I'm wanting to offer starting psycers the chance to be soul bound to the emperor as an optional starting trait, because it's not like he's taking another trip to earth anytime soon. But taking 1d10 loss in a skill seems... paltry. And since blinding is the traditional outcome I was going to go with that. But... that is a bit nuetering to a character, they would have trouble getting around let alone shooting anything. I was thinking of giving a 'psychic sonar' or something similar that's of obviously inferior quality to real sight but allows them to walk around without slamming into things and even take pop shots at enemies (though the 'unatural aim' would be needed to really make hitting anything possible again).

Other than that I was thinking of making movement easier by confining the psycher to a giant steel hampster ball, sure he may bump into things but that wont be a big deal while chained inside a rolling psy warded coffin. As much for his own protection as everyone else's should his powers go astray. But then powers with 'touch' range would be... yeah.

Any new ideas? or suggestions on how to implement ether of these? I'm thinking -30 to all sight based skills (including balistic and weapon), anything else?

Feel free to discuss what would be fair, how powerful and/or valuble the soul bound protection really is, or how psycic vission sight might be manifest, as well as new ideas and game mechanics.

How about letting them Test Psyniscience to see if they can detect life forms (IH pg 235)? Obviously not each and every time they want to do something, just every now and then, and possibly allow something to let them know if theyre going to walk into a wall/door etc?

Any reason he couldn't just have his defunct eyes replaced with optical implants?

Demo said:

The background actually covers that - Astropaths, typically blinded by the Soul Binding process, cannot be fitted with augmetic eyes because it isn't just their eyes that're overloaded and made worthless - the optic nerves are destroyed by the process as well, so there's nothing to attach the bionic eyes to.

Astropaths are, however, supposed to possess a sixth sense that allows them to function well enough without sight.

Considering that Astropaths are one of the possible careers in Rogue Trader, it's likely we'll find out soon enough.

Yeah, I'd roll with what user4574's train of thought. You don't need to add a power, just give them a free talent and name it the something appropriate. Here's a quick throw-together that would probably work for ya':

Guided by the Emperor

Prerequisites: Psy Rating 1, Soulbound (The Emperor of Mankind)

You have given up both your eyes and your soul in order to be a direct extension of the Emperor's own will. You lose both eyes and gain the Blind trait. However, your eyes have been illuminated by holy truth allowing you to see the world by the light of the Emperor himself. Anytime you would normally be called on to make a sight-based perception test, you instead roll psyniscience. This sight extends out a number of meters equal to your Willpower bonus and multiplied by your Psy Rating. You can see the world well enough that it does not hinder you in a normal fashion. You can fire guns or catch a ball as well as any normal, sighted man. However, this psychic sense is heavily covered with emotion. You cannot read printed writing or see digital images, but you can still sense their emotional content with a successful psyniscience roll. Strong emotions or powerful psychic storms may blind the character. In some cases, areas that have experinced horrible events may even cause fear as the character experiences ghosts of past agony and terror. However, the character will also never need to worry about bumping their shins into the coffee table when the lights are out.

I don't have any of the books readily on hand but what exactly does the Soul-Binding do character wise?

I think you're stressing a bit much about trying to make a blind character a balanced and appealing choice. If it's optional, then don't worry about it. If a player chooses to be soul bound and, as such, blinded, then they are basically saying they are okay with playing a blind character and all the drawbacks that come with it.

That being said, it's not all bad. Stat wise, i would stick with what the modifiers laied out by the Blind trait on pg 329. However, as suggested above, I would also allow them to test Psyniscience (or how ever that word is spelled) to get a general lay of the land. If they are successful, I would treat them as if they had one eye (-10 to BS tests, -20 to any other test involving sight) for a number of turns/minuets/other time increment that makes sense based on the degrees of success scored +1.

I would also allow the psychic power Sense Presence to work the same as a psyniscience roll 9for those times when they need to "see" for extended periods of time or fail at their psyniscience roll but really need to know where the killer is. Either of these options still only gives them an idea of the where things are and who's there but they will never be able to describe what something looks like in terms that others would understand.

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However, in both casses of using Psyniscience or Sense Presence, they wuld only be able to sense living things. Walls, tanks, low hanging bars, etc will still be invisable to them, though they may get hints about their location bassed on how the life forms move in the area. Still, they should make sure to keep their sensor stick and/or seeing eye flying dead baby on them at all times and, for heavens sake, don't RUN!

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Both of those methods of pseudo-sight out of the way, mundane blindness isn't all that debilitating. After all, in the Imporium of Man, there is some truly great technological wonders such as an archeotech device that acts as a sensor for those who can not see. It comes in the form of a long white rod, stick, or cane that is then used by the blinded individual by sweeping it back and forth in front of them. If there is an obstruction or a change in the terrain, the sensor stick will let the blind individual know by striking it... or not striking it in the case of a sudden drop in the ground.

There are also wondrous creatures, usually in the form of a canine, that are trained to safeguard individuals without sight. They can lead them down safe paths and keep them from walking into danger. I'm sure that servitors can be made to also preform this job as can servo-sculls or even a flying dead baby if one wished to impress those around them.

I was basing my talent suggestion off of the descriptions of the blind seers of the Empire in the Horus Heresy novels. In the novels they are able to navigate non-living physical obstacles without any obvious difficulty.

Both of those methods of pseudo-sight out of the way, mundane blindness isn't all that debilitating. After all, in the Imporium of Man, there is some truly great technological wonders such as an archeotech device that acts as a sensor for those who can not see. It comes in the form of a long white rod, stick, or cane that is then used by the blinded individual by sweeping it back and forth in front of them. If there is an obstruction or a change in the terrain, the sensor stick will let the blind individual know by striking it... or not striking it in the case of a sudden drop in the ground.

Whoah, let's not go over board with that one! Everyone knows that the Mechanicus would kill any lay individuals found in the posession of a Staff Of Poking unless they were at the very least Interrogators. This is also why these things aren't detailed in Dark Heresy - they will be published in Ascension, or perhaps the Radical's Handbook.

Cifer said:

definatly the radical book, very close to a tek heresy imho