<![CDATA[Latest posts for the thread "Making Sisters Fun (House Rules for the Faith mechanic)"]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/16.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net Making Sisters Fun (House Rules for the Faith mechanic)
So I have made the following changes to the faith mechanic. Other than the changes listed here, everything else in the Codex: Sisters of Battle remains as per white dwarf. I didn't want to write a homebrew dex. Just change what i felt was the most compelling fluff wise aspect of the sisters, but the last compelling rules wise.

So I am looking for feed back on what people think in regards to power level, etc. The Acts of Faith are all as in the White Dwarf. Just ripped out of unit specific entries and put into a table any unit can draw from. (In the spirit of keeping changes to a minimum)


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Army Wide Special Rules:

Witch Bane:
Sisters of Battle are hardened against all whispers of the warp. Any unit from codex sisters of battle with the ‘Acts of Faith’ special rule may re-roll failed ‘Deny the witch’ rolls.

The Faithfull Few:
Sisters of Battle are fervent believers in the Emperor and the strength of their faith allows them to perform supernatural feats of heroism on the battlefield.
This faith is represented through a pool of tokens called ‘Faith tokens’.

Faith Generation:
At the start of the battle, a Sisters of Battle player adds one faith token to their faith pool for every unit in the army with the ‘Acts of Faith’ Special rule. These tokens comprise the Sisters of Battle faith pool for the duration of the game.
The fervent prayers of the sisters may attract the attentions of the God Emperor throughout the battle, bestowing additional boons. At the start of every Sisters of Battle turn, roll 1 d6 for every unit in the army with the Acts of Faith special rule. On each roll of a 6 the prayers of the Sisters have attracted the attentions of the God Emperor. Add one additional token to the faith pool. Units with the independent character special rule, succeed on a dice roll of a 5 or 6.
In addition whenever a unit from Codex: Sisters of Battle is entirely destroyed, add one faith token to the faith pool. (Note: Each time Saint Celestine is killed and placed on her side, as per the Miraculous Intervention rule, she adds one faith token to the faith pool as if she was destroyed.)

Spending Faith:
Units from Codex: Sisters of Battle can spend faith to perform miracles on the battlefield.
Any unit with the Acts of Faith special rule may spend one faith token from the faith token pool at the start of any player’s movement, shooting, or assault phase to perform an Act of Faith. Consult the Act of Faith table below and choose an ability, then roll a d6. On the roll of a 5+ the prayers of the sisters are successful and the sisters gain the chosen Act of Faith. If they fail their roll, they do not gain the Act of Faith. Regardless of a success or failure, the Faith Token is spent and removed from the pool.
If the unit has been joined by at least one independent character with the Acts of Faith rule, add +1 to the dice roll. If the Unit is lead by a Sister Superior or Mistress, add +1 to the dice roll. If the unit has taken at least 1 casualty, add 1 to the dice roll. A roll of 1 will always fail. A unit cannot attempt an Act of Faith more than once in a phase.
In addition a unit cannot ever benefit from more than two different Acts of Faith at any one time.
(For example. A Sisters of Battle squad is joined by a Canoness. The Sisters Squad attempts the Act of Faith ‘The passion’. They succeed. The canoness attempts the Act of faith ‘Hand of the Emperor’, she succeeds. The squad is now affected by both Acts of Faith. If a 3rd independent character joined the squad she would not be able to cast an act of Faith. If an Independent character joined a squad with 2 Acts of Faith active, while already under an act of faith, the joining character would lose her Act of Faith, and assume those of the unit she is joining.)

The Emperor’s living Avatars:
Sisters of battle Heroes have remarkable faith compared to even that of their battle Sisters. The Emperor works his will directly through these faithful vessels.
Any unit from the Codex: Sisters of Battle with the Independent Character or Character special rule, in addition to the above rules, once per phase, may spend a single faith token to re-roll a single to hit roll, armor save, or to wound roll. This cannot be used to re-roll a re-roll. Regardless of whether the new roll is a success or not, the faith token is now spent and removed from the pool.

Acts of Faith

The Passion:
Assault Phase: The unit gain +1 initiative and the preferred enemy special rule for the duration assault phase.
Endless Crusade:
Movement Phase: The unit gains the relentless and move through cover special rule for the duration of the player turn.
Light of the Emperor:
Movement Phase: The unit immediately rallies, as through it had the ‘and they shall know no fear’ special rule. It can move and shoot as normal this turn.
Hand of the Emperor:
Assault Phase: The Unit gains +1strength and the fearless special rule for the duration assault phase.
Holy Fusillade:
Shooting phase: The unit’s weapons count as twin linked for the duration of the shooting phase.
The Emperor’s Deliverance:
Shooting or Assault Phase: The unit can re-roll failed to wound rolls in either the shooting or assault phase, depending on when the act of faith is summoned.
Divine guidance:
Shooting Phase: The unit’s weapons gain the rending special rule for the duration of the shooting phase.

Errata:
Uriah Jacobus Protector of the faith
Change the special rule Protector of the faith to,
“Such is Jacobus’ strength of faith he does not need to roll to generate a faith token every Sisters of Battle turn. He instead automatically succeeds and adds one token to the faith pool.”



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Note, a 1750 Sisters of Battle army on average will have 8-10 units with Acts of Faith. (vehicles do not have the rule. neither do henchmen warbands)

So with 8-10 rolls, they will on average generate 1-2 new faith tokens per turn. As units die, the odds of rolling new faith tokens decreases. (though you do get the one time boon of 1 extra token when the unit is lost.)

The only way for a unit to have 2 acts of faith at a time is to have an Independent character in the squad, limiting how powerful the double faith will be.

The goal with taking what is currently one act of faith fixed per unit, to a pool any unit can choose from, is to add versatility to the army, as well as options for the Sisters player to make relevant tactical choices during the game, per what situation she is currently in.

i wanted the faith to feel like a strong, but limited resource the sisters player can use to turn the side in spesific situations, without being overpowering. (hence keeping the random element).

It is easy to spend a lot of faith quickly making units amazing, but faith is a hard resource to generate, so it is my intention that a Sisters player using these rules would face very serious resource conservation issues that will create tactically interesting battlefield situations for the player and their opponent.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/535544/5770484.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/535544/5770484.page GMT Making Sisters Fun (House Rules for the Faith mechanic)
WHy not give Adamantium Will instead of a reroll for a 6+?

Why have the extra roll for every unit? Why not just have the enemy generate D6 faith points plus the number of faithful units in the army or something? Why does Celestine generate faith when she dies? Wouldn't it be more appropriate for her to generate faith when she comes back?

Why have a restriction to number of AoF that you can benefit from?

Why the restriction on Holy Accuracy for overwatch?

I think if you want a system similar to what you are doing, you should look at the 3rd ed Chapter Approved faith system. It had faith per unit and faith when they died and had diverse faith acts.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/535544/5770499.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/535544/5770499.page GMT Making Sisters Fun (House Rules for the Faith mechanic)
 pretre wrote:
Thoughts...

WHy not give Adamantium Will instead of a reroll for a 6+?

Why have the extra roll for every unit? Why not just have the enemy generate D6 faith points plus the number of faithful units in the army or something? Why does Celestine generate faith when she dies? Wouldn't it be more appropriate for her to generate faith when she comes back?

Why have a restriction to number of AoF that you can benefit from?

Why the restriction on Holy Accuracy for overwatch?

I think if you want a system similar to what you are doing, you should look at the 3rd ed Chapter Approved faith system. It had faith per unit and faith when they died and had diverse faith acts.


1) Good idea. I hadn't considered that.

2) That would generate too many faith points. The system is based of the challening method for creating extra power dice in warhammer fantasy. I wanted a system that scales with the number of sisters, but one that is resiliant to people abusing it with MSU. As for celestine, both make sense, and I went with her death because it is less confusing as follows the existing death mechanic, rather than creating a new mechanic.

3) To keep you from stacking one unit into a super squad. It also means that you have to buy characters to get more than 1 ability. And limits the number of double powers units you can have,

4) Keeping with other GW rules mechanics. Many rules (such as sensor suite for the Tau) are shooting phase only power that specify no overwatch. So i was trying to keep in line with current GW rules phillosphy.

5) The reason for not using different acts of faith from an old book is to keep changes from the current GW codex as minimal as possible. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/535544/5770512.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/535544/5770512.page GMT