I've had some bad experiances with the Dark Heresy psyker system and am wanting to transfer the Black Crusade system over. Im pretty sure I can work up an advance scheme without much difficulty but the hard part is the powers. I have decided to keep minor psychic powers and am in the process of rewriting them. The idea is that they are easy to cast powers with minor effects, as pushing tends to make the effects get out of hand minor psychic powers can only be used at the fettered and unfettered levels. The idea is to give the player a bunch of useful abilities that can be easily cast but aren't game changing. It should be noted that this system would be paired with a complete rewrite of all the psychic advances on the psyker trees, I even plan on splitting the ability to fetter and push into seperate advances.

Minor Psychic Powers
These abilities are minor abilities that a psyker can learn. Minor psychic powers are easy to cast but as their power is limited they may only be used at the Fettered and Unfettered levels, they may not be pushed.

Call Creatures
Value: 50xp
Prerequisites: None
Action: Full Action
Focus Power: Easy (+30) Willpower Test
Range: 500m x Psy Rating
Sustained: No
Subtype: Concentration
Description: You call a number of simple minded creatures within range to travel to your location. Creatures called depends on the nature of the environment, through the sorts of creatures called may include rates ash slugs and other kinds of vermin. If no such creatures are likely to be in the area, the power has no effect. Under most circumstances 1d10 such creatures appear after 2d10 minutes have passed. The creatures are not compelled to serve the Psykers; they simply appear and behave normally for their species.

Call Item
Value: 100xp
Prerequisites: None
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Easy (+30) Willpower Test
Range: 1km x Psy Rating
Sustained: No
Subtype: Concentration
Description: You summon a specially prepared item to instantly appear in your hand. To prepare the object, you must spend time in deep meditation, infusing the object with your psychic imprint and marking it with runes and glyphs. The item must be small enough to fit in the palm of your hand such as a grenade or a knife. You can permanently inscribe the runes with an Ordinary (+10) Trade (Scrimshaw) test which takes 1d5 hours, failure by 5 degrees ruins the item permanently. It can also be prepared with specially prepared ink which takes 1 hour and requires no test but lasts 1d5 weeks, the item can be prepared again but there is 5% chance that imprint fails and cannot be attempted on that item ever again. You may only have one prepared item at a time.

Chameleon
Value: 100xp
Prerequisites: None
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Easy (+30) Willpower Test
Range: Self
Sustained: Yes
Subtype: Concentration
Description: You gain a bonus to Stealth/Concealment tests equal to 10 x psy rating to a maximum of +30. In addition BS tests against you suffer a -5 x psy rating penalty up to a maximum of -30.

Déjà vu
Value: 100xp
Prerequisites: None
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Routine (+20) Willpower Test
Range: 5m x Psy Rating
Sustained: No
Subtype: Concentration
Description: You create a brief memory loop in the mind of the target, causing their thoughts to slip back several seconds in time. You must be able to see the target and they must be within range to be affected. They are also permitted a Willpower test to resist the effects. If they fail to resist however they must repeat all free, half and full actions that they took in their previous turn. If those actions were to attack a enemy then the attacks will be made as normal (assuming that the target is still able to and has not lost his weapon or run out of ammo) if the enemy or is still there otherwise they will attack empty space or whomever has taken their place. Any action that is obviously harmful to the target such as running off a cliff allows them to automatically resist the power.

Flash Bang
Value: 100xp
Prerequisites: None
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Easy (+30) Willpower Test
Range: 20m
Sustained: No
Subtype: Concentration
Description: Pick a point within range, anyone friend or foe within 1m x psy rating must succeed on an Easy (+30) Willpower test with a penalty equal to 10 x ½ psy rating (rounded up) or be stunned for 1 round.

Invigorate
Value: 100xp
Prerequisites: None
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Easy (+30) Willpower Test
Range: 2m x psy rating or self
Sustained: No
Subtype: Concentration
Description: The target of the power reduces their level of fatigue by an amount equal to half the psykers psy rating rounded up. Asleep characters are instantly wakened by this power and will be instantly fully awake although will return to feeling tired after a few seconds.

Healer
Value: 100xp
Prerequisites: None
Action: Full Action
Focus Power: Routine (+20) Willpower Test
Range: Self/Touch
Sustained: No
Subtype: Concentration
Description: You channel your power into a single target to knit flesh and mend bones. You may only use this power on a willing target, including yourself. The target of this power removes psy rating points of Damage (removing Critical Damage first). Repeated uses of this power can be dangerous, not to mention painful, and the person's flesh rebels against the intrusion of warp energy. If a person (including the psyker) is the subject of this power more than once in a 6 hour period, they must Test Toughness or take 1d5 points of Damage (with no reduction for Toughness bonus or Armour), rather than being healed.

Knack
Value: 100xp
Prerequisites: None
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Easy (+30) Willpower Test
Range: Self
Sustained: No
Subtype: Concentration
Description: You tap into your unconscious to awaken a deeper understanding of your capabilities. At any point during the next psy rating turns, you may gain a +10 bonus to any one non-combat Test. After this point your enlightened mood fades. If you attempt to cast this power while already under its effects the previous casting automatically ends.

Lucky
Value: 100xp
Prerequisites: None
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Easy (+30) Willpower Test
Range: Self
Sustained: No
Subtype: Concentration
Description: When you manifest this power, any time before the end of your next turn, you may re-roll any one roll of your dice (including damage rolls). This power may only be used at unfettered level.

There may be some typo's and values needing changed. I would be grateful if people could read over them and tell me if they feel any are too powerful or if you see any mistakes. Im not finished but I have deliberately left out some powers out for various reasons.

Kaihlik

Hi there,

ask your players first if they like those Minors at all. I found out that besides the "Healer" and the "Sense Presence" (both a pain in the GMs rectum) most of them where to be found pretty useless by my players.

In fact, I would suggest to simply take the "major discplines" as written and do away wit all this "Minor Powers". PLUS never ever revive the Biomancer! The power are botched and/or unbalanced.

The reason for the minor powers is that a rank 1 Dark Heresy character wont have a very high Willpower and only 1 psy rating so discipline powers will be hard to cast. The minor powers give them some useful abilities that hopefully aren't overpowered that they can cast straight away. I am cutting down the number of powers and attempting to give them more use and I've changed healer so that its healing is based on psy rating but also so you have to be touching the person who wants to be healed.

Biomancy may make a return but I'd be rewriting all the powers from scratch.

Something I was tempted to do was have it so that you could trade in minor powers for discipline powers. I might limit it to related powers and assign minor powers to a discipline.

The reason I'm doing this is because I've had problems with the Dark Heresy system and I find its discipline powers to be far too powerful. Our rank 4 pyromancer could kill everything on his own without breaking a sweat.

Kaihlik

Gregorius21778 said:

I've dabbled idly in conversions to the Black Crusade version of the system (considering that I wrote that particular iteration and the powers for it, I've got a particular fondness for it), and I don't think Biomancy is too bad so long as you don't just try and convert the powers straight across - they need a proper redesign, not just a half-arsed conversion.

For example, having the Regeneration power give you Regenerate (Psy Rating) so you regenerate Psy Rating wounds per turn on a successful Toughness Test, and have the Focus Power Test be a Hard (-20) Toughness Test, should do the trick. Similarly, making the Healer powers from DH use Medicae as the Focus Power Test seems appropriate, and having it as a psychically-enhanced Medicae Test in essence helps curb some of the excesses, as does causing Corruption to the patient if the Biomancer causes Psychic Phenomena while healing.

I've been thinking on another way of doing this where all minor powers are assigned a discipline and can be traded in for other powers in that discipline. The idea would be to have 3 powers minimum per Dark Heresy discipline (plus Theosophamy for the hell of it). The assigned discipline doesn't limit who can take them but only what you can trade them in for.

My proposed powers are as follows but remember the minor psychic powers cannot be pushed so their power is quite limited.

Pyromancy

Torch (Summon a light to see by)
Flash Bang (Make a loud flash and bang to stun opponents)
Sculpt Fire (Create images in the flames)

Telepathy

Like me (bonus to charm tests)/miss me (-5 WS/BS)
Forget me (Target forgets about meeting for a time)
Sense Presence (Senses the existence of nearby lifeforms)

Divination

Luck (gain a reroll)
Trick (gain bonus to gamble)
???

Telekinesis

Float (gain the Hoverer (Psy Rating) trait)
Spectral Hands (manipulate light objects)
Punch (deal 1d10+psy rating damage, psy rating range)

Biomancy

Healer (regain psy rating wounds)
Change Face (gain bonus to disguise checks)
Invigorate (Remove psy rating fatigue)

Theosophamy

Resist Possession (use reaction to gain bonus to resist possession)
Warp Howl (create distracting noise)
Weaken Veil (create psychic phenomena (cant pearls) and add to rolls on phenomena table)

I can't think of a 3rd Divination power just now that doesn't encroach on the Discipline powers. Please let me know what you think and if you have any better ideas I'd be happy to hear them.

Thanks,

Kaihlik

Here is the first draft of Pyromancy for anyone who is interested.

Pyromancy

Pyromancy is the art of creating and controlling fire, as such Pyromancy is known as the most limited of the Psychic Disciplines its uses being mostly on the battlefield. Students of this discipline are known as pyromancers or pyrokinetics and are capable of incinerating entire squads of infantry with a thought. Because of their tendency to revel in the fires they create many who have seen them take to calling them Pyromaniacs although never to their face.

Call Flames
Prerequisites: None
Value:100xp
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Routine (+20) Willpower Test
Range: Self
Sustained: Free Action
Subtype: Concentration
Description: You call flames into your hands, in order to use this power you must not be holding anything in your hands and you cannot pick anything up while it is in effect. Your unarmed attacks do extra damage equal to 1 x psy rating. Your attacks also have the Flame quality and do energy damage. You can use this power to set flammable objects on fire.

Fire Bolt
Prerequisites: Call Flames
Value: 250xp
Action: Full Action
Focus Power: Challenging (+0) Willpower Test
Range: 20m x psy rating
Sustained: No
Subtype: Concentration, Attack
Description: This power is a Psychic Storm that deals 1d10+5 Impact Damage with a Pen of 0 the flaming quality.

Fire Storm
Prerequisites: Call Flames, Fire Bolt
Value: 200xp
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Difficult(-10) Willpower Test
Range: 10m x psy rating
Sustained: No
Subtype: Concentration, Attack
Description: This power is a Psychic Blast with a radius of 1m x Psy Rating. Anyone caught within the area of effect suffers 1d10+5 damage +1 per point of psy rating, with a Pen of 0 and the Flaming quality.

Inferno
Prerequisites: Call Flames
Value: 100xp
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Ordinary(+10) Willpower Test
Range: Self
Sustained: Half Action
Subtype: Concentration
Description: With this power the psyker can chose to increase the area of a fire by by 2m2 per psy rating or its height by 1m per psy (or any combination of the two) rating assuming that there is combustible materials that can burn. For example a psyker with an effective psy rating of 5 could chose to make a fire 2m taller and cover 6m2 more of the ground. In addition all fires burn hotter and as such people increase the Damage people who are on fire take by your psy rating.

Wall of Fire
Prerequisites: Call Flames, Inferno
Value: 150xp
Action: Full Action
Focus Power: Difficult(-10) Willpower Test
Range: 5m x psy rating
Sustained: Free Action
Subtype: Concentration, Attack
Description: You create a wall of fire that is a straight line 2x psy rating long or a circle with a psy rating radius centered on a point of your chosing, the wall of fire is 1m thick and up to 3m high. The Wall of Fire causes 1d10+5 damage +1 per psy rating with the Flaming quality. Anyone on top of of wall when activated may attempt to dodge to avoid getting hit by the flames. Anyone wanting to pass through must take a -20 Willpower test, passing through the fire automatically causes damage.

Douse Flames
Prerequisites: Call Flames
Value: 100xp
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Challenging (+0) Willpower Test
Range: 10m x psy rating
Sustained: No
Subtype: Concentration
Description: The psyker causes the fire shoot towards himself in a whirling vortex and fills him with unnatural vigour. The Psyker reduces the height of the flames of a fire by a number of meters up to his psy rating and reduces his fatigue by the same amount, not he cannot reduce his fatigue by more than the height of the flames at the start of the fire. Should the height of the flames be reduced to 0m the fire is put out. This power can only affect one fire at a time. For fires that cover a large area the GM should increase the difficulty of the Focus Power test. Alternatively this power can also be used to put out a number of people on fire equal to the characters psy rating although he does not regain fatigue from this.

Flame Immunity
Prerequisites: Call Flames, Douse Flames
Value: 200xp
Action: Half Action
Focus Power: Hard (-20) Willpower Test
Range: Self
Sustained: Free Action
Subtype: Concentration
Description: The psyker cannot be set on harmed by being on on fire and can walk into a fire without suffering any damage, he will however begin to suffer from suffocation if his oxygen supply is limited. The psyker reduces the amount of Damage from Flame, Plasma and Melta Weapons before toughness by 5x psy rating. He also reduces the amount of Damage suffered from Las Weapons before toughness by 2x psy rating.

Kaihlik