[RPG] How many psy powers can a psyker use each round of combat

combatdark-heresy-1ewarhammer

We're playing in Warhammer 40k Dark Heresy 1st Edition world. I'm a psyker and I have many psy powers which are stated as half focus. Our GM has not had much experience with psykers. He says I can only "cast" once per turn, but that doesn't seem logical to me.

How many psy powers can my psyker use per round of combat? Can you point me to the relevant rules? I'm a novice in WH40k, and I'd like to understand what's going on and have rules to point my GM to if they were mistaken.

Best Answer

You can Focus Power once per Round

Per the Dark Heresy 1st Edition errata, currently located at https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/dark-heresy/pdf/darkheresy-errata-v3.0.pdf

The first paragraph in the Using Psychic Powers section starting on page 161 should include the addition: “Making a Focus Power Action is the psychic equivalent of a Standard Attack Action, and counts as such for purposes of determining what else a psyker can do in a round. Therefore, a psyker who uses a Half Action power cannot make another Half Action Standard Attack on the same round. A Psyker may manifest only one ability per Round with the exception of the Resist Possession power. A Psyker is required to roll at least one die to manifest an ability.”

So no matter what, you can only ever perform the Focus Power Action once per turn, as it counts as a Half Action Attack (even if the power isn't an attack), and there are already rules in the Actions section regarding the inability to perform multiple Attack Actions (don't have my book to properly cite this, but the errata clearly states only one Action per Round).

The change in the errata was made to prevent Psykers from using both Focus Power and Half Action Standard Attack Actions in the same turn. The Action section in the combat chapter of the core rulebook (specifically under Half Actions) should have some sort of wording that states you can't perform the same Half Action twice in a round. You can't Standard Attack twice for example. You technically are taking a separate Full Round Move Action, not performing two Half Action Moves.

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