Forums of the Megaverse®

green.nova343

I know that a couple of the settings (HU & Rifts) have a GM guide that lists the skills for that particular setting (although the Rifts one predates RUE, so it's not exactly up-to-date). And I applaud Palladium for trying to unify the settings more & more. But while I know there are also some fan ...

green.nova343

Main issue with NCA & a Military Specialist is the WP Program...but that only gives you 3 skills you can't learn. There are only 2 wasted skills in the Basic Military program (HTH Basic & WP Rifle), but the other 4 are fine. For Espionage, if you pick Basic Espionage the HTH: Martial Arts is wasted ...

green.nova343

From what I've found online, graveyards are generally found in conjunction with a church (tend to be the smaller, local types, but you could also have a larger church or even a cathedral be part of one), while cemeteries are stand-alone entities (despite many times having a chapel or similar ...

green.nova343

So...basically, all that does is allow someone without any HTH training to get a Kick attack or someone with a generic HTH skill to get the Kick (2D4 or 1D8 SDC) attack at 1st level instead of a higher level, assuming it's even an issue :

HU2: Basic & Martial Arts get it @ 3rd level, Expert gets ...

green.nova343

It depends on how "infernal" you think their nature is. If you see them as "Infernal" (yes, the capitalization is important), then yes, they'd be vulnerable to Negative Chi Mastery abilities (as well as taking damage from positive chi attacks)...but they would also be subject to the Yama Kings ...

green.nova343

I think that he's not talking about a situation involving the bonuses for the specific attack move, but rather whether the specific move is even available.

Granted, he specifically mentioned Acrobatics and Gymnastics . Personally, I can't find a version of either skill that automatically provides a ...

green.nova343

I was re-reading my collection and was reminded how useful a Chun Tzu or Nei Chia Wu Shih can be to a 1e BTS confrontation. They start with saving throw bonuses against horror and possession. A 1st level Gui Long fencer with Enlightenment Strike could force out a possessing entity in one round ...

green.nova343

At the time that Rifts Mercenaries was originally published, there were only a handful of books that had been published, & of those only maybe 3 had any kind of O.C.C. that approximated the Special Forces O.C.C.:

Rifts Main Book (the CS Military Specialist, which focused heavily on Espionage ...

green.nova343

Can a GM be mistaken about a particular rule? Of course; with very few exceptions, GMs are normal people, & do not have eidetic memories that allow them to instantly recall every page they've ever read.

But does that make the GM wrong? Eh...not exactly. See, the kind of person that is actively ...

green.nova343

I'm working on a personal project of mine, & was doing some comparisons of how characters would stack up against "stock" types in terms of the combat bonuses. I'm just strictly looking at how the combinations of HTH & MECT bonuses stack up, not taking into account the character's attributes. But I ...

green.nova343

Remember to check the MAF descriptions. A lot of them will list actions that don't necessarily get a bonus, or don't get bonuses until a higher level...but they can still perform them.

Aikido might be one of the few that actually would have a limitation like that. Note that while its sole hand ...

green.nova343

That is a very good question.

If there's something obvious -- bolt of lightning, flames, etc. -- then yeah, it's not going to help. And if you're the only person within half a mile, you'll want to not be visible.

If it's less obvious, the Dog Boy/Psi-Stalker can still get to the general vicinity ...

green.nova343

Damn, I didn't see that in there.

green.nova343

So, instead...rather than a dodge using up your next action/attack, it makes that next action harder to complete .

If you dodge & your next action is to fire a ranged weapon, it is considered "shooting wild".

No aimed or called shots are possible
If you don't have the appropriate W.P ...

green.nova343

OK, so I've been thinking of making some tweaks to the base Palladium System rules for my own use. A lot of them are probably familiar -- like letting a PC's base skill go above 98% (but still make a 99-00 role be a failure) -- but I was considering some of the changes that have happened with D&D ...

green.nova343

Not sure where you're getting the 'Humans as space orcs' out of a discussion of stellar navigation....
Lot of species could have the 'toss the problem out the airlock' mentality.

It's this thing I've seen on some Facebook posts, where they talk about alien races struggling to understand why ...

green.nova343

I've never been a fan of the "completely destroys all magic/psychic ability". Even for a full conversion borg, I'd lean towards "so heavily interferes that you might as well not even try to use it". Something like "it'll cost you 150 PPE to cast Call Lightning, & it's only going to reach out 30 ft/9 ...

green.nova343

main thing I tend to see as the differences:

Invocations can primarily only draw PPE from the caster/talisman/ley line. Rituals can have multiple people (including non-casters) contribute PPE...including a "blood sacrifice". Yes, I know that theoretically you could kill someone/some animal to ...

green.nova343

I personally tweak Extra-Ordinary PS and Superhuman PS a bit.
*Extra-Ordinary PS - when punching, kicking, etc... add 1 die/dice to the damage based on the attack. A 1d4 punch become 2d4 [plus PS damage bonuses], a 2d6 kick becomes 3d6, etc...

*Superhuman PS - when punching, kicking, etc... add ...

green.nova343

I personally tweak Extra-Ordinary PS and Superhuman PS a bit.
*Extra-Ordinary PS - when punching, kicking, etc... add 1 die/dice to the damage based on the attack. A 1d4 punch become 2d4 [plus PS damage bonuses], a 2d6 kick becomes 3d6, etc...

*Superhuman PS - when punching, kicking, etc... add 2 ...

green.nova343

So...the usual "humans are space orcs...& don't let them make an alien species into a pet" kind of thing...

green.nova343

Not sure about a true errata. However, Extraordinary PS is the only power that has a minimum level (unless your pre-power PS base is already over 20). Obviously, the carry/lift limits are based on the strongest (no punch intended) power you have, so you could theoretically stack them all.

start ...

green.nova343

I had to do some digging between TSC, RUE, & the Macross Sourcebook for the 2E versions. This is what I found:

Normal exertion is "run at an even pace (half speed) for 0.5 miles/0.8km per PE point without fatigue", 1/3 that if moving at full speed.
Speed is obviously based on the SPD attribute ...

green.nova343

The problem with the kinetic energy is that it doesn't scale with weapons unless the ratio you use is the square root of the kinetic energy:

.22 LR: 178-191J, 259J with 30-grain HP, 277J with 31-grain RN; treat as "X"
.380 ACP (aka 9x17mm or .380 Auto): 275-280J, 405J Buffalo +P HC-FN, 419J ...

green.nova343

"It was inexplicable why our ship was slowing down...sensors showed no signs of singularities, gravity wells, or exotic matter. Shipboard diagnostics showed our engines were operating perfectly. Then somebody suggested we check the cargo and passenger lists. When we found Gaby was aboard, it all ...

green.nova343

If you are going to look at breaking say Heavy Weapons/Heavy Energy Weapons into multiple more narrow WPs you also have to actually define what is what. Is the old style CS Plasma Rifle WP Energy Rifle or WP Heavy Energy Rifle? Would the South American laser bazooka fire anything like the Wilk's ...

green.nova343

Skill point systems probably more realistically depict actual real-world skill progression.

The problem is that not every OCC starts with the same number of skills, let alone gets new skills at the same amount as they progress.

Pick a skill point number that's too low, & the majority of OCCs will ...

green.nova343

The problem you run into with barter is when your non-cash items aren't "small" enough for small-scale transactions. A little gold bar might be plenty of cash to rent a hotel room for a week (or even a month), but if that's the smallest bit you have it's overkill for paying a restaurant bill ...

green.nova343

Agreed. On Phase World, or maybe some of the major CCW/UWW (or even Kreeghor) worlds, you might find a place that can exchange Rifts Earth credits...but you'd have to exchange them first. On more backwater planets, though, they'd probably look at you funny if you mentioned "Earth Universal Credits ...

green.nova343

I think the reason that the RUE version starts higher is tied into how it advances much more slowly. Look at the level progressions (assuming no bonuses):

1st : NB 50%/30% (both) vs. RUE 88%/40% (native) 50%/30% (other)
2nd : NB 55%/35% (both) vs. RUE 89%/45% (native) 53%/35% (other)
3rd : NB ...

green.nova343

Don't forget that if the PCs are selling gemstones & precious metals, they will not receive full market value for them. Mainly because the merchant they're selling it to has to make a profit...& if he pays full price for the materials, then if he sells them for list price he's not only not making ...

green.nova343

Only just noticed this on pg 194 of 1st edition, PB is always 2D6 regardless of what age group.

This is a pattern we see for other attributes (only 3D6 seems to be Spd for teens) but it seems odd, why can't you have attractive victims? That's the classic damsel trope.

Not Really a job char ...

green.nova343

Thank you for your ideas, but they seem a little harsh to me -
Non-man-at-arms O.C.C.s only get 1D6 S.D.C., and may well have selected no physical skills to bump that up further; so, even at higher levels when they have loads of H.P., they are likely to fall very quickly into Hit Point damage in ...

green.nova343

Hmmm...yeah, those are similar to the rules from the RMB book as well (although it had a 75% threshold for the severe). But they're not exactly clear on the "minor" portion. I think at one time there was something about optionally using them for when a critical hit occurred, or possibly when a ...

green.nova343

Guess it depends on what you're striving for with the powers. And it also depends on how "flashy" you want to be.

Sure, Healing Factor, regenerative powers, Immortality, & especially something like Invulnerability make you able to walk away from stuff that would kill or maim a normal person. But do ...

green.nova343

As mentioned previously missiles (and other potential elements here) have their speed/range modified while in space, sometimes generically so and sometimes with a case-modifier that applies only in that case (I'm speaking megaversally here).

I would also recommend that you add the launching ...

green.nova343

Short answer: as mentioned before, missile speeds & ranges are doubled in space, but to keep it simple just focus on the missile range & speed.

Long answer: unless your tech is using some sort of reactionless drive that acts like Star Trek impulse/warp drives or Star Wars drive systems, there isn't ...

green.nova343

If at all possible, avoid the temptation to try & "headshot" a zombie in ranged combat. Needing a 17-20 to hit the neck or head is essentially a -9 penalty (17-8 = 9)
Whoever revised the rules probably made a mistake thinking that you add a size penalty to strike to the AR. This is wrong and ...

green.nova343

Trying to adapt a BIO-E style is going to complicate it further, like drewkitty said.

I would just let the players do 1 of 3 things:

Once they've determined how many modifications their Morphus gets, let them pick based on the particular concept they have. If you think their choices are too ...

green.nova343

Hmmmm....

I was originally thinking this was a bad copy-and-paste of the rules. However, I went back & checked the most recent rules for their other settings (Rifts Ultimate Edition and Robotech: Shadow Chronicles), & realized that the rules have changed .

Previously , the rules were:

HTH ...

green.nova343

I would imagine that the reason we don't see the "small" drones that we're used to IRL wasn't just that they weren't in use at the time of the animation, but they'd essentially leaped forward. "Drone" to us just means a remotely-piloted vehicle (some guy sitting in an air-conditioned room with a ...

green.nova343

I would maybe consider that "Recycle" is the chance to break something down into its subassemblies, but the idea would be to then melt down, scrap, or otherwise reuse the raw materials that the components are made from, just as someone sorting through real-life "recycled" materials would separate ...

green.nova343

Having just recently rewatched Halloween III: Season of the Witch , I could see some of the more regressed communities reverting back to blood sacrifices (human or otherwise), & especially the "Blood Druids" of England (Cochrane stole one of the standing stones from Stonehenge & figured out a way to ...

green.nova343

What is the attitude / political position of the CS with regards to Glitter Boys (independent)?

Glitter Boys a human.

They have a reputation as defenders of humanity throughout the Dark Ages.
As pilots of their famous Glitter Boy armor (the weapon of the greatest heroes in North America) they ...

green.nova343

A couple quotes from Psyscape, p145.

The CS has learned that training and focus at an early age can help an individual develop into one of these psionic categories more quickly and with greater range of power and control. Raw talent can be fine tuned and directed towards a desired effect ...

green.nova343

I think you're looking at probably 2 separate situations. Most of the O.C.C.s -- Techno-Wizard, Mystic, etc. -- could potentially be seen as the 2nd option (where potential candidates are screened)...except you run into the problem of where their supposed psionic abilities were for, say, a character ...

green.nova343

If you don't already have it, you want Rifts Ultimate Edition. The TW Item Construction rules (pp. 129-135) go into more detail. Basically, if the Techno-Wizard doesn't know the spell, he does need another mage to help him, but it will increase the PPE construction cost (& thereby increasing the ...

green.nova343

Soup bones. Markets will have bones from various animals that can be used to make soup and/or broth.

green.nova343

Rifts Dimension Book 7: Megaverse Builder has a chart on pp 14-15 detailing the Magic Level of different dimensions, with listed examples of published settings. Two of the major determinants for a dimension's Magic Level are if Ley Lines are visible, and whether or not MDC beings exist.

No Magic ...

green.nova343

Penalty: Permanently reduce Hit Points and physical S.D.C. by 10% (by 30% if the character has more than 250 points to begin with).

Note: In a magic rich environment, like Rifts Earth, this power should be considered a Maier super abilll'/, and reduce H.P. and S.D.C. by half and tum them into M.D ...

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