Warhammer 40K - Skills & Talents

Combat overview

#	Action	Description
1.	Surprise	Surprised combatants lose their first turn
2.	Roll Initiative	Roll 1d10 + Agility Bonus
3.	Determine Initiative order	Rank all initiative rolls, including NPC's
4.	Characters take turns	Each character can perform 1 or more actions
5.	Round ends	End of the round
6.	Repeat steps 4 and 5 as needed

Attack overview

#	Action	Description
1.	Test	Roll WS or BS
2.	Determine Hit Location	Reverse the order of the dice (roll of 32 becomes 23)
3.	Determine Damage	Roll damage of the weapon. For Melee: add Strength Bonus
4.	Apply Damage	Substract Toughness Bonus and Armour Points from Damage

Hit Locations

Roll	Location
01-10	Head
11-20	Right Arm
21-30	Left Arm
31-70	Body
71-85	Right Leg
86-00	Left Leg

Combat actions

Action	Type	Description
All Out Attack	Full	+20 to WS, cannot Dodge or Parry
Charge	Full	Must move 4 metres, +10 to WS
Defensive Stance	Full	Enemies -20 WS, you cannot attack.
Feint	Half	Opposed WS Test, if you win, your next attack cannot be Dodged or Parried
Full Auto Burst	Full	+20 to BS, additional hit for every degree of success
Grapple	Full	Make a Grapple attack
Guarded Attack	Full	-10 WS, +10 to Parry and Dodge
Knock-Down	Half	Try and knock an opponent to the ground
Multiple Attacks	Full	Use Swift Attack or Lightning Attack talents to make multiple attacks
Overwatch	Varies	Shoot targets coming into a set kill zone, -20 to BS
Semi-Auto Burst	Full	+10 to BS, additional hit for every two degrees of success
Standard Attack	Half	Make one melee or ranged attack
Stun	Full	Try to Stun an opponent
Suppressing Fire	Full	Force opponents to take cover, -20 to BS

Move actions

Action	Type	Description
Disengage	Full	Break off from melee and move
Jump/Leap	Full	Leap or Jump
Manoeuvre	Half	Opposed WS Test, if you win move enemy 1 metre
Move	Half/Full	Move up to your movement as a Half Action or twice your movement as a Full Action
Run	Full	Move triple, enemies -20 BS and +20 WS
Stand/Mount	Half	Stand up or mount a riding animal
Tactical Advantage	Full	Move from cover to cover

Miscellaneous actions

Action	Type	Description
Aim	Half/Full	+10 bonus to hit as a Half Action or +20 to hit as a Full Action on your next attack
Delay	Half	Before your next Turn take any Half action
Dodge	Reaction	Test Dodge to negate a hit
Focus Power	Varies	Use a Psychic Power
Parry	Reaction	Test Weapon Skill to negate a hit
Ready	Half	Ready a weapon or item
Reload	Varies	Reload a ranged weapon
Use Skill	Varies	You may use a Skill

Action types

During each normal Round, every character gets a Turn to act. On his Turn, a character can take one or more Actions. There are five types of Actions in Dark Heresy.

Full Action
A Full Action requires a character's complete attention to accomplish on his Turn. A character that takes a Full Action cannot take any Half actions this Round.

Half Action
A Half Action is fairly simple, like moving or drawing a weapon. A character can take two different Half Actions on his Turn instead of taking a Full Action. Note that you may not take the same Half Action twice.

Reaction
A Reaction is an Action that is made in response to some event such as an attack. All characters receive one Reaction each Round, which may only be used when it is not their Turn. Examples include making a Dodge Test or Parrying an attack.

Free Action
A Free Action takes but a split second and so can be taken in addition to any other Actions you make in a Round. There is no formal limit to the number of Free Actions a character can make in a Round, but a GM should use common sense to set reasonable limits on what can be done in a few seconds.

Extended Action
Some Actions take more time than a single Round to complete. Once you commit yourself to an Extended Action, you are considered to be working towards completing that Action for as long as it takes. Should you be interrupted or if you abandon the Extended Action, all progress towards completing it is lost.

Combat Circumstances

Circumstance	Effect
Called Shots	WS & BS -20
Darkness	WS -20 / BS -30
Difficult Terrain	WS & Dodge -10 up to -30
Extreme Range	BS -30
Fatigued	All tests -10
Firing a Weapon on Full Automatic	BS +10
Firing a Weapon on Semi-Automatic	BS +20
Fog, Mist or Shadow	BS -20
Ganging Up	2 to 1 WS +10 / 3 to 1 or more WS+20
Helpless Targets	Automatic success. Roll twice for damage
Higher Ground	WS +10
Long Range	BS -10
Off Hand Attacks	WS & BS -20
Point Blank	BS +30
Prone	WS on prone +10 / WS & BS by prone -10, Dodge by prone -20
Shooting into Melee Combat	BS -20
Short Range	BS +10
Size	See table
Stunned Targets	WS & BS +20
Unarmed	WS -20
Unaware Targets	WS & BS +30
Weather and Unnatural Conditions	WS & BS -20

Combat Difficulty

Difficulty	Modifier	Description
Easy	+30	Attacking a Surprised opp...
Routine	+20	Close combat with foe who...
Ordinary	+10	Close combat with a foe w...
Challenging	+0	A Standard Attack...
Difficult	-10	Attacking whilst you are ...
Hard	-20	A Called Shot to a specif...
Very Hard	-30	Attacking or Dodging in d...

Size modifiers

Size	Example	Modifier
Massive	Battle tank, scar wyrm	+30
Enormous	Silt spider, land speeder	+20
Hulking	Grox, combat servitor	+10
Average	Human, mutant	+0
Scrawny	Child, ash slug	-10
Puny	Rat, servo-skull	-20
Miniscule	Door handle, knife	-30

Weapon - special qualities

Quality	Description
Accurate	+10 BS when aiming
Balanced	+10 WS when Parrying
Blast (X)	Everyone in blast radius (metres) is hit
Defensive	+15 WS when Parrying, but -10 WS when attacking
Flexible	Cannot be Parried
Inaccurate	No bonus for Aiming
Power field	When Parrying a non-power field weapon you have 75% chance of destroying it
Primitive	All armour points are double, unless the armour is also Primitive
Reliable	If it jams, roll 1d10. Only on a 10 it is jammed.
Scatter	At point blank range: every 2 degrees of success +1 hit, Long/Extreme Range: all armour points double
Shocking	Can stun target. See more info.
Tearing	Rull twice for damage and choose highest
Toxic	Can poison target. See more info.
Unbalanced	-10 Parry
Unreliable	On roll of 91(+) it jams
Unwieldy	Cannot Parry

Weapon - characteristics

Characteristic	Description
Class	Melee, Thrown, Pistol, Basic or Heavy
Melee	Only in close combat. Add SB to damage
Thrown	Add SB to damage
Pistol	For close combat
Basic	Two-handed. -20 penalty when used one-handed
Heavy	Always two-handed. Must be braced or -30 penalty and no Semi-Auto or Full-Auto
Range	Range in meters. Can't be more than 4x range distance
RoF (Rate of Fire)	Single Shot, Semi-Auto or Full-Auto
Dam (Damage)	Damage + type (E/X/R/I)
Pen (Penetration)	Reduce targets Armour Points by weapon's Pen
Clip	How many rounds/charges the weapon holds
Rld (Reload)	How many actions to reload
Special	Any special qualities