Hi all, haven't been there in a long while, but though the forum engine still makes my firefox cry, seems the community is as helpful as ever.

I come to you for advice. In the game I play, my character, a psyker is about to/has just bought Psy Rating 4. I find myself wondering whether I should open a new discipline or get more powers from the one I've opened with Psy Rating 3. Psy Rating 5 is a looooong way from here - more X.P. than I've got so far since we started playing - and hence cannot be taken into consideration for this choice, I consider Psy Rating 4 being the last Psy Rating I'll get with my character.

With Psy Rating 3, I had chosen the Telekinesis discipline along with the power Push. My WPB is 7 - G.M. allowed point allocation rather than random generation - which gives me either 4 Telekinesis powers or one from another discipline. From Telekinesis, two powers make my heart weak, Force Barrage and Catch Projectile, and another one, Precision Telekinesis, I find quite nice as well. If I went this way and had to pick a fourth, I'd go with Fling or Telekinesis but with no conviction about either.

However, if I went with another discipline, I could choose a power entirely different. According to you, which discipline should I choose? My group is quite combat capable and doesn't need more support on this level, one Feral world Assassin weilding a two-handed ax and a Guardsman adept at full-autoing the room and only then asking questions. I hear a more Fellowship oriented character might join us soon. So, which discipline? Divination is a no-no, I already play a diviner in another game - Qin, Pyromancy I don't find attractive.

This leaves Biomancy and Telepathy. I was thinking of Telepathy, not wanting to be cast in the role of the healer with Biomancy and more than this, not wanting to remove the lethal aspect of combat, my acolytes don't need further encouragement to delve into combat as it is. As well, my G.M. cringed when I used Float to break combat from a bunch of mastiffs that wanted a chunk of me, I can only imagine how he would like me sprouting wings^^

So, if I were to choose Telepathy, which power do you advise me to start with. Which powers later on? I was thinking of Telepathy as a mean of diversifying my options, to have more cards in my game, rather than just another way to obliterate my enemies - nothing beats Force Barrage to this.

In short, new discipline or not? If yes, which one and which power in it?

Thank you in advance!

so basicly you're asking to multipsyche into telepathy from telekinesis or not, and if you do, you want to know what powers.

you are getting a 4 dice onto your power rolls now, so you can freely choose something from the higher threshold range, like mind control.

What i'd advice that you shouldn't get the mind reading one, as it might break the game and piss of your GM.

My groups psyker is at the same level and a Telepath (who is thinking about delving into Telekinesis). He uses Inspire regularly, so that my group normally (i.e. if prepared for combat, instead of an ambush situation) does not care about pinning or fear. Psychic Scream (Screech?) is also used quite regularly to get rid of mooks and/or to send adversaries to sleep (he mostly cut throats thereafter anyway (he has Jaded…)). Mind Scan is also one of his powers he now began using and role-playing-wise really interesting (especially if your players are that martially minded, that no one is good at Inquiry). Interstingly he never touched Compel or Dominate. Recently I gave my player access to this Telepathy (attack) spell (Soul Killer?) from DotDG and maybe he takes it (I hope it is not as broken as I once read…).

What you have to keep in mind with Telepathy, is the rule, that can give you loads of Insanity (and Corruption?) points, if you use a Telepathy power on someone that has more Insanity (and Corruption?) than you have.

Speaking as a player who recently had the "pleasure" of playing an ascended psyker with a whopping 9WP bonus (before unnatural) and psychic powers enough to challenge a farseer, let me give you a warning.

Many powers is nice for versatility, but be careful you do not simply pile on and on. I had bouts of overanalysis paralysis on nearly every turn in combat and it was simply not fun to play.

Anyway, nonanswer going on here, just thought I'd give the warning.

Cheers

I'm assuming you took the militant path since psy rating 5 is so far away. That being the case, focus on things like power well and (where possible) a discipline focus and stick to one discipline. If you're going to have a handful of powers you want to have the maximum success rate possible. Sticking to one discipline allows you to tailor the powers developed to those that your character would have willed into existance. The powers become an extension of your character's traits and background, and strengthen the role you play in the acolyte party.

Your high willpower bonus makes most minor psychic powers automatic (save for the 10% chance of warp perils), and many lend themselves to interesting storytelling, such as spasm, fearful aura, distort vision, flashbang, call item, unnatural aim, forget me etc. Most strike me as "jedi mind tricks" and in that light become much more appealing. Which of those do you have or are you considering?

Thanks all for the replies and advices!

Yes, I did take the militant path, actually the Templar alternate path so my Psi Rating 4 is even earlier than an usual Savant.

As of strengthening the role I play in the party, the Telekineses discipline is somewhat limited to combat - though very good at it - and it is because the party isn't lacking at all in this domain that I am thinking of opening another discipline and relying on occurences of the talent Psychic Power in my career path to increase the number of powers I can manifest in Telekinesis.

I have quite a good list of Minor Powers, Familiar Bond which is used to have a pet panther used as a psi-familiar, Call Item attuned to my sword, Lucky for background reasons, Healer, Space Slip, Wall Walk, Float, Resist Possession, Endure Flames, Weapon Jinx, Spasms, Haywire, Forget Me and Suggestion.

Those I am leaning to with Psi Rating 4 are Chameleon, Distort Vision, Spectral Hands and Dull Pain.

Granted, this list gives versatility in combat situation and in exploration situations but is somewhat limited when it comes to what should be the main aspect the game, more or less covert investigation. I really wish to develop that aspect of my character, mechanically I mean, roleplay-wise this is already taken care of.

Any other thoughts on the subject of which Telepathy power to start with? - or not to start with, or another discipline…. -

(edit) Oops. Just noticed you'd already said Divination was a no-no. Since you can pick up Distort Vision and Forget Me (in lieu of See Me Not) and Fearful Aura (in lieu of Terrify) as minor powers then get Mind Scan from telepathy. It's effectively interrogation. If you want to expand the Telepathic powers from there I would consider Projection and Telepathy as a way to communicate privately without speaking. I've read a lot about Psykers abusing Compel and Dominate, so it might be more interesting to skip them.

Spinning the question forward, which Lore skills would you recommend to someone looking to develop the investigative side of their character?

Since you have a psi familiar then you might consider Beastmaster to extend your influence to animals you come across as well.

ckenp said:

Well, it depends on two things, one is how realistic are your investigations, the other is how anchored in his ordo is your Inquisitor?

The more realistic, the more you'll need scientific and day-to-day lores such as Chymistry, Bureaucracy or Imperial Creed, the less realistic, the more you'll lean towards Occult and various Common Lores.

The more anchored in his ordo your Inquisitor is, the more you'll lean towards specific Forbidden Lores such as Mutants or Xenos, the less anchored, the more you'll make use of generalistic Forbidden Lores like Ordos, Cults or Inquisition.

I myself consider Scholastic Lore Occult and Forbidden Lore Cults the bread and butter of the each acolyte worth his stipend.

As a long time Psychic player I'd recommend staying with one Discipline and improving it (for now) over branching out. Later, when you get Psy 5 then branch, but not now.

As far as Psychic diciplines from the Telekinetic tree I'd look most seriously at:

Telekinetic Shield (stacks with existing armour; while Flesh Like Iron is better, that comes from the wrong tree, and this will help a lot now),

Psychic Blade (if you don't have call item to use on your force sword, then with this you'll never be unarmed),

Fling (I've used this in the past to pick up an enemy's grenade, which he threw at the group, to send it back to him), and

Precision Telekinesis (the most fun I had with this is pulling the pins on an enemy's bandolier of grenades he was carrying).

The last two are useful for picking up the Damaskin Kineblades out of Ascension (p.142), if you have access to them.

Those four disciplines would make you much more versatile than picking up any one other discipline.