Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader Classes Explained

Since Rogue Trader is a tabletop game, you may be wondering how it goes about its class system. Here’s a full explanation on the classes you can choose in Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader.

How Classes Work in Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader

Rogue Trader’s class system is a little more complicated compared to other games, in that there’s multiple levels to how you build out your class. Since this can get confusing, we’ll start with the basics and work our way up from there.

The first choice you must make for your class is determining your Origin. This will determine your Attributes, Skills, and modifiers to said Skills. The Origin makes up the baseline of your class, and helps to support whichever Archetype you want to pick. The list of Origins you can choose for your Rogue Trader character are as follows:

• Astra Militarum Commander
• Commissar
• Ministorum Priest
• Navy Officer
• Noble
• Sanctioned Psyker
• Vagabond

Once you have your Origin, you’ll be ready to pick from one of four Archetypes. Each of these four Archetypes offer a different playstyle and different sub-playstyles to spec into (more on that in a minute). These Archetypes and their strengths can be found below:

• Officer: Buff-based support, providing allied units with extra AP to perform moves and improving their stats going into the next turn.
• Operative: Debuff-based support, applying all sorts of negative effects to make the rest of the team’s job easier. They could lower an enemy’s dodge and armor ratings, or improve an ally’s next attack immensely.
• Soldier: Essentially what it implies on the tin. These are your damage-dealing classes, focusing on outputting raw power through their weapons either in close quarters or from a healthy distance.
• Warrior: Your melee-based fighters. They can either take all the damage for your team or send out a flurry of blows that no enemy could withstand for long.

Once you reach level 15, these Archetypes will lead to more specific Archetypes to help hone in your playstyle. Certain Archetypes will only be able to access certain specialized Archetypes at level 15, which can get a bit confusing. As such, I’ve created a table below of the different Archetypes and which specific Archetypes they can go into later:

As for what you can expect from each specialized Archetype, you can find details on what each one does below:

• Assassin: Focused on finding a target and dispatching them quickly with skill and strategy. Excellent if you want single-target devastation.
• Arch-Militant: A versatile fighter ready to blast their foes away from afar, or move in for some solid strikes. Not incredible at ranged or melee specifically, but solid for both.
• Bounty Hunter: Similar to the Assassin in that it’s good at finding targets and dispatching them, but more adept at repositioning for that next kill.
• Grand Strategist: All about controlling the battlefield. They dictate where battles will happen, and how their team will have the upper hand before engagement has even begun.
• Master Tactician: All about building Momentum. The better the battle is going, the more they can do either for themselves or for their allies.
• Vanguard: Your frontline leader. They lead their allies into battle while being able to take anything and everything evil can throw at them.

With all this in mind, you should have a good idea of the route you want to take before even selecting your Origin. A good example of a class to work with would be a Navy Officer, followed by selecting the Officer Archetype and the Grand Strategist specialized Archetype. This will create a capable battle commander for your squad, providing buffs to your allies and getting stronger buffs when said buffs are utilized.

Can You Respec Your Class in Rogue Trader?

You can respec your class in Rogue Trader partially. While you can’t respec every part of your character, you can respec them back to level 1 as to go for a completely different build. To do this, head above your ship and speak with High Factotum Janris Danrok. From there, you’ll be able to select the character you want to respec and swap up their stats.

If you’re into any DnD-esque RPGs as of late, check out our guide on the best bows in Baldur’s Gate 3.