Miscellaneous Rules FAQ ULTIMATE EDITION

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MULTIPLE CLASSES/DUAL CLASSING/MULTI-CLASSING QUESTIONS

Question: Ok... lets say that a character wanted to dual class... and this character already had H2H:Expert... now if their new OCC provided them with a new Hand To Hand skill... lets say Expert or Basic or whatever. How would you deal with that? Would you leave them have two hand to hand skills, giving them additional bonuses for the second skill (actions per melee, bonuses to dodge parry and strike, death blow.. etc...etc)? The way I see it this would make a character incredibly deadly seeing as one could boost up their melee actions to insanely high numbers by multiclassing. If they are allowed having more than one H2H I assume they wouldn't be able to pick the same one twice.
Answer: If the new OCC provides the same or lower hand to hand skill than the old one, then it counts toward paying off the cost of the old skill and allows it to resume advancement on reaching sufficient experience level (otherwise the old skill is frozen and never advances). If the new HtH skill is better then it begins at level 1 and advances normally, superseding the old skill.
Example: A 4th level CS Commando (with hand to hand commando) sees the error of his ways and decides to become a Cyber-Knight (which normally gets Hand to Hand: Martial Arts). During the Cyber-Knight training his old HtH commando skill is frozen at 4th level (which still gives him better fighting skills than many other apprentice Cyber-Knights). Upon reaching 5th level as a Cyber-Knight, the HtH: Commando skill is unfrozen and advances with every new level.
Elsewhere, a 3rd level Vagabond with HtH: Basic, tired of being stepped on, joins a big mercenary army and gets trained as a Headhunter. The superior Hand to Hand: Expert training he receives supersedes his self taught brawling skills and advances normally with every level gained as a Headhunter.
If by chance you've attained a high enough level in one class that the inferior skill actually provides better bonuses, then I should think the bonuses would remain frozen until the new skill provides better ones. In no case are the bonuses from two HtH skills ever combined.
Another alternative is simply to ignore the prohibition on having more than one Hand to Hand skill, but sooner or later this can result in the redundancy of one skill or the other.


Question: more than one Character class. Don't know about any of you, but I find any info. on this subject extremly "fuzzy". If any one that agrees can clear it up a bit for me, i'd be greatful.
Answer: Which game are you asking about? The multiclass rules vary.
Rifts originally didn't allow characters to have more than one class, except in certain cases, such as when a person undergoes bionic, chemical, or M.O.M. augmentation. It seems this has changed over the years, but so far the only Rifts Multiclass rules I have seen are in the Bionics Sourcebook, in the section on City Rats.
Heroes Unlimited really isn't designed for multiple Power Categories, and generally doesn't allow it but ultimately leaves it up to the GM.
Palladium Fantasy's Multiclass rules (which can be found here and in Adventures on the High Seas) allow a character to "retire" from one O.C.C. or R.C.C. (but not a P.C.C.) and take up a new O.C.C.
Robotech uses very similar rules to PF, with the main difference being that Robotech characters only have to earn a flat 2000 XP to progress to first level in the new class.
Ninjas & Superspies, Splicers, and Beyond the Supernatural expressly forbid multiple classes, while Nightbane, TMNT, Splicers, and ATB don't seem to address the matter at all that I can find.

Question: How does multiclassing work if it exsists
Answer: Nope, no multi-classing. You can switch to another O.C.C. within certain defined rules (High Seas 2E for PF), but you can NOT multiclass. Very specifically banned.

Question: Are there any rules for "multi-" or "dual-classing"? If so what are they or in what book can I find them?
Answer: No multi-classing. You can find all sorts of things in the "Cutting Room Floor" section of the website.
http://www.palladium-megaverse.com/cutt ... alocc.html

Question: Where do I find the Dual OCC rules?
Answer: http://www.palladium-megaverse.com/cutt ... alocc.html

Question: Can you multi-class a Necromancer and a Tengu (Japan)?
Answer: You can NOT multi-class in Palladium's games. A Tengu, as it's RCC does not specifically state other OCCs can be selected, can not select an OCC (as per the RGMG, page 277), unless the GM allows it.

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VAMPIRE QUESTIONS

Question: The rules for using vampires state that garlic and wolfbay can ward away vampires but give few details.
What I'd like to know is what "condition" do the herbs have to be in. Are they effective when dried but largely intact, dried and powdered, etc? Does their condition matter at all? The closest answer I've see in the books I have is the garlic/wolfbay spray description in the Momano headhunter section of the Rifts: Canada book which suggests that extracted oils/diluted sap/whatever is still very effective. But even it doesn't provide a clear answer...
Answer: Given the liberal interpretations given to other anti-vampire agents (water shot from squirt guns, crosses painted on flashlights, etc.), I think it's safe to say the herbs can be in any condition (except possibly, decayed).
Additional Information:
Page 141 of PF Eastern Territory includes information on these items, as they are sold by a merchant in a city with vampire and lycanthropy problems. It specifies that Wolf's Bane lasts for one month before it completely dries out and is no longer effective. It can be preserved in an air tight container for up to a year if you need to wait to use it.

Question: What do you think would happen to a vampire if you painted/drew a cross or holy symbol on their skin somewhere?
Answer: Standard save vs horror factor and 2D6 damage. Of course, good luck trying to get the vampire to stay still for that.

Question: Does a Cross have to be sprinkled with Holy Water before being useful against a vampire? or can any make-shift Cross work if the holder believes?
Answer: Any makeshift cross works, no holy water is necessary.

Question: 1) Now I know that wood and silver hurts vampires when used as a weapons but does the Vampire receive damage from simply touching them?
2) Could a vampire pick up a silver coin or wear a silver necklace?
3) Could a vampire stand bare foot on a log or on a wooden floor?
4) Could a vampire suck on a toothpick?
5) Could a vampire be bound in a sealed silver case? (don't know why you would want to kidnap a vamp but if ya did)
I would think that they would take no damage from simply touching silver or wood and could even use it as weapons toward other vamps if they had a reason to.
6) As to being held in a sealed silver case I think they may be able to pummel their way out but would that hurt their hands?
7) Have you ever encountered this? How did you handle it?
Answer: 1) No
2) Yes
3) Yes
4) Yes
5) The fact that it is sealed is the part that would matter, not that it was silver.
6) It could hurt them, as if it was a blunt object made of silver. If their pummling created sharp edges, beware of them.
7) As listed above.

Question: We all know (I hope) that vampires can't cross running water unless it's at a bridge, or done without their knowledge. My questions are:
1 = How large does the running water have to be? Would a garden hose be enough, or a creek you could jump across?
2 = Modern cities have these things called sewers, storm drains, and water pipes that we take for granted until they break. Also bats can fly fairly high. Do vampires have to see the running water for it to block them from crossing?
3 = And what about tunnels? Does moving under the water instead of over it work the same?
Answer: 1) They would most likely shy away from a hose since it could kill them.
2) They have to know about it. It's phobia not some kind of magic barrier.
3) They have to know about it. It's phobia not some kind of magic barrier.

Question: Vampires and Ice/Snow What do people think? Any effect at all? Same as not flowing water? Nothing?
Answer: No effect unless it melts, then its same as water (well duh, right?). They would still be phobic towards it, though. That's how I would play it.

Question: 1) Vampires are hurt and even killed by sunlight (duh). But exactly what are we defining as "sunlight" here? The reason I ask is that most of the crap I have come up with arose in a Phase World-ish setting.
2) Is sunlight limited to that light that reaches Earth from Sol (since the light from other stars has no effect from what I have seen in terms of game mechanics)? Is it a matter of the proximity of whatever object (say a planet or spaceship) to a star?
3) Does star type have any bearing - in other words, does the star have to have a specific wavelength combination in order to be considered "sunlight"?
4) For example, a vampire needs the soil of wherever he was turned to "sleep" when daylight comes (from what I recall) - would this be an issue if vampires had commandeered a spaceship and avoided proximity to stars (so that there was no technical "day" except for the passage of time)?
Answer: 1) Light for a nearby star that illuminates a planet.
2) Whichever star the planet happens to orbit.
3) While I could be mean and make a big speach about whether or not different stars have different effects, I'll go with KISS and say it doesn't matter as long as it provides visible light.
4) No, it wouldn't be an issue.

Question: Now as I recall, there are more than a handful beings whose light-powers can harm vampires (like the Starchildren or whatever they are called from Rifts England and the Guardians from Nightbane) and then there are additional supery-powers that also have the light damage vamps.
Since vampires are supposed to only be damaged by sunlight, how does this make any sense? Otherwise wouldn't you be able to have some sort of VFL accomplish roughly the same thing?
Answer: The list of things that kill vampires is very specific. Anything that is not on that list, and does kill vampires, is sure to mention it in more than passing terms. So without an explicit statement either way, in this case, you have to rule negative.
If a certain ability (SN most likely) is able to actually kill a vampire it will be clearly stated in the abilities' description.
As an example the "Phantom" RCC (p.36 of phase world) can by using 40 PPE emit "true sunlight" that "does sunlight damage to vampires".
"Sunlight damage" is DEADLY to vampires so the Phantom's ability is deadly to vampires.
The light emitted by a Star Child is listed as harming vampires ONLY and is rated as 6d6 per blast. This is not the same damage as sunlight and nowhere does it state it is "true sulight" so it cannot kill the vampires.
The Guardian's ability to emit light effects vampires but is only "half as effective as true sunlight" so it damages them but will not kill them.

Question: For example, in the Bisbee Vampire lair, (and other locations as well), Fennodi (Quiet Walkers) are Slow Killed to add to the vampire population at times.
When this occurs, wouldn't the Fennodi lose the Ghost Walk, Protective Energy Aura, or Psychic Affinity with the Whisker Coyote? Or, could they somehow retain some/all of these psionic powers and be vampires that can straddle and hunt on the Astral Plane?
I'm guessing that the answer to these questions relies on the effect the the vampire intelligence has over the pre-existing psionic abilities of a player character or NPC. Logically, the psionic powers are lost, replaced with the psionic powers of a Vampire.
Answer: RCC Skills of the Vampire's original Race go away, supernaturally washed away by the Vampiric Transformation.

Question: So what beings CANNOT become vampires? I know that "supernatural" stuff like dragons and werebeasts can't (none of that half-breed crap here) and that there are specific ones that are excempt - the Atlanteans come to mind immediately.
Is there any reason that like the Seljuk or Kreeghor couldn't be vampires? What about other D-Bees? Woudl this have any bearing on the vampire weaknesses?
Answer: Borgs, supernatural creatures and creatures of magic can NOT become vampires.

Question: So, I was looking at the speeds of vampires, and I see that Master vamps are 10+4D6, Secondary vamps are 10+3D6 and wild are 10+5D6
Does this seem right to you guys? I can see why wild vamps may be the fastest, being feral and all, but why are they faster than secondary vamps, when they are only equal to them in PS and PP?
Answer: Because that's the way they were set up.


Question: 1. How would the vampire "sleep cycle" function on a planet that did not have a rotation of its own (meaning that the same side would continually face the star that it orbited)? For all intents and purposes, there would be no "night" or "day" - it would be either one or the other.
For those who would say that an orbiting body is not likely to exhibit such a characteristic, please look up at the really large bright object in the night sky knows as "The Moon" for an example.
2. Say a vampire were facing off against an entity that was particularly adept at manipulating time. Say the entity sucked the vamp and him or herself from mindnight to noon (like a "time teleport" - I don't know how the spells might exactly work in this case, but I am sure that there is something that might do this sort of thing). Assume that they are in a building, thus not in direct sunlight.
Would the vampire in this case instantly enter the "coma-like" sleep that they do in the daytime? Would they necessarily know? Could they be tricked into going outside?
3. Regarding the vampire's requirement for the "soil of its native land" in order to "sleep" during the daytime - I know that the vampire isn't allowed to "sleep" if it does not have this soil.
But why would this force the vampire outside? Since the vampire is not a biological creature, why could it not simply have the penalties that being "awake" during the daytime as it kind of cowered out of the sunlight somewhere (like, maybe in a building or something)? I don't believe that these would continue once the sun set (since it isn't like the "sleep" a human requires).
Answer: 1) If the sun was shining on their part of the planet/moon/whatever, then it would be considered day.
If the sun wasn't shining on it, then it would be considered night.
2) The vampire would immediately feel groggy and befuddled, and would suffer the standard penalties for being awake during the day. He would want to go to sleep immediately, even if he didn't know why. If necessary, he could continue to function for a full hour before going to sleep.
It's possible that the vampire might figure out what is going on, but a less-than-clever vamp might well be tricked into going outside for a look.
3) Because the most a vampire can stay awake for is 1 hour, then they collapse into a coma. I'd fill in the blanks by saying that trying to sleep anyplace but on their homesoil is simply intolerable to them, to an insane degree. Like a major phobia or something.
I might allow for Mental Endurance checks or something to avoid fleeing into sunlight in an effort to find homesoil.

Question: If you were to coat U-Rounds in silver and shoot vampires, would the uranium prevent the vampires from regenerating?
Answer: "The following supernatural or magic creatures are affected by U-rounds....vampires....."
- Triax, pg 143.

Question: I know that one of the ways that Palladium-style vampires can be permanently dispatched is to stake 'em through the heart, cut off their head, burn both head and body and then disperse the ashes. And that's all well and good.
But how exactly does one go about staking a vampire? I assume a called shot would need to be made. Is there a damage requirement for said staking implement to be effective?
Answer: See Vampire Kingdoms, pages 32-33.

Question: Could a vampire stand up to an ankh, star of David, or star of Solomon, etc?
Answer: Okay, so...So far we've decided that: yes other religious symbols work.

Question: Also, could a vampire enter a place with symbol or statues of god(s) in the room? (Such as medical offices have the [brain fart] the staff with the two snake of it, magic shops have verious holy symbols, Chinese restarunts have the big "Buda" [actually, it's the god of luck], etc.) Or look at heirogliphics depicting a god? Same thing with the names of the gods, in THE NATIVE language. Example: Ra, Isis, Thoth, etc would be in Coptic hierogliphics, and Jesus would be in [brain fart] rent the movie Stigmota, Iris, Hera, Athena would be in Ancient Greek [forgot the correct term], etc.
Answer: I don't think they'd (statues, paintings words) would work unless they contained the holy symbol of the god on it. I view it as a holy symbol is "Everything" of the religion, it incorperates the paintings, words, believers gods...all into one symbol. It's not so much what the symbol is, but what's behind it. A statue may try to represent the entire religion, but only the holy symbol is universally accepted.

Question: And finally, could a mage use a magnifying glass with a globe of daylight to clear a path way? Or would it inflict damage to the vampires?
Answer: My friend took a run of the mill flashlight and changed the lins to a magnifying lins. That light was far, far more brighter and is/was used to look at raw gem stones like garnets and rubies to tell where to cut them. I don't want to do more then keep them at bay, but just clear a safe path, and I have done it in numerious games. I've also had the GM say that I have just cooked a vampire. But then again I've also used magnifying glasses, about 10 layers of heavy foil, and sunlight to cook with. It works!

Question: 1) Ok, Ive searched through the forum here and found nothing on/about the question Im about to ask. So here goes...
Ok, so Psi-swords inflict Mega Damage, very cool. Now, because this weapon is a product of the psychics mind, can it also damage/harm things that are normally impervious to certain damage types and/or completely invulnerable to damage?
Example: Can a vampires body (ie-flesh) be harmed by a psi-sword, given the psychic nature of the blade? Or can the psychic weilding the blade change it in some way so that it can hurt the vampire (through expending ISP etc)?
My opinion is that because the psi-sword is a product of the mind, its damage properties could be attuned so that it could harm almost any target. I am asking here in the forum to see if there have been rules on this that I missed or perhaps a clarification was made in an issue of the Rifter etc.
Prior to this posting I was informed by a friend that he thought there are rules specifically for the Cyber-Knight that allow that particular class to make changes, such as the example listed above, in the damage of their psi-sword. But as of yet I have found nothing in any book I own that supports this suggestion.
If anyone has information on this please reply, as it will be a pretty common occurence (psi-sword vs. vampire) in the upcomign campaign our GM is going to be running. In short, our group will be hunting vampires in Mexico, and 3 of us are various major psychics, each with a psi-sword.
2) Hmmm, something related to vampires here...sort of. Can the blades of vibro-weapons be silver plated? ie- a MD weapon when the blade is turned "ON" and an SDC weapon when it is turned "OFF" that can harm vampires?
Answer: 1) As per Vampire Kingdoms, page 34, Psi-Swords do HP damage to vampires, but can not permanently destroy a vampire.
2) Yes. Some, like the Naruni Ripper Vibro-Blades (Naruni Wave Two) come with silver blades to begin with.

Question: Can a creature with only supernatural strength deal damage to a vampire in HTH combat, with ONLY his natural weapons (i.e. Fist, Feet, Teeth, Horn, ect.)?
Answer: No. Only creatures of magic.

Question: Does a TW thunderguns (from new west) Count as the kind of damage a vampire cant raise from the dead by? does that even make sense?
Like if a thundergun makes the final hit is the vamp still able to raise if left alone?
Answer: No, the weapon damages and can even incapacitate vampires, but it does not permanently kill them.

Question: I was wondering, does a True Atlantean's ability to sense vampires also detect Wampyres as well?
Answer: Not likely, as wampyre are not true vampires. If they did it would be at half effectiveness (reduce range and precentage by half) at best.

Question: k i was looking in the vampire kingdoms and a was trying to figure out how much a water gun would do with holy water in it and i ran into a problem.
Pg#28 holy water does 3d6 damage per 6oz.
NOW read this:
Pg# 30 water balloon, damage 6d6 damage weight 6-8 oz.
So holy water does 1/2 as much as normal water?
Now i picked up the canada book and looked under the momano (i remembered holy water being in there) and look at what it has.
Water spray 2d6 damage for 3 oz
Holy water spray 4d6 dam for 3 oz.
SO does holy water do double normal water damage to vampires? Half?
My vampire kingdom is a first print, so has anything changed?
Answer: While that's the canon material, it's generally agreed that holy water should do double the damage of normal water.

Question: If a character has psionic abilities before becoming a vampire, do they keep those abilities when they've become a vampire as well as magic?

Answer: It appears that all psionics are lost and replaced by the standard vampire psionics, although this is not explicitly stated.

Magic retention, on the other hand, depends on what echelon of vampirehood one attains. Master Vampires keep their magical powers, but they are frozen at the character's former level, and never improve further (no more P.P.E. is gained, no new spells are learned, spellcasting level never increases, etc.), and the character's P.P.E. base is changed to that of his new body.

Secondary Vampires are basically the same, except that they only retain half of the spells they knew in their former life, and their P.P.E. base is lower than the Master Vampire's. Wild Vampires and Wampyrs lose all magical powers, although Wampyrs apparently keep any lore skills and other arcane knowledge they may have had; they just can't cast spells. Wampyrs also get more psionic powers than true vampires do.

Question: Some questions regarding Nightbane's Wampyr R.C.C.:

1) Do wampyrs have Night Vision?

2) Would I be correct to assume that they do NOT get the shape shifting or summoning powers of a true vampire?

3) If a Wampyr is not disguising his Aura, would someone else detect them as alive or Undead?

4) Wampyrs are actually a part of Vampire mythology... though with a different origin. I was wondering if they exist in any Palladium setting other than Nightbane.

5) Are wampyrs considered to be Minor, Major, or Master psionics?


Answer: Some answers:

1) Apparently not, but they can select the nightvision psionic power, if it is available in the campaign. Alternately, with GM's approval, one can assume that they have nightvision just like a true vampire.

2) Yup. No shapeshifting, no summoning critters, and certainly no creating more vampires.

3) No, because you can't determine if someone is living or undead just by reading his or her aura. You maybe able to see from the aura that something is unusual about the wampyr, but you can't tell whether it indicates undeath, insanity, or some other "human aberration." On the other hand, characters that actually can sense the undead and/or vampires (True Atlanteans, for example) may be able to detect wampyrs, as mentioned in another question, above.

4) Officially, no, but individual wampyrs can easily be rifted into other campaign settings, and the GM may wish to add them as a standard campaign option.

5) Presumably Master. Psychic characters in Nightbane are normally considered to be Master psionics unless specifically stated otherwise (NB, pp. 66 and 67).

Question: Some more wampyr questions:

1. Is the wampyr living, or undead?

2. Can they get symbiotes, like the ones from Atlantis? Do they get MDC if they get an Absurr Life Node, for instance (you never know with him where your characters will end up)?

3. If the wampyr was a cyber-knight in life, especially a 4th+ level one, does the cyber-armor remain? I ask that because I'll be "converting" an old character into a wampyr to start at 1st level for the new campaign. She'll lose almost all of her cyber-knight abilities and skills of course. Also, would the psi-sword still remain?

Answer: Some more answers:

1. Like other vampires, wampyrs are undead. They lack some of the powers and weaknesses of true vampires, but they are still vampires.

2. If they work on normal vampires, yes. Otherwise, no.

3. The cyber-armor would be lost, as would conventional cybernetics and bionics. Luckily, wampyrs become M.D.C. creatures in Rifts, so cyber-armor would be of little benefit anyway. Unlike true vampires, wampyrs do not lose all connection to their former lives, so cyber-knight skills, psionic powers, and special abilities would not necessarily be lost (except perhaps by disuse), but merely frozen at the character's former level.

Question: Do Vampires have claws?

Answer: No, not humanoid vampires anyway. Palladium vampires (especially Wild Vampires) are commonly depicted with long, sharp fingernails, but these do not appreciably affect their unarmed combat damage. Of course, if the vampire originally belonged to some race with claws, horns, or other natural weapons, it should still have them after the transformation to undeath.

Question: Do Vampires have supernatural P.S.?

Answer: Yes.

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SKILL QUESTIONS

Question: I know this may be a crazy question but does anyone know of where there is an official list of all the skills?
Answer: There isn't.

Question: What book has the most recent and up to date list of skills? RUE? BtS?
Answer: Various and None. The various Palladium games use different sets of skills, even though they often overlap between games.
Copy and Paste errors, as well as space considerations, author preference, and inclusion of new skills means that books for games with more than one or two books (such as Rifts) don't have a complete and updated skills list for that game in any one book (YES, that include RUE).
Games with only one book (such as BTS2 in it's current state) could be considered to have the newest and most updated skills list for that game.

Question: Can you learn more than one HtH skill?
Answer: You can but you lose all of your previous hand-to-hand bonuses and start over. The only exception to this, to date, is the Nei Chia Wu Shih from Rifts China 2. It should be noted that the martial art styles from Ninjas & Superspies and Mystic China are NOT hand to hand skills.

Question: 4) Skills and rising them with levels. This was something a few of the people in my group where talking about but made little sens, but when you get the skills, like at level 1, do you also get the +# for the level as well?
Answer: 4) You do NOT get the per level bonus to skills when the skill is first selected.

Question: In a game where literacy is a free skill like heroes unlimited when you take a new language skill do you also have to take the skill literacy in that language to fully understand it. In other words do you have to take a skill to speak/understand a language and one to read and write it. Or is expected that once you know how to read and write that you will learn how to do that in a foreign language as you learn it?
Answer: You have to take literacy in addition to speak/understand if you want to read and write the language.

Question: In most of these games, the Literacy skill is required in conjunction with the Language skill in order to be able to both speak and read a given language. My question here regards different languages that use either the same or extremely similar character sets.
In the simplest example: English vs. Spanish. The main differences in the two alphabets are in the ll, the rr, and the ñ in the Spanish alphabet, and that's pretty much it. Pronunciations vary, of course, and there are some minor intricacies in punctuation, but wouldn't most such things be covered under the spoken language skill?
Formally: If you have Spoken Language: English, Literacy: English, and Spoken Language: Spanish, do you automatically get some form of Literacy: Spanish?
Similarly, does being literate in English automatically confer literacy in French, Latin, etc, assuming that you know the related spoken language?
And in a more advanced example, does being literate in Greek and knowing the spoken Egyptian language allow one to automatically have Literacy: Egyptian Coptic?
If the answers are yes, then are there penalties to be applied?
Answer: No to all the questions. Literacy is more than the ability to understand the alphabet. You would still have to learn how to read each different language as a separate skill.

Question:Are there any RCCs that can't speak certain languages due to the complexity of the language itself or even the biology of the race.
All of the "human" languages were developed by humans (with the same vocal cords, lungs, and tongue movements), so it's never an issue. Different races may require subtleties that human voices can't overcome.
Has anyone come up with an answer?
Answer: Yes. There are several.

Question: Swimming, Advanced
Desert Survival
Castaway/shipwreck survival
Can anyone tell me where these are at?
Answer: Swimming, Advanced is a Physical skill in N&S.
Desert Survival is a Cultural skill in N&S.
Castaway/Shipwreck Survival can be found in Adventures on the High Seas

Question: I am new to palladium and love the book so far. My question is I cannot find how you use skills. I have the second edition and have searched the book over and over and see all the skills and the percentage stuff, but nothing on how to use em? Do you roll percentage dice under your skill number?
Answer: PFRPG 1st Ed, pg 18 -
"This is determined by the roll of percentile dice. To successfully perform a skill, the player must roll under his success ratio."

Question: Palladium Fantasy RPG 2nd edition page 84
Under OCC related skills:
It reads “…to select 2 additional skills at levels 3, 7, 10 and 13”. This implies that a skill can have more than one level. For example: a long bowman could have First Aid at both 3rd and 13th level. This does not make sense to me.
The sentence would be clearer if it read “…to select 4 additional skills at level 3, 7, 10, and 13”. Then you could select one 3rd level skill, one 7th level skill, one 10th level skill and finally one 13th level skill.
Would someone explain to me what palladium meant by “…to select 2 additional skills at levels 3, 7, 10 and 13”?
Answer: Level 3 pick two skills
Level 7 pick two skills
Level 10 pick two skills
Level 13 pick two skills

Question: Certain domestic and other skills can be taken as professional quality. Now if a skill like for instance cooking is given as an OCC Skill is it automatically considered professional? If not do you have to spend a OCC Related skill to make it professional or would a secondary skill suffice? OCC Skills and OCC Related skills are supposedly done at a scholastic level so I think they are professional, however I am not sure the games support me on this (Well maybe the newer books like New West do).
A Mystic OCC in Rifts (main book) gets Dance as an OCC at 15%. Is this amateur level? More importantly, perhaps to better illustrate the point, they also get 2 musical instruments as an OCC Skill. With a 10% bonus for each bonus do they have to select the same instrument twice to be professional at it? If so, or even if not. what is the ending percentage for a first level Mystic who wanted to play professional guitar? According to my calculations it would be 55% but how someone who screws up playing almost half the time is considered a professional is beyond me. Unless they are drunk and on tour. Then maybe....but still in that case their skill would be impaired.
Anybody get a different percentage? If so what's the reason?
Answer: In Rifts, all skills except for secondary skills are considered "professional skills" and receive the OCC/OCC related bonus to reflect that.
Now in other games like N&SS or HU, scolastic skills are considered professional quality and they both state under the seconday portion of the list that choosing multipuls of the same skill is NOT allowed, but again that was for the secondary skills.
In the instance of you druid, the extra 15% for dance and 10% for playing a musical instrument would just indicate a very talented amature, even if that characters skill level is higher than an "actuall Pro"

Question: Ok. Acrobatics and Gymnastics both give a few of the same skills as part of the skill: Climbing, Rappelling, Prowl (or at least bonuses) Back Flip, Sense of Balance, a Kick Attack. There might be one or 2 more. Are these Skilll percentages cumulative?
This sort of leads to another question: can Physicals be stacked, for instance taking Body Building twice? I wouldn't think so but certain Domestic Skills can be. This leads to some other questions but I'll post them in a seperate area.
Answer: No and No.

Question: The skills Wilderness Survival, Holistic Medicine, Botany, and Identify Fruits and Plants (And perhaps use recognize poison) all tend to center around herbs and plants.
Wilderness survival is real general covering everything from food, shelter, water and staying alive. Given players in a wilderness environment particularly a jungle, where diseases run rampant, water is hard to find and knowing which fruits and berries will kill you, which are edible, and which are good for making ointments is it sufficient to use wilderness survival the same way you would Identify Fruits and Plants for instance or some of the other herblore skills? Where does Wilderness Survival end and the others begin? Or is wilderness survival a more encompassing skill than the others and covers all those issues?
Answer: Wilderness Survival is the bare bones. you know which plants are safe to eat, which ones are poisoness, and which ones will give you a rash.you won't even remember half their names, jsut "safe" and "not safe". it also covers making lean-tos, camps, finding water, caves, and everything you need in order to stay alive. your work won't be very good, but you'll live, which is the main thing.
Indentify fruits and plants means you know most plants names by site. you know the kind of nutrition most edible plants give, the toxicity of poison, and where they grow. this covers knowing's what's safe to eat or not, but won't help you find shelter, or game, or build a lean-to or igloo or whatnot to survive the elements
botany is a scientific knowlage of plants. you know the actual chemical forumla that plants use to conduct photosynthsis. know what chemicals are in various plants, the ideal growing conditions, and such. basically you how plants work. that said, you also know a great varaity of plants. you'll know basic hearbal remidies and exsactly how poisons some plants are
basically, Indentify Fruits and Plants is what you'll learn in the boy scounts or spending a lot of time in nautre. Botony is is going to a university and getting a docrate in plants, you'll know a lot more about 'em because you have a formal education
herbal medicne means you know what plants are used to make natural remidies and cures for plant poison. sadly, that's about all...

Question: If I have the skill of seduceat 20% and a +40% to charm and impress. Do I add these 2 numbers together or just pick the higher one? How would one resist seduce? Thx.
Answer: You don't add them together. Seduction already gets a seperate bonus from a high P.B. score, as outlined in the skill description. Note also that you do not have a +40% bonus to charm/impress, you have a flat 40% chance to charm/impress.
You use either the seduction skill or the charm/impress ability, whichever effect is desired.

Question: Gymnastic vs. Acrobatics
1) Which one is better?
2) Also can you take them both or just one at a time?
Answer: 1) It depends on what you consider better.
2) Yes, if your OCC allows, you can select both.

Question: I was reading through the Holistic Chemistry skill (rifter 24 page 20) and couldn't find the Skill %'s. Would I use the skill %'s found in Holistic Medicine for HC? Or Were the skill %'s for HC left out?
Answer: The skill percentage can be found in Yin Sloth Jungles, page 46.

Question: 1) How does the Weapon Systems skill work? How does this work? It give +2 hit, but do you have to roll under your skill in order to get the bonus? Here is how I have been using it in my current Robotech game:
How the Weapon System Skill works.
When firing a built in mecha weapon, such as the TZ-IV Gun Cluster on a destroid, Battlepod particle beams, or when fireing missies, roll % along with your attack roll. If you roll under your Weapon System skill then you add +2 to hit your target. The Weapon System skill DOES NOT apply to mecha rifles or mecha hand to hand, this only applies to weapons that are built into a mecha. These are weapons that are not manually aimed as a gunpod would be and DO NOT get any P.P. bonus to hit!
So, is this right? I bet it is not, and I want some clarification on how this skill works, since I have never ever found any clear explaination.
2) So in other words, the bonus of +2 is automatic if you know the tech? Like a Destroid weapons or gunpods?
3) Does it apply to gunpods?
Answer: 1) According to HU2, p. 58, the Weapon Systems skill is rolled when a character first attempts to figure out an unfamiliar weapon system. If the initial roll fails, the normal strike bonus (which is only +1 in HU2) is changed to a -1 penalty until the character makes a sucessful skill roll, which can be attempted again after every five minutes of study.
2) Correct. As long as the pilot/gunner is familiar with the weapon system, the bonus is automatic. What defines a familiar weapon system is not mentioned, but I would assume it means all the weapons normally used on any vehicle the character knows how to pilot and fight in.
In the Robotech example, a Veritech Pilot who didn't have any Destroid training would automatically be familiar with all standard VT weapons, but would need to make a skill roll to use a Destroid's weapons, and possibly to use optional VT weapon systems.
3) No.

Question: 1) I thought at one point I saw somewhere that a compass would give you a bonus to your land navigation skill but I can't seem to find it anywhere. If I am wrong about it what is the point of having a compass, seems everybody starts with one.
2) The same question also applies to maps. In RUE it says that using a map with land navigation gives you a -20%. So how does that work for the wilderness scout who comes with the handy cartography skill? They can make an accurate and elegant map but aren't really sure what they are doing when it comes to reading it?
3) Having a map and a compass doesn't mean you know where you are going. The image of the typical tourist comes to mind, husband driving, wife has big fold out map all the way open taking up half the car and all the while the 7-11 employee watches them go past the store for the 4th time.
Answer: 1) Merc Ops, page 116.
2) It also incorrectly says that reading maps is done by looking at symbols, not words. Personally, I wondered how the Wilderness Scout could actually make a map using cartography without having the prerequisite skills for actual map making; literacy, advanced math, read sensory instruments (optic systems for those nice surveying tools to make really accurate maps), and art so you can actually draw the map (or computer operation if you're making a computer map...the only one they actually covered).
3) True, which is why some of Palladium's games have a Map Reading skill.

Question: under the skill wp archery and targeting it states that " rate of fire; two at level one, +2 at lvl 3 and +1 at other levels after.
does this mean to imply that the user of this skill only gets two shots ( arrows) per mele at level one and additional shots at subsequent levels?
or does it mean that for every apm your character has they can shoot that many arrows. Ex. my head hunter has 6 apm at first level can he shoot 12 arrows in 1 mele?
Answer: That's how many shots/attacks they get per melee.

Question: Hey guys, sorry for the noob question. I cannot figure for the life of me how to use skills and skill checks. Like, seriously, maybe Im retarded, but Ive looked through the UE skills section like, 123971907 times and I cannot figure out how to roll a skill check. So I've got 77% in mining alien rectums, how do I resolve that?
I assume its something to do with d% dice.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Answer: Roll under the skill percentile on D100, commonly rolled with two D10s, one representing the tens die and the other representing the ones die, results of 00 being considered "100."

Question: WP Paired Firearms
are the restrictions on this skill written down anywhere ?
I saw the restrictions placed on WP Sharpshooting on p81 of the GMG.
Naturally they left out WP Paired Firearms.
I've got a Fallen Cosmo-Knight with the Mind Melter option, thinking he can use WP Paired Firearms.
Answer: WP Paired Firearms is limited to specific OCCs.

Question: If i got some OCC Related bonuses to Physical skills (say, 10%).
And i get Gymnastics, that gives 40% of climb, without +% per level, the +10% also applies???
Answer: Yes

Question: Is Robot/Power Armor Combat: Basic the prerequisite for RPA Combat: Elite?
Answer: No, though some GMs do consider it a prerequisite.

Question: What is Automatic Kick under Gymnastics?
Answer: etend that you never read the sentence.
What it means is that you automatically get, with that skill, a kick attack that does x damage.
The rules have been updated to where you don't need that skill in order to do that damage.
It's like having a skill that says, "automatically grants the power to breathe in and out".
In short, ignore it.

Question: How many words does a player understand when he/she makes a successful roll on a foreign language? And when would he have to roll again to keep up with a conversation?
Answer: For understanding:
With complicated technical stuff, I'd check for every paragraph or so of speech. For more basic stuff, I'd go with one roll for the whole conversation.
Your language percentile is probably about equal to how many words you understand. For example, 40% skill means you pick out 40% of the words/intent... a successful roll meaning you understood the right words to get the idea of what's being said. A 98% skill means you understand 98% of the words/intent, meaning you're pretty much fluent.
Percentile under 50% I take as what we might consider "highschool" type understanding. Up to 80% or so, a talented but foreign speaker. Above 80% and you're approaching everyday comfort/native fluency.
For speaking:
The percentage represents your vocabulary, and your ability to come up with the right word, right conjugation of it, and proper context. You can probably say most basic things, but it might come out strangely. For instance, if you forget the word for "shoes," you might still be able to say "the things on my feet." I personally do substitutions like that on the occasions I find myself needing to speak French, but I don't recall the right word.
A percentage below 50% would probably allow you to communicate basic ideas, ask simple questions, and make yourself understood, albeit with difficulty. Up to 80% you could likely say what you need and sound like a fairly normal conversationalist, with proper tenses and all, but language may remain simple on more complex topics. Above 80%, you're looking at being able to correctly use native idioms, slang, and double entendres.
For example, in Shakespeare's Henry V, during one scene written in French, the following occurs: A French woman asks her maid how to say something in English. The maid responds, with a French accent, which alters the word a little. The woman misunderstands, and repeats a word which is both a bad word in French, and close enough to the correct word in English to get laughs. That is a high percentile skill in a foreign language.

Question: And while we're on this let me ask the following: Person a has a PB or MA (your choice) of 29. Person B has the same stat at 20. Person B is trying to trust/charm Person A. Does Person A subtract the difference from Person B's % roll as a bonus because Person A's is higher?
Answer: No. You do not subtract percentages. Being gorgeous yourself doesn't mean you don't notice it in others, and being charming doesn't mean you won't fall for another's wiles.

Question: The hand to hand skills - IE: Hand to Hand assassin, basic, martial arts, etc. - are they combat bonuses which represent fighting without a weapon?
Our group is confused as to whether these are skills which apply to weapons as well and which stack with the WP: weapon skills, or if they're completely seperate and are only used for "barehanded" combat.
Answer: HTH skill bonuses apply to melee and ancient weapons but don't apply to "modern weapon" (i.e. guns) combat.

Question: This is a questoin that has been bugging me for a long while now. There are ways to boost every statistic that you roll during character creation, either by taking a skill, getting a mutant ability, bio-wizardy, magic, or taking a certain O.C.C(like the cyber-knight). But in all my years of playing Rifts, I dont remember seeing ANY way of boosting a characters I.Q. score, except, schooling in BTS2 and similar settings(it has been a long while but i think one of the college skill packs allows you to boost your I.Q.). And i want to say Experimentation in the HU2, but i think im wrong on that now that i think about it.
Basically i wanted to play a super genius w/o "tweeking" the character. I wanted to play a mutant, kinda like "Stretch"(but not him!!), of the FF. But i found no way to boost the I.Q. once it is rolled.
Did I miss something?? If so could some one please point me to the correct book and page number to find it. If i didnt miss something, does anyone have any ideas????
Answer: See Rifter #19 for optional Mental skills that can increase IQ.

Question: In making a new Cyberknight using RUE, i came across the skill Fencing, which states as one of its bonuses, +1d6 to damage witha sword, does this apply to a CK's psi-sword( who normally have a 1st level psi-sword that does 1d6 MD, but if this applies, it would be 2d6 MD)or not Question
Answer: No, the Psi-Sword is a weapon that does damage based on psionic energy and the sword shape is entirely dependent on the creator's whim, it is not a sword in the regular sense.

Question: Does a character with Fencing add 1D6 to his damage with Vibro-swords. I would have thought yes as it is a technique based bonus rather than a strength based one. A player called me up on it and i'm interested to hear opinions.
Answer: According to Splicers, yes, it adds SDC or MDC, depending on the weapon.

Question: lets say i have a character untrained in HtH,but they pick it up at,say,3rd level.do the bonuses apply retro-activly,or will they always be 2 levels behind?
Answer: They start at 1st level, so they'll always be two levels behind.

Question: I've recently gotten back into Rifts, and I've scoured and scoured the WP listing and the Combat rules of both the Rifts Ultimate Edition book, newly released, and the RGMG (game master guide). Does anyone have any suggestions on how to go about rules for dual wielding modern or futuristic weapons, such as pistols, etc...? Also, does it sound reasonable that with augmented, or SN PS or PE, one should be able to dual wield rifles (as depicted on the cover of the Palladium book of Contemporary Weapons)
Answer: Several OCC's get Paired Firearms as a special skill/ability. As mentioned there are several in the New West worldbook and a couple of the Headhunter OCC's can also get the skill. I beleive China 2 has some kind of a OCC that is centered on two gun fighting.
You could simply expand this list of OCC's that can get the skill, this would be the easy solution and what I have done. See also RUE, page 327 for using paired firearms without the appropriate skill. Firing rifles one handed require's the Sharpshooting skill, if attempting to dual wield I'd apply penalties to both weapons fired.

Question: Aside from the generic W.P.: Swords, are there any other ways to demonstrate a char as beign very good with a sword? Can you stack W.P.s like a 'specialization' from D n D? Etc.?
Answer: No, you can't stack W.P.s, however, there are several optional methods such as getting the fencing skill, certain martial art styles, and various things from Rifters.

Question: in what rifter does the hand to hand form for dragons and other four legged creatures/monsters appear?
Answer: Neither are found in a Rifter.
Hand to Hand: Dragon Martial Arts can be found in RUE.
Hand to Hand: Bull Fight (for four legged creatures) can be found in ATB2.

Question: I have noticed several OCCs, RCCs and MOS skill lists have skills with prerequisites that are not listed.
Do the character also get them?
Answer: Yes, according to page 299 of RUE.

Question: How do you guys handle a character without a particular skill trying to accomplish an action based on the skill in question ?
There are two options that would seem to come into play here:
1) You say that the character absolutely can not attempt the action because the skill is so specialized.
2) You let the character attempt to use the skill because for that particular skill, there's always a chance it can be accomplished.
Assuming the second option above - in the example below, how is this generally handled in the Palladium system, and is it discussed in any of the rule books ???
Say a character doesn't have the 'Prowl' skill, but wants to try and sneak past someone ?
Answer: It is suggested that you roll against the appropriate attribute.

Question: Hello all,
I dunno if this was a typo or what, but I was scanning through my Rifts Collector's Edition Book in the skills section and I came across the "Sniper" skill and it didn't have a Base Skill starting point. It just told the effects of using it. It didn't have a Base Skill or a "+% per level of experience".
Is this a typo or is it on purpose? If it is a typo, does anybody know the Base Skill % for "Sniper"?
Thanks!
Answer: Not all skills have a percentile effect, particularly weapon proficiencies and other weapon skills.

Question: I have a question about the Recognize Weapon Quality skill.
Do you have to have the separate skill in order to tell what quality a weapon is, or can one do the same thing as this skill with Weapons Engineer? I would think that you could, as Weapons Engineer is a more advanced skill, but there isn't any canon proof as far as I know.
Answer: I would say that the Weapon Engineer skill would determine the quality of a weapons construction, but only if the character had the opportunity to crack the thing open and take a look at it's inner workings.
The Recognize Weapon Quality skill would enable someone to know what to look for in a casual, almost superficial exam of the weapon without disassembly, and how to look for its traits, tells and characteristics.

Question: If a character has the skill Mechanical Engineer, is there any point to having Basic Mechanics, or Auto Mechanics for that matter?
Answer: Auto Mechanics- Lets you work on cars and trucks.
Basic Mechanics- Lets you work on doorknobs, toasters, and perfrom minor engine repairs.
Mechanical Engineer- Should allow you to do everything that the above skills can do, and a whole lot more.
The difference is that Mech Engineer requires 2 rolls. One for diagnostics, one for actual work.
This gives a person with Auto Mechanics an edge when fixing a car, simply because he only has to roll once. Apparently, he is assumed to have a large enough body of knowledge of cars and engines that diagnosing the problem is easier. A Mechanical Engineer first has to figure out how the machine is supposed to work, locate the components, and figure out what's wrong, THEN fix the problem... but an Auto Mechanic could well just say, "The engine is making a pinging noise. With a model x truck built in y year, that's probably just problem z" and wade right into the problem.

Question: Is there really any point to have Recognize Weapon Quality if you have the Weapon Engineer skill?
Answer: Higher Percentage. Not to mention the complete lack of overlap between the two skills. Weapons engineer does not include the ability to appraise weapons, nor does Recognize Weapon Quality provide the ability to build, repair, modify, or install weapons.

Question: Can someone please explain exactly what can and not be done with the prowl skill as a rules clarification please, and also how the skill is used (rolled)?
Answer: It states in the skill description, "If the Prowl roll is successful, then the character is not seen or heard..."
Use the skill when you really want to make sure that you're not seen; you know, so the GM can't say something like, "OK, you want to sneak quietly inside the darkened room. Too bad, enemy still sees you." To successfully prowl, you need to roll under your skill percentage on 1D100. Against someone using Perception, both characters roll 1D20, with the prowl skill providing a bonus of +1 for every 10 points in the skill percentage, rounding down.

Question: Which PF book is the pair weapons rules in?
Answer: PFRPG2E, page 60.

Question: Does it say anywhere (and I guess more importantly, where) how well you might have accomplished a particular skill? Like are there "critical successes" or something along those lines?
Answer: With the exception of the Brewing skill, where a lower roll on the second percentile results in a tastier drink, no.

Question: What is the skill for forging jewelry? Like rings, necklace, bracelets, etc.
Is there a skill for that or do I make something up.
Answer: Depends on what type of jewelry was being made. Armor & Weapon Decoration, Art, Flint Working, Gem Cutting, Metalworking, and Smelting would all be useful skills (primarily Art, Gem Cutting, and Metalworking, the others are for specific applications).

Question: For skills that it seems like anyone could attempt, like climbing, prowl, aand swimming, how do you determine a base chance of success for characters who have not learned them?
Answer: Attribute checks are the recommended method of determining success in these situations. Kevin Siembieda generally has the attribute equal the percent chance of success against a percentile roll.

Question: I need to ask if there is a list of all the languages used in the Palladium games.
If not then where could I find the most complete list?
Answer: There isn't a list since several of Palladium's games use contemporary languages. Try http://www.ethnologue.com/ Though I think you will find http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_la ... f_speakers and/or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_of ... s_by_state more useful.

Question: 1) One of my players keeps saying that an RPA pilot gets the skill Robot Combat Elite in all SAMAS while I argue that you have to have Robot Combat Elite each specific type of SAMAS (like Pale Death SAMAS or V-Sam, etc) - which is right?
2) Also, does an RPA Side Kick in Free Quebec just get Robot Combat Elite in the Glitter Boy Side Kick and SAMAS?
Answer: 1) By the old rules, you are, but your player is right under the current rules.
According to RUE, p. 319, Robot Combat: Elite covers all robots and power armor units of a similar model type (that is, the alphanumeric designation at the beginning of each machine's description). Thus, if a character has Robot Combat: Elite with a Titan Combat Robot (TR-001), he also has the Elite skill level with all other Titan Robots whose model types follow the pattern TR-### (basically all Titan robot vehicles, but not the FT-005 Flying Titan power armor). Similarly, a CS RPA pilot with elite SAMAS (PA-06A) training can use all SAMAS armors that bear a PA-##A designation.
2) Just the GB Side Kick.

Question: Where is the ancient weapon prof Bola
Answer: Yin-Sloth Jungles, RGMG, Splicers, Rifter #25, and Chaos Earth. The skill is mentioned in South America 2, but only with the note "Treat as Archery and Targetting."

Question: Hello, I have a question, about the Old High School, College, Military, Espionage, Secodary Skills sytem in the FIRST Edition (not revised) of Hero's Unlimited (which I don't have and can't find) and how this translates to to HU 2nd Ed. skills. I need help here because I can't make Heads or tails of the Conversion Rules for adapting RECON to the Palladium Megaversal System on pages 119 to 120 of Deluxe Revised RECON (this could also help with making First Edition After the Bomb Mutant Animal Caracters as well: yes there are still people who still play first edition) Military, Espionage and Secondary Skills are pretty obvious, but I'm having trouble deciding on what should be considered High School or College skills though.
Answer: The only examples we really have to go on so far are those listed in the Mutant Animal Backgrounds for the ATB & TMNT books (Transdimensional TMNT, Mutants of the Yucatan, Mutants Down Under, and Mutants in Avalon). In general, it appears that for every 2-5 (with an average of roughly 4) College and/or High School skills, the character can select one skill program.

Question: Which is the best skill to open a trap-door with an electronic digital combination lock?

Answer: Locksmithing is the ideal skill for these locks, particularly if combined with the Electrical Engineer and Computer Hacking skills. Electrical Engineering alone will also work, but with a massive skill penalty. In HU, Hardware: Electrical Genius characters can also open electronic locks with their special Hot-Wiring skill.

Question: Which book is the construction skill in, as in making buildings?

Answer: Rifter #25, p. 19. There are also various construction related skills, including Carpentry, General Repair & Maintenance, Masonry, and Military Fortification (all found in RUE and other books), Pilot Tracked & Construction Vehicles (RUE, BTS2), Pilot Construction & Farming Equipment (ATB2), and Physical Labor (RUE, BTS2, Splicers).

Question: There's been vast bickering and arguments about chemistry and demolitions. Could a character with either or both go into a store and make his own homemade bomb? And if they could, how potent would it be? Would having both mean making a better bomb or what not? Or either skill could be used? And what sorts of damages?

Answer: You'd really need both skills to even have a hope of this, and unless the character were a trained military specialist (or raised by violent anarchists, perhaps), there should be some massive skill penalties for making and using "homebrewed" explosives. For rules, damages, and penalties of homemade bombs and incendiaries, see the Explosive Construction Gizmoteer Skill Program in N&S.

Question: Can Prowl be used if you are under observation?

Answer: You can't prowl if someone actually sees you and is looking directly at you, but if you can distract or misdirect the observer (with a flash bomb, magical/psionic illusion, etc.) you can conceivably attempt a prowl roll to get out of sight.

If you haven't been seen yet, but someone is actively watching the area you're trying to prowl in, then it becomes a Perception contest, the rules for which may be found in Nightbane (p. 66), RUE (p. 368), and BTS2 (p. 170).

Question: When you are flying under your own power, but are doing things that require a piloting roll... what percentage do you use? Specifically, a Heroes Unlimited: Experiment with APS: Void, CEF: Void, and FTL Flight wants to 'pilot' himself through a black hole/gravity well... what percentages does he use to see how the flight goes?

Answer: Maneuvering one's own body in tight situations usually involves combat rolls (dodge, roll with punch, backflip, leap, etc.) or physical skill checks (acrobatics, gymnastics, swimming, climbing, etc.). As it happens, personal movement in outer space (without recourse to thruster packs or space suits) is covered by the Zero-Gravity Movement skill, found in Phase World and Mutants in Orbit. I've not seen an equivalent skill for flying under the effects of gravity, but one could possibly adapt something form the aforementioned skill.

Robots with a vehicular body configuration would use the appropriate pilot skill for their vehicle type (helicopter, jet aircraft, hyperthruster, space shuttle, etc.)

Question: Regarding the W.P. Paired Weapons skill, would a character make this choice only once, or as my friends think, multiple times for different weapons?

Answer: According to HU2, p. 61, if you get Paired Weapons as a bonus from your hand to hand combat skill or some special ability (e.g. ambidexterity), it covers all one-handed melee weapons; if you spend a W.P. on it, it only covers a single combination of one-handed melee weapons, e.g. paired swords, paired axes, paired sword and knife, etc.

According to RUE, p. 327, if Paired Weapons is acquired through one's hand to hand skill, it applies to all one-handed weapons that the character is proficient with (including guns, albeit with a slight penalty to strike). Unfortunately, RUE doesn't really say how it works when selected as a skill, although I am inclined to believe that you would have to choose a specific pairing, as with HU2.

In N&S/Mystic China, some Martial Art Forms offer Weapon Kata with Paired Weapons. In these instances, not only are you restricted to particular combinations of weapons, you're restricted to using them with the particular Martial Art Form.

Question: In the description of W.P. Targeting in RUE, it clearly states that it is not for use with bows. Fine. However, later on it says that if you have this AND another missile W.P., you can add the bonuses for both W.P.s together. Does this mean that if you take Archery and Targeting you get the strike bonuses from both W.P.?

If the answer to this is yes, does it then mean that you can take a modern W.P. (energy rifle for instance) and stack it with the bonuses for Targeting? If not, why not?

Answer: You can only combine the bonuses when using bows, crossbows, and spears.

Question: In RUE, W.P. Axe gives +1 to strike and parry at certain levels, and then also gives +1 to strike when thrown or to parry at other levels. Is this a typo, or does it mean something about parrying thrown, or...?

Answer: The second parry bonus listed appears to be a misprint. You only get a bonus to throw at those levels.

Question: I have a charater that gets disarmed or drops his weapons a lot so the last game session I was in the GM gave me a pair of gauntles with retractable claws what wp would they fall under?

Answer: W.P. Knife, according to p. 205 of the RMB and p. 259 of RUE.

Question: What skill(s) do I have to take so my character can some welding.

Answer: Weapons Engineer, as far as the books are concerned. However, many other mechanical and fabrication related skills (e.g. vehicle armorer, safecracking) should arguably include some welding expertise as well.

Question: In Palladium games, skill bonuses can come from a variety of sources. Does one always choose only the best single bonus, or are some bonuses cumulative?

Answer: Skill bonuses from attributes, race, class, super powers and other innate characteristics are generally cumulative unless otherwise stated. Other bonuses depend on circumstances. For example, Prowl belongs to both the Physical and Rogue categories, but O.C.C.-related bonuses to both categories do not overlap; only the higher bonus applies. Similarly, high quality tools can provide bonuses to electrical and mechanical skills, but using multiple tool kits would not provide multiple bonuses.

Question: I was designing a Spatial Mage and was going to make someone that had lived in the Three Galaxies, Skraypers, Old Robotech, Nightbane, and Rifts Earth and was just now moving onto a Heroes Unlimited world. To show his previous experiences (2 or 3 years here and there) I was planning to take skills that represent his experiences and I am rather fond of Arzno's TW Power Armor but in my Pilot skills it says, "Any except Robots," so is Power Armor also unavailable?

Answer: That is correct.

[NMI]

CYBERNETICS & BIONICS QUESTIONS

Question: Ok, I tried to find this and I could probably just use some logic, but I wanted your guys' wisdom and experienced knowledge on this. In the UE it says that the cyborg character only rolls for mental attributes, and that physical ones are purchased, but it only has starting stats and credit costs for P.S., P.P. and Spd. What about P.E. and P.B.? Technically P.B. is kind of na/a due to the full reconstruction, but P.E. would still be important at least for coma/death rolls. I'm guessing there has to be a bionic stat for this, but I'm just not seing it. Any help would be great. Thanks.
Answer: Actually, RUE just says you roll for mental attributes, it doesn't say that you ONLY roll for mental attributes. Roll P.B. and P.E. as normal, although there are optional rules for adjusting P.B. by what implants/bionic conversion the character has undergone in the Bionics Sourcebook.

Question: When the O.C.C. says to choose one bionic limb, could one choose bionic lungs with gas filter and oxygen storage as thier selection?
Answer: Unless the GM approves, no, as lungs are internal organs, not limbs.

Question: We've got a guy in our group who is making some (to me) strange claims. He's a Cyborg (Wolfen Quatoria) and says that a) he does not need to sleep, b) does not need to breathe, because his nanites make air for him, and, c) he does not need to eat.
I don't think it should matter what you are, if you've got a biological brain you should need to sleep like everyone else. I also think that maybe if he's got the bionic lung then he could go for 30 minutes without air, but no more. It seems to me that a 'borg's biological tissues are still going to need some nourishment, even if it's only a paste of some kind.
Am I wrong? Please help me figure this out.
Answer: He does need to sleep. Even Transferred Intelligence Robots need to sleep, and they don't even have living organs. He might be able to go longer than a normal person without sleep, but mental exhaustion would force him to rest eventually. At least 4 hours of sleep in every 24-hour period is a good rule of thumb.
Cyborgs definitely need to breathe. The bionic lung only enables them to last for two hours without air, though it does allow them to breathe in most toxic environments.
As for eating, they would need some form of nourishment to keep their biological components alive, even if it's just some protein slurry through an internal IV feed.

Question: I'm new to the Rifts game(and only have a few books). And I had a question about Bionics. Tried searching the FAQ but i never had much luck.
It gives PS of Legs or arms as a max of 8 under the Cybernectic/Bionics section.
If my player character *say a grunt* had a initialy rolled a PS of 15. and after a few games, somehow managed to loose a leg, and so he had it replaced by cybernetic prostetic leg, How does that max PS of 8 effect my over all PS of the grunt?
Answer: The minimum bionic attribute was changed to 10 in the Bionics Sourcebook, and the attribute can be adjusted upward to a max of 20. On the other hand, if it was a leg they'd only be able to carry up to a PS 10 load and walk but their maximum lift might not be affected.

Question: Exactly what is covered by Heavy Borg Armor? Is it sort of like the borg equivalent of Juicer Plate, or is it more encompassing (like, is there a head piece, gauntlets, etc.)?
Answer: Cyborg armor in Rifts is generally a full (but non-environmental) body suit unless specifically stated otherwise. Heroes Unlimited provides cyborg armor with varying levels of body coverage.

Question: More questions: 1) The armor is differnt in each book; the Mi-B2 starts out with 310(BS) and 280(RU). Why?

2) And what does this mean?: "As for additional items, the character gets as many as half the total number of possible bionic features" PG 79-BS Under B&C Last Paragraph.

Answer: 1) Yeah, both of the heavier armors were nerfed. As a rule of thumb, the newer book is generally considered to have precedence over older material, though individual GMs are free to choose whichever source they prefer.
2) It means that you flip back to page 77, where it lists the maximum numbers of additional body options by type/location, and the character gets half of what's listed in each category, i.e. he gets up to 3 head implants, 2 ear implants, 6 cosmetic implants, etc., in addition to the default systems on page 79.

Question: I was making up a CS Military Specialist for something to do yesterday and got to the cybernetics/bionics selection..
So I chose a Bionic Hand and Arm for the Guy.. and then I wondered what the starting P.S level of the limb would be.. would it be the base 10 of bionic limbs are the more sensible SAME P.S. as the other natural arm starting level?
I can see it making sense if once the game has started you want to buy or need to buy a replacement that you have to pay the extra to increase the stat level to the necessary, but surely those you begin with as part of your O.C.C's setup would be of a level equal to your normal applicable trait to begin with, without needing to pay more? (lets face it with 2200 cr to start best they could do is a couple of point improvement, which would still mean one gimp arm)
I imagine i'll have it the same as the other arms P.S just so he doesnt have a replacement limb that is less effective as standard than is natural arm anyway.. but I wonder is there any official ruling on this?
Answer: All bionic limbs begin with the base stats, unless higher stats are specifically stated as standard for a particular system. Increasing these stats is merely a matter of paying a cyber-doc.
In the case of a character who gets a few free bionics as a part of military service, for convenience's sake one could assume that the sponsoring organization has already paid to bring the systems up to the character's level of performance, within the range of attributes allowed for the system (characters obviously should not get souped-up custom bionics for free).
As of yet, I can find no official rule for or against this.

Question: What damage tables do you use for a generic full conversion borg?

Answer: For combat cyborgs (and non-combat 'borgs who pay for the upgrade), use the table for Robotic Strength (RUE p. 285, RGMG, p. 24). Otherwise, use the table for Augmented Strength (same page numbers).

Question: I was just siting down to write up a nice full conversion borg using the bionics book, and i realised i was missing something important.
What, praytell, is the Mdc range for each type of leg?
i mean, some are easy: extra human legs, and wheeled (2) [at least i think that last one is easy. i read it as being the equivalent of powered in-line skates. on wheel instead of each foot]
but what about the others? i mean centaur involves anther torso! spider too! and i doubt that tread and wheeled (4) have the same capacity as a human leg.
so what say you, oh wise ones?
a full conversion cat
Answer: On pages 69 and 70 of the Bionics Sourcebook it gives a breakdown of the costs of MDC per location on a borg's body and it gives a range of what the MDC is.
You could say the leg MDC is a percentage of what the main body is. The head is 24%, the main body is 50%, the legs are 14% (7% each), the arms are 8% (4% each) and the hands and feet are 4% (1% each)

Question: In the Bionics section of Rifts Rulebook page 239, the MDC value for different prosthetic limbs and both Full and Partial Reconstruction is given. However, a Partial Borg still has the original (SDC) torso, neck and head. What does the value for Partial Reconstruction (180 MDC) mean then? If one assumes a partial borg had all four limbs replaced the MDC values stated for hands/feet and arms/legs do not add up.
Answer: Pg. 70 of the Bionic Source Book says, "Main Body Partial Reconstruction: Requires body armor to protect one's flesh and blood body ... Can wear light bionic armor or conventional body armor." So that 180 Main Body from the Main Book? GONE!

Question: In Rifts Rulebook page page 237 it is stated that the P.S. of a partial borg is between 18 and 20. What if a human or humanoid character with naturally rolled P.S. of 21 to 24 underwent partial reconstruction? Would his P.S. decrease?
Also, does partial or full borg conversion affect a character´s P.E. in any way? I would assume so since the internal organs are replaced by bionics but I cannot find any ruling for it.
Answer: Yes, it decreases and no, PE is unaffected, although the P.E. attribute is a lot less meaningful to a full conversion 'borg. Note also that the normal bionic attribute maximums can be exceeded, if one is willing and able to pay extra. The attribute limits can be increased by 10-20%, with an associated increase of 200-500% in cost.

Question: Also, according to the FAQ the initiative bonus from Amplified Hearing is now +3 instead of the previously listed +6, where is this update listed in the books? Is it in the new base book?
Answer: The latest and hopefully final word on Amplified Hearing is in the Bionics Sourcebook.
It's +3 on initiative.
Answer (based on new material in RUE): Still +3 on Initiative.

Question: Do 'borgs have hit points and SDC or are they strictly Mega-Damage beings?
Answer: kevinsiembieda: No full conversion 'borgs are Mega-Damage beings
kevinsiembieda: MDC only

Question: I was drafting some cyborgs for an upcoming Phase World episode. Said cyborgs hail from the Central Alliance, so I give them heavy everything.
Now, I'll admit, its been a while since I really drfted a 'Borg, PC or otherwise...about 2.5 years in fact. But what the hell happened to the 420 MDC heavy cyborg armour?
I look in the RMB...still there. Look in the Rifts GM guide...no, maximum is 280 MDC. Same for Russia.
What prompted this drastic change in Cyborg MDC? Am I no longer able to build a 'Borg with 720 MDC?
Answer: Not sure about the RGMG but the Bionics sourcebook still has the 420MDC borg armour.

Question: Where is the preferred place to locate the info for bionic strength bonuses and robotic strength bonuses along with the carrying capasity?
Answer: For Rifts: "Revised" Converion Book 1, Rifts Game Master Guide, and Rifts Ultimate Edition.
For Heroes Unlimited: Heroes Unlimited Second Edition.

Question: 1) Many full conversion 'borgs get to keep a face, usually behind a helmet. Even if they don't, they have a fleshy bit inside called the brain, yes? Do tell me if I'm wrong on any point.
2) Technowizardry is largely inaccessible to that portion of the populace without psionic or magical abilities. Even modest amounts of bionics and cybernetics hampers the psionic abilities of a character; full bionic conversion would render him incapable of using ISP? Would it effectively zero out said ISP? Not wholly relevant, actually.
3) A 'borg's damage points are usually measured in MDC. I assume the squishy brain is still SDC, however deeply buried it may be?
4) The TW Lightblade, detailed most recently in the R:UE, has Lifesource on it; this allows folks usually unable to use technowizardry to give up HP/SDC, and presumably MDC if they are supernatural or creatures of magic or sufficiently enhanced or whatever, to use a technowizard device. This could be applied to other things, I imagine, such as a See Invisible goggle-HUD to place over, under, or in your helmet.
Assuming the 'Borg kept his/her face, could you wrap that around the head and have the 'Borg expend SDC/HP to use it? From whence is this drawn? Does a 'Borg even have SDC to draw, or is there only HP left under that MDC hide? Basically, I feel it's a fair assumption that Lifesource won't be drawing any nourishment from the armor, although I might be able to convince a DM to let me try it at a -60%. Wink Would the use of this item degrade the face and brain, or whatever squishy parts remained? Could it, in fact, be used at all?
Assuming the 'Borg had pretty much only the brain left, same questions.
5) What happens when you damage the squishy brain?
Answer: 1) Yes, they have flesh.
2) Yes, it would effectively zero out said ISP
3) Actually the brain and internal organs have no S.D.C., only H.P. (unless of course they're cybernetic organs). All damage to organs is potentially life-threatening to a living creature.
4) No.
5) The cyborg will probably die.

Question: 1) I understand the borg is considered a MDC character. Indeed, on page 239 it lists the MDC for a Full Body Conversion. If he punches another character using hand-to-hand, is it considered MDC damage or SDC damage? I'm certain it is in the book, however, I'm still confused because of the number of times I'm jumping from one section to another, and am failing to find it.
2) For 'other' skills, and secondary skills, there is a listing of skills and skill groups available. One of these is Physical (excluding Boxing and Acrobatics). However, some of them seem a little useless. E.g., Body Building & Weight Lifting give a bonus to P.S. and SDC. Since he is a borg, wouldn't the PS bonus be n/a, and since he is MDC character, I presume SDC would never come into play?
Answer: 1) Military full conversion Borgs get robotic Strength and can inflict Mega Damage accordingly. Other borgs inflict SDC.
2) Essentially correct.

Question: How much does it cost for a SINGLE new Bionic Arm or Leg at basic stats? I can't find it anywhere in RUE or the Bionics book.
Answer: According to ye olde RMB, p. 239, a basic bionic arm (with hand) costs 45,000 credits, and a basic bionic leg (with foot) costs 85,000 credits.

Question: Suppose a character has one bionic arm and hand and one real arm and hand, as well as W.P. Sharpshooting Energy Rifle. This character selected the ability to fire from a moving vehicle without penalty as his Trick Shot. Assuming the following: 1) that his bionic arm has a P.P. of 20, giving him +1 to strike with Energy Rifles (because of Sharpshooting), 2) that he normally has a P.P. of 10, giving him no bonus to strike, and 3) firing an Energy Rifle requires two hands, I have a question. Does the character in question get +1 to strike when firing Energy Rifles or not? Would he also get the +1 bonus to initiative? In other words, is one bionic limb good enough to give him the +1 strike and initiative bonus from Sharpshooting if the weapon requires two hands to fire? I don't think there is any question about whether it gives him an extra attack with that weapon since there is no P.P. requirement for that.
Answer: If the bionic arm is the one used to AIM, then yes the P.P. bonus would apply. In the case of a rifle the hand used to aim is the one used to suport the rifle, not the one on the trigger.

Question: When a full conversion 'borg takes a physical skill, are bonuses to P.S. and P.P. ignored?
Answer: Yes, along with bonuses to Spd., S.D.C./M.D.C., Hit Points, and possibly P.E. (the jury's still out as to whether full conversion cyborgs even have P.E. scores).

Question: What about Partial Conversion (i.e. Headhunters)? Since they give separate P.S. and P.P. scores for arms and legs, one must assume those are supposed to be tracked individually. And if so, can one get the P.S. and P.P. bonus to a real arm while not gaining the bonus to the bionic arm?
Answer: That is correct. Any stat bonuses will only apply to the character's flesh and blood components, not to the bionic ones.

Question: How do you determine which score to use? Some situations seem obvious, such as attacking with a one-handed weapon. If using the bionic arm, use that arm's P.S.; if using the real arm, use that arm's P.S. I would assume the same with parry. If parrying with the bionic arm, use the bionic arm's P.P., and so forth. But what about dodging? Do both legs and arms all have to be at the same level to get the same bonus? Do you use the lower of all bonuses? Do you only use the leg bonuses when calculating dodge and just use the lower of the two? Is this spelled out in the Cybernetics book? If so, where exactly?
Answer: In general, unless both (or all, as the case may be) of the character's legs are bionic, dodging should use the character's innate (non-bionic) P.P. bonus plus any bonuses from skills, class, race, etc. Characters with bionic legs would use their legs' P.P. bonus, plus any other applicable bonuses.

Of course, dodging isn't always a matter of fancy footwork; the GM must adjudicate these situations on a case-by-case basis.

Question: While I am at it, I have a couple other questions about Headhunters. What parts of a 1st level Headhunter are bionic? Under statistics in RUE 75 it states most have both arms and hands removed and it implies the same for legs. However, in the Equipment section on page 77, one of two options are given, Cybernetic Implants or Headhunter Techno-Warriors who are Partial 'Borgs. In both of those sections, it states the 'borg begins with only one bionic limb. To further complicate matters, on page 75 it gives M.D.C. by location for a Partial Conversion 'Borg, but one would have to assume this is only if one has received the bionic limbs correct? Please help! This O.C.C. and bionics in general are very confusing. I want to create some various types of goblin Headhunters and partial 'borgs for my PCs to fight, but I really don't know where to start.

Answer: In RUE, it seems that the Headhunter and partial 'borg O.C.C.s were merged into a single class; unfortunately the rules presented for this merged class are pasted from two different books, and are not in complete agreement. Judging from the format of the class descriptions in the Bionics Sourcebook, it is reasonable to consider the information on p. 77 to be the Headhunter's starting stats, and that on pp. 75-76 to be the potential maximums that you can buy up to. Alternately, one may simply disregard p. 77 as an out-of-date copy-and-paste from Rifts Canada.

Question: I am not sure how bionic bones are accomplished. I haven't seen anything in the Bionics handbook about it. If anyone has a reference that would be mighty helpful.

Answer: Cybernetic bones are on p. 32 of the Bionics Sourcebook, while Bionic ("Reinforced Metal") bones are on p. 89.

Question: I want to use the Amplified Hearing cybernetic, one for each ear. Does that double the bonuses (i.e. do both cybernetics give their bonus)? Or is it a silly move to do that?

Answer: No, it won't double the bonuses. In fact, the standard amplified hearing system would probably be for both ears as one unit anyway, or it would throw off being able to judge exactly where the sound is coming from to give you those nice bonuses.

Question: According to RUE, a Combat 'Borg is supposed to roll normally for the three mental stats and purchase the bionic stats. There are rules for purchasing P.S., P.P., and Spd, but not P.E., and P.B. Anyone have any idea what the official word is on how to deal with this?

Answer: While it is not clear how to handle cyborg P.E. and P.B. scores in Rifts, page 12 of the HUGMG states that full cyborgs roll P.E. normally, but only for the purposes of surviving coma or death, while P.B. is either rolled normally or can be customized to any value up to 20.

[NMI]

PERCEPTION QUESTIONS


Question: How do you work perception? I notice that on the PC sheets there are several places to put a perception number. Just wondering what the "Official" rule is for perception.
Answer: The rules for perception are found in the Nightbane RPG main book, page 66. New perception rules can be found in BTS2, page 170. Also see RUE, pages 367-268.

Question: I'm having a problem with Perception. I know you divide the skill by 15 and round down. I know that you compare your I.Q. to the M.E. table and use that as a Perception Bonus. But when you use a skill with Perception rules, do you add the bonus in there?
The reason I ask is because it dawned on me the other day that you already got a bonus from the I.Q. bonus percentage to the skill, why would you get the Perception bonus as well. That's like giving two I.Q. bonuses.
Answer: You would use the one bonus for D20 rolls, and the other for percentile based rolls (skills).
PE gives two bonuses in a similar fashion: One for D20s, one for %.

Question: Using classes from older material before Perception checks existed, what's a good rule of thumb for determining whether or not they get a bonus?
Answer: While races are more likely to have a perception bonus, OCCs will be less likely to have a perception bonus. In a setting where more normal characters are presented (such as PF or Rifts), perception bonuses for classes would be limited to classes which could justify having such a bonus, i.e. detective, investigative, exploratory and other such classes that do pay attention to details and are more likely to notice something that's out of whack.

Question: does having advanced vision or any of the other senses from after the bomb help with perception rolls or any of the skills for that matter?
Answer: Unless otherwise specified, no (not at this time).

Question:In R:UE the some of the OCC's have Perception bonuses. Thats all cool. But what about all the other OCC's in the Rifts Line. They do not have any at all.
So Question, Any guide lines in determining if and how a None R:UE Occ gets a Perception Bonus or is this left up to the GMs discretion?
Answer: My quick recommendations:
Races are more likely to have a perception bonus, OCCs will be less likely to have a perception bonus. Perception bonuses for classes would be limited to classes which could justify having such a bonus, i.e. detective, investigative, exploratory and other such classes that do pay attention to details and are more likely to notice something that's out of whack.
Roll 1D6-1 to determine Perception Bonus for those O.C.C.s
I propose the following racial modifiers as a rough guide:
Senses most applicable to providing a perception bonus are vision, hearing, and smell.
'Keen' or "Enhanced" Senses: +1 to perception (per sense and based on applicability)
'Exceptional' or Mechanical (i.e. robotic, bionic, and cybernetic) Senses: +2 to perception (per sense and based on applicability)
'Heightened' or "Superior" Senses: +3 to +4 (or even +5 or +6) (per sense and based on applicability) (Note: Since the HU2E has revised how these work somewhat, the percentages for those senses (pick the most applicable one) could be divided by 15 to provide the bonus as per skill usage and perception)
Vision modifiers:
Black & White vision -2 to perception
Color Vision No modifier
Excellent Color Vision +1 to perception
Nightvision Reduces target number at night/in darkened conditions to daylight equivalent (at GM's discretion)
Infrared/Ultraviolet vision +2 to perception
Advanced Sight or "Hawk-Like" Vision +2 to perception
X-Ray vision +4 to perception
Enhanced, Super, or other uber reflexes/reaction time/skills do NOT add a bonus to perception.

[NMI]

ATTRIBUTE QUESTIONS

Question: New to the boards here, but I've been playing Rifts ever since it came out. A recent article in the Rifter mentioned Supernatural Physical Endurance (under the new Sorcerous Proficiencies for Nightbane specifically), and it's been a while since I've had to deal with that ability. However, I can't find any definition of what Supernatural Physical Endurance is, or what it does (bonuses, effects, etc). I found a post on the Internet where someone put their idea of what they thought it should be, but I was hoping for something more official.
Does this simply turn an SDC creature into an MDC creature, or does it do something else (as suggested by the site I found)?
If this has been discussed or answered before, could you please link it?
Answer: It varies:
81-85 Supernatural endurance; can lift and carry 100 times their P.S. attribute number and rarely fatigues (can be active for six hours without tiring) and is +3 to save vs poison, drugs and disease.
Lonestar, p 38

Supernatural endurance: Lift and carry 100 times their P.S. attribute number and rarely fatigues (can be active for six hours without tiring) and is +3 to save vs poison, drugs and disease.
Lonestar, p 44

Supernatural Physical Endurance: This seems to work only on huge animals that are at least twice the size and 3-5 times the mass of humans, such as tigers, bears, elephants, rhinos, bulls, dinosaurs, and giant-sized mutants (see the Ursa-Warriors). This phenomenal endurance means the animal can work, run or fight for hours with little or no sign of physical exhaustion; ideal for hauling heavy loads and strenuous work.
Lonestar, p 70

Devil Unicorn
Supernatural P.E.
...can run without pause and without exhaustion for two hours...
New West, p 141

Grigleaper
Supernatural P.E.
...can run without pause and without exhaustion for two hours...
New West, p 147

Leatherwing
Supernatural P.E.
...can fly without pause and without exhaustion for five hours...
New West, p 148-149

Mammoth Brontodon
Supernatural P.E.
...can travel without pause and without exhaustion for eight hours...
New West, p 150

Tree Spider
Supernatural P.E.
Can go without food or water for eight weeks without ill effect.
New West, p 164

The supernatural P.E. turns the warrior into a mega-damage creature. Simply change his combined S.D.C. and hit points into an M.D.C. total. This is a constant state of being, even when in human form. It also means he bio-regenerates damage at a rate of 5D6 per 24 hours.
Spirit West, p 42

Supernatural P.E. (M.D.C.): Add 1D6 points to the character's P.E. attribute and treat the final score as supernatural. This will convert the character's hit points and S.D.C. to M.D.C., plus an additional 1D4x10 M.D.C.
Spirit West, p 44

Great Body Fetish: This fetish is made from the hide of an elk, buffalo, bear or dinosaur. Its magic is activated whenever the character is in mortal danger or enters into combat. The fetish provides the user with a supernatural P.E. attribute, transforming his S.D.C. and hit points to M.D.C. It has no effect on creatures that already have M.D.C. Its duration is three minutes (12 melee rounds) per level of the user. It can be drawn upon/activated as often as once per level of the user, per 24 hour period.
Spirt West, p 87

Demon Claw
Supernatural P.E.
...fight or swim without pause or exhaustion for 24 hours! ...
Mystic Russia, p 21

...the character has supernatural endurance (fatigues at one-third normal rate, is +1 to save vs magic, and is +5 to save vs drugs, poison, and disease), heals twice as quickly as normal humans, stops aging and "feels" young, powerful and vital.
Mystic China, p 124

Alien/Supernatural Intelligence
Fragement: Attributes: Supernatural
...In addition, it needs only three hours of sleep or meditation a day, and fatigues at one-tenth the normal rate for humans.
D&G, p 72

Alien Intelligence
P.S. and all attributes are considered supernatural
7. Does not fatigue or fatigues at one tenth the rate of a moartal.
Dark Conversions, p 8
---------------
As you can see, there's quite a bit of difference when we're actually given some details on what Supernatural P.E/endurance does for a creature. Sadly, the vast majority of creatures have lame notes like "Supernatural P.S. and P.E.," "All attributes are considered supernatural," "Supernatural endurance" and the like with no real explanation of what it does for the creature (CJ certainly seemed fond of giving such creatures a bio-regeneration rate of 2D6/melee round though).

Question: Being new to Rifts and Heroes Unlimited, I've come across something I am evidently overlooking. Where can I find the information on trust/intimidate and charm/impress checks? My perusal of both books was unsuccessful so if I could get a page # or explanation, that'd be killer. Is the actual skill not talked about except in the table? That's what was throwing me off. For instance, if you DON'T have the high score what's your base percentage for that? And does it increase with level?
Answer: Its left up to the individual GM. One thing you have to get use to in Rifts is makeing your own rules. Its pretty tough to keep things straight at first but with time you will breeze through it. As an example of how to use the charm/impress: I say that exceptional stats are needed to even have the skill, so no I would say no base skill level. Also, the skill would only be used as a first impression type thing, or as a called attempt.
Example. The characters are being shut out of a local watering hole becuase the bouncer doesn't recognise them. The groups Han Solo wannabe trys to impress the bouncer with a story of his exploits...roll...pass...the bouncer lets em in.

Question: It wasn't until recently that I started to run across rules for use of attributes. Most of the games I took part in never used M.A. or P.B.
Some of the rules regarding attributes rolls I am familiar with, but I am uncertain how they all work.
Could anyone tell me how to do attribute rolls, and when they should be used?
Answer: There are no official rules for making attribute rolls, however, there are a variety of methods one could use for them:
Roll under your attribute on 3D6, 4D6, 5D6, etc. (depending on the attribute)
Roll under your attribute on D20 (doesn't work all that well, for obvious reasons)
Roll under your attribute on D30
Roll under your attribute on percentile (which unfortunately limits the chance of success even an average person has to do any given action)
Multiply your attribute by 2, 3, 4, or 5 and then roll on percentile (depending on what multiplier you decide to use can take some thought to make the system work well)

Question: Does "Supernatural PS" have to be supernatural?
Answer: No, a creature can have the equivalent of Supernatural P.S. without it being supernatural.

Question: I have some questions about strength. I'm a relatively new player, but I saw some rules that seemed...off. The numbers simply don't match up.
All juicers(with non-supernatural strength) state, under the super endurance section, that they can lift and carry an amount of weight equal to four times what an unaugmented person can carry. This is all well and good.
Until you figure out that that means that at 17 strength a juicer can lift more than a supernat with 28 strength.
Also, the bonuses for attributes over thirty state 'for every five points(round down) over 30, you can carry thirty percent more weight...'
Does this apply solely to 'normal' strength, or does it apply equally to 'augmented,' 'robotic,' and 'supernatural' strength?
On the normal strength tables, if it does not apply equally, human strength matches supernatural strength at 55, and then rapidly exceeds it at 60.
Normal juicers can outlift megajuicers and titan juicers with the greatest of ease, requiring only a strength of 36 to outlift a supernatural strength of 55.
And yet, even these phenomenally strong juicers, able to lift over 3 and a half tons (str 36, lift weight 7280), can't do even a tenth of the damage someone with supernatural strength can cause who can lift only 3 tons (str 60, lift weight 6000) over their heads.
wth?
Answer: There is no relationship between Lift/Carry, and the ability to do Megagdamage.

Question: 1) If my PE goes up after rolling stats (by selecting physical skills or superpowers) does my HP increase?
2) If my PE is temporarily increased (by a spell or psionic ability) do my HP temporarily increase?
Answer: 1) Yes.
2) Yes.

Question: What are the max. ability scores? (other than 30 that's in the main book)
If you could specify each it would be helpful or tell me where i could look it up.
Thanks
Answer: It varies from game to game, see HU2 pages 15-16 and RGMG page 24 for some examples. Also see RUE, page 284.

Question: How do you determine how far you can carry your charaters max weight in carrying?
Answer: Well, first, you would use the calculations for carrying duration under the PS and PE descriptions. Then you would look under the paragraph that talks about fatigue. Then you use your Spd stat to determine how far you can move with your max carrying weight before you are too tired.

Question: 1) Do the main stats collum ever go up per lv.? (I.Q.,M.E.,M.A., ect., ect)?
2) Do any of the stats in the hand to hand collum go up with out naturally (with out a skill to raise them) Attacking, Initative, Damage, ect., ect.?
3) Dose S.D.C. or M.D.C go up by 1/6 per lv unless stated?
Answer: 1) No.
2) Some OCCs provide bonuses are part of level advancement, but that's about it.
3) No.

Question: This is spawned from the Spd and Attacks thread.
With PP being the ability to react quickly, is there anything that says that high PP can't bestow an extra attack or two?
Answer: Given that several powers and other notices DO add extra attacks for a high P.P., no. However, it should be noted that a character with a high P.P. attribute isn't necessarily going to get any extra attacks, just for having a high P.P.

Question: I am about to GM a rifts campaign and am having trouble finding a handfull of rules can you help me out. Please give book and page# with rule thanks
1.What can augmented strength lift/carry it must be more than standard human strength but I cant find any charts
2.Do beings with augmented P.S. still use the same H2H bonus damage chart in the same way (It dosn't make sence a Juicer with a P.S. 24 can deal 100 S.D.C. on a power punch but only 13 S.D.C. on a normal punch)
3.I have a headhunter(partial borg) with a human P.S. of 26 but due to his bionic upgrade fund or lack there of his right arm only has an augmented strength of 12. Is his right bionic arm weaker than his left and if so what efect will this have on his lift/carry limit
Answer: 1) RGMG, page 24
2) For normal hand to hand attacks, they use the "Normal" P.S. damage table. Power attacks do the listed MD (either in their or their equipment's description) or the MD provided in the table.
3) Add the two P.S. attributes together and divide by two to get the resulting P.S. (For differing types of P.S. (i.e. Augmented and Normal), use the lift/carry numbers, added together and divided by two to get the total lift/carry numbers).

Question: Normally, you get 1 (possibly 2) bonus dice if you initially roll 16, 17, or 18 on a stat. How do the bonus dice work for races that get more or less than 3d6, or get 3d6 + a fixed number?
Any official word on this?
Answer: In PF2, attributes rolled on 2D6 get to roll a bonus 1D6 on 12 only. Attributes higher than 3D6 never receive a bonus die. Attributes rolled with only 1D6 are not mentioned, but presumably attributes that low aren't intended to get higher. In addition, any attribute with a plus bonus (i.e. 3D6+#) does NOT get bonus dice.

Question: How do you all resolve issues of strength type versus strength type including varying PS, and also with same lvl of strength but different PS
for example: supernatural vs robotic and/or supernatural PS of 70 vs supernatural PS of 50?
Say for instance arm wrestling "for lack of better idea this early in the morning"
In a contest of strength how do you resolve it?
Answer: Given that different PS categories can result in grossly differenty capabilities, I personally compare who can carry more in pounds.

Question: My hubby is the G.M. in our H.U.2 group and he has a N.P.C. that has a P.B. into the forties. When adding all of the points giving by the mutant powers (divine aura, Immortality, & physical perfection) and the angelic face as the mutant trait, it does comes to that. Is there a limit how good looking someone is? and if so wouldn't there be pentalties because of a beauty that high?
Answer: Since you're already playing HU2, you should know that the official answer is on page 15.
In short, if you're not a god or some sort of ultra-beautiful alien, the maximum P.B. score you can have is 30. Of course, the GM is free to change this, and certain power combinations like the one you mentioned could very well justify having godlike beauty.
As to the effects of a PB score over 30, HU2 says that the bonuses stop at PB 30 and that's that. Rifts Ultimate Edtion (p. 284) says that you get bonuses to various skills like seduction and palming, but suffer a penalty to prowl (since you're almost always being looked at). Take your pick.

Question: I've searched the archives and the fAQs but i can't find any reference to where i can find a supernatural strength table that goes beyond 15-60. Is there a rifter or a book i may be missing that has a table of supernatural strength damage for 61 and up?
Answer: the SN PS damage table in Skraypers goes from 61-70 then caps out there.
The Rifter #3 (page 60) has an optional strength damage table that goes up to P.S. 150. You will have to fix the chart though as its progression is off (P.S. 100 does more damage then P.S. 110).
Officially the rule is that for every +10 points of Supernatural PS you have beyond 60 (70 if using the Scraypers chart) you add +10 MD to your damage. That came out of the pages of Conversion Book 1 (original and RE) page 11 (in RE).

Question: 1) Is there anywhere in the multitude of books out there that gives the equivilent PS between Normal/Augmented/Robotic/Supernatural PS? If so, where is it? or do I have to make up a house rule on it?
2) and a second question, how much can a character with Robotic PS pick up and carry?
Answer: 1) No.
2) Depends on the setting, HU2 uses 200/300 multipliers and Rifts uses 10/20 multipliers.

Question: I have a few questions about Strength in Ultimate Rifts:
1. Do you need to have an Augmented Strength of at least 24 in order to inflich MD with power punches, or should the chart be interpreted as strength 24 and less?
2. A Combat Borg with a Robot PS of 30 can carry his PS x 25 according to the Robotic Strength chart, meaning he can carry 750 lbs and dead lift 1,500 lbs. A normal Human Juicer with a PS of 30, however, can carry 4 times what a normal human at his strength could carry, giving us 30 x 20 x 4. This means that a Juicer with a PS of 30 can carry 2,400 lbs and dead life 4,800 lbs, or almost 2½ tons! Yet the full conversion Borg, which is massive compared to the chemically enhanced human, can only lift half as much. Plus the Borg's strength caps out only a few points higher, while the Juicer can get signifigantly stronger still. Did I miss something? Is this how this is suppossed to be?
3. That same Cyborg, who can lift signifigantly less than the Juicer with equivalent strength scores, will inflict a lot more MD from his attacks than the Juicer will, and will not need to use a power punch to do so. Again I ask, is this how this is suppossed to be?
4. The augmented strength chart says it is for Partial and Full conversion Borgs, among other characters. A partial conversion Borg's strength caps out at 20 though, and the chart starts at 24. Even human size FULL conversion Borg's are limited to a PS of 20-22 (depending on the type and which book they're in). Am I reading somethign wrong here, or can partial conversion Borgs, fully maxed out, still not even use a chart that was in part designed for them?
5. It just doesn't seem right to me that a full conversion cyborg, not intended for combat, has his strength max out in the 30's and still can only lift and carry just as much as a regular human with equivalent strength. Is that really right? The human's strength can even surpass the Borg's since their strength cap is higher than the Borg's. I just feel like I must be missing something as I look through the book and these issues crop up.
6. A partial conversion cyborg is limited to having a maximum strength of 20, suppossedly because the human body would not be able to lift more without additional reinforcement. But a regular human can get a higher score and lift more than a partial borg without any additional reinforcement. Even a full conversion human size cyborg is limited to almost the same strength score, despite the fact that they have additional reinforcement (full bionic body). Should Augmented strength allow for greater weights to be lifted when compared against a normal human? It just doesn't seem right to me as it is, unless I missed where Borgs and partial conversion Borgs can lift more than a normal human.
Answer: 1) Yes, you need an Augmented Strength of at least 24 to inflict M.D. with power punches. (Evidently the notes from the RGMG were left off due to space restrictions.)
2) For as long as I've played the game this has always been a problem. But yes, this is the way it officially works. However it should be noted that there are those that contend that the Juicer's strength is suposed to be based off of a normal PS starting multiple of x10, effective giving it a x40 once the juicer's abilities have been factored in. I myself disagree with this idea. Regardless of whether it's a x40 of x80, Juicer strength will ALWAYS overpower that of Bionic and Robotic PS in terms of sheer lifting power.
3) Actually that one's easier to rationalize. A borg hits with a fist of solid MDC steel, while a Juicer, though amazingly strong, is still only hitting with flesh and bone, and thus doesn't have the same level of rigidity and solidity. Also Borgs tend to be half a ton in mass while a Juicer is a small fraction of that, meaning there is less heft behind the strike as well.
4) Generally speaking, that is true. Partials are kind of screwed in that regard, however it should be noted that bionics, cybernetics, and eve bio-synthetics can be "Sooped up" a la the Bionic Source Book (pg. 70) up to +20%. So with a little exta time, experience, and money, not to mention a good Cyber Doc, that PS of 20 can be upped to 24.
5) That's not right nor factually correct. A Maxed out Borg will have a PS of 36. Thanks to the rule that allows for a +30% boost in lifting power at 35 and every five more PS there after, he can carry his PS x32.5 (1,170 lbs). A normal Human with the equiv. PS of 36 will only be able to lift his PS x26 (936 lbs.), after factoring in the high strength bonus. If the Borg has max PS and then gets that Souped Up, he'll be pushing a Robotic PS of 43 and have a lift multiple of x40 (1,720 lbs), while the same PS in a normal (?) Human would only have a x32 (1,376 lbs).
6) Technically speaking, they already do get better lift multiples. Not that much better, but better just the same. Also, remember that normal folk, no matter how strong they are, can never do a MD power punch while those with augmented and robotic PS can at will.

Question: So in the AtB forum I have discovered that there are MORE strength variants I was not previously aware of, and I would like to get an idea as to how these all sort of mesh together - like how they would be ranked from "lowest" to "highest."
Additionally, if I have left any out, please help me out and throw them in so that I might have my head hurt even more...
Strengths I know of (and where some of them can be found if more "out there"):
"Normal"
Supernatural
Extraordinary
Superhuman
Beastly
Augmented
Crushing (AtB?)
Brute (AtB?)
Bionic
Robotic
Insect (MiO)
As for how these might be listed from "Lowest-Highest," about the only ones I know for certain is that "Normal" would be the anchor and Supernatural would be at the top...
Little help?
Answer: Basically there's two different rankings of strength types in Palladium (well, three, but the other one is only separated by 1 feature)
Carry/Lift Capacity
10/20 -- Ordinary Strength (Rifts, SF, Splicers, BTS1, BTS2, PF, HU, etc.) - Low (1-16) Supernatural Strength (Rifts)
10/30 -- Normal Strength (N&S/ATB2/TMNT)
20/40 -- "Strong" Strength (Most games) - Exceptional Strength (Rifts)
+5% -- "Exceptional Beyond 30" Strength (Rifts)
20/50 -- Brute Strength (ATB2)
30/60 -- "Exceptionally Strong" Strength [20-23] (N&S/TMNT)
50/100 -- High (17+) Supernatural Strength (Rifts) - "Exceptionally Strong" Strength [24+] (N&S/TMNT)
100/200 -- Extraordinary Strength (HU) - Beastly Strength (ATB2)
200/300 -- Robot Strength (HU) - Superhuman Strength (HU)
300/500 -- Supernatural Strength (HU) - Crushing Strength (ATB2)
Damage*
Ordinary Strength - Normal Strength - Strong Strength (all) - Brute Strength - Extraordinary Strength (HU) - Beastly Strength (ATB2) - Robot Strength (HU) - Superhuman Strength (HU)
Giant Strength (PF)
Supernatural Strength (HU) - Beastly Strength (ATB2) - Supernatural Strength (PF)
Augmented Strength (Rifts) - Bionic Strength (Rifts)
Robot Strength (Rifts)
Supernatural Strength (Rifts)
Supernatural Insect Supernatural Strength (MiO/AU)
Deific Strength (D&G)**
*Though the damage tables often vary, MDC damage is rated higher than SDC damage for this comparison.
**Fundamentally identical to Supernatural Strength, with one added ability.

Question: Is it ever specified anywhere whether it is permitted to switch around the order of attributes rolled for a human?
Answer: According to RUE, p. 279, you're supposed to "[s]tart with I.Q. and work your way through the rest." However, most books just tell you to roll 3D6 for each attribute without any specific statement of sequence, making it a matter of GM's preference.

Question: 1) Why does it matter in game mechanic terms that a character, lets say CS Military Specialist as example should have a minimum I.Q. 12, M.E. 12 and P.E. of 10? How does this affect the character? Those are just average points with no bonuses and even with bonuses the only one that gives anything to the O.C.C.s ability would be a higher I.Q. with it's bonus to skills. The other two only offer saves.
2) And another question, how would you determine lets say if a character was to do something physically challenging like running 12 miles none stop. What would you go off of to determine they complete such a long Strenuous task without any physical problems such us exhaustion or tripping? What rule would you use for the player to roll for that? Would you just roll a simple dodge?
Answer: 1) just because it has no bonuses, dosn't mean it's not better. Yes, an MA of 12 has no more bonuses than an MA of 10, but your still more charming than the fellow with an MA of 10.
2) Running rules are covered best in ATB2, exhaustion is covered loosely in books like HU2 and Land of the Damned 1.

Question: I'm having trouble with Attributes.. It seems they only matter when they are 17 or higher. Do you roll attribute checks at all? What dice do you use? D20? If you have a score higher than 20 what use is there to roll it?
I've been thinking maybe roll a D30.. I dont know.. does anyone?
Answer: Rolling against attributes can be done on 1D20, 1D30, or 1D100, as the GM desires and/or the book states (several adventures in various books mention specific attribute checks and what is rolled against them to determine success).

Question: Strength from HU 2nd Edition has four strength categories, however Rifts UE has only three. In comparison Supernatural Strength from HU 2nd has a tremendous weight carrying capacity while Supernatural Strength from Rifts UE isn't close to any of the strength categories from HU 2nd. The different strength categories from HU 2nd are Normal(Strong 17+), Extraordinary, Super, and Supernatural. The categories from Rifts UE are Normal(Strong 17+), Extraordinary, and Supernatural. Neither Extraordinary nor Supernatural have the same weight modifiers from the two different rule books. It seems Supernatural Strength from HU 2nd makes more sense and the Rifts UE should have been updated to reflect this significant difference.
Answer: Each game's rules are correct for that game.

Question: In AtB and the mutant underground source book for HU, characters can get 'crushing' PS. In most respects it seems to be the equivalent of Supernatural PS, same lift/carry rules, same damage chart, but I was fiddling with a character today, and it suddenly occurred to me: Can a character with crushing strength benefit from the PS bonuses from physical skills?
In HU it says clearly in the power description for supernatural PS that you do not benefit from skill bonuses to PS if you have that power, and I can understand the reasoning behind that, your character's PS is mostly magical in nature, so working out will not add muscle, you are simply that strong and no stronger.
Crushing PS on the other hand, seems to be a non-magical version of Supernatural PS. The AtB world contains no supernatural creatures, and no magic is in evidence, so supernatural PS doesn't exist. Yet there are still mutant animals, particulary large ones, who are tremendously strong, hence the creation of 'crushing' PS as a non magical alternative.
My tentative conclusion is that a character with crushing PS can benefit from skill bonuses, but I wanted to ask the question anyway, to see if my reasoning makes sense, and to see if anyone knows of a canon reference that says either way.
Answer: Yes, Your reasoning is certainly sound, and since the book doesn't seem to explicitly state otherwise, it appears to be okay by the rules, though it might be reasonable for the GM to require that such characters' exercise regimen be proportionally greater than a normal creature's (e.g. bench-pressing automobiles, pulling trains, tossing boulders, etc.).

Question: Do any attributes apply to saves vs. curses, possesion, disease, or horror factor?

Answer: The P.E. bonus to save vs. poison and magic applies to magical curses, magical possession, and to disease. The M.E. bonus to save vs. psionics applies to psionic possession. No attribute gives a bonus to save vs. horror factor.

Question: I'm trying to find how long a character (mortal) can run their full speed before getting fatigued. It seems something pretty basic that is referenced in armor descriptions but I just seem to be not seeing it. Then how does having a Supernatural P.E. interact with that? And last, what are the penalties for being "fatigued."

Answer: For mortals, the older books (RMB, NB, HU, etc.) had it at 1 minute per P.E. point, so if you had a P.E. of 20, that's 20 minutes. For supernatural P.E., refer to the question at the top of this post. As to fatigue penalties, these may be found on p. 16 of HU2, p. 35 of NB, and p. 9 of the RMB, among other places.

[NMI]

SAVING THROW QUESTIONS

Question: I have heard many sides and searched this site carefully but must have missed what a friend said was here. He said that you add your ME bonuses to saves vs pain while I have also heard it to be your PE bonuses. I would like to hear a definite answer as to who is right and who is wrong.
Answer: Save vs Pain uses P.E. bonuses.

Question: What is the base save vs coma/death? I thought it would be listed with the other saves in rifts ultimate, but it is not there. Cannot find it in Robotech either.
Answer: It depends upon the medical treatment you get. It is listed in its own section usually, under "recovering from a coma" or similar.
In RUE, since that's what it sounds like you've got, it's on page 354/355, in the section Battle Injuries & Recovery, subheading Surviving Coma and Death.

Question: Where can I find rules (and save throw) for diseases?
Answer: Yin-Sloth Jungles, pages 13-14. For both diseases and the saving throw. Rift's World Book 26: Dinosaur Swamp 1, Page 41 and covers such Diseases like Malaria, Trypanosimiasisi (Sleeping sickness), River Blindness, & Yellow Fever as well as rules on infections and Rifts specific sickneses. It also covers some rules on drugs, natural cures & broad spectrum Anti-biotics. Rifter #18 p.69-86 covers biological warfare. RUE page 346 also covers the saving throw for disease.

Question: I was looking as another post along these line and i saw that someone said that robots didn't get magic saves. Well i was sure they were wrong but when i looked in the RUE i found this, "non-living objects do not get a saving throw". now i knew i'd seen different in another paladium book so i search around. I found what i was looking for in heroes unlimited. "INANIMATE, non-living objects get no saving throw".
So my question is this; WHy the difference between rifts and HU? Should robots and other animate objects get a save in rifts? I'll be honest that i'm leaning towards them getting a save. With robots being playable classes it seems an unfair disadvantage IMO. I'd like to hear everyone elses ideas.
Answer: It took quite a bit of looking but a found a ruling on this. I knew i'd seen it printed that robots get saves. Big Grin
Rifter #17, page#19 in the question and answer section.
Question Do equipment, weapons, robots, and machines get saving throws.
Answer: A big long answer, but it boils down to the fact that non-intellegent robots don't get a save.
Robots with an intellegence but aren't at least AI get a save but no bonuses.
Robots with an AI or a human controller/pilot use the pilots bonuses or the robots bonuses for stats.
Pages 13-14 of the HUGMG deal with this somewhat, too, although it only addresses saving throws against mental effects, not physical ones.

Question: I haven't read anything about despair based attacks except for a brief blurb in Psyscape, page 30.

"6. Special Bonuses...+2 to save vs. despair based attacks..."

Exactly what is a despair based attack?

Answer: Island at the Edge of the World (page 90) defines "Despair" as "...all forms of despair and depression, including magic and psionic attacks." This would include effects such as Empathic Transmission, the Weight of Duty spell, and the Banshee's Wail.

[NMI]

GENERAL RULE QUESTIONS

Question:Things like:
How much sleep is required to function without penalties?
I assume 8 is considered standard though most people can manage with less.
What are the penalties if does not get enough sleep?
(like for every 2 hours you miss you are -1 M.E. and for every 4 hours you miss you are -1 P.E.?)
Are the penalties cumulative? i.e. If the character has been running on 4 hours of sleep per night for the past 5 nights... is that just -2 M.E. -1 P.E. or is it -10 M.E. and -5 P.E.
And if it is cumulative do you need to pay off your sleep debt to regain your lost M.E. and P.E.? i.e. you sleep 4 hours a night for five nights you have now deprived yourself of 20 hours of sleep do you need to sleep for 20 hours to pay back this debt or is the normal 8 (assuming its 8 ) enough?
Any book info on this kinda stuff? (book and page if you can thanks) Very Happy
Also interested in home rules and how you all have handeled sleep.
Answer: See the Heroes Unlimited GMs GUide, pages 46-47. It will answer all these questions.

Question: I was reading the rules in Splicers about character generation, and I got to the section on determining character HP. It said that you get your base HP by taking your PE and adding 1d6. I figured that this meant you take whatever PE you rolled and added 1d6 to it. But I was looking at the sheet of another player in our group, and he took his PE after he added all his skills bonuses (from the various Physical skills that can boost your attributes) and then added 1d6. This made me think maybe I missed something.
So, which is it? Do we include the skills bonuses as part of our PE when we determine HP, or do we just go with the original rolled PE.
Answer: Add the skills before determining hit points.

Question: I've noticed that I can't find information in regards to diseases, ailments, ect. that plague our society today. Does anyone know what happened to diseases in Rifts, such as aids, smallpox, ect.?
Answer: Lone Star alludes to the fact that with their advanced genetic technology that in Coalition territories at least, most diseases are capable of being easily remedied, i think they even go so far as to say that obesity can be "cured"... later

Question: could we have some guidelines please for damage to MD and/or supernatural creatures when they fall. Obviously, we are talking falls from a great height...but even MDC beings must be susceptible to falling damage.
how high must they drop before they get hurt?
Answer: On page 28 of the Rifts Game Masters Guide, it does indeed state that 1D6 Damage (apply as per Creatuire type; SDC or MDC, appropriately) is applied for falling;

Question: Have the rules concerning when a character dies changed at all anywhere?
Answer: No

Question: How much equipment can a character carry on their person?
I'm not really interested in the weight limit, because that's easy to determine. But # pistols, rifles, grenades, eclips, backpacks, pouches, etc. on a character's body without being encumbered.
Thinking in terms of a man-at-arms OCC: can they carry 2 rifles, 2 pistols 4 grenades, 1 backpack, a belt pouch? or just 1 rifle, 2 pistol, and 6 grenades?
Now what about if you're a magic user or psychic? What do people think?
Normally I do this for a man-at-arms OCC (and the same for mages or psychic for simplicity):
1 backpack
1 rifle
2 pistols
2 knives
4 eclips or grenades
1 optic band
any other equipement is in their backpack
I don't really know what's even possible in RL, except what is on TV...
Answer: Encumbrance Rules can be found on page 130 of The Mechanoid Invasion Trilogy.
This is a Debate going on in the Real World, and they have found a Real World Solution (This is in regards to the Blowhards out there demanding MORE Armor for our Troops in Iraq, who are either just using the Issue for Political Gain, have not taken the time to research the Issue, or both):
The Armed Services have determined, pretty much by trial and error, that the average Soldier ('Soldier' in this case meaning almost any member of the non-Special Forces Services in the US Military) can effectively carry and fight with no more than a third of his or her body weight in TOTAL Gear, Armaments, Armors, and what have you (and in actuality, the percentage is 25% for Females, who in our species have roughly 30% less Upper Body Strength on average). It's recommend that you double this percentage for augmented strength and go the full 100% for supernatural strength.

Question: Can you cure Frostbite and Gangrene..... with the healing touch?
Answer: Frostbite yes, Gangrene no.

Question: What powers/spells/abilities/modifications/et cetera.... allow a character to survive in Outer Space.
I mean, really, definite "Out there, waiting for a ship, hoping you don't starve first" kind of out there. Propulsion method need not be included... a pop-can could get you started.
Cosmo Knights can do it, so can Bhlaze Aliens, but they are special cases, and are not available to people creating characters who are not CK's or Bhlazes.
Spluugorth transmutation with the slime works... but yipes, at what cost, eh?
I'm not talking Power Armor here, either.
Answer: That would be the Space Native, Control Elemental Forces: Void, and Alter Physical Structure: Void powers. 3rd level spell (RUE) Breath Without Air allows you to survive lack of breatheable air, but no other effects. The spell Atmosphere Bubble (AUGG) also provides breatheable air, but no other effects. The spell Protection from Space (AUGG) is a sure bet. Theoretically, Gene-Splicers & Gene-Techs (Mindwerks and Anvil Galaxy respectively) could modify a being to survive in space. Several mutations in Mutants in Orbit will aslo help one survive in space, speficially Hibernation, Body Freeze, Low Oxygen use, Invulnerability, and Oxygen Retention. MiO also has several skills, particularly Oxygen Conservation and Vacuum Survival which will help.

Question: Hello,
the rule says : "If the player rolls two successful recovery rolls out of three, the character breaks out of coma".
Is it three rolls for the injured character, or three rolls for the healer?
The rule seems to be the first solution, and I think that when several healer are there, they should collaborate (maybe increasing the chance of success), thus 3 try for the injured character. After two failed rolls (2 hours of care), the character still lives a few hours (PE hours after he has fallen under 0 HP), but sinks into death without any chance of recovery.
But imagine the following thing :
a character is hurt on the field, the field medical team tries to heal and the rolls fail; then comes a rescue team with more advanced possibilities (they arrive before the PE hours limit-2). Should the character still be considered lost, or can the new medical team try to heal?
Answer: The injured character.

Question: 1) Hey all. I was wondering how damage is calculated for vehicle collisions. I assume it's some kind of weight/speed formula, but does anyone know it this has been covered?
2) I'd also like to know if increased speed affects charge damage for creatures (ie. the Minotaur). Thanks in advance.
Answer: 1) Yeah, it's been covered, and damage varies according to a variety of factors, including speed, size of the vehicles, and whether the vehicles are ramming or colliding.
Full rules on collisions and vehicular combat can be found in the TMNT Guide to the Universe, pp. 10-14 (air and space vehicles only); Road Hogs (ground vehicles only), pp. 19-24; Mutants Down Under, pp. 34-39 (lighter-than-air craft only); Revised N&S, pp. 135-142; and HU2, pp. 83-90.
2) Apparently only if the creature is capable of speeds greater than 60 mph, if one takes HU2, p. 72 as a guide.

Question: Okay, where the hell is the "Road Quality and Obstacle" table mentioned in the vehicle combat section of HU2 and N&SS? Is it in TMNT? Anyone here ever even seen it? Have I gone mad?
Answer: Road Hogs, page 24.

Question: I'm not sure if this has been covered in any of the books or in one of these forums, but are there any official rules for characters that eventually grow old?
Answer: They are found on page 34 of the PF2 Main Book. There's also rules present in BTS1 & BTS2.

Question: Does this mean there are rules about child characters? And if so, where could I find them?
Answer: Beyond the Supernatural, 1st edition.

Question: The concept of how HP & SDC/MDC works is simple enough to understand, but I am trying to understand how SDC increases over a character's time/experience.
I've read through much of the main PF 2nd ed. book and all I can find is a brief mention on p.18-19 for SDC development.
"...men of arms roll 3d6 for SDC, while practioners fo magic, scholars, and all others roll 1d6 for SDC. This SDC base can be increased further through the selection of certain physical skills, such as boxing, body building, general athletics, etc." I also picked up that some OCCs or races may give additional SDC bonuses.
I understand this to literally mean that a character ONLY gets SDC from either physical skills or from the very first rolls made during character creation. However, when I look at pre-made characters in some of the source books, the stats don't acurately match most of the time.
Am I completely missing something? Perhaps other ways to increase SDC, maybe incorporated from an additional system from when PF went from 1st ed to 2nd ed?
Answer: SDC generally does not increase as experience increases. (However, some classes DO provide level-based SDC bonuses, and one can often learn physical skills at later levels which would provide increased SDC.) You are not missing anything however, NPCs don't usually confirm to the rules for character creation in Palladium games (which has caused a lot of problems over the years).

Question: Here something someone asked me. What happens to a normal person if you reduce their P.P.E. to zero? Say a entity comes along and sucks a normal guy dry. I saw somewhere (probably something in Nightbane) that it causes death but in general I don't see it do much of anything.
Answer: Perhaps you are thinking of the results of the Stone Giant's Death Ghost Attack (Rifts New West, page 121)? I recommend ignoring the whole P.P.E. aspect of the power entirely, and replacing it with Negative Chi Attack from Ninjas & Superspies.
OTHERWISE, there is not penalty for zero P.P.E. in a normal person.

Question: When someone tries to trust/intimidate or charm/impress what is the defensive roll that the victim gets to that?
Answer: As there are no rules for how Trust/Intimidate and Charm/Impress work, that's up to the individual GM. However, PF's Island at the Edge of the World mentions a Psionic Crystal Protective Magic Ring which gives a defense against Trust/Intimidate and Charm/Impress (with no mention of how that's supposed to work).

Question: I didn't see anything specific about this (though i'll be honest, i didn't look real hard), but does paralysis keep a character from talking? Or would their vocal cords be paralyzed too?
Answer: In most cases, unless specified that the whole body is paralyzed (such as being hit with three Neural Atemi strikes), the character can still talk.

Question: New here, and i can't find anything using the search option, so i'm asking here. Where can i find item creation guidlines for stardard items (ie railguns, Rifles, ect)
thanks in advance
Answer: There aren't any, sorry.

Question: What are the characteristics that can classify someone/thing as a supernatural being? There have been many disputes within my group as to what it can be (mainly over OCCs/powers that do extra damage to them, sense them more easily, etc)
Do they have to have animal intelligence?
Do supernatural attributes make a supernatural creature?
Is magic/psionics involved?
Can mortals such as humans/elves/sentient aliens become supernatural creatures by having magical/psionic properties, supernatural attributes etc?
Answer: Unless a race/occ states that it's a supernatural being, it's a safe bet to say it's not. A creature can have supernatural atributes, piles of magic and psionics and all kinds of extra goodies and not be a supernatural being.

Question: How long can a character run at full tilt before he/she gets tired? And is it the same as swimming/flying/digging?

Answer: A normal, unaugmented character can run at full speed for a number of minutes equal to his or her P.E. attribute. Swimming speed (for nonaquatic beings) can be maintained for the same period, but flight duration varies among flying creatures -- see individual descriptions for details. I can't find a specific reference for maintaining digging speed (for natural burrowers), but making it the same as running or swimming seems workable.


Question: I have an old copy of the Ninja Turtles game rules book and I would love to
get some games going with my friends. I did notice however that the game book seems to only cover rules for combat based actions. I was unable to find anything about rules for
performing other non-combat based actions in a game.

So am I just missing something in the book, or was it kind of assuming that you would already know the Palladium system rules? If this is the case would I be able to learn these rules in a copy of Heroes Unlimited or Ninja's and Superspies?

Answer: If you're asking about specifics of how to use skills and such, there isn't
anything more. An odd sentence or example here or there, scattered through the books, but
that's it. The gist is that when you need to make a skill check, you roll percentile dice. If you roll higher than your skill number (modified with circumstantial bonuses and penalties as
assigned by the GM), then you fail. Roll under, and you succeed.

You don't need to make a skill check for every little thing involving the skill, just important stuff. For example, you don't have to roll Pilot: Automobile in order to start your car, just to make special maneuvers or avoid crashing when something runs out in front of you, etc.

Question: Are there rules in Palladium for aging characters?

Answer: Yes. See PF2, pp. 33-34.

Question: Do you add your P.S. damage bonus when using a whip?

Answer: Yes.

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LEAPING/JUMPING QUESTIONS

Question: Someone asked this question in the Beyond The Supernatural forum....and I gotta say, this is a really good question.
The only place jumping distances are located to my knowledge is in the FIRST EDITION acrobatics skill. Nowhere else!! And even then, what about characters WITHOUT acrobatics??
We have a table how far a character can throw all kinds of different weights, how long they can exert themselves. But no real way of determining if a character can jump a ravine without using real-world physics knowledge. Something alot of players and GMs don't necessarily have...
Since it is hard to find (or not feasible in some people's cases) first edition books, and not really worth the money for 1 skill description. Can we have an "official" answer to this one?
Pretty please with sugar on top,
Thanks, with much love.
Answer: I believe I've seen three methods for this, though there may be more. ATB2 has a standard leaping ability listed (page 72) for different creatures, listing humans as being able to leap four feet across, three feet high without using an object, and that is increased by 50% for a full speed running start. The Heroes Unlimited GM Guide has a much more useful ruling in it's wonderfully expanded Super-Brawling Rules, where a full speed running start allows a normal character to leap one half foot for every point of P.S. long/across and half that vertically, reduced by 40% for a standing start. I've also seen (for Rifts), "For humans, figure that normal untrained characters can leap 4' high and 5' long. Characters with either the acrobatics or gymnastics skills increase their distance by 2' per level of experience (Note: This is 2' for either skill; having both skills will NOT increase the distance beyond the 2'). Modifying a character's leaping distance for physical attributes (i.e. speed, strength, and/or prowess) is an option for the individual GM." Though it's validity and location in a book are unknown.
UPDATE: According to Tinker Dragoon, the Rifts version of the Jumping Rules can be found in RMB, 12th printing or later, on page 44, bottom left corner (evidently prior to that printing, it's a picture of a SAMAS).

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DEIFIC QUESTIONS

Question: are there any rules and/or guidelines for creating a god as a NPC? The best I've seen was the Godling RCC from CB2
Answer: See Rifts Conversion Book 2 and PF's Dragons & Gods.

Question: I have a few questions...
1- What exactly happens to a god when he stops being worshipped?
2- (Its a bit out of topic but...) In phase world It is written about godling PCs.... Where are the rules for creating god characters?
Answer: 1) See Dragons & Gods, page 85, under Forgotten Gods.
2) Rifts Conversion Book 2: Pantheons of the Megaverse has the rules for creating Godlings & Demi-Gods. Other gods are made using the Alien/Supernatural Intelligence.

Question: For my next campaign on planning to have a strong prescence from the Egyptian Pantheon particularly Thoth, however I noticed that tehy are not mentioned in Conversion book 2 Patneons and Gods, is there any information out there on Thoth and the Egyptian pantheon?
Answer: Try Rifts Africa and Palladium Fantasy: Dragons & Gods.

Question: I was thumbing through Dragons and Gods, Pantheons of the Megaverse, Dark Conversions and the Conversion Book.
I was looking for the rules and stats on how to create an Avatar of a Supernatural Intelligence. I was able to find the Life Essence information which seemed to be just a possessing entity thats controlled by the Intelligence itself but nothing really on say...a being infused with an Intelligences power. The information I was able to find on Avatars was in Pantheons under the avatar Krishna (pg. 124-125). The information on Krishna gave the MDC of an avatar at some 3d6x1000 MDC but nothing for attributes or natural abilities. Though in Krishna's bio it says he's the offspring of Vishnu and mortal woman...so wouldn't that just mean that he's a Demi-God?
I'm just trying to find some information on making a more low-powered version of an essence fragment or avatar of an Intelligence or god. The simplest thing I can think of is to just make up my own house rules for one.
Answer: You could probably adapt the information in World Book England under the Myrrlin intelligence. Also, Powers Unlimited Two for Heros Unlimited has rules for creating the Avatar of a god.

Question: In regarding the Godblaze deific spell, that does 1,031,920 points of damage to 1,200 foot radius. So the question is, what else would happen? Dust clouds that would wipe out life? Depris clouds that would detsroy all life? Nuclear winter? Actually destroys the planet?
This amount of damage seems like it would be as if a large asteroid hit the planet. Much like the one that supposedly destroyed the dinosaurs, except bigger. So, what would happen?l
Answer: What it does is "disrupt a portion of the target dimension, turning it into a fiery whirlpool of primal energy and chaos." So you don't get anything else.

Question: The gods of "Dragons and Gods" get the Prototypical deific Powers but those of "Pantheons of the Megaverse" don't list them... don't they get those powers or its assumed that they do?
I know that Rifts and the Palladium RPG are diferents systems ( always the MDC thing) but im curious about this
Answer: At the GM's discretion, give all gods the prototypical powers.

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ARMOR QUESTIONS

Question: Ok first of all, I love the Palladium's games but there's something that's always bugged me. How can a man size suit of power armor have more MDC that a large vehicle? For example the Silver Eagle Power Armor has 450 MDC for its Main Body. It's only 8ftx3.5ftx4.6ft with the wings folded. Now the main body of the MX-422 APC which is used to carry the Power Armor is16x11x40ft but it only has 330 MDC for main body. The APC is much more massive than the Power Armor but it has 120 MDC less. Huh???
Also how can a man sized laser rifle like the LSR-250 do the same amount of damage as the APC's MX-422 Laser Cannon? The MX-422 is at least ten times bigger than the LSR-250, big enough to stick someones head down the barrel but it only does the damage of a laser rifle????
I'm not complaining just confused. Is there an explanation for this other than munchkinism? Please help.
Answer: Actually the answer has nothing to do with the Palladium system.
It's the writers.
They make up the stats. They are not forced to look over old data and ensure that such things work as one would think logically. Sure the pally staff probably looks over said stats. but with the amount of armour out there now etc such manual cross reference would be a nightmare.
In an ideal gaming system the writers woudl have to consult a database which woudl cross reference the values of things as you suggest/. It owudl take in to account material type wieght thickness etc then look over previous numbers and say um hey the apx56 tank with thickness of 5 mils and material of kevlar which covers 75% of the tanks body at a ratio of 5 sqaure feet flattened out only equals 750 mdc your power armor made with the same rates buts only covers 50% of the pwoer armos body can not have an main body mdc value abover 750 your value would be = 500 mdc
But this type of system is not set up. So it's on the writers heads to use sensible measurements and refer to old data.

Question: What is the ruling for MDC regarding Head, hands, legs arms in relation to the main body if the book doesn't supply it?
Like is head 15% of main body or something?
Answer:
Method I (Simple):
Part = Percent
Head = 10%
Main Body = 50%
Arm (each) = 5%
Leg (each) = 15%
Method II (Fairly Simple):
In one of the older books, they did say something to that effect. But in practice, it doesn't work out that way. Take a look at the newer Dead Boy EBA (CA-4). Its helm's MDC is equal to 70% of the armor's main body. So using that as a basis, it looks like;
Main Body = 100% of value x
Head/Helm = 70% of value x
Arms = 60% of value x
Legs = 80% of value x
Method III (Somewhat Simple):
Part = Percent
Head = 9%
Main Body = 37%
Arm (each) = 9%
Leg (each) = 18%
Method IV (Semi-Simple):
There is a general rule in the RGMG that says for anything not specified, to use the Locations of the New Deadboy Armor as percentages of Main Body to determine locations on otehr Armor.
So Generally speaking.
Main = 100
Legs = 80
Head = 70
Arms = 60
For big Borgs, PA, and Robots the Arms would be 70 upper and 50 lower.
Although, despite this statement.
Robots / PA do not seem to follow this pattern, for some reason there are very few occurances where the Head is higher than 90 MDC.
Personally I just go with the New Dead Boy % for everything and keep it simple.
Method V (complex but accurate):
Part = Pecentage
Head = head 8%, neck 1%
Main Body = abdomen 9%, lower back 9%, upper back 9%, upper torso 9%, groin 1%
Arm (each) = shoulder 1%, upper arm 3%, elbow 1%, lower arm 2%, wrist 1%, hand 1%
Leg (each) = thigh 10%, knee 2%, calf 3%, ankle 1%, foot 2%

Question: I have been going through my books and cannot find a list of what repair costs would be for different items, such as bionics, power armor, robotics, space ships, etc. The only thing I have found is in AU:GG, where spaceships can be repaired at 20% of the original cost. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Answer: Rifts Sourcebook 1.

Question: I just got the Triax & NGR book, and the armor listed only has one number for the main body
on the other hand, the RUE and books like China2 list head/arms/legs in addition to body.
From my understanding of the rules, in Rifts you can do things like "called shot to head" right? But if the head armor isn't listed, how is it done?
Answer: the Rifts GMG gives a "quick and dirty" formula for calculating the heads and limbs MDC for armors and such that have none listed.

Question: A question that came up yesterday.
I have never seen an AR higher than 19. Nor does anyone I know.
In the rules I found here and there sentences like "the protection is almost total, the shield stops almost all attacks: its Ar is 18". A similar feeling can be perceived in the rifts conversion rules where it offers the optional rules to convert rifts to SDC: the highest ARs, given to those impenetrable MDC protections, are 17 or 18.
Now, our curiosity arised by the fact that AR seems to be capped at 20, BUT the AR value is not to be hit with a natural roll. This means using the bonuses available to the common PC (even the simple +2/+3 for an aimed shot) it is possible to hit numbers higher than 20. So teoretically an AR of 20 or higher is far from being nonsensical, considering also that a natural 20 hits whatsoever.
what are your thoughts on this curious treatment of ARs ?
Answer:Yes, there are things that are A.R. 20. Not a lot of them, but they are around. Magic spells or abilities, either learned or from an item, can generate A.R. 20 armor in PF. I don't know RIFTS well enough to answer for that.
Also remember, no matter what A.R. a person has, a natural 20 always beats it (unless parried/dodged with another natural 20).

Question: Armor repair cost???
Answer: Rifts SB1, p. 55
PF2, p. 271

Question: I couldn't seem to find any information on how long it takes to don armor, and was wondering if anyone can help me.
In particular I am concerned with PA and EBA armors, but would like to know for all kinds of armor (including even borg armor).
Answer: Rifts GMG pg 41 gives the answer.
Essentially, EBA is 1D4+4 melees for Men at Arms OCCs and minutes for others. PA is the same, but if the pilot has a crew and the armor is ready to go, reduce it to one minute.

Question: I'm writing out my first character (CS Grunt) and I can't figure out where the Armor Rating for his armor is listed. I get that his armor is basically invulnerable to anything not Mega Damage, but the equipment lists don't give the Armor Rating. Without that, I can't be sure when an attack hits his armor vs hitting him.... so where in the book is this information listed? Thanks in advance.
Answer: Mega Damage armor, with the exception of those providing partial coverage (e.g. Cyber-Armor, Triax Plainclothes armor), does not have an Armor Rating, since the only weapons that can damage it ignore A.R. anyway. Any successful strike roll that is not dodged hits the armor.
You would not want any of this damage getting through to the character anyway, since it would likely mean instant vaporization.


Question: Is there a way to repair more than 20 MD worth of armor on a skill roll?
Answer: Yes. everal ways, in fact, which depend on whether you're asking about Rifts, Robotech, or Splicers; which skills you're referring to; whether you're talking about body armor, vehicular armor, robot armor, or cyborg armor; and whether you want to know about repairs in the field or in a fully-equipped garage.
The most obvious way is to have a professional repair crew do the job, which eliminates skill rolls entirely, but may come with a high price tag.
Operators (Rifts), Bio-Maintenance Engineers (Robotech), and similarly skilled characters can restore M.D.C. armor to full capacity with sufficient time, equipment, materials, and successful skill rolls. The rule in Robotech was that 10 M.D.C. could be repaired for every two hours of garage work, or every six hours in the field. I've not seen similar rules in Rifts or Splicers (if anybody else has, please speak up), but Heroes Unlimited uses the same numbers converted to S.D.C., so I think it safe to assume equivalency here.
M.D.C. Field Repair rules for cyborgs and robots can be found in the Rifts Bionics Sourcebook, pp. 67-68. There's little reason why they shouldn't also apply to repairs on other M.D.C. structures.
You're generally out of luck for repairing high-tech items in Splicers, but on the other hand, most bio-equipment either regenerates on its own or can be restored with a long soak in a nutrient bath.

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WEAPON QUESTIONS

Question: My Ancient Master for a HU game I'm in is planning to use paired tomahawks as his main weapons of choice. Any idea on what would be a good damage base for such items? I looked at the ancient weapons chart and almost used the hand-axe table but thought I might seek input on the boards. Any ideas on how far one could throw one of these?
Answer: 2D4, based on the Tomahawk damage in Spirit West.
1D8, based on the Compendium of Weapons, Armor, and Castles.
Throwing range = 40 feet.

Question: 1) How durable are the MD guns out there mainly speaking of the internal working parts. How easily do thinks break, have internal malfunctions, internal jams, problems with cooling and over heating...
2) The spells Ice and create water. (Do you see were i am going with this) A mage casts create water on top/inside/around a gun. Then casts ice, freezing the water, making it expand. This act is pretty powerful and i am wondering if this would damage the internal mechanisms of an MD gun.
Answer: 1) They're durable enough that they have MDC (RGMG, pages 111-112, item #12 under weapon notes), however some do overheat, jam, and/or breakdown (RGMG page 111, item #11 under weapon notes).
2) Yes.

Question: I'm confused about the concept of the ammo drum. Where is it mounted? On a person or on the weapon? I've found evidence to support both, but when it comes to other weapons, I want to know what exactly to use. the Q4-40 Mule Assult Rifle (Free Quebec) says the weapon weighs 5 lbs extra because of the ammo drum. However, the Bandit 5500 Flechette Rail Gun (New West) says the ammo drum is worn on the back. Yes, it's a rail gun, so it's logical, but i can't seem to find any standard for a basic gun that says it can use an ammo drum. Any suggestions?
Answer: There is no standard, it depends on the weapon.

Question: So about the modern weapon dmg and the listings in BTS...
None of those damages listed are even remotely close to any of the past Palladium products. The damage ratings have gone way way up it looks like.
Now I understand BTS 2nd Ed and Rifts UE are the "new" rulesets for Palladium, but RiftsUE doesnt cover old school SDC weapons, so, is the dmg listings in BTS2 the new "standard" for modern weapon damage?
Like does all that translate properly into say, TMNT and HU?
I only ask because, natrually, as a universal system, I expect the weaponry to be the same as well. The new dmg in BTS "seem" very very high to me, but then again, when comparing it to the SDC/HP of the monsters, it seems to make sense, least from movie and novel standpoints etc, but play balance can become an issue. Especially when moving it to other game worlds etc.
Also, none of the burst amounts listed seem to be using the proper amount of ammo IMO, but I'm no gun expert.
Any opinions on the "new" sdc modern weapon settings?
Also, this seems to totally debunk the usage of the Modern Weapon Compendium, blah
The info and #'s im referring too are found in BTS2nd Ed Page 215.
Answer: No, they're different games.

Question: Just as the topic suggests, is there a description for brass knuckles in any books out there?
Answer: Brass knuckles are listed on P124 of Merc Ops as doing 1D6 plus usual punch damage, plus other damage bonus (PS, Hand to Hand etc) if applicable.

Question: Does anyone know if there is a P.S. requirement to use a giant sized vibro-sword?

Answer: According to ATB2, p. 151, giant-sized weapons require a P.S. of 24 or some level of enhanced strength to be wielded effectively by human-sized creatures.

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OCC/RCC QUESTIONS

Question: Can a character take an OCC if they are listed as an RCC (im assuming they can) and if so which skill sets and attributes etc do they get?
Answer: Some RCCs can select an OCC, if the RCC description specifically states that they can. The RCCs which can select OCCs are typically termed "races" to help prevent confusion.

Question: As long as I've played Rifts, I don't recall ever seeing an O.C.C. for your plain everyday average joe/jane (and in my games, they make up most of the NPC population).
Can anyone point me the direction to such an O.C.C.?
Answer: BtS 1ed, pg 74. And for those of us Robotech players, there is a Civillian OCC in the Invid Invasion book.

Question: So here I have an 11th level Wizard that happens to have all sorts of weird off world adventures. In the course of her life she wound up with the sonic speed power. 700mph or so. Now my question is, in a low tech fantasy based world, how would the people viewing her see her? Is she a blur as she moves? Can she control her movement? And if shee decides to move fast, how can they even thnk of hitting her?
Answer: They would see her the same way we would: Really, really, really fast. If she ran by without them trying to follow with their eyes & head, she'd definitely be a blur. If they tried to follow her movement, they might pick out some little details here & there.
Why wouldn't she be able to control her movement?
Oh, they can think of it, and they will try....it doesn't mean that they will be successful...

Question: Other than game balance, why can't a character who is an RCC learn the skills of an OCC?
Answer: Depends on the RCC and the OCC.
A race with an IQ of 1d6+2 shouldn't be able to be a Rogue Scientist or Scholar, for example.
A race that has a radically different chemistry than humans shouldn't be able to get a Juicer harness and become a Juicer, or cybernetics/bionics and become a Borg/Headhunter.
Some races may have an inherent lack of magical or psychic ability, and that may exclude certain OCCs for them. Or (like dwarves) they may have a cultural reason for avoiding certain classes.

Question: How do I make a challenge for a Battle Magus when its they are oober cheesed?
Answer: Make them think instead of reacting with action.

Question: Is there an equivalent of a "Lich" in Palladium?
Answer: There are a variety of options, the Ancient Incan Undead from Rifts SA2, Living Dead Immortals from Mystic China, Syvan (Monster & Animals, Rifts Conversion Book 1), the spell Transfer Life Force (in limited capacities), and the spell Return from the Grave.

Question: So from what I recall about the Old Ones and Alien Intelligence's in general is that the very "best" of them is what might be described as a very shaky Anarchist (with more evil leanings than "neutral").
Why does it seem that (with the possible exception of The Forge, which appears to be in a different category inasmuch that it was the creation of a particular race) just about every REALLY powerful (meaning god-abilities-plus) entity in the Palladium Megaverse seems to be either indifferent to (or actively plotting against) the rest of sentient life?
Are there any examples (excepting the previously mentioned Forge) of a "good" AI-plus power leve entity??
Answer: Yes, Supernatural, or "alien," Intelligences are the suggested basis for creating "gods." So they don't necessarily have to be evil.

Question: Alright, a fairly standard question that has haunted me for many a year.
Most likely, it's been answered time and time again.
When playing a character of a specific race with racial abilities and skills, what takes precedent when that character is a seperate OCC?
For instance, an Elvish Ley Line Walker, an Atlantean Temporal Warrior, a Minotaur Operator.
What bonuses and benefits are applied? It can't be all of them, some have to take precedence.
Answer: Some races listed as RCCs can only ever take the skill set given in the description. sometimes though you'll get a race that is listed as an RCC, but has the option of taking an OCC instead of the RCC skill set. In that case you give them the skills of the chosen OCC, but apply any racial bonuses like stat increases as well.
For example, in the Coalition war campaign book is a race called the Quik-flex alien, they get some good stat bonuses and several special abilities related to speed and agility. Listed in the description is a set of RCC skills, but the text states that members of the race have the option of taking any man-at-arms or scholar & adventurer OCC. In that case the PC would get all the normal stat bonuses and special abilities that come with being a member of that race, but they would have the skills of their chosen OCC rather then the RCC skills.

Question: I seem to remember reading something about an OCC that was an entertainer/actor type OCC. The character was similar to a Ninjas and Superspies person but used his reputation to garner higher wages when getting new jobs in new movies.
I thought it was Ninjas and Superspies, but now Im thinking it was either a Rifter or Nightbane (which I dont own).
I might just be messing everything up and its really a different system all together. Any ideas?
Answer: The Actor OCC can be found in PF's Adventures on the High Seas, page 17. However, you are referring to the Chao Ta martial art style found in Mystic China.

Question: Anyone know what book the Spirits of Light were originally printed in? The only stats I have for them are from the Rifts: Conversion Book.
Answer: Palladium Fantasy 1st Edition, PF 2nd Edition has them printed in Dragons and Gods.

Question: The problem: I have a player who'd like to play a technopath/computer expert. Unfortunately, I have searched in vain for the proper OCC & come up dry.
Answer: Rifter #2 has an official article titled "Hacking, Cyberjacking, and Supernatural Data Theft Across the Megavers" and is written by Wayne Breaux who states "Official Rules for Rifts, Heroes and the Megaverse" which has several hacker O.C.C.s.

Question: what denotes a r.c.c. as supernatural is it the presence of innate magic supernatural stats i.e. ps pe pp spd or is it the nature of the creature it self this is a on going debate in my gamegroup HELP!!!
Answer: One: Sometimes it says if they are or not in the description.
Two: it's the nature of the creature itself. A creature of magic is something like a dragon or farie: a real race of beings that simply have magic as an innate part of their nature.
A supernatural being is a being that is the primal manifestation of magic, like a demon or spirit of light. These creatures tend to not have any real biological needs.

Question: This came up in a post were i asked what native language an altara should have. i picked dragonese because it seems everyone in atlantis can speak that. However i had people say that demongogian should be the native languge in atlantis because the dominant culture uses it.
Well, in RUE it states that it's the language of gargoyles, brodkil, daemonix, deevils, demons and supernatural beings, and creatures from wormwood. Well i ran into a problem when i looked up the creatures that can speak it. Either the language isn't listed in the RCC/writeup or it can speak all languages magically. I pulled out triax and no demongogian for gargoyels. Looked in SB#1 revised and no demongogian for brodkill. Looked in the coaliton wars: siege on tolkeen books for deamonix and no demongogian. Dug through the rest of the books for deevils, demons and generic supernatural beings and mostly no demongogian. Only wormwood creatures seem to list this language.
So.... who speaks demongogian again?
Answer: They get the language skill as per page 299 of RUE.

Question: Several terms to classify critters are floating around out there and I'd like some clarity as these terms relate to the game rules.
Several spells are listed as having different effects on supernatural creatures. Is there a "Palladium Standard" on what constitutes a supernatural creature?
What constitues a "Creature of Magic" for that matter and how do they differ from the Supernatural?
Answer: See RUE pages 276&277.

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EXPERIENCE QUESTIONS

Question: 1) Should there be experience for Combat (for the rare occasion that it might happen)?
2) If so how would it work?
Answer: 1) There already is.
2) See any Awarding Experience Points table.

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MISC RULES QUESTIONS

Question: For critters like brodkil who can turn invisible at will, can that invisibility be qualified as per the invisibility spells? If so simple or superior? Will it work while fighting?

Answer: Natural invisibility is considered to be the equivalent of Simple Invisibility, per RUE, p. 202. And yes, it works while fighting.

Question: Do Forcefields Stop Teleportation?

Answer: It depends on the force field and/or teleport used. (Sorry folks, with all the differences available, that's probably the best answer you'll be able to get, I recommend making rulings for your own personal games.)

Question: Does anyone have any stats for, or know where I can get some, undead creatures such as zombies, ghouls, and other greater undead. Thanks for any assistance.
Answer: In PF they can be found in the main book, Monsters & Animals, and Land of the Damned 2.
In Rifts they can be found in Dark Conversions, unrevised Conversion Book 1, Rifts Main Book, Rifts Book of Magic, South America 2, China 1, Underseas, Psyscape, and Spirit West.

Question: I was wondering what the SDC damage of a T-rex from New West would be in an SDC world.
Answer: There is an SDC T-Rex in Aliens Unlimited Galaxy Guide.

Question: I was wondering where I could find all the precious metals and gems of magic quality in the Megaverse. (book and page number)
Answer: Metals are on page 208 in the Rifts main book, gems are in page 226 in the Rifts book of magic.
PFRPG p275 or Rifts: Dimention Book 6
Rifts: Three Galaxies pages 48/49

Question: Any other references/descriptions useful for:
Thermo-Imaging
Infra-red
Optical Enhancements
Targeting etc...
Answer: The Compendium of Contemporary Weapons has about the best selection of modern day surveillance equipment in the Palladium line, complete with detailed descriptions and pictures. The book is 12 years old and there's probably some newer tech on the market, so you might want to check a Jane's style book for what is new in surveillance equipment.
If you can't find that book, then I'd suggest the Rifts GMs guide. It has info on all of those items you listed. The Bionics sourcebook has info on those items as well, but as you can guess, they would be cybernetic and bionic. Other modern day equipment can be found in the Heroes Unlimited 2nd edition book.
There's some stuff on sensors in the Bionics Sourcebook, and anywhere there's rules on creating Robots (like HUII).

Question: 1st: When a character creates a FF(Force Field) bubble around himself and/or team-mates...can he or they shoot OUT through the FF bubble?
2nd: If so, this means the FF has a polarity basically. So, the next question is: Can the character control the polarity of his FF? (example: Joe creates a FF around a bomb so that it absorbs the damage from the INSIDE, rather then keeping damage etc out)
3rd: Does the character with Create Force Fields become an MDC being himself when he is on Rifts Earth? (I know the FF do when in Rifts)
4th: For this question, our character Joe has Create FF AND Sonic Flight. Joe puts a FF bubble around himself, then proceeds to fly at Mach 1 and ram an MDC target...does the FF absorb the impact damage (the damage the character would normally take as stated in the Sonic Flight rules) for the character? and would the target take extra damage of any kind because its being hit by a harder object? (ie- the FF versus a flesh and blood body)
5th (and last): This is on ALL FF magic, technology, etc. The EU-12 & 13 Destabilizer weapons from Robotech, do these AUTOMATICALLY shut down ALL personal FF such as the Naruni or super power ones? The reason I ask is because thats what these weapons do to the door way force fields on Invid hives. So you can understand my curiosity. Big Grin (Kiss the UltiMax goodbye!!!)
Answer: 1. No. You can't shoot out of a Force Field, without depleting the Force Field's MDC first. So, if you surround your buddies with a FF and they try to shoot out of it, they're going to do damage to the FF itself first, and won't be able to hit anything outside the FF until all the MDC has been depleted. Exception to this would be some spells, such as Call Lightning and others that either start from outside the FF, or target individuals (Carpet of Adhesion for example). Those only require line of sight to cast on the targets.
2. I believe that you can create & shape your FF at range, so yes, you could put a force bubble around a bomb or grenade & contain the blast. If the blast is great enough to deplete the FF, I'd rule that the bleed over damage would carry over to whoever is within range of the blast. Example: If the FF has 300 M.D.C. & the Bomb explodes for 400 M.D.C., the FF drops & everyone in range takes 100 M.D.C.
3. No, I don't believe that's one of the powers you get. It should say in the Conversion book, but I'm 99% positive that the only M.D.C you get is from your FF. However, there are other Super Powers that would make you an M.D.C. creature.
4. Yes, I'd say that the FF would absorb the damage (I know it's evil, but one of my joke combinations is Supersonic Speed & Invulnerability, so you could hit someone at full speed & take no damage). No, I don't think that you would do additional damage by ramming them with the FF up. They're still being hit by a M.D.C. structure, whether it's yourself or the FF, and they'd take the same damage. As my 'joke' though, you could rule that with the FF, you could do higher speed rams, and therefore do more damage that way. Personally, if I were GM, I wouldn't allow it. After all, it would be amazingly difficult to ram a target while you're going Mach 1. Unless you're aiming for a building sized structure, the penalties to hit would be astronomical.
5. You could give the Robotech device a percentage chance to shut down other tech based FF. However, those devices were designed to counteract Invid tech, which is radically different from Naruni, or anything else on Rifts earth. Could it be modified after study of other technologies? Maybe. GM call there, I'd say. No, it wouldn't work on a natural FF; a living being is the source of the FF. Those devices are designed to work on tech-based Force Fields only.

Question: So what I'm wondering is this:
a) What is the complete list of supernatural abilities (unique powers don't need to be included)?
b) How can you tell if an ability is supernatural or natural? I think it's pretty cut and dry, but so does Corny and we disagree completely about the results....
Answer: a) There isn't one, certain abilities are sometimes listed as Natural Abilities and sometimes as Supernatural Powers (See Nightvision, Bio-Regeneration, Psionics, Impervious to Fire/Cold and certain magic powers). In addition, certain other powers may or may not be supernatural.
b) You can't. The problem is that several of these abilities can manifest as natural, supernatural, or superpower formats, so getting a definitive list is almost impossible, since a power may be supernatural in the case of one creature, a superpower in another, and a natural ability (typically of a creature of magic) in a third creature.

Question: Can someone give me a book and page numbers for various detailed information on toxins, poisons, and ailments that can be used to kill or harm a character, excluding magic or psionic related materials? Generally limited to but not entirely things like snake bites, spider bites, poisonous plants, cyanide, large doses of potassium nitrate, and such? Also, anything on chemical warfare would be helpful.
Answer: PFRPG, pages 264-267.
Monsters & Animals, pages 172, 194-195, 196, 197, and 235-237.
Dragons & Gods page 111-112, 156, 184, and 196.
Yin-Sloth Jungles, pages 12, 16, & 41.
Western Empire, pages 165-171.
Eastern Territories 224.
Library of Blethlerad, pages 108-110.

Question: One of my players has the multi-optic eye, and LOVES to use it. Last game he tried to view if a person had cybernetics with his thermal... assuming the cyber(or bionic) parts would create less heat than the rest of the person.
What do you guys think? Would they? Or would they be more/less or almost non-existant?
Answer: Depends on the cybernetics. Biosystems would read a normal heat signature while plastic and metal would be signifigantly lower than the rest of the body. There's also the question of just how exact the images fom the cybernetic eye actually is. Most thermal image systems dont give a particularly sharp image imo, more a blob than an exact outline.

Question: Where can I find information (stats and prices, specifically) for camels?
Answer: The only place I've seen anything on camels is in Recon, under the Ride Camel skill, on page 25 of Deluxe Revised Recon, however only speed is covered and Recon doesn't use the same basic system (moot in this case) as the rest of Palladium's games.

Question: What is moonshine?
At least according to Kevin.
I mean, traditionally, from use and definition I've seen here and there,Moonshine is illegally distilled hard liquor : stuff like poteen, bootleg whiskey, bathtub gin and the like...
Now, when I read PB products, I get a very different impression... price lists and tavern descriptions seem to imply it's an easy to make (so, no still) and not too strong kind of liquor, and the brewing skill definitely allows for making it, while at the same time excluding distilled liquor like gin and whisky...
So what is it that Kevin calls moonshine?
Answer: The Merriam-Webster definition is
"intoxicating liquor; especially : illegally distributed corn whiskey"
Taking the first part of that, I would within the game use it for any home-brewed alcoholic drink. If the tavern owner buys it from the local merchant (thereby paying taxes to the crown), it has another name. If he brews it in his bathtub, it's moonshine.

Question: how would you divide up the sdc on a body aka legs arms head 40% of 30% of the main body??
Answer: There have been various methods posited so far:
Method I (Simple):
Part = Percent
Head = 10%
Main Body = 50%
Arm (each) = 5%
Leg (each) = 15%
Method II (Fairly Simple):
Main Body = 100% of value x
Head/Helm = 70% of value x
Arms = 60% of value x
Legs = 80% of value x
Method III (Somewhat Simple):
Part = Percent
Head = 9%
Main Body = 37%
Arm (each) = 9%
Leg (each) = 18%
Method V (complex but accurate):
Part = Pecentage
Head = head 8%, neck 1%
Main Body = abdomen 9%, lower back 9%, upper back 9%, upper torso 9%, groin 1%
Arm (each) = shoulder 1%, upper arm 3%, elbow 1%, lower arm 2%, wrist 1%, hand 1%
Leg (each) = thigh 10%, knee 2%, calf 3%, ankle 1%, foot 2%

Question: The horse is one of the few animals to not have any attributes (I.Q., M.E. etc.). Just what are the attribute ranges for the various breeds of horse?
Answer: Normal animals in Palladium don't get the normal eight attributes. See PF's Monsters and Animals, pages 204-208, for more information.

Question: Does anyone know about rules on repairing vehicles/equipment in Rifts? I know that skills like Basic Mechanics and Mechanical Engineer allow you to repair things, but it doesn't say how long it takes, what materials or equipment are needed, or how much it costs in order to do so. I haven't seen anything in anything I've read that would even give me an idea on how to moderate that process. Does anyone have any ideas?
To give examples of questions I've had:
1) How long would it take and what would you need in order to repair a truck that sustained heavy damage from something like gunfire (conventional weapons)? How about MDC weapons (energy/explosives)?
2) How long would it take and what would you need in order to repair MDC body armor? What about something like power armor or vehicle armor?
3) What would need in order to repair electronics/computer hardware? What about damaged or corrupted software? I know you'd need skills like Basic Electronics, Electrical Engineer, Computer Programming, Computer Repair, etc. depending on the equipment, but what's the rules?
Answer: Well you're not alone, and unfortunately, I've not been able to find any particularly useful rules for repairs in Rifts (the old SB1 has the costs to pay someone else to do it).
On the other hand, Heroes Unlimited and Robotech do have repair rules, and as luck would have it, Robotech is a high-tech M.D.C. setting, so its rules should work just fine in Rifts (just change all protoculture references to fusion or the like). In general, it's just a matter of time and successful skill rolls. So, to answer the questions:
1) How long: Two hours per 10 M.D.C., assuming access to a reasonably well-equipped repair facility. Six hours per 10 M.D.C. for field repairs, assuming that the appropriate tools and materials are available. Damaged systems and mechanisms (e.g. suspension, drive train, engine, etc.) will add additional time. Unfortunately we can't reprint them here, but you can find them in HU2, Robotech: Invid Invasion, and Robotech II: The Sentinels.
What you need: Varies by repair. Tools and materials are obvious, but exactly what tools and material will depend on the repair. M.D.C. armor materials (both body and vehicle armor) can often be salvaged and recycled. However, electronics from one device will likely not work in all other devices, though Operators and similarly skilled characters can often jury-rig a temporary solution. Depending on the vehicle, one may also need a crane, robot, or other means of lifting heavy weights.
2) Same as above. Only the tools and materials (and their associated costs) significantly vary.
3) Again, same as above. The Robot Electronics and/or Artificial Intelligence skills may also be required for certain machines.
ADDENDUM -- I almost forgot the page references:
Body Armor: HU2, p. 129-130.
Computers and Electronics: HU2, pp. 122-124.
Conventional/Military Vehicles: HU2, p. 126.
Mecha/Power Armor/Robot Vehicles: RT2, p. 20-21 (I don't have a page number for Invid Invasion, but it's in the Bio-Maintenance Engineer OCC description).
I have to recommend AUGG pages 140-144. It only covers robots & bionics (and only SDC), but it's a much more indepth explanation on repairs.

Question: Does it seem weird to anyone but me that a Sea-Titan Nega-Psychic with a Vibro-Pen Knife can go to just about any S.D.C. world and rule like a king?
Think about it. He is ageless and regenerates completely. The Vibro-Pen Knife will still do M.D. (who cares if it's only D2 M.D., that's still 100-200 HP/S.D.C. damage!), and in a magical world he'd be damn near immune to magic and psionics! Even dropping a ton of dirt or encasing him in concrete wouldn't stop him.
Does this make since to anyone?
Answer: No.
He himself would be SDC on an SDC world, and his pen knife only does SDC as a normal pen knife (the vibro function doesn't work). This is the way dimensional phsyics work in the Palladium Megaversal Game System.

Question: I know that Humans have periods/menses/menstruation but do other Humanoids and D-Bees? I would assume that Elves/Gnomes/Dwarves are the same as humans but are they really? And what about Wolfen, I have always assumed they are the same as human on the inside but are they really? Do Wolfen have their "moon times"?
Answer: Would depend on the individual species, really. No information is anywhere about it.

Question: seem to recall reading something about Poisons and their effects on Supernaturals - or more importantly, to Magical Creatures, but I can't remember which book.
Would a Dragon have to roll vs Poison and Toxins? Or is the save redundent?
Answer: It depends on the creature in question, some are immune to poisons and toxins, others are greatly resistant to them, some are quite susceptible to them.

Question: Where do I get a Character sheet?
Answer: While many people make their own Character Sheets, there are a nice set of them available on the "Cutting Room Floor," made by board regular MadManMike. Cutting Room Floor is one of the sections accessed from the palladiumbooks.com homepage, on the left menu. It is full of errata and useful things.

Question: I know that this may be a dumb question, but how does one calculate swimming speed? The book says (for S.C.U.B.A.) that it is 10x your PS yards per melee. Now there are 4 melees in a minute, and 60 minutes to an hour and 3 feet to a yard. This would mean a person with a PS of 20 would swim 200 yards per 15 seconds which is 800 yards per minute, which is 48000 yards per hour which is 144000 feet per hour which is 27 miles per hour! That is a fast swim. Is this right? It sounds a little high.

Answer: That may be a mistake. In most books, swimming speed is P.S. x 3 yards per melee for users of the normal swimming skill, and P.S. x 2 (P.S. x 4 or x 5 in certain cases) for the S.C.U.B.A. and Advanced Swimming skills.

Ninjas & Superspies inexplicably gives S.C.U.B.A. a speed of P.S. x 10 yards per melee, but still leaves normal swimming at P.S. x 3, which leads me to suspect a misprint.

Question: Do any of the books state the SDC of different types of clothing? Such as Cotton, or Leather, Denim, ect. Not armor, mind you, but just normal clothing. Leather Jackets, Cotton Shirts, Blue Jeans, ect.

Answer: Yes.

PF, page 270;
Cloth 6
Padded or Quilt 15
Soft Leather 20

MIT, page 16
Cloth; synthetic fibers, plastic or rubber < 10 cm thick; 2
Padding; pads or mounds of cloth bound with leather strips; 6
Leather; or padding composed of dead animal skins; 12

MIT, page 179
Jump Suit; 2

CWAC, page 88
Thin cloth is equivalent to linen, medium cloth is equivalent to denim, and heavy cloth is equivalent to two or three thicknesses of medium cloth.
Woven Armour was made of cord or reed and resembles a modern floor mat or carpet.
Soft leather is equivalent to the outer covering of a modern-day leather jacket. Hard leather is approximately equal to five millimeters of leather.
Cuir-bouilli is leather which has been boiled in oil. In this condition it may be molded into the desired shape and then upon drying it becomes very hard.
Quilt armour consists of two layers of cloth between which cotton or some other such material is sandwiched.
Padded armour usually consists of a heavy layer of felt from four to eight centimeters thick.

CWAC values note, these don't actually cover S.D.C., so they're kinda useless, insofar as giving SDC numbers for different types of clothing, however, they also clearly identify what type of "armor" is covered for clothing.

N&S (revised), page 157
This page is of note for the clothing gimmicks, particularly Light-bullet proofing, concealed body armor, concealed heavy body armor, and, last, but certainly not least, extra S.D.C (concealed).
The main thing of the the note is that a point of S.D.C. is equated to one-half pound of weight.

Question: It has come up a few times that powers like Telemechanics and Telemechanic Mental Operation do NOT work on sentient artificial intelligences. But what is that in game terms? Any computer can be considered an AI. A simple one, maybe, but still an AI. So where is the line drawn?

Answer: A sentient AI is usually defined as one controlled by a "Neural Intelligence" (Rifts), "Advanced AI" (HU2), or "Transferred Intelligence" (both settings). Rifts Sourcebook 1 has a detailed breakdown of what each class of Artificial Intelligence is capable of.

Question: Ok, PFRPG on p. 180 says: "Consequently, the average child will have 5D6 P.P.E. points, while the average teenager will have more than at any other time in his life; typically 6D6 +P.E. attribute number!" However, the racial description on p. 288 accords 2D6 P.P.E for normal adults. So is the above teenager just the exception, or do normal humans also add in their P.E. to P.P.E, like every spellcasting O.C.C.??

Answer: You only add the P.E. score when specifically directed, such as in the noted case.

Question: Are there rules for radiation poisoning in any book? Even a Rifter would be
okay.

Answer: There are a few: HU2, p. 268; Adventures in the Northern Wilderness, p. 84;
Mutants in Avalon, p. 44.

Question: Mega-Damage creatures get no hit points or S.D.C. points, only MDC. Is it that my SDC are converted to MDC or not?

Answer: For living creatures, M.D.C. is considered the equivalent of Hit Points for the purposes of coma, death, and permanent injury. Thus, a dragon reduced to zero M.D.C. will fall into a coma, and will die if it suffers an additional amount of Mega Damage greater than its P.E. score. Robots and other non-living beings usually just drop dead (or discorporate, or crumble into dust, etc.) when they reach zero M.D.C., with no hope of recovery (at least for that body...).

Question: Could someone tell me where I can find rules for damage from fire/burning? I'm looking to figure out how to deal damage from a molotov cocktail or a flaming arrow after they have lit someone/something on fire.

Answer: Rules for modern incendiary weapons can be found on p. 28 of N&S, and p. 341 of HU2. Incendiary arrows can be found on page 153 of ATB2.

Question: I was wondering if there is any book or somewhere on line that people go to get quirks and some more disadvantages/advantages for characters. I would like them to really round out my characters more.

Answer: There are numerous ways in which you can customize and "round out" a character, in various books. The main book for each Palladium RPG line usually has a list of character traits such as birth order, disposition, reasons for adventuring, etc. Some games have more specific listings, such as national origins in N&S, paranormal experiences in BTS, and relations with the CS in Rifts. These usually have little (if any) game effect, being intended to add color and flavor to characters.

More significant advantages, disadvantages, and quirks include the insanity rules in various books, the random mutation tables in HU and MiO, alien physiology tables in HU and PW, sorcerous proficiencies/limitations in TtGD, and mutant animal background tables in the old TMNT/AtB books. These typically grant special bonuses, penalties, abilities, and restrictions beyond those of the character's chosen class, race, or power category.

Question: Are physical skills or hand to hand bonuses ever assumed to be part of a creature's stats or must they always be added to those bonuses given?

Answer: A given creature's description will specifically state if skill and attribute bonuses are included in its bonus block.

Question: Do non Magic OCC's have PPE? If yes, how much would a human have?

Answer: Yes. According to the newer books, the average adult human has 2D6 P.P.E.; older books say 3D6.

Question: Does P.S. damage bonus apply when using melee weapons or just hand to hand attacks?

Answer: It applies both to melee weapons and unarmed attacks.

[NMI]

ALIGNMENT QUESTIONS

Question: So I thought of this while I was discussing a different thread, and remembered what one of my buddies quoted to the GM during a debate on alignment and what a character would/would not do:
"Seldom! SELDOM kills for pleasure!!" (needless to say, the character in question has moved on from Anarchy Land to a full-time residence in Miscreantville...)
What might be defined as "seldom" killing for pleasure? Once a year? Only when they really, really want to? I am curious to see what the consensus might be on this one (I plan on letting him know this thread exists so he can wallow in shame...).
Answer: IF mind you ...you are trying to figure it out for game purposes...me I just keep an eye on the character, if it looks like he's straying from the alignment then I say hes changed alignments and generrally speaking if he's killing for pleasure odds are he is violating other tenets of his alignment as well...there really is no way to truely quantify this into a hard number.

Question: Can you sense alignment from some creatures like dragons and such with out a spell? I thought I read this some where but I can't find it.
Answer: You can use the psi power Sense Evil, Psi-Stalkers can sense Supernatural Evil and Atlantians can sense Vampires. Sesitive psionics and animals can sense supernatural evil.
The psi power See Aura can tell you some more info about your target, but not their alignment.

Question: 1) Having thought about some of the crazier rune weaponry (and the alignment restrictions placed upon such) I was curious as to which alignments would consider themselves actively "good" or "evil."
Principled - would certainly believe that they were living their lives to the best of their ability, but I don't know if all would consider themselves agents of "good" (depending on level of humility character possessed)
Scrupulous - probably would see themselves as "good"
Unprincipled - probably would also see themselves as "good;" any actions they would take that might indicate otherwise would be argued as either extremes or gray areas
Anarchist - hmmm. Probably wouldn't care, but would probably not also view themselves as actively "evil"
Miscreant - much like Unprincipled, these guys would rationalize what they did and probably still consider themselves "good," despite the fact that it would require a lot more rationalization (and lying)
Aberrant - most definitely would view themselves as "good" - they just have different views on what the "good" to be done is...
Diabolic - this is the one alignment that is pretty much inescapably "evil" in that there isn't a whole lot of rationalization that you can do regarding some of the behavior that requires this alignment
Now, assuming this, and you had a "good" aligned weapon, would which alignment would you say would be the least likely to try to use said weapon (apart from Diabolic, which I think is a given)?
2) How about the opposite - an "evil" aligned weapon, which alignment would be most likely TO use it?
Answer: 1) Most people, regardless of alignment, will consider themselves "good". In one manner or another they will their justify actions, no matter how evil, as being the appropriate way to act.
Perhaps they see themselves as victims, and they are forced to act in terrible ways, or perhaps they are just misunderstood, but ultimately they percieve themselves as good.
Look at Prosek, Archie-Three, or Doc Reid. These three most certiany see themselves as "good" and no one could convince them otherwise.Prosek is Diabolic, and the other two are Miscreant, so it would seem that even having the two stereotypically "evil" alignments is not a clear indicator of how someone percieves themselves.
The cliche evil villian who knows that he's the bad guy and you're the good guy is pretty rare in the grey moral landscape of Rifts Earth (or this Earth, for that matter).
2) Regardless of how the user and/or rune weapon perceives itself, if the person with the rune weapon uses it and is of a different alignment, they take damage.

[NMI]

INSANITY QUESTIONS

Question: In PF, p19, it is said

Surviving Coma and Death
[...]
roll percentile dice. [...]51-70 roll on the Insanity Table resulting from trauma, 71-85 roll on the Optional Insanity Table (roll again as directed by the table), 86-00 roll on the Phobia table or the GM selects an appropriate phobia [...]

I find only one table, the Random Insanity Table p25, but no "Optional Insanity Table". What does this mean?
Page 25, it is said

Trauma
[...]
Dying and being magically resurrected. [...] Roll once on the Random Insanity Table and the Phobia Table;

It seems to be a different rule. Which one should I apply?
Answer: Roll percentile dice to determine whether or not you should roll on the Optional/Random Insanity Table or the Phobia table.

Question: The save vs. insanity is defined (target value and attribute bonus), but I didn't find any reference to its use.
It should be logical to apply it when a traumatic situation is endured, but the Insanity chapters of the few rules I have (Palladium FRP, Rifts and Robotech) do not mention it. They just say "for this type of situation, roll on the Random Insanity/Phobia/Obsession/Affective Disorder table".
The only thing that looks like it is in Palladium FRP, where it is written something like, "it depends on the character level (low level characters are more sensitive, less prepared) and ME value (the mental endurance helps resisting the emotional trauma)".
Did I miss something ?
Answer: Nope, it's left up to the GM's discretion.

Question: In Palladium FRP, Rifts and Robotech, it is written that an attempt to cure a phobia has a risk to worsen it. In this case, the character has 50% to be paralysed until the source of phobia is removed, or the character is taken away.
But this rule is softer than the "normal" phobia, not worse.
Without cure, the character has basically 100% to have a panic attack when facing the object of the phobia (although this panic attack is not necessarilly paralysis), and has 40% to avoid the panic attack if surrounded by friends who try to calm him/her down.
Is there something I understood wrong, or is this one of the few inconsistencies of the insanity rules?
Answer: The normal panic crisis can lead to fleeing (but also to be paralysed or to faint).
Considering this, we could say that the 50% paralysis rule does not replace the normal panic crisis rule, but is additional, so after a failed cure:
01-50: paralysis
51-00: apply the usual rule (1-40%: no panic when helped by friends; automatic panic when alone; roll on the panic crisis table).

[Tinker Dragoon]

DRAGON QUESTIONS

Question: I've looked in both the main book and the first conversion and I can't find how much isp or ppe hatchlings get per level. Can anyone help Me it seems like the should get more per level than almost anything else does anyone know what Palladium says about this or any good suggestions?

Answer: Some of the Dragons in D&G get additional ISP and PPE as they level up, but others do not.
Answer (addendum for RUE release): All of the new RUE hatchlings have both ISP and PPE values as they increase in level.

Question: I can't find a quote on how fast dragons recover PPE. Any body know where it is in the books?
Answer: Same as humans.

Question: Ok, I'm a little agitated. Can anyone reference a Palladium title that actually explains ancient dragons? I know they are mentioned several places such as the old conversions (I think), Rifts: SOT series (some examples with the Dragon Kings), and now Rifts Ultimate Edition. Even Palladium Fantasy's: Dragons and Gods book doesn't really explain much about ancients. I have found plenty on their society, behavior, and even the level at which a dragon is considered "ancient". However, is there anything other than a couple extra hand-to-hand abilities? Any bonus MDC, PPE, or stat boost? Are any other areas of arcane knowledge garnered? I could not find answers anywhere (which leads me to think the answer is no to the previous questions). I now know more than I could ever want to about adults and hatchlings, but the elusive bit of lore on the ancient still escapes me. I'm just wanting to see if anyone has any additional info. I figured there would be more info in one of the books I hadn't read, but now that I have read most of them, maybe I'm missing something? Any help would be appreciated.

Answer: World Book Two: Atlantis. It tells you what to add, with one of the things being an additional 1000 M.D.C.

Question: Hey all, I've a question for you. I have 2 dragons in a fight. The one grows tired of fighting and just tries to eliminate the other by teleporting the one dragon half way into a wall. In other games, and for humans I always considered this instant death, but do you think this should kill a dragon or give double hit point damage. If so what should the damage be? Also If one of the dragons rolls a 19 to entangle the other dragon, and the other rolls a 17 to teleport away dose the teleporter get away, or do both dragons reappear in a different spot. Let me know thanks.

Answer: Even in Dragons & Gods, while the "Teleport" ability DOES allow the Dragon to teleport and take a certain amount of stuff with him, the wording of the Ability essentially states that the Dragon and whatever it carries seem to go to THE EXACT "SAME" PLACE. So no, you can't teleport an opponent into a wall.

Question: A question from a player, and I wanted to be fair and try to get official / semi-official opinion. Dragon Hatchlings have ISP and PPE levels, but they don't go up per level. Is it done intentially this way, or do you think there should be some per level increase. The Adult levels are indeed much higher, so should there be some attempt at a gradual increase, rather than "one day, 600 years from now, you suddenly become an adult dragon, with a big PPE/ISP bonus"? I think I have adequately stated the player's case.
Answer: Some Hatchlings do increase PPE and/or ISP as they go up in levels.

Question: Dragons and Gods, as well as Rifts RPG state that a great horned dragon hatchling can cast a maximum of two spells per level of experience... So I can cast globe of daylight twice and then wait until next level before I can cast anything else? ... I learn two new spells per level? (but that doesn't make sense since it suggests a second level dragon knows 3D4 + 2 spells) I am confused, does anyone have any idea what this sentence is supposed to mean?
Answer: Evidently this is supposed to mean that they can cast two spells per melee round.

Question: 1) If the rules given in Dragons & Gods about teleporting two other beings includes adult dragons, then why are they limited to only 1000 lbs of weight?
2) If that is correct, then why can they teleport a creature they can not lift (one adult dragon can not lift up another adult dragon)?
3) Can a creature teleport out of an entangle?
4) That second passage mentions a deliberately failed teleport resulting in instant death. I didn't know the rules for failed teleports (given in the description of Teleport: Superior) also applied to the teleport ability. I thought a failed roll simply meant they failed to teleport.

Answer: 1) Game designers fiat.
2) Because the weight limitation is in addition to the number of other beings they can teleport lift.
3) Yes.
4) You are correct, a failed roll means the dragon fails to teleport.

Question: Under dragon instincts it lists the dragon as able to speak at (98%), read and write dragonese/elven and understand basic math (at the base skill level). Is this meant to mean that dragons are able to speak all languages at 98% or does this mean only dragonese/elven? I'm wondering because trying to find out if taking language is necessary to speak with the other players.

Answer: It means that they speak Dragonese/Elven at 98%, and are literate in Dragonese/Elven at the normal skill percentage for their level and I.Q. In order to communicate in languages other than Dragonese/Elven, the dragon must spend skill slots, or use magic/psionic abilities.

Question: Does a dragon's rate of healing increase if it is on a nexus or a ley line? Do dragons need their wings to fly?

Answer: No and no.

Question: There is an XP chart for leveling an Adult Dragon, but however their M.D.C. does not appear to change, is it believed that for for levels 1-16 or until they become Ancient that they stay at the same MDC? Should player characters of adult dragons grow as they level in MDC and all stats, I mean thier strength and several things increase when ancient level is hit, but don't they reach that point by leveling through as an adult?

Answer: Adult dragons do gain M.D.C. See Rifts CB1 or PF D&G for details.


Question: What if any is the bonus a hatchling dragon gets for his breath weapon? For
that matter what is the bonus of any natural weapon? Does the general racial bonus to strike
apply to breath weapons? Do breath weapon with an area such as the Whip-tail hit automatically?

Answer: In general, natural weapons receive P.P., Hand to Hand Combat, and applicable racial bonuses, and this usually includes ranged attacks like breath weapons, unless specifically stated otherwise. Debilitating breath weapons like that of the Forest Runner dragon have no strike roll, but do require a saving throw. Area-effect breath weapons require a strike roll or saving throw for each target.


Question: Are dragons cold-blooded like reptiles? Could someone with thermal vision distinguish a shapeshifted dragon from a human?

Answer: No, dragons are warm-blooded, like all mammals. A metamorphosed dragon may appear unusually warm to thermographic vision, but would not specifically be identifiable as a dragon.

Question: Regarding a dragon's Special Area of Interest & Expertise: it states that you choose all or any of the languages, but what is the difference between all of the languages or any of the languages. Surely its not asking if you want to know all the languages or just one. If I choose lore do I get all lores?

Answer: What it means is that any single language can be chosen, and every language gets the +15% bonus. If so desired, the character may choose additional languages at future levels of experience. The same goes for literacy and lore.

Question: Regarding the Chiang-ku dragon in Rifts England, page 49, the write up for the R.C.C. mentions that some Chiang-ku do not become Tattoo Masters, but rather take up the Ley Line Walker, and Shifter (among other magic using classes) O.C.C.s as areas of study.

There is a paragraph on page 49 under the heading SPELLS that goes into what happens if they elect to go a different route than the Tattoo Master. It says: "Knowledge gained from such tutelage is limited to MAGIC, magic combat, language and reading skills from that O.C.C.; the other skills are not applicable" (Emphasis on Magic mine).

I am questioning how to interpret that paragraph. Does it mean that the Chiang-ku who elects to go the route of Shifter (for example) gets the abilities of the Shifter or just the spell list? The abilities I'm talking about begin on page 120 of the RIFTS Ultimate Edition book. They have the heading of "Shifter Magic Powers." They number 1 - 12, and include things like Dimensional Travel, Familiar Link, Summoning, Link to the Supernatural, Sense Rifts, Initial Spell Knowledge, etc.

The other interpretation is that they just get the Initial Spell Knowledge, and Learning New Spells.

Answer: You get all of the spells, powers, abilities, and bonuses of the selected O.C.C., but none of the O.C.C./Related/Secondary skills, except those which were previously noted or which are unique and indispensable to the class (e.g. the Shifter's Lore: Dimensions, and the Techno-Wizard's TW Construction).

If you were limited to spells alone, there would be no reason to specifically mention both Ley Line Walkers and Shifters, as they use the same spell list.

Question: I am not sure where I picked this up but I was under the impression that a dragon hatchling's metamorphosis ability was some number of hours per day. Am I reading the book correctly that it is some number of hours per level per metamorphosis?

Answer: The old PF/RMB dragon hatchlings can transform for a maximum of 2 hours per level in any 48-hour period. Chiang-ku hatchlings can transform an unlimited number of times for an unlimited duration. The new dragon types in RUE have varying limitations on the duration of their metamorphoses.

Question: How often can a dragon use its breath weapon? This came up at our last game, but I can't remember reading the limitations. I know I have seen them though, somewhere, sometime...

Answer: It varies by species, typically 2-4 times per melee round, with each use counting as one melee attack. See the individual dragon descriptions in RUE, CB1, or Dragons & Gods for details.

Question: Do Dragon Hatchlings gain more M.D.C. as they increase in level? Rereading the book, it doesn't mention anything about an increase or how much? Opinions?

Answer: Under the old rules in the RMB/CB1/D&G, dragons only gained M.D.C. upon achieving adulthood, and then only in one big burst, whereas dragons in S.D.C. worlds gained S.D.C. at every new level of experience. The new rules in RUE give most dragons an extra 10 M.D.C. per level as hatchlings (the Whip-Tailed Dragon gains 5-10 M.D.C. per level), and 100 M.D.C. per level as adults.

Question: In the Rifts: England book, they list stats for Chiang-Ku dragons for both adult and hatchling level. They have a section for MDC/Hit Points, in case you want to use it in an S.D.C. setting, but it doesn't list S.D.C. It only gives one number. So, if I wanted to play a Chiang-Ku dragon in, say, Heroes Unlimited, what should I give it for Hit Points and S.D.C.?

Answer: See D&G, pp. 22-23.