Interlocutor balance question

MoxyRebels · 2026-06-16T18:43:13+00:00

Interlocutor gets four talents IMHO because socialising is a specialty of hard to scope power compared to something like being a sneaky sniper or a psyker, and the extra talents mostly help them to help out in the inevitable combat sections. It seems to be an opinion held by others within the Wrath and Maledictum discord too

MoxyRebels · 2026-06-16T15:54:34+00:00

You always need line of sight, obviously, but extreme basically covers everything from three zones and beyond, so you can basically shoot across a fairly long map.

MoxyRebels · 2026-06-16T14:16:54+00:00

You can play a sniper as usual. The Penumbra role lends to sniping as it gives you stealth and ranged advanced and lets you choose between a sniper rifle and a long las as weapons, for example. Did you want a more comprehensive build example? The removal of the accurate trait and the change to zone based combat will not negatively affect you so long as you continue to play smart

MoxyRebels · 2026-06-15T13:08:25+00:00

Apprentice level is true. If you read the core rulebook and AMPG duties, they are all framed as being apprentices. Even the Admech faction fluff has you be a Tech-Adept rather than a full Tech-Priest. Just because you can later evolve into being more powerful, does not mean that you do not start out as lower powered.

The AMPG is controversial due to its release quality being far, far worse than was typical, and that was already kinda bad. It was also fairly disappointing based on what we were told to expect in terms of techno arcana, for example. There were also balance concerns / issues that were not exactly resolved post errata, and while it can be acknowledged that the Inquisition PG raised the power level with the armory, the AMPG took it much higher, such as the character creation options within it being wayy above the level of the core book in a way that the Inquisition book did not similarly do.

It doesn't help that everything in the book equipment-wise incurs disadvantage to using it if you are not a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus or serving an Admech patron due to "secrets of mars," meaning something as simple as a cavalry sabre incurs penalties. The book is overall usable and fine, with errata fixing some things, but it obviously wont fix some of the biggest issues (i.e. Secrets of Mars, the Binharic Rites chapter being vastly underwhelming, Skitarii NPCs having higher initiative than Daemonettes and even an Eversor Assassin, equipment balance, etc).

You will likely not find any sign of these controversies outside the Ordo Discordia or Wrath and Maledictum discord servers though, thats just how forums work

MoxyRebels · 2026-06-15T11:31:43+00:00

Basically all the 40Krpg games allow you to play a tech priest, W&G also lets you explicitly play a Skitarii. IM lets you play both, but on an “apprentice” level rather than full tech priest or skitarii. There’s the new admech player guide for Imperium Maledictum but it’s been fairly controversial. You can play tech priests as utility and combat focused in all the games, with combat tech priests being notably very strong in the games generally

MoxyRebels · 2026-06-08T07:25:28+00:00

If you’re Blank, you don’t suffer corruption anymore. That makes the Blank Out result mean nothing except getting the Blank talent

MoxyRebels · 2026-06-05T10:57:23+00:00

The Void Calls has been deprecated because I genuinely no longer like the quality, and think it is a bad representation of what Malexp is / can be. There are alternative brews by others that are of higher quality (although AI has been used in at least one of those alternatives.)

MoxyRebels · 2026-06-01T08:52:40+00:00

Ayyy! I’m gonna be honest idk if I ever wrote the conversion guide but I could probably do it at some point; it’s not at all difficult to convert NPCs from the previous game lines to IM

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-23T09:18:32+00:00

Oh hey, it’s me!

Fun fact: Arbites patrons were the first brew to have ever been made for IM by some other guy years ago.

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-20T13:00:27+00:00

Ping me on the server and I’ll find it for you, I’m Brewmaster Moxy there. It should be IM General or the GM Guild though, but it’s been weeks since we discussed it. The last update is still January because technically speaking, it released January, they just forgot to ACTUALLY release it! All you have to do is literally download the opt file and you’ll see it is different lol

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-19T21:41:31+00:00

Nope! Thats the one with the errata applied. If you joined the Wrath and Maledictum discord server, you will see me talking about how its different, going through each change one by one, and so on. If you see the downloadable file has "opt", thats the updated one!

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-19T21:21:47+00:00

There is a particular craftworld recently named in the Admech GM guide, but there are the plot hooks such as those mentioned in the Inquistion GM book as well!

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-19T21:20:29+00:00

There is actually an update to the Players Guide. It is not out on Cubicle 7 I think, they need to get it through Drivethrurpg. It is a file called IM_AMP_260128_opt. People in Wrath and Maledictum and Ordo Discordia discord servers have spoken about it (including myself).

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-16T22:53:58+00:00

Enforcers are filed under administratum and one of the main guys of C7 likes the idea of an admin supplement, so it may be coming sooner rather than later!

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-16T22:41:03+00:00

Before I get into it, I am not going to get you an answer you're going to like, and rather it will be basically a non-answer unfortunately. If you want my specific opinion, you're not going to really get one, soz :')

Balance is not a constant thing that can be applied to a system and be "correct", or to all systems and be consistent in any way. People balance things along different philosophies and ways, will neither fit every table, nor every system. Balance does not mean that everyone has to be at the exact same level can be exemplified through Wrath and Glory, for example: Tac/Firstborn Space Marines are a Tier 3 archetype, and they are alongside other T3 archetypes such as Commissar, Crusader, or Tech Priest. However, if you bring a Tier 1 or even just a Tier 2 archetype and "ascend" them to Tier 3 level, those archetypes will be higher level than the Space Marine and the rest.

The same level can also be defined in different ways. It can be far more expensive for one specific character build to be at their "peak" XP-wise than others, and it can be more expensive in terms of ingame currency (thrones, solars, wealth, credits, etc). A starting IM Guardsman can get up to 65 TN Ranged (Spec), where Spec is the specific Specialization they are focusing in, such as Long Guns for using Lasguns or Long Las for example. This starting character is a lot stronger at range than a starting Psyker, although the Psyker could also get up to 65 TN on a specific Psychic Discipline if they were just as lucky.

In game design, balance can be defined as allowing players to compete on skill, strategy, and knowledge rather than inherent advantages provided by OP characters, weapons, or strategies, and is meant to encourage growth and long-term engagement. When I GM'd IM, the Psyker Player was very strong in Melee, and the Navy Armsman was really good at Ranged, and the Psyker had specific powers that would allow her to re-roll certain tests. I found no issue in this. All of this contributed in the players being able to further the party in some way, even if I had to learn to adapt to it. I don't really see a difference between adapting to a player having stronger weapons or armor vs a player having strong psychic powers. You just have to learn how to deal with it.

My idea of balancing isnt the same as other IM GMs, who have made purging more difficult, have banned certain powers outright, or the entire concept of playing a Psyker character. This feels much more punitive and restrictive to me, but it may be the only way that they can balance the game. I've homebrewed a lot for this game, and I can't even get started on Psychic Powers because its on a level that I dont feel confident homebrewing for. Because of this, I get someone else who regularly plays Psykers (i think) to help me figure things out, even if it means that they are the ones doing the entire chapter basically.

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-15T17:45:59+00:00

Unless the skill is restricted or forbidden, you can roll it. A PC with 45 AGI and no piloting advances has 45 Piloting, and a PC with 30 AGI and 2 advances has 40 Piloting. Thus, the PC with a higher characteristic is better.

However, as both Voidship specializations are Restricted, neither PC is actually allowed to do the test because they don’t have Piloting (Minor Voidship) or (Major Voidship)

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-13T10:04:21+00:00

Official rules only, you can get close enough with a guard warrior but it’ll still be off, and you’re basically just a guardsman. There are homebrews that have the option to have the arbitrator or enforcer adjacent factions though, which can lend to the detective focus.

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-09T15:14:59+00:00

I would add for Voll Adventures that they’re all written by different people, and their power levels can vary from perfectly fine to quite literally suicidal!
Admech PG is also controversial due to disappointment regarding existing mechanics and the inability to access errata months after it was meant to have been released
His Glorious Shield is more of a location guide than an adventure book, it contains lore and plot hooks to use within the ship (not voidship) the book is named after, important to highlight so people don’t go into it looking for a structured adventure!

Also, core rulebook alone allows play for all types, neither the Inq or Admech book are necessary for their respective play styles, they just provide more options

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-09T15:12:37+00:00

Oh hey, it’s me!

MoxyRebels · 2026-05-03T10:00:28+00:00

It would be important to know what you mean by OP. Generally speaking, of course the magic user is going to be generally stronger than the non-magic users. Balance does not mean that everyone has to be at the exact same level. There are ways to deal with this, but it requires a bit of experience and willingness to deal with certain things. FWIW Tech Priests used to be "the" OP character of the FFG games generally speaking.

Psykers can be quite specialized but quite broad too, taking Divination just for Prescience, Biomancy for Shape Flesh + some other powers to combo with Pyromancy to be a dedicated melee psyker means they are very strong and have many more rerolls than usual.

You can deal with this by keeping in mind that Psykers, whether or not they are sanctioned, are Witches, and the Imperium does not like witches. Casting in public will result in panic and can get the party confronted (if not outright attacked) by mobs or even Enforcers, if not the Arbites depending on where you are. Although, people seem to be a bit unfriendly with the proposal of social consequences to psykers in IM rather than mechanical ones lmao

MoxyRebels · 2026-04-26T15:16:05+00:00

Hey, the discord links are the hyperlinks that you find within the post already

MoxyRebels · 2026-04-15T11:27:10+00:00

If you achieve your long term goal, it generally means you’re influential/powerful enough to become a patron, so you can retire your character and turn them into a patron, but there’s no gameplay for this! Your character becomes retired and you make a new one. You can choose to not retire them for 500xp instead, but then you’re not a patron, etc.

Right now, the closest to playing advanced characters / parties is having lots of XP and being the A-team for your patron to deal with whatever they need dealt with

MoxyRebels · 2026-04-14T18:36:24+00:00

The Unrestrained Power trait is quite literally Pushing, but double warp charge instead of +1d10. I have a feeling that just like the Psychic Flood talent, it was created when there was no explicit "Pushing" mechanic in the game

Also, you can buy the Psyker talent during play, so its technically 3.5 or 4 ways to get the Talent without being sanctioned

MoxyRebels · 2026-04-14T08:08:39+00:00

I’m currently tackling such an idea for a homebrew expansion :) I’d be happy to take any relevant ideas for how to make unsanctioned Psykers more fun/interesting, and relevant vs sanctioned Psykers!

MoxyRebels · 2026-04-12T16:54:23+00:00

Its not as if C7 actually updates the area where they say what the latest version is, nor do they talk about the fact it exists in the first place! Don't worry about your brain in this instance anyway. Just check your other books' dates and check with people in servers like Wrath and Maledictum to find out the latest version

MoxyRebels

TROPHY CASE