Hypothetically, would a sorcerer be able to use a force weapon?

The case where the sorcerer is also a psyker is a no-brainer. Of course he'd be able to utilize it. But a "vanilla" sorcerer? He can channel the warp, albeit in a different way compared to a psyker. Would it be possible for him to channel the warp through a force weapon, much as he does with other types of warp-powers?

Normally i'd say no. Unless you give it a special feature..

Corrupted

Over a period of time the Sorcerer has inscribed foul runes and performed perfideous rites over the weapon. The item now works much like it normally would but only for the sorcerer or his Coven.

IE: a Force weapon normally channeling Force Powers will now instead Only channel Sorcerous powers (albeit in exactly the same way).

To Corrupt a Weapon takes 1 month per grade of quality, will require copious amounts of suitable offerings to their Dark Power of Choice and also require a Forbidden Lore -10 check to ensure the ritual are performed correctly and the Dark gods pleased with the offering.

Botching the corruption ritual will cause a psychic assault of 2d10 dam (Toughness only, no armour to the damage reduction) and also cause d5 +1 per degree of failure in Insanity or Corruption (chosen Before the rolls are made)

You could then also give it the following feature..

Chosen of the Coven

Only those who have sacrificed to the Dark gods during the items corruption will be able to handle the item with out suffering a psychic backlash.

To handle the item they will need to make a Willpower -20 check.

Success means they can handle it for WP bonus in minutes before they need to check again.

Failure means they will suffer the same sort of psychic feedback as the Corruptor would have if they had failed to appease the Dark Gods.

2d10 dam (Toughness only, no armour to the damage reduction) and also cause d5 per degree of failure in Corruption points.)

This sort of thing would be a good kind of safeguard or trap to throw at the players that they would not be expecting, especially if you put it on to other things as well...

I agree with the Above.

Las Cannon swords are Giant cheesy puffs anyway. The less people that can use them the better anyway.

Velvetears said:

This I like. This is really something I could put in the hands of a villain.

And ofc, force swords are cheesy. As are bolters, battle tanks with "organ guns", orks in general, Vindicare Assassins etc. as well as the name "Warhammer 40 000". I still like it ^^

I'd consider it fully possible for Sorcerers to use vanilla force weapons. Though one has to wonder if a weapon that is constantly the focus of sorcery might not be interesting for a warp entity passing by...

As per Radical's Handbook, any specific defenses against Psychic Powers or Attacks also apply to Sorcery. They have access to both the Invocation and Psyniscience skills. Negative effects which come into play when a target has a Psy Rating, such as Psycannon Bolts, Witch Lances, and Torpor would of course affect Sorcerer's equally well as they would a Psyker. In fact the wording of the Malleus Psycannon makes it clear that any individual with a Psy Rating can use it's special ability. Sorcerers have a Psy Rating of 2 and Master Sorcerers have one of 4.

Additionally on page 167 of the Inquisitor's Handbook whilst describing the exact in-game effects of a Force Sword as opposed to the fluff benefits, "in the hands of a wielder with a Psy Rating, they are much more. For every point of Psy Rating..."

Sorcery can duplicate any Psychic Power, receives the same drawbacks, and is affected by the same defenses. It seems to me that they would certainly then be able to use a Force Sword. I would however give them the standard +2 to Threshold for utilizing Sorcery rather than Psychic power.

At Last Forgot said:

I think the wording, on the Sorcerer and Master Sorcerer, actually say that they have "an effective psy rating of 2" (and 4, respectively). Which isn't the same as saying that they have Psy rating 2/4. In my mind, sorcerer's don't count as psykers (and afaik, the text doesn't say that either), because they don't always carry a conduit of the warp within themselves, the way a psyker is. They "activate" their psy rating, whenever they start casting. Things that protect against psychic abilities also protect against sorcery, because they're both of the warp, but sorcerers aren't just psykers by another name.

If I were to make a straight, by the book ruling, I'd go with your suggestion on the +2 Threshold for activating the weapon. However, due to the fact that sorcerers often need to activate their powers in a very obvious and often self-mortifying fashion, perhaps I'd ask them to shed some blood for the sword to activate, dealing 1 (or 1d5 :F) points of damage each time they want to use the weapon's special powers.

Personally I say why bother. A Sorcerer would prefer to use a daemon weapon, chaos weapon or a sorcerer created equivalent. Personally in my games they tend to have weapons with the warp weapon trait. Of course the most feared Sorcerer I did had a hand cannon which could fire bullets with the warp warp weapon trait....

A Sorcerer would prefer to use a daemon weapon, chaos weapon or a sorcerer created equivalent.

And a guardsman would prefer to use a best quality bolt or plasma gun. If a sorcerer gains access to a force weapon, he probably won't say "****, it's not a Daemon weapon, I'll just throw it into the garbage..."