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Captain Decius

Captain Decius has spent the better parts of two centuries in faithful service to the Pale Wraiths Chapter, and in his time he has done many great deeds to earn his place as the Captain of the 5th Company. His skill in launching pitched battles and gaining decisive victory against the toughest of opponents that would dare to attack the Wraith's home sector has proven to be an important asset to the Chapter as whole, especially in recent times with the encirclement of the 1st and 9th Companies by the Tau forces. With the rest of the chapter mobilizing as many of its marines as it can in an effort to defeat the Tau, Decius watches the flanks of the sector, waiting for any opponent to make himself known by attacking the border worlds before coming to fear the might of the 5th Company. But in the end, while the might and power of the 5th Company and its Captain are great, there is still little practicality to having a single Company to watch over most of the Chapter's sector, and strain of constant fighting against encroaching Tyranid and Ork threats have begun to show their mark on the Captain. The unfortunate fact is that he has more than a little responsibility for the Ork and Tyranid threats as they are now.

Decius's greatest mistake was at the Battle of Joria, where his Company was assigned to work with the 4th Company to defend the world from an Ork Waaagh! and a Tyranid Splinter Fleet that threatened to intersect with each other on the world. Not wanting the errors of Kryptman to be repeated in their own sector, the Chapter Master himself chose the 4th and 5th Companies to defend the world and to stop the incoming storm from coming to fruition. The 4th Company was selected because of their excellent tactics in fighting in urban environment, and as such had was mostly composed of infantry. They would do well to defend the Hive World of Joria, as the massive spires and twisting streets gave many opportunities for ambushes and choke points. The 5th Company was chosen because it was mostly mechanized, with the stated plan being that the 4th would do the majority of the fighting and win the battle while the 5th company acted as a counter assault unit to defeat the enemy as they took advantage of holes in the 4th's lines. In addition, the 5th was to lend its Techmarines wherever they could be spared in order to help reinforce the defenses of Joria at a much faster pace. While the Captain of the 4th Company set to the task with grim determination, Captain Decius felt the situation made poor use of his skills and that any other company would be a better choice than his. The Chapter Master than pointed out that the other Companies were engaged in conflicts with the Tau or in the process of strategic withdrawal, while the 4th and 5th had even left battles to be lost in order to be used in this occasion as no other battles could be afforded to be delayed or ended. With that done, the 4th and 5th Companies of the Pale Wraiths prepared to weather the twin xeno assaults.

During the battle, a call was made upon Decius by the Captain of the 4th himself to bring all of his detachment to the east in order to ready that flank for an incoming group of shrikes. While Decius favored a direct route as he was used to battles over great plains and fields where movement was best in a direct line, the 4th voiced his distaste for the ducts and sewer works that were set below in the route to the direct east, and instead recommended the route to the southwest in the overhead bridge. Decius, already doubtful of his role in the operation, took his fellow Captain's advice as insult to his ability to lead his marines and ignored his words. As the 5th Company rolled along towards the eastern flank, a trap was sprung. Tyranid Trygons exploded from the depths, having used the large sewers present in the undercity to get closer to the battle above. As Decius's Predators and Razorbacks made their desperate attempts to maneuver in the tight corridors of the besieged hive world, they were unable to advance and left the flank unsupported. The Marines in the eastern flank were quickly overwhelmed by an onrushing swarm of Hormagaunts and Rippers that preceded the massive Carnifexes who devastated the 4th Company that day.

When the Trygons were forced to retreat back into the sewers momentarily, Decius had his forces rush to reinforce the 4th, but it was already too late. The Captain of 4th was slain by a trio of Carnifexes who charged him and his command squad. Though they were able to defeat one of the engines of destruction, the others ripped the command squad apart with their monsterous strength. The last blow that was struck was by the Captain as he slammed his Relic blade deep into the head of the Carnifex that had impaled him upon its claws and brought the creature down. As the Predators made short work of the remaining creatures, Decius need only have listened to the sounds of the underground screeching and breaking as the Trygons dug upwards and once more assailed the Space Marines. Taking the relic blade of his fallen comrade from the corpse of the monster, he sowed death amongst Trygons as a hail of lascannon fire and the killing blows of the ancient blade cut the carapaces of the abominations asunder. Decius promised that there would be penance for his failure, which would be extracted by making sure that the Captain of 4th Company had not died in vain. Even with the sorrow and rage coursing through his body about the loss of his comrade, Decius knew that this was a hopeless fight as it set at that point. With regret that barely be placed into words, he ordered an emergency extraction by the Thunderhawks in orbit and subsequently brought about the bombardment of the planet to scourge it of the xenos. Though the xenos forces had been damaged badly with the destruction of the world, the Ork Roks and Tyranid Hive ships lifted off from the planets and scattered themselves throughout the sector. There was still a threat to fight, and Captain Isaac Decius was the one to commit himself to it without pause.

WS-6 BS-5 S-4 T-4 W-3 A-3 I-5 Ld-10 Sv-3+

Points Cost: 160

Special Rules: Independant Character, Combat Tactics, And They Shall Know No Fear, Vengeance!

Vengeance!: The days that Captain Decius lives through are filled with litanies of self control and constant struggle as he tries to maintain his own mental state. The losses at Joria follow and torment him to this day, but he is able to focus his will and prevent his need for atonement from impeding his calm demeanor so long as he isn't distracted. Should the Captain become wounded in close combat by Tyranids, he will receive the Furious Charge USR as his calm exterior explodes into violence. In addition, both he and squad he is with receive the Counter-Attack USR as the Captain will proceed to charge any opponent that gets close to him and his enraged fighting buys time for the rest of squad to strike fully ready.

Wargear: Bolt Pistol, Lance of Furious Dawn, Frag and Krak Grenades, Iron Halo

Lance of Furious Dawn: The Lance of Furious Dawn was wielded by the Captain of the 4th Company of the Pale Wraiths, and it is a great honor to wield it. To Decius, it is an even greater honor as to him it is the tool with which to complete the task for which his comrade died for. He has had the great weapon examined by the Techmarines of the Chapter, and they have discovered a feature of the device that was previously damaged but they have since rectified. The weapon is capable of discharging a blast of energy similar to that which would accompany the strike of a Thunderhammer. It counts as a master-crafted Relic Blade that will reduce a model that it successfully wounds to initiative 1 until the end of the next player's turn.

Tell me what you think.

EDIT: As jy2 pointed out, there were errors in some of the rules, and they have now been corrected. Thanks for your input and comments, jy2.

EDIT: Now editing for spelling.

Nice fluff. The character is reasonable and not over-the-top. I would have no problems with you using him in a game against me or anyone else.

Just 2 things:

In Vengeance!, you mention Counter-charge. I believe you mean Counter-attack.

With the Lance of Furious Dawn, if you want the same effect as a thunderhammer strike, then it should be "to initiative 1 until the end of the next player's turn."

I was thinking just now that he doesn't really compete with the other Space Marine special characters in terms of army wide benefits. If I increased his points cost to 200, would this be a good army wide rule?

Armored Assault: The 5th Company of the Pale Wraiths is a heavily mechanized unit that is suited for attacking and launching counter-strikes on the strategic scale. Therefore, they have access to more tanks than other companies of the Chapter. Predators in an army that includes Captain Decius are an elites choice as well as a heavy support choice.

I think that would be reasonable. Predators aren't even that competitive a choice anyways. They're good, but they aren't overpowered to the point where most players will want 6 of them.

Predators done right can be really nasty. most people would say the autocannon is a bit hit/miss as far as anti-armour's concerned, but for the cheapest option with lascannons (120 points) you can't go wrong.

Cheapest way of getting lascannons into your army without using Devastators or splitting your tac squads up! and AV 13!

cool idea.

Maybe changing the name.

Isaac decius doesn't really work, see Isaac is jewish, and decius is latin, they're not really meant to go together.

anyway!

I like the ideas, you've got some good fluff, better then mine by far. I feel maybe just change the character name to somethign irrational.

3 ideas:
Vallum decius
Vindicatum Decius
Borium decius

You need a new name for captain decius?

Hmmm Idaeon Decius.

Like that :}

Pale Wraiths.........being a fluff writer myself might I suggest if you want a good chapter name you consider:

Night Wraiths

Silent Wraiths

Silver Ghosts

Dark Wraiths

The Rage rule is a major nerf an most people will make you run from point a to b, I would say you could get rid of it and not increase your points cost.

I was actually using the Pale Wraith's name since this was supposed to go along with another one of my ideas, but it like it might do well by itself.

Here's what the updated stats and abilities might be for the time being.

Captain Idaeon Decius

Points Cost: 200

WS-6 BS-5 S-4 T-4 W-3 A-3 I-5 Ld-10 Sv-3+

Special Rules: Independent Character, Combat Tactics, And They Shall Know No Fear, Vengeance!, Armored Assault.

Vengeance!: The days that Captain Decius lives through are filled with litanies of self control and constant struggle as he tries to maintain his own mental state. The losses at Joria follow and torment him to this day, but he is able to focus his will and prevent his need for atonement from impeding his calm demeanor so long as he isn't distracted. Should the Captain become wounded in close combat by Tyranids, he will receive the Furious Charge USR as his calm exterior explodes into violence. In addition, both he and squad he is with receive the Counter-Attack USR as the Captain will proceed to charge any opponent that gets close to him and his enraged fighting buys time for the rest of squad to strike fully ready.

Armored Assault: The 5th Company of the Pale Wraiths is a heavily mechanized unit that is suited for attacking and launching counter-strikes on the strategic scale. Therefore, they have access to more tanks than other companies of the Chapter. Predators in an army that includes Captain Decius are an elites choice as well as a heavy support choice.

Wargear: Bolt Pistol, Lance of Furious Dawn, Frag and Krak Grenades, Iron Halo

Lance of Furious Dawn: The Lance of Furious Dawn was wielded by the Captain of the 4th Company of the Pale Wraiths, and it is a great honor to wield it. To Decius, it is an even greater honor as to him it is the tool with which to complete the task for which his comrade died for. He has had the great weapon examined by the Techmarines of the Chapter, and they have discovered a feature of the device that was previously damaged but they have since rectified. The weapon is capable of discharging a blast of energy similar to that which would accompany the strike of a Thunderhammer. It counts as a master-crafted Relic Blade that will reduce a model that it successfully wounds to initiative 1 until the end of the next player's turn.

Is this better than the previous profile?

EDIT: I kept the fluff in the previous profile because I thought that the fluff didn't need to be copied again. The fluff is still valid, and will be used in the final product.

Good stuff! Really dig the fluff and think the overall idea is a strong one. In fact, if I were you I'd only change a few things.

1. I'm not sure Armored Assault is worth the whole 40 points. I'd cut back 5-15 points.

2. I really like the Vengeance! ability. It plays well off of his fluff and makes him stupidly powerful in the right circumstances. My only issue is that it only works against tyranids, which, while flavorful, does somewhat limit his options. If it were me, I'd draw it up to be an all-situation thing--my suggestion would be he gets FC when he loses the squad he's attached to. Also, consider Furious Charge and Counter-Attack replacing Combat Tactics (after all, the whole idea is he goes crazy with rage and regret).

I don't really know about the Armored Assault rule. It seems like any rule that alters the FOC would be pretty costly, since the only comparable unit in 5th ed would be the MotF, and he doesn't have Captain stats and an invuln. I think that your right about how the Vengeance ability is rather limited as it is and having FC and CA replace Combat Tactics when this happens would be in line with similar characters. Any body else have comments on how this is going?

Make him 180 points, 200 is way to much. I like the fluff though.

Before you added in the Armored Assault rule I think he was a little undercosted, similar stats/gear for Khan, who also provides outflank to the army, not really sure how the FOC alteration should be priced...maybe change it to Predators may be taken as a Squadron of 2, but leave his points at around 170ish, still allows you to have 6 preds, but squadron rules make them a little more vulnerable, without locking out Termies/Sternguard

Armoured Assault...

Company can take tanks as elites choices. So technically you could field 6 predators.

max points cost would be: 990 points (tri-las)

I think a better use of this rule would be that the army gets Spearhead ability regardless of whether Spearhead rules are in effect or not. That way you get extra tanks on top of your army!

I like the squadron idea and I have no clue what the Spearhead ability is, but what about this idea in regards to the squadrons.

Can take 0-2 Predator squadrons of 2-3 Predator tanks.

It seems like it would be more justified as far as points go, and this is in lieu of the elites choice predators, so the max is seven preds that can only fire on three targets at once. Better, but like del'Vhar pointed out, the squadron rules still present a reason to not take them. Still, three Dakka Preds will rip apart entire units in one go, so it still has its uses. Any further comments are still appreciated.

Just be aware that your opponents might bring an AWFUL lot of melta to the table to combat your predators.

Also think of the weapon loadout of your predators. All dakka preds? Or one dakka pred squadron and one tri-las or auto/las?




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Also consider ability to keep Predators in reserve.....nothing like 3 tanks rolling on in middle of the game to disconcert your opponent

Would the 0-2 Preds be better? I think that you're right about how this could mess with reserves and then seriously up the firepower of the list with few drawbacks.

Perhaps a better idea than more tanks would be better tanks? After all, Smurfs are all about quality over quantity.

Maybe something like an upgrade that can be purchased for tanks at +25 points.

Experienced Crews: The Marines manning the Predators of the Pale Wraith's 5th Company are amongst the most worldly and wise of the chapter's tankers. Their extensive service has made them tougher and more able to deal with the harsh rocking that their tanks endure as the enemy attempts to break them open. They are additionally excellent at finding their mark with their mighty guns, which was well proved when they laid down fire on the Trygons at Joria. Tanks with this upgrade ignore Crew Shaken damage results and count their weapons as twinlinked.

I think a better ability would be that crews are trained so extensively on tanks that they can ignore shaken or stunned results on Vehicle Damage table

They could also have the Rangefinder ability. -1 to hit once per game.

The big thing here is that that would intrude on Chronus's abilities, which is something that I don't think is very fluffy thing to do. The Rangefinder idea would be more balanced than the current one, and it would allow the price to go down to maybe 20 a piece. I originally wanted to make it so that you ignore Shaken and then have to purchase Extra Armor in order to be completely immune, but then I remembered reading somebody commenting that upgrades that are no brainers to be taken in tandem should probably be only one upgrade, so then the cost shifts up to 30 or so points. I have worries over whether this would be balance or not. I'll probably end up increasing the cost to 35 or 40.

And this is the problem when you start making custom characters for your army.

First of all you have to be sure people will let you play him. And then you have to be sure he doesn't become "too like so-and-so" or too overpowered.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Can you PM me a basic run down of his points cost and stats so far?

I sent the message just a minute ago. Thank you for this.