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I suppose some would scream this would make them even more broken but I figure that it could be balanced out just like warpstone tokens could take a wound off for every one you roll. In this example a hero eats warpstone to become imbued with magical vigor and strength while also giving him magical attacks possibly. It would kind of be similar to the 13 sided pillar of warpstone that gives magical powers to skaven and allows them a right to challenge for a seat on the council of 13. This wouldn't be quite as grand but it would be like a boost to strength and possibly a black hunger acceleration for every piece of warpstone they eat. Perhaps every turn or so for every token they eat they have to roll a die and on a 1 they take a wound with no armor saves allowed (wards might be allowed however).

Considering skaven use warpstone already to boost magical power, to boost weapon strength and to shape creatures. I don't think it'd be a far stretch to use some of it or a mixture with it included in order to boost the fighting powers of a character. I mean we already have skavenbrew.

So yeah I don't think this is that far off. Basically the more warpstone the skaven leader takes the more powerful he gets but the more prone to dying he gets as well. Chances are you could make a super powered saiyan skaven that's glows in the dark but probably dies just after the battle with a severely damaged mental state just before dying.

I figure frenzy and possibly even regeneration would be possibilities. Possibly boosted attacks, initiative, strength and even toughness could be others. That said one turn of bad rolling could wipe out the warlord so it'd be expensive but could handle a nasty character or monster even. That said it would be incredibly short lived so any prolonged fight would equal death for the skaven hero.

Interesting idea. I'm not sure this idea would work on anyone other than engineers, plague priests, or grey seers since they are the only ones that would be able to harness the magical energy properly, but the idea to make a engineer or plague priest more durable in combat could be appealing... maybe.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
note* I am being very generous in saying that the engineers, priests, and grey seers could use magic properly


Automatically Appended Next Post:
note* I am being very generous in saying that the engineers, priests, and grey seers could use magic properly

I like the idea of regeneration, but i would propose to make it a bit more Skaven-y. For example instead of having a regen save actually save the wound, i would have it save the wound for later.

Example: Warpstone Chits. 25pts. Enchanted Items.

Roll a D3 to see how many your character gets. These can be used any time the character takes an unsaved wound, in exchange for a Warpstone Chit the wound will be negated on a 3+. On the following turn in which a wound was negated successfully roll a dice, on a 2+ nothing happens, on a 1 the character suffers a wound with no saves of any kind allowed.

Like a Charmed Shield on steroids, but also bites back.

 tjnorwoo wrote:
Interesting idea. I'm not sure this idea would work on anyone other than engineers, plague priests, or grey seers since they are the only ones that would be able to harness the magical energy properly, but the idea to make a engineer or plague priest more durable in combat could be appealing... maybe.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
note* I am being very generous in saying that the engineers, priests, and grey seers could use magic properly


Automatically Appended Next Post:
note* I am being very generous in saying that the engineers, priests, and grey seers could use magic properly

Well plague priests are combat oriented and as I said warpstone is used in multiple things other than aiding in magic powers. It's been used to mutate rat men and their monsters. It's used liberally in everything they do pretty much. In fact I read something the other day in the beastmen army book about skaven-slaves eating warpstone when confronted with warpstone and then mutating horribly and becoming infinitely more monstrous. The story was supposedly a rumor among the beastmen tribes or another telling of a story but that's what it said.

I'm not talking about eating a lot of warpstone here but just enough to augment strength and ability and possibly cause mutating death to the one that eats it later on.

Honestly, I'd have liked to see a bigger difference between Skaven characters and the rank-and-file.

A Dwarf Thane is better than a Longbeard, whose better than a Warrior. Veteran soldiers are better than greener ones. Nice n' simple.
...but a lot of Skaven leaders (the Council being the most extreme example) are disproportionately superior to those they command. Because it's not just about being around for longer and getting better. It's about eating radioactive cocaine and being chosen by your creator god.

I think you could simulate the eating of Warpstone with a wider gap between characters and normal models than the standard: Rank-and-File +2WS and A +1S, T, W, I, and Ld = Hero.
Like the Assassin. He's a pretty solid example of Skaven characters being supernaturally good at stuff.

Of course, all that would make them pricier. Which would be neat.
I'd like to see some characters that function like watered-down Vampires; piss-poor troops and fairly powerful, expensive characters.

the only way it seems to make sense based on lore is if it gave frenzy for one turn, n my mind that is.

Um...how do you figure? There's not a ton of talk about the specific effects of warpstone, beyond Grey Seers munching it down all the time.
Really, there's no limit to what it could do.

Oh, I have a crazy idea!

What if you have a table full of side effects, and each effect has a positive and negative consequence.

For example : "That stuff gets to your head" :

The character's reaction time and senses increase dramatically, increasing his Initiative by +2, his attacks by +2 and his movement speed by +1. However, it damaged what little sanity he has left, weakening the resolve of his troops. He has the stupidity USR, and if a unit uses his leadership value it is resolved at -2.

It's a cool idea. Something I'd consider for a campaign or something.
Though, at that point, I'd probably just rather build specific special characters/units/rules, rather than leave them up to too much chance. People whine about Skaven when they have too many good rolls in a row as it is.

Oh, I didn't mean randomly determined. The last thing the game needs is even more random tables.
I just meant you can choose which effect from the list.

Sort of like the old 4th edition Space Marine chapter traits thing, except you don't get to select the drawback.