Dark Heresy: Daemon Hunter Quickview

Dark Heresy: Daemon Hunter is on Drivethroughrpg for 20 bucks, which considering FFG’s previous attempts at PDF pricing, is extremely good. I thought I’d take this time to offer a quick review of the product for those who might need more info on it or be on the fence about it, but not as in-depth into things as I usually am. Up front – some people have asked me if this book lets you play Grey Knights characters as PCs. Yes, you do get tons of options for Grey Knights as PCs. They have the power level that is expected of them, and all their signature equipment (even the silly Dreadknight) is represented.

The first chapter is an introduction to the Ordo Malleus, the anti-daemon wing of the holy ordos (the other ordos are the Ordo Xenos and the Ordo Hereticus, the first being represented in the Deathwatch game, and the second in Dark Heresy core). As is usual of FFG the writing in this part is a superb interpretation of the canon of 40k, digesting the often convoluted or contradictory (or both) information that Games Workshop has cast into the wind with every edition of Warhammer 40k, and creating a definitive source.

The introduction of the Ordo Malleus quickly sets up their history and origins, then dives into the meat of things – what an Ordo Malleus operative in the Callixis Sector (the setting of Dark Heresy) does. It establishes the leadership and organization of the Ordo Malleus in the Callixis Sector, details some of the bigger incidents the organization has been wrapped up in before, then goes through every Dark Heresy career path, associating them with the Ordo Malleus and its duties. No matter what Dark Heresy career path you prefer, whether you’re a Hive Scum at heart, or a Sister of Battle, you can make it into an Ordo Malleus campaign.

There’s a couple of interesting and weird Daemon Hunter NPCs ready-made for your use, and then details about the final solutions used by the Ordo Malleus: Grey Knights, and the planet-eradicating Exterminatus order. This in-depth view at the Ordo Malleus is extremely useful to 40k RPG gamers both old and new, and helps you to really nail down your character’s role and motivation in a daemon-hunting (often daemon-preventing) excursion. It is around 40 pages long.

The second Chapter has player options for Acolytes of the Ordo Malleus. There are background packages, which you can purchase with XP if you meet the requirements, as well as the expected Alternate Ranks. An Alternate Rank is what it sounds – you use it in place of one of the unlocked Ranks of your career path, buying stuff from its list instead of your normal list. One of the coolest ones is Agent of Reliquary 26, an alternate rank for any career of rank 4, that comes with a rare or experimental weapon (rolled from a table) for the agent to wield into battle, and gives the acolyte a Rival from among the local nobility.

Cell Directives are a new and useful mechanic. A Cell Directive is an alternate career rank – it is basically a list of stuff you can buy as usual – but the whole party gains the directive, as a result of the need for shared training towards a specific task. Everyone has to spend a bit of XP and meet some requirements for the group to enter the cell directive, but afterwards they all gain access to its purchase options. This allows everyone to, for example, buy Concealment or Disguise so that they can all be stealthy. There are only a few of these, more options would’ve been welcome, but they’re still cool for what they do.

Thoroughly expected and hardly worth mentioning is the third chapter. It’s full of guns and stuff.

Chapter 4 is awesome. It includes some lore and explanations for each kind of Daemon, and then includes a very thorough daemon-creation system for the GM. You can create lesser, herald or greater daemons for every one of the Great Powers, and it guides you through rolling their characteristics, giving them skills, talents, and weapons, giving them special abilities, and then even giving them an optional Weakness that players can exploit to defeat them. This system is great and is really something they should consider doing for the Xenos in future installments.

The final Chapter is 38 pages of Grey Knights. The Grey Knights are the ultimate weapon of the Ordo Malleus, incorruptible Space Marines wielding ancient anti-daemon weaponry and psychic powers. Grey Knights are also pretty much impossible to run alongside Acolytes. A Grey Knight’s first rank is the Dark Heresy equivalent of 13,000 XP. Furthermore, Acolytes who even so much as see a Grey Knight fighting a Daemon are either going to be mind-scrubbed (unlikely) or executed (very likely), since information about Grey Knights is very strictly guarded. However, the book does offer some solutions, like dividing your campaign into more ponderous Acolyte investigation sections and more straightforward Grey Knights daemon-bashing sections, the PCs playing different characters in each. In the end, the two could even meet, and the Grey Knights might even be forced to execute the Acolytes for knowing too much about what’s been going on through the campaign.

Grey Knights are Space Marines, and as such they’re very powerful. They roll 2d10+30 for all characteristics, and get one reroll for any one they’re not satisfied with. They then get an additional free +5 to each combat characteristic, and 1d5+19 wounds, and a slew of free skills and talents. Playing a Grey Knight is basically being handed and extremely powerful character off the bat without having to do much thinking about it, and yet, there are tons of customization options nonetheless. Grey Knights, like all career paths, have a full suite of career ranks (eight of them) giving them access to greater skills and talents, as well as additional Psychic Training career ranks. You get to choose a Specialization that gives you new weapons, skills and talents, as well as a special ability. The specializations mimic the Deathwatch space marine roles but with Grey Knights flavor. For example, the Purgation Grey Knight is like a Devastator, using Heavy Weapons but with a Grey Knights twist. The Purifier Grey Knight uses flame weapons, and so on. Finally, Grey Knights’ wargear, and tips for Grey Knights campaigns (including tips for using them as an Interlude to a regular Dark Heresy campaign) top off the book. What a book it was!

The only real problems I saw were typos. Fantasy Flight Games has a problem with typos. I haven’t thoroughly examined every option in the book yet, but know that FFG does do errata, so if something looks weird to you, you might want to bring it up with them – they’ve already released corrections for other books and do so in a fairly timely manner.

I can heartily recommend this book to anyone looking to expand their Dark Heresy campaign. I was always more partial to the Ordo Malleus than the Ordo Hereticus, so this one is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. For new players, remember that to use this material you need the Dark Heresy core rulebook, currently going for $30. I also heartily recommend the Inquisitor’s Handbook (currently $25), which is just an insane slew of new stuff, including a vastly expanded armory.

So that’s like 75 dollars for all three? That’s like less than what I paid for the Core and Inquisitor’s Handbook.