How do I use Chaplain litanies?

[Reskin]

Having not had the pleasure of using the chaplain yet in armies I play.

 

Can someone explain how I use the litanies? I couldn't find anything in the 8th edition codex, or ritual of the damned on how exactly they work.

 

Do I roll a dice to activate it? When do I chose them? Do I have to change each turn?

 

What If I am in deep strike and arrive at the end of the movement phase? How do I activate it?

 

If its at the start of the turn, does that mean I don't have one active for the turn I arrive via deep strike?

Edited November 17, 2020 by Reskin

[Closet Skeleton]

Choose one at the army building phase just like a psychic power option.

 

Activates on a 3+ that can't be rerolled.

 

Its start of the battle round so its useless if you're in a transport or reserve then. The new Space Marine codex has a stratagem to use it out of sequence with no die roll.

[CCE1981]

Read the Chaplain datasheet.

[Karhedron]

Instructions for chanting Litanies can be found in the Chaplain entries in the new SM Codex (p136-137). The rules for the Litanies themselves are on p112.

 

As Closet Skeleton mentions, they happen in the Command Phase (i.e. before moving) so you need to plan ahead when using them more than Psychic powers. The Stratagem "Commanding Oratory" allows you to chant a Litany at a different point in your turn and have it succeed automatically with no dice roll. This is useful if you Chaplain was in a transport at the start of a turn, came in from Reserves or you absolutely need to make sure that Litany activates. The downside is it cannot be used if the Chaplain has already chanted a Litany that turn.

[Reskin]

Right I think I got it. I only play GK, so I don't have access to the SM codex.

 

But a lot of my questions were answered.

 

So happens at the start of a battle round? Or in my command phase? So if I go second, I don't have a litany activated for that turn of shooting I'm taking?

 

3+ dice roll that can't be rerolled to activate/change the litany. What happens in consecutive rounds where I've already had a litany going, and I fail a roll to change it, does the previous litany stay activated?

 

Or can I just leave one litany active for the entire game? What if I don't want to change a litany, do I still have to roll each turn to keep the same one going or?

[Karhedron]

The rules for Litanies specify when they end so you can't just leave them switch on. You also cannot start the game with them active. They are very much like psychic powers in that you need to roll to activate them and then they last for the specified duration.

[Oxydo]

Also, looking in the 8th edition SM codex would not help; It's not there. I'm told appropriate rules are found in one of the psychic awakening books.

I learned of them elsewhere.

 

They very much exist in the 2019 codex, but no they weren't present in the first codex for 8th.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

Right I think I got it. I only play GK, so I don't have access to the SM codex.

 

But a lot of my questions were answered.

 

So happens at the start of a battle round? Or in my command phase? So if I go second, I don't have a litany activated for that turn of shooting I'm taking?

 

 

In 8th, it was battle round, so even if you went second, you still had a litany active.

 

In 9th, it's now your command phase, but lasts until your next command phase, so you cannot use a defensive litany in your opponent's first turn.

 

The same also applies to the stratagem, you can only use it at the beginning of one of your own phases.

[Reskin]

Cheers that answered a lot of my questions, The litanies and chaplain datasheet is in Ritual of the damned. I'm such an idiot, it clearly defines how to use them there in the chaplains datasheet. I completely overlooked it!

 

The chaplain data sheet was in the GK codex but he only had 1 litany at the time. And didn't explain how to use it.

I just asked the questions here as I knew a majority of the SM players would know exactly what to do!

 

Cheers so much for the help!

Edited November 17, 2020 by Reskin

[TheNewman]

The Chaplain litanies changed rather drastically between the first and second Marine Codexes in 8th. In the first codex the Chaplain's Litany of Hate was just the name of his always-on aura, there was no roll to activate it.