Homebrew DC Character, Captain Quent Taro "The Unchained"

[Master of Asgard]

Hey folks, here's the first draft for my DC Captain special character, who's model will be based on Khârn the Bloody from FW.

 

I wanted to have a DC character who wasn't Tycho or a Chaplain. Yes I know the name is totally cheesy but there it is! 

 

Points cost is based on Tycho + Jump pack + Fists special rules (20 pts) *OR* Captain + Arty Armour + Jump pack + DC rules (15 points as per Tycho) + 40 pts to avoid cries of cheese. He's maybe a bit overcosted but I guess that's better for a homebrew unit. He's a bit of a beast with potentially as many as 10 Rending strength 5 attacks plus HoW on the charge!

 

Anyway here he is, fluff and rules! I'd love some feedback on the rules, anything I can change, add or take away.

 

 

Captain Quent Taro “The Unchained”

 

 

Captain Tycho is not the only Blood Angels Captain to have given in to the call of the Black Rage.

 

The year M32.566 was a particularly disastrous year for the Sons of Sanguinius, with a record number of brothers falling from grace. Foremost among these was Captain Quent Taro of the 5^th company, who lost control fighting against Eldar pirates. His fall was so profound that when he was recovered from the battle that had become a slaughter, the Chaplains were obliged to take him away in chains, and so did he rest in the fortress monastery on Baal, only to be unchained for the most violent of battles.

Such is the extent of his insanity that Taro was known not only to take off his helmet in the midst of battle, something that only the most reckless of Astartes would even consider, but also to completely discard his weapons in favour of tearing apart his enemies with nothing but his armoured gauntlets and his rage-fuelled might.

 

 

 

 

HQ

 

Points: 180  160

 

WS BS S  T  W  I  A  Ld  Sv

 6   5   4   4  3  5  3  10  2+

 

Warlord Trait

Red Rampage

 

Wargear

Iron Halo

Jump pack

Artificer Armour

Fists: Counts as 2 close combat weapons that add 2 attacks instead of 1 and have the Rending and Shred special rules

 

Special Rules

Rage

Feel No Pain

Relentless

Fearless

Furious Charge

Independent character

 

Fallen to the Black Rage: Captain Taro can only join a Death Company Squad.  

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

[Xenith]

Seems fair! Although probably overcosted for a Captain that still has a low damage output. 

 

I don't know about the fists adding an extra attack, that seems a bit off, but the DC used to have the rending rule to represent them tearing their opponents to pieces - so that's cool.

 

Just count the fists as 2x ccw (represented by bp and ccw, so you dont need to add any extra rules - just never fire his BP!).

 

The old DC army list went by the rule that DC special rules equated to a 25 % point increase. With a captain + 25 %, plus his equipment, I'd say you could put him at 150pts, and he would be a fair take.

[Master of Asgard]

Thanks for the reply and your thoughts Xenith!

 

Good point about the extra attack, there's no precedent for that and I guess it doesn't add that much. I see what you mean by low damage output, he kind of just does what the DC already do (lots of S4/5 attacks) but a bit better.

 

I don't want to fall into the trap of making a Mary Sue special snowflake, but I'd still like him to have something going for him. What about adding one of the following special rules (and taking away the extra attack): 

 

- Shred (Goes well with his fluff, probably least powerful but most likely contender)

- Preferred Enemy (interesting because it affects the whole squad. Potentially quite powerful and no reason fluff-wise)

- Counter attack (goes well with his fluff, ripping off SW though)

- Fleshbane (probably way OP but would be aweome)

 

What do you reckon? For example with Shred would 150 still be reasonable? 155 or 160?

[Xenith]

I think counter attack would be a nice one. It doesn't really add much to him, but represents him charging at an approaching foe. 

 

If you want to do something interesting, why not Strikedown?

[marine7312000]

I like him. I'm drawing a blank on the Strikedown rule but counter attack would be fitting.

[Master of Asgard]

Thanks for your feedback guys!

I had a look at the rules for Strikedown but it only seems useful if the attacking or the attacked unit has Hit and Run, because otherwise they're locked in combat and they can't move. Or if one unit runs away I guess.

 

I'm still drawn more towards Shred than Counter Attack, mainly because re-rolled missed wounds gives a better chance of Rending.

However Counter Attack affects the whole unit, which negates a bit the BAs' weakness of only having bonuses on the charge, and makes him a little bit more interesting than "that guy who does the same as those other guys just a bit more".

 

Would 150 still be ok for either rule? 

[Frater Cornelius]

Good work. This is how I imagine this guy ;)

[CaptainHelion]

Counter Attack doesn't affect the whole unit. It affects all models in the unit that have Counter Attack. It's curiously worded.

[Master of Asgard]

Immersturm: Oh man that takes me back! I'd totally forgotten about that comic. Time for some nostalgia ebaying! Definitely going to use this for some inspiration when it comes to modelling him!

 

CaptainHelion: I hadn't noticed that but you're absolutely right. Like you say it is worded strangely.

Still really torn between Shred and Counter Attack here. If he's not charging he loses so much already (+2 attacks & +1S) that I basically want him to maximise what he gets when he does charge. 

 

I think I'm going to go with Shred seeing as he has no power weapon- that gives him more chances to make use of Rending.

 

 

As an aside, does anyone have access to modifiable character sheets for 40k or is it going to be a big photoshop job? (Don't know how to use photoshop!)

 

[Xenith]

 

I think I'm going to go with Shred seeing as he has no power weapon- that gives him more chances to make use of Rending.

 

 

It was this I was trying to avoid, as they work very well together. On the other hand, even with rerolls to wound, he still wont be killing too many, so I dont see why not. 

 

I'd allocate 15pts for a special rule.

[Master of Asgard]

I know what you mean, it is a pretty good synergy but I don't think it would be OP. He's got a maximum of 9 attacks on the charge (if he's lucky with rampage), otherwise 6 attacks on the charge. At a guess he'll probably be getting 1 or 2 rending wounds when charging.

 

So if that's worth 15 points, and I'm going with 15 for the DC rules based on the difference between normal Tycho and DC Tycho, that puts him at 155 points, which I'll round up to 160 for a homebrew tax and because he's got a fixed Warlord Trait.

 

What do you reckon? Thanks again for the feedback btw!

 

Edit: did you mean 15 points per special rule? 15 for Shred and 15 for Rending?

[Dont-Be-Haten]

I personally would like to see the Jump pack as optional, I would also like to see something crazy like a salvo/Master crafted bolter at AP 4. That way it isn't restricting the model to only be in one style of DC. It's what is frustrating about Lemaetes, and DC Tycho. Just my 2¢

 

Edit: instead of fist why not give him 2 ceremonial daggers, and write into his lore that upon his induction he was given the "sacred blades" a pair ceremonial blades, you could also go ve him a form of clarvoyence which allowed him to find week points in opponents armour, this explaining the rending special rule.

[Xenith]

I personally would like to see the Jump pack as optional, I would also like to see something crazy like a salvo/Master crafted bolter at AP 4. That way it isn't restricting the model to only be in one style of DC. It's what is frustrating about Lemaetes, and DC Tycho. Just my 2¢

 

Edit: instead of fist why not give him 2 ceremonial daggers, and write into his lore that upon his induction he was given the "sacred blades" a pair ceremonial blades, you could also go ve him a form of clarvoyence which allowed him to find week points in opponents armour, this explaining the rending special rule.

 

But that's way less awesome than tearing your opponent limb from limb with only your ceramite sheathed hands.

[Master of Asgard]

The optional jump pack would certainly give him some more versatility, but is there much precedent for giving options to special characters? Can Calgar still choose between terminator and power armour? I'm not really up to date with these things.

 

While the other ideas are cool, it would have to be for a completely different character. The idea behind this character is that he would never be entrusted with a relic boltgun or a pair of ceremonial daggers, because the first thing he'd do would be to forget he even had them and try to bite someone's face off. There's a reason he doesn't even have grenades in his wargear. Anything that's not literally bolted to him is likely to go missing quite quickly! As for using psychic powers, he doesn't even know what millennium he's in, so a subtle manipulation of the warp to find weak points is not really his style.

[Dont-Be-Haten]

I guess I'm just thinking from a lore perspective it's really hard for an astartes to rip into another astartes' power armour or tactical dreadnought armour with his bare hands. They usually have to use chainswords or better. Even Tycho had a modified gauntlet (DMH) that sought out the weak points in his opponent's armour.

 

Just suggestions, I do like him though.

 

Edit: astartes and the like can have premonitions without using the warp or being a psyker. Sanguinius himself was a prophet, if you read up on the archaic scrolls or look at Corbulo, it is entirely possible.

[Xenith]

I guess I'm just thinking from a lore perspective it's really hard for an astartes to rip into another astartes' power armour or tactical dreadnought armour with his bare hands. They usually have to use chainswords or better. Even Tycho had a modified gauntlet (DMH) that sought out the weak points in his opponent's armour.

 

Just suggestions, I do like him though.

 

How does one tactical marine ever kill another marine in a fist fight, then? They don't have combat knives as part of their equipment, but they still get attacks, and the chance to kill someone with their bare hands/pistol butt.

 

There's fluff to support the rending. I believe even Grammaticus killed a marine with his bare hands - bladed hand through the eye lens or somthing?

[Master of Asgard]

Glad you like him ;)

 

I see what you mean though, technically (if I've understood the rules correctly) on the charge he could damage a Land Raider (S5 + roll of 6 + D3 = 14!

 

It's true what you say about marines having premonitions without necessarily being psychers, but I really want this guy to be totally devoid of reason and lucidity. No subtlety!

 

Honestly when I was looking though the special rules to give him, I would have given him Smash if it didn't give him permanent AP2, just to represent that he can have moments of insane superhuman (supermarine) strength.

 

Xenith: above did you mean 15 points per rule or 15 points for each special rule added?

[Dont-Be-Haten]

 

 

I guess I'm just thinking from a lore perspective it's really hard for an astartes to rip into another astartes' power armour or tactical dreadnought armour with his bare hands. They usually have to use chainswords or better. Even Tycho had a modified gauntlet (DMH) that sought out the weak points in his opponent's armour.

 

Just suggestions, I do like him though.

How does one tactical marine ever kill another marine in a fist fight, then? They don't have combat knives as part of their equipment, but they still get attacks, and the chance to kill someone with their bare hands/pistol butt.

 

There's fluff to support the rending. I believe even Grammaticus killed a marine with his bare hands - bladed hand through the eye lens or somthing?

What I recall from the books is they do use headbutts, kicks, and gunbutts to dent the armour, but hardly, if, ever do they rip it apart with just their hands. Even with the combat stimulates and reinforced ceramite augmented strength it takes an extreme amount of force, to rip the armour off. Even then it's usually against lesser astartes. But the weak points are always there, that's how it is justified that small arms fire and melee can still kill a terminator. With rending though, it would need to be sought out, or have some type of relic that could cleave through plate much easier.

 

These are just things I've picked up on. Nothing wrong with the current version of the character just some holes I've seen in the story and on the table top. Like I f he was so insane, and not being in a dreadnought more than likely another astartes would "deal" with him.

 

Edit: we see this with some of the successor chapters. This is to hide the flaw, sometimes they even forsake their brothers or leave them on the battle field with no armor and only a combat knife, sometimes it's a bolt pistol to the head.

[Master of Asgard]

He is definitely dealt with, just not yet with the Emperor's Mercy. Basically he's chained up (probably in stasis too) until there's a serious catastrophe where the Death Company needs to be deployed in force. At which point they unchain him, point him towards the enemy and wait for the screams to stop. Even the other DC he's deployed with are probably a bit nervous around him.

 

Just to give a bit of background on why I'm making this guy, it's because I'd like to have a little unbound detachment of only DC units and their transports. Maybe I could add in rule like the army must include at least 2 Chaplains, or that he can never make Look Out, Sir! rolls.

[Dont-Be-Haten]

I like where you are going, but you have to remember the black rage isn't just about going beserk, they actually take on the guise of Sanguinius, and they believe they are living the HH at that moment, all of the death company are fearless butchers believing themselves to BE their gene-sire. Only those that fight their way back from the black abyss have any realization of their former selves. If you haven't read Mephiston's short story or the BA Omnibus, check them out.

 

Edit: but then again the black rage consumes different characters in different ways.