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Special Characters, goofy ideas, and the fluff between one's ears

938 views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  rafis117 
#1 · (Edited)
People! What is up with the inattention to the fluffy forums?

To get people interested again, let's all post special character ideas, cool rules, anything that strikes your fancy - the only rules are:

-Keep it clean. This should be rote by now.
-Keep it relatively within army fluff - no caring Necrons, autocratic Tau, or cuddly Chaos (with the potential exception of Slaaneshi marines - zing!)
-The post doesn't have to be a fair unit/rule, but it should be defend-able in the story - if your tactical marines all have a 2+ invuln. and cost 1 point each, something is wrong.
-Have fun. We of the grimness and darkness enjoy inventive ideas, even if the characters themselves don't.

To kick it off, I'll post two that have been kicking around in my head for a while:



Alexander Sansabeo - Statline of a Space Marine sergeant, Independent Character, Relentless, FNP, Must choose one of the following wargear: Plasma Cannon, Plasma Gun, Plasma Pistol, or Dual plasma pistols (2x the cost of a standard plasma pistol). Comes with frag grenades, a bolt pistol, and a chainsword. Cost: 200 points base. Does not include mandatory weapon choice (viz. the plasma weapons).

Special Rules: Plasma Guru, Plasma Pistol Slinger, Feud
Plasma Guru - Sansabeo may save one "Gets Hot!" result on a D6 3+ per turn, in his squad and/or within 6". It should be noted that if the D6 roles is failed, Sansabeo also takes a wound, in addition to the model who carries(d) the weapon. If the model is himself, roll for two wounds. Additionally, he has +1 BS when shooting a plasma weapon.
Plasma Pistol Slinger - Sansabeo is a master of plasma weaponry and trains more or less exclusively with such weapons. He may use two plasma pistols (counts as twin-linked) in shooting or in combat. He may not use both plasma pistols in the same turn as the chainsword or bolt pistol. At the beginning of each shooting phase/assault he may elect which to use, but not both in one turn - he cannot switch weapons between the shooting phase an assault of the same turn. It should be noted that Sansabeo does not have the special rule "Gunslinger".
Feud - Sansabeo may not be part of a squad or in a transport with a Techmarine (not including those who drive the tank) or a Master of the Forge.



Sansabeo is somewhat of an anomaly in the Archangels chapter - he was trained as a Techmarine, for a while. Then, his belief in the exclusive divinity of the Emperor lead to conflicts with his mentor to the point of being kicked off of Mars. Sansabeo didn't really care; firstly he felt slighted by the Adeptus Mechanicus for their belief in the Machine God, and secondly his one true desire - to serve the Emperor with a plasma weapon in his hands. His reasoning can be summed up in a friendly debate with the captain of the 2rd Company.

"Brother Captain, we must never burn the Xenos. Or rather, never with conventional flame weapons. It is accepted that in the melee their corruption could taint us, and that those killed with the holy Bolter must be purged beyond their mere ballistics wounds, but unless it is done with meltas or plasma, all the purging is doing is spreading smaller parts of the Xenos everywhere. It may even propagate the Orks. Better to do it with holy Plasma and purify the enemy, in the name and service of the Emperor."
When Sansabeo was shipped back from Mars, he managed to smuggle on his half-completed servo-pack, which holds and helps him aim his weapons.
Since his return, he has proved invaluable with his nigh-on prophetic ability to predict when a plasma weapon is about to fail and his guru-like ability to repair them just before they go critical, repeatedly saving Marines and their irreplaceable weaponry. He would have been promoted to Captain long ago but for the animosity of the Techmarines.



Shooting into close combat - The rule that I'm considering is giving all units in melee a cover save - for argument's sake a 5+. If that save is failed (from the shooter's perspective, i.e. they miss), then the shooter takes a D6 3+ test, and if fails, deals the wound(s) to the allied squad in combat. Does not apply to troops choices under 10 points per model.
The official reason that we cannot shoot into combat is that we might hit our buddies... from ten feet away. Huh? Never mind the improbably terrible aim of 40k units, this always struck me as a failed port from Fantasy (where the weapons may in fact be inaccurate enough, without proper training, to shoot into combat). Fire discipline can do a lot to improve accuracy, and just based on the actual fluff of 40k, it's not like they don't have the time.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Hey there rafis. The way they have a rules development fourm and a fluff forum has always made me wonder what should go where, but I like the way you think, so I'm going to add a couple Witch Hunter special characters to your thread here, and we can let the mods figure out where best to put the stuff.

Before we get to that though, I wanted to respond to the firing into HTH stuff first- I responded to your thread about this in rules development, but I believe in being thorough, so I'll put it here too:

Close combat armies need to be immune to fire when in an assault in order to compete with shooty armies. You should have enough time to shoot us before we get to you, and there are several rules in place to make sure that this is true (ie, can't assault on the turn we disembark or deep strike, can't use follow up move after winning a fight to engage another unit, etc). Also, in terms of how much the rule makes sense, remember that the combat phase actually represents a swirling melee of multiple blows, parries, counterattacks and circling for position. And last but not least, our hand to hand troops are at leat as skilled at hand to hand as your shooty guys are at shooting. A skilled hand to hand fighter will always deliberately seek to use his opponent as a meat shield; furthermore, most hand to hand fighting comes to a grapple, and when two people are grappling, they are extremely close to each other- the difference between hitting the bad guy and your friend is one of mere inches.

Now, since this is part of a special character thread, if you wanted to invent a special character who a) had that ability and b) conferred it to the rest of the troops in his squad, I think that would be very cool. You could even go further and have him confer the ability on the army, but that would have to be playtested like crazy and it would involve a significant points cost. Remember, this is why close combat assault armies are viable; if you take it away, we aren't.

Now on to the fun part- the characters!

Saint Agatha of the Eternal Flame

In the early years of her life, the woman known as Saint Agatha ran with a hive gang out of Trinity Hive on the shrine world of Escutcheon III. She was considered to be among the best thieves in the hive, and even in those early years, she was drawn to fire, using a hand flamer as her signature weapon. Within the confines of the Trinity Hive, the Sisters of the Order of Our Martyred Lady are considered to be the greatest force of order and social justice available to the downtrodden and poor; they provide food and shelter for the needy and they patrol the hive to the best of their ability, given the limited resources available. Their shrine within the Hive was also rumoured to be among the most valuable targets that a hive gang could want, as it was said to contain priceless works of art and sacred relics fit to fetch a heavy ransom. It was only a matter of time until Agatha`s gang sought such wealth for themselves.

Upon successfully evading patrols and breaking into the shrine, however, Agatha was shocked to find that the sacred site was a humble site of prayer, without any wealth or riches to speak of. While contemplating the small unadorned statue of ST. Katherine, Agatha was stricken with the devotion of the sisters, that they could give so much and receive so little in return, and she knew then that she had not committed a mere crime, but a sin in the eyes of her Emperor. She turned herself in to the local precinct of the Adeptus Arbites upon leaving the shrine empty handed. Because she was deemed repentant, she was sentenced to internment upon a Penitent Engine rather than execution.

Since her conviction, Agatha has earned her redemption in the eyes of the Emperor a hundred times, bringing his sacred flame to heretics with unwavering zeal. While most of the penitent fall quickly, Agatha has survived long enough that the Ecclesiarch Darius Marell deemed her sentence served, and offered her release from the path of the penitent. Agatha refused the offer, stating that her internment upon the Engine had brought her closer to the Emperor than she had any right to expect given her life of wickedness and villainy, and that she would rather die than leave his service.

Upon her tenth year of service, she was Canonized a Living Saint. The flamers of her Penitent Engine were retrofitted and given the gift of Holy Pomethium. She has since been transfered to the Penitent Legion of Adeptus Arbites Precinct Fortress 17 where she continues to fight to this day.

Unit: Saint Agatha of the Eternal Flame is a standard Penitent Engine except as noted below.
Points Cost: 110 pts.
Special Rules: Retrofitted Flamers: Both of Agatha`s flamers are considered to be heavy flamers; while both are operational, they function as a twin linked heavy flamer, rerolling any hits which fail to wound. Should one of her flamers be destroyed, the remaining weapon functions as a single heavy flamer.
Holy Promethium: Agatha`s flamers are equipped with Holy Promethium as described in Codex: Witch Hunters
Penitent Commander: Due to Agatha`s status, she may be accompanied by a squadron of up to five Penitent Engines.

The Daemonmarked

Prior to taking the path of a Sister Repentia, the woman known as The Daemonmarked was a sister superior of the Celestians of Escutcheon III`s Commandery of St. Katherine`s Aegis. In the later years of M41, the Adeptus Arbites of Precinct Fortess 17 began an investigation of a heretic known only as the Libertine. During the course of the investigation, it was determined that Libertine was selling combat drugs of possible Xenos origin. After the deaths of several invesitigating officers, it was further deemed that the heretic was in fact a psychic working in collusion with the infernal powers. At that point, the Celestians were called to assist with the investigation.

The Celestians tracked the Libertine to one of his safehouses in the Trinity Hive. On the evening of their raid, the Libertine and several of his cultists were engaged in a ritual of hedonism and sacrifice with the intent to summon the infernal minions of the Lord of Excess, he who may not be named. Six Daemonettes slipped through the rift, and all but three of the ten Celestians were killed vanquishing the warp spawned atrocities and their human servants. In the ensuing confusion, the Libertine managed to escape and remains at large.

Following their exposure to the warp, the three survivng Celestians were subjected to extensive examination at the hands of of Inquisitor Lord Jordo Thraxis. While he could find no evidence of their corruption, it was deemed the safest course of action to remove them from the sacred Chapel of Saint Katherine`s Aegis and the company of their sisters. They were sent to join the Repentia of the Penitent Legions at Precinct Fortress 17. While two of the sisters are similar in all respects to their repentant companions, their former sister superior, the third survivor, fights with an unsurpassed fury, earning her title as The Daemonmarked. She continues to fight to this day, revelling in carnage and inspiring her sisters with the hatred of the unholy.

Unit: The Daemonmarked is a regular sister repentia, except as noted below.
Points Cost: 50 points
Special Rules: Dominion: due to her previous association with infernal beings and her barely restrained rage, a unit that includes The Daemonmarked may not include a mistress or a priest. Effectively, the Daemonmarked herself leads the squad.
Infernal Inspiration: while The Daemonmarked leads the squad, the unit is automatically subject to Holy Rage without the need for a test.
Infernal Fury: While The Daemonmarked fights with a standard issue eviscerator, her fury is such that she may strike at her normal initiative.
Infernal Resilience: The Daemonmarked has 2 wounds.

There you have it. If you`re interested, you can read more about the Witch Hunters of Escutcheon III at this link.
 
#3 ·
That's a lot better than mine... mine's just a "rebel" SM who is a wizard with plasma... because I always found "Gets Hot!" a little silly.
 
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