Hello all, I am planning on making an Astropath with the Witness of Dusk as my alternate rank at Rank 1 and picking up the Hexicar elite package as well.

Now, my question involving the Hexicar package is that it removes the Soul-Bound trait from the Astropath involved. Aside from the usual ramifications of having more fun with the Perils of the warp, I've also noticed that the Special Power of Astral Telepathy has Soul-Bound to the emperor as a prerequisite.

Does that mean that once I've lost my Soul-Bound trait, that I can no longer serve my primary purpose as an intergalactic space phone?

Generally, yes. Being a space phone typically has that requirement, which per RAW you'd lose. Your entire original purpose would be lost by taking the Accursed Trait. You'd be a powerful psyker, but no longer an Astropath...at least per RAW.

You could deal with your GM for a way to keep the ability. Other forces have similar abilities, or the same abilities, without being soul-bound, but you'd have to pay an Elite Advance price to keep it I think.

If all else fails, you can always turn to Sorcery...

Warp Lightning!

Though yes, I was afraid of that. I think I'll just refrain from taking the advance.

It is likely an oversight. Also, I do not think there are any rules whatsoever regarding the effects of losing prerequisites.

By RAW, you lose the prerequisite, but by RAW, as an Astropath, you do not need to meet the prerequisite - you gain Astral Telepathy on creation.

Nothing says you lose access to a particular Talent just because you don't fulfil the prerequisites any more.

In the case of the Hexicar, I'd say you lose the power, at least on your own. You could still lead a choir, but not send astropathic messages with the delicious boost that you normally have. The idea is after all that you've been severed from the binding with Him on Earth.

Eh, you don't actually need to be soulbound to utilize astrotelepathy. Astropaths, however, need to be soulbound (for their own safety) - they're the weakest/least stable of those who get sanctioned instead of fed to the Golden Throne.

A sufficiently powerful psyker who is not soulbound can do astrotelepathy just fine. As far as non-soulbound astrotelepathy ... there's a sidebar somewhere in DW about librarians being able to use astrotelepathy.

At worst, you'd need a relatively low cost elite advance (200xp tops, probably), but more likely, I'd just say you would keep your astrotelepathic abilities.

According to RT Core RAW you do indeed have to be Soulbound to use astrotelepathy. But, as Fgdsfg pointed out, it is likely an oversight. In DW, Librarians can use astrotelepathy. Their prerequisite is "any other telepathy power." In the new DH book, astrotelepathy is mentioned as a power of telepathy, under the telepathy section, and then not even listed as one of the telepathy powers. One might assume that it's such a given that they no longer even charge XP for it. Astropaths aren't charged XP for it. Librarians are, though. The old DH doesn't even mention it astrotelepathy.

According to RT Core RAW you do indeed have to be Soulbound to use astrotelepathy. But, as Fgdsfg pointed out, it is likely an oversight. In DW, Librarians can use astrotelepathy. Their prerequisite is "any other telepathy power." In the new DH book, astrotelepathy is mentioned as a power of telepathy, under the telepathy section, and then not even listed as one of the telepathy powers. One might assume that it's such a given that they no longer even charge XP for it. Astropaths aren't charged XP for it. Librarians are, though. The old DH doesn't even mention it astrotelepathy.

I meant oversight in regards to Hexicar interacting with pre-existing rules in the way it does (or doesn't). Learning Astrotelepathy is definitely something only the Soulbound do, it's a very important fluff-point in regards to how psychic powers work (or doesn't). The Librarians are a special case, and can easily handle the rigors of astrotelepathy - they are simply trained differently.

I just can't imagine that they created the Hexicar as it works, because it potentially invalidates one of the main roles of the only psychic career in the Rogue Trader books - or at least the only one that counts as Soulbound to begin with. But /shrug.

The fact that it's mentioned in DH2 is because the section is copy-pasted again and again. It is definitely not a given, it's a major aspect of the A.A. Telepathica and psyker background.

>>> According to RT Core RAW you do indeed have to be Soulbound to use astrotelepathy.

I read that as "to use AstroTel. with sanctioned imperials loyal to Terra"

>>> According to RT Core RAW you do indeed have to be Soulbound to use astrotelepathy.

I read that as "to use AstroTel. with sanctioned imperials loyal to Terra"

Click "Quote" in the lower right of posts to quote. I was throughouly confused for a moment.

Like the other posters have mentioned (and I mentioned in my post), there are other, non-soul bound forces that use Astral Telepathy, so I wouldn't see a problem with your character keeping the ability after having lost the soul-binding link, but again, I think an elite advance cost would be necessary.

I think of it this way: the Astropath uses their Soul-Bound link to aid them in using the ability safely, and aren't even allowed to learn the ability until they are Soul-Bound in the first place. Losing Soul-Binding would result in them suddenly losing much of their ability to do what they've been trained to do the way they've been trained to do it, but the knowledge is still there. They just don't suddenly forget how to do it, it just doesn't work quite the same anymore. Hence, the Elite Advance XP cost to retain/regain the ability, to represent the Astropath struggling to retrain themselves with the knowledge that they have to use the ability in a new way.

A further note (and this is more of an optional GM thing than anything official), using Astral Telepathy in a different way may result in the messages being difficult to understand for those who don't know how to understand them the new way you send them. Example: in my last campaign, I had two npcs exchanging Astropathic messages to each other via Sorcery, and occasionally, one of the Astropaths would pass a Psyniscience roll to detect the messages and intercept them. Despite occasionally rolling well, the messages were strange and hard to understand, having been sent in an entirely different way than what they were trained for, and were mainly scrambled images without voice to the regular Astropaths. I liken it to trying to open a MAC document on a PC, and vice-versa. While they are both coded info packages meant to be opened and interpreted, they are generally incompatible with each other.

As becoming a Hexicar causes you to lose your Soul-Binding, I wouldn't say that retraining the ability to use Astral Telepathy would cause too much issue with how other Astropaths receive your player's messages, as it isn't Sorcery, but I would rule with my GM Hat on that any message you send is going to give any Astropath who gets it a weird feeling and a case of the willies, and they're going to know something is wrong with you eventually, just not exactly what.

Perhaps this would be worth getting a FAQ on? It seems to be an oversight to me. Or perhaps it should be expanded to include something like "The Psyker is still able to perform astral telepathy, but any who receive his message must pass a *certain* test or sense something is inherently distorted with the message."

How does one go about requesting a FAQ anyway?

Perhaps this would be worth getting a FAQ on? It seems to be an oversight to me. Or perhaps it should be expanded to include something like "The Psyker is still able to perform astral telepathy, but any who receive his message must pass a *certain* test or sense something is inherently distorted with the message."

How does one go about requesting a FAQ anyway?

You don't. FFG has an Errata system that does have a FAQ, but it is rarely if ever updated. The Rogue Trader "Living Errata" (likely called such because it was meant to be updated as questions poured in and issues pointed out) hasn't been updated since April 2013, the Black Crusade Errata is 4 books behind, and Dark Heresy a hilarious 14 books, having last been updated in 2009.

FFG used to have a good Rules Questions service (check the "More..."->"Customer Service"->"Rules Questions" up top) but they don't seem to be responding anymore. At least then it was possible to ask questions and the community could keep a "head-errata" to a degree, but c'est la vie.

So yeah, no FAQ. Have questions, you'll have to figure it out yourself and make some personal calls.

I play it in my game that the Hexicar can Astral Telepathy, but can't receive boosts from any Soul-Bound Astropaths, and any Soul Bound Astropath is violently ill when receiving a message from him.