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Ok, this one sounds ridiculous and I'm presuming if I'm right, it's going to be FAQ'ed into oblivion. But - here goes.

I was really surprised to see that a Riptide is a Monstrous Creature and not a vehicle. The Independent Character rules state that Independent Characters can't join vehicle squadrons or units that always consist of a single model (page 39).
Monstrous Creatures are given as an example, but with the clarifier of "most", meaning they're not explicitly excluded.

The Riptide doesn't always consist of a single model - it's allowed to take 2 Shielded Missile Drones (page 100), which have their own profile (page 45) and hence have their own models. The additional Drone rules (page 33) state that "Drones taken as upgrades for a unit act as additional squad members in all regards" further suggesting that a Riptide is therefore not a single model unit.

So, to the question - can an Independent Character join a Riptide, therefore benefitting from majority Toughness and "Look Out Sir!"? I can see this being very useful for protecting Ethereals in particular, but would like to add that I see it as a TFG abuse and wouldn't try it myself.

If they act as additional squad members in all regards, then the size of a Riptide unit is 1-3, therefore an IC could join the unit. Of course Nids can already do this with Tyranid Primes and Carnifex Broods.

Yes, because Drones are models and thus the Riptide is a unit that doesn't always consist of a single model.

Didn't thye just faq it that the riptide can't take missile drones and only broadsides?

GTKA666 wrote:
Didn't thye just faq it that the riptide can't take missile drones and only broadsides?

"Shielded Missile Drones" are a special drone unit which only the riptide can take. They are not regular missile drones.

GTKA666 wrote:
Didn't thye just faq it that the riptide can't take missile drones and only broadsides?

The riptide has access to specific Shielded Missile Drones. The Broadsides have access to Missile Drones (no shield gen in them).

Thanks for the answers so far. I was kinda hoping there would be something I'd missed, but doesn't seem so.
For what it's worth, I checked it out for vehicles that can take Drones too but the way those work on page 33, the vehicle still always winds up as a single model unit there.

I've been thinking of the possibility of joining Shadowsun to a Riptide. If they drop into cover the Riptide would be getting a 2+cover save. Admittedly there are better uses for Shadowsun (such as joining her to Farsight with 7 Crisis suit bodyguard so they all get stealth & Shrouded).

Unit composition. 1 riptide. War gears. 2 shielded missle drones. It's not a unit of 3 it's 1 the drones are war gear, and I'm going to say no to ic' s joining him. He is a jet pack mc with a unit comp of one.

Page 33 of tau codex states under the heading "unit upgrade drones"

"drones taken as upgrades for a unit act as additional squad members in all regards"

The riptide is not a unit of 1 if it has drones.

Lungpickle wrote:
Unit composition. 1 riptide. War gears. 2 shielded missle drones. It's not a unit of 3 it's 1 the drones are war gear, and I'm going to say no to ic' s joining him. He is a jet pack mc with a unit comp of one.

DA Servitors - Unit Composition 1 Servitor. According to OP (don't have codex) drones bought as an upgrade count as additional squad members in all regards. So a Riptide (normally a unit of 1) takes 1 or 2 drones that count as squad members has a unit composition of 1 Riptide and 0-2 Drones.

Technically, according to RAW in what the OP posted, the Riptide doesn't actually need to purchase the Shield Drones -the mere fact that it could purchase Shield Drones is enough for the Riptide to fail to satisfy the IC restriction.

That appears to be RAW, but I'm positive that this get's FAQ'd before anything else does.

Lungpickle wrote:
Unit composition. 1 riptide. War gears. 2 shielded missle drones. It's not a unit of 3 it's 1 the drones are war gear, and I'm going to say no to ic' s joining him. He is a jet pack mc with a unit comp of one.

They may be Wargear, but they are also models as they have a statline and a unit type. Nothing prevents a thing from being both.

Fenrisian Wolves are another example of wargear that is also a model with its own stats and rules. Regardless - as it stands right now, Drones are not *just* wargear. Page 33 in the Tau Codex is pretty clear on this.

Going to say, if you tried pulling this on me I'd be less than impressed..

Here is another question, do the drones remain if the riptide is killed?

The drones will remain. See the tau codex section on drones and what happens when their owners are killed.

You could join the riptide, but keep in mind that as it stands, you will likely reduce the majority toughness in the unit to less than 6. Given that half the point of a riptide unit is being durable by virtue of resistance to small arms fire, you're shooting yourself in the foot if you do.

 Thaylen wrote:
The drones will remain. See the tau codex section on drones and what happens when their owners are killed.

You could join the riptide, but keep in mind that as it stands, you will likely reduce the majority toughness in the unit to less than 6. Given that half the point of a riptide unit is being durable by virtue of resistance to small arms fire, you're shooting yourself in the foot if you do.

Not necessarily. Since the unit is not always a unit of 1 (it is a unit of 1-3) you could take a Riptide with no drones and an IC can still join up.

TheTrans wrote:
Going to say, if you tried pulling this on me I'd be less than impressed..

Here is another question, do the drones remain if the riptide is killed?

Because he's using the actual rules as written?

Also, yes.

 Thaylen wrote:
The drones will remain. See the tau codex section on drones and what happens when their owners are killed.

You could join the riptide, but keep in mind that as it stands, you will likely reduce the majority toughness in the unit to less than 6. Given that half the point of a riptide unit is being durable by virtue of resistance to small arms fire, you're shooting yourself in the foot if you do.

Well, the Riptide drones are also T6, so taking one drone will give a 2 to 1 ratio to the IC. Or even 1 to 1 is ok, since you go off of the highest T if there is a tie. So its pretty easy to keep the T6 for the unit.