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Today I realized my pathfinders get +2 to cover and there in a building granting them 3+, does this mean they only fail there cover save on a 1?

Yes. It means they don't really benefit from a 3+ building, since the best cover save you can have is 2+ (anything better, 1+/0+ still fails on a 1 anyway).

So yeah, you are correct. They only fail their save on a 1. Same as if they were in 4+ cover. (4+2 = 2+ cover)

wait till you take a look at their shooting rules as they're the only unit that effectively rends on both shooting and wounding due to the wierd combo of 4th edition and 5th edition rules...

yeah, they're pretty brutal, and worse still.. they're troops!

I've been up against a dug in defensive army of all-pathfinders with Dark Reaper support under a warlock's conceal power...

Not pretty!

How exactly does the rending work on pathfinders? I'm a new eldar player and am debating on whether or not to buy some.

tgblackw wrote:How exactly does the rending work on pathfinders? I'm a new eldar player and am debating on whether or not to buy some.

i personally think they're an awesome unit as long as no one deep strikes a heavy flamer nearby. the "problem" with pathfinders and rangers is that they have an upgraded version of the OLD sniper rule (where you get ap1 on the HIT roll) but still list the weapon as a "sniper" subtype which gives rending on the WOUND roll. When you add the two together (since it doesn't say anywhere that one replaced the other), you get pathfinders that are ap1 on HIT rolls of 5 and 6 in addition to still rending with their WOUND roll (which is a 4+ to wound regardless of toughness due to sniper rules). you basically get 2 chances to ignore armor on a unit that has a 2+ coversave in most terrain and still scores as troops... not too shabby. the counter to them is that they die in droves to any flamer weapons (and other weapons that ignore cover) and assaults since they ignore their cover defensive boosts. for the eldar, i think they make a great "home" defensive unit that sits on your objective almost immune to fire.

just like it says in their rules.

Eldar sniper rifles have the special rule that a "6" to hit makes the shot AP1. they also have the sniper rule so they gain the rending rule so a 6 to wound cause it to be ap2.

so it works like this

12 snipers fire assuming they roll perfectly average they get 1,2,3,4,5,6,1,2,3,4,5,6

this means there are 8 shots that hit. roll to wound using the sniper rules but remember that 2 shots are AP1 so roll seperatly.

wounding rolls of 1,2,3,4,5,6 + 2 wounding rolls for the AP1 assuming average means one of these will wound.

so you apply 1 ap1 shot, 1 ap2 rending shot, and 2 armor saves to the unit.

the problem comes when you get an ap1 shot that rolls a 6 to wound, is it ap1 or ap2?

lixulana wrote:the problem comes when you get an ap1 shot that rolls a 6 to wound, is it ap1 or ap2?

Doesn't really matter, both ap1, and ap2 have the exact same effect vs non-vehicle models.

Rending does not count as AP2 vs vehicles(it has it's own separate rules).

Kommissar Kel wrote:

lixulana wrote:the problem comes when you get an ap1 shot that rolls a 6 to wound, is it ap1 or ap2?

Doesn't really matter, both ap1, and ap2 have the exact same effect vs non-vehicle models.

Rending does not count as AP2 vs vehicles(it has it's own separate rules).

correct, the unit special rule gives you an +1 to the damage roll on the chart (if you get to that point) while the rending gives you an extra d3 penetration. no conflict there.