Hi, Boys and Girls!

While in DH we have the option to integrate moderately gifted sanctioned "psykers", persons who have other priorities than just warp powers on their agenda, like the Adept or via ascension "Mind´s Eye opens", "Psyker´s Gift", in RT non of the "main" classes beside the Navigator/Astropath have that option.

It is doubtful that there is a Rogue Trader or other RT class in the whole Imperium who has no sanctioned members. In my group we handle chars who will be gifted, like the "Psyker´s gift" and reduce the PF a bit, since the Trader or other class will be away for some time until coming back sanctioned. It costs them massive amounts of XP to get some powers and Psy rating, so they get some minor powers and one, two discipline powers mostly. If they want more, their other char options suffer. All right for us. A RT with one or two Biomancy powers (good to keep healthy and looking impressive) or Telepathy (like knowing when lied to or a Voidsmaster gunnery officer with frightingly good aim) are not gamebreakers, if handled with care. And in-universe there must be some sanctioned psykers in the RT fleets, even leadership. It´s too big a universe, that not even one RT has success in part because of his psy powers.

What would you do/say about how to implement chars with some psy power in RT?

If you want Sanctioned Psykers, just cross over the ones from DH and up them a few ranks. Or convert it into a alternate career rank/path for astropath.

For others, either use the nascent psyker rules in Inquisitor's Handbook or the Wyrd background package in Radicals Handbook.

Other then that, base the fee a psychic rogue trader/void master would have to pay off the Sorcery rules in Edge of the Abyss (roughly 700 or so XP for the based power).

Build from there.

>Psyker Rogue Trader

It's your game but I'd be against allowing Psykers to walk around as "normal" God-Emperor fearing folk. Psykers are a cursed bunch and are only barely tolerated as a Sanctioned Imperial Tool at the disposal of their betters. Allowing a Psyker to inherit a Warrant of Trade is an unthinkable heresy of Liberalism. What next? Mutant Rogue Traders?

All RT have a few carefully watched Psykers on his staff. Astropaths for example. It's not implausible that he has other Psyker servants. Mechanics-wise, I suggest you use the Witch-Born lineage. The Nascent Psyker is more appropriate for sudden unwanted headaches leading to a visit from an Inquisition killteam if you are lucky.

guest469 said:

Completely disagree. If psykers can be given Rosettas of the Inquisition (Eisenhorn is a psyker, Ravenor is a psyker) and psykers can be made into space mariens (Librarians, Grey Knights) then I do not see any reason they cannot be holders of a Warrant of Trade, especially if they are birthed into it.

I think guest469 has a point, however I'll be sharing my view on the situation for clarification.

Now I'll start off by admitting that I haven't exactly been chistleling the lore on the inside of my skull so I might be completely wrong, but here's what I've come to understand so far:

Psykers are evil. They are vile, warp-tainted spawn of chaos that threaten humanity with their uncontrollable powers. Powers that aside from being otherworldly, chaotic and wholeheartedly un-impirial, are a vile mockery and blasphemous attempt to compare yourself to the immortal emperor of mankind. However, since the emperor accepted psykers (to an extend), and was indeed one himself, it has been determined by the High Lords of Terra and (quite possibly reluctantly) by the highest officials of the Emperor's most esteemed ecclesiarchy that SOME psykers may in fact be redeemable. And that some may retain enough of their humanity and purity of soul, that the almighty emperor will see fit to absolve them of the sin of their dark gift, once dead. It is for this purpose (and strategic advantage *cough*whosaidthat?*endofcough*) that the inquisition and their black ships pick up any and all psykers they can find. Firstly to sacrifice to the emperor, and secondly to utilize those that find favor in the eyes of the omnipotent One.

Psykers are not just set loose after their sanctioning, but rather sent to Scholar Arcana or wherever these freaks go, and are trained in further use of their powers. Then, based on their powers and a very thorough personality-test/change, they are shipped off to various parts of the Impirium. Combat-minded psykers are sent to join the Guards in military campaigns, diviners and telepaths are mostly gathered by the astropaths or being "traded" away to sector governors and high-ranking nobles for purposes of profit, alliance-forging and as a way for the Magistratum to empower those officials that they'd like to see rise to greater positions. Some psykers are stationed in starports where their pressence stops the immigration of rogue psykers, stopping most of the rogue wyrds of the impirium from trying to escape the black ships. Lastly a decent chunk of the psykers are quietly being absorbed into the inquisition, serving primarily as weapons against the enemy within, without and beyond.

Now am I saying that a Rogue Trader psyker is completely impossible? By no means. I'm just saying that it is rather unlikely. By process of elimination a psyker can technically be the one to inherit a warrant of trade. Also many, many, MANY of the warrants that are given out are "general" kaper-letters that empower whoever the **** is holding them at the moment. Of course there are a few warrants made out to specific people or families. These are mostly the families that carry favor with the High Lords of Terra and the few descendants of the people, lucky enough, to have such a warrant given to them by the Emperor himself (Some of the highest prized artifacts, the like of which is unlikely to be seen even by the highest courts of nobles on Terra itself)

So to sum up... A psyker could be the holder of a warrant of trade if by culmination of improbable circumstances he was to, in fact, inherit one. OR by claiming one for himself; for example by executing his incompetent Rogue Trader for heretical thoughts (hey! some psykers know about that **** ) and taking the warrant for himself, claiming rulership of all that the warrant entitles him to. Then there is the matter of Impirial-noble politics to be worked out, as well as a potentially pissed crew or angry allies of the late RT. But trials is a part of life, eh?

As mentioned these are simply my points of view and I don't fancy myself an expert on 40k, so feel free to ignore these observations if you think you know better

Anyway, hope it helps

Peacekeeper_b said:

Inquisitors, and Space Marines are chosen - they are what they are because their duties will benefit from it and fully acknowledging what they are from the very start. Neither role is hereditary, and both are chosen due to aptitude rather than any other factor. This is not the case for Rogue Traders, for whom the politics of succession and dynasty are very real concern.

Being a psyker in the Imperium is not just something you happen to be; Psykers are simply too feared and too restricted to be given free reign in day-to-day life. It's why the Blackships exist, why unsanctioned psykers are often condemned to death upon discovery, and why if they achieve any power whatsoever, it's normally because being a psyker is what makes them useful to the Imperium.

But the fact of being a Sanctioned Psyker would interfere with inheritance. The character would have been taken away from his life to be tested, monitored, sanctioned and trained to be a Psyker in the Emperor's service, rather than groomed as an heir to a Rogue Trader dynasty. Odds are, in order to avoid the shame of being known to have a psychic child, records of his birth may be hidden or even destroyed, but even if they are not, by dint of being dragged off to become a Psyker, the character is stepping aside as a potential heir (because there's no guarantee that he'll come back after the Black Ships take him, and even if he is sanctioned, no guarantee that the Scholastica Psykana won't place him somewhere on the other side of the galaxy from his homeworld) and thus is extremely unlikely to inherit the warrant.

It's possible, but only, IMO, in the most extreme of circumstances, most likely those of a succession crisis where there is literally no other available heir (not even children of siblings, distant cousins, etc), and I imagine more than a few dynasties would sooner fabricate an heir than grant a warrant to a witch.

Welcome to the Imperium, where hypocrisy is king.

Honestly, I feel that, as far as psykers-becoming-Rogue Traders is concerned, the most likely route (still being extremely unlikely) is probably if the character was an Inquisitor in the first place.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

True, your argument more or less convinces me that it is such a narrow possibility that I wouldnt worry about rules for it overall. But special NPCs could be crafter for plot devices.

Hi! It seems I stated my question a bit too vague! To clarify: I DO NOT mean a "Blow the enemies of the Imperium to the warp-someday-I-ll-be-a-primaris" psyker, but those gifted with only a small-medium power rating, like the Adepts. They have to be sanctioned too, since it is unlikely they would live for long if they are not.

The NPC RT I created after the char creation rules to cross the path of the group frequently, is a Trader powerhouse, not a "psykic" one. His gifts allow him to succeed in some cases easier or faster, which made him a widely known RT, but because of his business abilities, not his psy powers; he does not go into a fight with his personal warpstorm blazing. He has 5 minor powers and altogether 4 dicipline powers from Biomancy/Telepathy.

I meant how do you gamers out there handle the sanctioning of those medium gifted, whose main life is in an other role than being a full-blown psyker.

Bye!

Gunter said:

Actually, if you read the Radical's Handbook, you'll note that most Adepts who acquire psychic powers aren't sanctioned at all.

Gunter said:

Assuming the character was revealed as a nascent psyker and actually wanted to try and get Sanctioned, I'd probably stage an endeavour around utilising the Warrant to do just that. Grease enough palms, make enough people happy, you can achieve just about anything. Of course, nobody ever said the character had to be truly Sanctioned...

MILLANDSON said:

However, all adepts (as in, the Dark Heresy career) are late bloomers, only gaining psychic powers later on, and usually due to either encounters with the warp or estoric tomes.

MILLANDSON said:

Sanctioning is in Ascension, for those Careers that have gained Psychic Powers. It's a specific transition package; until that point, the adept has NOT been Sanctioned.

MILLANDSON said:

Why do they need to be sanctioned at all? Considering the amount of time they and their entire family line spend exposed to the warp, strange sorceries, alien technologies, etc. it seems sensible that most Dynastic families would prepare for the eventuality that one of their number would achieve some kind of psycik awakening during their lives. Most probably have psykers very loyal to them who'd be willing to train such a person in the skills needed to control his powers; and if those powers were grand and evident enough, most probably have means to acquire false sanctioning brands. Only the most pious and law abiding Rogue Traders are going to deviate back to the Imperium to place their heirs in the mercy of the Black Ships and the often fatal sanctioning process. More often they will simply keep it as quiet as possible and find alternative solutions.

Rule wise, give your psy RT a few elite advance :

- Psy rating

- Psychic discipline

- Psychic technique

- Rite of sanctioning or warp conduit (depending if he was sanctioned or he is a "wyrd")

Don't allow him to purchase the other psy skills / talents and limit the max psy rating to 4 to represent that he cannot be as good as a well trained full time psyker. Finally, make him pay twice the price an astropath for the elite advance and you should have a balanced psy-active RT / Void master / Arch-militant / etc.

The concept of giving a little psy to other career is interesting and could allow some fun concept. I have a psy-active void master (flight marshal) with just a little divination in one of my games and she is one of the most interesting character I had since a long time (the player chose to undergo the rite of sanctioning).