40k Character Advances

The rules below are intended for use in campaigns in which the players continue to use a set army. All of the characters in the army (from lowly squad leaders to powerful psykers to the force commander himself) will receive experience points (X ) which will translate into small bonuses. These aren!t designed to be ma"or game changers but are intended to lend the characters a little more individual flavour and to provide an incentive to keep using the set army in order to see the characters #grow#. $ote that the rules are written with 40k 2nd edition in mind.

Gaining XP
%imply put& characters gain X by not dying. 'owever& ()k tends to be a rather lethal experience and it is rare for half your army to be left standing after a game. *e will therefore assume that& most of the time& casualties are simply out+of+action (,,A) rather than dead. To find out whether your characters have survived facing the enemy& roll -./ for each one that went ,,A during the game. Roll for Death 1-2 Kicked the bucket. Exitus. Dead. -! "ot dead. $eedless to say& characters that didn!t go ,,A are automatically considered to be !not dead!. Also& the winner of the game may pick& before rolling any dice& one ,,A character that recovers automatically. $ot dying is not& however& the only thing a character gets X for. X are also awarded for not going ,,A& and for being on the winning side. %ee the table below for a summary. #$ a%ards "ot dead "ot &&A &n %innin' side 1 1 1

0n addition& players always receive 1 X to be awarded to a character of choice at their discretion.

Advances
1or every 3 X gained& characters gain 1 advance. 2eep track of a character!s X (a note on the army list& a paint"ob detail on the mini& a tattoo on your forehead& whatever suits). The available advances have been grouped into five !skill trees!. *hen selecting a character!s first advance& choose a skill tree 3 this will remain the character!s skill tree throughout its career. All subsequent advances must come from the same skill tree. There are two notable exceptions to this rule4 the force commander and psykers. The force commander (and only the force commander) may select the *arlord skills tree or his chosen career skill tree when gaining an advance. sykers may only ever select the syker skill tree when gaining an advance. The skills in the skill trees must be chosen in the order given& i.e. a character must have skill - to get skill 5 to get skill 6 etc. This applies to the force commander& too. The maximum number of advances a character can gain is ( (7 for the force commander). The skill trees are shown below. Ranged combat 1 Ea'le-e(e Re-roll all failed to hit rolls %hen usin' a basic %ea)on* s)ecial %ea)on or )istol. 2 +ea)ons ex)ert Character ,a( re-roll an( sustained fire dice and scatter dice. -olters.stor, bolters/ su))ression fire - tar'et unit ,ust take an 0d-test or ,iss its next ,ove. $las,a 'uns/ char'ed shot - the nu,ber on the sustained fire dice indicates either blast radius instead or nu,ber of shots. Declare before firin'. 1elta'uns/ extend ran'e b( !2* add 31D! ar,our )enetration. 4la,ers/ roll 1D sustained fire - for 2 and * use heav( fla,er te,)late* for 1 use standard te,)late* 5a, ,eans 5a, as usual. 6na) shots 7he character al%a(s counts as bein' on over%atch. 8o%ever* if the character did an(thin' durin' its turn a)art fro, enter over%atch* all over%atch shots are taken at -61. $oint blank +hen the character %ins a round of close co,bat* all its hits can be exchan'ed for a shot %ith a basic %ea)on* s)ecial %ea)on or )istol. 7hese shots 'ain all the benefits fro, ea'le-e(e and %ea)ons ex)ert but are taken at -69* do not use blast ,arkers or te,)lates and all shots can onl( hit the character:s close co,bat o))onent.

Close combat 1 4urious char'e ;ncrease the character:s char'e bonus to D . 2 Extended reach Roll 1 sustained fire dice. Add the indicated nu,ber of inches to the character:s char'e ,ove. A 5a, ,eans no bonus. +ea)ons ,aster 7he character re-rolls all fu,bles rolled in close co,bat. 4 4inishin' ,ove +hen the character %ins a round of close co,bat* roll 1 sustained fire dice. Each hit scored in close co,bat is ,ulti)lied b( the nu,ber rolled <i.e. if the character scores 2 hits and rolls a 2* resolve 4 hits a'ainst the o))onent=. A 5a, does not ,odif( the nu,ber of hits but doubles the a))lied save ,odifier. Sapper 1 2

Accurate thro% 7he character adds 32 to hit %hen thro%in' 'renades. +recker 7he character adds 31D! to all ar,our )enetration rolls <re'ardless of the %ea)on used=. Cluster bo,bs All 'renades thro%n b( the character increase the blast radius b( one incre,ent <i.e. 1>2 beco,es 22* 22 beco,es 2= u) to a ,axi,u, of 2. 7ar'et ,odels cau'ht in the blast suffer D hits each <roll se)aratel( for each tar'et=. Concussive blast 7ar'et ,odels that survive a hit fro, a 'renade thro%n b( the character are knocked do%n and ,iss their next ,ove.

Warlord 1 2

1aster strate'ist 7he character dra%s one extra strate'( card at the start of the 'a,e. $erfect ti,in' ?ou ,a( re-roll (our dice %hen deter,inin' %ho 'ets the first turn. Alternativel(* (ou ,a( force the o))onent to re-roll their dice. ;f both force co,,anders have this skill* the( cancel each other out. 4inest hour &nce )er 'a,e* all friendl( units %ithin 122 of the force co,,ander 'ain 31+6 and 31-6. 7his effect lasts until the be'innin' of (our next turn. Eternal %arrior 7he force co,,ander:s 0d bubble extends to 1@2. ;f taken &&A* the force co,,ander never rolls for death but is auto,aticall( considered :not dead:.

Psyker 1

&verclock ;f atte,)ted* the )s(ker ,ust take a 0d-test at the start of the )s(chic )hase. ;f )assed* all of the )s(ker:s force costs are reduced b( 1 <to a ,ini,u, of 1= for this )hase. ;f failed* the )s(ker loses a %ound %ith no saves of an( kind allo%ed and ,a( not cast an( further )o%ers this )hase. "ull Aone Declare at the be'innin' of (our turn. 7he )s(ker ,a( )erfor, no further actions until the be'innin' of (our next turn <this includes castin' )s(chic )o%ersB nullifies ,a( still be atte,)ted=. 4or this duration* ever(thin' %ithin a radius of !2 of the )s(ker counts as )rotected b( a null-shield <see the vehicle card for details=. "ull ,atrix 7he )s(ker ,a( store unused "ullif( cards in its force %ea)on in the sa,e %a( as force cards. 7he ,axi,u, nu,ber of cards re,ains unchan'ed and "ullif( cards ,a( not be used to au',ent the %ea)on:s 6 and save ,odifier. 8eal self &nce )er 'a,e* at the start of an( of its o%n turns* the )s(ker ,a( atte,)t to heal. Roll 1 sustained fire dice. 7he nu,ber indicates the nu,ber of %ounds re'ained <the )s(ker:s cannot exceed its startin' + characteristic=. ;f a 5a, is rolled* no %ounds are re'ained and the )s(ker suffers a )aral(tic shock %hich )revents it fro, takin' an( further actions <includin' )s(chic )o%ers and nullifies= until the be'innin' of its next turn.

Death
8haracters that die are replaced by a character of the same type before the next battle. The new character has no X and should cost roughly the same amount of points but does not have to be an exact replica of the dead character.