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Hey all so just got a few rules questions here. I've had the Rifts books for a bit now but just picked up the Palladium Fantasy book and just wanted to ask clarifying points. Seeing as how I'm going to have to be the one to run the game when I get the chance too I wanted to make sure I understood it all. So without further ado

1) Is parry/dodge meet or beat? If the attack rolls a 15 to attack do I have to roll a 15 to deflect or a 16?

2) For Palladium Fantasy do player character's start off with two actions per round before Hand to Hand actions come in or is that just a rifts rule? Granted that may have changed in the new Rifts. I'm working off my first edition Rifts book. (At least I think it's first edition. It's not the new ultimate book.)

3) With roll with the punch, can that be done after a fail parry or does that have to be your defense move for the attack?

4) Follow up question on the roll with the punch. Am I right in thinking it as it has to be a blunt style damage? No rolling with being stabbed with a sword right?

5) For the attributes am I reading it right that there is no mechanical penalty for having a low score? (P.E. and the like aside). My original background is from 3.5 so kinda glad to see not having a -4 to everything for a low score.

volt875 wrote:Hey all so just got a few rules questions here. I've had the Rifts books for a bit now but just picked up the Palladium Fantasy book and just wanted to ask clarifying points. Seeing as how I'm going to have to be the one to run the game when I get the chance too I wanted to make sure I understood it all. So without further ado

1) Is parry/dodge meet or beat? If the attack rolls a 15 to attack do I have to roll a 15 to deflect or a 16?

All ties go to the defender. (page 43, very last sentence in Step 3). So yes an attacker's 15 must be met or beaten with a defender's 15+.

2) For Palladium Fantasy do player character's start off with two actions per round before Hand to Hand actions come in or is that just a rifts rule? Granted that may have changed in the new Rifts. I'm working off my first edition Rifts book. (At least I think it's first edition. It's not the new ultimate book.)

This will likely vary from table to table. By RAW page 47 has the HtH forms on it, and the first three state that each starts with two attacks. However some may just use the Rifts HtH versions and add the two extra attacks. I was going to mention that the psychic combat part says that all PCs start with two APR, and this is how most people end up with the four APR at level one, but I just noticed in this book that the line was changed to "most."

3) With roll with the punch, can that be done after a fail parry or does that have to be your defense move for the attack?

AFAIK there wasn't any sort of clarification about that. I've played at tables that allowed it. I've played at tables that didn't. I think you'll just have to see what fits your group better unless someone finds a rule in one of the books somewhere.

4) Follow up question on the roll with the punch. Am I right in thinking it as it has to be a blunt style damage? No rolling with being stabbed with a sword right?

The Ninjas & Superspies book states that it can't be used against energy attacks, bullets, bladed weapons, psionics, and radiation, as does the RMB. I don't know why that term wasn't included in PFRPG when the bonuses are, but seeing how the bonus is "roll with punch/fall/impact" I'd feel safe in saying you are correct. It has to be blunt-style damage.

5) For the attributes am I reading it right that there is no mechanical penalty for having a low score? (P.E. and the like aside). My original background is from 3.5 so kinda glad to see not having a -4 to everything for a low score.

RAW not for PFRPG. RUE did finally add penalties for low attributes for Rifts, but seeing how the bonuses are typically the same in each main book there's no reason you couldn't apply the penalties from RUE in the other settings, aside from not likely them (as it appears to be the case with you).

In addition to the Beast's response -

3) You can roll with the impact after you fail to avoid the blow with a parry or dodge. It is listed as step five in the combat section (page 43), after the attacker rolls damage. But it takes an attack to do so.
4) It also gives examples in the same section of the kind of attacks you can roll with. It is "blunt" attacks, but also explosions.

Hope that helps!

P.S. 2) We still play as the main book was originally written, without adding the extra two attacks per melee. It makes a big difference in some areas, most notably the casting of spell magic. Because Rifts and other lines added these extra attacks, some NPCs in the later PFRPG books have them as well. The books are inconsistent in its application. For this reason some people prefer to add them to PF characters. It might make a difference if you were planning to port characters over from other lines, or take your PF characters to Rifts Earth.

The only game where Roll With Blow doesn't take an extra action is Ninjas and Superspies, far as I know.

Normally you got one free roll per turn, unless you had "Automatic Roll" then you got unlimited RWBs per turn.

volt875 wrote:Hey all so just got a few rules questions here. I've had the Rifts books for a bit now but just picked up the Palladium Fantasy book and just wanted to ask clarifying points. Seeing as how I'm going to have to be the one to run the game when I get the chance too I wanted to make sure I understood it all. So without further ado

1) Is parry/dodge meet or beat? If the attack rolls a 15 to attack do I have to roll a 15 to deflect or a 16?

Defender wins ties always as a rule in Palladium.

2) For Palladium Fantasy do player character's start off with two actions per round before Hand to Hand actions come in or is that just a rifts rule? Granted that may have changed in the new Rifts. I'm working off my first edition Rifts book. (At least I think it's first edition. It's not the new ultimate book.)

It applys in second edition Palladium Fantasy the same way it does in Rifts, page 48 in the Psychic combat section. It may or may not have been origionally a copy paste error from Heroes Unlimited for both, but Palladium seems to have rolled with it if so.

3) With roll with the punch, can that be done after a fail parry or does that have to be your defense move for the attack?

Can be done after, but does take another attack per melee to attempt.

4) Follow up question on the roll with the punch. Am I right in thinking it as it has to be a blunt style damage? No rolling with being stabbed with a sword right?

It's right in the name. "Roll with Punch/Fall/Impact". If it's not one of those things, you can't roll with it.

5) For the attributes am I reading it right that there is no mechanical penalty for having a low score? (P.E. and the like aside). My original background is from 3.5 so kinda glad to see not having a -4 to everything for a low score.

Palladium never had penalties for low attributes until Rifts Ultimate Edition, but it has not spread (yet) to any other game lines.