Ive recently found some new material for PC background events ( both good and bad ) from the Dark Reign site for use in my upcoming campaign to sort of "flesh out" the new PCs without having to make the players drum up their own storyline for their PCs advancement to acolytes. When i actually decided to roll up a NPC to assist using the new backgrounds ( files are Career Events and Homeworld Events ) I found an entry under the Psyker career table ( on random roll btw ) Below is the actual info listed:

Alpha-Level Awakening. Your psychic potential is greater than any but the Emperor could
have guessed and you have sworn to use it to further His works. Gain +8 Wp, and the
Awareness, Deceive, Forbidden Lore (Psykers), and Psyniscience skills. You start with the
Psy Rating 2 talent (hereafter, all Psy Ratings advances will be for the next highest
number).

Now my question is this. Given ive researched all topics about psykers levels and rating on the site that i could find and found several opinions on it...How would you as GMs work something like this as a total random event for an NPC ( or PC if you dare think of it..lol ) ?

On one hand you could simply say that they gain the focus ability to fetter / unfetter / push starting at level 1 AND / OR grant them unnatural willpower (x2 OR x3 ) to aid them in simply being able to avoid the pesky issues of perils rolls needed for practcially ALL lower psy abilities and some of the majors ( since to manifest you have to meet or beat the threshold number which varies but is adjusted by how you roll to achieve it ( 1d10 per psy rating + your willpower bonus +/- and powerwells discipline focus and mastery the character has )..so simply granting them the unnatural willpower ( x2-3) would help alot with solving the perils problems/potentials that a regular lower powered psyker faces.

OR

Granting them access to the ascended psy powers from offset ( at regular cost NOT an elite advance since they are supposed to be ELITE to begin with )( as well as the ability to fetter/unfetter and push ) to reflect their Alpha status..and given all the literature ive read from the black library as well as from DH does say that the Alpha level psykers arent quite "right" in the head...perhaps a simple mechanic to deal with that would be to require the PC/NPC to have the "From Beyond" trait (DHCB pg 330 ) to more accruately show their inhumane / detached mindsets compared to regular mortals.

OR

Perhaps granting them a starting psy rating of 3+ AND an automatic Disipline to choose at level 1 in addition to unnatural Willpower (x2-3)( ALL psy rating advancements afterwards act as normal ) ( IF this is what the folks at FFG were thinking when they did the burning princess psy rating of around 14-16 then that would make sense if she started at say...psy rating 6 then progressed at +1 to the psy rating the same as regular psykers do in order to achieve her given rating

Im personally leaning towards handling this by simply granting any PC/NPC that manages this 1 in a billion fluke to automatically gain the "From Beyond" trait as well as unatural Willpower ( x2 at least but most likely x3 ) AND the ability to fetter, unfetter, and push their abilities from the offset to reflect their ELITE abilities and strengths as psykers and perhaps adjusting the starting psy rating to more accurately reflect the initial power level being above the norm.

Those are all for a rank 1 character? WTF? 100% broken. Also unnecessary.

Yeah that seems ridiculous without some MAJOR drawbacks.

Things alphas are best known for: Being corrupted by the ubermassive quantities of warp energy they channel at whim, being an unnaturally bright fountain of light in the warp (flashing neon sign "Tasty Soul Here"), being utterly driven insane by the power of the warp. And power. UNGODLY amounts of power.

I would add the following effects in addition to those you've stated (Unnatural Willpower (x2) is plenty, by the way - see Ascension's Burning Princess):

Alpha psykers start play with 2d10+10 additional corruption and insanity. Any warp-based effect that inflicts corruption or insanity inflicts an additional 1d5 corruption or insanity. Talents and traits may reduce corruption and insanity as normal, but never to less than 1. Their minds and bodies are natural harbors of the warp and its denizens.

Alpha psykers also add +20 to all rolls on the Psychic Phenomenon and Perils of the Warp tables. The brightest light attracts the worst attentions on the warp.

I would also not grant the Fettered level of manifesting (though I would certainly give an alpha psyker push, you better believe it!), as that by nature and description is CONTROLLING power output. Alpha psykers are far too mad-fugging-insane to bother with things like "control", and practically no mortal is powerful enough to make them do so.

Once Insanity or Corruption reaches 100, they become NPCs. Likely to be hunted by his former acolyte friends (or their relatives, if he slaughtered the last cell >_>).

I think of such an endeavor as this to be for a more, shall we say, disposable character. Think along the lines of the Daemon Vessel in the Radical's Handbook - something extremely powerful, extremely heretical, and almost certain to end sooner rather than later as either a casualty of the NPCs or put down by his fellow acolytes.

The sort of maturity required for players to be able to handle one PC so significantly more powerful than the others, and the inevitable Psychic Side Effects like Perils and Daemon Manifestations that are going to make for a very unpredictable game, is a pretty high bar. Yeeeeah, not sure my gaming group (myself included) could quite handle that... but if yours can, I could see it making for a potentially interesting character.

(Spoilers)




































(Spoilers begin)

Think Carl Thonius in Ravenor, linking back to the Daemon Vessel elite package in Radical's Handbook. ExTREMELY power, but in the hands of a good RPer, a lot of interesting things can come of it!

Thanks unusualsuspect i actually liked the ideas you mentioned and plan on inclusion of them..but as i said the character that actually got that random background roll is an NPC so no worries about player abuse..lol and nice refference to the Ravenor series btw...loved those books and own them all along with all the eisenhorn novels ( along with literally about 30 other books of the black library...all read at least once ) I had forgotten about carl though...there are ways to remove corruption and insanity to help offset things ( minimixing how much XP can be spent on skills talents etc...) but the basic of it is that the Alpha awakening happened during the sanctioning process ( so he will get the ability to fetter etc...courtesy of the emperors bond with him since the book does mention its thanks to the emperor that the psykers get the benefits of that etc..etc...as a form of soulbond more a less) the burning witch was a natural psyker but never given training and lacked appropriate willpower ( and desire ) to handle her abilities if memory serves... over time if not continually checked on yes the NPC could and will become an issue...BUT..space marine librarians are capable of being alphas and have been given appropriate mental conditioning ( much the same as a regular psykers sanctioning--and later the primaris ascended psyker ) to help control those pesky issues like possession and perils etc...besides...with the unnatural WP trait and a decent WP number...along with discipline masterys and power wells/discipline focuses...you only need to roll 1d10 to manifest ANY power given in the book. I dont use the psyker rules as presented in the book because it truly renders the psyker character nothing but a liability to the entire game....the drawbacks for a fledgling psyker are totally out of balance with their meager power abilities...soo....

Ive instituted the following rules for psyker characters to deal with the issues inherent and level the field a bit better for them

1) Unsanctioned psykers ( and almost always witches ) incurr perils rolls with every manifestation ( successful or not ) They do so with a +10% chance to the perils check ( making them that much more unstable and dangerous )

2) Sanctioned psykers can ignore a number of "9's" rolled per "day" equal to their WP bonus in order to help avoid problems ( allowing them to use their abilities better and more often BUT still..if they have bad rolls..they can be in for trouble because after that total number has been reached...anything else will still incurr perils checks )

3) Sanctioned Psykers get automatically trained in the ability to Fetter ( unfettered is natural so no training there needed ) as it only makes sense that the Adepta would want to minimize the perils potentials so they teach ALL psykers coming out of sanctioning how to Fetter their abilities.

4) Ascended psykers get taught how to "Push" since they have proven their ability to control themselves by this time. Rule #2 still applies but at the WP bonus once unnatural WP is purchased

5) Minor psy abilities do NOT incur perils checks ( but can easily like all things create the psy phenomenon ) ONLY major and ascended psy abilties incur perils checks..EXCEPTIONS are places where the veil of reality/warp is thin or places where the warp is very strong in which case the usual check applies ( and at a much higher rate for those like the Alphas e.g. +30% to the perils check total ( +20% for alpha level and +10% for warp instability area ) the additional +10% applies to sanctioned psykers abilities as well. So using psy powers in a warp rich or unstable area is HIGHLY ill advised

As for the potential perils due to an Alpha pushing his luck with mega powered psy abilities..2 things (1) the Emperor was the most powerful Alpha Plus psyker and he was fine...and (2) Any Alpha while having the from beyond mindset as a trait will also have the agreed upon unnatural WP as well..and with any points into WP from there...places them on an even footing or better than the would be daemonic possessor...so in a contest of wills ..it would only take ONE time for the psyker to be royally irked at the Daemon for even trying it and would blast the daemon into nothingness for the attempted invasion..from then on the psyker would be more cautious with their power usage...once bitten twice shy mentality As for the higher potential to invoke perils...yes i agree there....but wont scrap the current rules in place for an exception...when the psyker uses up all his "luck" for the day due to poor rolls etc...then the perils chance exists at a much higher level..till then...no worries..lol

Oh i also plan on inclusion of the corruption and insanity points as mentioned to seriously offset the basic idea of being an "Alpha" as well as to reign in ANY would be PCs who ever get lucky/unlucky enough to get that random roll. Making them think before they act because i will as GM gladly put ceramite shod space marine boot to butt on any PC who mucks up that type of character and seriously jeopardizes the overall balance of things or their teammates...Those events will be GM intervention in the form of automatically losing/burning ALL Fate points to survive and push back the problems ( along with 1 Fate point lost ( temporarily ) from everyone else in group AND my personal favorite for use on any player foolish enough to try to jerk the game....an OLD SCHOOL rule from originaly classic dungeons and dragons...called AUTOMATICALLY resetting the PC to level ZERO ( IE erase the character sheet and start over from scratch with new stat rolls and ALL---NOTE that is done on THEIR own time after the game or during an interlude/break for food etc...) Ive NEVER had to do that more than ONE time to anyone to give them the point and make them think. Besides..if i didnt think the player could handle the background/ability...i simply veto it and tell them to reroll/choose another..as GM its my final ruling and i excercise it. Everyone i game with has been gaming for a minimum of 15+yrs now EACH...im 35 ( almost 36..ugh..lol ) and ive been gaming since i was 11 and GMing games since i was about 20. Ive learned alot of different obscure but effective rules to use and my players are all aware i will enforce them if needed..so they dont take things to that point with me...ive since talked with my players about this Alpha and they all said its a cool idea but they wouldnt wanna use it if they rolled it...( though they loved the idea of getting that roll JUST so they could PICK their particular background event in its place..lol )

Um...you know that the Psy Rating corresponds to the Assignment, right?