help please! hitting at range, learning spells, & energy WP

[Viridian Sun]

I get the feeling these question has been addressed before but im having poor luck finding what i need, (albiet learning fascinating things in the process!)

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-i've puzzled the issue back and forth and debated with my players as we try to figure out whats right and basically we're unclear on how the bonuses affect firing in ranged combat.
-We have a Master Assassin, level 1. He has a tracking implant for +1 strike, a rifle that provides +2 on aimed shots, and sniper.
-the raw to-hit in ranged combat is 8 or better, that i get. its the phrasing of the rule books that is confusing me. 8 to hit (including WP and sniping bonuses.)
-So, my question is does the above line mean when he takes an aimed shot (if the implant counts) the Master Assassin to roll 2 or better, or only that he gets +7 added to the total but still requires the 8+ (so it's harder to dodge), or some combination inbetween?
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Regarding WP bonuses, what bonuses do you get to strike with energy pistol, rifle, and heavy? do you apply the pistol, rifle and heavy numbers, or is it something else, or none at all?
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When it comes to learning new spells, i've checked over the books and unless i've missed something, i don't see anything reflecting level requirements for spells characters learn outside of leveling. Does this mean our level 1 wizard-thief could learn call lightning from an NPC (a level 6 incantation), or does she have to be level 6 herself?



Thanks all for any clarification on these issues, i'm eager to improve my stories for the players i run with.

[Armorlord]

Bonuses and penalties both count toward the 'to hit' roll. So your assassin has decent odds against outright failure on a basic attack, but let us say he's hanging by a foot trying to shoot a small object going 420 mph and rolls a 10, he would fail because the penalties would overcome his bonuses and bring it below 8.
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You apply the WP's strike bonuses for the weapon. Am I misunderstanding the question?
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That is correct, spell level does not affect ability to learn, but it does effect rarity, cost, and willingness of others to share the knowledge. The higher it is, the less likely you are to find it, and the more dear the price to obtain it- if they are willing to teach it at all.

[Viridian Sun]

i apologize if my previous post is at all confusing, recovering from surgery last week and the meds make it difficult to be coherent at times..

basically, to hit it's 8 +/- modifiers.. so technically you could in fact need to roll a 1, or would that be considered a failure no matter what? his bonuses on an aimed shot, no pressure, not called bring it to +7. My original problem with this was it meant the assassin could, on aimed shots, never miss, granted it would be a slow going not doing called aimed shots.
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what i meant was, in the rifts ultimate main book, as well as the past ones iirc, it doesnt state level progression values for energy pistol, energy rifle, or heavy energy weapons.. i was asking if the values were the same as handgun, rifle and heavy weapons for the modern non-energy proficencies. I basically want to know if our players with modern weapons were improving (it would only make sense) as they level using them, or if it was just some aspect of energy weapons to keep them a little more balanced in terms of hitting.
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definitely thanks on the spell aspect; we have a lord magus and a wizard thief in the party and were curious, given the magus has several high end illusion spells (not that she planned to share them, but no offensive magic (at starting level) has had her pull off some terrifying stunts with her rune weapon at close range, including taking out an -06 samas in melee (after it took blasts from 2 fusion blocks, mind you, and had been convinced that all the terrain around them had broken away and collapsed, leaving them trapped. probably part of why they can go invisible at will )

[Dustin Fireblade]

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Regarding WP bonuses, what bonuses do you get to strike with energy pistol, rifle, and heavy? do you apply the pistol, rifle and heavy numbers, or is it something else, or none at all?
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Are you talking about in Rifts Ultimate Edition? The strike bonuses not being listed under the skill descriptions like the other ranged WP's?

If so, then check out page 360.

[Viridian Sun]

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Regarding WP bonuses, what bonuses do you get to strike with energy pistol, rifle, and heavy? do you apply the pistol, rifle and heavy numbers, or is it something else, or none at all?
----

Are you talking about in Rifts Ultimate Edition? The strike bonuses not being listed under the skill descriptions like the other ranged WP's?

If so, then check out page 360.

Yes, thats what i meant, thank you.

[drewkitty ~..~]

When it comes to learning new spells, i've checked over the books and unless i've missed something, i don't see anything reflecting level requirements for spells characters learn outside of leveling. Does this mean our level 1 wizard-thief could learn call lightning from an NPC (a level 6 incantation), or does she have to be level 6 herself?

General magic practitioners, like wizards, LLW, and sorcerers, do not have any level limitations when it come learning spells from a teacher. They can learn any "Common Magic" spells.
(i.e: they can not learn specialty magic spells. Like Mirror magic, laser magic, fleshsculpter magic, elemental magic, shadow magic. These have requirements in the spell for some special connection or talent to be understood to be able to cast the specially magic spells 'as is'. [Yes, most specially magic spells can have common magic copies, but these copies can cost as much as double the original's PPE cost and are 5 levels higher then the copied spell.])

There are mages that do have level limitations for learning magic. Such as the Zodiac Mages. But you would have to look at the text of each mage to see if they have these limitations.

[glitterboy2098]

I get the feeling these question has been addressed before but im having poor luck finding what i need, (albiet learning fascinating things in the process!)

----
-i've puzzled the issue back and forth and debated with my players as we try to figure out whats right and basically we're unclear on how the bonuses affect firing in ranged combat.
-We have a Master Assassin, level 1. He has a tracking implant for +1 strike, a rifle that provides +2 on aimed shots, and sniper.
-the raw to-hit in ranged combat is 8 or better, that i get. its the phrasing of the rule books that is confusing me. 8 to hit (including WP and sniping bonuses.)
-So, my question is does the above line mean when he takes an aimed shot (if the implant counts) the Master Assassin to roll 2 or better, or only that he gets +7 added to the total but still requires the 8+ (so it's harder to dodge), or some combination inbetween?

he would roll a D20, and add +7 to his result. if the total is over 8, he hits. modifiers to hit are always applied to the dice roll.

if the target tries to dodge, the player's D20+7 result from the roll to strike is the one the dodge roll has to beat.

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Regarding WP bonuses, what bonuses do you get to strike with energy pistol, rifle, and heavy? do you apply the pistol, rifle and heavy numbers, or is it something else, or none at all?

all W.P.'s provide a +1 to strike at level one, and additonal +1's to strike at specific levels. unless the skill specifically says otherwise, those are how they work. a few of the ancient WP's have additional information as well.

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When it comes to learning new spells, i've checked over the books and unless i've missed something, i don't see anything reflecting level requirements for spells characters learn outside of leveling. Does this mean our level 1 wizard-thief could learn call lightning from an NPC (a level 6 incantation), or does she have to be level 6 herself?

palladium's magic system allows any level of character to learn any level of spell. as long as they can learn magic anyways.*
so a level 1 character could learn a level 15 spell.. it's just unlikely they'd have enough PPE to cast it.

*the excption is classes that have magic as an inate power or granted to them by an outside force, like Mystics or warlocks. generally a magic OCC or RCC will specify if they can't learn new spells outside of leveling.