Special Characters for my DIY Chapter

[Plague Angel]

With the Liber's Iron Gauntlet going on for homebrewed Chapters, I'm trying my hand at coming up with rules for some of the characters I've created. The short version of it is that they are Blood Angels successors who suffer a mutation that causes stigmata.

 

First up is the very first Chapter Master who guided the Chapter in its infancy, who stopped the ascension of Dark Apostle Vol'sing to daemonhood.

 

Lord Rafaeli Donatto, Founder of the Host — 205 points

WS6 BS5 S4 T4 W4 I5 A4 Ld10 Sv2+

 

Donatto is an HQ choice for Codex Blood Angels.

 

Wargear:

*Terminator Armour

*Iron Halo

 

*Featherfall: The personal weapon of Donatto, Featherfall has been anointed in the Chapter Master's own blood before every battle. This ritual anointing is believed to have imbued the weapon with some measure of the blood's tie to Sanguinius himself. When Donatto finally fell, his hammer was buried with him in an honoured crypt. Featherfall is a master-crafted thunder hammer. Any invulnerable saves taken against wounds caused by Featherfall have a -1 penalty.

 

*Blood Storm: Blood Storm is a storm bolter that can use the special issue ammunition described on page 27 of Codex Blood Angels, except remaining Assault 2 instead of Rapid Fire.

 

Special Rules:

*And They Shall Know No Fear

*Eternal Warrior

*Feel No Pain

*Preferred Enemy: Daemons

 

*Pain of Stigmata: The Astartes of the Host Incarnadine have had to accustom themselves to fighting while experiencing a painful mutation. In the midst of this agony, the pain of the enemies' attacks means little in comparison. Whenever Donatto suffers an unsaved wound, he may immediately make an attack.

[spartan249]

Featherfall seems santa-clausy enough, but the Pain of Stigmata seems most abusable here. By the wording, he can pinpoint which models to kill, essentially sniping hidden powerfists and special weapons from the squad that strayed too close, by striking them with an at-initiative thunder hammer hit. Also, you only require that he fail an armor save to get the free attack, as in you fail the armor save, make an immediate attack, then have the ability to roll feel no pain and ignore that wound.

 

I think a simplification of PoS into FnP would be appropriate here, as free attacks is quite a boon with the weapon he wields. That, and you have to specify the profile that the storm bolter uses to fire the rounds, else it becomes rapid-fire. Unless that was your intention, to which I say you should reconsider.

 

I'm also curious why you chose to have his initiative at 4, when every other captain in every other SM codex is at 5.

[Plague Angel]

Featherfall seems santa-clausy enough

 

I've never heard this term, but I assume it's good?

 

The Pain of Stigmata seems most abusable here. By the wording, he can pinpoint which models to kill, essentially sniping hidden powerfists and special weapons from the squad that strayed too close, by striking them with an at-initiative thunder hammer hit.

 

Thanks for that. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm not very good at this. Such abuse was certainly not my intention!

 

Also, you only require that he fail an armor save to get the free attack, as in you fail the armor save, make an immediate attack, then have the ability to roll feel no pain and ignore that wound.

 

I think a simplification of PoS into FnP would be appropriate here, as free attacks is quite a boon with the weapon he wields.

 

Hm. Would a simplification to FnP, plus a simple free attack whenever he's wounded, be too much?

 

That, and you have to specify the profile that the storm bolter uses to fire the rounds, else it becomes rapid-fire. Unless that was your intention, to which I say you should reconsider.

 

No, just an oversight.

 

I'm also curious why you chose to have his initiative at 4, when every other captain in every other SM codex is at 5.

 

I guess I was thinking that with a hammer, his initiative wouldn't really be that important. Except for tests, which can be very important. I'll probably bump it back up, but it seemed an easy and fast (read: lazy) way I could add a slight drawback to him to keep his point cost down. That was my thinking at least; it's possibly bad thinking.

[spartan249]

The Santa Claus mistake when creating stuff is giving your creation good stuff just for the sake of giving it good stuff. However, this is just a first impression, and playtesting may prove me wrong. I think Master-Crafting on the Thunder Hammer is enough to have, as that pushes up the cost of the hammer up to 45 points already. If you add invul reduction, the hammer may go all the way up to 60 points, which can make your character REALLY expensive. I suppose it's alright, as Lysander is pretty beastly himself, but I still think being on the conservative side will keep your opponents on your side, allowing you to field your character.

 

Rolling bonus attacks has precedents (think Gabriel Seth, one of the interesting characters that Matt Ward actually managed to not screw up), so I don't think it's outlandish. It's not so bad when it's you taking an unsaved wound, as Gabriel dishes a S4 hit out whenever your opponent rolls a 1 to hit (Which can be quite often...).