8th Ed. Thoughts on Ruby Ring?

Hi all,

I've been doing some thinking about taking the Ruby Ring on my standard Slann (Mystery, Rumination, Becalming, Cupped Hands, BSB, Standard of Discipline). Rationalization as follows:

- Power level of 3 means that i can throw a single power die and still have a decent chance of getting it off (yes, i am aware that Rumination and wizard level don't provide bonuses here), and even if i don't there are no drawbacks (no broken concentration).

- If it does go off, opponent has 2 choices:
1. ignore it and eat d6 S4 flaming hits (+ kindleflame if i'm using Lore of Fire)
2. try to dispel, which leads to the following scenarios
(i) opponent uses 1 die and succeeds (gain: 1 less dispel die for him)
(ii) opponent uses 1 die and fails (gain: 1 less dispel die for him, wizard unable to dispel any more)
(iii) opponent uses more than 1 die and succeeds (gain: more than 1 dispel die removed from pool)

- Guardians special rule (i run him with TG) mean that i can shoot every turn, even if the unit is in combat

- Allocation of points from Heroes to Lords

Any flaws in my thinking? Also, does the 'Vassal' special rule work in this case?

Thank you.

Edit 1: Changed Chanelling for Vassal. Apologies for the confusion caused

 

Actualy the couple time I took the ring I gave it to a Scar-Vet.

 

... I never considered possibly channelling with the ruby ring. My initial thought is that you can't, because it is the ring and not the slann casting the spell, but I'd have to take a close look at the rules.

 

@ n810:

I thought of giving it to the Revered Guardian, if only because the thought of a BS 0 model auto-hitting with a shooting attack is just priceless

Seriously though, if given to a saurus character it becomes useless the moment you hit close combat, which is where you want a saurus character to be right?

@ ThakCo:

I also think it's not right to be able to channel, but i just want to raise this point for discussion.

 

Ruby ring doesnt turn X character into wizard. And only wizards can channel.

 

I was referring to channelling using the Slann

 

Ah, you mean Vassal special rule? Casting throught Skink Shaman?

 

There might be some confusion of terms here, What was known as Channeling in the Lizardmen book was renamed in Erata to something ealse, Channeling now refers to trying to get a couple of extra power dice at the begining of the magic phase.

 

Mister Blak, I don't have my rulebook on me, but I'm inclined to say that the skink priest cannot be used as a vasal while in close combat. The reason given for the Slann being able to cast magic missiles while in combat is that he rises up on his palenquin to launch the missile. (Also note that the Slann cannot cast magic missiles on the unit he is in combat with as that unit isn't a valid target as it's in combat).

 

Remember most direct damage/magic missiles cannot actually be targetted at units that are in combat. Yes you may be able to cast while you are in combat either from the Slann or through the eyes of a skink, but you cannot target the unit you are in combat with. And since magic missiles also require line of sight to shoot, you will need to rely on an enemy unit being behind the one you are in combat with to be able to have a viable target, and honestly that isn't really all that likely. So its not all that useful.