Wolf Priest Edit

[Russ Brother 92]

Okay thanks to newly found (yet old) fluff imparted from Valerian I have changed this to being a fluff-heavy Wolf Priest and adapted points/equipment etc as required.

 

Wolf Priest [b

Wolf Priest5444243103+/4++

 

Wolf Priest 120 Points

• Infantry
  

• 1 Wolf Priest
  

• Power Armour
  
• Wolf Amulet
  
• Bolt Pistol
  
• Frag/Krak Grenades
  
• Crozius Arcanum
  
• Fang of Morkai
  

• Oath of War
  
• Counter Attack
  
• Acute Senses
  
• Feel No Pain
  
• Independant Character
  

• As Per C:SW Page 85
  
• Thunderwolf (45)
  

• As Per C:SW Page 85
  

 

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[Khine]

As much as i would love to have an apothecary in my army, the Genesmith special rule doesn't seem very SW like.

 

Personally, i would see them as having a rule where they give up their shooting attack in order to trigger a rush of adrenaline in the unit he is with giving them something like increased Initiative or possibly even increased toughness? This would represent the space wolves increased reflexes or their ability to dodge an attack better for that turn. <-- something more along the lines of what id expect for an 80 pt apothecary.

[hendrik]

why just not ask your local gaming-group if you can use the old healing potions and balms of our wolfpriests? back in the third edition dex they were our guardians of faith and our healers, there's no need for that to change

edit: also note that the usual bonus nowadays for an apothecary like guy is always feel no pain

[the jeske]

So a SW squad can get 3 plasma/melta[smith+WG+squad] after getting out of a drop pod . with possible 3 power weapons and MoTW and counter attack and you even were nice enough to give the smith both the new FnP and the old healing balms [giving effective 3 saves for the first unsaved non ID and you even changed it so it works against power weapons ap 1-2 which doesnt ID etc].

 

how much is he suppose to cost without gear ?

[Russ Brother 92]

why just not ask your local gaming-group if you can use the old healing potions and balms of our wolfpriests? back in the third edition dex they were our guardians of faith and our healers, there's no need for that to change

edit: also note that the usual bonus nowadays for an apothecary like guy is always feel no pain

 

I'm not so much trying to change the WPs from being both Guardians of Faith and Healers - more thinking that there must be a lower ranking either Wolf Priest equivalent (a novitiate) or someone who can perform much the same task whilst the Wolf Priests are elsewhere.

 

If you're able to inform me how the old healing balms work that would be of much help - also he does have FNP and it extends to his unit.

 

So a SW squad can get 3 plasma/melta[smith+WG+squad] after getting out of a drop pod . with possible 3 power weapons and MoTW and counter attack and you even were nice enough to give the smith both the new FnP and the old healing balms [giving effective 3 saves for the first unsaved non ID and you even changed it so it works against power weapons ap 1-2 which doesnt ID etc].

 

how much is he suppose to cost without gear ?

 

I'm not sure how the old healing balms work - I only have the current SW Dex sadly so if someone could either pm me with the info or put it up here that would help - also if you wanted him to have both a Combi-Weapon AND Power Weapon he's 100 Points so not a small investement, I think considering how it's come across as massively overpowered I'm going to change the "Genesmith" effect to something lower powered and probably akin to what Khine suggested.

 

without gear - as his basic is only the Narthecium/Bolt Pistol/Boltgun/CCW and Power Armour - he's 80 Points.

 

I'm thinking of dropping the WTT and put it instead as an optional extra.

[Max_Dammit]

Just give me my one unsaved wound a turn back and hand out some runic charms, and its all the healing i need

[dragon950]

They kind of sucked in the old codex for 25 points. It was that if a wolf priest had them then any unit he was in would ignore the first failed save of each turn. Couldn't be used against insta-death or weapons that didn't allow saves.

 

Each space wolf is trained in first aid, if the damage is to severe then the space wolf goes into a coma until he dies or is healed. Also wolf priests do have human helpers, those that didn't pass the first trials to become space marines still can serve in the chapter.

[Russ Brother 92]

so what d'you guys think now?

 

I'm thinking of testing this guy in the next coupla weeks with a mate to see how it'll work out so I'll be able to get back to everyone with that as well.

[hendrik]

should he grant feel no pain to the unit, instead of just to himself?

[eyeslikethunder]

They kind of sucked in the old codex for 25 points. It was that if a wolf priest had them then any unit he was in would ignore the first failed save of each turn. Couldn't be used against insta-death or weapons that didn't allow saves.

 

Not in my experience. Never had game in 3rd and 4th where they did not pay their points back. FNP has the same drawbacks is very popular. Its very rare to lose an entire unit to no save attacks. Balms and runic charms are the two things I miss most about 3rd ed codex

 

I would just use the old wolf priest rules for healing balms

 

If you read battle of the fang you will get sense of how the Wolf priests are our "Genesmiths"

[Russ Brother 92]

should he grant feel no pain to the unit, instead of just to himself?

 

He does in the rules for the Narthecium it says that he grants FNP to the unit he's attached to.

 

 

They kind of sucked in the old codex for 25 points. It was that if a wolf priest had them then any unit he was in would ignore the first failed save of each turn. Couldn't be used against insta-death or weapons that didn't allow saves.

 

Not in my experience. Never had game in 3rd and 4th where they did not pay their points back. FNP has the same drawbacks is very popular. Its very rare to lose an entire unit to no save attacks. Balms and runic charms are the two things I miss most about 3rd ed codex

 

I would just use the old wolf priest rules for healing balms

 

If you read battle of the fang you will get sense of how the Wolf priests are our "Genesmiths"

 

I have read BoTF (great read) I do get how it works, but I've always felt that in game terms they're always a little too restricted for my liking - if you can put the actual rules for the Healing Balms and Runic Charms from 3rd Ed. that'd be great, they would most likely be a mere 5pts for either (unless they're one thing in which case 10pts).

 

I am admittedly only a 5th Ed. SW player so I don't have access to the old rules - I think using it as an extra that could help them.

[Valerian]

I felt that whilst every single other chapter from Blood Angels to Grey Knights, Ultrasmurfs and their fanboys and even Dark Angels all have access to some form of an apothecary I thought we should also have access - as although it states that Wolf Priests are the equivalent of both Chaplains AND Apothecaries they don't for me carry the right style - thus I created this one, mainly based on the Apothecary in C:SM with a few SW tweaks as makes sense.

 

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C&C welcome - it's only a rough idea and one thought out as stated above, and because surely a Wolf Priest would have either lower level Wolf Priests 'novitiates' to do much of this work themselves, but also there are very few WPs compared to the number of battle brothers, if most are off world they wouldn't leave their gene stock in the hands of only 1 or 2 low ranking priests - there must be others on the path that go out and tend to immediate wounds, else the WPs would have to keep running up and down the battle lines.

 

 

From White Dwarf 246:

 

"Wolf Priests

 

Where other Chapters have both Apothecaries and Chaplains, the Space Wolves have their Wolf Priests. The Wolf Priests are amongst the most revered men of the Chapter and are responsible only to the Great Wolf himself. They are hard, grim men, knowledgeable in the sagas of the Chapter's history. They recruit new brothers, oversee their training and minister to their spiritual needs. Wolf Priests are also wise in the ways of medicine. In battle they use these skills to ease the suffering of wounded comrades. They are responsible for performing the benedicto ultimatus and removing the geneseed of fallen Space Wolves.

 

Wolf Priests are chosen from the ranks of the Long Fangs. Becoming a Priest means severing all ties with their former pack-brothers and Great Company. It is a great loss, and they are mourned as dead by those they leave behind. To symbolise this they take on a new name when they don the sacred skull-embossed armour. This is important, for the Wolf Priests must be seen as impartial for they arbitrate in any dispute among the Companies. A convocation of Wolf Priests advises the Great Wolf on matters of Chapter law and discipline.

 

 

The Wolf Priests guard the Chapter's genetic seed, bio-culturing new implants and maintaining the vigour of the strain by weeding out any weakness or mutation. Their knowledge is deep, and for many centuries they have studied the effects of the cursed Wulfen gene helix in a search for a way to modify it and make safe the Chapter's genetic seed. However, their efforts have only succeeded in preventing the curse spreading, and it is unlikely that the damage can ever be repaired completely.

 

At least one Wolf Priest always stalks the surface of Fenris seeking promising new candidates to recruit into the ranks of the Space Wolves. Wolf Priests perform the ritual implanting of the geneseed and supervise every aspect of training the aspirants. Wolf Priests are the first Space Marines any new recruit has dealings with, and they sternly supervise their development. During training, Space Wolves gain an almost religious respect for these grim old men that never leaves them. A brawl between drunken Space Wolves can be broken up by a single word from a Wolf Priest. It is said that a Wolf Priest's face is the first and last that Space Wolves ever see. They look on it for the first time when they are recruited and for the final time when the Wolf Priest performs the benedicto ultimatus."

 

So, the Wolf Priests really need to be our Apothecary equivelant, in accordance with decades-old fluff on our Chapter. They had this in the last version of the codex, but for various reasons their current rules do not reflect the background-material on the tabletop. Additionally, there aren't "lower-level Wolf Priest novitiates" like there are for Sanguinary Priests, for example. The Wolf Priests are drawn almost exclusively from centuries-old Long Fang (with the rare exception of someone like Ulrik, who came from the Wolf Guard), so they don't need the same indoctrination processes like other Chapters would have.

 

My recommendation, as others have stated, would be just to fix the Wolf Priests themselves, rather than create a new unit. However, that might cause balance issues, as Jeske has pointed out, when you now have an FNP granting IC, who can attach to almost any unit and drastically improve durability/suvivability. I'm sure that's why Phil Kelly left it off in the first place.

 

Valerian

[Russ Brother 92]

Firstly Valerian thank you for the knowledge and fluff imparted ;) I never knew that they were specifically brought from the Long Fangs (I thought that akin to Ulrik they were Wolf Guard) that's extremely helpful.

 

I understand completely - think I'm going to edit this so it shall be a Wolf Priest except with the additional rules of FNP - for this I will also up his points cost somewhat probably to the 120/130 mark to level it out.

 

Again mucho gracias Valerian.

[Valerian]

Again mucho gracias Valerian.

 

No hay de que.

[hendrik]

some black library books contradict the only recruited from long fangs though