Theories on the recent Tau ethereal rumor?

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**AesSedai**

Forgive me if this is already being discussed, but I looked and didn't see it..

Recently Stickmonkey on Warseer posted an enigmatic rumour:

On the Tau front, sources say ethereals will have a much bigger presence on the battle field and new roles to fill.

On the necron front, sources say the dead will rise when the souls come out to play this year.

On the SM front, Woe be the small pale man who ignores the ides of march, especially when they come early.

On the sisters front, women in armor move slower than men, but they look better doing it. Sisters like their rides.

I like to hear peoples speculation specifically on the TAU tidbit.

Given the cryptic nature of the Necron, SM, and Sisters rumors, I think perhaps we should read more into the TAU rumor, which at first seems merely to suggest that ethereals will be given a use as opposed to gathering dust. 3 of the 4 rumors seems to be written in code, yet the Tau rumor seems straightforward (or is it?) "Bigger presence" literally? In terms of physical space on the table perhaps? Could be the ability to form a council of some kind or a unit of several models. As wild and unlikely (read insane) as it sounds, ethereal in a suit... In regards to the second point, "new roles to fill"-- treating this as a puzzle piece, can we consider in what capacity--other than the familiar--an ethereal might appear?

Edit: Don't know how to use quotes, sorry!

**Hückleberry**

I wouldn't mind seeing ethereals given a seer council type role on the battlefield, maybe give the Tau some kind of psychic abilities. Some kind of AoE pushback lash type move would be fitting.

**Alpharius**

Psychic abilities and Tau?

Not likely, given everything we 'know' to date...

**Hückleberry**

I wouldn't rule it out considering they "possibly" use helmets to control Vespid. Maybe some kind of helmet that amplifies their thought into physical form? It is also GW they change fluff all the time lol.

**micahaphone**

Sorry, dude, but when has GW ever rewritten their fluff to fit what they want to do on the tabletop? Really.... Next thing you know, you'll start believing in squa-CENSORED.

**Da Boss**

A special rule similar to Combat Tactics would suit Tau really well.

**MasterSlowPoke**

Stickmonkey is about as reliable as a redshirt. Stop posting his rumors.

**olympia**

Given the meched-up environment of 5th edition, updated Tau could cause a lot of hassle.

**AesSedai**

Da Boss--are you suggesting that may be related to the rumored role of the ethereal?

**Da Boss**

Well, it's pure speculation, but if I was a Tau player, that's what I'd want an Ethereal to grant my FW!

**micahaphone**

Or maybe Etherals would give army-wide bonuses to fit 5th, similar to Vulkan He'stan, or other such space marine characters.

This is purely wishing, but perhaps cheaper drones, free combat knives, the ability to split fire, or to take restricted or reduced wargear (cheap jet-pack marker drones giving squads 1-2 networked markerlights); any of that would be great.

**Druidic**

Etherals have always given some army wide rules, so expanding that would be logical, but named etherals with different rules? Possible? Would then make for new etheral models as well... Would stuff farsight, no etherals see!

**Aduro**

I would rather not have named Ethereals with different army wide rules, rather something you chose when you pointed the army up like the Emperor's Champion and his Prayers for the Black Templar.

**BrookM**

Maybe they'll bring back Aun'Shi?

**Trevak Dal**

Whatever it does, it will have to be something spectacular to make me considder taking a ethereal. Something in the vein of breaking/subverting a rule, like being able to shoot into close combat, or using markerlights to accurately fire into units engaged in close combat.

**chaos0xomega**

MasterSlowPoke wrote:Stickmonkey is about as reliable as a redshirt. Stop posting his rumors.

This.

**micahaphone**

shoot into close combat-proposed rules:

Shooter's b.s. is reduced to 3 if not better, and any "to hit" misses are allocated onto the friendly squad in combat, and every wound caused to friendly models gives the shooting unit - 1 leadership until their next shooting phase.

Possible rule of rolling 1's to hit flat out misses, hitting no one, but then it's not a 50/50 or worse chance... and how would twin-linked fit into that? Reroll, but the first miss still counts?

**Iratus Custodis**

Heh...Tau firing into close combat "For the greater good" could work in a twisted and grimdark way...
Don't think that will happen though, most likely reducing the effect of their death and maybe a once per turn orbital strike and/or the option to grand special rules to units.
I'd just hope it will be worth picking up my ethereal together with the rest of my tau once the new codex gets out. They have been collecting alot of dust since I got tired of my most regular opponent stomping them flat with his Chaos Space Marines.

**micahaphone**

Maybe they could have the ability to call in seeker missile strikes from Mantas or high flying Skyrays, possibly D3 a turn, with possible markerlight support, or D4-5 (roll D6, subtract 1) without markerlight support?

**Aduro**

I kind of like the idea of using Markerlights to do it. Allow Markerlights to shoot into CC without penalty. Allow a model that didn't move to spend one of the Markerlight hits to allow it to shoot into the CC. Unit will most likely get a Cover Save from the Tau their engaged to.

In general though Tau suck in HtH. I want to see ways to allow them to counter this downside without simply making them better at HtH. Stuff more along the lines of bringing their guns to bear when charging/being charged or otherwise using their shooting skills in HtH somehow.

**micahaphone**

Free defensive grenades, maybe free emp grenades, seeing as how it seems everyone else gets free frags and craks?

**Kroothawk**

1.) The rumour is still very vague and singular.
2.) Currently few people would field ethereals, so giving them decent rules would increase their presence on the battlefield. Making them psionics or combat monsters doesn't fit the background, but in Dawn of War, they can order bombardment. Special characters with army wide rules are also common in recent Codices, as is the comeback of many characters.

**Wurr??**

MasterSlowPoke wrote:Stickmonkey is about as reliable as a redshirt. Stop posting his rumors.

I patiently wait for the day that everyone finally realizes this.

**Fattimus_maximus**

I would take a BS 4 for a WS 2

**juraigamer**

Fattimus_maximus wrote:I would take a BS 4 for a WS 2

As would I. I would also love a few reasons to take an ethereal other than trying to handicap myself.

**JOHIRA**

A council of ethereals?

Lame.

A council of personnel coordinated by an ethereal, a la Inquisitors?

Tres cool.

I would love to see something very characterful, like if you buy an ethereal you can give him an earth caste attendant who allows you to put d3 temporary bunkers on the table (his workers previously installed them and then fled the scene) or an air caste captain to arrange air support. Perhaps a water caste linguist to shift alien mercenaries around the force organization chart? And of course, with body guards to give the ethereal more survivability. That would be very cool and interesting and characterful, while making the game fun.

So we'll probably get a special character ethereal who makes Drones a troop choice.

**Reecius**

On the Tau front, sources say ethereals will have a much bigger presence on the battle field and new roles to fill.

On the necron front, sources say the dead will rise when the souls come out to play this year.

On the SM front, Woe be the small pale man who ignores the ides of march, especially when they come early.

On the sisters front, women in armor move slower than men, but they look better doing it. Sisters like their rides.

#1 Means the space pope and his homies are coming to the table tops with a vengeance! Order type abilities would not surprise me, but who knows? Ethereals are good in foot Tau lists in 5th, but not great.
#2 October is what that means to me.
#3 Small Pale men? The watchers in the dark for Dark Angels? March? I have heard elsewhere that the DAs might supplant GKs as the next book, but who knows. I doubt it due o the big GK rumor mill going right now.
#4 Sisters have lower IN than marines but like to mech up? Who knows.

Anyway, fun rumors to speculate on, but we'll see what actually happens.

**Theophony**

Obviously with this being fifth edition, the Tau rumor means that etherals will give all units FNP. And with GWs lawsuits against Chapterhouse, the bigger means that they'll be ridding a Tau titan that looks like the one Chapterhouse sells.

I think the pale man refers to the corpse-god emperor sitting on his throne, and the Grey Knights coming sooner than anticiated to protect him.

**AgeOfEgos**

Tau Ethereals will be given innate biological powers and be taken in groups called Tau Committees. They can employ their biological powers on a successful 2d6 leadership test. Their powers will be;

"Good luck" Reroll armor saves
"Good aim" Reroll shooting
"You're in trouble" Reroll wounds
"Brain Battle" Roll off leadership, if you lose you die

They will have tricycles as options that jet around the board like a bike.

Anyone know who's writing this? What's Kelly working on now?

**Aduro**

Those would be cool, if they weren't in committees. The power won't take effect for several turns after it get used.