Doctrines and Codex Adherence

Black Templars place great emphasis on close combat prowess and honour. As such they can often be seen charging into suicidal situations to avenge fallen comrades, but this does not dispel that such tactics indeed prove effective. By their doctrine, they abhor the traitor, the alien and the mutant. The latter trait means that Black Templars stand apart from most other chapters by eliminating Librarians from their organisation. The reason for this is that Librarians are psykers, and psykers are considered a mutant trait that must be kept apart from potential warp influence during battle. However, Black Templars do use non-combat psykers in other tasks that do not directly involve combat. These include Astropaths and Navigators.1

Black Templar Marines also set themselves apart from standard Codex doctrine by including Neophytes in squads of fully initiated Marines to help teach them the ways of battle and the art of combat.1

Black Templars were the first chapter to find the design for the Land Raider Crusader and were the first Space Marines chapter to make use of it. Fitted with twin-linked Assault Cannons, Hurricane-pattern bolters (6 bolters linked to fire simultaneously) and a Multi-melta. The sponson mounted Hurricane-pattern bolters replace the Lascannons normally found in standard Land Raiders and the subsequent removal of generators required to power the lascannons allow for greater capacity to hold larger Black Templar squads.1

The Black Templars are also notorious for defying Codex doctrine that states that a chapter may only number 1000 battle brothers. This is partly due to the divided nature of the chapter, being spread out everywhere (similar to the Space Wolves) on separate crusades and no one has thus been able to keep track of their exact numbers. However, it has been estimated that there may be several thousand Black Templars Companies spread out around the galaxy - an almost unstoppable force if gathered at one place and cause for the Inquisition to keep a close eye on the Black Templars.