Character: Isao Kamikamite - Setting and Rules Questions
Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2018 9:44 pm
Hello! As you can see I'm a new forum member. I've been interested in Rifts for a few years but have never had a chance to play, and likely won't have a chance in the foreseeable future. To give this post some context: I don't know a ton about the Rifts setting, just some basic stuff and what I've happened to pick up in the course of perusing forums and rulebooks. To give you an idea of what I'm used to, I play Pathfinder regularly, but I've always enjoye diving into the rules of more niche RPGs. Rather than going to Reddit, I decided to make an account here to share a character I've built and ask some questions since I prefer this kind of forum environment and from lurking I've seen an impressive number of long time fans of the game, who I hope will be able to help! On that note, thanks in advance to anyone reading this.
Before I go any further, I want to point out that I did see this moderator reply in another recent thread:
I hope what I'm doing here is acceptable. I do have several specific rules questions, along with some background and general Rifts experience questions to go along with the character below, but of course I will leave it to the Moderators to decide what is appropriate
上々手・治 (Isao Kamikamite)
given name first when written in English, second when written in kanji. No special significance, beyond vague thematic matching of the kanjis' general meaning and what sounded nice.
Character Concept
Chagi is a Sohei Warrior Monk (obviously), but aside from that is a musician (singer and shamisen player), and an armature Anthropologist.Along with this she is a bit of a writer, as this is part of both of her interests, as well as her spiritual journey. This is all obvious from her selection of skills. She has been sent to NA my her Lord to do research/reconnaissance, though I'd imagine she'd get involved with the locals. Basically she's built for a hypothetical campaign of, I think, middling power lever set in NA, probably near/in the CS since they seem interesting. I'd hope to make use of her interesting mix of out of combat skills.
Background Questions
1: Travel between continents in Rifts Earth is hard, from what I've heard (I tend to read RPGs mostly for the rules and pick up stuff about the setting as I go, sorry about that ). How would someone get from Japan to NA? What's the most mundane, feasible means you can think of?
2: Do you have any experience with a "foreign observer" sort of character like this? How'd it go?
3: How would the locals react to a character like Isao (assuming she was in/arround the CS)? Would she be a fugitive or just an exotic foreigner? How xenophobic are the civilians and personal of the CS toward humans from other parts of the world?
4: Do the CS have an issue with minor Psionics? are they distrusted or actively hunted? What about powers like "Chi" (which use PPE in the Japan rules).
5: what sort of campaign (in NA) would you see Isao fitting into?
Rules Questions
1: Isao's skin has an Natural AC of 18 but she can also turn her SDC and HP into MD temporarily (Chi-Gung Body hardening Exercise). From reading this forum I've gathered that this means that the Nat AC will be irrelevant while her skin is MD, but I wanted to ask specifically: is this correct?
2: The rules say specifically that skills do not receive the "+X% per level" bonus at lvl 1, but what about other things that say "+X per level of experience"? You get +1D6 HP at every level including 1, the rules are explicit there, but the Sohei Monk gets 3xPE + 1D6 per level of experience in bonus PPE. At level 1 is this bonus 3xPE or 3xPE+1D6? I assumed the latter . . .
3: when you gain a skill at a later level, the rules say it starts at lvl 1. I assume this means that you get just the base skill value, then add the +X% per level for the first time the next time you level up. Is this correct?
4: It seems to me that the bonus to Strike applies to all attacks made in hand to hand, is this correct? what about attacks that are not granted by your Hand to Hand skill, but by other abilities (like the Chagi body hardening exercise)? does the bonus to strike from Jujitsu apply to kicks that Chagi gives access to, but Jujitsu does not? Am I misinterpreting that Chagi gives access to kicks at all and only increases the damage of the listed kicks if you already have access to them?
5: For attacks with melee weapons, do you add the strike/parry bonuses from your Hand to Hand skill and Weapon Proficiency together? Or is Isao significantly worse with her staff than with throwing punches?
6: Jujitsu grants a +2 Damage bonus at lvl 4 (i think it's lvl4?). Does this bonus apply to all hand to hand combat attacks? what about kicks granted by Chagi but not by Jujitsu? What about attacks made with a melee weapon? What about MD kicks (Chagi gives you those)?
7: What do you think is the power level of this character? I was hoping it would be low/moderate but the Body Hardening Exercises seem rather powerful. I did remove the MDC armor, but 70,000 Credits in exchange for that (the median of the armor's value of 50,000-100,000 credits) is a power spike in its own way. As someone who's essentially new to the game I don't have a good way of judging power level.
Edit: 8: Have you ever started a campaign at a level beyond 1? Does this work well in Rifts? I find that in most RPGs with a level system the first few levels are rather uninteresting. I see that in Rifts the OCCs power is much more frontloaded, but that just makes it all the easier to justify starting a few levels in so you can get a few extra options for fun, in my opinion.
Final Note
Thanks to anyone who read all of this (sorry for the wall of text)! Also, another apology to the Moderator staff if they feel this thread isn't relevant to the forum.
Before I go any further, I want to point out that I did see this moderator reply in another recent thread:
Mack wrote:Please don't post character stats without any accompanying discussion points.
Things to consider:
-- Why are you sharing this?
-- What about it do you wish to discuss?
-- Is there something unique or odd you find intriguing?
-- Why should others take time to examine it?
I hope what I'm doing here is acceptable. I do have several specific rules questions, along with some background and general Rifts experience questions to go along with the character below, but of course I will leave it to the Moderators to decide what is appropriate
上々手・治 (Isao Kamikamite)
given name first when written in English, second when written in kanji. No special significance, beyond vague thematic matching of the kanjis' general meaning and what sounded nice.
Spoiler:
Character Concept
Chagi is a Sohei Warrior Monk (obviously), but aside from that is a musician (singer and shamisen player), and an armature Anthropologist.Along with this she is a bit of a writer, as this is part of both of her interests, as well as her spiritual journey. This is all obvious from her selection of skills. She has been sent to NA my her Lord to do research/reconnaissance, though I'd imagine she'd get involved with the locals. Basically she's built for a hypothetical campaign of, I think, middling power lever set in NA, probably near/in the CS since they seem interesting. I'd hope to make use of her interesting mix of out of combat skills.
Background Questions
1: Travel between continents in Rifts Earth is hard, from what I've heard (I tend to read RPGs mostly for the rules and pick up stuff about the setting as I go, sorry about that ). How would someone get from Japan to NA? What's the most mundane, feasible means you can think of?
2: Do you have any experience with a "foreign observer" sort of character like this? How'd it go?
3: How would the locals react to a character like Isao (assuming she was in/arround the CS)? Would she be a fugitive or just an exotic foreigner? How xenophobic are the civilians and personal of the CS toward humans from other parts of the world?
4: Do the CS have an issue with minor Psionics? are they distrusted or actively hunted? What about powers like "Chi" (which use PPE in the Japan rules).
5: what sort of campaign (in NA) would you see Isao fitting into?
Rules Questions
1: Isao's skin has an Natural AC of 18 but she can also turn her SDC and HP into MD temporarily (Chi-Gung Body hardening Exercise). From reading this forum I've gathered that this means that the Nat AC will be irrelevant while her skin is MD, but I wanted to ask specifically: is this correct?
2: The rules say specifically that skills do not receive the "+X% per level" bonus at lvl 1, but what about other things that say "+X per level of experience"? You get +1D6 HP at every level including 1, the rules are explicit there, but the Sohei Monk gets 3xPE + 1D6 per level of experience in bonus PPE. At level 1 is this bonus 3xPE or 3xPE+1D6? I assumed the latter . . .
3: when you gain a skill at a later level, the rules say it starts at lvl 1. I assume this means that you get just the base skill value, then add the +X% per level for the first time the next time you level up. Is this correct?
4: It seems to me that the bonus to Strike applies to all attacks made in hand to hand, is this correct? what about attacks that are not granted by your Hand to Hand skill, but by other abilities (like the Chagi body hardening exercise)? does the bonus to strike from Jujitsu apply to kicks that Chagi gives access to, but Jujitsu does not? Am I misinterpreting that Chagi gives access to kicks at all and only increases the damage of the listed kicks if you already have access to them?
5: For attacks with melee weapons, do you add the strike/parry bonuses from your Hand to Hand skill and Weapon Proficiency together? Or is Isao significantly worse with her staff than with throwing punches?
6: Jujitsu grants a +2 Damage bonus at lvl 4 (i think it's lvl4?). Does this bonus apply to all hand to hand combat attacks? what about kicks granted by Chagi but not by Jujitsu? What about attacks made with a melee weapon? What about MD kicks (Chagi gives you those)?
7: What do you think is the power level of this character? I was hoping it would be low/moderate but the Body Hardening Exercises seem rather powerful. I did remove the MDC armor, but 70,000 Credits in exchange for that (the median of the armor's value of 50,000-100,000 credits) is a power spike in its own way. As someone who's essentially new to the game I don't have a good way of judging power level.
Edit: 8: Have you ever started a campaign at a level beyond 1? Does this work well in Rifts? I find that in most RPGs with a level system the first few levels are rather uninteresting. I see that in Rifts the OCCs power is much more frontloaded, but that just makes it all the easier to justify starting a few levels in so you can get a few extra options for fun, in my opinion.
Final Note
Thanks to anyone who read all of this (sorry for the wall of text)! Also, another apology to the Moderator staff if they feel this thread isn't relevant to the forum.