D-Bees of North America - Questions/Comments..

[Novastar]

IIRC, it states that physical training bonuses do not add to Supernatural Strength (major power) in HU; I'm unsure how that translates to RIFTS...

[Levi]

Question:
On page 140, Under P.P.E., It states: 3D6x10 +P.E. attribute number +3D6x10, and an additional 10 per level of experience.

Is this an obvious typo? ?

That is in fact a typo. I'm not sure what happened during editing, but it should have read:

P.P.E.: 3D6x10 +P.E. attribute, and an additional 10 P.P.E per level of experience.

I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner, I just haven't been visiting the boards much these days.

[DrBeau]

any reason why the Altara Blind Warrior Women are included in the "North America" group ?

I'm mean why them and why not the Atlanteans ? (just curvy, sexy females for young fan boys ) ? :eek: 8-)

I could see validation for these two things like this:

AWW are common D-Bees to NA (on Slaver Barges).

True Atlanteans are, in a way, not D-Bees. They're native to Rifts Earth.

[Warwolf]

Page 216: under Hit Points. 1D6 +P.E. attribute number, +1D6 M.D. per level of experience, starting at level one.
Does this mean that Yeno are (very) minor M.D.C. beings?

On page 150. The Nuhr Dwarves have the same thing going on as well.

Page 145 the Noli Bushmen as well.

Page 143-144: N'mbyr. Bonuses during violent outbursts:
+10 to P.S. and P.S. goes from Augmented to the equivalent of a Supernatural P.S. of 1D4+21.

So which is it? +10 to P.S. and make it supernatural? Or becomes a supernatural P.S. of 22-25?

Page 97-98: Prehensile tail adds one melee attack. And under bonuses there is an additional unsourced bonus melee attack. Do Grackle Tooth have a bonus melee attack and then an additional one from the tail? Or is it the unsourced bonus from the tail?

Page 36, Blucies (which I love by the way): Hit points: P.E. x 10 +2D6 per level. Thats a lot of Hit Points. Is this how it should be, or is this a typo?

Page 32: Avianes. As developers would you guys say that physical skill bonuses to S.D.C. would apply to the wings as well? Or that say the "Running" skill would apply to the wings flight speed?

One last question. I understand that bonuses from physical skills do not apply to creatures that have "Supernatural" stats (strength and endurance typically) What about O.C.C. bonuses to stats like for say A Grackle Tooth Cyber Knight.

Crud, I forgot to take down page number, but here are a couple that I noticed:

I believe under the Noli's psionics, Mind Block has a cost of 40 I.S.P.

Also, I think the Power Leech has a horror factor of 1.5 in the book.

There was also another disconnect where a skill was listed as a starting skill and then listed again as a skill that could be taken as an O.C.C. related (and not one where taking the skill twice would do anything for the character).

I know I noticed more, but I have been lax in keeping track. I'll try and do better over the next few days.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

I personally like the Ecto-men but the tendrils did they form into human like limbs or are they still just like tentecals?

They are tenticles in the invisible Ectoplasm state, and are human-like limbs in the "Solid" Ectoplasm state.

~ Josh

[Mack]

Topic trimmed.

If you don't like a particular artist, that's fine. But don't go out of your way to trash them here, or anywhere on PB's site.

If you wish to make your displeasure known to the company, as always, we encourage you to write a letter.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Been reading though the book. Stopping on races that caught my eye and what not.

Dirari Ecto men by Josh Sinsapagh. Very nice. Also loved the pic for that one.

Drizzit by Taylor White. Very nice Grasshopper people. I thought they were a nice out of the box creation.

The Grackle Tooth, One of Kevins, Inspired by Mr Perez. One of my long time faves. I only wish it had the race's true name in there as it's mentioned about 40 times in MoD

Iktek Diggers, by Jason Richards. Loved the pic and another sort of out of the box creation. Big strong mega damage critter that was the bottom of the food chain on it's world. Priceless

Lanotar Hunter by Patric Nowak. heh. Visions of Predators dancing in my heads. They just need an invisability cloak and some vibroblades!

Larmac: A LONG time Rifts race given some new infusion of blood and write up. Loved the pic. LOVE the race. This might be my fave of the entire book.

M'Raghiile Treeman by John Philpott. Very nice. I like them. Not sure if I'd play one, as I like my guns and such but I liked the creation and write up.

Malvoren by Levi Johnstone: Nice weapons master race. These guys would make awesome "Bad guys" for a running group. As a PC, they're up there with dragons and such.

Sasquatch: Another by Kev. Love the art you guys have picked for these guys, both here and in Canada. The write up is nice too and the "Worldly sasquatch" Is a nice "exception to the rule" that makes them playable. granted I"d probably give mine an OOC (( Yeah I know rules say no)) anyway, but I like the mental image and what not.

Vintex Warriors, By kevin, inspired by Mr Williams the 3rd? I've seen these guys in more than one of Freddy Williams art work peices and I've always wondered "Dude, what's that froggy guy? He looks AWESOME

Now I have them. they might tie for my fave of the book with the Larmac.


All in all a great book and an INVALUABLE resource for rifts.

It's a "CORE" book if I ever saw one. You need Rifts Unlimited, CS war campaign, Aftermath, and now, DBees of NA.

Congratulations guys. Great work.


Oh, and Ms Love? I LOVE Your artwork.

Adam Withers, Love your stuff too.

Michael Mumuh, great work as well. I love your style.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Thanks, Pepsi Jedi.

I thought Mumah did a great job on the Ecto-men too.

BTW, this is not the first appearance of the Larmac as a fully statted out D-Bee race. It originally appeared in SoT4 ( though it was first seen in the ole RMB, as we all know).

~Josh

[Pepsi Jedi]

Yeah I saw it there but this one was umber detailed and very nice. I like those guys and they've been around ever since an untitled appearance way back like 15 years ago in my first rifts book.

Good stuff. Good work gentlemen!!

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Yeah I saw it there but this one was umber detailed and very nice. I like those guys and they've been around ever since an untitled appearance way back like 15 years ago in my first rifts book.

Good stuff. Good work gentlemen!!

It's more detailed? I didn't read the Larmac as it appears in DBoNA.

Guess I need to reread it.

Thanks for the (unintentional) heads-up.

~Josh

[mumah]

You guys are gonna make me blush. Thanks for the praise. I also second the opinion on Mr. Withers' work. Fantastic art.

[Stormseed]

Lanotar Hunter by Patric Nowak. heh. Visions of Predators dancing in my heads. They just need an invisability cloak and some vibroblades!

I think that a Predator would have his ass handed to him by a Lanotar, tho.

[Jason Richards]

So I'm thinking of buying this one beut exatly how many Dbees are new here? I'd hate to buy a book where I own already more than half the same info in other books...

You know going in that the book is in part a compendium of existing races, compiled into one volume and updated. That said, there are more than 30 new ones, I believe.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Also, some of the "old" D-Bees never had complete stats or descriptions until now.

~Josh

[Marrowlight]

I've got a question -- not that I'll follow the rule myself anyway -- but in this new era of Rifts where more and more RCC's are able to ditch their "generic native rcc" skill set and opt for an OCC, why was the Pogtal -- which has a higher IQ stat than humans -- specifically denied the ability and labeled "they are what they are" and given their thug only rcc skillset. Crap like that is for a 2D6 IQ race, or something even less, imo and not a 3D6+1 IQ race. Especially one that comes with as much base PPE as a Pogtal does. They're one of the few truly perfect battle mage monster races in the game, given their base stats and abilities.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Whether or not a given species is a race (can pick an O.C.C.) or an R.C.C. (cannot pick an O.C.C.) has little or nothing to do with I.Q.

Rather, it is because of the species's genetic makeup, which places the species into a metaphoric box of sorts, one where genetic parameters limit it to a certain skill set. This is true of the Pogtal.

~Josh

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Whether or not a given species is a race (can pick an O.C.C.) or an R.C.C. (cannot pick an O.C.C.) has little or nothing to do with I.Q.

Rather, it is because of the species's genetic makeup, which places the species into a metaphoric box of sorts, one where genetic parameters limit it to a certain skill set. This is true of the Pogtal.

~Josh

Thats, the best way I've ever seen an R.C.C and race explained. Can I use that?

I don't see why not.

~Josh

[Temporalmage]

Question:

The Nuhr Dwarves special weapons now list them as requiring a PS of 26 to use or suffer a -3 to strike even on aimed shots.

Niether CS Navy book nor Book of Magic lists such a hinderance.

I wanna know why the sudden change.

[taalismn]

I woulda thought the Posluzniks would have had somewhat better endurance...or at least a bonus or two to save versus disease/infection...after all, their race has been working around bodily fluids and corpses for millenia....not to mention transplanted tissue and their own ministrations....

[Temporalmage]

Question:

The Nuhr Dwarves special weapons now list them as requiring a PS of 26 to use or suffer a -3 to strike even on aimed shots.

Niether CS Navy book nor Book of Magic lists such a hinderance.

I wanna know why the sudden change.

Basicly I'm wondering how a 4 pound pistol, or a 10 pound rifle could be harder to shoot (at -3 on even an aimed shot with a PS less than 26); While a 42 pound rifle, the TW Force Cannon out of FoM is easier to shoot (at a -2 on even an aimed shot with a PS less than 22)?????
Gee, at 10 times heavier, or 4 times heavier, the Force Cannon is still easier to shoot. Does this make sense to anyone else?????

[Temporalmage]

Question:

The Nuhr Dwarves special weapons now list them as requiring a PS of 26 to use or suffer a -3 to strike even on aimed shots.

Niether CS Navy book nor Book of Magic lists such a hinderance.

I wanna know why the sudden change.

Basicly I'm wondering how a 4 pound pistol, or a 10 pound rifle could be harder to shoot (at -3 on even an aimed shot with a PS less than 26); While a 42 pound rifle, the TW Force Cannon out of FoM is easier to shoot (at a -2 on even an aimed shot with a PS less than 22)?????
Gee, at 10 times heavier, or 4 times heavier, the Force Cannon is still easier to shoot. Does this make sense to anyone else?????

That does make no sence, If anything the negatives should be swithced around.

Why have negatives in the first place?? As I pointed out in my first post, the 1st and 2nd time these items saw print there was no negatives. Yet now suddenly there is. Why change cannon material???

[Jason Richards]

Why change cannon material???

Ha. Punny.

[lather]

Actually a legitimate question.

So is why change canon material?

But the answer is always changing.

[Jason Richards]

Actually a legitimate question.

So is why change canon material?

But the answer is always changing.

i'm convinced that the writters at PB don't have any solid rules to write by and are just making it up as they go along with out much consideration for what others had already written previously ... essentially we are getting an 'official' version of some one elses house rules.

Uh, none of us freelancers touched the Nuhr Dwarves.

[lather]

There is definite cases for doing it, but I expect those to be rare. It can get frustrating to have the rules keep changing.

They may be more frequent than necessary or even desired, but that is how things go. Personally, it does not bother me. If I use a source book it is generally not for the updated so-speak rules but the idea, content, or something like that.

[lather]

It's gotten that bad

[Library Ogre]

i'm convinced that the writters at PB don't have any solid rules to write by and are just making it up as they go along with out much consideration for what others had already written previously ... essentially we are getting an 'official' version of some one elses house rules.

Can you give some examples? I know that in my case one of the big uses of my time is in research... finding out the Palladium rules and fluff on a subject and making sure my creativity doesn't explicitly violate that; it may add to it, or expand it, but rarely do I work for explicit violation.

[Marrowlight]

i'm convinced that the writters at PB don't have any solid rules to write by and are just making it up as they go along with out much consideration for what others had already written previously ... essentially we are getting an 'official' version of some one elses house rules.

Can you give some examples? I know that in my case one of the big uses of my time is in research... finding out the Palladium rules and fluff on a subject and making sure my creativity doesn't explicitly violate that; it may add to it, or expand it, but rarely do I work for explicit violation.

not to side with Epic, 'cause I don't pay that much attention to what is "written in stone" anyway -- but didn't a lot of BC's super hero and villain npc's bend if not flat out break HU rules?

[Library Ogre]

i'm convinced that the writters at PB don't have any solid rules to write by and are just making it up as they go along with out much consideration for what others had already written previously ... essentially we are getting an 'official' version of some one elses house rules.

Can you give some examples? I know that in my case one of the big uses of my time is in research... finding out the Palladium rules and fluff on a subject and making sure my creativity doesn't explicitly violate that; it may add to it, or expand it, but rarely do I work for explicit violation.

not to side with Epic, 'cause I don't pay that much attention to what is "written in stone" anyway -- but didn't a lot of BC's super hero and villain npc's bend if not flat out break HU rules?

No clue. Haven't read any of Bill's Supers stuff.

[Marrowlight]

i'm convinced that the writters at PB don't have any solid rules to write by and are just making it up as they go along with out much consideration for what others had already written previously ... essentially we are getting an 'official' version of some one elses house rules.

Can you give some examples? I know that in my case one of the big uses of my time is in research... finding out the Palladium rules and fluff on a subject and making sure my creativity doesn't explicitly violate that; it may add to it, or expand it, but rarely do I work for explicit violation.

not to side with Epic, 'cause I don't pay that much attention to what is "written in stone" anyway -- but didn't a lot of BC's super hero and villain npc's bend if not flat out break HU rules?

No clue. Haven't read any of Bill's Supers stuff.

Really? that's surprising. Just not a fan of the HU line in general or?

[Library Ogre]

No clue. Haven't read any of Bill's Supers stuff.

Really? that's surprising. Just not a fan of the HU line in general or?

Generally don't play superheroes. I like to read about them, when the writing doesn't suck (my preference leans towards "Superheroes trying to live a relatively ordinary life."), but playing supers hasn't really appealed to me since we stopped playing Villains and Vigilantes back in Junior High. I like HU well enough, but don't play the genre.

[Marrowlight]

No clue. Haven't read any of Bill's Supers stuff.

Really? that's surprising. Just not a fan of the HU line in general or?

Generally don't play superheroes. I like to read about them, when the writing doesn't suck (my preference leans towards "Superheroes trying to live a relatively ordinary life."), but playing supers hasn't really appealed to me since we stopped playing Villains and Vigilantes back in Junior High. I like HU well enough, but don't play the genre.

Makes sense then. You were such a big BC fan (or at least an Ali one) back in the day that I was just caught off guard by that admission on your part.

[Library Ogre]

No clue. Haven't read any of Bill's Supers stuff.

Really? that's surprising. Just not a fan of the HU line in general or?

Generally don't play superheroes. I like to read about them, when the writing doesn't suck (my preference leans towards "Superheroes trying to live a relatively ordinary life."), but playing supers hasn't really appealed to me since we stopped playing Villains and Vigilantes back in Junior High. I like HU well enough, but don't play the genre.

Makes sense then. You were such a big BC fan (or at least an Ali one) back in the day that I was just caught off guard by that admission on your part.

Where the Hel do I know you from, then?

And, actually, I'm still a BC fan. Generally, I've found that his stuff makes sense within the world its designed for, and is reasonably balanced for what it's supposed to be (several of his PF books are really powerful, but they're also dealing with incredibly harsh environments). CJ's stuff tended to make the same sort of sense, but it was only really balanced against itself.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

With all due respect guys, you should start another thread if you want to discuss the matter further.

~Josh

[Mech-Viper Prime]

now since i have the book i was make some comments

more target practice for my coalition troopers

more of the old copy and paste , but this time it's cool, instead of carrying around 6 books because of the races inside now i just need the one book

[Carl Gleba]

With all due respect guys, you should start another thread if you want to discuss the matter further.

~Josh

I agree. This threads gotten a bit off topic.

Question about the bird men.

I know there's a picture of them and I think it's a fine one.

But what are there features exactly? Do they appear to be a sort of half bird half man?

It's not elaborated on in their background.

THe picture pretty much describes them. Your basic humanoid, slightly different internal physiology and with wings. They are lighter, have hollow bones and tend to be on the short side.

Carl

[The Galactus Kid]

I just started a new campaign, where three of the four characters are from this book. We have a Ganka Medicine man, and Phlebus Rogue Scholar, a human mind melter, and a Dewtani Knight of the White Rose (gateway knight)

[Augur]

- Jason: If you're going to use technical terms in descriptions (specifically: Iktek Diggers), use it right. Digitigrade is essentially walking on the balls of your feet. The "backward knees" are the ankles. Even so, still great (we all have the little things that bug us; it doesn't help that I just finished 2 semesters of general biology).

I swear I researched it and that's the name I came up with. Probably a disconnect between looking for a description of a horse's hind legs and the actual definition.

Meh. Semantics anyway... the description got across.

I could be wrong here but I believe it's referred to as "Reverse articulated"...

Then again, I only got a C in my required college Biology class.

As for all the book commentary:

KRAKS! I love 'em! Also, the Slurmph are awesome! The Fenni race is particularly cool but I have to say the Malvoren are just too uber-munchy for a typical Rifts setting for my tastes. Now a Malvoren in a galaxy-stomping Phase World setting on the other hand would be friggin' shweeeeet!

[Giant2005]

The Drizzit can't speak but can be spell casters... how exactly are they capable of casting their spells without incantations?
This Malvoren business seems a little dodgy to me - going by the description of their abilities they could potentially link themselves with 70 guns and fire them all silmutaneously using only one melee attack. Is this correct? Because if it is, a single Malvoren could easily destroy most gods and Alien Intelligences in less than a minute which seems a little inappropriate.
I think there needs to be more clarification on the limitations of such a power.

[RoadWarriorFWaNK]

The Drizzit can't speak but can be spell casters... how exactly are they capable of casting their spells without incantations?

they have their own language which is only actually speakable by their unique.....mouth structure. They can't speak human (or dragon or demon etc) languages; they eh....chitter.... and chirp. For the purposes of spellcasting, it works for them.

[Daniel Stoker]

I promised Josh I’d do this a while back, but sadly between work and … well me being a lazy bastard I just hadn’t had the time to get to this. So here is my official review of the D-Bee’s of North America book.

First off I liked the cover of the book and the art in general in the book, and while I’ll never be a Burles fan they did a good job picking the art for the book I thought. Some like the new Cactus People art seemed odd, but the new Faerie Bot as well as M’Raghiile Tree Men art made up for it.

As to the races, I found many of them to be interesting and ones I’d gladly include in my game. I was happy to see that many of them were SDC creatures, including some insect races which typically seem to get turned into MDC.

There were also some great new races that really inspired me. I really like the Adna Nomads that Josh created. They seem to have a lot of character to them and I can them being a good starting point for a number of adventures. Then there are races in the book like the Ganka which made me chuckle and appealed to me. Not only are they a plant race which usually interests me, but they’re still only SDC AND they don’t look a thing like a human. (One of the biggest issues I still have with many of the races in the Aliens Unlimited book). I can see playing one and enjoying the challenge they would present. And I have to admit I have some fun ideas for my first Kraks character.

Then there were the races that present in previous books. I enjoyed the added detail that we got to many races like the Kremin cyborgs and one of the races that always interested me but before seemed unplayable and a bit limited. I was also happy to see some races that had seemed to have been forgotten like the Lyvorrk as well as the Vernulians make an appearance in the book.

There were also a number of races that I thought would make for great NPC characters like the Shale Bogles, Septumbran Witch Wolves and Obsedai. I can see using them in my games, but not maybe as PC’s anytime soon.

There weren’t that many races in the book that I didn’t like for one reason or another, and the only one that I really saw that could cause problems were the Malvoren which while interesting seem like they would work better in a higher power game then what I usually run, or the Lanotaur Hunters which I’ve already pulled into my ‘NPC ONLY’ group for the most part.

Overall this was a really good book and a great resource for me to pull from for my games, and I like the fact that it makes it so I don’t need to carry nearly as many books when looking for R.C.C.’s and how can I not be happy to finally have stats for the Fingertooth Carpetbaggers?


Daniel Stoker

[Jason Richards]

I like how you hated all of mine.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

I like how you hated all of mine.

~Josh

[Daniel Stoker]

I like how you hated all of mine.

I can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but I did like the 'Cave Armadillos of death'


Daniel Stoker

[RoadWarriorFWaNK]

I'm playing a Ganka in Brandon's game and let me tell you, it is very challenging. It's a HUGE deal not being able to see things. I've never played a character who couldn't see colors, facial expresssions, light, words or pictures in a book or on a computer screen. I mean, it's not so bad in combat; the Ganka more than make up for it with their other abilities. You just dont consider some limitations when picking characters. In any case, it's still fun.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

I like how you hated all of mine.

I can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but I did like the 'Cave Armadillos of death'


Daniel Stoker

Iktek Diggers?

~Josh

[Daniel Stoker]

Iktek Diggers?

~Josh

That would be it... let me guess, that's not one of his either?

I'm playing a Ganka in Brandon's game and let me tell you, it is very challenging. It's a HUGE deal not being able to see things. I've never played a character who couldn't see colors, facial expresssions, light, words or pictures in a book or on a computer screen. I mean, it's not so bad in combat; the Ganka more than make up for it with their other abilities. You just dont consider some limitations when picking characters. In any case, it's still fun.

I've played a character who only had radar before for vision so I sorta know what to expect. My favorite was being told by one of the other players, "Cut the red wire!" followed by, "Red you say? Maybe you can go with left or right here before I blow us all up?"


Daniel Stoker

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

The Ikteks are Jason's.

~Josh

[Daniel Stoker]

The Ikteks are Jason's.

~Josh

Whew! I thought so, but I didn't have the book with me.


Daniel Stoker

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

The Ikteks are Jason's.

~Josh

Whew! I thought so, but I didn't have the book with me.


Daniel Stoker

I don't either. My memory skills pwn all.

Wait... what're we talking about?

~Josh