Malconvokers

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**JNAProductions**

Malconvokers are people who flirt with demons-summoning them to do good in the galaxy. While they risk tainting their own souls and many others, the power they wield allows them to do mighty deeds in the name of the Emperor-even if Big E himself might not approve of them.

There are two main types of Malconvokers, the Magus (a master of Daemon summoning, who has had their body infused with the essence of the Warp, strengthening them and making them as tough as a Space Marine) and Acolytes (who, while capable of summoning and controlling Daemons as a group, struggle on their own and rely on one another for assistance).

Note: If playing with Malconvokers, PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING CHANGE TO CURSED EARTH:

Add the following line to the Cursed Earth psychic power: "Cursed Earth cannot stack with itself, providing a maximum of a +1 bonus to a Daemon's Invulnerable save."

Malconvoker Magus

Spoiler:

Malconvoker Acolytes

Spoiler:

In addition to the main types of Malconvokers, there are those who dabble further into the arts, binding Daemons into themselves and becoming a physical powerhouse as a result.

Wrath of Khorne Malconvoker

Spoiler:

Joy of Nurgle Malconvoker

Spoiler:

Plot of Tzeentch Malconvoker

Spoiler:

Excess of Slaanesh Malconvoker

Spoiler:

Bound Daemons

Spoiler:

Note: Malconvokers, due to their immense rarity, may not make up more than 25% of your points total without explicit permission from your opponent.

**curran12**

That is not how demon lore works. Even in this tiny amount of fluff, they are the ultimate Mary Sue race.

Right down to Khronate psykers.

**JNAProductions**

They're based off Malconvokers from D&D.

I wasn't sure on the Khornate Psyker-so I'll remove that.

But are you saying that people binding daemons for their power, and then using that power for good, is THAT against the fluff?

Edit: Also, they're not a race-they're a type of regular ol' human. (Okay, regular is a stretch. Strong-willed and psychically gifted humans, more like.)

**curran12**

Yes. Because when you bind a demon to yourself, you don't have control over the demon, see Daemonhosts. And it isn't a matter of "the Imperium doesn't approve", it is a matter of "you do not control demons, they are wanting to kill and possess you the instant you make contact". By having an entire faction that can do this so effortlessly is why they are distastefully Mary Sue.

**JNAProductions**

If I gave the impression this was effortless, that was not intended. To keep it appropriately grimdark, I'd imagine that somewhere around 99+% of Malconvokers feth up and doom their home city/nation/planet to be consumed by daemons, with less than 1% actually succeeding. And even then, they'd be hated and shunned by most people (for appearing daemonic) and hunted by the Imperium, by and large. But some radical Inquisitors would definitely use them, and on fringe worlds where stuff like Orks or Necrons show up, I can see PDFs begrudgingly (and subtly, so as not to draw the wrath of the Empire down on them) using them.

Also, mechanically, are there issues?

**curran12**

Those are Daemonhosts, and they are not sane or controllable things. And trust me, no PDF is going to be THAT desperate.

**JNAProductions**

curran12 wrote:
Those are Daemonhosts, and they are not sane or controllable things. And trust me, no PDF is going to be THAT desperate.

Okay. You think the fluff sucks.

Are there issues with the mechanics?

**curran12**

Mechanically, it is full of issues.

You have a massive, massive horde of psychic power. As in, I can easily make an army that generates upwards of 20 power dice on my psychic phase. And since all of them have basic Malefic deaemonology, I have the most utterly broken summoning army to ever land in 40k.

Your basic demons to take in each unit are cheaper than they are in the actual codex.

**JNAProductions**

curran12 wrote:
Mechanically, it is full of issues.

You have a massive, massive horde of psychic power. As in, I can easily make an army that generates upwards of 20 power dice on my psychic phase. And since all of them have basic Malefic deaemonology, I have the most utterly broken summoning army to ever land in 40k.

Your basic demons to take in each unit are cheaper than they are in the actual codex.

50 Points for 1 Warp Charge on the troops. As compared to 90 for 1 on Tzeentch Daemons, but they can be upgraded to 2 for a mere 9 points.

60 Points for an ML 1 HQ-as compared to 45 for Tzeentch.

That being said, you have a point-an army of JUST these guys would not be fair., It'd drown the enemy in summoning spam. They're meant to be a small allied force for other factions, not a stand-alone army. I'll add in a note to reflect that-no more than 25% of your points may be spent on Malconvokers.

Also, they're the exact same price. 9 points for a basic lesser Daemon, 6 points for a fury.

**curran12**

25% of 1850 points is about 462 points, let's see how far we can go with this.

85 - Level 2 Magus
60 - Level 1 Magus
50 - Acolytes
50 - Acolytes
50 - Acolytes
50 - Acolytes
50 - Acolytes
50 - Acolytes

For just that rule there, I get 9 dice and 8 summoning units. This is crazy. You really need to consider how people would use something like this in an abusive way, rather than what your hopeful intent is.

**JNAProductions**

You do realize that they're 5 T3 5++ models? And the Magus is only a 2W T4 4+/5++ model, right?

And, furthermore, you do realize that for 466 points, you can nab 4 11 man squads of Pink Horrors (8 Warp Charges) and a Herald Of Tzeentch, ML 2 (2 more Warp Charges) for 10 total, for just 4 more points?

Or you can grab an Inquisitor (ML 1, 50 Points), 2 Henchmen (8 points) and a Psyker (10 Points) to get 2 Warp Charges for 68 points? That's 12 for just 408 points. And that gives you 12 summoning units, not just 8.

And yet you don't see Inquisitor summoning spam competitively. Weird, ain't it?

**AnomanderRake**

JNAProductions wrote:
You do realize that they're 5 T3 5++ models? And the Magus is only a 2W T4 4+/5++ model, right?

And, furthermore, you do realize that for 466 points, you can nab 4 11 man squads of Pink Horrors (8 Warp Charges) and a Herald Of Tzeentch, ML 2 (2 more Warp Charges) for 10 total, for just 4 more points?

Or you can grab an Inquisitor (ML 1, 50 Points), 2 Henchmen (8 points) and a Psyker (10 Points) to get 2 Warp Charges for 68 points? That's 12 for just 408 points. And that gives you 12 summoning units, not just 8.

And yet you don't see Inquisitor summoning spam competitively. Weird, ain't it?

More to the point if all you're doing is playing a Pink Horror-spam list that's spending an extra point per model for laspistols why aren't you playing Daemons in the first place?

I fail to see how this setup adds anything over just playing a Daemon army with proxy models.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

JNAProductions wrote:
Malconvokers are people who flirt with demons-summoning them to do good in the galaxy. While they risk tainting their own souls and many others, the power they wield allows them to do mighty deeds in the name of the Emperor-even if Big E himself might not approve of them...

I invite you to look up the concept of a 'Mary Sue' and see if you can work out why 'summoning Daemons to do good in the galaxy/do mighty deeds in the name of the Emperor' is a terrible place to start a piece of fluff.

**Stormonu**

Grey Knights have fluff of using daemon weapons, which are literally daemons bound into weapon form (ala Elric of Melinbone). I seem to recall Grey Knights also have daemons they have bound that they sometimes use on the battlefield (at least in the 5th ed fluff).

I would see Malconvokers as unique individuals on the level of a lead inquisitor (or perhaps as part of their retinue) or an imperial assassin; they wouldn't form into an army, but may be a single figure Elite or HQ choice in certain imperial armies.

As a side note, as I am sure you know, there are no "good guys" in 40K; everything is, at best, in shades of gray (hence, Gray Knights, not White Knights). This is very perilous stuff, and you may want to reflect that in increased chances of Perils when using psychic powers as the units "lose control" of their demonic binding.

**JNAProductions**

Stormonu wrote:
Grey Knights have fluff of using daemon weapons, which are literally daemons bound into weapon form (ala Elric of Melinbone). I seem to recall Grey Knights also have daemons they have bound that they sometimes use on the battlefield (at least in the 5th ed fluff).

I would see Malconvokers as unique individuals on the level of a lead inquisitor (or perhaps as part of their retinue) or an imperial assassin; they wouldn't form into an army, but may be a single figure Elite or HQ choice in certain imperial armies.

As a side note, as I am sure you know, there are no "good guys" in 40K; everything is, at best, in shades of gray (hence, Gray Knights, not White Knights). This is very perilous stuff, and you may want to reflect that in increased chances of Perils when using psychic powers as the units "lose control" of their demonic binding.

All they have is Malefic, so they Perils on any I made them Daemons.

I'll have them perils on any SUCCESSFUL doubles. Not as bad as ordinary librarians rolling on Malefic, not as good as Daemons.

Edit: I also dropped the Acolytes and Magus's Invuln down to a 6+.

**ALEXisAWESOME**

I wouldn't play against them, simply because I think the fluff is a little weird and I dislike summoning as a mechanic in general, so a force based around the subject is off putting to me. Similarly I dislike facing armies that have a huge psykic phase, people tend to take WAY to long on their psykic phase compared to even their shooting or assault phase. Too much book keeping.

However mechanically they are no worse of balanced than the rest of the mess 40K is at the moment, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Nothing stands out as being world endingly OP. There are no Wraith Knights flaunting balance costings, no scatterbikes making a mockery of internal balance, no flying Daemon Primarchs. You're fine. 40K is way to unbalanced to use comparative costings anyway due to the host of unpaid for buffs detachments bring.

If I were to give advise about the actual force, take it down a notch. Too much book keeping/fancy ass weird stuff for me to remember in a game. I'd suggest cutting down the 4 different god characters into 1 character who has a basic stat line and dedicating himself to a god gives him access to that gods armoury. Cleans the whole thing up a lot. Then add bound daemons as actual units that form the core of the army. (maybe with only a 6+ invul, but gain fearless instead of instability) and change up the Acolytes to be a support unit, perhaps giving up their movement, shooting and warp charge point to auto cast cursed earth.

Then move on from there.

**JNAProductions**

ALEXisAWESOME wrote:
I wouldn't play against them, simply because I think the fluff is a little weird and I dislike summoning as a mechanic in general, so a force based around the subject is off putting to me. Similarly I dislike facing armies that have a huge psykic phase, people tend to take WAY to long on their psykic phase compared to even their shooting or assault phase. Too much book keeping.

However mechanically they are no worse of balanced than the rest of the mess 40K is at the moment, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Nothing stands out as being world endingly OP. There are no Wraith Knights flaunting balance costings, no scatterbikes making a mockery of internal balance, no flying Daemon Primarchs. You're fine. 40K is way to unbalanced to use comparative costings anyway due to the host of unpaid for buffs detachments bring.

If I were to give advise about the actual force, take it down a notch. Too much book keeping/fancy ass weird stuff for me to remember in a game. I'd suggest cutting down the 4 different god characters into 1 character who has a basic stat line and dedicating himself to a god gives him access to that gods armoury. Cleans the whole thing up a lot. Then add bound daemons as actual units that form the core of the army. (maybe with only a 6+ invul, but gain fearless instead of instability) and change up the Acolytes to be a support unit, perhaps giving up their movement, shooting and warp charge point to auto cast cursed earth.

Then move on from there.

Thanks for the advice! I'm not sure the Elites should be made into one unit-the stat differences are pretty big.

I do like the support idea on Acolytes-leave the summoning to the Magi.

Edit: Acolytes can now ONLY know Cursed Earth, unless they take a Scholar, in which case, they can learn one of the Malefic Witchfires. (But no other powers-not even the primaris.)

If they give up moving OR shooting, they manifest on a 3+, and if they give up both, on a 2+. That applies only to them-not to attached ICs, so no summoning on 2+s with friendly Magi.

This does mean that it's easy to give them a 5+ Invuln save... And multiple squads can stack Cursed Earth for a better Invuln... Hrm. That's problematic.

I think I'll modify their Cursed Earth so that it can never improve to better than a 4+. Durable-but not ridiculously so.

Edit II: On second though, I'll just change Cursed Earth. Make it so it can only ever stack once.

**AnomanderRake**

Stormonu wrote:
Grey Knights have fluff of using daemon weapons, which are literally daemons bound into weapon form (ala Elric of Melinbone). I seem to recall Grey Knights also have daemons they have bound that they sometimes use on the battlefield (at least in the 5th ed fluff)...

For the record we tend to ignore those bits of our fluff on the grounds that they're stupid. Radical Inquisitors are one thing, Grey Knights are quite another.

Also most Daemon Weapons are material swords with a Daemon imprisoned within them, rather than the physical form of the Daemon transformed into the weapon. If the Daemon escapes there's a sword left behind afterwards.

**Stormonu**

AnomanderRake wrote:
Stormonu wrote:
Grey Knights have fluff of using daemon weapons, which are literally daemons bound into weapon form (ala Elric of Melinbone). I seem to recall Grey Knights also have daemons they have bound that they sometimes use on the battlefield (at least in the 5th ed fluff)...

For the record we tend to ignore those bits of our fluff on the grounds that they're stupid. Radical Inquisitors are one thing, Grey Knights are quite another.

Also most Daemon Weapons are material swords with a Daemon imprisoned within them, rather than the physical form of the Daemon transformed into the weapon. If the Daemon escapes there's a sword left behind afterwards.

Still, the idea comes from the Elric series (and Stormbringer); he is the quintessential Malconvoker - and GW used to publish the official game for Elric before it went to Chaosium; a lot of 40K Daemon lore and it's creatures come from Elric/Stormbringer sources.

Have you considered giving these models access to Chaos Boons to represent binding part of a daemon into their body?

**JNAProductions**

Stormonu wrote:
AnomanderRake wrote:
Stormonu wrote:
Grey Knights have fluff of using daemon weapons, which are literally daemons bound into weapon form (ala Elric of Melinbone). I seem to recall Grey Knights also have daemons they have bound that they sometimes use on the battlefield (at least in the 5th ed fluff)...

For the record we tend to ignore those bits of our fluff on the grounds that they're stupid. Radical Inquisitors are one thing, Grey Knights are quite another.

Also most Daemon Weapons are material swords with a Daemon imprisoned within them, rather than the physical form of the Daemon transformed into the weapon. If the Daemon escapes there's a sword left behind afterwards.

Still, the idea comes from the Elric series (and Stormbringer); he is the quintessential Malconvoker - and GW used to publish the official game for Elric before it went to Chaosium; a lot of 40K Daemon lore and it's creatures come from Elric/Stormbringer sources.

Have you considered giving these models access to Chaos Boons to represent binding part of a daemon into their body?

I have not considered it.

Considering now...

I don't think it's a good idea. Chaos Boons are random and oftentimes pointless, add a lot of rolling to the game for little benefit, and overall I don't think it would be worth the hassle to have the rule. But thanks for the idea!