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

[Jabroniville]

TECHNO-WIZARD GEAR:
-Now it's a huge list of TW gear. Kevin S helpfully explains that though MOST people can't just activate TW weapons if they're not Mages or young children (rich in P.P.E. that fuels TW stuff), the residents of Tolkeen and Arzno CAN, just because they grew up in a society where such things are normal and so they never lost the ability.

There's a batch of Vampire Killing stuff, like a stake-shooter and various water guns that do 3D6-3d4x10 Hit Points to Vamps. A silver-bladed chainsaw does a solid 5D6+6 Hit Points, and a Wood Rail Gun does a crazy 3D6x10, which is basically the "Boom Gun" version of a Vampire-Killer (keep in mind that even a Master Vampire like this book's Lt. Stuart only have about 140 HP). There's Smoke Grenades that burn Vampires badly, Flash-Bang Grenades of magical power, and a Lightning Mace that has Blast 11. There are Climbing Claws (Wall-Crawling), a Concealment Cloak (Invisibility), a portable Shield (100 M.D.C.), Reading Glasses (Comprehend Text), Security Wand (Detect Magic), Translator (Comprehend Words) and Tactical Targetting System (Ranged Attack +2).

[Harnos]

These structures around the neck look weird. They could be visually pleasing if they were coleoptera-like chitinous wings, even if they don't make much sense for a huge mecha. But they kind of look like a collar now.

[Jabroniville]

TECHNO-WIZARD ARMOR:
-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand now we come to one of the most rip-off-filled chapters in ANY Rifts book. I mean, my god. So this whole thing is essentially one build after another of armor ripped right out of Warhammer 40K's Space Marines. This is much more clear now that we have the internet flashing SM parodies everywhere and people riffing on a game they haven't even played. But yeah, these are litigiously similar and bring further light to Kevin S's HILARIOUS stance on the rights of his intellectual property (to the point of even suing FANSITES and FANARTISTS).

These all seem great, but have short activation times, requiring P.P.E. to use ANY power, and most give out in 5-10 minutes.

The TW Light Armor has +7 Toughness with +1 w/ Armor of Ithan as well as the Globe of Daylight. The Incursion Armor is +8 Toughness w/ +1 Force Field, plus Globe of Silence & Concealment, plus Flight 5. The Exterminator Armor is most clearly a Space Marine, with +9 Toughness, +1 w/ Force Field, plus giving you ST 9. "Ironwood" armor is low toughness (+8), but is easily worn by mages without impeding their P.P.E. channelling (hilariously, this rule was LEFT OUT ENTIRELY of the Main Rulebook, and was shoved way into the middle of Federation of Magic, which was meant to STRENGTHEN Mages but ended up giving them this huge nerf that they couldn't wear armor without hampering their powers). One is Vampire-specific, doing +1D6 Hit Points damage to the undead with unarmed strikes, as well as packing silver forearm blades and the like. Ironwood armor is VERY expensive.

[Jabroniville]

TECHNO-WIZARD "IMITATOR" ARMOR:
-This is more high-end durability Power Armor with minor magical abilities, meant for mercenaries to give minor boosts via their limited P.P.E. Most of these are customizable with various gear able to be added in, and different kinds of helmets used.

"Jackrabbit": ST 8, Toughness +10, Leaping 1, Speed 6 & Uncanny Dodge & Dodge +3 (short time limit), Rail Gun +7, Laser +9, Iron Blaster +11.
-A speedy armor with temporary speed boosts.

"TW Lone Wolf": Toughness +11, Leaping 1, Speed 5, FIGHTING +1, Ranged Attack +1, Dodge +1, Magic Shield, See the Invisible, Magic Blast +9, Unarmed Magic Damage +8, Rail Gun +11, Silver Bullets.
-Sorta the "baseline" armor.

"TW Raging Bull": Toughness +13, Leaping 1, Speed 4, FIGHTING +1, Ranged Attack +1, ST 7, Superhuman Strength (spell makes them ST 10), Armor of Ithan, Compulsion (Self Only), Magical Adrenal-Rush, Rail Gun +13, Silver Rail Gun (4D6x10 HP to Undead).
-This is the superstar of the lineup- a big, bulky suit of power armor that makes you super-strong for short periods of time. It is BLATANTLY a Space Marine Terminator Armor but with tiny little bull horns attached to it.

"TW Thunderbird": Toughness +11, Leaping 1, Speed 4, Flight 7 (Subtle 2), ST 7, Close & Ranged Attack 1, Dodge +2, Eyes of the Wolf, See the Invisible, Light Target, TW Thunder Bolt +14 (10 PPE), Electric Arc +9 (1 PPE), Laser Rifle +11, Grenades, Forearm Blades +9, "Eagle Eye" (Extended Vision 3, Infravision).
-A SAMAS or Flying Titan equivalent with good Toughness and fantastic flight speed. Magical and regular weapons.

"TW Guardian Angel": Toughness +10, Leaping 1, Speed 4, Flight 4, Cleanse, Negate Poison, Greater Healing, Globe of Daylight, Sense Evil, Turn Dead, Armor of Ithan (+1 Toughness), Energy Field, Float in Air, Fly as the Eagle, Charismatic Aura.
-A flying suit for field medics & chaplains that has a LOT of Magic Spells built in.

[Harnos]

"I'm tripping balls, mannnnnnnnnnn...".

That comment got me. Nice work with Egyptian gods. Higher defense, attack and toughness numbers seem fitting for a non-superhero setting. I guess conversion of D&D 3.5 Deities and Demigods could bring similar results with their hundreds of hit points and huge bonuses to AC and attacks, though some of the gods have 50+ strength.

[Harnos]

TAUTON R.C.C.: ST +7, STA +8, AGI +2, FIGHTING +2, Improved Initiative, Protection 3, Extra Limb, "Scorpion Tail" Weaken Stamina 11 (Progressive), AE: Unarmed +2, Low-Light Vision, Vision Counters Concealment, Morph (Large Venomous Snake- Metamorph), Regeneration 2, Immunity (Poison), "Magic" (7 Spells from 1-4) [91 + Magic]

-Bipedial crocodile-men with scorpion tails, the Tautons are named for Set's group, which keeps mentioning "Taut" but doesn't say what that is as far as I can tell (it's some demonic thing in Palladium's setting). Pledging allegiance to Set, they eventually fell out of favor through no fault of their own, as he greatly wasted them in foolish or reckless campaigns. This has made them bitter, hateful, and angry, and gives them a chip on their shoulder, so they have become savage opponents, desperate for validation from their masters.

-Tautons are actually MUCH more dangerous than Ramen, sporting the same durability but adding an extra attack from their Tails, which does a humongous 4D6 Damage PER ROUND (about Damage 11!), which I utilize as a Weaken effect (Palladium doesn't use stat-affecters like that, simply having all poison and venom do regular damage).

+8 stamina and 3 protection. The minion race of this setting has slightly more toughness than actual Olympian gods of Freedomverse who have +10 stamina. I see the infamous power creep now.

THE JINN- ELEMENTAL DEMON: ST +8, STA +2, AGI +2, AWA +2, PRE +2, Streetwise +8, Perception +8, Surival +6, Technology +6, Sleight of Hand +8, Improved Initiative, Enhanced Fighting +4 (Limited to Night), Full-Strength Punch +4, Protection 15 (Impervious 11, Limited to Half by Day), Concealment (Visuals) 4, "Mist Form" Insubstantial 3, AE: "Insect Form" Morph 1 (Metamorph), Immunity 10 (Fire Effects, Limited to Half), Darkvision 2, Vision Counters Concealment 4, Dimensional Travel 2, Regeneration 6, Comprehend 3 (Languages), Dodge +3 [135]
"Black Jinn" (All Earth Elemental Spells 1-8)
"White Jinn" (All Water Elemental Spells 1-7)
"Green Jinn" (All Air Elemental Spells 1-7)
"Yellow Jinn" (All Fire Elemental Spells 1-8)

-Related to the Djinn of Middle Eastern folklore, these things are pretty much just said to be "Demons", and they live in Hades. They are said to have been cursed by Thoth generations ago, forcing them to be the minions of Set. However, Thoth has since regretted this, as he gave Set a mighty ally. Another aspect of the curse is the old "Three Wishes" thing, in which anyone who defeats or frees a Jinn is now its "master", and they must carry out three wishes. However, Jinn are evil tricksters, and can't just conjure anything- they simply have to carry out the wishes as best they can, using the powesr they have.

-Jinn are EXTREMELY powerful and do a ton of damage unarmed (+12!), in addition to being almost impossible to kill (700-900-ish M.D.C. on the regular), but they're vulnerable to silver, Millennium Tree weapons, Rune weapons, etc.

It got worse with a race tougher than average Martian and Daxamite.

[Jabroniville]

TECHNO-WIZARD VEHICLES:
-Now there's some vehicles- and some Wayne Breaux art! Man, been a while since I've seen THAT. There's a Helicopter (Toughness +9, +12 w/ Force Field, Silver Rail Gun +11, Missiles), a small one-man Kamikaze Fighter designed for strafing runs since it's just an engineless cockpit with tiny wings, fueled by the pilot's own P.P.E. (Toughness +9, TK Machine Gun +13, Missiles), and one-man Whirlybird Personal Helicopter (Toughness +9, Rail Gun +12, Lasers +11, Fire Blaster +13, Carpet of Adhesion, Communications).

Ground vehicles are the Sandstorm Hover Craft (Toughness +10, +11 w/ Force Field, Shotgun +10, Anti-Vampire Floodlight, Mini-Missiles, Sand Cloud), Cliff-Rider Personal ATV (Toughness +9, Wall-Crawling), Rover Dune Buggy (Toughness +10, Swivel Gun +10), and the military transport Sand Ranger Combat Truck (Toughness +11, Double-Barreled Brimstone Cannons +13, Rear Gun +12-13).

[Jabroniville]

+8 stamina and 3 protection. The minion race of this setting has slightly more toughness than actual Olympian gods of Freedomverse who have +10 stamina. I see the infamous power creep now.

-Yeah- the scaling I use for Mega-Damage is even somewhat less mighty than Palladium sometimes implies it to be (you'd have to fight some of these guys for an HOUR to whittle them down to nothing), but you really see it when random mooks get high-end toughness. Though PCs often have comparable stats and are expected to be challenged by groups of these guys.

It got worse with a race tougher than average Martian and Daxamite.

Yeah, and then you get to the ACTUAL Gods of the setting, who have dozens of times the toughness of even these things XD.

It's cool that you're going through all the past stuff! It's been so long since I did these that I forgot most of it!

[Harnos]

+8 stamina and 3 protection. The minion race of this setting has slightly more toughness than actual Olympian gods of Freedomverse who have +10 stamina. I see the infamous power creep now.

-Yeah- the scaling I use for Mega-Damage is even somewhat less mighty than Palladium sometimes implies it to be (you'd have to fight some of these guys for an HOUR to whittle them down to nothing), but you really see it when random mooks get high-end toughness. Though PCs often have comparable stats and are expected to be challenged by groups of these guys.

It got worse with a race tougher than average Martian and Daxamite.

Yeah, and then you get to the ACTUAL Gods of the setting, who have dozens of times the toughness of even these things XD.

It's cool that you're going through all the past stuff! It's been so long since I did these that I forgot most of it!

I enjoyed your gods of Egypt overall. High-end power level and defensive capacity is fitting for multiverse-spanning beings.

[Jabroniville]

FORT TOMBSTONE:
-Incredibly, JUST NOW we are getting to the main villains of Arzno. Fort Tombstone is an enclave of Vampires ruled by a Vampire Intelligence that learned from its mistakes, and grew to respect mankind's power. When its entire horde of vamps was burned by a human military force, it learned that mankind's ingenuity needed to be countered. As such, it created a plan involving using the exact same technology. An unfortunate Coalition General named Xavier Stuart became his Master Vampire- unappreciated in life, he now leads a big army in undeath.

Fort Tombstone was a community that was cold to outsiders, making it an ideal "cover" when Vampires took it over- now it's a mix of slaves and a fearful populace, as Vampires rule it in secret. Clues for PCs are things like even Cyber-Knights & Preachers being unwelcome visitors, which is rare in even the unfriendliest towns. Lt. Stuart is the overall commander and rules with an iron fist, calming even the predator Secondary Vampires who hate using human gear- he is a highly-skilled CS Military Specialist whose career was ruined by his low standing as a 'Burbs citizen who came up in the world- his ambitions were dashed when countless sons & daughters of prominent generals rose up past him, and he was never given an important assignment. Angered and betrayed, he quit and made a deal with a Vampire Intelligence. The book implies that Stuart, though brilliant, is badly underestimating the defensive capabilities of Arzno, and assumes he will destroy it handily when the resourceful, strong-willed, vampire-hating people will fight to the last, knowing the alternative is death anyways.

Lt. Stuart has 140 Hit Points, 8 attacks and +5 to everything, and does +9 damage unarmed. This adds up to like +18 accuracy, putting him at PL 13.5 unarmed and PL 15.5 with Coalition-tier hardware! His Secondary Vampires are also very good, with 5-6 attacks and +3 to most abilities- adding up to around +12 to hit and PL 11-12-ish in combat with PL 13 at range.

[Jabroniville]

BLOOD PRIEST O.C.C.
Role: Vampire-Worshippers
PL 7 (142)
STRENGTH 5 STAMINA 9 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+7)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Magic) 4 (+6)
Expertise (Demon & Monster Lore) 8 (+10)
Expertise (Religion) 3 (+5)
Insight 3 (+5)
Intimidation 5 (+8)
Investigation 3 (+5)
Perception 4 (+6)
Persuasion 3 (+6)
Stealth 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 3

Powers:
Features 1: Quadruples P.P.E. Take Upon Sacrificing Another [1]
Immunity 80 (All Damage) (Flaws: Limited to Non-Magical & Psionic Damage, Limited to Half-Effect) [27]
Immunity 5 (Mind Control) [5]

"Blood Sight" Remote Sensing 20 (Feats: Dimensional) (Flaws: Source- Pool of Fresh Blood, Source- 30 Minute Ritual Per Minute, Limited to 5 Minutes) (8) -- [9]

• AE: "Blood Rift" Movement 3 (Dimensional Travel 3) (Extras: Portal +2) (Flaws: Limited to Dimensions the Intelligence Knows, Source- Gallon of Blood, Source- Others' P.P.E.) (6)

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +9, Fortitude +9, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (The Vampire Intelligence)- All Blood Priests worship a Vampire Intelligence, and must consume at least two pints of blood per weak.
Power Loss (Psionics)- A Blood Priest loses any Psionic powers they had before the pledged themselves to a Vampire Intelligence.
Vulnerable (Vampire Weaknesses)- Blood Priests gain Vampire Weaknesses- silver items do their S.D.C. equivalent in Mega-Damage (usually +7-10). They are -3 in combat in daylight, and find things like holy water and crosses frightening (with an Intimidation factor of +7 or so).

Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 42 / Defenses: 7 (142)

-The Vampire Intelligence responsible for Lt. Stuart's plan created the Blood Cult- an order of Vampire Worshipping sentients who have sold out mortal life in return for power. Led by an evil being who is second to Lt. Stuart (though more powerful), they have given the Intelligence their souls, and have formed a cult of followers from the ranks of both humanity and D-Bees & Sub-Demons. Blood Cultists fall down and worship at the feet of even Wild Vampires, and desire undeath for themselves. The Priests use them to commit acts of sabotage against the Vampires' enemies. As of yet, the Blood Cult is rather small and easily controlled.

-Blood Priests gain super-powers upon pledging themselves to Vampire Intelligences- they become fairly durable Mega-Damage beings who are immediately great schemers and plotters. They can do Mega-Damage unarmed (though have no actual strength bonus so it's at lower levels), and much of their power comes from whatever class they were BEFORE they pledged, as they don't learn any additional spells save for a couple of rituals that take considerable time and effort to pull off. Of primary note in battle is a Half-Immunity to ALL DAMAGE so long as it's not magical or psionic, but they do have Vampire weaknesses.

[Jabroniville]

THE BLACK SWORDS:
-Lastly, we come to the Black Swords- the final wrinkle in the Arzno/Vampire story. They're actually a quartet of CYBER-KNIGHTS allied with Lt. Stuart's Vampire legions! However, they have myriad goals and personalities- their leader, Sir Jude, desperately wanted the Cyber-Knights to take a stand against the Vampires, whom he saw as the real threat. He was disgusted when the organization refused, focusing on Tolkeen and nother things. So Jude did the unthinkable and decided to force their hand- deliberately joining Vampires and slaughtering hordes of innocents. The group engages in wanton slaughter and has allied with Lt. Stuart, all in hopes of bringing in Lord Coake and other Cyber-Knights, who will then realize the true threat of Vampires and take action.

The book is clear that Sir Jude is an aberrant evil madman- he is using Lt. Stuart, tricking him into an alliance by saying "Vampires make the region peaceful". Jude is actually very potent- 7 attacks and solid bonuses make him +15 to hit and he's got +10-13 gear, so he's about PL 14. Of the three others, Sir Lunais is a Rahu-Man (200 M.D.C.) who is a good man, but was sworn by a blood oath to obey Sir Jude and thus must go on with it (lol okay the Knights have GOT to have something against that in their rules). His stats are INSANE- 10 attacks (!!) and great bonuses, meaning he's +20 or so to hit and does similar damage to Jude! He has a SAMAS Rail Gun and does +11 unarmed anyways, so he's about PL 18!

Sir Risharde was born crippled and grew bitter and resentful against the world- another evil Cyber-Knight trained him and fixed up his body, and now Risharde is a Chaotic Evil blackguard who kills for the joy of it, enjoying seeing people suffer. He's also a great fighter, about +14 to hit. Sir John of Conrad is a fraudster- a poor Cyber-Knight from a family of them, who abandoned his superior brother's corpse and took credit for killing Worm Wraiths all over the New West... but it turned out his brother had actually survived and was doing it. John was found out and ran, and joined up with the Black Swords to strike back at the Cyber-Knights and deliberately ruin the family name. He's only +11 to hit or so. Lady Night Runner is a Native American Traditionalist O.C.C. who joined the Cyber-Knights out of respect for their aide in helping her hunting party slay some demons. However, she slowly went insane, seeing Vampires as the embodiment of her new "totem", as they had refused the Circle of Life and become something greater. She allied with Lt. Stuart and was assigned to watch over the Black Swords as a tracker, and in cause Sir Lunais, whom Stuart doesn't trust, did something. She's +13-14 to hit, and has a Spirit Bow fetish that does +11 damage.

Overall, the Black Swords are a pretty good "Villainous Party"- the writer clearly gives each one a lot of thought, as there's 5 different origins and a lot of different ways things can work out. Two are insane, one is good but obligated to help, and two are just hateful anti-Knight sorts.

[Jabroniville]

RIFTS ARZNO SUMMATION:
-So this is another "Setting Book", but feels less thorough and far-reaching than the others. I think by this point Rifts was becoming less about "O.C.C. Bloat" and just filling pages with all sorts of stuff about towns and various metaplots going on. It's fine, I guess, but the Vampire thing never really interested me all that much. The NPCs are pretty good, though.

[Jabroniville]

RIFTS WORLD BOOK 29- MADHAVEN (2006):
-And now, we finally come to New York. Rifts has always had a lot of creator provincialism- Kevin Siembieda & the Palladium offices are in Michigan, so of course the game's primary setting is set around Illinois (Chicago), Michigan, and upwards to Toronoto & Quebec. New York and most other large cities on the coasts were destroyed by the great cataclysm that wrecked the world. New York was a desolate wasteland controlled by monsters, but we'd never actually LEARNED anything about it.

And now Brandon Aten & Taylor White have written the story of it, of course with Kevin S also on the byline. Much is made of the destruction of New York City- waves and earthquakes killed 80-99% of all life and nothing remains of the past civilization. Entities are all over Madhaven, which is kinda funny- this book and Rifts Arzno are both obsessed with Entities. I swear I read about them in Rifts Conversion Book One and then never again... and now two books in a row are obsessed with Entities? There's also the Order of the Knights of the White Rose, who inhabit Central Park (now called "The Garden"), giving us another batch of "Noble Knights" in Rifts. Four O.C.C.s just for the Order, too!

A huge section is devoted to the Haven Mutants, who are incredibly numerous and are mostly mutated people named after animals but mostly due to their horrible mutations altering them with some distinctive animal-like traits. They look positively horrific, though, given a lot of "Body Horror" modifications. They gather together in massive gangs, and make up most of Madhaven's population. After that we get a big section of Monsters, as you might expect. After that, it's a pile of (ugh) Entities.

"Madhaven" is thought to contain old treasures, but the city was totally destroyed (skyscrapers are all hollowed out or toppled) and everything is filled with demons, roving insane gangs, and more. Of those who head to Madhaven in search of treasure or adventure, 1/3 die, 1/3 are scarred (many are left insane), and the rest flee. No one has ever succeeded in "clearing it out". The psychic imprint of millions of dead people drives visitors insane- some are more affected by others, but everyone is disconcerted to be around Madhaven.

It's pretty clear this is an "Art-Driven Book", though- Kent Burles draws most of the horrific mutants, and Jeffrey Russell draws the Entities in the latter half. So it's mostly a bleak, horrific landscape you could easily lose your whole party to, but at least there's some kind of motif here.

[Sidious]

I'm a fan of this book.
I like the idea of the Knights of the White Rose being a good offshoot of the Mystic Knights. They have the same abilities but different philosphy.
The new Techno-wizard items are great. Cherubim TW Power Armor, Lightshaper weapons & Shields, The Inferno Sword. Fantastic.
Then you have the Garden itself and there are some very cool little secrets residing with in it. *coughISIScough*

If there is a downside for me it's the art for the mutants and monsters. I am simply not a fan of the drawings at all.