History VideoGame / Warhammer40000RogueTrader

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Big time. Your party includes a naval officer who lost his job talking out of turn, an unsanctioned psyker with questionable sanity, a zealous battle sister with a huge chip on her shoulder, a sheltered mutant noble who barely understands the value of life in commoners, a tech-priest who doesn't even seem to understand himself, an inquisitor-in-training who's not as put together as he first seems, a very sexually active cold trader rogue, a space marine cut off from his pack, and two xenos, one VERY MUCH evil. That's not even getting into the ship crew, which includes a very grumpy captain who has been unable to sleep for three decades!

** Abelard actually tries to [[AvertedTrope avert]] this during his first character quest, where there's a strike in the lower decks, he tries to suppress the normal way (namely, with force) without informing you. It's only when an officer goes over his head by barging into the bridge (possibly getting in serious trouble for doing so) that you hear about it at all. When pressed, Abelard will say that it genuinely never occurred to him to bring it up because it's a routine occurrence that has a mundane (by Imperial standards) solution. Becomes a DiscussedTrope as the quest progresses. Choosing to intervene will actually annoy him because he feels it's pointless for the person in charge to do so and just creates more busywork. He'll be even more annoyed if you solve the issue peacefully, not only because he feels it will backfire, but also because he feels like you don't trust him to do the job he's been doing for years and are throwing all procedure out the window, headless of the risk. The player can either agree to let him handle these things in the future, or they can counter that they ''need'' to intervene personally and change how things are done because Lady Theodora did things by the book as he said and was assassinated shortly after you arrived on the ship, meaning that something obviously hasn't worked as intended. Despite his apprehensions, he'll respect your stance on the issue.

* ItsUpToYou: Despite being as close to Imperial Royalty as you can get and having explicitly ''thousands'' of people on your ship whose whole lives are dedicated to serving your dynasty, you will still end up being the one to do everything, inspect every nook and cranny and get into many fights yourself, rather than ordering some of the ''thousands'' of soldiers in your employ to do it.

* HauntedTechnology: The [[MachineWorship Adeptus Mechanicus]] believe all technology to be this, with it being inhabited by "machine spirits" who need to be communed with, worshipped, or tamed to do various tasks. Like in the main game, it's ambiguous how true this is, and a lot of their "worship" is what most would call "basic maintenance". There are however, [[TheCuckoolanderWasRight several phenomena that back this idea up]], such as how [[spoiler:your ship manages to get working despite a huge malfunction when fleeing the Rykad System, seemingly because you prayed to/commanded it to]]. Pascal seems to be able to commune with these spirits really well, in a manner he himself doesn't fully understand.
** Daemon Engines from the main game make an appearance here, specifically Forge Fiends, mechanical dragon-like mechs with [[KillItWithFire fire-based weaponry]].

* ItsUpToYou: Despite being as close to Imperial Royalty as you can get, and having explicitly ''thousands'' of people on your ship whose whole lives are dedicated to serving your dynasty, you will still end up being the one to do everything, inspect every nook and cranny and get into many fights yourself, rather than ordering some of the ''thousands'' of soldiers in your employ to do it.

* StoryBranchFavoritism: The Sanctioned Psyker origin gets you some extra dialogue and a significantly larger amount of possible abilities and mechanics to choose from. While a typical RPG may have chosen to present the psyker as its own mage-type class, making it into an origin means psykers get access to the same regular classes as everyone else in addition to all the unique abilities and increased customization exclusively available to them.

*** [[spoiler:Konrad Voigtvir]] sacrifices three crewmen on the bridge of the ship to set the stage for the JustifiedTutorial's boss battle. [[spoiler:Edelthrad von Valancius]] attempts to stop him--and Adelard attempts to stop ''him'' because he's being TooDumbToLive[[note]]Though in fairness, he's already succumbing to TheCorruption so he's probably screwed either way.[[/note]]: he runs right into the magic circle and gets turned into a Warp spawn.

* InjuredVulnerability: Party members cannot die (in combat); instead they accumulate Wounds and Traumas. Wounds can be easily healed quickly once combat is done; failing to heal it quickly results in it becoming an Old Wound, which requires a harder Medicae check to heal. Accumulating 5 Wounds (or getting reduced to 0 HP) means the character gains a Trauma, a much more specific injury with much greater penalties, that can't be healed until you return to your starship. The trick, of course, is that if everyone in a combat goes down, it's GameOver as the enemies finish you off, so just letting Traumas pile up isn't a wise policy.

** ''Dogmatic'' represents your adherence to the ways and methods used by the Imperium; praising the God-Emperor, exterminating heretics (and ''potential'' heretics, i.e., collateral damage), abhoring xenos, etc.

* KarmaMeter: Three that are measured together to create a fourth. ''Dogmatic'' represents your adherence to the ways and methods used by the Imperium; praising the God-Emperor, exterminating heretics (and ''potential'' heretics, i.e., collateral damage), abhoring xenos, etc. ''Iconoclast'' is your willingness to do the moral act -- protecting people, comforting orphans, finding common ground over uncompromising destruction and the like. ''Heretical'' is your lean towards using the weapons and methods of Chaos and your submission to the Warp. Those three can be raised separately, though once you hit a high threshold with one you block off receiving the benefits of hitting high rank with the others. The fourth meter measures where you would lean between Puritan and Radical in the Inquisition, with Dogmatic moving you toward Puritan, and Iconoclast and Heretic moving you toward Radical.

* ItsUpToYou: Despite being as close to Imperial Royalty as you can get, and having explicitly ''thousands'' of people on your ship whose whole lives are dedicated to serving your dynasy, you will still end up being the one to do everything, inspect every nook and cranny and get into many fights yourself, rather than ordering some of the ''thousands'' of soldiers in your employ to do it.

* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Despite being as close to Imperial Royalty as you can get, and having explicitly ''thousands'' of people on your ship whose whole lives are dedicated to serving your dynasy, you will still end up being the one to do everything, inspect every nook and cranny and get into many fights yourself, rather than ordering some of the ''hundreds'' of soldiers in your employ to do it.

* KillItWithFire: Flamers in all shapes and sizes are available to you and your party (and, of course, your enemies). There are also Melta weapons, like the Meltagun used by Arch-Militant Mort in the prologue - this gun works by projecting a beam of intense heat, defeating all but the very heaviest of armour and reducing most targets to ash and molten slag with the pull of a trigger.

* GuestStarPartyMember: In the first combat you face, Kunrad will participate and constantly provide buffs; in the second combat, the ambush on the cathedral deck, Captain Theodora and Arch-Militant Mort join the fray and will largely handle the situation on their own while the game tutorializes about a few things. [[spoiler:You won't have a chance to have them in the party again after this.]]

* PlotlineDeath: While it's impossible for any of your companions to die in combat ([[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist they just get knocked out, and assuming you win, they just wake up afterwards with an Injury]]), many of your companions can be killed off (or worse) in the story, often at your hands. Some of the more notable ways are handing them off to Heinrix, [[spoiler:executing (or ordering Argenta to execute) Idira if she gets out of line or loses control, executing Jae for over-asserting her authority, executing (or allowing Idira to kill) Argenta on Commoragh]], the list goes on.

** Your competitor Lord Winterscale's son Evayne personally travels to the Rykad system in hopes of getting his old friend, the Warden of the local PenalColony, to abandon his rebellion against the governor. [[spoiler:He fails miserably: The Warden is a Chaos cultist.]]

** Your competitor Lord Winterscale's son Evayne personally travels to the Rykad system in hopes of getting his old friend, TheWarden of the local PenalColony, to abandon his rebellion against the governor. [[spoiler:He fails miserably: TheWarden is a Chaos cultist.]]

* [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections Screw The Rules, I Have A Warrant Of Trade]]: As a holder of a Warrant of Trade issued by the God Emperor Himself, you have permission to operate outside of the spatial borders and legal scope of the Imperium and the Lex Imperialis.

*** [[spoiler:Konrad Voigtvir]] sacrifices three crewmen on the bridge of the ship to set the stage for the JustifiedTutorial's boss battle. [[spoiler:Edelthrad von Valancius]] attempts to stop him--and Adelard attempts to stop ''him'' because he's being TooDumbToLive[[note]]Though in fairness, he's already succumbing to TheCorruption so he's probably screwed either way.[[/note]]: he runs right into the MagicCircle and gets turned into a Warp spawn.

** You'll be fighting a lot of chaos cultists, and this is how almost all their magic and summoning is done. You can see a particularly nasty bit of aftermath of this in a prison during chapter one.

* KilledOffForReal: Many of your companions can be killed off (or worse), often at your hands. Some of the more notable ways are handing them off to Heinrix, [[spoiler:executing (or ordering Argenta to execute) Idira if she gets out of line or loses control, executing Jae for over-asserting her authority, executing (or allowing Idira to kill) Argenta on Commoragh]], the list goes on.

* HumanSacrifice: You'll be fighting a lot of chaos cultists, and this is how almost all their magic and summoning is done. You can see a particularly nasty bit of aftermath of this in a prison during chapter one.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: Many iconoclast and dogmatic choices come down to this. Killing someone (sometimes as a MercyKill) that proves a threat to others even if they don't mean to be. Notably, you can do this to your own party members: [[spoiler:When Idira, in her grief, summons a warp entity pretending to be Theodora, the player can choose to execute her for this. As she's an unsanctioned psyker losing control, several party members recommend it and it is the dogmatic procedure. The game even gives the player a lot of ways to do this. From having Argenta snipe her, shooting her themselves. You can also tell Idira you won't kill her, reassure her that you'll find a way to help her regain control, wait for her to pass out, then order your crew to toss her out the airlock.]]

* TreacherousQuestGiver: Cassia's recruitment mission involves a particularly cantankerous steward of her noble house requesting your help to save her from traitorous mutineers. [[spoiler:As it turns out, ''he's'' the mastermind behind the mutiny, as he's convinced that Cassia's [[TheEmpath powers]] are too much of a threat to the noble house and she and her supporters must be eliminated]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/capsule_616x353_095.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:For Profit and Glory]]

* ArtifactOfDoom: A common thing with chaos artifacts. You can even pick up a piece of a chaos blade in the prologue, and that will lead to a dream later on trying to tempt you into falling into chaos.

* BeingEvilSucks: While there's plenty of pain on the way of a good path (see below), there's also some moments that show evil isn't all it's cracked up to be. The imperials often subject themselves to horrible treatment due to their self-destructive dogma, or just general ineptitude caused by bureaucracy and backwards thinking. The guy piloting your ship hasn't slept *in thirty years* due to someone messing up some implants. As for the forces of chaos, a lot of cultists usually end up being human sacrifices, or cannon fodder for imperial agents to shoot through.

* MagikarpPower: Burst fire weapons early in the game feel very unimpressive. Their per shot damage is low, as is their max range, and recoil means that most shot in a burst can miss so their damage output falls well short of their theoretical maximum. They are prone to FriendlyFire. Compared to single shot rifles, who have longer ranges, can reliably hit (especially with their deadeye attack) from long range, and can also hit several enemies with overpenetration. Their damage is 3 to 4 times higher meaning they can one shot enemies reliably and cripple tougher enemies. Later in the game the dynamic flips around. Burst fire weapons begin to take huge advantage from the growing sources of damage buffs (as these apply to each shot in a burst), and higher ballistic skills mean they hit reliably. The GameBreaker Arch-Militant mid-game archetype allows one to boost Ballistic Skills so high as to negate their recoil and general lower accuracy. Meanwhile enemy HP growth and higher armor value mean that single shot rifles loose favor to autofire or dedicate anti-armor attacks like Melta Guns and Plasma.

* SpaceElves: Asuryani (commonly known as the Craftworld Aeldari) and the Drukhari (their vile and sadistic kin) are two of the xenos factions present in the Koronous Expanse. Two potential party members, Yrliet and Marazhai, come from the former and latter respectively.