Buffing Death Company

[40kChrista]

Hello all,

 

I tried some general searches that didn't yield anything, so I thought I'd come here to ask. 

 

I apologize if this has been asked before, I am a very new Loyalist player and find some of the interactions confusing in the supplement.

 

If I have a Death Co. Cap, Death Co. LT, and a 10 strong unit of Death Co. Intercessors with HBP & chainswords... can they be buffed and healed normally with a Chief Apothecary Saguinary Priest in tow? 

 

I think it's the wording on The Lost that's making it confusing for me, am I overthinking it?  Or can Death Company Intercessors only be buffed by a Death Co. Cap and LT since they change their rules to effect <Death Company Core>

 

Thanks for your time!

[Karhedron]

The important thing to look at is the keyword interactions. "Buffing" is a common term among players but can actually refer to a huge number of beneficial effects and there aren't any blanket rules specifying who can buff who. Instead, every aura or ability has a set of keywords specifying which unit(s) can be the target of that ability. Death Company Intercessors have the BLOOD ANGELS, INFANTRY, CORE, PRIMARIS, DEATH COMPANY, INTERCESSORS and DEATH COMPANY INTERCESSORS keywords. This means that any buff that can be applied to one or more of those keywords can be applied to them.

 

So to look at your specific examples, the Sanguinary Priest can apply the following buffs.

 

Narthecium: Targets any BLOOD ANGELS INFANTRY or BLOOD ANGELS BIKER unit. Death Company Intercessors have the right keyword combo to be a valid target for that ability.

 

The same applies to the Combat Restorative and Blood Chalice abilities as well as the Combat Revival stratagem from the main Marine codex. Death Company Intercessors can also be targetted by a normal Captain's Rites of Battle ability which can target any BLOOD ANGELS CORE unit.

 

Where this changes slightly is with the Death Company Captain and DC Lieutenant. Their modified abilities can ONLY target DEATH COMPANY CORE units. So the restriction is on the Characters rather than on the DC unit itself.

 

I hope this all makes sense. If in doubt, check the keyword interaction as pretty much everything should be covered there. If still in doubt, pop back here and there are plenty of friendly fraters who will be happy to help you decode any more complex interactions.

 

Happy gaming!

[40kChrista]

Thanks Karhedron! 

 

I thought so, but I wanted to double check and make sure before starting any conversions.  Between Indomitus, the new Combat patrol box, and the ever handy box'o'skulls it should be pretty easy to get some nice looking Death Company made.

 

I'll admit getting dental surgery 2 days ago, and my pain meds aren't making this any easier!

 

Thanks again, and have a great day.

[Spagunk]

Personally, I think the way they went about keywords was done wrong. Instead of melding the keywords they should have specified them distinctly.

 

For instance, instead of saying Death Company Core they should have went <DEATHCOMPANY><CORE> or some such. Or <BAAL PREDATOR><PREDATOR> back when that was a relevant argument/pain point.

 

I get why they did it that way: to drive home the point that the unit must have BOTH keywords and look grammatically correct in print. But I feel like insufficient key word delineation is what causes a lot of confusion at times.

Edited December 10, 2020 by Spagunk

[Lukoi]

If they split out DC and Core in the way you mention, it would be argued that anything impacting CORE units would impact them, which might be unintended. Additionally, it would make it so that DC LT could apply their aura to non DC would it not? Or am I misunderstanding the interaction? Thanks in advance for any clarification here folks :)

[Spagunk]

If they split out DC and Core in the way you mention, it would be argued that anything impacting CORE units would impact them, which might be unintended. Additionally, it would make it so that DC LT could apply their aura to non DC would it not? Or am I misunderstanding the interaction? Thanks in advance for any clarification here folks

Not at all. You would use "OR" to get your point across. Any rule without OR implies AND.