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The Rogue Scholar is especially well suited to the human, as they are by their definition unearthing and sharing the secrets of THEIR lost people and THEIR lost civilization. Something about an Elf or other D-Bee unearthing ancient Human secrets of the time before the Rifts came when the Human empire was at it's peak and using that knowledge to help other Humans rise from the darkness and ignorance of the modern world just isn't as powerful.

Eashamahel wrote:

Ashendale wrote:My two favourites;

Grackletooth Headhunter - his whole left side was cybernetic from an accident in a local war. He was a demolitions expert. I liked the combo because of the unique cybernetic opportunities and the stat boosts that fit his character type (rowdy, loud, friendly gun-nut) but pmostly picked the OCC for backstory reasons.

One of my friends favourite combo is a Grackletooth headhunter or Gunfighter, depending on where the game took place. It is about the ultimate rough-and-tumble fights to the end D-Bee.

I've been considering a Grackletooth Gunfighter, maybe even a Larmac. Love the Lizard DBees

One of my earliest characters was a Dog boy Cyber-knight. Loads of fun.

I've had thoughts about a dwarven magebane, as well. The mental image of a dwarf walking through a wizards spells and blowing his knees out with a big hammer is quite alluring.

I was playing around with the idea of a dog boy CWC special forces, a dog boy RPA "fly boy" ace would be good for the whole what the heck reaction (right before they got shot for being taught to read)

a dog boy (sniffer breed) as an EOD specialist or does that just make too much sense to allow

various genetically engineered animals as oddball classes...
now I am having thoughts of a heavy mod mutant cat (optimized for enhanced reflexes) as either a rpa elite or a gunfighter type

guardiandashi wrote:I was playing around with the idea of a dog boy CWC special forces, a dog boy RPA "fly boy" ace would be good for the whole what the heck reaction (right before they got shot for being taught to read)

a dog boy (sniffer breed) as an EOD specialist or does that just make too much sense to allow

various genetically engineered animals as oddball classes...
now I am having thoughts of a heavy mod mutant cat (optimized for enhanced reflexes) as either a rpa elite or a gunfighter type

I have used "Elite" mutant animals in a couple of special games. I would be careful about making them a dime-a-dozen though. Any mutant animal in the Coalition's special operations community is likely to be the top. 01% and even then is unlikely to have been trained in stuff like power armor and robot vehicles.

In our game we had an elite SpecFor tam from Psi Division. I let them pick a master psionic class and replace skills with a coalition OCC so we had a lot of crazy combinations I normally wouldn't allow in just any game or from just any player. But it worked in the context of the game.

Crow Splat wrote:

guardiandashi wrote:I was playing around with the idea of a dog boy CWC special forces, a dog boy RPA "fly boy" ace would be good for the whole what the heck reaction (right before they got shot for being taught to read)

a dog boy (sniffer breed) as an EOD specialist or does that just make too much sense to allow

various genetically engineered animals as oddball classes...
now I am having thoughts of a heavy mod mutant cat (optimized for enhanced reflexes) as either a rpa elite or a gunfighter type

I have used "Elite" mutant animals in a couple of special games. I would be careful about making them a dime-a-dozen though. Any mutant animal in the Coalition's special operations community is likely to be the top. 01% and even then is unlikely to have been trained in stuff like power armor and robot vehicles.

In our game we had an elite SpecFor tam from Psi Division. I let them pick a master psionic class and replace skills with a coalition OCC so we had a lot of crazy combinations I normally wouldn't allow in just any game or from just any player. But it worked in the context of the game.

I did something similar in my CSPsi series of online games. People picked a psionic class for powers, AND an OCC for skills. They were elite psi-cops for the CS. I never had any trouble with say...a Psi-Ghost/Net-Set being disruptive, and the players seemed to have a good time.

I am fairly certain that the old RMB describes Dog Boys doing things in Lonestar that never ended up happening, like piloting power armour, but I may be getting confused and don't have my books on me. I am also fairly certain that Lord Coake is said to have taken in a few Dog Boys to train as Cyber Knights, but again, no books so not sure.

Something I don't think anyone in any of my games has done? Shot a Dog Boy. I think when there have been enemy Psi-Hounds it's always been about 'escape and evade', and the other ones have been on their side (all CS group, or runaway as part of an adventurer group).

Eashamahel wrote:I am fairly certain that the old RMB describes Dog Boys doing things in Lonestar that never ended up happening, like piloting power armour, but I may be getting confused and don't have my books on me. I am also fairly certain that Lord Coake is said to have taken in a few Dog Boys to train as Cyber Knights, but again, no books so not sure.

Something I don't think anyone in any of my games has done? Shot a Dog Boy. I think when there have been enemy Psi-Hounds it's always been about 'escape and evade', and the other ones have been on their side (all CS group, or runaway as part of an adventurer group).

per lone star when I was reading it all the "official" dog boys are usuallyalways trained as dog pack or other sanctioned dog boy occ's
dog boy soldier (rcc)
dog boy feral see dog boy soldier
dog boy k-9 sniffer
dog boy kill hound
dog boy sea dog

there are other classes available to other mutant animals such as the battle and kill cats etc

now lone star does say that they have trained up mutant animals (such as dog boys) as any number of occ's to see how they do, typically when they have tweaked the genome in non authorized ways... basically Bradford? the guy running the lone star installation likes to play god and "see what happens if he does ....." the point being I got the impression that a lot of his experiments don't work out real well so he has a standard process to hide or dispose of the evidence.

I've recently started to really dig the Grackletooth.

tsh77769

Eashamahel wrote:I am fairly certain that the old RMB describes Dog Boys doing things in Lonestar that never ended up happening, like piloting power armour, but I may be getting confused and don't have my books on me. I am also fairly certain that Lord Coake is said to have taken in a few Dog Boys to train as Cyber Knights, but again, no books so not sure.

Something I don't think anyone in any of my games has done? Shot a Dog Boy. I think when there have been enemy Psi-Hounds it's always been about 'escape and evade', and the other ones have been on their side (all CS group, or runaway as part of an adventurer group).

They can be CK's.

One of my first and most enjoyed characters was a Dog boy CK

My favorite classes are the ones who get to create things like Techno-Wizards, Gun Bunny, Psi-Operator, Operators and Blacksmiths / Mystic Kuznyas, Tinkerer, Inventor, Gizmoteer, etc.. My favorite races are ones who lend themselves to those semi-solitary pursuits. Dwarves, Gnomes, Junk Crab, Kobolds, Goblins, and even Cyclopses.

For a great twist on an interesting class I like the Ley Line Rifter -- but the True-Atlantean Tattoo version in Rifter #52 (I think...sorry) called the Atlantean Drifter -- he gets lots of interdimensional taxi type magic but all as tattoos. And the artwork / pic for the class is AWESOME!! Looks just like a lazy Larmac only human in a trench coat and Terminator 2 shades.

Yeah, it was the original Lone Star description that had Dog Boys doing other roles, "The city army is led by an armored battalion of humans, but the remaining 8000 are mutant animals, 20% of whom have been trained as military specialists and "Sams" (this is forbidden anywhere else). This also means that at least 10% of the animals are educated, which is also an unspeakable act anywhere else in the Coalition."

When Lone Star actually came out I was very dissapointed that this wasn't the case, as it had popped up in our games many times by then, but so had the pecos bandits being composed of large numbers of Orcs and many other things that got ret-conned out, and Lonestar was overall a dissapointment, so in the end I didn't care too much and actually pretty much forgot until this thread.

Ooh, I had made a Mastodonoid Fire/Water Elemental Fusionist before! Yes, the RUE says only Humans can be EF, but the Mastodonoid entry in D-Bees of North America lists it as a possible OCC.

Playing the tribal, spiritual race really meshed with the Elemental Fusionist, and the fire/water combo worked out awesome for the Canadian tundra

Ha! OCC says only human...until a book about non-humans comes along. Now that's RIFTS level consistency!

Eashamahel wrote:Ha! OCC says only human...until a book about non-humans comes along. Now that's RIFTS level consistency!

Oh yeah. Even then, with adequate tweaking and GM approval/involvement I'd say anything is possible. Probable? Perhaps not, but definitely within the bounds of a sci-fi or fantasy realm ;)

Eashamahel wrote:Ha! OCC says only human...until a book about non-humans comes along. Now that's RIFTS level consistency!

Hehe the mastadonoids have a few options that in theory they probably should not. They have fusionist and some of the native american shaman type classes open to them.

Jungle Elf Earth Warlock. Jungle elves can get a spell that allows them to turn wood into wood cloth at third level which they can then turn into an MDC material using the Ironwood spell. Unlimited mega damage materials including MDC cloth is cool no matter who you are.

Mutant with unstable powers that grow with age & experience. Especially when I can pick traits. If it still looks underpowered for Rifts I add in a buffer, such as Alien, Megahero, a monstrous race.
Picking an occ is blah...ahhhhh.... too many.
I much prefer to roll for an education.

Nightspawn Tinker Gizmoteer
Nightspawn = Nightbane
Tinker Gizmoteer is from Ninjas and Superspies
Cuz it is a tank with magic powers, uber martial arts and the capability to make new weapons.

Zer0 Kay wrote:Nightspawn Tinker Gizmoteer
Nightspawn = Nightbane
Tinker Gizmoteer is from Ninjas and Superspies
Cuz it is a tank with magic powers, uber martial arts and the capability to make new weapons.

What Martial Arts? The Tinker Gizmoteer only gets the basic HtH options of Basic, Expert, and Martial Arts not the dedicated forms, it's the Dreamer Gizmoteer that has access to a complete Martial Art style.

Alrik Vas wrote:Agree, no hijacking.

I think godling-samurai wins.

You mean demigod, right? Godling is a pure RCC with no normal possibility for an OCC

I got great mileage out of a short, human looking Ogre T man

and Larmac Saddle tramp, coz it's plain fun.

One of those days, I'd like to try my hand at a Promethean... temporal wizard or phase adept. A Grackletooth Gunfighter too.

Grackletooth Operator

Their attitude and demeanor just sit well with me for a Mechanic. Plus clubbing people with a Open-End Wrench using my tail is just pure gaming bliss.

Never played one, likely never will, but I think an Octoman Cosmo-Knight would be pretty epic. Simultaneous strike with 4 weapons boosted up to 2d4x10 for 8d4x10 dmg.

Demigod Mutant+Burster+Warrior of Valhalla.

Good base attributes, super powers, mutant traits, master psionic, additional bonuses plus double hitpoints and sdc O.o

Amaki Titan juicer. Um a big fast tough stoneman plus you have style. Lol.

Algor+Delphi Juicer. Loads of sdc, supernatural strength, ice breath, psionics.

Norse giant+Reaver Assassin. Loads of mdc, natural abilities, Autododge, excellent skill selection.

Immortal Godling+low iQ. Lol. Makefor great roleplaying. No prowl no lore skills young to avoid gwtting extra skill programs. One wp.

Crow Splat wrote:It can be a touchy subject with some players so you have to be careful who you use it around, but any race with a high MA and PB and the Preacher OCC.

There are so many ways that you can play it as a PC and so many story hooks you can use as a GM. Plus the looks you get from the people that aren't involved in the game when one of the players says "I take the preachers crucifix and stab him in the eye with it," are totally priceless.

I still wouldn't recommend using it in a more PG rated group or with newer players.

Funny I did just that as a player once. I played a Preacher and stabbed a vamp in the eye...lol. I also had a buddy who came in late and played a Wilderness Scout with a good rifle in one of my games. Then you username rings a bell also...do I know you?

George Labour wrote:My personal fave: Dog Boy ANYTHING. Though being a robot pilot and busting Coalition SAMAS's is always a fun time.

INteresting ones: Grackle Tooth Cyber-Doc. Because...the smile.

I'm very pro-dog boy. My favorite combo is free-born Dog Boy Operator.

My other favorite is Sea Titan Gunslinger. I don't normally like to play OP OCC's, but in this case it just makes things convenient. Get in a gunfight at the drop of a hat without having to worry about someone blasting you with a laser while not wearing armour.

Godling Warrior of Valhalla. Tough. Like really Tough. Pantheon powers Burster, Flight, Toughness.

My cousin's apok made me angry, so much so as a GM i made an attempt to kill him,(not my usual style i know, and since then i havn't "tried to kill" characters) in the end that didn't happen and this is what we got.


Human
Apok
Warrior of Valhalla
and last but not least...........Staked to Yggdrasil............rolled 1's and or 2's on percentile for each roll.........i was speechless.

At the beginning i figured the character was too goody goody. so yeah, once he got up there in levels i decided to make Odin interested and offer an impossible job one that wold (if he survived) make him an honorary member of the Warriors of Valhalla. Then he angered Odin with his "holier then thou" Morals and Odin decided to hang him somewhere and forget about him.

So yea, Odin forgot about him, even forgot to demote him. He gained spells of many kinds level's 1-10 (cause he was 10'th level at the time)

Chronicle wrote:My cousin's apok made me angry, so much so as a GM i made an attempt to kill him,(not my usual style i know, and since then i havn't "tried to kill" characters) in the end that didn't happen and this is what we got.


Human
Apok
Warrior of Valhalla
and last but not least...........Staked to Yggdrasil............rolled 1's and or 2's on percentile for each roll.........i was speechless.

At the beginning i figured the character was too goody goody. so yeah, once he got up there in levels i decided to make Odin interested and offer an impossible job one that wold (if he survived) make him an honorary member of the Warriors of Valhalla. Then he angered Odin with his "holier then thou" Morals and Odin decided to hang him somewhere and forget about him.

So yea, Odin forgot about him, even forgot to demote him. He gained spells of many kinds level's 1-10 (cause he was 10'th level at the time)

I have a great love of the norse pantheon, and right on about Odin doing something like that to "a know it all upstart", my Yggdrasil gifted character is only level-5 but yea I can see it getting out of hand at higher levels. Kinda voluntarily npc'd the character to avoid that.

My current munchkin. ..er powers unlimited 2 Immortal Godling is awesome, I love the character. Has been reigned in a few times by Odin and as a child of Thor is quite the sledgehammer. ..er Hero.
At level-2 with minimal skills and terrible percentages for the skills I have, the character is still my favorite palladium character to date.

Zer0 Kay wrote:Nightspawn Tinker Gizmoteer
Nightspawn = Nightbane
Tinker Gizmoteer is from Ninjas and Superspies
Cuz it is a tank with magic powers, uber martial arts and the capability to make new weapons.

Not a OCC but the mostly made char for me was the NightSpawn (I have that mainbook ) & the Mystic Study power cat.

I like the Mystic Study mage. Just kinda difficult to find higher level spells.

say652 wrote:I like the Mystic Study mage. Just kinda difficult to find higher level spells.

I find it is easier for the lower level MS's to get higher level spells via the short cut table...not to mention they actually start with some higher level spells. and once you get to higher levels where their exp. has brought them to just take the two spells of level they have reached or lower spells.

And the higher level the mage the greater ability to craft their own spells or research known spells.
-----
Or do you mean when you said Find that your MS only get new spells via being taught them...or from spell-scrolls?
Or finding ones in the books that you like?

Flooper Cosmoknight

Gnome-Necromancer who rides around in a special backpack on the back of a Zombie Troll

For a perfectly canon powerful NPC the Ogre/ Titan Juicer/ Murder Wraith. God that sucker is hard to kill.

Mutant Raccoon/Rogue Scholar just for color. Describing the scene of meeting the character for the first time is priceless.

Demigod/ Veteran Grunt with Zanshi Shinjinken-Ryu. Select Sword Chi Technique and One Life, One Shot, One Hit, One Kill. Ultimate sniper and can take a normal sword that is bonded to him and hurt supernatural. Even without sword chi he has bokken training so vamps are in trouble.

True Atlantean/Academy Officer an ultimate military man well versed in combat doctrine. With the familiarity of strange people and places should be able to manage a multi-species armed forces.

Did I mention that I positively LOVE the Demigod template? one OCC plus magic or psionics... possibly both (or two kinds of magic or psi abilities)... ultimate versatility, power... fun

Svartalf wrote:Did I mention that I positively LOVE the Demigod template? one OCC plus magic or psionics... possibly both (or two kinds of magic or psi abilities)... ultimate versatility, power... fun

Dual Class Mega-Hero (Rifter 37), why not be a Mutant Mystic Study? Super Powers + Magic....

13eowulf wrote:

Svartalf wrote:Did I mention that I positively LOVE the Demigod template? one OCC plus magic or psionics... possibly both (or two kinds of magic or psi abilities)... ultimate versatility, power... fun

Dual Class Mega-Hero (Rifter 37), why not be a Mutant Mystic Study? Super Powers + Magic....

Rifter stuff is non canon and illegal, plus, this is Rifts, not HU.

Svartalf wrote:

13eowulf wrote:

Svartalf wrote:Did I mention that I positively LOVE the Demigod template? one OCC plus magic or psionics... possibly both (or two kinds of magic or psi abilities)... ultimate versatility, power... fun

Dual Class Mega-Hero (Rifter 37), why not be a Mutant Mystic Study? Super Powers + Magic....

Rifter stuff is non canon and illegal, plus, this is Rifts, not HU.

Nothing in the OP about not using Rifters. So while it may not be official canon (except when stated that it is) it certainly isnt off-limits for this thread.
Lots of prior examples in this thread drawing on non-rifts originating material. But that is a great aspect of Rifts, doesnt have to be from a Rifts book to be in Rifts.

So I dont know why YOU decided that Rifters are illegal, but that is an erroneous statement.

well, a dual classed mega hero isn't just powerful, it's downright munchkin... so yeah, the concept just blew my mind, sorry for losing my temper

A Demi-god isn't really a race or an OCC.

I would personally allow a demi-god to choose both a race and an OCC and then the resulting character would have the natural abilities of the race combined with the demi-god abilities combined with the OCC abilities.

But I understand not all GMs run it that way and instead treat a Demi-god as a kind of race.

--flatline

well, that's how it's presented in Pantheons... with a number of abilities, AND able to choose an OCC
but yeah, a Septumbran wolf man demi god would be fun, or worse, a Larmac demigod

Trimadore Safe-cracker was fun. Not only could he basically fix whatever he wanted with his racial mechanical aptitude, he had a specialty the group could use. (unique ways to blow stuff up)

Nuhr Dwarf Mystic Knight. Short tempered, ferocious, one man wrecking machine. The bigger the weapon the better. I especially enjoyed having him casually carry a Plasma Cannon around to negotiations.

Jeridu Gunslinger. Everything you meet that opposes you will die. I mean everything.

Kildred Shifter. Sweet Jesus this combo is heavenly. Not only do you gain an army in a short space of time to do your bidding, you also gain completely loyal followers that you can fix up into body armour and naruni weaponry. Send in a Demon first wave, followers as back up to cover and guard you. You can destroy everything with spells and the enemy will have it's hands full to even get near you. Better yet you can kit out some of your followers with bionics!

Amaki temporal wizard. Bossing it.

Yeno gunfighter. Force fields galore.

My personal favourite was a Nuhr Dwarf Whack Job scientist. Starting out with four bionic limbs in addition to his normal two. GM allowed me to take the ability of multi tasking, so he can do two tasks at once (with all those limbs and two eyestalks, why the hell shouldn,'t he?)
Race gives nice bonuses to mechanics and provides useful skills too. This guy was all about building weapons, robotics, repairing bionics, MDC plating etc. Very fun, I gave him an obsession with tech and made him a minor psionic to go with it. He would always be working on two projects at once!

Hmm now that I think about its always the tortured souls, the emotionally deep characters I enjoy playing. The race, class, equipment, skills etc. are always just sprinkles on the top, it makes it more appealing sometimes but it is the cake and frosting of the character that I'm after. The frosting would be additional control over the characters creation that I enjoy. So figuring out what a Nightspawn is going to look like or how a superhero's Hodge lodge of random powers is actually a cohesive whole or building a race from scratch. So it isn't so much the control as getting the hands really dirty in the clay of the creation process. Same way I feel painting miniatures or building Gundam models.

Secondhand Smoke wrote:Nuhr Dwarf Mystic Knight. Short tempered, ferocious, one man wrecking machine. The bigger the weapon the better. I especially enjoyed having him casually carry a Plasma Cannon around to negotiations.

Jeridu Gunslinger. Everything you meet that opposes you will die. I mean everything.

Kildred Shifter. Sweet Jesus this combo is heavenly. Not only do you gain an army in a short space of time to do your bidding, you also gain completely loyal followers that you can fix up into body armour and naruni weaponry. Send in a Demon first wave, followers as back up to cover and guard you. You can destroy everything with spells and the enemy will have it's hands full to even get near you. Better yet you can kit out some of your followers with bionics!

Amaki temporal wizard. Bossing it.

Yeno gunfighter. Force fields galore.

My personal favourite was a Nuhr Dwarf Whack Job scientist. Starting out with four bionic limbs in addition to his normal two. GM allowed me to take the ability of multi tasking, so he can do two tasks at once (with all those limbs and two eyestalks, why the hell shouldn,'t he?)
Race gives nice bonuses to mechanics and provides useful skills too. This guy was all about building weapons, robotics, repairing bionics, MDC plating etc. Very fun, I gave him an obsession with tech and made him a minor psionic to go with it. He would always be working on two projects at once!

Jeridu? Kildred? Whackjob scientist? where are those from already, please?

Secondhand Smoke wrote:Kildred Shifter. Sweet Jesus this combo is heavenly. Not only do you gain an army in a short space of time to do your bidding, you also gain completely loyal followers that you can fix up into body armour and naruni weaponry. Send in a Demon first wave, followers as back up to cover and guard you. You can destroy everything with spells and the enemy will have it's hands full to even get near you. Better yet you can kit out some of your followers with bionics!

I once played a game where the Demi-God was treated (and slightly modified) to be a template for any race, so any race could be a Demi-God (all characters were Demi-Gods).

My character was a Kildred Shifter with Deathwalker powers (necromancer variant, Rifter 8 ).