The Psychic section of a Tactical Card will list the main details of each ability. Further details can be found in the Available Psychic Abilities page.
Some psychic abilities are more common than others and some abilities come in different strengths. For example; Stasis fields can have different ranges and durations on different cards. This represents the varying flow coming from the Warp.
AP Cost
This is the number of APs it costs to perform the ability. CPs can also be used.
Ability Name
The name of the psychic ability
Target Types
Target types can be Self, Unit, Door, Feature or All.
Self
Psychic powers of this type affect only the psyker employing them. As they have no separate target, cards with a Self-target cannot be nullified by a force suit card.
Unit
The attack affects one or many units chosen by the psyker, within the range and targeting restrictions. Blips are attacked as a single unit, regardless of how many units it may be representing.
Door
The effect only works on Doors, not on any other feature.
Feature
The effect works on canisters and debris features only.
All
These effects work on everything, units, doors and features.
Target Area
This is the area, or number of squares, that are affected by the ability, and is measured as a radius of squares. Will be either a single square, 1 (which would be a single square with all the surrounding squares), or 2 (which would be a single square with all the surrounding squares twice).
Some affects can have multiple targets, but each target will have the target area size as described.
Targeting Methods
In order to cast the ability, with exception to Self targets, a psyker must be able to target their desired unit, door or feature. There are 3 types: LOS, Blind or Free targeting.
LOS
This method requires the casting psyker to be able to see the target, following the usual LOS rules, and that the target is within range, counting squares between the psyker and the including the target square.
Blind
With blind attacks, the psyker isn’t restricted to LOS: he can project the psychic effect about him in a 360o arc, and can cast it around corners to areas he can’t see.
To measure the range for blind attacks, simply count the number of squares between the Psyker and the target by the shortest route. You are allowed to count diagonally and even over intervening units. Blind targeted attacks cannot be projected through closed doors, powerfield generators, stasis fields or miasma fields. They can, however, be delivered through ordinary effect markers, like flamer hits or hard-vacuum, and also through pitfalls and ladders on multi-level maps.
Free
This is the most flexible type of targeting. The psyker has complete freedom to cast the ability at any target within range.
To measure the range for blind attacks, simply count the number of squares between the Psyker and the target by the shortest route. You are allowed to count diagonally and even over intervening units. The only thing that can obstruct a free targeted attack is a Miasma field, which automatically prevents any psychic activity. Even so, the psyker may be still able to affect the target via a different route.
Range
Apart from abilities affecting only the caster, each ability will have a range, measured in number of squares. Some ranges can be unlimited, meaning there is no restriction on range, although any restrictions based on the targeting method will still apply.
When measuring range, count the square the target occupies, but not the square the psyker is standing on. You can of course count diagonally, horizontally and vertically when measuring range.
Duration
This represents the number of turns that the effect lasts for before dissipating back to the Warp. Effect can also be instantaneous, having no lasting presence on the board.
Whenever an effect lasts more than 1 turn, add the appropriate additional counters on top of each other, so each layer represents a single turn. This helps with counting the number of turns an effect has lasted. During the Reset phase, simple remove the top-most layer.
Psychic Ability Description
This will briefly detail the psychic ability itself; the full details will be explained in the Tactical Cards sections of each race. Each ability will have a Target Type, Target Area, Targeting Method, a Range and a Duration. It may also state if it is Unstoppable. Unstoppable abilities cannot be nullified by a Force Suit card played by an opposing player (see Force Suits below for details).
Psychic Close Assault Bonus and Aura
Psychic close assault
A psyker who is armed with a psychically attuned close assault weapon, such as a force weapon, can enhance their effectiveness by channelling psychic energy into their blows, using their power to slip attacks past their enemy’s defences and strike them with unearthly accuracy and strength.
All psychic abilities can be channelled, to give the psyker a close assault bonus instead of it’s usually ability. Because Tactical cards can only be played, one at a time, only one Psychic Ability section can be played for each round of close assault, players cannot use multiple cards to add together multiple CAB bonuses. This bonus is in addition to any other close assault bonus that is provided by the weapon, the unit and any ganging up bonus.
Lower level psykers, who would normally have to pay 1AP to use a psychic ability, do not need to spend any APs when using the channelled CAB part of the ability. This is because they would have already paid the AP cost to perform the close assault, or they are defending themselves, which counts as the same.
Aura
As well as being able to channel the power for close assault, a psyker may use this number to roll against, to use as an Aura. An Aura is a psychic shield that the caster throws around themselves, putting all the power into a single brief defensive screen. A successful Aura nullifies any result that would otherwise have killed them.
To cast an Aura, players will state at the time a psyker has taken a kill hit, that the unit will play an Aura card. Only 1 card can be played at a time. If the Aura fails, they can if they wish, play another card and keep going until they either have no cards left to play or they successfully save themselves. To successfully create an Aura, the psyker rolls 1D6 and must get the number shown or lower. The stronger psychic cards will be easier to create than the weaker ones.
It does not cost any APs to cast an Aura.
Force Suits
Each psychic ability is drawn from a different colour of energy from the Warp. There are 8 colours in total, but the 4 most relevant ones are; Psionic, Power, Kinesis and Temporal. These will be known as the 4 force suits.
Psionic
Every creature has a presence, often called a soul, within the warp. For most creatures, this is a mere spark in the maelstrom – the strongest of psykers, however, blaze with a brilliant fire, their soul a resonant echo of their manifestation in realspace.
A psyker can hunt the soul of an enemy through the warp and, by briefly touching it with his own strong presence, he can momentarily contact the mind of that enemy in realspace. The contact can be a light mind-reading or can be more powerful, allowing the psyker to take over the mind of his enemy or crush him with a deadly psychic blast.
Power
A psyker can open a hole into the warp and let through the smallest fraction of the terrible energies from the other side. By focusing this energy, they can cause a roaring blaze of psychic power that burns with the fires of hell, or throw an arcing bolt of lightning. They can even allow the raw warpstuff to enter unfocused as a vortex of pure psychic energy, a wild tornado of destruction that moves out of control and rips apart everything in its path.
Kinesis
The twisting paths of warpspace often follow a very different geometry to the straight lines of realspace, allowing starships to travel the vast distances between suns and planets. By entering the warp, a shorter but vastly more dangerous route can be travelled. In a similar way, a psyker can entangle an area within the webs of warpspace and manipulate things with the power of his mind. They can interfere with the action of small objects such as door locks and weapon triggers, or even teleport themselves to another place in realspace.
Temporal
In the warp, time run in straight patterns, sometimes faster, sometimes slower than in realspace. In places, it may run backwards, or stop entirely, or leap from moment to moment with centuries passing in the blink of an eye. A psyker can use these uncanny effects to pollute the time in realspace, stretching or compressing the passing minutes, or freezing an area out of time.
Playing Force Suit Cards to Nullify an Effect
When an enemy plays a Psychic ability, you may also play a card that has a matching Force Suit to nullify its effect. The effect does not need to have been made against a psyker in order to use it but a psyker MUST be within 12 squares from the affected target.
Only matching suits cards can be used against each other and you cannot nullify an unstoppable ability.
You can only nullify a card that has been used for its psychic ability, not for anything else, including the psychic CAB. Lower level psykers will still need to spend 1AP (1CP) to play the nullifying card.
Credits
- Original Game Design: Richard Halliwell.
- This Advanced Edition Revision: Ken Allen
- Original Expansions and Revisions Design: Jervis Johnson, Matt Forbeck and Andy Chambers.
- Additional Material: Paul Murphy, Alex Goh, Dean H. Bass and Martin Kay.
- Illustrators: Dave Andrews, John Blanche, Wayne England, David Gallagher, Jes Goodwin, Pete Knifton, Ian Miller, Steve Tappin, Kevin Walker, Paul Bonner, Fangorn, Mark Gibbons, Paul Green, Gary Harrod, Tony Hough, Richard Wright, Tony Ackland, Nick Coleman and Ken Allen.
- Tactical Cards and Additional Counter Designs: Ken Allen
- Copyright: All original game design, artwork, concepts and story are owned by Games Workshop: UK – Games Workshop, Willow Road, Lenton, Nottingham, NG7 2WS – US – Games Workshop, 6711 Baymeadow Drive, Suite A, Glen Burnie, Maryland 21060-6401 – Australia – Games Workshop, 23 Liverpool Street, Ingleburn, NSW 2565 – Canada – Games Workshop, 2679 Bristol Circle, Unit 3, Oakville, Ontario, L6H 6Z8
The owner of this web site advises visitors to buy original products, where available, from Games Workshop. The contents of this site are intended as additional fan-made material for existing owners of the original editions of Space Hulk by Games Workshop only.
Space Hulk Codex 