This supplement is being written to expand upon the nature of Pyskers within the Imperium - and their myriad and strange abilities, traditions, and history. So far the first three chapters have been completed, and in time more will follow.

http://somewhathere.deviantart.com/gallery/55487189/Look-Not-Upon-the-Witch

Please provide any feedback while I continue throughout this project. ^^.

Just a bump to say that Pyromancy and Telekinesis chapters were added.

Awesome work, really looking forward to Telepathy chapter! Keep up the awesome work!

This work seems very much like a treasure trove of improvements to the psychic power system. Keep up the good work. Looking forwards to the biomancy section myself.

Just added first draft of Biomancy!

Next up: Telepathy

Nice work, I will certainly use it in my games!

A few mistakes, though:

-Sin Scarred: Still unnatural toughness *2...I think it could go with someting like unnatural toughness +2 or +3, or "ritualist WP bonus", or whatever.

-Biomancy Peril of the warp:

there are mentions of "energy effect of 2D10", what does that mean? I think this comes from the original DH2 (the beta), but it is not necessarily usable now...maybe just saying "a critical effect of 1D10 on a random limb?"

Mention of Blood loss (8)... don't think that this exist either.

I've seen other things like this, but the majority of it is workable. If you like, I could continue to note such "mistakes" for you to correct them. I like a lot what you've done. I like it even more since there is many stuff in there for other characters than psykers!

Also, game balance things; I remeber a talent that permits to double damage from powers. Wouldn't be better to simply add a D10 damage instead, it would be less fixed as a value, and more balanced, while staying a very great advantage?

Proymancy:

Cinderflesh: 1D5 level of burning? What's that?

Souldecay: Shouldn't it be placed in the first 3 chapters?

Warp Burn: Felling is of no use if the damage bypasses the Toughness bonus

Soul Sear: What use is felling to an attack that deals characteristic damage?

Soul Pyre: Same as Soul decay, but aren't these rules too much to track?

Nice work, I will certainly use it in my games!

A few mistakes, though:

-Sin Scarred: Still unnatural toughness *2...I think it could go with someting like unnatural toughness +2 or +3, or "ritualist WP bonus", or whatever.

Oops! Ill fix that with one of your recommendations.

-Biomancy Peril of the warp:

there are mentions of "energy effect of 2D10", what does that mean? I think this comes from the original DH2 (the beta), but it is not necessarily usable now...maybe just saying "a critical effect of 1D10 on a random limb?"

Mention of Blood loss (8)... don't think that this exist either.

I've seen other things like this, but the majority of it is workable. If you like, I could continue to note such "mistakes" for you to correct them. I like a lot what you've done. I like it even more since there is many stuff in there for other characters than psykers!

Also, game balance things; I remeber a talent that permits to double damage from powers. Wouldn't be better to simply add a D10 damage instead, it would be less fixed as a value, and more balanced, while staying a very great advantage?

Biomancy suffered the worst from my lack of scrutiny due to the holiday crunch to get gifts for my kids. I would greatly appreciate it if you could spot more of these mistakes. Its easy for me to gloss over little things like this whlie working out on the rest of the project.

Adding the 1d10 is a better solution. Consider that amended!

Proymancy:

Cinderflesh: 1D5 level of burning? What's that?

Souldecay: Shouldn't it be placed in the first 3 chapters?

Warp Burn: Felling is of no use if the damage bypasses the Toughness bonus

Soul Sear: What use is felling to an attack that deals characteristic damage?

Soul Pyre: Same as Soul decay, but aren't these rules too much to track?

Burning can be found in the Pyromancy section, IIRC on page 14. Its basically an upgraded on Fire condition.

Soul Decay (and the other conditions) will eventually be replaced into chapter 1 or 3 once I've mapped out the rest of the disciplines. As a work in progress, I technically started with the pyromancy chapter before being inspired (originally intending to simply make a different psychic power list).

Warp Burn will be amended to remove the unnecessary nomenclature. I'll have to go back and replace all instances of "ignore armor and toughness" with the Warp Weapon trait instead.

Soul Sear shall have the Felling quality removed, as that was an oversight.

As for the Soul Pyre power, i'm not sure what is too much to track about it. Could you elaborate more?

Thanks again for your constructive commentary. It's very helpful to continuing this project. =D

Hi Cognizar,

Such a projet pleases me much; it is well done and I would gladly use it for my game. Generally I work alone (since I speak french, these forums aren't necessary the best playing ground for me, but now I've decided that all the stuff I would do for DH2 would be in english to simplify things...). I didn't feel the necessity of redoing the psychic system (to be honest, I was glad that it had been that much lessened in power in comparison to DH1), but your take on it is awesome without making him too strong, so I like it, and I prefer to collaborate with you instead of just taking it and doing what I want with it, or not caring and keeping with the somewhat small psychic possibilities of the actual system.

So, this rant being done; the burning and soul decay condition seems to me like additional tracking, which Dark Heresy ils already a little heavy on (many small rules you must know, etc.), that's why I think those conditions (especially the burning one), are a little bit more to keep track, you must remember/write how many burning condition you have, and remember that now the fire does more damage, and that now you're dead. But I didn't playtest it, but it worries me even if I like very much that concept.

Soul decay, being a permanent one, has other strenght and weaknesses; since it is permanent, it is easy to just get a new "characteristic" like a mutation or something, somewhere on your character sheet, while it has a lot more possibilities to get forgotten during the next games. But in the end, I like very much what you've done and the more I think about it, the more I like these rules.

Thanks a lot; if it can help you, you can send me what you've done for the other possible psychic disciplines and I could get an eye on it to help you before publishing, but in the end, the results will be the same. Thanks for youre awesome job!

Alexandre

Chapter 10 has been added!

Hi Cognizar,

Such a projet pleases me much; it is well done and I would gladly use it for my game. Generally I work alone (since I speak french, these forums aren't necessary the best playing ground for me, but now I've decided that all the stuff I would do for DH2 would be in english to simplify things...). I didn't feel the necessity of redoing the psychic system (to be honest, I was glad that it had been that much lessened in power in comparison to DH1), but your take on it is awesome without making him too strong, so I like it, and I prefer to collaborate with you instead of just taking it and doing what I want with it, or not caring and keeping with the somewhat small psychic possibilities of the actual system.

Thanks! I really appreciate your views on my project and willingly accept your proposal for help! =D

So, this rant being done; the burning and soul decay condition seems to me like additional tracking, which Dark Heresy ils already a little heavy on (many small rules you must know, etc.), that's why I think those conditions (especially the burning one), are a little bit more to keep track, you must remember/write how many burning condition you have, and remember that now the fire does more damage, and that now you're dead. But I didn't playtest it, but it worries me even if I like very much that concept.

The additional tracking hasn't been too much of a hassle for me in a few playthroughs I've conducted. So far, so long as the GM and the psyker are aware of the amendments, it isn't any more harder than to track ammunition or wounds. I play alot on Roll20, using the virtual tables awesome set up - so that may be why I find it easy to implement. I'll have to sit on it for a bit and ponder more about it.

Soul decay, being a permanent one, has other strenght and weaknesses; since it is permanent, it is easy to just get a new "characteristic" like a mutation or something, somewhere on your character sheet, while it has a lot more possibilities to get forgotten during the next games. But in the end, I like very much what you've done and the more I think about it, the more I like these rules.

Soul Decay was an invention to balance out the really crazy powerful powers I wanted to represent. Like any other characteristic based attribute in the game, the consequences and tracking might be forgetton in the action or intrigue of a game, but it is right now an important balancing factor - and a potential plot hook for a player who becomes too reliant on such dark techniques.

Not to mention the optional nature of the rules. ^^.

Thanks a lot; if it can help you, you can send me what you've done for the other possible psychic disciplines and I could get an eye on it to help you before publishing, but in the end, the results will be the same. Thanks for youre awesome job!

Alexandre

I do alot of my writing/compiling offline, due to me being technically homeless at the moment. More or less what you see is what I have right now. In the future I'll provide you with current wip documents if you pm your email address.

Next up is Divination, to finish off the official disciplines. ^^.

Edit: Scratch that. I made the Adeptus Arbites Discipline first, which is currently linked just below Telepathy. It will be part of the Telepathy chapter, and a representative of mini-discipline lists I'll add. Thoughts?

Three Additional Talents will be added to Chapter 3, in their respective alphabetical order

Mind’s Eye

Tier: 3

Prerequisites: Psy Rating 4

Aptitudes: Intelligence, Psyker

Through mental conditioning the Telepath realizes a psychic awakening that profoundly effects his own abilities as he embraces the mystical properties of his soul-binding. This talent allows the psyker to increase the range of all of his Telepathic communications (with the exception of Astrotelepathy) by a factor of 10. Thus, a standard Telepathic Link would have a range of 200 meters x Psy Rating, Short Range Telepathy would be 500 meters x Psy Rating, and so forth.

Ego Division (X)

Tier: 2

Prerequisites: Dreamscape Minor Manifestation

Aptitudes: Intelligence, Psyker

The psyker is able to divide his own persona into multiple mental partitions. This can be a great boon to the Telepath, allowing him to simultaneously work on multiple mental constructs or problems at once. However, the amount of information passing through the mind can easily exceed the brains physical capacity to handle. More than one psyker has burned out parts of mind through reckless application of this technique. With this talent, a psyker can enter a meditative state and divide his own personality, intermixing any amounts of his own emotional and rational consciousness and sub-consciousness into each partition. This allows the psyker to work on meticulously difficult mental problems or bypass psychosomatic warding in lightning quick times by temporal compression of each ego division. A psyker may make up to (x) amount of divisions, with X equaling the amount of times this talent is taken.

The benefit of each partition allows the psyker to reduce the time of a Logic, Tech-Use, Forbidden Lore, Scholastic Lore, or other similar skills determined by a Challenging (+0) Variable Skill Test.

• One Degree of Success: The mental partition was able to reduce the time of the skill test by a quarter of the time.

• Two Degrees of Successes: The mental partition was able to reduce the time of the skill test by half.

• Three Degrees of Successes: The mental partition was able to reduce the time of the skill by three quarters of the time.

• Four Degrees of Successes or more: The Mental Partition was able to reduce the time of the skill almost completely.

For every mental partition beyond the first, the psyker must pass a Challenging (+0) Intelligence Test with a cumulative penalty for each additional mental partition. If the psyker fails the test, he will suffer 1d5 Intelligence Characteristic Decay and a level of Fatigue for every Degree of Failure.

Note: This talent is reflective towards intensive problem solving that a typical skill test would not be able to suffice, such as interacting with a heavily psychically warded data-slate with Inquisitorial ciphers, or solving complex xeno algorithms in a limited time.

Nuncio Trance

Tier: 1

Prerequisites: Dreamscape Minor Power

Aptitudes: Psyker, General

The ways of the psyker are many, and even the most proficient suffer from the ill-effects of Psi-Sickness if they attempt to suppress their powers. Through the Rites of Incubation, or the mantras of the Nuncio, novitiates of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica learn how to regulate and soothe their powers without taking unnecessary risks. This talent allows the Telepath to enter a meditative dreamscape. While within the confines of his own mental landscape, time passes at a different ebb and flow - his own mind partially immersed in the warp. This ability allows the Astropath to reduce the time of a meditation to prevent Psi-Sickness by half.

First Draft of Psi-Sickness, which will replace the Sanctioned Trait box in chapter 1, page 9

Psi-Sickness

Psykers develop a condition known as Psi-Sickness after prolonged periods of not utilizing their innate gifts and powers. The symptoms of this condition typically include severe headaches, nosebleeds, and in extreme cases death. Psykers who refrain from utilizing their abilities in a number of days equal to the psykers Willpower Bonus must make an Ordinary (+10) Toughness test for each day that exceeds their threshold, with a cumulative -10 penalty for each additional day that passes. If the psyker fails, the psyker begins to suffer from Psi-Sickness.
For each day that passes while suffering from Psi-Sickness the psyker will suffer one level of Fatigue unless he is able to manifest a psychic power. When he manifests a power after succumbing to Psi-Sickness, he must first overcome a psychic block by passing a Very Hard (-30) Psyniscience Test. Additionally, while suffering from Psi-Sickness, the psyker is unable to remove Fatigue from resting or other means.
There are a few ways psykers can mitigate or negate the effects of Psi-Sickness (other than obviously continuing to manifest their abilities).
• Meditation: Prolonged meditation lasting no less than 30 minutes per psy rating can be used in lieu of using a psychic power to effectively prevent the onset of Psi-Sickness.
• Force of Will: While suffering from Psi-Sickness, a Psyker can attempt to break his block by manifesting a minor power. This power manifests with a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test and evokes Psychic Phenomena.

• Nuncio-Trance: Telepaths can enter a meditative nuncio-trance each day, preventing the need to manifest their powers. See the Nuncio-Trance talent for more details.
Note that these rules for Psi-Sickness should not be used in typical play, as most psykers are keen to utilizing their abilities. These rules should be taken into consideration during times of duress for the character (such as being held captive by a zealot who has used torpor or a soul net to bind the character).

I tried the burning condition yesterday night and I Liked it (I just ended an hour ago a 20 hours long game), it is indeed easy to use and my players liked it.

Don't hesitate if you need anything on this project!

On this kind of opinion, I'm not sure about that, but I thought about the idea of using soul decay instead of corruption and insanity in the "closer than flesh", what do you think about it?

Bestial ally: " The psyker may only use this power on a creature that has the Bestial Trait, less than wounds per psy rating"

Less than how many wounds per psy rating?

Soul killer vs psychic scream : shouldn't soul killer hurt a little less hard since it can hit a lot more? They've got the same difficulty for being called one and another.

Mental Bond: The test is wirtten in focus as willpower +0, but the description states willpower -10, is it that you've got two tests to do? If yes, shouldn't it be clearer?

Mind Ward: Sustained is written yes, but we do not know how many actions it takes.

Mindshock: the modification per degree of success on the manifestation for the toughness test against shocking let suppose that the greater is the success of the psyker, the easier it is for the victim to resist shocking.

Peril of the warp table; dark summoning: you speak about a 3 rolls on the malignancy table, but isn't it more on the mutations table?

These are my comments for Telepathy, I'll give you the rest later!

I tried the burning condition yesterday night and I Liked it (I just ended an hour ago a 20 hours long game), it is indeed easy to use and my players liked it.

That's awesome to hear! Glad it worked out as smoothly for you as it did for me. =D

Don't hesitate if you need anything on this project!

What are your thoughts on the mini-discipline list i plan on making (i.e. The Adeptus Arbites Discipline, etc)? I plan on making one or two per discipline. Some ideas include

Adeptus Mechanicus power list under Telekinesis (Machina-Mentors)

Officio Medicae Discipline (Administratum, Biomancy)

Bestial ally: " The psyker may only use this power on a creature that has the Bestial Trait, less than wounds per psy rating"

Less than how many wounds per psy rating?

It was meant to read 'less than 3 wounds per psy rating'. Amended on my document.

Soul killer vs psychic scream : shouldn't soul killer hurt a little less hard since it can hit a lot more? They've got the same difficulty for being called one and another.

Psychic Scream has been amended to a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test.

Mental Bond: The test is wirtten in focus as willpower +0, but the description states willpower -10, is it that you've got two tests to do? If yes, shouldn't it be clearer?

The description text was correct. Copy paste error. The Focus Power test (only one test!) is a Difficult (-10) Willpower test. My document is amended now.

Mind Ward: Sustained is written yes, but we do not know how many actions it takes.

Free Action. Copy paste error. My copy is amended now.

Mindshock: the modification per degree of success on the manifestation for the toughness test against shocking let suppose that the greater is the success of the psyker, the easier it is for the victim to resist shocking.

That was an error in my flawed reasoning late at night. It meant to write 'Increased' not 'Reduced'. Thus it would become harder to resist shocking per degree of success. My copy has been amended.

Peril of the warp table; dark summoning: you speak about a 3 rolls on the malignancy table, but isn't it more on the mutations table?

These are my comments for Telepathy, I'll give you the rest later!

That was another mistake. Change Malignancies Table to Mutations Table.

Thanks for the comments, please keep giving me the results of your scrutiny. It really helps me clean up the documents as I continue to progress.

After our exchange, I've come to the decision once I've finished with all the disciplines, I'll be moving the Conditions to Chapter 3, which I'll be renaming 'The Psychic Arsenal', focusing on Skills, Talents, Traits, Conditions, and a Universal Discipline.

Hi Cognizar, I Just ended the arbites discipline and I liked it a lot. I think this is a good idea, like having a discipline for guardsman and such. It will help a lot to conceptualise a primaris psyker of the Imperial Guard and such.

I'm not sure about mechanicum psyker tought, but maybe having some sub-fonction that could make the psy rating of the psyker boosted by the machine trait (representing a psychic boosting or such things).

Continue this way, I like this and I'll continue reading them to give you my questions and feelings about it. I'm not the best in the world of bulletproof rules, but I've got a little bit of talent to help you!

Have fun and happy new year!

Updated Chapter 3. Now includes the changes/revisions, additional information, and the Universal Discipline.

The universal discipline is good, a nice touch to add back some small powers.

I'll check back the psychic arsenal soon enough!

Couple of questions:

In chapter one, p13: Technique Mastery : What do you mean by single tree? You mean the usual 3-5 powers until the line is complete? Ex: Telekinesis : Push - Assail - Fling - Tempest

I find the Discipline mastery kind of a let down. Effectively gives +10 to the discipline, but you lose all the other disciplines. Mastery should be a lot better, maybe a +1 PR for the whole discipline or something.

Force Bolt : Requires a BS test on top of the WP test. No other powers requires a second test. Why does this one does? Especially since usually BS is really expensive for Psykers (Adeptus Telepathica + Mystic)

Phantom Weapons : kind of OP. Psychic Storm, 1d10 +2/WPB + Pen = 2x WPB is huge. 1 would lower it to pen 1x WPB. Especially since its storm!

Thanks!

Keep up the awesome work!

Couple of questions:

In chapter one, p13: Technique Mastery : What do you mean by single tree? You mean the usual 3-5 powers until the line is complete? Ex: Telekinesis : Push - Assail - Fling - Tempest

Yes. Do you think I need to make the wording more clearer?

I find the Discipline mastery kind of a let down. Effectively gives +10 to the discipline, but you lose all the other disciplines. Mastery should be a lot better, maybe a +1 PR for the whole discipline or something.

You are right. I envisioned something more, but derped out and just sorta copy pasted. I plan on revisted each one later to differentiate each Discipline Mastery in a more unique way.

Force Bolt : Requires a BS test on top of the WP test. No other powers requires a second test. Why does this one does? Especially since usually BS is really expensive for Psykers (Adeptus Telepathica + Mystic)

Total mistake. I changed the wording in my document to:

This power is a Psychic Bolt. The psyker can hurl a bolt of force at an opponent, dealing 1d10 Impact Damage with a bonus of +2 Damage per Psy Rating.

Phantom Weapons : kind of OP. Psychic Storm, 1d10 +2/WPB + Pen = 2x WPB is huge. 1 would lower it to pen 1x WPB. Especially since its storm!

How about this?

This power is a Psychic Storm. Each successful hit inflicts 1d10 Rending Damage, plus 2 additional points of Damage per point of your Willpower Bonus. In addition, the bolts have a Penetration equal to the Psy Rating.

Thanks!

Keep up the awesome work!

Thank you for the input! It really helps as I plow away at this project.

Couple of questions:

In chapter one, p13: Technique Mastery : What do you mean by single tree? You mean the usual 3-5 powers until the line is complete? Ex: Telekinesis : Push - Assail - Fling - Tempest

Yes. Do you think I need to make the wording more clearer?

Maybe use Branch instead of tree would make a nice distinction

Phantom Weapons : kind of OP. Psychic Storm, 1d10 +2/WPB + Pen = 2x WPB is huge. 1 would lower it to pen 1x WPB. Especially since its storm!

How about this?

This power is a Psychic Storm. Each successful hit inflicts 1d10 Rending Damage, plus 2 additional points of Damage per point of your Willpower Bonus. In addition, the bolts have a Penetration equal to the Psy Rating.

That is perfect.

Thank you!

An amusing thought occurred to me for a minor cyromancy manifestation: Create Snowball. All the power does is create a single snowball in your hand. No unusual coldness, nothing particularly special about it, just your average decently-packed snowball.

Could lead to amusing situations.

Couple of questions:

In chapter one, p13: Technique Mastery : What do you mean by single tree? You mean the usual 3-5 powers until the line is complete? Ex: Telekinesis : Push - Assail - Fling - Tempest

Yes. Do you think I need to make the wording more clearer?

Maybe use Branch instead of tree would make a nice distinction

I'm going to change the terminology to say Branch, where applicable, to make it more coherent. ^^. Thanks for the input!

An amusing thought occurred to me for a minor cyromancy manifestation: Create Snowball. All the power does is create a single snowball in your hand. No unusual coldness, nothing particularly special about it, just your average decently-packed snowball.

Could lead to amusing situations.

Honestly, this made me laugh. I can imagine Elsa the psyker now. XD Wanna build a snowman?

Bump: Divination Draft is now up

I've read some chapters and found some bugs/errors/things I dislike.
You probably want to finish the rest of the chapters before mass removing bugs but I hope a list would be helpfull in the future

chapter 3 (updated)
talents
Psychic Martyr - mindlinked as prerequisite?
monstrous telekinetic - telekine as prerequisite instead of telepath (or some telekinetic power that allow lifting objects)

visions of the abyss - "they reduce the amount taken by –1 " - "reduce the amount taken by 1 " ?

warp conduit - "on Psychic Phenomena when he makes as a result of this talent" - " that he makes"?
warpshield - "The Psyker can sacrifice using his" - "sacrifice usage of his" (also I have some problems with this talent, specifications at the end)

nascent power - what is effective psy rating for powers that need it (e.g. do damage)?

How to handle powers that require opossed tests? Use unmodified Willpower?

chapter 9

"Telekinetic Shield" on page 2 (discipline view), "Telekine Shield" on page 8 (powers descriptions )

chapter 10
Is Adeptus Arbites Discipline telepathy for the sake of discipline focus and mastery?

closer than flesh - should i work on any telepathy power (because then Broadcast Thought to all in range can instantly make you insane) or on those where there is clear two-way contact?


warpshield - why is this talent so much better than telekine shield/dome/barrier? A power which can stops any atack, is very cheap and you can start the game with it. I love it but I feel it's very unbalanced and easy to abuse.

Cognizar, I didn't forget you, I just want to get a long check up up your doc to give you me feelings about the divination, and not speed things up!

Personally, i think Divination, although being present in wh40k, is a counter to most RPing elements. You dont want 1 player to have information just by rolling a dice. You want them to seek it out, work for it. To me, Divination is for some rare NPCs. It must have a mystic feel to it.