Psychic nulls

[wargame_insomniac]

Hi

I re-read Exterminatus issue 1 this morning and saw the rules for Sgt Dorian Black.

I quite like the idea of a pariah, a psychic null. Two things are concerning me:
1) The supposed rarity of psychic nulls
2) The interaction with the rest of the warband- would I need any special rules to reflect the downsides of being a pariah?

If it helps put things into context, my Inquisitor is a psychic Xanthite of the Ordo Malleus.
The character I am thinking might be suited to being a pariah is my scout character (slight conversion of the stock Enforcer models). She is the eyes and ears of my Inquisitor- frequently operating alone in advance of the main inquisitorial warband.

Being a psychic null would certainly help being able to do reconnaisance and scouting missions being much harder to be noticed.  And if she is operating solo then she can still prove useful without adversely affecting her boss.

Has anyone tried anything similar? Did you come up with any additional rules to represent the downsides of being a pariah? Is this a character concept that is worth me pursuing?

Thanks

James

[Darksinger]

If you have a psyker in the warband, don't use a pariah. It will screw with your powers, and Pariahs are almost universally ahted.

Ooh, actually, A pariah Scout could be interestng. As long as she stays way from you psyker(s), you'd be fine. And Dameons and such cant see Pariahs, nore can they corrupt them, and deamonweapons wont work much eiher.

The more i think about this, the more i like it.

As far as I'm aware,ther isn't any patcular downsides to being a pariah, apart from your affects on other psykers near you.

[MarcoSkoll]

Two things are concerning me: 1) The supposed rarity of psychic nulls

This issue is a little bit of a pet peeve of mine.

Pariahs are indeed rare - so rare that even if an Inquisitor might want a Pariah ally, it doesn't mean they can necessarily get one. Occurring in less than one in a billion births, being hard to detect (as you mention) and quite frequently killed in their youth, they are most definitely in short supply.

But at Conclave events, I find I'm almost as often sharing a table with one as not. I think this is because, as it is, the rule is a big benefit, and the disadvantages of being a Pariah are not properly represented in the rules.

As written, the only negative they really get is that they block good psychic powers as well as bad, which isn't exactly a complete representation of the fluff.

2) The interaction with the rest of the warband - would I need any special rules to reflect the downsides of being a pariah?

I would recommend it. Our local house rules for Pariahs have changed them quite a lot...

~~~~~

- Pariahs also automatically cause "Distrust" (found in the "It's all in the Mind"* article from the first issue of Dark Magenta) in allies and halve their Leadership when communicating with other characters.

- Every full yard away from the Pariah and the psychic penalty is reduced by 5%. Still very effective, but not quite as unfair on the poor psyker who targets someone 9.5" from a Pariah and has their brains evaporate as a result.

- Psykers and daemons become aware of the presence of a Pariah within range of them on a successful Wp test. They might be invisible to psychic sight, but psychic sensitives would notice such a sucking void in the warp when it came close. (In the same kind of way as I might not be able to see air, but I notice when it's windy).
This however, is more to cut down on the number of "Pariah Surprises", where players suddenly get lumbered with a large and unexpected penalty on a test where failing heavily penalises them.

*"Red with yellow wheels"

~~~~~

These changes have helped make Pariahs less popular - they're still useful, but players do think more carefully about whether their Inquisitor would actually want to be followed around all the time by a soulless abomination.

and Pariahs are almost universally hated.

Fixed that for you.

Psychic insensitives like other Pariahs and nulls wouldn't notice a Pariah's lack of soul, but Pariahs almost invariably end up treating everyone else the same way as they get treated - with hate and distrust.

So, even other Pariahs hate Pariahs, if for different reasons.

Okay, maybe not every last person, but the exceptions are so few that "almost" is an incredible overstatement.

[wargame_insomniac]

Thank you Marco- that was exactly the sort of added drawbacks I was looking for. I will read in detail but I think that is what i am after.

Thanks Darksinger- i did think it would be "cool" but I was a bit worried how realistic it would be given their rarity. I also did nt want to duplicate Eisenhorn too closely, although my character did start out with intention of making an Eisenhorn-lite.

I did want something that would help represent stealth and scout skills. Although most of her work would have actually occurred before Inquisitor arrived and thus pre-game I still wanted something that would help. I figured invisibility in the warp would certainly help in that regard.

Thanks

James

[Darksinger]

well, Marco's a better versed guy than me. I know Gazkul uses A Rather Psychopathic Excommunicate Traitoris Inquisitor Pariah. Ask him for suggestions, if you like.

[wargame_insomniac]

Right- have had my tea and sitting down to read the suggestions in more detail.

Yes definitely want the added drawbacks- I'm glad you & others agreed with my gut reaction when reading Exterminatus that as written the positives outweighed the negatives. I did want the drawbacks to possibly allow scenario ideas with the problems that a pariah would cause my psychic Inquisitor.

I have had a look on Dark Magenta website. I could not find "It's all in the Mind"* article from the first issue of Dark Magenta- was this article lost? If so does anyone have a copy that they can forward me? If so please PM me and I can send you my e-mail address.

What range would the pyskers and deamons become aware of the pariah?

The rationale for my Inquisitor utilising a pariah would be that as a member of the Ordo Malleus he would use each and weapon at his disposal to combat the Ancient Enemy. He has even started to contemplate using the powers of Chaos against itself, so to use a soulless abomination would nt faze him.

It might lead to some interesting interaction between the pariah on the one hand, and a psychic Inquisitor with a daemon sword on the other....

Thanks

James

[MarcoSkoll]

I have had a look on Dark Magenta website. I could not find "It's all in the Mind" article from the first issue of Dark Magenta- was this article lost?

It starts on page 10 of this PDF. Distrust is on page 11.

You can ignore my "Red with Yellow wheels" asterisk, of course. The phrase "it's all in the mind" always reminds me of the Yellow Submarine film.

What range would the pyskers and deamons become aware of the pariah?

We use the Pariah's normal 10 yard range. If they're close enough to be affecting the psyker's powers, then they're close enough to be affecting their psychic senses.

He has even started to contemplate using the powers of Chaos against itself, so to use a soulless abomination wouldn't faze him.

Well, it wouldn't faze any Inquisitor in that sense. Pariahs aren't in anyway proscribed.

... Although, the idea that they might be is an interesting one. They're not dangerous timebombs like a psyker or daemonhost, but they instil an instinctive distrust in those around them, so I could certainly see that many Inquisitors would view them in a similar way, even if they aren't technically disallowed.

But to get back to the original point - they wouldn't faze him as being proscribed, but they would certainly faze him with their mere presence. Many pariahs are the kind of people who you'd rather throw out of an airlock than pass the time of day with.

[wargame_insomniac]

Thanks Marco.

10" range of detection is fair enough.

Have just read the pdf- thanks for the link. I like it. -1 speed for my other characters if they are within 10" of mypariah scout. Overall it tones down the pariah ability which is a good thing for game balance.

Just had a thought- I was presuming it would Distrust would affect all my other characters within 10". But would it also affect opposing characters within 10"?  If so it does make Distrust quite dangerous.

Thanks for the input

James

[MarcoSkoll]

-1 speed for my other characters if they are within 10" of my pariah scout.

Normally, I would only do this if the character is aware of the Pariah. Of course, psykers being able to detect the Pariah without line of sight means that (appropriately) psykers are more affected by them.

But would it also affect opposing characters within 10"?

It can fairly reasonably be assumed that the rules already account for enemies not trusting each other, so no, we've only had it affect allies (and in some cases, neutral characters) so far.

[wargame_insomniac]

Thanks Marco- that reassures me that Distrust is not overpowered and in fact works as a nice characterful drawback to the rules as per Exterminatus magazine.

Thanks very much

James

[InquisitorHeidfeld]

and Pariahs are almost universally hated.

Fixed that for you.

There are many things within this galaxy alone which do not hate Pariahs... The Necrons for example should have no emotional reaction to them whatsoever and Enslavers are unlikely to even be aware of their existance. Therefore "...almost universally..." is more accurate.
Not to mention that beyond this galaxy we have no idea what might exist...

[MarcoSkoll]

Necrons hate everything (including themselves). Enslavers are highly psychic creatures of the warp and would be injured by their mere presence.
I can't see that either is a counterexample. Without going into exceptions like completely emotionless beings, the only even vaguely numerous exception (that is both sentient and sapient) I can think of is the Tau, who are outnumbered by humans by a factor of around about a hundred thousand to one.

Besides, you're missing the point of what I said. I'm trying to stress that exceptions to the rule are indeed exceptional. Yes, they can and will happen, but they are incredibly few and probably not human. (Thus, they are unlikely to ever even meet a Pariah in the first place).

The problem is that if you get it in your head that exceptions are an "almost never" as opposed to "exceptionally unlikely", then the idea that... oh, I don't know... perhaps that a powerful psyker could fall in love with one... then doesn't sound as immediately ridiculous as it should. And it should.

[DapperAnarchist]

Also, this is Inquisitor, not 40k - how often would you encounter a Necron? (Says the man building a Necron Lord...)

[wargame_insomniac]

LOL- at one level i would love to see that figure and on another level I am appalled. Talk about a 54mm sclae arms race!!

Cheers

James

[seiterarch]

What about Tau (or human blanks)? (just for discussion's sake)
I don't think the situation's appeared in written fluff previously but it could in INQ.
Since they have pretty much no warp presence (far less than humans), I wouldn't think they'd notice a pariah from any other human.