Chaos Psykers and Power Selection

[ShadowHaunt]

In Codex: Chaos Space Marines, we are directed to generate psychic powers for CSM psykers using Biomancy, Pyromancy, and Telepathy.  It then states

 

If the Psyker has a Mark of Chaos, or is a Daemon of a particular Chaos God, they must roll at least one, and may roll up to half, of their powers on the table that corresponds to their patron deity.

 

However, in the new BRB, we are told, 

 

If a Psyker has a Mark of Chaos or is a Daemon of a particular Chaos God (see Codex: Chaos Space Marines or Codex: Chaos Daemons), that model automatically knows the primaris power of the discipline that corresponds to their patron deity, in addition to any other powers it knows.

 

So, this raises two questions:

• Does the free Primaris Power satisfy the minimum powers requirement for a marked psyker, thus allowing, for example, an ML 3 Sorcerer Lord of Tzeentch to take three Biomancy powers?
• Does the free Primaris Power count towards the "no more than half", thus forbidding an ML1 Aspiring Sorcerer from taking a power other than the Primaris, from Tzeentch?

Trying to work out if this is a net boon for the Chaos Psykers...

[Eddie Orlock]

I believe the answer to your first question is no. The primaris power granted by the rule book was not rolled for.

The same argument, that it wasn't rolled for, also informs that the answer to the second question is no. Your ML 1 Tzeentch marked Sorcerer would have two powers, the Tzeentch Primaris and one random other Tzeentch power.

[Dam13n]

Eddie has it right, the key wording is "rolled for".

You may 'roll then switch' for a Primaris power. But the primaris doesn't count in any way towards the minimum or maximum chaos powers if it is taken via (chaos) psychic focus as you didn't roll for it.

However Marked Chaos Psykers can always have a Primaris power in addition to their rolled powers even though they have mixed disciplines, they may not have psychic focus, but they still get a primaris via the chaos psychic focus rule.

 

This means they could have 1x Chaos (plus Primaris via CPF), 1x Telepathy and 1x Biomancy.

Saying that, unmarked is still the way to go with Sorcerers IMO. Daemon Princes being a toss up between Tzeentch and Nurgle (or Belakor).

[ShadowHaunt]

Eddie has it right, the key wording is "rolled for".

 

You no longer 'roll then switch' for a Primaris power.  So the primaris doesn't count in any way towards the minimum or maximum chaos powers.

 

This is mitigated by the fact that, even though you don't have psychic focus, you still get a primaris via the chaos psychic focus rule.

 

Saying that, unmarked is still the way to go with Sorcerers.  Daemon Princes being a toss up between Tzeentch and Nurgle (or Belakor).

I see why you're saying that, but I do want to point out that you can, indeed, "roll then switch" for a Primaris power. It is right there, in bold, in the second paragraph under Primaris Powers:

 

Immediately after generating a psychic power, a Psyker can always choose to substitute the power generated for the discipline’s primaris power.

It goes on to say that if you generate all powers from the same discipline, you can't do this, as you already know the Primaris, but for anyone splitting powers up across disciplines, it's still a viable, and sometimes useful, option.

[Dam13n]

You can indeed roll then switch, but in this case, that means you lose a power.

 

You still roll once on Tzeentch (for example), you could swap for the primaris, but seeing as you'll get it from chaos psychic focus there really is no point.

 

So if you don't switch you'll end up with:

- 1 Chaos Power + the Primaris (via CPF)

- 2 BRB Powers

If you do switch you'll end up with:

- Chaos Primaris

- 2 BRB Powers

 

So there is no benefit to switching with the chaos powers.