Questions about Psyker characters

[Doomaflatchi]

I'm looking at putting together a game (my first) at my local GW store, and I had some questions about psyker characters in Inquisitor.

Generally speaking, do you find that the WP penalty from failed psychic powers acts as too strong a deterrent to players using these types of characters? Do players tend to avoid them due to permanent characteristic loss? Is this mechanic simply designed to instill care and prodigious use of the Concentrate action? Does anyone have any house-ruled mechanics for recovering WP lost in this way between battles?

My apologies if these issues have been discussed before. I'd appreciate any insight that you guys can offer!

[Kaled]

PrecinctOmega wrote an article for Fanatic Online that touches on most of the questions you ask.  If you look at the 'Inquisitor PDFs' thread you should find a link to it - the file is called 'FO83InqPsychic.pdf'.

Personally, I say that the Wp loss is only for the duration of the battle and is recovered by the next game due to time spent meditating, training etc (the same goes for characteristic losses due to other things).  However, if I were running a campaign where each scenario took place immediately after the previous one I wouldn't be nearly so generous.

[Brother_Brimstone]

I agree with Kaled insofar as I think you should only count WP loss for the duration of the game and, if applicable, campaign. Otherwise it would get quite silly quite quickly in that you might have a beloved character on whom you have spent hours making a model, writing fluff, establishing a character and relationships with other characters and then they lose so much willpower they're basically unplayable (and with 2d10 loss per failure it wouldn't take THAT long...).

Still the WP loss for the duration of games and campaigns can be fun and add an element of excitement . Especially if the character is wielding a daemonic weapon. My primary character is a daemonhost, with only about 20 WP points between man and daemon, and it makes things quite exciting from the perspective of possession!

Having said that, if you WANT the WP loss to be permanent, signifying through gameplay and fluff that the character is slowly losing themself to the ravages of the warp, i'd say go for it! Generally, with these things, i'd say if it's your character it's your choice as to whether the changes are TRULY permanent to the character and the same applies to your players: although it's entirely within the GM's power to make changes for the duration of a game/campaign.

That's just my own opinion, however, and others may disagree.

[Aidan]

Hm, with my group we do not incur a WP penalty for just any psychic power failing - only if a risky action is failed (too many 1s) or if the psyker auto-fails their test. I find failing a psychic power at a critical point (and it often is critical) penalty enough; especially when most psychic powers really aren't unbalancing compared to the plethora of weaponry out there that has no risk attached to it at all.

Whether or not the WP loss is permanent on a campaign basis is the realm of the GM; I might make the loss linger a bit if I thought it suitable. Then again, I have on occasion implemented temporary WP (and other stat) penalties due to exhaustion and disheartening circumstances, etc.

Whether or not stat loss is permanent for the character -forever- is something I believe lies solely in the hands of the owning player. Much like with permanent injury, I will not impose such on someone else's creative property, although I will always commend players who chose to recognise the damage done to their characters.

-Aidan.

[Myriad]

Well, even in game the psychic burn out rules are somewhat vicious to say the least, and while GMing at the spring conclave I reduced the amount.  Part of the problem is that it discourages psykers from attempting trickier powers.  Aidan seems to highlight a sensible approach.

We do see relatively few characters that depend on their psychic powers as opposed to waving a force sword around.

The loss doesn't have to be permanent between games, especially one off scenarios - like any injury it can be assumed to recover.  Running a linked campaign, as Kaled says, I would probably go with partial recovery to increase continuity.

[MarcoSkoll]

I too tend to do something like Aidan does - there should be a reasonable opportunity for a power to fail without it slapping a huge Wp reduction on the character.
That said, I do tend to make Risky Action fails a bit more serious, doing more than just Wp damage. Stunning, Disorientation, reductions to other mental stats, it depends how I feel that day.

The problem is that the penalty for failure on the Wp test discourages lower Wp psykers. Who's going to take a Wp 53 psyker when they're going to need to concentrate for most of three turns in order to be able to perform a minor power without a major risk of their brain trying to exit via their ears?

We do see relatively few characters that depend on their psychic powers as opposed to waving a force sword around.

That's often the case. My only really dedicated psyker is Maya Avens - but as her powers are the only thing she can really do, I've eventually ended up giving her rather a lot of them.

While a normal character can say "He's going to jump down, grab that line across the street, and use that to swing in via that window there", it's harder to use psychic powers "outside the box" - their uses are normally too narrow. Sure, it should be feasible that a controlled pyrokinetic could use their power to cauterise a bleeding chest wound, or a telekinetic use their power to help lift a heavy crate - but in some ways it seems taboo.

In many ways, GMs should be prepared to come up with difficulties for uses of psychic powers on the spot (possibly with a bit of an extra penalty because the psyker hasn't practised it before). After all, we encourage lateral thinking in other areas, so psychic powers should also be included.

However, to represent the versatility that Maya is supposed to be capable of, as well as simply having lots of ideas in the first place, I just sat down with the descriptions of her powers...

- Moderately powerful Pyrokinetic with excellent control
- Can read/manipulate/control the emotions of others. Some potential to trick the perceptions.
- Short ranged micro-telekinesis.
- Good at using these simultaneously to produce spectacular combinations.

...and wrote out a load of abilities that fit them. The number is somewhere in the double digits range now.

Quite a lot, but having thought about it, there's more sense in thinking about the psyker's "skills" being their talent for given areas of psychic ability, and their actual powers as being applications of those talents (or at least applications they've got some practice with.)

[Dust King]

Yeah, I've found the prospect of the Wp loss off-putting for psykers. My main warband's psyker, Amanda "Manda Jorden, suffers a roll on the hallucination table instead of the Wp penalty due to her being overpowered by visions from the Hive Mind rather than attacked by daemons.

Still, thanks to that she has become one of my favourite characters. Plus her risking injuring herself (or just doing something stupid) when she fluffs up a power often ends up far more interesting (such as throwing down her sword when she is charging into single combat)