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General Equipment

This section provides rules for the less obvious items on the Trading Charts. Not all items are here – some are covered in other sections of the Armoury, others do not require rules.

Miscellaneous Equipment

Auspexes are a variety of scanners and detectors used across the Imperium. Some work by straight forward bouncing radar or measuring the density of certain particles in the atmosphere, while more advanced auspexes detect psychic traces. Whatever the method, the basic function of an auspex is to locate things that may not be immediately obvious to an unaided human.

An auspex can be used in two ways – actively or passively.

The character has the auspex in his or her hand, and is deliberately checking the auspex’s readings, which may be displayed on a small screen, or be relayed as numbers or LCD graphs or images.

Characters spending an action to use an auspex may take Detection tests, using Initiative, to notice any unfamiliar traces. If the test is passed, the character recognises the trace as being unfamiliar. If the test is failed, either the character either does not notice the trace or the auspex was unable to give a reliable reading.

Make one Detection test per potential trace, although the GM may decide to allow an automatic detection of large groups of traces or those which provide dramatic effect. It is assumed that the character will be able to detect and identify the traces of characters in his immediate line of sight or vicinity (normally this includes most members of the party), so no dice need to be rolled for this.

If there are obstacles between the auspex and the trace, the chance of detection is increased by –20 for every foot or so of intervening scenery.

The auspex is left jutting from a webbing pouch, clipped to a belt or is built into armour. Whatever the location, the auspex is operational and gives out some kind of visual or auditory response to traces in the area, usually either clicking, bleeping or flashing at an increased rate when something new enters the auspex’s range.

Although characters with a passive auspexes do not need to spend actions checking the readings, any traces entering the auspex’s range may be detected with a free Detection test (rolled at the start of each round, or every ten seconds outside of combat). However, Initiative is halved before any other modifiers.

The GM may decide that characters within a few feet of a character carrying a passive auspex may be able to overhear changes in the auspex’s noise and allow them Initiative tests as well, although these will be heavily modified for distance, noise and the distraction of whatever else they’re doing.

Bio-scanners work by detecting the various traces that indicate organic life – temperature, humidity, atmospheric currents from respiration, bio-electrical impulses, movement, heartbeat and so on – and collating the results to determine the location of the life-form in question and differentiating between animal and vegetable matter.

Bio-scanners will not detect non-organic objects or characters like Daemons, warp entities, machines or vehicles. Due to the lack of respiration and other life signs, bio-scanners have a tendency to tag corpses as being plant matter. The same problem occasionally occurs with heavily armoured individuals (in game terms, there is a 25% chance of not picking up anyone in power or Terminator armour – or an alien equivalent).

Also, bio-scanners occasionally fail to detect anything in areas filled with biological life (Tyranid hive ships, forests, crowds etc.). This occurs on a matched failure in the Detection test.

Energy scanners detect electrical currents and energy emissions. These traces may come from machinery, from candle flames, electrical cabling and air-conditioning units up to energy weapons, running vehicles and plasma reactors. None of these traces are distinguishable from one another, except in their intensity, appearing on the scanner screen as patches of different blobs of colour. Areas or sources of radiation will also be detected, but is indistinguishable from any other energy source.

However, psykers, Daemons and warp entities are immediately recognisable as extremely intense energy traces, and give a +30 bonus to any Detection tests. Psychic artefacts may, depending on their nature and how much psychic energy is actually bound into the object (in the case of Daemon weapons, this is a lot), apply the same bonus. Note that psychic traces within the vicinity of an untouchable or a pariah will not show up on an energy scanner, although all other traces will.

Metal detectors will pick up any object containing large amounts of metal. The iron content of a human or (most) aliens is not detectable, but a character’s equipment, particularly weaponry, will be picked up. Some organisations use only plastic weapons to avoid this kind of detection, but the vast majority of reasonably equipped characters can be assumed to have enough metal on their person to set off a detector. Mines are often plastic, but those with metal casings are easily detected by metal detectors.

Motion trackers only work in line of sight, using timed radar bounces (or some similar method) to detect moving objects or creatures. A skilled user can even determine the size of an object by the ‘ping’.

Stationary objects will not appear on the auspex at all, but the faster a trace moves, the more likely it is to be detected. As such, a guard who stretches to yawn is only making a small movement, and applies a –20 penalty to the Detection test. An object moving at running speed or faster applies a +20 bonus. This is increased to 40% for sprinting or faster.

Size also offers penalties or bonuses for being significantly smaller or larger than a human (-20 for ratlings or smaller, +20 for ogryns or larger).

Psi-trackers are rare and expensive pieces of psychically imbued equipment, mainly used by Imperial organisations like the Arbites and Inquisition in the rounding up of previously undetected psykers. The Ordo Malleus also makes use of psi-trackers when hunting Daemons. Psi-trackers work by detecting shifts in warpspace as sentient beings move, essentially tracking the creature’s soul.

Rather than taking the usual Detection tests, characters with psi-trackers count as having the Psi-Track Telepathy power, although all tests are taken using the device’s Willpower score of 75. Being a machine (albeit a psychically imbued one), a psi-tracker will not lose Willpower points for failing to cast and will not suffer psychic overload or suffer Daemonic attack.

Psi-trackers will not detect non-living or inorganic objects and completely ignore any obstacles.

Rad counters measure atmospheric radiation levels, and many have a compartment into which soil or other samples can be added for more detailed analysis. An operational rad counter gives out a periodic click under normal conditions, but this rate will rapidly increase to a terrifying chitter as radiation levels reach dangerous levels.

Rad counters are unable to pinpoint the source of radioactivity by themselves, but increase their clicking rate as they are pointed or moved towards the source substance.

This is the kind of equipment that can really irritate GMs who don’t want PCs to find the assassin in the secret room due to the bio-scanner they bought that morning, or to realise that their unassuming NPC colleague is actually psychic, several sessions before you want them to, thanks to a totally routine sweep with an energy scanner. Simple. Don’t let the PCs find auspexes when they’re searching for potential purchases.

Alternatively, a crafty GM can have a lot of fun with a party with an auspex. The first and second Alien films made good use of motion detectors for dramatic purposes, and lots of ideas can be taken from these. Motion trackers in particular are good for drama – a stationary threat is invisible until it moves. What if resourceful adversaries managed to somehow scramble the party’s auspexes, or trick them into detecting things that aren’t there (and vice versa)?

Keep the PCs on edge. Like most Imperial technology, auspexes are imperfect as it is. Very few will pick up every threat. Smart enemies may even try to use ‘auspex-feints’, where a small group deliberately let themselves get detected, so as to distract the party from a larger group, waiting just outside of auspex range. The PCs will be left unsure whether to trust their equipment or resort to using their own senses.

And anyway, realising your closest friend is actually a Daemon in disguise, when you were only trying to find where the wires were behind your living room wall, need not necessarily be a bad thing. Well, for the adventure anyway. The PC is probably in deep trouble…

The autorack is the gruesome pinnacle of Imperial torture technology. Rather than damage the body in order to cause pain, the autorack directly stimulates nerve endings in the subject’s central nervous system, simulating the neurological effects of injuries. The advantages of this method are twofold: Firstly, the torture can go on as long as is necessary, since there is no risk of physically harming the subject, and secondly, because no physical harm is being caused, the torturer undergoes less strain from causing pain.

In game terms, torture with an autorack does not inflict hit point damage on the subject, and there is therefore no chance of causing location injury. Additionally, the torturer gains a +30 bonus to Willpower tests to resist gaining Insanity points from the stress of torture.

The only real disadvantage of the autorack is that the pain caused is far more intense than that caused by normal torture, and has a tendency to imprint itself onto nerve endings after a certain length of time. This has the effect of doubling all Insanity points caused to the subject by the torture.

There are many varieties of autorack in use, from arcane box-shaped devices with snaking electrodes writhing like the tendrils of a jellyfish, through gloves with needle fingertips, to the knife-like Blades of Reason used by the Interrogator-Chaplains of the so-called ‘Unforgiven’ Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes. The most common variety is a hand-held device, similar in size and shape to an auspex scanner, which is held against the subject’s head or spine as torture is commenced, and it is this version that characters are most likely to encounter.

Most citizens of the Imperium are not particularly skilled with technology (and many are superstitiously afraid of it). The Adeptus Mechanicus is fully able to distribute equipment to citizens, and good human manufacturing can last for millennia before wearing out. However, there will always be something that is faulty or that breaks through careless use. Not every human town has access to a Techpriest, and so the Mechanicus manufacture heavy machines called auto-repairers, that can analyse, repair and re-consecrate any restless machine spirits. The item is placed inside a chamber in the machine, whereupon automated sub-machines carry out tests and repairs. To most citizens, this appears as magic.

Auto-repairers are usually stored in a trading post or artisan’s workshop, and the owner of the shop charges for repairs, in order to pay back the purchase or rental costs of the machine.

Auto-repairers vary in design, depending upon the Forgeworld of origin, but all incorporate some form of Standard Template Construct storage and retrieval system. Some may be connected to a planet-wide database of STCs, although the Adeptus Mechanicus’s line rental costs are about 100 sestertii per month and only available in environments of Tech Level 8 or above, and even then some rural areas will not be covered. Usually, an auto-repairer comes with 2D6 STC records as standard. The content of these records is determined in the normal way (see STC Records, below).

A damaged device of 200 Encumbrance points or fewer can be put into an auto-repairer and an attempt can be made to repair it. Spare parts equal in value to 5% of the item’s normal cost are required, along with the attentions of two characters with the Use Cogitator ability. Note that since the auto-repairer is doing the work, the operators do not need to have any construction-related abilities.

The repair is treated as a normal Construction test, except that the auto-repairer’s Sagacity score of 95 is used. Strength and Initiative are not required. Failed repairs are treated normally.

Bio-boosters are packs of self-injecting chemicals, normally worn in the same manner as a wristwatch or around the neck, or occasionally taped over any other prominent part of the bloodstream. Bio-sensors built into the pack detect the drop in blood pressure resulting from severe bleeding and automatically inject pain-killers, adrenalin and other stimulants to keep the wearer fighting for a few more minutes.

A bio-booster will activate automatically when the wearer suffers any injury where the Location Injury Chart indicates that the character is bleeding. The character immediately restores 3D6 hit points, regaining consciousness if this takes the character above their Consciousness level, and avoiding death if the injury would normally have killed the character. The bio-booster has no effect on location injury effects – it is merely keeping the character standing, heedless of his gaping wounds or missing limbs.

D6 minutes after activation, characters affected by bio-boosters will suffer 3D6 damage as they come down from their adrenalin high.

Characters cannot use multiple bio-boosters at the same time. If this is attempted, the activation of the second booster has no effect other than to cause 3D6 damage. Note that all bio-boosters worn by a character will be activated by the same bleeding injury, so there is no point in wearing multiple boosters and hoping there is enough time between injuries to avoid the side-effects.

Once activated, a bio-booster needs a replacement chemical capsule inserting. This is best not done in the heat of battle, when the wearer is under the effects of the previous dose.

Many squad support weapons are fitted with bipods to allow the firer to rest the weapon more easily. A weapon fitted with a bipod increases its Encumbrance value by +10, but does not take an action to rest against horizontal surfaces – as soon as the weapon is raised to a firing position, the legs of the bipod drop down and support the weapon automatically.

Additionally, the weapon’s Encumbrance (including the +10 for the bipod, and any other modifications) is halved for the purpose of determining to hit modifiers.

Cameleoline is a bizarre material, usually based on stolen eldar technology, although some Imperial variants are based on that of other xenos species, who may or may not have acquired the technology originally from the eldar. Cameleoline is an extremely light material, despite its apparent thickness, but its most notable quality is its ability to assume the hue of its surroundings. The Adeptus Mechanicus is reluctant to disclose the reason for this, or why they have yet to modify the technique to work with materials other than fabric, and it is suspected by many that the Techpriests are as clueless as the rest of humanity.

Whatever the science behind the technology, characters with cameleoline blankets (which are often worn as cloaks, with the addition of a subtle plastic clasp) gain a +10 bonus to any Hide tests. This is doubled if the character possesses the relevant Concealment ability for the environment. A single blanket can obscure a single adult human, while it may take as many as four to completely cover an ogryn.

Designed for herding large pastoral animals, the cattle prod can also be used as a weapon. Treat cattle prods as improvised weapons, but any hits have the special effects of a shock weapon (see Close Combat Weapons).

Unlike the eviscerator, the normal chainsaw is designed for cutting wood, rather than armour, flesh and bone. Its teeth move slower, and are often blunt. It is still gorily effective against living targets though. Treat chainsaws as improvised weapons, but any hits cause 2D6 damage, increasing to 4D6 against stationary targets such as doors or unconscious opponents. When used as a weapon, the Specialist Weapon – Chain ability is required.

Also known as cogitators, logic engines or thinking engines, computer technology within the Imperium is almost mechanical. Although far more powerful than modern computers, cogitation engines are also far larger, filling rooms and requiring their own air conditioning system. The primary use of cogitators in the 41^st Millennium is data storage, and much of a cogitation engine’s bulk is made up of vast disk-cylinders, crystal matrices or tape reels, filled with data. Other common functions include communications, strategic weapons targeting, industrial or civic systems monitoring. Non-human sentience of any kind is deemed heretical, so artificial intelligence, or even the impression of artificial intelligence, will not be found. Where

Despite the vast computing power of the 41^st Millennium machine, user-friendliness is virtually non-existent, with text-only interfaces for most functions. Any messages from the machine are filled with obscure jargon and streams of machine code or Lingua Technis that mean nothing to anyone outside the Machine Cult. The exception to this unfriendly nature is data input. Since most of the Imperium is illiterate, MIU sockets are supplied as standard (usually enough for up to six logisticians per engine), although the actual mind impulse unit implants must be bought separately.

A character attempting to find information on a cogitation engine’s databases must take a Sagacity test, with a bonus of +10 for possession of each of the following abilities: Secret Language – Lingua Technis, Problem Solving and Super Numerate. If the character does not have the Use Cogitator ability, the chances of success are halved before modifiers are applied, and the operation will take two or three times as long.

Other operations involving cogitation engines will normally involved Sagacity tests with the same bonuses and penalties, as well as additional details based on the exact circumstances and the nature of the task.

It is unusual for a currency forger to manufacture counterfeit coinage, largely because forged coins tend to be in such small denominations that the profit margin is too small for it to be worth it. However, people tend not to check coinage for its authenticity, so a coin counterfeiter can get away with a lot more than with paper or electronic currency. The exception to this is when the local culture does not use currency other than coins – most medieval worlds, for example – and coin counterfeiting runs the same risks as other forms in more advanced cultures.

It takes D6 days to make a blank coin die useable, and requires an example of the currency being copied and a successful Sagacity and Initiative test, with a +10 bonus if the counterfeiter has the Artist ability. If the test is failed, an extra day is added onto the time needed to finish the die, as the counterfeiter tries to correct the mistakes made. If the test is a matched failure, the die is ruined by shoddy workmanship or a disastrous error, and cannot be repaired.

Counterfeiters may need to produce their own passable metal compound (or get someone to do it for them), which requires the Numismatics and Metallurgy abilities, as well as a successful Sagacity test for each batch of metal produced. Producing this compound also requires the relevant equipment and somewhere to use it. Base metals for a batch of metal compound will cost 3D6 sestertii.

Each batch of base metal must be added to 10 melted down coins of the type being forged, and will produce, on another successful Sagacity and Initiative test, 50 coins. The margin of success or failure for this test determines how authentic-looking the coin is.

There is a 25% chance that a recipient will spot the counterfeit coin, modified by the margin of success or failure of the production Sagacity and Initiative test. Transactions including more than ten counterfeit coins add an additional –1 modifier for each coin above ten. The time since the first coin was put into local circulation also increases the vigilance of traders, by –1 per day in cultures using coins as a secondary form of currency (usually Tech Level 6 and upwards), or –5 per day for those where coins are the primary currency form.

Forgery of Imperial sestertii is a treasonous act and is subject to capital punishment under Imperial Law. Passing on counterfeit currency usually results in a long term of imprisonment, although the death penalty is allowed for particularly large sums (1000 sestertii and upwards). Local laws cover local currencies and may be significantly less harsh, although many conservative or puritan cultures will imitate Imperial Law.

This is a catch-all grouping of tools used by the various Craftsman careers. A character attempting the appropriate craft while using these tools gains a +5 bonus to the appropriate characteristic tests.

Com-links provide radio communication over a distance. Short-range devices generally have a maximum radius of 1500 yards, and are usually used by combat troops at a squad level. Usually, a single member of a squad or platoon will carry a longer-ranged com-link (usually big enough to necessitate backpack straps) with a range up to 50 miles. Vehicle mounted com-links generally have a range of about 100-300 miles, and specialist communications vehicles (such as military command vehicles) may have satellite communication capabilities in addition to a direct transmission range of around 5000 miles.

Weather conditions and psychic activity reduce these ranges significantly.

Merchants’ Guild credit chits are typically supplied in denominations of 100, 500, 1000 or 5000 sestertii, although greater or lesser amounts are available in some areas. Any Guilder or guild-sanctioned trader can add credit to a chit, in return for a similar amount of cash. The chit can then be used as an electronic form of currency, thus negating the need for carrying around unwieldy amounts of cash. Note that only Merchants’ Guild outlets, and certain illegal establishments, will be able to accept credit chits as currency.

Not all worlds use the credit chit system, most notably those under Merchants’ Guild sanctions or those too technologically and socially regressed to understand the concept of electronic currency.

To prevent them being hacked into and altered by criminals, credit chits generally have some degree of encryption. This varies depending on the maximum value of the chit. Chits of other denominations will have proportionately different security levels. See the rules for credit chit editors for more information on chit security levels.

These devices are usually put together in a back street workshop, since their whole purpose is to hack into a stolen credit chit and transfer the credit units stored there onto another chip. It is rare to find them on open sale anywhere other than the most lawless environments. Effectively, they imitate the Merchants’ Guild device or badge normally required to carry out a credit transfer.

Breaking the encryption and password on a credit chit requires a successful Sagacity test on the part of the user, with a –5 penalty per level of security on the chit. This usually takes between a few minutes and several hours, depending on the quality of the editor, value limit of the chit (the higher, the greater the encryption) and the ability of the hacker.

Once the chit has been cracked, the contents can be increased, decreased or transferred to or from another chit.

The credit chit system is designed to work with transferrals, and chits store the identification number of the Merchants’ Guild device or badge used in the transaction. It requires an additional Sagacity test (modified as above) to falsify the record of an illegal or non-existent transaction.

Unless the character using the credit chit editor has the Use Cogitator ability, Sagacity is halved.

An advanced replacement for the parachute, grav-chutes take the form of a heavy device worn on the character’s back or in several modules on the belt. When the grav-chute detects rapid downward movement, it activates several powerful anti-gravitic suspensors, slowing the fall to a safe velocity.

Because it takes around a second to accelerate to a fast enough speed for the sensors to detect a fall, a grav-chute only work on falls of 10 yards or more. Once activated, the wearer will land upright with no harm done.

Using thermal imaging technology, infra-goggles or infra-visors quadruple the distance that a wearer can see heat-emitting objects (including characters) in the dark. Additionally, the wearer ignores all shooting penalties imposed by the darkness against these targets. Infra-vision can also see a distance of up to two yards beyond average thickness walls.

Bulky and difficult to control, jump packs are unpopular with all but the most bloodthirsty troops. There are better ways of moving soldiers around the battlefield than blasting them into the air where everyone can get a shot at them. Fortunately, the expense of jump packs means that few commanders are willing to issue them to their troops. However, a number of notable Imperial Guard regiments do use them, and assault units of the Adeptus Arbites appreciate the jump pack’s ability to get shock troopers into the thick of the action.

A character wearing a jump pack can spend an action leaping up to 200 yards, minus half the wearer’s Encumbrance (including equipment, armour and clothing), and can spring over obstacles up to 20 yards in height. A successful Initiative test is required to land on target, while a failed test means the character lands a number of yards away from the landing point equal to the margin of failure. The direction can be determined randomly (Games Workshop Scatter Dice are good for this) or it can be chosen by the GM.

If the Initiative test is a matched failure, the character lands badly and counts as falling from a height of 20 yards onto a soft surface.

Because of the explosive ignition of a jump pack as it launches, any characters within one yard of the launch point suffers D3 hits, each causing D3 damage. The wearer also takes damage, but the hit location rolls are halved, since only his lower body risks damage. Since most military jump packers are wearing at least flak armour, they are normally unharmed by the flames.

A jump pack is capable of supporting 10 jumps before it needs refuelling (either ten litres of promethium or a large power pack).

Several special variants of the jump pack exist for use by power-armoured troops, and combine the functions of a normal power armour backpack with those of a jump pack.

Power armour jump packs leap up to 500 yards, minus half of the wearer’s Encumbrance (including equipment, armour and clothing), and can spring over obstacles up to 20 yards in height. However, the additional propulsion needed by a power-armoured soldier, particularly in the case of Space Marines, means that the ramjets cause D6 damage, rather than D3, on any characters within their backwash.

Power armour jump packs require the presence of at least a power armour harness, and ideally a full suit.

Other than this, all the normal rules for jump packs are followed.

Las-cutters are heavy-duty pieces of industrial equipment, designed for mining or cutting apart scrap metal. They are infantry-portable, just about, but are virtually useless in combat situations, since their range is almost nil and their energy consumption makes logistical re-supply a nightmare. Their primary use outside of industry is amongst special forces or criminal gangs trying to get through reinforced walls. The las-cutter is the only member of the las-weapon family to actually use laser technology in its traditional form, as a cutting beam, rather than as a means of creating energy bolts.

Las-cutters are powered either by a large power pack fitted into a backpack harness or are connected to the mains electrical supply.

They have no medium or long range, and count as heavy weapons, so they impose a –20 penalty to BS – fortunately most targets are big and stationary, so can be hit without rolling dice.

Magnoculars, binoculars and telescopes increase visual range by factors of x15, x10 or x5 respectively.

A primitive, yet effective, method of avoiding death by falling from high places, parachutes can save a person’s life in falls from 300 yards up to sub-orbital levels. Many parachutists will need breathing apparatus at particularly high altitudes.

Characters in freefall (to gain greater drop accuracy, perhaps, or are embroiled in a mid-air fight) will pass through 100 yards every round until they open the parachute. If the character wishes to wait until pulling the ripcord, it requires a Sagacity test to determine the safe number of rounds that the character wishes to continue freefalling. If this test is passed, the character will open the parachute at the last possible moment – around 700 yards altitude, although characters may opt to open their parachutes earlier if they wish. If the test is failed by rolling an even number, the character is too late, and freefalls an extra 100 yards for every ten points or part by which the test was failed. If the failure was an odd number, the character opens 100 yards earlier for every ten points or part by which the test was failed.

If a character opens a parachute within 300 yards of the ground, the parachute has no effect whatsoever and the character takes normal falling damage.

A character may opt to open the parachute immediately upon leaving the aircraft, thus avoiding the risks and benefits of freefall.

Opening The Parachute

In order to successfully use a parachute, a character must pass an Initiative test. If the character is in a high-stress situation (e.g. tumbling from an aircraft in the process of falling to pieces, or struggling in a freefall knife fight with a Chaos cultist), then Initiative is halved. Initiative is halved again if the character does not have the Use Parachute ability.

If the test is a matched success, the character lands safely and manages to remain upright. If the test is passed, the character lands but falls prone. If the test is failed, the character lands prone and is injured, suffering D3 hits, each causing D6 damage. If the test is a matched failure, roll a D6 on the following table:

Once a parachute has been opened, it takes one round to fall through 10 yards of air.

The landing point can be determined either at the GM’s discretion, or a distance downwind from the jumping point equal to D100 yards for every hundred yards, or part, in which the parachute was operational.

An advanced form of parachute designed for low-level precision insertions, parawings (also known as para-gliders) are popular with the Imperial Guard’s Storm Troopers. The main advantage of a parawing is that it can be steered to a precise landing, thus avoiding the dangerous scattering of a parachute drop.

A parawing takes the form of a backpack that unfolds into a reasonable-sized hang glider when the ripcord is pulled. The wearer then steers the parawing by pulling cables threaded through the shoulder straps. Although parawings can be folded up after landing, ready for re-use, they are often abandoned (usually by being buried), because they encumber wearers too much – particularly if they are kitted out for prolonged behind-the-lines action.

Parawings have a minimum altitude of about 30 yards. Any lower than this and the wearer will hit the ground before the wings are fully unfurled.

A parawing will not work in a freefall drop – the wings must be unfurled immediately after exiting the launch aircraft or the falling velocity will rip the wings apart as they open. An Initiative test is required to open the parawing. If the character is in a high-stress situation (such as combat or being thrown from the plane), Initiative is halved. Initiative is halved again if the character does not have the Use Parachute ability.

If the test is passed, the character lands successfully. If the test is failed, the character lands badly and suffers D3 hits, each causing D3 damage. If the test is a matched failure, roll a D6 on the following table:

The wearer determines the landing point and makes an Initiative test, with negative modifiers applied for strong wind, rain, ground fire or other conditions at the GM’s discretion.

If the test is a matched success, the parawing lands directly on target. If the test is passed, the parawing deviates a distance in yards equal to the margin of success, in a direction chosen by the wearer.

If the test is failed, the parawing scatters (or the pilot is forced to deviate off-course) a distance in yards equal to the margin of failure, in a direction chosen by the GM. If the test is a matched failure, the same result applies except the distance is doubled.

Photochromatic screening devices offer a bonus to Initiative tests to avoid being blinded by photon flash flares, conversion fields and other similar light-based weaponry. All the various types work in the same way – some sort of photochromatic substance placed between the eyes and the light source will darken as soon as they detect a bright glare. A character with good photochromatic protection could stare at the sun for long periods of time without suffering ill effects beyond a crick in the neck.

Photochromatic contact lenses grant a +30 bonus. They are invisible when not active and must be removed before sleeping. A character falling asleep or losing consciousness while wearing lenses may have difficulty seeing (thanks to eye irritation and pain) if the lens slides up or down beneath the eyelid.

Eye drops require a dose to be administered to each eye, and are effective for 24 hours before being absorbed harmlessly into the user’s system. Like contact lenses, they are invisible until activated by bright light, but only grant a bonus of +10 to Initiative tests against such attacks.

Photochromatic injections involve light-sensitive chemicals being injected directly into the eye, and are undetectable without a close medical examination (the patient’s irises will not contract when a bright light is shone on them). The injections are effective for around a month before being absorbed into the body, and offer a +30 bonus to Initiative tests against flash attacks.

Goggles and visors give a +20 bonus to Initiative tests against flash attacks.

When attached to a mains power supply, recharger restores a power pack’s charge at the quadruple the rate at which the pack would normally take if exposed to the sun.

Large power pack rechargers can hold up to two large packs at any one time, while standard power pack rechargers can hold up to six standard-sized packs.

Screamers are security sensors fitted with an integral klaxon, small enough to fit into the palm of a human’s hand. They are fitted with auditory sensors, largely for cost reasons – it is unnecessary to provide transmitters and receivers for linked screamers if the klaxon from one will set off the others in a chain reaction – and will trip if they pick up anything louder than a small animal.

A screamer’s sensor has a range of 50 yards, and the klaxon can be heard clearly over twice that distance. Any characters beyond this distance will have to take an auditory Awareness test.

A character failing a Sneak test, or moving faster than a Sneak action, within range of a screamer will set the klaxon off.

A screamer has an integral power supply that is good for one month of activation, but discharges itself in five minutes (or less, depending on how long the screamer has been active) once the klaxon is activated. The klaxon cannot be switched off, and many frustrated users will, after a false alarm, smash spent screamers just to shut them up.

Stummers were specifically designed to bypass devices like screamers by dampening sound within a small area. Also known in mystical Adeptus Mechanicus terminology as ‘Cones of Silence’, stummers emit inverse sound waves to neutralise those that they are picking up. Although not a perfect science, stummers make for good stealth or privacy.

An active stummer is normally clipped onto a belt or other item of clothing, and dampens all sources of sound within a radius of two yards.

The distance at which a dampened sound can automatically be heard is cut to just 10% of its normal value (e.g. a pistol shot in a stummer’s inverse sound field is reduced from 150 yards to just 15 yards). A character within the usual hearing distance of an action must take an auditory Awareness test to hear anything within this field.

–30 modifier to hear the sound. Characters beyond this distance have no chance of hearing the sound.

A stummer requires a small power pack (normally supplied with the device), which will last for about an hour of continuous usage.

Suspensors are small anti-gravity devices that are attached, to heavy equipment. They cannot cause the equipment to become entirely weightless, but they can absorb a significant portion of its weight. Suspensors are generally attached using magnets, although they work just as well if held on with duct tape.

Each suspensor attached to an item reduces its Encumbrance by 20 points, but cannot take an item below half of its original Encumbrance. Note that each suspensor weighs 1 Encumbrance point, and this is added to the item’s weight.

In addition, a fully automatic weapon with one or more suspensors always counts as braced.

Tripods are three-legged telescopic supports for heavy weapons. They are bulky and often need to be carried by a second member of a weapon team, only to be attached to the weapon when it is being set up to fire.

It takes one action to set up the tripod, and another action to attach the weapon. However, once set up, the weapon counts as being rested (+10 BS) and has no Encumbrance, insofar as determining any BS modifiers for the weapon being too heavy to fire accurately.

A weapon can be transported attached to its tripod, thus saving one action when the time comes to fight, but this can be prohibitively encumbering.

A down-scaling of the void field technology used to protect spacecraft, Titans and certain super-heavy war machines, the ‘personal’ void field generator is so heavy that it is difficult for a single person to even lift, much less fight with it. As a result, and as a result of a void field generator’s expense, they are rarely used except on government limousines or important military installations.

When activated, a void field generator produces a wall of translucent force up to 10 yards wide and 10 yards high, almost utterly impenetrable. For some unknown reason, organic matter in the way of the field when it activates will be sliced instantly and perfectly in two. If a character is examining a void field generator and foolishly (or unsuspectingly – the Imperium’s health and safety laws regarding labelling are virtually non-existent) switches it on, he or she can expect to lose most fingers, if not entire hands.

The only way of shutting down a void field is to either cut the power or hit the field with enough energy to overload it. The first method is not as easy as it sounds – void shield generators can have their own self-contained power supply, although if large power packs are not available, the generator can be plugged into a mains power supply.

Overloading the void field is similarly difficult, thanks to the field’s ability to regenerate any damage inflicted on it. A void field has 100 hit points. It must be taken to at least its ‘Consciousness’ level of 50 hit points in a single round in order to collapse. Subsequent attacks made in the same round will be able to pass through the field. At the end of the round, the field will recover all lost hit points and come back up. To totally destroy the void field, 100 points of damage must be inflicted in a single round, which will overload the generator with feedback, rendering it irreparably burnt out. Offensive psychic powers do have an effect on a void field, and haywire grenades can be used to neutralise it.

More intelligent players may decide to shoot the generator itself after knocking the shield down temporarily. The designer’s took this strategy into account and made the generator as tough as they could (hence its impossible weight). It counts as a small target (-30 to hit) and has an Armour Value of 10 and a 20 hit points. If the generator is ‘killed’, it is assumed to be damaged so significantly that the field will not come back up.

When the field is active, the generator is protected in a bubble at the bottom of the wall and cannot be hit by attacks from either direction.

The void field generator given in these rules and on the Trading Charts is the smallest example. The maximum size of a void field is dependent on the resources put into its set up and operation – many affluent cities may afford themselves a void field to protect from orbital bombardment, and warships and Titans may have as many as five or six void shields overlapping in an onion-skin shell. These massive fields are far stronger than the example described here, with a Toughness characteristic well into the thousands, and possibly even the hundreds of thousands. For the sake of comparison, the void field system that protected the Dark Angels’ fortress-monastery during the destruction of Caliban, the planet it was built on, undoubtedly had multiple fields, each with hit points in the millions (or perhaps even higher).

Gunsights

IFF taggers are usually attached to the barrel of a rifle weapon. They are not actually a gunsight, and do not impinge on the use of a more conventional sight in any way. IFF taggers can record the bio-spoor of up to ten characters (each tag taking about five seconds, or one action, to record). It is impossible for a weapon with an IFF tagger to fire when there is a tagged character within one yard of the line of fire. In other words, in any situation where the GM would consider there normally to be a potential risk of hitting a tagged individual, the weapon will not fire.

Infrascopes quadruple the distance that a wearer can see heat-emitting objects (including characters) in the dark. Additionally, the wearer ignores all shooting penalties imposed by the darkness against these targets. Infra-vision can also see a distance of up to two yards beyond average thickness walls. The target must be aiming in order to take advantage of any of the gunsight’s capabilities.

See the Ranged Weapons section of the Armoury.

Laser sights use low-powered laser beams to project an illuminated dot onto the target, allowing for more accurate placement of shots. Characters attempting a placed shot with a laser sight do not halve their chance of hitting, although they must still spend an action aiming (unless they also have the Deadeye Shot ability).

The mono-sight utilises a head-up display worn over one eye, showing the image from pict-recorder mounted below the muzzle of the weapon to which it is attached. This assists targeting greatly, granting a +10 bonus to all shooting with the weapon in question.

A sophisticated logic engine built into the gunsight determines the relative direction and speed of a target and alters the image shown in the sights to compensate for such movement. A character firing an aimed shot with a motion predictor negates all penalties caused by the target’s movement.

As the name suggests, a range finder calculates the range from the firer to the target and indicates the extra degree of elevation required to counteract ‘bullet drop’, where gravity causes a projectile to fall during flight.

A character firing an aimed shot through a range finder halves all penalties caused by range.

The most simple and common of all gunsights, telescopic sights (or telesights) do little more than magnify the target, making aiming significantly easier.

Shots aimed through a telescopic sight treat all range bands as being increased by 50%. For example, a weapon with a Short Range of 20 yards increases this to 30 yards.

Telesights allow for magnification of x10, comparable with a pair of binoculars.

Illumination

Light sources allow a character to see further in darkness, but they also have the unwanted effect of making the user more visible. In warzones, even a poorly concealed cigarette can end a soldier’s life, so combat veterans are distinctly cagey about having any unnecessary source of illumination.

An observer may not be able to make out the form of the character holding a light, but will be able to see a bobbing light from any distance up to around a mile in clear, flat conditions.

These distances are guidelines for narrative purposes, rather than being rigidly enforced as rules.