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

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Narcassai Swordfish

Post by Jabroniville »

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NARCASSAI SWORDFISH
Role:
Inexplicably Feared Monster
PL 10 (90)
STRENGTH
7 STAMINA 10 AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -4 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Sea Acrobatics 6 (+10)
Athletics 3 (+10)
Close Combat (Bill) 4 (+11)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+4)
Intimidation 8 (+6 Size)
Perception 6 (+6)
Stealth 3 (+4 Size)

Advantages:
Great Endurance, Improved Initiative, Improved Defense, Uncanny Dodge

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 4 (Extended & Acute Scent- Tracking, Low-Light Vision) [4]

"Sea Creature"
Swimming 5 (30 mph) [5]
Immunity 2 (Drowning, Pressure) [2]
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]

"Natural Size" Growth 2 (Str & Sta +2, +2 Mass, +1 Intimidation, -1 Dodge/Parry, -2 Stealth) -- (10 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [5]

"Swordfish Bill" Strength-Damage +2 [2]
Features 1: Bill Will "Phase Out" And Cannot Get Stuck [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Swordfish Bill +11 (+9 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +4

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +10, Fortitude +10, Will +5

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Swordfish cannot speak to humans, nor use their fins to easily manipulate objects.
Disabled- Fish require water to survive, and will die quickly if left out of it.

Total: Abilities: 34 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 20 / Defenses: 15 (90)

-The Narcassai Swordfish, said to likely hail from a world far from Rifts Earth, is given such a silly, over-the-top description of how fearsome and scary it is that I have to think someone f'd up the stats somewhere along the line. This thing is NOT SCARY, and yet the write-up talks about how Lemurians are afraid to ride them, nobody can tame them without Bio-Magic, and how everyone other than Lemurians hates and fears them.

-The stuff that makes them fearsome? Well, they have middling Monster M.D.C.- about 100-160 (P.E.x10, but their Physical Endurance is between 11-16 only). And their only special ability is having ther bill be able to "phase out" so they don't get it stuck in their victims (something that happens to no other predators in this game). And they're 10-18 feet long and 1,200 lbs, with three attacks. And their apparently terrifying bills do... 2D6 Mega-Damage. Yes, really. Compare them to the Saber-Toothed Sea Lion and you wonder if someone didn't switch out the bios. Like, none of this is remotely "OMG WE'RE GOING TO DIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!"- it's just a standard-issue PL 10 monster. Nothing to sneeze at, but huh?
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Kilmoran's & Terror Eel! Mega & Line Ray!)

Post by catsi563 »

I think the intent given Palladiums predilections was that the Fishes Sword was so dangerous because it phases.

imagine trying to fight someone whose sword goes right through yours, you go to parry it and its phases then slashes you across the chest. but when you swing back he parries you. not a lot of damage but no way to block it,
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Kilmoran's & Terror Eel! Mega & Line Ray!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Does that have any effect on the rules in-game, though? Is it actually unparryable?
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Kilmoran's & Terror Eel! Mega & Line Ray!)

Post by catsi563 »

No way to know I never had the chance to get Lemuria. if it had a cant be parried rule then it would Be VERY dangerous in actual combat via the rules since you could only dodge it or take the hit
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Sea Dragon Turtle

Post by Jabroniville »

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SEA DRAGON TURTLE
Role:
Huge Underwater Creature
PL 11 (165 + Psionics)
STRENGTH
11 STAMINA 14 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -2 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Expertise (Survival) 5 (+8)
Insight 6 (+9)
Intimidation 11 (+13 Size)
Perception 5 (+8)
Stealth 13 (+3 Size)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Close Attack 2, Improved Hold, Power Attack

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 5 (Low-Light Vision, Ultra & Infravision, Detect Magnetic Fields- Ranged) [5]
"Chemoreceptors" Senses 6 (Acute & Analytic Scent- Extended 2, Tracking) [6]

"Underwater Physiology"
Swimming 5 (16 mph) [5]
Movement 1 (Environmental Adaptation- Aquatic) [2]
Immunity 22 (Drowning, Pressure, Fire Effects, Cold Effects) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [11]
"Polarized Vision" Immunity 2 (Visual Dazzles) [2]

"Sun Aura"
Environment 2 (Light) [4]
"Living Solar Battery" Features 1: All Attacks Count as Sunlight (affects Undead, etc.) [1]
"Solar Eye Beams" Blast 11 (Feats: Accurate 5) [27]

"Dino-Sized" Growth 10 (Str & Sta +10, +10 Mass, +5 Intimidation, -5 Dodge/Parry, +1 Speed, -10 Stealth) -- (42 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [21]
Protection 2 (Extras: Impervious 9) [11]

"Psionics" (Empathy, Meditation, Psychic Diagnosis, See Aura, See Invisible, Sense Evil, Sense Time, Suppress Fear)

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+11 Damage, DC 27)
Solar Eye Beams +10 (+11 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +16 (+5 Impervious), Fortitude +14, Will +6

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Sea Dragon Turtles cannot speak to humans, nor use their paws to easily manipulate objects.
Vulnerable (Darkness)- Sea Dragon Turtles require sunlight to live, feed, and use their powers.
Hatred (Undead)

Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 95 + Psionics / Defenses: 23 (165 + Psionics)

-Sea Dragon Turtles are not true dragons, but are instead very wise, slow-moving creatures that defend all those who are good from the forces of evil, especially the Undead, whom it hates. Lemurians consider them to be almost as intelligent as people, while most see them as "dumb animals", but they will allow themselves to be ridden, used as war steeds, etc.

-Sea Dragon Turtles are set up as Undead Killers, sporting tons of light attacks, the ability to glow all the time & eat Undead, and more. They have an impressive 3D4x100 M.D.C., peaking at over 1,200 (!), but average out to a bit below that- +16 Toughness is what I went with. Defensively they're not up to much, but they hit PL 11 unarmed and with their Solar Eye Beams.
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Storm Crab

Post by Jabroniville »

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STORM CRAB
Role:
Huge Underwater Creature
PL 13 (182)
STRENGTH
13 STAMINA 14 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 9 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -4 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Expertise (Survival) 5 (+8)
Intimidation 11 (+13 Size)
Perception 5 (+8)
Stealth 13 (+3 Size)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Close Attack 2, Improved Hold, Power Attack

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 6 (Low-Light Vision, Detect Electricity- Accurate, Radius & Ranged) [6]
"Chemoreceptors" Senses 6 (Acute & Analytic Scent- Extended 2, Tracking) [6]

"Underwater Physiology"
Swimming 5 (16 mph) [5]
Leaping 2 (30 feet) [2]
Movement 1 (Environmental Adaptation- Aquatic) [2]
Immunity 12 (Drowning, Pressure, Electrical Effects) [10]
Immunity 20 (Sonic Effects, Cold Effects) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [10]
Regeneration 8 (Feats: Regrows Limbs) [9]

"Static Fog" Concealment (Visuals & Electrical Senses) 3 (Extras: Area- 250ft. Cloud +5) [21]

"Lightning Bolt" Blast 11 (Feats: Extended 2, Accurate 5) (Flaws: Limited to Dry Land) (18) -- [19]
  • AE: "Electrified Underbelly" Damage 9 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Burst +2) (Flaws: Limited to Underneath Itself, Limited to Dry Land) (18)
"Dino-Sized" Growth 10 (Str & Sta +10, +10 Mass, +5 Intimidation, -5 Dodge/Parry, +1 Speed, -10 Stealth) -- (42 feet) (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [21]
Protection 4 (Extras: Impervious 11) [15]

Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+11 Damage, DC 27)
Lightning Bolt +10 (+11 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Electrified Underbelly +9 Area (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +7 (DC 17), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +18 (+5 Impervious), Fortitude +14, Will +5

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Storm Crabs cannot speak to humans, nor use their claws to easily manipulate objects.

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 126 / Defenses: 26 (192)

-Storm Crabs are born on another world, and now used by Lemurians as massive, mobile tanks- often leading the charge into hostile territory such as areas occupied by the Naut'Yll or Davy Jones and his undead Milu agents. 40-70 feet long and 100 feet wide with their legs outstretched, they can weight over a hundred tons, shoot lighting (but only on dry land assaults), and create a concealing "Static Fog" over everything for 200 feet. Overall, they end up as PL 11-ish offensively, which is nothing to sneeze at, but their incredible durability (1D6x100 +760 M.D.C. adds up to around a thousand or so!) pushes them up to PL 12.5 defensively.
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Twisted Treasure Seahorse

Post by Jabroniville »

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TWISTED TREASURE SEAHORSE
Role:
Magical Seahorse, Wizard's Familiar
PL 7 (79 + Psionics)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 1 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE -3 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -3

Skills:
Expertise (Survival) 5 (+5)
Perception 9 (+9)

Advantages:
Close Attack 4

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 7 (Low-Light Vision, Infravision, Ultravision, Detect Magic- Ranged, Detect Electromagnetism- Ranged) [7]
Regeneration 1 [1]
"Empathy" Mind-Reading 4 (Flaws: Limited to Emotions) [4]

"Sea Creature"
Flight 3 (16 mph) (6) -- [7]
  • AE: Swimming 2 (4 mph) (2)
Immunity 1 (Drowning) [1]
Immunity 12 (Heat Effects, Cold, Pressure) (Flaws: Limited to Half-Effect) [6]
"Light-Up Fin Tips" Environment 1 (Light) [1]

"Small Size" Shrinking 12 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) [25]
(-3 Strength, -1 Speed, +6 Defenses, +12 Stealth, -6 Intimidation)

"Psionics" (Empathy, See Aura, See the Invisible, Sense Magic, Sense Evil, Telepathy)

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Initiative +1

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

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Seahorses cannot speak to humans, nor use their fins to easily manipulate objects. However, they possess a tail that has finger-like qualities.
Disabled- Fish require water to survive, and will die quickly if left out of it.

Total: Abilities: 14 / Skills: 14--7 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 51 + Psionics / Defenses: 3 (79 + Psionics)

-The peculiar Twisted Treasure Seahorse is a low-level creature that looks like a regular seahorse, yet is magical and has M.D.C. Only 1D6, but that's MUCH more than most humans ever have. It does low damage on its own, but can waste two attacks to do 1 Mega-Damage, which is still a lot. Their other abilities however, are Empathic in nature. They're said to be popular as familiars for Ocean Wizards and the like, and are flat-out said to be THE BEST at that kind of a job, as they can "read" their handlers better than any other animal, as well as use their tails like hands. They can even fly, climb, and move around on land.
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Swordfish! Dragon Turtle! Storm Crab! Lemuria Done!)

Post by Jabroniville »

And that does it for Rifts Lemuria! A fascinating look at what fantastic art, Sketchpad Characters and a Non-Kevin writer can do for a setting! And next up... one of the more "Kevin-Ish" books- the very early Rifts England!
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Rifts England

Post by Jabroniville »

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RIFTS WORLD BOOK THREE- ENGLAND (1993):
-And now we go ALL THE WAY BACK, right near the beginning of the Rifts line (though I guess the Main Rulebook hails from 1990, and this was '93, so they waited a while)- Rifts England! This was listed by Sidious as one of his favorites, which surprised me, as I've heard it's really not very good. Having never read it, I'll be going through the PDF, so if my opinions are incomplete, that's why.

This book is notorious both for "Endless Culture-Based Stereotypes" (in this case, because it's England, we see King Arthur- which Kevin even jokes about being endless in Palladium- Knights, and Druids), and the introduction of the MILLENNIUM TREES. Dear Christ does Kevin love those goddamn trees. Also, this book apparently debuts the Chiang-Ku Dragons, who are the oh-so-smart-and-wonderful Asian-style dragons that Kevin's so in love with that they end up spattered and mentioned all over the early Rifts line. Also Wizards, Druids, More Wizards, More Druids, and some of Kevin's beloved hippies.

Actually, this book is fascinating just for that "Early Rifts Flavor", as you see the Tree, Basic Cultural Stereotypes, Chiang-Ku, and a few other things that get dropped in the line. All it's missing is an Alien Intelli--- no way, that's what Merlin is. Never mind. The book even has Newton Ewell on art, which makes this and Rifts Atlantis two of the only books to feature his unique take at "techno-organic life forms", as his signature style of weird creatures pop up in here, making it look visually very similar to Atlantis. The rest of the book is the "Early Crew", like Kevin Long. So kinda hit or miss, I suppose. Lotta awkward-ass people with pylon-legs standing around awkwardly.

The 27 kinds of wizards made me really, REALLY hesitant to get into this book, as they're no more fun to build in this universe as they are in comics, but seeing 19 different Knight O.C.C.s in the Index explains why I can hear Ares' throbbing erection all the way from Louisiana.

This book has... not had an exceptional effect on the future of the line, as I believe they've never quite gone back to it, and glossed over much. North America is way more focused on the Cyber-Knights than these ACTUAL Knights, England is far from literally everything else the line has produced (the closest thing is the New German Republic, which is beset by Gargoyles), and these characters mostly don't spin off... but those TREES, man. I think fan sentiment between this and Rifts Africa killed this kind of book from being released further- all the "smattering bands of X" kind of got replaced with "The Kingdom of Y" stuff, as C.J. Carella took over much of the creative work, and much better combined concepts like "Unique Idea" and "Somebody Might Actually Want To Play This", rather than a bunch of lyre-playing hippies tromping about the forest picking up mushrooms from fairies. In short, both Africa and England came out very closely to each other... and got more or less ignored and not focused on. This is kinda true of much of the line's different nations and regions (Japan & South America haven't been revisited, either), though many like Russia & China got sequels... but it really felt to me, even back then, that Kevin realized this wasn't the kind of thing the line should be about, and other writers got to handle regional books from then on.
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Swordfish! Dragon Turtle! Storm Crab! Lemuria Done!)

Post by Curbludgeon »

At least the druids' magic is almost entirely just the Artificer advantage with Complications about needing rituals and people contributing PPE. In the Palladium Fantasy game the druids were originally closer to 1ed&d, with per level abilities and societal hierarchies, and later different types of druids with shapechanging and rituals. I wonder to what degree the limited usefulness of druids in PB was a response to changes in edition in d&d, where the class was generally awesome.

I've tried off and on to make modular variants of classes in palladium, where knights and mystics were the archetypes that could most benefit. The Knight in Rifts England isn't that different from the basic Palladium Fantasy men at arms, with not much in the way of skills or equipment. The Cyberknight, by comparison, might get two upgrades to skills, one to psionics, and one to equipment, while a Mystic Knight gets one to skills, two to psionics, two to magic, two to abilities for PPE channeling, and one to equipment, and a Cosmoknight gets eight upgrades to abilities. Similarly, some Mystics might focus more on psionics/magic/skills/item crafting. As a response to the idiosyncratic nature of PB OCCs it's a halfway measure that's likely better handled by fully switching to point-buy, which is part of the appeal for me behind keeping up with these threads.
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Re: Rifts England

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2020 10:24 am Image


The 27 kinds of wizards made me really, REALLY hesitant to get into this book, as they're no more fun to build in this universe as they are in comics, but seeing 19 different Knight O.C.C.s in the Index explains why I can hear Ares' throbbing erection all the way from Louisiana.
That would require the Knight classes in this book to actually be exceptional or interesting. Besides, it's not like these are martial artists . . . though Rifts China kind of sucked in that regard as well.

I've said it before, but Rifts England's biggest sin is how BORING it is.
Ares wrote: Sat Feb 29, 2020 4:06 pmRifts England is . . . well, boring. For some reason it went completely back to Medieval Times, and there's way too much focus on druids, weird plants and the Millennium Trees. The friggin Millennium Trees. For some reason, Siembieda loved the Millennium Tree concept. And it isn't a bad one, it just seems like he went overboard with them. The knights are all just guys in non-magical armor and swords going around fighting monsters. The whole of Arthurian Mythology gets turned into this Lovecraftian horror story, which COULD be interesting but it kind of sucks that other historical figures of heroism and mythology get brought back in full glory and here it turns out Merlin was evil.

Imagine if during the time of the Rifts King Arthur HAD returned in his people's time of greatest need, and lead the nation through the dark times to create a new Camelot that was a mix of magic and technology, basically the city of Lazlo on a grander scale. Arthur would have eventually died, but before he dies he returns Excalibur to a stone, and each new ruler of Camelot must be chosen by the sword to lead the nation. And regardless of how the previous ruler dies, the sword always manages to be returned to the stone for a new ruler to be chosen.

You could then do things where Excalibur is used to enchant the swords and gear of the Knights of the Round Table, making each knight have their own high powered magical sword. Their armor and extra gear could all be Techno-Wizard stuff. The "squires" could be a highly trained military group armed with high tech gear that each hope to be promoted to Knight through valiant service. You could have a good version of the Mystic Knights from Rifts Mad Haven. Wizards could be a respected class, with a Harry Potter style school for wizardry. Technology and magic would be seen as equally valuable, and supernatural creatures are actually okay so long as they follow the rules and are good citizens.

Make Camelot an actual beacon of hope in a dark world, where you could see a Knight with magic gear riding a griffin into battle, flanked by a squad of Squires in gear ranging from personal power armor to robot armor, supported by the squad's wizard. You could even do things where you examine how the military might have changed under this situation, how it combines traditional modern military tactics with the Chivalric code, magic and knights. Like there's a drop ship being deployed and the squires are all having the kind of banter you'd see in the opening of Predator, with the squad wizard reading a book. Then the Knight comes in and everyone gets at attention, the way they would when a high ranking officer comes onboard, and the knight gives the military briefing and a speech, ending with drawing his sword and saying "For King/Queen, Country and Camelot!", which they all echo.

So much wasted potential.
Again, Rifts Japan might have been a collection of cultural cliches, combining anime-esque cyberpunk with Kurosawa mystical samurai on steroids, but at least those cliches were fun, interesting and playable. What would you really rather play, a group that consists of a samurai with iajutsu techniques and a magic katana, a cyborg dragon, a Juicer ninja, a karate monk and a magic using priest, or would you rather play as a group of 4 knights and a druid? And these knights are just guys in armor with swords and shields. No real special gear, no real special abilities.

And I can actually see some reasoning for Japan ending up that way. The Rifts hit the world, but now the magical practitioners of the world can come out and protect people from the horrors of the Rifts. When magic comes back after technology apparently brought this curse on them, and magic can handle most of their needs, why not turn to the people who are keeping them safe? Why not rally behind symbols of national pride, trying to reforge the past? And since most of the actual historians are dead, of course trying to re-create samurai culture would bear more resemblance to Pop Culture than actual real-world histories. So I could easily see Rifts Japan looking more like an idealized movie version of Japan than the actual one.

But yeah, an easy rule of thumb for Rifts should be "Would this part of the world look like some epic Heavy Metal album cover?" If the answer is "no", then you need to start over. Rifts England is easily a setting I would toss and re-work from scratch.
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Millennium Trees

Post by Jabroniville »

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MILLENNIUM TREES:
-OH CHRIST THEY'RE EVEN TALKING ABOUT THE TREES FIRST. So these are hundreds of years old, seem to have some kind of rudimentary wisdom/intelligence, and have tremendous magical power. These trees are miles high and often defended by magic and heroes alike, and their powerful wood, which creates Magic Items. Oh, but if you break off a piece deliberately, you'll get shattered by magical energy- tearing off even a twig-sized piece results in Boom Gun-level damage hitting you, which means that nobody ever tries this. A fully-grown tree has 50,000+ M.D.C., the branches have their own toughness totals, and there's 11 in England, and a smattering of others in Scotland & Ireland, with notes that a few other places have them.

These mystical fonts of ancient energy also produce weapons that every. single. f*cking. book. in the line will always have to mention from here on in, because vast swaths of evil characters are vulnerable to attacks from them. Rifts Japan, Rifts Africa and many other 1994-97 books will also gush on and on about those areas' own Millennium Trees for pages and pages that I can only assume 90% of players just skimmed like I did. My apologies to anyone who's a giant fan of the Trees.

For an image, Kevin Long drew a very large tree that has a giant highway swirling around it, along with "burls" that look hilariously like giant beehives, so it's kinda funny. Knowing Long's tendencies, it's probably ripped off of an anime source. Newton Ewell, whose work inspired Kevin to write like 15 goddamn pages about these stupid-ass Trees, has a tiny lil' drawing here of a more alien, swirly tree, which Long as boring'd up into his blockier one.

Oh god and now there's a section on magic weapons you can get from the Trees.

MILLENNIUM TREE GIFTS:
GEAR:
"Body Bark Armor"- +10 Toughness, Higher P.P.E. Magical Energy does 1/3 Damage.
"Body Bark Shield"- Can be used to parry Rune Weapons and other energy stuff. Minor M.D.C. amounts.
"Leaf Armor"- +8 Toughness, Higher P.P.E.
"Leaf- Blanket of Healing"- Healing device.
"Weapons of Wood"- Generic spears or throwing sticks that do minor S.D.C., but do +11-13 damage to Vampires and Supernatural Monsters.

WANDS & STAVES:
* Wands or Staves have 100-400 M.D.C. (+10-13 Toughness) and are usually able to cast five spells in a 24-hour period, up to the level of a 7th Level Sorcerer. Some grant "Constant" powers that are always active to the wielder.

"Wand of the Animal"- Climbing & some Animal-based spells (Eyes of the Wolf, Superhuman Strength, Metamorphosis: Animal, Swims as Fish- Superior).
"Wand of Deception"- The "Chameleon" spell is constantly active, plus five deceit-based spells (Death Trance, Fool's Gold, Multiple Image, Mask of Deceit, Turn Invisible- Self).
"Wand of Divination"- Tells the wielder some predictions about the future, or yes or no answers to things.
"Wand of Dowsing"- Points in the direction of what you're searching for.
"Wand of Knowledge"- Constant ability is the "Tongues" spell. Spells (Memory Bank, Eyes of Thoth, Words of Truth, Commune With Spirits).
"Wand of Life"- Healing power. Owner has +2 Fort. Spells (Negate Poison, Purification, Water To Wine, Cure Illness & Minor Disorders).
"Wand of Power"- Constant power is "Invulnerability" (so, like, NOTHING CAN HURT YOU EVER?? Did they think about that one?). Spells (Energy Disruption, Call Lightning, Armor of Ithan, Superhuman Strength, Negate Magic).
"Wand of Seeing"- Constant power is "See the Invisible". Spells (Globe of Daylight, See Aura, Detect Concealment, Eyes of Thoth, Eyes of the Wolf).

* Staves are able to cast more spells, and as a 10th-Level Sorcerer.

"Staff of the Earth"- Constant power is Sense Magic & Ley Lines as Ley Line Walkers do. 10 Spells (Chameleon, Ignite Fire, Purify Food & Water, Superhuman Strength, Repel Animals, Stone to Flesh, Turn Dead, Exorcism, Circle of Protection).
"Staff of the Hunter"- Constant powers are ability to identify tracks, follow humans & animals, prepare animal hides, land navigation & survival. So, Survival + Tracking. 8 Spells (Ignite Fire, Swim as a Fish, Befuddle, Magic Net). Does +9 damage to supernatural creatures.
"Staff of Life"- Constant Powers are +2 Fort & Healing (10/day). Spells equal to number of "Healing Buds" left (8-14 per day) (Globe of Daylight, Breathe Without Air, Negate Poisons, Cure Minor Disorders, Cure Illness, Purification of Food/Water, Water to Wine).
"Staff of Prosperity"- Constant powers are to identify every plant & fruit, identify all ingredients by taste, and a bonus to Cooking (really). Turns land into rich soil. No Spells.
"Staff of Purity"- Constant power is purification of water, swimming & fishing. Turns water into rich, life-giving sustenance & cures pollution. Does +13 damage to vampires & +11 to Supernatural Creatures.
"Staff of the Serpent"- Constant Powers are See Invisible, Immunity (Snake Venom, Dragon's Fire, All Mega-Damage Fire). Does +13 Damage to Dragons. Turns into a Mega-Damage Snake with +10 Toughness, doing +9 Damage.
"Staff of the Wind"- Constant Powers are floating in air & sensing wind direction. 10 Spells (Levitation, Fuel Flame, Fly as the Eagle, Fingers of Wind, Call Lightning, Wind Rush, Summon Fog, Calm Storms).

Image

MAGICAL POWERS & GIFTS:
"Camouflage"- The Trees can gift anyone with the "Camouflage" spell.
"Control Over Ley Lines, Rifts, & Normal Storms"- Millennium Trees can prevent and control any of these.
"Ley Line Teleportation"
"The Power to Heal"- Advanced healing powers.
"Purify Food & Water"
"Resurrection & Restoriation"- Even dead people and severed limbs can be healed!
"Sixth Sense Warning"- The Tree has predictive abilities.
"Visions & Dreams"- The Tree gifts others with predictive stuff as well.

CORRUPT WANDS & STAVES:
* Stolen Millennium Tree bits can be corrupted by evil wizards to grant different spells, though they will be at lower levels and be able to cast only four.
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catsi563
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Swordfish! Dragon Turtle! Storm Crab! Lemuria Done!)

Post by catsi563 »

I always liked the millennium trees myself. they had a great mysterious quality like having an ancient immortal who was a good guy but who had to act through intermediaries because it couldn't move.

In my campaign world Lazlo was based arounda trumvrate of Millenium trees known as he Three sages who guided the Lazlo council and who were partly responsible for why Lazlo wasn't touched during the Tolkien war.
Dr. Silverback has wryly observed that this is like trying to teach lolcats about Shakespeare

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greycrusader
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Swordfish! Dragon Turtle! Storm Crab! Lemuria Done!)

Post by greycrusader »

catsi563 wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 5:36 am I always liked the millennium trees myself. they had a great mysterious quality like having an ancient immortal who was a good guy but who had to act through intermediaries because it couldn't move.

In my campaign world Lazlo was based arounda trumvrate of Millenium trees known as he Three sages who guided the Lazlo council and who were partly responsible for why Lazlo wasn't touched during the Tolkien war.
As Catsi said, the Millenium Trees are a concept with story potential, the workings of an ancient nature god or elemental force, perhaps banished by evil forces from RIFTS Earth, but gradually reaching back into the world. And the drawing by Newton Ewell is just bizarre enough without looking menacing; that Millenium Tree looks a little unearthly.

But the concept just seemed to get beaten into the ground, where the Trees were the bane of every major evil entity, but never really figured into any major story line, except being a vulnerability of the Apocalypse Beasts.

All my best.
Jabroniville
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Herbalist

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

HERBALIST O.C.C.
Role:
Mushroom-Picking Hippie
PL 5 (124)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+7)
Deception 2 (+5)
Expertise (Mystic Herbology) 8 (+11)
Expertise (Survival) 8 (+11)
Insight 3 (+6)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 5 (+8)
Persuasion 3 (+6)
Stealth 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment 5 (Hippie Gear), Ranged Attack 1, Ritualist

Powers:
"Super-Hippie Powers"
Features 2: Enhance the Potency Of Tea, Can Make Magical Herbs [2]
Senses 4 (Precognition) (Flaws: Limited to Weather) [2]
Senses 1 (Detect Poison, Detect Plants- Analytical, Ranged 3 & Tracking) [8]

"Animate Plants & Trees" Summon 3 (Extras: Active, Controlled) (Flaws: Source- Plant or Tree, Unreliable- 1-5/Day, Limited Time) [3]
"Tree Metamorphosis" Morph (Tree Form) 1 (Feats: Metamorph) (Flaws: Unreliable- 1/day -2, Limited Time) [3]
"One With The Forest" Concealment (All Senses) 5 (Flaws: Blending, Source- Forests) [5]

"Sculpt Plants" Transform (Shape of Plants) 6 (Extras: Continuous) (12) -- [15]
  • AE: "Heal Plants" Healing 5 (Flaws: Limited to Plants) (5)
  • AE: "Grow Plants" Growth 8 (Extras: Affects Others Only +0) (Flaws: Limited to Plants) (8)
  • AE: "Shrink Plants" Shrinking 8 (Extras: Affects Others Only +0) (Flaws: Limited to Plants) (8)
Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Staff +5 (+3 Damage, DC 18)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +3 (+5 Leather Armor), Fortitude +4, Will +6

Complications:
Power Loss (Magic)- Magic requires the internal energies of the Sorcerer to work- too many Spells will wear them out.
Responsibility (Luddites)- Herbalists tend to have zero technological skills whatsoever.

Total: Abilities: 50 / Skills: 40--20 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 41 / Defenses: 6 (124)

-*sigh* yes, in laying out this book, desperately hoping people would buy one of the very first World Books of the setting, the first goddamn O.C.C. they lay out is an HERBALIST whose specialty is picking up plants and making magical tea, and you can only be one if you life in England, because it requires ten years of planning via eating weird mushrooms that make you into more of a hippie in tune with plants and forests. This is clearly the worst thing writer Steven Sheiring has ever done to Palladium Books.

-... what?

-In any case, this class is hilariously useless at anything aside from being the town medicine man, as he has access to zero Mega-Damage gear to start. I mean, if you want someone who can tell you whether or not a plant is poisonous to eat, then he's your guy, but otherwise, he can't do anything. Oh wait! He actually comes with several pages of notes about which herbs cure which maladies! Shit, I think my cousins are in a pyramid scheme that sells this. Young Living is still a thing in 2200 England? Well okay, then!
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