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Given Forgeworlds recent email push of models to take with your new 7th Edition armies, I wanted to give rules to the Rogue Psyker models, without having to include a Renegades and Heretics force.
Since in Renegades and Heretics, Rogue Psykers are forced to attach to other units, I thought I'd do something similar with a Psyker joining a Chaos Cultists unit, hence the name: Cultist Psyker and the special rule: Cult Adherent.
I've based figures roughly off of the Astra Militarum Wyrdvane Psykers as well as other psykers in the Chaos Space Marine ranks, but keeping in mind that Cultists typically tend to end up simply as a meat shield.
As the unit is lacking in any real kind of defence so I've balanced it out by making it a character and thus applicable for Look Out Sir.

Thoughts and feedback are appreciated.

CULTIST PSYKER . . . . . . . . 35 POINTS
______________ WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv Cultist Psyker 2 2 3 3 1 3 1 8 5+
Unit Composition:
• 1 Cultist Psyker

Unit Type:
• Infantry (Character)

Wargear:
• Improvised armour
• Close combat weapon

Special Rules:
• Cult Adherent
• Psyker (Mastery Level 1)

Options:
• May take 1 additional Mastery Level . . . 25 pts

Psyker:
Cultist Psykers generate their powers from the Biomancy, Divination, Daemonology, Pyromancy, Telekinesis and Telepathy disciplines.
If the Chaos Cultist unit to which the Cultist Psyker is attached has taken a Mark of Chaos, the Cultist Psyker may also select from that Marks discipline.

Cult Adherent
A Cultist Psyker must join a Chaos Cultist unit at the start of the game and cannot leave that unit. Any special rules conferred upon the Chaos Cultist unit also apply to the Cultist Psyker.
Only one Cultist Psyker may join a unit of Chaos Cultists however multiple Chaos Cultist units may include up to one Cultist Psyker each. The maximum composition of any Chaos Cultist unit is inclusive of any Cultist Psyker.

---

Interesting, like the look of this - just hope they always roll

I would say make his BS and WS 3 (if that is what other cultists have). Also limit him to maybe 4 disciplines, since that seems to be te trend with other armies. And lastly, make him unable to join khorne cult units, since khorne isn't the fondest of psykers.

Cultist units have a unit champion, yes? I'd say make him replace the unit champion instead.

Just make him an additional upgrade to a cultist unit. That replaces all of your rules for marks and cult adherent.

However, he has more options than a legitimate chaos marine Sorceror. That just makes no sense. Pick two disciplines at most that make sense for a cultist and limit the psyker to those. I'd even say telekinesis alone or maybe with pyromanicy. A cult psyker is NOT going to be as impressive as the Sorceror.

Would chaos focus apply in this case?

Also, why is his armour 5+? His wargear lists 'Improvised Armour' which would give him a 6+ save.

Other than that, him having access to too many disciplines and his WS/BS being a bit low, I like it!

As a suggestion, maybe limit his disciplines to Telekinesis, Malefic Daemonmancy and maybe Pyromancy?

 stompygitz wrote:
I would say make his BS and WS 3 (if that is what other cultists have). Also limit him to maybe 4 disciplines, since that seems to be te trend with other armies. And lastly, make him unable to join khorne cult units, since khorne isn't the fondest of psykers.

Other cultists do have a BS and WS of 3, but given that the Rogue Psyker has a lower BS and WS, and the Wyrdvane Psykers have a lower WS, so I thought a WS of 2 was setting a fair level, Psykers are skilled with their minds not with weapons, thinking it through, given that my Cultist Psyker isn't equipped with a weapon, I should really limit the WS to 0. As for the Khorne rule, I think that's appropriate.

Brother Michael wrote:
Cultist units have a unit champion, yes? I'd say make him replace the unit champion instead.

I don't really see the Cultist Psyker replacing the role of the Cultist Champion, they are two very different units all they share is the Character rule and thinking about replacement points-wise would work out a nightmare!

 Slaanesh-Devotee wrote:
Just make him an additional upgrade to a cultist unit. That replaces all of your rules for marks and cult adherent.

However, he has more options than a legitimate chaos marine Sorceror. That just makes no sense. Pick two disciplines at most that make sense for a cultist and limit the psyker to those. I'd even say telekinesis alone or maybe with pyromanicy. A cult psyker is NOT going to be as impressive as the Sorceror.

Would chaos focus apply in this case?

Making him an additional upgrade to the Chaos Cultist unit is what I've tried to do, but I wanted to keep the addition of him independent of the rules within the Codex: Chaos Space Marines so that I can better explain and share the work without duplicating what Games Workshop have put down in the Codex. I had also thought that I might reuse the Cult Adherent rule in another set of home-brew rules for a Cultist Ogryn maybe.

Point taken on the psychic disciplines, I did throw all of them at it without thinking it through, he shouldn't be as widely skilled as a Sorcerer. I'll restrain the disciplines in the next version and Chaos Psychic Focus should apply if the Chaos Cultist unit took a Mark of Chaos only as it would normally I think.

 Matt.Kingsley wrote:
Also, why is his armour 5+? His wargear lists 'Improvised Armour' which would give him a 6+ save.

Other than that, him having access to too many disciplines and his WS/BS being a bit low, I like it!

As a suggestion, maybe limit his disciplines to Telekinesis, Malefic Daemonmancy and maybe Pyromancy?

I based the original on a Rogue Psyker and Wyrdvane Psyker which are both tied more closely to a proper military force and so better equipped than that of the Chaos Cultists so I agree that I should pull that down to a 6+ instead.

As I said above, the WS reflects the Psykers lack of skills compared to the rest of his unit, he's the runt of the litter in that respect.

I thought through the disciplines, and Codex: Chaos Space Marine specifies Chaos psykers should only have access to Biomancy, Pyromancy and Telepathy which I hadn't realised before, although I'd love to give them access to Telekinesis.


Thanks for the comments all. I'll get to work on version 2!

So, for version 2, would you play with or against this, any more feedback would be great!

CULTIST PSYKER . . . . . . . . 35 POINTS
______________ WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv Cultist Psyker 2 0 3 3 1 3 1 8 6+
Unit Composition:
• 1 Cultist Psyker

Unit Type:
• Infantry (Character)

Wargear:
• Improvised armour
• Close combat weapon

Special Rules:
• Cult Adherent
• Psyker (Mastery Level 1)

Options:
• May take 1 additional Mastery Level . . . 25 pts

Psyker:
Cultist Psykers generate their powers from the Biomancy, Daemonology, and Pyromancy disciplines.
If the Chaos Cultist unit to which the Cultist Psyker is attached has taken a Mark of Chaos, the Cultist Psyker may also select from that Marks discipline.

Cult Adherent
A Cult Adherent must join a Chaos Cultist unit at the start of the game and cannot leave that unit. Any special rules conferred upon the Chaos Cultist unit also apply to the Cult Adherent.
Only one Cultist Psyker may join a unit of Chaos Cultists however multiple Chaos Cultist units may include up to one Cultist Psyker each. A Cultist Psyker may not join a Chaos Cultist unit if that unit has taken a Mark of Khorne.
The maximum composition of any Chaos Cultist unit is inclusive of any Cult Adherents.

You probably meant to give him BS2 and WS0? Even if that is the case I still think BS2 is too low for anyone who wants to cast a witchfire. They are hard enough to cast as is without needing a 5+ to hit. I'd like him BS3 like a normal cultist.

Actually, thinking it through, I think BS / WS 2 is appropriate for him. WS 0 is reserved for things that literally can't move and dodge. I would like all Cultists to be 2 as untrained humans, but cest la vie.

I think you should make his BS 3 or witchfire powers would be practically useless.

 marrowick wrote:
I think you should make his BS 3 or witchfire powers would be practically useless.

This. I really don't see any reason why the psyker would be less accurate than an ordinary cultist.

 fallinq wrote:

 marrowick wrote:
I think you should make his BS 3 or witchfire powers would be practically useless.

This. I really don't see any reason why the psyker would be less accurate than an ordinary cultist.

I completely bypassed the thought that witchfire powers would match up against BS, neglect on my part, sorry.

So, version 2.1...

CULTIST PSYKER . . . . . . . . 35 POINTS
______________ WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv Cultist Psyker 2 3 3 3 1 3 1 8 6+
Unit Composition:
• 1 Cultist Psyker

Unit Type:
• Infantry (Character)

Wargear:
• Improvised armour
• Close combat weapon

Special Rules:
• Cult Adherent
• Psyker (Mastery Level 1)

Options:
• May take 1 additional Mastery Level . . . 25 pts

Psyker:
Cultist Psykers generate their powers from the Biomancy, Daemonology, and Pyromancy disciplines.
If the Chaos Cultist unit to which the Cultist Psyker is attached has taken a Mark of Chaos, the Cultist Psyker may also select from that Marks discipline.

Cult Adherent
A Cult Adherent must join a Chaos Cultist unit at the start of the game and cannot leave that unit. Any special rules conferred upon the Chaos Cultist unit also apply to the Cult Adherent.
Only one Cultist Psyker may join a unit of Chaos Cultists however multiple Chaos Cultist units may include up to one Cultist Psyker each. A Cultist Psyker may not join a Chaos Cultist unit if that unit has taken a Mark of Khorne.
The maximum composition of any Chaos Cultist unit is inclusive of any Cult Adherents.

Should replace the following line,

"If the Chaos Cultist unit to which the Cultist Psyker is attached has taken a Mark of Chaos, the Cultist Psyker may also select from that Marks discipline."

with.

"If the Chaos Cultist unit to which the Cultist Psyker is attached has taken a Mark of Chaos, the Cultist Psyker also counts as having that mark at no additional cost."

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Should replace the following line,

"If the Chaos Cultist unit to which the Cultist Psyker is attached has taken a Mark of Chaos, the Cultist Psyker may also select from that Marks discipline."

with.

"If the Chaos Cultist unit to which the Cultist Psyker is attached has taken a Mark of Chaos, the Cultist Psyker also counts as having that mark at no additional cost."

It's not really that the Mark doesn't cost anything, the cost is applied to the Cultist unit on a per model basis and should apply to the Psyker too, my main aim with this part of the rules was to given the psyker access to the Chaos psychic disciplines if the Cultist unit has that Mark.

Unfortunately marking cultists is rarely worth their cost and the codex psyker powers all pretty strictly worse than the rulebook especially after 7th buffed many of the rulebook ones. Since having a mark disallows you from rolling on a rulebook power with a ML1 psyker (at least thats how most are interpreting it), this interaction just gives less of a reason to mark cultists.