I'm preparing a list for a tournament in about two weeks. This is the first tournament at this store that I've seen that didn't prohibit special characters. Besides Teclis, are there any special characters I should be especially concerned about? I've read all the 8th ed books and the SCs don't really scare me, but I'm not that well versed in most older books.
I think the tomb king archer that allows her unit to hit on 4s rather than the usual 5+ is worth noting and killing. I've seen two dark elf players running the witch that allows witch elves to be core with deadly results. They run them in hordes with frenzy. Giving them 60+ poison attacks that reroll misses in the first round of combat as their core choice. Making an already strong DE better. Stillgetting to bring their hydras, bolt throwers, and gaurd and meeting core requirements easily without spearmen.
Thorek Ironbrow (Runelord) is pretty nasty since he can strike Ancient Power on a 3+ and reroll it. He's 505 points though so it takes more than 2k points to use him.
there's a dark elf jerk that gives double victory points for any unit that his unit participates in killing. don't know if it's actually too bad, but what a jerk.
That would be the Fellheart SC and he costs almost as much as the Chuck Norris dark elf so he is seldom taken. With only a 4+ save, T3 and regen he can be killed fairly easily in combat. His main advantage comes on the offensive as he gets extra attacks equal to the number of ranks in the enemy unit he is fighting. Consequently, the easiest way to deal with him is to send a steggie to thunderstomp him and his unit into the ground!!
In addition to what others have already mentioned for dark elves, high elves and TK, the army with the most effective SC (and SC champions) by far is the daemons of chaos IMHO. Here are a few of the more notable ones: 1) Kairos - very expensive lord level greater daemon with excellent magic (gets to pick up to 8 spells from 8 different lores and knows all the Tzeentch spells to boot IIRC) 2) skulltaker - a popular choice since he can be parked in ANY unit, not just bloodletters, and has heroic KB in a challenge. Better stats & abilities than a khorne herald and cheaper to boot. 3) Changeling - pink horror SC unit champ. Can "swap" S, T, I, & A with any model in base contact. Often used in same unit as skulltaker to nerf anything fighting the unit and then skulltaker crushes the foe who is relegated to T3/S3 with a single attack. 4) Epidemius - usually taken with an all nurgle list as he can boost magic and have poison autowound on 4+ once a few casualties are inflicted. 5) Blue scribes - generates a free random bound spell per turn but most importantly can generate 1 extra power dice for the daemon magic phase for every opponent spell cast the previous turn. All for about the same price as a basic skink priest! 6) The masque - extremely fast hero that can nerf opponent unit's move or LD by D3 each phase. Costs about as much as a naked scar vet and cannot join units but a 3+ ward makes him more survivable. Used in conjunction with the greater icon of despair (lowers enemy LD by 2) this can result in a -5 penalty to LD checks - meaning that even the TG/Slaan bunker is vulnerable!! Well, that about covers it. Good luck with your tourney.
Fellheart is that Dark Elf special char. He's particularly nasty, as he grants it to the unit. I once played a guy who used him to sweep up all the chaff units of his opponent's army, and managed to cheese out a major victory, even though he was mostly tabled. He used the 2x victory points to great effect, although he was obliterated by an OK player in the next game.
Definitely a brutal fighter, but he doesn't really present a different tactical challenge than a unit of Minotaurs with a regular Doombull. Poison, magic, divert and impact will still work nicely.