Fun character archetypes/inspirations for Rifts Newbies

[drazool]

I'm gearing up to run Rifts for my gaming group, of which I'm the only one who has played it. In preparation, I've been rolling up a wide variety of sample characters to give my players some ideas of the kinds of things that rifts offers. For gamers who have only played D&D, pathfinder, etc, it can be pretty hard to break them out of the mindset of level 1 rat-hunter. What I mean is, a level one rifts character is a fundamentally different prospect than a level one character from other games.

So far, I have:
Your basic Glitter Boy Pilot, either linked to a merc company, a free operator, or tied to a specific military
Coalition soldier, psi-stalker, or dog-boy. Either as part of a CS-Squad (whole group would have to choose CS), or as a defector from decadence.
Nancy, mute (or just almost never talks) Cyber-Doc, living in Colorado.
Old Jonas, 87 year old Gunfighter. Appears to be normal human save for bionic eyes, but is actually a full conversion 'borg.
Hazrui Matthews, splicers Outrider who was rifted in from splicers. fun with appearing to be a terrifying DBee, but actually extremely protective of humans, techphobic.
Dan Steeples, mild mannered reporter, secretly a humanoid alien experiment, with superpowers (brought in from HU2)
Sergei, Russian Heavy Machine Borg, rifted to and stranded in North America.
Actually Indiana Jones, rifted in, with a few cybernetics
Actually just Robocop, rifted in
Actually a Jedi, either rifted in or just visiting from Phase world
Terx, True Atlantean Undead Hunter
Ember, human elemental fusionist

What other kinds of fun/iconic/powerful characters should I present to my characters? For this first game, I'm hoping to keep the power level low enough that they are seriously scared of some things, but high enough that they understand how squishy a human is. I'm especially interested in interesting magic classes, since I have very little experience with them personally, but I want my players to see their potential.

[kaid]

Lemurian bio wizard. The whole concept of a spell caster who uses biological power armor at level 1 blows some peoples minds.

Shifters are also good option for demonstrating how magic in rifts works different than most system and that level 1 characters can potentially have really high level spells they can potentially cast if they can bootstrap enough PPE to do it.

Junk crabs I am a big fan of them they are super weird and pretty fun critter from lemuria book.

[glitterboy2098]

for the GB pilot i would use: Legacy Glitterboy Pilot, from a family/clan of GB pilots, piloting the suit that had been passed down since the days of NEMA's fall.

[Warshield73]

for the GB pilot i would use: Legacy Glitterboy Pilot, from a family/clan of GB pilots, piloting the suit that had been passed down since the days of NEMA's fall.

Yes, this is the best way to do a GB pilot. It works best if the player and GM sit down and give the suit some history. What parts have been replaced? Maybe you have one rear thruster that was replaced with one from a different power armor or an onboard computer replaced by a wilks system. How many times has the nuke plant been replaced? How many pilots has it had? What battles was it in?

[drazool]

for the GB pilot i would use: Legacy Glitterboy Pilot, from a family/clan of GB pilots, piloting the suit that had been passed down since the days of NEMA's fall.

Yes, this is the best way to do a GB pilot. It works best if the player and GM sit down and give the suit some history. What parts have been replaced? Maybe you have one rear thruster that was replaced with one from a different power armor or an onboard computer replaced by a wilks system. How many times has the nuke plant been replaced? How many pilots has it had? What battles was it in?

That's a cool idea. In my mind, including a GB pilot in the game is going to require some massaging in any case, simply to make sure that the resources to repair the suit's inevitable damage are available. Otherwise, the GB pilot's lifecycle ends up being on of a big fish in a small pond, except the fish keeps shrinking and the pond keeps growing.

[kaid]

for the GB pilot i would use: Legacy Glitterboy Pilot, from a family/clan of GB pilots, piloting the suit that had been passed down since the days of NEMA's fall.

Yes, this is the best way to do a GB pilot. It works best if the player and GM sit down and give the suit some history. What parts have been replaced? Maybe you have one rear thruster that was replaced with one from a different power armor or an onboard computer replaced by a wilks system. How many times has the nuke plant been replaced? How many pilots has it had? What battles was it in?

That's a cool idea. In my mind, including a GB pilot in the game is going to require some massaging in any case, simply to make sure that the resources to repair the suit's inevitable damage are available. Otherwise, the GB pilot's lifecycle ends up being on of a big fish in a small pond, except the fish keeps shrinking and the pond keeps growing.

Although honestly this is one of the interesting twists of rifts. Some classes like glitterboy pilots start almost as strong as they will ever be right out of the gate at level 1. Their adventure is working hard to maintain what they have.

[Warshield73]

for the GB pilot i would use: Legacy Glitterboy Pilot, from a family/clan of GB pilots, piloting the suit that had been passed down since the days of NEMA's fall.

Yes, this is the best way to do a GB pilot. It works best if the player and GM sit down and give the suit some history. What parts have been replaced? Maybe you have one rear thruster that was replaced with one from a different power armor or an onboard computer replaced by a wilks system. How many times has the nuke plant been replaced? How many pilots has it had? What battles was it in?

That's a cool idea. In my mind, including a GB pilot in the game is going to require some massaging in any case, simply to make sure that the resources to repair the suit's inevitable damage are available. Otherwise, the GB pilot's lifecycle ends up being on of a big fish in a small pond, except the fish keeps shrinking and the pond keeps growing.

I have found this is true of any character with a mech. When your out in the wilderness you get chipped away a little at a time while you bleed ammo. The GB just has a lot more chip away and the ammo lasts a lot longer.

[drazool]

for the GB pilot i would use: Legacy Glitterboy Pilot, from a family/clan of GB pilots, piloting the suit that had been passed down since the days of NEMA's fall.

Yes, this is the best way to do a GB pilot. It works best if the player and GM sit down and give the suit some history. What parts have been replaced? Maybe you have one rear thruster that was replaced with one from a different power armor or an onboard computer replaced by a wilks system. How many times has the nuke plant been replaced? How many pilots has it had? What battles was it in?

That's a cool idea. In my mind, including a GB pilot in the game is going to require some massaging in any case, simply to make sure that the resources to repair the suit's inevitable damage are available. Otherwise, the GB pilot's lifecycle ends up being on of a big fish in a small pond, except the fish keeps shrinking and the pond keeps growing.

I have found this is true of any character with a mech. When your out in the wilderness you get chipped away a little at a time while you bleed ammo. The GB just has a lot more chip away and the ammo lasts a lot longer.

True enough. In one high power level game, I started as a Promethean Phase Adept. IIRC the game only ever made it to level 4 or so, but even then, I distinctly remember having run out of "must have" phase powers, whereas a godling character in the same game was getting whole swaths of new spells every level. Not that I'm complaining: that phase adept was so damn fun!

[dreicunan]

A Ley Line Walker would be a pretty iconic character to include.

Cyber-Knight (complete with vaguely inappropriate looking helmet)

A Dragon Hatchling (that should provide a shock to the system)

Battle Magus from Federation of Magic (or the Combat Mage from Mercenary Adventures)

Cosmoknight

[Shamrock 'Slinger]

Let them copy favorite movie/comic/tv characters to the best of their ability. Sometimes the best introduction character is one you're familiar with already and don't need to focus too much time on it.

[kaid]

for the GB pilot i would use: Legacy Glitterboy Pilot, from a family/clan of GB pilots, piloting the suit that had been passed down since the days of NEMA's fall.

Yes, this is the best way to do a GB pilot. It works best if the player and GM sit down and give the suit some history. What parts have been replaced? Maybe you have one rear thruster that was replaced with one from a different power armor or an onboard computer replaced by a wilks system. How many times has the nuke plant been replaced? How many pilots has it had? What battles was it in?

That's a cool idea. In my mind, including a GB pilot in the game is going to require some massaging in any case, simply to make sure that the resources to repair the suit's inevitable damage are available. Otherwise, the GB pilot's lifecycle ends up being on of a big fish in a small pond, except the fish keeps shrinking and the pond keeps growing.

I have found this is true of any character with a mech. When your out in the wilderness you get chipped away a little at a time while you bleed ammo. The GB just has a lot more chip away and the ammo lasts a lot longer.

True enough. In one high power level game, I started as a Promethean Phase Adept. IIRC the game only ever made it to level 4 or so, but even then, I distinctly remember having run out of "must have" phase powers, whereas a godling character in the same game was getting whole swaths of new spells every level. Not that I'm complaining: that phase adept was so damn fun!

It is one interesting facet I always liked about rifts. For those who just want their "fun stuff" immediately there are a bunch of options for characters that start right out of the gate at nearly the top of their potential. Robot pilots/Glitterboy pilots a lot of their adventuring is to get funds to maintain their equipment. Then you have things like spell casters that start somewhat weak but gain a lot of power as they level and their equipment/maintenance costs keep going down every level as they get better and better magic to lessen attritional equipment loss issues.

It is not uncommon for big power armor guys who were the big hotshots at level one basically working for your previously weak spell caster because the caster has enough cash to help maintain the bigger equipment.

[drazool]

Let them copy favorite movie/comic/tv characters to the best of their ability. Sometimes the best introduction character is one you're familiar with already and don't need to focus too much time on it.

I told my group of players to start thinking of a character they wanted to play, less in terms of power, and more in terms of interestingness to themselves. One player wants to be a Guyver Bio-Boosted armor, which sounds pretty fun. Another came at me with an idea I found to be pretty different.

He wants to come from a planet where a race of dwarves and a race of elves both lived, but the dwarves were a druidic sort and the elves loved high-technology. after a time, the two species merged. now, they have a huge natural range in size, 5-10 feet, and weight, with any given individual looking more like an elf or more like a dwarf. They will be a species with a higher than normal base of PPE, but not stupid high, and they will use TW devices to power the vast majority of their society.

My answer to all of that? Sounds fun!

[Warshield73]

A Ley Line Walker would be a pretty iconic character to include.

Cyber-Knight (complete with vaguely inappropriate looking helmet)

A Dragon Hatchling (that should provide a shock to the system)

Battle Magus from Federation of Magic (or the Combat Mage from Mercenary Adventures)

Cosmoknight

A Dragon Hatchling is great, but you need a player that can really look at the powers and use them in creative and screwed up ways.

[drazool]

I'm going to encourage my players to try to look beyond super high megadamage tanks and engines of pure destruction and try to look at the possibilities of things not so overtly powerful.

[Thom001]

I think just ask what kind of character they are wanting to play and mod one to fit for the first time. But if they want a premade I think these would be good for first game
full conversion borg
headhunter
mystic from rmb
vagabond

[Nightmartree]

I'm going to encourage my players to try to look beyond super high megadamage tanks and engines of pure destruction and try to look at the possibilities of things not so overtly powerful.

then you'll have to make sure you don't whip out the rifts measuring stick

and I was thinking a oni of the hundred...MD creature but not a major baddy (just a basic dumb thug, no mystics or warlords), or some of the less dangerous fey, they're about equal to a guy in armor and as long as your not power gaming (or sending in the army vs your PCs) then they could be lots of fun.

that said if a GB is involved he'd have to be spending long periods out of suit for a low powered game.

but personally I love the magical creature/demons of non-evil. Its to the point I drool over any demon that's not listed as Evil Only in their alignment. Or would rework them to a "better brother" race

(ants in your pants best enchantment ever)

[dreicunan]

I'm going to encourage my players to try to look beyond super high megadamage tanks and engines of pure destruction and try to look at the possibilities of things not so overtly powerful.

Then it's time to start singing the praises of the Vagabond!

[Nightmartree]

I'm going to encourage my players to try to look beyond super high megadamage tanks and engines of pure destruction and try to look at the possibilities of things not so overtly powerful.

Then it's time to start singing the praises of the Vagabond!

Huh? you mean my invincible giant fire breathing winged death machine?


though I have to say that bag of candy in the equipment was really tempting even before I learned that they could have an extra mutant power...

[drazool]

I'm going to encourage my players to try to look beyond super high megadamage tanks and engines of pure destruction and try to look at the possibilities of things not so overtly powerful.

Then it's time to start singing the praises of the Vagabond!

Huh? you mean my invincible giant fire breathing winged death machine?


though I have to say that bag of candy in the equipment was really tempting even before I learned that they could have an extra mutant power...

Help me to understand that last bit. This is if you use the Vagabond OCC from the conversion book, right? But... why would you, if you're running in the rifts setting?

[Nightmartree]

I'm going to encourage my players to try to look beyond super high megadamage tanks and engines of pure destruction and try to look at the possibilities of things not so overtly powerful.

Then it's time to start singing the praises of the Vagabond!

Huh? you mean my invincible giant fire breathing winged death machine?


though I have to say that bag of candy in the equipment was really tempting even before I learned that they could have an extra mutant power...

Help me to understand that last bit. This is if you use the Vagabond OCC from the conversion book, right? But... why would you, if you're running in the rifts setting?

rifts has mutants too, though they are officially limited to scholars and adventurers programs, vagabond is the only OCC in scholars and adventurers to get a bonus power. Also I don't know about in the ultimate edition but in the old book vagabonds I believe started with a bad of candy.

The vagabond is in rifts, and so is everything from the conversion book (potentially) if you don't have mutants then it doesn't matter if a vagabond can have an extra power, but it is a canon bit of the class that if you play a mutant and their OCC is vagabond...you get a bonus power and its something people have used to make some crazy stuff though the advance of even more powerful thing has as far as I can tell tamped down on the vagamute hype...basically trying to say I don't get why you think the conversion book isn't rifts setting?

[drazool]

I'm just having trouble finding the writeup.

[Nightmartree]

I'm just having trouble finding the writeup.

its like one line in the part about mutant powers in the conversion book

[drazool]

ok I figured it out, the reason I couldn't find the rule is that it is only in the original version of the conversion book. the revised edition removes the bit about a vagabond getting an extra minor power.

[Nightmartree]

ok I figured it out, the reason I couldn't find the rule is that it is only in the original version of the conversion book. the revised edition removes the bit about a vagabond getting an extra minor power.

ah that explains it, honestly with the new vagabond I can see why, but pretty much all of my books are the old ones...*sigh* really wish I could update, if only so I own everything

[dreicunan]

I'm going to encourage my players to try to look beyond super high megadamage tanks and engines of pure destruction and try to look at the possibilities of things not so overtly powerful.

Then it's time to start singing the praises of the Vagabond!

Huh? you mean my invincible giant fire breathing winged death machine?


though I have to say that bag of candy in the equipment was really tempting even before I learned that they could have an extra mutant power...

Help me to understand that last bit. This is if you use the Vagabond OCC from the conversion book, right? But... why would you, if you're running in the rifts setting?

In Rifts, the correct question is generally, "If you are running in Rifts, why wouldn't you?"

[glitterboy2098]

for the GB pilot i would use: Legacy Glitterboy Pilot, from a family/clan of GB pilots, piloting the suit that had been passed down since the days of NEMA's fall.

Yes, this is the best way to do a GB pilot. It works best if the player and GM sit down and give the suit some history. What parts have been replaced? Maybe you have one rear thruster that was replaced with one from a different power armor or an onboard computer replaced by a wilks system. How many times has the nuke plant been replaced? How many pilots has it had? What battles was it in?

That's a cool idea. In my mind, including a GB pilot in the game is going to require some massaging in any case, simply to make sure that the resources to repair the suit's inevitable damage are available. Otherwise, the GB pilot's lifecycle ends up being on of a big fish in a small pond, except the fish keeps shrinking and the pond keeps growing.

i was thinking more from the roleplay aspect. the mercenary archtype can work for a GB pilot, but it works better for the mercenary or mercenary pilot OCC's. GB pilots have always been presented as heroic paladin types, even in the original RMB, so why not go with it? let them be able to brag about being descended from the "neemans" and such. the Clan connection also gives them some good hooks for the GM to use for bringing in NPC's and plot hooks, in the form of distant relatives or missions given by the Clan.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

If you want to being Super Powers (mutants/experiments/what have you) into Rifts, i think the combo I used in HU once would be a lot of fun:

Three Major:

Multiple Beings/Selves
Multiple Lives
Immortality

If you get Minor abilities, (i dont recall if there are any Rifts-legal categories that get 3 major + minors) gomfor Healing Factor or Superhuman PE, and maybe the one that gives you Robotic PS (as i know in HU2/CB1r there are three different str powers) or other enhanced attributes or senses.

Youre not particularly powerful combat-wise, but boy are you hard to kill. Play a Rogue Scholar, Rogue Scientist, or other “educated” class to show that youre immortal and have been around (instead of being school-educated, RP that youre instead self-educated over the last few centuries). Also, the “Real” you is safe ar home. In Lazlo. While your duplicates are out in the world adventuring.
/scholaring.

If your duplicate dies, he comes back to life (with less PE, etc, as the Multiple Beings/Selves power), which normally sucks....

Except when he comes back “home” and you re-absorb him, and spit him back out... hes back to ‘normal’ since hes a duplicate of YOU when you create him, so his death/penalties are effectively erased.

Its powerful, but in oddball ways that make it interesting. Also imagine your party’s looks when your character takes them to Lazlo (or wherever you really live) and they meet the “real” you... and your other 2/3 duplicates. Or see you get atomized by a giant robot, only to pop back up the next day.

When i played that character in Heroes, my character was an FBI agent assigned to liase/control a local,superhero group.... and he was also Wyatt Earp. That tale about Earp getting in all those gunfights (not duels, but when he was a Marshal hunting down the Cowboys) and never getting hit? Yeah, got hit and even killed a few times =) (In reality, thats a true piece of trivia - Earp was never wounded by gunfire.)

[Nightmartree]

If you want to being Super Powers (mutants/experiments/what have you) into Rifts, i think the combo I used in HU once would be a lot of fun:

Three Major:

Multiple Beings/Selves
Multiple Lives
Immortality

If you get Minor abilities, (i dont recall if there are any Rifts-legal categories that get 3 major + minors) gomfor Healing Factor or Superhuman PE, and maybe the one that gives you Robotic PS (as i know in HU2/CB1r there are three different str powers) or other enhanced attributes or senses.

Youre not particularly powerful combat-wise, but boy are you hard to kill. Play a Rogue Scholar, Rogue Scientist, or other “educated” class to show that youre immortal and have been around (instead of being school-educated, RP that youre instead self-educated over the last few centuries). Also, the “Real” you is safe ar home. In Lazlo. While your duplicates are out in the world adventuring.
/scholaring.

If your duplicate dies, he comes back to life (with less PE, etc, as the Multiple Beings/Selves power), which normally sucks....

Except when he comes back “home” and you re-absorb him, and spit him back out... hes back to ‘normal’ since hes a duplicate of YOU when you create him, so his death/penalties are effectively erased.

Its powerful, but in oddball ways that make it interesting. Also imagine your party’s looks when your character takes them to Lazlo (or wherever you really live) and they meet the “real” you... and your other 2/3 duplicates. Or see you get atomized by a giant robot, only to pop back up the next day.

When i played that character in Heroes, my character was an FBI agent assigned to liase/control a local,superhero group.... and he was also Wyatt Earp. That tale about Earp getting in all those gunfights (not duels, but when he was a Marshal hunting down the Cowboys) and never getting hit? Yeah, got hit and even killed a few times =) (In reality, thats a true piece of trivia - Earp was never wounded by gunfire.)

For rifts i'd step it up and actually run a immortal from power unlimited 2, they get 2 majors and some minors, or a major and some other things (like magic), with the immortality power and multiple selves they're nearly unkillable even without the multiple lives shenanigans.

if you wanna get really nasty I made a robot once, based on immortal golem, multiple selves, and since the only real way to kill them was to perform a specific and long term task to the core of the golem...well good luck doing that when he has other selves on planet. My robot was also a robotics expert, it was D7 for Damocles-7 a robot programed to destroy planets, however that same planning left the decision in its hands and gave it a personality. Should a Damocles line robot ever decide that your planet is unfit for existence...

[drazool]

So I heard about these lizard mages, you see, and I thought I would write one up. I kept thinking, this guy seems strong.

There's like, one sentence, buried in the RCC "Not recommended as a player character."

So, you know, maybe I shouldn't bring one as an NPC to play along with my players.

[Thom001]

ok I figured it out, the reason I couldn't find the rule is that it is only in the original version of the conversion book. the revised edition removes the bit about a vagabond getting an extra minor power.

doing better than me, I didn't realize there was a vagabond in the conversion book. I was talking about the vagabond in rifts main book.

[Nightmartree]

So I heard about these lizard mages, you see, and I thought I would write one up. I kept thinking, this guy seems strong.

There's like, one sentence, buried in the RCC "Not recommended as a player character."

So, you know, maybe I shouldn't bring one as an NPC to play along with my players.

but...that's a NPC not a PC so your clear right?plus its only not recommended...and you have stats...and if they later find out that their lizard wizards is an ancient dark mage of doom...well you can still be drinking buddies

Some blood with your wine?

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

ok I figured it out, the reason I couldn't find the rule is that it is only in the original version of the conversion book. the revised edition removes the bit about a vagabond getting an extra minor power.

doing better than me, I didn't realize there was a vagabond in the conversion book. I was talking about the vagabond in rifts main book.

There isnt a Vagabond in the Conversion Book; there was (in the non-revised) in the CB, a rule that if they had super powers, Vagabonds got an extra minor.

[taalismn]

Although honestly this is one of the interesting twists of rifts. Some classes like glitterboy pilots start almost as strong as they will ever be right out of the gate at level 1. Their adventure is working hard to maintain what they have.

Such as Neural AI Robots.....Odds are, they're experimental tech, so maintenance is hard to come by, and they don't gain that much in skills as they advance. They start out with the majority of their skills frozen at relatively high levels, but they're at their best fresh out of the box. Just staying in one piece is their goal in existence.

[Nightmartree]

Although honestly this is one of the interesting twists of rifts. Some classes like glitterboy pilots start almost as strong as they will ever be right out of the gate at level 1. Their adventure is working hard to maintain what they have.

Such as Neural AI Robots.....Odds are, they're experimental tech, so maintenance is hard to come by, and they don't gain that much in skills as they advance. They start out with the majority of their skills frozen at relatively high levels, but they're at their best fresh out of the box. Just staying in one piece is their goal in existence.

Pixies and a lotta demons too, though in their case one piece downgrades to "enough parts to regen a body" and "Magical beings just wanna have fuuuuuun"