Are Navigators psykers?

[Just_Me]

Navigators are artificially constructed species that taps into psychic energy in very specific ways for very specific purposes. For most intents I would say they are definitely psykers, just of a very different kind than naturally occurring ones.

Consider it this way; both planes (i.e. jets, propellor planes, etc.) and helicopters are aircraft. They operate because of essentially the same principles (airflow, lift, thrust, etc.). However, the way they take advantage of these forces are very different at all but a very basic level and as a result their respective performance and capabilities are radically different. Both can achieve powered flight but each can do things that the other cannot. Actually, a comparison between birds and helicopters might be more accurate in this case, one is naturally occurring and evolved and the other is purely artificial. Again, the most basic forces and principles involved are similar but their functions are incredibly (almost unrecognizalbly) different and don't really resemble each other (nor is a helicopter particularly intended to resemble or replicate birds).

[Morgrim]

The FFG books, in particular the 'Navis Primer' which deals extensively with navigators and astropaths, makes the explicit point that navigators aren't psykers. They're not affected by Nulls or other forms of psykic suppression and they can't benefit from any sort of boost either. They just have what is, in essence, a tiny portal to the Immaterium in their heads. The effects of them aggressively using their warp eye is described as being pretty similar to what any trained sorcerer could do with a naturally (or not) occurring warp rift, just on a smaller scale. Psykers channel the energy of the warp to change reality. Navigators don't change the real world, they just strip away the veil from others.

[Wolfshade]

Hmm, so there we have it official "Not a psyker".

[Lord-Boofhead]

I was of the impression the Third Eye was more like a Medusa effect though- it just happens while, rather than having to be fired.

Nope, that was a **** up by Ian Watson In the Dracco books. Everywhere else states otherwise.

[Pssyche]

As early as Rogue Trader, 40K was very specific about Navigators.
The fluff said "Navigators are Mutants...have the ability to navigate through Warp Space. Although this is a Psychic Ability, Navigators never have other Psychic Powers".
The Rules for rolling up a Navigator's Profile stated "Navigators never have Psychic Powers".

[bfmusashi]

And for a more recent source, just to show consistency, the Rogue Trader RPG specifically says they are not psykers, don't suffer perils, don't use powers the same way, and don't get possessed by daemons BUT anything that affects psykers affects them too. They don't let loose the warp, they express their relationship with it.

[Poseidon]

Wait so you are saying fantasy flight games a completely different company that is leased rights for an rpg is more canon than gamesworkshop. Forge world, and black library... What? I mean I realize that games workshop has gone a little crazy with a few authors. He uses his powers to see into the warp. He's a psycher... Just like every eldar is a latent psycher just because they don't all cast fortune doesn't make them any less a psychic race....

[Dlatrex]

From THH:The Outcast Dead there were two interesting points with Navigator Roxanne Castana

"‘No,’ said Roxanne. ‘I warned you!’

The thug pawing at her belt suddenly spasmed as though a high voltage electric current was passing through him. Blood-flecked froth burst from behind his teeth and his eyes boiled to glutinous steam within their sockets. He screamed and rolled off Roxanne, clawing at his smoking skull and thrashing as though assaulted by a host of invisible attackers.

‘What did you do?’ snarled the second man, scrambling away in terror.

Roxanne sat up and spat a broken tooth, her anger and hurt too powerful for any thoughts of mercy to intrude. She fixed the frightened man with her gaze and, once again, did the very thing her tutors had always warned her never to do."

And later, when she's helping her friend Kai the astropath.

Warmth spread from Roxanne’s hands, passing from her flesh and into his. Her breathing deepened, and Kai felt the touch of her strange manifestation of psychic energy. The Navigators were a breed apart from astropaths, and no one beyond the confines of the Navis Nobilite truly understood the full extent of their powers. Kai’s breathing deepened, and he felt as though his very essence was being drawn into Roxanne....

That said, neither the Astropath nor the 1000 Son seem to detect her with the ease that most Psykers recognize like form. Roxanne also does not act with the same level of revulsion as the other pskyers when encountering the pariah, although the pariah DOES seem to include her when preparing his Animus Speculum.

It looks like they wish to keep the Navigators behind the veil a bit yet!

[bfmusashi]

Wait so you are saying fantasy flight games a completely different company that is leased rights for an rpg is more canon than gamesworkshop. Forge world, and black library... What? I mean I realize that games workshop has gone a little crazy with a few authors. He uses his powers to see into the warp. He's a psycher... Just like every eldar is a latent psycher just because they don't all cast fortune doesn't make them any less a psychic race....

Nope, I was saying it showed consistency on the concept. As Pssyche showed this is how they've been since 1st edition. Using the warp does not make you a psyker, your ability to act as a conduit is. Navigators are not conduits, they perceive local warp conditions and, since it's a place made of emotion and energy that responds to will, make changes. The eldar are a different bucket of worms.
And Black Library is just the worst as a source for anything as basic mechanisms change between books. Can you hear in space? Sometimes. Do warp drives make giant fissures in real space that suck everything around them into the warp? Sometimes. Does Khorne employ librarians? Sometimes.

[hyudun]

They're not affected by Nulls or other forms of psykic suppression.

Well, that destroyed any preconceived notions of similarity I had between the two.