[Rogue Trader] Balancing Psykers

[MachineWraith]

I am currently the assistant-GM to a game of Rogue Trader. The problem that we've been having is that there don't really seem to be any mechanical drawbacks to being a psyker. We've got two, one a Navigator from a renegade house, and the other a sorceror who is soul-bound to Tzeentch but is (barely) passing himself off as an Astropath.

On several occasions the sorceror has simply mind-controlled the party into doing what he wants. I wouldn't care particularly, but nobody enjoys having control of their character taken away from them. Also, we've got one particularly vocal player who is complaining that the psykers are getting way too much leniency in social situations. I tend to agree, but the head GM can't seem to take it upon himself to crack down on the psykers fluff-wise.

Just recently we had the closest thing to a TPK this party has ever had, all because the Navigator was curious how nasty his third eye was. Short answer? 7 of 13 enemies dead, 4 of 7 party members had to burn a fate point, and the other two party members taken to negatives and critted on. This situation nearly ended the campaign, because even though the two players who didn't go down managed to pull off a victory (the Navigator was promptly focus-fired by the remaining enemies), a lot of people were dissatisfied with how easily the Navigator took down the whole party, and, were it not for line-of-effect issues, the entire combat encounter.

Since the head GM is unwilling for whatever reasons to enforce 40k's hatred of the psyker, are there any ways to limit their ridiculousness that I've overlooked? Help me save my campaign!

Side note: The Navigator, after that little debacle, was dismembered and devoured by the Kroot mercenary in the party, who was one of the two still on his feet. However, the Navigator's player seems intent on rolling his new character as a Navigator as well.

TL;DR - Psykers are silly. Are there any rules to reign them in?

[king.com]

I am currently the assistant-GM to a game of Rogue Trader.


I'll be honest I dont know how assistant GMing works, never been involved or ever seen how it operates.



The problem that we've been having is that there don't really seem to be any mechanical drawbacks to being a psyker. We've got two, one a Navigator from a renegade house, and the other a sorceror who is soul-bound to Tzeentch but is (barely) passing himself off as an Astropath.


Um.....what? Creativity is good and all but wont his cover be blown the second someone asks him to send a message? You know, the primary job of an Astropath and something that cant be done without being born with the Astropath gene (note this is different than the Psyker gene)? I mean sure I guess Tzeench could gift him with that gene but at that point he doesnt need to be a sorceror anymore. I dont know but this seems super fishy, any particular rules this is changing or is it pure fluff?

I honestly cannot see how your Astropath is not dead the second he steps on the ship and every Astropath on the ship immediately screams that hes not bound to the Emperor but whatever.

You have a character who is very likely to be the enemy of the players, I hope nobody is surprised that he ends up playing in this way.



On several occasions the sorceror has simply mind-controlled the party into doing what he wants. I wouldn't care particularly, but nobody enjoys having control of their character taken away from them. Also, we've got one particularly vocal player who is complaining that the psykers are getting way too much leniency in social situations.


So your character has been Compeled, Dominated or Puppet Master'd? Unless he is constantly using Reprogram on everyone, everytime he uses it the players remember what happened. Why are they not immediately killing him after this? Even if he is reprograming them, if you do it you have the whole paradox thing and it takes atleast 2 hours to do anything beyond the most basic of programming (like trying to remove the entire act of being mind controlled).

If you have things like Reprogram your getting into some high level gameplay, im confused how the players have not got approapriate counters by now.

What do you mean too much leniency in social situations? Is the Astropath just walking in a mind controlling/reading everyone? See an Astropath is an obvious thing. They have a brand of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, and often carry around some kind of symbol of their order. If anyone of importance is going to a meeting and see one they are going to make sure they bring along an appropriate countermeasure. Be it a Psyker of their own or some kind of Psi Damping Field (if they can find an Untounchable they're always handy).



I tend to agree, but the head GM can't seem to take it upon himself to crack down on the psykers fluff-wise.


Ah! Now I see your problem. Yea this is bad. If your not going to enforce fluff in the game your frankly...playing the wrong game. Everything about the 40K systems depend on fluff being important.

Psykers are powerful but if they aren't treated like the scum of the universe that any kind of prolonged exposure to is going to generate angry mobs your letting them play wizards not Psykers.

Take your Renegade House Navigator, the Inquisition is PERSONALLY KEEPING AN EYE ON YOU. That means your travelling companions too. Like the Sorceror of Tzeench. I would say given hes not soul bound to the Emperor every other Astropath (hell, every psyker even) who EVER sees him is going to freak out, and thats going to get back to the Inquisition. Thats spells big problems, the Rogue Trader should be reigning his crew in if anything like this is the case, I'll assume the Rogue Trader has a half working brain to identify a Renegade Navigator AND renegade Astropath given that they were not assigned through the approapriate channels so he already has reason to suspect them. If he suspects foul play from the Sorceror or Navigator, surround himself with the rest of the Astropathic Choir on the ship.




Just recently we had the closest thing to a TPK this party has ever had, all because the Navigator was curious how nasty his third eye was. Short answer? 7 of 13 enemies dead, 4 of 7 party members had to burn a fate point, and the other two party members taken to negatives and critted on. This situation nearly ended the campaign, because even though the two players who didn't go down managed to pull off a victory (the Navigator was promptly focus-fired by the remaining enemies), a lot of people were dissatisfied with how easily the Navigator took down the whole party, and, were it not for line-of-effect issues, the entire combat encounter.


Yea a Navigator is definitely someone who is dangerous (your using the Lidless Stare power I assume) but its only useful in a very close quarters situation. Its got a 15m range, so unless your charging him your completely safe.

Its right up there with say...a full auto burst from a bolter wielded by an Arch-Militant. Difference is nobody bats an eyelid at the Arch-Militant while everyone freaks out and immediately tries to murder the Navigator if he uses a power. Upside being that a failure means practically nothing with the bolter while the Navigator is getting constant fatigue and 2 if he fails. Pay attention to the Fatigue build up ont he Navigator it can be painful and people are more than happy to coup de grace psykers when they have the chance.



Since the head GM is unwilling for whatever reasons to enforce 40k's hatred of the psyker, are there any ways to limit their ridiculousness that I've overlooked? Help me save my campaign!

Side note: The Navigator, after that little debacle, was dismembered and devoured by the Kroot mercenary in the party, who was one of the two still on his feet. However, the Navigator's player seems intent on rolling his new character as a Navigator as well.

TL;DR - Psykers are silly. Are there any rules to reign them in?

No your ignoring one of the most fundamental aspects of a Psyker and the players are abusing that. You should probably deal with that first and then see if you have problems.

Im not sure what your worried with the Navigator, he did something stupid and died as a result. Character is dead, if he wants to do it again, the party is going to be EXTREMELY sceptical about recruit another Navigator AND they've seen how this Lidless Stare stuff works so know to look away this time.

[Kaun]

Since the head GM is unwilling for whatever reasons to enforce 40k's hatred of the psyker, are there any ways to limit their ridiculousness that I've overlooked? Help me save my campaign!

This is your main problem, living psykers in 40k should fit into one of three categories;

Slaves, hidden or hunted.

So the easiest answer is if your psykers aren't slaves and they aren't really hiding their powers then they should be getting hunted. But since your GM is ignoring that part of the fluff your screwed to a certain extent.

[Ranos]

Psykers fit in whatever category the Rogue Trader wants them to fit into.

And any sane Rogue Trader would want that psyker to fit in the "dead" category, right after the first time mind-controlling the command crew.

[MachineWraith]

Well, it appears that things are going to correct themselves, to some extent. After that near party wipe, the consensus is that the party is going to split up for a period of one year or so, then come back together. That gives the people that want new characters an opportunity to change things up. After I spoke with the sorceror, he expressed interest in changing characters anyway. So, essentially, we're going to make his sorceror an enemy NPC, and he's going to reroll.

The person playing our Rogue Trader has also said that they're rather uncomfortable having final say in everything the party does, and that they want to change also. So now, we're going to have a new, much more true-to-the-fluff Rogue Trader taking over, and hiring on everyone's new characters.

Hopefully this will all work out.

Side note: The way we've been running the assistant GM thing: basically, the party is huge. Like, 10 people or so. Also, our GM, while enthusiastic and a good storyteller, doesn't have much experience as a GM or with the 40k roleplaying system. So I'm along for the ride, helping him plan encounters, taking notes for the session summaries we post, and helping with background work and the running of NPCs. I basically just take some of the workload off of him.

[The Glyphstone]

10 people playing at one table? This is madness.

[MachineWraith]

Truly, it is. It's a lot of work, especially considering that, I believe, 3 of the people have never played a TTRPG before, and 5 (including those 3) know nothing of the Warhammer 40k universe.

[Sith_Happens]

10 people playing at one table? This is madness.

Madness? This... is...
THE IMPERIUM!!! Sorry, had to do it.

[The Glyphstone]

Madness? This... is...
THE IMPERIUM!!! Sorry, had to do it.

[/justasplanned]

*kicks Sith_Happens into the Eye of Terror*

[Leon]

TL;DR - Psykers are silly. Are there any rules to reign them in?

Sounds like both Lead GM and you as Assistant are not keeping them locked down to the constraints of the setting ~ Many things in 40K can make a Pysker go "Pop"

[Dimestoretiamat]

Sounds like both Lead GM and you as Assistant are not keeping them locked down to the constraints of the setting ~ Many things in 40K can make a Pysker go "Pop"

And if insanity happens again, sick Necrons on them. Let's see the psykers keep their cool when facing down a Paraiah or two.

[WitchSlayer]

And if insanity happens again, sick Necrons on them. Let's see the psykers keep their cool when facing down a Paraiah or two.

Coincidentally, I recently had faced down necrons as a Navigator in a Rogue Trader game.

I put on a godmask, became a god for a round and almost died. It was a weird day. That said, there's nothing you can really do to BALANCE psykers, so much as punish them when they make a mistake or use their powers too openly.

[king.com]

I put on a godmask, became a god for a round and almost died. It was a weird day.

I cannot express how right-ly you are playing this game.

[Squark]

And if insanity happens again, sick Necrons on them. Let's see the psykers keep their cool when facing down a Paraiah or two.

Pariahs are in kind of a limbo state right now; While the Fantasy Flight games stuff might have rules for them, in the fluff proper they've gone the way of the squat, due to changes in how Necrons Operate. Still, throwing a blank or two at the players is not a bad idea.

[MachineWraith]

Well, much of the ridiculousness that was going on has been reigned in. The player that took over the role of Rogue Trader for the party has a much better knowledge of the fluff of 40k than the last one. As a result, he's cracked down hard on psyker shenanigans. The psykers in the party are now accompanied by armed guards literally everywhere they go, and protecting the psyker is only half the job. Most times they are not allowed to leave the ship. Any unauthorized use of psychic powers is grounds for summary execution.

Basically, the way psykers are really supposed to be in 40k. :smallamused:

The best part? The psykers' players are actually enjoying it.

Edit: Oh, and we've been tossing the occasional enemy psyker in there. We used a blank once, to great effect, but we don't want to overuse them and have them become trite.

[Squark]

Well, much of the ridiculousness that was going on has been reigned in. The player that took over the role of Rogue Trader for the party has a much better knowledge of the fluff of 40k than the last one. As a result, he's cracked down hard on psyker shenanigans. The psykers in the party are now accompanied by armed guards literally everywhere they go, and protecting the psyker is only half the job. Most times they are not allowed to leave the ship. Any unauthorized use of psychic powers is grounds for summary execution.

Basically, the way psykers are really supposed to be in 40k. :smallamused:

The best part? The psykers' players are actually enjoying it.

Edit: Oh, and we've been tossing the occasional enemy psyker in there. We used a blank once, to great effect, but we don't want to overuse them and have them become trite.

Glad to hear everything's going well. And good call on using blanks sparingly; They're supposed to be almost mythical in rarity.