Lore of Loren, WE Mage Special Rules

[Allarius]

I derived a couple new spells for a future Lore of Athel Loren that I will include in a post below, but really what I'm wondering is what you all think a future Lore of Athel Loren should FOCUS on to make it different from other options but still a competitive choice ...? (For example, Life mostly focuses on defensive 'augments' whereas Beasts mostly focuses on offensive augments.)

Also, as the High Elves and Dark Elves both have additional dispelling/casting rules I thought the Wood Elves should also be so inclined. I'll include my thoughts below, but do any of you have some fun ideas where this could go?

[Allarius]

I tried to come up with a new Lore of Athel Loren that has more of a focus on affecting the battlefield and the movement phase to WE advantage. I also threw in a smattering of direct damage and defensive spells that hopefully rival others that are present in the game so as to make this lore flexible but useful. I definitely agree with Shandrador's The Fey Magic of Athel Loren in that the notion behind the Moonstone of the Hidden Ways makes for a great spell with this intent in mind and so have included it below with some minor alterations.

Lore of Athel Loren

Lore Attribute: Tree Singing - Upon each successful casting of a spell from the Lore of Athel Loren the mage may nominate a forest on the battlefield to move 1d3+1" in a specified direction. WE units wholly within the forest move with it. The forest may not move within 1" of an enemy unit, other pieces of terrain, or the edge of the battlefield. Alternatively, the mage may elect to cause 1d6 strength 5 hits distributed like shooting to an enemy unit at least partially within a forest; this may target enemy units in combat.

Nature’s Embrace (Signature Spell), Cast on a 10+
Nature's Embrace is a hex spell with a range of 18". The target unit halves their movement characteristic and the results of any dice rolled for the purposes of random movement (including charging and fleeing) until the beginning of the caster’s next magic phase. The wizard may extend the range of this spell to 36". If she does so, the casting value is increased to 13+.

1. The Forest's Spirit, Cast on a 5+
The Forest's Spirit is an augment spell with a range of 18". A single friendly Wood Elf unit receives a 5+ ward save until the beginning of the caster's next magic phase. When cast upon a unit possessing the Forest Spirit special rule, the unit instead increases their ward saves to a 4+.

2. Hounds of the Hunt, Cast on a 6+
Hounds of the Hunt is a direct damage spell that targets a single enemy model (even a character in a unit) within 18". The model suffers 4 Strength 3 Weapon Skill 4 attacks. The mage may elect to increase these attacks to a Strength 4. If she does so, the casting value is increased to 8+.

3. Swarm of Spites, Cast on a 8+
Swarm of Spites is a direct damage spell that targets a single enemy unit within 18". The unit suffers 3d6 Strength 2 Weapon Skill 4 Poisonous attacks. One of these attacks may be allocated against each character and champion within the unit. The mage may make these attacks benefit from the Killing Blow special rule. If she does so, the casting value is increased to 13+.

4. The Hidden Way, Cast on a 10+
The Hidden Way is an augment Spell. A single friendly Wood Elf unit wholly within a forest may be removed and placed wholly within any forest on the battlefield remaining 1" away from all other units.

5. Loren's Call, Cast on a 10+
Determine a single point within 18" and line of sight of the mage and scatter it 1d6" in a random direction. Place a 6" diameter mysterious forest centered at the final location of the single point. All enemy units at least partially within the newly arisen mysterious forest must take 1d6 strength 5 hits randomized like shooting. If the forest would fall within 1" of another piece of terrain or the edge of the battlefield instead place it so that it is 1" away by the shortest path possible. If no suitable piece of terrain can be placed this spell has no effect.

6. Glamourweave, Cast on a 12+
Glamourweave is an augment spell with a range of 18". Enemy units attempting to target the affected unit with shooting or close combat attacks must re-roll successful rolls to-hit until the beginning of the caster’s next magic phase.

[Allarius]

Here is the additional WE mage special rule I thought up:

Forest Bond: When a Wood Elf mage casts a spell range may be measured either from the mage or any forest on the battlefield.

It essentially allows the mage to be in multiple places at once ... too powerful, too weak, or just right? I dunno ...

[Anardakil]

i like that lore. Making treesinging a lore attribute is genius! i think spells 3 and 4 are a bit too similar though. Maybe there should be some spell that buffs our shooting potential instead? Kind of like Curse of arrow attraction or something like that?

[Dragon halitosis]

IMHO WE spells should enable the mage to generate a forrest terrain section - not just move around the existing ones. The number of games I play where the only forrest we roll up for terrain is the one I get to deploy as a special rule... Also, more emphasis on spites seems good... Maybe generate spite attributes like terror or annoyance of netlings for a turn.

[Shandrakor]

Hmm, now that I think about it, I didn't give Wood Elf Wizards any special bonuses like the High or Dark Elven Wizards get and I probably should have in the rules I made. So lets see:

Dark Elves get: Unlimited Power Dice usage, Power of Darkness free spell that generates more dice.

High Elves get: +1 to Dispel, Choice of ANY main rulebook Lore or High Magic + free Drain Magic spell.

So Wood Elves should have something of a similar grain to Dark Elves in power since we don't have the choice of ANY main rulebook Lore. My thoughts would be something akin to one of the following 1 or 2 and possibly + 3:

1.) Any Wood Elf Wizard gains +1 to cast and dispel as long as they remain in a forest.

2.) Any Wood Elf Wizard wholly within a forest at the start of a magic phase may prevent their first miscast in each turn. This does not stop the spell from casting with Irresistible Force but does stop the roll on the miscast table.

3.) Start all Wood Elf Wizards with the bonus spell to create a forest something similar to the Madrigal of Greening spell from Storm of Magic.


As for the Lore you created Allarius, it has some good stuff and some meh stuff.

First off, I personally don't want an old style Tree-Singing as the Lore Attribute. If I was going to use Tree-Singing, I would want it more universal, so it can at least do something on a board that there's little to no trees on.

Nature's Embrace seems pretty potent and I wouldn't really change it.

The Forest's Spirit seems fairly strong.

Hounds of the Hunt seems pretty weak in that it has to roll to hit after successfully casting the spell and it doesn't have high Strength or armor negation to boost it after getting the few hits through it might. I'd probably drop this or Swarm of Spites. If you're keeping this one, make it stronger.

Swarm of Spites seems decent I suppose. Probably best for killing Warmachines and Monsters due to the poisoned attacks, but mediocre for killing high armor save stuff with killing blow due to the having to 'double up' on hitting via getting the spell cast through then rolling to hit after. Same problem here as Hounds of the Hunt, but to keep Poisoned Attacks working you need the roll to hit.

The Hidden Way in my magic lore only required the majority of a unit's models to be in the forest on teleportation and after teleportation. Personally I would swap it to that since the entire unit perfectly fitting in some forests seems too picky to me (but I play with some small forests occasionally).

Loren's Call is just a weak version of The Gardener's Warcry from the Storm of Magic book. Same cast value, shorter range (+ scatter), less damage if on enemy units (1D6 S5 instead of 2D6 S4).

Finally, Glamourweave is decent, but personally, I'd make that the 5 spell and make something that seems really potent for the 6 spell. Glamourweave just doesn't make me go WOW like Dweller's Below, Okkam's Mindrazor, or Birona's Timewarp do.

[Allarius]

Thank you all for the replies so far. It is very interesting reading what others think ... Usually when I try to come up with stuff I am biased by what I think my local gaming group would cry as 'imbalanced' and consequently make some of the stuff a little weak or overpriced in an attempt to compensate ... as such, all feedback is great and helpful! I'll have to give the spells a little more thought ...

I agree that the WE Mage special rule should somehow involve forests (which should definitely become more widely available due to new rules, new spells, or new units/upgrades [see: http://www.asrai.org/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=21262 6th post down for a possible idea]). I had considered the neutralization of miscast effects in someway but I think that detracts a little from the Lore of Life/Throne of Vines.

[Baardah]

In my opinion, the astai lore should be a lore that emphasizes the sinister nature of the wood elves

Hexes that bewilder. Fey lights? The background speaks of these luring the unknowing into the woods never to be seen again

Teleportations

Movement

Something sneaky

[PointedDoom]

For your lore attribute concerning the Treesinging in order to make it stronger perhaps make it so that you CAN move it over units. You can do it in SOM so that may or may not be the way GW will go in the future. But that would give us a good way to potentially negate steadfast but is not incredibly OP since you can move the forrest only so. plus it's a big board so you cant have a forrest everywhere.

[JohnnyM]

For your lore attribute concerning the Treesinging in order to make it stronger perhaps make it so that you CAN move it over units. You can do it in SOM so that may or may not be the way GW will go in the future. But that would give us a good way to potentially negate steadfast but is not incredibly OP since you can move the forrest only so. plus it's a big board so you cant have a forrest everywhere.

Anything that can "move over" or "end up on top of" a unit is in my opinion a poor mechanic. Prsctically speaking, you have to then lift your unit off the battlefield, place the terrain piece then reposition the unit where you think it probably was. Messy.

The above ideas look pretty good, as long as it's all hypothetical and not a wishlist.

If I may throw a few ideas into the mix...

A 'throne of vines'-esque spell booster

Wood Elves ignore miscast on 2+ if wholly in a wood (representing the tree's "earthing" the Stray power)

How about a mechanic for the damage side of tree singing...the casting value could be the number of inches (rounding up) between the Mage and the target forest (rolls of 1 and 2 break concentration as always).