Topic: OPTIONS Empire: Characters

[mwalsh867]

Hi,

Been working on an option-filled Empire list for awhile.  Some preliminary thoughts in the Core post here: http://www.warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=29816.0.  Also, special (http://www.warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=29838.0) and rare (http://www.warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=29896.0) posts are up.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Special Rules:

May be army standard bearer: The army may have ONE army standard bearer.  If the army is led by a Templar Grandmaster, the army standard bearer must be a Templar Seneschal; if a Lector of Sigmar leads the army, the army standard bearer must be a Warrior Priest of Sigmar; for all other generals, a Captain may be upraded to army standard bearer.  The Hero may be upgraded to the army standard bearer for +25 points.  The army standard bearer may have a magic banner of any points cost, but if it is over 50 points, the army standard bearer may not carry any other magic items (note that banners that cost less than 50 points may be taken with other magic items).  Captain army standard bearers may not ride an Imperial Pegasus.  All other mundane equipment may be chosen as normal.

Knightly Order: Templar Grand Masters are Immune to Psychology.  Templar Seneschals are Immune to Panic.  If either character joins a unit of Knights, the whole unit benefits from the immunity.

Imperial College Training: Wizard does not have to roll on miscast chart for first miscast spell.  Spell still does not work.

Sycophantic Following: One unit of Flagellants may be taken as a Core unit.

Bodyguard: One unit of Greatswords may be taken as a Core unit.

War Alter: As Empire book.

Wizard's Staff: As Empire book magic item.  Does not count against magic item total.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

LORDS

BATTLE WIZARD LORD   185 points
Profile: As Empire book, +1 A.
Equipment: Hand weapon, wizard’s staff.
Wizard Level: 3.  Upgrade to Level 4 +35.
Options: Warhorse +15 or Imperial pegasus +50.  Warhorse may have barding +6.  100 points of magic items.
Special Rules: Wizard, Imperial College Training.

TEMPLAR GRANDMASTER   135 points
Profile: As Empire book.
Equipment: Hand weapon, heavy armor, barded warhorse.
Options: Great weapon or lance +6.  Full plate armor +6 and/or shield +3.  100 points of magic items.
Special Rules: Knightly Order.

LECTOR OF SIGMAR   125 points
Profile: As Empire book.
Equipment: Hand weapon.
Options: Light armor +3 or heavy armor +6 and/or shield +3.  Additional hand weapon +6 or great weapon +6.  Warhorse +15 and barding +6 or war altar +125.  100 points of magic items.
Special Rules: 2 DD, Prayers of Sigmar, Hatred, Sycophantic Following.

MARSHALL OF THE EMPIRE   80 points
Profile: As Empire book.
Equipment: Hand weapon.
Options: Light armor +3 or heavy armor +6 or full plate armor +12 and/or shield +3  Additional hand weapon +6, halberd +6, great weapon +6 or lance (if mounted) +6.  Pistol +9, brace of pistols +12, bow +9, crossbow +12, handgun +12, or longbow +12.  Warhorse +15 or Imperial Pegasus +50 or Griffon +175.  Warhorse may have barding +6.  100 points of magic items.
Special Rules: Ancestral Heirloom, Bodyguard.

HEROES

BATTLE WIZARD   65 points
Profile: As Empire book.
Equipment: Hand weapon.
Wizard Level: 1.  Upgrade to Level 2 +35.
Options: Warhorse +10 and barding +4.  50 points of magic items.
Special Rules: Wizard.

CAPTAIN   50 points
Profile: As Empire book.
Equipment: Hand weapon.
Options: Light armor +2 or heavy armor +4 or full plate armor +8 and/or shield +2.  Additional hand weapon +4, halberd +4, great weapon +4 or lance (if mounted) +4.  Pistol +6, brace of pistols +8, bow +6, crossbow +8, handgun +8, or longbow +8  Warhorse +10 and barding +4 or Imperial Pegasus +50.  50 points of magic items.
Special Rules: May be army standard bearer.

MASTER FIELD ENGINEER   50 points
Profile: As Empire book, +1 BS.
Equipment: Hand weapon.
Options: Light armor +2 or heavy armor +4.  Brace of pistols +8, grenade-launching blunderbuss +10, handgun +8, Hochland longrifle +20, repeater handgun +15, repeater pistol and pistol +10.  Warhorse +10 and barding +4 or mechanical steed +25.
A Master Field Engineer may be accompanied by a cannon +75, great cannon +100 or mortar +75.  The artillery piece is crewed by three Crewmen, and up to two additional Crewman may be added +5 each.  The artillery piece and Crewmen are deployed with the Master Field Engineer when all other characters are deployed.  The Master Field Engineer must remain within 2” of the artillery piece.  The artillery piece benefits from the Master of Ballistics rule, below.  If the artillery piece is destroyed, the Master Field Engineer takes one wound.  If this is the Master Field Engineer’s last wound, remove the model.
Special Rules: Extra Crewman, Master of Ballistics.

TEMPLAR SENESCHAL   80 Points
Profile: M4 WS5 BS3 S4 T4 W2 I5 A3 Ld8
Equipment: Hand weapon, heavy armor, barded warhorse.
Options: Great weapon +4 or lance +4.  Full plate armor +8 and/or shield +2.  50 points of magic items.
Special Rules: Knightly Order, may be army standard bearer.

WARRIOR PRIEST OF SIGMAR   90 points
Profile: As Empire book.
Equipment: Hand weapon.
Options: Light armor +2 or heavy armor +4 and/or shield +2.  Additional hand weapon +4 or great weapon +4.  Warhorse +10 and barding +4.   50 points of magic items.
Special Rules: 1 DD, Prayers of Sigmar, Hatred, may be army standard bearer.

Thanks for reading!
-Matt

[mwalsh867]

 

Ok, well, in effort to stir up some interest, here's a special character.  Name is used just because it's the Mordheim figure I use to represent the character ...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

JOHAN THE KNIFE - IMPERIAL ASSASSIN   160 Points
M5 WS5 BS5 S4 T4 W2 I6 A3 Ld8
Equipment: Assassin’s Blades, throwing knives, Assassin’s Cloak, light armor.
Special Rules: Scout, Poison (all of Johan’s attacks count as poisoned), Not a Hero, Knife Fighter.

MAGIC ITEMS
Assassin’s Blades
2 hand weapons, when fighting in a challenge, +1 to hit, no armor save allowed.  Remember all of Johan’s attacks are poisoned.

Assassin’s Cloak
+1 armor save.  If Johan charged into combat, enemy characters MUST accept his challenge; no other character may accept.

SPECIAL RULES
Not a Hero
Units joined by Johan never benefit from his Leadership.

Knife Fighter
Johan may throw 3 throwing knives each turn.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This guy would be (for teh Empire) a character-killer, but really only when he gets the drop on someone.  If anyone has suggestions for suitable names for the boringly-named magic items, I'm all ears.  I wa considering working Khaine into the names of the blades, but might be a little overtly evil for someone who likely works with the Emperors (unspoken) blessing.

Comments?

[Grumbaki]

You've got some interesting ideas there. I especially like having a seneschal (would really fit my army) and the wizard lord's rule is characterful as well. 

You've also got a pretty good idea for the master engineer. In effect you are making the hero worthwhile, because the hero slot becomes an extra special. While that does mean that in a 2000 point game you could get 5 cannons! Still, it seems to work pretty well. The only thing that I would say is change the rule where the destroyed artillery wounds him (why?) to saying that the master engineer cannot leave his artillery piece while it is still in game.

----

As for your special character (he was a Mordheim character, right?), here is what I'd do...

1. Replace assassin's blades with killing blow.

2. Special Rule-Assassin: "If Johan charged into combat, enemy characters MUST accept his challenge; no other character may accept. If there is more than one enemy character in a unit, Johan may choose whom he wishes to fight, unless one of the enemy heroes has a special rule which supercedes this. He may also is at +1 to hit when fighting in a challenge."

3. Assassin's Cloak: Magic Resistance 1. 3+ ward save against shooting and magic missile attacks.

-----

This gives you an incentive to keep him operating by himself (which somehow seems more characterful than having him in a unit). He loses the magical attacks, but gains killing blow, but his assassin rule makes up for it. The provision I added to it is incase there is an enemy hero like Korhil who has a bodyguard rule (which should be of great use when fighting assassins.)

So overall I really like your ideas, and I hope that you don't mind my additions.

[Rodman49]

I feel everyone (all characters) should have access to pistols.

[Inarticulate]

I can't see a Templar Grand Master, Wizard Lord or Arch Lector using a pistol..

[Spiney]

You've got some interesting ideas there. I especially like having a seneschal (would really fit my army) and the wizard lord's rule is characterful as well. 

You've got to be kidding, you seriously think immunity to first miscast is "in character" for an Imperial wizard. I think anyone who has read the battle wizard thread is likely to be able to accurately guess my response to Empire wizards being better at controlling magic than High elf arch mages and Slann Mage priests. Its totally inappropriate given that there are so many races better at magic than us and they all miscast as normal.

PERHAPS make that effect into a magic item, but certainly not as a blanket rule for all wizard lords.

Is marshall of the Empire just the same as General of the Empire (or a replacement for it)? Its just a slightly odd name change as "Marshall" was a French military rank, not a Germanic one. I'm not sure what to suggest if you don't like General...

Your solution to the master engineer is a very interesting one, although the mechanical steed becomes entirely redundant if he is tied to one particular machine. I like the Engineer very much, it will certainly relieve the pressure on our special slots.

[iatroblast]

Well.... I really like some of the rules presented here:

LECTOR OF SIGMAR
Options: ...war altar +125.

War Altar is very powerful indeed

(note that banners that cost less than 50 points may be taken with other magic items)

That would work just fine (if Ludwig can, then he's not the only...)

MARSHALL OF THE EMPIRE

Personally, I like this name better! (marshaling the host!)

MASTER FIELD ENGINEER

Shame here!

MASTER FIELD ENGINEER
As Empire book, +1 BS.

This extra point to BS, could be an upgrade for some points (not all engineers are champion-shooters! Some are just inventors-)
Though engineers truly NEED this extra point to their skill! (An outrider champion is ALWAYS better than an engineer? -maybe......but still...)


...even so, I have my doubts for the following ones...

TEMPLAR GRANDMASTER...
Equipment: Hand weapon, heavy armor

if common knights wear full-plate, so must their Templar!
uhmm..........How about make 'heavy armor' an option for common knights istead? that way we'll have cheaper knights with fine armor, but with the option available to upgrade their armor to full-plate, they will still be 'unique'

MARSHALL OF THE EMPIRE
...brace of pistols +12

There's no doubt that a General is able to use two pistols. But some abilities are specially designed to highlight the differences of certain characters! Brace of pistols would 'suit' better to an engineer (converting handguns all-day!), rather than a General (the only  exception would be the Dogs of War General. You always expect 'surprises' from professional war-veterans!)

TEMPLAR SENESCHAL

He's very similar to Bretonnian 'knight-captains'... We should better leave those fellows to them.. THEY'RE the 'knights' after all! Plus we are more militaristic... Too much 'Knighthood spirit' is not always fitting too well with the general military attitude!...

....perhaps make that effect into a magic item, but certainly not as a blanket rule for all wizard lords...

I agree. I think that's more likely, especially for human wizards


Finally, special characters are usually 'highlighting' the general attitude, spirit and values of the army they serve.
Assassins are just 'sneaky killers' who have no moral issues. They fit well with the spirit of the 'coward Scavens' or the 'evil Dark Elves', but they would be a HUGE CONTRAST to the IMPERIAL HEROIC BELIEF!
I'd say NO to an assassin character for the Empire
Why don't you work on a 'flagellant' special character or even an 'Admiral'? 

[Freman Bloodglaive]

Admiral: profile as Elector Count.

Special rule: water-borne barrage. Once per game the Admiral may signal for a volley of fire from ships stationed off shore. This is resolved like a stone thrower, but the strength is 6 (10 under the hole) with a -4 modifier doing D3 wounds (D6 under the hole).

EDIT: Sorry, that should be stone thrower measured from the Admiral.

[iatroblast]

... amazing rule!

EDIT: and it's still an amazing rule IMO! (that you came-up-with really fast)

[Freman Bloodglaive]

It's really just a Space Marine orbital barrage in Fantasy terms. 

[iatroblast]

  you're cheating! 
No... it' great!

[commandant]

Would it not be a cannon shot

[Freman Bloodglaive]

It's not one cannon shot, it's a bunch of them coming down in a certain area (with a fair degree of inaccuracy). It's more shrapnel than a cannonball that kills the enemy in that case.

[HidaSeku]

The option for an engineer to take a cannon/great cannon/mortar sounds good until the concept of taking 4 engineers at 2000 points comes up.

I can already see an army with 8 great cannons being a balance problem.

[Freman Bloodglaive]

Well you can already take six, four Empire and two Mercenary.