To celebrate the release of the new Champions of Chaos book for the Age of Sigmar RPG Soulbound we’ll be releasing a handful of articles going into details on a number of playable archetypes (or classes) available in the book. You can see our review of the Champions of Chaos book here.

Join us as we pledge ourselves to the numberless ranks of Archaon’s legions - let us kneel before the mighty and iconic Chaos Warrior!

Chaos Warrior

You are one of the indomitable warriors devoted to the Chaos Gods, entombed within ensorceled, unholy armour.

Abandoning all mortal comforts, those who seek to become a Chaos Warrior feel the pull of the Dark Gods more than most. Treading the Path to Glory, these disillusioned warriors from across the Mortal Realms or members of nomadic tribes join the vast legions marching tirelessly to topple civilisation. Any hope for hearth, family, or contentment is sacrificed to the jealous hunger of the Dark Pantheon, who care nothing for mortal doubts or regrets.

Mark of Chaos - Undivided

Chaos Warriors largely fight in the name of Chaos Undivided, worshipping it as a twisted ideology that is attuned with the nature of all the Chaos gods. Many feel that relying on the blessings and specialties of each of the four is better than committing wholesale to one. However, this still happens on plenty of occasions as gaining the focus of one of the pantheon can unlock more powerful blessings and gifts, though this often comes at a price dealt by the deities forsaken and disrespected.

Core Skill and Talent

Skill - Weapon Skill - Oh, look, another Weapon Skill archetype. It’s hardly a surprise and I suppose makes perfect sense, but there sure is a lot of axe-swinging, sword-slashing and mace-hurling in this book. However, the Chaos Warriors being the most “vanilla” Chaos combat archetype in this book lends plenty of fluidity to your choice. After all, you are a warrior for Archaon the Everchosen and so combat in all of its forms must come naturally to you, especially with your respectful attribute line of Body 3, Mind 3 and Soul 2.

Talent - Mounted Combatant or Shield Master - Aaah, lovely, some constrainted choice! Once again starting out as the most basic of fighters in the Chaos legions, this is your first step in creating the type of soldier that you want to be. This travels further into the equipment as you can choose to start with either a Warhorse (Mount) or a Chaos Runeshield. The Talents themselves are as follows:

Mounted Combatant - You and your mount have learned to move and strike as one. When mounted, your Melee increases by one step. Note that this requires 1 in Training or Focus for Beast Handing.

Shield Master - You have mastered the use of a shield in combat. When wielding a shield, your Defence increases by one additional step. Note that this requires 1 in Training and Focus across both Weapons Skill and Reflexes.

Available Skills and Talents

Skills - Athletics, Beast Handling, Fortitude, Guile, Intimidation, Might, Reflexes, Weapon Skill

No massive stand-out skills here from what you would expect, though there’s a notable flexibility. Athletics and Guilde may better suit Slaanesh fanciers at approaching a more swift and fanciful type of fighter. Alternatively, delving into Beast Handling will allow you to be better suited at mounted combat, living your full Chaos Knight fantasy atop a mighty war steed. Beyond this, Fortitude and Might could allow you to become the party punching bag, allowing your armour and bulk to soak up damage whilst your more fragile party members cower behind you and your Chaos Runeshield that provides an additional 1 Armour against any spells cast on the wielder.

Talents - Bulwark, Fearless, Pierce Armour, Hunt the Betrayer, True Believer, War Leader

Whilst not massively creative, there’s enough here to help you cook-up a Chaos Warrior of your liking, especially as they start with 2 of the above Talents. Pierce Armour allows you to ignore a point of enemy armour for each 6 rolled to attack, providing yourweapon has the Piercing trait. Fearless allows your Chaos Warrior to stand firm in the face of a terrifying foe or when targeted to act against your will as you immediately make a DN 6:1 Mind (Determination) Test to resist the effects. This selection may not be particularly inspiring but I would suppose that the Chaos Warrior you start with would be molded and sculpted by your desires and the choices made in-game as you progress, where their colours and alliegances would truly come to show.

Recommended Role

You’re an 8-10 foot juggernaut wearing armour that makes you the weight of a truck, swinging a sword the size of a human - you can dish out and take punishment with relish. However, you do not have to fall face-first into the all-too-allurring trap of being yet another fighting character, should you so wish. The War Leader and Hunt the Betrayer Talents would allow you to become a tyrannical party leader crusading against the Golden Lie of Sigmar. On the other hand, committing XP into other skills such as Guile and Intimidation could have your Chaos Warrior be more inclined to ask questions rather than killing first.

Regardless, if you simply wish to be a behemoth of combat, be it with a door-sized shield or whilst riding your Warhorse into the fray, you are entirely free to do so! Just don’t be surprised when your character might be the least interesting at the table…

Miniatures

Join us later today as we take our final gander into one of the player archetypes released in the Champions of Chaos rulebook for Soubound. We take another wretched look at the Plague God’s forces and prepare some rotten apples to feed its decaying mount…

Soulbound: Champions of Chaos - Chaos Warrior Archetype Focus