Devil's Den #20 - Hireable Powerhouses
Topic author: Chad
Subject: Devil's Den #20 - Hireable Powerhouses
Posted on: 06/10/2008 17:34:19
Message:
Devil’s Den #20
Hireable Powerhouses
Their have always been men of fortune, through a form natural selection only the best build up the skills and reputations needed to charge the sorts of prices that a prince would kill for; they include Ogre man eaters and leadbelchers, Blood Dragon assassins and rogue knights.
This week’s DD challenge is simple: create an entirely new, extremely powerful hired-Sword or Dramatis Personae. It can be anything, so long as it’s never been published (in any way) before, and is so over-the-top that only rich-and-reckless warbands will be able to afford it. I’m hoping to see some of the beasts and blokes mentioned above over the next week (as entries, not in the flesh). So lets see some tank-like-mercenaries!
Judging will commence on monday, the thirteenth of October.
Reply author: Ethlorien
Replied on: 07/10/2008 11:39:22
Message:
Ethlorien's official entry:
Dramatis Personae
M'rogruur - He Who Ate The Maw
Legend tells of an Ogre whose appetitie devoured a god. A legend Ogres do not like to tell. Once a mighty warrior among his people, M'rogruur was eventually cast out of his tribe, for, even among ogres, this one ate too much. Gnoblars would go missing in their dozens, ogre children devoured in the night . . . everything was a meal to M'rogruur.
At last, cast out of his tribe, the fallen Butcher went travelling across the world. Yet once more his appetite got in the way of his life. For who could hire an Ogre Maneater of such hunger? Rarely could a transaction be completed before the ever-hungry was eating those who attempted to hire him.
Years of hungry wandering left M'rogruur a poor wretch of an Ogre, angry, self-loathing, insane, the only ogre who has ever grown weary of eating. He wished to end his hunger, his curse. And that could mean only one thing: to destroy the one that cursed him. The Great Maw.
So M'rogruur travelled to the Great Maw, the ancestral lands of his people, where their god struck them down and cursed them with their insatiable hunger. There, as he was torn and ruined by the great powers of the meteor that struck the earth, there M'rogruur descended into the hole - to visit destruction upon The Great Maw Himself.
A year later M'rogruur rose from that hole, huge in stature, changed beyond recognition. His skin now shone with a green fire, his body warped and twisted into a gruesome semblance of an ogre. His eyes were blackened holes, his mouth gaping wide. Yet his stomach, distended and putrid, was empyt still. Within the deep hole, M'rogruur had found a stone the size of a palace, green and pulsating. He had eaten it all.
Yet his god that had not been, for the hunger in his stomach now burned greater then before... He hungered now for more of that rock, he knew he could never have enough...
Eventually, word reached the ruined ogre of such a rock striking the human city of Mordheim. just the thought that another such rock could be found caused pains of hunger to tear through the ogre' belly like daggers. So he began his wandering once more, eating his way to Mordheim...
This is but the origins of such a powerful creature. In the centuries to come, rumour has it that such was the might of M'rogurr in the end, that he alone challenged Be'lakor for ownership of the rock that struck Mordheim. In the end, or so the stories go, it took Be'lakor and a hundred of his daemons to defeat the mighty ogre and tear him assunder. This has led many scholars to believe it was this battle that so weakened the great daemon enough that the Emperor was at last able to ride in and scour Mordheim from the world.
M'rogruur is a Dramatis Personae that can be hired by any warband willing to stoop low enough to hire this creature. He follows all the same rules as DP's as presented in the Rulebook.
Hire Fee: 2d3 shards of Wyrdstone (to represent just how hungry M'rogruur is at the time of finding him). If a warband finds him and cannot pay the required roll, they must pay as much as they can none the less, do not gain M'rogruur as a DP, and can not hire him again for the duration of the campaign. A smart warband would have at least 6 shards saved up before attempting to find him.
Upkeep: d3+1 shards of wyrdstone. Again, if a warband can't pay, or chooses not to pay the required amount, M'rogruur will take what he can from the warband before leaving for good.
May Be Hired: Any warband may hire M'rogruur except for Sisters of Sigmar and Skaven. Sisters because of their good nature and Skaven because they are not willing to share that much wyrdstone.
M'rogruur the Ever Hungry:
M7, WS5, BS3, S6, T6, W5, I4, A4, Ld10
Gear: Great Maul (Close Combat, Str+3, Two-handed)
Special Rules:
Large Target, Cause Fear, Regenerate, Stupidity
Burning Aura: Such was the volume of wyrdstone that M'rogruur consumed that his flesh in now hard like the stone itself and burns with a green fire. As such, this grants M'rogruur a 4+ armour save, as well as a 4+ save against magic. While the armour save can be affected by the strength of the weapon, the save against magic cannot.
Furthermore, any model adjacent to Mrogruur at the end of his turn suffers a single S2 flaming hit, such is the heat emmanating off his distorded body. Also, any model who successfully strikes M'rogruur in Close Combat suffers another S2 flaming hit.
Skills: None - M'rogruur has lost any semblance of 'humanity' and now acts only out of a will to devour all...
Reply author: Master
Replied on: 07/10/2008 14:04:59
Message:
Hired Sword
Exalted Chaos Champion
The greatest warriors of this world, and the greatest wizards too, those are the chaos champions. Each sworn to their own god, or no one god in particular, and instead swear their allegiance to each of the gods. Powerful warriors, un-matched by any single warrior they go to Mordheim, some to prove their skills, others to hunt the shadowlord himself!
Hire Fee: 180 Gold Coins
Upkeep: 50 Gold Coins
Rating: Increased by 50, +15 for each artifact he has.
May Be hired: By any warband that has a chaotic allegiance, possessed, mercenaries, undead or skaven. If a warband ever hires an exalted champion every warband will count them as chaotic for the rest of the campaign.
M WS BS S T W I A LD
4 6 3 4 4 3 6 3 9
Weapons & Armour: Helmet, Chaos Armour (from rewards of the shadowlord), Shield, Double-handed weapon, Players choice of Mace, Sword or Axe. In addition he receives one roll on the artefacts of the dark gods list, further down.
Skills: Unstoppable Charge, Mighty blow, Resilient, Pit Fighter, Warrior Wizard, Combat Master, Strike to Injure, Web of Steel, Strongman, Sorcery.
Special Rules:Marks of the dark gods, upon purchase you may choose which god your chaos champion is aligned with:
Undivided:
This warrior has pledged his loyalty either to chaos as an ideal, or to all the gods as one. These warriors are often the chosens of chaos.
Undivided champions get one extra roll on the artefacts of the dark gods table. Re-roll duplicates.
Khorne:
This warrior has pledged his loyalty to Khorne, the blood god, he has destined himself for battle, these warriors are the most dangerous warriors, however they are pretty reckless too!
Champions of the blood god are frenzied.
Tzeentch:
This warrior has pledged himself to Tzeentch, changer of the ways, he has been gifted with the power to bind the winds of magic to his very needs.
This warrior has all the chaos ritual spells, and also knows the Fires of Uzhul and the silver arrows of Arha from lesser magic.
Nurgle:
This warrior has sold his soul to father nurgle, he is destined for a long but painful life, he is also the hardest of the chaos champions, but due to the immense pain he is slow to react.
This warrior halves his initative, and only has a movement of 3, however, he receives +1 Toughness and doubles his wounds.
Slaanesh:
This warrior is only interested in power, nothing but power, he has given his entire purpose away for power, he receives this power through the most power hungry of the dark gods, Slanoor, the dark prince.
This warrior has the lightning reflexes skill and his initative is set to 8.
Artefacts of the dark gods:
Each champion roll d6 for a dark artefact (undivided roll twice)
1 - Armour of Black Flame: Enemies in base to base contact with this warrior suffer one strength 3 hit in the start of your close combat phase.
2 - Crimson Death: The champion may choose the form of this weapon at the beginning of each turn. In addition it causes criticals on 5 and 6 instead of just 6s.
3 - Screaming Shield: Any warrior within 6" of the champion receives -1 to hit both in shooting and in close combat, the champion himself does not suffer this penalty.
4 - Gauntlets of speed: The warrior receives +1 Weapon Skill, +1 Initative, and +1 Attack.
5 - Crown of Darkness: All warriors within 6" of this warrior always counts as if they are in cover, in addition this warrior causes fear, even in fear-causing opponents.
6 - The warrior gets one item depending on his allegiance:
Undivided: Helm of Many eyes: This helmet makes the warrior strike first in all rounds of hand to hand combat (meaning initative if others charge him), however, as long as he is wearing the helmet he suffers from stupidity.
Khorne: Collar of Khorne: The champion is completely immune to all forms of magic.
Tzeentch: Skull of the watcher: This warrior may re-roll one dice to cast spells, in addition any spellcaster within 6" of him receive +1 to cast spells.
Nurgle: Magnetic Armour: Any warrior that has struck the champion must pass a strength test at end of turn, or they will lose the weapon they attacked with. Each turn they may try to grab back the weapon, they may use any number of attacks to do this with when attacking, for each one that hits, they may test their strength, if one or more strength tests are succesful they pull the weapon away, if they fail the test, the weapon is kept stuck to the chaos champion. Any weapons stuck are obtained by the warband of the chaos champion at the end of battle.
Slaanesh: Pendant of Pain: Whenever this warrior suffers a wound, he receives +1 attack for the rest of the battle.
Rewards of the dark gods:
Chaos Champions don't advance, instead, whenever they obtain 10 experience points they are set back to zero, and get another artefact of the dark gods. If they roll an item they already have, the advancement is lost.
Reply author: Beardling
Replied on: 07/10/2008 19:51:06
Message:
Gaznaz's Juggernaught
Many strange people and creatures have made their way to Mordheim, but few in the name of invention. Gaznaz is one of those rare few individuals. A chaos dwarf sorceror-priest of Hashut, he has come to Mordheim to perfect his new invention, far from the eyes of any jealous rivals. It is the Juggernaught, and Mordheim's abundance of wyrdstone will serve him well in his endeavors. The Juggernaught is a towering creature of steel, shaped like a giant chaos dwarf. It is fuelled by wyrdstone and the souls of the living who are fed into its furnace. Only the truly wealthy who lack in any morals would even think about seeking out such an abomination.
* Gaznaz increases a warband's rating by 100
* Dwarfs, non-dark elves, witch hunters, sisters of sigmar, or any warband that has a 'good' hired sword (or simply a dwarf or elf) may not hire Gaznaz. His hiring cost is 200gc, with a 80gc upkeep fee.
Gaznaz
M-x WS-4 BS-x S-x T-x W-x I-x A-x Ld-10
Juggernaught base stats
M-3 WS-x BS-x S-4 T-4 W-4 I-1 A-2 Ld-x
Juggernaught max stats
M-6 WS-x BS-x S-8 T-8 W-8 I-10 A-6 Ld-x
Special Rules:
1) The Juggernaught is a creature of steel. It has a 2+ armor save
2) The Juggernaught is a large target
3) It's left arm ends in a giant axe. Due to the size of the weapon, it has the cutting edge rule (-1 AS) and the concussion rule.
4) It's right arm ends in a gun, which is akin to a hell cannon. It may only be fired if the Juggernaught is stationary. It has a maximum range of 24'' and a minimum range of 12''. Use the small splash template. Any models partially under it are hit on a 4+, any model in cover gets a 5+ invulnerable save against it. If hit by it, the model takes a strength 4 hit that always get a critical hit on a 5+. Any model hit, but not wounded must take an immediate ld test or flee 2d6'' away (models immune to psychology need not test). Every time it is shot, roll a d6. On the roll of a 1 it may not be used for the rest of the game, though the shot for that turn still happens. The gun does not give the Juggernaut an extra attack in close combat.
5) Causes Fear
6) Large Target
7) Sorceror: Gaznaz is a chaos dwarf sorceror. He knows the spells Word of Pain and Vision of Chaos. He also has the skill: sorceror
The Juggernaught counts as having the skills: Strike to Injure and Strike Mighty Blow
Furnace of Souls
The Juggernaught has two power sources, wyrdstone and the souls of the living. Any non-animal creature may be fed into the Juggernaught's furnace (captured enemies, stragglers, your own warband...), and this gives you 1 power point. Alternatively, a shard of wyrdstone may be fed into it for 2 power points. This happens at the end of the exploration phase, and all benefits apply for the next game only. Roll 1d6 for each power point.
Juggernaught Power Chart
1. Malfunction: The power is too much, and the Juggernaught counts as being stupid for the entire game. Use Gaznaz's LD. For each extra time this happens, Gazanz gets -1 Ld penalty to this test.
2. Empowered: Add d3 to the Juggernaught's Movement or Attacks
3. Empowered: Add d3 to the Juggernaught's Strength or Toughness
4. Empowered: Add d3 to the Juggernaught's wounds or Toughness
5. Empowered: Add d3 to the Juggernaught's Strength or d6 to its initiative
6. Possessed: A daemon has forced its way into the Juggernaught! It now counts as being frenzied! (Yes, with this and the max 6 attacks, it will have 12 attacks!) If this happens again, then pick a stat to add d3 to and the gun gains +1 strength...but if there is a friendly model in charge range then the Juggernaught will charge on a failed LD test. For every extra time this is rolled, pick another stat to increase, add plus 1 to the gun strength and Gaznaz gets a -1 ld penalty to this test. Note: If there are no friendly models in the line of sight and no enemy models either, then the Juggernaught must take a ld test or fire at the nearest model in its line of sight! This can be a friend or a foe. Test at the beginning of the turn.
9) Creative mind: After a battle Gaznaz will want to work on his creation to fine tune it. This means that he will only ever fight in every other battle. No upkeep is needed for battles he is not in. For example:
Game 1: Upkeep cost 80gc. Gaznaz fights
Game 2: No upkeep cost, Gaznaz refuses to fight.
Game 3: Upkeep cost 80gc. Gaznaz fights. etc.
If you do not pay him, then Gaznaz will leave *never* to return.
10) Salvaging: If Gaznaz is taken out of action, then roll a d6. On the roll of a 1 Gaznaz and his invention are dead/destroyed forever. On a 2+ Gaznaz survives and manages to fix his creation. If he is destroyed, then the winning warband may rip apart the Juggernaught, finding d3+1 wyrdstone shards that have not yet been totally consumed.
11) May not climb. The Juggernaught is far too heavy, to do so. Likewise, it may not start the game in a building.
Thoughts
The Juggernaught model can be easily represented by converting a Dreadnaught from warhammer 40k. Just use your imagination on how to make it look more like a chaos dwarf one!
The reason for his mediocre starting stats and great ending ones is that it rewards a warband for spending alot of money/souls on it. The time off from having it in the warband makes sure that he does not imbalance every game, and it gives the warband enough time to find sacrifices/wyrdstone. Gaznaz and his Juggernaught are, in my mind, the ultimate model for a rich warband. The richer you are, the more dangerous the Juggernaught becomes! And even if you can't afford to fully power it up, his gun is still a very powerful weapon. Thus even if an opponent tries to hide in a building, the Juggernaught can use their own attacks to gain their range and then blast them apart. And yes, the panic tests can cause models to jump off the buildings...you would too if you were caught in such a blast!
Reply author: Johan Willhelm
Replied on: 10/10/2008 05:53:27
Message:
Johan Willhelms's Official Entry
The Poisoner
As abhorred as the use of poisons may be, there are many who turn to them in the hope of gaining an edge over their rivals. Some do not stop at coating their blades with the venom but will infiltrate the enemy camp and wreak havoc there . . .
Hired Sword: 50GC Hire 25GC Upkeep
Poisoner
M 4, WS 2, BS 2, S 2, T 3, W 1, I 4, A 1, Ld 7
Armed
Dagger and Crossbow pistol coated with Black Venom
Special Rules
You may select 3 enemy warriors a the start of the game (at least 1 henchman and 1 hero) these must take an I test each. If this is failed they must take a T test. If this is failed theyare taken out of action immediately!
