Our psykers don’t need relics to do their thing, but if we want to lean into that side of things they can certainly help. So does either the Crouchling or the Orb offer a clear advantage over the other?
There are two relics that enhance the psychic abilities of the Magus (and Patriarch) – the Crouchling and the Unwilling Orb. The Crouchling offers a reroll per turn, and a chance that successful manifests can’t be denied; the Orb is both more defensive, offering an extra deny and unlimited range, and potentially more aggressive, with +1 to manifest on maledictions and witchfires.
All of our available powers can be cast on a 5, 6 or 7 (with a fair skew towards the lower end of the scale).
[I’ve indicated malediction and witchfire powers in bold.]
MANIFESTING POWERS
So what are the chances of successfully manifesting powers at each level with the Crouchling and the Orb?
The Crouchling has the advantage in almost every case. The only exception is super-smites, which are more likely with the Orb. [This is assuming that we’re not rerolling successful-but-not-super smites with the Crouchling. If we’re prepared to go fishing for that 11+ and would reroll anything else, the chance of a super-smite increases to 16%, almost on parity with the Orb.]
One limitation of the Crouchling is that it can only be used once each psychic phase. This introduces an element of uncertainty – if you fail your first attempt, do you reroll (knowing that you won’t be able to use it again for the second power), or hold onto it (knowing that a good second roll means you’ve wasted the relic that turn)? Whilst it seems easy to suggest casting the more important power first to avoid this dilemma, that just makes it easier for our opponent to plan a Deny strategy, with less chance of us baiting out any denies with a relatively unimportant cast. We don’t have that problem with the Orb. On the other hand, the Orb doesn’t affect blessings (like the ever-useful Might from Beyond), whereas the Crouchling will.
DENY THE WITCH : CROUCHLING
Whilst it’s all well and good determining how likely we are to manifest powers under ideal conditions, we also need to take into consideration the perfidious machinations of any enemy psykers. If someone is in position to deny our psykers, the chances of success drop significantly.
The relics affect this in different ways. The Crouchling is interesting - whilst the reroll gives us a better chance of successfully manifesting in the first place, it doesn’t improve the chances of beating a deny – once the dice are rolled for the second time, it’s a new event, probability-wise, with the same chances of generating any particular outcome as any other ‘normal’ roll. So whilst we might have a 97% chance of casting smite, we still only have a 54% chance overall of getting that smite successfully past an opposing psyker. However, the Crouchling does offer us something here: any successful doubles cannot be denied, with a 1-in-9 chance of triggering this effect (dropping to 1-in-12 for a 7+ power). The thing is, it doesn’t make much of a difference (most of the time):
There are multiple problems here. Double 6s were already (effectively) undeniable, and even double 5s would usually be enough to get you over the line (there’s less than a 10% chance of naturally denying a 10). Double 1s and 2s are never useful, and double 3s don’t help either if you need a 7. So whilst it’s nice if it comes up, and could be absolutely clutch at the right time, the Crouchling’s ‘cannot be denied’ function isn’t giving us that much help overall.
DENY THE WITCH : UNWILLING ORB
The Orb works differently, and more consistently. The +1 to the psychic test makes things just that little bit harder to deny at every stage. And if we roll an 11 (which could usually be denied on a 12), it now counts as a 12 and can’t be denied. Interestingly, that gives us a de facto 'cannot be denied' effect on a 1-in-12 chance, which is as good as the Crouchling for 7+ powers, and almost as good for the rest.
On an individual level, the +1 doesn’t seem to make that much difference – after all, a roll of a 4 which counts as 5 is just as easy to deny as a regular 5. True, but we can also still roll a 5, count it as 6, and that is slightly harder to deny. Those slight edges all add up, and give us this:
The Orb is around 10% more effective against denials than a regular psyker, and something like 7% better than the Crouchling. When the Crouchling comes good here, it’s great; but it’s too unreliable to affect the averages with much significance. The Orb is very reliable, always adding that +1 to every malediction and witchfire – there’s still a chance you can be denied, but it’s consistently less.
CONCLUSIONS
Where does all this leave us? The short answer seems to be this: the Crouchling makes you a better caster; the Orb leaves you less likely to be denied.
I think the Crouchling is a bully relic. It makes you more reliable, as long as you’re not coming up against any kind of psychic opposition. So if you know that you’re not going to be facing enemy psykers (or have a plan for dealing with them very early in the game, I guess), then the Crouchling lets you throw around everything short of Mass Hypnosis and Undermine with more than 90% confidence (handy if you’re really counting on Psychic Stimulus, for example). Sadly, this scenario completely wastes the ‘cannot be denied’ part of the relic – if it works best when unopposed, you weren’t getting denied anyway.
The Unwilling Orb, on the other hand, is potentially more useful when we are expecting to engage in those empyric duels. The basic chance to manifest might be lower than the Crouchling, but it’s more likely to beat the denial roll (so more likely to manifest overall). Not only that, but if there are other psykers on the board, having two denies with unlimited range is a significant asset. Your opponent can no longer rely on hanging back beyond 24” to get off any vital teleport or shield powers – you can reach out to anywhere. Twice.
I’ve mentioned it a couple of times, but it’s worth reiterating that the Orb doesn’t affect blessings. If your psychic phase plans usually revolve around Psychic Stimulus, Might from Beyond, or one of the three creed powers that fall into the blessings category, then the Orb is just a fancy way to deny (with a souped-up smite as a bonus). So that’s worth considering too.
Equally, if you’re building around mortal wounds, and plan to be knocking out smite and psionic blast every turn, then the Orb might be the way to go even if you don’t expect to face rival psykers – that +1 doubles the chance of a super-smite, and increases the odds of beating leadership for better damage with Blast too.
[My own current preference, which should always be taken with a substantial pinch of salt, is for the Magus to take the Crouchling, and the Patriarch to take the Orb. Why? Because I tend to keep the Magus back, cutting down sight-lines and making use of the Gestalt Conciousnness stratagem to drop a blessing (usually Might from Beyond) wherever it's needed. The Patriarch often ends up near the front, in or around the fighting, where mortal wounds from witchfires and the valuable 'fight last' effect of Mass Hypnosis come to the fore - all of which plays to the strengths of the Orb. I'm not sure that it's tactically sound, but then you're not coming here for tactical advice by this point.]
There’s no definitive answer here. (Again. Sorry.) If you don’t expect to face psykers, or really lean into blessings, consider the Crouchling. If you do think you’ll have to face Deny the Witch, or revel in blasting the enemy rather than boosting your own side, then you might do better with the Orb. Whatever you decide, may the Shadow in the Warp hang over your head like a somewhat-menacing raincloud of doom.