Leader Spotlight - Dr. Paul Abberline
Dr. Paul Abberline is the first leader I'll be looking at, and going into his transition from the knowledge-seeking leader of early Pendant World to the fragile but lethal ranged threat he is today.
The Present
Dr. Abberline is (was?) a well-intentioned psychiatrist who, through a very poor series of choices, ended up being haunted by Shabriri, the demon of drowning. It takes on the form of his long-dead wife and whispers secrets and temptations into his ear, granting him the power to work its will.
Abberline has two major actions, both of which define his use. The Depth of Blackest Water is a long-ranged attack with significant punch, its only real weakness being that it's an outside attack. If you are willing to pay in that extra 1 Spirit, Depth can also Cripple its target - but beware of reducing your chance to win initiative just to cripple a random model. Be strategic!
Implement of Binding is a re-positioning ability, useful for yoyo-ing your outside models back to safety after you leave them in an awkward or exposed position. Note that Implement does not specify friendly models, so Abberline can use it to pull enemy outsiders close. Make sure, though, that you can somehow get him to safety immediately after, as he has no melee capability and Flesh on the low side for a leader.
Speaking of safety, Dr. Abberline is a leader who needs to capitalize on outmaneuvering his enemies. Misleading Surface is a fairly weak defence reaction, but it lets him move around a fair bit - and can be used (with a successful Flesh roll) to disengage from melee combat. Drag Me Down and Into the Blind World mean that Abberline can crank out a large number of Rupture markers and use them to slow his enemies down as he moves around in total disregard of the harsh terrain.
Abberline's other reaction helps him hand out the contracted tag. It depends on the target being crippled, which Abberline can do through The Depth of Blackest Water, but don't forget that other models can hand out Cripple too. On the plus side, the contracted tag lasts for the entire game, so you can worry less about getting that key manifestation out at a certain time.
Kit
As a leader, Dr. Abberline has a bunch of kit to hand out to his forces. He comes with two Supplies, one for anyone and one for demonic profiles, so make sure that those go to the units you're most likely to want to activate turn after turn.
As for the others...
Amulet of Stillness - This generates a water-tag effect that creates a 4" bubble of harsh terrain around the user. Friendly models (and outsiders) are excluded, allowing you to slow down your enemy - and perhaps even block them from getting around your troops to an objective.
Sign of the Drowned - This allows your model to ignore Rupture markers as if it were a demon, and - maybe more importantly - to Rupture 3 when it is destroyed. This is a low-level kit that you need to plan around, but it helps if you pair the cultist it's on with a demonic buddy. And, of course, The Thinker can use The Never Place to jump to any Rupture marker on the board, so...
Polished Silver Jar - A great kit that grants any single mobster in your list the ability to Cripple on its melee attacks. Besides the obvious synergy with Abberline's Undertow, slowing your enemies down (and tangling them up in melee) is a great way to gain the advantage in objective play. As the Professional is a bit more ranged-oriented, you may want to use this on a Thug you're planning on throwing into the fray as early as possible.
Breaker of Sight - This allows one demonic model of your choice to avoid being Witnessed until it's probably too close to hide the models that would have witnessed it. Depending on the manifestation rule of the demon it's on, you can do all kinds of positional tricks to outflank and devour the enemy with minimal hits to your objective point total. Even if you do trigger a Witness event or two, remember to use your All Hope Abandon medallion to strip away those tokens after your demon has disappeared from sight.
The Past
In his absolute-earliest incarnation, Dr. Abberline used to be the Knowledge Seeker, a leader with a whole lot of outside abilities.
His claim to fame was the ability to blind enemy units and recover more quickly (reducing his Overcharge penalty), and then nuke them with The Abyss Stares Back. This meant that he needed to be up a lot closer than might be comfortable for a leader as squishy as he is, so it got filtered out.
It also looks like the Knowledge Seeker was a little less thematically focused, as some of its custom (now Kit) actually looked gangster / mob-related. Abberline is now a lot more focused on cultists and demonic models, with a token nod (Polished Silver Jar) to his mob allies - and a lot more fluff-focused on Shabriri, the source of his power and corruption.
Conclusions
Dr. Paul Abberline is one of the starting leaders for Ravenous Beyond, and is the most ranged-heavy - but also the most fragile - of the three. He can't beat his foes up in melee like Salinas, or move models around as well as The Koken, but what he lacks in those areas, he makes up in sheer ranged pain and some incredible support for demonic models. If you're looking at playing a leader who focuses on the secret workings of cults and demons in Pendant World, Abberline is your man.
And just as a reminder, I'm leaving the link to the Pendant World playtest documents here. All feedback is welcome!
The Present
Dr. Abberline is (was?) a well-intentioned psychiatrist who, through a very poor series of choices, ended up being haunted by Shabriri, the demon of drowning. It takes on the form of his long-dead wife and whispers secrets and temptations into his ear, granting him the power to work its will.Abberline has two major actions, both of which define his use. The Depth of Blackest Water is a long-ranged attack with significant punch, its only real weakness being that it's an outside attack. If you are willing to pay in that extra 1 Spirit, Depth can also Cripple its target - but beware of reducing your chance to win initiative just to cripple a random model. Be strategic!
Implement of Binding is a re-positioning ability, useful for yoyo-ing your outside models back to safety after you leave them in an awkward or exposed position. Note that Implement does not specify friendly models, so Abberline can use it to pull enemy outsiders close. Make sure, though, that you can somehow get him to safety immediately after, as he has no melee capability and Flesh on the low side for a leader.
Speaking of safety, Dr. Abberline is a leader who needs to capitalize on outmaneuvering his enemies. Misleading Surface is a fairly weak defence reaction, but it lets him move around a fair bit - and can be used (with a successful Flesh roll) to disengage from melee combat. Drag Me Down and Into the Blind World mean that Abberline can crank out a large number of Rupture markers and use them to slow his enemies down as he moves around in total disregard of the harsh terrain.
Abberline's other reaction helps him hand out the contracted tag. It depends on the target being crippled, which Abberline can do through The Depth of Blackest Water, but don't forget that other models can hand out Cripple too. On the plus side, the contracted tag lasts for the entire game, so you can worry less about getting that key manifestation out at a certain time.
Kit
As a leader, Dr. Abberline has a bunch of kit to hand out to his forces. He comes with two Supplies, one for anyone and one for demonic profiles, so make sure that those go to the units you're most likely to want to activate turn after turn.
As for the others...
Amulet of Stillness - This generates a water-tag effect that creates a 4" bubble of harsh terrain around the user. Friendly models (and outsiders) are excluded, allowing you to slow down your enemy - and perhaps even block them from getting around your troops to an objective.
Sign of the Drowned - This allows your model to ignore Rupture markers as if it were a demon, and - maybe more importantly - to Rupture 3 when it is destroyed. This is a low-level kit that you need to plan around, but it helps if you pair the cultist it's on with a demonic buddy. And, of course, The Thinker can use The Never Place to jump to any Rupture marker on the board, so...
Polished Silver Jar - A great kit that grants any single mobster in your list the ability to Cripple on its melee attacks. Besides the obvious synergy with Abberline's Undertow, slowing your enemies down (and tangling them up in melee) is a great way to gain the advantage in objective play. As the Professional is a bit more ranged-oriented, you may want to use this on a Thug you're planning on throwing into the fray as early as possible.
Breaker of Sight - This allows one demonic model of your choice to avoid being Witnessed until it's probably too close to hide the models that would have witnessed it. Depending on the manifestation rule of the demon it's on, you can do all kinds of positional tricks to outflank and devour the enemy with minimal hits to your objective point total. Even if you do trigger a Witness event or two, remember to use your All Hope Abandon medallion to strip away those tokens after your demon has disappeared from sight.
The Past
In his absolute-earliest incarnation, Dr. Abberline used to be the Knowledge Seeker, a leader with a whole lot of outside abilities.
His claim to fame was the ability to blind enemy units and recover more quickly (reducing his Overcharge penalty), and then nuke them with The Abyss Stares Back. This meant that he needed to be up a lot closer than might be comfortable for a leader as squishy as he is, so it got filtered out.
It also looks like the Knowledge Seeker was a little less thematically focused, as some of its custom (now Kit) actually looked gangster / mob-related. Abberline is now a lot more focused on cultists and demonic models, with a token nod (Polished Silver Jar) to his mob allies - and a lot more fluff-focused on Shabriri, the source of his power and corruption.
Conclusions
Dr. Paul Abberline is one of the starting leaders for Ravenous Beyond, and is the most ranged-heavy - but also the most fragile - of the three. He can't beat his foes up in melee like Salinas, or move models around as well as The Koken, but what he lacks in those areas, he makes up in sheer ranged pain and some incredible support for demonic models. If you're looking at playing a leader who focuses on the secret workings of cults and demons in Pendant World, Abberline is your man.
And just as a reminder, I'm leaving the link to the Pendant World playtest documents here. All feedback is welcome!
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