Psychic Powers (Psykers)
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Psychic Powers come about from mutant Psykers tapping into their abnormal awareness of the other-realm known as the Warp and channeling its energies to alter reality at their whim. Feared and distrusted, they are bound as virtual slaves to the Imperium and taught Rotes to focus their minds on achieving a particular outcome such as blasts of devastating energy, reading the possibilities of the future, altering minds or reknitting flesh. The fear they are treated with, however, is justified for their powers come with the dangers of mutation, madness and worse.
Psychic Powers
Every Psyker manipulates the warp differently. Some use it to brute-force devastating energies into the universe, others to influence minds, and others still to alter fate and probability. Though, in theory, the possibilities of what one can achieve with warp energies is infinite, the human mind is narrow: its ability to shape the energy of unreality into reality is limited by the creativity and imagination of the psyker. Because of this, most Psykers find it easier to shape reality in one way rather than another and each Psyker is different due to their own personal experiences. Psykers' methods of manifesting their warp talents are roughly categorised by the Imperium into Psychic Powers or Rotes that represent the commonly known effects of these manipulations.
At their basic level Powers do not tax a Psyker to use. Many have options of effects you can use if you Push them further, representing a Psyker extending their will to affect reality.
Each Psyker must choose three powers from the Psychic Powers list.
Perils of the Warp
Whenever you use your powers there is always a risk of them backfiring, one of the many perils psykers regularly face. As soon as there's a lull in a scene or at latest immediately at the end of combat you must perform a power test for every time you have used a power (any time you call Warp or Would you Kindly + any use of a utility power) - on a failed test you draw a card from the Warp Phenomena deck.
Opening your Mind
Psykers, at least Sanctioned Ones, are taught to close their minds to the Warp and shut out its tides - however they are capable of opening that hidden gateway in their mind and channeling its full fury at the risk of making themselves its victim. There is value in this a psyker that opens their mind to the warp or goes 'Transcendent' as some would call it, can unlock incredible power, at a price.
A character can Open their Mind to the Warp in one of two ways;
- Warp Overcharge: Whenever you have used your powers (any time you call Warp or Would you Kindly + any use of a utility power) ten times before you have Recuperated you are considered to have Opened your Mind to the Warp.
- Unlocking Potential: Some powers offer an option that asks you to Open your Mind to the Warp willingly and you will gain an ability. If you use them, you automatically Open your Mind to the Warp even if you have not exceeded the threshold above. If you have already Opened your Mind to the Warp for whatever reason, then you cannot do it again to use these.
A character who has opened their mind to the warp stops doing power test and instead draws directly from the Perils of the Warp deck without doing a test. In order to close their mind again, a psyker must Do their Observances at which point the condition ends.
Opening your Mind to the Warp is not a fatal decision and is often worth the risk, while you will be taking frequent perils many perils are low-level roleplaying effects.
Warp Phenomena
The infinite power offered from the Warp is not without consequence. Even Psykers, with their innate ability to manipulate it, are vulnerable to the fickle nature of its energies, which can demand a horrendous price from their minds and bodies to channel its eldritch power.
This risk is represented by the Warp Phenomena Deck which consists of 48 cards, with effects of varying severity and danger. Players should check the Rules Downloads page shortly before each event to confirm they are still using the most up to date version.This deck consists of:
- 50% of cards are Phenomena side effects that represent a successful use of a power but with unusual side effects.
- 25% of cards are Perils of the Warp that represent a horrendous consequence for tapping into these chaotic energies. These are usually effects personal to the Psyker.
- 25% of cards are Major Perils that represent a cataclysmic consequence for tapping into these chaotic energies. These are usually effects with consequences to the entire party.
Psychic Rituals
Psykers are capable of welding the energies of the warp into all sorts of shapes and forms but it is not possible to simply create a spontaneous effect. Significant preparation is required during which a Psyker explores various theories, considers the techniques used to create other similar effects, and tries to take into account the many variables that might affect the flow of warp energies during such a ritual.
In addition to the time involved in planning such a ritual there will be a cost, likely spent in Willpower or, depending on the nature of the effect you are trying to achieve, other Resources. The result of this investment of time and energy is a Psychic Ritual.
You must hand a written description of what you are trying to achieve to a member of the Game Team. It will be considered and you will get an answer as to whether it is possible and the cost required to perform it. You may submit this before an event.
Once a Psyker has successfully created a ritual then they know the time, effort and components needed to replicate it again.
The following is a known ritual performed by Psyker-Investigators in service to the Holy Ordos of the Inquisition:
Auto-Seance
An Auto-Seance is the process by which a recently dead body or an object intimately connected to someone who is recently dead can be used to contact their ‘spirit’, the afterimage of their sentience left on reality - enabling them to be questioned in the pursuit of investigations.
Time to Set Up: One Minute
Cost: The Corpse or an item of deep spiritual connection to an individual who has died within the past twenty four hours placed within a Warded Circle. 1 Willpower.
Risk: Do a Power Test before the ritual, if it succeeds the ritual succeeds. If it fails, you draw a Peril and the ritual fails.
Effect: Once the spirit is successfully drawn into the Warded Circle (triggered at any point you wish after setting the circle up once the NPC or Game Team are ready to answer you as the corpse) you have 5 minutes to question it before it fades into unreality.
Suggested Phys Rep: It is common, based on superstition in the Prosperitas Sector, to at least have a pair of throne coins to pass to the deceased, or an enjoyed beverage or other form of comfort of the deceased in order to provide the spirit with grounding calm to aid with confronting the reality that it is dead.
Astropaths
For every Psyker judged strong enough for training in the arts of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica there are hundreds sent into the light of the Golden Throne, their vision seared away by the God-Emperor’s psychic majesty. Whether directly exposed to the Throne on Terra or simply to the Astronomicon though another Astropath - they are forever ‘soul-bound’ to the light of the holy psychic beacon of the Astronomicon. They are able to act as its conduit for the sending of messages across vast distances – these are the Astropaths that hold the Imperium together.
Astropaths are a flavour of Psyker that have the ability to send psychic messages over long distances. They do not require a trait, but come with some restrictions:
All Astropaths have lost their natural sight as a result of being blinded in the ritual that created them. Most wear veils or cover their eyes out of habit, but others freely display their ruined and scarred sockets. They still ‘see’ via the warp; some seek augmetics to compensate, but all of them rely on some form of sight that is easily disrupted by electrical pulses or weaknesses of the flesh.
- The call Shock causes you to lose your sight (whether augmetic or supernatural) for 30s.
- The calls Weaken and Haywire causes you to lose your sight until you are able to Recuperate.
This is roleplayed blindness and you should not shut your eyes. A blinded Astropath cannot see to make ranged calls or wield melee weapons, and may not make use of any Traits and Abilities that would require them to read things or see things for them to work.
All Astropaths have access to the additional Sending psychic power in addition to their chosen Powers:
The Sending
The Astronomicon exists as both the beacon of light from the Golden Throne on Terra and rays of ‘Light’ that bathe the warpspace of those worlds within its reach. Astropaths are trained to send messages upon these waves of warp energy, sending them howling across the streams of light to the minds of others who are bound, like them, to the Astronomicon.
Usually a group of Astropaths operate as a single ‘choir’ for this, needing to combine strength to send messages between systems. Player Astropaths are assumed to be superior, individually strong enough to send interstellar messages, but in choir with other PC Astropaths capable of sending messages across immeasurable distances.
The Sending is a Psychic Ritual: the exact risks and dangers of performing can change but normally an Astropath can expect to be able to easily send an Astropathic message to an Astropath within the same system without taxing themselves.
To send to an Astropath within the same Subsector it typically would require three astropaths working in coordination or an expenditure of Willpower equal to the number of missing astropaths. To send to an Astropath in another Subsector of the same Sector it would typically double the needed expenditure of Willpower or present astropaths. Sending messages beyond the Sector is something best done in downtime as it requires a full-fledged Astropathic Choir to accomplish.