I come to realize that, if I ever intend to use characters of the 40K world in a d20 system, and a great deal of a character is affected by the world they are from, I should also give a little information on the world(s) that the game would take place in, assuming that a game ran in the Warhammer 40,000 universe ever occurs. So, here are a few details that need to be spelled out:
TERMINOLOGY
There are some important facts that must be taken into account when one is going to play Warhammer 40K in an alternate format. Some important facts and terms are listed below:
WEAPONS & ARMOR
Though Warhammer 40K d20 might use similar rules to Star Wars d20, when weapons come along, things differ greatly. In Star Wars, slugthrower weapons are outdated relics, and energy discharging weapons are commonplace. In Warhammer 40K, however, the bulk of the Universe makes use of seemingly antiquated weapons, and decent energy weapons are rare. Some soldiers make use of variant-flamethrowers, and plasma weapons are among the best weapons that humanity can produce. Missile launchers are a nice fallback weapon. Some even use melta-technology, which is comprised of focused microwave-bursts. Humanity once possessed the full range of future-like weapons, but have forgotten a quantity of it over time, and what few remain are either given to the greatest warriors, or simply not used, for fear that they cannot be replaced. Most Imperial troops use slug-rifles, or weak lasguns. Even most Space Marines are armed with slugthrower bolter pistols, which are much more durable on the field of protracted battle. Chaos possesses mostly the array of what Humanity has, though some in greater number, but their often deaths return some of that back to the Imperium, while many become powerful enough, as to not need it. Orks are simply to stupid to make advanced weapons work, and keep them running. Even their gestalt psychic force is not enough to allow their wee wits to use a simple lasgun. Their closest approximations, oversized lightning cannons, often blow up in their faces, blessedly taking a number of orks along to hell with it. As far as they are concerned, though, to win with lesser weapons shows that they are the superior warriors, and that is gloating rights for an Ork. Tyranids don't use technology, of any kind, although some of their bio-weapons are just as dangerous as any blaster weapon might have been. As for those who do make use of advanced energy weapons, the Eldar are few, and their weapons only as many as the warriors left to wield them. Tau have advanced weapons, but they often use them only when necessary. Necrons have powerful weapons, but these require Necron power sources to function. Most powerful energy weapons are reserved for use as vehicle armaments. Many races in Warhammer also favor melee weapons. These mostly fall into two categories: standard melee weapons, and "power weapons", as described above.
Armor, on the other hand, is much more prevalent then in Star Wars. In Star Wars, stormtroopers, two primary characters, and an occasional melee-specialty soldier have armor. Most other characters, especially player characters, prefer to keep their Dexterity bonus to Defense, and forgo armor, of any kind. Warhammer 40K, however, is much more rife with grenades, and with no true lightsabers, no one can deflect shots. Many important beings, most Eldar, all Space Marines and similar beings, the biggest of Orks, and other such things make use of the best armor they can find. Creatures like Necrons and Tyranids even possess natural armor, of various varieties, in order to cope. However, the seeming prevalence of power weapons does limit how useful some armor can be, and other ways exist to render it useless. Due to these facts, many races never developed true heavy, bulk armor, as its benefits could not outway the lag they created. Only the Space Marines are truly swamped with armor, as all Space Marines, regardless of variety, make use of this type of defense. Their enhanced abilities, and their combat capabilities, more than make up for any disadvantage the armor might otherwise cause.
A note on power armor. Many soldiers in Warhammer 40K make use of powered armors; Among Humanity, all Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, and many leaders or important individuals, like Techpriests and Inquisitors, shield themselves with this armor. Chaos Marines maintain their fell suits, and a few aliens might try to salvage suits from fallen foes. All Powered Armor in Warhammer 40K is designed to function in conjunction with the Space Marine "black carapace". Characters who wear these powered armor suits only receive stat increases if they possess the black carapace. Thus, Battle Sisters, Inquisitors, Techpriests, and other such beings gain no stat boosts to Strength. Only Space Marines, their variants, Chaos Marines, and Grey Knights (yes, I know they are Space Marines) receive a Strength bonus from these types of armor. Others simply benefit from the protection-aspect, as well as an enclosed environment.
SPACE TRAVEL
The Universe is a vast place, and sometimes, one simply needs to get from here to there, with there being a distant planet, on the other side of the galaxy. Most races have devised some means of travel through space, and most of those have also found a means to travel at faster-than-light speeds. However, Warhammer stays to the classic sci-fi premise/real-life fact that says light speed cannot be achieved by anything other than light (Einstein says so, and we aren't cool enough to argue, yet). Only by entering a different dimension (subspace, hyperspace, slipspace, whatever) can a ship seemingly surpass light speed, and travel the galaxy in anything resembling good time. In Warhammer, that variant reality is called Warp Space, or the Warp. Most ships use, or seem to use some form of focused psychic energy to enter the Warp, guide through it, and exit at the destination. On the bad side, the Warp is the domain of Chaos, and attacks are not impossible on ships. Most races, however, have only a small presence in the Warp, and thus attract little attention. What they do possess is concealed within the Geller Fields that the ships are equipped with, and what would otherwise give them away is shielded further by astropaths and librarians. Orks do not travel in the Warp. How the Tau, a race seemingly untouched by psychic genes, manage to use this means of transportation was until recently unknown. It was learned that they harvested a warp drive from their planet, and modifying the system, used their own gravitic shields to skip across the boundary between the Warp and Realspace. This is slower, but also protects the Tau from the Warp. They must carry all but their greatest vessels within their gravitic shields, however, as the systems necessary to power the drive, without any psychic power, are astronomical. Tyranids do not travel in the Warp. Psychic energy is anathema to Necrons and their C'Tan masters, so their means of Warp travel are also a seeming mystery at this time, though it is probably due to the C'Tan's ability to bend reality. Perhaps they can even create wormholes or slipgates with their star powers. Or, there is always the possibility that, with their advanced technology, seemingly superior to even the Eldar, that the Necrons have simply discovered a real way to surpass light speed. Last, the Eldar do not even make use of the Warp (see Eldar for more). Eldar cannot travel safely through the Warp, as they would shine like a beacon to every Warp entity nearby, and instead use their Webway to traverse great distances. The travel works mostly the same, but the allowable end destinations are much more limited, and not all entrances or exits can accomadate all classes of Eldar ships. Only a few remaining webway gates, for example, can accomadate a Void Stalker Battleship. Minus a few attacks, however, the rules for Warp travel should be the same as those for hyperspace travel in Star Wars. The Orks, Tyranids have no FTL travel.
THE UNIVERSE
As the picture below shows, there are many worlds in the universe, and, in fact, there are literally billions of them. Space travel is a thing of little excitement, despite the seeming technology level of certain races. Most worlds in the universe that are inhabited belong to one of the three great masses: the Imperium (Humanity), the Orks, or the Tyranids; the last two of which often strip worlds completely bare, leaving only lifeless rock. The Eldar hold a small number of planets, and possess a number of craftworlds; constructed vessels the size of moons that travel through space, and bear the bulk of the remaining Eldar people to their destiny. Their dark brethren seem to only hold a single world, Commoragh, and none try to take this realm of torture from the pirate lords. The Tau possess a number of worlds, and spread slowly, by occupying other planets, and assisting their occupants in their lives, thus creating positive sentiment. The Necrons hold a number of dead worlds, more of which become dead due to the Necron influence, and gain footholds as they inexorably spread. As for the forces of Chaos, they hold little true territory, as the worlds they conquer are often obliterated by the Imperium. What little they permanently hold rests within the warp storm that is the Eye of Terror.
THE UNIVERSE'S PEOPLE
Much like with other Sci-fi settings, the universe of 40K is filled with a veritable menagerie of humans and different aliens. Some are human off-shoots, some are seemingly-similar races, and some are so different and "alien" that they can barely even be understood by Man. A number of them follow:
Human: Of course, humans exist in Warhammer 40K, and in a number of ways, they are very similar to us, today, but there are some notable differences. Humanity, in the form of the Imperium of Man, constitutes the bulk of all humans in the galaxy, and takes the form of an empire, comprised of a million worlds, ruled over by a godlike figure, simply refered to as the Emperor. The majority of humans are no different then you or I, overall; they live, die, eat, sleep, and age about normal. Most humans live an average life, some even lasting approximately 200 years. Many are conscripted into the Imperial Guard, the primary military of the Imperium. This vast army, which numbers as many as the stars in the cosmos, and spreads across the known Universe, consists of men and women, equipped with roughly technology seen by us, today. The elite of Mankind, the Space Marines, are genetically-engineered supermen, equipped with the greated techno-relics remaining in the Imperium, and they are considered by many to be the greatest warriors in existence. These 9' tall, eunuch warrior-monks defend the Imperium from its greatest threats.
Chaos: Traitors to the Imperium of Man, but that is only one aspect of the servants of the Ruinous Powers. Within the Eye of Terror, and spread across the galaxy, are Chaos Cultists, Chaos Space Marines, and powerful warp daemons, all serving the will of the Chaos Gods, and all seeking to destroy everything around them, until Chaos rules all. They are mostly comprised of Chaos Space Marines, who, ten millennia ago betrayed their fellows, and sided with Horus, against the Emperor. Since then, these men, and their genetic descendants, have fought an endless war against the "false Emperor, and his failing Imperium". However, the forces of Chaos also have, at their beck and call, hideous daemons, immortal warp beasts who run the gamut from pitiful little Nurgling to the nigh-invincible Greater Daemons and Daemon Princes, all of whom serve the four Ruinous Powers.
Eldar: The ancients. This race has fallen far, from once ruling most of the universe, to now being on the brink of extinction. The Eldar are an advanced race, whose long lives have granted them the ability to devise some of the most advanced technology in all of the Universe. The closest role-playing example I can give on the Eldar comes, not from Star Wars, but from D&D. They are very similar to Elves, and also the Protoss, from Starcraft.
Dark Eldar: Though many view the Eldar as evil, inhuman, and uncaring, the Dark Eldar truly are those things. They make a living by hijacking others goods, killing them to fuel their own diminishing souls, in order to supplement themselves against the pull of the Great Enemy, and causing no end of misery to their neighbors. They are pirates unparalleled, and the only thing that brings them more pleasure than crushing a foe, and taking his property is taking his life. On their dark world of Commoragh, the Dark Eldar torment beings until they die, fueling the wasted souls of the Dark Eldar, and distracting the Great Enemy, Slaanesh, from consuming all of them. Like the Eldar, the Dark Eldar have nigh-unparalleled technology, and are preternaturally agile and fast, but, unlike their brethren, who are amongst the greatest of all psykers, the Dark Ekdar use no psychic powers, for that would bring Slaanesh down upon them.
Orks:Da Mob Rulz. The Orks are an unruly, endless mob of big, green fighters, who see their only purpose in existence to be beating each other, and everyone else, senesless. They arm themselves with weapons their wee brains can devise, and with Orky' modified, pilfered gear from those they defeat, mostly Imperial Guardsmen, and a little of Space Marines. They make up for their stump-dumb wits, lousy equipment, and a near incapability of devising any stratgies with sheer numbers and durability. Injuries that would drop anything other than a Space Marine at best slow down a big Ork, and there are a hell of a lot more Orks than there are Space Marines. Also, since Orks reproduce by spores, and do so quickly, resurgences of tribes thought obliterated can recur again.
"It might seem from the above and elsewhere that I don't really like Orks. Well, I don't. The combination of their silly rules, bad-British fluff, and cheap-ass weapons makes playing against them a crappy proposition. Still, if they sucked too much, I guess they wouldn't be around anymore."
Tyranids: The Eternal Swarm. This writhing mass of armored, barbed insectoids, from beyond the rim of our galaxy, are all psychically linked, seeking to spread out across the universe, absorbing biomatter into themselves, improving themselves, perfecting themselves, and eradicating all other life unlike themselves. They are led by a powerful, seemingly uncentrallized, Hive Mind, and this will guides the individual Tyranids to their actions. It will sacrifice when it chooses, thus Tyranids will sacrifice when it suits them, and they will throw endless numbers at an objective. Their bio-knowledge arms them with the organic equivalent of the best weapons and armor most other races can devise, and, much like the Orks, there are a lot of Tyranids. They have no individuals, and do battle via attrition, using the fact that it is unlikely a foe will be able to kill enough Nids to blunt an attack before the Swarm tramples them.
Necrons: Remnants of an ancient people who worshipped the stars as gods, and battled the Eldar at their prime, the Necrontyr long ago sacrificed their souls, and flesh, to their masters, and live on now as seemingly-mindless automatons, with only a few individual consciousnesses guiding the bulk of their forces, and even these few blindly follow the inscrutable will of the C'Tans, their Star Gods. They are powerful, mysterious, and care nothing for the peoples around them, except when killing them.
Tau: the Tau are a mostly benevolent race fighting for what they call the Greater Good. They are actually a peaceful race when possible, asking if others will join their cause instead of fight. Though a young race, by cosmic standards, the Tau possess weapons and technology on par with the Eldar. The Tau seem to be experts with adapting their surroundings, and working with others around them, and the fact that they do so by choice, as opposed to at gunpoint, makes them all the more efficient. It should be noted that there are no psychic genes amongst the Tau, thus, they have no psykers. The Tau also make use of mercenaries from other races (primarily the Kroot of Pech and the Vespids). The Tau are a relatively young race, but their technology is extremely advanced, so much so that the Imperium of Man has of late been wondering if the technological advances were all the Tau's doing... here for more on Tau
WHAT CLASSES ARE USED AND WHAT CLASSES ARE NEW
Below is a list of where certain base classes from the Star Wars Revised Core Rulebook might see use in various races, as well as where some new ones might be invented.
Fringer: none thought of, as yet.
Noble: Members of the Inquisition of the Imperium of Man. Inquisitors are the only leaders that I can think of who are not to the martial bent so far that they are just soldiers. Well, feasibly, Ethereal Caste Tau could be nobles, too. Lastly, when I stop to think about it, Space Marine Chaplains should probably have a few levels of Noble, as grants them their rallying inspirational abilities.
Scoundrel: Chaos Cultists, and maybe a number of Dark Eldar.
Scout: Space Marine Scouts, Eldar Rangers, Tau Stealthsuits.
Soldier: Damn near everyone in this game, folks!!! Every Space Marine, big Ork, and most Eldar fall into this catergory, along with many Tau.
Tech Specialist: The only real examples of tech specialists in Warhammer 40K to my recollection are the Techpriest Enginseers, of the Imperial Guard, the Techmarines (and their variants), of the Space Marine Chapters, and the Priests of the Machine God (Adeptus Mechanicus), on Mars. These last keep the secrets of their science close to themselves, and none would willingly share it. Many of the Iron Warriors of Chaos also possess this lore. Most other races have advanced and integrated enough technology that a specialist isn't necessary. Also, on a different bent, those who use Tech Specialist to reflect PC medics, Apothecaries would take this class.
Force Adept: thus far, plans are not intending to use this class for anything. Psychic powers will involve special abilities, not a class-based progression.
Jedi Classes: thus far, plans are not intending to use this class for anything. Psychic powers will involve special abilities, not a class-based progression. Also, even though this uses Star Wars Revised Core Rulebook as its base, this isn't Star Wars. There certinly are no Jedi in the Neogothic dark setting of Warhammer 40K.
Prestige Classes: Thus far, most prestige classes in the book will not likely be applicable. Officer might be a notable exception, as many non-Space Marines have officer leaders. (Space Marines cover all of the relevant benefis in either the Space Marine prestige class or the template, depending on which method is used. If you shift toward Battlefleet Gothic any, then you might play a pilot, and use Starship Ace.
NPC Classes: The universe is chalk full of these people. A lot of lesser everything are thugs, as are the bulk of those among the Imperial Guard, the Necrons, and the Orks. Many Inquisitorial Henchmen are either experts or thugs. Astropaths are likely diplomats. Of important note are the Tyranids. They do not qualify in the PC or NPC class range. They will use the creature classes (Predator, Vermin, and whatever).
WHAT CLASSES ARE USED AND WHAT CLASSES ARE NEW - BY RACE
Space Marines: Space Marines are mostly soldiers, with a few other classes thrown in for specialists.
Imperial Guard: The bulk of the Imperial Guard consist of Thugs, even in the higher echelons
The Imperium (Daemonhunters & Witch Hunters): Most Inquisitors are soldier/nobles. Stormtroopers, coming from the Imperial Guard, are often thugs, as are the Inquisitorial Henchmen. The Grey Knights, being Space Marines, are as their brethren, and the Sisters of Battle are soldiers, too.
Dark Eldar: Many Dark Eldar are Scouts, Soldiers, or Scoundrels, as befits their pirate lifestyles.
Forces of Chaos: The bulk of Chaos are beasts of the Warp, and use creature classes, such as Predator. Cultists are often thugs or commoners, while their fighters are mostly traitorous IG thugs. Chaos Space Marines, being Space Marines, follow their above brethren, classwise, at least. Greater Daemons, well...we'll see!
Eldar: The bulk of the Eldar race are thugs, consisting of their Guardian armies. The various Aspect Warriors are all Soldiers, with some other classes maybe thrown in, and the Elite Trooper prestige class being prevalent.
Orks: Most Orks are thugs, literally. They don't live long enough to train as real Soldiers, and make up for their lack of vitality with their regeneration (Regeneration 3).
Tyranids: All Tyranids seem to use creature classes, such as Predator. Even the few with the complex minds strong enough to normally have a class do not, in favor of following the Hive Mind's will.
Tau: I honestly am not sure. Ethereals are often Nobles, while Fire Warriors are likely thugs. Broadside and Crisis Suit pilots, as well as Stealth Teams are likely Soldiers. Kroot seem most likely to be Scouts, as do Tau Pathfinders.
Necrons: All Necrons are Thugs or Soldiers. Most are thugs, with the best, most advanced qualifying as Soldiers. Seeing as they exist only to fight, they need little else. Their gods, the C'Tan, are beyond the need for classes.
Site Links
Space Marines in d20
Ordos of the Inquisition in d20
Chaos Space Marines in d20
Imperial Guard in d20 (NPC majority) (in the works)
Craftworld Eldar in d20
Dark Eldar in d20 (in the works)
Orks in d20 (in the works)
Tyranids in d20 (NPC only)
Necrons in d20 (NPC only)
Tau in d20 (in the works)
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