Well, I finally attempted this. While poking around through the various bits at Forge World, I discovered an experimental new type of Eldar unit, the Shadow Spectres. These until recently lost Aspect Warriors bring doom to their foes in the form of long-range, high-penetration firepower, able to fell both heavy infantry and tanks, and do so safe in the knowledge that they will likely not be retaliated against, for their foes will be hard-pressed to ever find them.

So, using my overall favorite non-official game pdf, Children of Isha, I have attempted to fabricate rules to make these new, mysterious warriors an available option, and probably also as a nice bit of practice for me, sort of to help me better learn some of this stuff. Well, here they are, the Shadow Spectres.

Shadow Spectre Aspect Warriors (Elite)
Until recently lost to the Eldar, the Shadow Spectres have returned from the void, ready to help their kin fight in these, their final days. Like shimmering ghosts of the past, Shadow Spectres embody Khaine’s aspect as the bringer of unexpected death upon the battlefield, showing that no defense, however formidable, can stand against the Eldar, should they choose to breach it. Following the example of their founder, Irillyth, the Shadow Spectres deliver death from great range, unseen until the felling shot is fired, and even then, hazy and indistinct to their enemies, as if the very air had fired the killing blow, using their prism rifles to lay low both heavy infantry and mighty vehicles with equal ease.

WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel
51 63 36 41 55 44 48 52 31

Movement: 5/10/15/30; Wounds: 17
Skills: Awareness (Per) +10, Climb (S), Command (Fel), Concealment (Ag) +10, Dodge (Ag) +20, Forbidden Lore (Xenos) (Int), Forbidden Lore (Warp) (Int), Medicae (Int), Pilot (Personal) (Ag) +20, Silent Move (Ag) +10, Speak Language (Eldar) (Int) +10, Tactics (Armoured Tactics or Recon and Stealth) (Int)
Talents: Ambidextrous, Catfall, Crack Shot, Deadeye Shot, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Prism Rifle, Shuriken Pistol), Foresight, Hard Target, Heightened Senses (Sight, Hearing), Jaded, Last Man Standing, Leap Up, Lightning Reflexes, Marksman, Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Mighty Shot, Nerves of Steel, Pistol Training (Las), Quick Draw, Rapid Reaction, Rapid Reload, Sprint, Step Aside, Target Selection, Unarmed Warrior
Traits: Dark Sight, Sturdy, Unnatural Agility (x2)
Weapons: Prism Rifle (30m; S/--/--; 3d10+5 E; Pen 10; Clip: 50; Rld 3 Full; Devastating (1), Reliable), Shuriken Pistol (20m; S/3/5;1d10+4 R; Pen 4; Clip 40; Rld 2 Full; Reliable), Best Craftsmanship Mono-blade (1d5+5 R; Pen 2)
Armour: Shadow Spectre Aspect Armour (All 8, grants Sturdy trait, wearer always counts heavy weapons as Braced if he doesn’t move that turn)
Equipment: 3x Prism Rifle power packs, Holo-suit, Eldar jetpack, soulstone
---Holo-suit: The holo-suit generates multiple images of the user, and makes the shape of the user equally hazy, and indistinct. This is treated as a Force Field with a Field rating of 35 that cannot be overloaded.
---Eldar Jet Pack: see Swooping Hawk Wings, from Children of Isha, p.23.
Usage: Dark Reapers provide heavy firepower at a distance, and their ritual armament gives them the means to threaten even the Astartes with accurate hails of armour-piercing missiles at long ranges. A group of Dark Reapers with a good vantage point, using the Overwatch and Suppressing Fire actions, poses a difficult challenge for a Kill-Team to overcome, requiring accurate long-ranged fire of their own, or some means of crossing the distance without exposing themselves, to counter.

Shadow Spectre Exarch (Elite, Leader)
Exarchs of the lost Shadow Spectres bring instant death to high-armored foes with contemptible ease, and few such assets are both fast enough, tough enough, and smart enough to go the distance against these nigh-peerless tank-killers.

WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel
60 74 44 52 61 58 58 58 37

Movement: 6/12/18/36; Wounds: 26
Skills: Acrobatics (Ag), Awareness (Per) +20, Climb (S), Command (Fel) +10, Concealment (Ag) +10, Dodge (Ag) +20, Forbidden Lore (Xenos) (Int), Forbidden Lore (Warp) (Int), Medicae (Int), Pilot (Personal) (Ag) +20, Silent Move (Ag) +10, Speak Language (Eldar) (Int) +10, Tactics (Armoured Tactics) (Int) +10, Tactics (Recon and Stealth) (Int) +10
Talents: Ambidextrous, Catfall, Crack Shot, Deadeye Shot, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Haywire Launcher, Prism Lance, Prism Rifle, Shuriken Pistol), Foresight, Hard Target, Heightened Senses (Sight, Hearing), Jaded, Last Man Standing, Leap Up, Lightning Attack, Lightning Reflexes, Marksman, Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Mighty Shot, Nerves of Steel, Pistol Training (Las), Quick Draw, Rapid Reaction, Rapid Reload, Sharpshooter, Sprint, Step Aside, Talented (Pilot [Personal]), Target Selection, Unarmed Warrior
Traits: Dark Sight, Exarch, Touched by the Fates (1), Sturdy, Unnatural Agility (x3), Unnatural Toughness (x2), Xenos Tactics (Ghostlight and Withdraw)
---Exarch: see Children of Isha. Shadow Spectre Exarchs possess the following special powers, unique to their Aspect:

• Elusive: see Children of Isha, p. 23.
• Cynosure: It is the way of the Shadow Spectres to destroy their enemies, and fate often seems to conspire with them to see it done. If the Exarch is the initiator of the squad’s Ghostlight, and the attack misses, he may spend a Fate point, and re-roll, keeping the second result, for better or worse.

Weapons: One of the following sets of equipment:
· Master-Crafted Prism Rifle (30m; S/--/--; 3d10+7 E; Pen 10; Clip: 50; Rld 3 Full; Devastating (1), Never Jams), master-Crafted Shuriken Pistol (20m; S/3/5;1d10+6 R; Pen 4; Clip 40; Rld 2 Full; Never Jams), Best Craftsmanship Mono-blade (1d5+5 R; Pen 2)
· Master-Crafted Prism Lance (30m; S/--/--; 3d10+12 E; Pen 10; Clip: 50; Rld 3 Full; Devastating (2), Never Jams), master-Crafted Shuriken Pistol (20m; S/3/5;1d10+6 R; Pen 4; Clip 40; Rld 2 Full; Never Jams), Best Craftsmanship Mono-blade (1d5+5 R; Pen 2)
· Master-Crafted Haywire Launcher (45m; S/--/--; --; Pen 0; Clip: 4; Rld 2 Full; Haywire (3), Never Jams, add +10 to result of Haywire Field Effects), master-Crafted Shuriken Pistol (20m; S/3/5;1d10+6 R; Pen 4; Clip 40; Rld 2 Full; Never Jams), Best Craftsmanship Mono-blade (1d5+5 R; Pen 2)
Armour: Shadow Spectre Exarch Armour (All 9, grants Sturdy trait, wearer always counts heavy weapons as Braced if he doesn’t move that turn)
Equipment: 3x weapon power packs, Holo-suit, Eldar jetpack, soulstone
---Holo-suit: The holo-suit generates multiple images of the user, and makes the shape of the user equally hazy, and indistinct. This is treated as a Force Field with a Field rating of 35 that cannot be overloaded.
---Eldar Jet Pack: see Swooping Hawk Wings, from Children of Isha, p.23.
Usage: Like his protégés beneath him, the Shadow Spectre Exarch excels at anti-armor warfare, downing tanks and Terminators with relative ease, and doing so from an unseen vantage point. His abilities to combine the the skill of his warriors into a single, pinpoint attack will spell the doom for anything that the enemy lauded as “indestructible”.

Xenos Tactics: Shadow Spectres
Shadow Spectres are long-range hunters, and often go unnoticed, until they fire. Even then, most efforts to locate them fail, due to their stealth capabilities, and their holo-suits.

Ghostlight (Attack Pattern)
Action: Half Action
Cost: 2
Sustained: No
Effects: The Exarch perceives one of the enemy’s heavy-armor assets, and decides that it must be destroyed. The squad is capable of combining their firepower, with each warrior firing their Prism Rifle into the focusing crystal of another (usually the Exarch’s Prism Lance) to increase the power of a single shot. For every Shadow Spectre that fires into the Prism Rifle’s/Lance’s focusing crystal, the weapon gains +1d10 damage, +2 Pen, and +30m to range on its next shot. Due to the combined sensors of the squad, this attack receives a +10 to Ballistic Skill (for Aiming). The squad can only fire 1 Ghostlight shot among them, per turn. The Exarch can elect to have another Shadow Spectre originate the Ghostlight, allowing him to fire at a second target; this is especially important if the Exarch elected to take a Haywire Launcher.
Improvements: If the Exarch spends an additional point of Cohesion to activate this Attack Pattern, fate guides their collected shot, ensuring that it will hit. The Ghostlight attack receives a +20 BS, rather than the regular +10 for Aiming.

Withdraw (Defensive Stance)
Action: Free Action
Cost: 1
Sustained: Yes
Effects: Under the guidance of the Exarch the Shadow Spectres know the best moment to safely withdraw from close combat without risk. While this ability is in effect, the squad may make a half action movement away with a reaction after making any attack action, allowing their hologram-selves to cover their movement, as they jet-jump away.
Improvements: None

So, the Shadow Spectres borrowed considerably from the Dark Reapers bits, as I see many similarities between the two. They also borroed a bit from the Warp Spiders I got made later (poke around the forum, they should still be around), and also their brother flyers, the Swooping Hawks. The Fire Prism tank also assisted. I'm hoping that I didn't do anything to them to make them too powerful, but I figure once you make something that can kill a tank, anything less than a tank might need to worry. This is my first attempt at a full write-up like this, even with so much material from CoI to borrow from. How did I do?

The additional 1d10 per participant in Ghostlight is too strong. I think you should up the base range of the Prism Rifle and have Ghostlight boost Pen and range with a very minor static damage boost, certainly not a d10.

Also the problem with this Aspect is it combines the range of Dark Reapers and the tank hunting of Fire Dragons. Hard to place that niche.

I can't just hide behind "Games Workshop did it", huh? Well, I'll try to figure something out then, and then see if i can figure out how to edit the post, so that it doesn't eat up that much space each time. Thank you.

Unfortunately the edit button disappears about 20 min after you post. It's worked for me to leave a window with the post still possessing the edit link open and then open a new tab to check for new posts then open to edit in new tab as well. a lot of work but maybe worth it to edit. This forum has terrible coding.

Kshatriya said:

Hmm, well I am having a smidge of a problem. See, I did Ghostlight as I did because A.) It's how the TT pdf from Forgewrold works, and B.) It follows the rules format for the Fire Prism's Prism Cannon in Children of Isha. I didn't read it as close as I maybe should have, because the prism cannon there is about the same strength, so having 3 Shadow Spectres = having 3 Fire Prisms, as far as dealing devastation, which is scary. Not sure how I want to balance this, because a group of Dev Marines with lascannons would be, potentially, as dangerous, but they could each miss, while the ghostlight probably won't.

As is the usual with this sort of setup, I need to have the weapons take down a mighty tank, but not obliterate any troop available. With a Predator having Armor 42 (front), and 45 SI, a maxed out shot from the prism rifle is barely able to damage it, much less take it out in one hit, so the Ghostlight adding a few more d10s was how the bigger one worked, in CoI, and allowed for another potential 20-40 damage, which would threaten a tank greatly, but sadly take a Terminator, and throw him all the way back to Him on Terra, forcefully. A thought, though, maybe keep the attack lower power, and add in varying amounts of Proven. Let's see what I can do...

Give the Ghostlight additional Penetration and an automatic roll on the Vehicle Critical Hit chart, perhaps. Maybe have a baseline critical damage of 1d10 with an additional +1 for every prism rifle adding its power to the Ghostlight. With 5 Eldar, you'd have a roll of, say, 1d10+5 pretty much guaranteed to destroy the vehicle or at least heavily cripple it.

Shadow Spectre Aspect Warriors (Elite)
Until recently lost to the Eldar, the Shadow Spectres have returned from the void, ready to help their kin fight in these, their final days. Like shimmering ghosts of the past, Shadow Spectres embody Khaine’s aspect as the bringer of unexpected death upon the battlefield, showing that no defense, however formidable, can stand against the Eldar, should they choose to breach it. Following the example of their founder, Irillyth, the Shadow Spectres deliver death from great range, unseen until the felling shot is fired, and even then, hazy and indistinct to their enemies, as if the very air had fired the killing blow, using their prism rifles to lay low both heavy infantry and mighty vehicles with equal ease.

WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel
51 63 36 41 55 44 48 52 31

Movement: 5/10/15/30; Wounds: 17
Skills: Awareness (Per) +10, Climb (S), Command (Fel), Concealment (Ag) +10, Dodge (Ag) +20, Forbidden Lore (Xenos) (Int), Forbidden Lore (Warp) (Int), Medicae (Int), Pilot (Personal) (Ag) +20, Silent Move (Ag) +10, Speak Language (Eldar) (Int) +10, Tactics (Armoured Tactics or Recon and Stealth) (Int)
Talents: Ambidextrous, Catfall, Crack Shot, Deadeye Shot, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Prism Rifle, Shuriken Pistol), Foresight, Hard Target, Heightened Senses (Sight, Hearing), Jaded, Last Man Standing, Leap Up, Lightning Reflexes, Marksman, Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Mighty Shot, Nerves of Steel, Pistol Training (Las), Quick Draw, Rapid Reaction, Rapid Reload, Sprint, Step Aside, Target Selection, Unarmed Warrior
Traits: Dark Sight, Sturdy, Unnatural Agility (x2)
Weapons: Prism Rifle (100m; S/--/--; 3d10+5 E; Pen 10; Clip: 50; Rld 3 Full; Devastating (1), Proven (3), Reliable), Shuriken Pistol (20m; S/3/5;1d10+4 R; Pen 4; Clip 40; Rld 2 Full; Reliable), Best Craftsmanship Mono-blade (1d5+5 R; Pen 2)
Armour: Shadow Spectre Aspect Armour (All 8, grants Sturdy trait, wearer always counts heavy weapons as Braced if he doesn’t move that turn)
Equipment: 3x Prism Rifle power packs, Holo-suit, Eldar jetpack, soulstone
---Holo-suit: The holo-suit generates multiple images of the user, and makes the shape of the user equally hazy, and indistinct. This is treated as a Force Field with a Field rating of 35 that cannot be overloaded.
---Eldar Jet Pack: see Swooping Hawk Wings, from Children of Isha, p.23.
Usage: Dark Reapers provide heavy firepower at a distance, and their ritual armament gives them the means to threaten even the Astartes with accurate hails of armour-piercing missiles at long ranges. A group of Dark Reapers with a good vantage point, using the Overwatch and Suppressing Fire actions, poses a difficult challenge for a Kill-Team to overcome, requiring accurate long-ranged fire of their own, or some means of crossing the distance without exposing themselves, to counter.

Shadow Spectre Exarch (Elite, Leader)
Exarchs of the lost Shadow Spectres bring instant death to high-armored foes with contemptible ease, and few such assets are both fast enough, tough enough, and smart enough to go the distance against these nigh-peerless tank-killers.

WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel
60 74 44 52 61 58 58 58 37

Movement: 6/12/18/36; Wounds: 26
Skills: Acrobatics (Ag), Awareness (Per) +20, Climb (S), Command (Fel) +10, Concealment (Ag) +10, Dodge (Ag) +20, Forbidden Lore (Xenos) (Int), Forbidden Lore (Warp) (Int), Medicae (Int), Pilot (Personal) (Ag) +20, Silent Move (Ag) +10, Speak Language (Eldar) (Int) +10, Tactics (Armoured Tactics) (Int) +10, Tactics (Recon and Stealth) (Int) +10
Talents: Ambidextrous, Catfall, Crack Shot, Deadeye Shot, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Haywire Launcher, Prism Lance, Prism Rifle, Shuriken Pistol), Foresight, Hard Target, Heightened Senses (Sight, Hearing), Jaded, Last Man Standing, Leap Up, Lightning Attack, Lightning Reflexes, Marksman, Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Mighty Shot, Nerves of Steel, Pistol Training (Las), Quick Draw, Rapid Reaction, Rapid Reload, Sharpshooter, Sprint, Step Aside, Talented (Pilot [Personal]), Target Selection, Unarmed Warrior
Traits: Dark Sight, Exarch, Touched by the Fates (1), Sturdy, Unnatural Agility (x3), Unnatural Toughness (x2), Xenos Tactics (Ghostlight and Withdraw)
---Exarch: see Children of Isha. Shadow Spectre Exarchs possess the following special powers, unique to their Aspect:

• Elusive: see Children of Isha, p. 23.
• Cynosure: It is the way of the Shadow Spectres to destroy their enemies, and fate often seems to conspire with them to see it done. If the Exarch is the initiator of the squad’s Ghostlight, and the attack misses, he may spend a Fate point, and re-roll, keeping the second result, for better or worse.

Weapons: One of the following sets of equipment:
· Master-Crafted Prism Rifle (100m; S/--/--; 3d10+7 E; Pen 10; Clip: 50; Rld 3 Full; Devastating (1), Never Jams, Proven (3)), Master-Crafted Shuriken Pistol (20m; S/3/5;1d10+6 R; Pen 4; Clip 40; Rld 2 Full; Never Jams), Best Craftsmanship Mono-blade (1d5+5 R; Pen 2)
· Master-Crafted Prism Lance (100m; S/--/--; 3d10+12 E; Pen 10; Clip: 50; Rld 3 Full; Devastating (2), Never Jams, Proven (3)), Master-Crafted Shuriken Pistol (20m; S/3/5;1d10+6 R; Pen 4; Clip 40; Rld 2 Full; Never Jams), Best Craftsmanship Mono-blade (1d5+5 R; Pen 2)
· Master-Crafted Haywire Launcher (45m; S/--/--; --; Pen 0; Clip: 4; Rld 2 Full; Haywire (3), Never Jams, add +10 to result of Haywire Field Effects), master-Crafted Shuriken Pistol (20m; S/3/5;1d10+6 R; Pen 4; Clip 40; Rld 2 Full; Never Jams), Best Craftsmanship Mono-blade (1d5+5 R; Pen 2)
Armour: Shadow Spectre Exarch Armour (All 9, grants Sturdy trait, wearer always counts heavy weapons as Braced if he doesn’t move that turn)
Equipment: 3x weapon power packs, Holo-suit, Eldar jetpack, soulstone
---Holo-suit: The holo-suit generates multiple images of the user, and makes the shape of the user equally hazy, and indistinct. This is treated as a Force Field with a Field rating of 35 that cannot be overloaded.
---Eldar Jet Pack: see Swooping Hawk Wings, from Children of Isha, p.23.
Usage: Like his protégés beneath him, the Shadow Spectre Exarch excels at anti-armor warfare, downing tanks and Terminators with relative ease, and doing so from an unseen vantage point. His abilities to combine the the skill of his warriors into a single, pinpoint attack will spell the doom for anything that the enemy lauded as “indestructible”.

Xenos Tactics: Shadow Spectres
Shadow Spectres are long-range hunters, and often go unnoticed, until they fire. Even then, most efforts to locate them fail, due to their stealth capabilities, and their holo-suits.

Ghostlight (Attack Pattern)
Action: Half Action
Cost: 2
Sustained: No
Effects: The Exarch perceives one of the enemy’s heavy-armor assets, and decides that it must be destroyed. The squad is capable of combining their firepower, with each warrior firing their Prism Rifle or Lance into the focusing crystal of another (usually the Exarch’s Prism Lance) to increase the power of a single shot. The Exarch designates one of the members of the Squad as the originator of this attack. This takes the form of a single shot, using the weapon carried by the originator, modified by the following: adds +1d10 damage (max 2d10), +2 Pen, +50m to range, and Proven (+1) (max +3) for every Shadow Spectre that fires into the Prism Rifle’s/Lance’s focusing crystal. The squad can only fire 1 Ghostlight shot among them, per turn. As said above, the Exarch can elect to have another Shadow Spectre originate the Ghostlight, allowing him to fire at a second target; this is especially important if the Exarch elected to take a Haywire Launcher.
Improvements: If the Exarch spends an additional point of Cohesion to activate this Attack Pattern, fate guides their collected shot, ensuring that it will hit. The Ghostlight attack receives a +10 BS, to reflect the combined aiming of the squad.
Withdraw (Defensive Stance)
Action: Free Action
Cost: 1
Sustained: Yes
Effects: Under the guidance of the Exarch the Shadow Spectres know the best moment to safely withdraw from close combat without risk. While this ability is in effect, the squad may make a half action movement away with a reaction after making any attack action, allowing their hologram-selves to cover their movement, as they jet-jump away.
Improvements: None

So, the Shadow Spectres borrowed considerably from the Dark Reapers bits, as I see many similarities between the two. They also borroed a bit from the Warp Spiders I got made later (poke around the forum, they should still be around), and also their brother flyers, the Swooping Hawks. The Fire Prism tank also assisted. I'm hoping that I didn't do anything to them to make them too powerful, but I figure once you make something that can kill a tank, anything less than a tank might need to worry. This is my first attempt at a full write-up like this, even with so much material from CoI to borrow from. How did I do?

Edits: (1-18-12) After some consideration, I revamped the Ghostlight ability, and upped the range of the prism weapons, which now also have Proven. In this way, they and their Special Attack more simulate a power lascannon shot, which seems appropriate, as they use las-technology. It's still a bit cheesy, but any attack that can rock a tank probably will be.

Not happy with the Koronus Bestiary's version?

I was about to say exactly that Alekzanter!

You two might want to check the last post date of venkelos versus the date that the Koronus Bestiary was released. Also keep in mind that the Koronus Bestiary is a supplement for a different game line, not everyone collects every line.

Yeah. After I commented I was like "Derp." I forgot I was wading in the Posts That Time Forgot.

This does bring up an interesting point: is there some way that the forum could share the general contents of publications from each game line so that other GMs know, at the very least, what's been published and where? Everything you might ever want for Eldar, except for vehicles, are in the Koronus Bestiary, Farseers and Warlocks are in Lure of the Expanse, Dark Eldar are in Soul Reaver…

I know purchasing every item for every line is expensive (trust me, I know because I'm doing it), and with Only War and its first two expansions due within the next month and a half things are going to get tight for me in the disposable income arena. But a general sharing of content might help some GMs with adversaries. I'd be willing to do these shares. Or is there even any interest in something like this?