poll of character preferences.

[say652]

Make your choice and explain why.

As of late the powers unlimited immortal.
Reason you can be a psionic or a mage or a super.
Lots of open ended creativity. Awesomesauce!!

Second choice.
Heroes Unlimited Mutants. I like super powers and the traits are very cool.

For my third choice.
Borgs. Durable strong can be very creative in their design.
My favorites. Japanses light frame and white tiger shock trooper.

[The Beast]

I need more than one choice please.

[say652]

Vote for yoyr favorite. And list the others and why.

[eliakon]

Mages. I love mages. They are, to me, the Swiss Army Knife of the game. iMage....There's a spell for that. and all that jazz.

[say652]

Good choice. I myself cant play a mage to any effect.
Armor of ithan&superhuman strength. Charge!!

What about mages besides spells do you like??
Any specific caster type or any mage??

[Mack]

So I'll answer this in a round-about way:

I prefer character's that can't have their "specialness" taken from them easily. A Glitterboy pilot can be pretty awesome, but he also suffers greatly without the Glitterboy armor. Admittedly this is a bit paranoid, but I want a character that would be fine if he lost all of his 'stuff' and was locked up in prison for a time. Not that he'd become the prison boss, just that he'd survive alright. So I lean towards characters that have innate abilities, be they psychic, magic, or whatever.

I also prefer characters that don't have combat as their primary function. (If I was making a cyborg, I'd go for a light to medium chassis with a focus on scouting and reconnaissance instead of the nine foot tall behemoth of destruction.) I like the depth that brings to the character and that the character can take on a particular role within the team.

[flatline]

I chose Mages, Supers, and Demigods.

Supers are specialists that don't usually require bookkeeping. I love them for new players and for myself if it's a one-off or short campaign where there's not much opportunity for character development.

Mages are generalists that have a wide variety of specific tools at their disposal, but no particular tool dominates play like with super powers or psionics. Mages take a long time to ramp up in ability (purchase spells, prepare talismans/amulets/scrolls/etc) and so I love playing them in extended campaigns.

Demigods are a way to make more durable mages that have access to a wider range of abilities than does the normal mage. They are suitable for higher power campaigns where mere moral mages are unlikely to survive long enough to come into their own. I don't care for Godlings and know nothing about PU2 Immortals.

I'm also a big fan of skill heavy characters, but it's much easier to hire someone with a particular skill than it is to hire someone with a particular power, so my characters usually focus on powers and surround themselves with NPC allies with desirable skills. If it's a low powered campaign, then I love to play Rogue Scientists, RMB-era Cyberknights, or Wilderness Scouts, but our low powered campaigns never stayed that way long enough to really get into a skills character.

Similar to Mack, I like characters that can be relatively self sufficient. I consider equipment to be utterly disposable and replaceable and, in fact, I totally expect to lose my equipment and replace it several times over the course of a campaign which is why I never worry about starting with the "best" anything. If I need something special along the way, I'll either find some way to get it or I'll find some way to muddle on without it.

--flatline

[Hotrod]

I tend to categorize characters by the roles they play in the group, rather than by their powers. Groups commonly need abilities like fighting, healing, tracking, diplomacy, infiltration, and escape/evasion.

My own preference is to play a versatile human character with a range of useful abilities. Depending on the campaign, I find Techno-Wizards, Wilderness Scouts, the Scathach, psi-operators/psi-techs, psi-stalkers, and cyber-knights appealing. They have lots of interesting, though somewhat limited skills and abilities, which encourage resourcefulness and creative thinking.

I don't have a problem with gear dependence, as long as the character can make and repair his own stuff, like a Wilderness Scout who makes and mends his own MDC leather armor from his kills.

Specialist classes tend to be less appealing to me. Borgs, Glitter boys, Bursters, tattooed O.C.C.'s, and pure spell casters just don't interest me much. Neither do most super powered or supernatural characters interest me, as they tend to become one-trick-pony characters.

[Alrik Vas]

Skill heavy, combat and socially orientated characters are my preference. I'll even be SDC. Preferably human. If I roll psionics, so be it. if I cab get some cybernetics, cool, but unnecessary. I like being the guy who should be dead 2 actions into the fight, but not only survives the while thing, but leads (and sometimes carries) the group to victory.

Paratrooper, special ops, samurai is good. I think aside a single demigod the furthest I've ever gone is a momano hunter.

[Incriptus]

I like to make a character who is unique or important to the setting elements. In my mind the core Rifts character is someone who has sacrificed much of his humanity to be able to fight and hold ground against those monsters* who would enslave or destroy humanity. In particular I'm thinking about Juicers, Crazies (two categories that probably could be better represented in the poll) and Partial Conversion Borgs. "We 're the bad men, who make it possible for the good men, to make a better world".

Of course that said My Rifts Core is just that, a core. There are plenty of sub-settings where that is not the case. When that is not the case, I want to play a different character.

*There are plenty of men who count as monsters

[Bill]

I like to fill vacant skill and power sets in the group; usually in the weirdest possible way. As an example, I love playing a Zembak Mind Worm to act as the magical support for a group.

[Giant2005]

I chose skill heavy mainly because my preferred choices weren't there and it was the closest to them. I mostly like social characters and I am also fond of fighter type characters (Seriously why wasn't man-at-arms an option?) but if I can do both in one character, I am doubly happy.

[Zer0 Kay]

I like skill heavy characters like N&S Tinker Gizmoteer with with martial art. Even better if the character finds out they're a nightspawn.

[Shark_Force]

i don't necessarily have a set-in-stone "this is what i like to play". it depends on the system really. but a few things i find i prefer:

1) range
2) versatility
3) survivability
4) the ability to make something

not necessarily in that order. in fact, i'd say probably versatility is most important to me... i like to have a character where i feel like i have options. i don't need to be able to choose all of them at once or anything, but i want to be able to make a meaningful choice. i find that classes with relatively few meaningful choices don't interest me - i dislike the idea of playing a merc soldier not because they're weak (although they are), but because i feel like if i play a mind melter or a shifter i have lots of interesting decisions to make - most guns are pretty nearly the same, with only the numbers involved being different. they get access to more or less the same skills as everyone else, and not a particularly abundant selection either. they have no particular ability to make anything that would make them stand out. they're useful and, provided you give them the resources, can actually be quite powerful in combat (give them a decent suit of power armour and they'll most likely kill things much better than a typical mage or psychic. give them access to a stockpile of missiles, and i have a hard time imagining anything else in the game doing as much damage barring actual deities or demon lords, and frankly not even most of them unless they start calling on their armies of minions).

but with a mage or psychic, you have different ways of attacking. you can still use a missile barrage or a laser rifle, but you just have so many more options to choose from both in and out of combat than other classes.

so i like psychics and mages in rifts, but mostly because they have massive versatility. i wouldn't enjoy playing a glitter boy pilot nearly as much, but i like several splicers classes and nightbane, looking across at other settings. i don't like most super powered characters, but with the right selection of powers i think i could enjoy them a lot more (something like the ability to manipulate earth just sounds so much more interesting than, say, alter physical structure: plasma).

basically, i want to have lots of options to choose from, and i want those options to be meaningful. most of the time, the decision between which rifle to use, or what level of medical skills i should invest in, or which 2 minor psychic powers to choose, just aren't really all that meaningful to me.

[Nightmask]

I like skill heavy characters like N&S Tinker Gizmoteer with with martial art. Even better if the character finds out they're a nightspawn.

I believe you mean the Dreamer Gizmoteer, the Tinker Gizmoteer only gets the generic HtH selections (unless your GM has a house rule allowing access to the more trained form for them).

[Morik]

A human Psi-Nullifier, Zapper, Burster, Psi-Ghost or If I want to not worry about skills and power level Mind Melter.

If I want to play a tracker PCC I'll take the Psi-Stalker or a Psi-hound.

Never played a Psi-Slayer. Our groups don't really get that selfish/evil.

[kaid]

I tend to play support characters. Things like operators, black market fixers, cyber docs things of that nature. This tends to mean I tend to be the character in the group with the most skills it tends to make me useful doing a lot of different stuff. And the plus side with these characters is most of them are at least competent in a fight too so I can contribute enough during combat periods that I can enjoy that too.

[Aaryq]

It would be nice if you had something more basic like a CS Grunt. Can't fly anything, no bionics, no psionics, etc...just a man with his armor and his weapon.

[Thom001]

Well when I play a magic character I like to play a nature or mental mage with one or two physical spells on the side, more of a seeker of lost worlds than a set the world on fire kind.

If I'm a psionic I like to also add some kind of insanity or not quite stable or a bad temper that spikes his psionics or something of that nature.

As a super I actually am not big on on choosing from the major category. I tend to choose one power that is his stock in trade and another power or two that relate to that power.

And lastly as a skill character I prefer to play either a stealthy assassin, or a wilderness trap setter, or a sniper if a combat character. If I play a non combat character I prefer playing characters that are compelled to find lost or hidden knowledge, no matter what the cost. Think national treasure's Nicholas cage meets the time machine's guy pierce.

[Killer Cyborg]

At this point, I have no preference.
I can play anything.

[Blue_Lion]

I just prefer mages or skill related charters. Not overly concerned in rifts about dishing out lots of MD.
In game I would rather be helpful than get in a one up man ship contest. And I like to look for options instead of raw power.

[Mechghost]

I like skilled characters, they can fill more than one roll in the party, and they can usually do ok to pretty good in a fight. A Wilderness scout type or tech/grunt or Operator etc. Often a non-human just for flavour.

After that maybe PA/Bot pilot, but I tend to go with suits that aren't just about dishing out damage, current game i'm in a Scorpion Battler, could have gone with a big badass combat platform but this suited the wandering operator character better (bunk area and storage for gear)

Same if I went with a borg, I like the lighter models better, or stealth types like the Mantis from Russia.

Magic or psychic I like the Knight of the White Rose mix of abilities more than a straight mage/psycher.

Not big on superpowers for Rifts.

[Secondhand Smoke]

Gunslingers, gunfighters, special forces, headhunters, sea inquisitors, vampire hunters, wormwood defense monk, gladiators. So I'll assume this is covered by add-ons. These would be my favourites.

Psionics next up. I love the variety of powers and classes and it enables me to be so very creative. Using both telepathy and empathy allows you to influence the game in so many different ways, it's ridiculously powerful. TK is amazing and for cool points (which is a must for me no matter what character) TK Leap. (Major psionic gunslinger ftw, acrobatically TK leap above a combatant, quick draw and fire whilst mid leap. Can I get a hell yeah?!!)
Then you have Psi-Slayers, Cyber Knights, Psi-Nullifiers!, Psi-Ghosts, Zappers and Psi-Warriors. Plus my favourites from Rifter 25, Telekinetic Master, Enthrallers, Intuitive Warrior and Telepaths (this class simply begs for creative players, so goooooood.)
Sorry Mind-Melters, you are all powerful, but you are too boring for me.


Next up is Magic. Tattoos anyone?
No, seriously they are fantastic. Sunaj assassins and Sunaj slayers make for some fun fun sessions.
Leyline Rifters (I love them), Mystic Knights (why wouldn't you?), Temporal Wizard, Spatial Mage and Illusionists. Special mention to the Gateway Knight as well (Mages geared towards teleportation??? YESSSSS!)

I like selfish alignments