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

[Jabroniville]

THE BLACK FAERIE
Role: Evil Fat Faerie
PL 10 (88 + Magic)
STRENGTH 4 STAMINA 10 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Expertise (Fae) 6 (+5)
Insight 3 (+5)
Perception 3 (+5)
Stealth 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Startle, Tracking

Powers:
Immunity 11 (Poison, Fire Damage, Cold Effects) [11]
Flight 5 (60 mph) (Flaws: Winged) [5]
"Bite" Strength-Damage +3 [3]

"Magic" (Chameleon, Fuel Flame, Fire Bolt, Blind, Agony, Sleep; Cannot cast the same spell on the same person more than once a day)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Bite +8 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +10, Fortitude +10, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (EEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL)
Hatred (Beauty)

Total: Abilities: 50 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 19 + Magic / Defenses: 10 (88 + Magic)

-Looking like a bloated, pustule-ridden Daemon of Nurgle from Warhammer, the Black Faerie is one of those 100% evil creatures. It speaks Faerie and may be one of those creatures, but actually EATS other Fae Folk, and of course, because Rifts, loves to torture, kill, and commit atrocities, and hates all beauty. They're like if Nick Cave wrote Disney Fairies. They can cast some basic spells and do solid damage, but are only PL 7.5 in melee and PL 10 to dodge- not major powerhouses.

[Jabroniville]

THE NEURON BEAST
Role: Giant Demon, Shoulder Devil, Manipulator
PL 12 (147 + Magic & Psionics)
STRENGTH 9 STAMINA 14 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 7 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Expertise (Fae) 6 (+5)
Insight 3 (+5)
Perception 3 (+5)
Stealth 2 (+0 Size)

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Ranged Attack 8

Powers:
Immunity 6 (Fire Damage, Heat) [6]
Regeneration 3 [3]
Extra Limbs 8 [8]
"Body Spines" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Split) [3]

Flight 4 (30 mph) (4) -- [5]

• AE: Speed 4 (30 mph) (4)

Growth 5 (Str & Sta +5, +5 Mass, +2 Intimidation, -2 Dodge/Parry, -5 Stealth) -- (18 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [11]

"Magic" (Globe of Daylight, Fingers of Wind, Invisibility- Simple, Levitate, Charismatic Aura, Multiple Image, Shadow Meld, Stone to Flesh, Calling, Eyes of Thoth, Tongues, Magic Pigeon, Tune Slip, Blinding Flash, Energy Bolt, Call Lightning, Domination, Turn Dead, Exorcism, Constrain Being, Simple Protection Circle)
"Psionics" (Total Recall, Telepathy, Empathy, Object Read, See Aura, See the Invisible, Sense Evil & magic, Bio-Manipulation, Empathic Transmission, Group Mind Block, Mind Block Auto-Defense, Mentally Possess Others, Mind Bolt, Mind Bond, P.P.E. Shield, Psi-Sword)

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Body Spines +12 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +14, Fortitude +14, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Studying Others)- Neuron Beasts like to observe and figure things out- this often entails dissecting things, vivisecting living creatures, or seeing what will happen if they can manipulate people into fighting each other.
Disabled (Cold)- Neuron Beasts are said to "dislike" the cold.

Total: Abilities: 88 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 36 + Magic & Psionics / Defenses: 14 (147 + Magic & Psionics)

-These are "Random Rifts Demons", which I think was supposed to be more of a thing in the early stages of the game- they made a big deal out of how random Demons would show up and wreck house all over the world, preventing anyone from getting too comfortable. But every successive World Book created established cities & nations, established farmsteads, etc.- things that these, if common, would utterly disrupt a bit too much. In any case, these are enigmatic creatures who appear at random all over North & South America, and are curious about all living things, but in a disturbing way- fascinated by a human, for instance, it might vivisect them on the spot! They love instigating conflicts among humans, and will often be a "shoulder devil" to some, or a monarch to others.

-Neuron Beasts are incredibly powerful, durable, and versatile, having a ridiculous amount of Psionics and Spells, plus tons of attacks (eight in total!).

[catsi563]

those were always a good fun villain to have, the Archie campaign I talked about the Neuron beast was the first Boss we faced in the first chapter of the campaign, we found a village that had a suspiciously high level of tech and military might, the Neuron beast was manipulating the village and using archies tech to make the village into a base to conquer nearby areas but we found it out after a few fights and took it down before the coalition appeared to wipe the area out.

turns out Archie didnt like competition or being betrayed which led to the search for archie

[Jabroniville]

Yeah, it’s funny- I noticed how the bug campaign features another Neuron Beast in a prominent position- I wonder if more was planned for these guys, or they were just done right away? Mechanoids were obviously an early big bad monster, but aren’t mentioned much later on, as far as I can tell.

[Jabroniville]

THE WITCHLING
Role: Freaky Creature
PL 10 (96 + Magic)
STRENGTH 0 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Expertise (Magic) 6 (+8)
Insight 2 (+6)
Perception 2 (+6)
Stealth 4 (+6)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
Protection 4 [4]
Regeneration 3 [3]
Immunity 5 (Poison, Drugs, Cold, Normal Fire 2) [5]

Flight 3 (16 mph) [6]
Concealment 2 (Visuals) [4]

"Magic" (Death Trance, Sense Magic, See Aura, Charismatic Aura, Concealment, Detect Concealment, Mask of Deceit, Reduce Self to Six Inches, Mystic Alarms, Ley Line Transmission, Heal Wounds, Cloud of Smoke, Befuddle, Energy Bolt, Fire Bolt- Blast 11, Carpet of Adhesion, Wind Rush, Sleep, Minor Curse, Sickness, Spoil; plus 3D4 spells from Levels 1-6)

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Fire Bolt +6 (+11 Ranged Damage, DC 26)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +9 (DC 19), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +10, Fortitude +6, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (EEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL)
Motivation (Power)- Witchlings love to seize small communities and act as a ruling god.

Total: Abilities: 54 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 22 + Magic / Defenses: 11 (96 + Magic)

-huh- more good art from that guy who did all the darkly-shaded, scratchy drawings. This one looks like a floating, legless corpse with a face like one of those shrunken heads. They are "malevolent monsters from the Rifts", who are full of hate, crave power, and love to inflict suffering... yeah, that's your typical Kevin S stuff right there. SHOW SOME NUANCE, YOU BUTT!! Their key trick is to force small communities to worship them, seizing towns as their own.

-Witchlings aren't overly powerful, but have fairly high M.D.C. (200), and some real hitting power with their "Fire Bolt" spell, turning them into PL 9 Blasters with PL 9.5 durability.

[greycrusader]

Yeah, I forgot how the Mechanoids were supposed to be this looming threat, and then...nothing much was ever said again, at least by the early aughts, which is the last time I looked through a new RIFTS book. Likewise with the Neuron Beasts, who really did seem as if they were meant to be something more.

Then again, RIFTs set up quite a few Big Bads early on, and then never really developed anything further about them.

All my best.

[Jabroniville]

Yeah, I forgot how the Mechanoids were supposed to be this looming threat, and then...nothing much was ever said again, at least by the early aughts, which is the last time I looked through a new RIFTS book. Likewise with the Neuron Beasts, who really did seem as if they were meant to be something more.

Then again, RIFTs set up quite a few Big Bads early on, and then never really developed anything further about them.

All my best.

Yeah, I often wonder if any of the early baddies were meant for more, or if they were one-and-done guys. The Shemarrions randomly showed up ages later, probably because one fan had an idea and a manuscript. Others might have just been forgotten, or the big plans never panned out. I know a lot of writers who intended big things for a character, but things just never worked out that way.

[catsi563]

I think it was partly intentional, the idea i think in Kevins head was heres this world scape of sheer chaos where almost literally anything can and usualy does happem

so he lays out the world and then fills it in with Big Bad all over, the Horsemen demons, the mechanoids, the lord of the deep, the Coalition, the federation of magic, the gargoyles, Triax, Merlyyynn, Archie, and so on and so forth,

then he says to the GM heres these BBEG do what you will with them. So if a GM wants to have the mechanoids invade rifts earth then set maassvie battles between the coaltion and the invaders while tolkieen and lazlo offer their aid along with Triax go for it more power to you

[Jabroniville]

That does make some sense- he never really touches on the Four Horsemen again after Rifts Africa, and when I think about it, a LOT of the early Rifts books are actually just "Here's a Campaign For You" things. It's not until later that the line really moves away from that, setting more of a status quo. I also think that even Kevin had no idea how popular Rifts would be, hence why he froze things after a certain point, only creeping ahead a little bit.

[greycrusader]

Yeah, I think Catsi pretty much gets it right; a lot of the major threats are just put out there by Kevin S, for Gamemasters to build on if they wanted to. Same thing with the whole later demonic/diabolic invasion of a later book, which again, GMs and players can use or not as they want. The situation is just a bit confused because in some ways the RIFTS world DID progress in time, developments between the Coalition and Tolkeen/Federation of Magic, the Naruni, the NGR, the Vampire Kingdoms, and a few others. Which then makes it seem a bit odd that some of these supposed growing threats never materialized.

All my best.

[Jabroniville]

THORNHEAD
Role: Freaky Creature
PL 12 (146 + Magic)
STRENGTH 8 STAMINA 10 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE -1 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -1

Skills:
Intimidation 9 (+8, +9 Size)
Perception 6 (+6)
Stealth 1 (+4, +2 Size)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Critical (Tentacle Spells), Ranged Attack 5

Powers:
Protection 4 [4]
Regeneration 8 [8]
Immunity 4 (Poison, Cold, Normal Fire 2) [4]
Senses 6 (Low-Light Vision, Infravision, Vision Counters Concealment) [6]
Growth 2 (Str & Sta +2, +2 Mass, +1 Intimidation, -1 Dodge/Parry, -2 Stealth) -- (10 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [5]

"Compulsion" Mind Control 8 (Feats: Subtle 2) (Flaws: Limited to One Order) (26) -- [34]

• AE: "Punch" Strength-Damage +1 (1)
• AE: "Petrification" Affliction 8 (Fort; Dazed, Vulnerable & Impaired/Stunned, Defenseless & Disabled/Transformed to Stone & Unaware) (Extras: Extra Condition +2, Ranged) (Flaws: Unreliable- 3/day) (24)
• AE: "Befuddle" Affliction 8 (Will; Dazed & Vulnerable/Stunned & Defenseless) (Extras: Ranged, Extra Condition) (Flaws: Limited Degree) (16)
• AE: "Paralysis: Lesser" Affliction 8 (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Paralyzed) (Extras: Ranged) (Flaws: Limited to One Extremity) (8)
• AE: "Blind" Dazzle Visuals 8 (Feats: Reach 2) (Flaws: Touch Range) (10)
• AE: "Sleep" Sleep 8 (16)
• AE: "Energy Disruption" Affliction 8 (Tech Skill of Creator; Dazed & Impaired/Stunned & Disabled/Incapacitated) (Ranged, Extra Condition, Cumulative) (Limited to Tech) (24)
• AE: "Words of Truth" Mind Control 8 (Flaws: Touch Range -2, Limited to Telling Truth) (8)

"Magic" (Chameleon, Escape, Float in Air, Levitate, Breathe Without Air, Concealment, Fool's Gold, Tongues, Fear, Energy Bolt, Extinguish Fires, Ignite Fires, Fuel Flame, Circle of Flame, Fire Bolt, Fire Ball, Domination, Spoil Food, Animate & Control Dead, Turn Dead, Exorcism, Dispel Magic Barrier)

Offense:
Unarmed +9 (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Tentacle Spells +9 (+8 Ranged Affliction, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +14, Fortitude +10, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (EEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL)
Disabled (Illiterate)

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 61 + Magic / Defenses: 14 (146 + Magic)

-This one is more typical "Ah shit, we have page-space to fill" stuff from Rifts. A weird Long/Siembieda drawing of a hulking creature with eye-stalk tentacles off the sides of its head. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand it's 100% evil and lives to torture innocent creatures. Is this all Kevin can think of for monster motivations? Where are the evil demons who want to convert humans to their new religion? The alien drug pushers? This is BORING! Thornheads hoard things because they desire power over lesser creatures, and they know people value their stuff, and either attack or demand tribute from passers-by.

-Thornheads are actually remarkably powerful demons, with PL 12 defenses owing to a ton of attacks and +4 to dodge/parry, as well as good toughness. Their hitting power isn't that great, but their Tentacles give them incredible versatility, though the book doesn't seem to say what level the spells are at. I went with +8 Afflictions for them, because Mages tend not to be that mighty in Rifts.

[Jabroniville]

And that does it for Rifts Sourcebook One! Kind of a waste if you've been into the game for a while, but a great resource for someone with a mininum of books, or was just getting into Rifts in the early days. Many of the sections would be quickly one-upped by subsequent releases, though it at least features Archie-Three heavily. The Mooks & Minions section is a bit same-y, and most of the later bits never mattered, so I wouldn't pay full price for it NOW, but a fan in 1991 would get some use out of it.

Next up, I review and stat up the very next thing in the list- Rifts Sourcebook: The Mechanoids!

[Jabroniville]

RIFTS SOURCEBOOK 2- THE MECHANOIDS (1992):
-This Sourcebook, the second in the line and released in its second year, features the Mechanoids- an alien robot army that dates back to a 1981 Palladium product, and is now bolted onto what quickly became their main setting. I mean, that's fine- why not re-use your own ideas? Especially since it was a dated 48-page sourcebook on newsprint, apparently. The Mechanoids apparently had a lot of tragedy to them, but here are turned into a generic Kill-O-Bot Army out to destroy the Earth as a "Devouring Swarm" after they were briefly thought to have "committed suicide" as a race centuries ago. The opening pages declare that a call to arms has sounded, and thousands of Psychics all over the world have felt deadly premonitions of this dangerous enemy.

Archie-Three returns in this book, suggesting that if the players killed him in your last campaign (Rifts Sourcebook contains an adventure into his citadel), he has survived. And here he's actually on your side! Horrified by the insanity he detects in the minds of the Mechanoids, he forges an alliance with them (they imagine him to be one of them) and works a "secret war" to destroy them from within.

The book itself is practically just a collection of Enemy Mooks for you to fight. Though the story arc itself seems to play out around here- later books don't mention the Mechanoids much at all, and they were apparently beaten back by Earth's defenders. But there's more Newton Ewell art! His Mechanoids are elite-looking, complicated units that at least sort of avoid the Rifts Atlantis comparisons, as he puts effort into making them look more bulky and less elaborate. There are also "Abberant Mechanoids" included, which is effectively a cheat that gives us twenty more pages of extra stats that are near-exact copies of what came before! Cheap as hell, though at least there's new art. Which comes off hilariously like Kevin tried to draw Ewell's designs, and just did a shit job of it, as everyone looks more blobby and "soft" instead of cool and dangerous.

It honestly comes off like another artist got the assignment, Kevin hated the art, and then decided to not let it go to waste and just get Ewell to draw his own stuff, and use this as deliberately-aged "Abberant" gear. Though this is actually Kevin's own stuff, and is probably older art that Ewell simply improved upon in every way imaginable.

The book is horrendously-put-together, I think. I statted out three "Aberrant Mechanoids" before realizing that they were based off of WEAKER versions of the actual Mechanoids that appear later, meaning that SEVEN of the fourteen or so Mechanoids have "Abberant" versions that are weaker to the tune of dropping a weapon or two, and having slightly less durability. This has the effect of adding 20 pages of "filler" in a 120-page book, as they could have just left minor notes for all this stuff. I will say, at least, that the Mechanoids are somewhat believeable in Kevin's circle-jerk story of "Toy companies wanted to MAKE THESE!", as most look a bit different, and are toyetic enough to justify such claims. You've got your "obvious leader" brains, hulking AT-AT rip-offs, flying jets, bulky man-shaped ones, etc.

[Jabroniville]

THE MECHANOIDS:
-The Mechanoids are a "Big Evil" race in Palladium's system, and are given a pretty decent origin. A faraway race of humans (called "Atlanees", which are likely supposed to be Post-Cataclysm Atlanteans) had created an army of cyborgs to be interstellar explorers, but grew disgusted with the inhuman beings and slaughtered them out of fear and prejudice, even though they were loyal! The Mechanoids out in space realized this, and assumed they'd done something wrong- so they set out to improve upon themselves even more. What returned to their homeworld was a super-race of techno-beings that were even MORE frightening to the Atlanees, who demanded they leave the planet immediately.

The Mechanoids, feeling hurt and betrayed, could psionically sense the Atlanees' guilt over creating and killing their Mechanoid brothers, and finally realized they'd done nothing wrong. When the Atlanees then attacked them, the Mechanoids slaughtered them whole in a massive, brutal, long-lasting war, and were possessed by a genocidal urge to destroy all humans everywhere, and anything remotely like them, too. Thanks to psionics and self-cloning, the wounds are as raw to current Mechanoids as they were to ancient ones. This makes Mechanoids beyond cruel to humans they capture- they're prone to torture, vivisection, degradation and more- like the generic "Hates All Life" Rifts monsters you see, but with more purpose and direction. The Mechanoids invaded the cosmos, killing "trillions and trillions" of intelligent beings and destroying entire worlds to fuel their planet-sized motherships- a true menace.

And then one day they mysteriously vanished without a trace- races investigated this but found nothing. The book suggests that a portion of the Mechanoids grew to doubt their genocidal purpose, and thanks to psionics and cloning, this abberation in their mindset sprung up all at once and created a massive schism. The Mechanoids were horrified at the Abberants ("AbM", for short), as much as the old humans had been of the Mechanoids, and a great war took place- it's thought that biological weapons killed billions, leaving no remnants.

However, some survived- Mechanoids and AbMs alike each squirrelled away small amounts of their number that were "pure", letting them survive the holocaust and creating better clones. This allows for both PC & NPC Mechanoids alike.

[Jabroniville]

MECHANOID OVERLORD
Role: Leaders
PL 14 (243 + Psionics)
STRENGTH 11 STAMINA 10 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 12 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 7 AWARENESS 6 PRESENCE 6

Skills:
Expertise (Science) 9 (+16)
Perception 4 (+10)
Technology 9 (+16)
Treatment 4 (+11)
Vehicles 6 (+10)

Advantages:
Fearless, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 8

Powers:
"Protective Cybernetic Chambers"
"Huge Size" Growth 8 (Str & Toughness +8, +8 Mass, +4 Intimidation, -4 Dodge/Parry, +1 Speed, -8 Stealth) -- (30 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [17]

Immunity 5 (Poison, Gas 2, Visual Dazzles 2) [5]
Senses 11 (Infravision, Ultravision, Extended Vision 2, "Radar" Radius Radio Detection- Extended, Radiation Detection- Ranged, "Molecular Analyzer" Analytical Touch) [11]
Communication 3 (Radio) [12]
Comprehend (Languages) 2 [4]
Protection 6 [6]
Flight 8 (500 mph) [16]
Quickness 8 (Flaws: Limited to Mental Actions) [4]

"Triple-Barrel Particle Beam Cannon" Blast 14 (Feats: Extended Range 4) (Extras: Multiattack) [46]

"Psionics" (All Sensitive, Physical & Super Powers)

Offense:
Unarmed +12 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Particle Beam Cannon +12 (+14 Damage, DC 29)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness +16, Fortitude +12, Will +9

Complications:
Vulnerable (Outside of Suit)- Overlords will die after a short time (5D6 days) being outside of their protective chambers.

Total: Abilities: 78 / Skills: 32--16 / Advantages: 10 / Powers: 115 + Psionics / Defenses: 24 (243 + Psionics)

-Mechanoid Overlords are the leaders of their race- typically one or two per planet or mothership. They alone know the secret of creating Mechanoid Power Crystals, and may interface with the living computers of these beings. Little is mentioned of their personalities- I guess they're less drone-like than the others. They are ridiculously stacked in terms of stats, being incredibly strong, having six attacks, good bonuses, varied skills, and remarkable genius. They're also about forty feet tall and the toughest of the Mechanoids, making them PL 13 offensively, PL 14 defensively.