Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay FAQ

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay FAQ

Chapter II: Character Creation

Question: How come some races get more talents than others?

Answer: The talents were chosen to reflect the abilities of the various races in the Warhammer world as they've been defined in previous Warhammer games, fiction, and so on. While the rules did make an effort to balance out the races in a general sense, staying true to the source material was also important.

Chapter III: Careers

Question: Do you have to finish a career before you can move into a new one?

Answer: Under normal circumstances, you must finish a career in order to advance into a new one. This means buying all available advances and (in your second and subsequent careers) buying the skills and talents. The exception to this is explained in the sidebar on page 29. That option allows you to switch to Basic Career that's not one of your exits at any time, but it cost 200 xp instead of the normal 100 xp.

Question: Trappings for Advanced careers. Are these requirements to start the career? Or are they items that you should purchase once you start the career?

Answer: They are requirements. See page 20 of the rulebook: "Before you can enter the new career you've chosen there are two things you must do. First, you must collect all the trappings of the career you 212i811c wish to join."

Question: I am unclear how taking advances works. Is it like WFRP1 where once you take a +10% you can't take another, instead you have to wait until you enter a career that offers a +20% or greater?

Answer: Yes, that's how it works. Let's say you're a Hedge Wizard and you've taken both of your allowed Will Power advances, which gives you a +10% (+5% per advance). After finishing the career, you become an Apprentice Wizard. Your new career's Advance Scheme has Will Power +15%. This means you can pay 100 xp and get an additional +5% (since you already have +10% from your previous career).

See Changing Careers on page 29 of the rulebook.

Question: According to the description of the Outlaw Chief, "An Outlaw...can rise to the level of Outlaw Chief." Outlaws have no career exit to the Outlaw Chief. Is this intentional?

Answer: Yes, it is intentional. A Mercenary can rise to become a Mercenary Captain too, but he has to go through another career to get there. It's the same thing.

Question: Why doesn't the Daemon Slayer have the Frenzy Talent? They are described as "barely sane at best".

Answer: The might of a Daemon Slayer is amply represented by his Advance Scheme. Also, "barely sane" and "subject to frenzy" are not necessarily synonymous.

Question: Why does the Champion career have a better Ballistic Skill advance than the Targeteer?

Answer: I wanted there to be two standard paths for the various warrior Basic Careers. The Sergeant/Captain path is for characters that aspire to leadership positions, while the Veteran/Champion path is for characters that excel at combat but lack leadership skills. The Champion career is meant to be the ultimate individual fighter. It's also a career that you cannot enter from a Basic Career, so you must go through at least two other careers before you can get into it. The Targeteer, on the other hand, you can get into from two Basic Careers (Bounty Hunter and Hunter). You'll also note that one of the careers that leads to Champion is Targeteer. So Targeteer is a great choice for the character that wants to excel at missile combat, and when that career is finished there's a career exit (Champion) that leads to the pinnacle of martial achievement. Comparing the Targeteer and Champion is missing the point. A better comparison is Targeteer and Veteran/Scout/Sergeant. Those are other careers you can get into from a Basic Career and none of them can match the Ballistic Skill of a Targeteer.

Chapter IV: Skills and Talents

Question: When is it proper to use Command? I mean, a captain giving his men orders (such as attack, position there or there, draw the line, break the line etc etc) surely would be obeyed, no?

Answer: The skill should be used if the GM thinks there's a chance of the men not following their orders, for whatever reason (a bad situation, the troops' poor morale, etc.). As Chapter IV states: "Skill Tests are only necessary when there is some chance of the action's failure." If the commander says, "Good job, boys, start looting the baggage train," you likely wouldn't need to roll. If he said, "Well boys, I need you to cross that moat under fire and carry the walls without the benefit of siege ladders," a roll would definitely be in order.

Question: It says in the rulebook that some locks fall under Extended Tests, which sounds reasonable. But I wonder, is it proper to rule that a lock is Hard (-20) and takes three successful tests to open? Or are extended tests free of the modifiers?

Answer: You can certainly adjust Test Difficulty with Extended Tests. Some things not only take extra time but also are extra difficult and you can use both rules together to reflect that.

Chapter V: Equipment

Question: The text on encumbrance is confusing it says that characters use their Strength characteristic X 10 but then also goes onto say that a character or creature uses Strength and Toughness X 10? Which one is it?

Answer: Both values are correct because they are used for different things. You can carry a number of encumbrance points equal to your Strength X 10. If you need to pick up another character of creature, you figure their encumbrance value by adding Strength and Toughness and multiplying the total by 10. Basically, the first formula is used for what you can carry and the second for what it takes to carry someone else.

Question: Why is there not an additional damage bonus of say SB +1 to great weapons? As it stands right now there is no benefit to using one other than that you can use a special weapon normally but others cannot.

Answer: You are forgetting the Impact Quality of great weapons. This means they roll two d10s for damage and pick the better result. Thus great weapons, on average, do 2 more points of damage per hit than hand weapons. That is an excellent benefit.

Question: A Halberd can be used like a spear or like a great weapon. However, when compared to a great weapon the only difference is that the halberd is lighter (which is an advantage) and cheaper (which is also an advantage). They use the same specialist weapon group, so rules-wise the halberd is in all ways better than the great weapon, which I find somewhat weird. I would perhaps like to see the great weapon have a modifier to damage as I believe it to be at least as lethal as a flail, and perhaps even more.

Answer: The halberd is basically a two-handed axe with a spike or spearhead on its end. If you removed the spike, it'd clearly be a great weapon. The rules reflect the fact that the halberd is an evolution of the great weapon (and this was the case historically). It was designed to be better by adding the flexibility of the spike. The rules support this idea and it's the reason the halberd is the standard weapon of Imperial infantry regiments.

As for the flail, you have to remember that it has the Tiring Quality. That means it only applies its Impact Quality on the first round of melee. After that, its average damage is actually less than that of a great weapon (6 to the great weapon's 7).

Question: WFRP main rulebook page 109 in the text for an Elfbow it states that
"there are no differences of craftmanship with the elf bow, all are of Exceptional quality" . Does this mean all of these should be considered to of Best Quality?

Answer: That sentence is in error. The stats in the rulebook are for an Elfbow of common craftsmanship. A revised description of the Elfbow appears in the Old World Armoury.

Question: Were the spotting distance and maximum values on the chart reversed? As it now stands, if PC A, by a campfire, and PC B, in the darkness, are looking at each other, A can see B before B can see A, despite A being in a lit area and B being in the dark.

Answer: The Spotting Distances are incorrect. Here are the correct values. These will appear in the Old World Armoury.

Source Spotting Distance

Match 12(6)

Candle 26(13)

Lamp 26(13)

Torch, Untreated 50(25)

Torch, Treated 56(28)

Lantern 70(35)

Camp Fire

Night Vision -

Chapter VI: Combat, Damage, and Movement

Question: Is Defensive Stance a half action as stated in the Rulebook or is it a full action as stated in the Character Pack?

Answer: The character sheet and Character Pack are correct. Defensive Stance is a full action

Question: I take it that every day you start with as many Fortune points as your current FP stat?

Answer: Correct.

Question: Does the -20% penalty for attacking with a weapon in your secondary hand apply to parries?

Answer: No, this is why the rule specifies attacks.

Question: Don't daggers come with a penalty to parry anymore (-20 in v1)? I can see how having two swords would give you a parry advantage, but not a dagger and a sword. Maybe the problem is not in the actual two weapon fighting rules, just a missing modifier for the size of weapon used. Daggers and knives are at -20% when parrying vs. larger weapons, but left handed daggers ignore this penalty?

Answer: That's a perfectly reasonable house rule, but I didn't feel the extra complexity was worth the bother in core rules. Using a dagger in your secondary hand is definitely an advantage over having nothing in that hand at all; hence the free parry. Main gauches are even better because they have the Defensive Quality.

Question: If I understand the Two Weapon Fighting rules right, a character armed only with a shield does not get a free parry. Why not?

Answer: That is correct. You must remember that the shield is now classed as a weapon, just like a sword or an axe. You can both attack and parry with it. Were you to enter a fight with only a shield (which is already an unusual circumstance), you would not get a free parry. However, on your turn you could take two half actions to make a standard attack and enter a parrying stance. Also remember that the shield has the Defensive Quality, so in such circumstances parrying is still quite worthwhile.

Question: How does the 1 parry per round rule interact with the parrying stance action? Let's say that on my turn of round 1, I enter parrying stance, which lasts until the beginning of my turn on round 2. What happens if I don't use my parry until round 2? Does it mean I could enter a parrying stance again on my turn and make a second parry later in round 2? Or does it mean that if I enter parrying stance again, I couldn't actually parry again until round 3 because I had already done so on round 2?

Answer: The 1 parry per round rule is there for the sake of ease, so all you have to remember is whether you parried this round or not. Because parrying takes place when it's not your turn, it can potentially get confusing and create timing and memory issues. Keeping it simple was the reason for the 1 parry per round rule in the first place.

A strict interpretation of the rule would mean that if you parried on round 2 before your turn, you couldn't parry a second time that round if you entered a parrying stance once again. Now you still might want to, because you would get to parry in round 3 before your turn and that could be useful. Or you might find it better to take a different action that round.

If you don't mind a little added complication, however, you can count the round from your turn on one round to the beginning of your turn the next round. Because Initiative works in cyclical fashion, the time between your turns is exactly 1 round. Using this method would guarantee that you get the maximum advantage from the parrying stance, but it would also mean your round count for parrying purposes wouldn't be the same as round count for the combat in general.

Question: The rules are bit vague on differentiating between actions and "a character's turn". It might sound daft but I am presuming an action/half action refers specifically to a single character attack. IE: Say an Assassin with 3 attacks can potentially do 6 half actions in a ten second round.

Answer: Absolutely not. You are confusing three different things here: your turn, your actions, and your Attacks Characteristic.

Your turn is when you get to act in a round, which is determined by your Initiative. On your turn, you can take one or more actions. This is usually two half actions or one full action, but may also include some free actions. Your Attacks Characteristic is only pertinent if you make a swift attack (which is a full action).

For example, your Assassin with Attacks 3 takes his turn on his Initiative, and on his turn he has his choice of actions. If he wants to take advantage of his high Attacks Characteristic, he must make a swift attack, which is a full action. Unless he has some free actions he can use (he might, for example, use the Quick Draw Talent to draw a dagger as a free action), his turn is over after the swift attack is resolved and the next combatant in Initiative order then takes his turn. Once all combatants have taken a turn, the round is over.

Chapter VII: Magic

Question: With the Battle Fury spell, what's the point of getting +1 Attack if you are limited to all out attacks and charge attacks?

Answer: The current wording is a relic from an earlier iteration of the rules, before swift attack became a separate action. The text should read: "all attacks must be all out attacks, charge attacks, or swift attacks, and you may not flee or retreat."

Chapter IX: The Game Master

Question: Is Witchsight always on, or does one have to roll against WP to use it?

Answer: Witchsight isn't like a skill or talent. It's not something to be turned on or off. It's just the way spellcasters see the world and the GM can sometimes use that as a story element. That's why it's described Chapter IX: The Game Master instead of Chapter IV: Skill and Talents.