Hi Rogue Trader fans!

This week's a two-for-one, I put up a new Dark Heresy designer diary and a new Rogue Trader designer diary about the Astropath Transcendent, with some words from the author about the Astropath's psychic powers in Rogue Trader.

Now this is very interesting! Will this replace the existing telepathic powers in DH? In other words, will I be able to take this piece out of RT and use it for the Imperial Psykers in DH? Now I'm extremely interested in seeing RT.

Interesting indeed... it sounds like the powers in Rogue Trader will be a little safer than those of DH as long as you're content with low power levels - which again hints at a different system altogether.

Curious and curiouser...

Very interesting.

As always, I'm confused again. When did the Adeptus Astra Telepathica start running the Black Ships and not the Inquisition?

And John states he created two types of Psyker (Sanctioned and non-Sanctioned, i.e. Sanctioned or Rogue). But are all Psykers in RT Astropaths? Because in WH40k, all Astropaths are Sanctioned Psykers, but the majority of Sanctioned Psykers are not Soul-Bound Astropaths. Is he hinting that there are non-Sanctioned 'Astropaths'? or that the Psyker system in RT is a companion/enhancement/in-addition to the DH system?

"The last goal was to differentiate between those sworn to the Emperor’s service, and those who foolishly turn from his grace and drink deep of the warp. Creating two separate types of psyker solved the last problem, and ensured that both had their own unique advantages and disadvantages. Sure, you might be able to channel more raw power without all that pesky soul-binding , but your chance of becoming a sentient pile of goo also rises dramatically."

I'm guessing 'Astropath' is a psyker career class and determines what types of Psychic Powers a character can use?

Are there other Sanctioned Psyker careers, or only 'Astropaths'? At first, the intro talks about it,...

"...a tiny fraction are judged strong enough to undergo tutorage and go on to serve the Imperium in a staggering array of capacities, from Inquisitor to Battle Psyker.
Those chosen to become Astropaths undergo the ritual of Soul Binding, in which the body and soul are scoured clean of the taint of the warp by the searing purity of the Emperor’s beneficence. "

...but the designer, John, makes it sound like there are two types of Psyker in RT, Astropaths and non-Sanctioned Rogue Psykers.

I'll go read it again, but I'm confused.

"The last goal was to differentiate between those sworn to the Emperor’s service, and those who foolishly turn from his grace and drink deep of the warp. Creating two separate types of psyker solved the last problem, and ensured that both had their own unique advantages and disadvantages. Sure, you might be able to channel more raw power without all that pesky soul-binding , but your chance of becoming a sentient pile of goo also rises dramatically."

Screwed up the quote...

See what I'm saying? Imperial Guard Sanctioned Psykers don't go through Soul-binding and their sensory organs are more or less intact. They also tend to have different powers than Astropaths, which is why they're in the Guard and not the Adeptus Astropathica....

Re-reading that, I sounded a little pithy.

I like what John is trying to do with the low-level power thing. That sounds great. I'm just confused on the Astropath thing. Sanctioning and Soul-binding are two different things. Ravenor was a Sanctioned Psyker, having been judged strong enough to resist the Warp, but he certainly wasn't an Astropath.

Likewise, I felt the blanket class "Psyker" in Dark Heresy was too vague. I felt there should be at least 3 separate Psyker classes which if not restricting what powers you could choose, would at least define which ones you were best at, Astropath being one of them.

The Adeptus Astra Telepathicus have always run the Black Ships, going way back to 40K's first incarnation in Rogue Trader. Some Inquisition involvement has been implied, but that's not surprising. The Inquisition sticks its fingers in a lot of places and definitely has an interest in the psyker harvest.

I'm all for having a difference between Sanctioned and Wild Psykers, with additional modifications for being Soul Bound like Astropaths (Dark Heresy implies there are other soul bound psykers besides Astropaths). I imagine that Librarians would be most like Sanctioned Psykers, although they would also possess Astropathic abilities.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Black_Ships

Ok, you're right about the Black Ships. Lexicanum isn't "official" but they go overboard to be "canon" and I rarely find them wrong.

Synopsis: Black Ships collect tithe of psykers, when full they transport them to Terra and hand them over to the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, of which the League of Black Ships is a department thereof.

The old, weak etc are culled and sacrificed to the Emperor, the rest go to the Scholastia Psykana for 5 years for training.

After that, the majority become soul-bound (or die trying) and become Astropaths. The very young and/or talented become Grey Knights, Librarians or Inquisitors. The rest go to whichever Imperial institution they're deemed most useful. A few go to the Adeptus Astronomica, but they wouldn't make good PC's as they never leave the Forbidden Fortress.

And I agree there should be some difference in the mechanics between Rogue Psykers and Sanctioned ones. I'm glad the Designer is differentiating.

I'm just confused by the design notes insinuating that all RT Psykers will be "Astropaths". Granted, you don't have to be an Astropath to have Astropathic abilities (librarians and such). I just hope there are different "classes" of Psykers of both varieties that more or less narrow down their innate strengths and weaknesses.

Why everyone seem to think that the other character class is unsanctioned psyker? Fromwhat I read it seems that one class is Astropath - less powerfull but also less dangerous, while other is just very powerfull santioned psyker (though it may be it's just "psyker", who may or may not be sanctioned).

Or just a Navigator, which was already mentioned and fits well into the Rogue Trader scheme. Though it depends on how they handle him - in Inquisitor at least he had psyker powers, though quite different from normal.