Opening the Vault on Tomb King magic items

[Jonathan E]

Gentlemen, I find myself in a bewilderment.

Revisiting my Tomb King collection as I revised that event report has set me thinking about the composition of the army. Specifically, its characters, as I'm broadly happy with the units I own.

King Khonekt IV? Fond as I am of the Destroyer of Eternities on paper, it's somewhat limited by the delivery system being a M4 character who can't march and needs to end up in combat with something worth challenging for his kit to really shine. Prince Thotmanho? Doesn't have any set kit at all, and the voices are telling me there are things I could do with his Chariot to make his unit hit harder or himself a viable solo threat. And the Priests? Well, I am very fond of my Casket of Souls, and I think the Staff of Ravening adds something crucial, but beyond that I know not what to do.

This is where I'm at right here, right now, with an eye toward 3000-4000 points. I have two Kings (or Princes), a Princess (or Khalida proxy), a High Priestess with two staves (almost certainly going to be my Hierophant with the Staff of Ravening and Serpent Staff, because I can), and two lesser Priests. The voices are suggesting I find some capacity to pick up a third King (or Prince) - TTCombat do quite a nice one with additional hand weapons for a Crook and Flail of Radiance build - and maybe slap them all on Chariots, disbanding my regiment in favour of character mounts.

But - I want to open the floor to suggestions, especially for kit for the lesser Priests as I don't just want to say "unga bunga, four Dispel Scrolls" and leave it at that.

[Alarantalara]

If I had to pick one item for Liche priests, I'd probably go with the Staff of Mastery. It's one of those incremental little things that drives your opponent nuts as they keep running out of dice because you rolled "just a bit" too high to use the same number of dice to dispel. See also all the online comments elsewhere about not bothering with anything other than level 4 wizards in the new old world, because this is the same thing in disguise (though with less spells).

Since I play against Dwarfs a lot, the Blade of Setep amuses me since so many characters run around with the Rune of Stone. Stripping them of their armour would be hilarious. It's even okay as a general purpose choice if your plan for the character is hunting heavy cavalry.

As for the Destroyer of Eternities, if you really want it, why not combine it with the Cloak of the Dunes to solve the movement problem? It may be risky and impractical to go alone, but does let him keep up with the cavalry or at least swap units so he's in the right one for who you want to fight/not fight.

[Jonathan E]

Staves: yes, yes, I see... Staff of Mastery and Serpent Staff seems an acceptable bag for a Hierophant.

Cloaks: I can't believe I didn't think of that. In my defence, I'm loth to fling characters around on their own as a rule, but one could argue a Tomb King has potential as a sacrificial lamb (particularly in properly sized games where you'll be fielding more than one Lord choice). If the Destroyer doesn't get 'em, the Curse definitely will. It's a more expensive version of my beloved Wolf Thrall. I shall contemplate this, on the Tree of Woe.

[Kakapo42]

Cloaks: I can't believe I didn't think of that.

Have you learnt nothing from my saga of melancholy? Clearly I have failed again in my teachings. Perhaps my flamboyant nemesis frenemy was correct after all.

The Cloak of The Dunes was the very first thing I was going to bring up. It is a crucial item and auto-include for any Tomb King general, because the power to transform into a whorl of sand is completely indispensable on a Tomb King general, allowing them to both stealthily infiltrate the chambers of the beautiful maiden they intend to kidnap and sacrifice as well as quickly escape to safety when confronted by the heroes protecting her (and any infernal cats they may have picked up along the way, the bane of any Tomb King's existence).

The Standard of The Sands is similarly essential for defence against heroes traveling by flying means by engulfing them in a massive wall of living sand, but that is naturally a matter for an Icon Bearer. The Banner of The Hidden Dead and the Mirage Standard are also solid picks here.

For High Priests the Serpent Staff is excellent, as no self-respecting sorcerous vizier, dead or alive, can claim to be complete without an enchanted venom spitting cobra head on their golden staff of office. the Ravening Staff is equally essential somewhere for engulfing your adversaries in apocalyptic plagues of locusts.

Personally, I'm very partial to Neferra's Plaques of Mighty Incantations. Awesome tablets of grave power are another essential item for a High Priest, and they also do a good job of flattening the curve even further on reliably high powered incantations. Compared to a mere Staff of Mastery, all it takes is getting 2 points or more higher on the re-roll to beat out the staff, while allowing more space for other magic items to boot.

When it comes to defensive items I quite like the Collar of Shapesh, which is perfect for cheating the afterlife and ensuring your undying essence can never be truly destroyed. Remember to keep your groveling thief henchman close by at all times so that there is always another soul handy to offer the hounds of the underworld.

For lesser Priests, I am very partial to the humble Heiratic Jar, which is excellent for ensuring the wisdom of your best Heirophants can never be truly lost. It is also a handy ace in the hole to have for salvaging a poor run of Incantations or tipping the scales on a good run of them and ensuring that a breakthrough is decisive.

Finally, there is the Death Mask of Kharnut. Terror is always a powerful tool to have, and if you want to put more Princes on Chariots then that will make a nice fast moving platform to scatter opposing troops in a key sector.

[Alarantalara]

Personally, I'm very partial to Neferra's Plaques of Mighty Incantations. Awesome tablets of grave power are another essential item for a High Priest, and they also do a good job of flattening the curve even further on reliably high powered incantations. Compared to a mere Staff of Mastery, all it takes is getting 2 points or more higher on the re-roll to beat out the staff, while allowing more space for other magic items to boot.

Now you've done it. I had to go do math.

For your satisfaction, statistics says we're both right. For ordinary Liche priests, the Staff of Mastery is marginally better, while the reverse is true for a High priest assuming you reroll on 6 or less for the priest (8 to 7.97) and 10 or less for the high priest (11.5 to 11.71). I made my recommendation for priests and you the high priest, so we're all good.

If you're inclined to keep rolls of 9 or 10 instead of rerolling them for the high priest, the staff wins though, so maintain discipline!

I shall lodge my complaint that they should be the same points cost the moment my time machine is finished. Also, what's up with their order in the book? It's the only case I recall where the magic items aren't in strictly decreasing order of points.

Edit: adding some pictures

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[Kakapo42]

I shall lodge my complaint that they should be the same points cost the moment my time machine is finished. Also, what's up with their order in the book? It's the only case I recall where the magic items aren't in strictly decreasing order of points.

High Priestess Neferra belonged to a more prestigious and ancient dynasty than Amon-Shapa, so it only makes sense that her greatest and longest-lasting contribution to Nehekaran civilisation is listed first.

Similarly it is known that Neferra was rare among the Nehekaran priesthood for being particularly selfless and having great humility, valuing the whole of Nehekara over just her own legacy, so that when she committed her knowledge to enchanted plaques she included in the final tablet a detailed clear set of instructions on how to easily duplicate them, complete with variations of the enchantments for materials other than the original gold tablets, so that the magical knowledge they held could be spread far and wide across the land and truly persist for eternity. Combined with the enchantments themselves being tremendously strong and robust but fairly simple spells, make the Plaques easy to replicate for a wise enough priest and mean that most Dynasties have at least one copy in their possession.

In contrast the Staff of Mastery was designed to be difficult to replicate with enchantments that were deliberately overcomplicated, because Amon-Shapa like many other Nehekaran priests was a jealous and secretive sort who was paranoid about the power of the staff being one day used against him. So it makes sense that that one costs more gold and resources to fashion and equip a Liche Priest despite its more recent introduction and placement in the armoury.

The cybernetic assassin robot I sent back to 1999 Nottingham has already been retroactively programmed with this knowledge.

[Jonathan E]

Cloaks: I can't believe I didn't think of that.

Have you learnt nothing from my saga of melancholy? Clearly I have failed again in my teachings. Perhaps my flamboyant nemesis frenemy was correct after all.

I assure you, I remain familiar with the sacred texts. I had been sitting here thinking about the problems with the Destroyer of Eternities and overlooked the extremely obvious solution of delivering it ON THE DESERT WINDS. It is the combo (wombo status to be confirmed) that I had neglected.

When it comes to defensive items I quite like the Collar of Shapesh, which is perfect for cheating the afterlife and ensuring your undying essence can never be truly destroyed. Remember to keep your groveling thief henchman close by at all times so that there is always another soul handy to offer the hounds of the underworld.

I've never been a great enthusiast for the Collar, and I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps it's my taste for simplicity (cf. "Carstein Ring, Cursed Book, Power Familiar, GO")?

Finally, there is the Death Mask of Kharnut. Terror is always a powerful tool to have, and if you want to put more Princes on Chariots then that will make a nice fast moving platform to scatter opposing troops in a key sector.

Hmm.
Yes. Yes. That'll help.

[Kakapo42]

I've never been a great enthusiast for the Collar, and I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps it's my taste for simplicity (cf. "Carstein Ring, Cursed Book, Power Familiar, GO")?

My own best guess would be something to do with your distaste for conditional effects (cf. Tomb Blade, Wristbands of Black Gold, Obsidian Amulet etc.), but that's just speculation based on observing patterns.

For alternative Talismans, the Amulet of Pha-Stah can also be very nice, especially against Elves whose characters often rely on magic items for protection.