# Cryptek vs Psyker



## HaSY (Dec 15, 2012)

What do you think? Are the Necrons that vulnerable to warp based powers?
I am aware this may generate into endless debate but I am eager for good arguments regarding them. Basically techno sorcery vs psychic sorcery.


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## Romanov77 (Jan 27, 2013)

Too generic. 

Psyker could range from a bland telepathy to a raging demoniac demigod of doom. 

Dont know much about the Crypteks, still need to recover from the Ward-shock.


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## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

What kinda psyker? Your run-of-the-mill hive-dwelling Astropath would probably shit himself and have a heart attack at the SIGHT of a Cryptek. A Chief Librarian would barely have to gesture to turn it into a large pile of nuts and bolts.

Midnight


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## HaSY (Dec 15, 2012)

Romanov77 said:


> Too generic.
> 
> Psyker could range from a bland telepathy to a raging demoniac demigod of doom.
> 
> Dont know much about the Crypteks, still need to recover from the Ward-shock.


Yeap. Sorry for that.

Regular Cryptek vs Sanctioned Psyker


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## Romanov77 (Jan 27, 2013)

MidnightSun said:


> A Chief Librarian would barely have to gesture to turn it into a large pile of nuts and bolts.


Wouldn't be so sure about that. 

Necrons are damn old, can't see one of their Crypteks being beaten by a simple chief librarian. But of course, it all depends on the writer.


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## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

Romanov77 said:


> Wouldn't be so sure about that.
> 
> Necrons are damn old, can't see one of their Crypteks being beaten by a simple chief librarian. But of course, it all depends on the writer.


'I can pulp your flesh and snap your bones in less than a second, without lifting so much as a finger. What is the power of technology compared to that?' - Vel'cona, Chief Librarian of the Salamanders.

I think you underestimate Chief Librarians. They're really rather good at what they do.

Midnight


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## Iron Angel (Aug 2, 2009)

Crypteks have neither flesh nor bones. They are made of alloys and technology so far beyond the capacity of mankind to comprehend that such an understanding is nonexistent. Crpteks can command the laws of the universe and can control time itself. Psykers range in power from the meek to the mighty but Crypteks are no slouches either; Give me your Vel'cona, and I will give you my Orikan. Have fun.


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## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

Iron Angel said:


> Crypteks have neither flesh nor bones. They are made of alloys and technology so far beyond the capacity of mankind to comprehend that such an understanding is nonexistent. Crpteks can command the laws of the universe and can control time itself. Psykers range in power from the meek to the mighty but Crypteks are no slouches either; Give me your Vel'cona, and I will give you my Orikan. Have fun.


I'd use Mephiston as an example, but it's undecided whether he's a very powerful psyker or a fully-fledged Daemon Prince, so I'll go with standard Librarians and with Ezekiel.

'Some can step outside the confines of linear time... increase his might to near godlike proportions'.
'Ezekiel has the power to kill with but a thought.' 

Librarians are not without chronology manipulation themselves. True, Crypteks are forged of Necrodermis and nobody really knows the properties of it, but if you can't wrench apart the body, throw other large chunks of metal at it instead. Crypteks are certainly not impervious to huge kinetic force applied to the face.

We can go beyond even Chief Librarians. Psykers is such a catch-all term that we can include Magnus and the Emperor, but to stop the Emperor stealing the argument we'll use Malcador. Malcador was just a human with huge psychic power, as far as I know, with no genetic enhancements. He was punched by a primarch and survived with a couple of broken bones (AFAIK; Lexicanum is hardly the most reliable source).

Midnight


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## Iron Angel (Aug 2, 2009)

Fair enough; All I am saying is that its not cut and dry in the favor of one entity.


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## LukeValantine (Dec 2, 2008)

Crypteks use technology and various devices to manipulate the laws of physics, devices that they often build themselves, and are made of a regenerating metal alloy that most don't understand. However at the end of the day they are one of the more feeble necrons, and still have to use weapons and gadgets to accomplish the amazing feets they are capable of. A higher level psycher can with a mere thought bend the laws of physics and even out and out break them. Also unlike a cryptek psykers know of the living soul and can reach out and destroy it without even touching the body or can tamper with the mind with just as much ease.

So all in all a powerfull psyker is probably more then a match for most crypteks as they often are protected and use powers the just flat out ignore the limitations of the physical world. Now what we can't take into consideration here is the mind of the cryptek as their real threat has nothing to do with raw power, and everything to do with them being geniuses with millenia of experience. Think of Albert Einstein if he was in a immortal living metal body and armed with weapons of unbelievable power. Sure a large caliber bullet to the head would put him down all the same, but the question is would he put himself in a situation where that would happen?


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Chief Librarian Tigurius and the necron known as Voidbringer went toe to toe in the novel _Fall of Damnos._ 

Though Voidbringer is not a cryptek, he uses extensive technology that he receives from the cryptek Ankh early in the novel. This technology is severely damaging to the psyker's mind and had he not been sabotaged by his rival, he would have slain the ultramarine with relative ease.


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

I'd say the two of them would be pretty much blow for blow equal BUT that the Psyker might just have a slight edge in that a good psyker can manifest different things from the warp where as a Cyptek's abilities , tho' powerful, are fixed.


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## Archon Dan (Feb 6, 2012)

It would really depend on the focus of the Cryptek. A Psyker can manifest nearly any power, despite what the rules say. But as said, a Cryptek is stuck with their focus. Some could have a lot of trouble. But a Harbinger of Destruction can wield raw plasma energy. Others can slip between dimensions like Deathmarks and appear to stick a knife in the Psyker's back. But it really depends on the case by case basis.


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## darkreever (Apr 3, 2008)

MidnightSun said:


> (AFAIK; Lexicanum is hardly the most reliable source).


Considering what stuff has to go through in order to go up on Lexicanum (and not just anyone can waltz over to the site and put information up) it can be argued that it is fairly reliable.


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## The Meddler (Sep 25, 2010)

MidnightSun said:


> We can go beyond even Chief Librarians. Psykers is such a catch-all term that we can include Magnus and the Emperor, but to stop the Emperor stealing the argument we'll use Malcador. Malcador was just a human with huge psychic power, as far as I know, with no genetic enhancements. He was punched by a primarch and survived with a couple of broken bones (AFAIK; Lexicanum is hardly the most reliable source).
> 
> Midnight


From what I can remember, Lorgar didn't punch Malcador; it was more of a casual backhand. An unaugmented human does not survive getting punched by a primarch, even if he is the big E's right hand man


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## CarnifexQt3 (Nov 28, 2011)

The Meddler said:


> From what I can remember, Lorgar didn't punch Malcador; it was more of a casual backhand. An unaugmented human does not survive getting punched by a primarch, even if he is the big E's right hand man


We've seen in the novels that Perpetuals don't survive that kind of damage; they die and come back. If Malcador is a Perpetual (as has been hinted), Lorgar probably did kill him.


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## MidnightSun (Feb 10, 2009)

Serpion5 said:


> Chief Librarian Tigurius and the necron known as Voidbringer went toe to toe in the novel _Fall of Damnos._
> 
> Though Voidbringer is not a cryptek, he uses extensive technology that he receives from the cryptek Ankh early in the novel. This technology is severely damaging to the psyker's mind and had he not been sabotaged by his rival, he would have slain the ultramarine with relative ease.


And equally, Tigurius' specialties lie in scrying, divination and prediction with the odd telepathic power thrown in. Pretty much every impressive deed Tigurius has ever accomplished was predicting the exact time and place an enemy would attack Ultramar, his crowning glory not being some feat of arms but (seemingly) tapping into the Tyranid Hive Mind and translating it's will into terms acknowledgeable by humanity.



The Meddler said:


> From what I can remember, Lorgar didn't punch Malcador; it was more of a casual backhand. An unaugmented human does not survive getting punched by a primarch, even if he is the big E's right hand man


Even an casual backhand from a fully geared-up Primarch in a rage would kill a man, insofar as I know. Power Armour hugely increases the wielder's strength - Astartes find it hard to even move with anything approaching alacrity if their suit's power goes down.

Midnight


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