N18 Collected Errors/Typos in The House of Chains

[TopsyKretts]

This is NOT a discussion about all new fancy stuff in the Goliath Codex aka Houes of Chains book. This is a crowd-sourced list of bugs. The goal is to identify, index and possibly solve the inevitable bugs that are inherent in Necromunda books.

Similar and related discussions:

• House of Chains (Goliath)
  • General Discussion
• N19 Rulebook (Dark Uprising)
  • Errors
• Book of Ruin (Cults Codex)
  • Errors
• Book of Judgement (Enforcers)
  • Errors

A summary of various findings (contributed by several members here).

INTERNAL CONFLICTS

• Stun grenades cost 25 for Leader and Specialist (Champion), but only 15 for Champion.
  • Comment: Is this increased price on purpose? Cost 15 from Trading Post.
• Gang Hierarchy (page 83): "...should this fighter pass a bottle test...".
  • Comment: Gangs make Bottle tests, not fighters (Leading by Example).

EXTERNAL CONFLICTS (CONFLICT WITH PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS)

• Weapon Reference Chart (page 147) : the Combi-pistol (Bolt pistol) profile has an Ammo value of '6'.
  • Comment: Should be '6+'.
• T.H.R.U.G. 12 ‘Sparky’, Bounty Hunter (Page 142):
  • Las cutter is missing 6+ Ammo Roll.
    • Comment: Without ammo value, Scarce trait is pointless (which it may still be since it is a melee weapon).
  • Maul (club) is missing its +1 AP modifier.
    • Comment: Can be a case of Dramatis Personae having unique weapons with common names (which is not acceptable, as unique weapons must have unique names).
• Combi grenade launcher - frag: Has Ammo 6+ without Single Shot and Combi. Was Ammo * with Single Shot (but not Combi) in Gangs of the Underhive.
• Grenade launcher - Stun rounds: Got Rapid Fire (1) and 18" range. No ammo for Grenade Launcher has ever had rapid fire before or range different from 24".
  • Comment: Looks like a copy-paste error from the new twin-linked Assault grenade launcher.
• Bolter / grenade launcher (frag) combi weapon: Costs 60 (Rare 8) in Trading Post, but listed as 80 ("Common") for Goliath.
  • Comment: Why more expensive for Goliath?

ERRORS

• Djangar ‘Gunfists’, Bounty Hunter (page 129): Custom stub cannons does not have Sidearm trait.
  • Comment: It is assumed that the custom stub cannons should have Sidearm trait. Otherwise the Gunfighter skill is pointless. And being a gunfighter is really his thing, hence the name.
• Chainaxe weapon profile: Chainaxe has +1S and +Disarm compared to Chainsword, but both cost the same (25).
  • Comment: It is a better version of Chainsword. It should either have a higher cost, or be worse in some way (lose Parry?).
• Slave Ogryns have Suspensors in the Equipment List(s).
  • Comment: What's the point? RAW suspensors only interact with Unwieldy Heavy weapons, of which there are exactly zero on the Ogryn list, and they can't take weapons from TP or Black Market, only Wargear. They have a couple of Unwieldy Melee weapons, but in no variant of it's ruling does Suspensor do anything for them.
• Prospects (new fighter class): No clear statement of how they gain advancements.
  • Comment: They probably advance like Juves (Fast Learner, 5 advancements to be promoted).
• Grav fist -ranged (Ambot) got AP-1 and Graviton Pulse.
  • Comment: Why?

NOTES

• Unleash the Beast (Muscle skill): Push all fighters B2B that fail a Strength check (friend or foe) D3" back. If there are multiple enemies being pushed, the player controlling this fighter chooses in which order they are moved.
  • Comment: This one is very minor (and extremely situational), but it could preferably say "If multiple fighters are pushed...".
• The Ogryn hanger on does not have the option to have Paired Augmetic Fists (unlike every fighter in the Slave Ogryn gang).
  • Comment: Is this intentional, or errror?
• Combi-weapons renamed to 'Goliath pattern' in the Weapon Reference Chart.
  • Comment: Why renamed (and only there)?
• The Muscle skillset appears in all the skillset tables, including the Sumpkroc's and Ambot's.
  • Comment: Does it mean that the Ambot can get random Muscle skills? How does it work for the Sumpkroc? Remember that pets roll on a reduced D3 table instead of the full D6 table, and there is no such table for Muscle.
• Ajex Gorgoth has a 'Naaargah!' special rule just to get the Naaargah! skill.
  • Comment: Why is a special rule needed to get a skill? He doesn't need any special rule to get Bull Charge or Immovable Stance...
• New equipment lists explicitly lists master-crafted weapons.
  • Comment: Do master-crafted weapons still exist as a generic Wargear/Status item option that can be applied to any weapon? Or is it now just a weapon trait that only some specific weapon variants have (like Paired)?
• Standard ammo for Assaul Grenade Launcher have rapid fire, but the 2 extra ammo types does not.
  • Comment: Shouldn't all ammo have rapid fire? If not, why?
• House Greim Krieg Mester:
  • The only alliance which doesn't specifically prohibits using Overseer outside the alliance.
  • Labeled "Leader" but only has 6" Leading By Example, making him effectively a Champion.
  • The only alliance without Group Activations!
• Slave Guild: The Chain Lord's Overseer skill is specifically limited to only applying to the allies. However, "A Band Apart" no longer have any limit on Overseer, so a Goliath Leader can Overseer any Slave Guild fighters?
• Chem Dealer: Can give a dose of any chem or an item containing chems.
  • Comment: What counts as "containing Chems"? Frenzon collars clearly do, but what about Gas rounds or Chem darts? Web solvent?

CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS

• Gang Hierarchy (Leader & Champion Special rule): During a battle, once this fighter's gang has failed a Bottle test, during any End phase in which this fighter passes it's Cool check and does not flee the battlefield, any friendly Goliath fighters that are within 6"/12" of this fighter will automatically pass their Cool check and will not flee the battlefield.
  • Comment: Leading By Example and Fleeing the Battlefield happens at the start of the round. This specified at the End phase. Either an error or update.
• All fighters start without armour.
• Promoting fighters have changed:
  • Juve --> Specialist (Ganger) (after 5 advancements?)
  • Prospect --> Champion or Specialist (Champion) after 5 advancements
• All fighters have their own weapon/equipment list.
• Leader, Champion, Prospect and Specialist (Ganger) can have multiple equipment sets.
• New skillset: Muscle
• Gangers:
  • Cannot have Special Weapons until after being promoted to Specialist (Ganger).
  • Cannot use weapons outside their Equipment List (Trading Post / Black Market).
• 1 Ganger can be promoted to Specialist (Ganger) when creating a new gang.
• Gangs can purchase terrain to be deployed during battles (seems to be permanent addition to the gang).
• Pets:
  • Always part of the owner's group activation (even if the owner was part of a group activation).
  • Doesn't get XP when running back to its owner.
• Melta bombs no longer have the Melta or Scarce weapon traits
• Alliances:
  • Added on top of the standard crew.
  • Explicitly specifies the exact number of fighters in the Slave Guild
• Master-crafted: Re-roll to hit once per battle (instead of every attack)!
• Reckless:
  • Ranged: The random target must also be within the weapon's range (hello pre-measure ).
    • Rapid Fire: Additional hits are randomized on eligible targets. If there are more shots than targets, choose where to distribute spare shots.
  • Melee: Anyone B2B.
  • Versatile: Anyone in range.
• Versatile: Improved clarification.
  • Old: "At all other times other than during this fighter's activation, Versatile has no effect."
  • New: "At all other times other than during this fighter's activation or when making Reaction attacks, this trait has no effect.
  • Comment: A good improvement!
• Blaze: Improved clarification ("must act as follows, after which their activation will end").

Assuming many of these changes will be applied universally for the remaining house gangs in future "House of..." books. Other gangs may get equivalent options.

 

[cardyfreak]

Locked until book is released.

 

[TopsyKretts]

Some leaks already show a few changes.

 

[Bilbostomper]

Brute cleaver has +1 to hit. Don't think it had that before.

 

[TopsyKretts]

It was +1 to hit in Gang War, but lost it in Gangs book. Now back to +1

 

[Bilbostomper]

Oh, well. The previous version never made any sense. If only they had made some effort to make chainswords less awful compared to chain axes.

For the changes section, maybe mention the new hangers-on that can be bought by all gangs?

 

[Jam Warrior]

The missing +1 to hit on the Brute Cleaver was an error and was fixed in the Dec FAQ

 

[cardyfreak]

As pointed out in the general discussion on HoC, the costs of some grenades and possibly other stuff seems to change depending on the fighter type taking them. Unclear if this is deliberate or not as, as far as grenades are concerned, there is only one type who’s price fluctuates- stun moves between 15cr-25cr depending on fighter type.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Oh, well. The previous version never made any sense. If only they had made some effort to make chainswords less awful compared to chain axes.

For the changes section, maybe mention the new hangers-on that can be bought by all gangs?

I've been considering giving chainswords +1 strength. They're such an iconic 40k weapon it's a shame that they've been reduced to only slightly better than a standard sword.

 

[Kiro The Avenger]

I've been considering giving chainswords +1 strength. They're such an iconic 40k weapon it's a shame that they've been reduced to only slightly better than a standard sword.

Chainaxes should lose parry, I'm 99% sure that's just a typo they've adopted as intended.
Chainswords aren't bad weapons, they're just worse than axes.

 

[TopsyKretts]

Yeah, but Chainaxe is nothing new of this book.

 

[Devilmixer]

is it just me that find it strange that the standart shots for the assault grenade launcher has rapid fire, but the 2 extra types you can buy for it do not?

 

[Kiro The Avenger]

Not really, they don't have unstable either.

 

[Chitriel]

Three errors:

Page 129 – Djangar ‘Gunfists’, Bounty Hunter

I assume that his Custom stub cannon is supposed to have the Sidearm trait. Otherwise him having the Gunfighter skill and two of said cannons is pointless. And him being a gunfighter really his thing, hence the name.


Page 142 – T.H.R.U.H. 12 ‘Sparky’, Bounty Hunter

His Las cutter is missing its 6+ Ammo Roll, otherwise its Scarce trait is pointless (which it may still be since it is a melee weapon).

His Maul (club) is missing its +1 AP modifier. Which of course may be a case of Dramatis Personae having unique weapons with common names.



Generally speaking this appears to be the best put together book in the new Necromunda run.

 

[cardyfreak]

His Las cutter is missing its 6+ Ammo Roll, otherwise its Scarce trait is pointless (which it may still be since it is a melee weapon).

It has been pointed out elsewhere that the rules say that ANY weapon that has an ammo value must make an ammo roll when used. This means that even a melee weapon with an ammo value would roll when used, so this is likely a misprint and probably should have the ammo value.

 

[Devilmixer]

Not really, they don't have unstable either.

and only one of the base ammo for it has that trait anyway, I think the copy pasted and forgot to add rapid fire, and maybe unstable

 

[Jam Warrior]

The Ogryn hanger on does not have the option to have his Augmetic Fists as Paired while everyone else in the Ogryn gang can. Seems more error of omission than intent.

 

[Thorgor]

Noticed a small, inconsequential typo in the Weapon Reference Chart (page 147) : the Combi-pistol (Bolt pistol) profile has an Ammo value of '6' (instead of '6+')

Change/improvement: the Melta bombs no longer have the Melta or Scarce weapon traits

Random stuff I wonder about:

• Why did they name the combi-weapons 'Goliath pattern' in the Weapon Reference Chart (and only there)?
• The Muscle skillset appears in all the skillset tables, including the Sumpkroc's and Ambot's. Does it mean that the Ambot can get random Muscle skills? How does it work for the Sumpkroc? (remember that pets roll on a reduce D3 table instead of the full D6 table, and there is no such table for Muscle)
• Why does Ajex Gorgoth need to have a 'Naaargah!' special rule just to get the Naaargah! skill? He doesn't need any special rule to get Bull Charge or Immovable Stance...
• Do master-crafted weapons still exist as a generic Wargear/Status item option that can be applied to any weapon? Or is it now just a weapon trait that only some specific weapon variants have (like Paired)

 

[TopsyKretts]

Thanks for all the comments, really useful!

The Ogryn hanger on does not have the option to have his Augmetic Fists as Paired while everyone else in the Ogryn gang can. Seems more error of omission than intent.

I put this under "Notes" because it is not a contradiction nor a guaranteed error. It may be intentional, or it may seem like an error as you suggest.

 

[Thorgor]

A few additional head-scratchers:

• Are House Agents Goliath-only or can any house gang (or even any gang) petition for one? The rules imply the latter, but S4/T4 and access to Forge Tyrant weapons imply the former (I'm pretty sure that each house will get their own version eventually, but in the mean time, can anyone hire those?)
  
  
• What happens if you get fined (2D6*10 credits) when trying to petition for a house agent but you don't have enough credits left in your stash to pay the fine?
  
  
• What is the point of this 16+ bad result when you can only get it at 10+ reputation, meaning the best result you can hope for is the 11-15 other bad result (can't hire the House Agent) — props to @Squee for detecting this one
  
  
• Since House Agents have a variable cost, what is their contribution to gang rating? Their Equipment rule state the free equipment you get for them should be accounted for when determining Gang Rating, but what is the base value of the House Agent? Is it 40 credits or 80 credits?