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On the topic of the space pope I'm going to pull some random stuff out of my ass, so it should be moderately more reliable than sickmonkey or the average red shirt.

Change the rules for dead ethereals to be the same as Bjorn the Fell Handed. When they die they become another objective.

Anything psychic or FNP is out of the question.

Bonuses to reserve rolls or interference with enemy reserve rolls would be nice.

Bonus to seize the initiative on a 4+ would make Tau players happy.

The best possible thing an new ethereal rule could do for a Tau list would be to Pedro Cantor the Tau Ethereal...All crisis suits count as scoring units...

chaos0xomega wrote:

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

This.

This and this. I enjoyed the post in another thread (I forget where) quoting all the 'Nid rumours of his that were complete B.S.

AesSedai wrote:Recently Stickmonkey on Warseer posted an enigmatic rumour:

stickmonkey's reliability or alleged lack thereof has been duly noted.

We now require no more reminders...

I think it would be great if the Ethereals could give a sort of "rousing speech" effect to close units or the entire army. Maybe work like buff spells of some sort. Give a unit fearless for a turn or feel no pain. Something that rouses the troops into a fever or makes them more resolute.

I'd like a choice of options and get rid of the rule where if the ethereal dies they pretty much run off the table. Maybe have a 1d6 table where if you roll a 1 your entire army gets some sort of buff and if you roll a 6 you get -1 to all your units leadership for the rest of the game.

Also, looking at the very first tau codex, there was a special character who was this kick ass blademaster. I love for there to be an ethereal blademaster honor guard unit that could be decent close combat option for the Tau (for which there is none)... Give them special power weapon blade weapons and good WS stats and maybe an invul save of like 4+ or something.

These are some hopes for the new ethereals...

My thought on that was the "beloved Etherial" upgrade. It is said in the fluff that one dies, the whole army goes into a killing rage, slowly advancing on the enemy, pouring fire into them unto they are dead. On the table, when the etherial dies, anyone who passes their LD test gains Slow and Purposeful and is upgraded to S5, WS3 in close combat as they are firing their rifles at the enemy.

AgeOfEgos wrote: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.

Yes, but at the end of each turn, your FW squads have to test on their LD -4 or terminate one member for failure to turn in their TPS reports!

-Greed

Alpharius wrote:stickmonkey's reliability or alleged lack thereof has been duly noted.

We now require no more reminders...

Maybe this thread should be moved to General, then? Stickmonkey's pedigree notwithstanding, these "rumors" are far too vague to actually mean anything, and this thread has already devolved into pure wishlisting.

Hückleberry wrote: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.

Except the theory put forth regarding the control of Vespids is using pheromones.

I.E. Not psychic or mental ability. It uses a smell.

And they've not really changed anything so radically from "The Tau have no evidence of Psykers in their entire history, and even more seem to exhibit no impact upon the Warp" to "LULZ ETHEREALS IS JEDIMINDTRICKIN' YOUR DOODS!".

Micahaphone wrote: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?

Er, why would they cal in Seeker Missile Strikes from "high flying Skyrays"...when Skyrays are limited anti-grav vehicles?

Or did you mean like a Barracuda or Tiger Shark?


Anyways. Pure speculation time(since I've noticed people seem to take everything I say lately to be some form of "informed prediction" and ride my ass about it if it doesn't come to pass or just misreading what I'm saying, period, to try to start drama):

I can see Tau Fire Warrior teams who are equipped with Pulse Carbines being able to fire while engaged in CC, and the Carbine generally being reworked to be a Tau "assault" weapon.
I can also see "Lesser Ethereals", lower ranking members who end up serving a function similar to Commissars(but with less shooting their own troops) and being embedded within the Fire Warrior teams. Or hell, maybe they'll just have Shas'uis being able to get an upgrade that effectively makes them an "inspiring presence" to their squad.
I can also potentially see Farsight's Enclave making a return, with Fire Warrior Teams effectively being Shas'uis all and having some nasty CC tricks.

If what I've been told is true, the Farsight Enclave is going to be a nasty melon-fether indeed.