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Post by oldmandan on Aug 5, 2020 17:19:47 GMT
Thinking more deeply I would stick with the current rules of the anvil and be in keeping with magic rules and just add more powerful bound spells for the anvil. Something like rune of vengeance which would give bonuses to hit and to wound for a unit with a boosted version to affect all units. Another could be rune of doom which could reduce enemy leaderships and or grant fear to dwarf units again with a boosted version, there could for fluff as mentioned in my previous post a rune that damages buildings and chariots etc. There is plenty of scope for improving the anvil but it should stay within current rules and be balanced.
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Post by oldmandan on Aug 9, 2020 23:05:19 GMT
Okay as a very old long beard (though my beard is not long, but I am as cantankerous as a runelord). Myself who grumbles and remembers the good old days and who has access to a vast amount of runelore I'm going to try and come up with some new runes and stuff for the anvil of doom. I think it's only fair that this iconic unit actually has an opportunity to shine and have a valid place on the battlefield. So with that said if anyone has any suggestions at things they feel it should be able to do please let me know in this thread, I'll post some ideas shortly.
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Post by oldmandan on Aug 10, 2020 19:20:18 GMT
I thought this would take longer but I managed to come up with an initial draft for the anvil. But first a story.
Altnor Duraz the runesmith had no male heirs to pass on his runic knowledge. However, he had a granddaughter, Geina Duraz. She had spent her early years in the workshop watching and listening to the din and clang of metal being worked. Despite her desiring to learn runesmithing her grandfather would not teach her. It was on the eve of a battle she followed him to the field where a horde of greenskins had amassed. Altnor had brought along an anvil of doom, he struck the runes with force like no other quelling hostile magic and smiting foes and giving young dawi warriors stout courage. At the peak of the battle a huge savage orc dealt Altnor an almighty blow knocking him back from the anvil. The guards moved to defend as more greenskins piled into the fight. At this moment fury in her heart Geina took up the hammer and began to strike the runes. As if guided by Grungi himself to intuitively struck the runes correctly with a light but strong touch, here she discovered an unlocked the forgotten rune of vengeance. The anvil glowed and the guards could feel their weapons move with unerring accuracy felling greenskins left and right.
I thought that would be fun. Having read through some of the lore I then began to think firstly what are the issues with the anvil and then actually what is the function of the anvil. Firstly, the issue and I think this has already been highlighted the anvil has a limited role in the magic phase, there are not enough runes to strike, there is no ancient power like in previous editions and finally the anvil is supposed to, at least in previous editions and the lore absorb and quell hostile magic. However, it does have one thing it can do which is increase the resilience of a runelord and being a warmachine only six troops can attack it, which if the runelord is relatively tanky can be annoying and potentially hold up a flank.
My first proposal is this, bring back the ability to strike the runes with ancient power. This would be a boosted version of the bound spells which would have a greater range, affect more units, last longer or increase the damage of certain runes. The next proposal is more runes to strike, I feel it is to easy to just shut down the anvil so there should be more runes. Also there needs to be more options for what the runes can do, at the moment there is one rune I would use and because of the limited use of the anvil it can be easy to dispel. My third proposal is to give the anvil back some of the previous abilities but with an added tweak to make it more anti magical as that usually why they are used in the lore. After all I thought dwarves were supposed to be the anti magic kings.
So the first new (old) rune is rune of water, this reduces the enemy movement by D3 cast on 4+, with ancient power that would be 8+ and would affect the units WS as well. The next is rune of passage, cast on a friendly unit, that unit my immediately make a march move ignoring terrain, cast on a 5+, with ancient power cast on 10+ and affects D3 units, or increases the distance moved. The next would be the rune of vengeance in which a unit would receive a bonus to hit cast on a 6+, ancient power affects all units within 12" cast on 10+. The rune of oath and steel would have a similar option and be all units for a 10+ and rune of wrath and ruin would increase the strength of the hit to 6 and be cast on a 12+.
The next set of options would be a 2+ bonus to casting and a bonus 1+ to channeling. Locus of power would stay. I am suggesting that any enemy spell cast within 12" would suffer a -2 penalty to casting as the anvil absorbs the magic similar to 4th edition.
Lastly, I think the anvil would perhaps possibly have an innate ability to reflect magic similar to the feedback scroll, this would be a once per battle ability.
Okay there are some of my thoughts, please let me know what you think or if I've missed something, I'll be thinking about points cast and other things as well. My aim was also to try and keep the anvil as balanced as possible on paper. Happy hammering.
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Post by oldmandan on Aug 25, 2020 16:19:13 GMT
Okay, has anyone tried out this set of rules for an anvil, I'm still thinking about points cost and whether making the anvil slightly more expensive based on these new rules would make it still a poor choice, I'm personally leaning towards just leaving points cost as is. If possible could some people please let me know their thoughts and test out the anvil under these rules. Thanks for all the favs on the post.
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Post by pandabro on Aug 26, 2020 15:54:15 GMT
Some good ideas there, oldmandan! I also like the Rune of Water coming back. Perhaps it can have dual utility, in so that if you target a friendly unit, it doubles its movement value, but if you target an enemy, the movement is halved. That way you don't need two movement runes. I also think one could add a Rune of Fire/Flames (There already, technically is a Rune of Fire), that gives a unit flaming attacks for a turn. Ancient Power could give the unit flaming attacks, and a flaming breath weapon. It's fine that it works just like the normal Rune of Fire. There is a lot of utility in being able to give a unit Flaming Attacks whenever you want to get rid of regen, and take advantage of the Flammable rule. It's also lorefriendly, due to how runesmiths already have the Forgefire rule.
Perhaps more/All spells can have an alternative effect based on whether you're attacking an enemy or ally. Rune of Flame could give Fire Attacks or Flammable, Oath and Steel coud increase/decrease armor save, Rune of Water can increase/decrease movement, etc.
My next point is that I don't really know lorewise, how runes work. I'm not sure anyone does. Does it work just like magic? I think due to dwarfs' inclination towards science and not magic, they view magic as a fuel, but they still need a way to unleash it in the way it's intended. It makes more sense to me to have rune magic be very much tied to the natural world, thus I've never been a fan of runes that summon ghostly apparitions or can influence minds. I personally like thinking runes connects only to the physical world, and activates something in the proper material, almost like alchemy. So heating up the earth's core til it spews fire, or flood a field with water, or harden armor is all just a manipulation of natural phenomena. I hope the runes stay this way, and are careful with adding leadership/panic runes. They are mostly useless, anyway, imo..
Give ALL the runes a distance requirement, and let the anvil move and join a unit just like Thorgrim, and Dwarfs are on their way to becoming a lot better, imo!
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Post by oldmandan on Oct 2, 2020 22:22:40 GMT
Good points I'll have a think on those. Dwarfs were always good, it's just certain things needed a push on the right direction. I'll make another post soon with an update. Not sure about it joining a unit though, in the previous editions it was always a stand alone item as if you read some of the stories an Orc shaman Baadum tried to unlock the secrets of an anvil of doom and sucked himself and 10000 of his lads along with some of mount grimfang into the realm of chaos, although they fought well they were summarily slaughtered by a legion of bloodletters. Will have a good think, thanks for the reply.
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