Author Topic: [Dark Heresy] Imperial Psyker Sith Lord Build  (Read 12264 times)

Offline zugschef

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[Dark Heresy] Imperial Psyker Sith Lord Build
« on: August 10, 2012, 06:45:16 AM »
Some friends of mine and me are about to start an online DH campaign and I intend to play a psyker. Reading into the psychic and arcane powers, the idea of building a Sith Lord type character came up. I'm pretty inexperienced with DH, having only played three sessions as a an assassin three years ago. Thus, I'm looking for advice on how to build an effective character. :)

The career path is pretty much set with the Scholar route. The Templar special Rank out of the Inquisitor's Handbook is a no-go, because it would force me to go the inferior Savant route (Favoured of the Warp is definitely a key talent, as are the Psy Ratings), and the Tainted Psyker and Imperial Diviner ranks out of the Radical's Handbook are not without their own problems (see below).

I'm free to either roll my characteristics or spend 100 points on them, which boosts my Willpower to at least 60. With the corresponding Imperial Divination and Sanctioned Psyker trait I could get to 66 right off the start (haven't talked about these (choose freely or roll) with the GM yet).

Currently I'm not sure which skills on the Psyker's list I should get. I guess Awareness is kind of mandatory in a game world as hostile as the 41st millenium. Also, it's quite tricky to get the Sorcerer and especially the Master Sorcerer talents. The former is on the list of the Imperial Diviner and Tainted Psyker, but these ranks mean that you can't progress in Psy Rating as a Scholar (in the Imperial Diviner's case this may be due to an error though, because it makes absolutely no sense at all that you wouldn't get into this rank without having unlocked the Divination discipline via Psy Rating 3 first), and the latter can only be acquired by an elite advance. On top of that, their requirements are pretty steep due to the Forbidden Knowledge (Demonology or Warp) +10 prerequisite. Demonology needs the Tainted Psyker rank or an elite advance and Forbidden Knowledge (Warp) interferes with Awareness, as these skills are only in the Sanctionite's list of advancements.

As for the power selection, Force Barrage, Glimpse, Precision Telekinesis and Preternatural Awareness seem to be must-haves: These powers say, "Always go first and do the relevant stuff just as good or even better than the specialists (i.e. killing stuff and using skills)." But this still leaves out the Biomancy discipline which has awesome powers such as Cellular Control, Regeneration, Seal Wounds and Shape Flesh.

This is what I've come up with so far:

PROGRESSION

SANCTIONITE (500 XP)
  • Living Nightmare (300 XP)
  • Willpower: Simple (WP 66) (100 XP)
    --> 3 Minor Powers: Float, Heal, Spasm
  • Awareness (100 XP)

NEONATE (550 XP)
  • Willpower: Intermediate (WP 71) (250 XP)
  • Psy Rating II (200 XP)
    --> 4 Minor Powers: Chameleon, Endure Flames, Lucky, Unnatural Aim
  • Forbidden Lore (Psykers) (100 XP)

ASPIRANT (1000 XP)
  • Willpower: Trained (WP 76) (500 XP)
  • Dodge (100 XP)
  • Awareness +10 (100 XP)
  • Inquiry (100 XP)
  • Scholastic Lore (Heraldry) (100 XP)
  • Scholastic Lore (Legend) (100 XP)

SCHOLAR MATERIUM (1300 XP)
  • Psy Rating III (200 XP)
    --> Telekinesis: Force Barrage
    --> 4 Minor Powers: Call Item, Space Slip, Suggestion, Time Fade
  • Psychic Power (200 XP)
    --> Precision Telekinesis
  • Power Well (200 XP)
  • Willpower: Expert (WP 81) (750 XP)

SCHOLAR MEDICAE (2650 XP)
  • Psy Rating 4 (200 XP)
    --> Divination: Preternatural Awareness
    --> 5 Minor Powers: Distort Vision, Haywire, Flash Bang, Knack, Mutuable Features
  • Elite Advance: Sorcerer (400 XP)
    --> 12 Major Powers
  • Psychic Power (100 XP): Glimpse
  • Psychic Power (100 XP): Push
  • Corpus Conversion (200 XP)
  • Awareness +20 (100 XP)
  • Intelligence: Simple (Int 40)
  • 1250 XP left

SCHOLAR ARCANUM (2000 XP)
  • Favoured of the Warp (200 XP)
  • Elite Advance: Master Sorcerer (800 XP)
  • Psychic Power (100 XP)
  • Psychic Power (100 XP)
  • 800 XP left

Offline littha

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Re: [Dark Heresy] Imperial Psyker Sith Lord Build
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2012, 08:05:21 AM »
Be prepared to randomly explode at the beginning of your first combat.

Offline zugschef

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Re: [Dark Heresy] Imperial Psyker Sith Lord Build
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2012, 08:35:40 AM »
Be prepared to randomly explode at the beginning of your first combat.
thank you for your wisdom.

Offline littha

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Re: [Dark Heresy] Imperial Psyker Sith Lord Build
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2012, 08:36:32 AM »
It is a genuine risk for dark heresy psykers...

Offline zugschef

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Re: [Dark Heresy] Imperial Psyker Sith Lord Build
« Reply #4 on: August 10, 2012, 09:49:17 AM »
this piece of information is about as useful as telling someone who wants information on motorbikes, to not ride a motorbike because it's dangerous.

maybe someone can at least tell me which minor powers should be selected first. :)

Offline FlaminCows

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Re: [Dark Heresy] Imperial Psyker Sith Lord Build
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2012, 03:06:45 PM »
maybe someone can at least tell me which minor powers should be selected first.

Finally, an actual straight question. With a willpower bonus of 6, your first Psy Rating will give you three powers. Minor powers are mostly about utility rather than brute force, so which ones are best really depends on the type of missions you will be doing. As a general pick, I'll say Unnatural Aim, Familiar Bond1, and Verminspeaking2. Unnatural Aim is for obvious reasons, you become an effective sniper, while Familiar Bond and Verminspeaking would let you have a pet that follows your commands and can also be used for spying (something like a crow or a rat would be suitably inconspicuous). By your second Psy Rating you might have brought up your willpower bonus to 7, which would mean four powers, so for your second Psy Rating I'll say Space Slip3, Call Item, Weapon Jinx, and Lucky.

1in the Radical's Handbook
2in Creatures Anathema
3in Disciples of the Dark Gods

Of course, your own picks aren't bad either, and you can safely go into the game whith what you have written down. Its a good build.
« Last Edit: August 12, 2012, 03:19:37 PM by FlaminCows »

Offline zugschef

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Re: [Dark Heresy] Imperial Psyker Sith Lord Build
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2012, 07:03:15 AM »
thank you. :)

Offline zugschef

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Re: [Dark Heresy] Imperial Psyker Sith Lord Build
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2012, 07:35:43 AM »
well then... i've got some other questions:
which skills should a psyker get (i know, a lot depends on the other partymembers, but there is a baseline for sure, anyway)?
due to glimpse and preciscion telekinesis a psyker has quite an edge in using them, is this reason enough to only upgrade known skills if they are a prerequisite for talents?

Offline ariasderros

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Re: [Dark Heresy] Imperial Psyker Sith Lord Build
« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2012, 08:51:02 AM »
Another thing to ask your GM about is Cell Directives.
They are kind of like Teamwork Benefits in D&D, but are (usually) better.
They can be found in each of the "Class" books; Daemon Hunter, Book of Judgement & Blood of Martyrs.

If you have Blood of Martyrs, and you can use Cell Directives, then Sanction Wardens on page 74 is awesome for you. Bad news is the whole team can only have one directive, and each one grants access to an extra list of advances and one special team ability, and the list for Sanction Wardens is pretty lackluster, unless you are going against a fair number of enemy psykers, then it's amazing. Good news is that while everyone else would have to pay 250xp, you wouldn't have to pay any (0xp for psykers) and the benefit is: if you roll on the Perils of the Warp table, an ally gets an immediate attack against you, and if they deal a wound, the power doesn't manifest and you don't roll for PotW.

Sanction Warden =
Be prepared to randomly explode at the beginning of your first combat.

Yep, don't have to worry about that anywhere near as much (assuming your allies can hurt you).

Beyond that:
(1) I have never liked any of the Alternate Ranks (or Background Packages) for Psyker either.
(2) You haven't mentioned your place of birth (Origins).

On #2: In order of suggestion, listing only the (relevant) good parts
Being from the Darkholds (Void Born) would get another +5 to Willpower, at the cost of Charmed. (Radical Handbook)
Being from an Imperial World would get you another +3 to Willpower.
Being Void Born gets you a 10% chance to not lose spent Fate Points, and lets you be the "backup" pilot.
Being Famulous Protégé gets you more money. (Blood of Martyrs)
Being Noble Born gets you more money. (Inquisitors Handbook)
Being a Hive Mutant (Hive World) could be *interesting*, since you can choose two minor mutations. (Radical Handbook)
My new Sig
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Offline zugschef

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Re: [Dark Heresy] Imperial Psyker Sith Lord Build
« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2012, 09:04:03 AM »
sounds interesting! thanks! :)