9th Age Home brew lore for WH 8th/T9A

[Von Reinhart]

Our gaming group counts only a few players, including my buddy who runs lizardmen. We house-ruled 8th quit a bit and are returning to the game. As such, we've decided on trying to come up with a specific Lore for LM. Asking for any opinions/suggestions/comments. Note, we toned down the magic phase a bit (a few less PD/no bonus for caster's level), so casting values are a bit lower, much like T9A. Level 0 spells are cannot be dispelled and cost 1 PD to cast. For your consideration:


Lore of the Old Ones

0 Commune
1 PD n/a Instant 0"
add d3 to one casting, this phase only

1 Venomous Tide
4+ [6+] Direct Damage Instant 16" [24"]
targeted unit takes (4 + caster's level)d6 Poisoned Attacks [(6 + caster's level)d6]

2 Entangle 6+ Hex one turn 24"
-1 to hit (melee & shooting), (-d3) penalty to any Movement.

3 Born Predator 10+ Augment Remains in Play 18"
re-roll all Melee to hit rolls of '1'

4 Respawning 12+ [14+] Augment Instant 36"
restores d3+ (caster's level) wounds/models [restores d6 + (caster's level)]

5 Meteor Swarm 15+ Direct Damage Instant 24"
Roll D6: on 3+ choose an additional target within 6” of the original target. Continue rolling until you roll a ‘1’ or a ‘2’, choosing new targets within 6” from the previous one. No unit can be targeted twice. Afterwards, each target suffers (D3+ caster's level) Strength 6 hits, Flaming Attacks.

6 Comet 18+ [24+] Area of Effect Special 36"
Choose a point anywhere on the table and place a counter there. At the end of each subsequent Magic Phase roll a dice; if 1-3 is rolled add another counter to the same spot. If a 4-6 is rolled, the Comet arrives. When it does, each unit within (2d6*x)" suffers 2d6 STR (4+x) hits, where x=number of counters. The spell then ends and all counters removed.
[Any friendly units under the AoE are uneffected by the Comet.]

 

[SilverFaith]

This looks... messy.

Commune seems weird, you have no real benefit of not just using that PD as a d6.

You forgot to specify the Strength of spell #1, and besides that, your average Slann will be throwing 10d6 poisoned attacks, which is absurd, and will almost auto-remove anything without a 3+ save a better. For a 6+ spell, that's easy with just 2 PD to remove any big monster from the table.

Entangle seems fine, if a tad limiting for the low Movement armies.

You are playing 9th age? Born predator wouldn't do anything on Saurus units, they already reroll 1s to hit.

Respawning seems very good. Summoning 5-7 temple guards is a lot of points. At 12+, it is at least difficult, but I am not sure if that really fits with Lizardmen in general. Also note that VC and TKs have access to a similar raising spell because their units are generally a lot weaker, while still bring relatively expensive for what they do - they are balanced around being raised from the dead. Our Saurus are not.

And imagine raising 2-3 Kroxigors back to life... that seems slightly unreasonable to me.

Meteor swarm is just a souped up chain lightning, and comet is just... the comet, except it can't hit friendlies like in 8th.

Making a home brew lore, you really should aim to not just make Lore of Heavens 2.0 - a lot of this seems a tad too "inspired". It reads a lot like you took the lore of heavens from 8th, just buffed it to be significantly better.

 

[Lawot]

@SilverFaith ...a variation on the "Lore of Heavens" theme is not necessarily a bad idea, given both the prophetic and skyward-oriented story of the Lizardmen, along with the "star" theme of the Seraphon in the Age of Sigmar (if one cares). Also, I believe Von Reinhart is playing 8th, with modifications that resemble some of the 9th Age changes - hence "Born Predator". However, I agree with some of your criticisms, particularly that of "Venomous Swarm". And the only real advantage to "Commune" would be adding to your casting roll without risk of miscast.

@Von Reinhart it's an interesting project, and I'm particularly interested in how your Lore uses the caster's level as a factor in determining how effective the spell is. However, that raises some difficult balance questions, because a higher level will be worth more if the character is using this Lore, rather than another. Does the Slann pay an additional point cost for taking this Lore?
I'm interested in the inspiration of this Lore - did you start with Heavens, and go from there? Or come up with what would be most useful to the Lizardmen? And why did you see a need for a Lizardmen-specific Lore to begin with? I think that such a project must be rooted in either a character-based need for a specific Lore, or a strategic need, and questions about this might be answered differently based on what gave rise to this.

 

[SilverFaith]

@SilverFaith ...a variation on the "Lore of Heavens" theme is not necessarily a bad idea, given both the prophetic and skyward-oriented story of the Lizardmen, along with the "star" theme of the Seraphon in the Age of Sigmar (if one cares).

True, but from a game design perspective, taking an existing thing, and then making a new, better version of that thing, is not only a bit lame for opponents using the already established lore, it can also feel a bit too much like home brewing an unfair advantage to a potential opponent.

Besides, the theme is solid, and making a new lore bases on "Stars" doesn't seem like a bad idea, but I'd personally rather see new ideas on the table, rather than a buffed up version of lore of heavens.

So how about this for ideas:
Commune let's you convert 1 die to not count for the purpose of miscast, marked before the roll is made. Basically making it free, but with a once per turn use, making it a lot safer to cast your spells.

Star Ray: (venomous tide) Each rank in a unit takes a S1 hit for every wizard level of the casting wizard. This always wounds on a 6. Lone models would take a hit per wizard level.

Meteor swarm: place a small round template on the table for each wizard level you have, with no tenplate being closer than 5". Roll a scatter for each point, reroll any misfire. Any model under the template takes a S6 hit with flaming attacks.

It feels more thematic without just being a refluffed spell that is more powerful than it used to.

But hey, whatever floats your ancient pyramid.