Andor said:

Have you read Mechanicum yet? It gives some perspective on that whole situation.

I think its rather that they keep this shroud over what they do because Knowledge is Power [guard it well]. Because of the size and span of the Imperium, religion was the easiest way to ensure their teachings are protected. They're kind of like a giant galactic university that way.

There's no way people speaking binary aren't privy to the why and how of these "machine spirits". BUT, by making it a matter of religion, they can keep tight controls on the spread and use of all that stuff, which keeps them in power [who doesn't want to be in power, after all], but also ensures that anyone wishing to partake of their sacred blueprints need only actually join them and work towards the proper understanding. Their ranks are pretty much diplomas.

Kiton said:

I will say it's totally possible that the "binary" high-level Mechanicus speak is unrelated to how the machines work and/or the source code they utilize. Most of the Mechanicus stuff I've read seems to imply that they do in fact view it religiously, although not necessarily in the way other 40k religions work. 

HTMC said:

After pondering for a bit, I realized that the AdMech isn't that much of a religion. What they are is a coven of wizards, using powers they barely understand through rituals learned through rote memorization and surrounding themselves with a thick mantle of mysticism. Sure, religion has a huge impact on their practices and views, but no more than it would for a wizard devoted to Mystra in D&D.

There's a reason why high-level tech-priests are called "Magos".

So, I just came around to looking at the psyker… what's with the measely boni for the divination tree? Why did the scrap the ole "psyrating x 5" boni? IMHO a psyker solely focused on buffing his crew and foregoing any offensive power should reap some benefits for his choice of playing a supporter.

 I started an Only War game last week as a Divination Psyker, and I've been having a lot of fun with it.The thing is, most of my powers haven't come up much. Prescience has been a wonderful boon to the squad; it's made our Commissar and Heavy Gunner very happy to get that extra +4 to BS. I haven't used Smite yet, because an overloaded M36 just blows it out of the water. My most recent purchase, Perfect Timing, should be quite handy. Foreboding was very weak, and my GM let me un-buy it. Let's hope Spontaneous Combustion sees some use. I would love to have Scrier's Gaze, but it makes the GM's life a living hell.

ok the Divination Tree is kinda borked:

Prescience

It's a very cool concept for a power, but the bonus it gives is too small IMHO. With a Psyrating of 5 you are already a VERY powerful psyker, yet the bonus it gives is "just" +10. For that you have to risk your live and that of your teammates by casting it on unfettered level. Maybe add something with Successlevels? Like another +1% per Successlevel of the Focus Power test?

Foreboding

Is an ok power, maybe make it an Awareness-Test instead of a perception test, so it scales with "dodge".

Forewarning

Same as Prescience

Misfortune

A great concept for the ONLY offensive power the psyker gets, maybe reduce the armor by the whole psyrating?

Perfect Timing

The absolute KILLER power, insane… Your whole squad ignores enemy cover! I would argue, that this is probably the best power of all the specialist trees next to…

Precognition

wow… this power basicaly DOUBLES the chance of your whole squad to succeed in any test. It saves your group thousands of exp, because guess what, you will never have to advance a skill to +20 or +30 if you don't want to.  … absolutly insane… but not as insane as..

Scrier's Gaze

It's not enough, that you psyker can totaly destroy the cover of an entire army with a single spell, with this one you can directly destroy your GM! That's right, the spell reaches out of the game into the real world and f**** your GM's adventure! All the time he spent making an interesting story, with twists, ambushes, turn of events, you cast that power on a fettered level and BAMM, with a little luck, all is gone. For 200 exp!

 Yeah, Scrier's Gaze is basically one giant middle finger to the GM. My psyker has WP 44 due to lucky starting rolls, plus his +10 for a Psy Focus… with purchases, it could be a 74 roll total. That's just not kosher. Prescience needs a buff.

About Scrier's Gaze, yeah it seems sick, but then again finding 30 minutes to spare in the middle of a battlefield could be a mite difficult. And use it enough and the GM will have this power reveal you that the enemy plans included a manhunt operation against them that started, say, 30 minutes ago.

JuankiMan said:

The session starts. Busy Squad is told to do recon on a nearby hab stack. While everyone else is rolling to Requisition, the psyker rolls Scrier's Gaze. Mission invalidated.

Plushy said:

How can he draw information about a battle that is not going on at the moment? Also shouldn't he be in the battlefield himself? And if the enemy itself isn't actually waging any battle there's no info you can gather on his plans other than "improvise".

Andor said:

Andor said:

Andor said:

Plushy said:

That's a poor example, I think, because if you know one of your players has that power, you'd either account for it or you simply don't assign them that kind of mission.

HTMC said:

Actually, if it worked that way (which I believe it doesn't) it would be a perfect example. After all, if Command knows the player can do that it would simplify recon tremendously, so that's precisely the kind of missions they would be assigned (they would still have to perform traditional recon, because who's gonna be as stupid as to put all their stock on the word of a dirty psyker). As a GM I'd let the squad have its bit of fun with their advantage, get the drop on the enemy for a couple of missions, and then, without warning, place an enemy psyker stealthily "listening". Now the players know a lot about the enemy, but the enemy knows that they know while the players don't know that the enemy knows what they know.