It’s finally here! After the book was announced a little too early, we’ve been waiting a while for this new tome, and it’s so much more than I expected. I thought this was going to be like the other “Champions” books: Champions of Order, Death, and Destruction; it is not. This is a whole new way to play Soulbound: as a party of Chaos Chosen! Instead of adding a few new rules and suggestions on how to play a party of undead or orruks, we have essentially a new core book for chaotic parties! And, I don’t know how I missed this before, but this includes Skaven! I’m so excited to throw together a Skaven-themed adventure, who knows, maybe it’ll become a campaign!

Why a Whole New Core Book?

With how much new stuff is needed to make Chaos characters, a simple expansion book wouldn’t have been enough. The choice to make this its own game is interesting, but pretty necessary with all of the changes and additions. Those looking to try out Soulbound, but aren’t a fan of Stormcast or being ‘good guys’ have a new option, and they only need to buy one book! I can see some arguments for those that have the Soulbound Core Book already, but hopefully you’ve gotten a good amount of use out of it by now!

First off, there are three new Skills: Cults, Enthrall, and Worship. These essentially replace Devotion, Entertain, and Theology. Many Talents are the same, but of course each Archetype has their own specific Talent that really defines them. For example, the Warlock Engineer above has the Warlock Engineering Core Talent, allowing them to use the insane and unique weapons of the Skaven of Clans Skryre. Core Talents that are brand new and unique to the Archetype are defined right in the Archetype description, which is really handy. No more cross-referencing for something totally unique to your character.

No more Soulfire! A party of Chaos-worshiping degenerates aren’t going to care if they agree on using Soulfire or not, so instead they each have their own pool of Favor. Do awesome stuff, earn the favor of the gods- it’s that simple. Favor does work similarly to Soulfire though, except that it’s an individual resource, so a huge difference right away. Favor can be used to: achieve maximum possible successes on a Test instead of rolling, reroll as many dice as you like after attempting a Test, recover all your Toughness, regain all spent Mettle, and Cheat death Alternately, Favor can be used to earn a Dark Gift or in specific chaotic Endeavors.

What are Dark Gifts, you may ask? Well, to put it bluntly, they’re awesome! Earn enough Favor (even just 1, but 3 or 4 is enough for cool stuff) and you can ‘purchase’ a gift from your patron god. Boons, Daemonic Wargear, and Mutations can be added to your character as they glorify their chosen god. If they venerate Chaos as uniform, or Chaos Undivided, they have access to every Gift (but with a cost).

Some examples: For 3 Favor, if you’re a Skaven, you can become a Plague Rat, immune to poison and gaining access to Nurgle Boons! If you’re a follower of Khorne, you can spend 8 Favor to earn a Gorecleaver. This Daemonic Wargear hits like a truck and continually damages the target, stuck fast to them and eating their body! If you prefer being a sneaky spellcaster and catch your opponent unawares, you can give up 5 Favor for the Helm of Eldritch Command redirecting spells targeting you!

Doom is back, but instead of being purely negative, it might even be the focus of your adventure. Chaos worshippers might want to increase Doom in an area, sowing discord and terror. This can make certain enemies more powerful, but if you happen to have a daemon on your side… well, they’re stronger, too!

Who Do You Serve?

After a ton of lore (over 30 pages), there are rules for devoting yourself to the dark gods. This chapter features more lore on major followers of the Ruinous Powers, like Be’lakor, Archaon, Abraxia, and Eternus. The Chaos gods themselves are given a lot of love here, including Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle, Slaanesh, the Great Horned Rat, and Undivided (Undecided more like!). Included here are Acts of Favor for your character to strive for, earning Favor from their god. Punishments follow, giving tables for ways to torment your players that displease their patron. These are really fun, and can add a whole other layer to RP and consequences for PC’s actions. One of my favorite Punishments, if you displease the Great Horned Rat, is to become Distrustful, making it so you can’t benefit from Help Actions!

Make it CHAOS

I appreciate the entire chapter, just before a new Bestiary, that focuses on running and planning a game of Champions of Chaos. The idea to steer away from ‘evil for evil’s sake,’ is important, as become murder-hobos with a Chaos skin would only be fun for so long. While this book doesn’t have a full adventure or anything, it has plenty of ideas for short or long-form adventures. From conquering a city, infiltrating the unfaithful, to using the Grim and Perilous optional rules, Champions of Chaos is full of ways to get your adventures started.

Find Your Path to Glory!

While the wait was long, I think it was worth it. A totally different way to play the excellent Soulbound ruleset, with so many new options and great character tools, I’m pumped for this book. I can’t wait to revisit my Skaven campaign from my college days of WFRP 2nd Edition, but with a Champions of Chaos spin! While this book isn’t for everyone (I get that some people don’t like playing the ‘bad guys’), I think it opens the doors for those that don’t want to be the harbingers of Sigmar, being sent on missions all the time.

I give this one 4.5/5 Chaos gods, losing half a point for limited artwork and maps- though I will say I have an early review draft copy, and more of this could be added in the final version. For now, I can’t wait to get this in my hands and get some Chaotic (with a capital C) adventures going!

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