The posted link was in no way meant to stop a discussion or the brainstorming over new powers. New powers and disciplines are always welcome.
I for one am thinking about a discipline along the lines of the illusion magic from fantasy games. I don't know in how fat this is adaptable, but I think it would be interesting.

I don't know where it came from, but whenever my group needed to bluff their way into somewhere they always ringed, pushed the Kriegian Death Corps Soldier to the front and said they were "from accounting".

I don't know where it came from, but whenever my group needed to bluff their way into somewhere they always ringed, pushed the Kriegian Death Corps Soldier to the front and said they were "from accounting".

I don't know where it came from, but whenever my group needed to bluff their way into somewhere they always ringed, pushed the Kriegian Death Corps Soldier to the front and said they were "from accounting".

I don't know where it came from, but whenever my group needed to bluff their way into somewhere they always ringed, pushed the Kriegian Death Corps Soldier to the front and said they were "from accounting".

I don't know where it came from, but whenever my group needed to bluff their way into somewhere they always ringed, pushed the Kriegian Death Corps Soldier to the front and said they were "from accounting".

I don't know where it came from, but whenever my group needed to bluff their way into somewhere they always ringed, pushed the Kriegian Death Corps Soldier to the front and said they were "from accounting".

As you stated, "Real Power Armour" isn't out yet, so you can't really say that "Light Power Armour" sucks in contrast, because you don't have something to compare it with. I would not advice comparing the DH2 Light Power Armour to the DH1 or other lines of the WH40k RPGs. Although many stats are similar they did make quite a few changes, that are bigger, the older the other system is. So RT to DH2 is a greater difference than OW to DH2.
 
I totally agree that the Eldar Power Sword sucks ass. Maybe give it the Accurate trait.

Then just houserule it so that Weapon Training (Heavy) uses Strenght instead of Finesse.

I would always try to play the NPCs realisticly. It is absolutly realistic that a group of Acolytes would murder the crap out of a small group of poorly armed gangers. If the players encounter such a situation I would always let them win easily. But as stated above, if they feel invincible after a few encounters like this, let the enemy be prepared. Set an ambush, use Autoguns for Pinning fire. Let the enemy set up a heavy stubber. Organised cults can easily aquire one or two sniper rifles / long las. Use them.
My favorite tactic for organised opponents (I like to use: 11 cultists with Autoguns, 2 with Sniperrifles, 2 with 1 heavy stubber):
Try to surprise them. In the surprise round. Snipe one or two players (the ones that look most threatening) and pepper the area around them with full auto fire (forcing them to roll WP-20 or jump into hiding). After that, let 1/3 of the enemies fire every round (so the roll to snap out of Pinning is still hard), 1/3 (including the snipers and the heavy stubber) use overwatch to kill the crap out of every player who carelessly returns fire and 1/3 of the enemies try to flank the PCs (through their surperiour knowledge of the place) to drop some grenades (firebombs are incredibly easy to get) or just shoot them to death from behind.
Of course the enemy stays in cover, maybe they even brought some reinforced crates along (AP 7 plus the armor of the cultist of 3, and the toughness of 3 equals AP 13 for the cultists).
Also of course the cultist try to ambush the players in an area where the PCs have no to almost none cover. Don't forget that cover degrades.
 
That tactic can easily wipe out starting characters and is easily adaptable for stronger Chars by giving the cultists better weapons, armor, ammo and BS.

This trick also works in said tunnels. Crank up the suspense, than let them make an Awareness check. Then, like in a bad horror movie: BAMM! JUMPSCARE! In reality there was just a friggin rat, that jumped through the tunnel in front of them. The Arbiter will think twice to assume that a test is important (and thus spend a Fate Point), only because the setting might indicate something.

This trick also works in said tunnels. Crank up the suspense, than let them make an Awareness check. Then, like in a bad horror movie: BAMM! JUMPSCARE! In reality there was just a friggin rat, that jumped through the tunnel in front of them. The Arbiter will think twice to assume that a test is important (and thus spend a Fate Point), only because the setting might indicate something.

In my opinion: yes. But "balance" does not have to mean absolute equality - in the sense of an RPG, it just means that everybody gets an important part to play and has their moment to shine. This is perhaps less so the case with Holmes and Watson, where the latter is more of a sidekick to the former, but it can be applied to Mulder and Scully, who are both equal protagonists, each with their own skillset who complement and rely on each other.
 
Characters who are combat specialists should be balanced in combat. Characters who are support specialists should be balanced in a supporting role. Characters with social speciality should be balanced when it comes to interaction with NPCs. The bottom line is: No player should be condemned to feel like they're playing a sidekick to someone elses story.
 
That's not to mean that playing sidekicks should be impossible, but no serious RPG should put it forward as the RAW standard.

A player in our round actually had a wooden leg implanted, because it had to go really fast. The Inquisitor promised to get a better leg as soon as they were back in the HQ. He kept the promise.

A player in our round actually had a wooden leg implanted, because it had to go really fast. The Inquisitor promised to get a better leg as soon as they were back in the HQ. He kept the promise.

There are some cheaper, quicker alternatives to bionics, too.
 

 

I may be reading too much into the modules provided by FFG, but personally, I'd want the character's background to be represented in her chargen choices. With all Sororitas going through the Schola Progenium, I believe that Shrine or Feudal world are the only two options.
 
Shrine world provides positive modifiers to Willpower and Fellowship, which are both useful attributes for a "proper" Sister. The first because it represents their faith and indoctrination, the latter if you want her to inspire her comrades or other Imperial forces, from seconded Guard or PDF companies to impromptu militias. The homeworld's special perk - a chance to regain spent Fate - should also gel nicely with the Battle Sister's Acts of Faith.
Backgroundwise, the Shrine world origin could represent the religious indoctrination.
 
Feudal world, on the other hand, gives you bonuses to Perception and Weapon Skill, also useful, although the latter more than the former. The special perk you get here would be to ignore the penalties by heavy armour, which seems both useless or OP depending on the situation, but could represent the military drill the character has been subjected to in her childhood. As another minor advantage over the Shrine world origin, you get +2 Wounds.
Backgroundwise, the Feudal world origin could represent the monastic lifestyle.
 
Both origins also provide penalties, but the Feudal malus to Intelligence seems slightly more fitting to me than Shrine's to Perception. The progena have absorbed a lot of knowledge at the Schola, but at the same time, the indoctrination is bound to stem their curiosity somewhat. Depending on the rest of the team, a Sororitas novice's unique behaviour could also be regarded as offputting, thus actually warranting a low Fellowship score. Zealots only really work well with other zealots, after all, and those Sororitas who would really need it as their job includes dealing with outsiders would get it from their role (see below).
 
Perhaps both origins could represent different aspects of the Schola, and those who are selected to join the Orders Militant have simply learned more from the Feudal world side, whereas those selected to join one of the non-militant Orders have gained more out of the Shrine world facet?
 
For the role, I think it could be split up depending on the type of Order the young novice is on the track of joining:
Orders Militant: Warrior or Fanatic Orders Hospitaller: Chirurgeon Orders Dialogous: Sage Orders Famulous: Seeker Orders Pronatus: Sage Orders Sabine: Hierophant I almost want to nominate the Penitent as well, as the special ability is quite fitting for members of the Sisterhood, but the Aptitudes seem rather sub-optimal, given how they include neither WS or BS. Fanatic with Deny the Witch would be a nice way to represent the .. well, fanatic side of Sororitas training, but on the other hand, Warrior is the only applicable role that gives you Ballistic Skill (note that you can replace double Aptitudes with one of your choice, but there's other useful ones, too). There's also Assassin, but that reads a little too specialised and not enough "frontline" to me.
 
The choice of background should be obvious.
 
That's just my personal recommendation, though. YMMV!
 
On a sidenote: with the Battle Sister being an Elite Advance, it might make sense to consider that a character who has only the Adepta Sororitas background is actually just a young Novice rather than a fully-fledged Sister, similar to the first version of Sororitas in DH1. This also makes it much easier to explain the character not being way better than most of the other PCs in spite of coming from an elite organisation with a lifetime of dedicated training, as well as a lack of powerful signature wargear.
In DH1, this was described as "Detached Duty", in which a promising Novice was temporarily seconded to the Inquisition to gain non-standard experience in the field that would be of use later on when the character may become an officer in her order.

Everyone knows Low Gothic. If you come from a home world that has a different language, you know this as well. As a noble you can speak High Gothic, as a feral worlder you know the cant of your homeworld, which is most likely based on Low Gothic, so everyone who knows Low Gothic well enough (= you have the Linguistics(Low Gothic) skill) is able to roll with an appropriate modifier. If you don't have the skill you are not versed enough in the language to speak variations that o beyond a dialect.
To be able to learn new languages to speak, I'd say you need some kind of tutor (a person, cogitator, dictionary, ...) and time. If you invest that I'd say that, as long as it is no complete alien language, you can speak it. If you want to be really good in it (to write literature, speak to the unwashed masses, etc.) you need to buy the Linguistics skill.
If you want to learn a completely alien language (Eldar, Ork, Tau, etc.) you need to have a tutor and I'd say you need to buy the Linguistics skill.

Everyone knows how to speak Low Gothic at character creation. It's just that Linguistics (Low Gothic) is used for the finer details of the language. It's like in reality: Everyone knows their native tongue, but not everyone knows the history of the language, has studied it or is a poet. Speaking Low Gothic and having Linguistics (Low Gothic) is like heating a pre-made burger in the microwave and cooking a five-star dinner: Both can be eaten, but one is far more advanced.
 
I would totally agree with this. It is much easier to learn new language, if you studied one before and know how languages function on a basic level. That's what Linguists learn. To apply this knowledge to some other form of communication lets you make educated guesses, which really helps.
As for using it without rolling the dice: I'd say that just speaking a language that is not entirely alien (that is: it is based on the human mind and therefor understandable concepts) is manageable without dice rolls, as soon as the GM decides that you are fluently enough for the concept that you try to communicate. "Hello my name is ...", "I'm thirsty", "Give me a beer, please" are easy sentences even a beginning learner can put together.
 
I always thought of it as Low Gothic being my native tongue and High Gothic being classical latin.

--THE HRUD--
 

 
The Imperium of Man views the noisome xeno race known as the Hrud as little more than parasites, foul scavengers with no significant culture of their own. Needless to say, this is not a view shared by the Hrud themselves. The Hrud are an ancient and far-flung people, a people who had established colonies on numerous planets throughout the galaxy long before the sons of Terra left their homeworld to walk among the stars. The Hrud pride themselves on their record-keeping, and there are those who speculate that they have information contained within their ancient archives that would open up such terrifying vistas of eldritch aeons that no human mind could absorb the revelations without forfeiting sanity.
 
The Hrud are a dark-dwelling race who inhabit underground tunnel complexes (called juunlak in the Hrud tongue), preferably near the settlements of other advanced races. There, they live in secret, using stealth to pilfer the goods they cannot produce themselves. As their numbers increase, the Hrud prepare for a peh-ha, or mass migration. This typically involves a small group of Hrud ‘scouts’ stowing away on a space-faring vessel, carrying with them some essential components for their warp-based technology. When they eventually arrive at a new world, the Hrud set up a secret base and begin stealing the technological items needed to combine with their own components to create a warp gate. Once the gateway is functional, the Hrud Raheed, or ‘masstribe’, begins migrating in earnest to the new location.
 

 
Unfortunately the sustained operation of a Hrud warp gate generates an enormous amount of entropic energy, which can have devastating effects on the surrounding environment. Crops turn to dust overnight, organic materials crumble, and local residents find themselves aging at an incredibly accelerated rate, often going from spry youths to do doddering old men in a matter of days. These shocking occurrences are often the first indication a human population has of a Hrud infestation nearby. Since this normally triggers an attempted purge by Imperial authorities, the Hrud usually try to keep their mass migrations secret, but their need to utilize the stolen technology of others, including tapping into energy sources to power their warp gates, sometimes prevents them from setting up their colonies a sufficient distance from human population centers to avoid detection.
 
There is another woe for those living near Hrud infestations. The scavenging of these stealthy aliens is not limited to material goods: the Hrud also make use of slaves, capturing unwary humans to perform the unskilled labor necessary to keep a colony functioning properly. Many of these slaves die from contact with the toxins perpetually secreted by the Hrud, but those hardy individuals who develop a resistance to the poisons sometimes become valued resources to Hrud settlements, even being viewed by some Hrud as loyal ‘pets’, especially if the slave was captured young and stays with the Hrud long enough to forget his or her previous life.
 

 
In appearance, the Hrud are rarely perceived as anything more that vaguely humanoid shapes, shorter than the human norm, swathed in ragged robes. Sometimes a ratlike tail is glimpsed dragging behind, but beyond this even those who have had first-hand encounters with the Hrud would be hard-pressed to provide any detailed description. Even study of Hrud corpses is problematic, as these xenos decompose at an accellerated rate, putrefying into loathsome puddles of toxic liquid shortly after death. Those rare individuals who have seen living Hrud without their traditional robes describe them as hairless creatures with large, black eyes and limbs which are not jointed, like those of human, but segmented, in the nature of a spine.
 

 
HRUD (TROOP)
Wounds: 8
Armour [Defense Value]: 2 All [4]
WS:28 BS:35 S:25 T:25 Ag:(6)45 Int:38 Per:36 WP:40 Fel:18 Ifl:-
Movement: 5/10/15/30
Threat: ??
HRUD FUSIL Class: Exotic/ Basic; Rng: 100m; RoF: S/-/-; Dmg: 2d10 (E); Pen: 5; Clip: 1; Rld: Full; Wt: 4 Kg; Avl: ER Special: Overheats, Warp Weapon
PICKNIFE Class: Melee; Rng: -; RoF: -; Dmg: 1d10+2 (I); Pen: 1d10; Clip: -; Rld: -; Wt: 1 Kg; Avl: RA
Skills: Acrobatics (Ag) +10, Athletics (S), Awareness (Per), Dodge (Ag) +10, Forbidden Lore: Warp, Xenos (Int), Linguistics: Hrud, Xeno Markings (Int), Scholastic Lore: Legend (Int), Stealth (Ag) +30 (includes Size modifier), Survival (Per), Tech Use (Int).
Talents: Ambidextrous, Double Team, Hard Target, Jaded, Leap Up, Weapon Training: Exotic (Hrud Fusil), Las, Low-Tech, Solid Projectile.
Traits: Dark-Sight, Size (3), Unnatural Agility (2).
Gear: Reinforced Robes; 2d10 reloads for the Fusil; miscellaneous tools and other odds and ends stolen from unwary previous owners. Also, there is a 30% chance that a Hrud will be carrying a scavenged back-up weapon. These are 75% likely to be some form of standard Imperial pistol, with a 25% chance of being something more exotic, such as a xeno-manufactured weapon which the nomadic Hrud picked up during its travels. Scavenged weapons will only have half their clip capacity in ammo remaining.
Light-Sensitive: All Tests taken by a Hrud are at -10 in direct sunlight or equivalent illumination.
Poison Secretions: The toxins produced by the Hrud’s state of semi-decomposition render them dangerous to the touch. Any creature whose bare skin comes into contact with a Hrud must pass an Ordinary (+10)Toughness test or lose 1d10 points of Toughness for 1d5 days. If the creature is exposed to these toxic secretions a number of times equal to 10-TB and survives, it develops immunity to Hrud poison (most slaves encountered in Hrud communities will have developed this immunity).
Entropic Aura: Repeated exposure to the corrupting energies of their warp-based technology has led to the Hrud permanently radiating an aura of entropic energy. This aura has the following effects: First, it renders Hrud immune to the aging effects of their warp gates. Second, it dampens a percentage of light in their vicinity, allowing Hrud to make Stealth tests even while under direct observation. Third, non-living items near a Hrud will age approximately 10 times faster than normal. This has little impact on machinery or other metal items; the most obvious consequence of this effect is to cause food to spoil within minutes of being near a Hrud. Finally, the entropic aura will cause the body of a slain Hrud to decompose at a highly accelerated rate, completely dissolving into a foul, toxic liquid within an hour of death.
 
HRUD TINKER (ELITE)
Wounds: 10
Armour [Defense Value]: 2 All [4]
WS:28 BS:40 S:25 T:25 Ag:(7)50 Int:48 Per:42 WP:45 Fel:18 Ifl:-
Movement: 6/12/18/36
Threat: ??
HRUD FUSIL Class: Exotic/ Basic; Rng: 100m; RoF: S/-/-; Dmg: 2d10 (E); Pen: 5; Clip: 1; Rld: Full; Wt: 4 Kg; Avl: ER Special: Overheats, Warp Weapon
PICKNIFE Class: Melee; Rng: -; RoF: -; Dmg: 1d10+2 (I); Pen: 1d10; Clip: -; Rld: -; Wt: 1 Kg; Avl: RA
Skills: Acrobatics (Ag) +10, Athletics (S), Awareness (Per), Dodge (Ag) +10, Forbidden Lore: Warp, Xenos (Int) +10, Linguistics: Hrud, Xeno Markings (Int), Security (Int) +10, Scholastic Lore: Chymistry, Legend (Int) +10, Stealth (Ag) +30 (includes Size modifier), Survival (Per), Tech Use (Int) +20.
Talents: Ambidextrous, Double Team, Hard Target, Jaded, Leap Up, Weapon Training: Exotic (Hrud Fusil), Las, Low-Tech, Solid Projectile.
Traits: Dark-Sight, Size (3), Unnatural Agility (2).
Gear: Reinforced Robes; 2d10 reloads for the Fusil; many tools, including a Hrud equivalent of a Combi-Tool (tech-heresy in the eyes of the Adeptus Mechanicus). Also, there is a 75% chance that a Hrud Tinker will be carrying a scavenged back-up weapon. These are 75% likely to be some form of standard Imperial pistol, with a 25% chance of being something more exotic, such as a xeno-manufactured weapon which the nomadic Hrud picked up during its travels. Scavenged weapons will only have half their clip capacity in ammo remaining.
Light-Sensitive, Poison Secretions, Entropic Aura: see above
 
HRUD CHIEFTAIN (MASTER)
Wounds: 14
Armour [Defense Value]: 2 All [5]
WS:33 BS:40 S:30 T:30 Ag:(7)50 Int:42 Per:40 WP:45 Fel:23 Ifl:-
Movement: 6/12/18/36
Threat: ??
HRUD FUSIL Class: Exotic/ Basic; Rng: 100m; RoF: S/-/-; Dmg: 2d10 (E); Pen: 5; Clip: 1; Rld: Full; Wt: 4 Kg; Avl: ER Special: Overheats, Warp Weapon
PICKNIFE Class: Melee; Rng: -; RoF: -; Dmg: 1d10+2 (I); Pen: 1d10; Clip: -; Rld: -; Wt: 1 Kg; Avl: RA
Skills: Acrobatics (Ag) +10, Athletics (S), Awareness (Per) +10, Dodge (Ag) +20, Command (Fel) +10, Forbidden Lore: Warp, Xenos (Int) +10, Linguistics: Hrud, Xeno Markings (Int) +10, Navigate: Surface (Int) +10, Scholastic Lore: Legend (Int) +20, Stealth (Ag) +30 (includes Size modifier), Security (Int), Survival (Per), Tech Use (Int) +10.
Talents: Ambidextrous, Assassin Strike, Double Team, Hard Target, Jaded, Leap Up, Weapon Training: Exotic (Hrud Fusil; back-up weapon [see below]), Las, Low-Tech, Solid Projectile.
Traits: Dark-Sight, Size (3), Unnatural Agility (2).
Gear: Reinforced Robes; 2d10 reloads for the Fusil; Scavenged back-up weapon. This is 50% likely to be some form of Imperial pistol; otherwise it is a xeno-manufactured weapon. The scavenged weapon will only have half its clip capacity in ammo remaining.
Light-Sensitive, Poison Secretions, Entropic Aura: see above.
Polyglot: This creature can make an Untrained Linguistics Tests to attempt to communicate in languages it does not speak; communication in this manner is very rudimentary, and a test must be rolled for each concept being expressed.
 
GM Notes: Stealth is the key to employing Hrud effectively. They are not brute-force combatants- the relative ease with which they can be killed must be offset by making them as difficult to target as possible. The best ‘formation’ for a Hrud ambush is to deploy them in increments of three, each one hidden in a different location with a view of the kill-zone. The first Hrud to act fires its fusil as a half action, then moves and simultaneously re-hides. The second Hrud, having hidden the previous turn, spends the round reloading its weapon. The third Hrud, after reloading the previous round, takes a Full Aim. With shots coming from every direction and no targets visible, three Hrud should prove very disconcerting to a Warband, while six would be a significant threat, and nine ought to be able to convince even the most stubborn Acolytes to retreat and come up with a different plan…
 
Special credit to Lexicanum for most of the information about Hrud culture.

That is a bit unfair to say with only the short (and not very specific) announcment text to go from. I'll wait for a more in depth view and the actual book, to form my opinion. But I'm very happy to finally get another book.
 
Also this:
 
And don't forget all the human cults that build around these Xenos. That's a nice way to cross over Ordo Xenos with Ordo Hereticus and more stealthy, subtle ways to encounter the Xenos.

This.
But also: If the players act really stupid and get themself into trouble, they couldn't realisticly survive: Give them a possibility to get out, but if they don't take it, kill them!

If they ignored all the clues and just left after the ships with the tithe are on their way, just drop hints of the tainted food (Novabella food packages, shipping papers, etc.) with the cults / mutant uprisings / chaos incursions they encounter in later adventures. If they make the connection: good for them, if not: just escalate it further until they notice.
A whole IG regiment turning to chaos worship after getting a big shipment of Novabella food is not easy to miss.

I would always try to play the NPCs realisticly. It is absolutly realistic that a group of Acolytes would murder the crap out of a small group of poorly armed gangers. If the players encounter such a situation I would always let them win easily. But as stated above, if they feel invincible after a few encounters like this, let the enemy be prepared. Set an ambush, use Autoguns for Pinning fire. Let the enemy set up a heavy stubber. Organised cults can easily aquire one or two sniper rifles / long las. Use them.
My favorite tactic for organised opponents (I like to use: 11 cultists with Autoguns, 2 with Sniperrifles, 2 with 1 heavy stubber):
Try to surprise them. In the surprise round. Snipe one or two players (the ones that look most threatening) and pepper the area around them with full auto fire (forcing them to roll WP-20 or jump into hiding). After that, let 1/3 of the enemies fire every round (so the roll to snap out of Pinning is still hard), 1/3 (including the snipers and the heavy stubber) use overwatch to kill the crap out of every player who carelessly returns fire and 1/3 of the enemies try to flank the PCs (through their surperiour knowledge of the place) to drop some grenades (firebombs are incredibly easy to get) or just shoot them to death from behind.
Of course the enemy stays in cover, maybe they even brought some reinforced crates along (AP 7 plus the armor of the cultist of 3, and the toughness of 3 equals AP 13 for the cultists).
Also of course the cultist try to ambush the players in an area where the PCs have no to almost none cover. Don't forget that cover degrades.
 
That tactic can easily wipe out starting characters and is easily adaptable for stronger Chars by giving the cultists better weapons, armor, ammo and BS.

sound about right...