Rogue Trader careers and Skill List 

 
To become a Rogue Trader or join one’s trusted retinue is to become one of a very 
select few in the Imperium—those with the power to leave it behind. Rogue Traders 
have the power to step beyond the oppressive laws and controls of the Imperium of 
Mankind, to pass beyond its boundaries into the darkness that surrounds the 
flickering fires of civilisation. 
 
To do this requires a unique breed of self-confidence (some would say arrogance). 
The countless trillions that live amongst the Imperium’s innumerable worlds have 
traded their freedom for security, an all too precious commodity in a galaxy full of 
danger and lurking horror. As a Rogue Trader and his trusted companions, 
however, you have regained your independence—at the cost of safety and security. 
When you walk amongst the alien and forsaken worlds beyond the Emperor’s light, 
you do so with none to rely on save yourself. The consequences you will endure 
should you fail are too terrible to consider…but the rewards should you succeed are 
equally limitless.  
 
Those able to accept the risks and grasp the prize offered in return are a disparate 
and varied bunch. Arch-militants see the obstacles to their fortunes as something 
to be overcome with a keen eye and trusty boltgun, while the Seneschals know that 
knowledge and information are the true routes to prominence. A Navigator charts 
paths to glory through the treacherous currents of the Immaterium while a 
Missionary inspires his fellows to ever greater deeds in the God- Emperor’s name. 
They are all united by the iron will of the Rogue Trader, by whose authority their 
efforts are directed to a greater whole. 
 
Your Career represents your character’s abilities and potential, your role amongst a 
Rogue Trader’s crew. It will define who you were before you signed on, as well as 
who you become once you venture beyond the Imperium’s boundaries. Your career 
defines how you are viewed by those you meet, the skills you can learn, and by what 
means you will become wealthy, powerful, and revered (or feared) as a legend in 
the 41st Millennium. 
 
(Author’s note: All the careers are quite simplified compared to what they are in the Rogue Trader 
game itself. You will see some terms which may or may not be familiar, and all of them should be 
referenced in other documents if not in the present moment, then in the near future.) 
 
 
 Rogue Trader
​ he bearer of a sacred Warrant that 
T
empowers him to journey beyond the 
boundaries of the Imperium to trade, 
explore, and make war in the 
God-Emperor’s name, a Rogue Trader is a 
unique figure in the grim darkness of the 
Imperium. He may be a newly entitled 
power on the rise or hail from a long 
lineage of nobles and voidfarers, but all 
bear their titles with pride, striking out into 
the unknown in search of fortune and 
glory. A Rogue Trader is a power unto 
himself in the dark voids, master of all he 
surveys―at least as far as his force of arms 
and sharpness of wits can press the claim. A 
Rogue Trader can be many things but 
whether standing as diplomat before a 
planetary ruler, cutting a shadowed deal in 
a station undercity, bellowing orders 
amidst an armed host set upon plunder, or 
striding the bridge of a mighty starship, 
they remain one thing above all—free. 
 
Rogue Traders must always look to their own abilities 
and protection, regardless of the power of their allies, for 
there will always be those envious of their power and 
station, and countless rivals to their goals. As a result, 
most have a penchant for the very finest personal weapons and equipment their fortunes 
can acquire―for even friends can soon become enemies when a world’s ransom is at 
stake. Some never leave their bridge without donning an ancient and revered suit of 
artificer-wrought power armour, while others secrete fiendishly cunning personal force 
field generators of alien manufacture beneath a gaudy uniform. None are ever unarmed, 
bearing, even aboard their own vessels, minute digital weapons and other implements of 
destruction. However they outwardly comport themselves, Rogue Traders must be 
supremely confident in their own abilities, and able to walk away from even the most 
desperate situation somehow having profited from their perilous adventure, even if that 
profit must be counted purely by survival. 
 
  
Arch-militant
The 41st Millennium is an age of total war, an 
age of bloodshed and toil into which every 
human being, from the lowliest 
hive-serf to the highest scion of nobility, is 
born. No life is untouched by the incessant 
wars that plague the Imperium, 
and countless lives are shed each year to hold 
at bay the forces of the traitor, the heretic, 
and the alien. From amongst 
the uncounted ranks of warriors step those 
for whom a life of bloodshed and war is not a 
death sentence, but rather a calling. 
Such men and women are sometimes 
 
The Arch-militant is an expert in every form 
of combat. It is no idle boast that there 
is no weapon they cannot kill with or strip 
and reassemble in the field. Each has 
an unerring ability to master even the most 
exotic of wargear with little or 
no practice, and fears death little and pain 
less. But it is not just expertise at 
arms that sees the Arch-militant succeed 
where others fail; they are marked 
with an the inborn gift to sense danger, to 
anticipate an enemy’s actions, and 
to overcome any foe they might face as if it 
was meant to be so. An Archmilitant worth the name can extricate himself and his 
companions from even the most seemingly hopeless of situations by a combination 
of cold professionalism, masterful skill at arms, and sheer bloody-mindedness and 
luck. Out beyond the fringes of Imperial space, men and women gifted with such 
abilities are priceless, and very few Rogue Traders would set foot upon an alien 
world without a heavily armed Arch-militant or two by their side if possible. 

Starting Gear:​ Good-Craftsmanship hellgun or best-Craftsmanship hunting rifle or two bolt

pistols, plus one good- Craftsmanship primitive melee weapon of choice with the mono
upgrade. Micro-bead, void suit, enforcer light carapace armour, bolt shell keepsake, medikit,
manacles. Data-slate full of wanted bounties or arms coffer or 3 doses of stimm.
 Astropath transcendent
The Astropath Transcendent is a rare 
individual, indeed. He is a psyker whose 
powers and very essence has been 
touched by the light of the God-Emperor 
himself and who is able to form a lifeline 
of communication across the limitless 
gulfs of space, his soul armoured against 
the gnawing taint of the warp beyond. 
Each year, uncounted millions of psykers 
are born across the vast breadth of the 
Imperium. Most are detected and 
interred until collected by one of the 
fearsome Black Ships of the Adeptus 
Astra Telepathica. These vessels travel 
the galaxy in great circuits, their stygian 
holds inexorably filling with nascent 
psykers with each stop they make. The 
fate of the vast majority of the psykers is 
to fuel the insatiable fires of the 
Astronomican so that the Imperium 
might be held together for another day. 
Of those allowed to live, a tiny fraction are judged 
strong enough to undergo tutorage and go on to 
serve the Imperium in a staggering array of 
capacities, from Inquisitor to Battle Psyker. 
 
The duties of the Astropath Transcendent are a 
microcosm of those performed by the more 
established and ordinary psychic choirs of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. Most 
Rogue Trader fleets are accompanied by little more than a handful of Astropaths, 
with perhaps only one being stationed on each vessel, and so their position is one 
of grave responsibility. They provide the only means of viable communication 
between widely scattered vessels, not to mention across interstellar distances, and 
as a consequence are highly valued members of the Rogue Trader’s inner circle. 
Many Rogue Traders would not even consider setting foot on the soil of a new 
world without an Astropath Transcendent at their side, ready​ to ​summon aid at a 
moment’s notice should disaster strike.

Starting Gear:​ Best-Craftsmanship laspistol or best-Craftsmanship stub automatic.

Best-Craftsmanship mono-sword or common-Craftsmanship shock staff. Guard flak armour.
Charm, void suit, micro-bead, psy-focus.

 
 Explorator  
Part adventurer, part warrior, part 
emissary of the Machine Cult of Mars, 
Explorators are Tech-priests, 
bionically augmented adepts of the 
Adeptus Mechanicus. Their function 
is to travel into the depths of the 
unknown and unearth the ashes of the 
past in order to acquire knowledge 
and secrets for the glory of the 
Omnissiah. Something of a breed 
apart in the Cult Mechanicus, they are 
seen as a necessary evil by some of 
their fellows and vital agents of the 
Machine God by others. Explorators 
undertake their Quest for Knowledge 
across the stars, seeking out 
undiscovered data and unrecorded 
phenomena, forgotten 
archeotech hoards, and unknown life 
forms. All Mechanicus research 
stations, exploration ships, and 
outposts any distance from a Forge World are likely to 
be manned by Explorators. It is also the sacred  
function of these intrepid (or foolhardy) individuals 
to delve in the unexplored reaches of the galaxy, 
either as part of great Mechanicus-backed fleets or by 
attaching themselves to the 
Rogue Trader houses to carry them into the beyond in 
search of both the future and, most importantly, the past. 
 
When an Explorator accompanies a Rogue Trader, the 
arrangement may have come about by some ancient debt the Rogue Trader’s line 
owed the Cult Mechanicus, hard bargaining, or even pure chance. Whatever the 
case, the Explorator will be a valued member of the Rogue Trader’s party, bringing 
with him a wealth of esoteric knowledge 
and arcane technical know-how quite beyond any other member of the crew, and 
often, not a little firepower of his own. 

​ oltgun or best-Craftsmanship lasgun or good-Craftsmanship hellgun,

Starting Gear: B
best-Craftsmanship shock staff or good- Craftsmanship power axe, Enforcer light carapace,
multikey, void suit, injector, sacred unguents, micro-bead, combi-tool, dataslate. The
Explorator also begins play owning and controlling one servo-skull familiar
  
Missionary  
Regardless of local idiosyncrasies of 
doctrine and the many and varied forms of 
worship, the worlds of the Imperium are 
united in adoration of the God-Emperor of 
Mankind. The adepts of the Ecclesiarchy 
foster, maintain, and impose faith 
across the million and more worlds of the 
Imperium, but it is the division known as 
the Missionarus Galaxia that takes 
the word of the Imperial Truth to those 
benighted by ignorance of the one, true faith 
of Mankind. 
 
The Missionary is a singular manifestation 
of the Ecclesiarchy, a walking temple 
clothed in the trappings of his calling, 
part holy warrior, part politician, and when 
needs be, judge, jury, and executioner. His 
mission: to spread the teachings of the 
Ecclesiarchy far beyond the Imperium’s borders, to 
convert, whether using words, bullets, or 
subterfuge, those lost Human worlds he encounters 
out amongst the distant stars. 
 
Missionaries are commonly dispatched to serve 
alongside Rogue Traders, for travel so far beyond 
Imperial space presents uncounted opportunities to contact, and convert, lost 
Human civilisations and bring back those who stray from the flock. However, only 
a rare few of the Ecclesiarchy’s officers are intellectually or doctrinally capable of 
undertaking this type of mission. 
 
In addition to their task of converting the lost, Missionaries often find themselves 
acting as spiritual figureheads in the fleet they accompany, a task most relish for 
the spiritual fulfilment and influence it affords them. Some act as confessors to the 
Rogue Traders they attend and become their most trusted counsellors, while others 
steel the souls of their comrades in the face of the hideous things they encounter 
beyond the Emperor’s light when mere reason or firepower fails. 

Starting Gear:​ Good-Craftsmanship chainsword or best-Craftsmanship staff,

good-Craftsmanship flamer or best-Craftsmanship lasgun, best-Craftsmanship guard flak
armour, Ecclesiarchal robes, aquila pendant, sepulchre, censer and incense, micro-bead.
  
Navigator 
Without the Navigator gene and those who 
bear it, there simply would not be an 
Imperium of Man. At best, Humanity’s 
control of the stars would be limited to 
those planets that could entirely support 
themselves and a few scattered petty 
empires. Contact with other worlds would 
be scant to non-existent, for travel between 
all but the very closest of star 
systems would be too ponderous, and too 
dangerous, to be practicable. Without a 
Navigator, a vessel is limited to warp jumps 
of only a few light years at a time, and exact 
calibration must be undertaken by massive 
banks of cogitators as even the smallest 
of errors will have fatal consequences for 
the vessel and every soul aboard. Without a 
Navigator, to cross even the smallest of 
interstellar gulfs without the most detailed and 
ancient charts is considered a desperate or foolhardy 
act by most void-farers and suicidal by those who 
truly understand what horrors lurk beyond the 
material universe. 
 
Navigators who have served the longest may become 
wracked with bodily failure, incipient madness, and possible mutation, and 
ultimately they become virtual prisoners reliant on the life-sustaining machinery 
of their sanctums. Conversely, those newly come into their calling often revel in 
their rank and wealth, affecting rakish mannerisms and caring little for the petty 
concerns or trivial realities of life in the Imperium, each knowing that such a life is 
for them a thing that must one day pass. Regardless of whatever idiosyncrasies a 
Navigator might bear, he is essential to the operation of a Rogue Trader vessel and 
given great leeway by his Rogue Trader, for should a vessel lose its Navigator 
beyond the fringes, any such vessel, and all who serve aboard her, is surely lost. 

Starting Gear:​ Best-Craftsmanship hellpistol or good-Craftsmanship hand cannon,

best-Craftsmanship metal staff, best-Craftsmanship xeno-mesh armour, Emperor’s tarot
deck, silk headscarf, Nobilite robes, charm, micro-bead.
  
Seneschal 
Master of ceremonies, master of coin and 
commerce, master of logistics, master of 
emissaries, master of whispers and 
spies: the Seneschal is the quietly spoken of 
individual in every Trader House who is 
looked upon with trepidation by those who 
fear they have earned his suspicion. The 
mechanisms of trade and House affairs do 
not run themselves, and it is the Seneschal 
whose hands are upon the gears—ever 
adjusting, ever careful, and ever vigilant. 
Very few Rogue Traders are as competent as 
the Seneschal when it comes to the minutia 
of commerce, for most are too concerned 
with the overall fate of their endeavours. 
Most leave the details of such matters to  
their Seneschal’s control, trusting that as the 
Arch-militant is ever watchful in battle, so the Seneschal 
is attentive to every risk implicit in the equally hazardous 
conflict of trade. The best Seneschal knows every detail of 
trade that transpires within his area of responsibility, 
often better than the scribes and factors employed to 
process the astronomical sums involved in the running of a Rogue Trader House, 
and those that do not, rarely survive long in the post.  
 
Most Seneschals favour a “hands on” approach to their work, never fully trusting 
knowledge they cannot confirm themselves. As a result, many are masters of 
disguise and duplicity, able to blend into the background in almost any situation. 
Donning the guise of the “grey man,” the Seneschal lurks in the periphery as the 
great and the good conduct their affairs, observing all that transpires whilst 
remaining unnoticed. With a cold-blooded sureness, he seeks to discern the truth 
behind rousing speeches and courteous manners, and lies cloaked in both piety and 
vice. Sage counsellor, profit-monger, and spy, the Seneschal is all these things and 
more. 

Starting Gear:​ Best-Craftsmanship hellpistol or common-Craftsmanship inferno pistol.

Best-Craftsmanship hellgun or common-Craftsmanship boltgun. Xeno-mesh armour.
Autoquill, dataslate, micro-bead, multikey, two sets of robes, synskin, chrono, cameleoline
cloak.
 Void master 
 
Void-master (or mistress) is a term used to 
describe one who has risen to master one or 
more of the mysterious arts of the running 
of a space-going vessel. They have 
generally served in a myriad of stations, and 
have been exceptionally fortunate in that 
their skills have been recognised and they 
have been allowed to progress through the 
ranks to the very top. A Void-master knows 
every inch of his vessel, and even the cold 
touch of the airless void presents little fear, 
for he has faced the terrors of space 
countless times and has lived to tell the tale. 
In character and attitude, they are as varied 
as the ships on which they have served. 
Some are dour and proper officers—the 
products of the finest naval bloodlines, 
while others are born traders and rakish 
rogues out of the Chartist ships. Others, 
still, are by inclination smugglers, 
scavengers, and even pirates. No matter 
their origins, however, one thing unites 
them all—the consummate skill in doing 
what they do best, and the high price and respect their services can earn them. 
 
The Void-master might be a helmsman, master gunner, or the warden of the ship’s 
sensors, but whichever position he holds, he controls the vessel’s systems as if 
they were an extension of his own body and, in a crisis, the ship’s survival depends 
on his skills. While the average subject of the Imperium might be blissfully 
ignorant of or rampantly superstitious about space travel and the people to 
undertake it, those such as the Void-master quite often are equally puzzled by 
those who confine themselves to the worlds below them. Why, they ask, would any 
human being surrender himself to the servility and imprisonment of a 
planet-bound life, when the dark majesty of space awaits those with the courage to 
voyage upon its endless tides? 

Starting Gear​: Best-Craftsmanship mono-sword or common-Craftsmanship power sword.

Best-Craftsmanship hand cannon or common-Craftsmanship bolt pistol. Guard flak armour.
Micro-bead, void suit, blessed ship token, re-breather, Imperial Navy uniform or beggar’s
cloak, 2 bottles of amasec, pict-recorder, vox-caster.
After selecting your career, do the following: 
 
Choose another 4 career skills. Add 1 rank to 4 of your total career skills. The 
number of ranks per skill can't exceed 2. 
 
 
 
Skill List for Rogue Trader 
 
General 
● Athletics  Brawn  
● Cool  Presence  
● Coordination  Agility  
● Discipline  Willpower  
● Driving  Agility  
● Medicae  Intellect  
● Navigation Intellect (​See Operating, p. 62 Genesys Core Rulebook) 
● Perception  Cunning  
● Piloting Agility 
● Resilience  Brawn  
● Skulduggery  Cunning  
● Stealth  Agility  
● Streetwise  Cunning  
● Survival Cunning  
● Tech-Use  Intellect  
● Vigilance  Willpower  
 
Combat Skills 
● Gunnery  Agility  
● Melee (Light)  Brawn 
● Melee (Heavy)  Brawn  
● Ranged (Light)  Agility  
● Ranged (Heavy)  Agility  
 
Knowledge Skills 
● Common Lore  Intellect  
● Forbidden Lore  Intellect 
● Scholastic Lore  Intellect  
 
Psychic Disciplines 
● Biomancy  Brawn  
● Divination  Cunning  
● Pyromancy  Agility  
● Telekinesis  Intellect  
● Telepathy  Presence  
 
Social Skills 
● Charm  Presence  
● Coercion  Willpower  
● Deceive Cunning  
● Leadership  Presence  
● Negotiation  Presence