Lords lead the army
The lord is the character in command of that army. If the lord falls during the battle, the army fights the rest of the engagement without its commander. On the campaign map the character is wounded and absent until they recover. The character panel shows when immortality applies; until it does, a death can remove them from the campaign.
A generic lord is a recruitable commander of a type the race fields, such as an Ice Witch. You recruit one when you need another army. They do not have a unique campaign start.
A Legendary Lord is a named faction leader. Choosing them in the campaign select starts that faction, subject to the pack that unlocks them. Their skill line and faction mechanics are theirs. Another Legendary Lord joins later only when confederation or a race unlock offers them. They are not on the generic lord list.
Heroes join an army or act on the map
A hero is not the army's commander. Embedded, they add fighting power, magic or support inside an army that already has a lord. On the campaign map they use the actions listed for that hero type.
Hero types on this site include the Kislev Patriarch and Frost Maiden, and the Cathayan Alchemist and Astromancer. Each is a role inside that race. A Frost Maiden is a caster. A Patriarch is religious support. An Alchemist casts Metal. An Astromancer casts Heavens. None of them opens a new campaign.
A Legendary Hero is a named character who joins a faction you are already playing. Ulrika joins through a mission chain or, for Neferata, technology. The Golden Knight and the Blue Scribes have their own unlocks. They occupy a hero slot. They do not appear as the leader in the new-campaign lord select.
Capacity
Each hero type has a capacity: how many of that type the faction can field. Buildings, technologies and some lord skills raise it. The hero panel refuses a recruit past the cap. Open that panel before you plan a second caster of the same type.
A new lord is a new army, with that army's upkeep. A new hero is an addition to a force you have, or an agent on the map, and still counts against hero capacity. The two limits are not interchangeable.
Which one to recruit next
Recruit a hero when the army you have is missing a job: a caster beside Katarin's line, a Patriarch supporting those troops, or an Alchemist behind Jade Warriors. Recruit a lord when a second front needs its own army and its own troops.
Match the hero to a unit role you already field. A second caster who repeats the lord's lore spends the same Winds of Magic reserve. A hero who covers a different job gives the army something the lord was not doing.
Sources
- Total War: WARHAMMER - A New Player Survival Guide & FAQ — community.creative-assembly.com
- Total War: WARHAMMER III - Update 2.0.0 — totalwar.com
- Immortal Empires DLC Ownership Guide — support.sega.com