Switch Theme:

Mechanical Concept: Hermetic Discipline for Thousand Sons  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




Hermetic Discipline
Before the battle, generate the psychic powers for PSYKER units from your army that know powers from the Hermetic discipline using the table below. You can either roll one D6 to generate each power randomly (re-rolling duplicate results), or you can select which powers the PSYKER knows.

Arcana
Each psychic power in the Hermetic discipline has six effects, called arcana. Each time a PSYKER unit from your army attempts to manifest a Hermetic psychic power, you must select which arcana that unit is attempting to manifest. Each arcana counts as a different psychic power, so in Matched Play games, PSYKER units from your army can attempt to manifest different arcana within the same psychic power in the same battle round.

Selecting Arcana
  • Each arcana within each psychic power is associated with a specific psychic power in the Hermetic discipline.
  • Each time a PSYKER from your army successfully manifests a Hermetic psychic power, after resolving that power, the arcana associated with that power become ascendant. Those arcana remain ascendant until the next time a PSYKER from your army successfully manifests a Hermetic psychic power.
  • Each time a PSYKER unit from your army attempts to manifest a Hermetic psychic power, you must select either the ascendant arcana, or the arcana associated with the power that unit is attempting to manifest.

  • For example, if an Aspiring Sorcerer in your army attempts to manifest the Wisdom of the Owl psychic power, you must select the Insight (Wisdom of the Owl) arcana, and all arcana associated with Wisdom of the Owl become ascendant. If another Aspiring Sorcerer then attempts to manifest the Flames of the Phoenix psychic power, you could select the Firestorm (Flames of the Phoenix) or Mindsear (Wisdom of the Owl) arcana for that psychic power.

    Flames of the Phoenix
    Flames of the Phoenix has a warp charge value of 6. If manifested, select an enemy unit that is within 18" of and visible to the PSYKER.
  • Firestorm (Flames of the Phoenix) - Witchfire: Roll nine D6s, adding 1 to the result if the unit you selected was the closest enemy unit visible to the PSYKER; for each roll of 6+, the selected unit suffers 1 mortal wound.
  • Flickershroud (Crown of the Ibis) Malediction: Until the start of your next Psychic phase, each time a model in the selected unit makes an attack, subtract 1 from the hit roll, and a hit roll of 1 cannot be re-rolled.
  • Fleshmelt (Art of the Peacock) - Malediction: Until the start of your next Psychic phase, halve the Movement characteristic (rounding up) of models in the selected unit, and subtract 1 from charge rolls or Advance rolls made for that unit.
  • Mindsear (Wisdom of the Owl) - Malediction: Until the start of your next Psychic phase, the selected unit cannot declare a charge against a unit other than the closest eligible target, and it is not eligible to fight in the Fight phase until all eligible units from your army have done so.
  • Ashblast (Talon of the Hawk) - Witchfire: The selected unit suffers 1 mortal wound. Roll one D6 for each enemy unit within 3" of the selected unit; on a 4+, that unit suffers 1 mortal wound.
  • Soulflare (Cunning of the Raven) - Malediction: Until the start of your next Psychic phase, when resolving an attack made against that unit by a friendly THOUSAND SONS unit, re-roll a wound roll of 1.
  • This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/06/23 16:05:41


     
       
    Made in dk
    Loyal Necron Lychguard






    So this is just a sixth of the discipline right? What are your goals with this? What do success and failure look like?

    Firestorm is far better than Tzeentch’s Firestorm, easier to cast, extra damage on a good casting roll and double damage if the target doesn't have a screen and you sometimes get another spell if you have cast a different hermetic spell previously. It should probably be 3 dice instead of 9 because of these reasons.

    Some of the alt-casts should probably be nerfed as well but I don't feel like diving in too deep. Consider making it 3 psychic powers, so you get a 3x3=9 powers.

    Spoiler:
    Before the battle, generate insights for PSYKER units from your army into the Hermetic discipline as you would generate psychic powers for other disciplines. You can either roll one D3 to determine each insight randomly (re-rolling duplicate results), or you can select which insights the PSYKER knows.

    1 Crown of the Ibis: Hermetic Blessing powers
    2 Talon of the Hawk: Hermetic Witchfire powers
    3 Cunning of the Raven: Hermetic Malediction powers

    Crown of the Ibis
    *The Mystic Dome psychic power is available to all psykers with insight into Crown of the Ibis.
    *The Secrets of Levitation psychic power is available to psykers with insight into Crown of the Ibis if a Hermetic Witchfire power has been cast this phase.
    *The Flickershroud psychic power is available to psykers with insight into Crown of the Ibis if a Hermetic Malediction power has been cast this phase.

    Mystic Dome

    Flickershroud

    Secrets of Levitation

    Talon of the Hawk
    *The Dark Phoenix psychic power is available to all psykers with insight into Talon of the Hawk.
    *The Ashblast psychic power is available to psykers with insight into Talon of the Hawk if a Hermetic Blessing power has been cast this phase.
    *The Fleshmelt psychic power is available to psykers with insight into Talon of the Hawk if a Hermetic Malediction power has been cast this phase.

    Dark Phoenix

    Ashblast

    Fleshmelt

    Cunning of the Raven
    *The Haemophilic Fixation psychic power is available to all psykers with insight into Cunning of the Raven.
    *The Forbidden Revelation psychic power is available to psykers with insight into Cunning of the Raven if a Hermetic Blessing power has been cast this phase.
    *The Mindsear psychic power is available to psykers with insight into Cunning of the Raven if a Hermetic Witchfire power has been cast this phase.

    Haemophilic Fixation

    Forbidden Revelation

    Mindsear

    This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2021/06/23 17:15:55


     
       
    Made in gb
    Dakka Veteran




     vict0988 wrote:
    So this is just a sixth of the discipline right? What are your goals with this? What do success and failure look like?
    The main goal is to bypass the "you can only attempt each psychic power once" restriction. This is extraordinarily limiting for Thousand Sons, who have access to 13 total powers, and for whom almost every unit is a psyker. By comparison, Marines get 18 for just a few psykers, and Eldar get 24.

    Turning each psychic power into 6 psychic powers, of which each psyker can access 2 versions at any given time, means that Thousand Sons have access to 36 distinct powers for casting, with greater flexibility on each individual sorcerer, while promoting more variety in how they're used (since you won't/can't just pick and choose the best of the 36).

    Tying access to each power to the last power you used means the massive boost in flexibility is somewhat limited, as you need to plan ahead, schedule your powers properly, and you can be knocked off-balance by a well-timed Deny. All of which feels quite Tzeentchian.

    Do you feel it's too complicated? Too powerful, on a basic level of flexibility?

     vict0988 wrote:
    Consider making it 3 psychic powers, so you get a 3x3=9 powers.
    The 9 symbolism is very attractive, and your version is cool, but it's unfortunately not enough to really get over the hump of not having enough psychic powers... and hey, 36 is a multiple of 9...
       
    Made in us
    Fixture of Dakka





    I feel like this is too complicated for the problem you're trying to solve. If your goal is basically to give 1k Sons more access to decent powers, here are some possible alternative approaches off the top of my head:

    A.) Just revise the existing disciplines they have access to. There are a few options that I never really go for. Changing those into something more usable would, on its own, probably help a lot.

    B.) Do it eldar Runes of Battle style where each power has two ways to be cast. This is sort of like your initial pitch but with way fewer powers needing to be written and less complication for the player.

    C.) Just increase the number of powers known by 1k sons psykers. You'll still give each psyker one of the first-stringer powers, but you'll also want to take some of the second-stringer powers so that the psyker can still be useful after a different psyker has cast the first-string power.

    D.) Create a discipline full of powers that you feel would be balanced even if a player spammed one of those powers. Then add a rule saying you can cast powers from that discipline any number of times in a given turn. So maybe it would be OP to cast Warp Time every turn, but how about a WC 4 power that just lets you advance and shoot without penalty or add a flat 3" to your movement for the turn?


    ATTENTION
    . Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
     
       
     
    Forum Index » 40K Proposed Rules
    Go to: