Voidborn's Be Smart

[jmvbento]

So, I haven't played any version of the game yet, but I've seen some character creator videos, and I have a question regarding Voidborn's Be Smart:

Does it preclude the need to have Fellowship at all? Or do you still need it for tests and skills and other stuff?

[Balekai]

I might be able to help, but I don't know of the video that actually shows the "Be Smart" feature. Could you describe it word for word or link the video?

Edit: nm I think I found it i will report back shortly :p

Edit 2: Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgvUKTsN2as

Be Smart: Any time an ability or talent uses the Fellowship Bonus can instead use the Intelligence bonus, if it is higher..

My Answer: You will still need Fellowship for Fellowship based skills and direct Fellowship Checks outside Talents and Abilities. Not everything checks against the bonus of a stat (which is total stat ranks divided by 10 rounded down to the nearest 10th). Skill checks and direct checks to Fellowship or other stats/skills are straight up d100 rolls (+- any inherit difficulty modifier) vs. your total ranks. The stat bonuses are usually used only in abilities and talents mechanics (shown in their tooltips).

Regardless, "Be Smart" is pretty awesome. That's huge potential because you can synergize fellowship based doctrines like say Officer, with tier two doctrines that use or benefit from intelligence (not sure if there are any available for Officer but still). Like say Grand Strategist had Intel as a needed stat. Well now instead of spreading stat allocation over 3 stats (Fellowship, Willpower and Intelligence), you can limit it to two (Intelligence and willpower). Also being able to make a RT Officer a skill monkey rather than a face and leave that to someone else like Cassia, could be very useful too. There's also a nice thing that could happen where you protect yourself from any fellowship debuffs if they exist, switching over to intelligence automatically when fellowship gets too low.

Edit 3 lol:

The whole Voidborn thing seems so S++ Tier to me. I still have to watch other videos on Homeworlds, but it seems my Sanctic, bio or Div Psyker Officer is going to be going Voidborn hands down as planned.

Voidborn Features:

Fortune - Basically Voidborn get to reroll failed action rolls on almost everything with a 20% chance to succeed (cannot be greater than base chance of roll so not TOO OP lol). The feature also causes enemies who successfully perform parries/dodges vs. RT to reroll with a 20% chance to fail.

Bloody Mess - On crit you have a 10% chance to do double damage on top of crit damage. Wow.

Just a Flesh Wound - 20% chance to survive a lethal attack gaining 1 wound instead. 20% chance of an Emergency auto revive yay.

Jinx - Above 50% wounds (hitpoints) everything around you within a 3 cell radius gets +10 to chance rolls including enemies. Below 50% wounds -10% less. This is the only possible downside to Voidborn outside -5 Strength for some builds. Still S++ tier becausea backliner never getting hit can buff allies within 3 cells just by standing there 10% on everything. Then just move away or closer to enemies when below 50% health. Also if this works in dialogues we automatically get a +10% chance to all chances in them.

Be Smart - Any time an ability or talent uses the Fellowship Bonus can instead use the Intelligence bonus, if it is higher.

Contagious Luck - It's your Fortune Feature but on allies when you use an ability on them for one round.

Ultimate support RT Homeworld choice... without looking at any others... lol

[jmvbento]

Originally posted by Balekai:

*stoff*

Thanks. Yeah, I'd seen the video which is how I know Be Smart is a thing. I'm not familiar with RT rules, though, which is why I wanted to know how much BS made Int cover for Fel. Thanks for the answers. :)

And yeah, Fortune is good, but Contagious Luck is looking like it'll be just absolutely bonkers ridiculous on an Officer. If the ally has an at least 20% chance to succeed, statiscally CL gives them an extra +10% to the check, which is just madness.

I also watched his Officer video (it's the class I intend to play), and I think I need to email Owlcat to find out if Lasting Impressions triggers stuff like Contagious Luck, because if it does it might just be outright broken.

Unless I'm misreading the ability, though, I very much disagree with his take on the Officer's Seize the Initiative. "I get an extra turn before everyone else" is great, and "you can only use Officer abilities in this turn" is absolutely meaningless when your entire goal is to use Officer abilities to grant your companions extra turns with extra stats (lol at No Respite) and extra action points and extra fries (turns which will be taken before any of the enemy gets to do anything).

[Balekai]

Originally posted by jmvbento:

Originally posted by Balekai:

*stoff*

Thanks. Yeah, I'd seen the video which is how I know Be Smart is a thing. I'm not familiar with RT rules, though, which is why I wanted to know how much BS made Int cover for Fel. Thanks for the answers. :)

And yeah, Fortune is good, but Contagious Luck is looking like it'll be just absolutely bonkers ridiculous on an Officer. If the ally has an at least 20% chance to succeed, statiscally CL gives them an extra +10% to the check, which is just madness.

I also watched his Officer video (it's the class I intend to play), and I think I need to email Owlcat to find out if Lasting Impressions triggers stuff like Contagious Luck, because if it does it might just be outright broken.

Unless I'm misreading the ability, though, I very much disagree with his take on the Officer's Seize the Initiative. "I get an extra turn before everyone else" is great, and "you can only use Officer abilities in this turn" is absolutely meaningless when your entire goal is to use Officer abilities to grant your companions extra turns with extra stats (lol at No Respite) and extra action points and extra fries (turns which will be taken before any of the enemy gets to do anything).

Shh quiet!! Don't email ANYONE!!! :D :D

lol Just kidding. First off at the risk of making things a bit more confusing, I wanted to clarify that when i used the word "stat" above I means "characteristics." I just forgot that was the terminology used in the RT rules for DnD "Abilities" (Weapon skill, Ballistic skill, Strength, Toughness, Intelligence, Willpower, Fellpowship = Characteristics.

I watched that Officer video later myself. It was very good and I have always liked Wergliar's videos over the years as one of those tubers that gives a lot of detailed information. Sure he have their own opinion (which are good), but he gives you enough overview that you can make your own decisions. There's a few other Homeworld videos i watched too and there are definitely some good pickups other than Voidborn. Hive World does seem on par if not better for Officers than Voidborn, if not playing a willpower/psyker Officer.

I'm still waiting for a video that will highlight Noble origin (which had no feature/talents in the beta but seems engineered for support officers) and Sanctic Psyker, because I really want to play Sanctic (God Emperor power channelling Psyker) for Benevolentia RP purposes, but I loved mixing Divination with Bio for the buffs, heals and free injury clearing inside/outside combat. Leader/Face characters in XCOM like combat always make great medics in addition to turn spammers while everyone else focuses on killing,

As you say contagion, combined with officer abilities/talents will basically keep it on most characters throughout a fight at no opportunity cost. Which is what i like about the Voidborn talents and feature overall. They're very flexible with very few conditions if any. Perfect for a class/build like a distanced support Officer who's action economy is very starved by support abilities and never wants to get hit or too close.

Another thing to keep in mind is whether the positives of Jinx at above 50% wounds (health), stacks/synergizes with Contagion when you're within 3 cells of an ally/enemy. For example, whether being close with Jinx with its "All chances of all creatures increased by +10% within radius" (note ALL chances, not just rolls) makes Contagion trigger with a 30% chance rather than 20%.

On Seize the Initiative he did give it a solid rating, but I have to agree with you somewhat. on his Seize the Moment take. He missed the mark a bit by falling into the trap of thinking the ability is solely about giving your RT an extra turn, rather than what that meant for your allies.

If the talent said: You CAN'T use any officer abilities, than I would agree with Wergliar first few statements. However, it says the opposite and that we can ONLY use officer abilities. Which is basically the same as just giving another ally an extra turn, at least. He's spot on with his continuing analysis and that the talent is very pro aggressive playstyle which is always a good idea in XCOM like games (It's why extra turns are so powerful. Take the enemy out before they get hits on your party that you can't out heal to begin with). That said, I myself, for reasons he stated, tend to not take it because I play Psyker Officer. I use psyker buff/heals along with Officer ones (at least in beta), and in general there were better talents than just getting an extra turn for me/ally at combat start.

Another one i sort of disagreed with myself was his take on Focus! Focus in the beta was a carry talent for me. Argenta was basically the best damage dealer and crowd killer, and boss killer. With Psyker abilities that can be used outside of combat, you could stack Focus! outside of combat stacking it indefinitely until the start of combat. Which meant not only could you stack BS and Perception on her, but everyone else too up to 200 times or some such, including yourself! (One of the main things which is cool with Psyker Leader at least in the Beta, is that Psyker buffs can target self, triggering leader/officer talents meant for allies on the Officer).

I reported (or at least tried) to report this exploit as too OP and that Focus! should be at least capped to "x" amount of stacks (like 1-3 or one stack per psyker buff on toon) outside of combat. Rather than having all characters start with like +200 to BS/PER on combat start, then degrading to a mere... 100 bonus lol. Lots of people abused this to high heaven but I tried to limit myself to 1 stack per psyker buff on any ally outside combat which I felt was right.

Still even if completely nerfed outside of combat, Focus! is very useful on Argenta/Snipers and keeping chance to hit and extra damage at high levels, especially for Bursting Argenta basically becoming a sniper with a Bolter lol.

[jmvbento]

Hiveworld has the little issue that you need to be around people, which means that you're probably going to have to invest in tanky talents (because either the "people" are enemies, Emperor forbid, or they're the companions, which will probably draw enemies). It's probably great if you go Vanguard at 16. Still, it's greatest sin right now for an Officer is that it doesn't give Contagious Luck. XD

Oh, I remember seeing Noble in the beta videos: characteristic wise, it looked great as it boosts Int and Fel, which besides tending to be good for any MC in general, Fel being primary for Officer, and I think I heard mentioned one of the lvl16 careers for Officer uses Int? But yeah, I don't know the features, either.

Yeah, the thing about the Officer is that they're a turn multiplier - half of your job is to break the action economy, and the other half is to buff everyone up the wazoo WHILE they're breaking the action economy. And Seize the Initiative means you do that one extra time per combat, BEFORE anyone else.

Stacking Focus out of combat via Psykering does seem to be an unintended interaction, yeah. IIRC, he does point out that Focus's value depends on your party comp: if you run around with Argenta and Yrliet, it's OMGWTFBBQ great. If you mostly use *checks website for comp names* Abe, Heinrik, Wulfar, and Marazhai, you probably wasted a talent point.

[Balekai]

I came to the same conclusion on Hiveworld. I just can't see myself going for it when I can turn all my abilities into DnD luck/reroll spells and buffs, in addition to their base mechanics lol. But for a melee team in close proximity to eachother it's a great Homeworld.

On the intelligence thing, I might have put that idea in your head ( :D ), because I was just spit balling and came up with a made up random example, of how Be Smart could be useful for lining up a fellowship based class with an intelligence one and being able to rely on one less characteristic by basically dumping Fellowship.

Be Smart could also become super handy in that manner if there's an item or something that does make fellowship skills and characteristic checks use intelligence or willpower instead. Similar items with similar functions do exist in the beta, like making Imperium Lore use Fellowship.

I have been looking for Grand Strategist videos, even alpha ones for the last few minutes or so, to see if it does use intelligence or not (best bet for an Intel based tier two Officer doctrine). No luck yet except some faint memory that it may have. That may be wishful thinking trying to find a way to work Be Smart into an Officer build.

[Michela]

Originally posted by Balekai:

I have been looking for Grand Strategist videos, even alpha ones for the last few minutes or so, to see if it does use intelligence or not (best bet for an Intel based tier two Officer doctrine). No luck yet except some faint memory that it may have. That may be wishful thinking trying to find a way to work Be Smart into an Officer build.

In the Gamescom 2023 video that showcased Marazhai's gameplay, Pasqal was a Strategist and I remember at least one of his abilities using INT and FEL bonuses.

[jmvbento]

Mortismal's video is out, and though it isn't nearly as in-depth as I'd like, it does show GStrat as using Fel and Int as its main stats.

Also, if you're a GStrat with Seize the Initiative from Officer, apparently you act twice before anyone else (except the people you made act with your first turn), which is just lol.

[Balekai]

Originally posted by Michela:

Originally posted by Balekai:

I have been looking for Grand Strategist videos, even alpha ones for the last few minutes or so, to see if it does use intelligence or not (best bet for an Intel based tier two Officer doctrine). No luck yet except some faint memory that it may have. That may be wishful thinking trying to find a way to work Be Smart into an Officer build.

In the Gamescom 2023 video that showcased Marazhai's gameplay, Pasqal was a Strategist and I remember at least one of his abilities using INT and FEL bonuses.

Originally posted by jmvbento:

Mortismal's video is out, and though it isn't nearly as in-depth as I'd like, it does show GStrat as using Fel and Int as its main stats.

Also, if you're a GStrat with Seize the Initiative from Officer, apparently you act twice before anyone else (except the people you made act with your first turn), which is just lol.

Thanks guys that's sort of what I remembered from an off remark in an alpha let's play video, but I couldn't be sure at all because it was so long ago. You would think a Grand Strategist would use intelligence from a common sense perspective regardless heh.

Very interesting including the 2 free turns combo. That would definitely help in any combat.

I also wonder if Psyker/Officer/Grand Strategist focus will need Be Smart or whether there will be enough characteristic advancement to max Intel, Willpower and Fellowship regardless.

In the beta it was really easy to get 100ish-150ish in skills and characteristics and there were caps to how much you could invest in them. Even before hitting archetype (doctrine) max level I think.

An addition by the time we reached high rankups especially with skill ranks, checks were in many cases 100% chance of success, because of the way skill checks etc. work in d100. The hardest Chapter 3 skill checks had a "hard" or something modifier making them harder to pass, but only added up to like +30 difficulty to the d100 roll. So when you're sitting at 140ish base skill against a D100+30... you can only fail on a roll of 100, if auto success happens on a 100 rolled for skill checks... (I always mess up how d100 mechanics work lol). :p

I'm leaning towards taking Be Smart anyways because my Psyker/Officer is going to be 90% a Grand Strategist. Then just enough Fellowship ranks to give some moderate bonuses to fellowship skills for Face duties. It's looking like such a setup could easily be a great skill monkey (lessening the need for Pascal in the team 24/7 to full in team skill gaps).

I'm not sure about Sanctic Psyker abilities for my build now (i'm now leaning towards my beta Div/Bio combo again). I wish the video author hovered over more Sanctic talents. I also forgot about Prescience (self/ally buff spell giving +10 to mind characteristics inside/outside combat per psy rating up to 40 I believe), and Fatebringer etc. from Divination. Very hard to pass up.

That said, Word of the Emperor feature from Sanctic looks pretty great if it's a ranged ability.

If it is, it would be a ranged AoE circle formed buff ability with a 5 cell radius, giving +5 resolve and +2 resolve thereafter every subsequent cast on an ally, until the end of combat (Resolve is a stat that generates momentum at the start of each turn and on kill, so a character can use its ultimates more).

It will be super cool if the AoE can trigger: "When character target's an ally with an ability"

Or better yet: "The first ally this character targets with an ability per turn gains," but spread the effect to multiple targets because it hit multiple allies at once. I'm thinking of Inspire Courage and turning a one ally only temp wound gain into an AoE one if Word is used first every turn.

That would make Word a really, really powerful spell when combining with things like Contagion + a whole host of Officer/Psyker buff boosts. Mary sue AoE support ability. :p :P

Now i'm thinking of going Officer/Div Psyker, then spec into Sanctic later for Word. i need to do more research of course.

Edit: Another thing to keep in mind with Psykers combined with Be Smart: Psyker staffs tend to add like 10+ Intelligence and Willpower at later parts of chapters 2/3. So prescience and a good staff can be +50 int, +50 willpower, and +40 Fellowship by Chapter 3ish.

Video: https://youtu.be/GU7YeCqpdLE

[jmvbento]

How IS the level up handled? Do you need to take thing X at (or by) Y level? E.g., at level 4 you get a talent, 5 a charistic advance, etc., or some other way that results in "by level X you have taken Y talents, Z char advancements, etc."?

[Balekai]

Originally posted by jmvbento:

How IS the level up handled? Do you need to take thing X at (or by) Y level? E.g., at level 4 you get a talent, 5 a charistic advance, etc., or some other way that results in "by level X you have taken Y talents, Z char advancements, etc."?

Just like levelling in dnd 3.5 systems, save for skill allocation. In RT it's mandatory and treated just like characteristic advancement (you can't save some skillpoiunts for later for example when you get a new archetype).

So when prompted on levelup, you have to pick your skill advancement, character advancement, a new talent, and/or a new ability. You also get about 2 upgrades to an archetype's starting feature at specific levels.

This video I just googled explains everything simply and perfectly:

https://youtu.be/7a9Rjekc86o

[jmvbento]

@balekai: Here's the psyker video you've been wanting, maybe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5a7a-SJmOU

[Balekai]

Originally posted by jmvbento:

@balekai: Here's the psyker video you've been wanting, maybe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5a7a-SJmOU

Perfect and better than I expected a video to be on the Psyker origin. Even going into Psy Rating 2 abilities.

Time for me to go on another "my psyker build" tangent lol. :p

It seems that "Word of the Emperor" is not a ranged ability afterall. The miss-described "Sword of Faith" ability shows Word being a "personal use" (self) spell. Bummer. Of course it's possible that Sword of Faith gives ranged capability to Word, but i'm thinking it's an offensive buff or attack spell.

Even so Sanctic Psyker is for the most part a psyker version of an Officer. but close AoE radius focused and keeping the party fairly bunched together.

Word of the Emperor is essentially another version of Voice of Command. You cast Word first (1AP), than use Light (2AP), Hammer (1AP) or Shield (2AP) of the Emperor, to give all affected allies buffs/heals. IMO the mechanics synergize with some Officer and Divination talents very well like I mentioned before. Even better than I thought. It's just a question of is it worth taking over strategist talents and abilities. It might be as strategist could be unwieldy based off alpha version. Sanctic Psyker could also be considered doubling up on what a leader does already. Negatively so.

I'm still going to give it a try. A Voidborn Divination or Sanctic Psyker to beign with + Officer. Then spend most of my time going back and forth between back and front lines buffing like crazy. The build should be tanky enough with dodge bonuses from Div, toughness bonuses from Sanctic and Voidborn's fortune filling in the gaps. At some point with Grand Strategist, taking Be Smart if need be (see what I did there i worked in the actual topic into my post!).

There's also the possibility of turning Heinrix into a Bio, Sanctic and use him to buff himself, Pascal and Abelard with Word, while I stick behind with Argenta and other ranged toons buffing them. Maybe like Voice of Command, other Sanctic Psykers can take advantage of other Words of the Emperor. So you and Heinrix can keep buffing both front and backlines without having to move out of positions. Turn Idira into a Div/Pyro. :D

Anyways, the next thing to do is see what Grand Strategist is all about in release version, and maybe review Master Tactician again with the new Sanctic info in mind. :)

[jmvbento]

Yeah, the usefulness of tacking Psyker into it is going to come down to "how many talent picks do I get through levelling versus how many good picks are in the Officer/GStrat combo"*, because if that ratio is unfavourable you're better off, power-wise, just taking an Origin that's a little-to-none-investment buff like Noble or something.

RP-wise, of course, is an entirely different matter. :)

*incidentally, this is a similar math that I'll have to do for Be Smart - do I get enough characteristic advancements that I can just buff Fellowship instead and get the higher skill and tests levels, or do I get enough Talent picks that nabbing Be Smart doesn't really have an opportuity cost?

[Balekai]

Originally posted by jmvbento:

Yeah, the usefulness of tacking Psyker into it is going to come down to "how many talent picks do I get through levelling versus how many good picks are in the Officer/GStrat combo"*, because if that ratio is unfavourable you're better off, power-wise, just taking an Origin that's a little-to-none-investment buff like Noble or something.

RP-wise, of course, is an entirely different matter. :)

*incidentally, this is a similar math that I'll have to do for Be Smart - do I get enough characteristic advancements that I can just buff Fellowship instead and get the higher skill and tests levels, or do I get enough Talent picks that nabbing Be Smart doesn't really have an opportuity cost?

Yeah exactly.

I can share what I was able to pull off non-efficiently in the beta. I still have my level 35 save at the last Act 3/Beta end battle (I don't think I did the optional battle for RP reasons even though I very much wanted to lol).

Here is goes. Note I didn't check release previews for any ability or talent progression changes that could have been done since Beta. There could very well be more or less opportunities to pick things up.

Starting with characteristics and skills. This is what i had in my lastish save while in combat at the 3rd Round. I had the following characteristic/skills wise (note that advancements are done in +5 intervals and stat tooltip details only showed totals):

- 55 Toughness (+5 Diviner Psyker, +5 Vanguard advancement because I had to at the very last Vanguard characteristic advancement. +5 Staff of Blood, +10 Strange Vitality).

- 53 Intelligence (+5 from Voidborn, +18 from Prescience. I screwed up math before on this. I said 10 for each psy rating when it's 10 + (2 x Psy rating)).

- 85 Perception (+18 Prescience, +27 "Focus!" which also gives me like 55ish BS and Argenta had like 200+ BS/PER lol, +10 Perception because i probably had to characteristic dump. However, I couldn't find where this advancement came from or when. No "PAAs" or "CPs" for Perception. It could have been an issue caused by using Toy Box or some such and accidentally added. Or some hidden source I can't see like a quest reward).

- 98 Willpower (+5 Voidborn, +5 Diviner Psyker, +15 Staff of Blood, +18 Presience, +10 Willpower advancement, +15 Willpower Vanguard advancement).

- 108 Fellowship (+ 5 commissar cap, +18 Presience, +10 Fellowship Advancement, + 10 Fellowship Advanement, +25 Leader advancement, +20 Vanguard advancement).



Notable skill rankings:

107 Imperium Lore, 85 Awareness, 163 Coercion, 165 Commerce, 188 Persuasion (All those 150+ skills was WAY MORE ranking than I needed in the entire Beta for 100% chance to succeed. Even 85 and 107 wasn't bad).



Basic rundown of things taken and missed for Leader (Officer) progression (I don't count special Abilities):

- "Get Back in the Fight!" (Ability. Good status effect remover, temp wounds with VoC, but in combat/ally only).
- "Wounds are not an excuse!" (Talent. "Fight!" now heals per condition removed removed, injuries now removed too. "Fight!" also has a pure base heal. This talent didn't work in beta and picked up Invigorate later).
- "Focus!" (Talent)
- Prescience (Ability. Even though you won't have Psy Rating 1 for another 6 levelsish, the +10 comes in handy early game to all non-partial characteristics).
- Inspire Courage (Talent. A "meh" one at that. It definitely helps, but this is one I regretted after figuring out levelling mechanics. There's other things needed)
- "Move, Move, Move!" (Ability. Argenta placement ability ftw every time :p )
- "Air of Authority" (Talent)
- Psy Rating 1 (Talent, could have taken earlier but this is a good place while doing Rykald Minoris Missions, which were last for me for optimal narrative/bonuses for chapter one).

3 Abilities, 5 talents.

I missed "Take Aim!" ability which I really wanted and may have hurt a lot, but I easily completed all content on Beta Core without it. That said the game is now harder on release with more difficulty modes. I will definitely take on Cassia this time around instead of doubling up "Move!" Lasting Impressions I would take instead of Inspire Courage likely although impressions is less needed the more Officers you have in the group. Although highly recommended by many, I never needed Commanding Voice. I always had me or Cassia in a place where we could get into range to pop off leader abilities on the farthest character with ease/safely.


Vanguard:

- Foreboding (Ability. Meh replace with something else like a Gstrat ability. Or for me, maybe early Sanctic and get Word of the Emperor if better than alternatives).
- Psy Rating 2 (Talent)
- Fatebringer (Talent)
- Biomancy (Ability. Opened up Biomancy which I wanted for Invigorate, since "Excuse!" talent didn't work. This time around I will be taking Sanctic or a Gstart ability here).
- Unnatural Luck (Talent form divination. Replaceable)
- Psy rating 3 (Talent)
- Psy rating 4 (Talent, starting to get screwed out of Abilities picks :D ).
- Invigorate (Ability finally. This was a replacement for "Fight!" and its not working talent buff. It wasn't needed because I had other toons that could heal injuries outside combat etc. This will likely be replace by a GStrat or one of the abilities that take advantage of Word of the Emperor).
- Strange Vitality (Talent. Will have to be replaced as its Biomancy)
- Help of the Protector (Talent. Throw away/dump Vanguard talent trying to find something useful for me. Replace)

3 Abilties, 5 Talents.

That's it. Vanguard had no opportunity cost issues of course because there was nothing there for my build, so I was easily able to max out my Psyker stuff. I have a couple ability points and a few talent choices to optimize. It's really tight for ability/talent starvation, but doable. Then with Exemplar pick up Take Aim maybe ASAP. Then assume I have 2 more abilities I can pick up and 5 more talents to flesh out GStar, Psyker and take some extra Officer talents.



As a bonus for those who may want to know, here's my "Soul Mark" Benevolentia talents from high Benevolentia rank. I was able to reach Rank 3 basically taking all Benevolentia choices. I can't remember when maybe end of chapter 2, early chapter 3 and are subject to change on game release:

Follower - Above the Thundering Guns (RT and two random allies start combat with Temp wounds equal to their own Resolve).

Adherent - Master of Command (First round of combat all party members start with +2+RT Benevolentia Rank movement points).

Votary - Courage and Steel (RT and allies need 30 less momentum to trigger Heroic Acts).

[jmvbento]

Yeah, since you were forced to go Vanguard in the beta, you might as well take Psyker and just treat Vanguard like Psyker instead.

Strategist video is out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdgybDaEJko