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Hi, hoping to get some feedback on a profile I've been toying with for a custom space marine chapter master.

Essentially He's a rip off of Cato Sicarus with some wargear tweaks and a couple of extra rules added, one of which is a powered down version of a suggested rule for the Primarchs Project on Bolter and chainsword that I took a liking to.

I Figured 275 points would be appropriate (i.e. Sicarus+ relic blade+ orbital bombardment+master crafted), but if you think I should pay more or even less as the case may be then let me know:


High Marshall Dirae of the Enforcers

Unit type: Infantry

WS 6
BS 5
S 4 (7)
T 4
W 3
I 5
A 4
LD 10
Sv 2+


Special Rules:

Orbital Bombardment:
See p52 of Codex:SM.

Rites of Battle:
If Dirae is on the table all other space marines can use his Leadership for any morale or pinning tests.

This Will be a Good Death:
Dirae possesses forceful determination and fighting spirit, living by the principle that if he does die he will do so with his hands at his enemy's throat. Dirae gains 1+ extra attack for every unsaved wound he receives and if reduced to one remaining wound is subject to the Rage special rule, in addition he will only be reduced to 1 remaining wound by any attack that would normally cause instant death.

Blade mastery:
Having spent a lifetime of many centuries honing his abilities with power weapons Dirae possesses an unparalleled knowledge of their form and function. Any wounds made against Dirae with close combat weapons that normally ignore armour saves have this property ignored (i.e. Dirae is allowed to make his normal armour save on a roll of 2+).


Wargear:

Storm Bolter
Frag and Krak grenades
Melta Bombs
Artificer armour

The Voice of Refulgar:
This is a master crafted Relic Blade that resolves all wounds at strength 7.


Any criticism would be welcomed, also apologies for the lack of fluff, its still a work in progress.

well he dont have inv save......

MrUnionplec wrote:This Will be a Good Death:
Dirae possesses forceful determination and fighting spirit, living by the principle that if he does die he will do so with his hands at his enemy's throat. Dirae gains 1+ extra attack for every unsaved wound he receives and if reduced to one remaining wound is subject to the Rage special rule, in addition he will only be reduced to 1 remaining wound by any attack that would normally cause instant death.

seeing as he doesn't have eternal warrior, that I can see, an instant death attack would just kill him outright, not take him down to one wound.

Irrespective, it seems a little over powered to have this rule anyway. What if the opposing army has no weapons that could casue instant death? In this case the guy is immortal.
Perhaps just give him eternal warrior, or to fit with his love of combat:

"Dirae can only loose his final wound in close combat" or something similar

Is he meant to not have Independent Character? Or any guns?

I will note that he is harder to kill then just about any special character I can think of, The 2++ in melee coupled with generally being hard to kill via shooting (since he can hide in a unit/transport, if he's meant to be an IC) is fairly over the top. That makes me think he's overpowered in general. Perhaps get rid of one or the other of the two rules you have that make him so hard to kill. Personally I'd probably just replace both with a stormshield and rely on smacking things hard and fast.

Too many new special rules to scope out clearly. I would suggest playtesting him as a normal chapter master with one new special rule at a time to get a feel for what the new ones are worth and then again with all of them.

Jack

So he's an eternal warrior with a 2+ invul in close combat?

Why not just make a C'tan that can hide in squads?

Yeah, in all he seems overpowered. Also, how exactly did you copy Sicarius? You gave him Rites of Battle?

Anyway, I would say you could keep your "Always makes his armour save rule" if you left him with Power armour, giving him a 3+/4++ in shooting (Give him an Iron Halo, btw) and a 3++ in CC. Also, I am not sure if it was meant to, or not, but I would specify that this rule works on attacks from Monstrous Creatures by rephrasing it to "any close combat attacks that ignore armour saves". I would also rename the ability, as I don't think it fits very well (Blade Mastery implies personal skill/familiarity with a weapon, and I have NO idea how this would negate the ability for a power sword or carnifex bite to rip straight through his puny armour).
I like his other ability, though as others have stated, just make him have Eternal Warrior, it is more elegant and clear.

Finally, in the idea of balance (since he already will tear through any normal CC units, light transports and even is effective against walkers) I would remove his Melta Bombs, but perhaps give him Digital Weapons (since he is a close combat guy). That way, he has a weakness (however slight) of not being able to kill Land Raiders.

Anyway, thats my 2 bits.

Thanks all for the feedback.

It was not really my intention to make an imbalanced ruleset, I'm just lacking in any experience of making up custom profiles hence the review request

also I think I've been unclear with the wording of at least one rule: "This would be a good death" was intended to cause any attack that would normally cause instant death to leave one wound remaining (not sure why I didn't word it that way in the first place to be honest).

Anyway I've decided to strip that part of the rule away in the interest of fairness an I've done the same to the blade mastery which has been replaced with a 3+ invuln save that only counts in close combat, to emphasise the need to get him into cc and more importantly give a much needed weakness to shooting.

Rites of battle has been replaced with a powered down version, melta bombs have been removed and an extra 20 points thrown in for the trouble.

The result looks a little something like this:


High Marshall Dirae of the Enforcers pts: 275

Unit type: Infantry

WS 6
BS 5
S 4 (7)
T 4
W 3
I 5
A 4
LD 10
Sv 2+


Special Rules:[/u]

And they shall know no fear
Combat tactics
Independent character

Orbital Bombardment:
See p52 of Codex:SM.

Watchful eye:
Any friendly model within 12" of Dirae may use his leadership for any morale or pinning tests.

This Will be a Good Death:
Dirae possesses forceful determination and fighting spirit, living by the principle that if he does die he will do so with his hands at his enemy's throat. Dirae gains 1+ extra attack for every unsaved wound he receives and if reduced to one remaining wound is subject to the Rage special rule.

Dodge This:
Many Centuries of devoted study have left Dirae with an expert knowledge of the catas of close quarters combat, such that he is able to deduce an enemy's attack pattern with unparalleled ease. Dirae is granted a 3 + invulnerable save against close combat attacks, this ability counts for nothing against shooting attacks of any type.

Wargear:

Frag and Krak grenades
Artificer armour

Weapons:

Storm Bolter

The Voice of Refulgar:
This Relic Blade resolves all wounds at strength 7.


What do you reckon any better? Would the "voice" be better as a normal relic blade? Or have I balanced it enough to get away with the extra strength point?
Once again please let me know what you think.

nice character.... just some ideas...

-S 7 is too much.... it may seem not so much against infantry but against dreadnoughts and vehichle in general S7 is good... too much good.... make it MCrafted relic
in alternative:
I make a suggestion: each attack of the blade can be made as a master-crafted power weapon or a master-crafted power fist...
Logan grimnar has a sImilar power.
he has no pistol so there isn't problem with extra attack...

- Another idea: just give him eternal warrior, making him immune to instadeath, bu his rites of battle do not function if he's reduced to 1 wound but he gains furious charge(he's raging... how can he give orders...)

- Last idea: give him a normal 4+ save because the fact he can't use the save against shooting isn't a nerf... as IC he's not supposed to ever receive any shot. but give him something to shoot with... a storm bolter or a normal bolter...

I thought as much about the blade I'll probably do as you said and crank it down to a master crafted relic blade
you're also right about the shooting weakness not counting as a nerf. How about this?

Incandescent Rage
when reduced to one wound dirae may no longer use the 3+ invunrable save conferred by the "dodge this" rule (he's raging he can't be bothered with katas and forms!)

Your second iteration is much more reasonable.

Personally I'd not even bother with that new special rule (too much changing stats over the course of the game is confusing anyway), leave him his 3++ in melee and give him the Iron Halo 4++ as suggested above (since its standard equipment for Chapter Masters these days).

Hand him a gun (or as suggested give him a Storm shield and a 3++ save in general) and I'd play-test him at 275 (with the suspicion that he might need to come down in points even, need to see how nasty he gets when wounded).

I personally don't mind the Str 7 relic blade myself, if you want to make it slightly debuffed you could drop the Master crafting from it but also drop his initiative down to 4, as sort of a halfway power fist option.

Jack

Yeah, the way it looks the relic blade would need to be master crafted or str 7 but not both its a minor difference but I'll play test both just to be sure. I'll also change the invunrable save rule to a "count as" storm sheild.
cheers.

i thought that with a relic blade you weren't allowed to take a pistol or storm bolter because of the weapons size...or am i remembering wrong? other wise he sounds like a beast in cc lol

Nah, just aren't allowed to gain +1 attack from an additional weapon, they can absolutely carry them around.

Jack