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Heyy guys, a WIP Night Lords special character Malakar, just skip the fluff if it doesn't interest you. C&C on both the fluff and rules would be greatly appreciated!

Malakar

Malakar the Wight King has became a blight upon Imperial holdings across the galaxy. Striking from seemingly nowhere, his warband has put many sectors to the sword; from mighty forge worlds to simple agri-planets, all have felt his seemingly unpredictable wrath. A master of terror tactics, Malakar has garnered an innate rivalry with that of the Space Wolves Wolf Lord Erik Morkai, both of whom excel in the art of the unseen war and have met on the field of battle many-a-time; as if their fates were somehow intertwined.

Now, in the year 999.M41, Malakar has begun his most daring raid against the Imperium yet which, if successful, could de-stabilise and cripple the entire Imperium defence effort against the 13th Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler. He and his warband have outright invaded the Fenrisian sector and what seemed as a daring, suicidal move has now developed into a full-scale war. With the aid of several Alpha Legion operatives, Malakar managed to smuggle huge supplies of ammunition, explosives and even veteran infiltrators into the sector, sewing disorder and fear throughout the populace. Ignorant of the revolt brewing underneath their noses, the Space Wolves continues to suppress the uprisings until forced to pull all remaining resources into halting Malakar's advance. With much of the Space Wolves' might spread thin throughout the galaxy, and most of those who remained fighting to repel Malakar and his warband, the Imperial civilians - rife with discontent and false promises of secession and 'liberty' - have began to rebel against their astartes governance. Erik Morkai leads the defence of the Fenrisian Sector and must now fight both his old foe and the heretical insurgents before more renegades and traitors can join the assault.

Malakar's Rules:

WS 7 BS 5 S 4 T 4 W 3 I 5 A 4 Ld 10 Sv 3+ Pts. 175

Wargear:
Lightning Claw, Nightfall*, Frag and Krak grenades, Power Armour, Helmet of Despair*

* Nightfall: Nightfall is an arachaic combi-flamer, twisted by the malignant powers of the warp. This weapon houses a soul-capturing apparatus and allows Malakar to unleash a psionic shockwave - his last victim screaming as he is released from his prison. It has the following profile for the "flamer": S5 AP4. If Malakar kills an enemy Independent Character, Upgrade Character or any model with the 'Unique' rule and has already used his flamer shot, he gains one more usage of the weapon as he captures the unfortunate soul and binds it to nightfall.

*Helmet of Despair: Malakar's helmet pulses with the tormented souls he has killed in battle. For every point an enemy unit within base contact of Malakar fails it's Leadership Test by, it suffers that many wounds. Armour saves may be taken as normal.

Special Rules:
Independent Character, Fearless, 4+ Invulnerable Save, Preferred Enemy (Space Wolves)*, Agent of Darkness*

*Agent of Darkness: Malakar is as dark as night itself, striking from unseen and causing his foes to stumble in terror. Any enemy unit within base contact of Malakar must take Leadership tests on 3D6. Excluding psychic and pinning checks.

* Preferred Enemy (Space Wolves) only applies to Independent Characters, Upgrade Characters and HQ choices from Codex: Space Wolves.


Well that's him guys, comments are most appreciated!

Iranna.

Looks fairly balanced to me.

AoDarkness and HoDespair may be too powerful in combination, but otherwise his abilities look fairly balanced and reasonable to me. Maybe he should have stealth, deepstrike or something in accordance with AoDarkness however?
I would also suggest a lightning claw instead of powerfist as that's much more Night Lord-esc.

However... Points Cost?

Just Dave wrote:Looks fairly balanced to me.

AoDarkness and HoDespair may be too powerful in combination, but otherwise his abilities look fairly balanced and reasonable to me. Maybe he should have stealth, deepstrike or something in accordance with AoDarkness however?
I would also suggest a lightning claw instead of powerfist as that's much more Night Lord-esc.

However... Points Cost?

I did think about the whole AoDarkness and HoDespair combo and I don't think it's too bad considering the amount of Ld9+ or Fearless people running about and for it to become effective, you need to get him into range first. Also, I think stealth would be pretty obsolete against anything less than AP3 as it'd only be a 3+ cover - the same as his armour. I think the whole Leadership attacks add a new dimension to playing with him, he's not built to be survivable or a CC monster, he's built to kill the "weak".

I always forget to add that in, I had planned for around 150pts considering his vulnerability to ID and lack of mobility would probably make up for his frightening Ld abilities.

Good idea, I hadn't even thought of a Lightning Claw!

Thanks for the feedback!

Iranna.

Anything that makes armies who actually use the Leadership rules suffer more from having to use them is a bad idea.

Also, you are failing to apply the Independent character tax to this guy's cost. As written, which it shouldn't stay because of the overpowered rock combo, he'd be around 250 points.

DarknessEternal wrote:Anything that makes armies who actually use the Leadership rules suffer more from having to use them is a bad idea.

Also, you are failing to apply the Independent character tax to this guy's cost. As written, which it shouldn't stay because of the overpowered rock combo, he'd be around 250 points.

While I agree that perhaps it needs toning down, it is fairly easy to prevent him from getting within 6". He'll need a rhino in order to get to where his abilities would be most useful and almost every army nowadays has the capability to destroy a rhino in one shot with ease.

I can see him being 175pts. now that I look back over him closely, however, I really don't believe that he warrants a 250pt price tag. I will however, tinker him a bit.

Iranna.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Edited powers from 6" to base contact.

Iranna.

I love the fluff and I think it translates well to his abilities in CC. 175 sounds about right, I would put him somewhere around 180-185 though.

Sock wrote:I love the fluff and I think it translates well to his abilities in CC. 175 sounds about right, I would put him somewhere around 180-185 though.

Thanks for the feedback!

I think 175 is good for the reason that it fits nicely into an army list due to it not being an awkward point cost but I also think that it is probably the highest justifiable point cost for him.

Iranna.

I agree with the refitted rules, base contact is much more balanced (6 inches isn't op, but btb is more balanced if you want to decrease the points) I like his style of combat, going in and killing a few then scaring them away.