Power in the Stones.pdf

Power in the Stones

By Daniel Carlson

“Of course there’s magic in those stones... but it is

dark magic, and only the desperate or the foolish

would seek to use it. Woe to us that our times are rich

in both desperation and fools.”

– Fabergus Reinhardt, Witch Hunter

simply the coin that nobles and

merchants are willing to pay for them. It is a

well-known fact that the stones are rich in

magic, and they are said to grant a variety of

powers to those that learn to use them. Tales

are told among the common folk of stones

that caused a certain farmer’s harvest to

double, or of the stone that made old Herr

Grutenbauer's dog speak like a man. True or

not, these tales hint at the powerful and

chaotic forces at work in the stones. The most

common use for the stones’ magic has to do

with the discovery of the famed alchemist van

Hoffman of Reikland. It was he who ﬁrst

observed that Wyrdstone can serve as a

catalyst in the transmutation of base metals

into gold. This usage of the stones has come

to be the primary obsession of those who seek

it, for many are willing to pay princely sums

for stones that will make them an even larger

fortune. Yet there are those who continue to

seek the stones for their more arcane

uses, and even mercenaries have

been known to keep a stone

or two that was thought

to bring luck, healing,

or other magical

beneﬁts.

Yet the stones

are ultimately

the work of

Chaos, and

those who

seek to

use

them

often

learn

fear their magic rather than harness it. For

every tale of a harvest that doubled, there are

two about the harvests that rotted in the ﬁeld

when exposed to the strange glow of the

stones; and for every tale of a dog that learned

to speak like a man there are darker tales of

animals that turned into a gruesome parody of

a man-beast. The tales of magical healings are

mixed with many of mutation and death

brought on by exposure to the stones. Yet

greed is the downfall of many in the City of

the Damned, and the greed for power is

perhaps the greatest of all...

Note: Witch Hunters, Sisters of Sigmar,

Bretonnians, High Elf Shadow Warriors and

Dwarfs are all too aware of the corrupting

power of the stones, and will not make use of

them under any circumstances.

Evaluating Stones

Instead of selling or storing all of a warband's

wyrdstone shards, a player may choose to

have one or more of their stones evaluated by

an alchemist for useful magical properties.

This is done during the trading phase of the

post-battle sequence (consequently, this

means if a stone is chosen to be evaluated and

yields no special power, it cannot

subsequently be sold until after the next

battle). Instead of searching for a rare item, a

hero may take one shard of the warband’s

wyrdstone to an alchemist. Numerous

alchemists have ﬂocked to Mordheim to study

the stones, and they ply their trade from tents

and wagons in the encampments around the

city. Alchemists are known for their greed,

however, and they do not provide their

services for free; for each stone evaluated, the

warband must pay 20 gold crowns. When the

stone is evaluated, roll 2D6 on the chart

opposite:

T he value of the wyrdstone shards is not

Power in The Stones

2 Spell Stone. Any model who carries this stone into battle may cast one

randomly determined spell for the duration of the battle, using the normal rules

for spell casting. The spell should be determined at random from the Lesser Magic

spell list, and a different spell should be generated before each game in which the

stone is used. This means the stone will be more useful in certain battles than

others, depending on which spell it happens to provide for that game.

3 Stone of Regeneration. Any model who caries this stone into battle will

regenerate lost wounds at a rate of one Wound regained each recovery phase. A

model carrying this stone treats all stunned results it suffers on the Injury Chart as

knocked down.

4 Stone of Might. A model who carries this stone into battle will have one

characteristic increased for the duration of the battle. Roll a D6 to see which

characteristic is affected before each battle:

1 +1 Initiative 4 +l Toughness

2 +1 Movement 5 +1 Attacks

3 +1 Strength 6 +1 Wounds

Note that this temporary boost may take a characteristic above normal racial

maximums.

5 Stone of Warding. A model who carries this stone will not be affected by hostile

magic spells on a D6 roll of 4+.

6-8 No beneﬁcial powers.

9 Stone of Luck. A model who carries this stone may re-roll any dice roll he

makes once per game. The second roll must be taken. This power may not be

combined with other 'luck enhancements' like the spell Luck of Shemtek to yield

re-rolls on top of re-rolls, though it may be used to give a model affected by these

enhancements one additional re-roll during the battle as normal.

10 Stone of Skill. A model who carries this stone into battle will have one

characteristic increased for the duration of the battle. Roll a D6 to see which

characteristic is affected before each battle:

1-2 +1 Weapon Skill 3-4 +1 Ballistic Skill 5-6 +1 Leadership

Note that this temporary boost may take a characteristic above normal racial

maximums.

11 Stone of Healing. A model who carries this stone may heal one model within

2" of him (including himself) during each recovery phase. The warrior regains one

lost Wound. Note that this healing is only beneﬁcial to models who have more than

one Wound on their proﬁle.

12 Stone of Protection. A model who carries this stone has their armour save

improved by one point (i.e. a 5+ save becomes a 4+ save). Note that no model

may ever have a save better than 1+. If the model has no armour, the stone gives

him a 6+ armour save.

Using Stones

Stones may only be used by heroes, just like

other equipment. No hero may ever carry

more than one stone at a time (the combined

Chaotic magic would instantly turn them into

Chaos Spawn). Using a wyrdstone’s power is

always a dangerous undertaking and to

represent this, after every battle, each hero

who carried a stone must make a check to see

if they have been adversely affected by their

usage of the stone’s power. Make the check by

rolling 2D6 for each hero: a roll of 2, 3, 11 or

12 indicates that they have been affected.

Skaven, having a natural tolerance for

warpstone, are only affected on the roll of 2

or 12. Roll a D6 on the following chart over

the page to see what has happened to affected

models.

Power in The Stones

1 Spawn! The model has succumbed to the raw mutating force of Chaos, and

becomes a terrible Chaos Spawn. See 'Becoming a Chaos Spawn' below.

2 Weakened. The model has lost some of its life force to the stone. One of

the model's characteristics is permanently reduced by one. Roll 2D6 to see

which characteristic suffers:

1-2 Movement

5-6 Strength

3 Weapon Skill

7-8 Toughness

4 Ballistic Skill

9-10 Initiative

11-12 Leadership

If any characteristic is reduced to 0 as a result of the weakening, the model

becomes a Chaos Spawn. See 'Becoming a Chaos Spawn' below.

3-4 Sickened. Exposure to the stone's magic has made the warrior physically

ill. He must miss the next battle while he recovers.

5-6 Mutation! The corrupting power of Chaos has caused the model to gain a

mutation. Roll on the Random Mutation Table (see below).

Becoming a Chaos Spawn

Chaos Spawn are the wretched remains of one

who has tasted the power of Chaos and

proved unable to withstand its mutating

touch. Wracked with waves of mutation and

change, a warrior is reduced to a monstrous

beast of fangs, tentacles, eyeballs, and other

horriﬁc growths. Their mind is forever

shattered, and they become a gibbering and

mindless servant of Chaos. Typically, when a

being meets this fate, his former comrades

will put him out of his misery with a swift

death... unless that seems like too dangerous

a task to attempt, in which case they will

simply herd the beast away down one of

Mordheim’s winding alleys or into the sewers.

There are, however, some who have a desire

for and afﬁnity with Chaos Spawn that

allows

them to keep their mutated friend among

their ranks as a weapon and pet to use against

their enemies.

If one of your heroes becomes a Chaos Spawn

he is considered to be lost to the warband,

unless your warband is from the Cult of the

Possessed or Skaven. Followers of Chaos have

a sort of semi-reverence for these mindless

beasts, and the Skaven have long been adept

at training and using the products of

wyrdstone-induced mutation.

When the hero ‘Spawns’, any armour they

were wearing is lost in the storm of violent

mutation that overtakes the unfortunate

warrior. Weapons and equipment are

abandoned by the creature, however, and may

be reclaimed by the warband. The new Spawn

retains its previous characteristic proﬁle and

any existing mutations, and immediately gains

an additional D6 mutations which should be

generated on the Random Mutation Table. If

the hero was previously a spell caster, all spell

casting ability is lost. If the model became a

Spawn as the result of a characteristic being

taken down to zero, that characteristic

becomes a 1 on the Spawn’s proﬁle. The

Spawn's Movement characteristic may be

deleted, as the Spawn is now subject to a

special rule that governs its movement on

the table top. The Spawn is now subject to

the following special rules:

Fear: The Spawn now causes fear .

Psychology: The Spawn is immune to all

psychology rules.

Movement: Instead of normal movement,

Power in The Stones

each movement phase, the Spawn moves 2D6"

towards any enemy model. The Spawn must

move straight towards an enemy, though this

need not be the nearest enemy, and may be

an enemy the Spawn cannot even see (Spawn

have a plethora of senses, magical and

otherwise that tell them where their foes are).

If this movement brings the Spawn into

contact with any model, friend or foe, the

Spawn immediately attacks it, and will

continue to ﬁght in following rounds until the

other model has been taken out of action or

ﬂed. Spawn may move up ladders and stairs,

and may even attempt to climb walls subject

to the normal climbing rules.

The Spawn will not gain any experience

points from future battles; it is far too

mindless to learn from its actions.

The Spawn should be represented by an

appropriate model. While this could be one of

the Chaos Spawn models from the

Warhammer line, it's probably more satisfying

and fun to make your own. Spawn are the

ultimate you-can-do-no-wrong conversion

project, where you can throw together all

sorts of stray bits to make a really unique

model.

Random Mutation Table

Mordheim is a city under the sway of Chaos,

and with Chaos comes mutation and change.

There are numerous ways by which a warrior

can be afﬂicted with mutation, and there are

some who actually seek out mutation as a

'reward’ of the Chaos Powers. While mutations

are not always harmful, and indeed can often

be helpful, they are a mark of Chaos, and as

such those who bear them are feared,

shunned and persecuted throughout the

Empire.

The following is a table used to generate the

colourful, exotic, and sometimes debilitating

mutations that will be visited upon certain

warriors at certain times (i.e. as a result of

exposure to Wyrdstone, for example). The

table may also prove useful to Gamemasters

who want to quickly generate some

interesting mutants for a special scenario. The

table uses a D66 roll, just like the Heroes

Serious Injuries table in the rulebook. If the

mutant rolls a mutation that it already

possesses, re-roll it until a new mutation is

generated.

Note: The great danger of mutation is that it

will ultimately overwhelm the victim with the

corrupting power of Chaos, reducing them to

a monstrous and mindless Chaos Spawn. To

represent this danger, if a warrior ever has a

characteristic reduced to zero as the result of

a mutation, they immediately degenerate into

a loathsome Chaos Spawn (see the full rules

for Chaos Spawn above).

Any member of a human, mercenary warband

(this includes both Ostlanders and

Averlanders) that receives a mutation marked

with * is immediately drummed out of the

warband by his suspicious peers. Remove the

hero from the roster, his equipment is lost.

Roll a D66

11 Acid Spray*. The mutant can spit acid at

its foes. The acid spray uses the mutant’s

Ballistic Skill to hit, just as if the mutant were

ﬁring a missile weapon. The spray has a range

of 8", and a Strength of 4. The mutant does

not suffer any penalty for spraying a target at

long range, nor does the mutant suffer any

penalty for moving and spraying in the same

turn.

12 Atrophy . A part of the mutant’s body has

become shrivelled and atrophied. Roll a D6:

1 head. The mutant is now subject to

stupidity.

2-4 arm. The mutant loses the usage of one

arm. The mutant may only use a single one-

handed weapon from now on. If both arms are

lost the mutant must be retired from the

warband unless it possesses a tail or bite attack

of some kind.

5-6 leg. The mutant loses the usage of one leg.

Divide the mutant's Movement in half,

rounding up. If both legs are lost, the mutant

must be retired from the warband.

13 Beaked*. The mutant has a beak like that

of a bird or octopus, though its other facial

features remain unchanged. Unless the

mutant already possesses a bite attack, the

mutant may make an additional attack in each

hand-to-hand combat phase due to its vicious

bite.

14 Beweaponed Extremities*. The mutant’s

hands are turned into weapons! The mutant

may no longer use other weapons or

equipment that would require the usage of

hands.

On the plus side, it no longer has to worry

about being caught without a weapon! The

mutant will gain the normal extra attack in

Power in The Stones

hand-to-hand for using an additional hand

weapon, and the weapon extremities follow

the normal rules for weapons of their type

(i.e. sword extremities may be used to parry).

Roll a D6 for each arm to see what it

becomes:

1-2 sword, 3-4 mace, 5-6 axe. If the mutant

grows two sword extremities, it may re-roll

failed parries just as if it had a sword and a

buckler.

15 Blackblood. If the model loses a wound

in close combat, anyone in base contact with

the model suffers a Strength 3 hit (no critical

hits) from the spurting corrosive blood.

16 Brightly Patterned Skin* The mutant's

skin becomes brightly coloured with

contrasting stripes, spots, or other patterns.

No effect on play, but a great excuse to paint

an interesting new model!

21 Burning Body*. The mutant's body is

constantly burning with ﬂickering tongues of

hellish ﬂame and burns with unnatural light.

The warrior may not carry any weapons or

armour unless they are magical, or forged

from Gromril or Ithilmar. The mutant does

not suffer the usual penalties for ﬁghting with

his ﬁsts (no -1 to the mutant's Strength,

enemies do not add +l to armour saves). The

mutant always counts as having a lantern. Any

model in base contact with the mutant suffers

an automatic Strength 2 hit at the beginning

of each close combat phase. The ﬂames

cannot cause critical hits.

22 Cloud of Flies. The mutant is

permanently surrounded by a great swirling

mass of ﬂies. Opponents in close combat with

the mutant are at -1 on all to hit rolls, as the

ﬂies buzz into eyes, noses, and mouths.

23 Cloven Hooves*. The warrior gains +l

Movement.

24 Crystalline Body*. The mutant's body

becomes living crystal, which is tough, but

easily shattered. The mutant's Toughness

becomes 6, while its Wounds become 1.

Neither of these attributes can subsequently

be altered by experience or mutation. If an

experience advance indicates a change in one

of these characteristics, re-roll the advance

until a different characteristic advance is

obtained.

25 Elastic Limbs*. The mutant's arms can

stretch out, allowing the mutant to attack

from a distance. If the mutant is not in base

contact with an enemy model at the beginning

of the hand-to-hand combat phase, it may

make one hand-to-hand attack against a single

visible enemy within 6" of the mutant. The

enemy does not get a chance to ﬁght back.

26 Enormously Fat. The mutant becomes

enormously fat and bloated. Divide its

Movement in half, rounding up; add +1 to its

Toughness; and reduce its Initiative by 1.

31 Extra Arm*. The mutant may use any

single-handed weapon in the extra arm, giving

him +1 attack when ﬁghting in hand-to-hand

combat. Alternatively, he may carry a shield or

buckler in the extra arm. If a mutant who is

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