For Holy Terra Because space is scary

Fandex: Eldar | Seer Council

I’ve heard some juicy Eldar rumors that suggest a new Codex within a year, so I’m pretty much going to abandon writing a fandex that will likely take longer than that to write and not be nearly as good (or, worse – better).  Also, my basement recently flooded and one of the (luckily few) casualties were my 3rd Edition Eldar Codexes. One last thing before I stop, though: Farseers and Warlocks.  This is pretty much a wishlist item.  Eldar are supposed to be the most potent psykers in the galaxy, able to bend the fabric of reality and tame the Warp with nothing more than their minds and a nice, hot cup of coffee.  Stars lived and died at their command, mon-keigh!  Yet, somehow, they’re not nearly as good as that in the game.  I think that should change, especially in light of the psychic-spam that is the Grey Knights.  Eldar can cast, at most, five psychic powers per turn (Eldrad and a Farseer), whereas a GK list can  conceivably drop 10 or more?  Sure, the Eldar will make them do it on 3D6, but still… Eldar should be owning the rights to psychic powers.  But still, with great power comes a points cost.

Seer Council                      135 Points per Model

Unit Composition: 1-2 Farseers
Unit Type: Infantry
Wargear (Farseer): Rune Armour, Ghosthelm, Runes of Warding, Runes of Witnessing, Shuriken Pistol, Witchblade
Wargear (Seer Protégé, Warlock): Rune Armour, Shuriken Pistol, Witchblade

Rune Armour - Seer Protégés and Warlocks wear a wraithbone breastplate shaped into runic forms that ward off enemy attacks.  A model wearing rune armour has a 4+ invulnerable save.  Farseers wear a more finely-crafted and highly enhanced version of this armour.  Farseers wearing rune armour have a 3+ invulnerable save.

Ghosthelm - A Farseer’s ghosthelm incorporates intricate crystalline psychic circuitry that masks their spirit in the Warp. If a Farseer suffers a Perils of the Warp attack, he does not need to re-roll a successful invulnerable save.

Runes of Warding - A Farseer can use runes of warding to throw up psychic interference to hinder his foe.  All enemy Psychic tests must be taken on 3D6, suffering a Perils of the Warp attack on any roll of 12 or above.

Runes of Witnessing - A Farseer uses runes of witnessing to guide his second sight along the twisting strands of fate.  Any Farseer with Runes of Witnessing rolls 3D6 and discards the highest roll when taking a Psychic test.  You must use the result of the two lowest rolls.  A Farseer with Runes of Witnessing  automatically cancels any attempts to nullify his casting of a psychic power on a roll of 3+ (Psychic hood, runic weapon, etc.).

Spirit Stones - A Farseer can use the power of a spirit stone to charge themselves with psychic energy and focus the minds of his protégés.   A Farseer with Spirit Stones is treated as Psyker Mastery Level 3.  Additionally, if a unit includes a Farseer with Spirit Stones, any other model in the squad may use his leadership for any psyker-related tests (invoking psychic powers, contesting a psychic hood, etc.).

Witchblade – Forged from psychically-attuned crystal, these fragile-looking blades can cleave effortlessly through armour and bone.  Witchblades are force weapons that always wound on a roll of 4+.

Singing Spear - A piece of the same crystal used to forge witchblades set atop a wraithbone shaft forms the fabled Singing Spear.  Requiring two hands to wield, this wicked weapon can also be hurled at foes.  Singing Spears are treated as two-handed Witchblades that may also be used as a shooting attack with the following profile:

Singing Spear – Range 12″, SX, AP:6, Assault 1 (Singing Spears are treated as Strength 9 when used against a model with an Armour Value)

Special Rules
Farseer: Fleet, Psyker Mastery Level 2, Psychic Powers, Spirit Seer, Independent Character
Seer Protégé: Fleet, Psyker Mastery Level 1, Psychic Powers
Warlock: Fleet, Psyker Mastery Level 1, Psychic Powers, Spirit Seer, Battle Guide

Spirit Seers - Farseers and Warlocks have, through centuries of communion with their fallen ancestors, learned to communicate through the fog of the Infinity Circuit in order to lead their revered dead in battle.  Their voice calls clearly through the veil, acting as a beacon to those who have been roused from their slumber to fight for their dying race.  Any unit affected by the Wraith Sight special rule within 12″ of a friendly Spirit Seer may act freely as if it were not affected.

Battle Guide – Warlocks have achieved enough mastery at arms and the approval of their mentors to take their own place as leaders for their warrior brethren.  Any Warlock in the Seer Council may be removed from their squad when the army is deployed and attached to any of the following:  Guardians, Guardian Jetbikes (if the model has purchased an Eldar Jetbike at the listed cost),and Wraithguard.  The Warlock is treated in all respects as an upgrade model of that squad.

Psychic Powers - Farseers know any three of the following powers: Augmentation, Destructor, Doom, Eldritch Storm, Embolden, Enhance, Fortune, Guide, Mind War, Razorshield, Tuning the Web of Fate.

Each Seer Protégé knows one of the following powers (Warlocks know two): Augmentation, Destructor, Embolden, Enhance, Razorshield.

Options:
Any Farseer may take Spirit Stones at 30 points per model.

The squad may include up to 8 Seer Protégés at 35 points per model.
Any Seer Protégé may be upgraded to a Warlock at 20 points per model.

Any model may replace their Witchblade with a Singing Spear for 5 points.
Any model may replace their Shuriken Pistol with a Fusion Pistol for 15 points.

Any model may take an Eldar Jetbikes for 20 points.

Psychic Powers
Doom, Enhance, Embolden, Eldritch Storm,  Fortune, Guide, and Mind War - Remain unchanged.

Augmentation: All Psykers in the same unit have the range of all successful psychic powers doubled.  Only applies to powers with a range listed in inches.

Destructor: The Warlock focuses his anger and hatred and unleashes it in a blistering hail of burning psychic shards.  If successful, Destructor is resolved as a normal shooting attack with the following profile:
Range: 12” S:5 AP:4 Assault 4
Additionally, if the power is successfully cast, the casting model and any unit it is attached to are treated as having frag grenades on the following Assault phase.

Razorshield:  Adds +2 to the cover save of the caster’s unit, to a maximum of a 2+ cover save.  When not in cover, the caster’s unit receives a 5+ cover save.  The unit is considered to have defensive grenades.

Tuning the Web of Fate:  The Farseer gently plucks the strands of fate and opens up the myriad possibilities to his fellow psykers.  For the rest of the turn, any enemy unit within 6” of a psyker in your army (Farseer, Seer Protégé or Warlock) must re-roll all successful armor, cover and invulnerable saves.

The Web of Fate does not allow itself to be played with easily.  If this power fails for any reason (i.e., Psychic test fails, power is negated by Psychic hood), the casting Farseer immediately suffers a Perils of the Warp attack that is not affected by his Ghosthelm (successful saves must be re-rolled).  Additionally, if the casting results in a Perils of the Warp for any reason (as described above, or if a double one is rolled), every friendly psyker on the in table immediately suffers a Strength 4 hit as the psychic connection buffets them with the power of the Warp.

Allow me to explain myself:

Back in the days of 3rd edition when Eldar had two codexes to play with, there was this neat concept called the Seer Council. It let you cram two Farseers into an HQ choice and give them some Warlock meat shields companions. These Warlocks even had access to a neat new power. All of that got scrapped with 4th Edition, and I have wept bitter tears ever since, which is odd because I never played 3rd Edition. I guess I need something to weep bitter tears over, right? But I digress.

I updated the Seer Council idea with a lot of cues from the Space Wolves codex.  This version allows you to pack in 4 Farseers. The ability to create a psychic deathstar is apparent, but the real fun comes with the Warlocks.  Instead of giving Guardians and Wraithguard a Warlock upgrade, I’ve added the Wolf Guard mechanic of parceling out another unit’s models.

Farseers come down in points a bit considering what they get.  With all of the built-in wargear, it’s about a 15-20 point discount, but I don’t see many Eldar players (and there were a surprising number at ‘Ard Boyz) running a Farseer without all of the upgrades.  Well, for that matter, I don’t see many Eldar players running a Farseer other than Eldrad unless it’s Eldrad and another Farseer.  Totally tuned up with all the options I’m including (and buying the most expensive powers), a Farseer would weigh in at 155 points.  My counter to that is to increase the points on stuff I’m not including, and play around with the Warlock stats.

The distinction between the Seer Protégés and Warlocks was made to provide a level of respect to Warlocks.  In the fluff, they seem to be powerful enough psykers on their own, but the game doesn’t bear that out.  Points-wise, I’ve kept Seer Protégés at essentially the same level as Warlocks were, with a purchased power.  They’ve got lower stats, but now they’re packing force weapons.  Warlocks get a bump in Leadership and gain Spirit Seers, in addition to being able to be loaned out – for a big increase in points.

Special Rules don’t get a big overhaul except for Spirit Seers, which is now free and explicitly states who can nullify Wraith Sight (I was planning on making Wraith Sight a lot worse than 1-in-6 – more like 3-in-6).

Initially I was working in a slightly different direction in the Blood Angels model, with the Warlocks a separate HQ unit like Honor guard and Seer Protégés as a multi-model IC Elites choice like Sanguinary Priests and were going to be the halfway point between Warlocks and Farseers.  After a lot of thought, I decided this was a better idea.

I tweaked the mechanics on all of the wargear except Runes of Warding.  Ghosthelms are tuned down to just requiring one invulnerable save.  Runes of Witnessing now have an anti-nullify power, so that psychic hood or runic weapon are no longer as menacing.  Take that, mon-keigh!  Spirit Stones grant the extra power and increase the leadership for all psykers in the squad for psychic tests.  Witchblades/Singing Spears get better in that they can cause Instant Death, but they don’t wound as easily. I’ve also added the option of Fusion pistols at the average melta-pistol cost.  Jetbikes are a bit more expensive for Warlocks and a bit cheaper for Farseers.  A Jetbike council will still set you back some points.

Then there’s the powers. I took all the Farseer and Warlock Powers and chucked them together.  I figure that Embolden is probably beneath the mighty Farseer, but they should probably have access to it.  There’s still a distinction as to who can take what, but that’s primarily just limiting the stronger powers to Farseers.  Conceal becomes Razorshield and gets a big upgrade.  This one might actually be unbalanced, as it tunes up the average cover save to 2+ and grants defensive grenades.  That’s a kicker.  I may need to re-think that one.  Destructor stops being a heavy flamer and turns into a flechette launcher, providing some assault backup in the form of grenades (that you need to take a psychic test for).  Augmentation is almost identical to the 3rd Edition Craftworld Eldar codex power.   And finally, my new addition:  Tuning the Web of Fate.  This is a big one, the mega-doom.  Played correctly, it can cover your opponent’s entire army and force them to re-roll every successful save against your attacks and even their own blundering.  Of course, if you happen to fail the power for any reason, you get beat with the Perils-stick.  And when you get beat with the Perils-stick, all of your friends get beat with it as well.  The possibility of wiping out your entire psyker corp by casting a single power is definitely something to think about.

Obviously, there might be some balance issues here.  If Guardians and Guardian Jetbike squads are both still troops, and Wraithguard are still Elites, I’ve essentially created a situation that allows someone to field 20 psykers across 11 squads with not a single one of them initially targetable in close combat.  A lot of armies might have an issue dealing with that… except Grey Knights, who would probably chew that up.

So what do you think?  On target?  Overboard? Completely broken?  Totally off-base?  Let me know.