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... SAFECRACKER???

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 1:37 am
by Jabroniville
Image

CRIMINAL O.C.C.s
Role:
Generic Crooks, Focused Criminals
PL 7 (77)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+5)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Criminal) 6 (+8)
Insight 3 (+4)
Investigation 5 (+6)
Perception 5 (+6)
Persuasion 2 (+4)
Stealth 2 (+5)
Technology 4 (+6)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment 6 (MDC Body Armor +8), Ranged Attack 3

Equipment:
"Makeshift Body Armor" Protection 6 (Extras: Impervious 5) (11)
"Energy Pistol" Blast 7 (14)

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Gun +7 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +2 (+8 Armor), Fortitude +3, Will +4

Complications: 
Reputation (Criminal)
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 44 / Skills: 36--18 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 6 (77)

-To the surprise of absolutely no one, Kevin Siembieda managed to include ridiculously-underpowered, SUPER-specific O.C.C.s in Rifts Mercenaries, giving us such illustrious classes as the Safecracker, Forger and Smugger. And of course his goddamn byline is right underneath each one, as if he doesn't wanna give CJ Carella ANY credit for these masterful ideas of his. oh, KEVIN. To be fair, those ARE good jobs for criminals. But it's funny and SO "Palladium" to just include a whole separate class for a criminal with some career focus.

Jobs:
SAFECRACKER O.C.C.- PL 7 (86): INT +2, Sleight of Hand 6 (+10), Stealth +2 (+7), Technology +2 (+10) [9]
-Yep, a guy who's entire point is using technology to open up safes. In a world where regular citizens carry weaponry that could tear apart a modern-day Aircraft Carrier. It's like in Resident Evil where you're carrying around a grenade launcher, but to open a FUCKING WOODEN DOOR, you need to get a key from the knight's mask, which opens when you turn the crank in the boiler room, which opens when you give a handjob to the statue in the west parlor, which gets erect when you get one of the nineteen other keys strewn about the mansion. JUST BLOW OPEN THE GODDAMNED DOOR, JILL!!!!

FORGER O.C.C.- PL 7 (88): INT +2, Expertise (Forgery) 6 (+10), Technology +2 (+10) [11]
-Oh, KEVIN. Absolutely scads of information on bonuses to percentages for ABSURDLY-SPECIFIC thing. Why is his name even on this byline? As if we couldn't tell it was Kevin Siembieda by the fact that you get a +10 bonus to MAKING PAPER LOOK OLD. That may as well be his goddamn signature right there! And hey- there's penalties for rush jobs, inadequate references (like if you have to build DC characters by their online bios) or making really specific things like audio or film forgeries. Hilariously, you only get a 15% bonus to the ACTUAL FORGERY SKILL. Plus dozens of other specific things that are all explained by "Technology" in M&M, like "TV/Video" or three kinds of Computer-themed things (Operations, Programming & Hacking).

SMUGGLER O.C.C.- PL 7 (85): PRE +2, Deception +4 (+12), Persuasion +4 (+10) [8]
-The picture is just of a smug dude smoking, and you get a ton of stuff on how they specialize in not looking scared when questioned or harrassed. Plus a bunch of Alignment-specific stuff that indicates the characters are sometimes freedom fighters shipping stuff to good movements, while others are just standard criminal scum.

PROFESSIONAL THIEF O.C.C.- PL 7 (87): AWA +1, Sleight of Hand 8 (+12), Technology +2 (+8), "Cybernetics" Senses (Infravision, Extended Hearing), Immunity (Drowning & Suffocation, Limited to Half) [10]
-A Cat Burglar class. Hey, it's useful, I suppose. Catwoman is one of these, and she's an important DC character! A trifle dull for Rifts, but given the gear you can throw onto people, he could kick a lot of ass, too.

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2018 11:48 pm
by Jabroniville
Man, something about the most terrible Rifts classes just inspires the snark in me. That was cathartic :).

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 1:07 am
by MacynSnow
I have a confession to make....My "Sidekick" character for Weyland-Yutani(tm) was a Bounty Hunter Dwarf from Palladium Fantasy named Baernd Talnoth(i modeled his personality off of a combination Joe Fix-It Hulk and Jack Burton) He still Embarrasses me to this day. :oops:

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 2:14 pm
by Sidious
I love these conversions. Will you be getting into specific armor / magic / bionics / etc?
Also, what no Rifts: Manhunter?

Just a heads up Kevin Siembieda is rabid about not having his stuff converted, I've seen C&Ds.

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 2:38 pm
by Jabroniville
Sidious wrote: Sun Jun 24, 2018 2:14 pm I love these conversions. Will you be getting into specific armor / magic / bionics / etc?
Also, what no Rifts: Manhunter?

Just a heads up Kevin Siembieda is rabid about not having his stuff converted, I've seen C&Ds.
Yeah, Ares gave us all the go-ahead to post them anyways. It's generally know online that KS doesn't actually have the resources to follow through on his threats.

What's Rifts: Manhunter? I've never heard of it.

I go into some of the specifics with the armors from Coalition War Campaign, but it'll be simpler notes for most of the other suits. I used a basic one for the Juicer Uprising gear, for example. I have a full list of all the Magic & Psionics from the Main Rulebook on the front page, too :)!

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 3:03 pm
by Sidious
Rifts: Manhunter was a dimension book done by Myrmidon press. It's an outspace setting. The big bad are a bunch of robots called... wait for it... Manhunters.

Honestly, They make a better invaders than the Intruders from Phase World.

It's horrible in the way most Rifts books are but so much setting and ideas that it's to good to pass up.

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 3:15 pm
by Ares
Sidious wrote: Sun Jun 24, 2018 3:03 pm
It's horrible in the way most Rifts books are but so much setting and ideas that it's to good to pass up.
That's pretty much Rifta in a nutshell.

And it isn't even that KS lacks the funding to really go after anyone, its that he has no real legal grounds to do so. We would have to somehow be profiting off of his work, which we aren't. We don't even run ads here. Plus, if he tried and lost, it would set a legal precident for all future threats.

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 4:54 pm
by Batgirl III
You don’t actually have to be profiting off of someone else’s intellectual property to be in violation; it’s just usually the lack of profits means a lack of incentive for a lawsuit... Try hosting an FTP filled with downloadable copies of Disney movies, ad free! It’s still a violation.

I’d argue what we’re doing here, discussing and critiquing the game and the product line, falls under fair use carve out in intellectual property law (note: I am not a lawyer, if Ares does get a C&D he should seek actual legal counsel).

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 5:22 pm
by Ares
We also aren't actually hosting any copyright material. If we were posting up scans of the original books or hosting pdfs of the original books, that would be something they could come after us for. But we're not. So we're good.

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 6:08 pm
by Batgirl III
It’s also impossible to play the game using the material we’ve posted; You’ll still need to purchase a copy of Rifts or Savage Rifts to make use of the commentary.

Freelance Spy

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:07 pm
by Jabroniville
Image

See what I mean by "Bad Version of Jim Lee"?

FREELANCE SPY O.C.C.
Role:
Undercover Agent, Sleuth
PL 7 (103)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 7 (+9)
Deception 6 (+9)
Expertise (Spy) 6 (+8)
Insight 3 (+7)
Investigation 7 (+10)
Perception 5 (+8)
Persuasion 4 (+7)
Stealth 6 (+10)
Technology 6 (+8)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment 6 (MDC Body Armor +8), Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Cybernetic Implants"
Senses 2 (Infravision, Extended Hearing) [2]
Communication (Electronics) 1 [4]

Equipment:
"Body Armor" Protection 5 (Extras: Impervious 5) (10)
"Energy Pistol" Blast 7 (14)

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Gun +7 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2 (+7 Armor), Fortitude +4, Will +5

Complications:
Reputation (Criminal)
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 52--26 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: 6 / Defenses: 8 (103)

-You can tell this one's by CJ Carella because somebody might actually want to play it. A Freelance Spy is, well, pretty self-explanatory. It's Rifts'd up a bit with cybernetics and stuff, but there's some good backstory about how every major power on Earth now has spies EVERYWHERE, and so these guys are becoming very, very common.

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:17 pm
by Jabroniville
Here's the snarky FATAL review of Rifts Mercenaries... where they point out that Carella is actually a GOOD WRITER. Thankfully, their tear into KS and his stupid OCC ideas: http://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-an ... rcenaries/

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2018 7:54 pm
by Batgirl III
Semibedia has always struck me as a guy who could have done great work as a game designer if he’d been working for TSR, Steve Jackson Games, or FASA... He was clearly a creative dynamo during Palladium’s first decade or so, but he had some sort of weird combo of ADHD and OCD that kept him bouncing from idea to idea to idea, often with an oddly persnickety amount of detail on things that don’t need it and rushing through things that should be explained in detail when he hurries on to the next idea.

We’ve already beaten the S.D.C. horse with Mega-Damage bats with regard to his management style and business practices.

A common complaint about comic book writers is that some of them get so big they develop “Protection from Editors,” which is how you end up with Frank Miller. Seimbedia didn’t just have protection from the bosses, he was the boss.

Super-Spy

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 9:39 pm
by Jabroniville
Image

SUPER-SPY O.C.C.
Role:
Undercover Agent, Sleuth
PL 7 (92 + X)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 7 (+9)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Spy) 5 (+7)
Insight 3 (+7)
Investigation 5 (+8)
Perception 5 (+8)
Persuasion 2 (+5)
Stealth 4 (+8)
Technology 5 (+7)
Vehicles 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Equipment 6 (MDC Body Armor +8), Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
"Magic Abilities" (Take 3 Spells from Levels 1, 2 & 3, plus Sense & Read Ley Lines)

OR

"Psionic Abilities" (Take 3 Powers From each of the three categories, and one Super-Psionic Power)

OR

"Cybernetics & Bionics" (Partial Bionic Reconstruction & Bionic Features or Cybernetic Sensors)

OR

"D-Bee or Mutant Powers" (Any D-Bee Race or Heroes Unlimited-style Super-Being)

Equipment:
"Body Armor" Protection 5 (Extras: Impervious 5) (10)
"Energy Pistol" Blast 7 (14)

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Gun +7 (+7 Ranged Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +2 (+7 Armor), Fortitude +4, Will +5

Complications:
Reputation (Criminal)
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 9 / Powers: X / Defenses: 8 (92 + X)

-You know you're reading a Rifts book when you see a class that says "Remember that other character class you read about before? Well this one's just like that one, but amazingly better". The SUPER-Spy is just a Spy... with super-powers. The O.C.C. Skills are virtually identical, save the Freelance Spy being better at Forgery, and this one better at Intelligence. Oh, and this one knows "Radio (Scramblers)", while the other one doesn't. I should e-mail CJ to ask him why the Freelance one only knows Basic Radio instead of this better one as well.

-Oh, actually, this one has WAY fewer Skills overall- their O.C.C. Skills are almost the same, but this one only gets eight more, while the other gets SIXTEEN. So this guy apparently spent so much time on his sub-par powers that he doesn't get as many other skills.

-This is the only guy I can think of who's this variable from the start-up phase. You really have six different options- Minor Magic (even the "Mystic O.C.C." is far superior), Minor-Ish Psionic, D-Bee, Cyborg, "Magic Class With These O.C.C. Skills" (but permanently frozen at second level, for some reason), or a superhero-type straight out of Heroes Unlimited. The variability is interesting here, but he's pretty sub-par at a lot of things.

Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dragon & Splugorth Juicers! Burster! Mind Melter! Crazy!)

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:55 pm
by Batgirl III
Interesting... How many Super Powers does he get and what category (Major/Minor)?