The Rifts™ Difiicult/Weird Questions Thread

[Armorlord]

So if they cast like Carpet of adhesion upon themselves an waited for the Silo's to open for the torpedo or which ever an then simply crushed each missle as it was being launched basically would that be possible ?

-Lenwen.

If they're that close, and that strong, it would much easier just to hold the silo shut. Spending time catching like that is, well, mostly silly. The warheads should still go off, unless it has a large enough blast to warrant miles of safe distance in which case it's a long range or better, which may very when tear the hero in half if they are anchored like that, or go flying with a large chunk of ground stuck to them if you allow the spell to work as such, and if your using Carpet of Adhesion loosely, might as well just cast that on the silo doors.

[cornholioprime]

Can an Alien Intelligence put one of its essences into a Robot the same way that mortals use the Transferal of Essence spell??

And if so, can the Intelligence withdraw that essence at will, or is it stuck inside that robot until it is destroyed just like mortal essences are??

[Lenwen]

These aren't real questions, are they Lenwen?

Aye I am sorry but yeah . PC of mine wanted to know what would happen if a caster of some kind could do it in any way . I said the same thing as was stated above about it being easier to just carpet of adhesion the doors together . dident think it would hurt to ask tho about the other way to do that .

-Lenwen.

[Armorlord]

Can an Alien Intelligence put one of its essences into a Robot the same way that mortals use the Transferal of Essence spell??

And if so, can the Intelligence withdraw that essence at will, or is it stuck inside that robot until it is destroyed just like mortal essences are??

Well, the Transference of Essence & Intellect spell wouldn't work with most robots, as most robots are not made of stone, clay, iron, wood, or vegetation. The mention of 'similar body' is misleading. A fragment capable of casting the level eight Earth Warlock spell should indeed become trapped in the target until it is destroyed.

Though, independent of that, it could be reasonable for a Alien Intelligence to send a fragment into a TE capable Robot that it knows of and has the location, since its usual detection powers wouldn't work. Though inside the machine it should suffer the same restrictions as normal for TE machines. It should be able to remove the fragment as easily as it would from any host.

[Lenwen]

I've recently finished off the CS books ( War machine , Navy and Lastly Lone Star ) I am a bit puzzled tho . I've seen it said on the baords here that the Dog Boys are like the first in an last out an thier the ones who take the brunt of any deaths in the CS armies when they take on various city,nations .

Yet For the Life of me I can not find exact details in any books about how many per month the CS could activly create .

Does anyone know anywhere in the Books that it states this specifically ?

-Lenwen.

[The Galactus Kid]

I would check lonestar. I can't think if its in there off the top of my head, but if it is in a book, it would be that one.

[Lenwen]

I already have read and reread everything from Dog Boy Creation to nurseries an training as well as Military Dog Pack program an still no hard core evidence of exactly how many per month they could create .

I could not even find where in lonstar it said they could be "aged" by the genitics program . As I seen some one post before on the baords they said they could "age" dogboys to what ever age they need . Guess I am just trying to find more out about them incredible dog boys lol they do seem to be the perfect Warriors .


-Lenwen.

[cornholioprime]

I've recently finished off the CS books ( War machine , Navy and Lastly Lone Star ) I am a bit puzzled tho . I've seen it said on the baords here that the Dog Boys are like the first in an last out an thier the ones who take the brunt of any deaths in the CS armies when they take on various city,nations .

Yet For the Life of me I can not find exact details in any books about how many per month the CS could activly create .

Does anyone know anywhere in the Books that it states this specifically ?

-Lenwen.

It doesn't.

But like Coalition Skelebots or the Demnic Hordes, the unofficial answer is "as many Dog Boys as are needed to further the plot, but not be sufficient in and of themselves to be an entire army."

Note that even with the casualties in the Siege on Tolkeen, in which their magic-sensing talents were recognized by their enemies early on and they were singled out for destruction, didn't do too much (canon) damage to their numbers.

Just like Goblins and Orcs in other Game Settings, they are unofficially "infinite" in number.

[Lenwen]

An endless amount of dogboy's would make even Atlantis or any civilization in the 3 Galaxies tremble. That power alone even with out each and every one clad in MDC armor's and or MDC weapons too would make any civilization tremble..

That makes me curious an begs for the question to be asked , What would the NGR say if they found out that the CS had this Technology to mass produce Dogboys with out limmit an not even offer to share thier infinite military troop's ? I bet they would be a EXTREAMLY interested in the ability to produce ( simply as many as needed ) to halt the war's they are in lol


-Lenwen

[Library Ogre]

They don't give hard numbers on current populations, but 15% of all Dog Boys are breeding females (page 24 of Lone Star; 30% are female, 50% of those are breeders), who have 1D4 pups after a 6 month gestation; they do so about every 2 years (page 25). Pups reach physical maturity at 30 months. 10% of Dog Boys are tube grown, and this number is unlikely to increase; page 24, column 2, paragraph 5 states that tube-growing Dog Boys takes a lot of resources.

So, running the numbers, page 18 of LS says there are 2 Dog Boy divisions in the 4th Army, and page 27 of the original SB1 says a CS Division consists of 864 troops. Assuming that 1 out of every 16 soldiers is not a Dog Boy (that's the human and psi-stalker leadership), that gives us 1620 Dog Boys in these two divisions of the 4th Army (not counting others in other divisions, or ones assigned to other parts of the base).

Using the ratios given, there are 243 breeding females in the 4th Army Dog Boy Divisions. In three years, they could increase the unit size by about 600 (assuming some infant mortality).

Keep that in mind. At the current ratio of 15% breeding females to 85% everyone else, Dog Boys can almost double their population in about three years.

(Mind you, these numbers wouldn't actually play out this way; chances are most of the 4th Army's dog boys are, in fact, boys, and not a strict 70/15/15 split. But, based on the numbers given, that's how it would be.)

[cornholioprime]

Vampiric Mind Control, as described in Rifts: Vampire Kingdoms, appears to be a constantly in effect form of Super-Domination and clearly appears to be mystical -supernatural -in nature.

As such, can the magic involved in Vampire mind-control, wherein the person in question is otherwise non-supernatual in any way, be sensed by creatures like Dog Boys and Psi-Stalkers, or Psionics/Spells like Sense Magic??

[Lenwen]

What are the chances that for instance someone from Rifts Earth knows some of the Fighting Styles presented in N&SS ??

-Lenwen.

I am thinking bout gettin rifts Japan an was curious as to that possability .

[csbioborg]

I'd say that any vampires created in that situation would be wild vampires or, possibly, Wampyrs (from Nightbane).

Wild Vampires because their would have only the most tenuous connect to the VI... enough to make them vampires, but not enough to preserve their sanity.

Wampyrs because the VI wouldn't be able to overwhelm them. The Secondary vampire's own power/fragment of the VI would change them, but not completely, making them a demi-vampire.

Either is a reasonable interpretation, IMO.

What is a wampyr?

[Library Ogre]

What are the chances that for instance someone from Rifts Earth knows some of the Fighting Styles presented in N&SS ??

-Lenwen.

I am thinking bout gettin rifts Japan an was curious as to that possability .

In North America, very low; pure styles wouldn't have survived (after all, there's been another 300 years of evolution on them), and they'd have had to adapt to the changing battlefield... original martial arts were about defending yourself from similarly squishy humans, who may or may not be armed and armored. Modern martial arts are going to have to deal with MDC armor and supernatural strength as a fact of life.

[glitterboy2098]

What are the chances that for instance someone from Rifts Earth knows some of the Fighting Styles presented in N&SS ??

-Lenwen.

I am thinking bout gettin rifts Japan an was curious as to that possability .

In North America, very low; pure styles wouldn't have survived (after all, there's been another 300 years of evolution on them), and they'd have had to adapt to the changing battlefield... original martial arts were about defending yourself from similarly squishy humans, who may or may not be armed and armored. Modern martial arts are going to have to deal with MDC armor and supernatural strength as a fact of life.

agreed, but remember that MA's from other worlds and alternate earths can show up and have started schools to teach specific methods. as for the MDC issue, yeah. things like Ninjitsu, zanji, and the like which include weapons training as a standard part of the MA would be more useful for direct combat. ones that give MA powers next up, since some of those might become MDC. any others would be mostly for self defense, and trainees urged to learn how to use a laser rifle or other MDC weapon as well.


rifts japan isn't the best source, it's MA's are just alternate Hth's. IIRC, one of the rifters set it up as you can trade 6 OCC related and or secondary skills for a N&SS non-exclusive martial art, which takes the place of the normal HtH skill of the OCC.

[cornholioprime]

The Spell, "Reusrrection," specifically states that it not only restores the character to lifer, but also cures whatever it was that killed him.

If I use the Spell on a Juicer that underwent Last Call and died from it, could I use the Spell time after time after time to bring the Juicer back and cure him of each subsequent Last Call death that he undergoes....

...thereby extending his life indefinitely??

[The Beast]

Can Phase World setting civilizations make Crazies without the crazyness?

[Lenwen]

The Spell, "Reusrrection," specifically states that it not only restores the character to lifer, but also cures whatever it was that killed him.

If I use the Spell on a Juicer that underwent Last Call and died from it, could I use the Spell time after time after time to bring the Juicer back and cure him of each subsequent Last Call death that he undergoes....

...thereby extending his life indefinitely??

Immortal juicers FTW !!

Corn you continue to amaze me man

-Lenwen.

P.S.
The question then becomes does not the Juicer then become Immune to the whole last call ??

[cornholioprime]

The Spell, "House of Glass," targets an attacker with the damage that he applies to the target of the spell.

Would it work if I cast the Spell of Legend, "Vicious Circle," in an area days previously and a House of Glass-enchanted character inadvertently steps into it??

[cornholioprime]

I think it specifically says that last call juicers can't be resurrected, doesn't it? Or at least something to the effect of " you can't use magic, or any other power/loophole to get out of dying if you're a juicer.

I'll take a look in a few minutes.

[cornholioprime]

I think it specifically says that last call juicers can't be resurrected, doesn't it? Or at least something to the effect of " you can't use magic, or any other power/loophole to get out of dying if you're a juicer.

I'll take a look in a few minutes.

Eh, it says that Resurrection has a -50% penalty......but I'll just circumvent that with the "Ley Line Resurrection" spell, that is done like a Ritual and has a 100% sucess rate.

VIVA LA MUNCHKIN!!!!

[Lenwen]

Exactly how do the Samas P.A. or others Turn direction with out actually stearing them ? And how do they controle the pitch an yaw or even the thrusters to speed up or slow down ?


-Lenwen.

[glitterboy2098]

Exactly how do the Samas P.A. or others Turn direction with out actually stearing them ? And how do they controle the pitch an yaw or even the thrusters to speed up or slow down ?


-Lenwen.

posture. the pilot shifts his wieght right/left to turn sideslip, pulls in/out legs to turn, shifts his wieght forward/back to climb/dive... throttle is probably controlled either by voice control or forcefeedback finger controls (move your fingers a specific way, you speed up, a different way, slow down. hold them in one posture to aim built in weapins using a point shoot method...

[Lenwen]

Power Armor question .. I know the technology put into it that allows it various forms of targeting , radar an what not .. my question is simply this then with all that in the H.U.D. face plate can the Person inside the armor itself still see outside the actual faceplate like it were simply glass ?

Or is it the tech stuff inside the H.U.D. system cover up most of the viewing area from the eye vantage point of the person wearing that Power Armor ?


-Lenwen.

[glitterboy2098]

it would be an "enhanced reality' system. have you ever watched the Terminator movies? those scenes from the Terminator's viewpoint would be a good example. it's a HUD that not only shows your an image of whats outside, but overlays that with information from all the sensors and computers. range, ID, direction, ect. i'd presume eye tracking works those controls. glance at a box at the side of the screen lets you switch between visible light, UV, Thermal, or light amplified viewing modes, for example.
radar is likely a small circle in the corner of your view, like in video games.

sorta like a bluetooth headset.

a lot of this can be cleared up by reading Starship troopers by heinlen, he covers how powered armor would be controlled fairly well. just replace some of his chin and toungue activated switched with eye tracking interfaces, it was a technology not even dreamed of then.

[csbioborg]

Okay I do brazlian jiu jitsu. On the rare occasions a person doens't tap to a joint lock in alters the position of the joint so that you require sugery. Plus the tendons and ligaments need replaced but that's not peritnent to my question.

A if you snap a bioregenerating beings joint does he have to reset the joint/bone so that the wound heals properly.

b. In armor there still has to be room for the joint to move. Can a SDC human break a armor clad foes joints.

c. If I thow a MDC creature what are the rules for falling damage?

[glitterboy2098]

Okay I do brazlian jiu jitsu. On the rare occasions a person doens't tap to a joint lock in alters the position of the joint so that you require sugery. Plus the tendons and ligaments need replaced but that's not peritnent to my question.

A if you snap a bioregenerating beings joint does he have to reset the joint/bone so that the wound heals properly.

i've been thinking this one over for a bit now, actually. i'd say yes, although given time the healing ability will correct it anyway. but for the short term it would suffer problems unless it takes time to reset the bones.

b. In armor there still has to be room for the joint to move. Can a SDC human break a armor clad foes joints.

varies. enviromental armors would have articulated joints designed to prevent the body from bending too far certain ways. those would be a no.
non-enviromental armors typically are more like the colonial marine armor in Aliens, plates worn over the body. these would usually lack the articulated frameworks that protect from over extension.

c. If I thow a MDC creature what are the rules for falling damage?

1d6 SDC per 10'.
RUE, p. 345

my own houserule is to apply terminal velocity as well. after 150 feet or so, most things stop accellerating and hit terminal velocity, so past that they take damage as if they fell only 150 feet.

[csbioborg]

No for MDC creatures not SDC

Also as a aside I know regular armor you still can do falling damage but what about power armor.

[Lenwen]

it would be an "enhanced reality' system. have you ever watched the Terminator movies? those scenes from the Terminator's viewpoint would be a good example. it's a HUD that not only shows your an image of whats outside, but overlays that with information from all the sensors and computers. range, ID, direction, ect. i'd presume eye tracking works those controls. glance at a box at the side of the screen lets you switch between visible light, UV, Thermal, or light amplified viewing modes, for example.
radar is likely a small circle in the corner of your view, like in video games.

sorta like a bluetooth headset.

a lot of this can be cleared up by reading Starship troopers by heinlen, he covers how powered armor would be controlled fairly well. just replace some of his chin and toungue activated switched with eye tracking interfaces, it was a technology not even dreamed of then.

Enhanced reality system I wish PB would be a bit more specific . Anyways having your explanation of the Power Armors visual system Frequency Jamming (spell) would more then wreck havoc with the visual system of a PA system not to mention its stored air , its radar , its well virtually everything ..

Or am I wrong ?

-Lenwen.

[csbioborg]

If a Basklisk turns a Cosmo Knight to stone is the stone immune to energy weapons or can he turn it into rumble with a energy blast of some sort. Also is the statue SDC or MDC.

The Baslisk also gets turned to stone if the gaze gets bounced back by a mirror or glitterboy. Is this implying the basklisk could use the glitterboy to refract his gaze on to a target out of his line of sight.

The Conversio books says the Baslisk's statues turn back into flesh if the Baslisk is slain. Baslisk can live over 2000 years. If a Basklisk dies of old age could a thosand year old statue turn back alive

Can the Basklisk turn his victims back to life with a glance. It seems logical that he could if the stone is some sort of quasi transformation
So could the Baslisk save his friends life by stoning him after a mortal wound until he can recieve medical treatment?

[cornholioprime]

If a Basklisk turns a Cosmo Knight to stone is the stone immune to energy weapons or can he turn it into rumble with a energy blast of some sort. Also is the statue SDC or MDC. A]]

The Baslisk also gets turned to stone if the gaze gets bounced back by a mirror or glitterboy. Is this implying the basklisk could use the glitterboy to refract his gaze on to a target out of his line of sight. B]]

The Conversio books says the Baslisk's statues turn back into flesh if the Baslisk is slain. Baslisk can live over 2000 years. If a Basklisk dies of old age could a thosand year old statue turn back alive C]]

Can the Basklisk turn his victims back to life with a glance. It seems logical that he could if the stone is some sort of quasi transformation
So could the Baslisk save his friends life by stoning him after a mortal wound until he can recieve medical treatment?

D]]

A]]: The book infers that the Stone in question is "just" ordinary stone in every way, including Damage Capacity; get turned to stone whether you're SDC or MDC, you turn into SDC stone with no extra abilities.




B,C, and D: All of these seem logically possible.

[glitterboy2098]

No for MDC creatures not SDC

Also as a aside I know regular armor you still can do falling damage but what about power armor.

1D6 sdc per 10ft. no distinction. i checked.

makes sense. impact damage is based on kinetic energy. KE is a function of velocity and mass. X mass hitting at Y velocity will hit at Z KE. games abstract this into X damage per Y feet. (and why i add terminal velocity, to remove some of the more unrealistic extremes.)

just because a creature is phyisicly tougher wouldn't make the impact more damaging.

[csbioborg]

The boiling tempeture of water goes down as you rise in elevation, On earth, at 54,000 feet roughly the boiling tempeture of water is 98.6 degrees. I am in enviromental flying power armor fighting a MDC creature if I raise my atitude to around that height will a non envriomental shielded MDC creature in essence boil to death give or take since a alien creature is ging to have some variance in temp of blood. Could I do that to a great horn dragon? While they don't need to breath and consequently won't die of aphixation can I kill it in that manner. Measures have been taken to prevent teleportation and you would probaly need several power armors even for a hatchling but the question still stands.

[LostOne]

The boiling tempeture of water goes down as you rise in elevation, On earth, at 54,000 feet roughly the boiling tempeture of water is 98.6 degrees. I am in enviromental flying power armor fighting a MDC creature if I raise my atitude to around that height will a non envriomental shielded MDC creature in essence boil to death give or take since a alien creature is ging to have some variance in temp of blood. Could I do that to a great horn dragon? While they don't need to breath and consequently won't die of aphixation can I kill it in that manner. Measures have been taken to prevent teleportation and you would probaly need several power armors even for a hatchling but the question still stands.

Not sure about the blood boiling, but unless the power armor specifically said it could I wouldn't let it reach that kind of altitude. They aren't aerodynamic enough, too much wind resistance not enough lift in a humanoid shaped power armor.

[Armorlord]

Aye, can only recall two or three aircraft on Rifts Earth can go that high. Power armor, even the 'aerial' power armor, doesn't break a thousand feet.

That 'boiling point' refers more to exposed regular water. Chief concerns at that high are hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and cold exposure actually. Temperatures can be as low as -50°C (-58°F) at that height, depending on latitude.

[csbioborg]

Replace it with a cosmo knight and a hatchling dragon then. A dragon dosen't need to breath and isn't really effected by the cold which is why I didn't ask about those.

Even higher what is killing the MDC creature with attributes like a dragon in a vacum. Do there cells implode like a persons or what.

[cornholioprime]

Can a Stone Master, or for that matter ANY magic discipline that uses precious Gemstones, use a Gemstone temporarily brought into existence by a Conjurer??

(Seems to me as if a Conjurer-Stone Master duo could make quite the fortune in a very short time selling their services....)

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Can a Stone Master, or for that matter ANY magic discipline that uses precious Gemstones, use a Gemstone temporarily brought into existence by a Conjurer??

(Seems to me as if a Conjurer-Stone Master duo could make quite the fortune in a very short time selling their services....)

I could never square, with myself, an answer to that quandry.

Brain says yes, heart says no, and my gut just doesn't know.

~ Josh

[cornholioprime]

Can a Stone Master, or for that matter ANY magic discipline that uses precious Gemstones, use a Gemstone temporarily brought into existence by a Conjurer??

(Seems to me as if a Conjurer-Stone Master duo could make quite the fortune in a very short time selling their services....)

I could never square, with myself, an answer to that quandry.

Brain says yes, heart says no, and my gut just doesn't know.

~ Josh

Then I have done my "job" here.

[cornholioprime]

In an imaginary scenario, I am a doctor who wants to incorporate all means of healing into my services -magical, psionic, and technological.

Can I use Spells such as "Restore Limb" and "Restoration" to give hands/arms/feet/legs to somebody who was born without them??

What about using "Restoration" to repair the joint and bone damage of, say, a Polio victim?? Or victims of Osteoporosis??

[Library Ogre]

In an imaginary scenario, I am a doctor who wants to incorporate all means of healing into my services -magical, psionic, and technological.

Can I use Spells such as "Restore Limb" and "Restoration" to give hands/arms/feet/legs to somebody who was born without them??

If it's a congenital defect, I would say no. You'd have to construct them with something like Fleshsculptor magic.

What about using "Restoration" to repair the joint and bone damage of, say, a Polio victim?? Or victims of Osteoporosis??

Sounds good to me. You're repairing damage, not trying to undo something that was with the person from birth.

[Armorlord]

Replace it with a cosmo knight and a hatchling dragon then. A dragon dosen't need to breath and isn't really effected by the cold which is why I didn't ask about those.

Even higher what is killing the MDC creature with attributes like a dragon in a vacum. Do there cells implode like a persons or what.

For a MDC creature, I would say no. Particularly given that the orbitals have to fight off aliens and creatures from the rifts, and all the ones near them are in vacuum.

[cornholioprime]

Can a Stone Master, or for that matter ANY magic discipline that uses precious Gemstones, use a Gemstone temporarily brought into existence by a Conjurer??

(Seems to me as if a Conjurer-Stone Master duo could make quite the fortune in a very short time selling their services....)

I could never square, with myself, an answer to that quandry.

Brain says yes, heart says no, and my gut just doesn't know.

~ Josh

Then I have done my "job" here.

sure.. but i'd say the Spell would use the stone up after 1 or 2 castings.

Hey, I'm just a stranger from our world, transferred to Rifts, who is just trying to make a living.


Answering you, of course you and I believe that the stone gets used as usual...the question was just to see what th forum's collective thoughts were on the issue of the item being conjured: besides duration o existence, is it just as "real" as its non-conjured counterpart??

Think of the potential, munchkinny implications: why would you EVER starve to death or die of thirst ever again, even across the longest expanses of desert, if your Adventuring Party had a Conjurer in tow and he conjured up animals for food and nourishment?? For that matter, conjuring up a keg of water or wine or ale or Kool Aid whenever the mod strikes you -nothing in the rules of conjuration prevents it.

Of course, that brings up a separate issue: if the Conjurer did indeed conjure up stuff to be prepared as food and drink, after the conjuring duration ends, does your body still get to "keep" the food that it's already eaten and digested....or would Conjured Food give new meaning to the old joke about being hungry again an hour after you eat Chinese Cooking??

[cornholioprime]

Can my character get Magic Tattoos on limbs that are Bio-Systems??

[Armorlord]

Can my character get Magic Tattoos on limbs that are Bio-Systems??

Well, they are supposed to effectively be living replacements that don't impede magic/psi.. so off hand I'd say yes.

[Lenwen]

In the Nighbane Setting the Nightlords utilized a secret arcane ritual that completly destroyed one entire Dimension .. ( as per nightlands pg128)

What happens to the Demons who were on missions in different dimensions that try to use thier Dimensional teleport to thier homeworld since thier homeworld is now destroyed ?

-Lenwen.

[9voltkilowatt]

I'd rule it as a failed teleport attempt.

But heres an interesting side question for you.

Would the demons who aren't presently in the dimension when it collapsed know their home plane had been destroyed?

[Lenwen]

I'd rule it as a failed teleport attempt.

But heres an interesting side question for you.

Would the demons who aren't presently in the dimension when it collapsed know their home plane had been destroyed?

You took my second question right from me ... I would have to rule that they would not know anything happened until possibly when they tried to do a D-Port home .. even then they might not know until they did some research or something least if you ask me ..

-Lenwen.

[csbioborg]

I'd rule that hades style demons would die if thier dimension was destroyed. They are linked to the dimension on some basic level. Just like they can't die outside of Hades they can't live without it. here souls or what have you are there therefore they die with the collpse of thier diemensions

On that note can a soul drinking rune weapon drink a demons soul

[cornholioprime]

I'd rule that hades style demons would die if thier dimension was destroyed. They are linked to the dimension on some basic level. Just like they can't die outside of Hades they can't live without it. here souls or what have you are there therefore they die with the collpse of thier diemensions

On that note can a soul drinking rune weapon drink a demons soul

Since their souls can be imprisoned into Rune Weapons and other artifacts (see Ahriman's Armors in Rifts: Mercenaries), then it logically stands to reason that their soul can be manipulated/devoured/enslaved as well.