I play a navigator in our RT game and have just hit rank 4. We are about to head deep into the expanse for the first time, having recovered charts to a human colony that existed in the Dark Age of Technology and has been lost since. My ST has declared that I will be unable to detect the Astronomicon at all for this journey. (Effectively I'm automatically failing the Awareness roll by 3+ degrees). I've sunk a significant amount of XP into Awareness and think this is rather harsh. It's the equivalent of a -110 penalty to the roll (assuming that even if I rolled a 01 and the RT was applying his +10 bonus I'd still fail by 3 degrees) and will mean a -60 to the following three Navigation (Warp) rolls. On top of this we're looking at a base journey time of several months, which will mean several warp encounter rolls.

Can anyone advise me on how to dissuade my ST on the automatic failure rules and allow me to make the roll, even if it's at Hellish difficulty?

Laesin said:

Well, there are a couple of factors that'll improve your Navigation (Warp) Tests. Amongst them, you've got charts for the journey, then you should find it easier than if you were venturing blind into the void.

Beyond that, the other one might be the ability to locate a new, local, reference point - something to substitute for the Astronomicon while you're beyond its reach - ask to spend some time and a few tests to find a suitable reference point and navigate that way.

If you can't see the Astronomicon, that's fine... Navigators were travelling without it for millennia before the Imperium was founded. Try to look for other ways to improve your chances... that's the best advice I can give, speaking as a GM.

A local reference point isn't going to cut the mustard. We're traveling direct from Footfall to beyond the 'undred 'undred teef, just after a failed crusade has managed to trigger several Waaghs in every direction. Stopping off to take references will get us massacred.

I don't think complaining will help. In some areas the Astronomican just isn't visible.

You could try to improve the ship. Have the RT install a Warpsbane Hull if you don't already have one. A Runecaster would be perfect.

One slightly cheesy trick is to get hold of Good Cortex implants (page 149). According to Inquisitors's Handbook, Unnatural Characteristics reduce the Difficulty of relevant Tests by one step. (Comes with 1d10 Insanity.)

Though if you're running you're probably not getting hold of new components or fancy implants any time soon.

(BTW, I can't say I buy the idea that a rogue trader can stand next to the Navigator and "motivate" him for an automatic +10 bonus on Navigation (Warp) tests.)

Laesin said:

Bear in mind that the Astronomicon is a reference point visible from all but the absolute furthest reaches of the galaxy (obfuscation by warp storm notwithstanding)... long-distance reference points are far from impossible, and would be searched for as a natural part of entering the Warp. You wouldn't need to stop regularly to find a reference point - just figure one out before you start the journey and try to rely on that for the duration of your voyage in place of the Astronomicon - any significant, largely-static warp phenomenon or psychic presence should do...

N0-1_H3r3 said:

I would stop trying to Navigate the Warp in the normal way and making very short Warp Jumps, even ships without Navigator could make those.
Look to the "Night" sky and try to find constilation you recognise and go in that direction until you are within reach of the blessed Emperor.

Not to argue with your GM but the maximum penalty on a single roll is Hellish (-60)

To argue in support of the GM (because I feel someone should) It's not truely a penalty, its just a statment that the task cannot be performed. If there is no meta-physical way to see the astronomicon then there is no way to see it. For the Navigator to complain about this would the the same as an Arch-Millitent complaining he can't attempt a Ballistics Test to shoot a man on the otherside of a bulkhead with a laspistol dispite all the experance he's dumped into BS. It's not like Awareness is only useful for locating the Astronomicon.

One can presume that your Storyteller knows the rules reasonably well, and undoubtably realises that by removing this check he's forcing travel times of several months and multiple warp encounters. This may, infact, be the GM's very intention to emphasis the dangers of exploration. If your conserned he may not have thought of that, you could bring it up to him as a question, but I'd bet this desision was likely intentional.

As other posters have pointed out it's certainly possible to navigate without seeing the Astronomicon but it's going to take ages. If months of short jumps are your GMs intention, I hope they're prepared to skip ahead the gametime or else get to love a *lot* of dice rolling.

Iku Rex said:

Personally, I despise that ability.

Personally, I despise that ability.

For any special reason? Motivating people is pretty much one of the main things being a captain is about.

The +10% granted isn't necessarily motivation. It could also be active direction or oversight. Yes, the Rogue Trader likely doesn't know a great deal empirically about warp navigation. But most likely he's overseen dozens of jumps throughout his career. It could even be that he is whipping the crew into better shape so the ship is more fully within the Navigator's control, thus making it respond to his touch quicker.

There are many ways to boost Navigation: Warp, and only experienced navigator should try to "Jump" without the Astronomican in sight. Let's make some experiment :

- An intelligent Navigator int = 50 => base roll 50

- Navigation: Warp maxed out => base roll 70 (nothing exceptional for an experienced Navigator)

- Talented in the skill (the PC Navigator who doesn't take Talented in Navigation: Warp is just stupid) => base roll 80

- A Warpbane hull +10

- An appropriate chart or the "I dont't remember the name" almanac +10

- An Hellish difficulty -60

Success on 40 or less, tricky but far from impossible. And there should be other way to boost it (the Rogue Trader boost, some navigators to be / in training helping to plot the course, etc.)