Cultists

[Pancho]

I'll be ordering these sinister looking folks from Reaper shortly;



They are part of a Death Cult that believes the dead shall inherit the world from the living, and they wish to raise the Witch Lord to rule over all that remains.
Any ideas for what stats/rules I should use for these fanatics?

I was thinking 2 body points, not sure about the rest.

[knightkrawler]

9 move - 1 attack (incl. diagonal) - 2 defend - 4 mind - 2 body - can cast a spell instead of attacking: announce it and draw a chaos spell card at random and cast it immediately. spell goes back into the deck.

if you feel that's overpowéred, give him the choice only if there is another cultist in his line of sight.

[Pancho]

9 move - 1 attack (incl. diagonal) - 2 defend - 4 mind - 2 body - can cast a spell instead of attacking: announce it and draw a chaos spell card at random and cast it immediately. spell goes back into the deck.

if you feel that's overpowéred, give him the choice only if there is another cultist in his line of sight.

I like it. They will be in dungeons with the usual undead creatures so I want them to stand out from those. 9 movement stands out well from the slow moving zombies etc. Rubbish in attack but can cast spells instead. Nice. I was thinking of poisoned daggers but maybe spells are a better option.
Perhaps necromancy spells rather than Chaos ones? And maybe each cultist only gets to cast one (random) spell. That will stop them from being overpowered, along with the line of sight thingy you came up with.

[Anderas]

What about:

Every cultist has +1 BP for every other cultist currently with him in the room.

Because they feel fanatic and strong in masses.

[knightkrawler]

They feel fanatic and strong in masses.

That's what I included the line of sight thingie for casting spells for.
There's a lot of other weaker monsters that your suggestion would fit. Zombies, Kobolds (the D&D lizard-type), Skinks, Giant Rats...

[The Admiral]

9 move - 1 attack (incl. diagonal) - 2 defend - 4 mind - 2 body - can cast a spell instead of attacking: announce it and draw a chaos spell card at random and cast it immediately. spell goes back into the deck.

if you feel that's overpowéred, give him the choice only if there is another cultist in his line of sight.

9 movement seems a bit much for a human. I would go 8. that's standard human movement (7) +1 for fanaticism. 8 is still fast compared to the undead host. I wouldn't give them a diagonal attack armed only with a dagger. Other stats look good. I would allow each to cast one randomly drawn spell (Per quest, not per turn) from a pre-selected undead type deck, but with no massively powerful spells for these guys i.e. no Cloud of Chaos, Firestorm or lightning Bolt.

[Pancho]

I think the increased power if other Cultists are in line of sight works better with spells than it does with body points. Think of it like a group chant; the chanting is more powerful if another cult member is adding his voice to the spell casting.

[knightkrawler]

I think the increased power if other Cultists are in line of sight works better with spells than it does with body points. Think of it like a group chant; the chanting is more powerful if another cult member is adding his voice to the spell casting.

That was the theme I had in mind and transferred in the least complicated rule I could think of.

[Pancho]

I think the increased power if other Cultists are in line of sight works better with spells than it does with body points. Think of it like a group chant; the chanting is more powerful if another cult member is adding his voice to the spell casting.

That was the theme I had in mind and transferred in the least complicated rule I could think of.

I was just looking at the Necromancer spells from WOM and I think these would work well for the group chanting spells.
If a Cultist is within line of sight to another they may cast a group spell. The 1st cultist may draw one Necromancer card drawn at random from the deck of 6 and cast it, so long as a 2nd Cultist who hasn't carried out his own attack or spell this turn is in line of sight to the 1st.
Otherwise a cultist is limited to attacking with his dagger.
Attack 1, not diagonal but may be thrown (unlimited number of daggers).
Defence 2 (no armour).
Move 8 (like Admiral said, 9 would be a little too fast).
Mind 4 (they are spellcasters after all).
Body 2 (to keep them in line with other humans).

They should be interesting monsters to encounter. Frequently found in pairs

[The Admiral]

I think the increased power if other Cultists are in line of sight works better with spells than it does with body points. Think of it like a group chant; the chanting is more powerful if another cult member is adding his voice to the spell casting.

That was the theme I had in mind and transferred in the least complicated rule I could think of.

I was just looking at the Necromancer spells from WOM and I think these would work well for the group chanting spells.
If a Cultist is within line of sight to another they may cast a group spell. The 1st cultist may draw one Necromancer card drawn at random from the deck of 6 and cast it, so long as a 2nd Cultist who hasn't carried out his own attack or spell this turn is in line of sight to the 1st.
Otherwise a cultist is limited to attacking with his dagger.
Attack 1, not diagonal but may be thrown (unlimited number of daggers).
Defence 2 (no armour).
Move 8 (like Admiral said, 9 would be a little too fast).
Mind 4 (they are spellcasters after all).
Body 2 (to keep them in line with other humans).

They should be interesting monsters to encounter. Frequently found in pairs

Yes, I like most of that. The thrown daggers is a great idea. You could really go to town on the dagger aspect as to what effects they could have if they manage to inflict non defended damage on a Hero. Necromancer spells are excellent, not too overpowered, but with the undead theme. I like the concept of these guys drawing strength from each other, but I see the cultists as low level casters, not full blown sorcerers etc. The ability for multiple spell casting seems overpowered to me. I think I would play their spellcasting as follows:
When a room containing cultists is encountered, the Evil Wizard player should draw one random Necromancer Spell. One of the Cultists in the room may cast that spell as long as their is at least one other cultist present in the room at the moment of casting.

Whichever mechanism is used, the Heroes will take time to work out how it works, and when they do, they will be trying to get at the Cultists while their minions try to hold them off. Do you ignore the Chaos Warrior to try and prevent a spell? Choices, I like Heroes to have to make choices.