Most useful superpower on Rifts Earth?

[Shorty Lickens]

Right off the top of my head I'd say the ability to pass thru solid objects. All that MDC plating is useless now. Maybe force fields mess up the players badly, so they have to be careful of that.

Any power with flying as a main or side ability is nice. Personal flying is a lot more convenient than using a vehicle. Also a nice backup when your main ride gets destroyed.

Any power that lets you step into an alternate dimension instantly is pretty darn useful for both avoiding death, and accessing areas you should not access, similar to passing thru solid objects.

Natural invisibility is probably better than gadget invisibility. Gadgets can fail. Or be stolen.

Energy immunity is obviously more useful on Rifts Earth than it would have been in other settings.

EDIT:
OK, just looking at the main HU book and it seems Alter Physical Structure: Smoke or Mist would probably be awesome. It lets you ignore mega damage from many sources and move past a lot of obstacles. Also you can mess with anyone not wearing EBA.

[Killer Cyborg]

Invulnerability would be pretty awesome.

[Incriptus]

Stuff like APS Smoke or Mist, or Invulnerability are of course awesome powers to have in any setting. However tangentially the topic got me thinking of powers that are more useful on Rifts Earth than they would be on HU Earth.

Well after the review it turns out that my first instinct is energy defense powers. Since energy weapons are more common in Rifts than HU, powers that make you resistant/immune to them are more useful on Rifts than HU. Same with magic and psionics. Also on the other side of that coin super powers are rarer so those ones are less useful.

Just a quick review of the books ...

Bend Light: Rifts Earth = More Lasers. More lasers = more opportunity to use that parry laser beams
Adapt to Environment: Never know when a dimensional rift if going to drop you some place inhospitable
Energy Absorption: See bend light, but immunity to all energy weapons
Abnormal Energy Sense: More magic/psionic users to be able to come across
Immune to Magic
Immune to Psionics
Impervious to Energy and Electricity
Impervious to Fear and Terror
Impervious to Light and Lasers
Instant Weapon: Having that MD pistol is more impressive than a normal one
Instant Wardrobe: Switching MD armor also more important than normal armors
Re-channel and Expel Energy
Copy Energy Pattern



Dishonorable mentions
Gem Powers: You're power gems are in direct compitition with techowizards for components
Negate Super Abilities: Less likely to come across a super in Rifts than HU
Borrow Power: Same as above
Immune to Super Abilities:
Flight Space

[Curbludgeon]

I suppose I'd wonder how secure a Dimensional Room is from Shifters and such.
It's been a minute since I've looked at the power lists in CB1r and DB4, but is Invulnerability the most MDC for the buck?
Even with it getting bumped up to a Major superpower Immunity to Magic is solid.

[Crimson Dynamo]

It really comes down to the person more than the power. Or more precisely, what their intentions are.

Mr. Invulnerability who just spends all day drinking and giving the middle finger to Coalition grunts trying to bring him in for being drunk and disorderly isn't much of a threat to anything but himself.

But as for Mr. Shapeshifter who's prowling around sabotaging the Coalition at its highest levels and sharing their secrets with all the various groups seeking their downfall? He's much more of a threat.

[ShadowLogan]

Well if you're just interested in MDC (and just using RCB1r with HU2E main book only):
Create Force Field has the potential to offer the most MDC, depending on what your PE attribute score is (PEx100). Two downsides are the regeneration rate and that it has to be activated.

APS: Metal, APS: Stone, Force Aura and Bio-Armor, and APS: Plant (in that order) offer more consistent MDC, but again they have to be turned on. Copy Physical Structure should also be in there, but it is to variable as you need to touch the right material as should Growth (PEx30 MDC when active) and Mimic (1/2 subjects MDC). Bio-Armor and Force Aura also have the benefit of going up per level (faster than those that use HP in part or full) so might be better in the long run.

Invulnerability offers no more MDC than Immortality or adapt to Environment as they all calculate MDC the same, there secondary aspects might favor one over the other though.

A potential heavy impact power could be the Minor Power of Bend Light, as you may essentially negate lasers, making the most prolific* energy weapon type in the game useless. That doesn't mean opponents cannot plan to engage someone like this properly.

Cloaking could also be potentially powerful.

Energy Resistance offers to be potentially potent to. You negate the first 20MDC of energy attacks per 15second periods, anything above that is 1/2 damage.

*by proflic I mean there are far more listed laser weapons in the setting than other energy types like Ion, PBC, Plasma, or other exotic energy AFAIK.

[Crimson Dynamo]

This whole conversation reminds me of this old chestnut, where a dude who's only power was the ability to change the color of things took down the entire DC universe. Though I think this article just focuses on Green Lantern and Superman.

Which just reinforces my previous point: It's more about who has the power and what they do with it more than the power itself.

[EliBenedict]

Given the number of places where being visibly human makes you a target (Atlantis, Gargoyle Kingdoms, China, ect) Shapechange has additional utility on Rifts Earth.

Mimic lets you copy a target's super powers, racial abilities, psionics, or inherent magical abilities (including physical attribute scores). Given the prevalence of psychics, D-Bees and mystically empowered folk, on Rifts earth, you'll get better mileage there than in HU Earth.

Combine these two powers together (along with possibly the Linguistics minor power from Powers Unlimited) and you can impersonate almost any humanoid D-Bee.

[EliBenedict]

Given the prevalence of ultra-tech, Mechano-Link and Machine Merge are probably more useful on Rifts Earth than HU Earth.

[Curbludgeon]

There are a few over the top super being power options in Heroes of the Multiverse.

Arguably first are the 99 and 100 results, which each add additional powers (99:Raw Power: adds an Energy Expulsion, the Universal Being power, and another power; 100:Multiple Powers: Flight, Universal Being, and another power).

Supernatural Being makes PS/PE SN, and adds bonuses to multiple attributes, 350-1300ish MDC, bio regeneration, general resilience, and a dimensional teleport, among other things.

Shape Shifter:Dragon adds magic, limited psionics, SN strength, considerable MDC and PPE, Horror Factor, weak fire breath, magically understanding languages, bio regeneration, and a couple of other things.

Power Cosmic grants a PS increase, energy blasts, flight (Mach 6 in atmosphere, up to 2 light years/hour in space), potentially a couple of hundred MDC, bio regeneration, and general space abilities. I'd be interested in opinions on how hard it might be for the Rifts orbital community to track and attempt to shoot down a character like this attempting to leave Earth.

Magic:Control of Elementals is fun in how it lets people in on the Warlock free PPE train. They get the air and earth essence fragment spells, among other elemental animation spells and Golem creation. Were I to use this I'd tweak the list slightly, dropping stuff like Creature of the Winds/Waves, add adding Little Ice Monster and Magic Manikin. Is there a spell which summons a fire elemental essence fragment from whom PPE can be siphoned?

[Fenris2020]

Immortality, of course...