I have a few questions concerning the use of psyker powers in combat.
I can't find anything that says they get range increment decreases or increases, so I assume that means they don't get a bonus for aiming.
Do psykers suffer any penalties for aiming into melee?
Do psykers using ranged powers like Force Barrage, Biolightning, etc, when engaged in melee get attacked in the same way a character using a non-pistol ranged weapon does?
If the power is a projectile based ranged attack, it should follow the ballistic weapon -20 or so to hit a target engaged in melee.
IronOgre said:
I have a few questions concerning the use of psyker powers in combat.
I can't find anything that says they get range increment decreases or increases, so I assume that means they don't get a bonus for aiming.
Do psykers suffer any penalties for aiming into melee?
Do psykers using ranged powers like Force Barrage, Biolightning, etc, when engaged in melee get attacked in the same way a character using a non-pistol ranged weapon does?
Psyker powers, with very few exceptions, do not 'aim', at least not with Ballistic Skill. So they do not get bonuses, but neither do they get minuses. They also do not get penalties for aiming into combat. But they must be able to see their target, and cannot just 'lay down a pattern' as that requires a weapon that is fully automatic, not Psyker abilities.
Let me give you a combat example of one of the powers you mentioned, Bio-Lighting, using my favourite little hellion Psyker Amy. Amy has a Psy rating of 5 with a 70 willpower (she is rank 8 afterall), and decides to use her first half-action to shoot a few bolts off. Her targets are 7, 15 and 22 meters away. The threshold of his power is 14, base range of 10 meters, with overbleeds of 5 (to give an extra 10 meters of range), or 10 (to shoot extra bolts, something she usually gets because of her high scores). She rolls 5 dice (Psy rating 5), and gets a 2, 4. 6, 7, and a 9. This is a total of 28, and then she adds her WP of 7 to give her a total of 35, or a 21 point overbleed. You will note the base range is 10 meters, and she only gets one bolt normally. She uses 10 overbleed to get an extra 20 range, and another 10 overbleed to get an extra bolt on her targets. This results in a range of 30 and only 2 bolts, which she chooses to fire at targets the targets furthest away (15 & 22 meters), rather than the close in target. She now rolls her dice for damage, a 6 and 10. To these she adds her WP bonus of 7 to get results of 13 and 17. These hits are applied to the body of each target, and they get to soak for Armour and Toughness. Finally, since she rolled a 9 on one of her dice, she gets to roll on the perils chart, and rolls a 82. Fortunately, she has 'Favoured by the Warp' and gets one additional roll, and then rolls a 13. She rolls a 27 on 3d10, so other than zapping 2 bad guys, she made everything frosty within 27 meters and reminded everyone why they don't like Psykers. Her first half action done, she uses the second half-action to begin to Invocate, an action she will carry over into the next round, hoping to get double her WP bonus the next time she blasts 'em. Of course she's also hoping they don't dogpile the insolent witch, but that's the price of being a psyker.
Hah! More fool them if they do, as my Psyker is just crazy enough to want that. Of course, it helps when you're a Mistress Templar Calixis (can anyone say Jedi... I thought you could!), and have quick draw and a force weapon at the ready. But I digress....
I hope this gives you a little better illustration of how a Psyker can run. If your Psyker is a bit less experienced in melee combat than Amy, I would suggest using those kinds of abilities only when surrounded by lots of friends. Big burly friends. Because if you're too kind and don't dogpile the Psyker, then you're probably not running it right.
Just my two coppers worth. Hope it helps.