Pre-Generated Group

[earthhawk]

Hi All:

I'm looking to create five (5) pre-generated characters to introduce the game of Rifts to my current group. Just using the RUE book which 5 classes would you recommend? I'm looking for a balance of skills, magic, psionics, and combat characters without too much overlapping in any of the four categories and they must be human (for ease of play). Thanks in advance for your responses!

EH

[Akashic Soldier]

I've been doing this myself. I just started working my way through the R:UE last week, but I haven't uploaded any of them yet. Still, there are some in the Pre-gen link in my signature if you are interested.

[Alrik Vas]

Ley Line Walker, Mind Melter, Cyber Knight, Head Hunter or Merc Soldier, Wilderness Scout

I think that's probably the more balanced approach.

You could go with the more blow-'em-up approach, however...

Glitter Boy Pilot, Operator, Full Conversion 'Borg, Psi-Stalker, Warlock


Edit: Oh, Warlock isn't in RUE, maybe Elemental Fusionist or Mystic.

[dragonfett]

Ley Line Walker, Mind Melter, Cyber Knight, Head Hunter or Merc Soldier, Wilderness Scout

I think that's probably the more balanced approach.

You could go with the more blow-'em-up approach, however...

Glitter Boy Pilot, Operator, Full Conversion 'Borg, Psi-Stalker, Warlock


Edit: Oh, Warlock isn't in RUE, maybe Elemental Fusionist or Mystic.

I would suggest Shifter for the blow-'em-up route.

I personally would suggest Cyborg or Juicer, Ley Line Walker Or Techno-Wizard, Mind Melter, Cyber-Doc, Operator.

[Alrik Vas]

Right, Shifter. I do that a lot with the magicky classes, confusing names and all that.

The reason i didn't suggest a juicer is mostly my own bias.

[earthhawk]

I had originally picked the following for several reasons:

Cyber-Knight - beyond the Glitterboy it's probably the most iconic class for Rifts and they are decent in combat, but i chose it more for the leadership abilities.

Ley-Line Walker - pretty much the best pure magic user in the RUE book, plus the ability to travel ley-lines helps a great deal.

Psi-Stalker - As a magic hunter-killer I couldn't think of another class found in the book that adds combat ability and supernatural killing ability. I almost put the Dog-Boy here but decided against, but honestly I think they are neck and neck in regards to potential.

Rogue Scientist - Pure skill ability and the ability to heal, which is Rifts is pretty big deal since the points of civilization can be few and far between.

Combat Cyborg - Every group needs a tank. Beyond the dragon hatchling (which I'm not a big fan of) the combat cyborg is perhaps my favorite pick. Heavy armor and heavy weapons allows the group greater survivability and firepower.

[Bill]

A couple clarifying questions, if I can ask... Has the group been playing a long time or are they new to roleplaying games? Are they more interested in story or do they like to tinker with fiddly bits of games?

I have some pregens that might be appropriate, along with some other resources in this thread.

[boxee]

You might want to try to keep in mind if you pick combat borg or power/robot armor then you need to get them repaired. Other then that make your adventure first then make a pool of pregen characters. This pool of pregens can also be used later as npcs.

[earthhawk]

This is a veteran role-playing group that tends to stick to 4e D&D. I was running a Pathfinder campaign but school and work caused me to give the DMs chair to someone else for awhile. I'm trying to get them to branch which has been difficult at best; it's either D&D or Pathfinder lol, nothing in between.

[Mech-Viper Prime]

Head hunter
Ley line walker
Scholar
Psi stalker
Vagabond

[earthhawk]

Head hunter
Ley line walker
Scholar
Psi stalker
Vagabond

ok I'm intrigued... why vagabond? Is it the sheer number of skills? Or is the "eyeball a fella" lol.

[Levi]

Depends on the feel you are going for. If you want wandering heroes go with Ley Line Walker, Cyber-Knight, Operator, Glitter Boy Pilot, Wilderness Scout. If you want to go darker and capturing man trying scrape back from the abyss go with Shifter, Mind Melter, Juicer, Cyborg, Psi-Stalker. Another option would be all Coalition with an Grunt, Samas Pilot, Dog Boy, fill in the rest with specialists or more grunts.

[Bill]

If they're fans of 4e, they might prefer the heavier crunch stuff and they're probably expecting a balanced group. The first one is easy to achieve; combat borg, operator, ley line walker, mind melter, and maybe a rogue dogboy just to throw in an unexpected character. The second one is not something that Rifts does mechanically. You can try to argue that the characters are balanced in terms of having niches that they all occupy, but the difference between the classes powerwise is pretty significant.

[Eashamahel]

I have done this before, and the classes I used were:

Rogue Scholar (Had a caravan truck)

Wilderness Scout (Horse)

Headhunter (Big Boss ATV)

Cyberknight (Horse)

Mystic (Horse)


This allowed a wide range of skills, abilities, solid character concepts, a good introduction to the rules without bogging people down, ect. If I was to do it again, I would have given the Headhunter a Flying Titan power armour, to introduce that concept as well, and to get someone off the ground to think about flight in game. This was, however, pre-R:UE, so I assume now it would look like pure sillyness, since there would not be enough eyeballing of fellas and whatnot that comes with the Ultimate.

[wonderdog]

Cyber-Knight
Headhunter
Shifter
Mind Melter
Wilderness Scout

you gots it all son!!!

[say652]

for a coalition team. Full conversion Borg, Psi-net Burster, Juicer, Commando, and of course a Dogboy.
for a wandering adventurer team Techno wizard, Body fixer, Mindmelter, Full conversion Borg and a Crazy.
South America team Inti Inca, Anti-Monster, Megaversal Destroyer Borg, Blood Rider and a Nazca Line Maker.
some gm's do allow Anti-Monsters in a coalition campaign so you could replace the borg or juicer with one of them.

[Razzinold]

Head hunter
Ley line walker
Scholar
Psi stalker
Vagabond

ok I'm intrigued... why vagabond? Is it the sheer number of skills? Or is the "eyeball a fella" lol.

Well obviously it's for the soap and candy.
I mean who wants to travel around with 4 other dudes and nobody is washing up? Man they would smell after a few days on the road, lol.

As for responding to the OP I would probably take:

Juicer or Borg for the 'tank' of the group
Cyber Doctor (if there is a borg in the group)
Rogue Scholar or Operator
Cyber Knight
Leyline Walker or Shifter
Wilderness Scout or City Rat (depending on where your game is talking place)

[earthhawk]

Soap and candy... who knew that skill was so viable in Rifts earth lol.

[dragonfett]

Now we are going to need PSA's to warn adventurers against taking candy from Vagabonds!