[Archive] Special Character:� � Rakazzu Mardaksson

Grimstonefire:

I won’t put the fluff on here yet for this guy, sufficed to say that he’s the only sanctioned executioner in the CD empire, and has a temple complex/ prison miles underground in the middle of the Great Skull Land…

So instead I’ll get feedback on the rules;

LORD LEVEL CHARACTER

Rakazzu Mardaksson �?��?��?��?��?��?��?��?��?��?��?��?��?��?�… 225 Points

                     M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Rakazzu   3 7   4   4  5 3 4 4 10
Equipment:  Great Weapon, hand weapon and heavy armour.

Special Rules: Immune to Psychology, Killing Blow, Hatred (Daemons of Chaos, confers this to any unit he joins)

Mind War (WIP name)

A magical projection of all the torment he has seen

Once per Chaos Dwarf magic phase Rakazzu may cast Mind War.  This is done exactly like a Bound Spell from a magic item, with a Power Level of 3.  Note that Rakazzu is never considered to be a wizard.

(edited)

Mind War has a range of 12�?�. All enemy units within range of this to Rakazzu must roll for damage. Throw 2D6, if an enemy unit is within 6�?� add 2. Enemy units will suffer as many Strength 4 hits as the result is higher than the leadership value they are using. No Armour Saves are allowed. Note that units Immune to Psychology are not affected by this.

Grish:

Immune to Fear; that’s not in the current rulebook. Perhaps Immune to Psychology or Fear causing would be more appropriate and wouldn’t muddy the waters?

The mind war doesn’t seem it would work very often. Even a banshee’s scream is very hit or miss, and that has LD+2. Perhaps units Immune to Psychology would not be affected, and units could not use the general’s LD?

Grimstonefire:

Would there be a better way to do it then rather than use Ld?

I’ve edited it a bit, that seems better already!

Hit and miss is ok as long as the potential damage is suitably deadly.  Remember that every unit within 5" must take this test every turn.

I was also thinking about saying no armour saves allowed?

Grish:

Definitely no armour saves allowed.

LD is the way to go, but I would think about how many units would generally be effected.

When constructing a special character, how do you go about pricing them? Is there a general guideline GW uses to price out units/characters? And then modify it based on how it fits with the army?

Grimstonefire:

Unfortunately I’m not one of those who’ve worked out all the cost of ‘+killing blow = x points’.  So I copied the base stats from my CD lord (120 points) and guessed a suitable cost for the rest).

Chances are you’d only get one unit at a time, and that the unit may pass whatever test is required, so I guess the cost should reflect that.  Another idea is to increase the range?

He was supposed to be a formidable lord level character, so his special rule has to reflect this.

EDIT  How about this:

Mind War has a range of 8�?�.  All enemy units within range of this to Rakazzu must roll for damage. Throw 2D6, if an enemy unit is within 4�?� add 2.  Enemy units will suffer as many Strength 4 hits as the result is higher than the leadership value they are using.  No Armour Saves are allowed.

That’s fairly random, but potentially bad enough that you’d be very wary of getting too close.

Grish:

I’d try it out at 2D6 for the entire range.

Banshee’s used to be 90 pts; they had an 8" shot that didn’t require LOS and can shoot into combat. And their effect doesn’t do S4 hits, it just wounds, with no AS. They’re also Ethereal, M6. I believe they used to cause terror as well, but I’m not sure.

S4 hits are less effective obviously, as you need to wound with them, but a failed LD test doing damage could potentially put the hurt on a unit. Depends on the army you’re playing.

furrie:

You could also try 12", it might be to far, but I think 8" is still a little to close.

Revlid:

I would

a) Make the ‘Mind War’ power originate from a magic item - his Executioner’s Axe, for example.

b) Make the ‘Mind War’ power either force a Panic Test, or just make each unit take a leadership test, taking wounds for each point they fail by. At the moment it’s pretty useless.

c) Get a better WIP name than ‘Mind War’.

Otherwise, great!