I wonder, how would you like to see Perils of the Warp implemented for those pyskers who dig too deep into the darkness and shadow?
Not a good idea because when shits already hitting the fan in the battlefield, having to worry if your squad mate is going to transform into a daemon or explode into a giant chaos wormhole is something everyone could do without out. How would you balance it? Chaos want that happen, the Astartes have special gear that prevents it from happening, the Eldar have rune stones and can call upon their ancestors to help them in certain situations, and the Orks are untrained yet resistant to the Warp.
But you just described exactly why they need this. Pyskers would have almost godlike power if they did not have limits. They would act much differently if they fought with fear of obliterating themselves from their own powers, and the fallout was dangerous to all nearby. The simple answer to "How would you balance it?" Is that you don't. How do you balance 2 6 sided dice? You roll it and hope that you don't get that small percentage of a chance that Tzeentch is looking at you.
The screen starts to shake and blur violently, you cannot see clearly as multiple images are tumbling about on your screen. You start hearing whispers in your (characters) head, as psykers are basically like a beacon in the Warp around which the denizens of the Warp converge in hopes of claiming the individual in his weaker states. This goes on for the time the Peril is supposed to last. On the character end, the moment your character is struck by the Perils you drop on your feet as you would in a downed state. However instead of being hunched over like in the downed state your character grabs his head and starts wailing in pain. I feel that it shouldnt do any dmg though, as the whole ordeal will both take you out of combat for the duration of the perils and make you an easy target if the perils get you in a bad position. And recalling Brents words, they do plan to make it feel like deamons are trying to burrow into your skull: Oh if you hit perils then you're not going to have the chance to run away. However, our goal is to use mechanics that give your enemies a chance to have the pleasure of killing you, rather than just the system removing your character. It still needs to be fluffy and frightening, of course. http://forum.eternalcrusade.com/threads/official-basic-class-list.20852/page-20#post-394263 We did a mocap for that, but they haven't been put onto the characters yet. We won't know for sure if it's "right" until it's playing on a chaos marine model. http://forum.eternalcrusade.com/threads/official-basic-class-list.20852/page-21#post-394280 Personally id also like the option that theres a very small percentage (like i dunno 1-5%) that upon entering the Perils your body cannot hold the influx of power and you mutate into a Warpspawn. Which basically makes you a good melee unit with powerful slash attacks, but are very slow (as your body is a mutated mess which probably is incapable of normal movement anymore).
What if you had to charge up your Psyker ability to use the power you've selected, but you can overcharge and have it backfire as the 'Perils of the Warp'. This can be as simple as the power affecting the caster, on one end, to ripping open a warp rift and sucking them into the warp on the other end, with a whole range of consequences between. And different powers need different levels of Psyker energy with the greater powers running more chance of incurring consequences.
No rng backfires thank you, it usually makes bad gameplay in this sort of games. The balancing can be simply implemented via ability cooldowns that can be dynamic aka "over extending yourself" and getting negative effects from such.
There should definitely be something visual that both you and others can see, something that gives the impression your form is threatening to tear itself apart. So something like cracks in your character where the warp bleeds out, the air shimmers around you with foggy faces forming and dissolving, and maybe something related to your mark emerging from the rents in your form. Like tentacles start to reach out or warp flies buzz around you. And certainly daemonic voices.
I dont mind as long as the PotW are are dangerous as the actual psychic powers we get to have...which according to info so far is about as dangerous as a rolled up wet towel, you want to suck my soul into the warp in a awesome warp implosion? then give me some decent psychic attack powers!!
I believe we have to find some basics we agree on. Something like these: 1. A psyker must invest in their power. They should earn it, and it must be something that is used once in a while. I.e. a psyker should not be firing off mental lightning-bolts like a machine gun. 2. Psychic powers should be worthwhile and (hopefully) cool. You don't want a power that boosts the player by a couple of points. You want one that turns him into a behemoth in combat, but with a downside, and looks like it is doing it. 3. The chance of incurring PotW should be proportionate to how much it takes to cast the power. So the greater the power, the greater the chance of suffering a PotW. But the more experienced a psyker, the more experience of casting that power, and/or the better the psychic wargear should lessen the chance of a PotW. Anything anyone wants to add to the above?
As long as the psyker, before being torn apart, yells "ugh my sphincter" I'm okay with almost anything.
