So I have a question to make sure I am playing this right. I have a psyker in my group with a variety of the opposed spells. He casts them with a psy focus and uses then under their psy level (since strength doesn't matter) so basically is getting around +20-30 to every focus test depending on spell. Then add in willpower of 45-50 (I can't remember) and only needing 1 degree for stuff like terrify, crush, or hallucination and even big end bosses with willpower 60 stats are likely to be shut out of fights without much they can do against it. Is this right? It's starting to make designing encounters difficult because nothing can stand up to that, but I don't want to tell him he can't do what he wants with his character so I don't really know what to do here.

It feels weird that the psyker gets so many bonuses to an opposed test with results that knock the target out of fights that the only way to really design around it is to have guys with absurdly high stat lines.

(Sorry for posting this in the wrong forums initially... )

To make a Focus Power Test - whether Opposed or not - the Psyker adds +/- 10 for every point of Psy Rating below or above their effective Psy Rating respectively, the Psy Focus gives them another +10.

For example, Jimbob the psyker is going to use Enfeeble (p.200) a Challenging (+0) Opposed Willpower Test. He has a Psy Rating of 3. He figures his opponent has a fairly high Toughness - Toughness being the Attribute the NPC is using to resist the power - so decides to use an Effective Psy Rating of 2 for +10 to his test. Throw in the +10 from his Psy Focus for a total of +20 to his Willpower Test vs. the NPCs Toughness Test.

Adding Willpower doesn't happen in DH2e - AFAIK - that was from at least Black Crusade, and may have made it into Only War, but not 2e.

As for your complaint about the Psykers getting lots of bonuses, well yeah. That's what they do. Although, admittedly, they're not getting as many as you've been giving them. They are - typically - using Psychic Powers against targets with little/no Psychic resistance - until you get later on into the investigations. Look at it from a marksman's perspective. You make a character that's all about long range attacks. Pick up an Accurate Weapon, you can Aim for a Half Action, and all of a sudden you can wipe out individuals fairly easily. Those characters are good at what they're designed to do.

One less thing to remember, certain powers can be Dodged as if they're ranged attacks, A Psychic Bolt only requires a single success on a Dodge Test to avoid the power, Psychic Barrage and Storm are Semi Auto and Full Auto respectively, and Psychic Blast is, well... a Blast effect.

Using Crush from your example, whilst it can be a nasty effect, it only requires someone to get a single Degree of Success on a - typically - Challenging (+0) Dodge Test, to utterly negate the use of the power - Psychic Phenomena not withstanding.

Hope that helps.

To make a Focus Power Test - whether Opposed or not - the Psyker adds +/- 10 for every point of Psy Rating below or above their effective Psy Rating respectively, the Psy Focus gives them another +10.

For example, Jimbob the psyker is going to use Enfeeble (p.200) a Challenging (+0) Opposed Willpower Test. He has a Psy Rating of 3. He figures his opponent has a fairly high Toughness - Toughness being the Attribute the NPC is using to resist the power - so decides to use an Effective Psy Rating of 2 for +10 to his test. Throw in the +10 from his Psy Focus for a total of +20 to his Willpower Test vs. the NPCs Toughness Test.

Adding Willpower doesn't happen in DH2e - AFAIK - that was from at least Black Crusade, and may have made it into Only War, but not 2e.

As for your complaint about the Psykers getting lots of bonuses, well yeah. That's what they do. Although, admittedly, they're not getting as many as you've been giving them. They are - typically - using Psychic Powers against targets with little/no Psychic resistance - until you get later on into the investigations. Look at it from a marksman's perspective. You make a character that's all about long range attacks. Pick up an Accurate Weapon, you can Aim for a Half Action, and all of a sudden you can wipe out individuals fairly easily. Those characters are good at what they're designed to do.

One less thing to remember, certain powers can be Dodged as if they're ranged attacks, A Psychic Bolt only requires a single success on a Dodge Test to avoid the power, Psychic Barrage and Storm are Semi Auto and Full Auto respectively, and Psychic Blast is, well... a Blast effect.

Using Crush from your example, whilst it can be a nasty effect, it only requires someone to get a single Degree of Success on a - typically - Challenging (+0) Dodge Test, to utterly negate the use of the power - Psychic Phenomena not withstanding.

Hope that helps.

Ok thanks! I'm not sure what bonuses I am giving I shouldn't though. If a psyker has a PR of 3 and uses a PR of 1 for a spell that's +20 and then another +10 for the psy focus. The Psy level of the spell doesn't really matter a huge amount unless they really need the range. So with a willpower of 50 that's 80 or under for a test. So versus a villain with a willpower or toughness of 45, which is fairly high for humans, that's three to four degrees of success that the player has on average over him which is incredibly difficult to roll (typically it means they have to roll 10 or under on dice to resist). When spells like hallucinate and terrify can effectively one shot villains based on one opposed test, that's the issue I am having is that player goes straight for the leader and incapacitates him which makes fights boring and I have to meta where the mooks focus on the psyker to stop this which isn't fun either.

Snipers and really good shots can do a lot of damage but they still need to roll really well and targets can have damage reduction and wounds to soak. I'm not having trouble with damaging spells, it's the binary ones that remove characters from fights based on opposed test.

It sounds like I'm doing this correctly though but I would like to know what bonuses I'm giving that could be throwing this off.

This is Dark Heresy, so the enemies they are facing will not be idiots. If there is word of a crazed psyker going around killing people and making them **** their pants word will spread. Have the cultists/cold traders/etc. start getting items to counter the psyker, have them use psyker's of their own, make the psyker the target of snipers when he uses his powers, etc.

This is Dark Heresy, so the enemies they are facing will not be idiots. If there is word of a crazed psyker going around killing people and making them **** their pants word will spread. Have the cultists/cold traders/etc. start getting items to counter the psyker, have them use psyker's of their own, make the psyker the target of snipers when he uses his powers, etc.

The problem there is anti-Psyker items tend to be.... on the very rare side, and very difficult to get one's hands on. Off the top of my head, the only really effective battlefield weapons that can be deployed by mere mortals (that aren't Eldar, Dark Eldar or Chaos) are Psy-Bolts (virtually impossible to get your hands on), and Pariahs (possibly even harder than Psy Bolts).

Also for word to spread about a Psyker, there has to be survivors from the group's battles. Singling the Psyker out in combat requires you to be able to identify the Psyker, which depending on the Psyker in question may not necessarily be easy without eye-witness descriptions. In my old DH1 campaign, my Psyker looked very average and even had the "Unremarkable" talent, so using your example, it's unlikely he'd be singled out until he actually used his powers, and by then it's very likely too late, for whichever key enemy he's chosen to target). In fact depending on the power you might STILL not be able to identify the Psyker. A telekinetic attack, like Crush may not actually indicate who is using the power, to someone who isn't paying attention. I don't believe it's ever specified that physical gestures are required to use telekinetic powers, so it wouldn't be unfeasible for the Psyker simply to use a telekinetic assault by looking in the target's direction. Unless your sniper is really paying attention, and quick on the trigger (hah! Puns!) to note that his boss's ribs imploding coincided with the exact moment PC #4 looked in his boss's direction, he might miss who was the Psyker entirely.

On top of that, if they DO start using Anti-Psyker weapons on the PC's, there's a good chance the PC's can then loot it and use it back against the enemy's own Psykers.

Don't forget that using a reduced psy rating reduces range as well, and 10 or 20 meters - hell, even 30 at his full rating - isn't a lot when your cult leader sits at the end of a huge underground cathedral with his trusty longlas, with a dozen cultists between the group and him. Also, Hallucination's effect lasts psy rating/2 rounds, meaning, if the psyker wants to keep the big bad out of the fight, he needs to roll his focus test EVERY ROUND, effectively cutting himself out of most of the fight as well. That can be an okay trade, but it isn't necessarily. Terrify's effectiveness is directly tied to psy rating, and a measly +10 to the shock roll at PR1 isn't too bad - chances or our esteemed bad guy will still be able to act, albeit with penalties. And at some point the psyker will roll doubles - let the Psychic Phenomena begin!

With everything being said in paragraphs, even the calculations, I'm getting confused and can't see the issues here. A psyker is a specialised unit. They're good at what they do. A lasgun, longlas, melta, bolter, and otherwise can kill them. Until later on, they need to be careful. If they get a lot of XP and build properly, in their hyper-specialised way, they won't have problems casting powers - but can do little else.

As for how you do Focus Power Tests, here's my example:

GM:

Alright, Geralt, it's your turn! What're you up to?

Player:

I'd like to cast the Psychic Power: Hallucination!

GM:

Great! Make that Focus Power test. It's an Opposed test, right?

Player:

Yeah. Okay... So I need to calculate my target.

My Willpower is 47, so that's the base. I have PR (4), but I'm only using 1 psy level.

That means I get +30 to my target because I'm casting it at 3 levels under my Psy Rating, right?

GM:

Right!

Player:

So my target is 47+30... 77!

GM:

Sounds good to me. Make that roll!

Player:

Rolling... 77! Made it!

GM:

I wouldn't smile... Psychic Phenomena!

Player:
Oh! ****! Can I spend a Fate point to reroll my Focus Power test?!

GM:
Absolutely! Mark it off on your sheet, and roll that test again with the same target.

Player:

Okay. Emperor Protect... 42! Much better - I succeed with 4 Degrees of Success!

GM:

Alright. Rolling his Opposed Willpower test... **** - 57! It's a good think that you re-rolled - he got 3 Degrees of Failure!

Player:
Awesome! My Hallucination goes through and lasts for two rounds; because the duration is my Psy Rating halved, and rounded up, right?

GM:

Right.

Player:

Hahaha! Bugsbugsbugsbugs! He drops to the floor, flailing and screaming as he tries to claw off imaginary insects devouring his skin and flesh!

He's also Prone and Stunned!

GM:
Nasty! He cries out in fear, screaming his soul out, now a mess of tears and limbs! Anything else?

Player:

I think I'll put him out of his misery! Spontaneous Combustion!

It's fine that Psykers can sacrifice their Effective Psy Rating. Whether they succeed or fail, there's always a 10% chance that they'll get Psychic Phenomena, and after that a 25% chance of Perils of the Warp. I couldn't compound those two together for a total percentage chance of Perils from the roll itself, but you get the idea.

If you're afraid that your villain will get one-shot by the Psyker, give him some defences. I'm not talking about Null Rods. They can have a willpower of 50+. They're villains, after all, and are perfectly fine with having higher characteristics than the party. There's talents like Deny The Witch, Strong Minded, and etc. that can help too.

If you've got a party of five and your villain is equally statted against one of them then of course he's going to get one-shot. If your having this single villain going against the entire party, then of course he needs higher stats than them in order to balance it to be a fair fight, and I'm not talking about just dumping his Willpower to 80+ and calling it a day.

This question seems to me like a failure of encounter-design than the system itself or how your player is building his psyker.

If you need help with building encounters, or just want a second pair of eyes to look over your work, feel free to PM me. We can even hop onto Discord or Skype and look over some of your encounters, if you like. I'm more than happy to help.

It's fine that Psykers can sacrifice their Effective Psy Rating. Whether they succeed or fail, there's always a 10% chance that they'll get Psychic Phenomena, and after that a 25% chance of Perils of the Warp. I couldn't compound those two together for a total percentage chance of Perils from the roll itself, but you get the idea.

P( Perils ) = [ P( Perils | Phenomena ) * P( Phenomena ) ] + P( Perils | No phenomena) * P( No phenomena ) ] = [ 0.26 * 0.10 + 0.00 * 0.90 ] = 0.026 = 2.6%

Rolling 75+ on a d100 has a probability of 26%, not 25%. Every other entry on the table appears to have a 3% chance, 25 of which should work out to a total of 75%. This would leave Perils of the Warp at 76+ - a 25% probability. So what happened?

For some unfathomable reason, the second entry on the table (Warp Echo) triggers on a roll of 04-05, rather than 04-06. This gives it only a 2% probability of occurring. Why this is is anyone's guess, but it was there as early as DH1.

" Awesome! My Hallucination goes through and lasts for two rounds; because the duration is my Psy Rating halved, and rounded up, right?"

Cast with a Psy Rating of 1, 1/2 rounded up is 1 round not 2, no?

" Okay. Emperor Protect... 42! Much better - I succeed with 5 Degrees of Success!"

77 to 42, is a difference of 35, that's 3.5 in the tens, +1 for Dark Heresy rules that you start at 1. That's 4.5 degrees of success. I'm pretty sure you don't round up on degrees of success. Am I wrong?

" Awesome! My Hallucination goes through and lasts for two rounds; because the duration is my Psy Rating halved, and rounded up, right?"

Cast with a Psy Rating of 1, 1/2 rounded up is 1 round not 2, no?

" Okay. Emperor Protect... 42! Much better - I succeed with 5 Degrees of Success!"

77 to 42, is a difference of 35, that's 3.5 in the tens, +1 for Dark Heresy rules that you start at 1. That's 4.5 degrees of success. I'm pretty sure you don't round up on degrees of success. Am I wrong?

It doesn't say Effective Psy Rating. It says Psy Rating. I'm pretty sure that's significant and that I've seen other powers say Effective Psy Rating instead of just Psy Rating?

As for the DoS, that's my own miscalculation!

Off-topic, but I just wanted to say that I love the forced way the hypothetical players/GMs talk in these example sections in every rulebook. With all the "Right?" - "Right!" 's and such for added realism...

Off-topic, but I just wanted to say that I love the forced way the hypothetical players/GMs talk in these example sections in every rulebook. With all the "Right?" - "Right!" 's and such for added realism...

Stuff like that in rulebooks really get me excited and jazzed - both comically and to play the game. It definitely makes things easier to explain, too, instead of just making people read through step-by-step calculations (which can get confusing, ouch!)

Thanks for the compliment! I try.

" Awesome! My Hallucination goes through and lasts for two rounds; because the duration is my Psy Rating halved, and rounded up, right?"

Cast with a Psy Rating of 1, 1/2 rounded up is 1 round not 2, no?

" Okay. Emperor Protect... 42! Much better - I succeed with 5 Degrees of Success!"

77 to 42, is a difference of 35, that's 3.5 in the tens, +1 for Dark Heresy rules that you start at 1. That's 4.5 degrees of success. I'm pretty sure you don't round up on degrees of success. Am I wrong?

It doesn't say Effective Psy Rating. It says Psy Rating. I'm pretty sure that's significant and that I've seen other powers say Effective Psy Rating instead of just Psy Rating?

As for the DoS, that's my own miscalculation!

As far as I know effective Psy Rating is not mentioned in the psychic powers at all. It is talked about in the rules for psychic powers, but not in the actual powers. I thought Psy Rating meant effective Psy Rating in psychic powers. Otherwise pushing and casting at less would have no impact on the quality of a power.

What power did you see mention effective Psy Rating?

" Awesome! My Hallucination goes through and lasts for two rounds; because the duration is my Psy Rating halved, and rounded up, right?"

Cast with a Psy Rating of 1, 1/2 rounded up is 1 round not 2, no?

" Okay. Emperor Protect... 42! Much better - I succeed with 5 Degrees of Success!"

77 to 42, is a difference of 35, that's 3.5 in the tens, +1 for Dark Heresy rules that you start at 1. That's 4.5 degrees of success. I'm pretty sure you don't round up on degrees of success. Am I wrong?

It doesn't say Effective Psy Rating. It says Psy Rating. I'm pretty sure that's significant and that I've seen other powers say Effective Psy Rating instead of just Psy Rating?

As for the DoS, that's my own miscalculation!

As far as I know effective Psy Rating is not mentioned in the psychic powers at all. It is talked about in the rules for psychic powers, but not in the actual powers. I thought Psy Rating meant effective Psy Rating in psychic powers. Otherwise pushing and casting at less would have no impact on the quality of a power.

What power did you see mention effective Psy Rating?

I'll have a look and get back to you when I get home - Could be that I'm mistaken.

Sure I don't know that much about psychic powers in Dh2

As far as I know effective Psy Rating is not mentioned in the psychic powers at all. It is talked about in the rules for psychic powers, but not in the actual powers. I thought Psy Rating meant effective Psy Rating in psychic powers. Otherwise pushing and casting at less would have no impact on the quality of a power.

What power did you see mention effective Psy Rating?

I share this interpretation, but my search for an answer has not been exhaustive.

Core p194:

Additionally, the effective psy rating of a psychic power determines how potent the effects of the power will be when used (see Step 3).

The drawback from lowering one's PR for non damaging powers is still totally outweighed by the increased chance of landing an incapacitating blow in the first place, imo.

" Awesome! My Hallucination goes through and lasts for two rounds; because the duration is my Psy Rating halved, and rounded up, right?"

Cast with a Psy Rating of 1, 1/2 rounded up is 1 round not 2, no?

" Okay. Emperor Protect... 42! Much better - I succeed with 5 Degrees of Success!"

77 to 42, is a difference of 35, that's 3.5 in the tens, +1 for Dark Heresy rules that you start at 1. That's 4.5 degrees of success. I'm pretty sure you don't round up on degrees of success. Am I wrong?

I would note that they changed the way you calculate it so that it is a little bit faster than what you are doing. You no longer need to pay attention to the ones digit of either number.

Core Book p 24:

If the roll is equal to or lower than the characteristic, the character has gained one degree of success (DoS). He also gains additional degrees of success equal to the tens digit of the target value minus the tens digit of the roll. Conversely, if the roll is higher than the characteristic, the character has gained one degree of failure (DoF), and gains additional degrees of failure equal to the tens digit of the roll minus the tens digit of the target value.

Essentially, you find the difference between the tens digit of the target number and the tens digit of the actual roll and subsequently increase the result by one. (e.g. Players rolls a 42 when the target is 77 and thus scores four degrees of success; Player rolls a 50 when the target is 39 and thus scores three degrees of failure).

Good Hunting!

Whenever a power description refers to "Psy Rating," they mean effective Psy Rating.