Dice-of-Doom wrote:Long time AD&D, Rifts, PFRPG, etc. here
I love the Palladium game system, However the Fantasy games O.C.C.s are a little boring. Not many options for abilities, etc., if i play a Merc Warrior and you play a Merc Warrior there is no difference between us except maybe skill selections etc.
While this is something I am correcting in my home game by scraping the O.C.C.s and replacing them with classes converted from Pathfinder, I would really love a 3rd edition of PFRPG with classes more in line with Rifts stable of O.C.C.s that are more fleshed out with abilities, lore and options.
While they are at it, more hard cover books with all color art of the same art style/artist like D&D and Pathfinder books do would be nice for all Palladium game worlds.
Skill selections make a big difference. Consider:
Mercenary 1 works as part of a small team of bounty hunters in the Western Empire capturing escaped slaves. On the hunt, his weapons of choice are nets, poisoned blow guns/darts, and clubs, since he prefers to capture his quarry intact to get his reward. While returning captured slaves, he carries a whip (for the slaves) a crossbow, and a mace (to defend his prizes). His skills include Rope Works (for tying them up), Track Humanoids, Streetwise, Use/Recognize Poison (good for capture), and Breed Dogs (training your own trackers/attack dogs is good). If he has the money, he rides on a horse (for pursuit) or a cart (for shipping his quarry).
Mercenary 2 is an engineer. Fortifications are his thing, either building, defending, or breaking them. He's good with rough carpentry and ropes, and works the construction and use of siege towers, catapults, ballistas, sapping tunnels, covered rams, et cetera. His work isn't pretty, but it does the job. On the battlefield, he uses a heavy axe and a knife as both tools and weapons.
Mercenary 3 is a rent-a-cop, part of a 'clean-up crew' company frequently hired to pacify areas of crime, rioting, recent conquests, et cetera. This character is good at investigations, undercover work, raids, searches/seizures, and arrests. He takes skills like surveillance, interrogation, Detect Ambush, Rope Works, Disguise, Intelligence, Streetwise, Concealment, Locate Secret Compartments, and Pick Locks. Also takes Forced march (formations are important for crowd control).
Mercenary 4 works as a courier, a long-distance messenger. Horsemanship is important for him, as are any skills that can help him evade ambush, pursuit, or suspicion. He also needs some education to interact with upper nobility, so heraldry is important, as well as literacy. He must be able to move quickly through territory that may or may not be friendly, so some wilderness survival and navigation skills would also be important. In addition to his weapons, he likes things that can slow or disable his enemies, allowing him to escape, such as caltrops, smoke/stink bombs, and other dirty tricks.
Mercenary 5 is a bodyguard. He's big, heavily-armored, and a little paranoid. He carries an extra-big shield and a large, intimidating weapon of some kind, often an axe or spear. Detect Ambush is probably taken twice. First Aid is also important, in case the client gets hurt. Otherwise, this guy is a body-builder, taking as many physical skills as he can.
The Mercenary is the most-versatile of the men-at-arms, and you can get all kinds of variety here that isn't a generic fighter and isn't particular to any other class. If you look through this forum, you'll find a selection of Soldier class variations, most of which can be effectively covered by the basic Soldier class.
Special class abilities are cool, but I rather enjoy the versatile approach of the basic OCC choices. There are plenty of other wrinkles you can throw into a character to give them special abilities, such as psionics, exotic species selection, magic items, the ability to make potions (see the alchemist section), et cetera.