Editing Dark Heresy Second Edition (section)

=== Role ===
The last level of character creation is your "Role", which determines the last of your aptitudes along with a talent and role bonus. Most of the role bonuses are geared around added bonuses for use of fate points in game, with the three exceptions being Mystic, Penitent, and Desperado. All of them come with 5 additional aptitudes and 1 additional talent. ''Most'' roles have at least one aptitude they either shouldn't have but do or should have but don't in order to satisfy their own description; however, the right homeworld or background choice can compensate for it.  Role choices are:

*'''Ace''': (Introduced with Enemies Without) Expert drivers, pilots, or riders. As experts of any mount, machine and beast alike they can commune with their vessel and predict its behaviour rather than reacting to it. By spending a Fate Point they may immediately succeed on an Operate or Survival test involving vehicles or steeds.
**Aptitudes: Agility, Finesse, Perception, Tech, Willpower
****This Role desperately needs Intelligence and Fieldcraft, which are crucial for skills that will help you pilot and maintain your steed; consequently, the best homeworld choices are Death World, Forge World, Quarantine World, and Voidborn. Your best background depends on what you plan to pilot; go with Imperial Guard if you plan to stick with tanks and ground vehicles or Imperial Navy if you want to pilot aircraft and voidships.
**Talent Choices: Hard Target or Hotshot

*'''Assassin''': Cold-blooded killers dedicated to the precise elimination of their targets. They can act as stealthy ambushers, snipers, or experts in poisons, and may spend a Fate Point to inflict bonus damage on an attack dependent on their degrees of success on that attack's first hit.  One of the best roles in the game in terms of actually having appropriate aptitudes for their described purpose.
**Aptitudes: Agility, Ballistic Skill or Weapon Skill, Fieldcraft, Finesse, Perception 
**Talent Choices: Jaded or Leap Up
****The main weakness of this role is the poor selection of Talents, so any background that offers Weapon Training in the killing tool of your choice is a good bet. While it is possible to play this as a fast melee attacker, its aptitudes are best suited for snipers, so keep that in mind. You'll notice that without Defence or Toughness, Assassins are predisposed to becoming glass cannons.

*'''Chiurgeon''': The obligatory combat medic, specializing in keeping his allies alive and well (as far as that's possible in the 41st millennium, of course). However, they can also double as torturers, using their knowledge of medicine to inflict as much pain on their victims as possible without causing permanent injury or death. They can spend Fate Points to automatically pass failed First Aid tests with degrees of success equal to their intelligence bonus. 
**Aptitudes: Fieldcraft, Intelligence, Strength, Knowledge, Toughness
****This Role badly needs Perception to diagnose illnesses and prepare medicines, although Social could help if you want to play the interrogator angle. You can get Perception with the Hive World background, or by getting any dulplicate Aptitude and allocating one of them to Perception.
**Talent Choices: Resistance (Pick one) or Takedown

*'''Crusader''': (Introduced in Enemies Beyond) Paladins of the Imperial Faith, whether in single combat against enemy champions or as a shield against the horrors of the warp, Crusaders will always be at the front, wielding sanctified blades and holy fire against all enemies of mankind. They can spend Fate Points to automatically pass a Fear test with a number of degrees of success equal to his willpower bonus. Additionally, whenever a Crusader hits with a melee attack against a target with the Fear (X) trait, he inflicts X additional damage and counts his weapon's penetration as being X higher.
**Aptitudes: Knowledge, Offence, Strength, Toughness, Willpower
****Weapons Skill and Defense are must-haves for this role, since the former helps you hit things in single combat better while the latter makes sure that you won't be killed by the counterattack. The negation of armor penalties that the Feudal World homeworld provides makes it a perfect fit, and it's excellently supplemented by the Exorcised, Adeptus Arbites, and Imperial Guard backgrounds.
**Talent Choices: Bodyguard or Deny the Witch

*'''Desperado''': Pirates, renegades, and other criminally inclined types, with silver tongues backed up by their wits and the occasional concealed weapon. They can perform a standard attack with a pistol after moving as a free action.
**Aptitudes: Agility, Ballistic Skill, Defence, Fellowship, Finesse
****The lack of the Social aptitude is the most obvious issue, but Knowledge is also a good thing so you can improve your Deceive and Scrutiny. While Garden World can fix the latter, Snopes' World is also a good choice. Administratum, Outcast, and Rogue Trader Fleet are all good choices that offer a good deal of flexibility as to whether you want to charm people or fill them with bullets.
**Talent Choices: Catfall or Quick Draw

*'''Fanatic''': (Introduced in Enemies Within) Another self-explanatory class, in that even by the notoriously lax standards of the Imperium of Man these guys are absolutely obsessed with something (which usually tends to be the destruction of the Imperium's enemies). They can spend a Fate point to gain Hatred against an enemy of their choice for an encounter, but if they try to leave combat with said enemy they gain an insanity point.
**Aptitudes: Leadership, Toughness, Offence, Weapon Skill, Willpower
****Getting the Social aptitude is generally a very good idea, to get easier access to the Interrogation skill to help you find heretics better while also improving your rhetoric, and Strength will let you use Hatred to its full potential. An interesting choice for this role would be Feral World (Rund) - not only does it offer the Hatred talent right away, it also lets you borrow that talent from others in the right circumstances so you can hate even more people!
**Talent Choices: Deny the Witch or Jaded

*'''Hierophant''': A typically fanatical priest/cleric, who uses his charisma to rouse his allies' spirits even as he charges in with a chainsword or flamer. Fortunately for him, he's as good of a meatshield as he is as a face. He can use a Fate Point to automatically pass any Charm, Command, or Intimidate skill test with degrees of success equal to his Willpower bonus.
**Aptitudes: Fellowship, Social, Offence, Toughness, Willpower
****Leadership is practically mandatory if you want to actually do anything with Command or Intimidate, and having the Strength aptitude helps with the latter as well. Needless to say, Adeptus Ministorum is probably your best choice for this one, and its improved use of Fate Points synergizes well with Shrine World. 
**Talent: Double Team or Hatred (Pick one)

*'''Mystic''': A psyker, who naturally begins with the Psyker elite advance. All the stuff that applied to psykers in 1st edition applies here (which is to say, beware Perils of the Warp, especially if you're a rogue psyker).
**Aptitudes: Defence, Intelligence, Knowledge, Perception, Willpower
***Fieldcraft is needed for Psyniscience, but your other aptitudes should be based on what type of powers you want to use: Defence and Toughness for Biomancers, Agility and Finesse for Pyromancers, Fellowship and Social for Telepaths, and Intelligence and Knowledge for Telekines and Diviners. That said, if you don't select Adeptus Astra Telepathica as your background, you ''will'' have a greater risk of triggering Perils of the Warp than you would otherwise, so consider whether the extra aptitudes are worth the risk.
***Special:  Because this role's special is a free elite advance, and that elite advance comes with the Psyker aptitude, you get a sixth aptitude with this:  Psyker.
**Talent Choices: Resistance (Psychic Powers), Warp Sense

*'''Penitent''': (Introduced in Enemies Within) Masochists bent on making themselves suffer for their sins, whether they're real or imagined. Any time he suffers at least one point of damage (after reductions for Toughness bonus and Armor), a Penitent gains a +10 bonus for the next test he makes before the end of his next turn. 
**Aptitudes: Agility, Fieldcraft, Offence, Toughness, Intelligence
**Talent Choices: Die Hard or Flagellant

*'''Sage''': The nerds and smart guys, useful for the inevitable lore tests. They can spend a fate point to auto-pass a Logic or Lore test with degrees of success equal to their Intelligence bonus. 
**Aptitudes: Intelligence, Knowledge, Perception, Tech, Willpower
**Talent Choices: Ambidextrous or Clues from the Crowds

*'''Seeker''': Natural detectives with a knack for ferreting out even the most insignificant of clues to an investigation. They can use Fate points to automatically pass an Awareness or Inquiry test with degrees of success equal to their Perception bonus.
**Aptitudes: Fellowship, Intelligence, Perception, Social, Tech
***This role lacks the Fieldcraft aptitude, which is really necessary for someone trying to improve their Perception and related skills without the xp costs becoming too ridiculous. Fieldcraft is one of the Aptitudes that is hard to get, because you can't just get a duplicate aptitude and allocate one to the aptitude of your choice (that only works for aptitudes that correspond to characteristics). The Death World and Quarantine World homeworlds provide Fieldcraft, as well as the Imperial Guard, Mutant and Outcast backgrounds.
**Talent Choices: Keen Intuition or Disarm

*'''Warrior''': The name says it all- they're the go-to combat specialists of any warband, and can be effective in either melee combat or gunfights depending on how they're set up. After making a successful attack test, they can spend fate points to substitute either their WS or BS bonus (depending on the attack) for the degrees of success scored.
**Aptitudes: Ballistic Skill, Defence, Offence, Strength, Weapon Skill
***The Warrior role is clearly intended to be a bit of an all-rounder fighter (which fits the examples given in the rulebook - like Imperial Guardsmen). The aptitudes given make all kinds of builds possible, but they'll rarely be the optimal choice if you're aiming for a very specific type of build (snipers are better served as Assassins for example). The warrior background really shines when you get the Finesse aptitude, because without it it's a bit skewed towards melee brawlers.
**Talent Choices : Iron Jaw or Rapid Reload