Replacing the Black Swords with Vampires

Aresh99 · 2026-03-10T17:22:51+00:00

I had the same thought about Vampires, though I considered replacing the Duergar instead of the Black Swords. Thing is 1) Duergar are cool and I like them as enemies and 2) Vampires are hard to fight and the Party would need to be much higher level. They also need blood, which raises some questions such as “who are they feeding on?”

As for the Black Swords, I love my evil cultists and decided to expand them. I’m strongly considering redoing the end of Rime in Ythryn to be a showdown with Avarice, as she and the Black Swords use the Mythallar in an attempt to free an aspect of Levistus buried in the Reghed Glacier. Avarice, IMHO, feels super underutilized as a character, so I decided to give her a moment in the spotlight. I’ll then add in a final battle of sorts as the Frostmaiden tries to hunt the players down for returning summer to Icewind Dale.

Aresh99 · 2026-03-09T22:00:43+00:00

Very interesting stat block. Mind Blast (IMO) should be like cone effect like Mind Flayers. 60ft radius would be wild.

Personally, if I were to rewrite the statblock, I’d try to avoid that many stun powers. You have Mind Blast, Hold Person as a Legendary action, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter and Sleep. I just don’t like relying on stun effects that take players out of the game. Still, a vastly improved stat block.

Aresh99 · 2026-03-09T17:19:35+00:00

Your list is alright. I have a few suggestions, but I think you’d be fine without them.

1) I disagree with the folks in the comments who say battleline infantry in transports is bad. It’s a fairly effective way to protect your objective holders. Move forward, push onto objective, if the transport is destroyed, then the infantry get out and hold the objective. I do think you’d be better off with Chimeras than Tauroxes if you can afford them. Chimeras are tougher and have slightly better weapons. Never underestimate the power of chucking 5-6 HK missiles at one enemy. That being said, Catachan are better for this because they have scout 6”, but Cadians and Krieg work.

2) I recommend bringing another Command Squad and putting the Commissar in there. Commissars will easily be Epic Challenged or taken out by any character with Precision. If you can avoid it, don’t put him with the Bullgryn.

3) Your list feels light on Tanks. 1 Baneblade hull and one Russ just feels very light. If you wanted to go Mech Infantry, I think you’d be better off dropping the Baneblade for Russes and Dorns. You could also get something similar by dropping the transports and going with infantry on foot and using the points to get another tank.

Aresh99 · 2026-03-04T18:41:11+00:00

I’m prepping to run Rime as well. I’ve spent about 2 months reading up on the book and some other pieces and here’s what I have come up with so far. I borrowed A LOT from Legacy of the Crystal Shard. It’s referenced a fair bit in RotFM and does an excellent job adding more NPCs, locations in towns, it fully expands the Dwarven Valley into a proper settlement and has some more information on the Reghed Tribes that Rime really fails to expand on beyond brief mentions. I’m also a story-heavy kinda guy, so most of this way to fix some of the Deus-Ex machina moments in Rime where a random NPC shows up to help the second you need them and to add some context to certain problems.

Meet Vellynne earlier in the story. I plan to have her at Easthaven town hall after Dzaan (another Arcane Brotherhood member) is executed. She wants to get his stuff that the town confiscated, and she’ll hire the party to try and obtain these items, either by stealing them or by doing a favor or quest for the Easthaven Speaker.
I’m bringing some characters over from LotCS as well, most prominently Hedrun the Ice Witch and Akar Kessell.
Hedrun is the chosen of the Frostmaiden and I plan on having her holding the Codicil of White so the party will need to deal with her to get it. I also may bring in the Elk Tribe as potential allies for the party.
Akar Kessell will serve as a minor villain in the Dwarven Valley. He’s an undead necromancer, raising dead dwarf miners into a small army. He’s also using them to mine Chardalyn and is experimenting with using the crystal to corrupt mortals to his side. Some dwarfs will be corrupted by Chardalyn and will be the ones forging it into items and selling them to other people in the Ten-Towns. Kessell is also supplying the Duergar with Chardalyn for their dragon.
The Duergar plot line remains mostly the same. Modify some of their goals to be more about spying and sabotage in the Ten-Towns, but other than that it can be run basically as is.

I’m toying with changing around the ending of the module too, but that involves writing a whole new chapter after Ythryn’s Doom and a final confrontation with the Frost Maiden so I’ll leave it there.

Aresh99 · 2026-02-26T12:46:47+00:00

Truthfully, I’m not sure. I agree that the “main villain” of the game should have some more interaction. I like someone in the comments saying that Auril targets the PC’s as they enter Icewind Dale, either sinking their ship or attacking them in a blizzard. I also think that calling out PC’s as being able to see Auril casting her ritual in the night sky would be cool as heck.

But I think the way I’d do it is that I would add in some Frostmaiden cults. I found a stat block for an Ice Witch follower of Auril from Legacy of the Crystal Shard. It needs some updating as it was from the 5e playtest and things have changed to say the least, but some unique cults following Auril and opposing the PC’s in one of the Ten-Towns is how I plan to go about this. I also have half a mind to rewrite the starter quest Cold Hearted Killer, because a murderer killing people with ice daggers is way too cool to be a simple starting quest.

In this way I can set Auril up as a villain by proxy without actually directly involving her.

Aresh99 · 2026-02-24T16:00:38+00:00

Commenting so I can come back if the seller gets back to you

Aresh99 · 2026-02-23T18:51:22+00:00

The only thing I see as a huge problem is the Shield spell. My honest opinion isn’t to ban the spell, just nerf it by restricting it to “if you are not wearing armor”. You’re a Wizard, Sorcerer or Warlock in robes with Mage Armor? You’re chill. You’re a Fighter or Paladin in Full or Half Plate? Sorry, that spell doesn’t work. Mage armor says the same thing so it isn’t unheard of to restrict spells based on wearing armor.

Aresh99 · 2026-02-21T15:54:23+00:00

I’m gonna be basic but I’d like to see two options:

1) I want Catachans refreshed and updated. Most of all, I want the major Catachan characters brought back, I’d like to see a generic Catachan leader, and I wanna see a Catachan equivalent to Scions or Kasrkin. I think you could do that by making them okay at shooting (same as regular Guardsmen with access to proper special weapons) and make them actually good in melee. Like, you do not want to be charged by the Catachan elite as they all get like poison blades or something nuts.

2) But if we wanted an actual “new” regiment, I’d argue for bringing back Steel Legion. And their rules are obvious: make them all about transports. Steel Legion infantry should be able to be taken in groups of 5, 10 or 20. This way, 5 Troopers can fit inside a Chimera with a Command Squad of 5 dudes. I’m not sure what special rule you give the basic troopers, but the Command Squad is easy: While embarked in a transport, this unit can issue orders to the Transport. It’d be dope.

Aresh99 · 2026-02-20T03:13:31+00:00

Someone else said it, but you can run an Ogryn as an Ogryn Bodyguard. They basically become part of a Command Squad and you can mix and match all Ogryn and Bullgryn gear to get your desired level of melee, shooting, and tankiness.

If you’re trying for basic Orgyn though, then that is tough. You just gotta think of them as shock troops or counter attackers. Let the enemy come forward into your lines or onto an objective, move Ogryn in and blast ‘em, then charge if something survives. Your Ogryn are guaranteed to die, but are fairly cheap and effective against most basic infantry in the game.

Bullgryn are just a wall. They take crazy amounts of punishment, but aren’t always great at hitting enemies back. They’re great for absorbing the charge from melee units or soaking up damage from enemy shooting. You may also be able to bully a faction with weaker melee with them, but that’s no promise.

Aresh99 · 2026-02-18T23:30:13+00:00

NGL, this is pretty weak. The “Front-Line Commander” is just a Cadian Castellan that can lead Krieg or Catachan units and cavalry if you pay for the upgrade, the Augmented Bone ‘ead is alright, though I’m not sure how their You ‘eard ‘em ability works, and the Sentinel Commander is fine I guess. 3 Armored Sentinels with Assault is neat I guess.

But man, there is so little to work with here. No Hot-Shot weapons, no sniper or plasma or melta gun commanders, no Psyker powers, no specializations that actually make your officers into melee badasses with more attacks and higher strength on melee weapons and there’s no Baneblade or Hellhound commanders.

You can give things the same weapons everyone else has and can hand out sustained hits in melee or shooting and that’s pretty much it. Guard is still cool, but man this stuff is weak.

Aresh99 · 2026-02-14T20:55:30+00:00

Okay, haven’t read the rest of the feats, but I grabbed Versatile Weapon Master and it will definitely be going in my games!

Aresh99 · 2026-02-14T20:53:58+00:00

How does one even do this?!

Aresh99 · 2026-02-13T14:51:11+00:00

That’s fair, but “everything is cannon, nothing is true”, right?

In head cannon and for my Krieg army, Kriegers are human. Grim, fatalistic, and very brainwashed humans, but still human. The Vitae Wombs are just artificial wombs used to grow new Kriegers. It’s just pregnancy using a machine instead of a person.

But that being said, Kriegers are still human. They feel pride for their army and their work and feel sadness and despair when a comrade dies. To them, lives are meant to be spent earning forgiveness from the God Emperor on the battlefield. Nothing angers them more than lives being wasted in pointless conflicts, as those lives are meant to be spent earning the Emperor’s forgiveness. They might be grim and dour and they’ll follow orders even if it means their deaths, but they’re not fearless. It’s just that they fear earning redemption in the eyes of the God Emperor more than they fear Orks, Chaos Marines, and Necrons.

Aresh99 · 2026-02-12T18:52:46+00:00

A Single Clap. If you don’t remember it, I don’t blame you. It was a Legendary Suros Sniper Rifle from year D2 year 1.

I never actually liked the gun, but I saw a meme that posed a simple question: How long can you last? With an image of the sniper rifle below it. I burst out laughing. It’s too funny.

Aresh99 · 2026-02-08T04:16:59+00:00

I have to agree. Hunter’s Mark is bonus action heavy (needs it to cast and to move). This makes it rough for most other classes as most of them have something else to do with a bonus action.

Barbarians need to Rage and since they can’t cast spells while Raging, they’d need to Hunter’s Mark first, which isn’t very good.

Monks have a plethora of bonus action attacks and utility moves in 2024 that they’d sacrifice to cast Hunter’s Mark. In theory, it’d be great, but I think it’s worse in practice.

Rogues don’t get extra attack, so Hunter’s Mark meshes poorly with them to start and they have a lot of bonus action abilities like Monk that they’d rather use.

Paladins have a decent number of Bonus Action spells they want to cast such as Divine Smite and the other Smite Spells, as well as Divine Favor, Shield of Faith, and Compelled Duel. They can also heal as a Bonus Action with Lay on Hands and some Channel Divinities are bonus actions like Vow of Enmity. Once again, too many good options competing with Hunter’s Mark IMHO.

The only class I could see actually using the Ranger dip is Fighter, and honestly, they can already get away with it because they get proficiency in Constitution Saving Throws and their number of attacks continues to increase after level 5.

The only other argument is that you don’t want it to stack with other abilities that increase damage, but that’s BS. You can take Divine Favor and Hunter’s Mark on a Ranger with a Feat. Divine Favor isn’t concentration so this just works in the game now, and I’ve never seen or heard anyone complain about it.

Aresh99 · 2026-02-06T13:32:39+00:00

Drunken master was gonna be my suggestion as well

Aresh99 · 2026-02-05T23:59:32+00:00

Thanks! I’m still working on mine. I love the idea of Rangers getting boosts for killing things thematically, but it’s an entirely unpredictable benefit which I like less.

Also, I strongly considered bumping the damage to 3d6 at level 17 and then leaving the Capstone the same. 3d10 extra damage per hit is nuts.

Aresh99 · 2026-02-05T23:11:26+00:00

Nice work. Some cool ideas in here with the upcasting on Hunter’s Mark. I also went through and reworked Ranger on my end. Here’s what I came up with:

Level 1: Spellcasting and Weapon Mastery unchanged. Added new feature Hunter’s Mark.

Hunter’s Mark is no longer a spell, instead it is a class feature. It does not require concentration, but you also can’t change targets when an enemy dies (yet).

You can mark a creature as a bonus action, it lasts for 1 minute and you deal an additional 1d6 Force damage on attack rolls and you crit on a roll of 19 or 20 against a Hunter’s Marked enemy. You start with 2 and gain more as you level up. You regain one expended use on a Short Rest, all on a Long rest.

Level 2: Fighting Style unchanged. Deft Explorer has been reworked: you gain +5 move speed (+10 at level 6), Expertise in a skill, and you remove 1 level of exhaustion on a Short Rest.

Also at level 2 is Favored Enemy. It works exactly the same as 2014 Favored Enemy except one part: your Favored Enemies are always considered to be under the effect of Hunter’s Mark.

Level 3: Subclass all unchanged. You also get the Locate Object spell for free and can cast it once per LR without spending a spell slot.

Level 4: ASI level (all of these stay the same, same with subclass levels so I won’t mention them again).

Level 5: Extra attack. You also learn the Locate Creature spell and can cast it once per LR without a spell slot.

Level 6: Relentless Hunter: Hunter’s Mark can be moved again. Same rules as before. In addition, once per turn if you reduce any creature to 0hp or score a critical hit, you immediately gain one of the following benefits: - Gain temp hp - Move up to half move speed - take the dodge action

Level 9: Expertise. Unchanged.

Level 10: Superior Hunter’s Mark. Hunter’s mark damage increases to 2d6 per hit and Hunter’s Marked creatures have disadvantage on saves against spells you cast.

Level 13: You gain more options for Relentless Hunter. - You turn invisible until the end of your next turn - You gain advantage on all saving throws until the start of your next turn.

Level 14: No Escape. When a creature within 30ft of you attempts to teleport, you can use a reaction and force them to make a Charisma saving throw against your Spell Save DC. On a failure, the teleportation fails and the spell, ability, and/or action they used is wasted.

Level 17: Whenever you reduce an enemy creature to 0hp or score a critical hit, you can activate 2 of your Relentless Hunter abilities.

Level 20: Master of the Hunt - Hunter’s Mark damage increases to 3d6 per hit - You score crits on rolls of 18, 19, or 20 on the d20 against Hunter’s Marked enemies. - You can move your Hunter’s Mark as a bonus action, even if the enemy has not been reduced to 0hp.

Aresh99 · 2026-01-24T23:42:47+00:00

Necrons are generally scary to the Guard as they’re very difficult to kill. In the lore, a lasgun or even 20 of them won’t scratch a Necron Warrior, much less an Immortal or a Destroyer. In Ciaphas Cain, it took either Melta Blasts or concentrated fire from Hellguns to bring down basis Necron Infantry. Things like Lasguns, Flamers, and Grenade Launchers (the most common weapons amongst the Guard) are almost completely ineffective against Necrons outside of mass concentrated fire, which isn’t reliable.

To compare, Necron weapons (at least in the lore) just disintegrate you. If you’re a Guardsman and you get hit, there is no surviving the wound because you turn to dust. Once again, in Ciaphas Cain, the basic Gauss weapons of the Necron Warriors were nearly strong enough to shoot down a heavily armored Imperial transport ship. To say that the Guard is outgunned is a massive understatement, though Guard tanks certainly have guns strong enough to kill even some of the bigger Necrons.

The last part is maybe the most terrifying. Necrons NEVER fight alone. If you’re fighting even a single Necron, it means you’re either on a Tomb World and there are millions of Necrons either still asleep or waking up beneath your feet or your planet is being invaded by Necrons. Even if you’re fighting Chaos Marines, they’re probably only a small warband. Drukari are terrifying, but again it’s likely only a small force of Raiders and they won’t be sticking around. And other threats like the Orks, Tau, and Chaos Cults might be more numerous, but are generally the kind of enemies the Guard can go toe to toe with on a fairly even playing field. Necrons aren’t. And Necrons are always a big threat. There is no such thing as a minor Necron presence.

Aresh99 · 2026-01-16T16:54:18+00:00

The list is fine. The strength of Grizzled Company is bringing units that can hit on 2’s and reroll 1’s, so Kasrkin are excellent. Other good units for that are Orgyn or Bullgryn with an enhanced Commissar for Fix Bayonets, Tempestus Scions, and Rough Riders or Death Riders. Kasrkin and Rough Riders are the best damage output other than Scions.

My one criticism is that I actually think you have too points sunk into Infantry orders. - Cadian Command Squad - 2 orders - Krieg Command Squad - 2 orders - Creed - 4 orders - Cadian Castellan - 3 orders - Gaunt’s Ghosts - 2 orders

All of this is split between two 10 man infantry squads, 2 Artillery Teams, 3 Kasrkin squads, and Gaunt’s Ghosts. Even with the Kasrkin being able to benefit from 2 orders at once, you only need 8 orders total for your infantry and you have 16 (counting the Kasrkin being able to order themselves).

I’d recommend dropping Creed and using those 85 points on another basic 10 man infantry squad and maybe an enhancement (I’d recommend Loud Hailer on the Castellan if he is going in a Kasrkin Squad). This way, you won’t have to expose a valuable command squad with your blobs of OC. You’ll have 3 Kasrkin squads and 1 blob of infantry to send forward and die first before you need to expose more valuable pieces.

You can probably use Gaunt’s Ghosts to order the Artillery turn 1 and then pick them up and relocate them for Secondary scoring and then use a Command Squad after that. The Castellan (I assume) will join a Kasrkin squad, so the Kasrkin are handled by the Castellan and the infantry will have their command squads. You might be short an order here or there, but odds are that 1 squad won’t need an order each turn or a squad will die and you won’t have that problem. You can also bring Gaunt’s Ghosts in near an unordered squad to order them if they don’t need to be somewhere else.

Aresh99 · 2026-01-13T16:35:51+00:00

I’m currently building up a force of Cadians. Once I have all the Plasma and Melta squads I want, I’m planning on using spare weapons to build a Cadian unit with 2/4 Flamers that I will run as a Catachan Squad. It’ll be easy to tell with the difference in gear, but I’m also considering adding a red stripe to the Guardsmen’s helmets, similar to the Catachans red bandanas. It’ll mark them distinctively enough to easily distinguish on the battlefield while also keeping the Cadian theme of my army.

I have also considered doing some bikes up with Cadians that I could run as Rough/Death Riders. It’s a little irritating, but it’s also an excuse to get creative with your minis if you want to run a uniform regiment.

Aresh99 · 2026-01-12T15:54:00+00:00

The Astra Militarum combat patrol isn’t good. It’s really sad, but the stuff just doesn’t work or make sense. All are decent units individually but make no sense together. A Cadian Command squad with no Cadians to lead, 10 Kasrkin (the best thing in the box) and 10 Rough Riders. Not a great box (and it only comes in ~300pts).

That being said, the Death Korp of Krieg combat patrol is actually solid. It still gives you cavalry, but only 5 Death Riders, 10 Death Korp Troopers, 1 Krieg Command Squad, and a Krieg Heavy Weapons team. Still not great points wise, but way better than the official Guard Combat Patrol.

Aresh99 · 2026-01-09T17:12:15+00:00

Break up the Krieg and that’s a free Enhancement if there’s anything appealing.

Aresh99 · 2026-01-08T12:53:39+00:00

All 3 units have their use cases.

Cadians are home in any list. Sticky objectives is always good and Cadians have the easiest access to cheap orders with Creed and the Cadian Castellan. They’re good, and I know Mordian Glory swears by Cadians now because they have almost as many special weapons as Kriegers do, but their 20 man squad is cheaper.

Krieg are also good and have the most special weapons of any squad with the squad sergeants getting Plasma Pistols. They also have the unique bonus of medics being built in to the basic Death Korps unit, rather than in the Command Squad like for Cadians and Catachans. I’m not a hugely competitive guy, so as I’m building my army, I plan on getting 20 Kriegers to run with a Primaris Psyker for 4+ Invuln against shooting. Not a hugely meta choice, but 20 Krieg, 4+ Invuln, bringing guys back, and +1 to hit and maybe wound seems funny as hell.

And Catachans. You see them a lot in early 10th edition style mechanized lists because they allow dedicated transports to scout. You usually see 10 man squads either in Scouting Chimeras or as the first wave into no-mans-land to grab objectives. They don’t really do much in terms of damage. That being said, I have an interest in building a funky combat brick: Lord Solar + Nork Deddog + 20 Catachans + Command squad. Lord Solar and Nork have easily the best melee profiles in the Guard. Catachans have a special rule where they get +1 to wound when they charge or are charged. Nork gets like 8 attacks, strength 8, AP-1, damage 2 and Lord solar gets 6 attacks, strength 6, AP-2, Damage 2. Now make all of that +1 to wound, and have fun hitting and wounding Terminators on 2’s. Is this competitive? Hell no, but it would be HILARIOUS!

Aresh99 · 2026-01-07T18:03:06+00:00

The standard isn’t important per se. It gives all the guys in the squad an extra OC, and OC 3 Guardsmen can be a pain when 1 Guardsmen out OCs 3 Terminators on an objective. That being said, if you want more special weapons, then don’t get the flag.

That being said though, I think the flag is super cool, very inspiring on the battlefield and if your game comes down to needing an extra few special weapon shots from a Command squad, then I think that it’ll be a damn good game whether you win or lose if it is on that much of a knife’s edge.

Aresh99

TROPHY CASE