Nearly every race or power throws up exceptional individuals who stand out above the normal herd. Veteran warriors, brilliant officers, inspired prophets, ferocious war-leaders and monstrous daemons can take to the battlefield and make a difference to combat. They inspire others to greater feats of heroism (or fiendish bravery as the case may be) and are usually quicker, stronger and more powerful in combat. In Warhammer 40,000 these powerful individuals are called characters and there are certain special rules that apply to them.
- Characters In Battle
Characters fight either as ordinary members of another unit, or as independent characters who act as their own unit and can join other units.
- Character Movement
Characters move using the normal rules for their troop type, but independent characters may re-roll movement dice in difficult terrain.
- Psychic Powers
A psyker must pass a Psychic test (a Leadership test on 2D6) to use one of his powers, and psychic attacks follow the normal Shooting rules.
- Perils Of The Warp
Rolling a 2 or 12 on a Psychic test means a warp creature attacks the psyker for an automatic Strength D6 hit with no saves allowed.
- Characters In Units
Characters in a unit must keep the usual 2 inch coherency with it; independent characters may freely join other units and must then obey coherency until they leave.
- Joining and Leaving Units
An independent character joins a unit by moving within 2 inch coherency of it, gains none of the unit's special abilities, and may only join or leave during the movement phase.
- Shooting At And By Characters
Independent characters can only be targeted if more than 6 inches from any other viable target or closest at short range; characters otherwise shoot like ordinary troopers.
- Characters In Assaults
Characters fight in close combat like normal troopers, and an independent character in a charging unit must charge along with it.
- Allocating Attacks
A character in base-to-base contact may always freely divide his attacks among the enemy models facing him, unlike ordinary troopers, but can then only harm those models.
- Characters As Leaders
A unit with a character uses his Leadership for its tests, he cannot leave a falling-back unit until it regroups, and independent characters never take 'all on your own' tests.
- Special Characters
Named, individually famous characters found in Codex army books or White Dwarf, usable in a game only if both players agree to it beforehand.