you're taught and what you're naturally skilled at is determined by your caste. This should apply to what the organisation teaches you; a fire caste will be trained for fighting, a water caste for talking and so on. There's room for variance in the form of branches in the career path (some fire caste might focus on heavy weaponry and stand up fighting, others might learn to become better at stealth) and Alternate Career Ranks to represent notable specialisations.

>>10801407
We'd already decided on this for Tau. Thanks for the input though.

What do we do with Corruption?

Chaos corruption doesn't pose much problems for Tau... save for traveling through the Warp with a Warp-capable ship without Gellar fields.

>>10801380
District 9: Tau edition.

I like it. I like it a lot.

>>10801118
I wrote "What IS the Inquisition, not what's IN it." Shit like the latter wouldn't probably even classify as forbidden. So if a Tau player with Common Lore(Imperium) and Scholastic Lore(Imperium) would roll for his knowledge of the Inquisition and make it with, say, 1 degree of success, he'd get something like this:

"Among the Gue'la remembering the days of the Imperium, nothing can scare the life out of them more than the Inquisition. The name of this organization is whispered with true fear even among the most prominent figures, as no one iss seemingly out of its reach.
What you were taught in your caste before your joining the ranks of ORGANIZATION NAME HERE, is that the Inquisition consists of personas of immense power, called Inquisitors. The intel suggests they answer to no one but the mankind's emperor himself, being a sort of secret police."

>>10801434
They can still be mutated and so on. Take the focus off corruption and place it onto Insanity, where we will convey the idea of going against the Greater Good and disliking Authority for its own sake.

tl;dr - the IDEALS of Chaos, not the physical corruption.

>>10801434
Deviancy? Represented in exposure to ideas, places, and creatures that has been taught to you your entire life and the adoption of "alternative" views that lead you down paths that might not be entirely in line with the Greater Good.

I could see this being a big problem for someone directly overseen by the Ethereals yet dispatched to clean up things like Space Hulks or Chaos Cults.

>>10801482
Your average Imperial citizen doesn't know what the Inquisition is, only that it exist. Forbidden Lore.

>>10801493
>Represented in exposure to ideas, places, and creatures that shatter what has been taught to you your entire life

My bad.

>>10801493
>>10801489

Deviancy sounds nice.

Maybe you become paranoid, egoistical, putting your own survival paramount. You might begin do dislike authority (become a member of Farsight's enclave while the others know nothing about it?), and racism.

Like if you ran one tough cultist campaign, and your character survives, you gained like racism against humans.

>>10801507
Where did I imply he does?

>>10801434
>What do we do with Corruption?
Thoughtcrime.

The more a Tau is exposed to the true horrors of the universe, the more they may start to doubt the information they are being fed. They may start to lose their sanity, or become conspiracy-minded and start to wonder what the Ethereals are up to. If your handlers start to become aware of how one of their agents is thinking, they may call them back and have them quietly put down in a basement somewhere... for the Greater Good, of course.

Think Communist secret agents; half the battle is convincing your higher-ups that you are still on their side, and they may decide against you before you're even aware that you're not thinking along the right lines.

>>10801434
>>10801493

Corruption is warp exposure. Halve all CP gained by Tau I say.

>>10801493
>>10801533
I like this idea a lot.

Also, I'm working on a wiki page for this, as it will be easier to find the most recent information there, than having to look through the archives.

Rather than taint of chaos, think of it as moving away from the greater good. Use Commander Farsight as an example.

Corruption and replace Insanity with Deviance?

We could keep elements in Insanity by putting multiple trees in Deviance, branching in:
-Insanity
-Rebellion
-Survival at all costs
-Paranoia

>>10801620
Completely remove warp exposure mechanic, replace it with thoughtcrime? Wouldn't this tie into insanity points to an extent?

Also, what do we know of Tau personal weaponry beyond pulse weapons? I figure that you're only going to want to give the Fire Caste them early on. Do Tau have laspistols equivalents and other small weapons?

>>10801641
That's getting pretty complicated though.

>>10801651
Nah, better keep corruption.

I was thinking, Tau aren't immune to the Warp, demons are just less likely interested in them because they don't have much connection to the Warp.

That means that a demonic tainted weapon still retains all its corrupting influences on Tau.

After all, a demonic weapon cannot decide who picks it up, it just corrupts who is holding that weapon.

>>10801674
Doesn't have to be.

You could say like, you got your first Deviance point. You roll and you get a trait related to the racism tree.

That means your next Deviance roll will be coming out of the racism tree.

>>10801564
Thoughtcrime or Deviancy as a term?
Other options:
divergence
deviance

>>10801641
How about as your Deviance rises you test for thoughtcrime instead of mutation, and there is a large list of thoughtcrimes like mutations.

I think Insanity is fine like it is. Things can drive you insane without shaking your faith in the Greater Good.

Don't let it get too complicated and don't let it dictate too many things about the character to you. Keep Deviance as a single stat, let the player figure out how it manifests itself. Alternatively you could roll for them as you would roll for Malignancies with corruption.

>>10801766
Deviancy sounds better than thoughtcrime, IMO.
>>10801767
Is anyone willing to start up a table for this? If no one else does, I can try, but I'm not sure how I'll make it turn out.

>>10801767
>>10801817
are both the most right IMO.

>>10801766
Deviance... Meh. Sounds too archaic and Imperium-ish.

Thoughtcrime is better.

Since we're switching words... What to use for Corruption? Anomaly?

Here's a link to the wiki page I made. If you don't agree with what I've posted, just let me know. I tried to make it what everyone seems to have agreed on.
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Tau_Dark_Heresy

>>10801878
Keep Corruption. No sense in changing the word and confusing people.

Possibly expand corruption; it leads down certain individualistic routes, splitting the caste unity. Farsight was corrupted and became more militant, leading a Fire Caste rebellion and espousing strong leadership and violent means.

Earth castes become more obsessed with discovery and innovation; performing unethical or dangerous experiments and using machinery that could be judged 'against the greater good'.
Air castes - ???
Water castes are more aware of their merchant past; coveting wealth, success and trading success.

Fire Castes become more Militaristic
Earth castes become more Curious
Air castes become more ???.
Water castes become more Greedy

A great threat is becoming an individual. A Tau's enemy is success and the arrogance that brings.

Wait, we have Insanity and Deviance now?

No Corruption?

Bad, very bad. We still need corruption to get mutations...
>>10801717
It doesn't matter if demons want to possess you or not, but harmful Warp radiation will even get Tau to sprout tentacles and claws.

>>10801886
If we keep corruption, we'll have to make some alterations for Tau anyways. I don't think there are any recorded cases of mutation amongst Tau, but other things could be caused. I think we should just make a unique corruption table to roll on for Tau, and let the other races use the one in the core book.

Thoughtcrime is too unsubtle a shout-out, IMHO.

>>10801941
Definitely keep Corruption, even if we alter it. The warp taints all it touches. It's an inescapable part of the setting.

>>10801844
I'll give it a shot.

>>10801767
Thought Crime?

"Doubt: You no longer completely trust the Ethereals" (or whatever)

Resentment: You've come to resent those of a higher rank than you, and no are longer satisfied in your place in the Greater Good

Superiority: You look down upon the other castes, and see yours as the real reason the Greater Good endures.

What I have seen: The experiences you have survived have saken your faith in the Greater Good (major ,high end, thought crime, good for RP I think)

>>10801941
Maybe we can just scrap mutation from the list and give environmental objects and certain items a "corruption" tag?

Like if your team gets too close to a demonically possessed Warp machine in a Space Hulk for a long period of time, or if the Fire Warrior is carrying a possessed sword the entire campaign, the DM starts calculating taint points, when they get to the threshhold they have to roll for mutation.

While on the topic of Deviancy; how, if at all, should it affect the Ethereal Caste's ability to influence thoughts? How should said influence work in the first place?

If this keeps going after this thread dies, we might want to look into making a PDF of all the rules, and whatever fluff we come up with. That way it can be given to anyone who's interested in playing this, instead of them having to check the archives or wiki for the rules.

>>10802026

It might well be worth joining the group the forum that >>10800034 mentioned. I know some of the people involved, this was the initial Tau Heresy project from /tg/ that split from Exalted when her ideas went too insane. They've done quite a bit of work so far.

Idea:
Smoke and Mud.
Each caste is pre-assigned. Changing is forbidden. Most who try and resist are executed.

Players are the exceptions; fire warriors who are gifted with the skills of negotiation and trade of the Water, or the light frame of an Air caste; Skilled Earth technicians who are angry and a deadly shot. These Tau are hidden away, but can be useful; combining the best of two elements.

Characters are one of 16 combinations, each uniquely gifted. Many players would undoubtedly chose to play fire/x for combat boosts, but don't underestimate the usefulness of a 'Dust' caste (Earth/Air), who can sprint across a battlefield protected by custom-built shields and repair a downed vehicle before he can be stopped, or a 'Mud' caste, able to talk his way into a military centre and disable the security systems on his own.


Thoughts?

Soooo, on to the enemies...

What kind of enemies aside from the known armies in 40k would we face.

Of course, we can put a RNG for aliens and such in it, but 40k already has a wealth of obscure Xenos species in it, and it would be a shame if we didn't use them.

>>10802130
Save branching out from your caste till later/as Elite Advances. You don't want to diverge too much from what the Tau are, especially at rank 1.

>>10802132
The Imperium should be made out to be the monolithic evil, much like Chaos is for regular DH. Non/Ex-Imperium humans should definitely feature, both external civilizations and internal populations. Infiltrator/subverter/manipulator xenos (genestealers and so on) should definitely be a feature.

Necrons can even feature as the Tau foolishly delve into technology that mortals were never meant to touch. You can even have a split in the Tau Empire between those who advocate researching it and those that condemn it as too dangerous.

>>10802234
I disagree with the Imperium as a major evil.

So far the Imperium hardly acted against the Tau.

The focus should be on dealing with the various Xenos races under their wing, with a big focus on Imperial and Chaos cults.

If you want to get in high-powered games, you might let your players encounter Inquisitorial and Rogue Trader agents.

>>10802352
I never said that the Imperium should be a constant threat. Just a looming one. Chaos isn't everywhere in DH but, when it does crop up, it tends to be far worse than everything else.

>>10802234
Imperium IMO should feel like classic elves: ancient and crumbling. Also, no one realizes its true size, and is generally regarded as an oppressive, backwards neighbour, who's dangerous nevertheless. Alien zealots, stupified by their propaganda.

Necrons: THE METAL LIVES. Seriously, Tau knowledge of them should be restricted to the highest ranked Ethereals and Earth caste, perhaps an urban legend among the higher-ups.

>>10802352
Well, there was the Damocles gulf crusade, which cost the Tau several planets they had gained control over, and are currently trying to reclaim.

The Ordo Xenos could prove to be a major threat, if the players ever encounter them.

As for the races that normally follow the Greater Good, there will always be some discontent amongst members of those races. Dealing with them is a distinct possibility.

>>10802391
Ah, that's something I can agree with.

But still, when you get Imperium dropping the hammer on you, it should be more about the horrific grinder-warmachine called the Imperial Guard (shoot a soldier through the heart, he still gets up and stabs you in the fucking neck).
Space Marines would be pure terror. Especially since Space Marines don't suffer from bad luck like the Imperial Guard does when fighting Tau.

When you're up against Chaos... it's rather obvious what Chaos is about.

We need to have rules for the issuance of special equipment like Crisis Suites or Stealth Suites for example as a high-level upgrade path.

Been working on the table, this is what I have so far. Looking good?

01-10 - Mistrust: This character has seen problems and flaws in the philosophy behind the Greater Good and has grown to question the motives and actions of all around him. Reduce Fellowship by 1d10.

11-15
16-20

21-22 - Insubordination: This character has begun to chafe under the constant unjust attentions or actions of his Ethereal masters and will refuse or twist orders that he or she feels are wrong. These actions need not always be obvious but should cause serious repercusssions if discovered.

23-25
26-30
31-33
34-45
46-50
51-55
56-60

61-63 - The Horror!: This character is wracked by guilt over his actions or horrific memories of things that the Ethereals say do not exist. See Horrific Nightmares on the mental disorders table.

64-70

71-75 - Purist: This character has come to believe that only the Tau should be full members of the Greater Good and is disdainful of aliens, even those within the Empire. -10 penalty to Fellowship Tests when dealing with aliens and Non-Caste Tau.

76-80 - Unsure: The character has experienced things far beyond what were taught to him in training and has no idea how to cope. Every time the character deviates from explicit orders he must roll a Fellowship test or be at -10 to all Tests while undertaking the activity.

81-83

84-90 - Racist: This character has come to see a particular race, caste, or ethnic group. He sees them as completely unworthy of inclusion within the Tau Empire and will never aid them without explicit orders or a vital cause, and even then will only do so begrudgingly.

91-93

94-00 - Xenophile: The character believes that perhaps the Tau are not as strong as he once thought and must attempt to learn all he can about something when presented with technology, customs, or any form of exotic non-Tau knowledge.

>>10802450
The Ordo Xenos would be... painful. And Rocks Fall Everyone Dies.

I mean, one Death Watch Space Marine can wipe your team.
And he will do it too.

>>10802531
Well, normally only the Fire caste are allowed to pilot battlesuits. Crisis suits don't really fit into the whole secret service theme that's we've been basing this on, but a stealth suit seems like a possibility, in the mid to late game

>>10802550
This. This I like. I'd swap the Fel test for Unsure to a WP one though.

>>10802550
Good work, I'm impressed.

>>10802557
This is something people don't often consider; what do the enemies of the Imperium see a space marine as?

>>10802557

Those foes would obviously be faced at an appropriate level of advancement. Fresh acolytes don't get Chosen Chaos Marines or Tyranid Warriors dropped on them either.

>>10802550
Xenophile certainly sounds interesting.

Imagine having a character who's obsessed with the Angels of Death... huge mechanical forms, capable of surviving gunfire that could kill entire squads, even when torn in two they continue to fight on and snap shots, armed with weapons you wouldn't believe.

Or Dark Eldar... completely focussed on blending in the shadows, paranoid in dark places... distrustful of Eldar...

>>10802654
Death. Pure death walking.

Since this works on fluff and not with a 12-year old on the other end of the table, the Space Marines will actually use tactics.

They have libraries filled with tactics and information on the Tau on their battle barge and you only have a file with "unknown Imperial combatant - heavy shock troopers" being named.

Talking of xenos, what do people think of the idea of a secret Eldar "advisor" for the organisation, there on the pretence of educating them about the warp and the galaxy while manipulating the Tau into doing their bidding?

>>10802654

The Tau probably see them as particularly resilient human warriors in advanced (if clunky) battlesuits, with an emphasis on close over ranged combat.

>>10802729
In an older Tau codex, there was a story about a commander from the Imperial Fists meeting with an Ethereal. The ethereals know full well what a Space Marine is, and how dangerous they can be. Some Water caste and fire caste might have more knowledge than others as well.

>>10802732
Tough.

Few Craftworld Eldar would do that, and no Dark Eldar and Halequin. Most of them are just too proud. Maybe a Coursair Eldar, or an Exodite Eldar.

And since Eldrad got killed, the influence of "humble" Eldar has lessened tremendously.

>>10801364
Thats a pretty badass looking Tau

>>10802754
Undersells it, I say. They should be pure terror. Look at the Deathwatch preview. A team of between 4 and 6 marines takes on platoons of men and succeed.

>>10802754
Clunky as in big, or as in slow...

Because Space Marines are fast.

We need to pay attention to the gear. We can imagine the high-tech personal-use tech the Tau use is way better than the typical Imperium example. Tau players should have PDAs with limited AIs in them, hacking tools, super-micro surveillance devices, etc.

>>10802754
You're forgetting that when in the tabletop game a Space Marine is taken off the table...

...he can still kick ass for a couple of turns in Warhammer 40,000 RPGs.

A Space Marine with his legs gone can still kill a lot of people before he bleeds out.

Or the favorite of one of my players, trigger all your meltabombs with your only remaining hand in the middle of vile enemies.

>>10802952
>>10802952

Yeah. Auto targeting bots that blast the head off a IG trooper before he can pull a trigger.

>>10802952
Indeed. Tech advantages should be prevalent. I'd also recommend that their tech is inferior to Imperial tech in one aspect, though; durability. Without maintenance it'll malfunction and fail.

>>10802952
>We can imagine the high-tech personal-use tech the Tau use is way better than the typical Imperium example.

Nope.

The tech trees for Tau and Imperium run opposite of each other.

Tau get good tech in the beginning, and later on it kind of slows down to top-quality instead of high-tech because Tau don't have that much tech to work with.

The Imperium starts with shit items, but the higher you go up in the ranks, the fancier your toys get.

That gives us a problem... High-ranking Tau PC's kind of get the shit end when they're looking for new items.

>>10802952
Drones, man. It's how the team works in combat with someone else doing the important shootan. For non-Earth, this would be a blend of servo-skulls and mechanderites rules-wise, and I guess Earth just found its usage outside of the beforementioned Tech-Use, Adept skills, and such. Shit, an Earth caste build making use of drones in combat has the potential to be pure pwnage.

Does anyone know if any Tau equipment is in the Radical's handbook? I'm downloading it now, but it would be nice to have an idea beforehand

So where Dark Heresy is Call of Cthulhu IN SPAAAAAACE, this is Delta Green IN SPAAAAAAAACE.

I'm OK with this.

>>10803060
Have high end Tau tech be experimental/prototype tech. Field testing required. The R&D department shall be pleased to hear the results!

>>10803060
Considering how badly Tau tech trashes Imperium tech at EVERY level we're exposed to them...yeah, sorry, but no.

>>10803096
DH was already Delta Green in space. Especially once you hit Ascension level.

>>10803060
That's where Special Issue tech could come into play. The players would be able to test out and use new weapons, augmentations, and the like.

>>10803066
Probably not, as the Calixis Sector is on the other end of the galaxy.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1233
DW will probably be a good guideline on Tau stats.

>>10803106
The Ad-Mech keep some seriously crazy tech for themselvs/a secret. When GMing you've got a shitload of room to come up with improbable and seemingly heretical gadgetry for the Mechanicus.

>>10803106
Excuse me?

Have you looked at the technology high-ranking Imperials get? The toys in Rogue Trader? The toys of the Space Marines? The toys assassins use?

Face it, your Tau team functions at just about the same level where the big Assassin temples function for the Lords of Terra.

Except a game that has Assassins is an Ascension level game.

And this Tau game is on Dark Heresy power levels.

See the huge technology discrepancy?

>>10803217
>See the huge technology discrepancy?

Yes, Tau are ahead of the Imperium on all levels. We know.

>>10803405
except they don't have titans

>>10803443
but they do have the Manta, which is capable of space flight, and as powerful as a titan

>>10803464
still not a titan

When this is all done and playable I'm so letting my players face a rain of falling gas trucks in a Hive city during an anti-Tau riot.

For those that don't get the reference... a DM posted a report of his DH game a while back.

His acolytes needed to get out of the city to meet Imperial sympathizers, but the city was under martial law, Iraq style.
So their cleric orates to a crowd of terminal ill patients outside a hospital, who were kicked out of the hospital so the Tau could heal injured Fire Warriors. He rolls good, and a riot breaks loose. Suddenly some of the terminally ill to take over a gas station, and they proceed to Jihad themselves over the high way, onto a Tau checkpoint on a lower level.

Oh man, riot control missions would be so cash... Imperials are insane.

>>10803485

Why would they even want a titan?

Because they're weeaboo they have to dig giant robots, is that it?

>>10803522
girls love giant robots

>>10803405
>Yes, Tau are ahead of the Imperium on all levels. We know.

Okay, I have to go for a bit. I've filled out most of this chart but if someone else could finish it out that would be awesome. If not I'll complete it when I get back.

01-10 - Mistrust: This character has seen problems and flaws in the philosophy behind the Greater Good and has grown to question the motives and actions of all around him. Reduce Fellowship by 1d10.

11-15 - It's full of stars: The character has seen more than he had ever imagined or was taught would exist, and he does truly dreads the thought of seeing such sights again. The character's Perception is reduced by 1d10.

16-20 - Close-Minded: The character has had the beliefs that once supported him destroyed by undeniable proof to the contrary, but he or she still attempts to maintain them through blind adherence to dogma. Reduce this character's Intelligence by 1d10.

21-22 - Insubordination: This character has begun to chafe under the constant unjust attentions or actions of his Ethereal masters and will refuse or twist orders that he or she feels are wrong. These actions need not always be obvious but should cause serious repercusssions if discovered.

23-25 - Hopeful: This character has seen past the current concept of the Greater Good... and on to what the Tau Empire could truly be! He or she advocates complete racial equality, exploration and incorporation of alien philosophy, or perhaps freedom to choose one's own path independent of caste. The character might not openly preach these beliefs, but he or she should likewise not shy away from professing them: They are obvious, after all!

26-30

31-33 - Questioning: The character has begun to question the right of the Ethereals to lead the Tau and their portrayal of the Greater Good. He generally keeps these thoughts to himself and close friends, but if his superiors found out then the consequences would be dire indeed!

34-45 - Deviant Obsession: Something this character experienced during the last mission changed him or her forever. This is the same as the Obsession Disorder from the mental disorders table but the character is obsessed with some horrific or exotic outlier experienced previously, such as the Sorcery after fighting Tzeenchian cultists or Space Marines after experiencing the shock of their drop-pod assault.

46-50
51-55
56-60

61-63 - The Horror!: This character is wracked by guilt over his actions or horrific memories of things that the Ethereals say do not exist. See Horrific Nightmares on the mental disorders table.

64-70 - Reeducated: The character has expressed views differing from those considered "correct" and has been taught the error of his ways. This may be roleplayed or happen off screen between missions. The character's Willpower is reduced by 1d10.

71-75 - Purist: This character has come to believe that only the Tau should be full members of the Greater Good and is disdainful of aliens, even those within the Empire. -10 penalty to Fellowship Tests when dealing with aliens and Non-Caste Tau.

76-80 - Unsure: The character has experienced things far beyond what were taught to him in training and has no idea how to cope. Every time the character deviates from explicit orders he must Test Willpower or be at -10 to all Tests while undertaking the activity.

81-83 - World Weary: The character is a broken shell of the person he or she once was, having seen to much, been decieved too often, and lost faith one too many times. The days seem bleak and pointless, food has no taste, and it is all he or she can do to get out of bed in the morning. Double all negative effects for Fatigue levels.

Can we focus on the the discussion at hand instead of "my imaginary faction has better tech than yours" please.

84-90 - Racist: This character has come to see a particular race, caste, or ethnic group as inferior. He or she sees them as completely unworthy of inclusion within the Tau Empire and will never aid them without explicit orders or a vital cause, and even then will only do so begrudgingly.

91-93 - Cleanse, Purge, Kill: This character has witnessed things of such deviation and horror that he has rejected the policy of inclusion inherent in the philosophy of the Greater Good. The character must Test Willpower to allow any sort of threat to remain alive or viable when possible to end it.

94-00 - Xenophile: The character believes that perhaps the Tau are not as strong as he once thought and must attempt to learn everything possible when presented with technology, customs, or any form of exotic non-Tau knowledge.

>>10803613
yeah seriously, you tau need to just suck it up and admit that you've got pansy ass tech that can't even hold a candle to the adeptus mechanicus

>>10801878
Thoughtcrime is so Orwellian, although I agree on Deviance being far too arcaic and Imperium.

The quality of Tau defecting from the Greater Good or turning to sedition? Can we call it O'shovah-nism?

>>10803060Tau get good tech in the beginning, and later on it kind of slows down to top-quality instead of high-tech because Tau don't have that much tech to work with.

ya

though the low level Imperium stuff is also mega-cheap and durable

>>10803576
>>10803605
>>10803620

This. I still like this. Testing for/gaining deviancies/thoughcrimes works the same as Malignancies with Corruption I imagine; WP test every 10 points, penalties as time goes on?

>>10803708
Yeah. I was thinking of actually removing the stat penalites and making them all RP actions though. Thoughts on that?

>>10803765
Hmm. I'm torn. On one hand keeping them them stays in line with Malignancies. On the other hand Malignancies represent the warp twisting you, not just thinking differently.

Do the Tau have Section 31 type conspiracies for the Greater Good operating without the knowledge of the Ethereals caste?

If the Taus are Star Trek, I wanna play S31.

>>10803620
>>10803605
>>10803576
I've added these to the wiki page. Very nice work

>>10803765
>Yeah. I was thinking of actually removing the stat penalites and making them all RP actions though. Thoughts on that?

Probably better.

>Reeducated: The character's Willpower is reduced by 1d10.

works well in terms of disobeying orders and a breakdown in individual will, but could negatively impact on a situation like a fire warrior holding the line in battle when he was been brainwashed into a near-martyr desire to serve.

If we keep it stat based, perhaps an in/out definition; certain disorders cause +1d10 bonuses when working FOR tau authority figures, but -1d10 when dealing with the opposite.

Pretty tough to define, though.

>>10803620
>>10803605
>>10803576

Oh man, this is great. Many thanks.

>>10803631
Your post tells me we need Ethereal factions. Like the Inquisitorial factions.

So far I have three(maybe four) Ethereal factions.

Conservative Ethereals: The biggest faction, they simply follow the word of the Greater Good.
Aggressive Ethereals: They want martial law in human cities and the aggressive xenos cities, they want humans and aggressive xenos out of Tau cities, and they are against induction and indoctrination of former Imperial Guard, rather seeing them executed. They also want a shoot-first-ask-questions-later defense missile system, after a Tau planet was massacred by unknown aliens who landed.
Progressive Tau: They want big reformations, like removing the limitations on their servant races, believing that humans should be given the means to create a Tau ship that is Warp capable.

Through I doubt you'd find Ethereal O'Shovah supporters, so I guess we could just get O'Shovah supporters in the higher-ups of the Fire Caste military.

Like if your Fire Warrior has rogue tendencies because he has a lot of Deviancy points, he might get secret orders from O'Shovah supporters to sabotage the mission.

Like Chaos-corrupted players get in DH. Except this time more James Bond-ish and less Exorcist-ish.

Does factionalism make sense in a race styled for harmonious collectivism?

>>10803405
i don't even have a reaction for this statement

>>10803864
Isn't Section 31 thematically the same thing as Delta Green?

>>10804074
Ethereals are special.

They're like equal-equal.

>>10803957
Alll of these factions will be top secret of course. The Ethereals are unanimous in their decisions. Suggesting that they might not be of one mind is Thoughtcrime.

Actual Tau Factions

Earth: I will do it for Science!
Air Caste: I am a leaf on the wind...
Fire Caste: War for the War God!
Water Caste: Greed is Greater Good!

>>10804175
Or Deviance.

Seriously though, Thoughtcrime seems way too Orwell for me. Deviance seems a but blunt too.

Sedition? Disillusionment?

>>10804217
Deviation? Subtle difference.

How about Divergence?

>>10804217
Divergence

>>10804217
Seeds of Doubt?

>>10804217
I too dislike the term "thoughtcrime". Anyone who has read 1984 is gonna think that the Tau is yet another dystopian shithole like the Imperium.

Is anyone up to the task of writefagging about the organization the players would be a part of, so we can post it on the Wiki?

"Disharmonious"
"UnTau"
"Savage"
"Primitive"
"Lost"

>>10804275

the Imperium isn't dystopian man, it's medieval

>The Ethereals are unanimous in their decisions. Suggesting that they might not be of one mind is Untau
Works for me

I just finished making some stats for Pulse weaponry, does anyone have any input for it?

Pulse Rifle
Class: Basic
Range: 150m
RoF: S/2/-
Dam: 1d10+6 E
Pen: 5
Clip: 20
Rld: Full
Special: Accurate, Unwieldy
Wt: 5kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Common for Tau)

>>10804332
It varies, it can be very sophisticated socially and technologically but the hopeless totalitarianism remains a common theme

>>10804308


>Untau

It's glorious!

>>10804360
Don't Pulse Rifles have Rapid Fire in the table top? Make them fully auto and drop Accurate I say.

Untau sounds good to me.

>>10804368
it's not particularly totalitarian, as no one cares what the folks in the bottoms of the hives do as long as they aren't spouting heresy

>As such... no more dark heresies. No more certainties. No more assurances and no more scribes with ranks in forbidden knowledge.

>You got your gun, and there's something out there, and you think it wants to kill you. You hope it wants to kill you.

So... we're playing Deathwatch? But with shooty?

>>10804360
I like it.
The Pulse rifle should be weaker than a plasma gun and comparable to a longer ranged bolter.

My problem with DH is that lasguns and plasmaguns are ridiculously underpowered.

>>10804410
I based it off the Lasgun, which is fluffwise the closest to the Pulse Rifle. The Lasgun has the rapidfire rule on tabletop, represented by it's Semi auto RoF of 3

I made it slightly stronger than the Boltgun, but as Energy damage instead of Explosive. The Accurate comes from built on targeting mechanisms.

>>10804478
Note that the Accurate trait only works with the proper headgear then, I say.

all Tau weapons are exaggerated. They're actually really backwards, and a Pulse Rifle is weaker than a Lasgun in reality.

I don't know why you guys can't just use the normal Corruption system.
I would give the Tau a natural ability like the Armour of Contempt as long as they "believe" in the Greater Good.

>>10804464
Lasguns aren't, plasma weapons are if you don't use the Rogue Trader and/or Ascension rules.

>>10804427
Err no.

Think about playing Dark Heresy in a Space Hulk filled with Genestealers, Khornate cultists, a Tzeentchian demon-host and some pissed off rogue Kroot...

...except this time you don't have an Adept.

You're fighting in the dark, and you don't have an idea what your enemy is, what it wants and why they do it.

You only know you need it dead fast, before it does that weird chanting again that lets red beasts appear from the wall.

>>10804575
So it's Deathwatch, because that's exactly what Deathwatch is.

Dark Heresy - Intrigue - Mystery - Knowledge + RIP AND TEAR, RIP AND TEAR, RIP AND TEAR YOUR GUTS = Deathwatch = What you're talking about, but with extra Tau and blueberries.

>>10804575

Those are called daemons, you retarded xeno.

>>10804464
So, drop it to 1d10+5 E damage, and keep the rest the same.
Here's the Carbine and Pulse pistol, with modified Damage

Pulse Carbine
Class: Basic
Range: 75m
RoF: S/3/5
Dam: 1d10+5 E
Pen: 5
Clip: 20
Rld: Full
Special: Accurate
Wt: 3.5kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Common for Tau)

Pulse Pistol
Class: Pistol
Range: 35m
RoF: S/-/-
Dam: 1d10+4 E
Pen: 5
Clip: 15
Rld: Half
Special: Accurate
Wt: 1.5kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Uncommon for Tau)

>>10799324
>Sticks to the fluff

Ok.

No Tau, they're on the other side of the galaxy.

>>10804601
Who says mystery is cut out of the equation? Finding out just what the hell is going on could be equally important.

>>10804623
Obviously it'll be set on the other side of the galaxy. Unless the DH rules only apply to the Segmentum Obscurus.

>>10804638
Pretty much removes the social element though. It's why such scenarios sucked in DH as well; they screwed over the characters who'd focused on their talking skills.

>>10804623
No. In Deathwatch you kill and kill and kill and kill and kill and blow shit up.

In this game, you shoot some shit, hope it's dead OH FUCK SHOOT IT IN THE HEAD, piss your pants, try to figure out what arcane runes mean, shoot some more shit, OH GOD SHOOT IT IN THE HEAD SHIT, piss your pants again...

You get the idea.

>>10804601
Hurr smartass. This is in the Tau sphere of influence. Not Calixis.

>>10804612
>Energy weapons
>Clip

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I don't actually play Dark Heresy, but found this thread interesting.

>>10804601
The difference is knowledge or lack of it. The Tau cannot grasp the insidious nature of Chaos. They have little experience with Xenos, because if they had as much as the Imperium did, they would be "Nuke them from orbit, its the only way to be sure"

Don't worry, its a "roleplaying" thing

>>10804714
in DH terms, clip would be how many shots get fired before the battery has to be changed.

>>10804714
It's the term DH uses for the ammo capacity stat. All weapons have a "clip" strat, even though they might use magazines, flasks of plasma, belt-fed ammo backpacks and so on.

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Tau_Dark_Heresy

Added my idea on homeworld to the page. Someone comment, 'cause I feel bad just dropping it out there.

>>10804674
There is a whole bit about the social aspect in the thread.

Hell, someone made an idea about playing a Fire Warrior that's secretly in league with the Farsight Enclave, poised to sabotage any Greater Good missions.

>>10804779
I like the traits you put, but I'm thinking that all Tau should receive those, and then add the homeworld template on top of that.
just a thought

>>10804538
I consider the Lasgun as represented on the TT as a game abstraction for balance purposes.

I expect the Munitorum to equip their soldiers with something more effective than a third millenium kalashnikov autostubber

>>10804612
What about the Photon Grenade Launcher?

Also, the way the stats are currently written, the Pulse Carbine is better than the Pulse Rifle in nearly every way. Rate of Fire, weight, lack of Unwieldy... The only advantage the Pulse Rifle has is range, and that's not that big of an advantage.

>>10804779
Frankly, I think it's shit. DH Tau sounds good but not the way you do it.

>>10804835
Well, the Carbine does hold those as an advantage. I may drop the Full Auto on it however.

As for the Photon Grenade Launcher, it slipped my mind. I'd say just treat it as a regular Grenade Launcher, that only fires Photon Flash Grenades, which are already in the DH core book.

>>10804835
and accuracy I imagine

>>10804900
For DH, I'd give the Tau special EMP and Melta grenades too

>>10804907
No, they both have Accurate.

>>10804922
well, there's nothing really close to meltas, but I could stat out the EMP grenades.

>>10804814
It's a decently powerful weapon and, besides, the main importance is that it's easy to manufacture, reliable and easy to maintain ammo supplies for. They don't want state of the art, they want something that does the job and is easy to keep firing.

>>10804890
>bash it, do not provide criticism

trollface.jpg

>>10804802
I've thought that would be too much for a character.

>>10804890
Would you like to add? It's just an idea, and can be improved. I've tried to come up with something universally useful for all castes and reflecting the system at the same time.

Sonic Grenades?

>>10804962
>Would you like to add anything more?
Fix'd

>>10804962
Well, in the DH core, each home world has several Traits, where as I only put 1 or 2 for each Sept. Maybe drop the Army of Individuals trait, and make the other 2 available to all Tau

Why does Air have a higher BS score than Fire? The castes also appear to be imbalanced. Water gets more stat points than the rest and Air and Earth lag behind Fire.

Water Caste in DH idea:

Tau "Special Circumstances" agent and his obnoxious Drone protector land on an Imperium world and overthrow it by "accident".

Seems like a cool idea, being able to play Xenos races was something I expected to come packaged with DH to begin with (Orks and whatnot were high on my list). The thing is that I, personally, am having some trouble with Tau fluff. Is this something that only Tau enthusiasts will understand and have fun with? I'm a GM, will I have to adjust to a lot of difference between characters living in the Imperium and Tau Empire, or is it just cut-and-paste changes?

Water caste attempting to negotiate with Daemons.

Negotiations proceed fairly well.

Tau don't realize what they have bartered away.

RelativelyNeutral40kFag , or any of the other idea people, I don't suppose you have an MSN or AIM account by any chance? Would be interested in contacting you.

>>10805072
Pretty significant changes between how things are. I see the main appeal as being playing a hopeful, ignorant race that grows increasingly jaded as they learn more about the galaxy. It also allows for far more interaction between different species. Lastly it also lets us get at the guts of the Tau Empire and play is as both better than the Imperium without being all rainbows and sunshine.

>>only Tau enthusiasts

enTausiasts?

OK, here's another idea for the Pulse weapons' stats. As always, input is appreciated.

Pulse Rifle
Class: Basic
Range: 150m
RoF: S/2/5
Dam: 1d10+6 E
Pen: 5
Clip: 20
Rld: Full
Special: Reliable
Wt: 5kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Common for Tau)

Pulse Carbine
Class: Basic
Range: 75m
RoF: S/2/5
Dam: 1d10+5 E
Pen: 5
Clip: 20
Rld: Full
Special: Reliable, Carbine (-10 penalty when wielded one-handed instead of -20)
Wt: 3.5kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Common for Tau)

Pulse Pistol
Class: Pistol
Range: 35m
RoF: S/2/-
Dam: 1d10+4 E
Pen: 5
Clip: 15
Rld: Full
Special: Reliable
Wt: 1.5kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Uncommon for Tau)

And here's some other weapons to add some variety. Not in the Tau codex or any other fluff, I'm making these up on the spot.

Marksman's Pulse Rifle (Could possibly be substituted for the rail rifle.)
Class: Basic
Range: 200m
RoF: S/-/-
Dam: 1d10+6 E
Pen: 5
Clip: 10
Rld: Full
Special: Accurate, Reliable, Telescopic Sight
Wt: 6kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Scarce for Tau)

Dispersion Gun (Spreads a cloud of plasma out in front of the barrel; a Tau shotgun.)
Class: Basic
Range: 30m
RoF: S/-/-
Dam: 1d10+7 E
Pen: 3
Clip: 6
Rld: Full
Special: Reliable, Scatter
Wt: 4kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Uncommon for Tau)

Any comments/suggestions?

Hmmm. Sounds like something I could get into with preparation and research. Between this and AE, I might wait for this to get finished so I can try it out. The real problem is my Tau friend. He's going to have a fucking field day with this, and rub in my face how much better the Tau Empire is than the Imperium. The promise of it being less than "rainbows and sunshine" is somewhat comforting. Though, that could be an interesting transition, actually. Start with the idyllic, advertised Tau life, than slowly grind it away over time to show the harsh reality of the galaxy according to 40k.

>>10805049
>Tau "Special Circumstances" agent and his obnoxious Drone protector land on an Imperium world and overthrow it by "accident".

I get the reference, and I love it, even if the Tau is nowhere near that advanced.

>>10804985
With three traits, one of them being negative, we are about the DH level.
On the septs, I really feel they should be treated as unique worlds, 'cause it's like Gunmetal City was your only hive of choice for an acolyte. The variety is broader than that for sure, like for example a desert sept whose Fire Warriors are, um, the Tau version of Tallarn, the Water Caste on it are mostly merchants rather than diplomats, Earth Caste being experts in preserving tech from sands, and Air Pilots great at navigating in difficult conditions like sandstorms.

On the Army trait... I've made it because I think, that with the castes every one be a specialist at something, a session would look like "combat, Fire's going shooty, rest duck and cover", "social, now you guys STFU and let the water talk", etc. But if you dislike it, I can drop that.

>>10805179
Dispersion Gun seems like it's shoehorning a human concept into the Tau. Otherwise good, though I don't think those weapons would be common. I don't see the Tau letting anyone just buy a pulse rifle, even if they're respected Tau citizens.

>>10805072

The fluff and attitude of the Tau are very different from that of the Imperium. While both feature an overarching philosophy of commitment to the whole species and empire, the Imperium is very large, very diverse, and very old; it has been through a lot of hardships, and because of this many of the citizens may have lost sight of their contributions to the Imperium, come to resent the Imperium entirely, or even actively work against it; As such, agents of the Imperium assigned to maintain the philosophy of the Emperor's doctrine do so through brute force and fear, partly because their enemies are so vicious and partly because there are so many people in the Imperium it's probably not worth expending more than a bolter round on one that's gone astray.

The tau, conversely, are less knowledgeable about the universe and, possibly because of this, are more optimistic. Their empire is much smaller and so more closely knit, despite the congregation of non-Tau races involved in it, and the average Tau citizen on the ground is likely to be fairly patriotic and to honestly believe in the Greater Good; whether this is because of indoctrination from the Ethereals or a true sense of hope and/or naivete is somewhat ambiguous, but it's probably a bit of both.

There are other parallels to be drawn, however. I can imagine a squad of Fire Warriors, when faced with some impossible demonic abomination, would armor themselves with faith in a similar way to Imperium citizens. Though where they might trust in the Emperor to protect them and draw on the party adept's extensive source of knowledge, the Tau would trust in the Ethereals, that they would not send them on an impossible mission; on the science of the Earth caste to later explain what may now seem horrifically wrong, and on their Empire's strength and rationality to ultimately prevail over whatever it is they're facing.

>>10805268

Above all, a Tau that truly believes in the Greater Good truly believes that, whatever he is doing for the Ethereals, he is doing for his entire species, those species under the care of the Empire, and possibly even the Galaxy as a whole- When faced with bloodthirsty Orks or unliving Necrons, a patriotic Shas'o might well think to himself that he must fight harder, and die if he has to, because if his race does not bring order and safety to the stars these hideous creatures will destroy it.

>>10805247
"Common" means they're standard issue for the Tau military. The Marksman's rifle and the Dispersion Gun are specialist weapons.

>>10805206
Also, I'd really like to contribute to this. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, and makes me feel as though I'm not wasting my summer. I'm not very familiar with the Tau, but I can be considered adequate at fluff-type example dialogue between characters, stuff like that. I can also take a look at keeping things balanced in terms of characteristics, if that's what people are complaining about. With proper direction, I could churn out something reasonably good on a deadline.

>>10805239
Anyone with a gun can shoot. Anyone with a mouth can talk. Anyone with a brain can think. Certain characters will be better at it but you don't want to always leave it to them.

>>10805179
Drop the Pulse Rifle's damage down to 1d10+5 instead of +6, so that it's weaker than a plasma rifle. Unwieldy should stay, because it is quite a large gun.
If you change the damage on the Marksmans rifle to I, and give it Unwieldy, would make it a perfect Rail Rifle, IMO

>>10805179
>Dispersion Gun (Spreads a cloud of plasma out in front of the barrel; a Tau shotgun.)
LOLOLOL, I've had exactly the same idea for a minor xenos race in my DH Ordo Xenos campaign. To add more irony, it's set on the eastern fringe, and the xenos have good relationships with the Tau.

>>10804943
>>10804962
Didn't mean to sound troll. I just really dislike the big deal made of the Ethereals lying to the other caste.

I mean I'm shocked, shocked to find that politicians lie to the public.

I also don't like the Orwellian 1984/thoughtcrime theme. Tau should NOT be like the Imperium. Being the clueless lawful stupid niceguys is their schtick. In the grimdark 40k, that mean they should be increasingly forced to make moral compromises that slowly undermine their sanity and discover that being nice is not enough. Players get to choose to be the goodguys who die meaningless deaths or the suckers who learn to much and become Lost to the Guela's Madness. This is why it is DH not DW. If you start off with the premise that Tau is COMMUNISM EVUH, then the campaign becomes how do we wreck it rather than how do we save it. That theme would work much better for a Chaos DH campaign where Heretics try to bring down the Imperium to save mankind as Horus intended.

>>10805295
I say keep it at +6; it should be stronger than a bolter and plasma weapons have Maximal Fire Mode now. Really, they should ditch the DH core plasma weapons. And possibly the bolter too. Mmm, Locke Pattern.

How exactly does Walker combat fit in? Walkers are undoubtedly easier to come across in the Tau Empire as opposed to the Imperium, given you don't have to be dead to use one first. Is it as simple as giving some bonuses to characteristics, or does it require complex use of piloting skills?

>>10805129
My email's in the field if your interested in real time conversation about this

>>10805281
You've missed my point. It works well enough in the Imperium, but in Tau caste system, I could easily imagine the non-Fire guys being unable to work out the shooty side of a gun, the non-Earth just knowing which button to push, the non-Air being unable to drive or pilot ANYTHING, and the non-Water being almost autistic. You gotta remember they ain't human, and they're specialized on a genetical basis. An expertise in one part of life surely has a large price, and with Tau' s short lifespans I don't see them having time to get any good at non-caste-necessary skills.

>>10805295
So... like this?

Changed Marksman's rifle to Rail rifle, reduced Damage and Pen for all Pulse weapons, and added Unwieldy to the Pulse Rifle.

Pulse Rifle
Class: Basic
Range: 150m
RoF: S/2/5
Dam: 1d10+5 E
Pen: 3
Clip: 20
Rld: Full
Special: Reliable, Unwieldy
Wt: 5kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Common for Tau)

Pulse Carbine
Class: Basic
Range: 75m
RoF: S/2/5
Dam: 1d10+4 E
Pen: 3
Clip: 20
Rld: Full
Special: Reliable, Carbine (-10 penalty when wielded one-handed instead of -20)
Wt: 3.5kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Common for Tau)

Pulse Pistol
Class: Pistol
Range: 35m
RoF: S/2/-
Dam: 1d10+4 E
Pen: 3
Clip: 15
Rld: Full
Special: Reliable
Wt: 1.5kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Common for Tau)

Rail Rifle
Class: Basic
Range: 200m
RoF: S/-/-
Dam: 1d10+6 I
Pen: 5
Clip: 10
Rld: Full
Special: Accurate, Unwieldy, Telescopic Sight
Wt: 6kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Scarce for Tau)

Dispersion Gun (Spreads a cloud of plasma out in front of the barrel; a Tau shotgun.)
Class: Basic
Range: 30m
RoF: S/-/-
Dam: 1d10+6 E
Pen: 3
Clip: 6
Rld: Full
Special: Reliable, Scatter
Wt: 4kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Very Rare (Uncommon for Tau)

Here's a WiP EMP grenade

EMP Grenades
Class: Thrown
Range: SBx3
Dam: Special (When thrown, every electronic device within 7 yards of the grenade stop working for d10 rounds. If the affected item has the Unreliable rule, it becomes jammed as well.)
Pen: 0
Wt: 0.5 kg
Cost: N/A
Availability: Scarce

>>10805206
>Though, that could be an interesting transition, actually. Start with the idyllic, advertised Tau life, than slowly grind it away over time to show the harsh reality of the galaxy according to 40k.

Just start with noble utilitarianism; "we are the few who must struggle so that others may live" ; go on to acceptable utilitarianism; "sometimes we have to leave the other squad behind to evacuate the hostage"; then guilty utilitarianism; "I'm afraid we'll have to bomb that whole villiage to destroy the beast within; it's the only way to save the lives of others".

Finish with darker and darker steps, all while remaining utterly logically consistent and rational;
"We had to make you kill those innocents to complete the strategy. Now we simply have to go and bomb the orphanage and poison the water supply, implicate the Imperial cult in the attacks and we will have turned human public opinion against their primitive religions. Once our teams come in to distribute non-theistic funeral service leaflets and sledgehammers to destroy the idols, we will have completed phase 1 of our Benevolent Plan. Human populations will be free of the shackles of their oppressors and should repopulate adequately within 75 cycles."

>>10805488
>That entire last paragraph.

>>10805468
Looks good, I'll keep those rules saved for the time being.

>>10805367

The Tau citizens are not deceived by the Ethereals to get manipulated, it is done so for the sake of their sanity. I dislike the thoughtcrime Orwellian theme in here too, personally I'd go with the Deviancy, possibly Dissatisfaction or Political Incorrectness. The trait itself could be always renamed to Naïveté or Innocence and have the same effects.

>>10805467
As for the Traits, I'm thinking of letting the players choose to drop the first one you made to add a Sept template, that way it shows them being more influenced by their Sept than their Caste, and it still keeps it to a reasonable number of traits

>>10805644
Works fine for me.

Suggestion: IIRC, don't Fire Warriors (and indeed the bulk of Tau military strategy) come from hunting stock? If so, might I suggest an increase to their Perception?

>>10805744
Good point.

Also, this thread is on autosage. Has anyone archived it yet?

Also, shouldn't Tau have their own language? At the moment, the page says that Tau start with Speak Language (Low/High Gothic). Shouldn't be an extra skill or talent to purchase to be able to speak the language of the humans?

>>10805129
Here it is. MSN.

>>10805816
All Tau speak the Tau tongue. It's just that some worlds get Speak (Low Gothic) as well.

>>10805810
I archived it a while ago, and have been keeping it updated. It can be found here: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/10799324/

Is anyone interested in starting up an IRC channel for continued discussion, or should we just make another thread?

>>10805816
It is for the Dal'yth sept, which had a lot of contact with, oh the irony, xenos. As for why T'au has it, I dunno.

>>10805873
Just make another thread.

>I could easily imagine the non-Fire guys being unable to work out the shooty side of a gun, the non-Earth just knowing which button to push, the non-Air being unable to drive or pilot ANYTHING, and the non-Water being almost autistic.

Even chimps can work out how to use a gun.
Fire caste drive grav tanks and have operate as gunners on Tau Starships.
All Tau need at least some level of sociability to breed, command troops, communicate technical ideas etc

I think the Tau non-specialists are roughly comparable to human non-specialists.
ie.
I would put ordinary Air caste civvy equal to ordinary voidborn at piloting, the best Fleet pilots are as good as Glavians.

>>10805884
T'au has it because they're the planet full of all the head-honchos of the Tau empire, and would have enough contact with Humans to constitute being able to learn Low Gothic. If you think it should be dropped, I'll drop it.

>>10805940
You're forgetting the genetic similarity between chimps and humans, who are similarly adaptable. The idea behind the Tau is not just that they are trained for things, but actively bred for them. Imagine a group of Tau sitting over a table full of Punnet squares, and eliminating mixes that have a high probability of being slightly good at shooting and slightly good at talking, as opposed to excellent at shooting, but crap at talking.

On the Corruption table, isn't Racist basically just an intensification of Purist?

>>10806071
New thread is here

>>10805940
>Fire caste drive grav tanks and have operate as gunners on Tau Starships.
citation needed

Also, I've exaggerated on purpose.

>The idea behind the Tau is not just that they are trained for things, but actively bred for them.

I'm fine with this part. But that doesn't mean they are autistic idiots. Engineering for example is very much a cross disciplinary skill. You can't really design a good gun if you can't shoot.