Mass Possession...

So this Peril of the Warp manifested itself at the end of our last game session.

We wrapped up the game after a somewhat heated debate about the exact effects:

Mass Possession affects everyone withing something like five to ten d10 meters in all directions, and lasts something like 2d10 rounds. In our case, we rolled out fifteen rounds.

At the start of each PC's turn, he/she must test WP or fall to the ground fighting off the possession. Failing this test gives the PC 1d5 Corruption Points.

So how does this work? Does this mean that:

1. Right away, everyone makes their WP save. If they pass, they're fine. Otherwise, they are prone, getting 1d5 Corruption points and cannot do anything for fifteen rounds?

Or does it mean that:

2. Every single round, each PC must make their WP save. Regardless of whether or not they pass, they must test again the next round until the effect wears off (fifteen rounds). Essentially each PC has to test their WP FIFTEEN times in a row. That means that a really unlucky player could accumulate 15d5 Corruption points. Holy crap indeed.

What is the correct way to handle this horrible effect?

Oops, here is the correct wording of this Peril of the Warp, for reference:

"Mass Possession: Daemons ravage the minds of every living thing within Id1OO metres for 2d10 Rounds. Every character in the area must Test Willpower at the start of their Turn. A failed Test indicates that the character must spend his entire Turn fighting off the attack and counts as helpless. Characters that also fail the Test gain Id5 Corruption Points."

Yeah thats a nasty one!

The latter one, otherwise there would be no point with the 2d10 duration since in effect it would only last one round, they test wp and either pass and are immune or fail and spend five seconds helpless after which they can act normally.

Anyone who hangs around for the full 15 rounds I think deserves 15d5 CP's.

When horry beasts from beyond start trying to take over your mind, it's time to stop what ever it is you're doing and just get the hell out of dodge. ;-)

Graver said:

True. **** it is going to take a while for my character to run away from a radius of 57 meters...

Who manifested this Peril of the Warp?

Hopefully the surviving PCs executed the psyker immediately after the effect ended. Its obviously a serious threat to the Imperium and a foul Chaos-beast derserving of the Emperor's mercy?

Like many of the Perils, this one's a potential game breaker eh?

Wandering lost in the deep mines, the PCs are spooked by skittering noises echoing down the tunnels. They are getting desparate, fearful they'll never find their way out. Suddenly the only glowlamp winks out as its powerpack dies. They are plunged into total darkness.

Psyker Pete: 'Don't worry chaps, i can make light'

Casts 'Torch' - Thr5 *dice clatter, dice clatter, dice clatter, *

Psyker Pete's player (Jerry): Ooh...sorry chaps, seems i'm a Daemonhost now...

PCs die horribly in the darkness.

GM: OK, lets roll up some new PCs shall we?

OK a trite example but certainly possible.

Actually, what Luddite proposes is going to probably happen.

My character is a Tech-Heretek named Sylon Nihilus, and he's an evil creep with Forbidden Lore - Warp. Would he be savvy enough to know that the psyker is the cause of this mess with that knowledge?

Poor little psyker- Sylon was just starting to like him...

I view it as everyone rolls WP first round. If you pass, immune for duration. If you fail, take effect for that round and roll WP again next turn. Repeat until duration ends or you pass in which case no longer effected.

Necrozius said:

Actually, I expect it's common sense to kill the psyker in case of spooky weirdness.

Graspar said:

This is going to be interesting. The other characters might not take too kindly having my character, essentially a newcomer, try to execute their long time comrade.

It will be a short conclusion. It will probably end with my character getting killed rather than the psyker, considering that my Tech-Priest has no combat abilities whatsoever.

Necrozius, hand flamers work well or just slip a krak grenade into his bunk while he's sleeping. That should take care of the abomination.

The Psyker is corrupted and was summoning warp spawn to spread his dark masters wishes. You are only looking after the Omnissiahs and your new 'companions' interests.

I think this is the main reasons that Psykers have a hard time making friends. In the game fluff it says they tend to be loners and therefore tend not to get too close to anyone. Psykers generally will NOT make it to retirement.

A party should really have a discussion before allowing a Psyker into their group. It could be a game breaker. But there is a lot of firepower that comes along with Psykers. They are cool, that's for sure. Sometimes it's worth a TPK just to see what happens.

Letrii said:

I would also handle it in this way. An average of 45 corruption points just seems a tad too much to inflict on my players. I like my corruption to be slow... slow and thorough

Red Bart said:

Errr, way to high. Let's assume willpower 30 and agility 30, 50m to get out of area. All average results for a newly created character

The character will fail 7/10 of their tests. With AB 3 they run 18 metres per round, meaning that they will need to pass three tests before they are out of harms way.

So, 7d5 corruption from a horrific mass possession. The average result of 1d5 is 3, 7*3 is 21. 21 corruption for a slow and weak willed character. Faster and/or strong willed characters will gain less.

Necrozius said:

Hey! Roleplaying !! That's what its all about right?

You don't have to whip out a laspistol and pop off a few shots at the psyker.

Perhaps you could have your Tech Priest approach the other PCs in a 'special meeting' to discuss the options forwards regarding the obviously tainted psyker?

Either that or take your concerns directly to your Inquisitor / handler?

Or, since the psyker is presumably Sanctioned, contact the Schola Psykana with reports of his evident failure to contain himself...i'm sure an Arbitrator containment team could be rustled up to arrest the psyker, imprison him awaiting transport on a Black Ship for 'reassessment'.

Failing that, well, you're a tech priest. I'm sure the next time you are all berthed on a starship you could arrange for the psker's sleeping quarters to be sealed and the air accidentally shut off while he's asleep.

The other PCs need never know you did the Emperor's Work when they were too weak to act. and of course now you need to keep an eye on them since they have obviously been tainted by their association with the witch...

Excellent roleplaying potential there...

Thanks Luddite, those are all fantastic ideas.

I have problems with the rather common "Let's immediately execute the psycher who just invoked a Perils of the Warp" attitude.

It is based on two things: Knowledge and Authority

Lets look at knowledge first. The Psycher can manifest incredible and incomprehensible powers. He can shoot lightening from his fingers, he can run up walls, he can become supernaturally terrifying and warp reality in uncountable ways. Nobody without scholastic training in the ways of the Warp or the Psycher can even begin to pretend to understand the first thing about the ways of the Psycher. Yet, when a foul wind blows around the psycher, the guardsman who hardly knows how to read suddenly yanks out his sidearm and decides to act on this clear breach of Psychana protocol? Just how does this person decide what is and what is not intended effects of Warpcraft? "Well, I figure shaping his arms into giant sledgehammers is just fine, and the lightening-fingers thing is kinda cool. I have no idea how he manages to get the demonic-scare-the-crap-out-of-everyone look, but I'm certain it's not supposed to rain blood! *Bang*".

What IS known, is that the Psycher was thoroughly tested and examined by the Imperium's highest experts and authorities on the subject, and found safe enough for service. He is sanctioned. By the high authorities on Terra. The people who are known to know more about these unfathomable matters than anyone else in the Imperium have cleared this Psycher. And yet the Guardsman who just passed Basic Training seem to think himself fit to overrule their decision. "Well, them fellas on Terra are far away, yah? I'm sure if they were here they'd agree with me about this frost-covering-the-ground thing not being normal". I mean, the nerve this man must have to consider himself superior to the wisdom of the lords of the Inquisition. As well as his own Inquisitor, who recruited the Psycher in the first place. Does the Guardsman think to be better equipped to decide the "purity" of the Psycher than his own Inquisitor?

I can see the scene now, the Acolyte explaining his actions to his Inquisitor:

I: "You what? You shot my seer? You blew the brains out of my servant? Explain yourself!"
A: "Well, my Lord, he was outta control! The earth shook my Lord! It's not supposed to do that!"
I: "And you know about these things, do you?
A: "Well, no. Not as such, but I'm sure it wasn't meant to…"
I: "Are you saying I am incompetent, that I hire dangerous, unstable mutants? That I displayed poor judgement in recruiting him?"
A: "Of course not, my Lord. I'm sure he was fine when you and the Lords at Terra looked at him, but he turned real bad all of the sudden"
I: "And you could evaluate this based on your extensive knowledge of and experience with matters of Warpcraft granted to you from the Infantryman's Uplifting Primer?"
A: ….

To sum up: A bunch of uneducated people, who do not know the first thing about the matter at hand, decide to take it upon themselves to arbitrarily decide what is and what is not "acceptable" or "normal" warpcraft is just absurd. It is inappropriate meta-gaming to react to a perils-of-the-warp effect as different to any psychic manifestation.

Then there is the issue of authority.

To put it shortly: they don't have it. Unless the acolytes Inquisitor has stated unmistakably that he wants his group to police the Psycher, and given them authority to terminate him upon suspicion, the acolytes do not have authority over the Psycher. All they can, and should, do, is to report their suspicions to their Inquisitor or superior in the chain-of-command.

No organization can exist where any member can exercise total authority, arbitrarily, on one of his peers. An officer in the army has no authority on other officers parallel to his own rank. He ONLY has authority over those BELOW him in the chain of command. You can't fire your co-workers, only your boss can do that. Even in a flat organization with no chain of command (like a doctors office with a few doctors in partnership) one person cannot exercise authority over another; decisions and disputes are settled by agreements, negotiations or by a board of executives.

In the 41s millennium, an Inquisitor cannot execute another for heresy. He has to bring him before a trial, a tribunal of his superiors in the Inquisition. Similarly, Acolytes cannot judge or execute each other, no organization could exist where such judgements were possible.

Psychers are a valuable resource. The rules of the Imperium dictate that Psychers not be burned as witches, but turned over to the Black ships. No Imperial authority is going to take kindly to servants who squander this resource! Killing a psycher is only really permissible when and if he poses a clear and present danger to the mission or the group, and he cannot be subdued with non-lethal force.

A summary execution of an Imperially sanctioned, Inquisition-serving psycher would be a transgression of an acolytes authority, a violation of Imperial Law, and an insult to his superiors who cleared the Psycher fit for duty, including his own Inquisitor.

Such an execution then, would be murder! Murder of the servants of the Imperium, especially that of the most Holy Inquisition, is Treason. Treason is the worst form of Heresy.

In my campaign, any acolyte who took upon himself to judge and execute another of his peers, would himself be facing an execution very suddenly.

Edited for spelling mistakes.

Yeah, so daemons breach the warp, attempting to posess everyong in sight when the psyker is trying to manifest his powers. I bet it supposed to do that. And it's clearly not within an inquisitorial acolytes authority to execute a psyker who is dangerously out of control.

Many of the phenomena and perils make it quite clear that the psyker is dangerously out of control, would you argue that the inquisitor punishes acolytes for taking out a psyker possibly in the process of letting daemons onto the planet?

You are quite right in stating that you can't normally order those above you or at the same level in the chain of command. But that's under normal circumstances, it won't apply to an ongoing crime or disabling someone who just commited one.

Fair enough, there are situations where you must act, and I would think most Inquisitors would agree.

In extreme situations where the psycher is posessed by demons or for other reasons turns against his allies, then the acolytes are most certainly allowed, even expected to respond with extreme prejudice.

My issue is rather with those who would judge (execute) a psycher, when there is no immediate danger, because they somehow decide that the psycher is dangerous, unstable or tainted due to a perils-result.

Let's continue this in the other thread instead.

My stance is not "he rolled a phenomena, execute him" but rather that when something goes obviously wrong there is going to be a somewhat hostile attitude towards the psyker. You know, one of those situations that needs to be resolved with roleplaying.

Agreed, on both counts.

Is it just me or are the mass possession and demonhost results both really hard on the psyker? I'm for psykers being dangerous to others, but those 2 are a bit much. Mass Possession = a lot of Corruption pts, Demonhost equals = probably a dead party, plus the GM has to make the Demonhost on the fly. Anyone have alternatives to suggest?