Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Dimension Books & nothing but..

Moderators: Immortals, Supreme Beings, Old Ones

User avatar
thorr-kan
Adventurer
Posts: 498
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:09 am

Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by thorr-kan »

The Bark and Leaf armor both give an M.D.C. rating and a variable (4d6) source of P.P.E. Are either of these regenerated, or are they one and done?

I ask, because Millennium Tree wands and staves both regenerate P.P.E. and M.D.C.
I have a blog; come see what I've created: https://thewhiteminotaur.wordpress.com/
-The 2024 Character Creation Challenge (#charactercreationchallenge):
https://thewhiteminotaur.wordpress.com/ ... challenge/
dreicunan
Hero
Posts: 1344
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 12:49 am

Re: Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by dreicunan »

It doesn't regenerate on its own. I saw a house rule once that you could repair them by pumping in 10 PPE for 1 MDC, takes one round for the point to repair (the idea being to make repair an out-of-combat thing).
Axelmania wrote:You of course, being the ultimate authority on what is an error and what is not.
Declared the ultimate authority on what is an error and what is not by Axelmania on 5.11.19.
User avatar
Warshield73
Megaversal® Ambassador
Posts: 5138
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:23 am
Comment: "I will not be silenced. I will not submit. I will find the truth and shout it to the world. "
Location: Houston, TX

Re: Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by Warshield73 »

dreicunan wrote:It doesn't regenerate on its own. I saw a house rule once that you could repair them by pumping in 10 PPE for 1 MDC, takes one round for the point to repair (the idea being to make repair an out-of-combat thing).

I really like this house rule, you could even double the number to ISP and allow psychics to repair it, I wish I had thought of this.

My characters had to use healing spells or, more often, they used a Millennium Tree healing wand to repair them.
Northern Gun Chief of Robotics
Designer of NG-X40 Storm Hammer Power Armor & NG-HC1000 Dragonfly Hover Chopper
Big game hunter, explorer extra ordinaire and expert on the Aegis Buffalo
Ultimate Insider for WB 32: Lemuria, WB 33: Northern Gun 1, WB 34: Northern Gun 2
Showdown Backer Robotech RPG Tactics
Benefactor Insider Rifts Bestiary: Vol 1, Rifts Bestiary: Vol 2
dreicunan
Hero
Posts: 1344
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 12:49 am

Re: Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by dreicunan »

Warshield73 wrote:
dreicunan wrote:It doesn't regenerate on its own. I saw a house rule once that you could repair them by pumping in 10 PPE for 1 MDC, takes one round for the point to repair (the idea being to make repair an out-of-combat thing).

I really like this house rule, you could even double the number to ISP and allow psychics to repair it, I wish I had thought of this.

My characters had to use healing spells or, more often, they used a Millennium Tree healing wand to repair them.

Yeah, I thought that it was a great idea as well; I'd actually let ISP do it for the same price, or maybe even half price. Sometimes the red-headed stepchild should get thrown a bone!
Axelmania wrote:You of course, being the ultimate authority on what is an error and what is not.
Declared the ultimate authority on what is an error and what is not by Axelmania on 5.11.19.
User avatar
thorr-kan
Adventurer
Posts: 498
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:09 am

Re: Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by thorr-kan »

Yeah that's what I figured. Thanks all.
I have a blog; come see what I've created: https://thewhiteminotaur.wordpress.com/
-The 2024 Character Creation Challenge (#charactercreationchallenge):
https://thewhiteminotaur.wordpress.com/ ... challenge/
User avatar
Warshield73
Megaversal® Ambassador
Posts: 5138
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:23 am
Comment: "I will not be silenced. I will not submit. I will find the truth and shout it to the world. "
Location: Houston, TX

Re: Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by Warshield73 »

dreicunan wrote:
Warshield73 wrote:
dreicunan wrote:It doesn't regenerate on its own. I saw a house rule once that you could repair them by pumping in 10 PPE for 1 MDC, takes one round for the point to repair (the idea being to make repair an out-of-combat thing).

I really like this house rule, you could even double the number to ISP and allow psychics to repair it, I wish I had thought of this.

My characters had to use healing spells or, more often, they used a Millennium Tree healing wand to repair them.

Yeah, I thought that it was a great idea as well; I'd actually let ISP do it for the same price, or maybe even half price. Sometimes the red-headed stepchild should get thrown a bone!

After reviewing this for a character I think the PPE cost is too high.

A leaf armor is 60 MDC so just to repair half, 30 MDC, is would cost 300 PPE. That is like a level 12 spell. Armor of Ithan is 10 MDC per level for just 10 PPE. So a level one mage can get 60 MDC for 60 PPE.

10 to 1 is just way too high. I like this house rule but I think if I use, and I think I may continue to use a healing spell, I would make it 1 to 1 or even 1 PPE for every 2 MDC.
Northern Gun Chief of Robotics
Designer of NG-X40 Storm Hammer Power Armor & NG-HC1000 Dragonfly Hover Chopper
Big game hunter, explorer extra ordinaire and expert on the Aegis Buffalo
Ultimate Insider for WB 32: Lemuria, WB 33: Northern Gun 1, WB 34: Northern Gun 2
Showdown Backer Robotech RPG Tactics
Benefactor Insider Rifts Bestiary: Vol 1, Rifts Bestiary: Vol 2
dreicunan
Hero
Posts: 1344
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 12:49 am

Re: Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by dreicunan »

Warshield73 wrote:
dreicunan wrote:
Warshield73 wrote:
dreicunan wrote:It doesn't regenerate on its own. I saw a house rule once that you could repair them by pumping in 10 PPE for 1 MDC, takes one round for the point to repair (the idea being to make repair an out-of-combat thing).

I really like this house rule, you could even double the number to ISP and allow psychics to repair it, I wish I had thought of this.

My characters had to use healing spells or, more often, they used a Millennium Tree healing wand to repair them.

Yeah, I thought that it was a great idea as well; I'd actually let ISP do it for the same price, or maybe even half price. Sometimes the red-headed stepchild should get thrown a bone!

After reviewing this for a character I think the PPE cost is too high.

A leaf armor is 60 MDC so just to repair half, 30 MDC, is would cost 300 PPE. That is like a level 12 spell. Armor of Ithan is 10 MDC per level for just 10 PPE. So a level one mage can get 60 MDC for 60 PPE.

10 to 1 is just way too high. I like this house rule but I think if I use, and I think I may continue to use a healing spell, I would make it 1 to 1 or even 1 PPE for every 2 MDC.

First, before I respond, I realized that I forgot to mention that the rule included that anyone who can use their PPE to activate a techno-wizard device (or who could otherwise channel PPE in some way) was able to use their PPE to repair the Millennium Tree items.

In regards to your view, I can't help but point out that you're comparing apples and oranges to come to your conclusion. You aren't casting a spell to get temporary MDC, you are repairing an item. Armor of Ithan is not a good point of comparison, as it has a rather short duration (and the level one mage could get 10 MDC six times, no more than 10 mdc each time, and for one minute per casting, for 60 ppe).

The far better point of comparison would be Mend the Broken, a level 5 spell which is 10 PPE to cast plus a whopping THIRTY (30) PPE per ONE (1) MDC that you want to repair. Mend the Broken would take 910 PPE minimum to repair 30 MDC, assuming that you can get that much PPE available to you so that you can do it in one casting.

So in light of that 10 PPE per point of MDC is rather a bargain, and it doesn't require knowing any specific spell, either. If you can draw supplemental PPE from a ley line or nexus, you can easily repair 30 MDC in 30 rounds, 7.5 minutes, without using any of your own PPE to do the job.

Now, if you want these items to be very cheaply repairable because that works for your game, whatever works for your table. I just wanted to clarify why the people who came up with the rule would surely not be looking at the cost as being too high.
Axelmania wrote:You of course, being the ultimate authority on what is an error and what is not.
Declared the ultimate authority on what is an error and what is not by Axelmania on 5.11.19.
User avatar
Warshield73
Megaversal® Ambassador
Posts: 5138
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:23 am
Comment: "I will not be silenced. I will not submit. I will find the truth and shout it to the world. "
Location: Houston, TX

Re: Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by Warshield73 »

dreicunan wrote:First, before I respond, I realized that I forgot to mention that the rule included that anyone who can use their PPE to activate a techno-wizard device (or who could otherwise channel PPE in some way) was able to use their PPE to repair the Millennium Tree items.

I just kind of assumed this hence my idea of allowing ISP as well.

dreicunan wrote:In regards to your view, I can't help but point out that you're comparing apples and oranges to come to your conclusion. You aren't casting a spell to get temporary MDC, you are repairing an item. Armor of Ithan is not a good point of comparison, as it has a rather short duration (and the level one mage could get 10 MDC six times, no more than 10 mdc each time, and for one minute per casting, for 60 ppe).

The far better point of comparison would be Mend the Broken, a level 5 spell which is 10 PPE to cast plus a whopping THIRTY (30) PPE per ONE (1) MDC that you want to repair. Mend the Broken would take 910 PPE minimum to repair 30 MDC, assuming that you can get that much PPE available to you so that you can do it in one casting.

So in light of that 10 PPE per point of MDC is rather a bargain, and it doesn't require knowing any specific spell, either. If you can draw supplemental PPE from a ley line or nexus, you can easily repair 30 MDC in 30 rounds, 7.5 minutes, without using any of your own PPE to do the job.

Now, if you want these items to be very cheaply repairable because that works for your game, whatever works for your table. I just wanted to clarify why the people who came up with the rule would surely not be looking at the cost as being too high.

I fully agree I am comparing apples and oranges. I was just, and I probably should have been clearer on this, comparing the economics of this. Most mage PCs have limited PPE and so what I have found is they don't want to spend it if they don't have to. More precisely, PPE I put into repairing a leaf is PPE that is not available for spells, like Armor of Ithan later.

To be clear, my players had to use the spell Super-Healing a level 10 spell costing 70 PPE and repairing 4D6 MDC. This averages out to about 1.2 MDC per 10 PPE. This was my players stopped using millennium tree stuff just a few games after they left England, the economics just weren't there. For this reason we had to come up with a way for the wands and staves to repair these as well. Without a way to economically repair the MT armor there is just no incentive to use it.

Your comparison with mend broken is also not a good one because these are items that can be repaired by Operators or craftsmen. When you are talking about the cost of repairing the MT armor it is the only way to do it when you are away from the very few Millennium Trees in the world.

The simply fact is that with no canon rules for how to repair this stuff we are all just left house ruling it. I was hoping that this system would be better than the one I already used but in the end it only marginally was. It still lacks the economics to make it worthwhile armor for PCs. Every PC I have ever had that uses this stuff switches to something else in very short order and I just don't see this rule changing that but I could be wrong.
Northern Gun Chief of Robotics
Designer of NG-X40 Storm Hammer Power Armor & NG-HC1000 Dragonfly Hover Chopper
Big game hunter, explorer extra ordinaire and expert on the Aegis Buffalo
Ultimate Insider for WB 32: Lemuria, WB 33: Northern Gun 1, WB 34: Northern Gun 2
Showdown Backer Robotech RPG Tactics
Benefactor Insider Rifts Bestiary: Vol 1, Rifts Bestiary: Vol 2
User avatar
eliakon
Palladin
Posts: 9093
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 9:40 pm
Comment: Palladium Books Canon is set solely by Kevin Siembieda, either in person, or by his approval of published material.
Contact:

Re: Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by eliakon »

Why not just have it heal at the normal rate that MDC beings heal at?
It is an MDC being. It is alive. It does not say that it does not heal...
Ergo it does heal. It just does not rapidly bio-regenerate.
If you want it to heal faster use healing spells.
Solves all the problems and requires no houserules at all.
The rules are not a bludgeon with which to hammer a character into a game. They are a guide to how a group of friends can get together to weave a collective story that entertains everyone involved. We forget that at our peril.

Edmund Burke wrote:The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
User avatar
The Beast
Demon Lord Extraordinaire
Posts: 5956
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2005 3:28 pm
Comment: You probably think this comment is about you, don't you?
Location: Apocrypha

Re: Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by The Beast »

You could use the Mend Wood spell from Mysteries of Magic 1 for the bark armor.
User avatar
Warshield73
Megaversal® Ambassador
Posts: 5138
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:23 am
Comment: "I will not be silenced. I will not submit. I will find the truth and shout it to the world. "
Location: Houston, TX

Re: Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by Warshield73 »

eliakon wrote:Why not just have it heal at the normal rate that MDC beings heal at?
It is an MDC being. It is alive. It does not say that it does not heal...
Ergo it does heal. It just does not rapidly bio-regenerate.
If you want it to heal faster use healing spells.
Solves all the problems and requires no houserules at all.

It is a house rule in that it doesn't say that these things are alive or that they heal at all but it is the house rule that requires the least amount of well house rules. I also like this because I already do this with PPE recovery for those items that have PPE but don't give recovery time.
Northern Gun Chief of Robotics
Designer of NG-X40 Storm Hammer Power Armor & NG-HC1000 Dragonfly Hover Chopper
Big game hunter, explorer extra ordinaire and expert on the Aegis Buffalo
Ultimate Insider for WB 32: Lemuria, WB 33: Northern Gun 1, WB 34: Northern Gun 2
Showdown Backer Robotech RPG Tactics
Benefactor Insider Rifts Bestiary: Vol 1, Rifts Bestiary: Vol 2
User avatar
eliakon
Palladin
Posts: 9093
Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 9:40 pm
Comment: Palladium Books Canon is set solely by Kevin Siembieda, either in person, or by his approval of published material.
Contact:

Re: Does Millennium Tree body armor regenerate?

Unread post by eliakon »

Warshield73 wrote:
eliakon wrote:Why not just have it heal at the normal rate that MDC beings heal at?
It is an MDC being. It is alive. It does not say that it does not heal...
Ergo it does heal. It just does not rapidly bio-regenerate.
If you want it to heal faster use healing spells.
Solves all the problems and requires no houserules at all.

It is a house rule in that it doesn't say that these things are alive or that they heal at all but it is the house rule that requires the least amount of well house rules. I also like this because I already do this with PPE recovery for those items that have PPE but don't give recovery time.

If the wood is alive, and the leaves are alive... then why would the bark not be alive?
Especially since they go to pains to tell us that everything removed from the tree is alive, and that when it 'dies' it vanishes in a poof of magic.

And it doesnt have to say they heal... healing is the default state of living things after all.
You don't see every MDC race that doesn't have bio-regeneration have a note "pssst, this thing heals normally". Nor do we assume that with out that note that they don't heal.

This also neatly solves the PPE question... the PPE recovers at the usual rate for PPE for living things. Not the rate for mages, or the rapid regeneration of the wands... just the slow but steady rate of average living things.
The rules are not a bludgeon with which to hammer a character into a game. They are a guide to how a group of friends can get together to weave a collective story that entertains everyone involved. We forget that at our peril.

Edmund Burke wrote:The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Post Reply

Return to “Rifts®: Dimension Books”