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

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Ares
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dinosaur Power Armor! Amazons! Headless Men!)

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In addition to making travel difficult, Rifts also worked to make communication difficult, since satellite communication would likely be considered too convenient for a harsh world of survival. It's established that none of the Pre-Rifts satellites work anymore, which people could have simply written off as being the result of the coming of the Rifts.

However, its also mentioned that no satellites launched into orbit work either, preventing the Coalition from having spy satellites or a global communication network. The main theory is that the coming of Rifts destroyed the satellite network of Earth, and now there's so much debris orbiting space that launching new satellites is a waste of time, because they'll just be smashed by more floating space debris.

This theory is, of course, wrong. There's actually a giant space station in Earth orbit composed of a Pre-Rifts society who watched Earth go to crap and have since learned about all of the monsters and what not on Earth's surface. Said society have decided to just Nope out of Earth politics and isolate themselves in space, developing a spacer society and keeping out of all the insanity below. And to avoid detection, they purposefully destroy any satellites Earth launches into space.

It's a sourcebook called "Mutants in Orbit".
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dinosaur Power Armor! Amazons! Headless Men!)

Post by JDRook »

Ares wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:08 pmIt's a sourcebook called "Mutants in Orbit".
I knew that book existed, although I usually confused it with the TMNT Guide to the Univese, which I actually owned. I guess they went for a "two-fer" since it's supposed to be a sourcebook for both the After the Bomb & Rifts series.
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Dinosaur Power Armor! Amazons! Headless Men!)

Post by Ares »

JDRook wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:38 pm
Ares wrote: Fri Apr 05, 2019 4:08 pmIt's a sourcebook called "Mutants in Orbit".
I knew that book existed, although I usually confused it with the TMNT Guide to the Univese, which I actually owned. I guess they went for a "two-fer" since it's supposed to be a sourcebook for both the After the Bomb & Rifts series.
Yeah, for some reason they decided to combine the "Mutant Space Station and Moon Base" stuff into a single sourcebook for both After the Bomb and Rifts. I'm guessing there wasn't enough material for a World Book, but they didn't want to just have such vital setting material be relegated to the Rifter magazine, so they opted to make it a "two-fer" as you suggest.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
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Anti-Monster

Post by Jabroniville »

Image
Image

ANTI-MONSTER O.C.C.
Role:
The Reason You Bought This Book, Techno-Wizardly Cyborg, Demon Hunter
PL 12 (186)
STRENGTH
11 STAMINA 11 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Expertise (Monsters) 12 (+12)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+4)
Insight 4 (+4)
Intimidation 10 (+10)
Perception 8 (+8)
Treatment 2 (+2)
Vehicles 2 (+2)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Equipment 5 (Energy Weapons, Cyborg Armor), Fast Grab, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6

Powers:
"MDC Transformation"
Protection 2 (Extras: Impervious 9) [11]
Regeneration 5 [5]
Speed 2 (8 mph) [2]

"Supernatural Abilities"
Features 1: Attacks Count as Magical [1]
Immunity 13 (Aging, Life Support, Vampire's Mind Control) [13]
Immunity 15 (Fire/Heat Damage, Cold Damage) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [8]
Senses 10 (Psychic Awareness- Ranged & Acute, Magic Awareness- Ranged & Acute, Supernatural Being Awareness- Ranged, Acute & Analytical- Skill Check Required) [10]

"Magic Powers" (All Have Flaws: Unreliable- 5/day)
"Magic Net" Snare 6 (12) -- [14]
  • AE: "Blinding Flash" Dazzle Visuals 6 (15ft. Burst) (9)
  • AE: "Globe of Daylight" Environment (Light) 2 (2)
"Armor of Ithan" Immunity 20 (Magic, Fire, Lightning) (Flaws: Half-Effect, Unreliable- 5/day) [8]
"Shadow Meld" Concealment 4 (Vision) (Flaws: Requires Shadows, Unreliable- 5/day) [2]
"Chameleon" Concealment 2 (Visuals) (Affects Others) (Flaws: Blending, Unreliable- 5/day) [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Blasters +6 (+14 Ranged Damage, DC 29)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +13 (+16 Armor), Fortitude +11, Will +7

Complications:
Obsession (Killing Supernatural Monsters)- Some Anti-Monsters become so obsessive (of course there's a table for it) that they can't stand to even be around supernatural beings AT ALL, even good ones.
Reputation (Monsters)- Anti-Monsters are big, inhuman-looking, and come off very "cold" to outsiders. They are often kept at an arm's length.
Disabled (Rejection of Limbs)- An Anti-Monster must test three times (every 1D4 years) to see if they can maintain their mystical grafts. Rejection can cause coma and death, and they will be badly debilitated for months afterwards! Recovery is possible but arduous.
Vulnerable (Rune Weapons & Others)- Anti-Monsters take double-damage from Rune, Wormwood and Millennium Tree weapons.

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 14 / Powers: 76 / Defenses: 11 (186)

-The reason your 14-year-old ass bought Rifts South America, the Anti-Monster features on the cover of the book in a bad-ass Frazetta-esque painting by a guy named "Brom" (Gerald Brom, a fantasy and advertising artist of note; this is his only Rifts work, likely as he can afford to charge a pretty penny, having been the signature artist of TSR's famous Dark Sun campaign world in the '80s). While I'm not a worker at the Palladium offices, I would bet all the money I have that Brom was hired to design the cover, came up with this BITCHING uber-90s "Muscle Monster" thing, and the writers scrambled to include it. They're so '90s that they even have a Mysterious Past, being such Special Snowflakes that they can't even be replicated by beings as mighty as the Splugorth. The book only gives two potential origins (a mad Doctor and an Alien God, both from other books).

-An Anti-Monster is created from a psychic or magical person engaging in a long series of rituals and medical processes that transform them into a cyborg filled with magic. These Anti-Monsters are horrible-looking, super-strong ass-kickers that your teen self desperately wanted to be, but are also X-Men style "Noble Outcasts", being so huge and so obsessive about "Killing Monsters" that most humans find them off-putting and frightening. Basically it's like playing a distilled version of "Image Comics".

-Are Anti-Monsters good Anti-Monsters? Well, pretty much. Their key advantage is honestly their ability to take TONS of damage, building up a largely-set amount of resistance equivalent to a Glitter Boy (400 MDC + 1D6x10, plus Armor). They do very solid damage in melee, can damage Vampires normally (Vamps are immune to almost ALL damage in Rifts, so this is rare), and have access to the same Energy Weapons as other beings, meaning that they're basically ultra-tough. Unfortunately, the high-end Supernatural Beings in this setting are often MUCH more versatile, and this thing has no counter to Invisibility, Teleportation or Regeneration, which are pretty standard abilities in Rifts. The nature of the game means they're only really PL 10 on offense (like a lot of things), but the toughness pushes them up to PL 11.5- they have a pretty good shot at taking out a Dragon Hatchling or equivalent Monster, and better than that at beating a SAMAS.
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Ellal

Post by Jabroniville »

SOUTH AMERICAN MONSTERS:
-A sort of "Bestiary" exists near the back of the book, containing some Monsters to fight. Like in most Palladium books, these creatures have sub-par descriptions and no ecology to speak of- they’re just stuff to hit.


ELLAL (125 points - Stamina)
Abilities: ST +5, no STA, AGI +1, AWA +1 [12 - Stamina]
Powers: Immunity 30 (Fort. Effects), Protection 11 (Imp. 7), Regeneration 5, Vision Counters Illusion 4, Immunity 80 (All Damage, Limited to Half-Effect, Limited to Non-Magical Attacks), "Energy Form" Insubstantial 4, Flight 1, Concealment 2 (Vision) [113]

-An Ellal is basically a Super-Zombie- an intelligent, utterly malevolent creature that consumes souls to stay alive. They have a TON of MDC (+11 Toughness), and all the Skills the victim knew in life.
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Huecu

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

HUECU (Demonic Manta Ray)
Role:
Giant Slow-Swimmer
PL 8 (78)
STRENGTH
8 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -4 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Expertise (Survival) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 6 (+3, +5 Size)
Perception 5 (+5)
Stealth 4 (+6, +2 Size)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Natural Weapons), Startle

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 6 (Extended 2 & Acute Scent, Tracking-Scent, Low-Light & Extended Vision) [6]
"Lateral Lines" Senses 1 (Ranged Touch) [1]

"Sea Creature"
Swimming 3 (8 mph) [3]
Immunity 1 (Drowning) [1]

"Natural Size" Growth 4 (Str & Sta +4, +4 Mass, +2 Intimidation, -2 Dodge/Parry, -4 Stealth) -- (15 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [9]

"Mega-Damage Creature"
Protection 3 (Extras: Impervious 5) [8]
Flight 3 (Flaws: Fades) [3]
"Natural Weapons" Strength-Damage +3 (Extras: Penetrating 4) [7]

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +11 (+3 Impervious), Fortitude +8, Will +3

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Rays cannot speak to humans, nor use their fins to easily manipulate objects.
Disabled- Rays require water to survive, and will die quickly if left out of it. Also, they MUST be able to continue swimming to be able to breathe- if trapped by anything, they will slowly drown.

Total: Abilities: 18 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 38 / Defenses: 10 (78)

-Said to be from South American mythology, the Huecu is a Flying Evil Manta Ray, devouring intelligent creatures. Of course, they're edible, so native peoples ACTUALLY HUNT THIS 225 M.D.C. CREATURE.

-HOW IN THE BUGGERY F*CK ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO EAT A MEGA-DAMAGE CREATURE!?!?! First off, the thing has so much MDC that it'd take a squadron of well-armed people to bring it down without being massacred with ease. Second of all, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO COOK IT? Mega-Damage fire? Use Vibro-Blades and eat it raw, like sushi? HOW CAN YOU USE CUTLERY? OR CHEW? You got Vibro-Teeth? How does your belly process MDC meat? IT'S CALLED VERSIMILITUDE, YOU ASSWIPES!!!
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Re: Huecu

Post by JDRook »

Jabroniville wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:51 am-HOW IN THE BUGGERY F*CK ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO EAT A MEGA-DAMAGE CREATURE!?!?! First off, the thing has so much MDC that it'd take a squadron of well-armed people to bring it down without being massacred with ease. Second of all, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO COOK IT? Mega-Damage fire? Use Vibro-Blades and eat it raw, like sushi? HOW CAN YOU USE CUTLERY? OR CHEW? You got Vibro-Teeth? How does your belly process MDC meat? IT'S CALLED VERSIMILITUDE, YOU ASSWIPES!!!
I would think they be like lobsters - hard shells but softer flesh. And maybe the Mega-Damage tones down once all their PPE drains out in death spasms. Just reading the complications it looks like you could kill them from trapping them or beaching them, although they are strong enough to flip a 6-ton boat. It would take some work, but at that size that's a lot of good meat on one beastie, so it might actually be worth it.
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Giant Bats

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

GIANT VAMPIRE BAT
Role:
MDC Jobbers
PL 9 (97)
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -4 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Expertise (Survival) 5 (+7)
Intimidation 7 (+4)
Perception 8 (+10)
Stealth 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Improved Critical (Natural Weapons), Startle

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 4 (Low-Light Vision, Acute & Extended Scent 2) [4]
"Echolocation" Senses 4 (Extended, Ultra & Accurate Hearing) [4]

Regeneration 2 [2]
Immunity 2 (Poison, Disease) [2]

"Mega-Damage Creature"
Impervious Toughness 5 [5]
Strength-Damage +5 [5]
Immunity 80 (All Damage) (Flaws: Limited to Non-Magical Damage, Limited to Half-Effect) [27]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+10 Damage, DC 26)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +8 (+3 Impervious), Fortitude +8, Will +3

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Bats cannot speak to humans, nor use their fins to easily manipulate objects.
Weakness (Sunlight)- Bright lights in general are painful to these creatures. They suffer losses to their combat scores, and generally flee.

Total: Abilities: 34 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 52 / Defenses: 4 (97)

-Shoved into the Vampire Kingdom of Haktla, so they're not part of the regular Bestiary, these Giant Bats are MDC creatures that are vaguely like Vampires & Lycanthropes, taking only half-damage to conventional weaponry. They're also QUITE strong
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Monster Squid

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

TRELQUE-HUECUVE (Monster Squid)
Role:
Super-Monster
PL 11 (105)
STRENGTH
13 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -4 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 6 (+8)
Expertise (Survival) 5 (+5)
Intimidation 8 (+5, +7 Size)
Perception 5 (+5)
Stealth 14 (+14, +9 Size)

Advantages:
Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Grab

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 2 (Low-Light Vision, Direction Sense) [2]

"Squid Features"
"Ten Arms" Extra Limbs 6 [6]
Unarmed Reach 5 [5]
"Boneless Body" Insubstantial 1 (Flaws: Half-Effect- Requires Some Space) [3]

"Sea Creature"
Swimming 3 (4 mph) [3]
Immunity 3 (Pressure, Cold, Drowning) [3]

"Natural Size" Growth 5 (Str & Sta +5, +5 Mass, +2 Intimidation, -2 Dodge/Parry, -5 Stealth) -- (18 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [11]
Strength-Damage +2 [2]
Protection 3 [3]

"Mega-Damage Creature"
Protection 6 (Extras: Impervious) [12]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+13 Damage, DC 28)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +12 (+3 Impervious), Fortitude +8, Will +6

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Squid cannot speak to humans.

Total: Abilities: 8 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 50 / Defenses: 24 (105)

-The Monster Squids are basically Squids that are Mega-Damage. The art pretty much shows... a regular Squid, but with knife-y looking tentacle tips. It takes out a couple Squid aspects (no Ink Jet or Bioluminescence), but does more damage and has two extra limbs. Their incredible number of attacks makes them even more terrifying- ten attacks in total is about double what almost any Player Character can do, and they can do a LOT of damage! There is a Giant version that is simply packing more MDC and a small boost to its attack damage (+5 Mega-Damage)- not too impressive, until you realize that it's now tougher than a Glitter Boy (+17 Toughness in M&M terms).
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Amazons! Headless Men! Anti-Monster!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Once again, my Animal Builds come in handy :). Cuts off a LOT of work when the Rifts crew just dumps some “Animal + More” thing in the most half-assed section of every book.
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Ares
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Amazons! Headless Men! Anti-Monster!)

Post by Ares »

All this Rifts reading actually had me break out my Rifts China books to see what a dedicated martial artist in the Rifts system would look like. It's . . . well, pretty much a mess.
"My heart is as light as a child's, a feeling I'd nearly forgotten. And by helping those in need, I will be able to keep that feeling alive."
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Amazons! Headless Men! Anti-Monster!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Do I even have to check? It’s eighteen shitty powers and two auto-take MDC boosts, isn’t it?
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Re: Huecu

Post by Jabroniville »

JDRook wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 9:17 am
Jabroniville wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 8:51 am-HOW IN THE BUGGERY F*CK ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO EAT A MEGA-DAMAGE CREATURE!?!?! First off, the thing has so much MDC that it'd take a squadron of well-armed people to bring it down without being massacred with ease. Second of all, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO COOK IT? Mega-Damage fire? Use Vibro-Blades and eat it raw, like sushi? HOW CAN YOU USE CUTLERY? OR CHEW? You got Vibro-Teeth? How does your belly process MDC meat? IT'S CALLED VERSIMILITUDE, YOU ASSWIPES!!!
I would think they be like lobsters - hard shells but softer flesh. And maybe the Mega-Damage tones down once all their PPE drains out in death spasms. Just reading the complications it looks like you could kill them from trapping them or beaching them, although they are strong enough to flip a 6-ton boat. It would take some work, but at that size that's a lot of good meat on one beastie, so it might actually be worth it.
Does Mega-Damage work that way? It's fueled by PPE?

The Complications are only my bit from my Manta Ray build- I'm honestly not sure if the flying MDC Manta is as vulnerable :).
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JDRook
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Re: Huecu

Post by JDRook »

Jabroniville wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 5:42 am
JDRook wrote: Sun Apr 07, 2019 9:17 amI would think they be like lobsters - hard shells but softer flesh. And maybe the Mega-Damage tones down once all their PPE drains out in death spasms. Just reading the complications it looks like you could kill them from trapping them or beaching them, although they are strong enough to flip a 6-ton boat. It would take some work, but at that size that's a lot of good meat on one beastie, so it might actually be worth it.
Does Mega-Damage work that way? It's fueled by PPE?
I'm just spitballing, but I don't see why not. Magical or giant "natural" creatures in Rifts Earth are MDC because of the saturation of magic energy, or so the books keep insisting. If PPE = Magic and Death = 2xPPE and then nothing, I don't see why MDC flesh wouldn't then become normal at death and succumb to the environment, completing the circle of life. Otherwise you'd have MDC corpses all over the places piled up for the last 3 centuries, necessitating either my theory of MDC denaturing, or MDC scavengers to fill that ecological niche. (Or Mega-Damage rot, which would just screw up everything.)
The Complications are only my bit from my Manta Ray build- I'm honestly not sure if the flying MDC Manta is as vulnerable :).
Fair enough. I like it as a logical extension of the Mega-Manta, plus it allows for the potential of tribal hunting techniques for regular manta to have been adapted for the Heucu.
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Aunyain

Post by Jabroniville »

AUNYAIN (43 points)
Abilities: INT +2, ST +1, STA +5 [14]
Powers: Protection 3, Immunity 20 (Energy Attacks, Limited to Half), Darkvision 2, "Shadow Meld" Concealment 4 (Vision, Requires Shadows), Morph 1 (Metamorph; Tapir Form), Vision Counters Concealment 4, "Magic" (six spells from Levels 1-4) [29]

-These "Tusked Magicians" are shoved into the back of the Bestiary, making it look like they were arbitrarily placed wherever they'd fit, possibly because there was some room left on the page that included the "Splugorth Slaver Raider" vehicle. Aunyain are humans who've made a pact with an alien intelligence for power in return for human sacrifices. Again, the book equates Tapirs with "South American Boars", as what is clearly a BOAR in the image is able to transform into a TAPIR, which has no tusks. Aunyain are basically Enhanced People, getting to pick iffy Magic Spells, starting out around where a Mystic Magic O.C.C. is, but never really being any better than the four Magic Classes in the Main Rulebook.
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