Cult of Slaanesh - Special Characters

[Zardock]

Excellent rules for N'Kari, I like his fluff to and would definately like to try this rule set out.

If you want to buff his attacks then how about 1 extra attack for +20pts more?

[Weenth]

Hi!

As I've written in PM, I really like your idea of N'Kari, also appretiate the fact that you made the background research and based him on that. BTW AFAIK there is one more piece of background on him, or kind of him anyway - his mentioned somewhere in 40K books - if I'm not mistaken it's the last ed Codex to Chaos Space Marines; though I'm not sure that piece brings anything important into the overall view.

I like the idea of Nightmarish Visitations. Still, I think both making them 'undispellable bound spells' and -3 Ld is a bit of overkill, especially as effects (though toned down in regards to 6th ed lore) are very useful. I'd say either allow dispelling or remove the test penalty (or make it max -1 Ld). Another option would be changing effects to less useful/powerfull, though I think your idea of reintroducing 6th ed spells in this form is a brilliant one, so I'd rather not mess with that.

Also I actually like the fact that he has regular KoS stats and his uniqueness lies rather in his gifts. If you'd want to bump up his Attacks, I'd say he definitly needs toning down on the number of gifts. If you're inclined on unique statline, maybe make him Ld 10 instead? Seems appropriate for his background of commanding other daemons.

BTW an idea occured to me - while there's nothing wrong with him having Soul Hunger (re-roll wounds), why not make him re-roll hits in first turn instead? Would be more unique for a KoS and make him a bit DE-eternal-hatred like (could be explained that he's enraged about being banished by Teclis.. or was it Tyrion? Whatever, sorry, it's late ).

Ok, that's it for now. I'll re-read N'kari rules tommorow and give them some more thougth. And thanks for taking time and thought to put it all together.

[Weenth]

My thoughts after more careful reading:

- forget what I wrote about replacing Soul Hunger with re-rolling to-hit. I missed the fact that N'Kari hates the elves - considering that I think that part is fine the way you put it.

- Nightmarish Visitations definitly need toning down. With -3 Ld modifier it gives almost 50% chance of failing the test even for LD 10 unit, and works almost always on low Ld units. Since there is no other way to stop this effect other than passing the test, and the effects are quite powerful (especially Titilating Delusions) this would be quite broken, regardless of the cost.

BTW even with toning down this skill should be quite costy - comparing to most similiar items/skills I've found, I'd say it should be 100 pts if testing with -1 Ld modifier. Even without big modifier it'd be quite a powerfull skill:
* it's flexible, has three options, that has use on friendly units also
* while high (Ld 9/10) models/units will be quite resilient, most of the units out there don't have as high Ld. Fully/mostly ItP armies are also few, so usually there will be a good (quite easily affected) target for this skill
* it has quite a big range there something will usually be in range
* they're not spells and therefore cannot be dispelled/stopped other than by passing the test

Also, I think making Titilating Delusions option a bit weaker would be needed (one turn only is not really a weakening, as it's no longer a spell). Otherwise it's IMO clearly more useful than Terrifying Nightmares. Allowing 'regular' (no modifier) Ld test against this one, while -1 Ld Luxurious Torment and Terrifying Nightmares would work, though maybe some other solution would be more 'elegant'.


So I'd propose keeping original KoS statline and above modification (no Ld modifier on TD, -1 Ld on TN and LT) to Nightmarish Visitations, with total cost of N'kari at 750 pts (a +10 pt bump in price included to compensate the 'synergy effect' of his over 250 pts of gifts & special rules... and also get a 'round cost' )

As for his binding restrictions - we were considering some form of Daemon Binding Rules for CoS army (for example one variant was max no of daemonic units/characters depending on no of Sorcerecess in the army: 1 unit max per Sorceress, 2 units max per SS), I agree N'kari should be a bit harder to summon, so if going by the above rules, counting him as equivalent of [KoS+1 daemonic unit] in that regard and/or requiring SS (as you proposed) to summon him would be IMO a good solution. Anyway, this one needs finalising general daemon rules in CoS army first.

[Dangerous Beans]

Cheers guys! I agree I thought it was over powered, though I wanted to put all my cards on the table so to speak in terms of ideas, then we can chop and change them to make a relatively balanced character (after some playtesting of course ).

Agreed on Nightmarish Visitations:

- 1stly: does this name sound ok to you?
- 2nd: its current overpowered state. I like the idea of suggesting its a bound spell, I would see this as the most viable of the options (I'm a big fan of bound spells ) because, as Daemons are entities of magical nature, they're skills and abilities are shaped and maintained through similar forms to spells - hence I think Visitations can be appropriately a bound spell...
...which leads me to the 2nd part: range and bound level - heres what I suggest:
Range 24" Bound Level 3
Range 18" Bound Level 4
Range 12" Bound Level 5
Range 6" Bound Level 6 (though this is a little OTT as few units will be succeptable to this!)

If this occurs, then they suffer the LD test at -3 (one last chance to negate the effects).

- 3rdly: Titilating Delusions tone-down: what about rather than placing markers, we merely say that during the units following movement phase the unit may only move forward at half pace exactly as if it had failed a stupidity test.
- 4thly: I was considering about Luxurious Torment - I was thinking that the unit may 'opt' to take the LD test - this makes it a lot more flexiable? Does this overpower it?
- 5thly: as the bound spell and the -3 LD is now being suggested to succumb to the Visitations, should I power up Terrifying Nightmares a little? EG. the unit must immediately flee from N'Kari. (ie. getting rid of the 'panic' aspect and meaning more enemy units can be affected by it?)
- 6thly: the binding restrictions... hmmmm, maybe, though that sounds complex - I think for N'Kari, merely the inclusion of a Supreme Sorceress would suffice - this would mean he'd only appear in armies of 3k upwards (larger games).

Glad to join you guys! I should add though that Im a very busy university student, so Im not sure how much time I can really dedicate to the cause, but I'm very passionate and enthusiastic about the project, and have some slight artist skills too if that helps (I vaguely reading in one of the threads you were looking for artists?)

- Beanz

[Martialartist]

Okay, off the top of my head here's the quick thoughts:

1. You wrote a fair bit about how he wants to basically kill Aenarion's descendants, and that was reflected by his hatred etc. My first impression was, "Where's the rule that says if he has a choice of targets for a charge or spell, he must prioritize any elves?" Just a thought.

2. I'm also a fan of bound spells, and as such enjoy their inclusion.

3. There was also a bit of writing about how N'Kari is a bit rash and reckless, also to do with his followers? Maybe Frenzy? Maybe something else that really shows up this occasional lack of proper consideration?

That's all for now, hopefully when I have time there'll be a few more comments.

MA

[Weenth]

Hello again! Sorry for taking so long (look into 'rules topic' for my explanation)


Anyway, going back to N'Kari and Nightmarish Visitations:

I. The name's fine IMO.


II. Before the issue of balancing this rule, there is one other aspect of it I'd look onto, touching game-world vs rules relation; we're talking of a new, unique ability here, but it still exists in a game with certain rules-conventions. What I mean is:

- Bound spells in warhammer represent mainly the magical force bound ( ) in an item, wielded by a user who usually is not a caster himself (and if he is, the bound spell and his own magic are kinda 'separate' in nature)

- Your idea that bound spells can also represent skills of enities magical in nature has its precedence in form of Treeman and his tree singing ability.

- However, AFAIK there is not a single example of such bound-skill in case of daemons. Their skills (those that can be stopped by magic) are represented Wizard Levels and spells, the other skills cannot be stopped despite their magical nature (for example Masque's dances)

- One important exception to that are Daemonic Gifts in the form of bound items (the nurgley staff and one or two banners), as it's worth remembering that Daemonic Gifts are not Magical Items - they are, whatever their form, daemon's abilities. Still, they are given form of an item.


So the conlusion is, that in existing rules: magical creatures' abilites that take form of a bound spell are either:

a) Abilities that, from material perspective are given form of an item. (just like a bloodletter is from material perspective armed with a sword, but this is only a material presentation of his power, the sword is as much part of him as his hand or head)

b) A treeman. Joking aside, I think the Treeman example goes for skills that are magical, but too limited to be represented even by 1 lvl of wizardry (as it's one spell that's easily cast by one dice - those are the things that 1lvl of wizardry provides, but it normally would also provide 1 dispell dice, which Treeman's ability doesn't)


So I'd say the second case is unfitting here, because we're talking of quite powerfull and varied abilities. Moreover, the Keeper already has wizardry levels to represent his 'dispellable abilities' - splitting those in two has no explanation fluff-wise, so doing that split on abstract-rules level IMO looks like unnecessary complication.


So, in my opinion there are three options to keep in line with existing 'rules line':

1. Make his 'Nightmarish Visitations' a set of spells unique to N'Kari and give him appropriate wizardry level

2. Make NV an 'undispellable ability'

3. Create an item that's in N'Kari's possesion, that represents these abilities and use bound spell rules.

If you're willing to give it a try and create a background for that item that would make it an interesting part of a character rather than just a label and excuse the use of bound spell rules, that's a possible the way.

Personally though, I'm in favour of either 1 or 2, as we're taking existing character from the background and IMO if he had such a unique, powerful item, this should already be mentioned somewhere.

In any case, my further comments concerning these rules obviously depend on which road you choose.

[Oliver the anointed]

I want to know that even if we'd succesfully creat the model of N'Kari, will our opponents let us use it?

[Weenth]

The idea (as with all characters discussed in this thread) is to put N'Kari as a Special Character in the Cult of Slaanesh army list.

As it's a fan-made list, using it requires your opponents permission and it cannot be used in tournaments. But as we (people involved in creating it) have put much effort in making it balanced, I think you should't have any problem with using it in friendly games.


BTW the beta version of CoS list is ready*, though it's spread out over a couple of topics & many pages in this forum, so might be difficult to use. I'll make a compiled .doc version in 2-3 weeks and can send it to anyone interested in using/playtesting it.

*(one version of it anyway - as you can read in 'entries rules' topic (here) the last plan was to have two variants, but since Kyrel didn't give sign of life since that time I guess we only have one variant for now)

[Oliver the anointed]

But can we make this official?

I remembered reading somewhere that GW removed the Cult of Pleasure lists and fluff because they don't want people asks questions like " If dark elves are in touch with slaanesh, why they still worship Khaine but not Khorne?"

I mean, They even removed the fluff!

[Weenth]

As for removing Cult of Slaanesh list, the reason actually was simply because it was part of Storm of Chaos, which GW somehow tries to wholy erase and forget about. So they made CoS illegal together with all the other lists.

However, while most of SoC lists can be emulated to some extend by more elastic, 'regular' Army Books in 7th ed, the new DE book didn't give any Slaaneshi options and even had it's fluff change to ommit any mentions of Slaanesh.

Your're right that the reason was new line of thinking in GW, which goes along 'Great Four Chaos Gods are human gods, if elves become corrupted that should be through their own pantheon'.

That means there is no explanation for elven Cult of Slaanesh in recent fluff. The good part is, if you miss it (like I do for example ), it's quite easy to join previous Slaaneshi fluff with more recent 7th DE 'Cults of Pleasure'. (see this topic for our ideas on this).


Anyway, going back to initial question - unfortunatly there is IMO no chance to get Cult of Slaanesh army list official (understood as 'aprooved by GW, tournament-legal rules').

Another thing is, that it would be very hard even without changes in 7th ed DE fluff; I can't recall a single time when GW made any fan-created list official, heck, they even consider their own WD lists to be unofficial.

[Weenth]

Hello again! This time I'm posting two new characters for CoS, both champion-level.


LORELLIA

First goes an updated version of Lorellia (Kyrel currently has little time for WFB due to his real-life commitments, so he temporarily withdrew from further work on CoS project; he did however allow me to adjust his Minstrel-character for my version of the list). I gave two variants of her, as I'm unsure which would be better (one's considerably cheaper, but also less powerfull than the other). Anyway, more on that below. Here she goes:

Despite the fact that all Druchii descent from warriors, and despite the fact that the very society of the Druchii is based around war, strife, and conflict, not all Dark Elves are equally fascinated with mere bloodshed. The elven senses of the Druchii are as keen as their cousin’s, and for some Dark Elves, the experiences that can be had through the infliction of pain etc. just isn’t enough. In the case of Lorellia, this former warrior grew bored with the torture and backstabbing, and begun searching for new sensual experiences. Ultimately this search brought her into the arms of the Cults of Pleasure, where she discovered the joy of music, and became fascinated with its ability to affect those that heard it. Lorellia was a natural singer with a great voice, and as time went by she became nothing short of spectacular. Her small hidden concerts drew likeminded Druchii from the Cult of Pleasure from miles around.

Soon she was introduced to the inner circle of the Cult, where she learned that the true Lord of Pleasure is Slaanesh, of whom Atharti is just a pale reflection, a story for those weak of mind. As Lorellia proved her strength and devotion in the Ritual of Initiation, she drew the attention of the Dark Prince, who bestowed his favour upon her. With her singing abilities further improved by the Gift of Chaos Lorellia was able to truly play the heart and soul of her audience. Her ability to raise a person’s morale to the highest peak or deprive enemy of any ill-intent against her, all merely through her song, is what makes her truly dangerous. More than one enemy has found themselves transfixed in wonder whilst Lorellia’s allies cut them to pieces.

LORELLIA, The Minstrel – 55 pts (Variant B - 95 pts)
CoS army may include Lorellia instead of a musican in Devoted of Slaanesh unit. Although she can be take in addition to the Chosen Devoted, Lorellia is treated as a Champion in all other regards.

M5|WS5|BS4|S3|T3|W1|I6|A2|Ld8
Equipment: Two Hand Weapons
Special Rules: Eternal Hatred; Mark of Slaanesh; Narcotic Fumes.
Chaos Gifts: Alluring Voice


ALLURING VOICE
Lorellia has been gifted with the most beautiful singing voice in the Old World, and with her song she has the ability to touch the very hearts and souls of all that hear her. Her voice is also her greatest protection, as many Devoted who hear it become so bewitched that they would rather sacrifice themselves than allow source of that pleasure pass away.

Whenever Lorellia is successfully hit by an enemy, roll a dice. On a result of 2 to 6 one of her comrades decides to throw themselves between attacker’s blade and Lorellia – resolve the attack as if it hit one of the friendly models at either side of Lorellia (Cult player’s choice). If the chosen model is a character, he may try to restrain himself by passing a Ld test. If he succeeds, or the result of the initial roll is 1, resolve the attack against Lorellia in the normal way.

Additionally, at the beginning of the friendly magic phase, Lorellia can unleash one of the below songs. Their effect lasts until the next Cult magic phase. While Alluring Voice of Lorellia is divinely enchanted, the effects of it do not count as spells, and thus cannot be dispelled by any means.

Hymn to the Beauty of Dark Prince – The enemy is so fascinated by the seducing beauty of this song, that they cannot bring themselves to harm its source.
Any unit wishing to charge Devoted unit including Lorellia must first pass a Ld test. If this is failed, the unit doesn’t charge and can’t do anything at all during this movement phase.

Praise of the Perverse Pleasure – This strangely soothing song reminds followers of Slaanesh that death is but another sensation, and so, when coming, should be embraced without fear.
When fleeing from combat, Devoted unit including Lorellia will automatically rally in the next turn.

March of Ecstatic Triumph – The magical song bolsters the morale of the Devoted, and invigorates them with will of fight.
Devoted unit including Lorellia gains +1 to combat resolution.


ALLURING VOICE SONGS - VERSION B

Hymn to the Beauty of Dark Prince – The enemy is so fascinated by the seducing beauty of this song, that they cannot bring themselves to harm its source.
Enemy wishing to charge, shoot or cast spell on Devoted unit including Lorellia must first pass a Ld test. If this is failed, the unit abandons its intention – those willing to charge cannot move at all during that movement phase and those willing to shoot count as having missed. The spells count as failed and power dice used on them are lost, but Wizards casting them are otherwise unaffected.

Praise of the Perverse Pleasure – This strangely soothing song reminds followers of Slaanesh that death is but another sensation, and so, when coming, should be embraced without fear.
When fleeing from combat, unit including Lorellia will automatically rally in the next turn. All friendly units within 12” of Lorellia can re-roll their attempts to rally and break tests.

March of Ecstatic Triumph – The magical song bolsters the morale of the Devoted, and invigorates them with will of fight.
The unit including Lorellia gains +1 to combat resolution.


Cost breakdown:

Devoted Musician: 7 pts

Alluring Voice (protection part) – 25 pts?

Alluring Voice (songs - Version A)
[ a) Hymn to the Beauty of Dark Prince – 25 pts]]=>
[ b) Praise of the Perverse Pleasure – 20 pts]]=>Total cost (rounding up because of the versility) (25+20+25)/3=>25 pts
[ c) March of Ecstatic Triumph – 25 pts]]=>

Alluring Voice (songs - Version B)
[ a) Hymn to the Beauty of Dark Prince – 75 pts]]=>
[ b) Praise of the Perverse Pleasure – 55 pts]]=>Total cost (75+55+50)/3(+ 5 because of the versatility) =>65 pts
[ c) March of Ecstatic Triumph – 50 pts]]=>

Total: 57 or 97 pts (rounded to 55 and 95 respectively)

A bit of explanation of what changed and why:

One obvious change was background (making Slaanesh more prominent in her involvement with the Pleasure Cults, also removing Cytharai names from the titles of songs).

Another issue was offering her some protection. As she replaces the musician and has stats no better than ordinary Devoted, I felt she could do with something different to ward save or ‘cannot be attacked unless Ld test is passed’. A musician can easily be killed, but his instrument will be passed on, effectively making him unkillable while the unit lasts. This would of course be too powerful for Lorellia, but I think that limited protection, similar to ‘Look out, Sir!’ rule would be ok. There’s no other such item/ability in the game, though (Grail Reliquary comes closest, though it’s still something different), so I had only my own estimation for the price, which I put at 25 pts. I’m quite confident it shouldn’t be less, though maybe it should be more, even twice as much (50 pts)?

She also needed some changes to the effect of her voice (I based on the Champion version of Lorellia).Firstly, a more careful breakdown of Tullaris and Kouran prices showed that they pay full price for their abilities. This means that Stubborn is too expensive to even consider, unless it would be the only effect (or one of the alternate effects). Considering that Devoted can already get Stubborn from the Effigy, I decided to drop it. I also modified the charge-stopping rule (I think a weaker, but affecting all potential targets effect is more appropriate for something like song).

All three effects (Auto Rally, +1 CR, Enemy can’t charge on failed Ld test) could arguably be fitted together in Lorellia’s price, but that would make her very expensive. I wanted to keep the original aspect of choosing a single song from repertoire, so only one of them can apply at a single time, resulting in much cheaper total price.

This in turn lead me to thinking of a more powerful version of her Alluring Voice. So I’ve made second version, with powered up effects and increased price (though still not as high as all-in-one version). I’m still undecided about which version to use. Musicians are cheaper than Champions, so a cheaper SC-Musician would make sense. OTOH the more powerful version is on par with Tullaris in terms of price, so also acceptable and might be more interestig.

If current pricing of her protection turns out to be too low, that’ll leave us with just one option (weaker effect, yet not-so-cheap Musician), but if it's right we have the choice. Currently I'm leaning more towards cheaper version, but more voices and reasoning on that one would help. So, what do you think?


_______________________________________________________________________


NETHARYEL

And here's the second character, Netharyel (also sheading some more light on Neophyte Knights fluff). Fluff and rules first, with resoning and explanations following.

It is said that that to ride a Cold One is a declaration of bravery and ambition, but often such a decision is done without full realisation of the price to pay. Many young druchii nobles found out all too late that the glory and power don’t taste as well when one can’t feel any taste at all. It is from such nobles that Neophyte Knights were born.

This Slaaneshii sect takes it beginning from Netharyel, known as the First Convert. This young noble, slowly gaining favour in the Witch King’s court had been, as rumours say, seduced by Morathi, who used a potion temporarily removing ill effects of Naurglir slime. Once reminded just how attractive pleasures of the body can be, Netharyel became addicted to the potion and paid many dark deeds to the Hag Sorceress just to keep his supply coming.

This however was not enough, as over the time the reaction of his body was becoming weaker and weaker. It was then that Morathi offered a new deal to him; if he can find five other Knights wishing to regain their lost senses, a daemonic pact can be made that will not only return them what they lost, but give better ability for pleasure than they ever had. This wasn’t hard for Netharyel, as he was aware of few other Knights who knew his secret and envied him for it. Having them involved was much safer way of keeping them silent than bribery or threats.

So it was that the ritual was performed, though only Morathi and Netharyel were aware of the fact that the price for feeling was giving away one’s very soul to the Prince of Pleasure. The willing sacrifice of First Convert was appreciated by Slaanesh, who marked his new follower this some special gifts. One of these was Chaos armour, that became part of Netharyel’s body, while allowing him to feel touch better than his own skin ever had.

And so it was that Cult of Slaanesh spread where none expected it to, with more Knights joining, usually by the same route of addictive potion. Though this time provided by Netharyel, who’s own fate led him over the time into obsession about various drugs and addictive substances.
When Morathi decided that it was time for the Cult to go into the open, the Neophyte Knights appeared faithfully at her side.

NETHARYEL, The First Convert – 90 pts
CoS army may include Netharyel instead of a Pleasure Knight in Neophyte Knights unit. Netharyel is a Champion in all regards.

M5|WS5|BS4|S4|T3|W1|I6|A2|Ld9
Equipment: Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, Lance, Shield
Special Rules: Eternal Hatred; Mark of Slaanesh; Eye of the Pleasure God; Stupidity; Fear; Thick-skinned; Liquor of Vigorous Ecstasy.
Chaos Gifts: Quickening Blood

Liquor of Vigorous Ecstasy
Experimenting with new narcotic substances became an addiction on its own for Netharyel. Before the battle he likes to drug slaves with a beverage of his own creation and feed them to the Cold Ones. This has invigorating effect on the Nauglir, though does little to counter their bad-temper.
All the mounts in the unit that Netharyel leads gain +1 Movement and Always Strikes First special rule. They can march even if there is enemy within 8”. If they fail their Stupidity test normal rules apply except they move double their movement rather than halve it. If forced into difficult terrain in this way, the unit suffers D6 S6 hits. All these effects apply even if Netharyel himself is killed.


Cost breakdown:

CoK Champion: 16 pts

Heavy armour upgraded to Chaos Armour: 1-5 pts

Quickening Blood: 10 pts (same cost as for Devoted Champion)

ASF for mounts only: 17-20 pts

+1 Movement for whole unit: 25 pts

Cannot be march-blocked & moves at double pace: 15-20 pts

Total: 84-96 pts, so I went for 90 pts


Ok, so much for rules and here's a bit on the origins of the idea for Netharyel: I wanted to include two champion-level characters in the list. Devoted, as a unit fully unique to CoS were no-brainer, but Neophyte Knights also came as quite obvious choice to me:
- They too are (kinda) CoS-unique unit; at least fluff-wise, as their inclusion in Pleasure God’s army needed more explanation than in case of other DE units
- COK are very characteristic druchii unit (IMO moreso than Black Guard), yet they didn’t have unique character so far (unless you count Malus...)
- ...as he - at least rule-wise – interacts with COK. Although he’s unavailable in CoS, so I wanted some other means of addressing unit’s biggest weakness: stupidity.

Now, another ‘bright Cold One leading the pack’ would be both unoriginal and IMHO unfitting: Slaanesh is not about making one’s mind clearer and smarter. If anything he’s rather the opposite, with all the drinks and narcotics used at the orgies and other rituals. That’s when the root idea for Netharyel’s uniqueness appeared to me: Cold Ones on drugs! :laughing:
The rest was simply a matter of getting this all balanced. Effect of being drugged is usually represented as stupidity in terms of rules, but COK already have that. OTOH, they’re ‘hard but slow’ in an army meant – in it’s elven part – to be rather fast. So I went for ASF and increased Movement (no ASF for riders, as this would need separate explanation in fluff and also make price higher; even as it is, at 90 pts, the only ‘personal’ bonuses Netharyel has are increased armour save and ASF).

Netharyel seems fine to me as he is, though, as usual, any comments and opinions are welcome, especially if you have any doubts about him.

[Weenth]

Here's another Special Character for Cult of Slaanesh, especially for all those who missed Daemon Prince option.

The background story still requires quite a bit of reworking, but since the reason is more to make it a good read than any need to change the facts, I'm giving it in current form.


SLAANAR - Heir of Slaanesh

Grimoires of the North Tower hold the names of countless daemonic entities of varying power, used by Morathi and her Sorceresses in their magic. Among most powerful comes the being known as Slaanar - a name which in druhir means simply ‘Heir of Slaanesh’. This, together with signs of elven features in his outlook are the only hints to his origins. While no one knows for sure who he was once, it’s suspected that he’s one of the elves who left for the Chaos Wasted soon after the Sundering, maybe even the very first of them – elven prince Cadaithel.

Cadaithel was one of the first to embrace Slaanesh under Morathi’s lead and advanced quickly in his ways. Despite that he never reached top position in the Cult – the formal reason was him being a male and a warrior, whereas she decided that women, especially those magically gifted are naturally better priests to the Cult. This made Cadaithel sore and bitter. He tried to secretly overthrow Morathi, spreading gossip that she’s a manipulator and hungry for power rather than true follower and that she has never committed her soul to the Prince of Pleasure.

Before his scheming gave any fruits, there came the Sundering. Cadaithel fought hardly for the glory of his god and when followers of Morathi and her son left for the land that was to become Naggaroth, he decided to part ways with them and seek further reward and new sensations in the warped lands of the Chaos Wastes.

No one knows what became of Cadaithel later. Although other elves set for the Wastes after him when the Slaanesh cult was outlawed, none of them ever mentioned finding any trace of him. Yet some suspect that it is him that the books call Slaanar. If this to be true, he’d be the only Anointed to ever reach daemonhood.

Whatever the truth it’s certain that Slaanar has more free will than any other daemon, or Daemon Prince known. Despite his power and helping the Cult on a couple occasions, he’d never been summoned by Morathi herself. Some say it’s because she doesn’t consider him worth the effort, other (short-lived usually) whisper that she tried to once, but failed.

Slaanar must indeed enjoy high esteem in Dark Prince’s eyes, as he wasn’t punished for the name he took and, even more, was shaped in Pleasure God’s own resemblance. The Heir of Slaanesh has the features of a beautiful elf, half male, half female, standing full twelve feet tall. His skin is porcelain white and smooth, his fine hair equally bright with a golden shine. From among the hair two pairs of horns adorn his head. His eyes shimmer in a flow of colours – sometimes seeming fully black, like those of the Anointed, sometimes becoming crystals of electric blue or amethyst violet. He’s clad in a delicate mail fringed with velvet and exposing his single breast. In his left hand he wields a blade made from a single crystal, which emits a delicate glow. In the other hand he holds the Jade Sceptre, deceptively similar to the Slaanesh’s own most precious treasure and from his back sprout wings of unmatched beauty and purest white, although stained, as if splashed with blood.

It’s claimed that these wings once belonged to Azazel, Prince of Damnation, leader of daemonic legions of Slaanesh. The tale has it that unknown Champion, bearing Mark of Slaanesh, approached the Crystal Throne in the Wastes, passed carelessly through adoring supplicants gathered at the steps and challenged The Daemon Prince sat upon it. The Champion claimed that he’s the rightful heir and right hand to God of Pleasure and Azazel was just an usurper taking his place. This was like a slap to the daemon. Not only because of the barefaced claim, but also because this was the first and only time that a mortal had resisted his charm without any effort. Enraged, Azazel he attacked, though only to his doom. The fight was brutal, but short – after few blows the crystalline blade went straight through Daemon Prince’s head, sending his spirit back to warp.

The victorious Champion then cut off Azazel’s wings and holding them in his hand climbed the stairs to the throne. With each step he seemed to grow larger, so that when he reach the top, he was able to comfortably settle in the seat designed for a Daemon Prince’s frame. Then he brought the wings to his back, where they seemed to adhere immediately. Thus began the reign of Slaanar, Heir of Slaanesh, or so the story tells. Some doubt it, saying that mere mortal could never defeat right hand of the Dark Prince so easily. Yet those who tackle in such things admit that prayers offered to Azazel and any attempts to summon him are invariably met with silence for the last century.

SLAANAR, The Heir of Slaanesh - 600 pts
Slaanar counts as one Lord choice. Unless noted otherwise he uses up 3 Summoning Points.

M9|WS9|BS0|S5|T4|W4|I10|A6|Ld9
Equipment: Hand Weapon
Magic: Slaanar is a 2 lvl Wizard and always uses Daemon Lore of Slaanesh.
Special Rules: Eternal Hatred; Scion of Slaanesh; Eye of the Dark Prince; Jealous Lover; Fly.
Chaos Gifts: Unnatural Swiftness, Irresistible Allure
Magic Items: Diamond Blade, The Jade Sceptre, Velvet Mail Shirt.

Special Rules:

SCION OF SLAANESH
Slaanar is the only Anointed to ever reach the daemonhood and is said to be the only daemon prince to retain fully free will. Being aware of it and supremely vain, he won’t allow any lesser creatures (that is, any mortal or daemon in his opinion) into his direct company.
Slaanar is subject to Daemonic and Northern Warband special rules. He cannot join any units and cannot have personal retinue. When fielded Slaanar is automatically the leader of other units with Northern Warband rule. He always counts as six models for the purpose of Number of Slaanesh rule.

JEALOUS LOVER
It is said that Slaanar is jealous of the favour Morathi has in Slaanesh’s eyes and is therefore highly reluctant to do her bidding or comply to appear at her demand at all.
In an army led by Morathi Slaanar uses up 6 Summoning Points. He can’t use her Leadership and cannot voluntarily go within 12” of her. If forced to come closer (eg. by some compulsory movement) he must leave the 12” radius as soon as he can.

Chaos Gifts:

IRRESISTIBLE ALLURE
Slaanar is gifted with the beauty greater than that of any other living or daemonic creature, except of his divine patron himself.
Enemy models wishing to attack Slaanar must first pass a Leadership test, rolling an extra dice and discarding the lowest result. If the test is passed, the Irresistible Allure has no effect. If the test is failed, the affected model may not strike blows in that round of combat and is hit automatically if attacked.

Magic Items:

DIAMOND BLADE (magic weapon)
This beautiful, crystalline blade is said to be so sharp, that even hardes armour is poor protection against it.
Hand weapon. Confers an additional -2 armour save modifier on any blows struck.

THE JADE SCEPTRE (enchanted item)
Bound Spell, Power Level 4
The Jade Sceptre resembles the fallic-shaped artefact that Slaanesh himself wields in his right hand. Although it’s power is just a fraction of the original, it still has disturbing effect on those who fell to its enchantment.
The Sceptre contains a powerful spell that can be cast at any single enemy unit on the battlefield. Unless dispelled, this spell makes its target subject to Stupidity in its next turn.

VELVET MAIL SHIRT (magic armour)
The seemingly fragile mail shirt of silver and gold fringed with velvet provides Slaanar with better protection than any mundane armour ever could.
The Velvet Mail Shirt grants an armour save of 3+.


Cost breakdown:
Stats - 225-240 (depending if counted from KoS or Anointed)
2 Lvl Wizard: 85 pts
Eternal Hatred: 20 pts
Scion of Slaanesh: 50 pts
Fly: 20 pts
Unnatural Swiftness (ASF): 25 pts
Irresistible Allure: 75 pts
Diamond Blade: 10-15 pts
The Jade Sceptre: 60-75 pts
Velvet Mail Shirt: 15 pts
Jealous Lover: -5 pts

Total: 580-615, so I decided to go with 600 for a nice Slaaneshi number

The idea for this character started out quite simply: I wanted to include a CoS-specific Daemon Prince, representing an Anointed who reached eternal life. This in indicated that he should be, in some aspects, the opposite of Morathi: someone who embraced Slaanesh, rather than striking pact with him. And still someone who would succeed in it, rather than falling to become Spawn or slave-like daemon. This meant an individual both extremely vain and strong of will.

I decided to make him ‘in the picture of Slaanesh’ to show his unique status and to play up his opposition to Morathi as a personal conflict. (goes also some way towards balancing, as it’s harder to field both of these two powerful characters). Since I wanted him to be ‘a favourite child’ of Slaanesh I needed to somehow solve the problem that in the existing fluff Azazel already takes that place (I actually considered using Azazel as CoS character, but decided that his human origin makes him a poor material for that). Hence the idea of confrontation between the two (of course the Slaanar coming on top ).


Anyway, here he is, awaiting feedback both on his rules and his background.


I think the story will be better if I shuffle its elements (the fragment about confronting Azazel going to middle probably, or maybe begining), but not sure what could be changed apart from that.

[Weenth]

Ok, here goes N'Kari. Took more changes than I thought, but I think the final result is interesting, check by yourself below.
[Important note - this guy hasn't been playtested, so I'm not putting him in the main CoS document yet.]

N’KARI - Despoiler of Ulthuan

Of all the Slaaneshi Daemons, N’Kari is the one most notable in the history of elfkind. Some say that his pacts with Malekith and Morathi made him akin to druchii in their bloodlust and hate for their Ulthuan kin. That is, however only partly true, as N’Kari despises all elves regardless of their allegiance and holds an exceptional grudge against Aenarion, who banished him long ago, as well as all Aenarion’s descendants. Malekith himself is probably unaware that it’s only his mother’s exceptional involvement with the Pleasure God that allowed her son to pact with this vengeful creature.
N’Kari is powerful entity and holds high position even among other Greater Daemons and to bind him is extremely difficult task, undertaken only in the times of direst need for the Cult.


N'Kari, Despoiler of Ulthuan - 645 pts
M10|WS9|BS0|S6|T6|W5|I10|A6|LD10

Equipment: Claws (hand weapon)
Magic:N'Kari is a Level 3 Wizard and always uses Daemon Lore of Slaanesh.
Special Rules: Daemonic, Large Target, Terror, Always Strikes First, Armour Piercing, Vengeance on Aenarion's Line
Daemonic Gifts: Intoxicating Visions, Soul Hunger, Torment Blade

Special Rules

VENGEANCE ON AENARION'S LINE
N'Kari seeks to end the line of Anaerion and due to his repeated failed attempts to take Ulthuan has grown a passionate hatred of all elven folk.
N'Kari Hates towards any elves and has Eternal Hatred when fighting Tyrion, Teclis or Malekith.

Daemonic Gifts

INTOXICATING VISIONS
While N’Kari finds pleasure in slaughter, what he likes even more is manipulating his enemies, haunting their minds and polluting dreams even before the battle begins.
After both sides deployed, but before the battle begins pick one enemy unit or character (characters within units can also be targeted). The target must pass a Ld test on 3D6 or falls victim to one of the effects listed below, chosen by CoS player.
The unit including any characters must test on its own Ld, but unless targeted themselves, the characters remain unaffected by the Visions (in case of deluding confusion they have the option to stay on their own at their original location, or to remain within re-deployed unit).

Deluding confusion
The eerie dreams sent by N’Kari leave his opponents bemused even after waking up, confusing their perception and leaving them vulnerable to subtle manipulation.
The CoS player can re-deploy targeted unit, within following restrictions:
- the unit can be moved up to double its movement away from the original location (or 20” in case of flying units)
- facing of the unit can be changed up to 45 degrees
- re-deployed unit must still fulfill all normal deployment restrictions (within player’s deployment zone, at least 1” from friendly units, etc.)

Demoralizing Nightmares
By bedeviling dreams of his enemies, N’Kari undermine their morale, leaving them jittery and stressed.
The victim suffers -1 modifier on all Ld-based test during the battle

Harbinger of Doom
N’Kari shows his victims a prophetic vision of their horrible death by his own hands and claws.
Victim must re-roll all successful break tests from combat involving N’Kari, as well as Fear, Terror and Panic tests caused by him or his magic.

Cost breakdown:
Stats & usual KoS special rules: 465 pts
3 lvl wizard: 85 pts
Vengeance on Aenarion's Line: 15 pts
Intoxicating Visions: 75 pts
Soul Hunger: 25 pts
Torment Blade: 5 pts

Total: 645 pts

As a starting point for above rules I took Dangerous Beans' idea; I realized however, that old 6th ed spells have already been incorporated into 7th ed WoC Lore of Slaanesh (Titillating Delusions directly and Luxurious Torment under the new name of 'Hysterical Frenzy'), so I decided to go with something else for N'Kari's unique visions. I already had idea for a daemonic gift that would allow to mess up with enemy deployment, so I developed that idea along the lines of original Visions (3 non-spell effects to choose from). I cut out most of the daemonic gifts from first version of rules to keep the cost reasonably low... leaving out Spirit Swallower was the hardest choice, as it fits his background very well, but I decided that additional 100 pts would be too much (all DoC SCs are below 700 pts).

So, have fun using this badguy at let me know how he works out in your games.

P.S.
I've concentrated on finishing the rules themselves, so sorry for any linguistic mistakes; if you notice any please PM me and I'll correct them.