Heeey Everybody

I have been wondering, Holocaust is very very powerful power. It does exstreme amount of damage. Now it says the each round that it is surstained it gives damage to the psyker. But does that also include the first round? If not then the psyker can just stop using it, and then spam it the next round.

I just think it makes sense if it hurts the psyker even the first round, it is also described as using the psykers soul as fuel. What do you guys and girls think?

that depends on how you interpret the "...each round that you sustain this power" part. if you take it to mean every round that the power is active then yes. if you take it to mean every round that you have rolled to sustain it then no,

Psycher can sustain the psychic power but don't has to. So the first round doesn't count as a sustaining and he doesn't get damage. Yes, you can spam each round but remember that you have to throw the dices every round and get more than 23 on Threshold ( when sustaining you check every 10 rounds and don't provoke psychic phenomena) so not every time you succeed, but it is more safe for psycher cause he doesn't get hurt. On the other hand psycher after few rounds of sustaining can seal his wounds or regenerate. Holocaust is good but only in close combat, the range is 6m.

For the sake of balance I would say that the psyker would be burned while manifesting holocaust. It is after all the power of choice for suicide bombers.

Storhamster said:

Why would you burn the casting psyker? You can survive the temperature of flames comming from your location in first round but if you sustain the power it's getting to hot, that's why you get damage while sustaining. And it's not for suicide bombers if you know how to use it. You can always use seal wounds power after few rounds if you have it, enemy usually can't. They die, you not. If you choose to spam Holocaust every round I would say you get damage as you would sustainning it except first round.

The description of holocaust states "Holocaust calls forth a raging white-hot firestorm ignited by the psyker´s own soul."

It is not a matter of simply tolerating the heat of the physical flames, the psyker uses his soul as ignition and expends his soul to manifest the power.

Nor is it possible to heal damage caused by holocaust with seal wounds or any psychic power for that matter since the errata states that "Wounds caused by Holocaust may not be healed by any Psychic Powers".

Now, if this power was simply a conjuration of physical fire the psyker may very well be able to be unhurt from the manifestation, but sadly that is not the case.

And by making the power not hurt the psyker on the round it is activated opens up for an interesting exploit where any psyker simply only activates the power every other round and as such is completely safe from the primary cost of the power. Surely this is not what the writers intended?

You right, didn't check the errata.

Storhamster said:

Considering the high threshold of the power and the high risk you take by spending the needed dice on a psy test every time you activate the power, that's hardly "simple".

Taking the additional risk plus the possibility that the power simply won't work on a turn is enough of a balance for not getting hurt by it imho.

You manifest holocaust on your turn. So, what next, what have you done? Nothing. You did not create some thrownable fire bolts, nor set anything ablaze. Instead, after manifesting holocaust you starting to radiate flame and continue to doing so for whole round and this, first round, that follows right after your turn counts.

And here is some rules to be shure -

"Every 10 Rounds a power is active, the Psyker must make a Power Roll to maintain it."

There is no such thing as "every 10 rounds after first", no, every round counts. Sustainable powers do not create instant effect after manifesting, they remain active for at least 1 round.

Dictator said:

Actually whole round you take focus power action to manifest the power cause its focus time is full action, so you concetrate full round just to manifest the power in the end of your turn

raffalin said:

Huh? You focus power on you turn, not on the begining of Round. Full Action = Turn, not Round.

Dictator said:

You wrote that during whole round the power is active psyker radiates flames: "Instead, after manifesting holocaust you starting to radiate flame and continue to doing so for whole round" -only if psyker decides to sustain it. If the caster turn is last in a round, right after he manifests his power next round starts. Round beggins the player who is the fastest, so if few players already took their actions, then the caster , you can't say that the power is active for whole round, only part of it. Whole round would be if the caster was the fastest. Besides caster can stop using power in any moment he wants to. If he decides to not sustain holocaust - it ends in his turn not round. For example look at the "preternatural awarness" power: focus time - half action, it is sustainable. Psyker cast it and he gets +20 to the awarness test, he use it and spots something thanks to it, then he still has half action to do, he can move or hide or whatever. He can now stop using this power still in his turn, or decide to sustain it to the next round or more. Always depends on the psyker when he stops.

Any and all powers take effect at the end of the Psyker's turn unless specifically stated otherwise. The process of manifesting Holocaust would be, IMO, the act of channelling his soul into purifying (or desecrating!) fire and sending it out from him in a wave of death fully capable of leaving his standing in a large, smoking crater. Half the action would be to call forth the power itself, the other half would be to prevent him from expending too much of himself and dying.

Bear in mind that sustaining is a free action, so once you're of 5th rank or so, and have Sprint, you could manifest it and then move x2 your Run distance, dealing insane AP+T ignoring damage to everyone you pass within 6m of. Brutal.

BangBangTequila said:

Not really, the errata says: "Making a Focus Power Action is the psychic equivalent of a Standard Attack Action, and counts as such for purposes of determining what else a psyker can do in a round. Therefore, a psyker who uses a Half Action power cannot make another Half Action Standard Attack on the same round." As you see after casting half action psychic power, psyker can do another half action but not attack, so his power is manifested in the middle of his turn not at the end like you wrote in this case. Unless he takes any half action first and then manifests his another half action power. Only then it will be at the end of his turn.