Well, if you like not hitting anything or spending a half action each turn to get out of the smoke cloud and thus not getting the bonus you are looking into getting to do this, then yes. Its as hard for you to see enemies outside your cloud of smoke as it is for them to see you (altho I would say that one diameter cloud of smoke isnt enough to fully conceal a Chaos Space Marine…) so you also get the minus to hitting targets.

They're called downgrades for a reason. They're not supposed to benefit you.

1m around the user, given it should originate from the weapon, should probably be considered enough to block your vision. Chances are its 'hot smoke', otherwise preysense or IR would probably get to ignore it.

Larger weapons though might help; if you've a monosight on the barrel of your autocannon or lascannon, it could be sticking out enough if you're using the sight to avoid a penalty.

Best option though? Use an Optical Dendrite. That explicitly states it can extend to three meters. Discharge also works well for a weapon with recharge, like a Plasma Cannon on maximal: You'd have to be doing something else next round anyways.

Overall, the Noxious Discharge downgrade can be quite helpful, but you have to 'pay' for the usefulness, else its 'neutral' with a two-way penalty.

Also, I might be misinterpreting what you are saying, but if you are making house rules to add extra penalties to your players because you think they should have more regardless of RaW, then Im glad my GMs don't.

Precision Telekinesis + Noxius Downgrade = you don't even notice it.

BrotharTearer said:

GAH! I can't believe that never came to mind!

I doubt that would work. Telekinetically aiming a weapon you can't even see, let alone use its sights? Sounds less than easy.

On the other hand side, the Noxious Discharge might very well work if you use it with a melee- or mobility-focused Nightlord - smoke your own position with your bolt pistol at the end of your turn. On your next turn, exit your own cloud via jump-pack and either raptor-charge your nearest enemy or hip-shoot another smoke cloud.
Nice find.

Also good thing for a sniper, since you can use the next ound for aiming, or running away if  discovered.

Cifer said:

Just get Blind fighting and you are up to a good start.

Cifer said:

Technically you only "aim" when using the Aim action. The power says you can do anything that you can do with your own hands. Doesn't matter if the weapon happens to be 5m from you. You want the weapon to target something and it does, it's the warp and psychic powers. You can summon daemons, control minds and conjure blasts of hellfire. Why not shoot a weapon somewhat accurately while it's a few meters to your side?

BrotharTearer said:

@BrotharTearer

I was using the word "aim" not so much in the rules context, but in the "know where you are shooting" sense. Yes, you can use the power to do anything you can do with your hands. However, you don't only need your hands to shoot something - the term 'hand-eye coordination' already implies what other body part is quite useful. What you're trying to do there is not so much shooting, it's spotting for a very short-ranged piece of artillery, with no common reference frame but what you can construct in your mind.

To achieve a similar effect, try the following: Put your gun at some place. Step away from it. Take a look at your target and your gun. Cover your eyes with a blindfold. Have someone lead you back to your gun. Aim and shoot. What do you think are your chances of success? It's certainly easy if your opponent is within point-blank distance, but anything beyond that is essentially blind fire.

You can summon daemons, control minds and conjure blasts of hellfire. Why not shoot a weapon somewhat accurately while it's a few meters to your side?

Because daemon summoning happens via a summoning ritual, mind control is done via telepathy and hellfire blasting uses pyrokinesis, but Precision Telekinesis is a telekinesis power - not a divination one. You do not get back any sensory input from the weapon's position and the power has no "brain" of its own.

@ShadowRay

Certainly, if you have some kind of sensory connection to your weapon, you can use it essentially as a drone. Might still take some practice (like shaving with a mirror - the connection between your vision and your actions is different from the usual), but it sounds doable.

@Cifer

Sure eye-hand coordination plays a part in standard "aiming". But this is the warp we're talking about. Would it be so strange if your telekinesis-controlled weapon would be able to point at whatever you're looking at whilst being a few meters to your side?

It's really up to one's GM on how it to go with it. If you need line of sight to a target you'd still not be able to stand behind a wall and shoot your precision telekinesed weapon around the corner, so I don't see the issue. The boon of using a weapon with precision telekinesis, apart from using WP for the test, is that you'd be able to position the weapon in such a way to avoid potential cover that a target is hinding behind or the noxious downgrade smoke obscuring a target.