ARCANE PSYKERS

 

Gaining Arcane Psyker Levels

Anyone can cast arcane psychic powers so long as they gain some Arcane Psyker Levels. Over the course of the 20 normal levels a character can gain up to a maximum of 20 Arcane Psyker levels. Beyond 20 levels the game is no longer really balanced and in any case though there are d20 rules for epic levels even these will not give you extra psyker levels (caster levels in D&D rules).

 

In d20-40k the only thing that determines your prowess with arcane powers is your current arcane psyker level. There are 4 places that one can collect Arcane Psyker levels.

 

1.) The Smart Hero Arcane Power Talent Tree.

2.) The feats: Arcane Heritage & Arcane Studies

3.) The Magos / Inquisitor advanced classes.

4.) The Arch-Psyker / Ordo Xenos / Ordo Hereticus / Ordo Malleus prestige classes.

 

So how does one become a Level 20 arcane psyker?

There is bascially only one way to become a Level 20 arcane psyker. The method is outlined in the chart below. The order in which the classes are taken do not have to be identical, but the makeup of the classes does.

 

Character Level

Class

Source of Psyker Level

1

Smart Hero

Arcane Power Talent

2

Smart Hero

Arcane Heritage Feat

3

Smart Hero

Improved Arcane Power Talent

4

Smart Hero

Arcane Studies Feat

5

Smart Hero

Advanced Arcane Power Talent

6

Magos

Arcane Power Class Feature

7

Magos

Arcane Power Class Feature

8

Magos

Arcane Power Class Feature

9

Magos

Arcane Power Class Feature

10

Magos

Arcane Power Class Feature

11

Magos

Arcane Power Class Feature

12

Magos

Arcane Power Class Feature

13

Magos

Arcane Power Class Feature

14

Magos

Arcane Power Class Feature

15

Magos

Arcane Power Class Feature

16

Arch-Psyker

Arcane Power Class Feature

17

Arch-Psyker

Arcane Power Class Feature

18

Arch-Psyker

Arcane Power Class Feature

19

Arch-Psyker

Arcane Power Class Feature

20

Arch-Psyker

Arcane Power Class Feature

 

 

Psychic Powers

An arcane psyker casts psychic powers which are drawn from the arcane/innate psychic power list. An arcane psyker must choose and prepare her psychic powers ahead of time.

To learn, prepare, or cast a psychic power, the arcane psyker must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the psychic power level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an arcane psyker’s psychic power is 10 + the psychic power level + the arcane psyker’s Intelligence modifier.

Like other psykers, an arcane psyker can cast only a certain number of psychic powers of each psychic power level per day. Her base daily psychic power allotment is given on the Table: Arcane Psychic powers per Day. In addition, she receives bonus psychic powers per day if she has a high Intelligence score.

Unlike an innate psyker or a mystic psyker, an arcane psyker may know any number of psychic powers. She must choose and prepare her psychic powers ahead of time by getting a good night’s sleep and spending 1 hour studying her psychic tome. While studying, the arcane psyker decides which psychic powers to prepare.

 

Table: Arcane Psychic powers per Day

Arcane Psyker Level

0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

1

3

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

2

4

2

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

3

4

2

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

4

4

3

2

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

5

4

3

2

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

6

4

3

3

2

—

—

—

—

—

—

7

4

4

3

2

1

—

—

—

—

—

8

4

4

3

3

2

—

—

—

—

—

9

4

4

4

3

2

1

—

—

—

—

10

4

4

4

3

3

2

—

—

—

—

11

4

4

4

4

3

2

1

—

—

—

12

4

4

4

4

3

3

2

—

—

—

13

4

4

4

4

4

3

2

1

—

—

14

4

4

4

4

4

3

3

2

—

—

15

4

4

4

4

4

4

3

2

1

—

16

4

4

4

4

4

4

3

3

2

—

17

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

3

2

1

18

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

3

3

2

19

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

3

3

20

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

 

Bonus Psychic powers

Arcane psykers with a particularly high Intelligence score can cast additional psychic powers per day.

 

Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Psychic Powers

—— Bonus Psychic Powers (by power Level) ——

Score

Modifier

0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

1

–5

Can’t cast psychic powers tied to this ability

2–3

–4

Can’t cast psychic powers tied to this ability

4–5

–3

Can’t cast psychic powers tied to this ability

6–7

–2

Can’t cast psychic powers tied to this ability

8–9

–1

Can’t cast psychic powers tied to this ability

10–11

0

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

12–13

+1

—

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

14–15

+2

—

1

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

16–17

+3

—

1

1

1

—

—

—

—

—

—

18–19

+4

—

1

1

1

1

—

—

—

—

—

20–21

+5

—

2

1

1

1

1

—

—

—

—

22–23

+6

—

2

2

1

1

1

1

—

—

—

24–25

+7

—

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

—

—

26–27

+8

—

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

—

28–29

+9

—

3

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

30–31

+10

—

3

3

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

32–33

+11

—

3

3

3

2

2

2

2

1

1

34–35

+12

—

3

3

3

3

2

2

2

2

1

36–37

+13

—

4

3

3

3

3

2

2

2

2

38–39

+14

—

4

4

3

3

3

3

2

2

2

40–41

+15

—

4

4

4

3

3

3

3

2

2

42–43

+16

—

4

4

4

4

3

3

3

3

2

44–45

+17

—

5

4

4

4

4

3

3

3

3

 

 

Preparing Arcane Psychic Powers

Rest: To prepare her daily psychic powers, an arcane psyker must first sleep for 8 hours. The arcane psyker does not have to slumber for every minute of the time, but she must refrain from movement, combat, casting psychic powers, skill use, conversation, or any other fairly demanding physical or mental task during the rest period. If her rest is interrupted, each interruption adds 1 hour to the total amount of time she has to rest in order to clear her mind, and she must have at least 1 hour of uninterrupted rest immediately prior to preparing her psychic powers. If the character does not need to sleep for some reason, she still must have 8 hours of restful calm before preparing any psychic powers.

 

Recent Casting Limit/Rest Interruptions: If an arcane psyker has cast psychic powers recently, the drain on her resources reduces her capacity to prepare new psychic powers. When she prepares psychic powers for the coming day, all the psychic powers she has cast within the last 8 hours count against her daily limit.

 

Preparation Environment: To prepare any psychic power, an arcane psyker must have enough peace, quiet, and comfort to allow for proper concentration. The arcane psyker’s surroundings need not be luxurious, but they must be free from overt distractions. Exposure to inclement weather prevents the necessary concentration, as does any injury or failed saving throw the character might experience while studying. Arcane psykers also must have access to their psychic tomes to study from and sufficient light to read them by.

 

Psychic Power Preparation Time: After resting, an arcane psyker must study her psychic tome to prepare any psychic powers that day. If she wants to prepare all her psychic powers, the process takes 1 hour. Preparing some smaller portion of her daily capacity takes a proportionally smaller amount of time, but always at least 15 minutes, the minimum time required to achieve the proper mental state.

 

Psychic Power Selection and Preparation: Until she prepares psychic powers from her psychic tome, the only psychic powers an arcane psyker has available to cast are the ones that she already had prepared from the previous day and has not yet used. During the study period, she chooses which psychic powers to prepare. If an arcane psyker already has psychic powers prepared (from the previous day) that she has not cast, she can abandon some or all of them to make room for new psychic powers.

When preparing psychic powers for the day, an arcane psyker can leave some of these power slots open. Later during that day, she can repeat the preparation process as often as she likes, time and circumstances permitting. During these extra sessions of preparation, the arcane psyker can fill these unused power slots. She cannot, however, abandon a previously prepared psychic power to replace it with another one or fill a slot that is empty because she has cast a psychic power in the meantime. That sort of preparation requires a mind fresh from rest. Like the first session of the day, this preparation takes at least 15 minutes, and it takes longer if the arcane psyker prepares more than one-quarter of her psychic powers.

 

Power slots: The various character class tables show how many psychic powers of each level a character can cast per day. These openings for daily psychic powers are called power slots. A psyker always has the option to fill a higher-level power slot with a lower-level power. A psyker who lacks a high enough ability score to cast psychic powers that would otherwise be his or her due still gets the slots but must fill them with psychic powers of lower level.

 

Prepared Psychic power Retention: Once an arcane psyker prepares a psychic power, it remains in her mind as a nearly cast psychic power until she uses the prescribed components to complete and trigger it or until she abandons it. Certain other events, such as the effects of magic items or special attacks from monsters, can wipe a prepared psychic power from a character’s mind.

 

How to read Arcane Powers

To record an arcane power in written or digital form, a character uses a complex notation that describes the psychic forces involved in the power. The notation constitutes a universal psychic language that arcane psykers have learned from the Emperor’s teachings. Though the origins of the languages are a mystery, they are passed on with due reverance. The Imperial writer uses the same system no matter what her native language or background. However, each character uses the system in her own way. Another person’s psychic script remains incomprehensible to even the most powerful arcane psyker until she takes time to study and decipher it.

 

To decipher a psyker’s psychic script (such as a single power in written form in another’s Psychic Tome or on a scroll), a character must make a successful Psychic Sense check (DC 20 + the power’s level). If the skill check fails, the character cannot attempt to read that particular power until the next day. An understand psychic presence power automatically deciphers a psychic script without a skill check. If the person who created the psychic script is on hand to help the reader, success is also automatic. Once a character deciphers a particular psychic script, she does not need to decipher it again. Deciphering a psychic script allows the reader to identify the power and gives some idea of its effects (as explained in the psychic power description). If the psychic script was a scroll and the reader can cast Arcane/Innate powers, she can attempt to use the scroll.

 

Arcane Powers and Borrowed Psychic Tomes

An arcane psyker can use a borrowed Psychic Tome to prepare a power she already knows and has recorded in her own Psychic Tome, but preparation success is not assured. First, the Arcane psyker must decipher the writing in the book. Once a power from another Arcane psyker’s book is deciphered, the reader must make a successful Psychic Sense check (DC 15 + power’s level) to prepare the power. If the check succeeds, the Arcane psyker can prepare the power. She must repeat the check to prepare the power again, no matter how many times she has prepared the power before. If the check fails, she cannot try to prepare the power from the same source again until the next day. (However, as explained above, she does not need to repeat a check to decipher the writing.)

 

Adding Powers to an Arcane Psyker’s Psychic Tome

Arcane psykers can add new powers to their Psychic Tomes through several methods.

 

Powers Gained at a New Level: Arcane psykers perform a certain amount of psychic research between adventures. Each time an arcane psyker achieves a new level, she gains two powers of her choice to add to her Psychic Tome. These powers represent the results of her research. The two free powers must be of levels the Arcane psyker can cast and from the list of Arcane/Innate Psychic Powers.

 

Powers Copied from Another’s Psychic Tome or a Scroll: An arcane psyker can also add powers to her book whenever she encounters a new power on a magic scroll (unless it is a Mystic power – arcane psykers can never learn mystic powers with the exception of the Tzeentch Sorcerer prestige class) or in another Arcane psyker’s Psychic Tome. No matter what the psychic power’s source, the character must first decipher the psychic script. Next, the arcane psyker must spend a day studying the power. At the end of the day, the character must make a Psychic Sense check (DC 15 + power’s level). If the check succeeds, the arcane psyker understands the power and can copy it into her Psychic Tome (see Writing a New Power into a Psychic Tome, below). The process leaves a Psychic Tome that was copied from unharmed, but a power successfully copied from a magic scroll disappears from the scroll. If the check fails, the Arcane psyker cannot understand the power and cannot attempt to learn it again even if she studies it from another source until she gains another rank in Powercraft. If the check fails, the character cannot copy the power from another’s Psychic Tome, and the power does not vanish from the scroll.

 

Independent Research: An arcane psyker also can research a power independently, duplicating an existing power or creating an entirely new one. The GM should govern all rules related to independent research. (Presumably this should be somehow tied in with the arcane psyker’s research skill.)

 

Writing a New Power into a Psychic Tome

Once an arcane psyker gains a new power, she can record it into her Psychic Tome. This is the most common method of storing powers and is favoured by Librarians and Primaris Psykers.

Time: The process requires one day per power level.

Space in the Psychic Tome: A power takes up 1 page of the Psychic Tome per power level. Psychic Tomes can have up to 100 pages but smaller ones may have far less.

Materials and Costs: Materials for writing the power (special quills, inks, and other supplies) are a DC 10 purchase.

Note that an arcane psyker does not have to pay these costs in time or credits for the powers she gains for free at each new level. The Arcane psyker adds these to her Psychic Tome as part of her ongoing research.

 

Writing a New Power into a Terminal

Powers can alternatively be added to a mechanical terminal. This favoured by psychic members of the Adeptus Mechanicus and by Squat Ancestors. Using a terminal requires a strong knowledge of the machine spirit and a feeling of connection to the Imperium’s machine god (one of the manifestations of the Holy Emperor and the worship of whom is tolerated as an acceptable cult within the Imperium; largely found on Forge worlds.)

Time: The process requires one day per power level.

Space in the Terminal: Psychic script consists of detailed images that must be stored at high resolution. A power takes up 1 terabyte of the Psychic Tome per power level. Palm Terminals can hold 60 terabytes. Lap Terminals can hold as much as 120 and Standing Terminals can hold as many as a couple thousand.

Materials and Costs: The oils and annointment fluids to appease the machine spirit and the charge of electricity are a DC 10 purchase per psychic power stored. However the psyker must purchase a terminal (see equipment section) and must psychically bond himself to it. It is a DC 20 purchase to have the bonding to the machine spirit performed by someone or a Computer Use check DC 25 to do it yourself. Failure on the bonding prevents you from connecting to that terminal’s spirit. The terminal shuts down irrevocable and another must be purchased to try it again.

 

Storing a New Power in a Brain Engram

Another method favoured by the Magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus, specifically of the Magi Biologis who dislike working with terminals favouring instead cybernetic treatment. A brain engram is a cybernetic piece (see cybernetics for more details) and takes up a cybernetic slot counting towards your maximum number of cybernetic units as normal. Each engram is designed to carry a single power. Since it is in the brain reading and writing it is twice as fast as normal. If a psyker only studies powers in brain engrams it takes him half an hour not an hour to review his psychic powers. If he studies powers both in a brain engram and a psychic tome or terminal then he must spend the normal hour.

Time: The process requires half a day per power level.

Space in the Engram: One psychic power per engram.

Materials and Costs: Cost of the brain engram (see cybernetics).

 

 

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