Dark Heresy > Fallout Translation

This highlights the most common translations needed to mold Dark Heresy terms into Fallout.

Attributes

Toughness -> Endurance

Fellowship -> Charisma

Willpower is not included as an attribute.

Home world -> Origin

Feral World -> Tribal

Hive World -> Vault Dweller

Imperial World -> High Born

Home world Void Born is not playable.

Origin Ghoul is included as an origin for playable characters.

Classes

Adept -> Adept

Arbitrator -> Enforcer

Assassin -> Assassin

Cleric -> Evangelist

Guardsman -> Soldier

Scum -> Scoundrel

Classes Imperial Psyker and Tech-Priest are not playable classes.

Class ranks are referred to in numerals (e.g Enforcer III)

Character Origin: Tribal

Tribal Characters

Tribals are generally groups with a primitive age lifestyle (although some exceptions exist), with their own beliefs, culture, customs and sometimes with their own language. Their identity is determined by culture and lineage rather than by geography. Only humans have seem to become tribal. Tattoos are common as one of their traditions, generally used to signify honors, victories or status more than just decoration. Many tribal cultures include the domestication of dogs.

Tribes, for the most part, avoid living in pre-War ruins and instead settle in small villages or rural areas. Pre-War cities and settlements are usually, but not always, avoided and are often treated as taboo. They usually have a religious or mythologized worldview, in contrast to the more cynical and scientific views held by city-dwellers. As a result, they often venerate places like Vault 13 or Zion Canyon that are significant to their history. This mystical worldview and their disconnect from the pre-War world have led to tribals being underestimated or even mistreated as they often appear backwards and uneducated.

Tribal Perks & Quirks

Quirk/ Primitve

Tribals have no time for the mysteries of technology or the rubbishy constraints of etiquette and social niceties.
You take -10 pentalty on Tech-Use Skill Tests and a -10 penalty to Charisma Tests made in formal or civilised surroundings.

Perk/ Iron Stomach

Food is often scarce in the wasteland and those born in seclusion learn to set aside their revulsion and eat whatever they must to survive.
You gain +10 bonus to Carouse Skill Tests made to resist the effects of ingested chems, toxins, poisons or tainted foods. This bonus applies to Tests made to consume unusual or unpleasant meals - rotting meat, Big Horner testes, human flesh, to name a few - as well as Tests to avoid throwing up.

Perk/ Rite of Passage

Life is harsh for a tribal, and blood spills all too frequently. Whether through surviving a brutal initiation ritual or through tribal teachings, tribals are adept at tending bleeding wounds.
You may spend a Full Action to make an Intellignece Test to staunch Blood Loss. This is a Full Action. On a success, you manage to stop the bleeding.

Perk/ Wilderness Savvy

Tribals are accustomed to hunting their own food.
Navigation (Surface) (Int), Survival (Int) and Tracking (Int) count as Basic Skills for tribals.

Generating Characteristics

Base: 2d10+

Weapon Skill (WS): 20

Ballistic Skill (BS): 20

Strength (S): 25

Perception (Per): 20

Endurance (End): 25

Charisma (Cha): 15

Intelligence (Int): 20

Agility (Ag): 20

Luck (Fate Points)

Dice Roll (1-4): 1

Dice Roll (5-8): 2

Dice Roll (9-10): 2

Starting Wounds

Base: d5+

Modifier: 9

Pre-made Character: Charlie "Gnarls"

Character Origin: Ghoul

Part I: Origin of the Ghoul

Part II: Appearance and Traits

Part III: How to make a Ghoul Character (non-feral)

Ghouls or necrotic post-humans, are decrepit, rotting, zombie-like mutants. They are recipients of intense and prolonged radiation sickness which decays their skin, and in some case their ligaments. Paradoxically, they also have greatly extended overall lifespans and are, allegedly, immune to and even regenerate health by the hazards of background radiation and/or nuclear fallout.

Discrimination

Since the War, more people have had run-ins with ghouls, both civil and feral. Because of the animalistic behavior and savage threat feral ghouls pose, many people view all ghouls negatively. For example, the residents of Tenpenny Tower refuse to let ghouls into their luxurious hotel, despite polite offers of caps. Chief Gustavo is particularly bigoted and feels that "they'll all go feral one day." Negative stereotypes about ghouls stem from wastelanders who couldn't care less that not all ghouls are feral. Terms like "zombie," "shuffler," or "brain-eater" are common insults. Because of this general negativity, some ghouls, such as Roy Phillips and Mister Crowley, have developed a bitter hatred of humans.

Confusion over origins

There is some controversy, even among the makers of Fallout games, about the origins of ghouls. While Tim Cain said explicitly that ghouls are only a result of radiation, consistent with an understanding of the science of radiation as it stood during the 1950s, Chris Taylor said that a mix of both radiation and FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus) was involved. While Chris Avellone initially supported the latter view in his Fallout Bible, he was later convinced to support the radiation-only version. Medically though, the mutation in response to gamma radiation that produces ghouls disrupts the normal process of decay in the neurotransmitters along the spinal cord. 

Common Traits

All ghouls live considerably longer than normal humans, though they are sterile. 

In physical appearance, a ghoul's flesh is constantly rotting off, appearing very raw and discoloured from necrosis. Lips and eyelids are sometimes absent, and noses are in almost every case completely rotted off. 

Though ghouls lack strength due to decayed tissue, ghouls have heightened senses making them more perceptive and lucky than other wasteland humanoids. As a reult, chems like Jet barely affect them.

Ghouls suffer sporadic or even complete hair loss and loss of their normal voice: few ghouls retain enough hair on their heads to actually maintain a haircut, and ghouls with facial hair seems to be even more rare. Also, ghouls with clear voices are very uncommon; most possess raspy voices caused by partial decay of their vocal cords.

Ghouls, at least the non-feral ones, are generally as intelligent as normal humans. However, their physical repulsiveness makes the life of a ghoul difficult at best - only the most tolerant human communities accept them as anything more than monsters. 

Ghouls are immune to most forms of radiation that still remain in the Wasteland. Radiation poisoning cannot get worse for a ghoul, though it may hasten the process of decay and lead to their decline into a feral state. Ghouls report feeling healthier when exposed to low-level radiation, and thus make their homes near locations with acute background radiation. Ghouls known as "glowing ones" actually enjoy large amounts of radiation,

Some ghouls eventually go mad and it remains unclear exactly what precipitates this change in neurobiology and psychology, but anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that non-social ghouls, or those in isolation, are more prone to the condition. 

Feral Ghouls

Ghouls that succumb to insanity are called "feral ghouls": they are mindlessly aggressive and, having lost their ability to reason, driven entirely by their instincts. 

Feral ghouls are typically heavily emaciated and hunched over (possibly due to malnutrition and lack of sunlight), while non-ferals typically have a healthier, more human-like build and posture. While non-ferals dress like normal humans, feral ghouls wear little clothing other than tattered pants or sections of old armor, having long ago lost the mental capacity to mend or replace their clothes.

These feral ghouls strongly resemble zombies like those depicted in old horror films, and this misconception succeeds in alienating non-feral ghouls even more from humans. The term "zombie" has become an offensive racial slur to ghouls and "smoothskin" is a derogatory term for humans often used by ghouls.

Ghoul Player Characters

Ghoul characters are those who have managed to escape the suffering of slavery or segregation. They are experienced, weary and often violent - naturally finding it more difficult to achieve a more diplomatic situation. Ghouls are more frail than humans however, so must play to their strengths whilst accepting abuse from strangers. Other player characters need not immediately accept a ghoul in their party before being reminded of the stakes. Ghouls' unique qualities bring a new weaknes and strength to the party whilst can be exploited by both sides of table. 

Ghoul Perks

Quirk/ Grotesque

Ghouls have spent most of their life being repulsive to most humans - some who believe the only justifiable course of action is 'purification' - and have found a gruesome way they can use it to their advantage. Charisma Tests with 'smoothskins' are made at -20, but you gain +10 bonus to Intimidate Tests.

Perk/ Radioactive Healing

When over 25% radiation ghouls heal very quickly. Each round, at the start if your Turn, Test Endurance to remove 1 point of Damage. Ghouls lose this Perk when they're slain.

Perk/ Atomic Metabolism

Your body has a strong tolerance to chemicals. When drinking alcohol or taking chems, you do not pass out until you have failed a number of Toughness Tests equal to twice your Toughness Bonus. You also gain a +10 bonus to tests made to continue using drugs within 24 hours.

Perk/ Lifetime of Experience

Ghouls have a lot of wisdom to share - though it's usually bitterly shared. Ghouls gain +5 to any skills in which they aren't trained.

Generating Characteristics

Base: 2d10+

Weapon Skill (WS): 20

Ballistic Skill (BS): 20

Strength (S): 15

Perception (Per): 20

Endurance (End): 20

Charisma (Cha): 20

Intelligence (Int): 20

Agility (Ag): 20

Willpower (WP): 25

Starting Wounds

Base: d5+

Modifier: 6

Luck (Fate Points)

Dice Roll (1-4): 2

Dice Roll (5-8): 3

Dice Roll (9-10): 3

Mutated Ghoul

Ghoul Doctor

Ghoul Mercenary

Vault Boy Armour Supplement

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Character Sheet