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Hey folks!

I'd like to introduce you to my work-in-progress Grey Knights Grand Marshall... I'm still working on the background fluff, but here's the character:

Grand Marshall Tyberius Vrax - 250 points
WS- BS- S- T-- W - A - - I-- Ld-- Sv
--6-- 4--- 4- 5-- 4- - 4--- 5-- 10-- 2+

Unit Composition:
1 (Unique)

Unit Type:
Infantry (Character)

Wargear:
Terminator armour
Storm bolter
The Warphammer
Frag grenades
Krak Grenades
Psyk-out grenades
Ancient Writ of Purity

The Warphammer - This is a Master-Crafted Nemesis Daemon Hammer with the Daemonbane special rule.

Ancient Writ of Purity - Vrax is the guardian and keeper of this blessed and revered tome. Never leaving its plinth atop his terminator armour, the contents of this ancient text are known only to a Vrax himself, who will go to great lengths to see that it remains that way. Rumoured by many to be the last will and testament of Malcadore the Sigilite, it is bound by unimaginable warp energies and is considered a sacred artefact of the chapter. The Ancient Writ of Purity increases Grand Marshall Tyberius Vrax's invulnerable save to 4+.

Special Rules:
The Aegis
And They Shall Know No Fear
Grand Strategy
Independent Character
Preferred Enemy (Daemons)
Psyker (Master Level 2)
Thou Shalt Not Back Down

Thou Shalt Not Back Down - Vrax is a firm believer that any and all armed conflicts should be resolved in mano-a-mano combat between the leader(s) of opposing forces and hates nothing more than to be denied the opportunity to showcase his formidable prowess in close combat. Whenever a challenge issued by Tyberius Vrax is refused, the Grand Marshall gains D6 attacks for that assault phase. In addition, he gets to re-roll all to-hit and to-wound rolls of 1.

Psychic Powers:
Hammerhand
Psychic Communion
The Banishment

The Banishment - This is a psychic shooting attack with the following profile:

Range - Strength -- AP -- Type
---12"-------- 4*------ N/A -- Assault 1, Blast

*The Banishment always wounds Daemons on a roll of 2+

Once the blast marker has been placed and the appropriate scattering resolved, the caster rolls a D6 in an attempt to wound each model beneath the template as per the normal shooting rules, however on a roll of 6 the model must take a leadership test. Each model taking a test must always use its own leadership value. If the model fails its test it is instantly removed from play with no saving throw of any kind allowed, banished into the warp. If the leadership test is passed, saving throws are taken as normal. Vehicles and units embarked within vehicles cannot be affected by this ability.

Feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers.

Okay, to make this character using the standard Grand Master entry, it would come to 220pts. Then, you added an extra WS (!!!!!), an extra Wound, and extra attack, a re-rollable 4++ (!!!!!!), eternal warrior on top of his crazy resiliance and a special rule that makes him incredibly powerful if your opponent declines a challenge.

And to balance it all you subtracted two points of BS, hardly worth anything, and added 5pts.

No.

Build this character normally, then add one or two special rules and maybe a unique weapon, and add a fair number of points. Make it expensive enough that you think he's underpowered until you play test it enough to scale it back.

Honestly, I say NO to a re-rollable invuln coupled with eternal warrior. Drop eternal warrior for sure.

Needs a lot more points for what it currently is.

Seems very overpowered at the moment. My thoughts:

- Drop the W and A to 3 each, considering he already gets +D6A in a challenge I think 3 would be fine.
- Eternal Warrior seems a bit too much, like this guy is straying into Draigo territory.
- Again as above, allowing you to re-roll his Invulnerable saves is just wrong.
- His "instantly remove models from play" is wayyy OP. I'd change it so they have to take a Ld test or be banished.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Seems very overpowered at the moment. My thoughts:

- Drop the W and A to 3 each, considering he already gets +D6A in a challenge I think 3 would be fine.
- Eternal Warrior seems a bit too much, like this guy is straying into Draigo territory.
- Again as above, allowing you to re-roll his Invulnerable saves is just wrong.
- His "instantly remove models from play" is wayyy OP. I'd change it so they have to take a Ld test or be banished.

 Valkyrie wrote:

- His "instantly remove models from play" is wayyy OP. I'd change it so they have to take a Ld test or be banished.

I just caught that after you posted it.

That's a big NOPE.

Don't even make it a leadership test. Make it not remove models from play period. No home made character should have that kind of absurd power.

Cost increased to 250 points. Stat line amended. Eternal Warrior removed. The Banishment rules adjusted to lower the range and strength, and added a leadership test. Re-rolls on the invuln via Ancient Writ also removed.

He only gets any additional attacks or bonuses in combat if the challenge is declined. If accepted, he fights as normal.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Don't even make it a leadership test. Make it not remove models from play period. No home made character should have that kind of absurd power.

In order for a model to be removed from play I would first have to hit it. Even if I somehow hit it after scatter, i'd still need to roll a 6 to wound, and even then my opponent will generally only need a 9 or less on 2D6 to avoid banishment. Models will rarely get banished on this basis.

I would use this guy. Banishment still seems a little OP but really only affects multi-wound characters I would make it so that if they take a Ld test and fail, then fail their Sv its then instant death, almost like a weaker force weapon that relies on the enemy's Ld.
Also GK characters (the best ones anyway) allow you to take certain squads as troops. Perhaps he could make interceptors available as troop choices or something? Not sure how you would write that into his fluff.

Having just arrived, and doing some costing, zi get this


Grand Master 175pts
Mas Level 2 35pts
Master Crafted Daemon Hammer 10pts
Thou shalt not back down 20pts
Banishment 20-25pts
BS 4 -10
+1A 5pts
+1 W 10pts

Total 255-260

So spot on on price, and he seems balanced enough. I would play.

Working on the fluff and may consider adding a rule to make Interceptors troops, and obviously increasing points cost. Will update when finished.

After feedback at my local hobby store i've penned a few rules which I may use to replace The Banishment all together. I like the idea of him having a unique psychic ability but just another generic psychic shooting attack is something I want to avoid.

Since the whole background of the character is going to be very close-combat orientated, I wanted him to have unique abilities to that effect, helping him move better, get into combat faster, or get hurt less while doing it.

Here we go:

Psychic Powers

Warpshift - Such is Vrax's mastery of warp energies, he is able to utilise it to shunt himself through a warp rift in order to strategically reposition himself on the battlefield. Vrax and any unit he is attached to count as having Personal Teleporters. Once successfully cast, this psychic power cannot be used again.

By The Might of Titan, I Smite Thee! - If Vrax is successful in completely destroying the unit he's in close combat with, instead of making a move to consolodate Vrax may choose to take a psychic test. If the psychic test is passed, Vrax and his unit may attempt to launch an additional assault upon an enemy unit within assault range. If however the test is failed, Vrax permanently loses an attack from his profile. His attacks may never be reduced below 1.

Okay... So you have some skill... - Vrax uses his intense connection with the warp to conjure a near impenetrable field of fluctuating warp energies which shield both himself and any unit he's attached to from harm. After Vrax's intention to assault is called but before any overwatch shots are taken against him, he may choose to use this psychic power. If successfully cast, no overwatch shots may be taken against Vrax or his unit.

Special Rules

Forward, My Brothers!: Any Grey Knight army that selects Tyberius Vrax as an HQ choice may take Interceptor squads as Troop choices.

I figure this one would be great if added in conjunction with b]Warpshift[/b].

First of, the Toughness 5 is worth the +30 points and more. In essence you almost gave him Eternal Warrior with the added benefit of regular weapons having a harder time hurting him.

Second, I think the combination of "Thou shallt not back down" with the Toughness of 5 makes this special rule a lot better and should increase his point cost considerably as you basically force your opponent to accept the challenge without any chance of actually winning it.

Thirdly, if you want to keep in the Banishment rule I would recommend taking the rules of the Neural Shredder and taking out the instant killing aspect. The fact the current incarnation circumvents any way to protect your model (even if the chance is low to get killed) makes it a rule most players that face it will not enjoy.

Lastly, those psychic powers would most probably require at least a 100+ point bump in points cost. The potential to keep hopping from combat to combat, or have a paladin squad basically equipped with personal teleporters, or ignore overwatch are quite powerful.
The special rule I don't get unless you remove his terminator armour and have him become a HQ in power armour with a personal teleporter.