Custom named characters, anyone?

[niclebel]

First things first, I have no idea what the appropriate sub-forum for this is, so a mod can move this thread if he sees fit to do so.

Now, down to business. I think most of you will agree, the new Chaos Codex (And most codices IMO) present us with some pretty lackluster named characters, if you're running your own personnally themed army that is. I'm running a Nurgle themed CSM army. My army are Space Pirates, joyfully spreading plague and disease. The regular Chaos Lord (as cheap as he is and even with Champion of Chaos) just doesn't cut it, no matter how much fluff I give him. Typhus is just meh in general for what I'm going for (mostly CC oriented with some Defiler bombardments in the back and flamers and such).

All these things in mind, I decided to custom make my named character. My regular Chaos Lord was Brother Captain maggotbeard, so I stuck with that, because he's a badass.

I don't know who's for or against unique characters like these, but we can discuss that elsewhere. For now, please, let's just try to make the Cap'n as balanced and fun as we can, alright?


WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv
6 5 4 5 4 5 4 10 3+

UNIT TYPE: Infantry (Character)
WARGEAR: Combat Familiar (pg 67)
WARLORD TRAIT: Lord of Terror (pg 28)
SPECIAL RULES: Champion of Chaos (pg 28), Fearless, Independent Character, Mark of Nurgle (pg 30), veterans of the Long War (pg 30)

Chaos Artefacts

Claws of Corrosion: Brother Captain Maggotbeard wears a matching pair of Lightning Claws. They were blessed by Grandfather Nurgle once he began to hear of Maggotbeard’s jolly plaguespreading raids. The stories made him chuckle and foul juices ran from his many gaping wounds. The acidic filth that covers these two sinister weapons is the material manifestation of these fluids; it is so corrosive that it destroys armour and flesh alike.

Range S AP Type
- User 2 Melee, Daemon Weapon, Poisoned (2+), Shred, Specialist Weapon

Armour of Affliction: As were his claws, so too was Brother Captain Maggotbeard’s armour blessed. Bloated and pustulant, it slowly rots away whilst Maggotbeard moulders on. Every now and again, one of it’s boils will burst open, releasing noxious fumes and pus.

This armour is functionally the same as Terminator Armour, but it’s armour save is reduced to 3+. With it, Brother Captain Maggotbeard counts as having defensive grenades against assaults. Additionally, he has the Feel No Pain, Shrouded and Slow and Purposeful special rules.


I am not sure how many points are a good idea. He is not as powerful as Abaddon, but he needs to be more than 200 points. I'm not sure if these are the exact stats I want either, but they are gonna be similar (maybe -1 BS and +1 S, I don't know). Once I read the initial feedback, I will make changes and add the fluff (funny stuff if I may say so myself).



I will probably make a separate thread so people can share their own custom named characters. : )

[Red Brigade]

Comparing your character to a kitted-out Lord, I'd say 200-220 is pretty well in line with most of the point costs.
Personally, I would drop his I to 3, just for balance sakes, but you would drop the points along with that. It just always seemed weird to me that a Nurgle Champion would be more than I 3 or 4, considering Plague Marines are only I 3, presumably due to being bloated and constantly hemorrhaging God's know what. Then again, even good old Typhus is I 5, so I don't have much of a case there. Just a thought.
I have to say though, I love the concept of the rotting terminator armour. The Shrouded bit from all the gases expelling from him adds a great touch.

[Wildcard]

Lots of great stuff there. Few points of concern from the "opposite side of the table":

- His weapon is just straight out devastating. Nothing will get armor save against his attacks + he wounds everything on the game on a re-rollable 2+. Also, we are talking about max 12 attacks on a charge (4base + 1 paired specialist ccw weapons + 6 daemon weapon + 1 charge) that you can re-roll with veteran of the long war hatred: space marines (that re-roll thing i am not sure, how does chaos dudelings get it, so it could be off)

That coupled with I5 he will be eating most of the threat out there before they even hit him.

- With shrouded and defensive grenades he will be having 4+ (or 3+, cant remember) cover save against shooting attacks inside 8" out in the open. Any kind of cover already and it will be 2+ cover save.



That said. I would still let you run that, if you could point out flaws / weaknesses / even remotely viable strategy (available to most if not all codexes) against that close combat monster of yours.

[ElectricPaladin]

Here is the custom named dreadnought I invented:

Amun Har, Warden of the Western Gate (175 points)
Amun Har [WS 4, BS 4, S 6, Front 13, Side 12, Rear 10, HP 3, I 4, A 2]

Unit Composition
• 1 Dreadnought (Unique)

Unit Type
• Vehicle (Walker)

Wargear
• Missile Launcher
• Twin-Linked Lascannon
• Searchlight
• Smoke Launchers

Special Rules
• Guardian at the Gate
• Preferred Enemy (Eldar)

Dedicated Transport
• May select a Drop Pod

Guardian at the Gate
Amun Har earned his place as a Blood Ravens dreadnought by holding a gate against encroaching Dark Eldar forces, and he remains skilled at using the sheer stopping power of his missile launcher to hold his foes at bay. If Amun Har remains stationary during the Movement phase, he gains a +1 to his BS and his missile launcher attacks gain the Strikedown USR.

[niclebel]

Red Brigade and Wildcard, you both raise excellent points and it makes me glad.

To me, it all came down to wanting a Lord with FNP. After that, it was all making him fluffy. The flipside to high initiative is the fact that he's wielding a Daemon Weapon (roll a 1 and you are basically free game), but I understand and agree. It's one of those stats I'm not too sure about. I actually didn't factor in +1 on the charge and I also thought that characters with 2 close combat weapons already had the +1 attack in their profile (abaddon for example). If this isn't hte case and it's an addon, please let me know. Also, if we compare his Claws to Typhus' Manreaper, they are incredibly strong, but they can't insta-gib characters since they're not force weapons like the Manreaper.

I think having the crappier armour save balances out a lot of stuff, notably his added FNP and his bull**** poisoned claws. Shrouded is mostly for flavour, but it creates a nice link between present Maggotbeard and the future Daemon Prince Maggotbeard who is a Daemon of Nurgle (which I converted to have a tentacle beard, SO MANY Davie Jones comparisons XD).

Wildcard, the way I want his armor to work is for it to be like blight grenades, but only against assault; people can shoot at him normally, but don't get +1 attack on the charge against him. He already has a 3+ armour, a 5++ and a 5+ FNP. Not to mention a 5+ cover from Shrouded. I don't know, it's stuff to ponder. A fun and hilarious special rule I thought of for him might be that if an enemy unit manages to wound him and is within 6", they get -1 to their Leadership (GAS CLOUD!).



Fact is, no shooting for him, it's all about CC. I'm thinking that, since he has no psychic powers or shooting, he'd get his *** overwhelmed by hordes (unless they fail their leadership and drop to WS 1). Also, if we compare him to Abaddon the Despoiler, Kaldor Draigo or Marneus Calgar, Cap'n Maggotbeard is a mere nuissance.

[niclebel]

That Dreadnought is pretty awesome.

I have no idea what the base point cost of a dreadnought is, so I can't comment on that point. However, I can say that he's a badass unit and the fluff is respectable. I'm thinking that the lascannon could be replaced by a heavy flamer though (fluff considered, if the eldar get too close, just purge the crap out o' them and their skinny armor). Also, I have no idea if walkers can do this, but if he can make a Deny the Witch roll, I'd probably be down with giving him a bonus to the result.

[Wildcard]

Hmm, you want a Fluffy poisonous and concealing cloud:

"Units shooting at this model must follow the rules for night fighting"

So a bit like fog, too far out and you cant see a ****, but when you come closer you start slowly see stuff hidden..

Also, i did forgot that pre 6th new Nemesis Dread Knight character i was designing..

The Story (so far)
With the Chaos forces major invasion from the Eye of terror, the veil of immaterium is weakened through the known space. As a result the forces that bound Grey Knights Supreme Grand Master Lord Kaldor Draigo have lost their hold over him, thus allowing him the control of passage back to his brothers permanently – or so it seems at the moment.

With forces loyal to the Chaos roaming freely amidst the known space, Lord Draigo declares that the time for subtlety is a secondary matter from now on. With the dread of unstoppable Chaos taking place in practically every soul in the Imperium, it is imperative that the word of hope about silver angels of death that can banish the utmost horrors in a blinding light spread as fast and as far as possible in the Imperium.

This decided Kaldor Draigo knows that he will need his wargear renewed if he is to succesfully accomplish these goals he has set for himself and his brothers.

And so begins The Forging. Never before has it been so, that the brother himself would forge his weapons and armour. With the knowledge gained through the ages spent in warp, and relics left from his stay there he starts to craft the most formidable set of gear ever seen in the Grand Halls of Titan.

Knowing that eventually he would be forced to meet again his arch nemesis, The Daemon Prince M’kar, his first act was a requisition of Chapters most venerated suit of Nemesis Dread Knight armour. Into this he carved the same sigils he had carved during his stay on the Realm of Warp. With the near destruction of a Strike Cruiser *Insert name here*, and with orders to dismantle her, Lord Draigo ordered a chunk of her prow to be brought to him. From this was carved the massive shield for the Draigos newly appointed Nemesis Dread Knight. Now missing only a weapon that would match the the shield, Draigo smashed his Titan sword to splinters. From these splinters he forged a new blade, one that could only be wielded by a Nemesis Dread Knight in battle. With the superb forges and materials available to him, a new sword was crafted, a Nemesis Greatsword with the additional powers granted by the shards used in creation of the first Titansword.

With his own work nearing completion, Lord Draigo summoned three of the most revered brothers from the brotherhood of Paladins.By the time the last summoned Paladin reaches the forge, three new suits of Nemesis Dread Knight armor are present in front of the assembled warriors. Draigo then tasks these brave warriors to carve each to their own newly appointed suits the same sigils and wards he himself had only just previously carved. Although not a small task, as such is the power of the sigils and wards, after labouring several days and nights without rest, each of the summoned have completed the given task.

And so is the fist formation of the Silver Knights born...