Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Soul Reapers psychic powers: take one


I've had multiple suggestions to make 5 unique powers for the Apostles of Malevolence. No being one to shy from a challenge, I decided to draft up 4 new powers to add to Chains of Torment. I have attempted to keep a real Chaos feel to them. I have drawn inspiration from as far back as the Realms of Chaos books for these powers.

Psychic Powers

All Apostles of Malevolence may use one psychic power a turn. The only exception is if they have been upgraded to a Master of Sorcery, and then the Apostle may attempt to use two powers a turn. All psychic powers are used following the rules given in the Warhammer 40,000 BRB.

Apostles of Malevolence may choose from the following Powers:

Vortex of Chaos: The Apostle conjures up a vortex of pure Warp energy and hurls it at his enemies, reeking havoc amongst their lines. This is no small task and is fraught with risk as the Warp is fickle.

The Vortex of Chaos is a shooting attack. Place the small blast touching the base of the caster, then roll 3D6 +2 for the distance traveled. If triple ones are rolled something has gone horribly wrong, place the template over the caster, he and anyone else touched by the template are hit; if triple sixes are rolled, add one more D6 to the distance, then resolve hits. Any model hit by the Vortex takes a single Strength 7, AP 2 hit.

Warp Lightning: The Apostle shoots powerful bolts of lightning from his fingertips, arcing into the enemy leaving a wake of incinerated bodies.

Warp Lightning will ‘Arc’ into the nearest enemy unit within 6 inches; this will only happen once and only if all the hits scored against the first target unit cause wounds; if the target is a vehicle all the hits must either glance or penetrate to ‘Arc’. Warp Lightning is a shooting attack with the following profile.

Range-36, Strength- 8, AP-4, Type-Assault D3+1


Storm of Chaos: The Apostle summons up a virulent hurricane of Warp energy, impeding their vision and movement on the field of battle.

The Storm of Chaos is a shooting attack with a range of 24 inches. If hit the target unit counts all terrain, even clear terrain as if it were both difficult and dangerous. In addition the target unit also confers a 4+ cover save to any unit that they shoot at in their shooting phase. These effects last until the beginning of the next Soul Reapers turn.

Possession: The Apostle summons and allows a daemon to temporarily possess him; turning him into a psychotic killing machine.

Possession is cast at the beginning of the Soul Reapers turn. If successfully cast the Apostle gains +1 to his Strength, Toughness, Attacks and Initiative until the beginning of the next Soul Reapers turn. If Perils of the Warp is rolled he takes the wound, and may not use his invulnerable save.

Chains of Torment: The Apostle creates small warp rifts under his foes, launching ethereal chains that rend flesh to the bone in an attempt to drag the targets into the warp.

The Chains of torment is a shooting attack that may target any non-vehicle unit, with the following profile:

Range-18, Strength-6, AP-5, Type-Assault D6+1, Pinning



Here are the preliminary points costs.
  • Vortex of Chaos…………………..30pts
  • Warp Lightning…………………...30pts
  • Storm of Chaos…………………....10pts
  • Possession………………………......15pts
  • Chains of Torment……………….20pts


All thoughts and feedback welcome, please try to keep it constructive.

5 comments:

  1. I like these powers - I think they're well thought out and reasonably priced! I don't really have any substantive comment on them other than they all seem good! Nice job sir!

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  2. Of all the powers, the only one I am not a big fan of is possession.
    I know you are trying to balance out the powers versus price, but it really doesn't improve the character very much. A Character is improved that much from riding a mount. How about this:

    The Sorcerer allows himself to be possessed by a greater entity from the warp. This grants him
    Weapon Skill +2
    Strength +2
    Toughness +1
    Inititive +1
    Attacks +2

    At the start of the next Soul Reaper turn the Sorcerer must take a toughness test. If he fails he takes one wound with no saves as even his super human constitution is unable to handle the strain of the possession.

    Cost: 35 points.

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  3. Thanks for the feedback!

    Damn Mags! You are right I was trying to balance them verses price. Honestly I was aiming to have a second relatively cheap power, but.....

    ..I really, really like your version a lot!

    I'll take this to the guys and we'll give it a serious talk.

    -Jim

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  4. With Vortex of Chaos does the template 'move' forward and hit everything it passes over or land on a randomly distanced spot?

    If the first then it might need some clearer wording to establish how it works with vehicles, cover, LoS blocking effects, friendly troops etc.

    If the second it seems a bit expensive given hitting anything will be practically impossible.


    Chains not affecting vehicles is a bit odd - maybe a single automatic glance with a further -1 on the damage table?

    Regardless a very different and diverse field of powers - there's no 'no brainer' powers or obvious duds.

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  5. Thanks for the comments Gotthammer.

    With Vortex the template moves, does effect vehicles, ignores cover, but I hadn't thought about LOS. I will rework it and post an update on Friday.

    Chains is meant as an anti-infantry power, maybe now that the Soul Reapers have their own powers I can lift that.

    We'll take it under consideration.

    Thanks again,
    Jim

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