Cardinal Armandus Helfire 7E Adaptaition

[Servant of Dante]

A while ago I did an adaptation of Helena the Virtuous from 2E to 7E. Now I've done Cardinal Armandus Helfire, who only appeared in the 2E codex. I think he's pretty awesome, and he's a special character with a plasma gun, so that's cool too This was a loooot less work than Helena, but that's a good thing. She took me like 12 hours of work, between all the research I did into 2E and other printing of her rules (even though I still missed her 3E Chapter Approved rules *grumble grumble*).

Please do leave a comment! And I have to pick a point cost . . .

If anyone's interested, here's Helena

Cardinal Armandus presides over the Diocese of Avignor. Avignor is situated close to the Eye of Terror and Ministorum forces in the area must keep a constant guard against the attacks of Chaos. Armandus himself often leads a War of Faith against these invaders, and has never lost to them yet. He is a huge man, with a powerfully muscled body and a deep, booming voice. In the Holy Synod he is known for his staunch conservatism and loudly resists even minor changes to the Ecclesiarchy. He is a hard but fair man, who sees himself as an example of a perfect follower, a mold which every other man should fit into. Although many disagree with his views (usually in private), none can doubt his faith, courage and honour.

Born of a low background, Armandus is seen as a working man doing a new job. His commands are typified by a high morale and he often is the source of the camaraderie between his troops. With his startlingly incisive wit and ready laugh, he can turn a rag-tag bunch of men into a fighting force, the equal of the best Imperial Guard regiments.

-(][)-

“The foul heathen Orks are mustering for another attack. Take heart, men, for the Emperor’s divine protection lies over us. Take a moment, my brave warriors, to meditate upon our fate, and ask the Emperor to guide out aim and steady our hearts. The Orks are many and we are but few, but are we not men of great strength and courage? Does not Mankind rule over all the stars in the ether? These savages will not turn us from our sacred purpose and holy right to claim this world for the greater glory of the Emperor!”

A thunderous cheer rose from the massed ranks of the Militia as the Cardinal finished his speech. Raising his hand for silence, Armandus commanded the assembled army to kneel in preparation for prayer. He was halfway through chanting the third verse of the Expungia Exorcism when the first shells of the Ork attack thundered across the mountainside. Many of the congregation cast nervous glances around them but the Cardinal remained steady, his eyes raised to the skies. When the ninth and final verse was finished he raised the Sceptre of Avignor above his head and called out to the congregation.

“Now is the time my fine brothers in faith! Spare no one, ask no quarter, and be strong in your belief. For Humanity and the Emperor, advance and give battle to the unholy!”

CARDINAL ARMANDUS HELFIRE
Cardinal Armandus Helfire is a HQ choice in any Adepta Sororitas detachment.
WS 4 BS 5 S 3 T 3 W 3 I 3 A 2 Ld 10 Sv 5+ Infantry (Character) 1 (Unique)

Wargear:

· Flak armour

· Plasma gun

· Frag grenades

· Krak grenades

· Rosarius

Ecclesiarchy Relics:

· Secptre of Avignor

Warlord Trait:

· Commanding Voice

Special Rules:

· Eternal Warrior

Armandus is fondly refered to as Ol’ Stony by the troops under his command. He has an incredible endurance and stamina and can weather wounds without a blink that would fell lesser men.

· Independent Character

· War Hymns

· Zealot

Armandus is utterly disdainful of alien races. He believes that the Emperor protects him and no harm can befall him from the filthy hands of godless scum.

ECCLESIARCHY RELICS

Sceptre of Avignor: This is the symbol of the Cardinal of Avignor and has been handed down by each Cardinal to his successor for over four thousand years. During the Age of Apostasy, it was noted that Avignor retained maintained much of its power and status and was shielded from the worst of the Reign of Blood.

S +1 AP - Melee, Symbol of Hope

Symbol of Hope: Any unit with line of site to Cardinal Armandus Helfire automatically passes Regroup tests. When it Regroups, the unit does not make the 3” Regroup move, but can instead move, shoot (or Run) and declare charges normally in that turn..

WARLORD TRAIT

Commanding Voice: All friendly units within 18” of the Warlord may use his leadership in place of their own.

NOTES

Fluff: All fluff text is in italics and is copied verbatim from the 2E codex, the only book the good Cardinal appeared in.

Profile: below are the profiles I referenced in setting Armandus’s profile. It was relatively straightforward – most important were the differences between his 2E incarnation and the 2E Mighty Hero. His WS is not as high as the Mighty Hero, but is not low, so I set it at a 4. Ballistic Skill 6 is really too much, and not actually that different from 5 (except that it would keep him from getting hot 5/6 of the time . . .). 5 felt right. Normal humans have S and T 3. That’s just the way modern 40K works 99% of the time. Armandus’s ridiculous S and T will have to be represented through his special rules (Eternal Warrior). 3 W is solid, and alongside EW will help represent his gloriously chiseled pectoral muscles . . . errr . . . strength of will. We’ve established he’s not a super awesome cc character, so 2 A is fine. I can’t imagine him having anything less than Ld 10 (and probably Stubborn).
Armandus (2E) 5 6 5 5 3 4 2 10
Ministorum Priest 3 3 3 3 1 3 2 7
Champion (2E) 4 4 3 3 1 4 1 9
Hero (2E) 5 5 4 4 2 5 2 10
Mighty Hero (2E) 6 6 4 4 3 6 3 10

Wargear: Armandus had flak armour in 2E. I confirmed that carapace did exist, so he keeps his 5+; it’s not a big deal since he has a Rosarius and his faith anyway. In 2E, Armandus could freely choose another Wargear card. I suppose the grenades fill that role, but those are standard issue anymore. I am tempted to give him a bolt pistol.
Ecclesiarchy Relics: The Sceptre of Avignor was a melee weapon that gives +1 S and lets any unit pretend they rolled snake eyes on regroup tests if they have LoS to it. It notes that rolling double 1s lets the unit act normally after it rallies. I’ll be keeping this functionality almost exactly.
Warlord Trait: In 2E, it seems that units within 12” of a army’s commander could use their Leadership, but Armandus let units within 18” use his Ld. This rule (Commanding Voice) is Armandus’s Warlord Trait

Special Rules: Armandus’s 2E bonus to rolls on the Sacred Rites table isn’t relevant and doesn’t have any counterpart in the modern edition. Characters staying to fight when their squad runs away is no longer part of the rules, and 2E Armandus was immune to fear and terror and auto-passed break (morale) tests, and he was required to stay and fight if his squad broke (most characters that were immune to psychology could choose to flee with their unit). This is nicely represented by the Zealot rule (since all priests have it anyway). His Commanding Voice rule is his Warlord Trait. In 2E, Armandus has S and T 5 and took wounds from weapons that dealt multiple wounds of damage. I don’t like handing out Eternal Warrior all that often, but with all that, it makes sense. As it is standard for priests, Armandus has the War Hymns rule (and at Ld 10 no less).

[Willy Pete]

Looks pretty good so far. Solid character that doesn't seem overpowered like some fandex characters.

Just a question or two. Is the Sceptre of Avignon the same as the Rod of Grace? And if so, where is the shooting profile for it? Or did my old eyes miss that somewhere.

Of course, the Rod of Grace could be the plasma gun, (rod being old slang for a gun). If it's a relic of sorts, maybe make it master crafted?

As far as points cost, Jacobus is a hundred points, so somewhere around there sounds about right.

Overall I give it .

[Servant of Dante]

The Rod of Grace is Helena's weapon . . . I copied that section over from my Helena file so I wouldn't have to format the table from scratch and forgot to delete the text :D

 

Yeah we had the:

Staff of Belief

Rod of Grace

Scepter of Avignor

Scepter of Vengance

Mace of Valaan

 

All things which which to bash heretics :P

 

As for the plasma gun, I'm sticking as close to his 2E rules as possible, so since it wasn't MC then I'd rather not make it MC. Plus, he's already BS5

[Kros Morotho]

I double-checked, but my instincts were correct: the planet mentioned in this guy's background (Avignor) is the same planet that suffered a heretical uprising sometime in M41 (date not specified) during which the Order of the Sacred Rose put down the heathens using retro-fitted Repressors!

[Servant of Dante]

I double-checked, but my instincts were correct: the planet mentioned in this guy's background (Avignor) is the same planet that suffered a heretical uprising sometime in M41 (date not specified) during which the Order of the Sacred Rose put down the heathens using retro-fitted Repressors!

Neat! I can only imagine how the Cardinal handled a heretical cult on HIS planet :P I'm sure his sermons were quite something.

[Willy Pete]

I was thinking Master Crafted to help keep him from frying himself mostly.

Any chance you could do Kyrinov next? He has a really cool model, (so called 'Battle Pope',) and hasn't had any rules since 2nd ed., although his picture still shows up in the Codices.

[Servant of Dante]

I was thinking Master Crafted to help keep him from frying himself mostly.

Any chance you could do Kyrinov next? He has a really cool model, (so called 'Battle Pope',) and hasn't had any rules since 2nd ed., although his picture still shows up in the Codices.

He had rules in Citadel Journal 49 for pre-WH 3E and the 5E WD 'dex (albeit incredibly uninspired rules in that case - they have both him and Jacobus the exact same stats as the Canoness, except saves of course). In any case, I'd be happy to! I'll probably use some of what I did in my homebrew 'dex.

Edit: and as a Confessor, I think a missionary would be a closer analogy? But not really. Since Confessors do a good bit of political manipulation of worlds that are already part of the Imperial Cult and what not. I still liked hearing him called the "Dope Space Pope" though really that would be Ecclesiarch Decius XXIII at the moment :D