stuck on an HQ choice for my heresy army

since im ordering the MK4 command set which comes with 2 dudes, i'm trying to decide what to make them into for my Heresy Era E.C. army.

the one holding his helmet will be a Praetor, but i can only field those at 1000+ points.
im settling into the idea of giving him his base Bolt Pistol, taking an additional Volkite Charger (15" S5 AP5 Assault 2 'bolter' that gets an additional auto-hit when it causes an unsaved wound), a Paragon Blade so he hits @ Str+1, AP2, and causes instant death on 6's, Digital Lasers so he gets 6 CQC attacks, and an iron halo to go with the artificer armor he comes with.

for 180pts, he looks like this (colored text is the optional wargear):
HQ: Legion Praetor
WS 6, BS 5, S 4, T 4, Wo 3, I 5, At 6, Ld 10, Sv 2+/4++
(Legiones Astartes; Master of the Legion; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Artificer Armour; Bolt Pistol; Volkite Charger; Paragon Blade; Digital Lasers; Iron Halo; Melta Bombs)

the guy with the flag im going to convert. im gonna ditch the banner and give him a replacement arm, and im debating which guy to make him into.
no matter who i choose, he'll start with the following stats:
WS 5, BS 5, S 4, T 4, Wo 2, I 5, At 4, Ld 9, Sv 3+
(Legiones Astartes; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Chainsword Volkite Charger; Melta Bombs; Refractor Field(5+Invul))
i havent decided what to give him for his melee weapon to replace the chainsword, since only Praetors can choose a Paragon Blade. i can take power weapons, Claws, Fists, and Hammers.

then it comes down to 2 character-type upgrades i can give him;
Champion - becomes WS 6, 1 weapon is master-crafted, must always issue/accept challenges.
Primus Medicae - Narthecium, Needle Pistol(S2, AP5, poisoned, rending pistol), and if he's within 6" of a friendly unit that gets wiped out in a Kill Point game, your side also gain's +1 KP for that unit being destroyed.

both upgrades get full access to the same wargear, so it's just a matter of which has more appealing wargear options. so far im leaning towards the Primus Medicae, both for his rules, and the idea of a head-apothecary leading the army in games under 1000pts is appealing to me.

what do you guys think? any suggestions on what melee weapon to give the champion/medicae?

I really like the look of the banner dude, but the stat line on the sword dude sounds spiffy.