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So I just thought up some quick changes that could help boost some of the weaker or underused units and equipment. This is by no means an end-all-be-all of what I think they should be, but it's just some ideas for you all to look at and get further inspiration:
______________________________

- NEW PROPOSED RULES FOR THE RULEBOOK –

COURAGEOUS
Add this rule to the rule book:
“Despite the horrors of the galaxy and constant warfare around them, some denizens of the galaxy can muster the courage to face them head on. A model with the Courageous Special Rule rolls an additional d6 when making any Leadership check, and removes on of their choice.”

This could be used in a lot of places instead of Fearless, or maybe even instead of ATSKNF for several things. Rather than just make a section of the rules meaningless (Morale, Fear, etc.) lets instead add something in to make the checks still happen, but give a better chance of success. Plus, removing one of the player’s choice gives them the option to fail the check; the model may be brave but not stupid, right?

UNSTOPPABLE
“Some things just keep on coming. Whether an overwhelming horde of critters or a lucky hero, the most powerful weapons seem to be ineffective against these targets. Whenever a Model would suffer the effects of Instant Death, roll a dice if the model fails its Save. On a 6, the Model only suffers 1 Wound. On 4 or 5, it suffers 2 wounds. One a 2 or 3, the Model suffers 3 Wounds. On a 1, the Models suffers Instant Death as normal.

If the Model or Unit suffered more than one Unsaved Wound that would cause Instant Death, resolve each Unstoppable roll one at a time.

If, for whatever reason, a Model should have both Eternal Warrior and Unstoppable, the model would use Eternal Warrior, and Unstoppable would not take effect until Eternal Warrior is somehow lost.”

I like how old Swarms were able to actually, you know, SWARM things. I feel that this is a good way to give them a quick buff that helps them with that, plus it could be given to large monsters or medium-tiered heroes. I propose them and a couple other Models getting it below. Can you think of any other models that might make good use of this rule?
______________________________

- CURRENT RULES FROM THE RULEBOOK –

D-WEAPONS
Change D-Weapons to be the following, getting rid of that table:

“All D-Weapons counts as being Strength 10, and have the Armorbane, Fleshbane, Ignores Cover, Instant Death, Ordnance, Pinning, and Shred Special Rules. Against models with an Armor Value, D-Weapons increase their roll on the Vehicle and Building Damage Table by 1 (in addition to any other bonus provided by AP value or other bonuses.”

D-Weapons are just too game breaking to me as is. Does anyone else agree?

ORDNANCE WEAPONS
Change the wording of the rule to the following:
"When rolling Armor Penetration rolls, roll an additional d6 and take the highest result. When rolling To Wound, any unsaved wound does d3 Wounds to the model (does not overkill into another model in the unit)."

Removing the penalty to forcing other weapons on the model to Snap Fire is a simplification of rules in addition to buffing what many players consider to be "weaker" vehicle loadouts. (I mean, who has Ordnance Weapons aside from Super Heavies? Imperial Guard, Space Marines, and Necrons, and some Orks. By removing it, what happens? I don’t think that making these units any more powerful is too scary of an idea. Does anyone else?)

This would make the following changes:
- Leman Russ Battle Tanks and Demolishers can fire their sponson weapons at BS3, which aren’t really that scary and they have to pay points for anyways.
- Vindicators can fire their Storm Bolters/Combi-Bolters, which are marginally more powerful with the above proposed rules.
- Monoliths can fire their Particle Whips without issue.
- Shokk Attack Guns get better against Monstrous Creatures (or maybe not, what with its goofy awesome table).

STOMPS
Change the rule to the following, replace the table in the book:

“A Model with the Stomp Special Rule can make a Stomp Attack in melee. At Initiative 1, the model makes d6 attacks at its unmodified Strength against one unit with which it is in combat.”

Anyone else feel like the current Stomp is a mixed bag? I think this makes Stomp a little better and a little worse at the same time. No more Remove From Play effect or blast markers, but it increases its available attacks.

SWARMS
Add the following Special Rule to Swarms: Unstoppable
______________________________

- MUTLI-ARMY WEAPONS -

HEAVY BOLTERS
Add to this weapon the following rule:
"When rolling To Wound with this weapon, any To Wound of 6 gains the Ignore Cover Special Rule."

Makes them a bit tougher, and feels fluffy when looking at Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors, and would be good without changing their points values.

LASCANNONS
Add to these weapons the following rule:
"Any time a model suffers an unsaved Wound from a Lascannon, roll a die. On a 3+, that model suffers a Wound with no profile, all saves allowed as for normal wounds. This Wound does not inflict Instant Death, and cannot generate additional Wounds after the first one."

Against Vehicles, any time a model suffers an unsaved Glancing or Penetrating Hit, roll a die. On a 3+, that model suffers another Glancing Hit, Cover and Invulnerable Saves allowed as normal. This additional hit cannot generate additional Glancing hits after the first one.

This is done to make Lascannons a little more powerful for their points without making them terribly OP. Compare them a Grav-weapon, which is able to disintegrate vehicles and tough models with some lucky rolls. By giving Lascannons a chance to do more damage, it brings it up a bit on a successful roll rather than just blasting things away outright.

PLASMA PISTOLS
Add to these weapons the following rule:
"A model fighting in melee that is equipped with a Plasma Pistol improves the AP value of their Close Combat Attacks by 1."

For example, a Power Sword and Lightning Claw are now AP2, a Power Maul becomes AP3, and Power Fists, Thunder Hammers, and Power Axes become AP1. A model equipped with a Plasma Pistol with no special melee weapon gains AP6 in melee, and a model equipped with two Plasma Pistols in melee gains AP5 in melee.

This gives players a reason to equip a model with a Plasma Pistol and upgraded Melee weapon and justify the points cost.

STORM BOLTERS & COMBI-BOLTERS
Add to these weapons the following rule:
"When a model is able to fire this weapons at its full BS at a target, the model can instead shoot in a hail of fire. For this attack, do not roll to hit. Instead, inflict d3 automatic Hits on the target. Roll to wound as normal at the weapon’s profile. If a unit has to fire as Snap Shots, then roll to shoot as normal."

Makes standard Terminators more effective against swarms without making the ones mounted on vehicles over powered. This can only be fired at a target within range, obviously. So a unit of ten Terminators shooting at an enemy unit are throwing 10d3 shots at S4 AP5. But considering their costs and non-increased survivability, they come in, pop a unit of infantry, and get blasted away. You wouldn’t get this firing with the unit’s Heavy Weapons obviously.
______________________________

- NEW WARGEAR -

COOLING VENTS
A new piece of wargear available to units and models that can take Plasma Pistols, Plasma Guns, and Plasma Cannons:

Cooling Vents
"A model equipped with a set of Cooling Vents does not suffer a Wound or Glancing Hit when rolling a 1 for their Gets Hot! Roll. The shot is still unable to fire."

Available to models at 5 points per Gets Hot! weapon equipped. Devestators w/ Plasma Cannons just need one, while a Leman Russ Executioner w/ Plasma Cannon sponsons would need three, and a model with double Plasma Pistols would need up to two, to be safe from the effects of Gets Hot! without gaining crazy effectiveness. Basically, spend some points to keep your models alive a bit longer? Would it be worth it on a model with a good save? Is it worth taking over Meltabombs? Decisions…
______________________________

- TYRANIDS -

SYNAPSE
Add the following to their current rules:
"A model with range of Synapse (including itself) increases its Invulnerable Save by 1 to a maximum of 3++. If a model does not already have an Invulnerable Save, it gains a 6++ Invulnerable save.

Additionally, each friendly Tyranid model under Synapse gains the Unstoppable Special Rule.”

This is not a FOR EACH rule, but a WHILE rule; no putting a bunch of Synapse creatures together for a really powerful bubble.

This would help out Tyranids, yes? Plus it could give some room for a Warlord Trait or Psychic Power to increase its effectiveness.
______________________________

- ORKS -

BOSS POLE
Change the rule to the following:
“When a model equipped with a Boss Pole is in a unit that fails a Morale or Fear check of any kind, it must inflict a single Wound on the Unit to force a Re-roll for that test, all saves allowed as normal.”

Is this what the Boss Pole currently is? I haven’t looked at the Ork Codex in a year and I don’t remember it at all. If the Boss Pole is currently good, then disregard me

CYBORK BODY
Make this give Orks +1 to their Feel No Pain rolls. If Space Marines get FNP increased for having Cybernetics, why wouldn’t Orks?

MOB RULE
Change this rule to the following:
“The Unit’s Leadership, for purposes of Morale checks and Combat Resolution, is always equal to the number of models in the Unit if the unit size is higher than its Leadership, to a maximum of 10. Additionally, apply the following:
- If the Unit is at full strength from deployment, it can re-roll its first Morale or Fear check in the game.
- If the Unit’s size is at least 10 and no more than 15, it is Stubborn.
- If the Unit’s size is over 15, it is Fearless.”

The current Mob Rule for Orks is overly complicated and not really beneficial. I remember liking the old 5th edition Mob Rule for Orks, so I figured that would be a good start.

______________________________

- CHAOS SPACE MARINES –

AND THEY SHALL KNOW NO FEAR
Give this rule as an optional to non-fearless Chaos Space Marine Codex units (Chaos Marines, Bikers, Raptors, Havocs, Chosen, etc.) for 10 points for the squad. Not obtainable by Daemon, Vehicle or Cultist units. Apply to any of the Supplements or alternate Codexes (Codices?) as appropriate (Khorne Daemonkin, Traitor Legions, et al.). This is to represent recently turned Loyalist Astartes who still maintain some of their mental conditioning when going into battle as Traitors.

HQ CHOICES
Add the Unstoppable rule to Typhus and Kharn. Don't you think they could use it? Who else could use it?
______________________________

Thoughts and comments? I am always thinking of ways to make games more fun, and I feel this would bring some stuff up, bring other down, and not make those that use them complain too much.

Courageous-I like it.

Unstoppable-Feels a bit finicky. I like the concept, but it feels a little... Unrefined.

D-Weapon change seems okay.

Ordnance change is good.

Stomp change seems... Okay, I guess. While I do like removing the 6 result and buffing the 2-5 result, I kinda like using the blast for stomps.

Swarm change is fine.

Heavy Bolter change just seems weird, and doesn't buff it that much.

I would just outright make Lascannons do two wounds/HP.

The Plasma Pistol change actually seems pretty cool! It'd have to be tested to see if it's balanced, but I like it.

Storm/Combi Bolter change seems cool.

Cooling Vents should be priced differently based on the weapon, but I like it.

Synapse change is good.

Boss Pole is good.

Cybork should give basic (5+) FNP if they have none, and increase by 1 if they already have it.

Mob Rule good.

ATSKNF to CSM? Yay!

Unstoppable should be had by all the Champions of Chaos-except maybe Lucius, but then he should have some special rule where he takes over the person who slew him.

How about, for Stomps, the model may forgo its normal attacks to make an equal number of Stomps at I1, using the model's strength, hitting at AP2, and using the Small Blast template?
That way, it's actually a decision for the Stomping player. Do I make my normal attacks to try and kill big bads, or do I stomp hordes to death?

Also, I'd make D weapons force re-rolls on Invulns, since their current role is supposed to be a Deathstar killer anyways.

For the tyranid synapse, I think a Feel No Pain would be better. I like the idea of getting invulns across the board but it doens't make much sense to me fluffwise at least. The hivemind is pushing them forward regardless of their instinct for self preservation, so if a limb gets blown off by a bolt shell they'll keep coming but if they get splatted by a battle cannon, they're done. In most cases it won't be different as most armies ignore the nids armour in the first place

That plasma pistol buff to melee AP feels very, random. It makes no sense why holding a pistol would have any impact on your non-pistol weapon.

Also am I missing something but I think your change to D weapons is a buff. At least against infantry.
Automatically getting ignores cover means they can change tear through infantry squads like they aren't even there, the only things able to stand in their way are storm shields and similar.

The D-weapon change is a massive buff. Never have to worry even the tiniest bit about any kind of MC again, poke it with a Distortion gun and it vanishes.

The basic issue with Destroyer weapons doesn't have much to do with the Destroyer rule, it's that some imbecile decided that Distortion needed to be Destroyer in the Eldar Codex. Most Destroyer weapons are superheavy main guns that can be easily controlled by adding the 30k Lords of War restriction (25% of your total points) to the game so you're usually only getting one or two.

The fix that really needs to happen is to the non-superheavy-mounted distortion weapons available to the Eldar (wraithcannon, d-scythe, heavy d-scythe, d-cannon, d-flail, and Lynx pulsar); I'd make the d-scythe and d-cannon S4/AP2 with Armourbane and Fleshbane, the d-cannon and d-flail S6/AP2 with Armourbane and Fleshbane, and the wraithcannon and Lynx pulsar S10/AP2 with Armourbane and Fleshbane.

Basically: Keep them a threat to all things, don't let them casually RFP large portions of the game with no chance of failure. They're supposed to be stupidly destructive guns, but they can be stupidly destructive guns without being an overly cost-effective one-stop answer to all things.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for the plasma pistol change there's a part of me that wants to suggest letting models make melee attacks with their pistol's profile; I agree with Kiro's point that it's pretty random applied as a buff to a different weapon and making it apply only to plasma pistols seems pretty odd (why do plasma pistols help in melee but inferno pistols, blast pistols, fusion pistols, etc. don't?).

I think itc d weapons are fine. It is indeed the fact that eldar can spam distortion that is the real issue.

Lascanons need to remove two wounds to be remotely useful.

Martel732 wrote:
...Lascanons need to remove two wounds to be remotely useful...

If I were to try and generalize from this statement I could say that the 'Instant Death/Explodes or one Wound/HP' dynamic we've got going isn't going to cut it; there's got to be some sort of middle ground. Most vehicles need more hull points, and most big anti-tank guns need to strip more than one Wound/HP per shot; lascannons aren't the only thing stuck in pray-for-6s hell, 2+-armour MCs are too difficult to do anything to, and non-superheavies need some protection against the HP-stripping meta.

This isn't a 'minor rules and weapon tweak', but making a lascannon do multiple wounds without making changes to anything else that needs that sort of change (Bright Lances/Dark Lances, railguns, multi-meltas, Vanquisher cannons, etc.) would be a poorly-considered decision, to my mind.

The other stuff wasn't mentioned. It all needs a buff.

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

@ JNAProductions
I thought all of these up while having a slow day at work, and figured I would just throw them up here to see what other players think. Glad you like most of them! But you are right on your critiques: Unstoppable needs to be tweaked (maybe the model suffers d3 wounds on a filed save, so still almost as good as Eternal Warrior).

@ Waaaghpower
Those Stomp attacks would probably work better. I am just not a fan of Remove From Play ever being in the game, and your version adds a tactical decision to the user, which is always cool.

@ dsmith10
I considered that. My thinking is that, since the Hive Mind is a Warp Entity, adding a more "mystical" element to Synapse might be cool, like how Daemons and Sisters of Battle get Invulnerable saves from the effects of the Warp, maybe Tyranids could work as well? To be fair, I haven't looked at the Tyranid book in many months, and I do not know how the new Formations help them out with buffs, etc.

@ kirotheavenger
Regarding the Plasma Pistol buffs, I am tying to think of a way that Plasma Pistols can be made desirable to have on a character who already spent points for a weapon upgrade.

Regarding D-Weapons, I was stretching my mind trying to figure out how to make it work better in my mind. The more I think about them, I realize that I would change them to something else. Let me think...

@ AnomanderRake
Yeah, I agree. I wasn't thinking about Distortion Cannons being D-Weapons for Eldar (I haven't played against Eldar in so long I completely forgot that was a thing!). I did make them a bit too much in hindsight. My biggest issue with D-Weapons is being able to bring them into standard, non-Apocalypse games, and should be on the biggest of the big things (I mean, I only know of one Astra Miliaturum/Imperial Guard Super Heavy that gets a D-Weapon, and it's a single shot Large Blast too.

I felt that Lascannons need a buff, but those other weapons, in my eye. I agree, we do need a middle ground between 'Instant Death/Explodes" and "one Wound/HP", and this seemed like a good start with which to experiment. My problem is that I am in an Imperium vacuum when recalling from memory how weapons work. I could easily see those weapons you mentioned doing more than one wound against targets due to their sheer strength and brute power.

Back to Plasma Pistols, as I mentioned, I am trying to make them desirable to take on a model alongside a weapon upgrade. I would love to write up rules for how the other pistols might work in melee without a massive change in points, but I haven't thought of anything else for them yet (thought I might just start up a thread for that now! ).

@ Martel732
I am not at all familiar with ITC rules and updates in any way. I haven't looked up their rules, so my changes are made without theirs in my mind at all.

And yeah, those other "powerful guns" need buffs as well. I just haven't looked at a non-Imperium Codex in many, many months, so I didn't think of those weapons.
______________________________

So here's my updated D-Weapon idea, with the assumption that they stay in standard games (non-Apocalypse):

D-WEAPONS
Change D-Weapons to be the following:

“When a model with a Toughness value is hit by a D-Weapon, roll a d6: On a 1, the model is unscathed; nothing happens. On a 2 through 5, the model suffers d3+1 Wounds. On a 6, the model suffers d6+1 Wounds. Saves may be taken as normal, but successful Saves must be re-rolled. If a model or unit suffers Wounds from a D-Weapon that has an ability or rule that allows it re-roll failed Saves, then that ability is cancelled out by the D-Weapon's, and the Save is no re-rolled; the initial roll is the result.

When a model with an Armor Value is hit by a D-Weapon, roll a d6: On a 1, the model is unscathed; nothing happens. On a 2 through 5, the models suffers d3 Hits. On a 6, the model suffers d6 hits. These hits are then resolved against the model at Strength 10, with the weapon's AP profile. Count the target model's Armor Value as 1 lower than normal when rolling to determine for Glancing or Penetrating Hits."

Is that a little better for D-Weapons?

Much better. Add in a clause, though, that D hits are (usually) resolved at S10 against people with Toughness Values, so as to double out anything T5 or less.

ITC D weapons are the same as GW except a "6" is only 3 hps/wounds with no saves of any kind.

I would suggest Pistols just become a CC weapon with their normal profile. For weapons such as a Melta Pistol, it's melee profile could have Armourbane, or a Plasma Pistol could inflict 1 wound on the wielder on the To-Hit roll of 1, as normal.

 Deadshot wrote:
I would suggest Pistols just become a CC weapon with their normal profile. For weapons such as a Melta Pistol, it's melee profile could have Armourbane, or a Plasma Pistol could inflict 1 wound on the wielder on the To-Hit roll of 1, as normal.

Maybe if they gave you the option to exchange 1 normal attack for 1 pistol shot. Rolling to hit like a melee attack.
Because as it is making pistols a melee weapon would mean Infernus pistols (melta pistols) would be a powerfist, but a lot better, and a lot cheaper. Similar thing for plasma pistols.
Perhaps template pistols (eg hand flamer) would inflict D3 hits? Similar to Wall of Death.

 kirotheavenger wrote:

 Deadshot wrote:
I would suggest Pistols just become a CC weapon with their normal profile. For weapons such as a Melta Pistol, it's melee profile could have Armourbane, or a Plasma Pistol could inflict 1 wound on the wielder on the To-Hit roll of 1, as normal.

Maybe if they gave you the option to exchange 1 normal attack for 1 pistol shot. Rolling to hit like a melee attack.
Because as it is making pistols a melee weapon would mean Infernus pistols (melta pistols) would be a powerfist, but a lot better, and a lot cheaper. Similar thing for plasma pistols.
Perhaps template pistols (eg hand flamer) would inflict D3 hits? Similar to Wall of Death.

Perhaps limit pistols to only a single attack when used as a melee weapon would be an option? Of course, for single attack models it would still be good, but for most things getting a Power Fist, they have 2 or more attacks base, so would be swapping attacks for punch. I like you're D3 hits for templates though, those could be very useful against horde enemies.

The initial idea came from standard assault infantry with a plain CC weapon and a pistol, such as assault marines, who a pretty trash, but would suddenly become Str 4 AP 5 in melee, without having to change the basic rules for chainswords. OTher examples might be Slugga Boyz, Stormboyz, Wyches, etc.

In case of a plasma pistol, the balance is had by the added chance of death and lower strength. Infernus Pistols would be an odd case, but you could simply bump the price slightly, or drop the PF price to compensate.

How about only models that would have 3 or more attacks in any melee phase can exchange one attack for a pistol attack?

That means on the charge Assault Marines get an attack with their pistols but afterwards cannot. Something like that?

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
How about only models that would have 3 or more attacks in any melee phase can exchange one attack for a pistol attack?

That means on the charge Assault Marines get an attack with their pistols but afterwards cannot. Something like that?

Personally I find that overly complicated and restrictive. It also just doesn't make sense from a narrative point of view. Why, for example, can an Assault Marine or Space Marine Sergeant use his pistol in melee but a regular space marine cannot?

I'm not trying to shoot you down btw! I'm just looking at it from a game perspective in that it adds needless restrictions. Plus, it would add something to melee units like Slugga Boyz, who could be Str 4 AP 5 in melee instead of Str 3 AP -, greatly improving their combat capabilities. By limiting it to a single attack as well, you could provide a great balance for many units, such as the 30 Slugga Boyz being forced to choose between 3 Str 3 Ap - attacks, for a total of 90 small hitting attacks, or 30 Str 4 AP 5 attacks (obviously unaffected by things like Furious Charge). The same could also apply to, for example, a Captain, who could choose between 4 Str 4 AP 3 attacks with his power sword, or a single Str 7 AP2 Plasma Pistol attack wth Get's Hot.

The ferocity of many melee attacks that a pistol goes off + commanders (which typically have that many attacks) have more skill to execute those kinds of attacks?

That's kinda my justification for that idea anyway.

Slayer-Fan123 wrote:
How about only models that would have 3 or more attacks in any melee phase can exchange one attack for a pistol attack?

That means on the charge Assault Marines get an attack with their pistols but afterwards cannot. Something like that?

That seems overly complex.
For regular assault marines giving each guy a single AP5 attack, or even making all of them all AP5 wouldn't really make a lot of difference.
Where it would make a difference is when presented by the option of plasma or grav pistols, or even infernus pistols or hand flamers. In this instance it would give assault marines a genuine reason to take a plasma pistol over a melta gun. The issue then becomes the infernus pistol would be very good for it's points. Maybe they could be bumped up to 20pts? Although I personally think that 15pts is already kinda steep for a 6'' range pistol.

Actually, D weapons are stupidly strong for the size of a standard 40k game. A simple D = S10 AP 1, D-1 = S 9 AP 2 may be appropriate imo.

About plasma pistol in hth combat, it may be introduced something for all pistols, not only plasma ones: every to wound result of 6 is resolved at the pistol's AP, if better than that of the other melee weapon the model has.

I disagree. There should be a way to cause more than one wound to an MC at a time.

Martel732 wrote:
I disagree. There should be a way to cause more than one wound to an MC at a time.

I could agree, but thinking at the cost of eldar D weapons, more than 1 wound would be still undercosted.

I quite like that plasma pistol change-- IDK about balance, but the concept of those being on dedicated armor cracking guys is a cool concept, with a fairly hefty price tag attached.