Editing Black Crusade (RPG) (section)

==Ruleset==
Black Crusade still uses the same fundamental d100 system that the previous three RPG settings use, though tidied it up considerably by consolidating similar skills like all the stealth or athletics based skills into just one skill rather than two or three. It also made parrying its own skill, rather than something a player could "just do", as well as changing the nature of talents like swift/lightning attack which put a bit more thought into how a player can use their actions and reactions each turn.

It also introduced the class-less system of "Archetypes" where no skill is restricted from a player because of their class. This is both a good and a bad thing when you really look into it. On the one hand, it gives the players the freedom to create their own character rather than being bound by limited options each level. On the other, the problem this causes is it actively promotes and rewards [[powergamer|powergaming]] and savvy players will completely ignore useless skills and talents ''(in their own opinion)'' to give themselves the quickest advantage.

For example: Skills & Talents such as Swift/Lightning Attack, Step Aside, Dodge +20 and Blademaster are all available late in the character development in the previous settings but can all be immediately purchased as soon as the player has the available Exp to spend on them (of course, this implies these talents should have more prerequisites than they do.....) which can make combat situations much more difficult to manage for a [[GM]], and those PCs will also likely be so ignorant of commonplace lore and professional skills that they may not get by in social interactions very well. Knowledge and social skills are often overlooked by the players because they have [[metagame]]d their own knowledge of the setting and haven't even thought of purchasing those skills.

Also, talents and skills are unaligned or aligned to a specific [[Chaos God]]. Once they reach a certain threshold (every multiple of 10 of Corruption), they tally up the score for each deity and realign themselves if they started to favor one alignment over their previous, and this provides XP discounts and penalties towards future purchases (at least until it's time to recheck alignment). For example, if you start aligned to [[Khorne]], it's cheaper to enhance your melee skills with more Khorne-aligned purchases, doesn't really change purchases for toughening up with [[Nurgle]]-aligned skills (since Khorne and Nurgle hate each other the least), and gaining social skills or magic and knowledge skills cost a surcharge (since Khorne ''really'' hates [[Slaanesh]] and [[Tzeentch]]). Staying Unaligned keeps everything from getting expensive, but it locks you out of getting the XP discounts and the other bonuses of being aligned. Some psychic powers are also restricted to specific alignments, including several strong ones that only function if you're Unaligned.

At least in the previous rulesets the restriction of available skills at each level forced the creation of an evenly balanced character of his type; a good Black Crusade GM should be reminding their players of the dangers of forgetting to remain balanced, unless of course they are running a very focused campaign, such as a non-stop combat-filled war. A *great* GM should show, not tell, by introducing the characters, repeatedly, into situations where the skills they lack would be very useful/helpful.

The game also introduces two new mechanics: '''Infamy''' & '''Corruption'''. While Corruption was already a mechanic of the other settings, Black Crusade makes it absolutely crucial. Corruption is gained far more easily as the players have the eye of the chaos gods, and so are more prone to mutation and divine "gifts". Infamy is also a new stat that is accumulated as PCs advance through play, and is used to calculate the equivalent of "Fate Points" in the other settings, as well as determining how readily available purchases and equipment can be found when attempting to gain new gear in a way not unlike Profit Factor.

The combined function of these two mechanics essentially puts a time limit on the campaign, as players have to gain infamy as quickly as possible so that they can "ascend" to daemonhood lest they gain too much corruption and devolve into [[Chaos Spawn]] instead. Wait, no, no, n'''Arghbwalagh!''' The actual values required for this are set by the GM and often hidden from the players, but it should always be remembered that Corruption comes more easily than Infamy and players should be wary about gaining too many "gifts".