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Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 7:53 pm
by dragonfett
I was in one game where I got to play a Promethean Phase Adept Demi-God of Magic. That campaign had it's interesting moments, especially playing with another member the group that we affectionately called Kill Crazy (every game he played, every character he played had the same personality of kill everything in sight, duel wielding two greater rune short swords in a stabbing attack, tongue hanging out of his mouth to one side while his head was tilted in the opposite direction and a wild look in his eyes). Ahh... , good times, good times.

But overall, I don't like playing uber powerful characters very often (only once in a blue moon, really). I like playing stand up fighter types a little bit more often, but I often find myself gravitating more towards magic users or adventurers and rogues types because with the right skill/equipment selection, these characters can be just as devastating in combat as the stand up fights and have access to the perks afforded by their class to boot.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:02 pm
by jaymz
Godling, Master Psychic Cyberknight, Chiang-Ku Hatchlng and a maxed out budget Bot RCC. Those are the 4 I have some of the most fun with.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:24 pm
by Mack
One I've always wanted to try was a Master Psychic CyberKnight with a partial bionic conversion. He'd lose half his ISP, but not any powers.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:42 pm
by jaymz
Mack wrote:One I've always wanted to try was a Master Psychic CyberKnight with a partial bionic conversion. He'd lose half his ISP, but not any powers.



I did play one but didn't need the bionics. No word of a lie I rolled a 30 PS and a 29 PP. That was pre skill selection.

Just call me a melee god by 3rd level. I ahd almost all Ancient hand held WP's and the ability to reform my psi weapon into any of them along with having taken Paired Weapons :D

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:22 am
by RainOfSteel
This one is tough for me to answer as in the Rifts games I have played, I have never had a tricked-out munchkin character. I always wound up playing a Ley-Line Walker straight out of the RMB.

Based on my personal impressions of the OCC/RCCs:

  • Full Conversion Cyborg (I would try and set up multiple bodies, one heavy and loaded for combat, and one light from Japan with full human appearance, and just switch the braincase when needed)
  • Atlantean Undead Slayer
  • Phoenixi RCC with Ley-Line Walker or Mind Melter OCC (or both)
  • Spatial Mage (hypothetically built on a race immune to insanity, allowing less risky use of Fourth Dimensional Transformation, which has to be one of the most stupendously over-powered spells ever)
  • Achilles Neo Human RCC

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:04 am
by The Galactus Kid
I rolled up an Achilles NeoHuman Mystic Knight once. It was just stupid crazy.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:07 am
by jaymz
Hmm....would the Triax brain box robot OCC allow me to put my brain into a Devastator Mk II? :twisted:

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:31 am
by The Galactus Kid
jaymz wrote:Hmm....would the Triax brain box robot OCC allow me to put my brain into a Devastator Mk II? :twisted:

According to the rules as written? No. Is the technology available? Yes.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 12:02 pm
by jaymz
If youcan have a dragon wing you should be allowed ot have a Devastator. :D

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 12:36 pm
by jaymz
Daniel2112 wrote:
jaymz wrote:If youcan have a dragon wing you should be allowed ot have a Devastator. :D


Triax 2 takes the concept even further with borg-fighter jet interface systems. So you could probably justify a single human mind being the directing force behind any sort of vehicle up to and including that silly submersible carrier from Triax 2.


Nah just give me a Devastator Mk II and I'll be happy :lol:

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 12:52 pm
by jaymz
Daniel2112 wrote:
jaymz wrote:
Daniel2112 wrote:
jaymz wrote:If youcan have a dragon wing you should be allowed ot have a Devastator. :D


Triax 2 takes the concept even further with borg-fighter jet interface systems. So you could probably justify a single human mind being the directing force behind any sort of vehicle up to and including that silly submersible carrier from Triax 2.


Nah just give me a Devastator Mk II and I'll be happy :lol:


Meh, I wasn't all that impressed with the design, to be honest.


It was HUGE improvement over the original and could easily take on 2 of the CS best and biggest Combat Robots (Skull Smasher or Abolisher depending on your opinion) and probably the toughest and best armed combat robot on Rifts earth. It could even go toe to toe with a Battleram from Phaseworld with a moderate chance of success.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 12:58 pm
by RoadWarriorFWaNK
a Wu Shih from Mystic China converted to Rifts. He was disgusting. Had I continued to play him, he would have gotten even more disgusting.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 1:00 pm
by jaymz
RoadWarriorFWaNK wrote:a Wu Shih from Mystic China converted to Rifts. He was disgusting. Had I continued to play him, he would have gotten even more disgusting.



Yeah you can be quite pleasantly surprised just how powerful non powerful looking character can be from some of the other non "powerful" settings.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 1:10 pm
by RoadWarriorFWaNK
jaymz wrote:
RoadWarriorFWaNK wrote:a Wu Shih from Mystic China converted to Rifts. He was disgusting. Had I continued to play him, he would have gotten even more disgusting.



Yeah you can be quite pleasantly surprised just how powerful non powerful looking character can be from some of the other non "powerful" settings.


It was surprising, actually. He wasn't min-maxed or anything. Just a regular dude who was a total badass because i used his powers well.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 1:10 pm
by jaymz
RoadWarriorFWaNK wrote:
jaymz wrote:
RoadWarriorFWaNK wrote:a Wu Shih from Mystic China converted to Rifts. He was disgusting. Had I continued to play him, he would have gotten even more disgusting.



Yeah you can be quite pleasantly surprised just how powerful non powerful looking character can be from some of the other non "powerful" settings.


It was surprising, actually. He wasn't min-maxed or anything. Just a regular dude who was a total badass because i used his powers well.


Thus the pleasantly surprised part :D

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 2:58 pm
by The Galactus Kid
jaymz wrote:
Daniel2112 wrote:
jaymz wrote:
Daniel2112 wrote:
jaymz wrote:If youcan have a dragon wing you should be allowed ot have a Devastator. :D


Triax 2 takes the concept even further with borg-fighter jet interface systems. So you could probably justify a single human mind being the directing force behind any sort of vehicle up to and including that silly submersible carrier from Triax 2.


Nah just give me a Devastator Mk II and I'll be happy :lol:


Meh, I wasn't all that impressed with the design, to be honest.


It was HUGE improvement over the original and could easily take on 2 of the CS best and biggest Combat Robots (Skull Smasher or Abolisher depending on your opinion) and probably the toughest and best armed combat robot on Rifts earth. It could even go toe to toe with a Battleram from Phaseworld with a moderate chance of success.

1) At the creators conference, I'm running a game where some of the Freelancers will play the crew of the Dev Mk II, and others will play a gargoyle horde. We will see exactly how many gargoyles the crew (using the revised Triax O.C.C.s I created) can take out before they are completely overwhelmed.

2) The Dev Mk II is a HUGE improvement. On a crit, the main gun does 50% more than normal, so, 85% of the time, the main laser is doing 2D6x10, while 15% of the time (crit 18-20) the super laser does 5D6x10 (!!!). The ion cannon does 4D6x10 consistantly. Missiles are missles. They have slammers. Oh yeah, and 2 boom guns. Depending on how weapons are assigned to gunners (again with the new O.C.C.) these could be fire-linked. Don't even get me started on the force field, M.D.C., "The Shocker" or the fact that it also carries 4 Predator II suits. Its going to be a hack of a good time.

3) As for the cyber replacement, again, the technology is there so is it POSSIBLE? Yes. Its just that there are so few of the giant Robots and they serve a very specific purpose, so unless your GM bends the rules and lets you, there is no canon way to get one as a body.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 3:55 pm
by jaymz
The Galactus Kid wrote:
3) As for the cyber replacement, again, the technology is there so is it POSSIBLE? Yes. Its just that there are so few of the giant Robots and they serve a very specific purpose, so unless your GM bends the rules and lets you, there is no canon way to get one as a body.



Yeah I know it's just a pipe dream but it's MY pipe dream :)

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:11 pm
by The Galactus Kid
jaymz wrote:
The Galactus Kid wrote:
3) As for the cyber replacement, again, the technology is there so is it POSSIBLE? Yes. Its just that there are so few of the giant Robots and they serve a very specific purpose, so unless your GM bends the rules and lets you, there is no canon way to get one as a body.



Yeah I know it's just a pipe dream but it's MY pipe dream :)

hahaha. Touche.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:52 pm
by drewkitty ~..~
My fav is my NightSpawn who's morphus is a Valkaree with SAP packs.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:56 pm
by Svartalf
The Galactus Kid wrote:I rolled up an Achilles NeoHuman Mystic Knight once. It was just stupid crazy.

Of course it was, those are supposed to be RCCs for god's sake... they don't really master their Neohuman potential abilities if they concentrate on a real OCC.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:58 pm
by Svartalf
I once played a demigod who was a psi-tech, and had full linewalker magic besides... not world breaking but quite cool
I would not mind trying a cosmoknight (or fallen one)

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 5:02 pm
by The Galactus Kid
drewkitty ~..~ wrote:My fav is my NightSpawn who's morphus is a Valkaree with SAP packs.

I know this is the pot calling the kettle black...but NEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRDDDD!!!!!!

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 5:13 pm
by drewkitty ~..~
The Galactus Kid wrote:
drewkitty ~..~ wrote:My fav is my NightSpawn who's morphus is a Valkaree with SAP packs.

I know this is the pot calling the kettle black...but NEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRDDDD!!!!!!

:D :D :D
I made the char before any of the supplement books were written, so there are a few custom NS features.
Here is the most recent online char sheet.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 5:43 pm
by rat_bastard
Human Operator.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 10:57 pm
by Cinos
Some time ago I offered my players just this option! Locally I'm pretty tight fisted on what I let players run as, but one game I offered absolutely no restriction on Race, class or anything. So long as it could be found in the books, and was not a pre-existing NPC, it was fair game. It produced a Titan Temporal Mage (for some reason), a Demi-God, a Godling, a Lizard Mage and a Mind Bleeder. The latter of the two broke the game by working in tandem and still remain. A friend who couldn't participate in it would have run as a Hundred Handed.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 11:54 pm
by keir451
I'm kinda partial to Sea Titans, but in all honesty the most powerful character I've seen played was a normal human Special Forces Soldier OCC from Mercs outfitted w/a slightly modified NG Samson, the player built the NG Plasma rifle into one of the forearms. That was the ONLY mod. The character was death incarnate (still is even tho' we use her infrequently :twisted: ).

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:17 am
by Dog_O_War
I have a Merc with super powers and a huge financial backing.

Heh, I was considering riding an MDC-made bicycle because I could do 600+ mph on the thing, but I thought that it was too tacky.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 2:14 am
by jedi078
Mack wrote:One I've always wanted to try was a Master Psychic CyberKnight with a partial bionic conversion. He'd lose half his ISP, but not any powers.

So Darth Vadar huh?

A True Atlantean, Master Psychic CyberKnight is the most powerful character I have run in a long time.

I tend to shy away from demigods, dragons and other 'power characters'. As it is each to his own....

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 2:25 am
by jedi078
Rogue_Scientist wrote:Mind Melter.

But only after we extensively re-worked the psionic system.

How so? If it's a long story feel free to PM me.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 4:55 am
by Svartalf
I find the "this part of the game needs extensive corrections" arguments pretty thin.
The game is designed as a whole, if you want to rework a specific part (without addressing the whole), that means that you're likely going to break the game, or maybe that you should play something else, more suitable, or make your own game.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 6:13 am
by Svartalf
I know of cases where what looked like minor changes completely broke the game, and psionics still are fine by me, I'm not disgusted at how they are underpowered compared to the rest.
For that matter, I still play by the RMB rules, because the changes that have happened since were so poorly thought out and implemented that I never felt them worth including.

It's not like we could even trust Kev on that, since he notoriously house rules his own games, so the original set still is the more coherent.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:14 am
by Svartalf
WTEFF are you speaking about? Super psionics were introduced in the original Rifts book, previous versions of BtS and HU only had the 3 cats of Physical, sensitive and healing.

and whaddyamean major changes in the combat, skill and magic systems?

Combat has not changed much since 1990, beside minor fiddlings that caused more trouble than they fixed

skills have not changed at all since the creation of FRPG, beside changes to the skill list

Magic? last major change was with the introduction of PPE in BtS

Every major change is already old and has been part of Rifts since its creation.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 10:06 am
by dragonfett
Seriously, can we get back to the topic at hand?

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 10:15 am
by BIBBI
for risk of bringing back an old argument, Rhomphaia is right in that for a mind melter to be powerful you have to be creative.

my gm decided (because the speed limit is absent) that a psychic using super tk can move an object from their position to the edge of their range in two actions. at level five, this means that the object is moving at 85 miles per hour, no human being can survive striking an object at that speed, especially if whatever they are striking has little to no give, i.e. MDC armor.

telemechanic operation, your power armor's life suppourt just shut down, and it just locked you in, while it is mowing down your buddies.

electrokenesis, your weapon went off while you were accidentally pointing it at your buddy who is now attacking you for shooting him.

hydrokenesis, I just took out a vampire intelligence with almost no trouble at all (I have seen this happen personally)

psi sword, youv'e been ko'd, flown into a giant bug's lair, and are about to be eaten, when you pull an MD sword out of thin air that is three times the power of a vibro sword, and at high levels is at the power of a rune sword.

telemechanics, Oooh, this looks important.

psychic diagnosis + psychic surgery, I'm twice as good of a doctor than someone who has been training for years.

need I go on.
if you suck, then they suck, psionics are a tool of the mind therefore you have to be cereberal to play them to their full potential.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 10:18 am
by BIBBI
and yes we can get back to the topic, I just had to put in my 2 cents.

I remember the first campeign in rifts that I played, the gm said pick whatever, so we were running around with a swip operator with rediculus gear, an antimonster, a pheonixi stone master, a tauton necromancer, and a royal frilled dragon hatchling. it was freaking awesome.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 3:55 pm
by Svartalf
Well, there are days when I want to play Gandalf... Godling linewalker complete with advanced knowledge of chemistry and explosive, a ring giving him access to fire magic (both Russian and Warlock), and a rune sword and millenium tree staff.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 5:38 pm
by Killer Cyborg
Mutant Hominid Vagabond with 3 major and 3 minor super powers.
Make one of the powers Growth, and you can drop the size category down to 1, and spend all the Bio-E on enhancing attributes.
Using Palladium's rules/guidelines for defaulting skills, a Hominid with an Intelligence of 90 would have a 90% chance to default on any applicable skills, and with overall high attributes could fake it adequately with many other skills as well.

Super-powered mutant weasel juicers are also pretty nice, especially if you give them one of the optionally available N&S martial arts.

And a mutant octopus with multi-limb coordination, a bunch of MD knives, Sonic Flight and Spin At Extraordinary Speed?
Forgetaboutit.
People won't even know why they're exploding.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 6:37 pm
by BIBBI
Pubert1 wrote:
BIBBI wrote:and yes we can get back to the topic, I just had to put in my 2 cents.

I remember the first campeign in rifts that I played, the gm said pick whatever, so we were running around with a swip operator with rediculus gear, an antimonster, a pheonixi stone master, a tauton necromancer, and a royal frilled dragon hatchling. it was freaking awesome.



That's quite the group. I've played an antimonster and like I said, I love playing dragons. Both strong characters, and I know the pheonixi are pretty ridiculous with not being able to die basically (don't remember exactly how the regeneration works). It would be interesting to see what the GM put you up against with that group.


the GM put us against 2 elementals (one mud, and one lesser water), a giant acid puking lizard, 2 lightning combat jets and a mosquito airship. over the course of our very short adventure.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 8:02 pm
by dragonfett
The skill default rules that he speaks of basically states that for any skill that you do not have, you roll a percentile against your IQ (IIRC, correct me if I am wrong).

As to how to get an IQ above 30 (much less to 90), I have no fraking clue and am curious myself. What book(s) do(es) Mutant Hominid appear in KC?

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 8:03 pm
by RainOfSteel
BIBBI wrote:my gm decided (because the speed limit is absent) that a psychic using super tk can move an object from their position to the edge of their range in two actions. at level five, this means that the object is moving at 85 miles per hour, no human being can survive striking an object at that speed, especially if whatever they are striking has little to no give, i.e. MDC armor.
The damage amounts for Telekinesis (Super) are given in the books. The amounts given can kill some people. Your GM can house-rule this power's damage to be something else at will.


BIBBI wrote:telemechanic operation, your power armor's life suppourt just shut down, and it just locked you in, while it is mowing down your buddies.
There is no power named Telemechanic Operation in RUE (if it's somewhere else, let me know). I do see a Telemechanic Mental Operation power in RUE. This power clearly shows that the psychic runs a machine as though his or her hands were on the controls. It does not mention what happens when someone else has his or her hands are on the controls at the same time. I imagine you would get strange results or generate errors. Remember, the power's wording does not say the psychic gets absolute control no matter what anyone else tries. Taking over an occupied power armor would basically render it useless due to the conflict unless the occupant did nothing. The psychic could try to lock the occupant in, but in the case of mechanically operated locks/levels, it would be a strength contest, probably ME vs PS (or maybe IQ vs PS), and given how PS enhancements from skills work in Rifts, the psychic will probably lose; in the case of electrical locks, it would be contest to see who could operate the locking controls quicker. The normal occupant, used to the power armor, would get a bonus for familiarity in my opinion unless the psychic had experience operating that power armor. As for getting the power armor to attack others, the occupant could fight it out over that too. As a last resort, the occupant could open a panel and pull out the power cables running the machine (or at least its controls), rendering it inoperative. This power does not allow the psychic to repair the machine and so that would be the end for the psychic, he or she would need to move to a new machine. While not useless, this power isn't nearly as good as you make it out to be. This is just one possible interpretation that can be given.


BIBBI wrote:electrokenesis, your weapon went off while you were accidentally pointing it at your buddy who is now attacking you for shooting him.
Operating weaponry is beyond the scope of the examples given in the book. If your GM house-rules you can operate weaponry anyway, you're going to need a great deal of luck to have an enemy be pointing an eligible weapon at an "enemy friendly to the first enemy" while in combat or even out of combat; people just don't like to have weapons pointed at them even from more than just reasons of standard weapons safety rules.


BIBBI wrote:hydrokenesis, I just took out a vampire intelligence with almost no trouble at all (I have seen this happen personally)
There is nothing in this power that suggests that this would happen. Vampire Intelligences are MDC creatures and the Hydrokenesis description does not mention a MD capability. Your GM can house-rule VI's to be vulnerable to water at any time.


BIBBI wrote:telemechanics, Oooh, this looks important.
In some situations, it's a game breaker, yes. In others, it is useless.


BIBBI wrote:[...] psionics are a tool of the mind therefore you have to be cereberal to play them to their full potential.
Psionic powers can be easier when house-rulings support them.

EDIT--------

Here's a non-supportive house-ruling. I have it that some systems have been designed to defeat Telemechanics, so that can stop the whole suite of powers in their tracks.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 8:08 pm
by RainOfSteel
Svartalf wrote:Well, there are days when I want to play Gandalf... Godling linewalker complete with advanced knowledge of chemistry and explosive, a ring giving him access to fire magic (both Russian and Warlock), and a rune sword and millenium tree staff.
You forgot about the in the SDF-3 in your back pocket. It can come in useful, I hear.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 10:28 pm
by BIBBI
RainOfSteel wrote:The damage amounts for Telekinesis (Super) are given in the books. The amounts given can kill some people. Your GM can house-rule this power's damage to be something else at will.

no, the damage amounts for striking an object with one controlled by telekenesis, not to mention it assumes the target is inanimate, even though we have 30 sdc or whatnot, we can only take one if it is placed correctly
RainOfSteel wrote:There is no power named Telemechanic Operation in RUE (if it's somewhere else, let me know). I do see a Telemechanic Mental Operation power in RUE. This power clearly shows that the psychic runs a machine as though his or her hands were on the controls. It does not mention what happens when someone else has his or her hands are on the controls at the same time. I imagine you would get strange results or generate errors. Remember, the power's wording does not say the psychic gets absolute control no matter what anyone else tries. Taking over an occupied power armor would basically render it useless due to the conflict unless the occupant did nothing. The psychic could try to lock the occupant in, but in the case of mechanically operated locks/levels, it would be a strength contest, probably ME vs PS (or maybe IQ vs PS), and given how PS enhancements from skills work in Rifts, the psychic will probably lose; in the case of electrical locks, it would be contest to see who could operate the locking controls quicker. The normal occupant, used to the power armor, would get a bonus for familiarity in my opinion unless the psychic had experience operating that power armor. As for getting the power armor to attack others, the occupant could fight it out over that too. As a last resort, the occupant could open a panel and pull out the power cables running the machine (or at least its controls), rendering it inoperative. This power does not allow the psychic to repair the machine and so that would be the end for the psychic, he or she would need to move to a new machine. While not useless, this power isn't nearly as good as you make it out to be. This is just one possible interpretation that can be given.

granted. though telemechanic possession would work as I have stated.




RainOfSteel wrote:Operating weaponry is beyond the scope of the examples given in the book. If your GM house-rules you can operate weaponry anyway, you're going to need a great deal of luck to have an enemy be pointing an eligible weapon at an "enemy friendly to the first enemy" while in combat or even out of combat; people just don't like to have weapons pointed at them even from more than just reasons of standard weapons safety rules.

the beyond the scope of the examples argument is completely invalid in the case of an rpg as open ended as rifts, it says you can opperate electrical devices, and if a laser gun is not electrical then I dont know what is, and as far as not pointing at your buddy, TK can fix that pretty easily

RainOfSteel wrote:There is nothing in this power that suggests that this would happen. Vampire Intelligences are MDC creatures and the Hydrokenesis description does not mention a MD capability. Your GM can house-rule VI's to be vulnerable to water at any time.

here you are just straight up wrong, not only are vampire intelligences sdc (1D4*100 hp to be exact), they are only affected by the things that affect vampires, splugorth look similar, and other intelligences are MDC, but that is how vamp intelligences work


RainOfSteel wrote:In some situations, it's a game breaker, yes. In others, it is useless.

granted. but that still means a game breaker in some combat situations for a non combat psionic


RainOfSteel wrote:Psionic powers can be easier when house-rulings support them.

just like everything else.

RainOfSteel wrote:Here's a non-supportive house-ruling. I have it that some systems have been designed to defeat Telemechanics, so that can stop the whole suite of powers in their tracks.

perfectly fine. I actually enjoy the occasional challenge to my ingenuity.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 12:04 am
by dragonfett
ACTUALLY, the Vampire Intelligence is one of the few (perhaps even the only IIRC) creature to have both HP (2d6x100 worth) AND MDC by locations (all the eyes, tentacles, and main body). However, it is vulnerable to running water, and therefore will take damage straight to HP from running water (if I am interpreting what is written in WB1 correctly). Just a little squirt gun does 2d6 HP damage to vampires and VI's, not to mention they regenerate damage taken from water more slowly than other damage.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:07 am
by Balabanto
Actually, the psionics argument is kind of moot, because you're trading versatility for very powerful abilities in a few key situations. A mage is great all the time, but a psionic's real strength is in noncombat. If you like gathering information, if you like social roleplay, a psionic is the character for you.

I cannot stress how amazing Telepathy is in noncombat. The GM should not be sitting there rolling saves every two minutes or whatever. The GM should figure out how long it takes the guy to fail and then give the PC the information.

The problem is there are two ways to run Rifts, and you have to gravitate between them carefully.

1) Everything is going to get into combat eventually, so embrace the ridiculous combat resolution times.

2) DON'T GET INTO COMBAT. IT WILL KILL YOU.

My players have pretty much learned that you should only fight in Rifts when you absolutely have to, not just because combat takes a long time, but because people DIE in combat.

So if you have players that like combat, psychics are less useful. If you have characters that are more RP driven, psychics are more useful. Is a psionic useful in combat? Absolutely. Is it as versatile as a mage? Not really. Psychics have to husband their ISP. And even if they don't (Phase World Brain Booster Helmets), they still will be totally tapped after a single large battle. Mid to high level mages have PPE Batteries, etc, that they can suck up to get their juice back. Psychics have bupkis, and the recharge rate for ISP is garbage.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:27 am
by Svartalf
RainOfSteel wrote:
Svartalf wrote:Well, there are days when I want to play Gandalf... Godling linewalker complete with advanced knowledge of chemistry and explosive, a ring giving him access to fire magic (both Russian and Warlock), and a rune sword and millenium tree staff.
You forgot about the in the SDF-3 in your back pocket. It can come in useful, I hear.

Sure, but it doesn't come in Gandalf's official equipment list :p

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 10:20 am
by RainOfSteel
I have only a few minutes this morning, so I can only address one point. I'll get back to the others this evening.

BIBBI wrote:
RainOfSteel wrote:There is nothing in this power that suggests that this would happen. Vampire Intelligences are MDC creatures and the Hydrokenesis description does not mention a MD capability. Your GM can house-rule VI's to be vulnerable to water at any time.
here you are just straight up wrong, not only are vampire intelligences sdc (1D4*100 hp to be exact), they are only affected by the things that affect vampires, splugorth look similar, and other intelligences are MDC, but that is how vamp intelligences work
World Book 1: Vampire Kingdoms, p.10, "S.D.C: Not applicable". It does list hit points at "2D6 x 100". I did finally locate the note on vulnerabilities under "Other Natural Powers", buried amongst a bunch of other things, sorry about that. It still seems like hydrokenesis would take a while to whittle away that many hit points. How were you calculating the damage?

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 3:44 pm
by RainOfSteel
BIBBI wrote:
RainOfSteel wrote:The damage amounts for Telekinesis (Super) are given in the books. The amounts given can kill some people. Your GM can house-rule this power's damage to be something else at will.
no, the damage amounts for striking an object with one controlled by telekenesis, not to mention it assumes the target is inanimate, even though we have 30 sdc or whatnot, we can only take one if it is placed correctly
I did not understand your response here. It starts off with no, but I had stated three separate things, and the follow-on to the no does not address any of the things I stated. Can you rephrase?


BIBBI wrote:granted. though telemechanic possession would work as I have stated.
Yes, that power has more utility. For power armor, I have to say I would still allow the occupant to fight to get out or commit sabotage, but control/operation of the armor would be in the hands of the psychic. The psychic could try to shut off the pilot compartment's life support, probably.


BIBBI wrote:the beyond the scope of the examples argument is completely invalid
Not if your GM says otherwise. That power is completely open to a variety of interpretations based on the given description. Examples are given and none of them mention weaponry, which suggests that they are not in the listed categories of eligible targets. You appear to be used to doing it one way based on one interpretation, I'm used to another.


BIBBI wrote:and as far as not pointing at your buddy, TK can fix that pretty easily
You can use TK to yank a weapon's orientation around and keep it there, and also use the electrokenesis at the same time? I would have thought they were two separate actions, and in between, wouldn't the the target of the TK manipulation change targets? I guess it depends on how many HTH attacks you and your opponent have left. Or what exactly were your circumstances?

EDIT--------

I was digging around in my house-rules for psionics and found this for Electrokenesis:

6. Charge E-Clip: The character can feed a steady and powerful flow of electrical current into an e-clip. This requires that the psychic hold the e-clip with two fingers to the nodes of the e-clip. Each expenditure of I.S.P. adds one blast to the e-clip's capacity. The G.M. may require more I.S.P. for non-standard e-clips. Duration: Requires 3 minutes per I.S.P expenditure. I.S.P.: 6.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 3:47 pm
by RainOfSteel
Svartalf wrote:Sure, but it doesn't come in Gandalf's official equipment list :p
My apologies. I should have said: You forgot about the Manwe and Varda in your back pockets. I hear they're fairly useful.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 4:03 pm
by RainOfSteel
Rogue_Scientist wrote:If you're abusing it by making it vastly more common than the book states in order to shut down players, then that is a house rule.
I don't have Archie in my Rifts because I hate that entire concept. Specifically, it's the Archie AI and Hagan that I despise. My Shemarrians are just another set of Rifts refugees. The other things produced by them, Titan products, IIRC, are just made by someone else. Someone whose source/origin isn't known to every player. Keeping some mystery going is a good idea.

Rogue_Scientist wrote:And a bad one.
Most of the Telemechanics powers are ridiculously broken in all computer-based, and many other machine-based, situations. You might as well forget ever having anyone keep secret data in a computer, or every have anyone use electronic locks requiring keyed-entry, as a standard Telemechanic will breeze right through those without slowing down. People just wouldn't do it. You would have psychics using Telemechanics on a computer and the GM would say, "There's not really much in there. Sorry, it's a security thing, sensitive information isn't recorded that way because of psychics with Telemechanics."

Telling me that a house-rule that tries to rein in Telemechanic powers is bad in the face of ridiculously constructed powers is a bit ironic from my standpoint.

Re: What's your favorite powerful Rifts character to play?

Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 4:41 pm
by Svartalf
RainOfSteel wrote:
Svartalf wrote:Sure, but it doesn't come in Gandalf's official equipment list :p
My apologies. I should have said: You forgot about the Manwe and Varda in your back pockets. I hear they're fairly useful.

But then I'd have to play a DemiGod so I can have my pantheon having my back :p