Hello,

I'm getting ready to run my first Rogue Trader game, and one of my players, who is new to RPGs in general (it's going to be her first campaign) has expressed interest in running some kind of Psyker character

Since I'm relatively new to the system (played a single campaign a long time ago, back when the Rogue Trader core was very very new, and it was the only book we had), I've got little experience with psykers, and I'm trying to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the 3 psyker classes (astropath, navigator and weirdboy) so I can at least offer some informed advice when she asks. This is what I have so far, after going over the books a bit:

Astropath

Seems to be the best class for psyker-ing around. It has a ton of powers to choose from (and can pick quite a few) and powers have a wide variety of applications. On the flip side, it seems incapable of doing much else than throwing powers around (combat skills are quite bad, so is social interaction) or maybe gather a bit of knwoledge (common stuff mainly).

Navigator

Looks he can get really good at navigating ships through the warp, and also has quite a few nice powers relating to doing stuff at ship scale. On the other hand, I'm a bit at a loss about how much a navigator contributes outside the ship. Combat ability is mediocre, and powers don't seem that impressive either (Lidless Eye seems really strong, but tricky to pull off and live, others not so much). They do get some nice Lores though. Also, they seem to have very very few powers (1 per rank, and the possiblity/need to upgrade)

Weirdboy

Can do a bit of navigation, can do a bit of telepathy, can do some fighting, but seems a bit limited. Access only to Waaagh discipline I feel strongly pushes you into a damage dealing Psyker/melee warrior hybrid, both through the nature of the powers and the short range they have. Also, making full use of a weirdboy's potential requires making pretty heavy use of Minderz and Runtz talents (at least it seems that way to me).

I'm looking for more feedback on these classes:

-Is my idea of them correct?

-Have you played any of those classes? If so what was your experience with them?

-How strong is each of them (compared to other RT classes)?

-Any issues regarding these classes I should know about?

-How can a Navigator contribute outside the ship? (this bit worries me somewhat)

Thanks a lot in advance,

Michael

Okay first Astorpaths are the way to go if you want an easy time dealing with psyker powers. Most of the psyker powers are pretty straight forward along with the Disciplines that they entail. Navigators are not Psykers. They are mutants who has the ability to manipulate the warp in unknown and dangerous ways. While an interesting character concept along with numerous different builds I would stir away from the Navigator for both you and the player. Navigators are nobility in their own right and each is a partner with the Rogue Trader not a servant that can be ordered about like some common Arch-Militant or Void Master. Their abilities are complicated due to the leveling aspect that each gets and they get very few powers as you mentioned. Finally the Weirdboy. An alien pysker who does not channel the Warp, but instead Channels the Waaaa!, which is the manifestation of the collective sub conscience of Orks. It can be a very fun experience having a Weirdboy, but also maddening at times as well. Orks are not the most stable of crew members and interaction outside the Rogue Traders retnuie can become probelmatic. Also to take into consideration is the ramifications of having a unsantionced xeno within your party and collaberating with it. The Inquisitition and other organization look down on that kinda of thing. That is unless you have the Into the Storm book and then if you the Weirdboy would have become Santionced to relieve some of the problems having a xeno in your party creates. For the easy of you and your player's sanity I recommend that they play an astropath with some Telepathy and then focus on Telekine abilities. This gives an overall unity character and also an excellent combat foil to enemies with high powered weapons or exotic powers themselves.

Your opinions about Astropaths are a little off, and they're similar to the shock my player got when they first started playing Astropaths, which is in fact they are not very good in the beginning. You are limited to the Telepathy discipline, and to the powers that cost under 200-300 XP. You do get two powers a level, and it's very easy to get your Psy Rating up, but until Rank 3 (or you become a Transubstantial Initiate) you're locked into Telepathy Powers, and although they get very good, you will not be getting the very powerful ones for awhile. If you are starting from Rank 1, Astropaths are not going to be able to do very much. By Rank 5 they will transform into the awesome damage-dealing class you're probably imagining, but before then their real strength comes from being able to resist psychic powers rather than deal out huge amounts of damage.

Your opinion about Navigators are a little more on the nose. Their power growth is slow, but it's also very controlled and reliable. Most Core Navigator powers focus on ship actions, but Into the Storm and Navis Primer branch them out into other uses. ITS has a lot of combat-oriented powers, and Navis Primer has a lot of utility powers. It is true that they will be very specialised in terms of powers, but that's because by Rank 3 they can get a "Save or Die" power. Outside of combat they also possess a lot of utility skills, and their ability to gain Hardy at Rank 3 means they can throw themselves into combat a lot more readily. Also some of the tricks they can pull off are just incredible.

Your Weirdboyz is also pretty good, but remember that at Rank 3 they will get "Da Nekst Best Fing" allowing their Psy Rating to be increased by the presence of non-Orks as well as their Minderz. As well, they get techniques fast and theoretically have access to everything. I honestly feel this is probably the best class to start with for a Psyker because you won't have to worry about optimizing your talent choices (they're all there!) you get a few minions to play with and are surprisingly versatile for a character.

Currently I have a PC as each one of these in my campaign. My Astropath mostly uses his Willpower with a Force Sword, and his Telepathy powers for support although he's starting to branch into the TK discipline so that will change his utility. My Navigator has an amazing trick with Stacking the Deck to give +50 to firing ship weaponry, which makes him smile. My Weirdboy just blasts power while charging into combat and has a lot of fun with it.

Issues regarding these classes: Focus Power Tests can be confusing and have been errata'd, so make sure people are familiar with them. As well, for the two human classes power advancement for both is slow Starting off as a super-powerful Psyker is not going to happen. Based on rules as written, Astropaths can only buy a psychic technique up to the indicated XP cost in their advancement tree, so they can't skip to the best ones.

Some more thoughts on Navigators outside of combat. It is true that the bulk of their skills are Lore-oriented, but keep in mind that from a role-playing perspective they potentially have a huge amount of options. The Navis Nobilitae are an organisation that is almost certainly more powerful than your Rogue Trader, and the Navigator is the character who ultimately determines whether or not a venture can proceed. As tolerated mutants, their social interacts revolve around Intimidate because they creep people the Hell out, and people will either do what they say to get them out of there, or turn on them.

So to summarize (HA!). If your player is looking for a long-term, high damage character who's gonig to be slow to start out with, go with the Astropath. For a class that will specialise in a few tricks and be very good at the, as well as occupy a unique slot in Imperial society, go with the Navigator. If they want to have a character who will have fun and burn Fate Points (probably other people's) like there's no tomorrow, go with the Weirdboy.

Erathia said:

What do you mean Weirdboys have access to everything? I thought that the fact they don't get any chance to select an additional discipline means they only get powers from the Waaagh discipline.

Also, how big are the limitations on the navigation and telepathy for wierdboys? As in, can they work as a ship's navigator or astropath?

Also, how does the navigator in your campaign achieve +50 with Stacking the Deck? Wouldn't that require an Int bonus of 10?

I meant that Weirdboyz only have the one Discipline, so they don't have to feel overwhelmed or paralyzed with choice. They do only get the one discipline, yes.

Weirdboyz can Navigate the Warp starting at Rank 3, though not as well as a real Navigator. However they are significantly better than doing it without a Navigator. They take a pretty large penalty on the Navigation tests, and since they automatically fail estimating the journey's duration they will usually take longer (though I and most people come up with their own house rules for Warp Navigation so this may not matter).

The wording for "Da Big Shout" is ambiguous, but it implies that they can receive messages just like an Astropath can. As for sending, they can send up to their WP Bonus in words, so they will "function" as one, although it won't be nearly the same.

My Navigator has Good Quality Cortex Implants so he has Unnatural Intelligence (x2), and then an Int Bonus of 5.

Don't forget - if you take the Navis Scion alternative rank, and if you are Magisterial House, you can make an excellent second-in-command and a wonderful diplomat and negotiator in formal settings. As a Magisterial Scion your chances of getting horrible mutations are much lower, and you end up being a very unique character archetype. Astropaths seem much cooler late-game, but in terms of character concept I would go Navigator any day.

Astropaths are your psykers. They do start out weak, but they are still useful characters. Navigators are all-round useful characters but if you don't focus on the dangers of Warp travel they get sidelined too often. I highly recommend against Weirdboyz. You've stated this is your first campaign and they're aliens. That's for experienced players with experienced GMs. You're asking for trouble if you go down that path.

Don't forget - if you take the Navis Scion alternative rank, and if you are Magisterial House, you can make an excellent second-in-command and a wonderful diplomat and negotiator in formal settings. As a Magisterial Scion your chances of getting horrible mutations are much lower, and you end up being a very unique character archetype. Astropaths seem much cooler late-game, but in terms of character concept I would go Navigator any day.

I'd probably go with the Shrouded House Malaspina, from Navis Primer. You roll twice when rolling for mutations, and Shrouded House's +10 to interaction with everyone is better than Magisterial House's +10 to interaction with nobility.

Astropaths are crazy powerful. They may not deal a lot of damage (with their psychic powers, anyway, though nothing keeps them from picking up a heavy weapon with Precision TK and substituting WP for BS), but half the Divination tree is all about making the GM give up his campaign notes. They also get many handy lores, mind-reading, mostly-permanent mind control, and if you're really, really into personal power, just shack up in the Astropathic Choir Chamber, capture a Warboss, Puppetmaster him and keep control over him for 5 VU.

The main weakness of the Astropath is that your social status is much lower than the rest of the team, and you are quite limited in what you can do at the start.

Oh, and it should be added that if you want a second discipline from the start, go for the Transubstantial Initiate alternate rank from Into the Storm. It really is quite good.

Don't forget - if you take the Navis Scion alternative rank, and if you are Magisterial House, you can make an excellent second-in-command and a wonderful diplomat and negotiator in formal settings. As a Magisterial Scion your chances of getting horrible mutations are much lower, and you end up being a very unique character archetype. Astropaths seem much cooler late-game, but in terms of character concept I would go Navigator any day.

I'd probably go with the Shrouded House Malaspina, from Navis Primer. You roll twice when rolling for mutations, and Shrouded House's +10 to interaction with everyone is better than Magisterial House's +10 to interaction with nobility.

True, Shrouded Houses do get better social skills, which could potentially make them better diplomats. But then again, it's not the height of Navigator aristocracy. I really love the Magisterial concept, but they really made them the least powerful in all respects - bonus only with nobility, a small re-roll power for Lidless Stare, and a +20 against mutations. Nomadic houses are superior in navigation AND their fate point power is just OP, compared to the rest. I really wish they gave the Magisterials a little bit more power :/ But if you like the pompous, larger than life aristocrat concept, then you should definitely go magisterial. Shrouded Houses are poor and opportunistic, so their diplomats would probably be quite skilled at convincing people, but would have VERY limited resources. The noble origin really only works with Magisterial, Voidborn for nomadic, maybe Hive World for Shrouded, and god knows what planet works for the renegades.... God, I hate renegade houses xD

I was a fan of the Nomadic Houses, personally. Their out in the wild, almost gypsy lifestyle made it easy to shoehorn in the story I wanted to use, and Navis Scion hurt a bit less to take, since many of the Alt Careers seeming shortcomings, such as the loss of Rank 1 Skill access, were covered nicely by the benefits of Nomadic House. There, now at least they've been mentioned.