Necromancer Warband

Necromancer Warband

There are many reasons to venture in the city of the damned. Glory, wealth, fame…and power. The high concentration of wyrdstone acts as a siren call for the most depraved of men, and amongst them are necromancers. Some are in the employ of the Count of Sylvania, though just as many have come to conduct their own experiments.


EQUIPMENT LIST
Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons
Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1st free/2 gc
Mace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 gc
Axe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Sword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Spear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc
Double-handed weapon . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Morning Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 gc
Flail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………..15 gc

Missle Weapons
Bow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10gc

Armor
Light armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 gc
Heavy armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 gc
Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 gc
Helmet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 gc

Necromancer: Academic, Speed, Special
Apprentice: Academic, Speed, Special
Dregs: Combat, Strength, Speed

Warband Size: 15
Necromancer: 20xp
Apprentice: 12xp
Dregs: 0xp
Zombies: 0xp
Skeletons: 0xp

• May not use Halfling cookbooks (the dead do not care about such things)
• May only hire hired swords that undead warbands from the main rulebook can

HEROES
1 Necromancer-70gc
Men who have traded their sanity and souls for power, they have come with their entourages to the city of the damned to continue their quest for power. Woe be to those who cross them.

M-4 WS-4 BS-4 S-3 T-3 W-1 I-4 A-1 Ld-8
Leader-Allies within 6’’ may use his leadership
Necromancer-Allies within 6’’ ignore the “may not run” rule
Spell Caster: Necromancers begin with 2 spells from the Lore of Necromancy

0-1 Apprentice-35gc
Apprentices learn the art of necromancy at the feet of more experienced necromancers. Like their masters, they dream of the day when they will no longer have to fear the Gardens of Morr.

M-4 WS-3 BS-3 S-3 T-3 W-1 I-3 A-1 Ld-7
Necromancer-Allies within 6’’ ignore the “may not run” rule. Should the necromancer die, then the apprentice will automatically become the warband leader. In that case, a new apprentice may be hired. If the necromancer dies and there is no apprentice, the warband crumbles into dust.
Spell Caster: Apprentices begin with 1 spell that the Necromancer already knows. Instead of rolling for new spells, an apprentice will only ever know a spell that is already known by the necromancer.

0-2 Dregs-20gc
Dregs are men and women who have literally lost everything. They hope for little more than survival, something which necromancers can offer better than most in the city of the damned. In return for this, they run errands for their masters and act as their eyes and ears.

M-4 WS-2 BS-2 S-3 T-3 W-1 I-3 A-1 Ld-7
Mercenaries: At warband creation a Dreg can be upgraded to a mercenary for 10gc. They will thus start with WS-3 BS-3 and may learn shooting skills.

HENCHMEN

0+ Zombies-15gc
Same stats and rules as in the undead warband

Enhancement: After each game, the necromancer may enhance a unit of zombies or skeletons. The necromancer can only enhance 1 unit after any game. Zombies begin at level 0.

Level 1: Cost: 1 shard of wyrdstone. Effect: Hardy +1 toughness, zombies now cost 20gc to hire. +1 rating per zombie in the group.
Level 2: Cost: 1 shard of wyrdstone: Effect: Hard to Kill 1-5= knocked down, 6=out of action. Now cost 25gc to hire. Further +1 rating per zombie in the group.
Level 3: Cost: 1 shard of wyrdstone: Effect: Infection All rolls of 6 will automatically wound. If a zombie takes a foe out of action, roll the after-battle effect immediately. If the foe dies, they immediately rise as a zombie with the same upgrades as that which killed him and joins the Necromancer warband. This can take the warband over it’s limit of 15 members, though the limit will remain in place (therefore if the extra zombie dies, it cannot be replaced if you are still at the size limit). Further +1 rating per zombie in the group.

Not yet in Morr’s Garden
When enhancing zombies, there is a chance that a necromancer will learn that the soul of the deceased has not yet departed. Using wyrdstone, it can be forced out of the body and into the mortal world as an undying servant.

Every time a unit of zombies is enhanced, roll 2d6. On a 10-12 that zombie’s got talent! It becomes a hero if a further 1 shard of wyrdstone is spent. The unit of zombies does not lose a member.

Ghost: Same stats as the zombie, with the following changes. (1) It loses all enhancements gained thus far. (2) It becomes ethereal, meaning that it can move through terrain with no penalty, including walls (and never takes damage from falling). It also gains a special unmodifiable 5+ save against all non-magical/gromril/ithilmar attacks. (3) Ld becomes 7. (4) When attacking it uses it’s Ld instead of strength and the foe uses their Ld instead of toughness. (5) When attacked it uses it’s Ld instead of toughness and the foe uses their Ld instead of strength. (6) When strength advances are rolled, they are treated as +1 Ld instead. (7) When toughness advances are rolled, they are treated as +1 Ld instead. ( Loses “may not run” as well as “no brain.” (10) Starts off with 4xp (11) May not use any equipment, even if it learns a skill that would allow it to do so. (12) max stats are those of a human (13) If it ever needs to take a strength test, count it as 3.

0+ Skeletons-20gc
M-4 WS-2 BS-2 S-3 T-3 W-1 I-2 A-1 Ld-4
Undead: Same rules as zombies
Equipment: May use the undead equipment list

Enhancement: After each game, the necromancer may enhance a unit of zombies or skeletons. The necromancer can only enhance 1 unit after any game. Zombies begin at level 0.

Level 1: Cost: 1 shard of wyrdstone. Effect: +1 WS and +1 I. Now cost 30gc per skeleton. +1 rating per skeleton.
Level 2: Cost: 1 shard of wyrdstone: Effect: +1 Strength. Now cost 35gc per skeleton. +1 rating per skeleton.
Level 2: Cost: 1 shard of wyrdstone: Effect: Wight Blades +1 to all injury rolls in close combat. Now cost 40gc. +1 rating per skeleton.

Did that skeleton just wave at me?
When enhancing skeletons, there is a chance that a necromancer will learn that the soul of the deceased has not yet departed. Using wyrdstone, it can be bound into the body and forced to act as an undying servant.

Every time a unit of skeletons is enhanced, roll 2d6. On a 10-12 that skeleton’s got talent! It becomes a hero if a further 1 shard of wyrdstone is spent and gains +3 Ld. The unit of skeletons does lose a member, unlike zombies.


Wight: Same stats as skeleton. The advance is automatically Wight Blades for that level up, and keeps any previous upgrades. If the Skeleton was level 0 before the upgrade, then it begins with Wight Blades and 1 advance. It starts with 4xp. If it was lvl 1 before the upgrade, then it begins with +1 WS, +1 I, Wight Blades and +3 Ld. It begins with 8xp. If the skeleton was level 2 before the upgrade, it also has +1 strength as well and begins with 12xp. The wight loses “may not run” and “no brain.” Note: Wight blades may be combined with strike to injure, giving +2 on all injury rolls!

0-5 Giant Bats-15gc
Roughly the size of a large housecat, the corpses of these creatures are raised with dhar magic. These unholy creatures fly through the night, bringing down larger foes by force of numbers.

M-1 WS-2 BS-0 S-2 T-2 W-1 I-5 A-1 Ld-4
Fly: Giant bats may fly 12’’, either as movement or a charge. If a charge is failed, they only fly 6’’. Flying moves ignore penalties for terrain. Bats never roll for climbing or falling, unless they were knocked down next to a ledge, in which case they fall as normal. Giant Bats may never make diving charges.
Animals: Giant Bats do not gain experience.
Small: Attackers suffer -1 to hit when shooting at Bats.

NEW SKILLS
Dark Summoner Increases the warband size by +1

Master of the Dead All undead within 12'', instead of 6'', ignore the "may not run" rule



Thoughts

This is an untested warband, but it has been floating around in my mind for some time now, so I had to get it on paper. The idea here is to re-think the undead warband. Now those humble zombies can turn into something worth having, as they will be quite hard to kill. At the same time, the introduction of skeletons gives the undead warband some fairly heavy hitters. I wanted to create a feel for the warband where the henchmen can “gain experience” without being alive, so I came up with the enhancement rule. To fully enhance a warband will take 6 games (1 enhancement a game) and cost a whopping 6 shards of wyrdstone. On the flip side, this warband (unlike others) is guaranteed to get a good advance, and there is the possibility of getting 1 out of 2 new heroes.

For the Ghosts and Wights, I wanted to give an incentive to take both Skeletons and Zombies to get the 6th hero. I also gave the option of upgrading dregs to make players think twice before just firing a dreg. Given that they are the only way to get any ranged firepower in the warband (even though they start with just bows, they can learn to use other weapons), the option is to give them some purpose.

Thus, the idea was to create a warband of undead which grows along with everyone else, just in a different way.

Only a cursory response, will go more in depth later.

Leader: Good, but raise the price. He's the same cost as a magister but with an extra spell. Maybe 75?


Upgrades: How's this:

Anytime that the Leader of the warband earns an Upgrade, roll on the Hero Advancement Chart as usual. He may also purchase an Enhancement for a Zombie OR a Skeleton unit, paying the price indicated.

So, this prevents it from happening every GAME.

Sounds interesting.

Are enhancements bought then available for all zombies or skeletons from that point forward or only available for specific henchmen groups? If an enhancement permanently improves zombies or skeletons then I agree with SK. However, if enhancements only improve the henchmen group then there probably is no reason to allow it to occur after any battle but I might add the condition that the necromancer must do this instead of searching for rare items.

Grumbaki wrote:

Not yet in Morr’s Garden
When enhancing zombies, there is a chance that a necromancer will learn that the soul of the deceased has not yet departed. Using wyrdstone, it can be forced out of the body and into the mortal world as an undying servant.

Every time a unit of zombies is enhanced, roll 2d6. On a 10-12 that zombie’s got talent! It becomes a hero if a further 1 shard of wyrdstone is spent. The unit of zombies does not lose a member.

I'm curious why you decided that the unit would not lose a member. It just seems odd.

Overall I like it and I think it's pretty creative. A few notes:

1. I don't think you should be able to upgrade the dregs. If you do, they're still inexpensive, and that leaves you with four strong heroes, with the strong probability of gain two more even stronger ones. I'd say leave them as they are. You don't want a warband that can do everything, you want one with the right flavor.

2. Can there only be one ghost and one wight per band, or could you end up with two of one and none of the other?

3. Wight blade definity shouldn't stack with strike to injure. A that's a 60% chance to put most models out of action, which is too strong in my opinion

Thanks for the feedback.

Styro

Good catch for the price. For the second draft I'll use that GC instead.

My fear is that if there is only 1 lvl up per leader level up, the necromancers will e composed of 15 horrible fighters.. Look at it this way:
Ghouls: 40gc, T4, A2. Game 2 they lvl up, game 5 they level up, etc. All ghouls will lvl up automatically without cost. For this warband, which only has 4 heroes, it takes a shard of wyrdstone to lvl up a group. So not only does it cost money which will likely be i short supply, but it will advance really crappy henchmen.

Games 1-6: 1 henchman group lvls up (costs 1 shard) which stops when both groups reach lvl 3

Compare this to mercenaries.

Each henchman group lvls up as normal o games 2, 5, 9, 14. So for free they get 4 advances, while these henchman only get 3. They ca also split groups so that they are only 1 member to get LGT, something that skeletons ad zombies ca't do. If the lvl ups are further restricted, the what will stop the warbad from being left behind to the point where they can't compete? One thing that I don't want is to have the undead gain XP, so is there a better way to do this?

Ratioallemmig

Effacements only improve that single henchman group.

As for that decision, it was more for fluff. Just because the soul is sucked out does't mean that the body is destroyed. For balace issues it can easily e removed.

Whiskeytango

1. Aye, that can be dropped.
2. You could end up with 2 of one and none of the other.
3. Hmm..I'd hate to restrict them on what they can take. Any ideas on how to do wight lades better?

Maybe something like they crit on a 5+ instead of 6+, or maybe add +1 to crit rolls? I'm more inclined towards the latter, as it'll be especially deadly sometimes, instead of being ridiculously deadly all the time. Or if you really want to keep the +1 to injuries, just have that advance be "wight blade: the model gains the skill strike to injure". That way you don't have to worry about possible abuse later on

I agree with removing the enhancements from the dregs.

Since the enhancements only affect a single henchmen group then I think ignore SK's idea of only allowing it to occur when the Necromancer advances. Instead allow the Necromancer to do it once after every battle if he didn't go Out of Action and instead of searching for rare items. This allows advancements to potentially be done in 6 battles but does restrict it a little bit.

Grumbaki wrote:

Enhancement: After each game, the necromancer may enhance a unit of zombies or skeletons. The necromancer can only enhance 1 unit after any game. Zombies begin at level 0.

Level 1: Cost: 1 shard of wyrdstone. Effect: Hardy +1 toughness, zombies now cost 20gc to hire. +1 rating per zombie in the group.
Level 2: Cost: 1 shard of wyrdstone: Effect: Hard to Kill 1-5= knocked down, 6=out of action. Now cost 25gc to hire. Further +1 rating per zombie in the group.
Level 3: Cost: 1 shard of wyrdstone: Effect: Infection All rolls of 6 will automatically wound. If a zombie takes a foe out of action, roll the after-battle effect immediately. If the foe dies, they immediately rise as a zombie with the same upgrades as that which killed him and joins the Necromancer warband. This can take the warband over it’s limit of 15 members, though the limit will remain in place (therefore if the extra zombie dies, it cannot be replaced if you are still at the size limit). Further +1 rating per zombie in the group.

Not yet in Morr’s Garden
When enhancing zombies, there is a chance that a necromancer will learn that the soul of the deceased has not yet departed. Using wyrdstone, it can be forced out of the body and into the mortal world as an undying servant.

Every time a unit of zombies is enhanced, roll 2d6. On a 10-12 that zombie’s got talent! It becomes a hero if a further 1 shard of wyrdstone is spent. The unit of zombies does not lose a member.

I recommend adding that level 3 zombies cost 30 gc or even 35 gc per unit. I would also add that the zombies raised in this manner (and any free zombies acquired in other ways) have to start off as level 1 zombies.

When the soul is forced out of the body of the zombie then does it become a ghost (and a hero unit)? Is this how ghosts are created? I missed that the first time. It makes sense then that the zombie unit does not lose a member. SK's Ghost Pirate warband from Sartosa has ethereal units which you may be able to borrow some rules for your ghost (http://sites.google.com/site/styroheim/sartosa).

Grumbaki wrote:

Thanks for the feedback.

Whiskeytango

1. Aye, that can be dropped.
2. You could end up with 2 of one and none of the other.
3. Hmm..I'd hate to restrict them on what they can take. Any ideas on how to do wight lades better?

The Restless Dead warband in Border Town Burning has Wight Blades. I would recommend using those rules as it keeps the rules consistant (and that warband has had a lot of playtesting). The rules are quoted below.

Quote :

Wight Blades: Grave Guards carry weapons laden with evil magic. All close combat ‘to hit’ rolls of a 6 will automatically wound. You may roll ‘to wound’ as normal to determine if it is a ‘critical hit’, but even a failed ‘to wound’ roll will still cause a wound if a 6 was rolled first ‘to hit.

I think it is an interesting warband - looks fun to play.

RationalLemming wrote:

Since the enhancements only affect a single henchmen group then I think ignore SK's idea of only allowing it to occur when the Necromancer advances. Instead allow the Necromancer to do it once after every battle if he didn't go Out of Action and instead of searching for rare items. This allows advancements to potentially be done in 6 battles but does restrict it a little bit.

ACH! Weeeell!

*storms off*

*storms back*

The other thing I'd add is to have the different enhancements for the zombies not be +1 rating each, but match the experience for henchman advancements.

Enhance #1: +2 to rating.
Enhance #2: +5 to rating.
#3: +9 to rating.

Thus, you're effectively "buying" an advancement. Of course, buying armor or crossbows for a henchman to "enhance" him doesn't add anything to your rating, so it's probably not required.

This band looks very interestimg.

I don't believe that it is too strong only by reading it.

It would also be intersting to build zombies or skelletons for each level.

Just post your experience after you payed it some games in a campaign.