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Commander Adrien Vraxis, Chapter Master Of The Nighthawks
WS5, BS7, S4, T4, I4, W4, At3, Ld10, Sv: 2+ 4++

Wargear:
Artificer Armour
Iron Halo
Deadshot
Power Sword
Bolt Pistol
Frag Grenades
Krak Grenades

Special Rules:
And They Shall Know No Fear
Independent Character
Chapter Tactics (Stealth+Shrouded On First Turn. Instead Of Moving, Roll 2D6, Range Of Shooting Weapons Is Increased By That Much)
Shadowmaster
Skilled Marksman
Sabotage

Shadowmaster:
Vraxis May Infiltrate With Up To 3 Non-Vehicle Units

Skilled Marksman:
Before The Game Begins, Roll A D3:
If The Result Is 1- Vraxis And His Unit Are Immune To Morale And Pinning Checks
If The Result Is 2- Vraxis And His Unit Gain +1 Ballistic Skill
If The Result Is 3- Vraxis And His Unit Gain +2 Strength To Shooting Attacks

Sabotage:
Your Opponent Always Scatters D6 More When Deep Striking

(When Vraxis Is Killed, His Units Loses Skilled Marksman And Your Opponent No Longer Scatters D6 More)

Deadshot:
72", S7, AP2, Master Crafted Type: Heavy 1, Sniper

Deadshot Is A Rifle That Has Been Recognised As An Item In The Armoury Of The Vindicare Temple Of The Officio Assassinorum. Vraaxis Has Wielded It Simce He Was In The 10th Company. Many Have Speculated About Its Origins, But The Truth Is Unknown.

"Though the words of your tome may have had some relevance in days of the great crusade, they have no place on the battlefields on today. It does not impress me that you have the ability to do what any fool can do, mindlessly regurgitate the words of a book. A true commander must analyse the situation and use his initiative to win the battle and though my actions may have contradicted the writing in your time, they have still brought victory upon us. That is what should be the true measure of a skilled commander, not how well he can remember the words of an ancient time, but if he can seize victory. Until you can realise is, I bid you farewell, Ultramarine"

-Adrien Vraxis To Severus Agemman

Commander Adrien Vraxis is the mysterious and enigmatic chapter master of an already mysterious chapter of space marines, the Nighthawks. He is rarely seen, even by his own troops, but maintains absolute control over his chapter. Many have speculated over his origins, but the truth still remains unknown. In combat, he wields a deadly exitus rifle that is normally only seen in the hands of a Vindicare assassin. This implies that he has some connection to the Vindicare temple of the Officio Assassinorum. Some believe that the rifle was gifted to him by the Vindicare temple, but others believed that he is an orphan that was trained as a Vindicare assassin, until he fled to join the ranks of the Astartes. There are no records of Vraxis' existence before 878. M41, when he first joined the Nighthawks. He wielded his deadly exitus rifle even as a member of the Nighthawks' neophyte company. His deadly accurate skill with a rifle and expertise in stealth tactics caused him to rise up in the Nighthawks' ranks quickly and was eventually promoted to become the Sgt. of the 1st companies elite recon squad, known as "The Shadowstorms". It was after several years that Vraxis was noticed by the Nighthawks' chapter council after the death of the commander. The chapter council took Vraxis away and interrogated him until 5 days had passed. On this day, the Nighthawks knelt before their knew Commander, chosen unanimously by the shadow council. Vraxis is one of the most exceptionally skilled marksmen in the Astartes and keeps grim trophies from his more "elite" targets. He is hated by the Mechanicum for his desecration of sacred technology, by the Ultramarines for his explicit disregard for the Codex Astartes and by many others, who suspect him to be corrupted by chaos. However, none of these can deny that Vraaxis is an extremely effective commander and formidable warrior and despite their claims, he has proved his loyalty to the emperor time and time again

No.

BLAM! HERESY! ONLY A HERETIC WOULD FAIL TO CAPITALIZE THE NAME OF THE GLORIOUS EMPEROR!

Ahem.

Nice to see a Shooty Chapter Master.

First of all, I would reverse the S and BS bonuses. At BS 7, you're already hitting most of the time, so +2 BS isn't realy as big a deal as +2 Str (I mean, what if you attached him to a Devestaor squad with Lacannons?).

Other than that, he seems like a pretty cool concept character, though I would exchange Master Crafted on his Sniper for a higher rate of fire, as he's already re-rolling to hit due to his high ballistic skill. Maybe give him/it a special rule that allows him to snipe MCs more effectively, and/or or perhaps a rule that lets him exchange some/all shots that turn to fire something like a Vindicare turbo-penetrator round that can threaten vehicles.

Sabatoge is pretty powerful, and given how variable its effects are (My main IG list has no deep strikers and would be unnafected, while a Daemons list could be royally fethed, yet you'd think that the Guard would be more vulnerable to sabotage than Daemons), you might want to change it to a few hits on the rear/side armor of a pre-selected vehicle or MC, or forcing one unit to be moved back to reserves before/after deployment because it was sabotaged. Also, an extra D6 of scatter is really powerful. If you keep Sabatoge as it, you might want to limit it to a certain number of pre-selected units.

As for his fluff, its pretty cool, but 121 years is really fast to reach the rank of Chapter Master. Generally, it takes centuries. I know you want to convey that this guy is good, but he wouldn't be a Chapter Master if he wasn't the very pinnacle of humanity. Also, given how hard a Chapter Master is to kill, The only way I can see someone reaching Chapter Master that quickly is if he was already a Company Commander, and then the whole command structure of the Chapter got annihilated out somehow.

Also, the Random Capitalization Disorder is strong with this post. Fixing that would make it easier to read.

Conceptually interesting. First clamp down on the caps, Capitalizing The First Letter Of Every Word In A Sentence Meant To Be Read Normally Makes It Hard To Read Unless You Are Writing A Script For William Shatner.

Beyond that Chapter Tactics aren't attached to the character anymore. The range increase doesn't sound too excessive until you look at things meant to be limited by range (say, meltaguns); I'd restrict it more. Bolters and Heavy weapons carried by infantry? That or give them access to some version of the D99 Magnoculars (wargear item, model with the Magnoculars gives up shooting to make a sniper rifle 60" range)

Skilled Marksman is staggeringly abuseable. In 1/3 of games you're running around with S6 boltguns, et cetera; I'd suggest cutting that back to something less random and less excessive. He grants his unit Rending on shooting attacks or some such.

Sabotage is also a bit too disruptive given that nothing else in the game does it; I'd change that to a penalty to enemy Reserves rolls and possibly require enemies Deep Striking within 18" of him to scatter regardless of the presence of teleport homers/the like.

As to the gun it's a fine weapon but if you want a sniper HQ I'd suggest giving him Precision Shots more easily. My only basis here is Ilic, who Precision Shots on all rolls to hit.

I'm skeptical about Artificer Armour on a scout leader; even if he's a Chapter Master, it might be better to leave him with power armour and a camo-cloak instead.

All in all reasonable, characterful, and not silly even if he needs a few tweaks. I'd pay 160-170ish points for him.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Conceptually interesting. First clamp down on the caps, Capitalizing The First Letter Of Every Word In A Sentence Meant To Be Read Normally Makes It Hard To Read Unless You Are Writing A Script For William Shatner.

Beyond that Chapter Tactics aren't attached to the character anymore. The range increase doesn't sound too excessive until you look at things meant to be limited by range (say, meltaguns); I'd restrict it more. Bolters and Heavy weapons carried by infantry? That or give them access to some version of the D99 Magnoculars (wargear item, model with the Magnoculars gives up shooting to make a sniper rifle 60" range)

Skilled Marksman is staggeringly abuseable. In 1/3 of games you're running around with S6 boltguns, et cetera; I'd suggest cutting that back to something less random and less excessive. He grants his unit Rending on shooting attacks or some such.

Sabotage is also a bit too disruptive given that nothing else in the game does it; I'd change that to a penalty to enemy Reserves rolls and possibly require enemies Deep Striking within 18" of him to scatter regardless of the presence of teleport homers/the like.

As to the gun it's a fine weapon but if you want a sniper HQ I'd suggest giving him Precision Shots more easily. My only basis here is Ilic, who Precision Shots on all rolls to hit.

I'm skeptical about Artificer Armour on a scout leader; even if he's a Chapter Master, it might be better to leave him with power armour and a camo-cloak instead.

All in all reasonable, characterful, and not silly even if he needs a few tweaks. I'd pay 160-170ish points for him.

Well, artificer armour is not necessarily big bulky artsy armour. It's just armour that is finely made and highly customised instead of being basically produced.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
((UPDATE))

WS5, BS7, S4, T4, I4, W4, At3, Ld10, Sv: 2+, 4++

Wargear:
Artificer Armour
Iron Halo
Deadshot
Power Sword
Bolt Pistol
Frag Grenades
Krak Grenades

Special Rules:
And They Shall Know No Fear
Independent Character
Chapter Tactics (Range tactic only affects rapid fire and assault weapons)
Shadowmaster
Skilled Marksman
Fearless (Immunity to morale and pinning checks for his squad as well)

Skilled Marksman:
Vraxis' unit's bolt weapons are rending

Shadowmaster:
Vraxis may infiltrate with up to 3 vehicle units

Deadshot
72", S7, AP2, Precision Shot, Type: Heavy 1, Sniper
(Deadshot has access to all Vindicare rounds)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Heir of the Void wrote:
BLAM! HERESY! ONLY A HERETIC WOULD FAIL TO CAPITALIZE THE NAME OF THE GLORIOUS EMPEROR!

Ahem.

Nice to see a Shooty Chapter Master.

First of all, I would reverse the S and BS bonuses. At BS 7, you're already hitting most of the time, so +2 BS isn't realy as big a deal as +2 Str (I mean, what if you attached him to a Devestaor squad with Lacannons?).

Other than that, he seems like a pretty cool concept character, though I would exchange Master Crafted on his Sniper for a higher rate of fire, as he's already re-rolling to hit due to his high ballistic skill. Maybe give him/it a special rule that allows him to snipe MCs more effectively, and/or or perhaps a rule that lets him exchange some/all shots that turn to fire something like a Vindicare turbo-penetrator round that can threaten vehicles.

Sabatoge is pretty powerful, and given how variable its effects are (My main IG list has no deep strikers and would be unnafected, while a Daemons list could be royally fethed, yet you'd think that the Guard would be more vulnerable to sabotage than Daemons), you might want to change it to a few hits on the rear/side armor of a pre-selected vehicle or MC, or forcing one unit to be moved back to reserves before/after deployment because it was sabotaged. Also, an extra D6 of scatter is really powerful. If you keep Sabatoge as it, you might want to limit it to a certain number of pre-selected units.

As for his fluff, its pretty cool, but 121 years is really fast to reach the rank of Chapter Master. Generally, it takes centuries. I know you want to convey that this guy is good, but he wouldn't be a Chapter Master if he wasn't the very pinnacle of humanity. Also, given how hard a Chapter Master is to kill, The only way I can see someone reaching Chapter Master that quickly is if he was already a Company Commander, and then the whole command structure of the Chapter got annihilated out somehow.

Also, the Random Capitalization Disorder is strong with this post. Fixing that would make it easier to read.

Yeah, the Chapter Master thing has kind of got something to do with the Nighthawks' fluff. Basically, every time the Chapter Master dies, a "Shadow Council" is held. It is made up of the chapter champion, the chief librarian, the high chaplain, the master of the forge, the master of the fleet, the chief apothecary and the 10 captains. The council takes charge of the chapter and must choose a new chapter master by reviewing every marine in the chapter and voting until they finally elect a new chapter master. The reason why Vraxis became the chapter master so quickly is because there's come connection between him and the Nighthawks' really really really strong hatred of the Alpha Legion that dates back to the horus heresy (The two have basically been engaging in a war in the shadows since their founder assassinated an Aloha Legion member who was performing a ritual to elevate himself to the level of daemon prince and prevented them from summoning a weapon of the warp that could destroy entire star systems)

Too much power. Way too much for just 160-170 pts.

Right off the bat I can see putting him in heavy cover, surrounded by Tac marines/Sternguard who just stay put and use the variable range to their advantage-on average, you're adding about 7 inches of extra range to some dangerous weapons, while he AP2 snipes anything coming close to the ~30 inch deadline.

It's a good concept for a character, but you need to dial him back a bit or make him insanely expensive.

The reason Lias Issodon doesn't have an iron halo is that it's a force field that ruins his stealthiness.

Ofc, you didn't bother with the stealth USR, but hey he infiltrates and is a sniper.

I think it is very unimpressive to be condescending about fictional people fictionally being stupid.

His BS7 is way too high ... at most I would cap it at BS5 for a space marine ... the rest of the statline looks ok.

Deadshot is pretty broken .... vindicares are fairly costly and pretty rare by themselves, I would suggest changing it to being 48" sternguard ammo / rending (changed skilled marksman to the bolt weapons rending would be a good idea and make deadshot heavily modified stalker bolter) Giving a SM chapter master a vindicare rifle is just going to rub people you play the wrong way imo.

change skilled marksman to the bolt weapons are rending ... having a 3 result table is a little much, getting +1 BS or +2 S to shooting is better than some chapter tactics much less just a HQ unlock.

Sabotage is adding to having alot of special rule bloat ... if you have it only make it to where they scatter D6 more if they are within X amount of inches.

I like what you are trying to do but you have way to many special rules and wargear options on this guy compared to alot of named sm chapter masters.

skolirvarden wrote:
Too much power. Way too much for just 160-170 pts.

Right off the bat I can see putting him in heavy cover, surrounded by Tac marines/Sternguard who just stay put and use the variable range to their advantage-on average, you're adding about 7 inches of extra range to some dangerous weapons, while he AP2 snipes anything coming close to the ~30 inch deadline.

It's a good concept for a character, but you need to dial him back a bit or make him insanely expensive.

You do realise that he is f*cked if he gets charged?

natpri771 wrote:

skolirvarden wrote:
Too much power. Way too much for just 160-170 pts.

Right off the bat I can see putting him in heavy cover, surrounded by Tac marines/Sternguard who just stay put and use the variable range to their advantage-on average, you're adding about 7 inches of extra range to some dangerous weapons, while he AP2 snipes anything coming close to the ~30 inch deadline.

It's a good concept for a character, but you need to dial him back a bit or make him insanely expensive.

You do realise that he is f*cked if he gets charged?

Not really. He's not a CC monster by any means, but hes roughly on par with a terminator librarian-able to hold his own in small combats, but you wont be throwing him in to any fights you don't have to. And with the rules you've added, relatively simple tactics (such as ringing him with sternguard) mean that no-one will ever get close enough for that to even matter, because of the 30 inch deadline you have around him for anything remotely dangerous

Lose the Vindicaire rounds, make him 200 points, and that sounds about right for a chapter master. I'd also lean towards no iron halo because he's supposed to be stealthy, maybe give him a bonus to his cover save like a camo cloak.

Yes, he's no primarch when it comes to close combat, but that's what you're going to sacrifice if you want him and his unit to be pure shooty. You're killing everything that comes within 30" of it that would make a scary charge, and if you do get in close he's still on the same tier as everything that isn't a pure stabby model.

Heres an example of a Chapter Master:


Usually when you make a Chapter Master it needs to be within reason.

A high ballistic skill of 7 is incredibly powerful.

Deadshot
72", S7, AP2, Precision Shot, Type: Heavy 1, Sniper
(Deadshot has access to all Vindicare rounds)

Well. Then.

Also stealthing Vechile Units is a pretty big deal.