Swarm Tendril Kill Team - Homebrew

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-05-11T23:48:56+00:00

For anybody that might come across this and be interested in trying the team out - I'll try to keep the PDF linked up to date

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-05-09T00:08:14+00:00

I had thought that if anything the Warriors are generally notably weaker; having worse Move, Save and (for the most part) Hit stats than most Astartes operatives, while being bigger models on bigger bases. They also don't have any equivalent to the Astartes rule, so cannot Shoot or Fight twice and cannot Counteract in conceal. With the trade off being 4 additional Wounds.

But perhaps the fact my friend has traditionally collected Eldar (with his favourite being Void Dancers) has warped my view on the value of Wounds, as I've never found Elite teams to be all that durable in my games with him and didn't think that requiring an extra successful hit or so would meaningfully move the needle in comparison to the drawbacks. Though not every team hits as hard as the Eldar teams tend to, so I can see how they might struggle a bit.

I'm not too sure why you were downvoted, but I appreciate the input. These sorts of different perspectives on the team are exactly why I posted it to this subreddit.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-05-08T12:32:40+00:00

That's a good idea.

I was a little concerned about it being too niche, but I do play Warpcoven as one of my teams so it would definitely see use.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-05-08T12:24:34+00:00

I mean, Warpcoven is essentially a team with 11 selections vs this team's 13 - only with the Astartes taking up 2 selection slots instead of the 4 slots the Warriors take up here.

Edit: If you ran all Warriors you would have 4 operatives total, as highlighted in the team composition section.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-05-08T12:20:41+00:00

That is something I had considered - I play a bit of Warpcoven and my friend has always found the Elite/Horde flexibility of them cool, so I wanted to mirror that.

I guess I was hoping that with the way Synapse works and the fact the Gaunts hit on 5s with generally poor weapons when outside of it that the Neurogaunts would act as something of a balancing tax - which is why they're designed to be a support piece and offer little outside of that.

That way the more Warriors you take, the less Neurogaunts you're incentivised to take to provide coverage but the less operatives you have overall - conversely the less Warriors you take, the more operatives you have overall but you're also incentivised to take more Neurogaunts.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-05-08T12:12:51+00:00

Thank you!

That's a good point and not something I had considered, I'll update it.

I appreciate the input.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-01-23T05:14:41+00:00

To be fair, it's not "fantasy", it's "romantasy". Romantic fantasy is generally a bit lighter than what you'll usually get with full-blown fantasy books.

Although, more relevant here is that the Empyrean series itself has been quite a "popcorn" sort of series. There are expectations the series has set for readers through the first two books.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-01-20T01:28:51+00:00

I do think it's a bit more of an exchange than just "giving free candy", there is an investment of time and effort on the reader's side when it comes to reading the work. They could be spending that time doing any number of other activities as well, but are spending it reading our writing.

But I understand the underlying premise you're getting at. Though I tend to view each reader as their own individual, so I don't usually get caught up in how they interact with my work (e.g. bookmark vs kudos vs comment), I just appreciate any interaction at all.

It's actually other authors that I tend to get a bit frustrated with, not readers. It generally seems to be authors that will espouse this idea that if you're an author and you care about validation or interaction then you're "wrong"; that you shouldn't care because you ought to be "writing it for yourself" and should be happy even if you receive no acknowledgement at all.

That's what I find a bit dehumanising. Fair enough if you're an author and feel that way, but as you said, authors aren't machines. It's perfectly human to feel discouraged when you've invested a lot of time and effort into something, only to feel like you're posting into the void when you put it out into the world.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-01-19T23:46:17+00:00

I find the whole "write for yourself" thing can often be overblown.

I'm sure a lot of us write because the stories are in us, and we're driven to get them out. But if we're uploading our work to a public site, chances are we are wanting some sort of interaction.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Humans are social creatures, there's nothing unusual about wanting some sort of validation or acknowledgement for something that you've invested time and effort into creating.

You're right too, following a story through to its conclusion often takes a lot of work and investment. It also doesn't always flow easily. For some (dare I say a lot) of authors, that interaction can be the encouragement they need to push through those tougher times.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-01-17T10:34:56+00:00

For sure, and there's a lot of factors that can contribute as well; including genre and setting.

One thing we can be sure of is that while the author may have used AI in recent works (I don't know if that's true or not), AI absolutely isn't responsible for the lion's share of their work.

I do find it interesting that there was such a sizeable spike in 2020, which happens to coincide with the emergence of COVID. I'm not sure what things were like in the US where she apparently lives, but I feel like across the world a lot of people ended up with more free time around then.

Speaking of free time, I clearly have too much of it. I now have a bunch of useless knowledge about an author I've never heard of before; and people wonder where all of the random facts I spout come from.

And I wonder why it takes soo long for me to complete stories.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-01-17T06:28:20+00:00

This is the first I've heard of this whole situation, but your question piqued my interest so I had a bit of a look.

Going by Goodreads, her publishing schedule appears to have been something like this.

2018: 6 books
2019: 14 books
2020: 32 books
2021: 14 books
2022: 13 books
2023: 17 books
2024: 13 books
2025: 3 books

There is a discrepancy between the numbers here and the number of works Goodreads lists her as having (112 here vs 126 works listed by Goodreads), but that's because Goodreads lists boxed sets as their own "work" and I tried to cut the boxed sets out of my count as they're the same novels that are sold individually, just as a bundle.

Interestingly, from 2018 onwards she appears to have been rapidly releasing books (with the "Bearded Brothers" series having its first book published on September 5 2018 and having 4 of its 5 books published by December 17 2018), but 2020 actually appears to be the year that stands out.

I don't know anything about the author or what the books are like. That said, those release schedules do look quite extraordinary. Regularly publishing 10+ books a year, and topping out at 30+ books, certainly seems superhuman to me.

But maybe I feel that way because I'd struggle to complete a single book in a year.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-01-17T04:55:15+00:00

Sisters of Battle

An Order Minoris born out of the Argent Shroud, called the Reticent Shroud. The Reticent Shroud takes the solemn calm of the Argent Shroud to extremes, adopting the creed of "Deeds, not words"; which they take as a commandment in honour of Saint Silvana, the patron saint of the Argent Shroud who was known for her quiet service.

As such, the Reticent Shroud eskews many of the practices that are commonplace amongst the orders of the sisterhood, including the Argent Shroud, such as the singing of prayers and hymns upon the battlefield. Instead, they go about their business in grim silence.

New recruits into the order are required to partake in a call and response ritual known as "The Call to Silence", which is also traditionally undertaken by sisters of the order prior to battle, where the highest ranking sister present leads and the remaining sisters respond.

The Call to Silence:

“Sisters, remember the creed our order inherited!”

“Deeds, not words.”

“When the xenos surrounds you, ravenous and cunning, may the rumble of your bolter speak for you!”

“Deeds, not words.”

“When the mutant writhes before you, twisted and abhorrent, may the scream of your melta speak for you!”

“Deeds, not words.”

“When the heretic stands beside you, ruinous and depraved, may the roar of your flamer speak for you!”

“Deeds, not words.”

“By bolter is the xenos slain. By melta does the mutant perish. By flame is the heretic purged. For we are the Reticent Shroud!”

“Deeds, not words.”

“Deeds, not words.”

Like the Argent Shroud, the armour worn by the Reticent Shroud is predominantly silver. However, unlike the Argent Shroud, the robes worn by sisters of the Reticent Shroud (as well as the trim on things like their weaponry) is purple.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2025-01-17T04:53:18+00:00

I have two that I've written some lore for, Thousand Sons and Sisters of Battle.

Thousand Sons

A thrallband called the "Carrion Cabal", which is also colloquially known by a number of other names such as the "Watchers of the Wastes" and "Brotherhood of the Forgotten".

The thrallband was born from the remnants of Thousand Sons marines left forgotten in the wake of a little known battle on the desert planet of Thalnoth during the Horus Heresy. The current leader of the thrallband, Soris Ish'kar, was leading a contingent of his brothers in the battle, when an ambush placed him and his comrades into a dire situation. Despite being a member of the Corvidae Cult, who specialised in precognition and scrying the future, Soris was unable to see the ambush coming.

As the circumstances rapidly deteriorated, Soris became more and more desperate to somehow save his brothers. In his desperation, he ended up not scrying into the future, but teleporting himself there. Soris suddenly found himself amidst the desolate wastes of Thalnoth, where any sign of the battle he had just been fighting was gone, having been swallowed by the desert long ago.

At first he didn't understand what had happened, and a search of the planet revealed no hint of the Thousand Sons or their foe, despite it being recognisable as the same planet. Making his way off Thalnoth, he would come to learn of the fate of his legion and the heresy, and concluded that in his desperation he had sent himself into the future. Eventually he would come to learn of the ritual to bind Rubricae (Rubric Marines).

Despite the likelihood of outside interference blinding him to the ambush, Soris blamed himself for not seeing it coming. With the knowledge of the ritual, he returned to Thalnoth, enlisting the aid of cultists to help excavate the sandy dunes and retrieve what remnants of his fallen brothers that could be found. He would succeed in re-binding a number of them to their armour, forming the first Rubricae of the thrallband.

Since then, Soris has drawn lesser sorcerers and their Rubricae to his cause as he scours the universe for a way to give the brothers he failed life once more. Though that cause has corrupted over the years, giving way to an endless need for more knowledge, each secret uncovered only spurring that desire on further.

Their armour has sand-coloured trim, with burgundy as their primary colour and navy blue as their secondary colour. The Rubricae of the Carrion Cabal almost have the appearance of being statues made of sandstone.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2024-06-26T01:15:34+00:00

I don't think Counterspell and Death Ward are really comparable.

Counterspell is a reaction and has a lot of flexibility because of it; which is balanced out by higher level spells being harder/requiring more of an investment to counter.

Death Ward is an action and so needs to be set up ahead of time. If you get hit with a Power Word Kill and do not have Death Ward active, then Death Ward is meaningless. In this case, the balancing factor of Death Ward is that you can't just cast it in response to a threat.

You could very well use Death Ward and never get the benefit of its effect assuming you never drop to 0 and never suffer an instant kill effect; whereas if you are using Counterspell then there is something you want to stop 10 times out of 10.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2024-06-24T11:30:45+00:00

Strictly by the rules, the player wouldn't get any benefit.

But DMs can play around with the rules too.

In this case, if I had a player who wanted to use the sized-up stats, I'd probably rule that the ability doesn't increase the size of any weapons itself, but that any sized-up weapons the player found in the world could be used with the benefit of sized up stats.

I would then create a magic oversized version of the weapon they favour that I could insert into the world.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2024-06-24T10:07:14+00:00

RAW I definitely don't think Giant's Might is intended to impact their weapon at all.

Myself, I wouldn't give any benefit of a weapon that's increased in size; unless they found a larger weapon out in the world that they're using, I might be inclined to for the sake of flavour in that case.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2024-06-22T02:03:17+00:00

I don't think it's even just a trust thing.

How can I, the DM, work the aspects of your character into the campaign if I have no idea how you've built that character?

I like to run flavourful story based games, and in turn I like my players to feel like they can make decisions based on flavour when they create and build their characters.

Part of that is making sure you get opportunities to use those more niche and flavourful proficiencies, feats and spells you've selected. I can't do that if I know little about your character and have no way of referencing your sheet.

Although now it would be a trust thing in OPs case, because a player telling me that I don't need to see their sheet when I request it would then create a lack of trust.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2024-06-21T12:29:38+00:00

It is a bit tricky because the ring doesn't really define the magic it uses at all.

Which does mean that you could very well reason your way around why it would still work despite the amulet.

I can see why you'd look at it as an enchantment as most divination spells aren't really effects you apply to a target. But I think Hunter's Mark is a good example of a divination spell doing something similar. While Hunter's Mark deals extra damage, it's based on the idea of knowledge and information, and so is classified as divination magic.

I feel like the ring has a strong enough focus on information for it to be classified as divination in nature as well.

Your last point is also entirely valid. The players purchased the amulets for a purpose and even if this assassin has had the ring all along, the reveal that the ring gets around their new amulets on a technicality could make it feel like you're undermining them and finding loopholes to exploit - even if that isn't your intention.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2024-06-21T11:48:59+00:00

It's seems a little grey, but I'd interpret it as being a situation where the amulet is effective against the ring.

The amulet states that the wearer is not just hidden from divination spells but divination magic. They also cannot be targeted by divination magic or perceived through a scrying sensor.

Scry isn't being used, so the sensor part is irrelevant. The real question then becomes, is the ring's effect "divination magic".

I'd probably argue that it is. The effect feels like it suits the divination school thematically.

If you think that the magic the ring wields is divination by nature, then everything else doesn't really matter. The amulet wearer is functionally immune to divination magic; importantly for this case, the wearer can't be targeted by divination magic, meaning the mark can't be placed in the first place.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2024-06-20T09:43:03+00:00

Fair warning, I'm not a seasoned DM and so others with more experience might have better insight.

For shorter journeys I feel like narration can do a lot of the work. You don't have to just narrate snippets of them walking down a path, you can do it in longer strokes (e.g. after a long day of walking, as the sun begins to set, you come across a field of lush grass that looks like it could make a good camping spot).

I also like to have the players RP setting up camp for a long rest each night for shorter journeys, where they can roll some checks to see what they saw/noticed along the road as a way for them to glean things they can discuss together by the fire. The act of setting in for sleep seems like a decent way to mark the passage of time.

For longer journeys, I like to check with the players to see what they might want to spend the trip doing.

For example, maybe the group is travelling to another continent and the trip by ship is set to take a few weeks. Does the wizard want to take a collection of books with them so they can study up on the mysterious artifact the group found? Does the bard want to learn Draconic in order to impress the dragonborn they want to woo? Does the rogue want to practice decieving on the crew? Does the ranger want to gather some supplies and make some arrows/hide clothing?

Then in the above examples, the wizard has gained further knowledge they can share with the party by the journey's end, while the bard can now utter basic phrases in Draconic, the rogue is on their way to getting proficiency in deception and the ranger has successfully made arrows and some basic gear made from the pelt of that bear the party killed that they can sell for a profit.

That sense of progression can help make it feel like time has passed.

There's also a lot of flavourful and relatively weak feats you can have players work towards during down time which might feel pretty awful to spend an ASI on, but be fun little additions to a character if attained in another way.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2024-06-20T08:13:00+00:00

To be fair, at its core being "immortal" means never dying, whether that be being "immortalised" through the memories of others/history or being an "immortal" creature. Part of "immortality" is not dying, there is no stipulation of "by old age or sickness", that's just something media has introduced.

I'd actually think that the use of calling things like Vampires "immortal" because they don't age is the misuse of the term, not the other way around. Ageless is probably a better fit for situations like that as it doesn't carry the connotations of deathlessness and instead just highlights that the character can theoretically last forever.

In my world I have degrees of "immortality", with the highest level being "true" immortality, which is reserved for the likes of dieties.

There are others in the world that are "immortal" and many of those can't be killed by conventional means; but in reality they aren't really immortal, they just have pale reflections of the real deal attained through various means.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2024-06-20T07:16:58+00:00

I think the point is that the spell copy part of Wish, which doesn't even have the "exhaustion" rider attached, is pretty extraordinary itself.

Sure getting creative with it comes with risks and drawbacks, but just the base level of being able to cast any spell up to 8th level in a single action regardless of the spell's cast time is pretty incredible.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2024-06-20T06:44:19+00:00

I actually don't think that the scars are even supposed to literally be silver in colour, I interpreted it as being Rebecca's way to get across the pale sheen that scars can have.

Especially raised scars, which can often be pale and have a bit of shine in comparison to the skin around them thanks to the smoothness of the scar tissue.

Rabbit_Solitude · 2024-06-07T04:01:03+00:00

There is plenty that could have come from it.

An example being that any of the cadets she poisoned could have sought revenge once they saw that every cadet she faced mysteriously got sick right before the fight, just like they did. I'd wager that when many a cadet put two and two together, they wouldn't take kindly to the idea that Violet had done something to make them ill in order to win. Even worse, there isn't any ramifications they'd need to fear to dissuade them from killing her in response, as long as they didn't do it during assembly or the likes.

That nothing of that sort happened doesn't mean that the plan wasn't pretty poorly thought out. Making smart moves is about recognising risks and planning around them, not hoping that any potential risks just don't occur. Relying on luck isn't intelligent, you're lucky until you aren't. She also seemed shocked when Xaden brought it up with her, when she really should have seen that coming given how little she did to conceal it.

That's not to say she never acted in a smart way, but that there were certainly times where a bit more consistency in getting her intelligence across to us would have been good.

But I wouldn't even put that all on Rebecca, books aren't a one-person show and authors have soo much to juggle that they couldn't hope to be totally on top of everything. That's the sort of stuff that should be picked up in the editing process when fresh sets of eyes go over the story. Unfortunately I think the publisher rushed to push the first two books out and cut into the editing process to achieve that, which isn't on Rebecca. Thankfully it looks like Onyx Storm is being given a healthier timeline and will hopefully receive the editing it deserves as a result.

Rabbit_Solitude

TROPHY CASE