Hi there,

Have done a search on the forums before I made this post but have found very chunky results which do not pertain to my question.

1) Is the use of Psyniscience a skill or a demonstration of psychic power to detect psychic powers being used?
2) Can other psykers detect a psyker attempting to use the warp sense skill?
3) Can a psyker use psyniscience to detect telepathic bonds (eg tyranids hive mind link, or a source attempting to broad cast a psychic call like an astropathic choir).

I'm sorry for so many questions, fluff wise it seems that psyniscience seems to border on using psychic powers but the core rules state that it is a skill only psykers with at least PSY level 1 can use. Hope that you can spare me some advice in this area. Thank you in advance for your patience and assistance.

Deepstriker said:

To my mind

1) It is a skill, but similar to awareness it is something innate to the person that they need to actually practice to make best use of. It requires the user to actually be able to detect psychic 'energy' and so requires Psy 1 to use it.

2) Psynicience is a passive ability and so cannot be detected.

3) Upto the GM but in my game (so far as we're just about to complete the spaceport part of Oblivion's Edge) the hive-mind/broodlord link is a general background disturbance that cannot be located effectively unless the psyker is fairly close (within striking range) of the synapse creature/broodlord. An astropathic choir may well be detectable when transmitting as Librarians are expected to provide communications of this type for the chapter (at least in the old school fluff I remember from my youth.)

Zethliss, that's exactly how I interpreted it, though I did have it be used to follow a sort of trail of past psychic emanations to find a dead psyker's corpse.

Thanks for both of your responses. I thought so too.

We're currently playing Final Sanction (yeah after 8 weeks we're still on it, we're going slow but enjoying the game). Zethliss, could you point me to the page which says that psyniscience is a passive ability?

I attempted to suggest that since the broodlord would eminate a call to attract a hive mind, perhaps I could detect it using my psyniscience.My GM ruled that if I repeated try to use my Psyniscience test to look out for a , I would become psychic beacon that could draw unnecessary attention.

Discretion being the better part of valour, I had decided to not do that yet and rely on clues instead. We've gotten to the part of the astropathic choir and the all so cryptic yabba dabba section. Prior to which we were ambushed. Someone forgot to check his auspex for Genestealers (ahem, squad leader cough cough).

Was wondering if I could detect genestealers telepathic bonds and since the broodlord et company may send a call to the hive mind to attract its attention, pretty much sounds to me like an astropathic signal to guide a fleet into orbit. If that is the case, would it be logical to feel that it is roughly the same?

Finally as Captain Ventris mentioned, his GM allowed the Librarian to follow the emanations of a dead psyker. What else can the Psyniscience test do? Is it for the GM to rule? Seems the core rulebook only says allows the detection of psychic powers. Would I need a psychic ability (eg reading) to be able to trigger this?

I wouldn't worry too much about the 8 weeks. It probably took us as long to do - though I have a particularly fractious group and it is my first attempt at GMing.

There is no particular page that says psyniscience is a passive ability to my knowledge.

The DW book just says that those with the ability can sense the currents and eddies of the warp, pretty much word for word from Rogue Trader.

The core DH rules however said that the test was used to extend the senses out for (Per bonus + 1D10 metres). The expanded rules within the IH though (P235) say that 'The Psyniscience skill is to psykers what Awareness is to mundane Acolytes.'

From this I concluded that it is always on and allows you to detect warp disturbances within your range based upon your personal sensitivity to the warp. You detect them automatically but it is the psynicience ability which allows you to 'notice' what you detect in the same way that awareness allows you to catch the important item amongst the background sights/smells/sounds etc.

It would seem that the passive statement is an implication from the portion on traits where, it was written that unlike skills, traits are always active and do not require a test to use. So triggering a test would means something if the activation of a skill is successful or otherwise (considering all opposed tests and modifiers etc).

Awareness is something like spot/search skill test in D&D. Possibly its used to detect an ambush, search for a target etc. So applying it in the case of psyniscience, it would mean that in order to identify a warp event, it may take a psynicience test + a Knowledge forbidden/ Xenos to identify the occurrence right?

Also one more question if I may. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record. Logically it seems to me that the Genestealer cults would be somewhat like a an astropathic call, homing a hive fleet onto a planet.

Correct my understanding but it seems like there must be a large enough mass of these, somewhat similar to a waaaaargh! in order to commune with the hive fleet. So may I also assume that using a psynicience test, I should be able to sense the direction of the call and guide my team to the general direction of said emanation? Thank you.

Deepstriker said:

Personally (and this is just my opinion) I would say that detecting the warp event is straight psynicience. If you want them to be able to correctly identify something particularly unusual then you requuire a test on the relevant Lore after they have detected it.

Deepstriker said:

As I put in my intial response. How well this can be detected is upto the GM in question. When we played it I ruled that the hive mind link couldn't be identified until the party were close in anyway. There was a general background 'noise' across the city, possibly due to the hive fleet approaching or the link to each of the stealers to each other but the Librarian couldn't tell. When he got in close to the Broodlord I ruled that the link was there and could be felt but it caused a 'pressure' within his mind that reduced his Psy rating by 1. As he powered everything fettered anyway normally it didn't make a great deal of difference for him.

zethliss said:

Thanks! I understand it now!