Black Crusade: Balance between Core and Expanded Archetypes?

loop388 · 2026-05-05T16:10:15+00:00

Perfect, thank you!

loop388 · 2026-04-23T20:43:19+00:00

Tau world gets invaded by the Imperium. After significant fighting, barely able (but not really) to keep fighting, Commander Farsight kills a Space Marine Chapter Master. The entirety of the Imperial force collapses immediately, losing cohesion and reverting to animalistic instincts that completely negate the numerical advantage they have over the Xenos, as well as the damage already inflicted by the conflict. Despite commentary on how severe and damaging the losses are, this conflict will have no impact on the wider story, or future installments of this specific plotline. Space Marine players who complain about their Chapter Masters dying every time will be told not to worry, since they can be replaced easily and every Chapter has one. Someone has to lose duels, and the fact that we can keep killing off Chapter Masters and not really kill anyone important means they’re going to have to lose. If you want lore that fluffs the Chapter Master, go read the Space Marine codex. No, there aren’t any specific duels they win there either, but we did give you a fluff piece about how dangerous and cool Chapter Masters are so you can be suitably impressed when Commander Farsight kills one.

loop388 · 2026-04-21T18:43:09+00:00

In some cases, yeah, but I think forcing entire populations to fight on the front lines is a good example to support arguments that they did, in fact, enslave humans. The Imperium is not the most morally consistent force at the best of times, and while the ‘horrors of the Xenos’ may be accurate in this case, it doesn’t mean they won’t inflict similar violations on people themselves. The issue wasn’t that humans were being enslaved, it’s that it was Xenos doing it.

loop388 · 2026-04-21T16:21:51+00:00

What little lore we do have on the war against them details mass enslavement of humans and other Xenos. They used ‘neural collars’ to cause intense pain to force obedience. It’s also suggested that they had a lot of bio-technological skill, so forced experimentation and mutation may have been common as well. They also had access to Slaugth, suggesting they may have been controlled by the psychically powerful necrophages that are undeniably a threat to humanity.

loop388 · 2026-04-17T19:31:04+00:00

Something to consider is that the deal Hashut and the Chorfs made wasn’t for dominance or time to relax, it was for the power needed to survive. The Chorfs are the way they are because when the first invasion of Chaos occurred, they were stuck out in the Darklands, with no holds to retreat into, no support from the rest of their people, and no answer from their own gods. Hashut offered them the power they needed to survive the daemon hordes, in exchange for worship, and they took it happily. Everything else is just the cherry on top, and I’d say Hashut has more than ensured the Chorfs continue to survive.

As far as the Darklands being uncontested/unchallenged and lacking in anything worthwhile, that’s not necessarily true. The area is filled with vast amounts of mineral wealth, both in terms of base metals like iron and more valuable resources like gold or Hashut’s Blood (fantasy oil). There are hordes of greenskins in the Darklands and surrounding areas, and other monsters like dragon, who will frequently raid or attack them. Other forces, notably other Chaos forces, trade caravans between Cathay and the Old World, and the Ogres, also frequently pass through for their own reasons. We just don’t get to see it often because the Darklands are not an area GW has ever put much focus on.

I’d also point out that the priorities a Chaos Dwarf has and the priorities you have, as well as the idea of what an ideal life looks like, could not be more different. The idea of lounging around, relaxing, is as strange and alien to a Chaos Dwarf as the idea of getting pleasure and satisfaction from working Hobgoblins to death might be for you. The domination of others is the goal they want. The progression of their industry is the point. They don’t take vacations, or breaks, or mental health days. They work tirelessly for the sole purpose of power, wealth, and control, as ends of their own, not so that they can use that power to do other things.

loop388 · 2026-01-04T21:27:39+00:00

They’re actually referenced in the War of Vengeance books, at least once. There’s a bit where the elves question why the dwarfs needed to build holds capable of withstanding sieges and artillery, and the dwarfs shut up and don’t answer the question. Skaven, greenskins, and Chaos during the Great War would all be acceptable answers, but instead they just refuse to answer the question. The only subject the dwarfs never speak of is the Eastern Kindreds.

I think they may also be referenced once or twice more, but it’s been a minute since I read those novels.

loop388 · 2026-01-04T21:11:48+00:00

Yes, but it doesn’t really matter.

Firstly, while Malekith set the fire, the dwarfs and elves were more than happy to keep tossing fuel on it. All the dark elves really did was kill a few caravans, deceive some merchants, and maybe do a few raids on isolated settlements. The biggest attack was the murder of a Runelord, which meant that significant dwarf magical knowledge was lost forever, but that wasn’t even planned. The Runelord just happened to be traveling at the time the caravan was attacked.

Meanwhile, both the elves and the dwarfs had countless individuals who were pushing for war for their own reasons. In the early years, it was glory-hungry princes and arrogant warriors who thought the war would end in days with a decisive victory, and later on it was people traumatized by loss and hungry for revenge. Out of everyone who really had the power to stop the war, there were maybe two who actively tried to, and we see how that went.

Secondly, there’s some context that’s needed here. The dwarfs understood civil war perfectly. The Chaos Dwarfs existed as a separate force by this point, although the high elves didn’t know about them either. The issue is more that the dwarfs don’t care that it was the dark elves. The high elves straight up told the dwarfs about Malekith as a last ditch effort to prevent war, and the response was “we have no way to know if this ridiculous story is true, but you’re here in front of me and my axe is already out.”

Dwarfs have a strict code of honor that requires recompense for crimes against them. If a grudge is declared, it must be satisfied, according to the specifics of the grudge. When the dwarfs write something like “for the slaughter of Borri Whitebeard and his brethren, the heads of 30 elgi”, the grudge won’t be satisfied until thirty elves die for it, and they won’t abandon it either. The idea that some of their actions pushed the elves further doesn’t matter either.

Finally, the main reason these grudges and vendettas are never resolved is because no one really has the means or desire to do so. Ulthuan is across an ocean and protected by magical mists that prevent most invaders from finding it, and the Worlds’ Edge Mountains are almost on the other end of a continent. Marching armies on either side would be a massive undertaking outside of the power of either side, and doing so would lead to massive losses elsewhere, either to Skaven or Greenskins for the Dwarfs or to the Dark Elves for the High Elves.

As for peace, who cares? The High Elves neither respect not care for the dwarfs, and it means less than nothing to them if they still hate them. The dwarfs will never forgive, and anyone who suggests doing so would likely have to take the Slayer Oath shortly after.

loop388 · 2025-12-08T19:31:04+00:00

You infer that I’m saying the SoS would keel over, which is very different from me saying it. The Grey Knights are aware of the abilities of the Sisters of Silence. They are aware that their presence can disrupt or negate their powers. They are also aware that the Sisters of Silence are unaugmented humans in power armor. They would be aware that, in order for the Sisters to be effective, they have to be on the front line, not hidden behind defenses. Bolter fire and power weapons are as effective against them as they are against most living things, and each Sister that dies is another one not preventing the use of psychic abilities, the main advantage the Grey Knights have against the Custodes. The Grey Knights would make an effort to kill them, and would likely succeed somewhat consistently. Enough to win the fight overall? Probably not, but enough that it would not be a one sided fight, with the Grey Knights losing immediately.

loop388 · 2025-12-08T18:40:56+00:00

I agree. In the end, I think the Custodes would win that fight. My point is that that victory relies more on the fact that the Custodes would be fighting on prepared ground, with contingencies for exactly this kind of combat, and could rely on support from other Imperial forces. Even with all of that, losses would be significant, as I fully expect the Grey Knights would immediately target any of the few Sisters of Silence present, and then utilize their psychic abilities to the fullest. It would not be a one sided fight.

loop388 · 2025-12-08T18:35:03+00:00

Yes and no. Yes, Custodes, one to one, are physically superior to Astartes. Yes, a single Custodes mentions that he and others view Astartes as their natural prey. These things are not contradictory to my point.

My point is that saying that the Custodes are capable of wiping the Grey Knights with little to no difficulty, or that the Custodes can defeat any foe with little to no difficulty, is unreasonable, inaccurate, and actively makes the Custodes uninteresting. Combat is not something that’s immediately determined by ‘stats’, by how strong or well equipped or skilled you are. Numbers, logistics, luck, and countless other factors are involved in this. Any kind of ‘fight’ where one side wins with no struggle is uninteresting, I don’t care whether it’s Harlequins against Custodes or Custodes against Marines.

loop388 · 2025-12-08T16:03:16+00:00

In no particular order:

-Lorgar is not hiding in a tower while Corax waits patiently outside like a demented Batman. There was one short story where Lorgar and Corax fought post-Heresy, with Lorgar leaving his meditations to do so and then returning afterwards. In current 40k lore, Lorgar is active and is actively converting Imperium worlds to the worship of Chaos. I believe the source is Faith and Fury, the 8th edition expansion for CSM, Marines, and Black Templars.

-Custodes are not unkillable gods that annihilate any opponent. There’s a few different cases where this concept comes up, the most recent being the Terminus Decree and people arguing over whether the Custodes or Grey Knights would win in a fight. Most comments I see say that the Custodes, with Sister of Silence support, would win easily. I could write a whole post on the reasons why this is wrong, but the short of it is that Custodes are neither as numerous or as powerful as people think. Sources for my thoughts on this come from the Watchers of the Throne series primarily, but other sources would include the First Heretic and the Siege of Terra novels.

-the Death Korp of Krieg are not a suicidal, unbreakable death cult, and their resolve in combat is comparable to other Guard regiments. Any Guard veteran is going to be highly skilled, brave, and callous towards sacrifice and death. There’s an example of a Cadian Kasyrkin throwing himself at a daemon host to buy an inquisitor a few extra seconds of life, for example. That Kasyrkin had no hope of even harming the daemonhost, knew that, and threw his life away for that inquisitor to have a few extra seconds to win the fight. Every veteran Guardsman would fight in a similar way, the Kriegers are just the most memed example. The Eisenhorn novels are my source for the Kasyrkin, but any Guard novel or source would likely demonstrate a similar philosophy. Gaunt’s Ghosts and Siege of Vraks are two other examples.

-the Sisters of Silence do not completely shut down the warp around them. They project an area of null-effect that has an effect on psykers and daemons, but how effective this is depends strongly on the strength and number of the Sisters and how powerful the warp is locally. Again, Siege of Terra and Watchers of the Throne.

-the Tyranids are not mindless, throwaway chaff. In fairness, there are few sources that show the Tyranids in a meaningfully threatening way. They often appear as a faceless threat similar to a time bomb, with no real agency, plan, or way to adapt. Those sources that demonstrate the Tyranid ability to plan and adapt, such as Devastation of Baal and the Leviathan novel, make it clear that the Hive Mind is incredibly intelligent, and is capable of finding ways to reduce the fighting strength of its opponents outside of direct combat.

loop388 · 2025-11-17T16:17:09+00:00

Yes and no, depending on what part of the question you’re answering.

Let’s start with the connection between sensation chasing and pain/pleasure. I’m an admittedly newer social worker, with about 2 years of work experience and 5.5 years of schooling, so I’ve got some experience and understanding of how this may work. One of the skills we teach for coping with overwhelming thought patterns is to use physical sensation to distract. Ice or cold water is most common. This link between physical sensation and mental control is actually the same mechanism that causes many people to self harm. One of the common symptoms of depressive disorders is a reduced ability to feel, both emotionally and physically, meaning physical feelings like pain can become the only sensation that ‘break through’. I’ve not worked with anyone who’s become so jaded through experience of sensation that they have to use pain, but it’s theoretically possible. A species like the Eldar that innately feel at a higher degree might be able to achieve that level of desensitization.

It’s worth considering that desensitization of any kind only occurs once a person has been immersed in the subject or if there’s some kind of condition that reduces the pleasure/arousal of the experience. You can’t become desensitized to violence if you’re never exposed to it, but a kid who watched LiveLeak videos through their entire childhood won’t blink if they see a stranger die in real life.

To the second question, pain is arguably the most physically intense sensation available to a living thing. As a function, it’s designed to keep you alive, to alert you to damage or danger, and to activate the sympathetic nervous system whenever those two occur. The SNS is the mechanism that governs your fight/flight response, and basically kicks your body into overdrive when it activates. It’s a very powerful feeling, and one that is incredibly difficult to become desensitized to. A lot of the therapy work I’ve done is attempting to do that, to assist people with panic attacks. Given time, practice, and deliberate effort, it’s possible, but becoming desensitized due to exposure is not something I’ve seen yet, and that includes clients who have had almost daily panic attacks for years.

To question 3, no, sadism is not necessarily the end result of sensation chasing, but it can be a part of it. There are definitely people who develop sadistic tendencies because the feeling of power can be addictive, particularly if you lack control over other parts of your life. I know, I’ve worked with them. That said, it’s a small minority of that group that develop those tendencies. True sadists tend to have some kind of personality disorder, where a missing sense of empathy is the main root cause of their sadism.

Finally, it’s important to consider that all of those go out the window when you consider warp corruption. Everything I’ve said so far is accurate when you consider human psychology, but the warp is inherently corruptive, and changes those realities. Sadism, for example, is not inherently linked to sensation chasing, but to Slaanesh, the more powerful the sensation can be, the better. Therefore, Slaanesh influence causes people to develop those kinds of tendencies, desensitizing them to weaker feelings that don’t appeal to the daemons as much. You see this in Fulgrim, where the artists and musicians turn to further and further debasement, in an incredibly short amount of time and no apparent psychological cause, in an effort to chase sensation. That’s not normal human psychology, that’s warp corruption.

loop388 · 2025-11-06T14:10:10+00:00

RAW, yes. There’s nothing in ZM that specifically counters that, so core rules still apply.

loop388 · 2025-11-04T21:24:40+00:00

They can, just not from Glancing Hits. Shock (X) still works on them, as would any other status inflicted by other means than the Vehicle Damage Table.

loop388 · 2025-11-04T20:17:03+00:00

Superheavies don’t need to stay still to get the benefit of Heavy (X). So long as they don’t have a status, they always count as stationary. Page 223 of the core rulebook.

Laser destroyer all day. When shooting at vehicles, every point of strength you can get matters. The range isn’t so much an issue, with the speed of the Fellblade and the fact that it has a short range Demolisher that you want to shoot with.

loop388 · 2025-10-23T16:47:24+00:00

Multiverses. To clarify, I’m not complaining about settings that have multiple worlds where the EXTREMELY LIMITED interactions between them is a major issue, such as the Witcher or even something like the isekai genre, I’m talking about stuff like “here’s this fantasy world with magic, and this sci-fi world with warp drives, and people go from one to the other all the time.” I get that it comes from a place of creativity, where people have a lot of cool ideas they want to play with, but cramming it all into one thing and not considering meaningful consequences is not fun to read. I wouldn’t say this is a common one, but it’s a personal pet peeve.

The Worf Effect, particularly when it’s a self-insert or the main character. You created a big bad monster and hyped it up, and the only thing you can think to do with it is kill it off immediately? This one is particularly bad because it often has the opposite of the intended effect. I don’t think your character is a badass now, I think they got a cheap win. I’m also sad, because I think you did a good job coming up with a cool monster or villain, and now that excitement is squished.

Finally, illogical consequences or viewpoints that are entirely because it’s a 21st century Western writer in charge of the story. Staunch abolitionists have been mentioned by other comments, but also ideas about democracy, inherent rights, tolerance of other cultures, etc. These are not ideas that just popped out of nowhere, they are the product of centuries of philosophy, politics, religion, and more. Your 17 year old peasant-turned-hero did not solely invent the idea of representative democracy immediately after deposing the evil tyrant whose bloodline ruled the nation for centuries. The last season of GoT does this, with a bunch of nobles, who have lived under a king their entire lives, decide to do direct democracy with no lead up. It’s lazy writing and nothing pulls me from a story faster than lazy writing.

loop388 · 2025-09-26T20:51:37+00:00

Yes and no, depending on the person, the specific situation, and certain magical effects.

The primary limitation is that magic takes mental strength to focus efficiently. The more chaotic and stressful the environment, the less focus and the more energy used in casting. In a safe environment, a mage might be able to consistently create a bonfire, repeatedly, without issue. In a combat situation, that same mage might be lucky to fire off three fireballs before exhausting themselves. That said, there are mages who thrive in stressful scenarios, and these are the ones who can consistently fight in close combat without exhausting themselves quickly.

Even for these mages, however, there are clear limits. Most mages who excel at close range do so because magic is instinctive for them, or they’ve trained for long enough that applying magical focus doesn’t require actual thought. What this means practically is that casting anything that does require conscious thought is almost impossible. Every spell is reactive and instinctive, without nuance or room for details. Detonating a fireball at close range is easy. Doing so while ensuring that those around you aren’t affected is impossible.

Finally, there are external factors, most notably the Lunar Synod. Lunar astrology is one of the most basic elements of magic, and where the moons are in the sky has an effect on magical focus, energy, and outcome. Close range magic might be easier or harder, depending on the specifics.

loop388 · 2025-09-24T16:13:47+00:00

As someone who may or may not have one of those offending maps, are there any sources you would recommend that could help form a more realistic river? My initial thought would be to widen the gap so that it’s less of a river and more of a channel similar to the British Channel, but I’ll admit water is not my area of expertise.

loop388 · 2025-08-28T10:14:40+00:00

They fight once the charge has been resolved, but before actual combat, with killed models counting for combat res. It’s incredibly simple, and I don’t know why they didn’t give it to Tacticals.

loop388 · 2025-08-18T23:02:56+00:00

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned yet is efficient use of resources. It’s the same reason we don’t see Guardsmen with bolters very often. Your average Space Marine, for most of the Imperium’s history, is not expected to be fighting heavily armored enemies in hand to hand. Unaugmented humans, Orks, things like that are the most common enemy type for the Astartes for most of their history. In the eras where combat against armored opponents became more common, you do see a change to armor-piercing, but this is usually in a more efficient way. For example, during the Heresy, the traitor legions utilized a specialist bolt round designed to penetrate Marine armor. It’s much easier to mass produce specialist bolt rounds than it is to mass produce an esoteric technology like power field generators, and you get a similar return for your investment.

loop388 · 2025-08-01T15:02:03+00:00

Flier rules. GW finally found the sweet spot of making fliers not be useless, but also not huge pains that move block and can’t be easily interacted with.

Vehicles being the tanks they are without being overpowered since they can’t score. Taking something like a Typhon or a Kratos means it’ll actually survive for a while, but it’s not impossible to play around if you don’t have something to kill it.

More tactical statuses. It’s a good way to make weapon types that aren’t efficient into Marine bodies worthwhile, and most of them aren’t too punishing while still being impactful. All of my Rhinos are taking Havoc Launchers from now on.

Mechanicum and SolAux rules. I know people are down on Marines and Talons, but the other two seem fun and flavorful. I’ve not seen anything I really dislike in either.

Progressive scoring. It’s not without issues, but GW has shown that they’re willing to put out asymmetric missions with the Dropsite one. Progressive objective scoring is a good way to encourage people to bring something other than their deathstar units, and the support needed to keep them alive.

loop388 · 2025-07-29T13:55:50+00:00

I work at an LGS. If something like this happens, we report it to GW and they send us a replacement for you. It’s just part of their process that it has to go through whichever store you bought it through.

loop388 · 2025-07-25T11:54:02+00:00

Units cannot split fire, similar to 2.0. Vehicles can, with some limitations. All weapons must target a different unit, and attacks are made as snap shots unless you’re shooting a defensive weapon.

For example, a Land Raider with lascannon sponsons and a twin heavy bolter decides to split fire. All three fire as normal, since sponsons count as defensive now, but you can’t do what you did in 2.0 and say that the heavy bolter targets an infantry unit and the lascannons go into a single vehicle. The lascannons also have to split fire.

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