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Author Topic: Better Vlad von Carstein rules  (Read 2892 times)

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Offline Impyrocker

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Better Vlad von Carstein rules
« on: April 14, 2010, 04:56:55 PM »
The Vlad special character has always bugged me, and reading Inheritance, the first in the Vampire wars trilogy has inspired me to create a Vlad special character that more accurately reflects the one in the fluff, as well as being fun and actually okay to play.

Points: 530

        M    WS    BS    S    T    W    I    A    LD
Vlad      6      7      4      5    5    3    7    5    10

Weapons and Equipment:
Vlad has the Carstein Ring, and the Screaming Sword. He also wears heavy armour.

Magic Weapon:
Screaming Sword: This sword gives +1 Initiative and WS. In addition, once Vlad has inflicted a single wound on a model, he gains Frenzy and Red Fury.

Mount
Vlad may ride a Great Nightmare for +30 Points. It is a Nightmare, but with +1 strength and attacks.

Magic:
Vlad is a level 3 wizard and knows spells from the Lore of Vampires.

Vampiric Powers:
Vlad has Walking Death, Beguile, and Aura of Dark Majesty.

Special Rules:
Vampire, Undead, Terror

Fatal Pride:
Vlad must always issue a challenge and accept any challenge against him. If he is wounded once by the opponent facing him in a challenge, he must attempt to convert them instead of making any attacks. The character fighting him must make a leadership check. If he fails, it is removed from the game, as Vlad converts him to a Vampire. If he succeeds, Vlad may make no attacks in that combat phase, but may attack as normal in the next one. Vlad will always attack normally if he is wounded twice, as he fights to save his life.

Raise Zombies:
Any enemy killed within 12" of Vlad comes back as a Zombie. Immediately make one strength 2 attack that automatically hits against all models in base combat with the killed model. It is then removed immediately. If an entire unit is wiped out, instead replace it all with zombie models, which then act as a normal zombie unit for the rest of the game.

Master Swordsman:
Vlad receives a 5+ ward save in close combat. This becomes a 4+ if his initiative is higher then the unit he is facing(the Screaming Swords bonus counts for this, so he is initiative 8.) If his initiative is twice that of the unit fighting him, he receives a 3+ ward save.





C&C are welcome as always.

Offline Jester (Hadn't Changed His Profile Recently)

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Re: Better Vlad von Carstein rules
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2010, 06:20:22 PM »
Hmm. This actually seems pretty solid. Not perfect, mind, but not nearly as over the top as I was expecting. Building something as similar as possible, I come to 430 points, leaving you paying 100 for +1 Attack, a sword that gives you a bit of an extra edge over Lords, but has no affect whatsoever on basic troops, and the special rules, which is where I begin to be bothered. The Fatal Pride has the possibility of being a real gamebreaker, but the vast majority of the time will be a noticeable drawback, so I'll call it a drawback with the ability to work out ok. Raise Zombies is a bit much in its current situation. I'd suggest either 1 auto-hit, or make them roll to hit. Limiting it to his combat and keeping the current iteration could also work quite well. Master Swordsman, I approve of. It's a hell of a Ward Save, and would be too good if paired up with a character in good armor, but considering his aptitude for fighting things that hit hard, and his poor armor, I feel like this is perfect.

All in all, I think he's pretty much right, and with any of the changes to Raise Zombies, or just an extra 15-25 points, I'd gladly play against this.
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Offline Impyrocker

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Re: Better Vlad von Carstein rules
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2010, 08:44:57 PM »
I would prefer just adding like 15 points, so he's 545, as otherwise the Raise Zombies power is kinda relegated to uselessness. I did intend Fatal pride as a drawback... thus the fatal  ;D
Do you think characters should be allowed ward/regen saves from the Fatal pride attack though? I was torn on the issue myself.

Offline Calus Drakin

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Re: Better Vlad von Carstein rules
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2010, 08:56:42 PM »
Does look pretty good.

I think Ward saves would be allowed against Fatal Pride, but probably not Regen.

The sword kinda bugs me though. Given that he's WS 8 and S 5 it's really going to be far too easy for him to pull the bonus once he's in hand to hand and I think that could really be too much. With his high WS, S, and I already, frenzy giving him 6 attacks, Red Fury should typically see around 10 wounds caused to a unit. Not to mention any character with the misfortune to face him.
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Offline Impyrocker

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Re: Better Vlad von Carstein rules
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2010, 09:25:19 PM »
The thing is though, he is always gonna be challenging, so you can make him siphon all his attacks onto a champion. Also, any unit he's in is going to be a deathstar, simply because of how many points he is, so the frenzy might actually be a bad thing, as he'll be easily baited.

 


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