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Nec'trekh, The Wraith of Khan

aka The Wraith-King of Khan, The Great Wraith

Nec'trekh, Phaeron of the Khan dynasty, was a bloodthirsty Overlord obsessed with becoming the greatest Overlord of all the Tomb Worlds. He long admired and was fascinated by the martial prowess of the wraiths. He felt that in order to eventually rule all the necrons, he needed a strong and powerful body as a foundation. Unfortnately, his body was weak and sickly.

Nec'trekh was somewhat of a radical leader. Some can even say he was somewhat mad from his ambition/obsession. Whereas most necrons may see wraiths as "lowly repair drones", Nec'trekh saw differently. What he saw was the potential for a great, efficient killing machine. To him, with a few modifications, the wraith could potentially be the penultimate killing machine. Thus, he had his crypteks set about modifying several wraith chassis specifically for him and his bodyguards.

Thus, when it came time for the Biotransference, he opted to have his and his Necron Lord bodyguards transfered into the bodies of specially constructed wraiths instead. Free from the bonds of flesh and armed finally with a strong, indestructible body, when his Tomb World finally awakens (and maybe it already has), Nec'trek will begin to fulfill his obsession of uniting the Necron race under the rule of one truly fit to rule.


Nec'trekh . . . . . . . . 220pts

WS: 5
BS: 4
S: 6
T: 5
W: 3
I: 2
A: 4
Ld: 10
Sv: 2+


Composition: 1 (Unique)

Unit Type: Jump Infantry (Character)


Wargear:

Mindshackle Scarabs

Phase Shifter

Sempiternal Weave

Whip Coils


Special Rules:

Ever-living

Frenzied Attacks - Nec'trekh's bloodlust combined with the agility of his new body causes him and his unit to attack ferociously and without relent.

Nec'trekh and any unit he is with receives the benefits of the Preferred Enemy USR in close combat.

Improved Phase Attacks - As a sentient wraith, Nec'trekh actually has better control of his dimensional destabilisation matrix than the automatons. He can control the period of time between phases better, thus allowing him to do more damage with his phase attacks.

This is the same as the wraith Phase Attacks, except that Nec'trekh rends on a 5+ instead.

Independent Character

Reanimation Protocols

Wraithflight

Wraith Lord Bodyguards - Nec'trehk may not take a Royal Court. Instead, he may take 1 unit of 0-6 Bodyguards. This unit does not take up any slots on the FOC and counts as a HQ selection. If Nec'trekh joins this unit, it counts as just 1 unit for the purposes of Dawn of War deployment. Once joined, Nec'trekh loses his Independent Character status and may not leave the unit. If his unit of bodyguards are wiped out, then Nec'trekh becomes an IC once again and may join other units.

Each Wraith Lord is a Canoptek Wraith but with the following exceptions:

Each has the Reanimation Protocol special rules.

Cost = 45pts each + upgrades

Each Wraith Lord may purchase the same wargear options as those available to Canoptek Wraiths.


--------------------------------------------------------


So what do you think? Comments and criticisms welcomed.

I like it. good idea making a wraith overlord, fills a gap.

I'm not sure why at this stage but the only thing that jumps out at me as possibly needing correcting is just how much of a monster this guy is in CC. Assuming the rumours for 6th ED are right he is currently:

WS 5 with 4 attacks (say 5 since he's gonna get the charge)
Hitting about half to two thirds depending on opponent
And rerolling all misses any way.
Rending on 4+ (therefore it doesnt matter who he's against, half the time they're likely dead)


Which I believe, if I'm not misremembering the rending rule will likely give him an average of 2 or 3 auto wounds every turn.

With whip coils meaning he's always knocking his opponents down to initiative 1 and thus always striking first it just all seems like too much CC madness

edited for more clarity.

Let's compare him to other "characters". The normal necron overlord will have a warscythe, which allows no saves and does +D6 pen versus vehicles. Nec'trekh's attacks only act as a power weapon half of the time and is slightly worse against vehicles than the warscythe. WS5 gives him a slight advantage against normal MEQ's but against other MEQ characters, who are mostly are WS6, he will still be hitting on 4's normally.

Whip coils to me aren't really a big deal. Tyranid HQ's have it (or can take it) and they are much nastier in combat than Nec'trekh.

Preferred Enemy does make both him and his unit much better in combat. However, the lack of power weapons for them means that they will still have a hard time against paladins, assault terminators and other 2+ assault units as well as FNP units.

Nec'trekh is supposed to be a more combat-oriented character. IMO, he fights better than the other characters here, but I don't feel he is really overpowered. If others feel that he is still too strong, perhaps I will make his rending on a 5+ instead.

"The Wraith of Khan"?

I don't think I can forgive you for that.

I feel as though he is a balanced character, and in my opinion the points should actually drop to 225, but for custom characters it is always good to go a little high for playtesting, also the fluff doesn't seem to make sense. Wraiths were intended for construction, the Canoptek necrons are not war machines originally, but intended for maintenance, why would a Lord basically bring himself down to the level of a repair drone?

I like the concept of a Necron Wraithlord That being said, I would make some changes.

Giving Wraiths RP/EL is pretty nasty. They already have a 3++ and 2 Wounds. Throw in a Lord with a Res. Orb and that unit becomes disgusting (3+/3++/4+++). I would honestly lose the RP/EL - it makes it so that there's a disadvantage to taking him over normal HQ choices, and quite frankly he's pretty awesome as is. I'd replace the RP/EL with another Wound (so he has double that of a normal Wraith).

Rending on 4+ is harsh. I would either make it a 5+ Rending across the squad or else give them Hyperphase Swords (and keep the 6+). Could even go with 5+ Rending and Voidblades (for Entropic Strike, making him a little stronger).

With these changes I feel his points cost could drop a little, perhaps to 210 - 225 (although I'm not good at pricing units) with the bodyguards dropping to 40 - 45 points (depending on whether you take the Voidblades/Hyperphase Swords).

The unit proposed with 5 bodyguards would come out at 275, plus him (At my proposed cost of 225) would equal 500 Points.. I feel that this would be an adequate pricing for their value, prince, you would have to pay for upgrades and then a new lord with a res orb, by the time all of this is done, they will be an appropriately costed unit.

With the 4+ rending and his other abilities, it might be more fair to maybe drop the Mindshackle Scarabs, makes him too good in close combat. Otherwise, I really like the concept.

Personally, I disprove of wishlist characters that get all of the goodies of various distinct units. While probably not overpowered at 240 points, this character just seems like trying to stitch together a destroyer lord and a wraith, without actually having anything unique, interesting, or new. All you've done here is closed off the one weakness of a destroyer lord (Lack of Invul save) and given him further goodies (Empowering squad, Always strikes first). Finally, Rending on +4 doesn't just give the character a power weapon 1/2 of the time. It also means any PW attacks also wounded. Granted, that's not the biggest issue at S6, but this means that against T6 and up, you are essentially equipped with a Power Weapon.
Also, if he's using a wraith body, why T5? So your special guy can't be insta-killed as easily? To me, that screams just making a more powerful character, rather than something fluffy.

Those Necrons that wished to strengthen their bodies became destroyers, not cleaning drones.

Lord Magnus wrote:I feel as though he is a balanced character, and in my opinion the points should actually drop to 225, but for custom characters it is always good to go a little high for playtesting, also the fluff doesn't seem to make sense. Wraiths were intended for construction, the Canoptek necrons are not war machines originally, but intended for maintenance, why would a Lord basically bring himself down to the level of a repair drone?

Nec'trekh was somewhat of a radical leader. Some can even say he was somewhat mad from his ambition/obsession. Whereas most necrons may see wraiths as "lowly repair drones", Nec'trekh saw differently. What he saw was the potential for a great, efficient killing machine. To him, with a few modifications, the wraith could potentially be the penultimate killing machine. Thus, he had his crypteks set about modifying several wraith chassis specifically for him and his bodyguards.

BeRzErKeR wrote:"The Wraith of Khan"?

I don't think I can forgive you for that.

You're welcome.

At least I didn't name him Czar'trekh which I was originally thinking about.

PrinceOfMadness wrote:I like the concept of a Necron Wraithlord That being said, I would make some changes.

Giving Wraiths RP/EL is pretty nasty. They already have a 3++ and 2 Wounds. Throw in a Lord with a Res. Orb and that unit becomes disgusting (3+/3++/4+++). I would honestly lose the RP/EL - it makes it so that there's a disadvantage to taking him over normal HQ choices, and quite frankly he's pretty awesome as is. I'd replace the RP/EL with another Wound (so he has double that of a normal Wraith).

Rending on 4+ is harsh. I would either make it a 5+ Rending across the squad or else give them Hyperphase Swords (and keep the 6+). Could even go with 5+ Rending and Voidblades (for Entropic Strike, making him a little stronger).

With these changes I feel his points cost could drop a little, perhaps to 210 - 225 (although I'm not good at pricing units) with the bodyguards dropping to 40 - 45 points (depending on whether you take the Voidblades/Hyperphase Swords).

I'm going to keep the RP/EL. They're overlords/lords just like every other necron overlord/lord. Why shouldn't they be designed/transfered with the same technology of self-repair as the other necrons?

While this does make them much more durable, what they still lack is the killing power of other deathstar units due to the lack of power weapons. I think that balances out. IMO they're more like eldar seer council than draigowing. They're much more resilient than they are killy. And if you think 3++/4++ is bad, have you ever faced BA assault terminators with a sanguinary priest or FNP draigowing? Besides, the 4++ requires you to spend a minimum of 155pts+ for another HQ choice.

I will change his Improved Phase Attack to Rending 5+ as you are the 2nd person to think rending 4+ is too strong. I will also lower his points slightly to compensate.

Dr. Temujin wrote:With the 4+ rending and his other abilities, it might be more fair to maybe drop the Mindshackle Scarabs, makes him too good in close combat. Otherwise, I really like the concept.

As Nec'trekh is obsessed with having the best combat prowess, I think I'm going to leave mindshackles in. After all, why wouldn't he have his crypteks incorporate them into his body? It definitely makes him a much more efficient fighter/killer.

I will, however, reduce rending to 5+.

Irdiumstern wrote:Personally, I disprove of wishlist characters that get all of the goodies of various distinct units. While probably not overpowered at 240 points, this character just seems like trying to stitch together a destroyer lord and a wraith, without actually having anything unique, interesting, or new. All you've done here is closed off the one weakness of a destroyer lord (Lack of Invul save) and given him further goodies (Empowering squad, Always strikes first). Finally, Rending on +4 doesn't just give the character a power weapon 1/2 of the time. It also means any PW attacks also wounded. Granted, that's not the biggest issue at S6, but this means that against T6 and up, you are essentially equipped with a Power Weapon.
Also, if he's using a wraith body, why T5? So your special guy can't be insta-killed as easily? To me, that screams just making a more powerful character, rather than something fluffy.

Those Necrons that wished to strengthen their bodies became destroyers, not cleaning drones.

It's true that he is sort of a wishlist character. I do wish that there was a wraith character. However, I did not give him all the goodies. Otherwise, I would have given him a warscythe, res orb, tachyon arrow and perhaps a staff of light or some other shooting weapon.

Also, if I really wanted to wishlist him, I would've made him make all wraiths into troops for an army of wraiths.

These wraith bodies are modified to be tougher than ordinary wraiths, just as the regular necron lord/overlord bodies were designed to be tougher than the normal necrons. Of course I could have justified going for the destroyer lord T6 body, but then I think that makes them a little too strong.

I don't think anyone will want to play against T5, 3+ invulnerable, 2 wound, reanimating wraiths at 55 points. Now, not only do they still have to get through the 3+ invulnerable, but meltas, missiles, and power fists only do 1 wound. And even if they do manage the impressive feat of killing one, it's just going to get back up; also, even if the entire squad is dead.

This does not pass muster.

I would up the points required to get the bodyguards to 60pts per model, and drop fearless. Lords are not fearless, even the most dangerous D-Lords.

I would drop the ever-living. The Reanimation is fine, but I don't want to fight a unit that gets up even after I kill them all. Obviously he will still have it.

Otherwise, a perfectly fine IC coming in at 225 pts. I actually like the concept.

I like him. He's strong but for the points, not OMGWTFBBQ. If you're not sure about points value, follow the others' advice and aim high. Forgive me for this.

KHAAAAAAAAAAN!

I hate myself for that.

I like this. Hopefully you'll be able to use him.

Ok, after the comments here, I think this is what I'm going to do:


Nec'trekh:

Drop Fearless.

Reduce his points to 220pts.



Bodyguards:

Drop Ever-living (though I'm keeping Reanimation Protocols).

Drop Toughness to 4.

Increase unit size to 0-6 models.

Drop pointage to 45pts each + upgrades.



Better?

jy2 wrote:
Nec'trekh:

Drop Fearless.

Reduce his points to 220pts.

That's a non-change if you include his bodyguard. A character with a Fearless unit benefits from their Fearless trait.

BeRzErKeR wrote:"The Wraith of Khan"?

I don't think I can forgive you for that.

I haven't either.

Yikes.
As much as I love me some Wraith, this... this just seems like too much.
:/

('course, I'm just a new player, so I wouldn't actually anything about homebrew characters.)

I would stay true to the normal Wraith and Lord line:

WS4
BS4
S5
T5
W3
I2
A4(wraiths have 4 min)
Ld 10

then do the following:
Wraith flight so he doesnt need any phaseshifter
Whipcoils
rending on a 5+
Everliving
Sempiternal Weave
Rez Orb

The Wraith bodyguard:
Resurection Protocols

WS 4
BS 4
S 5
T 5
W 1
I 2
A 4
Ld 10

0-1 Choice, Equips like normal wraiths and costing 55 pts a pop to start, when joined by Nec they become a bodyguard unit and Nekh looses id char, they also become Fearless.

the lord would cost Somewhere to 200 pts

Voila

Drop the "Wraith Lord Bodyguards" retinue rule. CC powerhouses should not be able to hide in a unit and on top of that use other models to select their targets in assault.
GW has been systematically getting rid of this rule for quite some time. For a good reason IMHO.

First off, i like it. A lot.


Rules query though:

The bodyguards no longer have Ever-Living, but the Lord does. The body guards cannot join any other unit as they are tied to the Lord. So doesn't the Lord then count as part of the unit? So if they all died, the Lord could Ever-Living, thus the squad is not dead, thus the rest of them can RP as well?

I think he is interesting. Almost every time I see a personal special character they are just nasty rules and no background. However you have given him some unique and interesting background and I applaud you for that, well done.

On to the rules I think that you should drop the 2+ armour save as it makes him too tough. The mindshackle scarabs should go too, that upgrade seems like a way of stopping powerful enemy characters/monstrous creatures from properly engaging him. If you use him an opponent should be able to enjoy a good fight and not just see thier equally or even more expensive HQ units gutted like pigs.

Remember if you use a character this powerful you won't encourage an opponent to cook up something characterful of their own but instead it will start an arms race. They will make their own super-death-dealing-destroyer, designed to flatten everything. You won't be able to complain about a Carnifex firing two twinlinked guns as powerful as Tau railguns with submunitions or a Hive Tyrant with a 3+ invunerable save (to counter your rending) and an auto pass on all LD tests (to counter your mindshackle), and of course wings and fleet to catch you.

Tone him down a bit, make him easier to hurt and more reliant on help like ressurection orbs and not turned invincible by them and he will be very good. Presently the best bit about him is his background and it's good. He deserves a more reasonable set of rules to go with it.