I figure there is almost certainly a forum post about this already, but I can't find it in a reasonable amount of time, so I'll ask here.

How does a character become a psyker? I have a Champion who I intend to have him eventually become a Chaos Lord and lead his own Black Crusade, and I want him to become a psyker somewhere along the way, or a sorceror, or something. Basically just want to gain the Psyker trait and a few powers and Psy Rating, but the only thing I've found that actually allows you to gain the Psyker trait is gaining a Mark of Tzeentch, but I want this character to remain unaligned. I haven't looked at the Gifts of the Gods section much yet, so I don't know whether or not I can get it that way. It also doesn't look like you can buy Psykerhood as a talent or anything.

Can anyone offer something on this? I'm positive that in a game like this there are multiple ways to become a psyker or sorceror, but for the life of me, I can't find one in the core rulebook from what I've seen so far. Even telling me I'm looking in the wrong places would help.

Well, to be honest being a Psyker is mostly a Tzeentchy thing my friend. That's why his mark is the only one that allows people to become Psykers. That's not to say you can't work something out with your GM.
It was either in the Radical's Handbook or Disciples of the Dark Gods that gave an Advanced Career Path or some sort of equivalent that let someone who'd studied arcane lore for years and years become a psyker through his sheer knowledge in the subject. Also in Dark Heresy one of the mutations was Wyrling where the character gained the Psyker Trait and a Psy rating of 1. So again, while not in the RAW there's always a way if you've got a flexible enough GM and a good explanation behind you.

In crunch terms, if you're not a psyker at character creation then you'll be sinking lots of XP into something that offers questionable utility at best. In fluff terms, a TRUE champion of Chaos NEEDS no trickery or witchcraft! All you need is your strength and skill at arms! Khorne frowns upon the psyker!

Essentially, the "Psyker? Yes/No" question is one of the traits that differentiate the archetypes. You can either get the Champion's traits of lending your CPs to others for Infamy Point purposes or the psyker trait of the Sorceror. The only really character-changing event in BC is obtaining a deity's mark and the only deity that is that closely associated with Psykers is Tzeentch.

Technically, if you get Warpsmith you can jump ship and still be a psyker later. You could be Slaanesh or Nurgle or whatever at that point.

The best thing to do is discuss the character concept to your GM and come up with a solution that way. Your GM has the power to change every rule in the game if they so wish, so they are usually a good place to start. By canon, no there's no way. But, Tzeentch is usually up for a laugh and you owing him a favour to give you Psyker and a Psy Rating shouldn't be too bad. I'd say that the GM should add a restriction that Khorne will never let you align with him, but other than that, treat it as Elite Advances, or even a Story Arc with a unique reward. Either that or start worshipping Malal. ;P

At the root of the question is the Psyker Trait . If there is any way of a PC acquiring the Psyker Trait (other than going through the GM) then it's possible. Certain Minions may be given the Psyker Trait, but I'm not familiar with any method of gaining the Psyker Trait other than through CharGen or (much) later receiving the Mark of Tzeentch.

AFB ATM but I could have sworn that in Gifts of the Gods there want one that improved your psy rating by one and gave the pysker trait if you didnt have it...

AFB ATM but I could have sworn that in Gifts of the Gods there want one that improved your psy rating by one and gave the pysker trait if you didnt have it...

That would be the Mark of Tzeentch.

Warpsmith also gives you Psyker trait, if you don't have it yet, and Psy Rating (+2).

Only thing with these is that they are Rewards of the Dark Gods so you have to be Devoted to Tzeench to be able to roll them.

another thing, you don't need to be a psyker to conduct many many rituals. and there are a number of rituals out there. tome of excess has some remarkably easy to use sourcerery rites that are basicly spells. one could use those as a basis.

Actually that's a very good idea from Brian, you could even come up with a ritual to grant the Psyker trait. It could be the basis of a whole campaign discovering what components are needed for the ritual as well as the correct chants required and then tracking them down.

Once you have found all that you need you can conduct the ritual and (with a hefty xp purchase set by the GM - perhaps equivalent of a tier 3 talent) empower yourself to enact the will of the Dark Gods.

Amroth; Tier 3 Opposed Alignment Talent I'd say. And I still doubt it would work with Khornates.

Oh yeah definitely couldn't work if you are Khornate Apache. Even if you got the ability you wouldn't be able to use it until you went back to unaligned.

And how about using Idolitrex Magos as template for sorcery? You'd have to aquire enough exp to get blasphemous incantation, psy rating 1 and quite a bit of forbidden knowledge (warp), also some forbidden books, then lock yourself in the room ith the altar, perform some sacrefices, and boom - psyker with max psy rating of corruption bonus.

Of course it shouldn't be so easy as described, some additional elements should be needed to overcome.

I bet when heretics reach Apotheosis and become a demon prince it can gain physcic abilities but it also to late for a player character... So beside aligning whit Tzeenech and hoping for good dices why not deal with a daemon? Surely those nice guys could give you some magic tricks if you really want and can arrange a deal......or being possessed also sound could psyker-ish.. with an arcane motivation it is surely be great to do...

But a true leader do not need such ways to gain power for a black crusade you need armies which can contain hordes of psykers ... also to lead them you can have a superior minion like a secondary psyker character who can also gain xp thanks to Tome of Excess

i bet thats a pretty good option

If you have enough XP to spend you don't need to be lucky. With all the forbidden lore Tzeentch has to offer you can align and get the psyker trait with 3000 XP or so. That's the most surefire way of getting it without picking a specific archetype.

Alternatively, sorcery rather than psychic power isn't a bad way to do it.

Sorcery, after all, is a Daemon doing what you tell it. If that daemon is continously to hand and suitably browbeaten into obedience? Effectively you're now a psyker.

You could sort of create a daemon minion with the psyker trait, assorted powers and the Host trait (I think it's Tome of Excess). The Host? You.

Not sure if it works, but if it does, it Essentially creates a Malus Darkblade-a-like.

The minion trait you're thinking of is "Parasite", and no, that's not applicable to daemons for creating daemonhosts. It's parasitic organism that's refered.

Closest you'd get to having psychic powers with the minion is to get a psyker with a Greater Minion talent.

Lots to read, dont feel like it.

Here's what I did. New Gift called Wyrd, gives the Psyker(Unbound), if the character is not already a psyker, trait and boosts Psy Rating by 1. Just substitute for another rolled "positive" Gift.

And since this is basically a mutation that existed in every other 40k RPG before Black Crusade I really fail to see the issue of it being overpowered or anything. There should be a way for non-Tzeentchians to get all magicky as well.

And since this is basically a mutation that existed in every other 40k RPG before Black Crusade I really fail to see the issue of it being overpowered or anything. There should be a way for non-Tzeentchians to get all magicky as well.

In every other 40k RPG, being a mutant is essentially a delayed death sentence. In Black Crusade, it's expected. Additionally, the "issue" of course is that you're stealing the archetypes' shtick. The whole thing that makes the Psyker and Sorcerer archetypes different from the rest is their psyker trait - make that rollable without a significant investment (say, by being devoted to a specific deity) and you might as well give everyone a chance at becoming Adroit or rerolling criticals.

There are a multitude of ways of re-rolling or boosting crits... Most of which are pointless since, at least in our games, most kills are instantly at crit 9-10 anyway either due to multiple hits or massive hits.

And the important thing about roleplaying games is making the character the player wants. GM is just there to help tell the story and to provide the challenges to the players.

And considering that Black Crusade has arguably the most free system of character advancement in the 40k line I really dont see what is wrong with allowing it. Archetype is just the beginning of a character anyway, and the only "good" core archetype special ability is Adroit anyway, especially the CSM ones are just pointless. And even then, the "psyker" archetypes get alot more Psy Rating and Psychic Powers.

Not to forget that you can devote yourself to Tzeentch for a short while, get Warpsmith and then go back to Unaligned anyway... Granted, will take abit of luck, but so will getting Wyrd since most "Gifts" are just plain sh*tty and can be argued whether they are a blessing or a curse, and since you can only trade blessing for blessing...

Honestly I think that if you're looking for a way to become a psyker without being aligned with Tzeentch (or worshipping Chaos Undivided maybe), and without starting that way, without a really good explanation of why you're doing it, you're pretty much just power-gaming, and not really immersed in the fluff. And even then, I'd make it cost a lot of XP and work for the character to get it, because being a psyker is really powerful once you sink XP into it. And if you get it later, then you didn't even have to wade through the part of the game where the psyker was actually kind of weak, on account of not having much else to do. In DH, getting the psyker mutation was not going to benefit your character. Here, it's a huge benefit, so it should at least cost.

Honestly I think that if you're looking for a way to become a psyker without being aligned with Tzeentch (or worshipping Chaos Undivided maybe), and without starting that way, without a really good explanation of why you're doing it, you're pretty much just power-gaming, and not really immersed in the fluff. And even then, I'd make it cost a lot of XP and work for the character to get it, because being a psyker is really powerful once you sink XP into it. And if you get it later, then you didn't even have to wade through the part of the game where the psyker was actually kind of weak, on account of not having much else to do. In DH, getting the psyker mutation was not going to benefit your character. Here, it's a huge benefit, so it should at least cost.

That's ... not really true. I mean, in the fluff Nurgle has sorcerers, as does Slaanesh.

The problem is that if you want to play one of them, you pretty much can't do so very effectively, because basically everything related to Psykers is Tzeentch-aligned, so in order to stay Nurgle or Slaanesh, not only do those talents typically cost more to get, but you need to spend lots more xp in order to keep aligned with Nurgle/Slaanesh. Being Unaligned has similar problems, though to a somewhat lesser extent. Basically, you're a crappy low-grade psyker for even longer.

If you want to be remotely decent at being a psyker, much less actually being good at it, you have to throw lots of XP Tzeentch's way.

This is a flaw in BC's tying alignment to talents and xp. It's why OW's aptitudes is much better for a freeform system. Or, just having everything cost the same for everyone. For that matter, DH/RT/DW, while not freeform, is a better system career/specialization/archetype-wise.