Greatly appreciated!
Orks and Eldar
N0-1_H3r3 said:
A little hint - the trick isn't to balance them, but rather to work on the premise that some enemies are weak, some are tough, and its up to the players to decide whether a given fight is easy, hard or suicidal. The ability to discern when a fight may be too much and back off until an alternative can be found is a valuable one, and one that should be taught to players early in as violent a manner as possible.
That's true. Having played the table-top for many years, I have a fairly solid background into the fluff of the universe. I guess, once you figure out the capabilities of one unit, like an Imperial Guardsman, you can design the other NPC's from there in terms of power and ability.
Yuri03 said:
N0-1_H3r3 said:
A little hint - the trick isn't to balance them, but rather to work on the premise that some enemies are weak, some are tough, and its up to the players to decide whether a given fight is easy, hard or suicidal. The ability to discern when a fight may be too much and back off until an alternative can be found is a valuable one, and one that should be taught to players early in as violent a manner as possible.
That's true. Having played the table-top for many years, I have a fairly solid background into the fluff of the universe. I guess, once you figure out the capabilities of one unit, like an Imperial Guardsman, you can design the other NPC's from there in terms of power and ability.
What do you do with players who are new though? In the end they will ask you what their PCs think how strong the enemy is. This whole thing works only if you have at least two players that are very familiar with various xeno races and how strong they are in comparison to SMs in the novels.
Alex
N0-1_H3r3 said:
Right, because of boredom and being stuck at home with a cold, I've put together a few very basic Ork adversaries for DW games - Ork Boyz (with options and notes to create Tankbustas, Burnas, Lootas, Kommandos and Ardboyz), Nobz (again with a few options), and an example Warboss to lead them.
It can be found here , or on my webpage which is linked to in my signature, below.
Wow. Anyone who hasn't taken a copy of this man's Ork Adversaries PDF should avail themselves of it. Thanks very much, this looks like quality work. My players have wanted to fight Orks, to which I had just shrugged and said "When they give me stats for Orks, you will fight Orks."
They will fight Orks. Many Orks. WAAAGH!
Just don't use that warboss on them until they're pretty high rank! It's more as a demonstration of how insanely tough a warboss can be, rather than a 'typical' warboss who leads a small force.
Those ork stats are pretty nicely done. Thank you kindly sir.
Watch Captain Shaw said:
Wow. Anyone who hasn't taken a copy of this man's Ork Adversaries PDF should avail themselves of it. Thanks very much, this looks like quality work. My players have wanted to fight Orks, to which I had just shrugged and said "When they give me stats for Orks, you will fight Orks."
They will fight Orks. Many Orks. WAAAGH!
WAAAGH indeed.
Thanks for the compliments - its always nice to hear, even though I already know how awesome I am
The Eldar stuff proceeds at a decent pace - I've got a couple of Aspects left to do, and the sample Autarch, but other than that, they're done. I'll be adding a selection of vehicles, and doing a revised version of the Orks document with vehicles in it as well (for Speed Freeks, Trukkas, Battlewagons, Dredz, Kanz and other stompy, shooty, speedy things...)
I've also put together some additional Tyranid things (as I'm using them in my Deathwatch game, so I put together a few variant creatures, plus the Harpy, an updated Lictor, and the Tervigon), and a collection of Tau combatants (because my group want to face the Tau next).
I'm between big writing assignments at the moment, so statting up creatures and NPCs (fairly simple and quick to do) keeps my hand in, and gives me a decent reserve of NPCs to draw on for my own games. Its something easy I can do that benefits everyone...
How does it fare? The creation I mean..
The Russian said:
How does it fare? The creation I mean..
A little slowed down by my own campaign and by work, but otherwise coming along nicely. Outside of official projects, my writing tends to come in semi-regular bursts of extreme and spontaneous creativity, so I'll probably get the Ork and Eldar stuff finished during my next burst...
Awesome, I can't wait!
The Ork rules you wrote are quite comprehensive. I'm impressed.
Looking forward to seeing your take on the Eldar.
BYE
Brother Nathan. The Warboss described in The Green Tide is incredibly potent. With respect, how did you envision a Kill-Team dealing with that Orc in melee combat? One hit from that power claw is almost certainly a roll on the critical damage tables.
I imagine it would be immensely gratifying to one hit a Kill-Team member, only to have the rest of his squad gun the Warboss down on their following turns.
But I'm interested in your thoughts on how a Deathwatch Marine is supposed to live through a single blow from that Power Claw.
I love the Ork stuff and when I GM next, the poor chaps are going to feel the power of the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRHHH.
I think everyone has shown there appreciation but, here is mine.... Amazing work N0-1_H3r3 cant wait for the Eldar
Ben
Watch Captain Shaw said:
Brother Nathan. The Warboss described in The Green Tide is incredibly potent. With respect, how did you envision a Kill-Team dealing with that Orc in melee combat? One hit from that power claw is almost certainly a roll on the critical damage tables.
I imagine it would be immensely gratifying to one hit a Kill-Team member, only to have the rest of his squad gun the Warboss down on their following turns.
But I'm interested in your thoughts on how a Deathwatch Marine is supposed to live through a single blow from that Power Claw.
The same way you survive melee with a Carnifex, Hive Tyrant, Daemon Prince, the Avatar of Khaine - don't get hit. If you do have to get hit, try and be as tough as possible - toughness and extra wounds and so forth are crucial, as . And if you get Critical Hit, it's not always the end of the fight, particularly for Astartes (True Grit is a literal life-saver). Just because your life's blood is pooled around your ankles and your arm is on the other side of the room... doesn't mean you can't still fight.
Most conflicts against physically powerful Master adversaries are do-or-die affairs, where the enemy's ability to kill the Astartes means that a Kill-Team has to combine their efforts and deal with the enemy as quickly as possible. Standing toe-to-toe with an uninjured Warboss is an extremely dangerous thing to do, so timing is as an important part of an assault marine's job as actually hitting the enemy.
Personally, as a means to face down an Ork Warboss, I'd recommend a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield combo (the former to batter and stagger it, the latter to protect from its fearsome attacks), or using the Assassin's Strike ability (though be careful when disengaging like that; the last thing you want is to let it charge), and regardless of any other factors employing as many bonus reactions as you can find.
Aagraz 'Eadstompa is not meant for the faint of heart or starting characters, particularly not if they want to take hi8m down in melee...
Watch Captain Shaw said:
in your thoughts on how a Deathwatch Marine is supposed to live through a single blow from that Power Claw.
It is does smell of charred and smokey fate points.
N0-1_H3r3 said:
Brother Nathan. The Warboss described in The Green Tide is incredibly potent. With respect, how did you envision a Kill-Team dealing with that Orc in melee combat? One hit from that power claw is almost certainly a roll on the critical damage tables.
I view it as a near-extreme of what the warboss of a Waaargh could be like, at the far end of the scale. He's a horrific creature, no doubt. But the average warboss should lay somewhere between this and the statted Elites. I'd quite like to see something like that - the warboss of a smaller detatchment- statted.
N0-1_H3r3 said:
Watch Captain Shaw said:
Brother Nathan. The Warboss described in The Green Tide is incredibly potent. With respect, how did you envision a Kill-Team dealing with that Orc in melee combat? One hit from that power claw is almost certainly a roll on the critical damage tables.
I imagine it would be immensely gratifying to one hit a Kill-Team member, only to have the rest of his squad gun the Warboss down on their following turns.
But I'm interested in your thoughts on how a Deathwatch Marine is supposed to live through a single blow from that Power Claw.
The same way you survive melee with a Carnifex, Hive Tyrant, Daemon Prince, the Avatar of Khaine - don't get hit. If you do have to get hit, try and be as tough as possible - toughness and extra wounds and so forth are crucial, as . And if you get Critical Hit, it's not always the end of the fight, particularly for Astartes (True Grit is a literal life-saver). Just because your life's blood is pooled around your ankles and your arm is on the other side of the room... doesn't mean you can't still fight.
Most conflicts against physically powerful Master adversaries are do-or-die affairs, where the enemy's ability to kill the Astartes means that a Kill-Team has to combine their efforts and deal with the enemy as quickly as possible. Standing toe-to-toe with an uninjured Warboss is an extremely dangerous thing to do, so timing is as an important part of an assault marine's job as actually hitting the enemy.
Personally, as a means to face down an Ork Warboss, I'd recommend a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield combo (the former to batter and stagger it, the latter to protect from its fearsome attacks), or using the Assassin's Strike ability (though be careful when disengaging like that; the last thing you want is to let it charge), and regardless of any other factors employing as many bonus reactions as you can find.
Aagraz 'Eadstompa is not meant for the faint of heart or starting characters, particularly not if they want to take hi8m down in melee...
My own thoughts are that the environment of the fight would have to allow for a tactical advantage, or the possibility of the Kill Team being able to evade and snipe at their hulking foe. As you put it, No.1, standing 'toe to toe' with the warboss would be virtual suicide, but a fight where you could blast the boss out of an airlock, or blow up a tank of promethium for example would allow for some desparate plans to take shape.
Any space marine worth his salt would know the competence of a Warboss in a melee, especially one waving a Power Klaw around - as evidenced many many times in 40K tabletop battles, so it's best to frustrate and evade the target, whittling at him and spooking him from several sides.
Oh - and I forgot to mention - BRILLIANT stuff with the Ork, Eldar and Nid stats. I hope your links with FFG will allow you to get some of this exemplorary material printed or used at some point!?
Along with everyone else I would like to congratulate you on adding the Orcs and I look forward to the Eldar part. Good work!
RedMike said:
Oh - and I forgot to mention - BRILLIANT stuff with the Ork, Eldar and Nid stats. I hope your links with FFG will allow you to get some of this exemplorary material printed or used at some point!?
Personally, I don't understand this sentiment... afterall, I'm already providing this material for free, so why would you want it packaged into a book? Surely you'd prefer new material...
Ok then: Here's hoping the next bunch of published material will be as well-grounded in canon, as on-target stat-wise and as well written as yours...
To tide people over while I finish work on the significantly-larger Eldar document, I've added rules for Trukks, Buggies and Battlewagons to The Green Tide, which can be downloaded from my webpage (the link in my signature, below).
Fantastic stuff NO-1_H3r3, thanks. I'll be using your Orks in my game I think.
So my two question now are
1: Do people think that an Ork Nob with a couple of themed psychic powers that I make less powerful as other Orks die would make a good Wyrd boy? I'll look into some power ideas. (Are Wyrd boyz in any other FFG books?)
2: Anyone got any ideas at all what a Squiggoth should look like on paper. I'm thinking of having a Squiggoth hunt as a Tertiary, unknown objective.
Drake Pendragon said:
1: Do people think that an Ork Nob with a couple of themed psychic powers that I make less powerful as other Orks die would make a good Wyrd boy? I'll look into some power ideas. (Are Wyrd boyz in any other FFG books?)
No official rules - they weren't a part of the plan when the Ork rules were written for Into the Storm. However, I've always had ideas for them, linked into the way the Mob Rule ability works (bonuses to WP based on proximity of other Orks). Personally, I don't like Wierdboyz being Nob-sized... I prefer the older version, where they're the size of normal Orks and are man-handled into battle by big, burly "Minderz".
Drake Pendragon said:
2: Anyone got any ideas at all what a Squiggoth should look like on paper. I'm thinking of having a Squiggoth hunt as a Tertiary, unknown objective.
Shouldn't be too difficult to figure out... still, they'd be powerful beasts. Lots of TB and wounds, big damage on the charge.
Oh, Minderz good call! I have a couple of players that'd love that call back to earlier days, and it'd make for a good encounter set up. Thanks for the brainstorm there. And the update on the lack of previous Wyrdboyz.