Thanks for the feedback, everyone! It's appreciated. I was afraid this was going to be another thread that slipped quietly onto the second page without a response. This thread is kind of pointless with the actual 'dex coming out so soon, but it still makes for a fun topic of discussion.
evil_kiwi_60 wrote:This is an interesting concept but I think it needs some tuning. First, pain tokens should probably shouldn’t be placed on vehicles. It doesn’t make much sense for a scratch on the hull to provide a big rush to the Dark Eldar. For balance sake that should probably go for monsters too.
Next the ability should probably trigger on dead models and not lost wounds. Basing it on dead models removes the vehicle/monster issue and doesn’t make the pain token practically automatic.
I definitely went back and forth on the vehicle thing. It does take some mental contortions to justify it on a tank (they could theoretically be eating the fear from the crew as their engines are damaged or the pain of the crew member that took a painful-but-glancing blow from some shredder wire). On the other hand, armored company lists are a thing that can exist now, and it seemed like a bummer to have the army's thematic special rule not function against some lists.
Maybe if there were a strat to swap out
PFP for some other benefit when fighting such lists... But I'm not sure what that would look like. Would a matchup like that not be a concern/bummer as a drukhari player? I may be ovestimating how many mech lists are really out there.
I'm surprised that you feel monsters shouldn't gain pain tokens. If anything, I'd think that something that big, durable, and capable of being riddled with splinter rounds before it drops would be a prime target for inflicting suffering. I guess a lot of the "monsters" in
40k are actually vehicles (tau suits), inorganic (wraith lords), or bizarre beings that treat biology as an afterthought (daemons).
My thinking on tying it to wounds (rather than casualties) was partially that a model missing wounds is probably actively feeling pain and suffering. Moreso than his dead friend who got cored by a dark lance. Plus, it seemed like multi-wound, heavily-armored marines being less susceptible to a core army mechanic than a less durable army might lead to some balance problems. By making the requirement simply, "take a wound off of a unit," you reduce the gap between something like a marine and something like a termagaunt. But your following points do have me rethinking this.
A 12” bubble is a lot. Six units with 12” bubbles can cover the entire aura. It’s basically impossible to really stay out of it even if retreating from objectives was a good strategy. 6” would still cover plenty.
You make good points. I went with 12" because a 6" bubble means that enemy units will generally be able to fall back out of range from a drukhari melee unit and deprive them of the bonus. Plus, you'd end up with some potentially contraversial situations where you have to decide whether the second drukhari model on the other side is technically still a couple centimeters within range of the falling back unit, etc. Because I was taking away the always on 6+++, I kind of wanted to make sure drukhari would have semi-reliable access to the 5+++ as long as they weren't hiding in the backfield and were taking some time to spread the pain around.
Taking your above suggestion to tie pain tokens to slain models (rather than wounded ones) might reduce the number of pain tokens floating around and solve this, but it also seems like it would impact something like 'nids or daemons way more than something like marines. Also, lowering it to 6" would also mean that you only get the charge bonus on a unit that is already very likely to pass its charge test as-is and would reduce the synergy with deepstriking units. I kind of liked the "blood in the water" aspect. Thoughts?
Counter offensive for 1CP is a little too good. You’d almost always use it since you get 1CP back at the start of your turn.
Hmm. You may be right. Then again drukhari are meant to be fast (and don't really feel it at the moment), and you'd have to have multiple units that are good at melee actually in melee on your opponent's turn to get the most out of it. I'd be fine with ditching this part, but I'm not sure I'm convinced that it's too much either?
You also said that a 4+ FnP roll was too much but the Cronos will grant that by hitting a target. Hitting a target is a very low bar and I agree with your initial assessment. Any mass 4+++ will be incredibly durable. Realistically you could cover several units under the aura of 1 cronos.
That's fair. Maybe a cronos that hits a target should just count itself as an enemy unit with a pain token for purposes of handing out buffs? So your midfield cronos lands a hit, and his pals standing on an objective nearby gain a 5+
FNP that they wouldn't have had, and your melee unit maybe makes an iffy charge thanks to a reroll?