[MonTor]

right...
I have been working on ideas for 'caste advisors' for Ethereals,
and working from the principal that all castes other than the Shas are too feeble to enter battle,
up to the Air caste being bairly able to handle normal gravity,

I have given them these stats
Caste; strength/toughness
fire 3/3
earth 3/2
water 2/2
air 1/2

and for that matter;
nicassar 1/1

have I gone over the top with this?
...any opinions out there?

I will post the finished characters when stats and models are finished...

thanks in advance,
- Grey Area

[henbobbleb]

I think 1/2 and 1/1 are a bit excessive but the rest seem ok. I had personally allways thought of the earth cast as tougher though so I would have them as 2/3

[Moofassa]

Aun'va's an old man and even he gets S2 and T3.

[Doombringer]

The other castes aren't necessarily too feeble to enter battle, battle just isn't their place.

Shas are, indeed, stronger and tougher than the others, but in the case of the Fio, that's not by much. The Fio were, after all, their primary opposition during the Mont'au, and they put up one hell of a fight behind the walls of Fio'taun. I'd say Fio are about on par with Shas, thanks to their build, role as laborers (in some cases, drones don't do all the work), and bionics (many Fio are outfitted with such things).

If the Aun rate a 3/3, and they are nowhere near fit for combat, then the Fio most certainly rate the same...

In regards to the Air Caste, the idea that they can't handle normal gravity is overplayed just a bit. In Aun'shi's fluff, there was an Air Caste messenger on Fio'vash, whom the Ethereal sent away to the nearest other city after first sign of the Orks. In Fire Warrior, Air Caste were forced to go groundside on the Kroot world Queh-Quih (or something like that...) because the Kroot don't like ships orbiting their worlds. It wasn't until after many days that the Air Caste began to suffer the ill effects of long term gravity exposure, and we don't know yet if Queh-Quih had higher than normal gravity to begin with. Besides, Kor don't necessarily live in zero-G all the time - even their spacecraft have artificial gravity! Unless the Kor are completely segregated from the rest of the Castes while in orbit too, then they're under the effects of some measure of gravity in space too...

I'd say:

Aun - 3/3
Shas - 3/3
Fio - 3/3
Por - 2/3
Kor - 2/2

Any lack of combat ability should be represented in WS, BS, I, and A.

In regards to the Nicassar, I don't think there's quite enough information on them yet to even begin making assumptions about them... ???

[Merqu]

I Believe Doombringer nailed the stats on the head TBH. When was the last you saw a weak Builder/Engineer after all.

[MonTor]

Originally Posted by Doombringer

Aun - 3/3
Shas - 3/3
Fio - 3/3
Por - 2/3
Kor - 2/2

THis was what I was thinking too,

Are these stats the general consensus then?

Any lack of combat ability should be represented in WS, BS, I, and A.

I have done this a little, but have made it become more pronounced with increase in rank,
- To represent comparable physical abilities but a difference in training between the castes.

By the way, how much interest is there in other castes for the Tau army?

Thanks guy's,
Grey Area

[SnailBoy.Jr]

I think if there were interests in other casts being in the game. I'm assuming you want to make rules for in game play; then they would have to do so very different things then just the average fire warrior. Not better, just different. For instance make earth cast, as I'm all too sure that people have suggested, like a tech, where he can be on the field and fix downed tanks.

The Aun, lord knows we already just need a fixed set of rules for these.

Water cast, could bring many different abilitys to the game, such as have been suggested for the Aun.

We already have the Air, I mean who else pilots the fishies?!

[Doombringer]

Fire Caste drive the Prianhas, Tetras, Devilfish, Hammerheads, and Sky Rays.

Air Caste fly the Barracudas, Tigersharks, Orcas, and Mantas.

Personally though, even though you're making rules for these characters, I can't seem to think of a reasonable excuse for any of them to be on the battlefield...

Any Kor naval support can be called in by the ranking Fire Caste Commander, Earth Caste can have drone-tech representatives (like the DX-4 Technical Drone from Forge World), and Water Caste have absolutely no reason to be on a battlefield that I can think of...

[Merqu]

Unless your doing a narative based mission rescue the Kor'o whose escape pod landed behind enemy lines, Protect the Fio as they perform some vital task, a Por envoy has been captured, killing the Shas body guards rescuing the surving Por members is of great importance.

The problem is all those are... well not really combatants. the Kor caste are already represent in the 40k Universe. BFG, Tactical Auronoticalus (Sp?) and the Fighters from Forge World. The Fio I can see taking up arms if the need was there. They would have a great degree of knowledge on how to use Tau weaponry, although they probably wouldn't be as proficient as a Shas. They would how ever have lots of toys and gizmos not yet issued to the Shas Caste.

And Water Caste would be well... in the wrong place at a very bad time. They're Politicians/Diplomates/Reporters... THERE WE GO! A Por news team! Give them a TNN (Tau News Network) or TBC (Tau Broadcasting Corporation) News 'fish completly with satalite dish in the turret and have the nose Burst Cannon turned into some sort of reciever, and the Gun Drones as Camera Drones... Awsome idea for a conversion.

[Doombringer]

Ah, right! I forgot about those Por'hui war correspondents!

But what effect would those have on the battlefield? They seem more like an objective or liability than a useful combat tool.