Like to ask some advice from you all

I'm about to run a Rogue Trader game and as GM am offering certain perks to various PC's (Some have inherited powerful heirlooms, another got a unique cybernetic implant etc) but the one I would like some advice on is the Unnantural Willpower for a Rogue Psyker.

To put it simply the way the player and I see it, the Rogue Psyker will be a stereotypical Super-Talented psyker but not necessarily the best Trained or even inclined to train psyker.

In other words they mainly get an initial psy-rating from Origin with maybe the Alternate Pysker Rank at Rank 3 and it goes without saying that if they start being Obvious with their talent even with certain other PC's (The Missionary for example) they get sent on voyage on a black ship.

I've read on this forum that Unnatural Willpower is unbalancing for Psykers but I was curious about how it would be paired with a Rogue Psyker with limited growth potential & unable to use it openly or use obvious powers (Force Bolt etc).

On the other hand this would help them hide their abilities (they get to shut out mind reading inquisitors) and when they do use it, they would likely succeed.

So thoughts?

No, I would let them buy more Psy Ratings though.

First, it won't actually help them with shutting out detection from being a Psyker. People exist with Psyniscience, especially in the Koronus Expanse where every single person born on Footfall has it, and that's going to just start pinging if they're using powers along them. Also if someone Mind Scans well enough, they'll know if you're a Psyker in an unopposed roll. Finally, being able to resist Mind Scanning is suspicious in and of itself.

Also being an untrained Psyker should be an incredibly dangerous thing, and you're not going to eliminate Psychic Phenomena no matter how good you are at manifesting your power.

If they don't want to train, then they don't get to be a super cool Psyker, just a crazy, unhinged person who is going to become a daemon someday and kill everyone.

This is the simple math of your problem. The character will have a low Psy Rating unless you throw the rules out the window, never a good idea for a non-veteran GM, and you wouldn't be asking advice on this if you were a veteran of these matters. Low Psy Rating means little effect at a fettered level. Astropathic transmissions won't work at any desired level, as won't many other telepathy techniques. TK will also be ineffective. Your player wont have much to do. That means they will try unfettered more and more. Each use at unfettered gives a 10% chance of psychic phenomena. Each point of Psy Rating gives a +5% chance of Perils of the Warp. At a mere Psy Rating of 2 that means the player will be rolling on Perils of the Warp every 30 times they use a psychic ability. On the average, that means your player will self-destruct somewhere around 300 uses of a psychic ability. In my experience, that means the character has a lifespan of about 25 sessions. And that doesn't even take into account all the other bad things that will happen on the way; that's just the final Rock Falls, Everyone Dies result. It's also my experience that players that want to play these types of characters invariably go for the cranial artillery, a.k.a. TK, which means the player will push their Psy Rating. That brings the character's lifespan down to about 2 sessions.

Hey, it's your game. Knock yourself out. You will have to fudge a lot of die rolls, though, or the character in question won't live long enough to really affect the game. Chances are good, that the character will be the entire plot line of the game, since the trouble they will attract will dominate game play. Did your players want to play a game of Rogue Trader or React to the Party's Psyker? Such characters are better suited to Dark Heresy, though I think you'll find they have another set of problems in that game.

Thanks for the response both of you . Sorry for the late response but I had to do some research before I could respond properly

No, I would let them buy more Psy Ratings though.

First, it won't actually help them with shutting out detection from being a Psyker. People exist with Psyniscience, especially in the Koronus Expanse where every single person born on Footfall has it, and that's going to just start pinging if they're using powers along them. Also if someone Mind Scans well enough, they'll know if you're a Psyker in an unopposed roll. Finally, being able to resist Mind Scanning is suspicious in and of itself.

Also being an untrained Psyker should be an incredibly dangerous thing, and you're not going to eliminate Psychic Phenomena no matter how good you are at manifesting your power.

If they don't want to train, then they don't get to be a super cool Psyker, just a crazy, unhinged person who is going to become a daemon someday and kill everyone.

Erathia, thank you for brining up some very valid points (I especially like your point about being able to resist mind scanning being suspicious) which promptly led me to do some research.

There is currently no method for a character to reliably hide that they are a psyker especially from powers like the Navigator's Divinition's Aura Reading / Detect Taint, Telepath's mind probe (Mind Ward does the trick but it is suspicious of itself). If they are any please point me to them.

This is something I was moderately upset about because as a GM & Player I would like characters to have some control over their fate. To me this is like not having a hide/sneak skill and trying to build a thief character. I'm not saying that a Psyker should be able to hide 100% of the time but that (like a theif) they should be able to take some action (increase a skill, take a talent or power) to have a reasonable chance of opposing detection (a Thief trying to sneak past a guard for example.)

I'm thinking of making some house ruled powers on this because otherwise I can't see how a Rogue Psyker is remotely feasible if other characters can just auto-detect reliably.

This is the simple math of your problem. The character will have a low Psy Rating unless you throw the rules out the window, never a good idea for a non-veteran GM, and you wouldn't be asking advice on this if you were a veteran of these matters. Low Psy Rating means little effect at a fettered level. Astropathic transmissions won't work at any desired level, as won't many other telepathy techniques. TK will also be ineffective. Your player wont have much to do. That means they will try unfettered more and more. Each use at unfettered gives a 10% chance of psychic phenomena. Each point of Psy Rating gives a +5% chance of Perils of the Warp. At a mere Psy Rating of 2 that means the player will be rolling on Perils of the Warp every 30 times they use a psychic ability. On the average, that means your player will self-destruct somewhere around 300 uses of a psychic ability. In my experience, that means the character has a lifespan of about 25 sessions. And that doesn't even take into account all the other bad things that will happen on the way; that's just the final Rock Falls, Everyone Dies result. It's also my experience that players that want to play these types of characters invariably go for the cranial artillery, a.k.a. TK, which means the player will push their Psy Rating. That brings the character's lifespan down to about 2 sessions.

Hey, it's your game. Knock yourself out. You will have to fudge a lot of die rolls, though, or the character in question won't live long enough to really affect the game. Chances are good, that the character will be the entire plot line of the game, since the trouble they will attract will dominate game play. Did your players want to play a game of Rogue Trader or React to the Party's Psyker? Such characters are better suited to Dark Heresy, though I think you'll find they have another set of problems in that game.

Wyrdling give Psy Rating 2 and Unnatural WP(x2) gives Pys Rating 2 for a total of 4 unfettered and 2 fettered if I read this section on page 157 core correctly:

Unnantural Characteristics And Psychic Techniques:
Creatures and Characters with Unnatural Willpower can make for shockingly powerful psykers. Characters with Unnatural Willpower may add the multiplier to their Psy Rating and any successes on opposed tests as part of psychic powers (both to enact and resist them).

That being said I have discussed the character concept with the player and the way he's described the character is that they don't use the obvious powers (TK is out) and their intention is to play their Career Class (Astro Militant) first and their Pyschic powers second or third.

So, just consider what you're saying: You're unhappy with your rules and are basically going to houserule every part of them for your player. This is your campaign, and if you want to do it go ahead, but I made some house rules for my Astropath two and a half years ago, and that character is still alive and basically an unstoppable powerhouse. Psychic Powers are weak at the beginning, but they do not need house rules in the long-term.

If your character wants to have a psychic trick to fall back on every now and again that's one thing, but you're making him one of the most powerful Psykers in the game - as not even Primaris Psykers, the elite of the Inquisition, have access to Unnatural Willpower. Only Eldar get it, and you're putting your player on that level. It doesn't make them safer (Psychic Phenomena are killer), and there's no reason why he can't be an Astropath who has a propensity towards stabbing people with Force Swords.

There are enough Alternate Ranks and adapted rules that you should be able to build something in the game that can keep your player happy rather than have to design an entirely new set of Psychic Rules for this character.

@Erathia:

Actually the Unnnatural Willpower was my idea. As I said in my OP I am trying to give something special to every PC. The general idea was that the psyker would have enormous potential (hence the Unnatural Willpower) but very few actual techniques and even less of a desire to use them.

That being said I have for the most part given up on the Unnatural Will power part and have instead offered him two free powers that I have just house ruled in this thread.

Please take a look and let me know what you think. I made them in response to your feed back regarding being unable to hide being a psyker.

(Also if you know any way to edit thread titles that would be appreciated.)

So, just consider what you're saying: You're unhappy with your rules and are basically going to houserule every part of them for your player. This is your campaign, and if you want to do it go ahead, but I made some house rules for my Astropath two and a half years ago, and that character is still alive and basically an unstoppable powerhouse. Psychic Powers are weak at the beginning, but they do not need house rules in the long-term.

If your character wants to have a psychic trick to fall back on every now and again that's one thing, but you're making him one of the most powerful Psykers in the game - as not even Primaris Psykers, the elite of the Inquisition, have access to Unnatural Willpower. Only Eldar get it, and you're putting your player on that level. It doesn't make them safer (Psychic Phenomena are killer), and there's no reason why he can't be an Astropath who has a propensity towards stabbing people with Force Swords.

There are enough Alternate Ranks and adapted rules that you should be able to build something in the game that can keep your player happy rather than have to design an entirely new set of Psychic Rules for this character.

Actually, per Ascension (I know, I know), the Primaris Psyker does get Unnatural Willpower (x2 at rank 14, and x3 at rank 16)... but slower than the Inquisitor does (x2 at rank 9, x3 at rank 16).

But otherwise, yeah ... Unnatural Willpower is Eldar Farseers and maybe/probably some higher-level daemons that are Tzeentchian.

As far as hiding that you're a psyker from Psyniscience, I'd probably say it's opposed Willpower, and you can't hide while using or sustaining powers, and you have to be intentionally masking yourself (using a power automatically stops your masking). Maybe it'd require a talent or trait. Not sure if Psy Rating would impose a penalty on your Willpower to mask or not, though.

So, just consider what you're saying: You're unhappy with your rules and are basically going to houserule every part of them for your player. This is your campaign, and if you want to do it go ahead, but I made some house rules for my Astropath two and a half years ago, and that character is still alive and basically an unstoppable powerhouse. Psychic Powers are weak at the beginning, but they do not need house rules in the long-term.

If your character wants to have a psychic trick to fall back on every now and again that's one thing, but you're making him one of the most powerful Psykers in the game - as not even Primaris Psykers, the elite of the Inquisition, have access to Unnatural Willpower. Only Eldar get it, and you're putting your player on that level. It doesn't make them safer (Psychic Phenomena are killer), and there's no reason why he can't be an Astropath who has a propensity towards stabbing people with Force Swords.

There are enough Alternate Ranks and adapted rules that you should be able to build something in the game that can keep your player happy rather than have to design an entirely new set of Psychic Rules for this character.

Actually, per Ascension (I know, I know), the Primaris Psyker does get Unnatural Willpower (x2 at rank 14, and x3 at rank 16)... but slower than the Inquisitor does (x2 at rank 9, x3 at rank 16).

But otherwise, yeah ... Unnatural Willpower is Eldar Farseers and maybe/probably some higher-level daemons that are Tzeentchian.

As far as hiding that you're a psyker from Psyniscience, I'd probably say it's opposed Willpower, and you can't hide while using or sustaining powers, and you have to be intentionally masking yourself (using a power automatically stops your masking). Maybe it'd require a talent or trait. Not sure if Psy Rating would impose a penalty on your Willpower to mask or not, though.

Came up with a somewhat similar house-rule ( link ). Main difference the Psyker must learn two powers to use it.