Okay, fairly simple question this time. In all of the fiction I've read, psykers usually have themed powers, represented in the various 40k RPGs by disciplines. An alpha plus psyker might be able to rip a titan in half telekinetically, but he couldn't control someone's mind or conjure a flame to save his life. So why is it that in the various games, characters aren't bound by similar limitations?
Themed Psykers
Well, usually they are limited to powers mainly within a certain field, and then they can also pick a few powers outside of it. And I think that is done primarily to make players a bit more flexible, as it gets somewhat boring if all you can do is cast "fireball" all day long, no matter how powerful it is.
As for the Librarians, that is more down to canon, as they usually have a bunch of different sanctioned and trained powers.
So does each chapter have a training regimen that teaches Librarians how to use Codex and Chapter powers or something?
It might be a case that the alpha plus psyker has allowed their "lesser" powers to rust while they focus on more and more titanic effects. There is precedent for this in the Dark Heresy: Ascension book, which makes the argument psyker powers are more like skills that have to be used to keep fresh than permanently etched on a character's mind. It is also possible the character never bothered learning anything outside of their preferred discipline, instead aiming for greater and greater focus in one discipline.
Nerdynick said:
Okay, fairly simple question this time. In all of the fiction I've read, psykers usually have themed powers, represented in the various 40k RPGs by disciplines. An alpha plus psyker might be able to rip a titan in half telekinetically, but he couldn't control someone's mind or conjure a flame to save his life. So why is it that in the various games, characters aren't bound by similar limitations?
When we talk about trained and highly powerfull psykers it isn't quite so clear-cut: In Fall of Damnos Necron lord (who seems to have very good grasp of how psykers and psychics work even though he is non-psyker himself) call Tigurius "pyromancer". Still Tigurius freely uses powers from Pyrokinetic, Telekinetic, Divination and Telepathy fields without preferring any field over others. The "Themed Psykers" is something more appropriate for Sanctioned Psykers, Astropaths and such. Librarians and Grey Knights seem to draw from any and all disciplines quite freely.