Helena the Virtuous 7E Adaptation

[Servant of Dante]

his took so much longer than I thought it would, especially since I wanted to record my thought process for each part of this adaptation.

 

If you are unaware, Helena the Virtuous, Prioress of the Convent Sanctorum is a Special Character in the 2E 'dex. I have attempted a faithful adaptation of her rules to seventh, and it was a lot more tricky than I thought it would be.

 

I would really appreciate any insight from those of you who have actually played second edition.

 

The following is also available in Word document form here.

 

I haven't done points costs yet.

 

Helena the Virtuous, Prioress of the Convent Sanctorum

Helena the Virtuous is a HQ choice in any Adepta Sororitas detachment. A detachment that includes Helena may and must include a Sororitas Command Squad, even if it does not also include a Cononess. Helena must be deployed with the Command Squad, or, if they are held in reserves, enter from reserves attached to the Command Squad. She may not leave the unit as long as at least one of its number remains.

 

WS4 BS4 S3 T3 W3 I3 A3 Ld10 Sv3+

 

Wargear:

·   Power armour

·   Boltgun

·   Rosarius

·   Frag grenades

·   Krak grenades

 

Ecclesiarchy Relics:

·   Mantle of Ophelia

·   Rod of Grace

 

Warlord Trait:

·   Holy Radiance

 

Special Rules:

·   Act of Faith

·   Fearless

·   Independent Character

·   Martyrdom

·   Revered Leader

·   Sacred Rites

·   Shield of Faith

 

Act of Faith:

·   Grace Through Virtue

 

ECCLESIARCHY RELICS

Mantle of Ophelia: Helena’s robes of office incorporate the ancient cloak known simply as the Mantle of Ophelia. The Mantle is a badge of office for the Prioress of the Convent Sanctorum and is believed to have sacred powers of protection.

The wearer of the Mantle of Ophelia has the Eternal Warrior special rule. As this relic is also listed with the other Ecclesiarchy Relics in the Adepta Sororitas Wargear List, it should be noted that if your army includes Helena the Virtuous, no other model in your army may take the Mantle of Ophelia Ecclesiarchy Relic.

 

Rod of Grace: Using similar technology to a Space Marine Chaplain’s Crozius Arcanum, the Rod of Grace is covered with a shimmering field of force. However, this field is much more powerful and can be focused into a beam to strike at a distance.

The Rod of Grace may be used in both the Shooting phase and the Assault phase, and has a separate profile for each of these phases.

 

Shooting: Range 6"  S 6  AP 2  Type: Assault 1, Smite the Impure

Assault: Range -  S +3  AP 2  Type: Melee, Concussive, Smite the Impure

 

Smite the Impure: Any To Wound rolls of 6 made with this weapon have the Instant Death special rule.

 

WARLORD TRAIT

Holy Radiance: It is claimed that Helena the Virtuous shines with the loght of the Emperor. It is true that she radiates an aura of calm and courage, and her words reach into the soul of those who hear them.

Any friendly Armies of the Imperium units that are falling back and are within 12” of Helena at the beginning of your Movement phase automatically Regoup, regardless of whether they would normally be able to do so (such as units with less than 25% of their original number remaining). Additionally, friendly units that can draw line of sight to Helena may use her Leadership value in place of their own.

SPECIAL RULES

Revered Leader: The troops following Helena hold her in such high regard that they are likely to go to any length to ensure not harm befalls her.

The first time in a battle that Helena suffers one or more unsaved Wounds, all other models in her Detachment gain the Hatred special rule. This lasts for the rest of the battle, even if Helena has been removed as a casualty. If Helena is removed as a casualty, each unit in her detachment must immediately pass a Morale check or begin falling back. Those units which pass this Morale check automatically pass any further Morale checks that they take during the remainder of the battle.

 

 

Sacred Rites: While Helena is alive, all units besides Helena and her unit add one to their Leadership when taking Act of Faith Leadership test, to a maximum of 10.

 

ACT OF FAITH

Grace Through Virtue: One use only. This Act of Faith can be used either in your Shooting phase or in either player’s Assault phase. If successfully used in the Shooting phase, choose one of the bulleted options from under the Shooting Phase heading below. If successfully used in the Assault phase, choose one of the bulleted options from under the Assault Phase heading below.

 

SHOOTING PHASE

·   All models in Helena’s unit gain the Preferred Enemy special rule until the end of the current phase.

·   All weapons in Helena’s unit gain the Shred special rule until the end of the current phase.

·   All weapons in Helena’s unit gain the Ignores Cover special rule until the end of the current phase.

·   All weapons in Helena’s unit gain the Rending special rule until the end of the current phase.

 

ASSAULT PHASE

·   All models in Helena’s unit gain the Hatred special rule until the end of the current phase.

·   All models in Helena’s unit gain the Fleet, Crusader, and Move Through Cover special rules until the end of the current phase.

·   All models in Helena’s unit gain the Preferred Enemy special rule until the end of the current phase.

·   All models in Helena’s unit gain the Furious Charge special rule until the end of the current phase.

·   All models in Helena’s unit gain the Feel No Pain (3+) special rule until the end of the current phase.

 

 

 

NOTES

The Warhammer 40,000 2^nd Edition BattleBible, a fan-made compilation of second edition rules that can be found on the web, was used for reference throughout this process.

 

Flavor Text: Any flavor text included, such as the descriptions of Helena’s relics, is directly copied from Helena’s entry in the second edition Codex: Sisters of Battle and is italicized.

 

Italicized Ruled Above Profile: The second edition codex only allows Helena to be included as “your army commander,” and stipulates that she must have a unit of bodyguards. Therefore, Helena must be your Warlord. The Sororitas Command Squad is essentially what the second edition Bodyguard unit is, but is not normally required to stay with your Warlord. In this case, Helena requires you to take a Sororitas Command Squad, which she must stay with as long as they are alive. I have given her the Independent Character rule so that she may join another unit if and only if her Command Squad is killed, as lone characters are much less likely to survive in seventh edition than in second edition, as far as I can tell.

 

Profile: Adapted with reference to Helena’s second edition profile, and the current and second edition profiles for the Canoness. The Canoness profiles where used as a baseline for how Sisters’ profiles have changed. Referenced profiles are listed below. Movement values have been omitted from the second edition profiles, as they are irrelevant.

 

Helena (2E) WS5 BS5 S4 T4 W3 I5 A3 Ld10 Sv3+

Canoness (current) WS5 BS5 S3 T3 W3 I4 A3 Ld10 Sv3+

Canoness (2E) WS6 BS7 S4 T5 W3 I7 A3 Ld10 Sv3+

 

Wargear: Targeter and Purity Seal dropped as they no longer have any rules context. Krak grenades added as they are standard for all Sisters in modern editions.

 

Ecclesiarchy Relics: The Mantle of Ophelia uses the current codex’s rules for it, not the original ones from second edition. Although it’s rules are spelled out, other characters have been excluded from taking the Mantle of Ophelia from the Ecclesiarchy Relics Wargear list. The Rod of Grace has been formatted with two profiles, like The Ardent Blade. Its profile was especially difficult to determine, so it is described in detail below.

Rod of Grace: Note: I have attempted to be utterly faithful to the original rules for this relic, but as I look at what I have come up with, I realize that this weapon is quite powerful. I do not have a problem with this; Helena is an important character, and some of her weapon’s power is mitigated by her relatively poor profile (unit profile, that is – I know, bad pun, but it was right there).

Range (Shooting): I could not find the rules for weapon ranges in second edition. The listed range is 0-6 for short range, and a dash for long range. For the time being I have set the range at 6”.

Strength (Shooting): As Toughness values seem to have changed little since second edition, and a boltgun has a Strength of 4 in both second and seventh edition, the Rod of Grace’s Strength of 6 has been copied directly into its Shooting profile.

Strength (Assault): The second edition power axe (one-handed), power mace, power maul, and power sword all have a Strength of 5. The power axe (two-handed) and power scourge have a Strength of 6. The power fist and chainfist have Strenths of 8 and 10 respectively. The Rod of Grace has a Strength of 6. These variances are utterly inconsistent with the relative strength bonuses provided by power weapons in seventh edition (eg. a power sword and a power maul have the same Strength in second edition, while they have user Strength and +2 Strength respectively in seventh edition). The Rod of Grace’s flavor text compares it to a Crozius Arcanum, which is of course a Maser-Crafted power maul in seventh edition. As the Rod of Grace is primarily comparable to a power maul, and has one more Strength than that weapon in second edition, I have set its Assault profile Strength at +3.

AP (both profiles): The Rod of Grace has a single Save Mod (-4) for both Shooting and Assault, so the AP values for its profiles are the same. All generic second edition power weapons have worse Save Mods than the Rod of Grace, except for the power fist and chainfist, which are both better. For this reason, I have set the Rod of Grace’s AP to 2.

Type (Shooting): Charges are handled in much the same way in second edition as in WFB, in that they are declared in the Movement phase, and preclude a unit from firing in the Shooting phase. Furthermore, weapon types do not list numbers of shots, but I think it is clear that the Rod of Grace should only fire a single shot. Due to the Rod of Grace’s short range and primary function as a close combat weapon, its Shooting profile Type lists it as an Assault 1 weapon.

Type (Assault): Of course, the Rod of Grace’s Assault profile lists it as a Melee weapon. Since the Rod of Grace is much like a Power Maul, I have included the Concussive rule.

Type (both profiles): I could not find the rules for how to handle the Damage stat for a weapon in second edition, but I do have the WFB third edition rulebook, and that set of rules has a model lose a number of wounds equal to the weapon’s Damage stat whenever they take an unsaved wound from a weapon (so a model taking an unsaved wound from a weapon with Damage of D3 would lose D3 wounds). Assuming second edition uses this same mechanic for weapon Damage, there is no direct way to translate this value into seventh edition. Looking through the second edition weapon profiles, it is apparent that the vast majority of weapons have a Damage value of 1. Since the Rod of Grace has a Damage value of D3, I am comfortable with giving both of its profiles a rule which gives it the Instant Death special rule on To Wound rolls of 6. Since every weapon that does this seems to have a different name for it, I have called it Smite the Impure.

 

Warlord Trait: Adapted from Helena’s Holy Radiance special rule from second edition. Her immunity to psychology and Break tests has been represented by the Fearless special rule. Even though the inability to Go to Ground and choose to fail Morale checks due to the Our Weapons Are Useless rule do not fit the original effect of immunity to psychology, Fearless seems to be the most fitting option available. The Holy Radiance second edition rule seems to imply that it is normal for all units to use Helena’s Leadership. I cannot find any rules that support this, but in any case, the original effect of this section of the rule has simply been carried over into this adaptation. Personally, I have come concerns that this is more powerful than Celestine’s Leadership sharing ability when I’m not sure it should be, but my primary goal is to preserve as much of the rules’ original function as possible.

 

Special Rules: Added Act of Faith and Shield of Faith as they are now standard for Sisters. Added Martyrdom as it is now standard for Canonesses and Celestine. As noted above, the Fearless special rule has been added because of the immunity to psychology and Break tests granted by the original version of the Holy Radiance special rule. As strategy ratings are no longer used, Helena’s strategy rating of 4 has been ignored. For ease of reading, the Revered Leader and Sacred Rites special rules are described below.

Revered Leader: This rule is unclear as to whether the Hatred gained when Helena is wounded ends if Helena is killed. Since the rules say the models gain Hatred, but never specifically mention losing Hatred, I have made the effect last for the remainder of the battle. Although I cannot find where this rule is, the Revered Leader rule implies that units always take a Leadership test when their army’s leader is killed. In any case, I have carried over this Leadership test, even if it does not exist naturally as it seems to have in second edition, adding in the penalty that those units that fail immediately begin to fall back, as I assume that this is how it worksin second edition. Break tests have been assumed to be equivalent to Morale checks.

Sacred Rites: Helena’s bonus to her unit’s roll on the Sacred Rites table has been taken into account in her Act of Faith. This special rule deals solely with approximating the +1 bonus she confers on other units. I have decided to have the effect end if Helena is killed, even though there is no real reason for this in the second edition wording. It simply matches much of Games Workshop’s current rules design philosophy, and just feels right.

 

Act of Faith: Since the Sacred Rites table in second edition is shared by all Sisters of Battle units, and Helena gets a +4 bonus when rolling on that table, it seemed an elegant solution to give her access to other unit’s Acts of Faith for her own. These Acts of Faith are spelled out for clarity and ease of play. I did not distinguish between options that are normally only usable in your Assault phase and those that may be used in either Assault phase, since those that you are not allowed to use in your opponent’s Assault phase are not useful then.

 

Points Cost: I consider the points cost the most difficult piece of any datasheet. I’m going to hold off on even trying to assign a points cost for the moment.

 

Thanks to anyone who actually read all of that (or really, anyone who read any of it)!

 

Please leave a comment!

[Teetengee]

I'd try her at 180 points,using my trusty metric of 

1. If she cost less would she be autoinclude? If yes, increase price until no longer true.

2. If she cost more, would I never use her? If yes, decrease price until no longer true. (Lean on this method harder as upper limits are probably easier for enemies to palate)

3. If 1 and 2 result in mutually exclusive results, rewrite rules.

Also, that rules conversion detailing is wonderful to read.

[Servant of Dante]

I'd try her at 180 points.

Also, that rules conversion detailing is wonderful to read.

Thank you! It was fun to do. I love working with an established set of rules and maintaining the established patterns. It's a very . . . servile . . . role, while still allowing me to write rules.

At some point I'll come up with my own point cost estimate, but I will keep 180 in mind!