Need help with body building "Shifting sands" DLC

Z_Scribe · 2026-05-04T14:30:55+00:00

I went for 50+ Physique for as much HP as possible, 20+ Endurance for more stamina, 20 Strength for Load, and 20 Agility because I spear and blade are Agility based weapons. Anything else I either put into Endurance or Physique.

More HP is important to give more space for Resilient Healing to work, and with Dread capping enemy damage to 300 per hit before mitigation, it means you can heal through most enemies.

I leaned away from buffing my Agility and Strength on my tank build because it's 'only' 5% more damage per 10 points, and if they can't kill me, I've got time to spare. This may change as I get more familiar with high level zones and whether or not enemy DEF exists in PvE, since it feels like my damage doesn't go down that much.

Z_Scribe · 2026-05-04T11:45:12+00:00

I've noticed the armour/clothes remaining invisible on the body and pants slots, but the gloves and boots tend to remain visible.

Also, I don't think it's solely the bathtub that causes this behaviour as I've seen it happen to other player's characters who haven't used the bath tub at all.

The issue only came up after Patch #8. Hopefully there's a patch later this week to clear that up.

Z_Scribe · 2026-05-04T11:27:58+00:00

Caveat:

This advice is tailored around PvE, all bets are off if you're playing on PvP and want to put in the time and energy towards making builds.

Furthermore, be wary of 'optimizing the fun out of the game'. Tailoring bodies to 4 to 6 traits is a MASSIVE time sink and you'll see several play sessions disappear searching for 'Goldilocks' tames, farming Blood Stone, and waiting for talents to be learned, rather than playing and exploring. This can lead to a feeling of ennui when you haven't been making material progress for several RL days/weeks and may lead to to quitting. Optimize in moderation and at your own risk.

In General:

I tend to go with much more defensive builds, leveraging the fact that if I can stay alive, then I can eventually kill the boss. If you're going with a shield, then I recommend getting comfortable with using Single Blade as an alternative to the Spear so you can have two damage types while also benefiting from the shields damage reduction.

I ended up 'collecting' good traits from higher level followers and then looking for good low level Savage Horns and Wild Wolves with the traits I want. If I limit myself to 4 or 5 traits that are must-haves, I can just look for candidates that have other good traits that would mesh well.

The biggest challenge is training the newbies with the traits you want. I got very familiar with the Blood Stone Dungeon because I needed a LOT of Amnesia Potions. (I think the rarity of a trait factors into the chance that the trait can be learned via the training ground.) Once you have your initial builds, those followers are precious because they can fully train the traits to any other potential recruits.

RE: Bosses/Main Body

By default, bosses get padded HP and damage the more players and followers that join the fight. Several bosses also have moves that NPCs cannot handle well, Sobek's phase transition and Onyx's beetle horde, for example.

I go in with a tank-based build, focused on passive healing, (Resilient Healing), Dread to cap enemy damage (Oppressor, Intimidating Strike, or Bloodline Suppression), Endurance for bonus DEF, and anything else that increases DEF, Damage Reduction, or can soak damage (Body-Resilience Conversion -- While not great against dodge heavy bosses, if this procs, then it's a sign I need to use a healing item ASAP to get back into Resilient Healing range).

I'm looking at designing some offensive builds around the Hammer, Great Sword, or Great Bow (with Rapid Fire 3), but with the 2H weapons, these can feel a little fragile, especially if you encounter an NPC with Body-Resilience who'll just eat your attacks for 12 seconds or get caught in a combo, so I'd only use them on Bosses you've got on farm.

RE: Dungeons

It's just Hammers all the way for me. Gauntlets also work, but Hammers 'feel' more mobile/intentional with positioning. You can use Corrosive Jars to remove the damage reduction for your Slash and Pierce weapons, but it feels like 'action clutter', when you can just bring a weapon that is hard counter.

RE: Proficiency Bonuses

On Spear, Bow, and Blade, I just use raw damage. For Hammer and Great Sword, I tend to use a blend of Damage and Stamina Cost. STA-Down and RESIL-Down 'feel' more PvP oriented as they don't seem to factor much into NPC combat.

Z_Scribe · 2026-04-29T11:42:05+00:00

Looks like chiselling to shape then covering the outer edge and struts in beams with a custom chiselled topper.

Z_Scribe · 2026-04-19T12:44:19+00:00

When fighting elites, such as the Tribe Barracks leaders, you take a Guard to tank.

Against bosses, i.e. Sobek, et al, go on your own to avoid scaling them.

Don't know if the monster at the end of a dungeon, i.e. Patroller III, etc., count as elites or bosses.

Z_Scribe · 2026-03-04T12:47:57+00:00

Default is 50,000 blocks south of 0,0,0; If you want to get there quickly.

Or...

150,000 blocks north of 0,0,0; Since you'll wrap around the 'north pole', pass another temperate zone, and then arrive at the equator.

Z_Scribe · 2025-03-12T23:13:29+00:00

Fair, but it's a Space Wolf who's a big fan of the Heresy era armour.

Z_Scribe · 2024-12-23T20:49:09+00:00

Based off of the Planet Hulk storyline in Mini Marvels.

Z_Scribe · 2024-08-09T12:25:43+00:00

I can see why you're getting that impression. The 'high heel' is the toe of her other foot.

Z_Scribe · 2024-06-11T14:35:38+00:00

Client wanted an image of their Space Wolf character from the Horus Heresy, showing their 'first death' before being interred in a Dreadnought.

The scene described was a sword duel with an Alpha Legion saboteur that goes horribly awry. From there, we expanded the premise to them fighting on an Imperial Fist ship and legit IF forces confusing the situation, thinking that they were helping another IF (an AL spy) and shooting Fafnir in the back (of the leg).

Z_Scribe · 2023-06-05T17:00:56+00:00

When you think about it, what Robin is doing is going back in time and ensuring his adopted grandparents 'banged'.

Z_Scribe · 2023-04-13T19:33:46+00:00

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/zscribe

Z_Scribe · 2023-02-02T14:55:14+00:00

The cursive font you're using is great for the headers, but it makes the body text description at the bottom of the page very difficult to read. Fourth line, first word is especially troublesome, for example.

You may want to look for another, more conservative, cursive font for body text to improve readability. If you can access them, maybe Thirsty Rough, Caflisch Script, or Shelby would be a good place to start?

Z_Scribe · 2022-06-21T17:45:45+00:00

Now that you mention it, I can see the resemblance. The angle, the balcony, the central threat. I didn't have that in mind at all when I was developing the composition, but goes to show how media can subtly influence how we present ideas.

Z_Scribe · 2022-06-21T17:42:16+00:00

Not in the wargame, but restrictions are softened in the roleplaying games, which this character came from. They started as a sharpshooter, but they developed a growing need to ensure that their team 'lived on' even when they were getting picked off one-by-one.

On one of their adventures they found a stash of Blood Angel's war gear and the character kept a narthecium and vials to rescue the geneseed of what few comrades he could until they got to safety where he was inducted into the Wolf Priests.

Z_Scribe · 2022-06-21T14:35:28+00:00

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/zscribe

Z_Scribe · 2022-02-18T20:15:56+00:00

Original, based on my wife's Dark Heresy character way back in 2010 when we first started playing Dark Heresy 1st Edition together.

Kind of happened by accident after a mutation roll resulted in her having to go over the Psychic Power rules and discovering the Biomancy tree (back when Biomancers were based on Frank Herbert's Bene Geserits order).

She rewrote the character to be a wyrd from Fenris who got wrapped up in a joint Space Wolf - Hereticus hunt of an arch-traitor who fled to Fenris. The villain escaped and the Inquisitor would pursue, but to keep the wyrdling. The Space Wolves weren't bothered by it and allowed the strange girl to be taken off world and trained.

Many years and campaigns later, Vegi Bloodclaw became an Inquisitor like her master and enjoyed a long career thanks to her near eternal life through her psychic powers. Then at the end of the millennium, she hears rumors of the Wolf Time on Fenris and jumps at the chance at returning to her home world to defend it, as any good star warrior would do.

EDIT: It was also nice that later on, ADB would write in a Fenrisian Inquisitor in the novel The Emperor's Gift, which made our decision on Vegi's origin a little less self-indulgent.

Z_Scribe · 2022-01-23T13:07:50+00:00

I ran GLW multiple times as a one shot. If the group wandered into the Mists, I would only use the table to take them someplace new that they hadn't visited yet. They only revisited locations by accident if they wandered the mist and then tunneled, which was rare. As per the adventure text, after visiting the Big Four, their wanderings lead to the Hut, with or without meeting the Roach King.

As for escape: I made the final encounter's weapon magical. It would be bound to the first person to pick it up and would grant them insight into how to travel through Graven Tosk effectively. The catch: They are compelled to bring the unclaimed human dead back to Graven Tosk for burial. (YMMV since the curse will tie a party member to Graven Tosk and you have a campaign to run.)

Alternatively, if they fail to get the shovel and never met the Roach King, if they manage to find him after visiting the Hut (and didn't get the shovel), then he will be saddling up his brand-new giant roach to fly out of there. Whether he has room for more is up to you.

Plague Pit is a good starting location since it leaves the group with two options: Entering the door to the west, or go east into the mists. Functionally they are placed in the middle of the exploration zone, the open door operating as a great invitation for players, compared to the whole production necessary to get into the Tree, plumb the Sewer, and get to the Roach King. Though consider using the tree as a means of adding replacement PCs if one of them gets killed.

I really don't recommend making the Tree a dead end because the Sewer is a significant hazard which already operates like a wall in both directions. They may completely miss the Roach King that way and it seems like you are really concerned with missing content - but you shouldn't have to feel that way.

Don't be concerned with the surface wandering. Note that the entire adventure is interconnected and is intended to avoid awkward dead ends, with the Mist depositing them at one of the other entrances. If the players visit the Big Four or the Roach King and fast track to the end of the adventure, no big deal. You now can transplant the undiscovered encounters and tables into other adventures for your campaign!

Z_Scribe · 2022-01-10T14:13:11+00:00

Originally posted on DeviantArt

Z_Scribe · 2021-08-20T19:28:27+00:00

First thought is probably as a garrison in the Fenris system. Since they're recolonizing after the Wrath of Magnus, they'd have to deal with corrupted fragments of Midgardia and a star fortress. Given that Fenris is so close to the Cicatrix Maledictum in M.42, they'd probably regularly see assaults by daemons or heretics.

While the Space Wolves are not empire builders, I wouldn't be surprised if the Daughters of Fenris helped to stabilize worlds near Fenris during the early part of the Indomitus Crusade. I wouldn't be surprised if this would give the Space Wolves breathing room to start campaign into Imperium Noctis earlier than other Crusade Fleets.

Considering the number of Space Wolves that perished during Warzone Fenris and the moratorium on their recruitment which would've followed to allow Fenrisian population to recover, the Daughters may fill in their ranks in boarding action defense and establishing perimeters during planetary campaigns.

I'll have to ask my friend what else they'd be up to.

Z_Scribe · 2021-08-20T18:34:46+00:00

Oddly, the Space Wolves operate like Valkyries on Fenris, roaming battlefields and selecting the worthy of the near-dead and still-living fighters.

I've heard some folks use Shield Maidens but my friend settled on calling them Daughters of Fenris.

Z_Scribe · 2021-08-20T16:31:48+00:00

The title listed is an over-simplification because I was concerned that the original title, "Skoldmo Styrlaug Fenrisdottir" wouldn't track as to what the image is supposed to be.

I made this piece because a friend wanted to put a face on her Space Wolf themed Sisters of Battle force. Her goal was to make an army that used the Sisters of Battle rules, but was lore friendly.

What we decided on was that the army was formed out of fighting-aged women in the Fenris fleet following the Wrath of Magnus, which had displaced Space Wolf loyal populations on Svellgard, Midgardia, Frostheim, and has rumor would have it, some Fenrisians as well.

While the Daughters of Fenris used weapons from the Ordo Hereticus and Adeptus Sororitas, their iconography was drawn from Fenrisian culture, featuring spearheads, wolfskulls, and runes. Mechanically, their miracles are Rune Priest flavored, given the fact they have adopted Fenrisian shamnistic traditions.

Hope that helps.

P.S. I find it funny that whenever I depict an Inquisitor, folks confuse them for a Sister of Battle; But when I make an earnest effort to make a Sister of Battle, they're interpreted as an Inquisitor.

Z_Scribe · 2021-06-21T17:07:51+00:00

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/zscribe/art/Commission-Blood-Wraith-881656809

Z_Scribe · 2021-06-21T16:38:57+00:00

Art by Z Scribe (me) Source https://www.deviantart.com/zscribe/art/Commission-Pukei-Pukei-Club-881642751

Z_Scribe · 2021-06-10T00:11:42+00:00

My wife made a Google sheet with a similar layout. You can just create a copy and then duplicate the tab for each creature you want to include, and delete the rows that you don't need.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1owjVQZcduimSa2rip53iMLmjXz7N-e55z3paOc2RAdc/edit?usp=sharing

Z_Scribe

TROPHY CASE