Abhorash, the Lord of Blood

[Count_Demandred]

Ok everybody, here's my take on the classic Abhorash. Please let me know what you think:

Abhorash …...............................................................................Points: 660

.....................M.......WS.......BS.......S.......T.......W.......I.......A.......LD.......SV
Abhorash.........6........10........5........5........5.......4.......9.......5.......10........*

* 1+ (when using Lance/Hand Weapon + Shield) / 5+ Ward Save

Abhorash counts as a Lord, and Hero choice.

Items:
• Hand Weapon(s)
• Heavy Weapon
• Lance
• Shield

Mounts:
• Barded Nightmare

Magic:
• Level 1 Wizard.

Magic Items:
• The Jewel of Ancient Lahmia (+55)
• Plate of the Senef-Bey (+20)……...............................................................…(75)

Vampiric Powers:
• Aura of Dark Majesty (+50)
• Infinite Hatred (+25)
• Walking Death (+25)…….......................................................................…(150)

-----​

Magic Items

The Jewel of Ancient Lahmia
A gift given to Abhorash from Nefereta upon his assuming of the role of leader of her personal Guard.

Provides Abhorash with a 5+ Ward Save. Also allows Abhorash to use an extra dispel dice when rolling to dispel any spell directly affecting him.

Plate of the Senef-Bey
Armour traditionally worn by the Commander of the Lahmian Army, the Guardian of the Cursed City; the Lord of Blood.

4+ Armour Save that can be combined with Shields and other equipment as normal. Attacks with Armour Piercing are just treated as normal attacks (Strength modifiers are not affected).

-----​

Special Rules
Undead, Vampire.

Blademaster...............................................................(115)
Abhorash has trained in the arts of the Blade for hundreds upon hundreds of years. He has mastered all techniques and forms, and has reached the pinnacle of which a would-be Blademaster attempts to reach. Once he has beared down upon his enemy they quickly find themselves conceding ground in a desperate, and futile attempt at parrying the storm of incoming blows.

Counts as having the 'Red Fury' & 'Dread Knight' Bloodline Power. If Abhorash causes a wound against a character in combat, or in a challenge, the character immediately loses one Attack for the next combat phase.

After the first round of combat (after the turn he charges), and each consecutive round of combat, he may choose to switch between the weapons available in the 'Avatar of Death' Bloodline Power.

Master Strike............................................................(35)
Such is his skill with the blade, Abhorash is able to pinpoint and target the weak spots in the enemies Armour/defences.

Abhorash always strikes first. All attacks from Abhorash count as Armour Piercing.

Lord of Blood..............................................................(25)
His countless years of training coupled with his draining of a mighty Red Dragon has given Abhorash an unerring ability to shrug of wounds that would cripple/destroy even the greatest of Warriors. He is also now able to look upon battles with quiet dispassion, and not fall victim to the curse of the Vampire.

Abhorash is not affected by Killing Blow or Poisoness Attacks.

If Abhorash has joined by a unit of Blood Knights he will ‘assume control’ of the unit, and as such they will not automatically move towards the closest enemy unit. They will be able to function as normal, until they reach combat. They will also be able to choose whether to pursue or not.

Martial Honour
Abhorash is an immensely proud figure. He praises honour and in all its forms, be they from friends or allies, as he too gives obeisance to his foes and allies alike. Whilst his insidious cousins have been known to resort to skulduggery and underhanded tactics to achieve their goals and with their battles, Abhorash abhors such actions to the extent he would execute these miscreants without hesitation.

Abhorash only knows Invocation of Nehek. He may only ever cast it upon himself, and may only ever cast IoN when he’s NOT in direct combat with the enemy.

Abhorash does not generate any Dispel Dice, and he may only ever use ONE power dice per magic phase (meaning he can only cast IoN at a maximum of once per-turn).

No friendly character(s) can cast spells that directly effect the enemy if they’re within 6” of Abhorash.

Abhorash must always issue challenges where possible. He must also accept any challenged issued his way.

 

[Count_Demandred]

No replies as yet?

Well anyway I'll talk about some points of conjecture with the build there.

- Firstly (and bare with me here), I'm thinking of renaming Blademaster as Lord of Blood... Master Strike as Blademaster... and Lord of Blood as Sated Thirst. I'd then have to shuffle a few of the abilities around within the powers, and the points for each may vary to the name, though not in total (and he'd still be the same in all).

Political correctness, eh?

- I'm thinking of reducing his Ward Save to 5+, ATM whilst he doesn't have any uber Magic Weapons he's still nigh unstoppable in combat, reducing his save would obviously make him slighty more vulnerable.

Plus the extra dispel dice is protection enough for mine when coupled with a simple 5+ save. But with a 4+ he's almost impossible to kill (though I suppose this should be the case anyway?)

And I'm thinking Abhorash wouldn't have been the one to bother with fancy trinkets and magic tokens for protection. He'd have let his blade do the talking!

- I'm also thinking of justifying his extra wound in either the Lord of Blood special rule, or created a entire new one entitled 'Sated Thirst' (I used this for my Zacharias build too). As it's widely regarded that Vlad is Vashanesh, who was one of the original Master Vampires (like Abhorash), and only has 3 wounds himself then so should the other Master Vampires.

It's also said that drinking the blood of a Dragon bestows strength/power upon the drinker = extra wound for Abhorash.

- I wonder should he be strength 6? Would there be enough reasons in the fluff to justify him being strength 6? I think there is, he's clearly immensely strong as is shown by him slaying a mighty Red Dragon. Not to mention the countless hundreds of warriors he dispatched effortlessly.

---

By the way, if anyone's interested here's the points breakdown I used to calculate his base worth (pre items and powers):

205...........for Vampire Lord statline
50 ............for +2 Attacks (25 per)
40.............for +1 Wound
30.............for +3 Weapon Skill (10 per)
5..............for +1 Initiative point

330

 

[The Dark Sheep]

I like this one. Definitly a character I'd like to use myself.

I agree that you should drop the ward save to 5+, as he is hard enough to kill as it is (with the ASF there shouldn't even be a model left to attack him (unless there are elves involved)).

The Lord of blood rule is good too. It really suits him that he's able to controll the Blood Knights' frenzy.

 

[Count_Demandred]

Cheers, thanks for the feedback!

And done, 5+ it is.

I'm thinking the Always Strike First reflects his prowess, but it makes him extremely powerful... Especially when coupled with Red Fury.

... Which I was going to remove all together (considering he doesn't get the thirst) and just make some similar rule citing his relentless attacks and the opponent desperately trying to fend off the blows whilst conceding ground. But it would make things extremely complicated, and I can explain it away by just saying Abhorash simply goes all out in battle.

Better yet I could simply meld it into the Blademaster power... Yes, I think I should do that.

 

[Disciple of Nagash]

Your rules are pretty good.

One thing I always wanted to portray with Abhorash, is that he is an absolute monster in combat. He is suppose to to be the best bar none (probably why the won't make rules for him, or you'd get chaos whinnning etc)
But outside combat he would not be that strong. I can't imagine him using any magic items, mainly because of thus: if your purpose if you long unlife, is to the become the ultimate master of combat, if you use magic amour or blades or gems etc, you cannot be sure what is winning your battles - your skill or your magic items?
Plus it is well known Abhorash detests magic, he definatley would not use it, even if he was able to.
Anyway based on the above I came up with these rules a while ago - I know some of them of convoluted but I like them that way - I hate GW's current practise of dumbing down rules!:

Here's my version based on the following:
He is a master vamp
Combat master
Honourable and hates magic & magic items
Killed and drank Dragons blood

M - 6
WS - 10
BS - 5
S - 6
T - 6
W - 4
I - 8 (10)
A - 5
Ld - 10

Has the Undead and Vampire Rules with the exceptions noted below.
Bloodline powers: Red Fury, Infinite Hatred (Is not forced to overrun), Walking Death, Aura of Dark Majesty
Equipment: Blade of Abhorash, Full Plate Armour. May take barded Nightmare for +10pts

Blade of Abhorash
This six foot blade was forged by Abhorash himself, whilst he would not sully his martial skills by using a magical weapon it is a perfectly balanced blade and he wields it with a skill that cannot be matched by any other.
This blade is always used two-handed however Abhorash may choose to use it in one of the following ways at the start of every round of combat:
Blade Storm: +2A
Mighty Blows: Counts as Great Weapon with the exception that Abhorash still gains +2S even if mounted.
Defender: Counts as normal Hand weapon and Shield, attackers suffer a -1 to hit(combined with below abilities means he is at min 5+ to hit)
When Abhorash fought the dragon its blood became embedded in the blade - the weapon counts as magical only for the purposes of hurting ethereals, negating relevant saves however this blade cannot be destroyed or undone by any items or spells that affect magical items; i.e. Law of Gold.

Honorable
Abhorash must always accept issue challenges and accept them where possible, however such is the legacy of Abhorash many have regretted issuing or accepting such a challenge when they realise who they face - anyone who issues a challenge that is accepted by Abhorash or chooses to accept one issued must past a Ld test (ItP ignore this rule), if failed they act as if they had refused a challenge.

Master of Combat
Abhorash has spent all his lifer mastering combat and there is none equal to his skill
He is immune to Killing Blows and Poison.
He has the Killing blow himself, against creatures larger that US2 he will cause double wounds if a six is rolled to wound. (If the original target has been killed Abhorash may instead choose to inflict these extra attacks on an enemy unit in BSB this is possible even if he was originally involved in a challenge.)
Abhorash also has the ASF ability and I10 whilst in combat.
In addition the minimum to hit him is a roll of 4+, this takes precendence over any other abilities, magical items (such as Dreadlance), spells (such as FSoR).
Finally Abhorash has +1 to hit in CC and is not affected by any abilities or magic items, spells that would reduce his to hit rolls (such as the Annoyance of Netlings)

Dragons Blood
Gives Abhorash +1S and +1T (already included in above profile)

Hatred of Magic
Abhorash sees magic as been underhand and not honorable, they detest he feels for it surrounds him like a protective aura
Has magic resistance (3). He also has a 4+ ward vs magical attacks of any kind (weapons, spells etc). Abhorash is not a wizard and does not generate any power or dispel dice and may not have any spells including IoN

Master of the Blood Dragons
One unit of KotBK may be chosen as a core choice where Abhorash is the general. If they are chosen Abhorash must be mounted and join the unit. The unit still gains the extra attacks due to frenzy with the exception that they are not forced to charge / pursue / overrun due to Abhorash's presence. Such is their devotion to Abhorash that the Look Out Sir rule applies as long as there is just one Knight left and he automatically passes this test.

 

[The Dark Sheep]

I think you should keep the red fury.

You can say that he is so skilled with the blade that when an enemy recovers from an attack he can emideiatly strike again, exploiting the weakness.

That's at least how I picture it with my Blood Dragon vamps.

 

[Count_Demandred]

I think you should keep the red fury.

You can say that he is so skilled with the blade that when an enemy recovers from an attack he can emideiatly strike again, exploiting the weakness.

That's at least how I picture it with my Blood Dragon vamps.

Yeah he still does, though I've put it under the Blademaster Special Rule (as a 'counts as having') because the explanation given in Red Fury isn't befitting.

'... with savage and unstoppable bloodlust... - bloodlust being the sticking point here. Abhorash doesn't feel the thirst, so therefor doesn't go crazy when he smells blood. I think the explanation in Blademaster fits the ability too, like you said he relentlessly rains down blows on the enemy and can attack again before they recover.

I know I'm just being pedantic here, but if GW were ever going to create rules for Abhorash I'd like to assume they'd make some that fully fit his fluff.

---

Your rules are pretty good.

One thing I always wanted to portray with Abhorash, is that he is an absolute monster in combat. He is suppose to to be the best bar none (probably why the won't make rules for him, or you'd get chaos whinnning etc)
But outside combat he would not be that strong. I can't imagine him using any magic items, mainly because of thus: if your purpose if you long unlife, is to the become the ultimate master of combat, if you use magic amour or blades or gems etc, you cannot be sure what is winning your battles - your skill or your magic items?
Plus it is well known Abhorash detests magic, he definatley would not use it, even if he was able to.
Anyway based on the above I came up with these rules a while ago - I know some of them of convoluted but I like them that way - I hate GW's current practise of dumbing down rules!:

Good points, especially re: Magic, though he may not use it he’d have surely inherited some inane ability to manipulate the winds of magic? If all the others did then it would make sense he did too.

So I was thinking that maybe he doesn’t cast spells at all, though he still generates ONE dispel dice per phase. Though upon second thoughts I’m not sure exactly how (fluff wise) wizard generate dispel dice (obviously I mean the fluff equivalent). So maybe we could create some sort of ability that says he creates dispel dice for spells affecting himself? It’d definitely something to think about.

As for Magic Items, I thought the exact same thing which was why I didn’t give him any Magic Weapons. The Armour isn’t exactly ‘magic’ at all, but a incredibly well wrought suit of Armour (or so I pictured in my head), though obviously has to be counted as a magic item under the rules.

As for the pendant, I’d like to think he’d wear any token given to him by his queen with honour. And you’d have to think she’d have given him some sort of item/protection over his long years of servitude. Whether or not he biffed it after the sacking of Lahmia and him going into exile is another question. We could simply say his (super) supernatural reflexes and ability with blade/shield would translate into him having some sort of ward save…

So those sticking points could be explained away by creating new abilities. What do you think?

As for your character - I think it's very good, and I see we've got very similar ideas concerning abilites and how he should be portrayed which can only mean I'm on the right track here! (though I'd change the names of a few of the Special Rules )

 

[Count_Demandred]

I was pondering more on the whole Magic thing, and thought up this idea:

Level 1 Wizard. Only knows Invocation of Nehek, and can only ever cast it upon himself. Can only use one Power Dice per magic phase.

I think we could possibly further this by saying he does not generate any power/dispel dice at all. And thus has to use one of the two that is naturally generated.

 

[Count_Demandred]

Ok, I've decided to make two changes - one simple re-naming of his Armour and the second being extending the 'Martial Honour' Special Rule.

-----​

- Decided to change the name of the Armour to 'Plate of the Senef-Bey.' A little research into the Egyptian language has yielded a few handy results/words, with these two being 'Blood,' and 'a officer of High ranking in the Army.' Sounds good enough to me.

- And here's the elaborated Special Rule: (note I should get points for working in the word skulduggery )

Martial Honour
Abhorash is an immensely proud figure. He praises honour and in all its forms, be they from friends or allies, as he too gives obeisance to his foes and allies alike. Whilst his insidious cousins have been known to resort to skulduggery and underhanded tactics to achieve their goals and with their battles, Abhorash abhors such actions to the extent he would execute these miscreants without hesitation.

Abhorash only knows Invocation of Nehek. He may only ever cast it upon himself, and may only ever cast IoN when he’s NOT in direct combat with the enemy.

He may only ever use ONE power dice per-phase (meaning he can only cast IoN at a maximum of once per-turn) and does not generate any Dispel Dice.

Abhorash must always issue challenges where possible. He must also accept any challenged issued his way.

... Thoughts?

EDIT: Next I think I'll make the Barded Nightmare optional, and if chosen it will be coupled with Dread Knight (which will go under 'Blademaster' as you see it is now). So if he's on foot he'll have Avatar of Death which will go under Blademaster too, as replace Dread Knight as it is now.

 

[Meier Lenk]

i think senef bey is actually turkish. it certainly has that flavour to me, and in my fondness for greek history ive come across the terms "bey" and "beg" before. senef definitly sounds more egyptian, but im almost certain bey is turkish. admittedly its a niggly little thing, mainly resulting from some niggling little hang ups i have regarding language structures, but whatever hehe.

the description you give for martial honour is great, though it makes it sound more like he wouldnt put up with wizardry or alchemy within his sight, from his enemies or allies at all. so for example maybe any turn an enemy wizard uses a spell within los of him and a reasonable distance (6 inches? 8? wouldnt have a clue myself) he gains hatred of the enemy army in his next turn? and no allied magic user (necro/vamp) can be within the same distance chosen of him?

not sure if my suggestion has any worth rule wise mind, thats just how your little bit of fluff reads to me

 

[Count_Demandred]

i think senef bey is actually turkish. it certainly has that flavour to me, and in my fondness for greek history ive come across the terms "bey" and "beg" before. senef definitly sounds more egyptian, but im almost certain bey is turkish. admittedly its a niggly little thing, mainly resulting from some niggling little hang ups i have regarding language structures, but whatever hehe.

the description you give for martial honour is great, though it makes it sound more like he wouldnt put up with wizardry or alchemy within his sight, from his enemies or allies at all. so for example maybe any turn an enemy wizard uses a spell within los of him and a reasonable distance (6 inches? 8? wouldnt have a clue myself) he gains hatred of the enemy army in his next turn? and no allied magic user (necro/vamp) can be within the same distance chosen of him?

not sure if my suggestion has any worth rule wise mind, thats just how your little bit of fluff reads to me

To be honest I know next to nothing about the Turkish or Egyptian languages, I simply typed 'English to Egyptian translator' into google, and eventually found those (plus a few other interesting/useful words).

It could very well be Turkish too, certain regions seem to share similar/same words/dialects so that wouldn't surprise me in the least. I don't actually know if putting the two together makes an actual word though, because they were both seperate indipendent words that I'd just put together with the hyphen. Still, it's got Blood and High ranking Officer in one so it sounds about right to me.

And you're onto something there regarding the Wizard hating... I'm thinking we could develop it into something interesting, though he's already got Infinite Hatred...

Would it be suicide (for the army) to put in some sort of ristrictions, like NO Necromancers, or making them a 0-1 choice? Because I just don't see him hanging around with any weak human scummy Necromancers, or even enlisting them in any army he might lead...

And on that note I doubt he'd ever lead another army again, so would this mean I'm making Abhorash as of pre-fall of Lahmia? I think that'd make more sense?

GAH! :O :devil: Too many thoughts! I shall ponder this some more and come back with my thoughts! Cheers for the top ideas!

 

[Meier Lenk]

maybe he could cause terror to spellcasters (on both sides, regardless of immune to psychology!!) or no spellcaster (other than neferata herself perhaps?) can enter within 6" of him unless for cc?

 

[Count_Demandred]

Hrm... So far I've got this:

- No friendly character(s) can cast spells that directly effect the enemy if they’re within 6” of Abhorash. AND all enemy spellcasters, within 6”, must pass a leadership test each magic phase if they wish to cast any spells.

The first part I'll definitely include, though I'm not too sure about the rest of it... The way I see it is I'm taking the liberty of assuming he'd yell out all to the enemy wizards, kindly reminding he's going to fillet them.

BAH though now I think I'm being totally contradictory in allowing him to cast IoN at all, and no other friendly model cast within 6"... I'll change it to they can't cast offensive spells within 6", so no spell directly effecting the enemy! Yes, that makes sense!

Maybe some sort of rule where if an enemy wizard casts spells within 6" of him he immediately is subject to some sort of psuedo-frenzy where he immediately goes after them? But that's getting really detailed and complicated - and I can't work out whether that'd be a really exploitable rule (for example get a flying wizard, cast a spell within 6" of him and make him chase tail for the rest of the battle).

 

[Undying]

M WS BS S T W I A LD
5 7 0 5 5 3 7 3 10
Points: 225

Special Rules

Rid of the Curse
“Abhorash has long been rid of the taint
of vampireisem, he prides himself with no
longer having to drink blood.
Abhorash does not have the Undead or
Vampire rule.
Honour in Battle
“Abhorash has a strict sense of honour,
and will only slay those he thinks worthy
of his challenge”
Abhorash must challenge enemy command
models if they are within 10” even if he is
not in combat, they may not refuse..
Master of the Blade
“Abhorash has practised the art of the
sword for thousands of years and can
block incoming strikes with contemptuous
ease.
Enemy's that wishing to attack Abhorash
suffer -1 when rolling to hit. He is Immune
to the effects of the killing Blow and has
4+ ward save.
Bearer of the Blade Silver Tongue
“Abhorash bears the blade silver tongue,
a blade of legend said to give the bearer
super human speed..”
Abhorash's Initiative is increased by one
and he has the always strikes first rule.
Bearer of the Talisman of the Warrior
“Abhorash bears a strange talisman that restores
the bearer of it, even sustaining him after death..”
If he suffers a wound he re-gains all wounds
lost in the next magic phase..

 

[Trevy the Great]

Hmph. I thought we did away with the Magic Items.

Now here's the thing with your Abhorasch, Demandred. I like him, except for one thing.
He HATES magic. It is dishonorable and selfish and sullied his victories with a cowardice. I think he should be able to cast Invocation of Nehek, but may never on himself. Suffering the blows he let through by his own incompetence would be a suitable punishment for such a mistake.

And Undying... just no.

 

[Kaladas Harkon]

Just for kicks I made a Legendary Battles version; who's entirely unstoppable and cuts through armies by himself. This would never ever be used in an actual game because of the sheer broken-ness of it. I used him in a grand total of one game, which was a proxied game of about 7000 points against the old Lizardmen book for which we'd borrowed models from pretty much everyone we knew. He was going up against 3 Oldbloods, 2 2nd generation Slann, Kroak, 300 Saurus in 3 blocks, 9 Skink Priests, 20 Terradons and 5 Stegadons. He annihilated all 3 Slann, one of the Saurus blocks, all 3 Oldbloods, the Skink Priests, the Terradons and 3 of the Stegadons.

WARNING!!! SHOULD NEVER BE USED IN AN ACTUAL BATTLE!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

Abhorash, Father of the Blood Dragons and Master of Blades
M WS S T W I A Ld
6 10 6 5 4 10 5 10

Points Cost: More than you can possibly afford.

Equipment: Hand Weapon, Full Plate Armour

Special Rules:

Magical Revulsion: Abhorash has MR1 and generates 2 Dispel Dice that can only be used for spells that directly affect him (template attacks are included). He may never be targeted by friendly spells.

Martial Perfection: Abhorash may always reroll hit rolls and wound rolls in combat. Whenever a model misses when attacking Abhorash he may immediately make an attack. In addition, for every unsaved wound Abhorash causes he may immediately make an extra attack.

Slayer of the Mighty: At the beginning of combat, choose one model in base contact that Abhorash will direct attacks against. The number of wounds on that model's profile is added to Abhorash's number of attacks. At the beginning of the game, you must choose one multi-wound non-rank-and-file model. Abhorash must always charge and direct attacks against that model, and when attacked by that model in any phase, Abhorash is counted as having +1 Toughness and MR2.

Indomitable Will: Abhorash may never be controlled by an enemy player by any means. As well, he has the Regeneration rule, however the save is not negated by flaming attacks. At the end of every turn, for every wound Abhorash is below his basic amount, he may roll a dice. On a 5+, that wound is regenerated and he is counted as never having taken it. When Abhorash dies, lay him on his side where he died and continue to roll the regeneration of wounds as above. As soon as one or more of the dice turns up as a 5+, he is stood back up and is back into play with an amount of wounds equal to the number of dice that turned up as a 5+. This is negated by any attack that causes him to be entirely removed from play, e.g. a failed Initiative test for Pit of Shades, or being affected by Infernal Gateway when the Strength roll equals 11 or 12.

There they are. I told you they were horrendously broken and would make your eyes bleed with their broken-ness!

 

[gondor]

My eyes aren't bleeding.... yet

 

[Trevy the Great]

That's funny, mine are.
That's a lot of attacks...

 

[Kaladas Harkon]

Yeah, that's because they already bled when he helped me write them a couple of months ago.

Breaking fully-ranked Saurus units on the first turn with a front charge is always fun. Same with killing several Stegadons in a single turn.

 

[gondor]

well as I helped him wright them im sort of immune to the hole eye bleeding thing, My computer was drenched with blood for a few days afterward though. was not good for the keyboard. and yes, that is a lot of attacks. he killed 100 skinks in one combat then killed 60 saurus and then another some thing like 6 stegadons consecutively.