The Disciple of Malphas

The Disciple of Malphas is one of Ravenous Beyond's support models, focused on buffing demonic allies and helping with the tempo of the game. As with my previous article on the Thug, I will go through the current version of the disciple, some of its previous iterations, and how you might use it in a game of Pendant World.

The Present

On the surface, the Disciple of Malphas exists to support demonic types. Fall From the High Tower debuffs an enemy model to make demons like the Jigoku no Jinmenken more effective against it, and can actually shut down the target's ability to Witness for the low cost of 1 Spirit. This can be especially handy if you plan on running a bunch of outside models around. On top of this, The Lower Frequencies Hear Your Name lets you hand out the contracted tag, making it easier for you to use your various manifestations.

The Disciple's attack and defence abilities are a bit on the low side, but each of them has a little quirk that might make them more useful than they seem. The Long Knife doesn't hit very hard but adds Bleed, while Avoid is a sub-par defence ability until you cancel a key hit using its Invest.

Most interestingly, I think, the Disciple shines even if it does not get a chance to buff its demonic teammates. Both Privy to Hidden Knowledge and They Build Their Own End allow you to improve your initiative rolls, a rarity (at least so far) in the game. In fact, the Disciple's relatively low cost, combined with the fact that every two reactions essentially net you a +1 on your Initiative, means that it might be worth taking one in most Ravenous Beyond lists.

The Past

Once upon a time, though, the Disciple used to belong to a group of cultists called the "True Believers", and was a mish-mash of horror movie cult tropes. They still had the knives, of course, but also acted more like the Pitiful Sacrifice, in that they could be targeted by your own side. They could also hand this status out, meaning you could attack your own models if you had to - for summonings, usually.

One of their custom options gave them a ranged attack against Spirit, but this kind of attack has since been relocated chiefly to The Fair Ones, and the upcoming faction Ten Thousand Wings. Attacking Spirit didn't seem like much of a demon-y thing to do, so the ability type - while still present on models like Andres Salinas - has taken a walk elsewhere.

The old True Believers could also help outside models, either by making their buff abilities cheaper (as long as the Believer was included as a target) or by placing a circle that cheapened the outsider's abilities. Some of this demon-buffing remains in the Disciple of Malphas, but it's a little more focused and less tack-me-on than it used to be.

Useful Leader Kit

As a model that functions primarily in a support role, the Disciple does not benefit from leader kit as much as, say, more aggressive models do. Still, Andres Salinas can give it a +2 Flesh TN against ranged attacks with Bulletproof Vest, improving its survivability and / or dissuading your opponent from shooting at it in the first place.

Dr. Abberline, too, is less exciting in terms of options, mostly because you are probably going to want to keep your Disciple back. Both the Amulet of Stillness and the Sign of the Drowned want your model to be far up the board, which doesn't quite work with the Disciple.

The Koken likely has the best kit for the Disciple, but even one of the pieces (Yase-Onna Mask) needs the model to be way up there. It might be a decent dissuasive tactic because it will allow the Disciple to hit more easily, but that's likely a corner case scenario. Prior Directions gives you the opportunity to be a little riskier with your Overcharge, but you're more likely to be activating the Disciple early in the turn, or as part one of a two-charge combo. Stage Presence is a great piece of support kit, if you plan on hovering your Disciple around combat without actually entering it. It's a bit anti-synergistic because the Disciple can lock out Witnessing (one of the ways you can provoke Spirit damage), but might still be useful. Finally, Forbidden Text makes the Disciple contracted (relevant for your manifestations) and spreads the contracted tag with melee attacks - perhaps another reason your opponent might avoid getting into melee with the Disciple. It goes without saying that the cult-specific Supplies is a definite book.

Conclusions

The current-day Disciple of Malphas is a lot more focused than the old True Believer used to be. The old version was a sort of grab bag of cult motifs, but the new one has a very specific function in the Ravenous Beyond. If you want a model that hovers around the edges of combat, throws out debuffs while blocking witnessing, and actively buffs your initiative, you'll want to include that Disciple of Malphas in every list!