Legion of Nagash LoN 8th Edition review - Magic Items: Enchanted Items

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Disciple of Nagash

Libidinosus
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Feb 12, 2008
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Ok onto the next set of rules.

You all know the drill by now, no changing rules because you don't like them etc, only justified changes due to the 8th edition are allowed.

Touch of Ages - 50pts
These twin blood red rubies sit in the bearers palms, held in place by intricate gloves of silver. When ready they cause power to pulse through the bearers hands, as he grabs his foe in a vice like grip. In seconds their body is aged by hundreds of years, reducing muscle and flesh to dust.
Bound Spell - Level 5. At the start of combat the bearer may choose to forgo his normal attacks. Instead choose one model in BtB combat (if in a challenge this must be the model involved in the challenge). Both players then roll D6 and add their basic strength. The bearer then adds 3 his score. For every point he beats the other player he inflicts one wound, no armour or regeneration saves are allowed. If the bearer fails to beat the other players score no damage is caused.
If the Touch of Ages is successfully cast it runs out of power for the remainder of the battle. If unsuccessful rolll 1D6, on a roll of 1 it runs of of power for the remainder of the battle. On 2-6 another attempt at casting may be made in the next Legion magic phase. exhausts its powers and cannot be used for the remainder of the battle.

Gauntlets of Dread Intellect - 40 Points
Once the gauntlets are donned, the bearer's sword arm moves with a will of its own. Suddenly all of the attacks strike true, and inflict damage far more grievous than they could have done on their own
In combat the bearer may choose to either re-roll to hit or re-roll to wound. This must be declared at the start of each round of combat. In addition it grants the bearer the Armour Piercing ability

Mantle of Ritual Mastery - 35pts
This cloak is covered with forgotten runes. Whenever the bearer performs a ritual of Nagash, spectral voices echo his words, adding its dark power to the bearer's
The wielder of this cloak adds +1 to the casting values of all of its rituals.

The Black Jar - 30 points
The Mortuary Cultists canopy jars are seen as symbolic within the cult. The higher ranking of the priests carry particularly intricate jars. These jars contain scarab beetles that are more vicious than the standard ones. These beetles are infused with dark magic, binding them to the Priests will.
DoN & Mortuary Priests only. This jar replaces the standard Scarab Jar carried by a DoN or Mortuary Priests. The bearer may make a breath weapon attack every one of the bearer's turns, at +1S of the normal jar they would carry. This breath attack is classed as magical.
Every time the jar is used roll D6 straight after. On a roll of 1 it exhausts its powers and cannot be used for the remainder of the battle.

The Necromancers skull - 20pts
This used to be the head of Kadon, the necromancer who found the Crown of Sorcery and with it built Mourkhain. Now, it still seeks to control all magic, and draws it to the bearer.
Every time a wizard of the opposing army rolls a miscast, the bearer may cast one Ritual that is chosen at the start of the battle. He may do this even if he cannot normally cast Rituals.

Eye of the Dark Lord - 15 points
One Use Only
This trinket is a little black box containing an eye of the Necromancer. It contains his cold hard stare and when opened, deters all enemies from coming within its gaze.
The bearer of the Eye of the Dark Lord may declare its use whenever an enemy charges the bearer or their unit is engaged with the bearer. The enemy is forced to re-roll their leadership any Psychology based tests for the remainer of the current player turn. for charging a fear causing opponent. If, for whatever reason, the enemy is immune to fear Psychology, then the unit would be treated as normal until the end of turn (ie. their ItP is cancelled for the turn), they must still roll a test to charge the unit anyway.
 
So a quick overview for me:

Touch of Ages - I think this has had a knock with the change in Bound rules. Is it still worth 50pts?

Mantle of Ritual Mastery - With the changes to the way Rituals are cast a couple of points. Does this +1 modifier count towards the roll to see if the Ritual is successfully cast or added after? I think it is fine it it is added before.

Eye of the Dark Lord - With the change in fear rules is this again an item that is worth its points?
 
Just wording adjustements:

Touch of Ages - 50pts
These twin blood red rubies sit in the bearers palms, held in place by intricate gloves of silver. When ready they cause power to pulse through the bearers hands, as he grabs his foe in a vice like grip. In seconds their body is aged by hundreds of years, reducing muscle and flesh to dust.
Bound Spell - Level 5. At the start of combat the bearer may choose to forgo his normal attacks. Instead choose one model in BtB combat (if in a challenge this must be the model involved in the challenge). Both players then roll D6 and add their basic strength. The bearer then adds 3 his score. For every point he beats the other player he inflicts one wound, no armour or regeneration saves are allowed. If the bearer fails to beat the other players score no damage is caused.
If the Touch of Ages is successfully cast it runs out of power for the remainder of the battle. If unsuccessful rolll 1D6, on a roll of 1 it runs of of power for the remainder of the battle. On 2-6 another attempt at casting may be made in the next Legion magic phase. exhausts its powers and cannot be used for the remainder of the battle.


I'd say change this slightly so that it remains useful/relevent (might need a slight point increase on this now, though):
Eye of the Dark Lord - 15 points
One Use Only
This trinket is a little black box containing an eye of the Necromancer. It contains his cold hard stare and when opened, deters all enemies from coming within its gaze.
The bearer of the Eye of the Dark Lord may declare its use whenever an enemy charges the bearer or their unit is engaged with the bearer. The enemy is forced to re-roll their leadership any Psychology based tests for the remainer of the current player turn. for charging a fear causing opponent. If, for whatever reason, the enemy is immune to fear Psychology, then the unit would be treated as normal until the end of turn (ie. their ItP is cancelled for the turn), they must still roll a test to charge the unit anyway.

Most of the rest seems okay.
 
With the new rules for breath weapons, where monsters usually only have one shot with it, but can use it in close combat. It seems the jar might have been boosted considerably.
So in my head it either need to be changed to a one use item, with a point drop, or have its points increased, to better represents its ability to be used every turn. Potentially you can use it in every player turn. Shoot or combat in your own turn, combat in the opponents turn.
As I see it bound spells haven't been knocked, yes they use dice from the power pool, but on the other hand they become boosted making them harder to dispel.

Everything seems okay with Bishops changes, thou i hate those instant do a lot of damage/kill stuff with reduced defenses. But that is just me.
 
In regards to the Mortuary Jar, what we have to remember that this is effect an upgrade to the normal jar they carry. Therefore part of the cost having a breath weapon is incorporated into the DoN / MP costs.

Realistically the cost of this item should be based on what it adds which is +1S and the ability to use it every player turn (as this is specified it would not be able to be used in the enemies combat phase). Personally I think 30pts is fine, especially as the Jar has the risk of running out of power.
 
Sorry missed the part with only player turn on the jar.
As an outsider im just seeing a rather powerful item. Usual a str 3 one use breath attack thingie like the brettonian magic lance is 20-25 points.
I see an item that gives 2d6 str5 attacks in all the owner's combat phases. I would pay like 50 points for that.
 
But as I said you the jar in itself is an upgrade to an existing item the person already carries.

For example, you could have a weapon that gives +1WS or a Weapon that gives WS8. You would obviously cost the +1WS a lot lower even though it could be given to a WS7 character to get the same effect. The reason why is that the WS7 the character has is already accounted for under the characters cost.

So what I am trying to say is that the ability to have a breath weapon at S4 should be costed under the character. The Jars cost should only be for +1S and the ability to user every player turn. As it can run out I still think it should only be 30pts. Though perhaps as a compromise have the roll to see if it runs out higher. Exausts on 1 or 2?
 
What do you guys think about getting rid of the whole bound spell thing on the Touch of Ages? Now that you have to use PD for Bound Spells, it's worth has been diminished considerably. I think that if you just made it a one-use-only item and then bumped the point cost up a bit, say maybe to 60, it could work a lot better. Otherwise I foresee a lot of dice, both power and dispel, being thrown into such a powerful item.

And with regards to the Necromancer's Skull, I think that the Ritual should be activated AFTER the spell and miscast result have been resolved. Currently, there is no clear sequence as to when the Skull is used, and it seems that there should be in the IF = miscast era. If somebody uses a Power Scroll on something like the Purple Sun, for example, we would obviously benefit from the Ritual being activated post-spell in order to raise more guys up (provided of course that you chose the raising Ritual beforehand). If the Ritual was activated before, we would just have to watch on in horror as the Sun obliterated everybody we just raised back.

Was that clear? It seemed kind of hard to put into words.
 
Bravo - I would actually be ok with that idea. Making it a one use item for 60pts strikes me as ok, what do others think?

In regards to the ritual there is some confusion in regards to that. The Rituals cannot actually be miscast, you check the rules for here: https://www.vampirecounts.net/Thread-8th-Edition-Legion-of-Nagash-Army-List-Currently-WIP?pid=63841#pid63841

However I do agree thinking on it that the Skull should be applied after the roll to see if the spell was successful to keep the points as is.
 
The only problem that I see with Touch of Ages being One Use (instead of a bound item), is that then it will not be dispel-able. It could be a very power (ie. game breaking) item... there should at least be a way to try and counter it (aside from a good Str check :D )

Assuming average stats/rolls (ie. same roll and same Str), it will kill most characters outright. If you wanted to change it to single use only, then the power level would need to be toned down!
 
Ok,

So looking through this thread:

Use the wording adjustments by Bishop.

Keep the Touch of Ages as is (needs playtesting)

Any more thoughts on the discussion about The Black Jar?
 
Perhaps reduce the Touch of Ages to +2 for the bearer's Str test. The bonus is necessary to justify its existence IMO, but how big the bonus should be is another matter. As for the Black Jar, I think it's fine as it is. It's fairly pricey for an item that upgrades an already existing ability, but worth it IMO.
 
In regards to the Touch of Ages, I think we need to hold off on any more changes to that. Mainly because it has been so controversial and heavily discussed, so I think that its current version should be play-tested personally.

Agreed on the Black Jar.

Anyone else?
 
Actually looking at the changes, one is a minor wording change and one item has been amended. I don't think it is necessary to vote for this, so I am putting it through.

Things can always be changed after playtesting if necessary.

[mod]Thread Locked[/mod]
 

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