How would you build a magical SF team.

Blue_Lion · Unread post by **Blue_Lion** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 1:19 am

Ok you are putting together a team of mages from NA to serve as SF. What occs would you look for and what training would you give them. What would be the standard load out.

Edit-real world team SF size 12 man.
Please address main concerns such as communication, Transportation, weapons, armor and any special spell required.

dragonfett · Unread post by **dragonfett** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 1:51 am

I'm guessing that this would be a squad sized team (4-6 people)? Here would be my choices:

1) Team leader, Ley Line Walker.
2) Second in Command, Shifter
3) Gadget Maker, Techno-Wizard
4) Battle Mage
5) Tattooed Man
6) Warlock: Earth

All that have the option of getting it, I would have them trained in Hand to Hand: Martial Arts (or better if they can).
At least one (either the LLW or Shifter) will have Intelligence as a skill.
At least one (either the LLW of Shifter) will know the spell Charismatic Aura.

Blue_Lion · Unread post by **Blue_Lion** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 1:55 am

http://www.goarmy.com/special-forces/team-members.html

Lets use real world SF team size of 12.

eliakon · Unread post by **eliakon** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 2:29 am

If I have to go RAW?

I want so far
1 Combat Mage: for those sweet sweet Combat Magic spells (which RAW no one else will learn because its beneath them)
2 Battle Magus: for that amazing combat potential (seriously a mage with sharpshooter!)
3 Ley Line Rifter: for the teleportation ability.
4 Yhabbar Bubble Mystic: Laugh all you want those bubbles are insane, and can be used to great effect. Sure he wont kill with them... but he would certainly be willing to knock people out who we would otherwise have to kill...
5 Warlock. Probably an Earth/Air warlock
someone else. Most likely the missions specialist for what ever mission we are going on.
12 man team I have a number of bench warmers who are telling me that "I can do it coach, put me in" but that will take a minute.
I know I want
6 T-man,
7 Stone Master,
8 Techno-Wizard
9 Ocean Wizard would be a neat option for the silent casting option
10 Mamono Headhunter
11 Hatchling Cat Eye Dragon
12 will be the mission specialist. The guy that we get for the mission at hand. Hitting vampires, we bring a necromancer. Raiding Horune pirates, spell singer might be nice. And so on and so forth.
I would have to work on a equipment list. I would be taking a mix of both TW weapons, and high tech. I will also bring talismans and scrolls.
Training is another longer range thing I am tinkering with.

I will draw only from material (races, skills, spells, weapons, implants, devices, training, OCCs, armor, what ever else)
that is canonically available in the former Canada, Mexico, United States, or Carrabin. Yes?

Shark_Force · Unread post by **Shark_Force** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:32 am

grab any random group of spellcasters.

they are all special forces. most of them will potentially be able to handle pretty much all the needs of an SF squad, provided they have the right spell selection.

say652 · Unread post by **say652** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 10:02 am

Temporal Warriors, the Auto Dodge is super helpful.

Blue_Lion · Unread post by **Blue_Lion** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 3:19 pm

eliakon wrote:If I have to go RAW?

I want so far
1 Combat Mage: for those sweet sweet Combat Magic spells (which RAW no one else will learn because its beneath them)
2 Battle Magus: for that amazing combat potential (seriously a mage with sharpshooter!)
3 Ley Line Rifter: for the teleportation ability.
4 Yhabbar Bubble Mystic: Laugh all you want those bubbles are insane, and can be used to great effect. Sure he wont kill with them... but he would certainly be willing to knock people out who we would otherwise have to kill...
5 Warlock. Probably an Earth/Air warlock
someone else. Most likely the missions specialist for what ever mission we are going on.
12 man team I have a number of bench warmers who are telling me that "I can do it coach, put me in" but that will take a minute.
I know I want
6 T-man,
7 Stone Master,
8 Techno-Wizard
9 Ocean Wizard would be a neat option for the silent casting option
10 Mamono Headhunter
11 Hatchling Cat Eye Dragon
12 will be the mission specialist. The guy that we get for the mission at hand. Hitting vampires, we bring a necromancer. Raiding Horune pirates, spell singer might be nice. And so on and so forth.
I would have to work on a equipment list. I would be taking a mix of both TW weapons, and high tech. I will also bring talismans and scrolls.
Training is another longer range thing I am tinkering with.

I will draw only from material (races, skills, spells, weapons, implants, devices, training, OCCs, armor, what ever else)
that is canonically available in the former Canada, Mexico, United States, or Carrabin. Yes?

Correct it has to be reasonably available in NA.
If you want you can list a offical occ list and one using optional occs that have been published.

J_cobbers · Unread post by **J_cobbers** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 3:28 pm

Using the link Blue Lion provided here are the roles that need to be filled:

1) Weapons Sergeants: ie mages that can bring the firepower so a Combat Mage and or Battle Magus would be good picks, maybe a Tatoo man as a force multiplier.

2) Communications Sergeants: Someone who can talk to higher command and within the team, Ley Line Walkers/Rifters or a Mystic with telepathy comes to mind, anyone who can pass info between separate teams quickly.

3) Medical Sergeants: Herbalist Druids from WB3 England, PFRG Psi-healer (not strictly magic, but that may have it's uses) or some other class with an emphasis on healing magic.

4) Engineering Sergeants: Techno-Wizard or a psi-operator for mechanical stuff, Earth Warlock or Elemental Fusionist for removing obstacles (Engineers in the Army usually either build stuff or more likely in SF blow stuff up/demolish stuff)

5) A Commander: Needs to be someone with good Command and control capabilities and able to direct the operations: Temporal Wizard comes to mind,

6) Assistant Commander (Warrant Officer) Again good C&C, but also with a specialization others don't have.

7) Operations/Intelligence Sergeant: Someone who can gather info and blend in and operate on their own behind enemy lines. Things that would help are the ability metamorph and not tip off PsiStalkers and Dog Boys. I would say you may want either a Dragon or something like a Changeling Mind Melter or Diabolist (good for coded languages)

8 ) Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge (NCOIC) Someone to co-ordinate teams and take charge on the ground. Should be able to fit into most other roles, a generalist like the good old Ley line walker/ PFRPG Wizard.

taalismn · Unread post by **taalismn** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 3:40 pm

No love for necromancers? They get to be the creepy kill-crazy guy in the Dirty Dozen ensemble, plus they can do all sorts of funny/nasty things with dead enemies. :twisted:

J_cobbers · Unread post by **J_cobbers** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 4:55 pm

taalismn wrote:No love for necromancers? They get to be the creepy kill-crazy guy in the Dirty Dozen ensemble, plus they can do all sorts of funny/nasty things with dead enemies.

In my list they might fill the Assistant Commander a Weapons Sergeant slot because they can either fill a special role or act as a force multiplier in certain situations. Definitely a mission specialist if you are going someplace with either undead, mass graves or the scene of a recent battle with lots of bodies lying around.

Blue_Lion · Unread post by **Blue_Lion** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 5:51 pm

Every one is focusing on just OCCs and not gear or any special training you would require they undergo or what gear you would give them.

example
weapon training requirement-E-rifle, pistol/revolver knife, and at least two have archery.
Physical training requirement-Prowl, general athletics.
Technical lore training(can be provided by rouge scholars without spending slots)-literacy, and all lore skills.
Other skill training- would like intelligence-one or two with demolition or demolition disposal.
Best hand to hand available to occ.

Magical spell training for those that can learn-armor of ithan, Invisibility simple, amulet, Talisman, create water, carpet of adhesion, meteor, restoration, restore life, heal wounds, mend the broaken and illusionary terrain.

Gear- NG-s2 survial kit.
TW armor(35MDC) with the fallowing spells at level 5, invulnerability, sustain, invisibility superior.
Multi optics helmet with built in tw see invisible amulet.(would like to modify it with hearing protection like the ear muffs with a built in mike so you can hear normally but still protects against loud noises but no rules for that.)
Wilks 457 laser pulse rifle with 6 extra eclips
TK revolver
Long term dimensional pockets grenade pouch.-contains 1 endless 38 revolver, 6 frag grende, 2 smoke, 4 plasma, 3 flash bang, 2 cookies, and 2 goblin grendes of COA coa
TW battle harness-chain the spells superhuman strength, superhuman Endurance, and magical adrenalin rush. Hass PPE battery for two casting
TW battle gauntlet typically worn on the off hand-has retractable v-blade claws(1d6)md and TW electic arc with 2 uses of PPE battries.
Vehicles-group has 2 modified mountaineer atv TW eclectic engine, invulnerability and improve invisibility.
Individual vehicles are the wing boards from SOT believe the name is turbo wing board the ones that fly any where.
The stealth guile suit from merc ops.
Comms encrypted communicator with ear peace and sub vocal mike.

Speical gear- 4 storm flares for the group.
2 crossbows with mix of tech and goblin grenade arrows.
CO, NCOIC and intelligence personal TWp-3000 wrist top tw computer for hacking (official hacking rules found in rifter) with a built in psi detector from psi-scape and am fm radio receiver.

eliakon · Unread post by **eliakon** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 8:55 pm

Blue_Lion wrote:Every one is focusing on just OCCs and not gear or any special training you would require they undergo or what gear you would give them.

I plan to get a bit more detailed construction (though not to the point of writing up 12 characters) when school is not so busy.

But yeah, I will mention some spells and items that I plan to use.

<edit> fixed quotes

Blue_Lion · Unread post by **Blue_Lion** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 10:05 pm

eliakon wrote:
Blue_Lion wrote:Every one is focusing on just OCCs and not gear or any special training you would require they undergo or what gear you would give them.

I plan to get a bit more detailed construction (though not to the point of writing up 12 characters) when school is not so busy.

But yeah, I will mention some spells and items that I plan to use.

not expecting a write up like that but there is more to sf than just the classes.

flatline · Unread post by **flatline** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 10:16 pm

What is the mission profile you have in mind?

You can't design a special forces team without knowing what they're intended to accomplish.

--flatline

Blue_Lion · Unread post by **Blue_Lion** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 10:28 pm

flatline wrote:What is the mission profile you have in mind?

You can't design a special forces team without knowing what they're intended to accomplish.

--flatline

Untrue you confusing a special mission team built for a mission and standard team you build for hard missions in general. You are building a general purpose SF team to handle SF style missions not a team for a set goal.

Basically I asked for building teams to handle the types of missions you would expect from SF. Not build a team for a set mission, it is up to you to create a team to handle the missions you think they should be expected to.

dragonfett · Unread post by **dragonfett** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 12:42 am

Blue_Lion wrote:Every one is focusing on just OCCs and not gear or any special training you would require they undergo or what gear you would give them.

example
weapon training requirement-E-rifle, pistol/revolver knife, and at least two have archery.
Physical training requirement-Prowl, general athletics.
Technical lore training(can be provided by rouge scholars without spending slots)-literacy, and all lore skills.
Other skill training- would like intelligence-one or two with demolition or demolition disposal.
Best hand to hand available to occ.

Magical spell training for those that can learn-armor of ithan, Invisibility simple, amulet, Talisman, create water, carpet of adhesion, meteor, restoration, restore life, heal wounds, mend the broaken and illusionary terrain.

Gear- NG-s2 survial kit.
TW armor(35MDC) with the fallowing spells at level 5, invulnerability, sustain, invisibility superior.
Multi optics helmet with built in tw see invisible amulet.(would like to modify it with hearing protection like the ear muffs with a built in mike so you can hear normally but still protects against loud noises but no rules for that.)
Wilks 457 laser pulse rifle with 6 extra eclips
TK revolver
Long term dimensional pockets grenade pouch.-contains 1 endless 38 revolver, 6 frag grende, 2 smoke, 4 plasma, 3 flash bang, 2 cookies, and 2 goblin grendes of COA coa
TW battle harness-chain the spells superhuman strength, superhuman Endurance, and magical adrenalin rush. Hass PPE battery for two casting
TW battle gauntlet typically worn on the off hand-has retractable v-blade claws(1d6)md and TW electic arc with 2 uses of PPE battries.
Vehicles-group has 2 modified mountaineer atv TW eclectic engine, invulnerability and improve invisibility.
Individual vehicles are the wing boards from SOT believe the name is turbo wing board the ones that fly any where.
The stealth guile suit from merc ops.
Comms encrypted communicator with ear peace and sub vocal mike.

Speical gear- 4 storm flares for the group.
2 crossbows with mix of tech and goblin grenade arrows.
CO, NCOIC and intelligence personal TWp-3000 wrist top tw computer for hacking (official hacking rules found in rifter) with a built in psi detector from psi-scape and am fm radio receiver.

I had been focusing on the OCC's to start with mainly because I was replying from my phone and had limited ability to type out a lengthy response and could not easily access my books at the time.

Here is a full breakdown of what I would choose for OCC's

(note: italicized items means that all members of the team should have it if at all possible, non-italicized items can be spread out through out the rest of the team)

Spoiler:

Proseksword · Unread post by **Proseksword** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 7:42 am

Blue_Lion wrote:http://www.goarmy.com/special-forces/team-members.html

Lets use real world SF team size of 12.

That team is actually two redundant fire teams of 4 specialists and the CO, XO, IO & NCOIC. That redundancy is important when the team has to split up for missions or to prevent a single casualty from limiting the teams ability to function. It's probably best not to create a team with 12 separate roles for just that reason.

flatline · Unread post by **flatline** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 8:51 am

Blue_Lion wrote:
flatline wrote:What is the mission profile you have in mind?

You can't design a special forces team without knowing what they're intended to accomplish.

--flatline

Untrue you confusing a special mission team built for a mission and standard team you build for hard missions in general. You are building a general purpose SF team to handle SF style missions not a team for a set goal.

Basically I asked for building teams to handle the types of missions you would expect from SF. Not build a team for a set mission, it is up to you to create a team to handle the missions you think they should be expected to.

What types of missions is this team expected to handle? From your own link, the only constraint I see is that these teams rely on stealth, but then I also see this:

These teams can change according to the type of mission.

Which clearly states that the team composition is dependent on the type of mission being assigned.

So instead of calling me "confused", why don't you simply answer my question and describe the types of missions you have in mind for this team?

--flatline

drewkitty ~..~ · Thu Sep 29, 2016 12:59 pm

You build a Space Force team with pilots and engineers to start and you have boarding/defending specilists, Cargo manager and an ""Ambassitor""

As a Space Force team that also crews their own transport ship.
half-wizard Captain: Military Specilist w/ a navy specilization.
2 T-men (non-slpugi) or a couple Rune warriors.
3 TWs as ship's engineers
Mystic Study with healing magic as "ship's healer"
an LLW as ship's mage. (had to throw in a LLW cause the Rifts people expect it)
a Shifter as the cargo handler.
warlock marine w/suit
Pleasure Bunny Rift Runner
Half Wizard pilot

Blue_Lion · Unread post by **Blue_Lion** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 1:50 pm

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:You build a Space Force team with pilots and engineers to start and you have boarding/defending specilists, Cargo manager and an ""Ambassitor""

As a Space Force team that also crews their own transport ship.
half-wizard Captain: Military Specilist w/ a navy specilization.
2 T-men (non-slpugi) or a couple Rune warriors.
3 TWs as ship's engineers
Mystic Study with healing magic as "ship's healer"
an LLW as ship's mage. (had to throw in a LLW cause the Rifts people expect it)
a Shifter as the cargo handler.
warlock marine w/suit
Pleasure Bunny Rift Runner
Half Wizard pilot

*Sigh* I clearly was not talking about space force from NA. AS north America is not in space and has no safe space access.
Sf typically refers to special forces.
Warlock marines seams unlikely to come from north America.

say652 · Unread post by **say652** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 2:14 pm

I have some questions regarding the team.
How many members?
What books are my selections limited to?

Are UWW tw items and c ships usable?
Are you counting psychics as "mages" for team members?

eliakon · Unread post by **eliakon** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 6:03 pm

Blue_Lion wrote:
drewkitty ~..~ wrote:You build a Space Force team with pilots and engineers to start and you have boarding/defending specilists, Cargo manager and an ""Ambassitor""

As a Space Force team that also crews their own transport ship.
half-wizard Captain: Military Specilist w/ a navy specilization.
2 T-men (non-slpugi) or a couple Rune warriors.
3 TWs as ship's engineers
Mystic Study with healing magic as "ship's healer"
an LLW as ship's mage. (had to throw in a LLW cause the Rifts people expect it)
a Shifter as the cargo handler.
warlock marine w/suit
Pleasure Bunny Rift Runner
Half Wizard pilot

*Sigh* I clearly was not talking about space force from NA. AS north America is not in space and has no safe space access.
Sf typically refers to special forces.
Warlock marines seams unlikely to come from north America.

Since it isn't even all rifts (this uses HU, ATB, and PF) let alone North America (or any other NA) and is a deliberate misinterpretation of the initials I can only assume that it was an attempt to be funny.

eliakon · Unread post by **eliakon** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 6:23 pm

1 Combat Mage: for those sweet sweet Combat Magic spells (which RAW no one else will learn because its beneath them)
2 Battle Magus: for that amazing combat potential (seriously a mage with sharpshooter!)
3 Ley Line Rifter: for the teleportation ability.
4 Yhabbar Bubble Mystic: Laugh all you want those bubbles are insane, and can be used to great effect. Sure he wont kill with them... but he would certainly be willing to knock people out who we would otherwise have to kill...
5 Warlock. Probably an Earth/Air warlock
6 T-man,
7 Stone Master those gems make them a great swiss army specialist, and they can store extra PPE up in emeralds.
8 Techno-Wizard
9 Ocean Wizard would be a neat option for the silent casting option
10 Mamono Headhunter
11 Hatchling Cat Eye Dragon The Cats Eye is a pretty nasty mind control specialist and that would be of great use to a SF team.
12 will be the mission specialist. The guy that we get for the mission at hand. Hitting vampires, we bring a necromancer. Raiding Horune pirates, spell singer might be nice. And so on and so forth.

Talismans for the entire team will include
Invisibility: Simple
Invisibility to Sensors
Mystic Invisibility
Shadow Meld
Infrared Vision
This set will cover infiltration, allowing the team to infiltrate virtually anywhere undetected.

Impervious to Energy
Invincible Armor
Chromatic Protection
Magical-Adrenal Rush
Electromagnetic Attack
Fighting Spirit
This set will cover when they are in combat

For equipment I would have available for draw, at a minimum:
TW Jammer Pistol
TW Snare Gun
TW TK Rifle
JA-12 Rifle

I would try to issue TW Draining Blades (that lose an action each time I hit you is nasty and it works through power armor? Yes please)
Everyone would be issued a Dimensional Pocket filled with nothing but Fire Globes (I don't have to search the pocket... anything I grab will be the globe I want)
Goblin Bomb: Carpet of Adhesion would be another must purchase item

Skills
W.P. Rifle
W.P. Pistol
W.P. Knife
Running
Prowl
Targeting
Language: Navajo is suitably obscure and historical for a 'battle language'
Anyone capable of learning them will get Boxing, and Wrestling
I will make sure they all have H2H Martial Arts (Or Commando if I can swing that)
Radio: Basic
Radio: Scramblers
Demolitions

Spells
Armor of Ithan, Life Blast, Armor Bizarre, Shadow Meld, Invisibility Superior, Eyes of the Dead (necromancy), Negate Mechanics, Carpet of Adhesion, Magic Net, Magic Pigeon, See Aura, Mystic Alarm, Second Sight, Lifeward, Frequency Jamming, Chromatic Protection, Ricochet Strike, Calling, Call Lightning, Mental Blast, Mental Shock, Blind, Domination, Impervious to Energy

Armor would likely MA-W1 TW Wraith Suits
Supplemented with Naruni FF belts.

The Bubblemaster will be going for spells like Trance, Dominate, Thunderclap, Blinding Flash, and other debuff/crowd control spells that can be sent in through the bubbles to get at people. Dominate is especially nasty as it can allow for remote mind control

The T-Man will have the Cloud in Chains tattoo for the ability to talk to air-elementals. This will be combined with the summoning to allow for the air elemental to be used as a scout and report to a second person. Meaning I can have both fire teams get the benefit with only one warlock. (Actually if possible I would look into getting this tattoo for others in the group that were humans solely for this feature if nothing else)

I will want both the anti-magic and anti-psi weapon tattoos, both a melee one (sword so I can stack with fencing) and ranged, most likely Boomerang or Spear. This will give a way to take down defensive barriers at range.
A selection of monster and animal tattoos will be used to allow for support
Skull with thorns allows death touch, which goes through armor again.
Rose dripping thorns is an effective healing magic
Eye with tear offers cheap easy access to Empathic Transmission, which can be devastating.

say652 · Unread post by **say652** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 8:24 pm

eliakon wrote:1 Combat Mage: for those sweet sweet Combat Magic spells (which RAW no one else will learn because its beneath them)
2 Battle Magus: for that amazing combat potential (seriously a mage with sharpshooter!)
3 Ley Line Rifter: for the teleportation ability.
4 Yhabbar Bubble Mystic: Laugh all you want those bubbles are insane, and can be used to great effect. Sure he wont kill with them... but he would certainly be willing to knock people out who we would otherwise have to kill...
5 Warlock. Probably an Earth/Air warlock
6 T-man,
7 Stone Master those gems make them a great swiss army specialist, and they can store extra PPE up in emeralds.
8 Techno-Wizard
9 Ocean Wizard would be a neat option for the silent casting option
10 Mamono Headhunter
11 Hatchling Cat Eye Dragon The Cats Eye is a pretty nasty mind control specialist and that would be of great use to a SF team.
12 will be the mission specialist. The guy that we get for the mission at hand. Hitting vampires, we bring a necromancer. Raiding Horune pirates, spell singer might be nice. And so on and so forth.

Talismans for the entire team will include
Invisibility: Simple
Invisibility to Sensors
Mystic Invisibility
Shadow Meld
Infrared Vision
This set will cover infiltration, allowing the team to infiltrate virtually anywhere undetected.

Impervious to Energy
Invincible Armor
Chromatic Protection
Magical-Adrenal Rush
Electromagnetic Attack
Fighting Spirit
This set will cover when they are in combat

For equipment I would have available for draw, at a minimum:
TW Jammer Pistol
TW Snare Gun
TW TK Rifle
JA-12 Rifle

I would try to issue TW Draining Blades (that lose an action each time I hit you is nasty and it works through power armor? Yes please)
Everyone would be issued a Dimensional Pocket filled with nothing but Fire Globes (I don't have to search the pocket... anything I grab will be the globe I want)
Goblin Bomb: Carpet of Adhesion would be another must purchase item

Skills
W.P. Rifle
W.P. Pistol
W.P. Knife
Running
Prowl
Targeting
Language: Navajo is suitably obscure and historical for a 'battle language'
Anyone capable of learning them will get Boxing, and Wrestling
I will make sure they all have H2H Martial Arts (Or Commando if I can swing that)
Radio: Basic
Radio: Scramblers
Demolitions

Spells
Armor of Ithan, Life Blast, Armor Bizarre, Shadow Meld, Invisibility Superior, Eyes of the Dead (necromancy), Negate Mechanics, Carpet of Adhesion, Magic Net, Magic Pigeon, See Aura, Mystic Alarm, Second Sight, Lifeward, Frequency Jamming, Chromatic Protection, Ricochet Strike, Calling, Call Lightning, Mental Blast, Mental Shock, Blind, Domination, Impervious to Energy

Armor would likely MA-W1 TW Wraith Suits
Supplemented with Naruni FF belts.

The Bubblemaster will be going for spells like Trance, Dominate, Thunderclap, Blinding Flash, and other debuff/crowd control spells that can be sent in through the bubbles to get at people. Dominate is especially nasty as it can allow for remote mind control

The T-Man will have the Cloud in Chains tattoo for the ability to talk to air-elementals. This will be combined with the summoning to allow for the air elemental to be used as a scout and report to a second person. Meaning I can have both fire teams get the benefit with only one warlock. (Actually if possible I would look into getting this tattoo for others in the group that were humans solely for this feature if nothing else)

I will want both the anti-magic and anti-psi weapon tattoos, both a melee one (sword so I can stack with fencing) and ranged, most likely Boomerang or Spear. This will give a way to take down defensive barriers at range.
A selection of monster and animal tattoos will be used to allow for support
Skull with thorns allows death touch, which goes through armor again.
Rose dripping thorns is an effective healing magic
Eye with tear offers cheap easy access to Empathic Transmission, which can be devastating.

Brofist.

Welp found my new team.

drewkitty ~..~ · Thu Sep 29, 2016 10:25 pm

eliakon wrote:
Blue_Lion wrote:
drewkitty ~..~ wrote:You build a Space Force team with pilots and engineers to start and you have boarding/defending specialists, Cargo manager and an ""Ambassador""

As a Space Force team that also crews their own transport ship.
half-wizard Captain: Military Specialist w/ a navy specialization.
2 T-men (non-slpugi) or a couple Rune warriors.
3 TWs as ship's engineers
Mystic Study with healing magic as "ship's healer"
an LLW as ship's mage. (had to throw in a LLW cause the Rifts people expect it)
a Shifter as the cargo handler.
warlock marine w/suit
Pleasure Bunny Rift Runner
Half Wizard pilot

*Sigh* I clearly was not talking about space force from NA. AS north America is not in space and has no safe space access.
Sf typically refers to special forces.
Warlock marines seams unlikely to come from north America.

Since it isn't even all rifts (this uses HU, ATB, and PF) let alone North America (or any other NA) and is a deliberate misinterpretation of the initials I can only assume that it was an attempt to be funny.

You are sort of right in one count. That I deliberately interpreted the letters 'S' 'F' the way I wanted too. Because the OP does not say what those letters stand for, I was free to make such a choice.

EDIT: SF is, for the PB megaverse, the standard abbreviation for the Systems Failure setting/book. Which has even more limited magic selections then all the PB settings, other then Recon & The Mechinoids settings.

Yes, I went outside the perimeters of only North America classes….cause that would be Boring. Besides its ""Rifts"" and there are not specific Magic Pilot classes in the NS books that I could think of. (Outside of maybe the Magi classes in FoM that is... I rejected using those classes for this.)
Besides that it's Rifts…the crossroads of the PB Megaverse. Where any class/race can possibly be found.

Blue_Lion · Unread post by **Blue_Lion** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 11:27 pm

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:
eliakon wrote:
Blue_Lion wrote:
drewkitty ~..~ wrote:You build a Space Force team with pilots and engineers to start and you have boarding/defending specialists, Cargo manager and an ""Ambassador""

As a Space Force team that also crews their own transport ship.
half-wizard Captain: Military Specialist w/ a navy specialization.
2 T-men (non-slpugi) or a couple Rune warriors.
3 TWs as ship's engineers
Mystic Study with healing magic as "ship's healer"
an LLW as ship's mage. (had to throw in a LLW cause the Rifts people expect it)
a Shifter as the cargo handler.
warlock marine w/suit
Pleasure Bunny Rift Runner
Half Wizard pilot

*Sigh* I clearly was not talking about space force from NA. AS north America is not in space and has no safe space access.
Sf typically refers to special forces.
Warlock marines seams unlikely to come from north America.

Since it isn't even all rifts (this uses HU, ATB, and PF) let alone North America (or any other NA) and is a deliberate misinterpretation of the initials I can only assume that it was an attempt to be funny.

You are sort of right in one count. That I deliberately interpreted the letters 'S' 'F' the way I wanted too. Because the OP does not say what those letters stand for, I was free to make such a choice.

Yes, I went outside the perimeters of only North America classes….cause that would be Boring. Besides its ""Rifts"" and there are not specific Magic Pilot classes in the NS books that I could think of. (Outside of maybe the Magi classes in FoM that is... I rejected using those classes for this.)
Besides that it's Rifts…the crossroads of the PB Megaverse. Where any class/race can possibly be found.

SF is standard abbreviation for Special forces, the fact I said use real world teams size and even provided a link , to clear up questions.
The fact you deliberly went of post does kind of defeat participation in a challenge.

Blue_Lion · Unread post by **Blue_Lion** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 11:30 pm

say652 wrote:
eliakon wrote:1 Combat Mage: for those sweet sweet Combat Magic spells (which RAW no one else will learn because its beneath them)
2 Battle Magus: for that amazing combat potential (seriously a mage with sharpshooter!)
3 Ley Line Rifter: for the teleportation ability.
4 Yhabbar Bubble Mystic: Laugh all you want those bubbles are insane, and can be used to great effect. Sure he wont kill with them... but he would certainly be willing to knock people out who we would otherwise have to kill...
5 Warlock. Probably an Earth/Air warlock
6 T-man,
7 Stone Master those gems make them a great swiss army specialist, and they can store extra PPE up in emeralds.
8 Techno-Wizard
9 Ocean Wizard would be a neat option for the silent casting option
10 Mamono Headhunter
11 Hatchling Cat Eye Dragon The Cats Eye is a pretty nasty mind control specialist and that would be of great use to a SF team.
12 will be the mission specialist. The guy that we get for the mission at hand. Hitting vampires, we bring a necromancer. Raiding Horune pirates, spell singer might be nice. And so on and so forth.

Talismans for the entire team will include
Invisibility: Simple
Invisibility to Sensors
Mystic Invisibility
Shadow Meld
Infrared Vision
This set will cover infiltration, allowing the team to infiltrate virtually anywhere undetected.

Impervious to Energy
Invincible Armor
Chromatic Protection
Magical-Adrenal Rush
Electromagnetic Attack
Fighting Spirit
This set will cover when they are in combat

For equipment I would have available for draw, at a minimum:
TW Jammer Pistol
TW Snare Gun
TW TK Rifle
JA-12 Rifle

I would try to issue TW Draining Blades (that lose an action each time I hit you is nasty and it works through power armor? Yes please)
Everyone would be issued a Dimensional Pocket filled with nothing but Fire Globes (I don't have to search the pocket... anything I grab will be the globe I want)
Goblin Bomb: Carpet of Adhesion would be another must purchase item

Skills
W.P. Rifle
W.P. Pistol
W.P. Knife
Running
Prowl
Targeting
Language: Navajo is suitably obscure and historical for a 'battle language'
Anyone capable of learning them will get Boxing, and Wrestling
I will make sure they all have H2H Martial Arts (Or Commando if I can swing that)
Radio: Basic
Radio: Scramblers
Demolitions

Spells
Armor of Ithan, Life Blast, Armor Bizarre, Shadow Meld, Invisibility Superior, Eyes of the Dead (necromancy), Negate Mechanics, Carpet of Adhesion, Magic Net, Magic Pigeon, See Aura, Mystic Alarm, Second Sight, Lifeward, Frequency Jamming, Chromatic Protection, Ricochet Strike, Calling, Call Lightning, Mental Blast, Mental Shock, Blind, Domination, Impervious to Energy

Armor would likely MA-W1 TW Wraith Suits
Supplemented with Naruni FF belts.

The Bubblemaster will be going for spells like Trance, Dominate, Thunderclap, Blinding Flash, and other debuff/crowd control spells that can be sent in through the bubbles to get at people. Dominate is especially nasty as it can allow for remote mind control

The T-Man will have the Cloud in Chains tattoo for the ability to talk to air-elementals. This will be combined with the summoning to allow for the air elemental to be used as a scout and report to a second person. Meaning I can have both fire teams get the benefit with only one warlock. (Actually if possible I would look into getting this tattoo for others in the group that were humans solely for this feature if nothing else)

I will want both the anti-magic and anti-psi weapon tattoos, both a melee one (sword so I can stack with fencing) and ranged, most likely Boomerang or Spear. This will give a way to take down defensive barriers at range.
A selection of monster and animal tattoos will be used to allow for support
Skull with thorns allows death touch, which goes through armor again.
Rose dripping thorns is an effective healing magic
Eye with tear offers cheap easy access to Empathic Transmission, which can be devastating.

Brofist.

Welp found my new team.

shhhh... no giving away the fact I am using others to brain storm ideas for prepaid characters to make.

RockJock · Unread post by **RockJock** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 12:36 am

What about a Mystic Knight in the mix? Psychics are always useful, as are their energy powers, plus they are one of the better "fighting" mages to begin with. A CK would be another I would think about including. While not a mage, they are psychic, killer against tech, and versatile. Make them a True Atlantean with tats and they push closer to magic user.

The whole team being psychics of some type, and as many as possible having magic tats adds to versatility.

13eowulf · Unread post by **13eowulf** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 2:50 am

Blue_Lion wrote:Ok you are putting together a team of mages from NA to serve as SF. What occs would you look for and what training would you give them. What would be the standard load out.

Edit-real world team SF size 12 man.
Please address main concerns such as communication, Transportation, weapons, armor and any special spell required.

Lizard Mage (Shifter & DeathWalker)
Lanotaur Hunter
Amana
Faerie Bot
Lyn-Srial - Cloudweaver
Lyn-Srial - Sky Knight
High Magus
Mystic Knight (With PA Skills)
Battle Magus
A Dragon of some sort, Chiang-Ku preferred

Some spells of note:
Enchant Weapon (Minor), Circle of Travel, Calling, Distant Voice, Deathword, Fire Globe, Dimensional Pocket.

Some equipment of note:
TW Thunderbird PA from Arzno for the Mystic Knight
An Automaton for the Battle Magus (if of sufficient level)
The Colossus Automaton for the High Magus

Weapons Note:
Outside of mission specifics or special needs I would stick with Wellington Industries slug-throwers from Mercenaries & Merc Ops. Inexpensive ammo, high SDC capacity in case one finds themselves in an SDC realm, and if you use enchanted rounds the MD potential is up there with their burst and full auto stats. For example the WI-SR15 does 1D8x10 SDC single round damage, But with enchanted rounds can get up to 2D6x10 MD with a burst. The silver ammo is some of the cheapest available as well.
And with a Techno-Wizard (Faerie Bot) and the Enchant Weapon spell a TW device that enchants ammo (temporarily, months at a time) that draws energy from ley lines is possible.

Other Equipment:
Mega-Damage tarps, in pairs, with the Circle of Travel (linked in the pairs), either one large, or many small, can provide easy and quit transportation, a teleporter ports in, lays out the tarp, the rest of the team is at the other tarp, poof, transported.

Communications would be radios mainly, perhaps some TW enhancements (Calling, distant voice, etc.).

Zamion138 · Unread post by **Zamion138** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 3:33 am

If its for NA and likely classes......
1. Shifter, transport and summoning help
2. Temporal wizard, high level spells, time spells, utility spells
3. T.W. gear, fixing mundane and tw gear, security systems
4. Warlock, probably fire or fire/air combo , good combat casting and deception
5. Warlock, water/earth, good defense and healing.
6,7,8, Temporal Warrior, combat pure and simple.
9,10,11 Mystick Knights, combat and psi
12. If you can get one anti-monster, before you say its not close well tatoo warriors are more rare. Cant get a Anti-Monster then Undead Slayer, cant get one of them, Null-cyborg, cant get one of them ??I dont know dragon hatchling Nightstalker, or LoDox.

RockJock · Unread post by **RockJock** » Sun Oct 02, 2016 1:35 pm

For a fire team:

1) Mystic Knight-pure fighter who can recharge tech weapons, and is extremely versatile.
2) Battle Magi-more battle focused LLW.
3) Temporal Warrior-again, a pure fighter with a few special bonuses.
4) Undead Slayer-pure fighter, and a tank. The Undead Slayer could be replaced with a Maxi Man.

I see two identical sets of the above four, then the officers/NCOs making up the other 4 slots. I mentioned tattoos, and minor/major psychics earlier to add a few more options and energy reserve to all the members.

At least one or two should have a familiar for scouting help, and distractions. I see the Undead Slayer, or other member's tattoo monsters/animals being used for this as well. SF teams are usually outnumbers, so this can help.

A couple of extra notes. I would equip everyone with better than average tech energy weapons, and explosives since they can be easily resupplied, and damage can be blamed on other groups easily. Then you have all the TW equipment, upto light PA. I would also look at something like robot/cybernetic horses, or something like the Glittermount (the tw horse thing from New West) to work as transport, and still add to fighting ability.

Mack · Unread post by **Mack** » Sun Oct 02, 2016 2:28 pm

It seems most everything has been covered, but I'll toss in a few things to consider.

Avoid:
-- Ley Line Walkers. Their main advantage is that of a high PPE base, which can be compensated for. Other classes can learn just as many spells.
-- Techno-Wizards. Weak casting abilities. More suited to be "Q" than "James Bond." However, their engineering skills do fill a niche other mages can't.

Get a "summoner" or two:
-- Shifters can have a few supernatural minions, plus can have other magic types (Temporal, for example).
-- Air Warlocks (at least 5th level) can have 5 invisible, flying elemental fragments for only 30 PPE.
-- T-Monster Man, because no one likes to find a T-Rex waiting around the corner.

Get a few "professionals":
-- Most mages don't have a martial background. Consider getting the Battle Magus, Combat Mage, Mystic Knight, and Temporal Warrior.

Then there's the "specialists":
-- Temporal Wizard, for obvious reasons.
-- Mystic (yes, the plain old Mystic) for super psionics.
-- Gateway Knight, amazing teleportation abilities.
-- Lord Magus, for the illusions.
-- Magebane... yes, he's not actually a mage, but it may be useful to have someone who will ALWAYS make his save vs magic.
-- Elemental Shaman, basically a Warlock with access to fetishes, but may not gel well with the rest of the party

I also suggest to think about how those class can create unique combos, such as: The Lord Magus tosses up some illusions, confusing your opponent. The Air Warlock's invisible buddies pass through the illusion, wreaking havoc and giving substance to the illusion. Then a T-Rex comes charging through, courtesy of the T-Monster Man, and it's accompanied by a wee-little, Armor Bizzare'd Gargoylite (from the Shifter) screeching a death charge. I know I'd poop my pants.

ShadowLogan · Unread post by **ShadowLogan** » Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:39 pm

Blue_Lion wrote:Ok you are putting together a team of mages from NA to serve as SF. What occs would you look for and what training would you give them. What would be the standard load out.

Edit-real world team SF size 12 man.
Please address main concerns such as communication, Transportation, weapons, armor and any special spell required.

I don't think I would necessarily focus on their OCC as the skills and Spells the bring to the required role. I'd probably also try to keep in mind that technology for some roles is better optimized for a given task than magic.

Mack · Unread post by **Mack** » Sun Oct 02, 2016 6:35 pm

Thought of an often overlooked character that's at least worth some consideration: The Conjurer

Yep, he's barely even a spell caster, and there's some pretty good limitations on his creations, but he effective brings with him a few thousand items that the party won't have to carry around. He can provide all the basic adventuring gear. Grapping hook, 10 foot ladder, crowbar, handcuffs, axe, screwdriver (Philips or flat!)... Guard dog, canary, monkey, horse (a pony!). If done right, he could make a difference.

---Edit---
Another to consider: A Witch, who can have a massive amount PPE, large spell selection, psionics, summoning, a demon familiar... there's just that whole "evil" business to deal with.

RockJock · Unread post by **RockJock** » Sun Oct 02, 2016 7:53 pm

I could see a Conjurer being a good addition for the hearts and minds type SF mission. Give them some tats, and make them a major psychic and they can hang in there as a Swiss Army Knife.

dragonfett · Unread post by **dragonfett** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 2:50 am

RockJock wrote:I could see a Conjurer being a good addition for the hearts and minds type SF mission. Give them some tats, and make them a major psychic and they can hang in there as a Swiss Army Knife.

Name him Angus MacGuyver!

But seriously Mack, some of the "specialists" are rare OCC's that can normally only be found in a small geographical area (i.e. Gateway Knight) or are not even common in North America (Temporal Wizards), which is why I avoided adding them to my list. Our lists are supposed to be of spell casters from North America.

Zamion138 · Unread post by **Zamion138** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 9:50 am

dragonfett wrote:
RockJock wrote:I could see a Conjurer being a good addition for the hearts and minds type SF mission. Give them some tats, and make them a major psychic and they can hang in there as a Swiss Army Knife.

Name him Angus MacGuyver!

But seriously Mack, some of the "specialists" are rare OCC's that can normally only be found in a small geographical area (i.e. Gateway Knight) or are not even common in North America (Temporal Wizards), which is why I avoided adding them to my list. Our lists are supposed to be of spell casters from North America.

Temporal wizards are just as common in NA as they are England, which is to say very rare in both. They arent a English class just presented there.

flatline · Unread post by **flatline** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 9:56 am

Zamion138 wrote:
dragonfett wrote:
RockJock wrote:I could see a Conjurer being a good addition for the hearts and minds type SF mission. Give them some tats, and make them a major psychic and they can hang in there as a Swiss Army Knife.

Name him Angus MacGuyver!

But seriously Mack, some of the "specialists" are rare OCC's that can normally only be found in a small geographical area (i.e. Gateway Knight) or are not even common in North America (Temporal Wizards), which is why I avoided adding them to my list. Our lists are supposed to be of spell casters from North America.

Temporal wizards are just as common in NA as they are England, which is to say very rare in both. They arent a English class just presented there.

You beat me to it. I had pretty much the exact same post ready to go...

--flatline

Zamion138 · Unread post by **Zamion138** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 11:46 am

Point of refrence, clear up, what have you......you can only be taught to be temporal warrior/wizard by a temporal raider correct? Or a high level one of the same class......and they kill anyonecthat teaches a non human.......cause humans are their little brothers type deal right......or am I remembering all bad.

Im getting at i see to many dbee temporal wizards....

Shark_Force · Unread post by **Shark_Force** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 2:58 pm

i don't think there's anything restricting temporal wizards to being human. pretty sure that was mostly a default assumption.

(probably most of them are, but that's mostly because humans seem to be the rats of the megaverse - no matter where you go, you're probably going to find lots and lots of humans, and it doesn't even seem to matter how unlivable the place is).

RockJock · Unread post by **RockJock** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 3:18 pm

I think it might make more sense to look at where the team came from. A team from Arzno might be more likely to have tattoos, or TAs, as well as Sky Knights, but not say Necromancers.

FYI, the Fed of Magic mentions Temporal Warriors and Wizards being fairly common in the Federation. On page 69 of the old version.

say652 · Unread post by **say652** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 4:28 pm

The SuperSpy from the mercenary book would also be a good choice, Man At Arms skills and minor Wizard abilities.

Tw power armor. Good to go.

Mack · Unread post by **Mack** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 8:23 pm

Zamion138 wrote:Point of refrence, clear up, what have you......you can only be taught to be temporal warrior/wizard by a temporal raider correct?

In the Temporal Wizard background text (p66): "The rare temporal spells are closely guarded secrets. In most cases (70%), the temporal wizard can only learn these mystic secrets from the demonic temporal raider." And there's a similar statement for Temporal Warriors, but the figure is 80%.

With that in mind, then it is possible to learn from someone other than a Temporal Raider. It's only a 30% (or 20%) chance, but it's there.

Additionally, 10% of Chiang-Ku are Temporal Wizards, and I'd assert that a high level one would be capable of teaching.

Zamion138 · Unread post by **Zamion138** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 9:15 pm

Honestly if you had 9 temporal warrior, temporal wizards, and a temporal raider your SF unit would be capable of most missions, not to mention scary as hell to behold or face

Blue_Lion · Unread post by **Blue_Lion** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 9:16 pm

Mack wrote:
Zamion138 wrote:Point of refrence, clear up, what have you......you can only be taught to be temporal warrior/wizard by a temporal raider correct?

In the Temporal Wizard background text (p66): "The rare temporal spells are closely guarded secrets. In most cases (70%), the temporal wizard can only learn these mystic secrets from the demonic temporal raider." And there's a similar statement for Temporal Warriors, but the figure is 80%.

With that in mind, then it is possible to learn from someone other than a Temporal Raider. It's only a 30% (or 20%) chance, but it's there.

Additionally, 10% of Chiang-Ku are Temporal Wizards, and I'd assert that a high level one would be capable of teaching.

Does the books not state that 9th level mages can teach magic.

Mack · Unread post by **Mack** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 9:30 pm

Blue_Lion wrote:
Mack wrote:
Zamion138 wrote:Point of refrence, clear up, what have you......you can only be taught to be temporal warrior/wizard by a temporal raider correct?

In the Temporal Wizard background text (p66): "The rare temporal spells are closely guarded secrets. In most cases (70%), the temporal wizard can only learn these mystic secrets from the demonic temporal raider." And there's a similar statement for Temporal Warriors, but the figure is 80%.

With that in mind, then it is possible to learn from someone other than a Temporal Raider. It's only a 30% (or 20%) chance, but it's there.

Additionally, 10% of Chiang-Ku are Temporal Wizards, and I'd assert that a high level one would be capable of teaching.

Does the books not state that 9th level mages can teach magic.

Yep, which is my point.

Blue_Lion · Unread post by **Blue_Lion** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 9:50 pm

Mack wrote:
Blue_Lion wrote:
Mack wrote:
Zamion138 wrote:Point of refrence, clear up, what have you......you can only be taught to be temporal warrior/wizard by a temporal raider correct?

In the Temporal Wizard background text (p66): "The rare temporal spells are closely guarded secrets. In most cases (70%), the temporal wizard can only learn these mystic secrets from the demonic temporal raider." And there's a similar statement for Temporal Warriors, but the figure is 80%.

With that in mind, then it is possible to learn from someone other than a Temporal Raider. It's only a 30% (or 20%) chance, but it's there.

Additionally, 10% of Chiang-Ku are Temporal Wizards, and I'd assert that a high level one would be capable of teaching.

Does the books not state that 9th level mages can teach magic.

Yep, which is my point.

My goal was to show that their is support for your assertion of high level mages capable of teaching.

drewkitty ~..~ · Mon Oct 03, 2016 9:55 pm

Blue_Lion wrote:Does the books not state that 9th level mages can teach magic.

I would ask where this is in the text of a book? [Just an RFI]

Mack · Unread post by **Mack** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 10:55 pm

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:
Blue_Lion wrote:Does the books not state that 9th level mages can teach magic.

I would ask where this is in the text of a book? [Just an RFI]

RUE in the learning magic text (left column). Don't have the page number handy.

Shark_Force · Unread post by **Shark_Force** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 12:25 am

Zamion138 wrote:Honestly if you had 9 temporal warrior, temporal wizards, and a temporal raider your SF unit would be capable of most missions, not to mention scary as hell to behold or face

if you grab 12 random spellcasters, and provide sufficient resources for the ones that study magic to buy a fairly broad selection of spells, you'd probably find pretty much the same thing. a regular ley line walker can learn a truly absurd array of magic (also, contrary to what was said earlier, i don't think ley line walkers would be a bad choice). a shifter can learn much (but not quite all) of the same magic and can summon a variety of creatures with useful spells and powers to cover specific situations. even a techno-wizard provides skills that could easily be useful, but which wouldn't be available to most spellcasters.