See, if they'd looked like the top pic in the first book, I'd have thought they were AWESOME. But instead, they looked like the second one.
DOG PACK R.C.C.
Role: Mooks, "Depending On The Artist" Guys (some look awesome... others, not so much)
PL 6 (56)
STRENGTH 3
STAMINA 3
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 4
DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE -1
AWARENESS 0
PRESENCE 1
Skills:
Athletics 3 (+5)
Expertise (Soldier) 4 (+3)
Intimidation 2 (+3)
Perception 6 (+6)
Technology 4 (+3)
Treatment 2 (+2)
Vehicles 1 (+5)
Advantages:
Benefit (Rank- CS Soldier), Equipment 4 (CS Gear), Teamwork, Tracking
Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 5 (Acute & Extended Scent, Low-Light Vision, Ultra & Extended Hearing) [5]
"Psi-Hunter" Senses 2 (Detect Psionics- Ranged) [2]
"Mage-Hunter" Senses 2 (Magical Awareness- Ranged) [2]
"Monster Hunter" Senses 3 (Supernatural Being Awareness- Ranged, Acute) [3]
"Low-Level Psionics- Sensitive"
"Empathy" Mind-Reading 6 (Flaws: Limited to Emotions) (6) -- [10]
- AE: "Sense Magic" Senses 2 (Detect Magic- Ranged 2) (3)
- AE: "Sense Evil" Senses 2 (Detect Evil- Ranged 2) (3)
- AE: "Sixth Sense" Danger Sense & Uncanny Dodge (2)
- AE: "Object Reading" Postcognition (Flaws: Limited to Objects) (2)
Equipment:
"CS Gear"
"Dog Boy Body Armor"
Protection 4 (Impervious 3) (7)
"Vibro-Blades" Strength-Damage +4 (Penetrating 4) (8)
"Assorted Gear" (4)
Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Vibro-Blades +4 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Assault Rifle +4 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +2
Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +3 (+7 Armor), Fortitude +4, Will +2
Complications:
Responsibility (The Coalition States)- All Coalition military personell are expected to uphold the virtues of the CS, and are subject to "reorientation", or worse, if they stray.
Enemy (Tolkeen)- The Magic-heavy state is anathema to the Coalition States.
Hatred (D-Bees, Psychics, Magic)
Total: Abilities: 34 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 22 / Defenses: 5 (56)
-Genetic modification was once a big part of Rifts Earth, but the coming of the Rifts changed a lot of that. The Coalition, despite being human supremacists, keep and modify "Dog Packs" to help them hunt down magically and psionically-powered foes. They treat these sentient Dogs as mere trained animals and experiment upon them because they refuse to do so with people, but troops & their Psi-Stalker masters often love and appreciate them as hard workers... but the CS still treats them like pets, and most will simply replace a dead Dog Boy casually. Only Psi-Stalkers seem to dislike this heartless abuse- the Rulebook suggests this could turn them on their Coalition masters.
-Dog Boys were infamous to me and my friends, largely because of some pretty sketchy art in many of the early books. Drawing "Animal People" that don't look cartoony or silly is, as I've said many times before, REALLY HARD, to the point where only Dale Eaglesham could draw Tom "Wildcat" Bronson properly in
JSA, and why most artists just gave up on "Cat-Like" Beast. The art for these guys in the Main Rulebook, which consisted of a tiny SHNAUZER breed holding a vibrating knife, a bulldog with a mace, a dog that's crouching and yelling, and a doberman delicately holding its limp-looking wrist forward with "Wolverine Claws", really wasn't the best. Other art in later books didn't much help. It was so bad that my friend Paul had a player in his campaign who specifically hunted down and killed Dog Boys "because they LOOK DUMB!". It would take Chuck Walton's art to make me realize how AWESOME they could look- use a bad-ass enough breed, and suddenly you have a powerhouse.
VARIOUS BREEDS:
* The game offers many stat modifications for certain breeds, often with very granular stats for Senses & Tracking, because Palladium works off of percentages. A bit too granular for M&M, though. Naturally, because this is Palladium, you have to roll on a CHART to determine this.
Wolf, German Shepherd: +1 STA, +1 ST, +1 INT, Athletics +2, Intimidation +4, Perception +2 [10]
Rottweiler: +1 STA, +1 ST, +1 INT, Athletics +2, Intimidation +4 [9]
Boxer: +1 STA, +1 ST, +1 INT, Athletics +2 [7]
Wolfhound, Bull Terrier, Elkhound: +1 STA, +1 ST [4]
Bulldog: +1 STA, +1 ST, Perception -2 [3]
Golden Retriever, Setters, Spaniels: +1 STA [2]
Irish Water Spaniel: Swimming 1 [1]
Beagles, Terriers: -1 ST, -1 STA, Fearless, Perception +2 [-2]
Coonhound, Pointer: Perception +4 [2]
Greyhound: -1 STA, Athletics +4 [0]