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When it comes to pyskers in the IG, I think GW are seriously under representing them. There's so much potential there but they seem slapped on as an afterthought. How do you make them better?

Well for starters, how about bringing back the old disciplines of biomancy, pyromancy, divination, telepathy and telekinesis in a more limited form? All five disciplines, each with 3 powers each. Primarus and wyrdvane pyskers get 1 power from their chosen discipline plus smite, whilst astropaths get 2 powers from the telepathy discipline. Our pyskers won't be as powerful as other armies, but not only do we get more of them, they'll be more varied in abilities too.

Second, give wyrdvanes the same stats as guardsmen but with higher leadership, and make their staves straight up power staves (+2 strength, -1 AP, 1 damage). With the right power, they could become a semi decent assault unit and actually give themsomething to do.

I'd agree with this... If EVERYONE got varied tables.

As it is, why should a random IG Psyker get more power choices than a SM Librarian, or a Daemon Prince?

I think the decision to grant each force it's own single table was a very good one. It's simple, gives each force a tool box that supplements what it has and makes them unique. How many powers can you give before you start emulating other forces powers?

You both make good points. Everyone pretty much ended up using their own unique power tables anyway right? I guess one table with six powers is enough.

However, I do want wyrdvanes to gain a better stat line and become more useful overall. If we gain a power similar to Might Of The Ancients and make wyrdvane staffs the same as power staves they could become a semi decent fighting unit.

 Future War Cultist wrote:
You both make good points. Everyone pretty much ended up using their own unique power tables anyway right? I guess one table with six powers is enough.

However, I do want wyrdvanes to gain a better stat line and become more useful overall. If we gain a power similar to Might Of The Ancients and make wyrdvane staffs the same as power staves they could become a semi decent fighting unit.

That's legit. If they do get full-on Power Staves, though, they do need to pay for them.

I'd pay for them sure. What are they, four points apiece?

No idea.

Well, if we had a power similar to might of the ancients, wyrdvanes would get 2 strength 6 ap -1 attacks each. Or 3 attacks apiece with a priest nearby. Not amazing but something to think about.

Here's the problem with providing broad, abundant charts for everyone:
It's a terrible idea.


Seriously though, it just doesn't really work in this edition. (If it ever worked at all, that is.) It is really hard to balance buffs that might be available to a dozen different armies and factions. Witchfires don't even exist any more, all Psychic powers that do damage just do Mortal Wounds, and if you provide players with a dozen Smite clones with minor differences, those players are just going to pick whichever option has the highest damage-to-difficulty ratio. (Judging by the currently existing powers, that ratio will probably continue to lean towards Smite.)
All that really leaves is debuffs, then, and we don't need tons of charts with optional debuffs, mostly because there's really only so many possible debuffs you can even have without creating tons of cheese.


As much as I miss the versatility of Psykers in previous editions, being able to fill any gap that your army might need at the cost of some reliability in getting the abilities you want, I just don't see having tons of charts as working in this edition unless you massively change what powers can do.

What powers have we got so far? Terrifying visions (leadership debuff), Gaze Of The Emperor (attack power) and Pyshic shield (save booster). You could bring back psychic malestrom (36" range, roll 1d6 for caster and each friendly telepathica Pysker within 6", any 4+ results inflict 1 mortal wound on the target), iron arm (strength, toughness and save(?) boost) and...something else. Just to round it out to 6 powers.