Psychic Powers

By Jaedar, in Dark Heresy Second Edition Beta

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I hope its a rule of thumb. If level 10 is Beta level (I did not know about the full scale, with Iota etc, until this thread prompted research), then the powers are not powerful enough to reflect the level. I think scale wise the 1-10 Scale is the Iota, Theta, Eta, Zeta, Epsilon range.

Leave the Delta and higher levels to be Ascension-esqe and big bads with big bad powers.

It helps to know as a frame of reference what type of power level is in the 1-10 Scale.

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In general it would be good to have a rough table from Iota to Alpha Plus.

Just to get a better feeling for it.

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I would think, just using Psy Rating for determining Alpha, Beta... etc. I think it is important to at least also consider Willpower in this equation. You could theoretically have PL10 and WP35... does that make you an Alpha? I would say, absolutely not.

As a rough guideline, PL might work, but it is in my opinion not so cut and dry.

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A PL 10, WP 35 Psyker might indeed be an alpha, but a really dangerous one who is not really able to control all the power he can unleash.

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Why is he more dangerous than his PL10 WP65 counterpart? Sure, he won't be able to successfully unleash all his powers, but since psychic phenomena have nothing to do with how high your WP is, I wouldn't consider him more dangerous and out of control...

Too be honest, he can't really unleash all his potential, since most of the time he will be failing his focus power tests. Still with just a 10% chance of phenoma, just like his counterpart.

Sure, in a non time sensitive situation, that will mean that for one successful incantation of a power he will on average have more phenomena (due to him having to cast the power time) than his counterpart. But in a time sensitive situation (or a time-limited situation) they will have the same amount of phenomena.

Is the Alpha rating a potential? Or is it the current state of the psyker level? If it is potential, than even a PL1 can be an Alpha, since he can still 'buy' all his PL2-10 with XP.

If it is his current level, than I sure call a PL10 WP35 an alpha.

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He wont succeed that often, so he tries more often to achieve the same ;)

If he tries without success and nothing bad happens, he'll probably try until he is successful or until something bad happens.

That increases the risk for phenomena indirectly.

Lets say the positive-negative effect ratio goes towards the negative at his use of psy powers.

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True, you need PL 6 to get the same RoA on Smite as on a normal Lasgun, while the others are limited to RoA 1 regardless of what you do (compensated by higher damage, I guess) - although they scale with level, which weapons don't, you can simply upgrade to a boltgun instead...

Psychic as magic should be not the most powerful weapon for a character but it should be the sole way to achieve a lot of effects which a non psyker could only dream of.

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True, you need PL 6 to get the same RoA on Smite as on a normal Lasgun, while the others are limited to RoA 1 regardless of what you do (compensated by higher damage, I guess) - although they scale with level, which weapons don't, you can simply upgrade to a boltgun instead...

Psychic as magic should be not the most powerful weapon for a character but it should be the sole way to achieve a lot of effects which a non psyker could only dream of.

Yeah I don't mind a lack of Attack Abilities since I rolled a Psyker Chirurgeon, but some of the Support Abilities are a bit lacking...

I mean Biomancy has three SELF buffs, but I would rather only have the penultimate power of "Endurance" to fit my Psyker Healer...

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According to Warhammer 40k Wiki:

"Ravenor has on occasion been referred to as an Alpha-Plus psyker. This claim seems to have originated after the canonical introduction of the psyker assessment scale but before that hierarchy of psyker power had been strictly defined. Ravenor is later described, after the psyker assessment scale was better defined in the lore, as a high Delta or low Gamma-grade psyker, a claim that corresponds well with his described abilities and the fact that Ravenor is weaker then the rogue Gamma-grade psyker named Lomer Kinsky.

Ravenor's psychic abilities are most potent in three areas: telepathy, telekinesis and divination. He can mindskim whole hive cities in a search for specific persons, crush individual enemies with his mind and, with great difficulty, see faint images of possible futures. To strengthen his abilities, Ravenor uses several psychically-attuned artefacts. His anti-gravitic Force Chair is equipped with technological Psy-Boosters that increase his raw psychic strength. Some of Ravenor's Acolytes also wear Eldar Wraithbone amulets that allow the Inquisitor to more easily contact or possess his servants telepathically."

If a Delta psyker like Ravenor has immense powers that can outright kill and foresee further into the future than a few turns or rounds then that has to say something about how high of a rating that psykers in DH can get. Hopefully this gives us an extra benchmark to work with.
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There is also grade Sigma which is the designation for an Untouchable.

Some of the fluff also talks about the controversy of Alpha-Plus being an actual measurement of psychic ability or if it's just subject to Imperial propaganda.


According to Warhammer 40k Wiki:

"An example of a Beta level psyker is Sergeant Agun Soric, an Imperial Guardsman who served in the Tanith First and Only Regiment. He is able to detect blood poisoning in a fellow trooper, but his most prominent power is his ability to write messages to himself, which are contained in a brass message shell. Even after throwing the shell away, he would soon find it wriggling in his pocket, containing a message written in his own handwriting.

He eventually admitted his abilities to his regimental commander Ibram Gaunt and is taken by the Inquisition's Black Ships."