I am just checking to see if I am alone on this but me and my gaming group are completely opposed to psychic healing. In a world where all psychers are considered evil and rounded up or killed by authority, the concept that people would allow someone to channel warp energy into their bodies to heal wounds seems wrong to me. As a result our unwritten rule is no psychic healing of any kind unless the group is radical in nature; and by radical I mean other members of the ordos are ordered to kill them on sight. I will not deny part of my ruling is because before reading the rule book I was exicted because I figured this would be a rpg that would not have healing classes due to the games background. Does anyone else also feel this way or am I being to anal.

Now, heres the thing, the Sanctioned Psykers Are part of the system (as in the world since day one) and are tolerated.

It's the wyrds, wytches and other foul mutants and sorcerers that are looked down on with scorn hatred and treated like the proverbial red headed stepchild.

The imperium simply cannot run with out Sanctioned Psykers.

The church would have "clerics" who're faith healers, and they wouldnt say they're channeling the warp, but the divine will of the emperor seeing as they're sanctioned and marked as suitably clear of mind and taint free.

You dont see much in the books of the psyk-healing arts, you just see the GrimDark machines and implants.

We get by this in our group by letting a Puritan character die, he refused help from a "warp tainted blah blah blah" despite being told prior to the game starting that there IS healing available in the form of my character who's sanctioning papers cleared him to be a battlefield medic.

The player was out of fate points ~(having burnt them on trivial things)~ and was criticalled.

My character who's quite passionate about seeing "worthy servants of Him On terra" live was over wrought with guilt for a few weeks in game having to stand there and watch the puritan die for his ignorance.

The group have been saved countless times by my healing arts, as i'm Sanctioned they have no issue with it.

Might be worth reminding your players Sanctioned Psykers are considered OK (usually) in imperial terms.

What would your groups reaction to one of the Grey Knights or other Librarians be, especially if they came and saved them from most certain death at the hands of some daemons..

"No, dont be saving us, you're warp tainted you are, go on, bugger off and go save some one else..."

How about just eliminating via houseruling the Minor Psychic Power Healing from your game or making it a Biomancy Discipline Major Psychic Power, and thus restricting healing to Biomancy specialists, who would be a lot less common group of people than those with access to Minor Psychic Powers? If your player wanted healing powers he/she would have to take Biomancy as a discipline, which is not that useful in investigations compared to, say, Divination and Telepathy. And the GM would rule that Biomancy specialist NPCs will never be around when the PCs need them, since they are too precious to waste their time and powers on mere acolytes, instead concentrating on Inquisitors and other Throne Agents.

This way you can avoid most of the entire Radical/Puritan argument.

In our group one of the players (an Arbite) had a real issue with the psyker healing him. He accepted it, but felt pretty rotten about being healed through the power of the Warp. He made that clear to their Inquisitor and it's now an interesting point of contention from which to build character and continue the story.

It even led to the Arbite requesting a single Psycannon Bolt to use on the Psyker should the worst ever happen.

BYE

I have always made Psy healing a very painful and unpleasant process as the Psyker forces your body to rebuild itself at an accelerated rate - putting a massive strain on your system. Additionally, they are passing the essence of the warp through your body, so you are likely to experience visions, nightmares, bizarre scars, cold flashes, loss of pigmentation in the area, etc.

Considering all this, people are reluctant to allow the Psyker to heal them, but if the wound would otherwise prevent them from doing their duty to the Emperor they will accept it, considering the trauma of the experience a kind of sacrifice to the God Emperor's - may his light fill the darkness, may his word be heard by all - glory.

Velvetears said:

They might be part of the system, but it doesn't make them any less reviled. Most Sanctioned Psykers are pressed into military duty with the Imperial Guard, where they are, often as not, treated as tools rather than humans, having a guard detail on them at all times with orders to kill the psyker if absolutely anything strange starts to happen. Sure, they are marked as Sanctioned, but that doesn't stop the vast majority of people, following the Imperial Creed that states that those that can use the warp are twisted and the enemy, are justifiably scared and creeped out by psykers.

Plus, I don't know about you, but I don't think that Sanctioned psykers are widely known about in the general population, so if the locals found out you were a psyker, sanctioned or not, you'd likely end up with a riot and a lynch-mob on your hands.

Acolytes are, I would imaging, taught the difference between Sanctioned Psykers and wytches and the like, so they might be more tolerant. However, it's still up to their personal feelings on the matter.

I would, personally, say you are being a bit anal about disallowing healing powers. They aren't that good, only healing back a max of 5 wounds and a minimum of 0 (if you fail to cast), you need to roll every time to try to cast it (which could result in a failed cast or in Psychic Phenomena), you can only use it on the same person once every six hours without risking hurting them instead, and is restricted further by whoever decides they don't want to be healed by "no dirty psyker warp dabbling". I think it's restricted and controlled enough that you shouldn't just stop it entirely.

Zelsior said:

So what you're really opposed to is the idea of "psyker as D&D cleric." I can't say I disagree with that notion, though I think you're using an extreme interpretation of the background to justify denying it. The thing is, psychic healing is part of the background, albeit only very thinly. I recall seeing mention of psychic healers among the wyrds (unsanctioned psykers) of Necromunda.

I would Jan Solo's suggestion of removing the Healing minor power. That way only Biomancers can be psychic healers... allowing psychic healing, but only in an advanced group and only if the psyker forgoes other disciplines.

MILLANDSON said:

I have to disagree with this interpretation. IMO, the general population, at least of an Imperial or Hive world, is aware of astropaths and other sanctioned psykers... even if they are unlikely to have ever seen one. That doesn't mean they don't view them with suspicion, fear and maybe even outright hatred.

As for lynch mobs attacking sanctioned psykes, I would remind folks that a sanctioned psyker is, by definition, a member of the Adeptus Terra... a direct servant of the God-Emperor of Mankind. As such an attack on them is an attack on the Imperial government itself. In my campaign, anyone lynching a sanctioned psyker would quickly be made an example of by an Arbites chastisement team. The Imperium may not like or trust psykers, but they need them.

LuciusT said:

Well, of course they would be made examples of... assuming the Arbites knew who did it, or even knew about the death. I mean, if I was gonna lynch a psyker, I'd make sure him and his mates were dead and put in shallow graces. No bodies + no witnesses + no evidence = no crime

MILLANDSON said:

MILLANDSON said:

Hmm, sanctioned psykers mysteriously disappearing in the outer city... sounds like an adventure seed to me.

Velvetears said:

That me smile a bit, I can only imagine what would happen to a group of players if they called Space Marines warp infected... But it's true, I myself can't see some of the most honorable human creatures, space marines, to be anything but pure. And lets face it their are a few Inq who have powers, hell look at Ravenor, one of the most powerful psychic's and as an Inq. And the God Emperor himself is a beacon of such huge power which comes from being Psychic. Those are just my views as well, some may call that sanctioned psykers are "closer" to the God Emperor then others.

While I would not use the term "anal" (Freud & overcorrect?) I think the concept of psyker being 100% banned from healing to be much to harsh.

To reflect the standing of "normal" citizens, I had a militia member who was a support the pc refuse the healing since he considered it "unclean". Since psykers are a rare thing, they will not fight "healing temples" like in high fantasy settings.

...and once they are on a deathworld, they are shamelessly attack twice or thrice in 24 hours. They can take it, after all!

Gregorius21778 said:

Plus, I believe the default belief of the Ministorum is that Psykers are unclean, if not outright heretics damned by their connection to the ruinous powers; a necessary evil tolerable only because they help spread the word of the God Emperor - his might unfathomable, his wrath unquestioned - throughout the galaxy.

For 'Faith Healing' in the Ecclessiarchy/church, I'd simply go the traditional route of being blatant frauds/wishy-washy-ill-defined-likely-non-existant. The psyker aspect is certainly viable within the Adeptus (I'd imagine quite useful to the military for those who can overcome their disgust).

But the 'oh, there's a psy-healer on the corner. Nip in, slip him a few thrones and you'll be fine...', I generally dislike. Having a psyker on-hand is a pleasant mechanic for the games, but I find most players simply too dubious about Perils of the Warp to trust 'em.

I'd be inclined to support folks who bump the minor-healing one up to biomancy, but I understand why it's there in the first place. Many people *do* have a less Call of Cthulhu outlook to the game, so it's inclusion is not surprising. The trouble, of course, is gaming with folks whose view disagrees with your own. "Nuh, uh! Techpriests wouldn't do that. Psykers can do this. Adepts look like that."

I personally feel that Seal Wounds and Regenerate are the only two real reasons to take Biomancy. Without them the discipline is pretty dang underpowered compared to the other disciplines.

I don't think the issue is a particularly grave one. The rulebook simply provides the skeleton of the game, the bits and pieces which are then assembled into your own current campaign setting. Of course some people might be extremely averse to such Psychic healing, whereas others could probably care less and would much rather have a brush of the Immaterium rather than a brush with death. All the core rulebook does is provide the possibility that a Psyker can use his powers to heal, not demand how such an act is viewed by the populace at large or in particular.

Generally speaking I'm willing to bet that characters who get in such frequent firefights as Acolytes will find their morals become quickly amenable. Maybe they use it only in emergencies and trust bed rest and a band-aid to do the rest. Any number of people could have any number of opinions on the topic and all that is required is that your GM hash it out with your group or make some autocratic rulings.

Only super-pure fanatics would refuse such healing in the face of certain death - that's how we do it. So, having a biomancy-specialised psyker in the group, they now rely on her abilities, which come to play very often. So often, that I house-ruled that each successful psychic healing gives the recipent an Insanity Point, since having warp energies coursing through one's body is not entirely normal. Well, that reminded them of more mundane means of healing...

LuciusT said:

I have a couple of points regarding this paragraph.

First off, a lynch mob would not care whether the SancPsy is employed, or even by whom. That is essentially the very nature of a lynch mob.

Second, you've mentioned that common citizenry will know that the Imperium employs psykers as Astropaths and Navigators (in the abstract). In this you are completely correct. But those sorts of psykers do not freely mingle with the common citizenry anyway (except in unusual circumstance), and because of this, I'm quite sure the common citizenry would be unable to make the distinction between Astropath/ Navigator and "just some psyker wandering around on the streets". Following along with this is actually identifying the psyker as anything other than "just some guy on the street". To wit, I know the Secret Service exists and can point them out when they do their job (the Uniformed Secret Service), but if they're just walking down the street, they look just like anyone else. Now, if said psyker on the street is casually displaying his powers, all bets are off. and imho those types of psykers do not live very long.

Finally, extreme censure of the public (the type you may or may not be implying, I'm not sure...) may be warranted, but practical application of same is rather difficult to effect. Sure, John Q. Public may lynch the psyker, and hang around to gloat about it, but will definitely disperse once word gets out that an Arbites vehicle or group on foot is headed their way, leaving the chastisement team to "pick up the fleeting pieces" and make a report.

In my opinion, to outright ban psychic healing seems too extreme. As has been noted, it is hardly overpowered, and can only be used safely once every 6 hours (if I recall the period correctly). And when I say 'safely', that doesn't take into account the potential Warp Frivolity that might be incurred!

The healing system in Dark Heresy is harsh. One might say 'relatively realistic'. But when it comes down to you and your fellow acolytes on a world, hemmed in by heretics, and you're all succumbing gradually to the wounds you keep sustaining... that can only end in loss of Fate Points. Maybe very characterful. But if you have a psyker able to channel raw warp into you, and if you're willing to let them, it can keep you going. It can also give the GM some leeway to throw more/harsher things at you.

Regarding acceptance of the power, I think that rather depends on the stance of the cell and the individuals within it. I have a telekine in a moderate cell, and no one has ever balked at him healing them when they're falling to bits. I also have a cleric in a puritan cell, and he has promised the witch in the group decapitation if he even considers pouring warp energy into him.

Personally, I think it would be better to leave the rules alone and let the tone of the game and your personal setting decide how, when and on who this power will be used.

Remember that psychic healing may have some mutations side-effects if you are using it too often. I recommend you to take this fact to a next level and make them do a Corruption test everytime a player is healed using warp magic. This will eventually make them reconsider if its worthly to take the risk of gaining corruption points in exchange to be healed.

Have fun and keep rolling!!!