Sorcerer and Psyker

By pirobox, in Dark Heresy

Hi everybody,

I'd like to have an explanation on the mixing of Sorcerer and Psyker powers as it is explained in the Radical handbook.

If a player is a psyker and takes the Sorcerer talent, does it take also the starting powers (WP bonus * 3 points to spend) or only the increased PSY rating?

Thank you, Andrea

It does both. You gain the Arcana *AND* you get the increase psychic potential. Very handy that way. Makes it very tempting to be a Radical ;)

Not exactly.

You do get the ability to cast sorcery (throught the sorcerer talent).

When casting sorcery you use your original Psy rating (+1 with sorcer talent, +1 again with master sorcerer talent).

When using your normal Psy powers, you do not get the +1 or +2 bonus from the sorcerer talents.

Quartermus said:

Not exactly.

You do get the ability to cast sorcery (throught the sorcerer talent).

When casting sorcery you use your original Psy rating (+1 with sorcer talent, +1 again with master sorcerer talent).

When using your normal Psy powers, you do not get the +1 or +2 bonus from the sorcerer talents.

Not true. You can "super charge" your regular Psy Powers with the sorcery talents. This has been the official response from FFG in the past. You, however, do not need to use the bonus PR from sorcery when manifesting your "normal" psychic abilities. Or sorcery, potentially. But Arcana carry their own risks already.

-=Brother Praetus=-

Brother Praetus said:

Quartermus said:

Not exactly.

You do get the ability to cast sorcery (throught the sorcerer talent).

When casting sorcery you use your original Psy rating (+1 with sorcer talent, +1 again with master sorcerer talent).

When using your normal Psy powers, you do not get the +1 or +2 bonus from the sorcerer talents.

Not true. You can "super charge" your regular Psy Powers with the sorcery talents. This has been the official response from FFG in the past. You, however, do not need to use the bonus PR from sorcery when manifesting your "normal" psychic abilities. Or sorcery, potentially. But Arcana carry their own risks already.

-=Brother Praetus=-

What he said lol.

Ok for the increased PSY power, but does a psyker get also the bonus points (3 * WP bonus) to spend in arcana.

For me in the manual it is not clear.

Andrea

I've thought again to the mixing of PSY power and sorcery.

I'll answer to my initial question with an example. My psyker has a PSY rating 3 and decides to take the Sorcery talent. With a WP of 50 the psyker receives 15 points to spend in Arcana.

Effective use of powers:

- when using an arcana the psyker has a rating of 2 (because of the sorcery talent)

- when using a psy power the psyker has a rating of 3 or 4 depending on whether he decides to use the boosting from the Sorcery talent.

A.

It took me some searching, page by page, but I knew this had been gone over before in the |Rules Questions| subforum. The link is to the thread. Below is a copy/paste of the culmination of the thread.

-=Brother Praetus=-

Unknown said:

I've recently got some official answers, and they are as follows. My queries are italicized, and Ross Watson's responses are bolded:

Hello!

Reading through Disciples of the Dark Gods, I've noticed that on Page 119, in the sub-section on sorcery, 'Malefic Witches and Warp Tainted Psykers', a Psyker with the Sorcerer Talent suffers +20 to results rolled on the Psychic Phenomena table. Does this apply even when the Psyker is _not_ 'super charging' his powers with the additional Psy Dice from his Sorcery Talents, or otherwise stacking/incorporating these Psy Dice? Is this increase cumulative/stacking or overlapping (apply the highest) with the +10 and +20 to the Psychic Phenomena roll for Minor and Major Arcana mishaps respectively stated on Page 117?

Further, does using these additional Sorcery Psy Dice to manifest a power require the somatic and verbal components of Sorcery?

The last two questions are less ambiguous (at least according to th e RAW), but decisive clarification would be welcome:

Does Arcana used by a Psyker require verbal and somatic components (I assume so)?

While I understand Psykers do not gain the full Psy Dice normally allotted to non-Psykers for the Sorcerer and Master Sorcerer Talents (+2/4 Psy Dice respectively), do they receive the other benefits listed, such as free Arcana, and Daemonic Mastery Test bonuses, etc... or just the bonus Psy Dice?

As ever, I really appreciate the quality and rapidity of your responses; keep up the great work! Thanks again!

Hello there!

The practice of sorcery is inherently dangerous, and the +10 (for using a Minor Arcana) and +20 (for using a Major Arcana) to any rolls for the Psychic Phenomena chart always occur when using sorcery.

Super-charging your sorcery with psychic power (per page 119) adds additional threat, and you suffer an additional +20 to the roll, for a total of +30 (for minor arcana) or +40 (for major arcana).

Whenever you are invoking Sorcery, you must be able to speak and gesture freely (see page 116 of Disciples of the Dark Gods).

Psykers with the Sorcerer and Master Sorcerer Talents gain all the bonuses listed with the exception of the increased Psy Rating (the effects of which are listed on page 119 of Disciples of the Dark Gods).

Ross Watson
Senior RPG Developer
Fantasy Flight Games
[email protected]

Thank you for the prompt reply! Just to confirm, if a Psyker with the Sorcerer/Master Sorcerer talent uses a Psychic Power, not Sorcery, or Sorcery mimicking a Psychic Power, and does not apply the bonus Psy Dice gained from these talents to that roll, does he add +20 to his rolls on the Psychic Phenomena table, or does this +20 to Psychic Phenomena rolls only apply when he is using Sorcery, or Psy Dice from the Sorcerer/Master Sorcerer talents?

Again, your clarification is most appreciated!

Hello there!

The latter is correct. Hope that helps!

Ross Watson
Senior RPG Developer
Fantasy Flight Games
[email protected]

So in conclusion:

* A Psyker with either the Sorcerer or Master Sorcerer Talents does not suffer from the +20 bonus to rolls on the Psychic Phenomena table if he is not using his bonus Psy Dice from these talents, and is not using Arcana.

* A Psyker perform the verbal and somatic components normally required by Arcana if he does not have and use the Sublime Arts Talent (DDotDG, Pg 117, RH Pg. 169).

* Psykers applying Psy Dice not granted by the Sorcerer and Master Sorcerer Talents when casting Arcana, (i.e. that are 'supercharging' Arcana with psychic power) roll +30 and +40 higher on the Psychic Phenomena table for Minor and Major Arcana respectively, as the +20 increase to rolls on the Psychic Phenomena table stack with the normal +10 and +20 increments to rolls on the Psychic Phenomena table for using said Arcana.

* Psykers gain all benefits normally provided by the Sorcerer and Master Sorcerer Talents with the solitary exception of the 2 and 4 bonus Psy Dice respectively, including bonus Minor and Major Arcana. Instead Psykers with the Sorcerer and Master Sorcerer Talents gain only 1 and 2 bonus Psy Dice respectively as stated on Page 119 in Disciples of the Dark Gods.

Thank you so much. I didn't know there is a subsection for rules questions otherwise I would have posted there.

I had some problems with your link and I had to search for that post, but I've found it.

Here is the link

A.

pirobox said:

Thank you so much. I didn't know there is a subsection for rules questions otherwise I would have posted there.

I had some problems with your link and I had to search for that post, but I've found it.

Here is the link

A.

I see what happened with the link... Some how I linked it to my open response that I was working on, and not the thread itself. sonrojado.gif Weirdness ensues. I'll see if I can't fix that so my link is not trying to send people into my account. happy.gif

-=Brother Praetus=-

EDIT: Or not. Post too old now to edit.