An optional addition to character creation, meant to capture one of the – to me – more iconic elements of character creation from the Dark Heresy era of Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay and transfer it over to Epic Roleplay: The focus on where a character came from, their origin, their homeworld.
If using this option, as a new first step of character creation, even before determining career, choose or randomly determine the character’s homeworld from the table below (or one specifically made up for the campaign, which might include additional types of worlds or even specific individual worlds).
| 2D6 | Homeworld |
| 2 | Schola Progenium |
| 3 | Research Station |
| 4 | Forge World |
| 5 | Industrial World |
| 6 | Hive World |
| 7 | Civilised World |
| 8 | Agricultural World |
| 9 | Medieval World |
| 10 | Feral Planet |
| 11 | Death World |
| 12 | Voidborn |
(Despite referencing Dark Heresy above, the majority of world types presented here are based on earlier sources which have since seen some change – e.g., at some point Medieval Worlds started to be called Feudal Worlds. Voidborn and Schola Progenium, both not worlds per se, were added, and Forge Worlds included as distinct from Industrial Worlds – although I am reasonanbly certain that the Forge World of today is actually an evolution of the Industrial World of yore.)
A homeworld introduces some sort of additional or modified abilities for the character, commonly a Language skill but often others as well. After recording the effects of the homeworld on the character, continue with determining career and other creation steps as normal.
Agricultural World
You gain Language (dialect, specific to your homeworld) and either Trade (pick one) or Fieldcraft as additional starting skills.
You gain a Mount or a Basic Weapon as additional starting wargear.
Civilised World
You gain Language (dialect, specific to your homeworld) and Trade (pick one) as additional starting skills.
Death World
If Language (Low Gothic) is one of your starting skills, you may choose to exchange it for Language (dialect, specific to your homeworld).
You gain Scholastic Lore (Beasts) and either Medicae or Fieldcraft as additional starting skills.
You gain +0.1 Fractional CAF.
Choose either Charisma or Decadence. You cannot gain this skill.
Feral Planet
You gain Language (dialect, specific to your region or tribe on your homeworld) and Fieldcraft as additional starting skills.
You gain one additional starting talent, rolled randomly on the Primitive talent table.
After rolling your career, you may choose to ignore the roll and start as a Primitive instead.
Also, whenever you try and change careers, Primitive is treated as a permitted Career Exit for you.
Forge World
You gain Language (Techna-Lingua and dialect, specific to your homeworld) and Techcraft as additional starting skills.
After determining your career, if your career is not Techpriest, you may roll 1D6, on a 5+ you may choose to exchange your career for Techpriest.
You gain Bionics as additional starting wargear.
Hive World
You gain Language (dialect, specific to your homehive) and two of Charisma, Decadence, Shadowcraft, Language (Techna-Lingua), and Techcraft as additional starting skills.
You gain a Bike or a Pistol as additional starting wargear.
Industrial World
You gain Language (dialect, specific to your homeworld) and either Trade (pick one) or Techcraft as additional starting skills.
You may choose to roll 1D6 for one additional starting talent: 1-4 Very Strong, 5 Lost Artm, 6 Mindless.
Medieval World
You gain Language (dialect, specific to your homeworld) as additional an starting skill.
You gain either Skilled Fighter or Loyal Retinue as an additional starting talent. If you choose Loyal Retinue, your Retinue consists of either three stands of Primitive Warriors or two stands of Primitive Mounted Warriors.
You exchange your entire starting wargear for either two Close Combat Weapons or one Close Combat Weapon and one Mount.
Research Station
You gain Techcraft or Medicae or any one Scholastic Lore as an additional starting skill.
You may choose to exchange one of your starting talents for Knowledge Seeker. If your career does not begin with any starting talents, roll a D6 and if the result is equal to or higher tan your Morale Value, you gain Knowledge Seeker as a starting talent.
Schola Progenium
You gain Language (High Gothic) and Scholastic Lore (Imperial Creed or Tactica Imperialis as additional starting skills.
You gain Exceedingly Cool and Extremely Skilled as additional starting talents.
Voidborn
You gain Language (dialect, specific to your home ship or station) and either Techcraft or Navigate (Stellar) as additional starting skills.
You gain Lucky as an additional starting talent.
You may ignore any combat penalties for zero or low gravity environments.
An example for a more (campaign-)specific Homeworld:
Eugenics World
Human purity is central to Imperial dogma everywhere, but some worlds take it further yet with selective breeding and population-level applications of the genetor’s art – with mixed results.
When determining starting career, treat all abhuman results (Ratling, Ogryn, Beastman, Squat Warrior, Squat Guilder) as Mutant instead.
If your career is not Mutant, roll 1D6 to gain one additional starting talent: 1 Feeble, 2 Very Strong, 3 Very Tough, 4 Lithe, 5-6 Hatred (Eldar, Orks, Squats, Tyranids)