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I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and when going through the powers, doctrines, etc of CSM I came to the Chaos Boon table. I'm a bit confused about how the effect of a character becoming a Spawn or Prince works out exactly. It says that they don't cost any reinforcement points and it also doesn't say anything about what wargear they have. The Spawn don't have any options, but the Prince has a few. Is there a table that dictates what options they come in with, do they just have the basic kit, or is it the controllers choice how the Prince is kitted out when it comes in (would make the most sense if it came in with whatever was closest to the original characters wargear.)? Does the lost character model count against you or for the enemy for some reason or is it simply replaced by the new model entirely (neither of these make any sense lore or gameplay wise since the character changed rather than died.)? Does the "slain" character cause some sort of Leadership test for losing a character or is that waived because it's not actually dead, just changed (I mean lore wise it would make a lot of sense for the army to gain a buff if one of their leaders suddenly ascended to Daemonhood as a Prince or a debuff if they descended into Spawndom.)? If you're doing narrative play, do you replace the character with the new model and transfer over all experience and relevant buffs that can transfer over (this make the most sense narratively speaking in my opinion as I believe that's what would happen in lore. Magnus and Mortarion for example ascended to Daemonhood and didn't lose their knowledge, power, experience, and toys.)?

If someone could explain all the most important interactions and effects this would have, it would be much appreciated.

From the Chaos Space Marines FAQ:

Q: If I roll a 12 on the Chaos Boon table, when adding a Daemon Prince to my army, which Daemon Prince datasheet should I use – the Daemon Prince or the Daemon Prince of Chaos? In addition, what wargear options can it take?
A: Use the Daemon Prince datasheet from Codex: Chaos Space Marines. The model can be equipped with any of its normal wargear options, providing you have the right model and it is built appropriately.

The rules for the boon table itself say that the original character is 'slain', so they would count as dead for most purposes. This would not normally cause any morale check since it can only be used on character units, which are usually single models. Whether it would count against you for mission objectives and so on depends on the exact wording - the character counts as being killed, but the opponent will not get credit for killing him.

There is no additional guidance on how to handle transformed characters for campaign play. I think the fairest way is probably to have the character revert to their original form at the end of the battle, although this is clearly not particularly fluffy or cool. If your opponents are fine with it then you can figure out some home rules to balance things. It would probably be best to agree how to handle it before it actually happens though, because all opinions will be swayed depending on whether you got a favourable transformation or a bad one

Basically you get a Daemon Prince. We look at the Daemon Prince Dataslate and it says:

A Daemon Prince is a single model armed with a hellforged sword and a set of malefic talons.

So that is what you get.

It would need to say that you are allowed to choose options to get options. Since it does not say you can replace any wargear you simply do not have the option to replace any wargear. (Permissive ruleset and all (Barring an FAQ I missed)).

Edit: Apparently the FAQ changed the rules and says "The model can be equipped with any of its normal wargear options..." So there is that.

I unironically love GW's FAQ answer:

Player, "What can my Daemon Prince be armed with?"
GW, "What is your Daemon Prince armed with?"

Q: If I roll a 12 on the Chaos Boon table, when adding a Daemon Prince to my army, which Daemon Prince datasheet should I use – the Daemon Prince or the Daemon Prince of Chaos? In addition, what wargear options can it take?
A: Use the Daemon Prince datasheet from Codex: Chaos Space Marines. The model can be equipped with any of its normal wargear options, providing you have the right model and it is built appropriately.

Would I be right in thinking that this is the one and only instance of WYSIWYG in the Rules?

Aash wrote:

Q: If I roll a 12 on the Chaos Boon table, when adding a Daemon Prince to my army, which Daemon Prince datasheet should I use – the Daemon Prince or the Daemon Prince of Chaos? In addition, what wargear options can it take?
A: Use the Daemon Prince datasheet from Codex: Chaos Space Marines. The model can be equipped with any of its normal wargear options, providing you have the right model and it is built appropriately.

Would I be right in thinking that this is the one and only instance of WYSIWYG in the Rules?

Not really. A lot of the options a unit can have are based around what options the kit provides.

Depending on how you read the rules, there are no strict WYSIWYG rules in the current rules set. However, in this case, GW literally says the options your Chaos Boon Daemon Prince has are the ones on the model you deploy.

Thanks, this has been most helpful, though it leaves with more questions. What is it about narrative play that it makes more sense to revert a character back to original after the battle. That goes against the idea of narrative play in my mind as the I believe the point of narrative play is to force the players into a more tactical mindset with every decision having potential consequences, good or bad. I thought the idea was to have a continuous story for the army formed, gaining experience and accolades through glorious combat, or even losing members and being wiped out by failures and set backs. Why would a character becoming a Prince or Spawn by the will of the Dark Gods be any different? If you don't want the Prince or Spawn in your army or you're worried about balance, you could always say that the new Prince or Spawn left or is no longer leading your army in battle for some reason and raise a different character in their place, or alternatively say some fresh reinforcements or lost squads joined the opposing side if your concern is making the power level or points value match. That is what would make the most narrative sense to me.

I agree that it makes more narrative sense, but if your force is small then you could cripple it by essentially destroying your main character. If he instead ascends to daemonhood then you either unbalanced the campaign by getting an expensive unit for free or, if your group's solution is to adjust his 'cost' (not excactly sure how campaign rules work), then you may not be able to field him without ditching half of your other units. To me it is weird to so significantly skew the balance of power of your whole campaign based on one dice roll.

Like I say though, if your group thinks it is more fun to leave that possibility in there then go for it.

Well, unfortunately I don't currently have a group, so it's just me, myself, and I trying to figure out how things do, can, and should work.

 SergentSilver wrote:
Thanks, this has been most helpful, though it leaves with more questions. What is it about narrative play that it makes more sense to revert a character back to original after the battle.

It doesn't make much sense in a narrative game, IMHO. I avoid the stratagem in Crusade for that reason.

If you do get to find a group that plays Crusade, see if they'd be happy to let you use the Chaos Boon rules from the Death Guard Codex. Those make much more narrative sense than the strat.

 Cheex wrote:

 SergentSilver wrote:
Thanks, this has been most helpful, though it leaves with more questions. What is it about narrative play that it makes more sense to revert a character back to original after the battle.

It doesn't make much sense in a narrative game, IMHO. I avoid the stratagem in Crusade for that reason.

If you do get to find a group that plays Crusade, see if they'd be happy to let you use the Chaos Boon rules from the Death Guard Codex. Those make much more narrative sense than the strat.

I'll try to get a look at that codex and see what you mean, but I'll try to keep that option in mind regardless.

I have finally determined definitively that it would not count for the enemy according to this part of the 9th Ed BRB:

Some rules will only trigger if an enemy unit was destroyed by you, or by a model or unit from
your army - this means that the last model in the enemy unit was destroyed by an attack (pg
220) made by a model in your army, or it was destroyed because it fled the battlefield (pg 233),
or it was destroyed by a mortal wound (pg 222) inflicted by a rule that a model in your army is
using, or it was destroyed as the result of any other rule that a model in your army is using that
explicitly states that the enemy model is outright destroyed. Enemy units that are destroyed by
any other means are not destroyed by you, or by a unit or model from your army.

Since the Chaos Boon is a part of your own army, not the enemies, they get nothing from the "death" of the model.