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Disciple of Nagash

Oldblood
Staff member
Feb 12, 2008
27,732
Ok, next up for discussion are the Arcane Items for the Legion of Nagash. This list is slightly different as it is a list of books.

However as usual, changes are only permitted for a good reason due to the 8th edition changes.

The Books of Nagash
These tombs of ancient power possess the knowledge of the Great Necromancer himself. Re-written after his resurrection, a copy is given to each Neophyte when he joins the ranks of the Legion. As he progresses up through the ranks, he gains access to the more powerful and rare books. The ninth book is reserved for the Dark Lord himself, as he guards his most devastating magics closely.

All magic users must choose one book and only one book. Duplicate copies of a book cannot be taken until all available books have been chosen, after which you may take copies. e.g. If you have 3 Level 1 casters, then books 1 & 2 must taken, while the third caster has a choice between a duplicate of book 1 or book 2.

The books are limited by caster level as follows:

Lvl 1 - may choose between books 1-2
Lvl 2 - may choose between books 1-4
Lvl 3 - may choose between books 1-6
Lvl 4 - may choose between books 1-8

The book does not count towards the character's magic item allowance, nor can it be negated by any means (e.g. Law of Gold, Vaul's Unmaking, etc).

Book 1 - The Book of Summoning - 25pts
Once per magic phase the bearer may re-roll all dice when casting a summoning / healing spell to see how many models / wounds are raised or healed. In the case of the Great Awkening, you may only re-roll the dice for one unit.If re-rolled, you must abide by the second result.

Book 2 - The Book of Binding - 25pts
If a unit containing the bearer suffers wounds due to CR, this book will negate D3 such wounds to the unit itself. The book has no effect against CR wounds inflicted upon the bearer.

Book 3 - The Book of Control - 40pts
At the start of each combat phase, the bearer may select any unit with the Undead rule within 24". The target unit gains +3 WS and +1 I during that combat phase.

Book 4 - The Book of Fear - 40pts
All enemy troops within 6" of the bearer suffer -1 to their shooting and close combat rolls to hit.

Book 5 - The Book of Everlasting - 60pts
The bearer adds D3+1 to his unit's CR at the end of combat. This has no effect if the bearer is not within a unit.

Book 6 - The Book of Undermining - 60pts
In your opponents magic phase you may re-roll upto D3 of your opponents casting dice. This may be the dice from one spell, or split over multiple spells. Your opponent must stand by the second result. This may cause a miscast or IF.

Book 7 - The Book of Power - 75pts
Each magic phase the bearer may decide to add an additional power die to each spell cast. This decision can be made after rolling the initial power dice for the spell, but the additional die cannot cause IF but can still cause a miscast.

Book 8 - The Book of Knowledge - 75 pts
The bearer knows all spells from the Lore of Nagash and may choose another four spells from the Lore of Death, Shadows and Metal. The bearer may choose spells from multiple Lores.
 

Disciple of Nagash

Oldblood
Staff member
Feb 12, 2008
27,732
Looking at the rules I think they all look fine to me, they all seem to work with the 8th?

The only thing I was thinking was about the Common Arcane Items, magic users would not be able to take those as they have to take a Book. Do we think that is fair?

Personally I want to keep the rule that they have to take a book, I think its nice and fluffy and adds some interesting variation etc. However should the Book not count towards the Arcane slot, that they can also choose to take an Arcane item from the Common list as well?
 

Bishop

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Feb 5, 2009
2,683
Toronto, Ontario
I'd say that the "Book" just is... ie. has NO bearing at all on other magic items.

Issues to fix:

Book 6/7 - you can't get a miscast and not an IF... do we want a double 6 to be a miscast and not an IF? Is that the intent?

Book 8 - I think this wording needs to be expanded upon if keeping multiple lore choices. Maybe change to a single lore. I'm concerned about someone picking every level 6 spell. Also, need to think about the interaction of the Lore Attributes. ie. only the spell(s) from the Lore of Death will grant the bonus PC on a 5+... and how to incorporate appropriate wording to cover that.
 

Disciple of Nagash

Oldblood
Staff member
Feb 12, 2008
27,732
Ok I would agree with the fact that the Books, though in this sections Arcane Section do not have a bearing on other magic items- we need some decent wording to cover it though.

Book 6: The intent was that the re-rolled dice could cause IF / miscast, so the wording just needs changing to reflect that if a re-roll results in a double 6 the normal effects for IF / miscasting still count.

Book 7: Originally the idea was that you could miscast, but not get IF. However considering how deadly the new miscasting is I think it is now fair to have it work like for Book 6, i.e a double 6 has the normal IF / miscast results.

Book 8: Yes I can see the concern on having all the higher level spells. Are all the spells numbered? If so we could perhaps get round that by saying they cannot choose the same numbered spells, i.e they could choose spell 4 from the Lore of Beasts, and spell 6 from Death, but not both spell 6. In regards to Lore attributes, I would simply say the Lore attribute counts only for the spell they are using. So they could reclaim power by using a Death spell, but the Beast spell has to use the Beasts Lore attribute.

Considering how much more potent Books 7 & 8 are with the new magic rules I would also consider raising their points to maybe 90 points each?
 

Bishop

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Feb 5, 2009
2,683
Toronto, Ontario
Just make a new magical item category: Ancient Lore of Necromancy, or Necromantic Artefacts, or something like that... and put all the "books" in that category.

As far as power level is concerned... they don't seem off the chart at their current point levels. I'd say compare them to other comparable abilities. ie. Look at the LM power that gives a bonus PD to each casting... for example. (I haven't got the new LM book). I'd say it should probably handle IF/Miscasts in the same fashion too.

The spells are not numbered per se... just on the chart for random generation. Maybe we should roll to generate spells (roll 4d6) from the following lores: Death, Metal, and Shadow. Duplicate rolls can be used to pick a signature spell, or a spell from another allowable lore. (ie. there will be no picking from all 21 spells).

Another option is to say that only one spell of any given "level" may be chosen.
 

Disciple of Nagash

Oldblood
Staff member
Feb 12, 2008
27,732
So are you saying that we do actually create an Arcane section for the LoN and put the books just as a separate, as special rule?

Just had a look at the BRB - the spells in mine are numbered. You have signature then 1-6? We could easily limit the chosen spells using that way.
 

Bishop

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Feb 5, 2009
2,683
Toronto, Ontario
Yeah, I'd suggest a new category for magic items to cover the "Books". That eliminates the need for other special rules, restrictions, etc..
 

Disciple of Nagash

Oldblood
Staff member
Feb 12, 2008
27,732
Ok then......I am actually in agreement with this one.

So the Books of Nagash can just have its own section, with a special rule for the magic users saying they must purchase a Book. I suppose it is no different than Slann having their powers and also being able to choose Arcane Items.

However this now means we need to think up some Arcane Items, which should be interesting.

How about this one:

Needs Name
Needs Fluff
When the caster successfully casts Possession, they do not have to use the model they have chosen for the remainder of the magic phase. Instead they may freely choose another Undead model to possess after each successfully cast spell.
 

Bishop

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Feb 5, 2009
2,683
Toronto, Ontario
I'd be okay with a power/item like that, so long as the re-casting of Possession got harder with each casting... ie. the casting requirement doubles with each successful casting?

I'd say that anything added should be minimal and very characterful to the list. With all of the 8th magical items that were added, there shouldn't really be too much required... I'd say keep it small, like 3-4 items for flavour.
 

Bishop

Master Necromancer
True Blood
Feb 5, 2009
2,683
Toronto, Ontario
Maybe revisit this once more feedback is recv'd.

Books move to their own category. Close this thread.

... then create a new one later for the "New arcane items"
 

Disciple of Nagash

Oldblood
Staff member
Feb 12, 2008
27,732
Take that as no.

So officially the Books change to their own special section in the magic item section. Arcane Items need creating then!

Thread Locked
 

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