Editing WH40K: Space Marine

[[File:WH40K Chaos Space Marine.jpg|500px|thumb|right|Chaos Space Marine]]
[[File:WH40K Deathwatch Space Marine.jpg|500px|thumb|right|Deathwatch Space Marine]]

'''Space Marine'''<br />'''Dice''': 14D<br />'''Dexterity''': 2D+1 / 4D+2<br />'''Knowledge''': 2D+1 / 4D+2<br />'''Mechanical''': 2D+1 / 4D+2<br />'''Perception''': 2D+1 / 4D+2<br />'''Strength''': 2D+1 / 4D+2<br />'''Technical''': 2D+1 / 4D+2

'''Move''': 12 / 14<br />'''Size''': 2.13m<br />'''Weight''': 320kg

'''Special Abilities / Implants''':

*'''Secondary Heart / Ossmodula / Biscopea / Haemastamen''': These implants, in conjunction with several others, grants the Space Marine a +2D to Strength and Strength related skills, but not for damage or damage resistance or other resistance rolls.

*'''Larraman’s Organ''': Space Marines do not normally suffer from Blood Loss. In addition, the Space Marine only suffers half the normal damage penalties. However, attacks with the Warp Weapon Quality may still inflict Blood Loss as normal.

*'''Catalepsean Node''': A Space Marine suffers no penalties to Perception-based Tests when awake for long periods of time.

*'''Preomnor''': The Space Marine gains a +2D bonus to any Test against ingested poisons.

*'''Omophagea''': By devouring a portion of an enemy, a Space Marine can gain access to certain information (such as the whereabouts of a cult’s hidden lair, access codes, and so forth). The information he can access is at the GM’s discretion, keeping in mind what may have been known by the enemy in the first place. In addition, a Space Marine can temporarily gain access to a Skill or Attribute Skill Group that he did not already possess. The Skills he may gain are at the GM’s discretion, depending on the Skills originally possessed by the enemy. The Space Marine may access this acquired Skill or Skill Group as an untrained Skill for a number of hours equal to his Knowledge Attribute (3D = 3 hours). After this time, the information begins to fade and the Skill is no longer useable by the Space Marine (until he devours another portion of an enemy, of course).

*'''Multi-lung''': The Space Marine may re-roll any failed Tests for drowning or asphyxiation. In addition, the Space Marine gains a +3D bonus to Tests made to resist the effects of gases, and may re-roll failed results. The Space Marine may also breathe water through his multi-lung.

*'''Occulobe''': This implants grants the Space Marine a +1D bonus to any search tests specifically involving Sight.

*'''Lyman’s Ear''': This implant grants the Space Marine a +1D bonus to any search tests specifically involving Hearing.

*'''Sus-an Membrane''': The Space Marine may voluntarily enter a form of suspended animation. To do so, the character must meditate for 1-5 Rounds. This organ automatically activates if the character is knocked unconscious by Damage. While in suspended animation, the Chaos Space Marine’s wounds will not deteriorate or heal. It requires chemical therapy, auto-suggestion techniques, and a successful Hard (20) First Aid Test to revive a character from suspended animation.

*'''Melanchromic Organ''': This organ has no in-game effect besides contributing to the Space Marine’s Unnatural Strength. At the GM’s discretion, the Space Marine may ignore or be resistant to exposure to radiation, depending on the severity.

*'''Oolitic Kidney''': This implant gives the Space Marine the ability to re-roll any failed Test to resist poisons and toxins, including attacks with the Toxic Quality.

*'''Neuroglottis''': The Space Marine may detect any poison or toxins by taste with a successful Very Difficult (25) Search Test. He may also detect poisons or toxins by smell with a successful Difficult (20) Search Test. The Space Marine (at the GM’s discretion) gains a +1D bonus to any Tracking Tests against an opponent he has tasted.

*'''Mucranoid''': The Space Marine may re-roll any failed Tests caused by temperature extremes, such as desert heat or the cold of outer space.

*'''Betcher’s Gland''': The Space Marine may spit acid at his foes. This acts as a ranged weapon with the following profile: (Range: 3m; Damage: 1D+1). If the character rolls three or more Degrees of Success on his Thrown Weapons Skill Test, he may also blind the opponent for 1-5 Rounds. At the GM’s discretion, the Space Marine may also slowly chew his way through nearly any nonliving substance. The rate at which he does so is at the GM’s discretion (one example includes chewing through iron bars—this would be roughly at a rate of 4 kg per minute).

*'''Progenoids''': Implanted in a regular human, these glands may change his body into that of a Space Marine, or they may overwhelm his physique and destroy him. The loyalist Adeptus Astartes place great stock in recovering the Progenoid glands from their fallen brethren to create new Space Marines. However, many Space Marines are less concerned with this. This gland has no in-game effect, though certain individuals may be interested in obtaining them for nefarious purposes (such as creating more Space Marines!).

*'''Black Carapace''': This implant gives the Space Marine exceptional control over his power armour. Although a Space Marine in power armour suffers a penalty of -1D to Sneak and Hide Skill tests, his enemies gain no bonus to hit him thanks to the Black Carapace.

'''Description''': "They shall be my finest warriors, these men who give of themselves to me. Like clay I shall mould them and in the furnace of war I shall forge them. They shall be of iron will and steely sinew. In great armour I shall clad them and with the mightiest weapons shall they be armed. They will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight them. They shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best them in battle. They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines...and they shall know no fear." — The Emperor of Mankind

he Space Marines or Adeptus Astartes are foremost amongst the defenders of humanity, the greatest of the Emperor of Mankind's warriors. They are barely human at all, but superhuman; having been made superior in all respects to a normal man by a harsh regime of genetic modification, psycho-conditioning and rigorous training. Space Marines are untouched by plague or any natural disease and can suffer wounds that would kill a lesser being several times over, and live to fight again. Clad in ancient Power Armour and wielding the most potent weapons known to Man, the Space Marines are terrifying foes and their devotion to the Emperor and the Imperium of Man is unyielding. They are the God-Emperor's Angels of Death, and they know no fear.

The Astartes are physically stronger, far more resilient and often mentally far removed from the lot of most normal human beings. In the presence of the Astartes, most people feel a combination of awe and fear, and many cultures on the more primitive worlds simply worship them outright as demigods or angels of the God-Emperor made flesh. They should feel so, for many Space Marines feel little compassion for those they have sometimes termed "mortals" in comparison to themselves, seeing the very people they were created to protect as little more than obstacles to a more efficient eradication of the Imperium's enemies. This is an attitude sometimes taken by whole Chapters. They see normal humans as frail, weak creatures given to the follies of temptation, avarice, greed, lust and cowardice -- all emotions they rarely feel, if ever. Yet there are some Astartes who remember why they were created by the Emperor, who avoid the trap of hubris which the Space Marines are so prone to and which has seduced so many of their number to serve the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. They are the final guardians of Mankind, the saviours of last resort.

They were intended not to lead humanity, but to defend it, sometimes even from itself. At the heart of that mission lies the limitless compassion the Emperor extended to every man and woman in the galaxy when He willingly chose to condemn Himself to more than 10,000 years of imprisonment within a dying prison of flesh for their sake. Some Astartes sneer at compassion, seeing it as one more human weakness that has been purged from their superior bodies and minds. But the wisest of the Space Marines know that in the end, compassion is their only salvation.

Potential Space Marines are usually, but not always, recruited from the worlds where a Chapter has established its fortress-monastery, although some Chapters are known to recruit from a collection of different worlds in an area of space that they protect or frequent. Recruiting methods vary from Chapter to Chapter. Some select their Neophytes from feral tribes roaming the surface of inhospitable worlds, while others draw upon eager volunteers who have been groomed from birth to become an Astartes. Still others watch and kidnap potential warriors, turning them into Astartes whether they will it or not. Whatever the method, all Space Marine Chapters will only accept those who successfully pass the grueling initiation trials and prove themselves worthy of becoming a Space Marine.

However a man becomes a Space Marine does not matter: once his body has been forged into that of a transhuman Astartes, he must forever stand apart from the people to whom he was once kin and who he is now sworn to protect. Once a man becomes a Space Marine, he is no longer mortal; his genetic heritage is now that of the Emperor Himself, and a spark of the same divine majesty flows in his veins.

There are approximately 1,000 Space Marine Chapters active in the Imperium of Man at any one time. A list to most of them can be found here. This number has stayed relatively constant since the Second Founding in the 31st Millennium following the Horus Heresy when the First Founding Space Marine Legions were broken up. However, the exact population of Astartes in the galaxy remains far from exact and may fluctuate widely depending on the time period and the circumstances confronting the Imperium.

'''Source''':
*[http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Space_Marines Warhammer 40,000 Wiki: Space Marines]
*Black Crusade Core Rulebook (pages 48-49)
*Deathwatch Core Rulebook (pages 22-37)
*thedemonapostle