So Grey Knights are supposed to be master psykers yet have a nerfed version of Smite.
I understand the need to create balance within the game otherwise Grey Knights would just smite everything off the table, but there should be a way to allow Grey Knight players to feel as if their troops are somewhat consistent with the fluff.
Here is how Rites of Banishment currently works:
Smite has a 12" range for Grey Knight psykers instead of the normal 18" for everyone else
Smite only does 1 mortal wound for Grey Knight psykers instead of D3 (or D6 on a 10+) for everyone else
Smite does an automatic 3 mortal wounds when targeting <Daemon> units
Perils cause d3 mortal wounds to Grey Knight units casting.
Here are a few proposed changes:
1) Allow Grey Knights to roll 3 dice when casting yet only keeping 2 for the purposes of manifesting the Smite ability only.
+ This would allow Grey Knight players to offset the severe imbalance associated with miscasting vs spamming 1 mortal wound at a time
+ This would also make the "average" caster among Grey Knights seem superior than standard casters in other factions (to help with the fluff) but:
- This could be seen as a significant boost to GK casting against any opponent who would have an even harder time trying to Deny The Witch. Then again, a single mortal wound per cast wouldn't be gamebreaking either
2) Allow Grey Knight units to reroll and/or outright cancel the casting (to avoid Perils) within 3" or 6" range of another friendly Grey Knight psyker unit:
+ This would help control the mortal wound backlash against Grey Knight players, yet it can also tie up two units from casting for the price of one.
- Grey Knights don't have very many units to begin with, so forcing them to cluster up to benefit from this proposed rule change may not be practical in various game types
3) Allow Grey Knight units to select a non-Character model when manifesting Smite at 10+
+ This would allow Grey Knight players to snipe heavy weapons, unit leaders, etc. but limiting it to a high roll only so it couldn't be reliably spammed
- This could get messy when allocating wounds to a multi-wound model where the unit has already taken wounds. It would conflict directly with the core rules
4) Allow Grey Knight units to deal 2 mortal wounds automatically when manifesting Smite at 10+
5) Allow Grey Knight players to select any unit within range that does not include the Character keyword
Just in case it needs to be said, the idea isn't to implement all five of these changes. But I'd love to hear community feedback on what people think of each individual proposed change and/or whether or not any change is needed at all.
Thanks for your time.
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