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So I wasen't sure where this should go since it will include numerous aspects.

I searched both here and Google and only found one example of a Battlesuit designed specificly for Ethereals and even then it was only an idea so I thought about it and came up with my own. I like XV18 Celestial Battlesuit for the name but I'm also considering calling it a XV18 Dragon Battlesuit. I'm working on making 1 fluff for them, 2 rules and 3 a model which I will share the ideas concerning here.

My fluff so far goes something like this

As the Tau Empire works to expand it's empire the increasing number of Ethereals lost to those who stubbornly refuse to join the Greater Good has become a growing concern amongst the High Councils of T'au. In response the Ethereals have ordered the creation of a Battlesuit designed with the specific task of giving those Ethereals traveling amongst the various campaigns a greater degree of protection.

Marked as the XV18 Celestial Battlesuit these suits are more heavily armoured then the XV8 making regular use of Iridium armour plates giving the wearer considerable protection. Reports indicate that ejection systems are also standard in the suit.

Unique amongst the Battlesuits of the Tau the Celestial seems to be outfitted for a close combat role as Ethereals are only expected to enter combat as a last defensive resort. This is evident in the lesser amount of ranged weaponry that can be fitted to the Celestial, instead these suits wield a larger version of the Ethereal Honour Blade and have been seen using it to deadly effect though the suits have only been sighted in the most desperate of circumstances. Those ranged weapons that have been observed have been single shoulder mounted models.

It is also common for these Ethereals to be acompanied into battle by an honour guard of Shas'vre who are tasked with protecting the Aun even at the cost of their own lives

Well that's what I have so far for fluff, I based it off of the idea that when the Tau have a problem they use technology to overcome it and for the Tau Ethereals dieing is a problem.

Now for rules, this is where suggestions would be appreciated. I was thinking that the wearer would have the same stats and sepcial rules as a normal crisis battlesuit wearer so S5 and T4 but I think because it has more protection they should have 3 wounds. All the other stats will be the same as a standard Ethereal including Inspiring Presence and Price of Failure.

For options the suit will come equipped standard with Iridium Armour Plates and an Ejection System with the option of purchasing 1 battlesuit weapon system, 1 support system and the normal amount of battlesuit wargear. The exceptions to this is that they are not allowed to have any special issue items other than what comes standard on the suit. And no other unit will be able to pick those two special issue items.

He'll have the same bodyguard option as a commander

They will also be equipped with a Celestial Honour Blade and I'm having trouble with this as far as rules go. I don't want a knock off of O'shovahs Dawn Blade and I don't want it to be a normal Honour Blade so I was thinking of having it do the same thing as a lightning claw. A power weapon that allows you to re-roll failed rolls to hit in cc, I was also thinking about taking a rule from the kroot rifle and have it be so that they count as having an additional cc weapon since the blades are double ended but I'm not sure?

As far as the model goes I'm going to use the Crisis suit as a starting point but I want the suit to be more heavily armoured so I will use shoulder pads from the new stealth suits on the knees and I'll try a few other techniques I've seen for Iridium armour. As Ethereals are well known for their robes I'm going to have flowing sashs/ribbons comming off of it which I will take from a Eldar Wraithlord but I'll replace the Eldar icons at the top with the Tau symbol taken from extra shoulder pads.

I also want to have a special head but I can't think of how to represent one? I'm thinking maybe one with special air vents that will release the pharamones created by the Ethereal? Again I'm having trouble with the Celestial Honour Blade except for now it's how to model it. I figure the easiest thing to do would be to use a Ushabti blade but I'm not sure how to model the hands so that they can be holding the weapon and look cool.

Well that's all I have so far. Feedback and help would be appreciated

Thats pretty good but try warhammer wiki that could help si much trust me.

Warhammer wiki? what do you mean?

he means www.Lexicanum.com

it is the online unofficial Warhammer enclyclopedia.


i like the fluff, it makes Etherials at least ok.

Make the Inspiring presense rule to extend to all T'au battle suits as well as units in LoS as the Etherial is able to talk over the intercoms.


I would also make it so the etherial can't be allocated hits until the bodyguards are dead, also make the bodyguards a retinue just for completeness sake.

Oh well I know what Lexicanum is I use it regularly but I've never seen anything for a Ethereal Battlesuit on it?

Thanks for the suggestions

would the tau ever think ethereals hiding to be a disgrace or dishonor? i'm just thinking fluffwise, of course. would the other castes (or the Aun not in suits) somehow look down upon aun in battlesuits?

Tau aren't so much about honour and such there about tactical advantage that's why holding ground isn't so important to them as killing the enemy. To a degree they value honour I mean as an example look at Farsight, when O'shassera destroyed his statue many Firewarriors were enraged because he was a honored warrior. Or their prediliction for ranged combat over cc, they see cc as an uncivilised and dishonourable way to wage war but they recognise that it is an essential aspect of war (kroot)

But as far as an Ethereal being looked down on for being in a battlesuit I don't think so I mean Ethereals aren't expected to charge head first into battle as that's not the Tau way. And to a Tau what might be considered "hiding" is seen as strategic insight. Tau can't afford to have their greatest leaders or troops charging into battle and getting killed so they have to fight smart not brave.

It sounds like an awesome idea. But you might want to watch out on the price ( in points) this thing might cost alot for an ethereal, you don't want it getting too expensive, and The honour blade sounds awesome! A power weapon that lets you re roll hits in CC and adds +1 strength would be really good. I can't really help you on the modeling side of it, im not very good at that

Nix the idea of using the honour blade as 2 CC weapons. Normal honour blades don't work that way, no reason this one should. Instead just give the guy 3 attacks or something like that.

This is a really cool idea, I'm all for helping you in any way I can to implement this. I like the conversion ideas so far, especially using Wraithlord cloth for Ethereal "robes."

As for the head, why not take one of the sculpted Commander heads and bling it up with some Ethereal junk?

@White-Wolf: I haven't even thought about points cost yet. And would strength 6 be necissary? I'm not big on math hammer so I don't know how that would work out but I guess it could be apart of how the suit is kitted out for cc

@Saint Hazzard: But keep in mind this isn't a normal Honour Blade it's a larger battlesuit mounted version. If alot of people don't like it I'll trade it for the +1A. And thank you for the support

Your concept pretty much hits official background straight in the face. Only D&D equals spiritual leaders with mad fighting machines (monk class). You might want to read a bit more on Tau society, castes and ethereals before going on. Esp. why you only see the warrior caste fighting.

the name XV18 doesn't make sense, because it would be the same size as one of the old stealth suits (The one that looks like a firewarrior with a burstcannon arm, basically). You can't just throw random numbers after the XV. The fact that you are using a crisis + more armour definitely means its way to big to be classified as anything XV1.

Kroothawk wrote:Your concept pretty much hits official background straight in the face. Only D&D equals spiritual leaders with mad fighting machines (monk class). You might want to read a bit more on Tau society, castes and ethereals before going on. Esp. why you only see the warrior caste fighting.

You might want to explain how 1) it flies in the face of official background and, if you're correct, why 2) Ethereals are found on the battlefield.

All the time.

There are like six different models for them.

Even the Space Pope hits the battlefield from time to time. Not effectively, but still.

SaintHazard wrote:

Kroothawk wrote:Your concept pretty much hits official background straight in the face. Only D&D equals spiritual leaders with mad fighting machines (monk class). You might want to read a bit more on Tau society, castes and ethereals before going on. Esp. why you only see the warrior caste fighting.

You might want to explain how 1) it flies in the face of official background and, if you're correct, why 2) Ethereals are found on the battlefield.

All the time.

There are like six different models for them.

Even the Space Pope hits the battlefield from time to time. Not effectively, but still.

Yeah, that was probably bad design on the codex designers part. Why would you have the supreme leader of a significant race on the front lines of a small scuffle, with only a chair and two bodyguards to protect him (melee tau bodyguards at that). He can't even do anything.

Because he's Space Pope. He's that awesome.

But yeah, why he'd be taking part in what are, in the 40k universe, merely small skirmishes and sorties, is beyond me.

ssREV wrote:the name XV18 doesn't make sense, because it would be the same size as one of the old stealth suits (The one that looks like a firewarrior with a burstcannon arm, basically). You can't just throw random numbers after the XV. The fact that you are using a crisis + more armour definitely means its way to big to be classified as anything XV1.

I was unaware that the number of the suit s mark has anything to do with the with the suits size and I don't recall seeing anything concerning that in either codex or on Lexicanum?

@ Kroothawk: 1st of all I have heread the fluff concerning Tau and all their units as I am a Tau player. 2nd I wonder if you have ever heard of Aun'shi? if not you may want to look him up. 3rd If you will re-read my fluff it states that the suit wasen't created to let the Ethereals just charge into battle with everyone else it was created to give them an amount of protection. Now if Tau wanting to protect one of the leaders of their race goes against official background please tell me were because I'm pretty sure the Tau are attached to the Etherials and don't like them dieing.

Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:

ssREV wrote:the name XV18 doesn't make sense, because it would be the same size as one of the old stealth suits (The one that looks like a firewarrior with a burstcannon arm, basically). You can't just throw random numbers after the XV. The fact that you are using a crisis + more armour definitely means its way to big to be classified as anything XV1.

I was unaware that the number of the suit s mark has anything to do with the with the suits size and I don't recall seeing anything concerning that in either codex or on Lexicanum?

@ Kroothawk: 1st of all I have heread the fluff concerning Tau and all their units as I am a Tau player. 2nd I wonder if you have ever heard of Aun'shi? if not you may want to look him up. 3rd If you will re-read my fluff it states that the suit wasen't created to let the Ethereals just charge into battle with everyone else it was created to give them an amount of protection. Now if Tau wanting to protect one of the leaders of their race goes against official background please tell me were because I'm pretty sure the Tau are attached to the Etherials and don't like them dieing.

It's in the codex.

XV-22, for example.

The first "2" indicates the mass class (it's a stealthsuit). The second "2" indicates that it's currently in the experimental stage.

This is the suit that Shadowsun wears. It's got its own little section in the codex. Page 35.

Indeed it does mention mass size I never noticed that before. So I would have to change the first number to an 8 to designate that it's the size of a normal battlesuit and then a second number to indicate it's mark number. But how does that work? does the second number indicate what level of development the suit is at? it says a second 2 means field-testing so I take it the 25 is a fairly set mark. But then how does it work with crisis suit vs broadsides? I'd missed the section about the mass size so thank you for that.

My reccomendation for the suit designation would be XV9-4 with fluff being that 9 designates the mass size and the -4 indicating it as an Etherial suit.

Kroothawk wrote: Only D&D equals spiritual leaders with mad fighting machines (monk class).

You Sir I direct to these 'Chaps'