Writing a GK short story need some advice! :D

I've recently become fascinated with the Grey Knights, I've done a lot of research and have read the omnibus. However I have zero table top experience and I'm 100% sure something I write will not sit with a vast majority of the fans. I have a couple questions about Grey Knight abilities that I would love to add to my story: (which is mainly ideas at the moment)

The first one being the holocaust ability, the main question I have concerning this ability is can only terminator squads use it?

Also the shroud ability, is it just passive that wards lesser daemons into a state of blindness or is it something they must call upon?

and lastly its not an ability but it is kind of taboo from what i've been reading. Grey Knight Dreadnoughts, i've read they are very few are far in between but would an un-honorable death cause the Knight to choose this path of cold solitude? and from people who really do love the GK's how rare are they to see? not only in table top but in the stories as well as lore?

any suggestions or answers to these questions you can offer would be greatly appreciated! I hope to start writing it by the end of this week and hopefully start uploading it piece by piece to have it critiqued by the brothers of 666 chapter. Thank you guys for your time!

First of all, welcome to the forum!

Holocaust ability: a squad of GK terminators can use it w/ the Brother Captain being the focus for the power (demonstrated by Tancred's squad in the Omnibus). A Grey Knight Hero (Grandmaster or Brother Captain) can also use it as an individual. It is assumed that the Hero has mastered his psychic abilities beyond that of a normal Brother Captain leading a squad.
Inquisitors can also use it by the way.

Shrouding: I guess you can call it passive because it is always "on" and does not require to be summoned.

Dreadnoughts: As far as fluff goes, yes, it is rare to see a GK dread because there is nothing more a Grey Knight wants than to die in service to the Emperor and rest in the tombs of Titan, waiting to fight alongside the Emperor once more at the end of times. However, even some literature from GW/FW do mention GK dreads (Brother Captain Arturus was mortally wounded fighting An'ggrath the bloodthirster and was subsequently placed in a dreadnought to continue his service to the Emperor).
As far as tabletop gaming goes, it really depends on the player how the player balances tactics with fluff (if at all). I've seen players field 3 dreads or none at all. I field 1 dread in my games (which is a happy medium for me since it compliments my other units and I'm sticking to the fluff also )

Hope this helps and enjoy your stay in our forum!

Keep in mind as well that the Shrouding blinds and confuses all enemies. Not just lesser daemons. Also, their psychic purity and combined chanting make all daemons very uncomfortable in their presence. Welcome to the forum and hopefully we'll see some of your written work.

I think that Holocaust is quite well described in the grey knight omnibus so you could use it as guideline.
shrouding is a real aura surrounding the GKs ... it never last until they want it so ... for example when Alaric speaks with the Inquisitor she don't have to wear sunglasses !
i really hope to read you soon as i thought to wright something too ... one day
Aubec

Awesome guys thanks a lot! that cleared up a lot of questions I had! and not one flame/troll post I already love this forum!

One last question I had is how well do you think the GK's would work with maybe some Eldar? I know the ultra marines (or at least i think it was the ultra marines) worked alongside them fighting off the orks, from what I have been reading the Eldar has something similar to the inquisition, and their troops have devices for handling tainted relics from chaos. But since they do worship a daemon(or several of them ) I wasn’t to sure how the GK’s would respond to see them

Again thanks a lot for replying to me guys i really appreciate it!

Yes, I believe the Ultramarines did work w/ eldar (2nd Company led by Sicarius) vs. orks.

I can't say for sure but I think the Grey Knights can potentially ally w/ eldar if faced w/ the daemonic. I don't think GKs have it out particuarly for xenos just because they're xenos. Heck, in the Deathwatch books, even the Deathwatch allied w/ eldar vs a common foe

sweet! ._. and i thought the deathwatch hated all xenos i'm going to have to pick up a few books now lol

Ty for the reply!

The holocaust is described as a very dificult ability to pull off and not all psykers can learn it.

In dark heresy, 40k roleplaying game, a psyker can learn holocaust after a long time and with training.
And it is very dvastating.

All in all, alot of psykers can learn holocaust, but they need to be more of a pyromancer to make it and have great faith.

Isn't part of the shrouding that the enemies don't even know what is there on the other side?

As far as working for eldar.
"-We will fight together against this common foe, but if you are not gone by the end of the battle, the incinerator will be turned to you vile witch scum!"
I would reckon that would be the happiest conversation a GK and an Eldar would have.

Klomster wrote: As far as working for eldar.
"-We will fight together against this common foe, but if you are not gone by the end of the battle, the incinerator will be turned to you vile witch scum!"
I would reckon that would be the happiest conversation a GK and an Eldar would have.

That is an awesome quote! LOL
Where is it from Brother Klomster? Did you make it up?

In regards to Holocaust, the GK novels will prove helpful, as well as the last Ultramarines novel, it has a BC in it that uses the holocaust power

Imperial forces are ALWAYS "allying" with Xenos...."The enemy of my enemy is my ally", but as was so elequently stated by Brother Klomster, when "our" enemy is dead, so are you!

BC

The quote is as far as i know something i made up.

Use it as much as you like.

In dark heresy i had a sanctioned psyker that could cast holocaust.
He was a psychic LVL 3 pyromancer where LVL 6 is maximum psychic level.
It was a very hard power to invoke and often resulted in perils of the warp becouse of all the energy one would have to pu into it.

It's not something he just cast when he felt like. It needed preperation.

yes and if my memories don't betray me in that first book of the GK omnibus, one or 2 well-trained GKT of Tancred died when they perform the second holocaust ... it's a very powerful yet very dangerous power !!
Aubec