General OOC

+++ Questions to think about...why are you and your partner(s) working side-by-side? What has prompted such a squad to be assembled? How is it perceived by other Tau? Tau society? +++


PC Creation will follow the rules in the Tau PC Guide with the following changes:

Per page 9 of the Tau PC Guide, Roll 2d10 ten times (this includes the Influence characteristic) and drop the lowest roll, then assign as you see fit. Remember that power gaming is for literally Hitler, but make the PC as close to the concept in your head as you can.


+ Firewarrior: Agility, Ballistic Skill, Defense, Finesse, Offense, Perception, Tech.
+ Shas'ui: Ballistic Skill, Defense, Fellowship, Perception, Social*, Strength, Toughness.
+ Medic: Ballistic Skill, Fieldcraft, Intelligence, Knowledge, Perception, Willpower.
+ Pathfinder: Agility, Ballistic Skill, Fellowship, Fieldcraft, Finesse, Perception, Tech.
+ Kroot: Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Strength, Offense, Finesse, Agility, Fieldcraft.
+ Breacher: Agility, Ballistic Skill, Finesse, Offense, Perception, Tech, Weapon Skill.

Classified Competence(s)
- In addition to the listed abilities in the Tau PC Guide, each classified competency comes with a +5 to the appropriate characteristic.

+ Windstrider, +5 AG
+ Adept Machinist, +5 INT
+ Dauntless Bulwakr, +5 WS
+ Exemplar of Unity, +5 FEL
+ Finder of Ways, +5 PER
+ Precise Hunter, +5 BS

Starting XP
- Determined by GM; normally this will be just below the average of the rest of the group for new players.

Race Selection:
- Tau
- Kroot
- Gue'vesa
- Vespid
*While the start of the game is restricted to Tau and Gue'vesa, I am not opposed to running different auxillary races later should your initial PC die. Eventually, I see the game evolving into something like XCOM where specific team members are chosen for specific missions prior to their undertaking.


Character Names

- Utilize standard naming convention for Tau.

- Tau names: 1st = Caste; 2nd = Rank; 3rd = Home planet; 4th = cognomen (i.e., the true name as we understand it). Because it is possible for two Tau individuals to share the same cognomen, they can be distinguished most easily by their other names, such as their home planets.

I'm fine if you want to make up Tau words for your name. Just make sure you put the translation along with it.

Starting Tau Marksmanship Talent
- Tau players will have access to Rifle Marksman and Pistol Marksman. Both have the same effect, and all Tau start with at least one of the two (your choice), at chargen. The other can be taken for +100 XP.

Ranking, Influence, & Availability Bonus
- Combat Webbing, extra pulse ammunition, and Photon Flash Grenades will be free (within reason).
- Tau gear availability listed in the Tau PC Guide will be available at 2 steps higher than listed to account for Tau gear being easier to get in their realm. Example: A Longshot Pulse Rifle goes from Near Unique to Very Rare.
- Imperial (and any other non-Tau) gear is not allowed for Tau characters at chargen. It will become available once the PCs have formed a Kill Team at -2 levels of availability. Example: A Heavy Bolter goes from Very Rare to Near Unique.
- In addition to this, Influence score (as well as a test of GMs choice) will allow PCs to increase in rank. Each new rank comes with a bonus to Acquisitions tests as well as unlocking additional gear and vehicle options.

Rank System:
- Shas'saal (Cadet); Inf: 01-20; Bonus: +0; May only take gear they are issued/may not request anything.
- Shas'la (Warrior): Inf: 21-40; Bonus: +10; Available Gear: All infantry tools and gear. TY7 Devilfish, TX78 Skyray, TX4 Piranha, & Tetra available for use by Tau and Auxillaries. AX39 Sunshark Bomber, AX3 Razorshark Strike Fighter available for Air caste. Drones are available for Fio (Earth) and Por (Water) castes.
- Shas'ui (Veteran): Inf: 41-60; Bonus +20; Available Gear: Drones now available to fire caste. XV15 Stealthsuit, XV25 Stealthsuit, XV8 Crisis Battlesuit, XV88 Broadside Battlesuit, TX7 Hammerhead Tank available if PC has training. Barracuda Interceptor, Tiger Shark, Tiger Shark AX-1-0, Orca Transport available for Air caste.
- Shas'vre (Hero): Inf: 61-80; Bonus: +30; Available Gear: XV85 Enforcer Battlesuit, XV9 Hazardsuit, XV95 Ghostkeel Stealthsuit, XV104 Riptide Battlesuit, KV128 Stormsurge Ballistic Suit, KX139 Ta’unar Supremacy Armour. Manta, Manta Missile Destroyer available for Air caste.
- Shas'el (Knight): Inf: 81-100; Bonus: +40; Available Gear: Any battlesuit for fire caste. Any ship available for Air caste.
- Shas'o (Commander): Inf: 100+; Bonus: lol; Available Gear: Shas'o gets whatever the fuck Shas'o wants.

Acquisitions
- Will be handled in game. This isn't your standard Rogue Trader game, as you all will not be with a RT or on a ship working for one. You'll be employed by the Tau and will follow standard military acquisition protocol.
- All PCs will have an Influence characteristic score and acquisitions will use this as a base for acquiring new weapons and gear for missions.
- PCs are also tasked with acquisitioning gear for any NPCs they bring along on the missions.

Talents from Other Books
- If there is a talent from another rule book that is A) Not anywhere in your career rank charts and B) Fitting to your PC and C) Able to be ported/converted into Tau terms, speak with me about it. I have a rough XP pay system worked out based on the tiers from other source books. For example, Tier 1: 200 - 300xp, Tier 2: 400 - 600xp, Tier 3: 700 - 1,000xp.
- Speak with me about porting talents that fit your character concept from other books; I am always interested in making other talents fit. With the new aptitude system, this is much easier now.


Starting Gear/Weapons
- At chargen, your choice of one rare quality item AND one very rare item; OR one extremely rare item.

- All items from the Tau PC guide are allowed. All weapons and armour from the core book  are disallowed, but all other choices are fine. If you are unsure, please drop me a PM or post a question.

- If you take the Pathfinder route (post prologue mission when you attain Rank 2), you may trade your Combat Armour for a set of Recon Armour of the same quality.

- Breachers start with a good quality CREAW Gun OR Good quality Pulse Carbine at PC Creation; Instead of starting with the Marksman talent automatically, Breachers will instead start with Quickdraw OR Takedown talent.

Fate Points
- Each character will start with an extra point, bringing the total to two (2) Fate Points.

Going over what information was at hand proved mostly fruitless. The Soul Cage itself was something of an enigma. While clearly Imperial, it didn't meet any criteria for Imperial ship's the tau had ever encountered. It was a frigate of some sort, so the basic layouts of the most common Imperial frigates were available. While those would be of some help, all the Reapers knew that they couldn't expect them to be exact.

After the team kitted up they made their way to Team Four's Orca, "Raven Four," with Arlene at their head.

"She's still a beautiful machine," said High Tower. The Demiurg was kitted out very much the same as the last time you had worked with him. His pulse carbine was again nonchalantly slung over his right shoulder while he worked a sweet smelling cigar between his teeth. Extra carbine magazines were stuffed into his combat webbing and his pistol sat against his right hip. He had since electro painted some demiurg runes on his helmet and armor. The armor text looked suspiciously like kill markers of some sort while the helmet was anyone's guess. Knowing High Tower, it was probably not polite.

He smiled at Kor'arx and jerked a thumb at the Orca. "Air caste lack of creativity when it comes to piloting aside, the tau know how to make a war machine. Look at that sexy girl. And just think, soon we are going to be inside of her." He smiled a wide grin at the kroot, making his large features look even larger.

All around the hangar was busy with technicians and drones putting the finishing touches on the gunships. Teams one, two, three, five, and six could be seen in one capacity or another. Some were having last meetings, clamping down on the fine points of their mission parameters, while others talked and laughed amongst themselves. Some members were completely silent and all business, going through gear checks over and over again with their battle buddies. The diversity in personalities was as evident and vast as the diversity among species themselves.

Eventually T-minus 5 minutes to launch was announced and everyone boarded their ships.

"Reapers, this is Raven-Four. We are go for void insertion." The crew makeup of the Orca was the same as before. One kor'vre pilot sat neural linked into the ship, his hands sliding over hologramic control dials while two fire caste Marines sat in gun-control consoles. The Marines operated the ship's weapon systems so that the kor'vre could focus on flying. Both were wearing jet black combat armor and both had compact pulse carbines magnetically locked beside their consoles.

Outside, but unheard to the Reapers within, the engines built up power as the Orca lowered itself into a gigantic air lock located on the floor. Once inside, the top hatch closed seemlessly above it and the atmosphere inside was vented back into the ship.

"Stealth fields engaged." Outside of the ship, there was a ripple of energy as the Orca was covered in a blanket of stealth that caused it to disappear from sight and electronic instruments.

"Command, this is Raven-Four, ready to deploy. Confirmed. Acknowledged. For the Greater Good. 3... 2... 1... Burn."

As one, each of the Raven Orcas was launched into the void toward their objective.