Jab's Rifts Builds (Rifts- A Final Summation!)

[Curbludgeon]

Gosh, I don't about Manhunter. Since it was outsourced to a different company ranking it among other Rifts books would be about like comparing them to Savage Rifts. The Manhunter robots are about as good a foe group as the Mechanoids or System Failure's Bugs, and are less goofy than Phase World's Intruders. A lot of the OCCs cover their bases as good or better than Phase World equivalents, and not only are the playable species at least as engaging as stuff in Aliens Unlimited, the publisher had the foresight to put their attributes in a chart. With the exception of some of the power armor none of the weapons compare with Rifts power creep, but that's to be expected. I never used any of the setting material, but from a skim it's a far sight less silly than Phase World. That said, the only thing I ever took from it was the Smoker OCC as an adjunct to Mercenary Adventure's Combat Mage, and the Seeker OCC as a Mystic in Space.

[Jabroniville]

I just caught up on Jab's build threads, and am of course delighted. As someone that actually posts on Palladium forums it's nice to see some of the worst offenses receive the derision they really deserve.

Oh, cool! What kind of stuff goes on in that forum? I've only heard tales of how you have to toe the company line.

Glad to see you back! Was it you I sent that PM to, mentioning that I'd gotten back into statting these? I forget now. I know there was somebody.

I thought, Jabroniville, that you mentioned in one post which books you're interested in covering and a tentative order, but I'll be darned if I've seen it. As someone that has pdfs of just about everything I thought I might look at things with which you are disinterested.

It's likely I mentioned it at one point, though it could have been in the initial Rifts thread elsewhere where myself & BatgirlIII were going on about how to stat things up. But I forget now.

If you're interested in looking at things I wasn't planning on giving much of a look to, then it'd be:
(note: Just going off of the one list I've found of books- it's likely it's missing stuff)
Mutants in Orbit, ANYTHING focused around Demons & Dyvils and whatever, the two Russia books, the two China books, Xiticix Invasion, Psyscape, Splynn Dimension Market, Siege of Tolkeen, Conversion Book 1, Mindwerks, Skraypers, Yama Kings & ESPECIALLY Spirit West.

I mean, once I'm done literally everything else I'll see how I feel about going through the "uninteresting stuff"- I'm still into going through Rifts and its history, but writing up things I actually have the books for is easy and fun even if the books are stupid- looking through PDFs isn't as much, so I'll be slower on those. It's possible I'll just get sick of these things and move on to Warhammer or something, I dunno . But if you want to take a crack at something, go for it!

Africa is right up there as one of the worst Palladium books. In addition to the racial cariacatures and dehumanizing, it also presents some of the largest populations on the planet in a couple of paragraphs per country. Several sub-Saharan regions have populations in excess of 100 million, presumably all living as hunter-gatherers. The Phoenix Empire is just as bad, with a population so large that the idea of Triax successfully struggling against the Gargoyle Empire is laughable. The only book that is nearly as sweeping in its population demographics is China 1, and that can be partially excused in that a majority of the non-demon populace are "dead and damned" near-automata.

Yeah, that's possibly the greatest shame here. CJ Carella's pair of South America books are justifiably well-thought-of- as I'd mentioned, I now get what my friend Paul was going on about when he gushed over them. The power levels are way too high, of course, but at least he details EVERY COUNTRY, and figures out all sorts of interesting things. Kevin just goes "Uh, they're po' folk living in mud-huts" and that's that. For an ENTIRE CONTINENT. It comes off as the most wasteful and stupid thing Palladium ever did in terms of world-building.

England, as mentioned above, is not good due to its slipshod nature, combining Palladium's response to d&d's druids by making any version they've published quite weak, with a half-hearted Arthurian revamp. The book would have done far better by focusing on Ireland and Scotland, countries overrun by Faeries and Formorians. Spirit West could have been salvaged if it had been presented as "Mystic variants, the book" instead of doing some 1990's public library "research" before claiming Native Americans have inherent spirit potential due to alliances with the Cherokee Nunnehi.

England is definitely on the short-list of stuff I want to look at, if only because I was always interested in it... and because it's borderline Rifts Africa-level infamous for being awful. And it debuts the Millennium Tree idea, which is EVERYWHERE in the early half-decade's books before being dropped.

If I were to vote, the two worst books Palladium put out were first Heroes of the Megaverse, wherein Kevin S. decided he should stat up himself, other writers, and I think his wife (which was just as oblivious as you'd guess). Second is Dark Designs for Nightbane, which was more than half reprinted tables spliced together impressively inefficiently with tables cut out of Rifters just different enough that the "author" got bent out of shape when the obvious similarity was mentioned, and topped with 2 quarter pages of marginalia clearly busted out in 20 minutes 20 years ago

I thankfully know nothing about those other books (which I think are outside the Rifts line), but they sound terrible.

Thanks for the detailed response!

[Jabroniville]

MIND BLEEDER R.C.C.
Role: Psychic-Killer
PL 7 (72 + Magic)
STRENGTH 1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+5)
Expertise (Survival) 6 (+6)
Insight 4 (+4)
Perception 4 (+4)
Stealth 2 (+4)
Treatment 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Equipment 2 (Light M.D.C. Armor, Energy Rifle), Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Sense Psionics" Senses 3 (Psionic Presence- Ranged, Acute) [3]
"Psi-Bonuses" Enhanced Will 4 (Flaws: Limited to Against Psionics) [2]
"Mind Bleed" Weaken Psionics 6 (Extras: Perception-Ranged) (Flaws: Limited to Once Per Minute) [12]
Features 1: May Use Stolen I.S.P. For His Own Psionics [1]

"Mind Bleeder Powers" (4 to start; 2 powers at 3, 6, 8, 10 & 12)
"Psionics" (3 powers from bottom three at 3, 7, 11 & 15; one Super Psionic Power)

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Mind Bleed -- (+6 Perception-Ranged Weaken, DC 16)
Energy Rifle +5 (+9 Ranged Damage, DC 24)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +2 (+7 Armor), Fortitude +5, Will +4 (+8 vs. Psionics)

Complications:
Power Loss (Psionics)- All Psionics requires the expenditure of I.S.P. Greater spells require more.

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 18 + Bleeder Powers + Psionics / Defenses: 10 (72 + Magic)

-Completely bizarre and out of nowhere in Rifts Africa comes the Mind BLEEDER, a weird Psionic class that drains people like a psychic vampire, and has nothing to do with Africa- it's just some class they came up with and I guess this was the next book out, so BAM- there you go. And because it's an early Rifts book, there's some horrible Kevin Siembieda art, and a stupid-ass physicaly description of guys with big, pulsating veins at their temples, because doesn't that all just SCREAM "I Want To Play This"?

-Mind Bleeders are actually pale, extremely tall D-Bees who have now spread across Europe & Africa, after popping up in the Mediterranean via a Rift. They are typically mischievous at best and evil at worst, willfully reading the minds and secrets of others. None have been yet seen in America, Atlantis, etc., so most PCs are free from them unless someone wants to Snowflake Out and play one. Psi-Stalkers & Dog Boys instinctively hate them, and only Mind Melters are more feared. The New German Republic dislikes and registers them, but also uses them as combatants.

-Mind Bleeders get access to a smattering of powers, some of which are quite useful and tricky, but they make piss-poor fighters, being S.D.C. and gaining no real boosts to attack. They can debuff, stun, etc., but are largely helpless and can't do any real damage.

[Jabroniville]

MIND BLEEDER POWERS:
* OH GOODIE ANOTHER LIST OF POWERS YOU CAN PICK FROM. Mind Bleeder Powers use I.S.P., just like Psionics, but only Mind Bleeders can use them. Thankfully, most are somewhat useful Role Playing stuff, utilitarian, and CHEAP- only 8-10 points on average.

"Bleed Aura" Copies auras & signatures to disguise himself.
"Bleed P.E. Energy" Drains light amounts of toughness from other beings into himself- Healing (Energizing).
"Bleed Memory" Limited Mind-Reading (individual secrets or what they're about to say).
"Bleed Skills" Steals Skills from others four feet away or less- they forget the skill and the Bleeder gains them (5 min/level).
"Bleed Truth" Can tell if someone's telling the truth or not.
"Brain Bleed" Affliction (Will; Dazed & Impaired/Stunned & Disabled)- 10 feet, 4 min/level.
"Brain Scan" Detects Brain Illnesses & Psychic Stuff on the head.
"Day Dream" Can temporarily slow a non-fighting person with a day dream, costing them Initiative, Perception, etc.
"Healing Leech" Light Damage/Toughness Drain, Enhancing the Bleeder. Better than Bleed P.E. Energy, but only Touch Ranged.
"Impervious to Bio-Manipulation" Auto-Saves against Bio-Manipulation.
"Mental Block" Puts mental blocks in minds of others, preventing them from remembering certain things.
"Mental Block Removal" Removes the aforementioned power without the need for "Mind Bond".
"Mind Trip" Causes a mistake to anyone within ten feet- misreads the time, a sentence, or fumble a skill, etc.
"Neuro-Touch" Various disruptions of the brain- stumble (loses melee action), jolt (light damage), momentary stun (Stun Affliction; ends right away), disorientation (-3 to everything for one round), paralysis of arms (disabled arms for one round).
"Neural Strike" 2D6 S.D.C. or Mega-Damage to a victim depending on which they're made of- Damage 9 if they're M.D.C.! Alternately, can create another Stunning Affliction (Dazed & Vulnerable & Hindered/Defenseless & Stunned & Immobile) for 1 round/level.

[Sidious]

MIND BLEEDER R.C.C.

Funny thing about Mind Bleeders, they had been mentioning them for a while (I think world book 1) and finally got around to posting them in a book with Africa. They were touted as a "Master Psionic" along with Mind Melters. Out of the list a psychic character classes I'd have to rate them towards the bottom for all the hype.

I like Psionic classes but some of them are way out there, like this one. Of course a part of me still wants to play a Zapper (burster type but with Electricity, from Nightspawn: Between the Shadows) and a Achilles Neo-Human just to muck with people.

[Jabroniville]

Haha, Fatal & Friends mentioned this book contradicting earlier/concurrent World Books mentioning Mind Bleeders, too, so they were obviously on someone's mind.

Though I was kind of delighted that they actually agreed with me on MBs actually being kind of neat, with some fun stuff to utilize. Though not power-players at all, their cheap cost of powers makes them highly versatile.

[Jabroniville]

THE JINN- ELEMENTAL DEMON: ST +8, STA +2, AGI +2, AWA +2, PRE +2, Streetwise +8, Perception +8, Surival +6, Technology +6, Sleight of Hand +8, Improved Initiative, Enhanced Fighting +4 (Limited to Night), Full-Strength Punch +4, Protection 15 (Impervious 11, Limited to Half by Day), Concealment (Visuals) 4, "Mist Form" Insubstantial 3, AE: "Insect Form" Morph 1 (Metamorph), Immunity 10 (Fire Effects, Limited to Half), Darkvision 2, Vision Counters Concealment 4, Dimensional Travel 2, Regeneration 6, Comprehend 3 (Languages), Dodge +3 [135]
"Black Jinn" (All Earth Elemental Spells 1-8)
"White Jinn" (All Water Elemental Spells 1-7)
"Green Jinn" (All Air Elemental Spells 1-7)
"Yellow Jinn" (All Fire Elemental Spells 1-8)

-Related to the Djinn of Middle Eastern folklore, these things are pretty much just said to be "Demons", and they live in Hades. They are said to have been cursed by Thoth generations ago, forcing them to be the minions of Set. However, Thoth has since regretted this, as he gave Set a mighty ally. Another aspect of the curse is the old "Three Wishes" thing, in which anyone who defeats or frees a Jinn is now its "master", and they must carry out three wishes. However, Jinn are evil tricksters, and can't just conjure anything- they simply have to carry out the wishes as best they can, using the powesr they have.

-Jinn are EXTREMELY powerful and do a ton of damage unarmed (+12!), in addition to being almost impossible to kill (700-900-ish M.D.C. on the regular), but they're vulnerable to silver, Millennium Tree weapons, Rune weapons, etc.

[Jabroniville]

THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE:
-The "iconic" villains of Rifts Africa, they could theoretically end up anywhere, but were chosen for this early book- as they're not very on-theme (a Biblical menace in the heart of Africa? And they mostly want to get to Egypt?), it kind of weakens this World Book on its own. They are SUPREME threats, especialy for this early, as they all have thousands of M.D.C. in a setting that'd given only Glitter Boys any means to combat that up until this point, and most have too much Regeneration to even make Boom Guns matter. The only way to really take them on is to use weapons fashioned from the Millennium Trees (shown in Rifts England- the early books, for all their faults, were fairly good for cross-referencing one another and using stuff from each other... provided they didn't screw up the editing by changing their minds about stuff and forgetting to edit the other book). Millennium Trees were the HUGE love of Kevin Siembieda back in those days, with almost every book mentioning them alongside True Atlanteans, Stone Magic and the stupid Tattoo stuff.

-The Four Horsemen have zero personality and no depth, like most Palladium villains- they're just Super Evil And Want To Destroy Everything- they wish to create the apocalyspe on Earth and destroy it utterly. To do this, they need some magical stuff to happen (planets in alignment or whatever, and there's a pyramid involved), and then they'll merge into this super-entity and lay waste to the world. They have minions and stuff, and the PCs are supposed to be part of a massive grouping of beloved Rifts NPCs (Erin Tarn! Victor Laszlo! A bunch of dudes who are really Dragons!) that are all armed with Millennium Tree Gear and will fight these things and wipe them out one by one.



DEATH: The overall leader. Will not attack unless attacked first, though most are driven to lash out if he arrives. Ideally, he must be fought last, as he's then weakened. 12 feet tall, 16,000+ M.D.C. (+22-ish Toughness), Regeneration 14 (too much to ever keep him down), does Damage 13 unarmed, Extra Limbs (boosts accuracy!), EVERY MAGIC SPELL (18 level), all Necromancy Spell (18th level). All Healing & Sensitive Psionics, plus a few others, as level 18 Mind Melter. Creates +13 Toughness Zombies that it must construct itself. "meh" attack skill unless it's adding extra limbs it picks up, which can boost it up to a ridiculous 12-14 attacks per melee (roughly +18 to hit). Can raise 1D4x100 undead to fight on its behalf. "The Staff of Death" Greatest Rune Weapon- Blast 14, Damage 13. Has three animated skulls on its saddle that can fight (Toughness +13, +6 to hit, +10 damage). Probably PL 16 all in all, higher defensively.



Mary-Kate Olsen is an apocalyptic demon? Yeah, I guess that makes sense.

FAMINE: Skinny and unimpressive-looking. 6,000+ M.D.C. (+20 Toughness) and Regeneration 14. Has all Line Walker Spells (levels 1-7), plus others, all at 12th level. All Physical Psionics, plus others, as Level 12 Mind Melter. Damage 11 unarmed, 5 attacks at +5 to hit (FIGHTING 10-12-ish). +7 to defenses. Starvation touch (Affliction- cannot attack anything unless it's edible). Environment over 2 miles- heat, drought, wind, etc., and putrify anything by touch. "Staff of Decay"- Damage 13, Blast 13.



PESTILENCE: Looks kind of adorable- like a big chubby guy made of a cloud. The art doesn't really show him made of bugs except for one pic. Toughness +20 (7,000+ M.D.C.) and Regeneration 8. All Healing Psionic Powers, plus some others (as 10th level Mind Melter), all Line Walker Magic (levels 1-5 as Level 10 caster). 12 Damage and +8 to strike with 6 attacks (FIGHTING 15-ish), light damage aura (from the bugs), "Trauma Insanity Table" if he pulls you into his body. Creates blinding or biting swarms of insects. "Staff of Destruction" summons three beetles (+10 Toughness, 3 attacks, +3 to hit & defenses), Damage 13, Blast 14.



At this point, probably the most F*KKEN' METAL thing in "Rifts".

WAR: An armored guy who looks like he's in special gear, but that's actually his real body. 8,500-ish M.D.C.- Toughness +20 and Regeneration 14. Regrow Limbs. All Physical Psionics as Level 10 Mind Melter, plus a few others. All Line Walker Spells (levels 1-4 as Level 10), plus a few others. +6 Initiative, TEN attacks, +8 unarmed (probably +18 to hit, then), +11 with weapons, doing Damage 14 unarmed. +10 dodge, +12 parry (so PL 16 overall). "Rune Ball & Chain"- Blast 14 & Damage 14. Shoulder Lasers +14.

ARMAGEDDON CREATURE: 36,000 M.D.C.- probably Toughness +28 at least. Brilliant, Level 20 Spellcaster, Damage 15 unarmed, with 20 attacks and +10-13 to hit- about +20 overall in M&M stats. 60 feet tall. Has all the powers of the four combined- about a PL 18 monster.

[Jabroniville]

BatgirlIII's builds of the Four Horsemen, if you REALLY want to see them statted up: https://www.echoesofthemultiverse.com/v ... 786#p48786

Our "tiers" are relatively similar, though she goes lower on Toughness but higher in overall PL than I do.

[Jabroniville]

Ahahahaahaha, so many skulls. No wonder "Fatal & Friends" did a running tally of them for this book.

NETHERBEAST
Role: Dreaded Mount
PL 14 (121)
STRENGTH 11 STAMINA 12 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -2 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+10)
Expertise (Survival) 5 (+6)
Intimidation 12 (+13 Size)
Perception 6 (+7)

Advantages:
Close Attack 5, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Bite), Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Startle

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 4 (Low-Light Vision, Acute Scent & Extended Scent 2) [4]
Speed +4 (60 mph) [4]

"Dino-Sized" Growth 8 (Str & Sta +8, +8 Mass, +4 Intimidation, -4 Dodge/Parry, +1 Speed, -8 Stealth) -- (30 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [17]
Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Reach) [3]
Protection 6 (Extras: Impervious 13) [19]

Offense:
Unarmed +14 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +18 (+7 Impervious), Fortitude +12, Will +7

Complications:
Vulnerable (Fire, Magic, Millennium Tree Weapons)- Magic Fire, Weapons & Silver cause double damage. Millennium Tree Weapons do x10 damage!

Total: Abilities: 32 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 49 / Defenses: 17 (121)

-Each of the Four Horsemen actually ride on reptilian-looking, skull-faced "Netherbeasts" (save Pestilence, who rides a bug)- each of them has 1,000-2,500 M.D.C. and does a ton of damage. PL 14 is enough to easily kill most PCs by itself, as it does "Rail Gun Damage" unarmed while sporting huge bonuses to hit and tons of attacks as well.

NETHERBEASTS:
DEATH'S NETHERBEAST (Bones)- PL 14 (121):
-Death's Netherbeast, Bones, is kind of the baseline one.



FAMINE'S NETHERBEAST (Cyno)- PL 14 (122): STA -1, FIGHTING +1, Dodge +1 [1]
-Actually a better fighter than Death's Netherbeast, but a bit weaker. Its name, Cyno, is Greek for "Dog".



PESTILENCE'S NETHERBEAST (Raid)- PL 14 (117): FIGHTING -1, INT -2, Flight 6 [-4]
-Pestilence is, for some reason, riding on a giant Rhinoceros Beetle instead of a regular Netherbeast, probably to keep up the whole "Bug" motif, but it looks funny compared to the others. It's the dumbest and the worst fighter of the group. And yes, his name is Raid.



WAR'S NETHERBEAST (Carnage)- PL 15 (166): FIGHTING +2, Parry +1, Dodge +2, Improved Initiative, Speed +1, Blast 14 Plasma Cannons (Accurate 8) [45]
-War actually has the most bad-ass Netherbeast by far, as it's a much better fighter (more attacks AND more accurate), faster, and has Plasma Cannons on its back.

[Jabroniville]

Hey, look! For all the smack-talk I give Wayne Breaux, he's actually improved greatly over the years :

[Jabroniville]

THE GODS OF EGYPT:
-The first of Rifts's plan of attacking the nature of the various Pantheons of Earth's various mythologies, the Egyptians are handled in Rifts Africa, of which about 50% of the book was centered on Egypt. And 50% of THAT was focused on statting up a handful of Gods... and mostly throwing their character into a few short paragraphs and giving them a horde of powers. First thing: Pretty much all "Gods" in Rifts are just "Aliens Who Are Dimensional Travellers", and it's stated that many hop all over the place, gaining followers & slaves and junk. It's something I personally kind of copied for my own settings, and it kind of works.

The Gods of Darkness are the bad guys, but even the Gods of Light are a bit morally grey, with Thoth of the "good guys" being friends with Lord Splynncryth and thinking Atlantis is A-OK.

Common Abilities: About 20 feet tall. 6,000-16,000 M.D.C. (+19-22-ish Toughness). ALL THE MAGIC, including most of the regular Magic Spells, Stone Magic, and more. As Rifts Atlantis was contemporary to this, they're quite in love with Stone Magic. Most also have tons of Psionics. Their physical abilities are very "Same-y", with most having +5 to hit, +10 to parry, seven attacks, and full-strength punches doing about Damage 12. Most of them have Great Rune Weapons that do various levels of damage.



THE GODS OF DARKNESS:
-These are led by Set, the Lord of Darkness, who slew Osiris and scattered his body parts around the Megaverse. He loves to act Satanic, twisting people to do his bidding. Anubis, The Lord of the Dead, is naturally turned into an evil god. The original God is no more evil than anyone else, and is a judge of the worth of the dead, but of course he's a "Death God" so here he's Aberrant Evil. Apepi is a Dragon God, with only INT 9 (like -1 in M&M stats), and gave up his sanity and freedom for immortality- he's ultra-loyal to his master Set, but nobody else likes him. "Apep" is actually a Serpent God of Darkness & Chaos and enemy of Truth/Maat- "Apepi" was just real-world Pharaoh.

Amon is a horribly-disfigured Goddess who was burned during the great War of the Gods and now loves to inflict similar torments upon others. Anhur is a lion-headed God of War who is kind to courageous sorts, but cruel to cowards. Bes the Depraved is a dwarf who loves torture and cannibalism, ever since he fell to his darker urges while fighting for the Light Gods in the war. Ammit the Beast is a hippo/lion with a crocodile head, has some intelligence but low charisma, and is the weakest God with 5,000 M.D.C. (about Toughness +19).



THE GODS OF LIGHT:
-These are led by Ra, Lord of Light, following the dismemberment of Osiris (who now exists as a series of Magic Items that consist of his body parts, bestowing M.D.C., Skills, etc. to those who use them). He is of very black & white morality, and particularly despises Set & Apepi. He can resurrect people, and is the most powerful. Thoth is the God of Wisdom, but they "Rifts" him up by making him a Great Old One who suffered a transmogrifying spell that has permanently altered him and his memories. This means that unbeknownst to him, he has 40,000 M.D.C., and his search for power (via knowledge of all kinds) stems from that. Isis is probably the nicest overall- the wife of Osiris and "All-Mother", and has more M.D.C. than all but Ra, Thoth, Set & Anubis.

Horus is also the Great Sphinx, and is a creature of great mercy, even to his enemies. Despite being hugely important in real life, most of his bio is taken up by his cousin, a nasty "White Sphinx" with less powers and toughness. Bennu the Phoenix is very focused on the survival of herself and the Phoenixi race against all others- "The Bennu" is a singular Egyptian Bird-Entity that played a role in the creation of the world, and tales may have inspired the Greeks to come up with the Phoenix (as it was said to be an Egyptian creature). Apis, the Sacred Cow, is empathetic and cares for mortals.

[Jabroniville]

PHOENIXI R.C.C.: ST +4, STA +6, INT +1, AWA +2, PRE +2, Survival +6, Protection 5, Regeneration 4, "Burst Into Flames" Blast 10, AE: Damage +5, Immunity 12 (Fire & Heat Effects, Suffocation & Drowning), Senses 7 (Extended, Ultra & Low-Light Vision, Counters Concealment), Healing 10 (Resurrection Only- Once Every 12 Hours), "Magic" (All Fire Spells, Mystic Portal, Dimensional Portal, Close Rift), "Psionics" (Telepathy, Pyrokinesis, All Physical & Healing) [102 + Magic + Psionics]

-The Phoenixi are a classic Rifts phenomenon- the Godly Powerful Race that could be devastating if added to any other sort of class. A huge list of potential powers, great stats, and physical toughness combine to make them pricey and mighty, while their Resurrection power has made them the subject of countless evil experiments to discover their secret of immortality. Phoenixi are closely associated with Bennu of the Gods of Light, and are experienced dimensional travellers, adopting a policy of non-interference that makes them seem cold and aloof, though longtime inhabitants of some worlds will inevitably break and become advisors or direct helpers.

[Jabroniville]

Batgirl's review of Rifts Africa, along with the Fatal & Friends assessment of the book, from the "Rifts into M&M" discussion thread:

Rifts: Africa or to use it's full name Palladium Books® Presents: Africa™ RIFTS® World Book Four is one of the earliest offerings in the RIFTS line, originally released in 1994. There have been two printings of this book and near as I can tell the only change is to the cover artwork... No, I have no idea why they changed it.


Original Flavor! Rather nice day for a zombie apocalypse.


New and Improved Flavor! Red skies at night, demon's delight?

Rifts: Africa deals with some key places, imporant people, and various societies found on the African continent of Rifts Earth. It's even got the official game stats for Erin Tarn and Victor Lazlo! There are some fifteen O.C.C.s and R.C.C.s in the book, most pretty flat variations of Village Priest/Shaman... Although the real draw here is the Metaplot and the Big Bad Evil Guys

In a nutshell, the demonic Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse threaten to destroy all life on Rifts Earth. Once life has been obliterated on Earth, the monsters will use the dimensional Rifts to carry their destruction throughout the Megaverse! If they can be defeated one at time, the Earth and the entire Megaverse may be spared. Failure means oblivion.

Kevin Siembieda did the main writing, Kevin Long and Julius Rosenstein are credited for "Additional Text & Ideas," which I suspect most likely means that Rosenstein wrote the original draft which Kevin re-wrote at the eleventh hour... And, of course, Long's "sketchpad characters" are the inspiration for most of it. Three editors are credited, but if they did anything beyond making sure "Africa" was spelt correctly, I'd be shocked.

So... Let's address the elephant in the room: Is Rifts: Africa a racist book? That's an obvious question in this day and age, but it was an equally obvious one in 1994 when the book came out. I mean, Siembieda and the rest were a bunch of middle-class white guys from the Detroit suburbs, publishing a book about a post-apocalyptic Africa. Race was going to come up. Colonialism and colonialist attitudes were bound to come up... So, what does Siembieda have to say about why he chose to write Rifts: Africa?

From a game designer's point of view, Africa offered all the right elements of immensity, the kinds of setting and adventures I wanted for this book. The Africa of Rifts Earth is an enigmatic wildernesses inhabited by exotic creatures and few people. A land of contrast, mystery, noble people and monsters. A place both pure and primordial and yet somehow frightening and mysterious. A continent teeming with life, danger, adventure, and places to explore. Add to this the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and other supernatural forces, pit them against the gather of heroes in a fight to save not only Africa but the entire world (possibly the Megaverse), and you have the perfect environment for epic adventure. Well, that's my plan anyway. I hope it worked.

I have to say, that I think it did work. I mean, I'm a middle-class white girl from the Detroit suburbs so obviously I can't claim "lived experince" or anything... and yeah, the book is the typical ham-fisted Palladium offering of weird monsters, weirder gods, overly verbose verbage that conflates sesquipedalian loquaciousness for depth, and as always MOAR MEGA-DAMAGE! But, then again, Palladium treats every other corner of Rifts Earth with the same approach. There's some steroyping here, but its mostly along the same lines of "Take local folklore, dial it up to 11" that we see in Rifts: Japan, Rifts: New West/Spirit West, Rifts: Warlords of Russia/Mystic Russia, and so forth... And, beleive it or not, the most disorted from their original folklore roots things in Rifts: Africa are of Christian origin.

Rifts: Africa certainly doesn't present the native African people as being inferior to Europeans or North Americans. Yes, a lot of them are now living in mud-huts, herding cattle, and being led by spellcasting Shamans and Witch Doctors. But, like, so is everyone living more than a few hundred miles outside of Chicago over in the old U.S. of A...

So, anyway, on to the list of classes, which aren't as varied as other books:

FIGHTING TYPES:
* Pygmy Hunter (Okay, so, yeah. This might be as close to racist as this book gets. For some reason this is an R.C.C. instead of an O.C.C. It kinda makes it seem like the Bayaka and related peoples seem to be a different species than humanity... While I don't think that's the intent. It is kinda weird. Pygmy isn't the prefered term in the real world, incidentally. It's not considered derogatory, but the word derives from Greek as it was what the Greeks called these tribes. They prefer to be called their own name. Anyhow, this guy is a good hunter and tracker.)

MEN OF MAGIC:
* African Witch (NPC class for typical "evil witch")
* Medicine Man (PC class for typcial "good witch")
* African Rain Maker (witch-type spellcaster with extra powers related to, well, making it rain)
* African Priest (shaman-type spellcaster with a focus on community leadership... Interestingly enough, also has the inate ability to make alcohol, no skill check needed!)
* Necromancer (Exactly what it sounds like)
* Pygmy Shaman (shaman-type spellcaster who can make magical charms and talismans)

PSYCHICS:
* Mind Bleeder (Basically a Mind-Melter who can drain psychic points from other people)

RACES:
* Phoenixi (Egyptian hawk-headed bird-men with some fire powers; Loyal to the god Bennu)
* Ramen (Egyptian lion-headed cat-men with a silly same; Loyal to Ra)
* Tautons (Egyptian croc-headed scorpion-tailed lizard-men with a silly name; Loyal to Set)
* Children of Amon (Egyptian mish-mash monster men, kind of Morlock like; Loyal to Amon)
* Crocodillians (Egyptian crocodiles with human-like intelligence and hands; Loyal to Sebek)
* Agogwe (Yeti-like ape-men, although they don't have Bigfoot's height)
* Tree People (Anthropomorphic sugar-gliders)

MONSTERS AND OTHER NPCS:
* The Four Horsement of the Apocalyse (These guys are nasty. Some of the biggest, badest, and most evil BBEGs in all of the Rifts franchise!)
* Gods of the Nile (There's a Light Pantheon and a Dark Pantheon, they do D&D-like god stuff.)
* Jinn (fire genies, like in other RPGs, but rewritten to match this setting's cosmology and divorced from their Islamic roots)
* Pharaoh Rama-Set (evil necromancer pharoh who is [not-so-]secretly a dragon)

Rifts® World Book Four: Africa may indeed be the worst book for the line, though I say that not having looked over all 80+ books in the game line. Why?
• Overpowered Opposition: All of the villains in this book are litanies of powers and "get out of consquences" cards. Having fights against them is going to be nothing short of miserable without a deus ex machina. (Yes, there are weapons that will certainly help fight them... in much later books.)
• Bad Mythology: Rifts Africa plays fast and loose with mythology, but that isn't the problem. The problem is that it alters it almost always to its detriment. Worse yet, they're near-homongenous in personality, with the majority of them being in on the "destroy the world" plot even when it's to their detriment.
• Romantic Racism: Though hardly intentional, there's just such an ignorance regarding the African people that it boggles the mind. Even if you could wind the clock four hundred or five hundred years, it wasn't idyllic. There's an overwhelming amount of terrible things and issues wrought by colonialism, but pretending people will return to some utopian tribalism without it is insulting. (Also, what happened to the numberous descendants of European settlers and colonials in Africa? Did they spontaneously implode?)
• The Phoenix Empire: It's basically just Atlantis but more boring and one-note. What's more, there are no signs of conflict between the African natives and the monstrous immigrants, which makes the African tribes look like a bunch of hapless pushovers. Rama-Set's madness is dull, reducing him to a scheming nihilist with no actual personality behind it. Their technology is even really dull, being a dull echo of the Kittani's more imaginative devices.
• Africa Without Faces or Names: Speaking of which, the locals take a back seat to the metaplot, hardly ever showing up save as victims in descriptions. If you have an entire social class - the medicine men and priests - dedicated to fighting supernatural evil, they need to matter. They don't. There are very few major communities noted, no local rulers outside of Rama-set. We don't get any serious discussion of African cultures, lifestyles, or communities. It's populated by caricatures, not people.
• Bad Classes: Classes like the Rain Maker and Priest are too one-note and dull to be taken up by PCs, and the African Witch is a paper tiger, the Pygmy classes are even more horrid and incapable... what's more, it has four added forms of magic or psionics, which eat up page space on material players aren't likely to use. The minions of the gods aren't deeply exciting either, with only the Phoenixi really standing out.
• The Gathering of Heroes: ... is self-indulgent as fuck. Most of the heroes are pet characters without interesting foibles, flaws, or agendas to bring to the table, but are mostly just fan service, Siembieda being the main one being serviced.
• Kevin Siembieda: ... should never have primary art duties. He just wasn't that great yet. He thankfully gets better over time, but I sense the powerful force of photo reference all over his art, and rough copies of photos just makes me cringe.

Are there good things? Well...
• Kevin Long: Though not his best work, his designs for the Four Horsemen stand out as strong and imaginative. They're not terribly deep, but if you want a bunch of monster men to fight, you can't go wrong with that art.
• Mind Bleeders: Aside from the silly concept, their powers fill an unfilled niche and it seems like they'd be fun to play.
• Medicine Men: Though not fantastic, they're solid enough to fill a role as a shamanistic casting class.
• Phoenixi: Powergamers, this is a gem in the rough. You get free casting levels over 1st and the ability to totally regenerate. Keep an eye on this one.

[Ares]

Rifts: Africa is just a mess of a book, something that should have been broken up into multiple books and each book then fleshed out properly.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocylpse really should have been it's own book, similar to the Juicer Uprising book, possibly a Source Book or Conversion Book about running more High Level adventures, with the Four Horsemen being an example of an adventure that requires multiple groups of high powered heroes to thwart. The concept of the Four Horsemen and their merging into the Apocalypse Beast is VERY cool and would make for a great story, as well as a chance to showcase some of the more high level heroic NPCs of Rifts Earth. However, I'd say at most of the Horsemen other than War need a visual design overhaul, and the group in general need to be more powerful and menacing.

War looks awesome and being able to merge with a weapon is cool, including things like Power Armor, but it should be more of the idea that War not only merges with it, but whatever he bonds with becomes more "metal". Like, if he merged with a suit of power armor, the armor grows spikes, has blood leaking out of the seams, gains an additional 5-10 feet of height and becomes more lethal. Death, Plague and Pestilence needed a complete overhaul. These guys are suppose to be epic Mega-Villains, their very presence should cause adventure opportunities. Them showing up in a nation should cause things like a zombie apocalypse, minor villains becoming more powerful, the heroes dealing with some ancient monster that rises up as a zombie, and only after killing it and the undead roaming the land do you discover that Death itself has just passed through your country and you need to learn what's going on.

They likely should have opened with a Rifts: Egypt to get a lot of the pantheon stuff out of the way, really build up some new Egyptian Empire that feels like a fun nation, etc. I'd say borrow heavily from TORG's Nile Empire and make it this awesome pulp-y place where there's this evil nation ruled by an Imhotep-style sorcerer mummy, while there's other nations that are technological, magical, or a mix of both.

Then have a Rifts book called Rifts: Greater Africa or something similar that deals with the rest of Africa, possibly breaking it up into two books like Rifts South America. Go bonkers with it, Rifts is one of the few places where a land like Wakanda would actually make sense, super technology from alien space rocks, functional magical traditions, and racist ethnostate include.

Overall, Rifts once again shows why the setting, or at least the concept of the setting, is so popular, and why the world remains played in, even if it's likewise one of the heaviest home-brewed settings ever.