So i was running our weekly RT game last night. The explorers subordinates have suffered some injuries, some of which are life threatening and as this RT happens to take interest in the little people on his ship, after all he can't do everything himself! they call on the psyker, the astropath. "Do you have any healing abilities my friend?" We play Dark Heresy on tuesdays and the psyker has some minor healing power aka 'Healer'. the astropath answers in the negative! What not even a minor healing power? asks the lord captain?

My ask is, whats the general opinion amongst us most badgered of gamers, aka the Gamesmasters! "Should the astropath have access to other psyker powers? I'm not sure. would be thankful of some opinions. cheers. may the emporers light guide us :-)

Eh, doesn't really fit the astropaths role, and I'm fine with that as I'm not a big fan of 'healing' powers, especially in reguards to warp powers. Seems foolish to heal people with the warp. In the fluff using the warp to heal injuries has never been described in a positive light (outside of Dark Heresy).

Personally I would rather have my adventurers invest in first aid for battles, and a med bay and a doctor for outside of battles. Unless a player is wanting to roleplay a doctor I think they make better background characters than party members.

Astropaths powers solely reside in Divination, Telepath and Telekinesis. That is their job, and their lot in life. So no, they shouldn't have the same powers as a Sanctioned Psyker (which is an entirely different beast).

The ship would have medicae facilities on it though. Why not just visit the ship's doctor?

We might be getting a few more powers and kinds of powers in further supplements, but right now, Astropaths are rather focused in their powers - which IMO fits their role well. They're safer than ordinary psykers and have a few powers that can't be replicated otherwise (like their whole astro-telepathy shtick), but they're not quite as versatile.

thanks. appreciate all your thoughts. i guess i shouldn't compare a sanctioned psyker to a astropath really. they are really two distinct careers so there should be a line drawn between them. and looking at the astropaths power of reprogram, they don't need anything extra!