Tutorial 8th Edition BRB Arcane Items for Lizardmen

In the tradition of the mighty user Boq and his magic item thread on the LM items and the BRB weapons, talismans, and armor (put in the Tactica Index), here is a thread where I rated BRB Arcane Items. I’m using the same star system.

BRB arcane items, good or bad, all suffer from the fact that we have some very good arcane items in the Lizardmen book, and our wizards can only take one arcane item a piece. A lot of these items don’t see the light of day on LM lists until Storm of Magic games. When we get our own 8th ed book, we are likely to lose some of our arcane items and have to use these more.

The rates are - * = bad
** = not recommended
*** = ok
**** = good
***** = amazing
Book of Ashur ** = While not a useful as the bonus power die discipline and more expensive, this provides +1 to casting and dispels, so it’s conceivable a Slann could benefit from this. WD Slann can get more mileage out of this then other Slann

Feedback Scroll*** = An offensive arcane item to give to a scroll caddy. Not as powerful as Cupped Hands, but skink priests can use this. It’s a good consolation prize for you when opponent gets a lots of 5s or 6s on their roll.

Scroll of Leeching ** = Not my first choice for a scroll caddy, but potentially useful when opposing very power dice rich opponents, like in Storm of Magic.

Sivejir’s Hex Scroll ** = There’s a strong appeal in turning enemy wizards into toads. The effects have a good chance of failing against high level wizards and the effects are temporary, so I don’t think it’s worth the cost. Fun to think about though.

Power Scroll ** = Maybe good for a skink priest if he has Chain Lightning or Comet. It’s pretty weak compared to the other Arcane Items that are possible.

Wand of Jet ** = Potentially useful for wizards who whiff a casting roll, but a bit too weak and random for my tastes.

Forbidden Rod **** = Useful for a Slann with Life or High Magic which is quickly becoming our new most favorite lore. They can take the wounds then heal it back with the lore attribute. Thus you get the bonus power dice and have little chance of losing the Slann. It’s also good for giving to a skink priest, he’ll probably die, but if you time the use of the Rod right, he won’t die in vain.

Earthing Rod ** = Since almost all the miscast results are gut wrenchingly awful, I don’t consider a re-roll particularly valuable. We also have a discipline that does practically the same thing and doesn’t take up an arcane item slot.

Dispel Scroll **** = Nice, simple, classic spell negation.

Trickster’s Shard ** = A Slann can expect enemy wizards to dispel some of the things they throw out, so this item can do something but there are generally better items to counter enemy wizards with.

Power Stone ** = In previous editions, wizards could take multiple power stones. I don’t see the current Power Stones as being worth the item slot and cost in 8th. Maybe useful if you are basing your strategy on a casting of a single ueber spell.

Sceptre of Stability *** = I’d rather have a dispel scroll, but an item you can use to boost a dispel roll after checking to see if you need it has utility.

Channeling Staff**** = This is good for me because I seem to roll a lot of 5s when channeling, but I don’t think Channeling dice winning a lot of games. EDIT: With the new book, you can combine the Channeling Staff with a Slann with Wandering Deliberations to get lots of extra dice bumping this up to four stars.

Scroll of Shielding *** = a cheap dispel scroll substitute. It’s also something you can still do to mitigate damage from an enemy spell cast with IF or a SOM spell that can't be bested with an auto-dispel.

 

Crap, I always miss one! Well it's fixed now. If we get hit by the nerf hammer, this will go up a star, but I don't think it'll be an auto-include.