I'm currently playing an Imperial Diviner -> Primaris Psyker in our Ascension Campaign, and I was wondering how exactly divination is supposed to be played?

Alot of the divination-powers are self-buffs, while the rest are investigative, but with that being said there doesn't seem to be any power for actually peering into the warp, trying to sort through the shifting paths of possibility, in an attempt to divine the future. The personal Augery power (as written at least) seems to be directed at a different target than the psyker himself, and Glimpse is kinda weak from a roleplaying perspective.

So I suppose the question is... Have you played(with) a diviner and how did you go about the whole... divining issue? Because as I see it there is not that much divination to the diviner. They can sift through alot of 'has been', but the whole 'seeing the future'-thing seems only vaguely touched upon.

With my GMs permission I'm prodding you guys for suggestions for a 'see the future'-ish power. I know seeing the future is hard, even to some eldar farseers, and that there is no such thing as a certain future, but with that in mind a psychic power or set of rules for divining with the Emperor's tarot would be appreciated.

Have such rules been made (and I simply can't find them) or do we have to house-rule something?

Can I simply edit Personal Augery to include myself as a target, or should I perhaps make an entirely new power for my GM to approve?

Your experience and creativity is very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

-Nearyn

The self buffs are meant to represent you seeing your future and responding to the visions.

Actual "seeing the future plot" powers, are a nightmare for the GM and really need to be worked out with them. In my experience they are just a pain in the butt and best handled outside of the game via email.

I have an Imperial Diviner in my own game, Varn Lazarus, former student of Aristarchus The Seer and recent inductee into the Occularians.

For me, divination isn't a problem - as a GM, you just have to remember that prophecy is all about prevailing events and symbolism - its not about giving the diviner a photographic snapshot of a future event. Its a great tool for foreshadowing as well - it worked brilliantly during the Haarlock's Legacy.

I actually allow Personal Augury to be used on Varn himself, its not really a game-breaker, but I don't allow questions that have a specific, simple answer. I'll allow a reading based on "What should I be aware of when I enter the House of Dust And Ash?", but not "Should I press the red button or the blue one?". (In the latter, the readings would always be confused...)

I also have a few pre-prepared ideas for doom and fate in mind for each session and since Varn uses a hand-crafted Emperor's Tarot as a (Lesser) focus, I made a list of the broad meanings of the major arcana (based on the standard tarot deck) so I can drop them in for flavour. Basically, as a GM, you need to be able to think on your feet and adapt some of these ideas quickly, on the fly!

Perhaps your GM will allow you to buy the Astropath psychic power "Auto Seance" as an elite advance? (allows glimpses into past, present and future, plus it provides limited protection and enhancement for other diviners. There is also an entire psychic power category (again from RT) entitled "The Emperor's Tarot" and as you might guess, all of the powers revolve around psychic-enhanced Tarot readings. You might be allowed to buy into this when you gain your next Psy Rating. (just takes a little converting by the GM, mostly generating threshold values and determining potential overbleeds).

ZillaPrime said:

I hadn't actually thought of looking at Rogue Trader and Into The Storm until you suggested it, but I'm not sure, after a quick read through, that these offer any real benefit.

The Emperor's Tarot techniques largely offer variations on Personal Augury or the "buffs" mentioned in earlier posts, so they're not radically different to what we already have in Dark Heresy. Isn't Augury in Rogue Trader actually less powerful than Personal Augury in some respects too? - You only need 3 degrees of Success in Personal Augury to discern doom, malign influences, benign factors and fate - but it looks like you need 6 in Augury for the same result! (Unless it got errata'd - I always forget to read the errata! )

Also, Autoseance doesn't actually grant the ability to read the past, present and future - that's just part of the description of Astropaths in the opening paragraph of the power. Autoseance serves as a booster for other Psykers using Divination, and allows you to take on some of the fallout from the Perils of the Warp.

Course, apologies if I've got this totally wrong! I'm not actually playing Rogue Trader at the minute, I just have all the books.

They don't provide game mechanics for it, but the flavour text in Auto Seance is still there for a reason. This is where the GM comes in. If there is something vaguely useful that glimpses of the past or possible future would bring to my story then I might take advantage of the Astropath using this power and slip them a few "less than random" visions as part of the experience. I might also slip a vision or two that has absolutely nothing to do with my story as well or maybe something that appears but is simply window dressing... The Warp is fickle even at the best of times.

There is an Imperial psyker in my group who uses tarot cards and the personal augury power. We’ve looked at several alternative career ranks that are meant to be especially for diviners (I think it was in the Radical’s Handbook and one in Daemonhunter), but many of those ranks, talents etc don’t quite capture the essence of playing a diviner.

So yeah I’m still searching too. Personal augury only works if you can offer detailed answers to the questions which have in-game value. It’s pretty tough for a GM to come up with these on the spot, especially when he is winging it and does not have a clear idea where the investigation is heading.

Another tool for roleplaying is to make use of the diviner’s talents to drop vague and terrifying hints in his dreams, or have him see signs everywhere, in his coffee, in the flight of birds etc. You can use this as a tool to propel the story.

I love you all.

I think I'll argue for either a variation of the rogue-trader powers or a personal-use personal augery. Thanks for the great ideas. I think I'll pitch the visions-idea to my GM and see what happens.

As always you were very helpful. If anyone still feels like submitting ideas for powers or rules to the above problem, please do so

-Nearyn