Power From Pain

Hello fellow rules developers!

I'm considering rewriting PfP for my fandex and wanted to fish for ideas, as well as get something of a loose poll going on about whether or not you like PfP in its current form, or feel a change or rewrite would be beneficial for capturing the fluff or suiting the playstyle of the army better.

As arguments in favor of the Current PfP go (henceforth CPfP) It's easier to keep track of than the 5th edition version (in which units with the rule got tokens for killing enemy units and you had to keep track of each unit's token count individually), and it complements our Alpha-strike insomuch as it makes us viable again late-game. I've heard more than one True kin player describe how the Dark Eldar do well in the beginning of the game, slow down in the middle, and then clinch the win late-game.

Personally, I'd rather a rule which accentuates our alpha-strike tendency, as I think that fits the fluff of a sudden and furious realspace raid better, but that's just me. Below are some links to a previous version of Power from Pain that was almost like a Psychic discipline and I really played up the power and mystery of the trait. As always you can find my most recent fandex in the bottom. As of this post the PfP in my most recent fandex is just the CPfP with a minor bonus that goes up to turn 9, as there are multiple ways to boost the PfP turn count in the rest of my fandex.

Power(s) from Pain

Hope I'm not the only one interested in this

My opinion: Power from Pain has nothing to do with Alpha strike. Its escalation rule. As it should be. Currently its not bad. It should not be directed, but army wide, it should get stronger with battle progression. CPfP is fine. Current Drugs are not and some equip of our units is not.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the vanilla PFP chart in and of itself except that it takes too long to come in to effect. It doesn't seem unreasonable for us to have universal feel no pain turn 1. It doesn't even make the things that don't have it turn 1 particularly great as they're still getting ID'd by S6, which is common. It does however directly buff us against the no escape rule as the vast majority of flamers are S5 and below. Currently the people inside just die to turn 1 flamers as they will not get any saves, By turn 3 they would get feel no pain, too bad their boat has been blown up and their likely dead by then.

Anyway I think the whole problem resolves itself with flat +2 to power from pain across the board. It also guarantees that if a unit lives to the end of the game it will have reached it's zenith. Currently the game can end before the Power from Pain Table ends. even if no one wanted it to.

I think the current rules are ok, except it has little use for some units (coven, which is why they got their own rules).

Although I would prefer something that makes us more maneuverable then tougher. We are more known then craftworld eldar for striking hard and fast, but we are the slowest of all. I already proposed a mechanism similar to the extra move when units die before we got our god of the dead.

And I think we should either get a rule that allows us to do something when people die, or an overall rule like now. the previous edition where we had to keep track of who killed whom made things more annoying and less smooth.

I think we need a boost in damage output and a speed boost for nonmechanised units.
But I think both should already be there early in the game, thus pfp might not be the best way to go about it.

My main issue with the current PfP rule is that it has absolutely nothing to do with pain. An army that neither inflicts nor suffers any wounds gets exactly the same benefit as an army that bathes in the blood of its enemies (and its own casualties).

My own fandex solved that by granting benefits based on the total number of unsaved wounds suffered by either side. The amount of wounds required is pretty low for the initial benefits but gets increasingly higher as you move up the table.

Power from Pain Table
Unsaved Wounds     Benefit
1-4                       Crusader
5-9                       Feel No Pain
10-15                    Furious Charge
16-22                    Fearless
23-30                    Preferred Enemy (all)
31-39                    Rage
40+                       Eternal Warrior

It's not been playtested so the number of wounds required probably needs adjusting to get a decent balance but I'm reasonably happy with the overall feel of the rule.

Count Adhemar wrote:

My main issue with the current PfP rule is that it has absolutely nothing to do with pain. An army that neither inflicts nor suffers any wounds gets exactly the same benefit as an army that bathes in the blood of its enemies (and its own casualties).

My own fandex solved that by granting benefits based on the total number of unsaved wounds suffered by either side. The amount of wounds required is pretty low for the initial benefits but gets increasingly higher as you move up the table.

Power from Pain Table
Unsaved Wounds     Benefit
1-4                       Crusader
5-9                       Feel No Pain
10-15                    Furious Charge
16-22                    Fearless
23-30                    Preferred Enemy (all)
31-39                    Rage
40+                       Eternal Warrior

It's not been playtested so the number of wounds required probably needs adjusting to get a decent balance but I'm reasonably happy with the overall feel of the rule.

I like it. Other option is a list of USRs and bonuses that you have to spend pain tokens for. Larger selection, more tactical, little more expensive.

I like the idea of pain tokens better than army-wide special rules, I think, though if we were to stick with army-wide special rules, I think the count's table is a pretty cool progression once we'd work out the numbers of wounds.