Hi everyone!

I'm currently in the beginning of an Only War campaign, and because my GM was apparently impressed by the intricate backstory I created for my medic, he wants to grant me background from Dark Heresy's Radical Handbook for free. My GM granted me the Wyrd background, which seem very exciting and dangerous, especially for an Only War game. When I rolled to see what random minor power I get, the result was I could choose any minor power. So, I am baffled xD There are so many useful minor psychic powers to choose from, and I can have only one that will stay with me for the whole game. Deja vu, Forget me, Walk Walls, Unnatural Aim, Spasm, Sense Presence, Chameleon, Spectral Hands and so on. There are so many good utility powers, and some could potentially be employed in combat!

Can someone recommend what would be good? Obviously there is no "one trick pony", but still, some of the powers can be very versatile. Ideally, it should be something that doesn't need overbleed to be effective, since Wyrds only roll a 1d10. Any thoughts?

Thoughts

You're a medic, you'll want Healer. It'll be easy enough to disguise and useful for what you want to do.

Tell us a bit about your campaign, what you have been up against and what you think that you all will be up against and we can give you a better reply. Weapon jinx are poop against nids, but can be a lifesaver against tau for example.

Tell us a bit about your campaign, what you have been up against and what you think that you all will be up against and we can give you a better reply. Weapon jinx are poop against nids, but can be a lifesaver against tau for example.

Hi doomande!

Well, so far we've had only 2 sessions, but the GM told me he has been thinking a lot of complex and convoluted things for the future, including investigations, political intrigues and warp stuff. So far our regime was deployed to investigate an empty space station, which was unresponsive and out of power. The crew died from a mysterious disease, and my team explored the ship. As my medic was examining the bodies, she received a brief image of the rune of Nurgle, and she threw up. Then the ship was filled with a bunch of warp anomalies, including spectral wolves of some sort, and then when we had to report to the Lieutenant, one of the battle psykers pointed at me, started screaming dire prophecies and basically exploded into tiny pieces in my face. In addition, we had some minor missions with drug dealers and random people on our Hive Planet. So far we've only battled some petty criminals and the medical servitors on the empty space station (which were hard as hell to kill!)

Apart from that, the GM promised there will be more political and mysterious stuff coming up, but he didn't spoil me much. I don't know if this helps, but I think he is going for a bit of investigation and mystery, and warp anomalies, coupled with the usual combat-focus that is typical for Only War.

My squad is made up of two weapon specialists, an operator, a commissar, and myself as a medic.

Hope that helps xD

Edit: My GM is the kind who would go for a more balanced approach to the game, not focusing on battle too much (although battle encounters are quite frequent anyway in Only War). He really likes political fluff and intrigues, and is not afraid to add a good dose of warp-related stuff, although again - he often goes for a balanced approach. I'm not sure if he wants to include xenos, but probably not.

Then would I second what the doctor said, healer will be easy to hide, "look! I am just that good of a doctor... Ohh that weird feeling... drugs I tell you, drugs!" Plus it is something that you all will love later on. Maybe is it "just" 1d5 wounds, but that can save your butt rather often, especially since the ability speeds up critical wound recovery as it does!

Then would I second what the doctor said, healer will be easy to hide, "look! I am just that good of a doctor... Ohh that weird feeling... drugs I tell you, drugs!" Plus it is something that you all will love later on. Maybe is it "just" 1d5 wounds, but that can save your butt rather often, especially since the ability speeds up critical wound recovery as it does!

I thought about healer quite a bit, although a 1d5 really doesn't look that much xD I always thought spasm or spectral hands is more interesting. Can "healer" be used to heal diseases, though? I thought that if I take it, I would remove the challenge of being a medic xD But then again, as you said, with a bit of luck it can easily heal critical wounds, whereas a medicae test would get a -10 per each point of critical damage. Not to mention in only war you can only give first aid to people once every 24 hours.... Although you definitely heal more, which is your intelligence modifier + degrees of success. I don't know, it seems like a good option, but I get the feeling I'm getting too much into the "healer" stereotype xD Maybe I can work out with the GM a way to buff the power? Let's say, if I "push" the minor power, I roll a 1d10 for the damage healed, but I automatically roll something on the table for warp anomalies? Or maybe, I roll a 1d5 and I add my willpower bonus? Does this sound fair and reasonable?

Healer have a range of 10m, and a threshold of 7, meaning that you only need to hit that before your power gets trough, more than 50/50 for most characters if they just have an okay willpower.

Another ability that would be pretty neat would be dull pain, it being able to remove one point of fatigue, again at 10m range but with a threshold of 8. I do not know what the rules for fatigue are in OW, but in Dark Heresy is it quite the killer if the GM throws such weapons your way, and while stimm are lovely to get rid of fatigue are they on a timer and does not really hold your butt from being fried in the long run.

Healer have a range of 10m, and a threshold of 7, meaning that you only need to hit that before your power gets trough, more than 50/50 for most characters if they just have an okay willpower.

Another ability that would be pretty neat would be dull pain, it being able to remove one point of fatigue, again at 10m range but with a threshold of 8. I do not know what the rules for fatigue are in OW, but in Dark Heresy is it quite the killer if the GM throws such weapons your way, and while stimm are lovely to get rid of fatigue are they on a timer and does not really hold your butt from being fried in the long run.

And do you think the buffs I proposed, with a mandatory roll on the table for warp anomalies, is viable and fair?

Psychic Phenomenas are really scary, really really scary, especially since they in 25% of the times gives you at least one corruption point, and can end up with you being a demon host or something much worse. Maybe does the table not look that bad, but try to heal someone and hear that you are giving 7 wounds dam that ignores armour for a radius of 50 meters around you (yea that happened for me in the biggest church on Scintilla)

Beside that, if you can push does it also open up for you being able to feather, and that opens up a whole other can of worms. Again, 1d5 does maybe not seem much, but when you can do it each 8 hours without fear of anything bad happening, and need a toughness roll or get 1d5 wounds instead of healing them if you fail it is pretty good would I say. Especially when you consider the range as well, ranged healing is a gift from the emperor when the guy in a melee needs that extra little boost.

Psychic Phenomenas are really scary, really really scary, especially since they in 25% of the times gives you at least one corruption point, and can end up with you being a demon host or something much worse. Maybe does the table not look that bad, but try to heal someone and hear that you are giving 7 wounds dam that ignores armour for a radius of 50 meters around you (yea that happened for me in the biggest church on Scintilla)

Beside that, if you can push does it also open up for you being able to feather, and that opens up a whole other can of worms. Again, 1d5 does maybe not seem much, but when you can do it each 8 hours without fear of anything bad happening, and need a toughness roll or get 1d5 wounds instead of healing them if you fail it is pretty good would I say. Especially when you consider the range as well, ranged healing is a gift from the emperor when the guy in a melee needs that extra little boost.

Thanks for the help and advice, doomande!