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In the "10 Stat Changes You Want" thread, Dronze suggested Chaos Space Marine special characters similar to the Space Marine ones that cause drastic changes to other units in the army. Well, I know that a lot of Chaos veterans were upset by the removal of the various legions. So, I'm thinking that a variety of special characters could be used to bring the legions back. Without further ado, here are the Special Characters and legions that I can think of.

Ahriman-Thousand Sons- Taking Ahriman changes an undivided Chaos Space Marine force into a warband of the Thousand Sons. By taking this special character you forfeit the ability to take any of the other named special characters. No unit in this army may have a Mark of any god other than Tzeentch. In addition, in order to take unmarked units other than vehicles, you must take an undivided Sorcerer, Chaos Lord, or Daemon Prince. Taking this character gives your army the following special abilities: Sorcerery, For the Changer of Ways, Daemonic Pacts, Favored of the Architect.
Sorcerery- Followers of Tzeentch have nothing to fear when they access the Warp. They automatically pass any test to use a Psyker power.
For the Changer of Ways- All Tzeentch marked units in your army gain the Slow and Purposefull USR. As long as the unit remains within 12" of an Aspiring Sorcerer, a Tzeentch marked sorcerer, Ahriman, or a Tzeentch marked Daemon Prince it is allowed to roll three dice for its Slow and Purposefull. In addition, Tzeentch marked units are allowed to reroll failed Leadership tests as long as they remain within 12" of Aspiring Sorcerer, a Tzeentch marked sorcerer, Ahriman, or a Tzeentch marked Daemon Prince.
Daemonic Pacts- Sorcerers of Tzeentch often make daemonic pacts in order to gain increased mastery over the Warp. This allows the sorcerers to achieve incredible heights of power. Whenever a Tzeentch marked sorcerer casts uses a power other than Warptime, it is allowed to, on a 5+, to cast the same power a second time. This second casting is allowed to target the same unit or a different unit.
Favored of the Architect- The Thousand Sons are some of the Architect of Fate's most pious followers. As such, any Thousand Sons warband may take a single unit of Pink Horrors from Codex: Chaos Daemons as Lesser Daemons.

Kharn the Betrayer- Khorne- Taking Kharn changes an undivided Chaos Space Marine force into a warband of the World Eaters. By taking this special character you forfeit the ability to take any of the other named special characters. No unit in this army may have a Mark of any god other than Khorne. In addition, in order to take unmarked units other than vehicles, you must take an undivided Chaos Lord or Daemon Prince. Taking this character gives your army the following special abilities: KILL MAIM BURN, Skulls for the Skull God, Blood for the Blood God, He's the New Commissar, Rain of Blood.
KILL MAIM BURN- The warriors of the World Eaters are incredibly bloodthirsty. At the start of every shooting phase, Khorne marked units have to check to see if they will go insane with their rage. Roll a D6. On a 1, the unit gains fleet for that turn only and must run towards the closest enemy unit OR the unit may fire all of its weapons at the nearest unit, friend or foe. On a 2-6, the unit may act normally.
Skulls for the Skull God- Khorne marked units are especially bloodthirty in hand to hand. They always hit enemies on a 3+ in CC. In addition.
Blood for the Blood God- If a Khorne marked unit misses with more than half of its CC attacks, one member is removed as a casualty. The followers of Khorne want blood to be spilled, the line is blurred as far as whose blood should be spilled. Independant characters are ignored for this rule.
He's the New Commissar- Just kidding.
Rain of Blood- The World Eaters are some of Khornes most favored warriors. They may be accompanied by a single unit of Bloodletters taken from Codex: Chaos Daemons as Lesser Daemons.

Typhus- Death Guard- Taking Typhus changes an undivided Chaos Space Marine force into a warband of the Death Guard. By taking this special character you forfeit the ability to take any of the other named special characters. No unit in this army may have a Mark of any god other than Nurgle. In addition, in order to take unmarked units other than vehicles, you must take an undivided Sorcerer, Chaos Lord, or Daemon Prince. Taking this character gives your army the following special abilities: Swarm of Flies, Decaying Stench, Harbingers of the Plague, Sons of Papa Nurgle.
Swarm of Flies- The Death Guard are often surrounded by swarms of insects. These bugs often make seeing the Space Marines difficult. Whenever an enemy wishes to fire at a Nurgle marked unit it must test to see if it sees the unit. This is done following the Night Fighting rules, except the enemy rolls 3D6*3. Note that equipement used to negate Night Fighting has no affect on this special ability, shining a light on the bugs has no effect.
Decaying Stench- All units in B2B with a Nurgle marked unit of this army lose one WS and one attack to a minimum of one.
Harbingers of the Plague- A visitation by the Death Guard forwarns of coming pestilence. Enemies of the Death Guard know this and are disheartened by the knowledge that even if they fend of this incursion, they may very well be killed by some infection. All enemy units within 18" of a Nurgle marked unit lose one leadership.
Sons of Papa Nurgle- The Death Guard are some of Papa Nurgles favorite children. They may take a single unit of Plaugebearers taken from Codex: Chaos Daemons as Lesser Daemons.

Lucius- Emperor's Children- Taking Lucius changes an undivided Chaos Space Marine force into a warband of the Emperor's Children. By taking this special character you forfeit the ability to take any of the other named special characters. No unit in this army may have a Mark of any god other than Khorne. In addition, in order to take unmarked units other than vehicles, you must take an undivided Sorcerer, Chaos Lord, or Daemon Prince. Taking this character gives your army the following special abilities: Deadened Senses, Seekers of Sensation, Aspire to Perfection, Champions of the Hermaphroditic God.
Deadened Senses- The followers of Slaanesh often suffer from a deadening of the senses due to their hyper sensitivity. All Slaanesh marked units in this army gain a version of the Feel No Pain USR. This version is identical to FNP except they save on a 6+ and not a 4+.
Seekers of Sensation- The followers of Slaanesh are always looking for new experiences and feelings. As such, they are often unafraid of things that would unsettle other troops. All Slaanesh marked units in this army may reroll failed Leadership tests.
Aspire to Perfection- Followers of Slaanesh constantly strive for perfection. All Slaanesh marked units in this army gain +1 WS.
Champions of the Hermaphroditic God- The Emperor's Children are favored by Slaanesh. This army may take a single unit of [oh god, I can't remember the name] taken from Codex: Chaos Daemons as Lesser Daemons.

Honsou- Iron Warriors- Taking Honsou changes an undivided Chaos Space Marine force into a warband of the Iron Warriors. By taking this special character you forfeit the ability to take any of the other named special characters. Taking this character gives your army the following special abilities: Siege Masters, More Firepower, Breach the Walls, War Smiths. (Note, I'm on vacation at the moment, so I'll have to make statlines for Honsou and the War Smiths next week)
Siege Masters- The Iron Wars are incredibly skilled at the art of sieging/holding a fortified position. Any model in this army benefits from Defensive Grenades if they are in/behind cover. In addition, units in cover reduce their cover save by one when being fired on by this army.
More Firepower- The Iron Warriors love huge weapons capable of mashing aside enemy fortifications. This army is allowed to take a Basilisk (see Codex: Imperial Guard) as a Fast Attack slot.
Breach the Walls- Iron Warriors are skilled at breaking apart enemy fortifications. Whenever a unit in this army fires at a building, they may roll one more D6 than it is normally allowed for armor penetration(so, 2D6 for normal weapons, 3D6 for Ordinance, etc.).
Warsmiths- Forces of the Iron Warriors are generally led/accompanied by Warsmiths. (not sure how to handle these, I'm thinking either elites with Techmarine stats, having them replace Aspiring Champions, or having them take up an HQ slot)

Character to be Decided- Night Lords- Taking Character to be Decided changes an undivided Chaos Space Marine force into a warband of the Night Lords. By taking this special character you forfeit the ability to take any of the other named special characters. Taking this character gives your army the following special abilities: Terror Tactics, Strikes in the Night, Savage Raiders.
Terror Strikes- The Night Lords are known for their use of terror tactics to terrify their foe. At the start of the game, before the roll for seizing the initiative, the Night Lords player may make up to three enemy units take a pinning test. Units pinned this way are pinned for the first turn only. In addition, whenever rolling for reserves, the opponent(s) must roll a number 1 digit higher than normal to see if the reserved unit arrives this turn. They are that afraid of fighting the Night Lords.
Strikes in the Night- The Night Lords will often seek to surprise their foe by attacking in the night. The Night Lords player may choose for the first game turn to be played under the Night Fighting rules.
Savage Raiders- The Night Lords conduct horrific raids on their foes. The Night Lords player may choose one enemy unit. If the unit is a vehicle, it suffers a single glancing hit at the start of turn one. If the unt is not a vehicle, it is automatically hit by five sniper weapons. (I'm not sure about this ability)

Okay, still need a character to use for the Night Lords, and still need to do the Word Bearers. I really don't know much about these two- errr, wait, I forgot Alpha Legion! Hmmm, don't really know much about these three, if you spot any problems with the special abilities, please tell me.

For the Word Bearers, I want to add a Mark of Chaos Undivided, any ideas on how to handle it?

The thread name is kinda wordy, anyone have any ideas?

No! No tying flavour and options and variety to God-damned special characters. We get enough of that from the Games Workshop writers, we don't need it from the fans.

Oh, I'd love to see a set of restrictions and benefits not tied to special characters for the different legions/warbands, but I thought this method would be a little easier and more like the most similar system in place at the moment.

Okay, so I'm thking Honsou for the Iron Warriors but I don't know much about the Night Lords or Word Bearers.

Word Bearers you could use Eliphas the Inheritor from Dawn of War: Dark Crusade. Night Lords... no idea. I'm sure there was a novel about them that had a big Chaos Lord in it, similar to the way Honsou was introduced.

The Night Lord from the novel was Zso Sahaal.
to be even more useful, I will need to say:

(minor) SPOILER ALERT


As to ideas for a stat-line, Zso wore two lightning claws, and had a jump pack. He also has an important relic from his chapter's past.


For more info, I could PM you.

AllWillFall2Me wrote:The Night Lord from the novel was Zso Sahaal.
to be even more useful, I will need to say:

(minor) SPOILER ALERT

Spoiler:

Zso Sahaal was Talonmaster, meaning he answered to the Primarch Konrad Curze alone.
In fact, if his inner monologue is to be believed, his squad of jump infantry were the first to be called Raptors, the now ubiquitous name for such troops in Chaos.
It was stated in the novel that the Night Lords, as run by Kurze/Sahaal, were actually atheistic, refusing to answer to any of the Chaos Gods (hence the early restriction to Chaos Undivided)
Sahaal, in his training from Kurze, was taught much about focus and the importance of proper execution. Killing one man in the right place, in the right way, was infinitely more useful than killing dozens.
However, he was also warned that the Night Lords tended to megalomania, as perfect avatars of terror. The terror had to be for a purpose to be useful.

As to ideas for a stat-line, Zso wore two lightning claws, and had a jump pack. He also has an important relic from his chapter's past.

Spoiler:

The Corona Nox, or Crown of Night, a diadem worn by Kurze to focus his mind from the horrible psychic premonitions he received. It focused and cleared the user's mind, and potentially granted prescience.

For more info, I could PM you.

As much as I loved Lord of Night, Tso was rarity in the Night Lords force. The rest of them were like that Daemon Prince. His mindset is not enough to denote a special character with his own warband. He is a rare exception, not the example.

Asmodeus wrote:
As much as I loved Lord of Night, Tso was rarity in the Night Lords force. The rest of them were like that Daemon Prince. His mindset is not enough to denote a special character with his own warband. He is a rare exception, not the example.

As a slight argument, I feel Zso's methods were more common pre-Heresy. I do agree that after the heresy they became like the Daemon Prince. It might be interesting to have 2. The Daemon's far more common forces, and Zso's elite band.
(I know the hope that he might sway some to his cause is a touch far-fetched, but hey, even in the grimdark of 40k, some good happens, if only by accident.)

To elaborate for the OP, Zso finds that in his absence, a rival has lead the the Night lords.

Who is Krieg Acerbus? He's mentioned in the Lexicanum Night Lords page. If he's not major I'll either have to use Zho or the Daemon Prince.

Krieg Acerbus = Daemon Prince.
Highly violent, fear for the sake of fear.

I'm sorry, AllWillFall2Me, but Tso would fit better in a Renegade codex than in a Legion specific form.

No worries, Asmodeus, I actually agree with you in retrospect. That would be the 'better' way to represent the divide.

I like the idea.

It is simple, fluffy, and not over powering.

I think it has a good balance and definitely brings back the flavor that chaos has lost over the years.

Quick Summaries of the two remaining Legions:

Word Bearers: Devout Followers of Chaos Undivided, use all the daemons they can, lead by quasi-corrupted Chaplains.
Known abilities:
Numerous Daemons, as Followers of Chaos Undivided, they'll summon whichever daemon seems appropriate.
Cursed Acrozius: The Mark of a Chaplain, corrupted into the emblem of the Wordbearers. Typically a PW that serves as an icon and grants invuln.
Demagogue: the leaders are known to inspire their warriors to greater Fanaticism.

My suggestion: Marduk, Dark Apostle (name for their Chaplain leaders.)

Alpha Legion: Known for infiltration, and subterfuge. Their Primarch may be dead, he may have a twin, who knows. Use cultists and even hypno-indoctrination on the enemy.
Recorded to have compromised applicants to loyalist legions, resulting in mid-battle betrayals.
Finally, arguably still "loyal" to the Emperor. Fluff suggests that their Primarch was told if Horus lost the Heresy, mankind would die slowly, and Chaos would rule galaxy, and if he won, mankind would be dead in a few generations, but Chaos would die with them.