I am new to dark heresy and just joined a game on skype. I made an Adeptus Astra Telepathica, voidborn and mystic. So fairly run of the mill psyker apparently and went down the telekinesis tree and i am feeling kind of underwhelmed. I feel like the risk to using psychic powers, compared to what they do makes me wonder why i just didnt use a gun. Or maybe telekinesis was a bad idea and should have gone telepath or something? I had pretty good intelligence, perception and willpower, plus my aptitudes made me think that trying to go telepath wasn't a very good idea.

I've seen people complain that psykers are too powerful and I've seen people complain that they're not powerful enough. I think the difference is probably based on a number of factors including expectations from the fluff, what a given psyker is spending XP on, and how the GM is handling the game in general.

To expound on the third point: psyker powers have a number of inherent advantages over weapons, but those advantages might be negated depending on the nature of the game and how it's being run. For example, guns have to be reloaded and will eventually run out of ammo; but if most fights last no longer than 2 or 3 rounds and the GM is being generous with how much ammo the PC's can acquire and carry, then it doesn't really matter.

Maybe one of the more crunch-savvy posters on this board can give you some advice on how to 'pump up' a bit.

Yeah, i mean i didnt want to be the ultimate power gamer or anything like that and it hasnt been that bad other than that i just feel like the risk to the psychic powers is far outweighing benefits. Maybe telekinesis is just not very good and i went down a mediocre tree. In hindsight im kind of wishing i went something like noble or shrine world born astra telepathica and went telepath. Making more social instead of intelligent.

If you're feeling underwhelmed with the powers themselves (which are all honestly pretty boring), I posted a big list of new powers for every discipline in the houserules section along with a revised system for psychic power usage. They're meant to always cause at least a minor warp incident when used, so I included an example table with less severe warp effects for one of the disciplines. I never did tables for everything due to lack of interest from people, but if you want to try using those, I'd be happy to write stuff up for you and clean up the powers a bit.

Telekinesis is not the most powerful tree, but it has its merits. The combat powers of telekinesis are not that good on base stats (that's what pyromancy is for), but it has powers that, if used creatively, can be very powerful. Some of the powers work better as support for the group. Just think around the corner a bit.

For example:

Use Telekinetic Control to bring Grenades into target.

Use Assail to push enemies over the edge of walkways.

Use Telekine Dome to give your teammates cover in difficult situations.

Oh, and never, ever use Vortex of Doom!

For the risk:

You can minimize the risk of bad things happening with the following:

The constant Threat (Adeptus Astra Telepathica Background bonus: +/- WPB on Psychic Phenomenon table)

Warp Lock (Talent: Ignore Psychic Phenomenon once per session)

Favoured by the Warp (Talent: Roll 2x on Psychic Phenomena table and choose result if you don't roll Perils on the first roll)

Spending Fate points to reroll

Soul Bound (Trait: When rolling Perils of the Warp, roll 1 extra die and then replace either the one or the ten die with the result).

There is no way in the rules to acquire the Soul Bound trait with xp, it is totally up to the GM. If he gives it to you, go for it, it is awesome.

If you can't think of ridiculous ways to break the game using the entry level power that lets you move objects invisibly from a distance I don't really know what to tell you.

Yes, the powers are all crushingly boring. But come on man, you can move **** with your mind . You're limited only by your imagination (and the 2xPR kg weight limit).

Now im trying to decide where to move forward since i almost tpked the party. Kept rolling 1-3 on the psychic phenomena table about getting a feeling something bad happened somewhere in the universe. After 3 times the GM fiat turned someone into a bloodletter and straight up destroyed the party. We killed it with an orbital strike not sure if that is normal for a dark heresy game. I was just spamming assail and with 2 psykers and a null we were able to reduce all rolls on that table by 12 with combined effort.

I have 1250 xp to spend now im thinking PR 3, crush and objuration field. Give myself a few more tools for the toolbox

After 3 times the GM fiat turned someone into a bloodletter and straight up destroyed the party.

I think I found your problem... and it has nothing to do with you or your character.

Yeah, that's way more a GM issue than a player issue.

However the psyker we have in the party is as well not terribly satisfied with the Telekinesis table as well.

Maybe the Hereticus book will expand the Psychic trees.

Your GM is a ****. Sounds like you guys were doing really well, kicking ass and taking names and he saw that as a problem in need of correction. Get a new GM.

I wouldn't get a new GM, simply state that he can't just make a Bloodletter appear because you aren't rolling poorly enough for him.

Devils advocate, maybe the GM never intended to kill the party with the bloodthirster and was just engaging in some combat-based railroading. Still not good on his part, but the intention may not have been malicious. Talk with the GM and maybe bring up that if he wants to use the iconic badass monsters of the setting that either a LOT of xp for players to begin with or playing something like deathwatch would work a lot better.

I wouldn't get a new GM, simply state that he can't just make a Bloodletter appear because you aren't rolling poorly enough for him.

Well, one could argue that the GM can do whatever the heck they want; even if they shouldn't .

As to talking to the GM vs. ditching out, I'd have to know more before I could make a recommendation. Is this a friend of yours or just a random GM that you found online? Was he an otherwise good GM who just did this one crummy thing or was this incident just the tip of the proverbial iceberg?

Was he an otherwise good GM who just did this one crummy thing or was this incident just the tip of the proverbial iceberg?

If there's anything I've learned from anecdotes like that it's that there's always more and it's always worse. I'd bet money this GM has done this kind of thing before.

After 3 times the GM fiat turned someone into a bloodletter and straight up destroyed the party. We killed it with an orbital strike not sure if that is normal for a dark heresy game.

You guys are sure that you use the Psychic Phenomena Mechanic right? Wanna tell us the rolls?

Besides that, **** can go wrong and you might summon a bloodletter though most often these are only after the psyker.

On the other side an orbital strike is kinda overkill and might have caused more damage than a lesser deamon on the loose for a week until it simply vanishes. Such a thing, if alone, might be easily killed by local authorities and even those guys would ask less questions than a friggin orbital strike would cause.

So no. This is absolutely not normal for a dark heresy game.

On the other side Telekinesis is more a utility and subtility skill. Remember, Dark Heresy might include subtility as rather important factor. So yea, a Pyromancer might throw fireballs and what not but that causes quite the attention to a degree where he will find himself more often in a situation where he can not even use his power without causing major problems. Telekinesis might not be that flashy but you can deal damage and manipulate things without someone actually seeing it. A pyromancer would be the target #1 for everyone where else your psyker is more hidden. I had a psyker once that also used that power to do stuff and only sprayed some lasgun around without even atempting to aim with it. Why did he do that? He appeared just like some dude that had no idea and would pose no threat, an idiot that cant even hit a barn. But simultaneously he was the guy responsible for all that "bad luck" that ****** the other guys day up.

Assail: Someone with a heavy weapon stumbles or falls down into some deeeeeeep hole.

Crush: An important guy you want to interrogate runs away? Ho ****, he sprained his ankle.

Gate of Infinity: Ever wanted to be your own distraction? Cause turmoil at place A and then go the place B when nobody is looking. This power is also called Kansas City shuffle.

Pro Usage of Gate of Infinity: Lure your target to a location or know a location where the target rests regularly (Throne, Restaurant, whatever) Open gate from your safe house to that location right behind him. Let your strong man grapple and take that guy for interrogation and close the gate or shot through with the entirety of your party firepower to "assinate" the target and then close it.

Objuration Mechanicum: Ever wondered how you shut down your occasional murder servitor or heretek without destroying? Here is your answer. Also works for scanners that would find your teams weapons you try to smuggle into someones place.

Shockwave: Nobody is listening? They poke you and you dont like it? Make them stop. Yea... nothing special here. Just a brat shouting.

Telekine Dome: Firefight intensifies. Ready for a glorious last stand? Wanna get accepted by your party for being a mutant and source of all evil? Grant them some Armor and they will hug you.

Telekine Shield: You use that? Your party has a reason to hate you.

Telekinetic Control: This is the real stuff. Bring a grenade to your foe? Easy!

Pro Usage of Telekinetc Control: A handheld mirror is a rather cheap tool to extend your "line of sight" around a corner.

Vortex of Doom: Wanna screw something? Screw something realy, realy hard? Maybe yourself? Have you always been a fan of Neil deGrasse Tyson and though it would be cool to create your own singularity? Well here you go. This power is hilarity ensured!

Vortex of doom is why i originally chose telekinesis and yes creating a singularity and gate of infinity was the decision. But thus far i have been eyeing pyromancy with a jealous eye. Im trying to decide between the two The dm may let me relocate exp for it.

Psychic phenomena chart rolled a 1, a banshee howl and a 3. all in the same session. So the gm decided the something bad happens was "in the same room" i didnt even roll on the perils chart.

Psychic phenomena chart rolled a 1, a banshee howl and a 3. all in the same session. So the gm decided the something bad happens was "in the same room" i didnt even roll on the perils chart.

Your GM does know that the bad things are only meant to happen on the Perils of the Warp and that Psychic Phenomena are more of an atmospheric and minor inconvenience (compared to PotW)? Because what he did there is some f*ed up ****. Of course he can do it (he is the GM after all), but what he is doing is screwing your character for no reason at all. I know, 40k is grimdark and all, but that is just ludicrous.

In this case your GM is not playing by the rules.

He is allowed to do that but he should have told you that he is utilizing super harsh and dangerous made-up rules just for the sake of screwing with you.

You more or less rolled the most harmless outcome for the Phenomena Table. These are there for you to notice that something went not as planned but the psyker is still mostly in control of it.

For example to roll for the scenario you had by rules you must have rolled 75+ on your Phenomena Roll and after that a 59-67 Result on the Perrils Roll.

In that case a Lesser Daemon might be summoned but he would have ONLY been after your psyker, nobody else.

So in fact (compared to the rules that still can be really harsh) your GM turned the most harmles result even worse than a relay bad one described in the core rule book that is quite comparable. Followed by the orbital strike overkill I do not even believe that he actively tried to screw you because he is a bad GM. But in fact your GM seems to be not really familiar with the WH40k lore and the rulebook in particular. And as a newbie GM you should stick with the rules and not get to creative for then this happens - a worst case GM fault party wipe.

Orbital Strike for a Bloodletter is like burning down the house because there is a spider in it. Of course spiders are nasty, but there are ways to deal with them that don't involve destroying your house.

I wonder, what it be a bad idea to go down the left side of telekinesis and pick up gates of infinity, vortex and telekine dome, and down the right side of the pyromancy tree for the damage powers mainly molten beam. My agility is only 31 so the other fire abilities would be a pretty big exp sink.

If you just want massive damage output: Yeah, go for it. It doesn't get much better for pure damge than Molten Beam.

That most defiantly work as any psypower do more or less. The increased damage of molten beam is traded for being quite obvious.

The most important thing though is to have a serious talk with your GM.

The most important thing though is to have a serious talk with your GM.

Exactly. What use has the best Power if your GM f*s you up for using it?

So why shouldnt i get vortex of doom?

In my experience at least, with Vortex of Doom, it's a very very fine line between effectively damaging/ killing your opponents and accidentally killing your team/ self. Because if that thing explodes, it's likely going to one shot your psyker something fierce. And anyone else in the radius