from the book:
Prerequisites: Psy Rating, Strong Minded, Willpower 40
The character’s sheer willpower and psychic focus have become one and the same over years of practice and training, such that their combined use is second nature. The character doubles his Psy Rating on any Opposed Test involving the Psyniscience Skill or Psychic Powers.
question: would that include the opposed WP Test when hitting someone with a Force Weapon?
Rules from Force Weapons [P155]
"...he may, as a free action channel psychic force and killing will into the blade. This requires a Focus Power Test using Opposed Willpower. For every degree of success the force weapon...."
So as written, I would say yes. Focus power tests have all the usual rules for Push/Fettered/Unfettered etc so they would count as a Psychic Power in my understanding. Which as I would guess it means you can have some horribly high psychic tests.
I worked out that if you took a Librarian which has max Psy Rating 10, use Warp Conduit, which adds +1 on a push, push the force weapon attack you're looking at PR 14...then add Bastion of Iron Will which means you're at Psy Rating 24-28 depending whether you count the bonuses as their base psy rating. And since the test grants +5 for every point of psy rating used you're adding 120-140 to your WP (along with the base skill anyway). Assume a theoretical max WP of about 75 at that level and you need to end up rolling less than 195 on a D100 (failing on that 91+ area). While the system caps at 100 for the rolls, I think it is written somewhere that stats can be modified above this and this value can be used to calculate degrees of success. So even getting 90 means you pass by 10 full degrees. Have fun surviving that...
Edited by Calgor GrimDoesn't seem to interact with the +/- 60 net modifier cap, either.
mh... I think our GM will say "it's not a Psychic Power, and it's not a Psyniscience Test, so NO!"
GM has the final say but for me as a GM I would rule in players favour on that.
player's favour? I would dread the day we meet a CSM Sorcerer, and he does THAT to one of us...
Well thats the tradeoff. If a player wants to interpret a rule in that way, I agree to it but to the same token they have to be prepared to have it used on them by an NPC 
"for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
My players have taken this to their Heart
mh... I think our GM will say "it's not a Psychic Power, and it's not a Psyniscience Test, so NO!"
If you mean the psyker ability to focus his psychic energy through his blade to cause additional damage to an enemy...
Yes it is a psychic power. Any ability which requires a Focus Power Test is a psychic power, and follows all the rules therefore (including psychic phenomenon, and perils of the warp). As this power is an opposed test, I will also remind you the defenders Degrees of Success CANCEL OUT the attacker's Degress of Success (Page 4 of the Deathwatch Errata).
Psyniscience is a skill which uses a standard perception skill check. It does not use Focus Power tests.
Yes it is a psychic power. Any ability which requires a Focus Power Test is a psychic power, and follows all the rules therefore (including psychic phenomenon, and perils of the warp). As this power is an opposed test, I will also remind you the defenders Degrees of Success CANCEL OUT the attacker's Degress of Success (Page 4 of the Deathwatch Errata).
Psyniscience is a skill which uses a standard perception skill check. It does not use Focus Power tests.
Agreed. This is why a force weapon is only useful to a psyker, whilst it is possible (albeit hard) to get psynicience without actually being a psyker. Ritual-based sorcerors in Dark Heresy, for example, can achieve this.
mh... I think our GM will say "it's not a Psychic Power, and it's not a Psyniscience Test, so NO!"
If you mean the psyker ability to focus his psychic energy through his blade to cause additional damage to an enemy...
Yes it is a psychic power. Any ability which requires a Focus Power Test is a psychic power, and follows all the rules therefore (including psychic phenomenon, and perils of the warp). As this power is an opposed test, I will also remind you the defenders Degrees of Success CANCEL OUT the attacker's Degress of Success (Page 4 of the Deathwatch Errata).
Psyniscience is a skill which uses a standard perception skill check. It does not use Focus Power tests.
Anywhere I could find this quote in a book? If I could show this to the GM, I should be golden...
“A Focus Power test is a Challenging(+0) Willpower Test that determines whether a psychic power functions successfully.”
Straight from the Errata, page 3.
“A Focus Power test is a Challenging(+0) Willpower Test that determines whether a psychic power functions successfully.”
Straight from the Errata, page 3.
wonderful! I'll submit this to him.
many thanks!