Editing Blackstone Fortress (section)

===The Playable Characters===
''From the original Blackstone Fortress Box''
*'''Janus Draik''': A [[Rogue Trader]] and the closest thing to the main character of the games. He has a pistol but his real skill lies in his swordmanship - with his Flurry of attacks being excellent at close quarters. Also gets a free gambit at the start of each round of combat, increasing his chances of attacking ahead of the hostiles.
*'''Taddeus the Purifier''': A mad priest who came to the fortress due to a vision from the [[Emperor]]. For a rather tubby looking zealot, he can pack a hit with his [[Power Weapon|power maul]] and [[stubber]] - while his servo skull mounted gun allows him to put good quality fire power into medium range targets.
*'''Pious Vorne''': A hive-ganger acolyte of Taddeus. Despite looking like she wears armor, she has terrible defense. She makes up for it with her [[heavy flamer]], arguably the best weapon in the game.
*'''Espern Locarno''': An Imperial [[Navigator]]. Despite being rather poor in combat, he has a plethora of support abilities that make him incredibly useful, being able to save Destiny Dice, mind-control opponents, create psychic defense barriers, and owning a ship that is the only way to resurrect dead party members.
*'''[[UR-025]]''': An [[Legio Cybernetica|Imperial Robot]] working for the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]], definitely not a [[Men of Iron|Man of Iron]], nope. Probably the most powerful character in the game, with his amazing defense and strong weapons. To compensate, he only gets three activation dice as opposed to the four everyone else gets. Capable of surviving, and dishing out, a good amount of firepower.
*'''Rein and Raus''': [[Ratling]] twins who [[Heresy|deserted from the Imperial Guard]]. Though individually weak, their gimmick lets them operate as two characters in one. One boasts one of the best [[Sniper Rifle|sniper rifles]] in the game while the other has a grappling hook which grants him a lot of mobility (and can be used to move rapidly to seize/reach objectives). Both are also equipped with stub pistols should they find themselves lacking sufficiently high activation dice.
*'''Dahyak Grekh''': A [[Kroot]] tracker, and probably the individual who knows the most about the Fortress due to absorbing the memories of those he eats (even finding out a way to do this with the Spindle Drones). His field craft ability allows him to get the drop on hostiles early on, and his booby traps can deal with most smaller hostiles and he can hold his own both at range and in close combat (although he is far from the best at either).
*'''Amallyn Shadowguide''': An [[Eldar Ranger]] from [[Biel-Tan]], searching for archaeotech she believes might be able to rebuild her fractured [[Craftworld]]. A capable addition to any team of explorers with both good close combat abilities and a sniper rifle.

''From the Escalation Expansion''
*'''Neyam Shai Murad''': A new Rogue Trader from Escalation, here to smoke out terrorists. She's more of a gunslinger than Draik and has a sword for a leg. Despite having the sword for a limb, she doesn't seem to use it in combat - with both her attacks being based on her use of her negotiator pistols - not that she needs anything else as she can, with the right activation dice, lay down a considerable amount of shots capable of causing severe damage to large enemies or ripping apart grouped together hordes of weaker hostiles.
*'''Daedalosus''': A Technoarchaeologist from Escalation. He can handle himself in close combat but his Eradicator Pistol is relatively useless at short and medium range until he inspires. His designated target ability is useful (especially since he struggles to take down targets himself).
*'''Aradia Madellan''': A [[Primaris Psyker]] from Escalation. She comes armed with a [[laspistol]], which delivers reasonable medium range attacks, and a force staff. She also has the powerful smite psychic ability.
*'''Gotfret de Montbard''': A [[Crusaders|Crusader]] from Escalation. As with the models in the Ministorum lists, he's big and tanky with a [[Storm Shield]] and Power Sword. Possesses no ranged attacks but more than makes up for it with excellent close combat skills, surprisingly mobility and a solid defense.

''Solo Explorer (From editions of White Dwarf)''
*'''[[Solitaire|Harlequin Solitaire]]''': A new explorer introduced for playing the game with just the one explorer. It has no spaceship and can't team up with others, purchase items at Precipice or generally do much beyond kick ass and take names. An incredibly powerful explorer capable of incredibly fast movement, with formidable defense and the ability to one-shot kill enemies like the Dreaded Ambull.
*'''[[Eversor|Eversor Assassin]]''': A kill-crazy Eversor who runs around the fortress single-handedly. Packs a lot of firepower.
*'''[[Watch Master|Deathwatch Watch Master]]''': Probably one of the few times the [[Astartes]] on the tabletop match the ability of those in the fluff, as he can dispose of countless lesser combatants with no issues.

''Retinue characters (one of these may accompany any four of the above explorers, controlled by the party leader)''
*'''X-101''': A Strange [[Servitor]] from Escalation. It can only do two things a turn (three if Daedalosus is present - the only circumstance in which he can become inspired) but has close range and long range attacks. Realistically he is, at most, going to kill a few low level hostiles or put a few wounds on a large one during each combat. Since there are no penalties or costs for taking him though you may as well have him along. You never know when you might run into a traitor guardsman who needs a cheeky bit of cutter-beaming.
*'''Gren "Knuckles" and Dorg "The Wall" Broggan''': A pair of [[Ogryn]] brothers, a Bodyguard and a Bullgryn, introduced in the September 2019 issue of White Dwarf. Gren comes equipped with a ripper shotgun while Dorg is tooled up with a maul and shield. Since they're retinue characters, only one of the brothers may accompany your explorers on an expedition (this is vaguely explained away in the back story by the fact that Xalleus, the data trader who brought the pair to Precipice, always likes having one of them with him to guard him). Gren, as a bodyguard, sticks close to his charge and becomes 'inspired' when they are grievously wounded (which, if he is any use doesn't happen). He is armed with a ripper shotgun and may wound or kill a few light hostiles in combat per expedition. Big brother Dorg is slightly more autonomous (possibly due to his BONE implant). He has no ranged attack but is happy and capable of crushing anyone who gets too close with his power maul and shield - easily the better of the two brothers crunchwise.
*'''Skarburn Zapdakka''': An [[Ork]] [[Flash Gitz|Flash Git]] retinue character with rules and a special mission in the October 2019 issue of White Dwarf. It's not clear how many people are going to be prepared to fork out £32 for the Flash Gitz box of five boyz for one retinue character. Increasingly solidifies fears, first considered with the Broggan brothers above, that retinue characters are a ploy by GW to get mugs buying expensive 40k units to field new characters... [[skub|Or they are just a bonus for Xenos players since in most groups of 3-6 40k players odds are there is at least one Ork player]]
*'''Penitent 707''': Taddeus's [[Arco-flagellant]], presumed lost in an earlier expedition to the Blackstone Fortress.
*'''The Archivist''': A [[Zoats|Zoat]] "data broker" ostensibly here to salvage the remains of an ancient Zoat spaceship captured by the fortress, but as long as he's around he's not averse to looting as much other archaeotech as he can. While powerful, it might be a good idea to remember that he has a reputation for getting others to do his dirty work and then running off with the loot when they die.
*'''The Tinkerer''': A [[Jokaero]] weaponsmith. It can upgrade explorers' weapons or activation dice, place defense orbs around itself, and fire off its digital weapon.