N18 Melee Psy-Gheist advancements

[HugeSamples]

I'm going to be building towards a melee Psy-Gheist—with a Psychomancer's Harness—in an upcoming campaign, and I find myself at a crossroads.

I plan on using A Perfect Void—which counts as full cover to enemies within 10–13"—as his power.

Do I:

• Diet Nacht-Ghul: Advance into a Nacht-Ghul and not worry about his psychic aspect?
  • Bump Weapon Skill and Attacks, then maybe Toughness or Wounds; advance to Nacht-Ghul and pick up Spring Up at the next opportunity.
• Melee Psyker: Advance into a Phantom and embrace his psychic aspect?
  • Bump Willpower twice, then maybe Weapon Skill, Wounds, Toughness, or Attacks; advance to Phantom and pick up Psi-Touched at the next opportunity.
• Psyker Nacht-Ghul: Advance into a Nacht-Ghul and embrace his psychic aspect?
  • Bump Willpower twice, then maybe Weapon Skill, Wounds, Toughness, or Attacks; advance to Nacht-Ghul and pick up Spring Up at the next opportunity.

Both Diet and Psyker Nacht-Ghul I could buy straight up, albeit with Nacht-Ghul weapons. Is the Psychomancer's Harness really worth the extra steps?

Melee psyker feels kind of weak for such an investment, but it's something I couldn't get any other way. I feel like buying an out of the gate Psyker-Melee-Phantom would be a bad purchase--requires trading post weapons and even then, meh.

 

[quindraco]

Psy-Gheists aren't worth their cost and no, the Harness isn't worth the extra steps. If you really want to Promote your Psy-Gheist, though, cheap advances make the most sense, so you can reach 5 ASAP; my advice would be to take advantage of Fast Learner and bump Willpower 5 times in a row for 15 xp, then promote to Nacht-Ghul to immediately get From The Shadows. If you can scrape an additional 9 experience together, a good psychic power would also be a good investment, since you'll have 3+ Willpower at that point.

 

[HugeSamples]

The Core Rulebook says Juves and Prospects can advance after "three or more advancements" (page 169).

In any case, a psyker Nacht-Ghul not based around close combat seems like an interesting choice. Is From the Shadows that useful for a psyker?

Phantoms get access to Psi-Touched, which helps mitigate Perils.

Additionally, most of the Delaque Whispers need choirs to be usable, so they need to be near their allies. (You could use From the Shadows to deploy near your allies; maybe that's stronger than just following them around.)

I know you're advocating for good outcast powers, like Hallucinations.

I also know most of the Whispers are garbage.