Rifts character creation

[xandarr2000]

Okay, for the first time I am running a rifts game. I have been feverishly reading up on things but for some reason I find the character creation rules in the ultimate rifts guide to be a little confusing in terms of placement. I am sure my questions are in there somewhere answered, but I am having trouble locating them in the actual section for character creation. I will be hosting a game with 6 players soon, but for the first 6 sessions or so I was going to run one short campaign with D-Bee's, magic users and augmented humans, and another short session with Coalition OCC's. The goal is to let my players pick a side and make their own characters up in say 2 months time but if I am having a hard time finding answers I am sure they will as well. So since I am in a time crunch I am hoping the community can help this newbie Rifts GM out.

1) I noticed in other areas some RCC's actual give different then standard dice rolls for generating attributes. Should I be letting the players choose their OCC/RCC first so they know what dice to roll for attribute generation or should they start out doing the standard 3D6 method and then change things as needed for the class or race they end up choosing? For instance Dwarves and Elves have different starting racial attributes then the standard human does, but that would mean the player knew ahead of time they were going to be an elf.

2) Several physical skills will give attribute bonuses that could effect hit point generation. If I follow the order in which things are mentioned in the RUG for character creation, it would lead me to believe that my hit points are not effected by my PE raising due to skills and training? It does say something about some OCC and RCC's may change hit point and SDC totals. For example if I take running it says it gives me +1 PE. Does that mean I raise my hit points by one more point on the spot or does that not effect my hit point total because we are already past the point in character creation where hit points are totaled up based on my initial PE before skill acquisition.

3) How exactly does magic work in terms of storing PPE. Some spells cost 1000 PPE, I know most of these spells at that cost level will not be cast willy nilly. They will more then likely be cast on a ley line nexus or some source of PPE. However, where my question comes in is how long does it take outside of combat for a spellcaster to store up that PPE and is there a limit on how much PPE a caster can hold. Could a ley line walker sit there and suction up endless amounts of PPE until he walked around with 2000 PPE at his disposal? The RUG is again kind of vague on this. I do have the book of magic, but I am literally just starting my journey in reading rifts material. At this point I have read, the RUG, Conversion guide, and I am starting on the revised sourcebook one (trying to read them in publication order) I just want to figure out how these high end spells are cast. A level 1 ley line walker could have a max of 200(+ PE score) PPE if I am reading things correctly with a possibility of 18 more ppe with every level. That still makes them woefully short of the required amount to cast say Dimensional Portal at 1000, or Rift Triangular Defense system at 840 PPE cost. I see they can draw 20 PPE every melee round on a ley line, but what if they are not in combat? What are the restrictions governing how much they can store up, how long they can store it, and the effects of storing that much extra energy to cast a spell?

I am sure I will have many more questions but getting these answered will at least help me to understand better what my players will invariably ask. They are min/maxers and I am well versed in handling that but with a new system comes many new loopholes and I know from Palladium Fantasy, you have to watch carefully what enters your game because things can get unbalanced easily if your not prepared.

Thank you
Chris Bishop

[The Beast]

Okay, for the first time I am running a rifts game. I have been feverishly reading up on things but for some reason I find the character creation rules in the ultimate rifts guide to be a little confusing in terms of placement. I am sure my questions are in there somewhere answered, but I am having trouble locating them in the actual section for character creation. I will be hosting a game with 6 players soon, but for the first 6 sessions or so I was going to run one short campaign with D-Bee's, magic users and augmented humans, and another short session with Coalition OCC's. The goal is to let my players pick a side and make their own characters up in say 2 months time but if I am having a hard time finding answers I am sure they will as well. So since I am in a time crunch I am hoping the community can help this newbie Rifts GM out.

1) I noticed in other areas some RCC's actual give different then standard dice rolls for generating attributes. Should I be letting the players choose their OCC/RCC first so they know what dice to roll for attribute generation or should they start out doing the standard 3D6 method and then change things as needed for the class or race they end up choosing? For instance Dwarves and Elves have different starting racial attributes then the standard human does, but that would mean the player knew ahead of time they were going to be an elf.

2) Several physical skills will give attribute bonuses that could effect hit point generation. If I follow the order in which things are mentioned in the RUG for character creation, it would lead me to believe that my hit points are not effected by my PE raising due to skills and training? It does say something about some OCC and RCC's may change hit point and SDC totals. For example if I take running it says it gives me +1 PE. Does that mean I raise my hit points by one more point on the spot or does that not effect my hit point total because we are already past the point in character creation where hit points are totaled up based on my initial PE before skill acquisition.

3) How exactly does magic work in terms of storing PPE. Some spells cost 1000 PPE, I know most of these spells at that cost level will not be cast willy nilly. They will more then likely be cast on a ley line nexus or some source of PPE. However, where my question comes in is how long does it take outside of combat for a spellcaster to store up that PPE and is there a limit on how much PPE a caster can hold. Could a ley line walker sit there and suction up endless amounts of PPE until he walked around with 2000 PPE at his disposal? The RUG is again kind of vague on this. I do have the book of magic, but I am literally just starting my journey in reading rifts material. At this point I have read, the RUG, Conversion guide, and I am starting on the revised sourcebook one (trying to read them in publication order) I just want to figure out how these high end spells are cast. A level 1 ley line walker could have a max of 200(+ PE score) PPE if I am reading things correctly with a possibility of 18 more ppe with every level. That still makes them woefully short of the required amount to cast say Dimensional Portal at 1000, or Rift Triangular Defense system at 840 PPE cost. I see they can draw 20 PPE every melee round on a ley line, but what if they are not in combat? What are the restrictions governing how much they can store up, how long they can store it, and the effects of storing that much extra energy to cast a spell?

I am sure I will have many more questions but getting these answered will at least help me to understand better what my players will invariably ask. They are min/maxers and I am well versed in handling that but with a new system comes many new loopholes and I know from Palladium Fantasy, you have to watch carefully what enters your game because things can get unbalanced easily if your not prepared.

Thank you
Chris Bishop

1 = Killer Cyborg wrote a great thread on how the character creation rules are broken. I'll link it in a few minutes once I find it again. Instead of following the book's steps, try PC generation in this order:

Select a race
Roll attributes
Select an OCC if the race you picked isn't an RCC-only race (some races get specific skills in case you're confused by the terminology)
Select your skills
Figure out your starting SDC, HP, PPE, and/or ISP
All the other crap

2 = Yes, skills that increase PE increase HP as well.

3 = I find that the RUG is very vague on that subject. There was another thread here recently about this very subject. I'm pretty sure someone quoted the exact rule in that thread. I'll try finding it and posting it here.

[The Beast]

Here's Killer Cyborg's post: http://palladium-megaverse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2540053#p2540053. The post is kind of long, but worth the reading.

EDIT: 3 = You can absorb up to three times your normal PPE, and hold it for your PE attribute in minutes (Book of Magic, page 21).

[Bill]

My preferred method of generating characters is:
1. determine race
2. select occupation
3. select skills
4. roll attributes including all bonuses from race occupation and skills; if any attributes come out below required values adjust to the minimum (house rule)
5. calculate all derived values (weight limits, H.P., S.D.C., P.P.E., I.S.P., etc.)
6. select powers, if any
7. select equipment

That cuts out a lot of modifying and recalculating inherent in the official process. I also allow players to swap rolled values that share the same dice expression (5D6 for 5D6) before applying bonuses.

The rules for drawing P.P.E. from ley lines and other sources are detailed in the magic section. For the bigger spells, the assumption is that multiple spell casters and/or a cult will engage in a ritual casting where all participants can contribute their P.P.E. It's pretty easy to get to 1000 with 100 people participating in a ritual.

[drewkitty ~..~]

#1 Choose a Race, and roll attributes. If the race is labeled as a RCC then you need to look at it to see if the text mandates the char has that RCC.
[pick a job or magic or psychic class that is available to the char]

#2. Skill (&other) bonuses are added to the attributes before finally defining of the other stats (HP, SDC, PPE, ISP, etc…).
[gender, height, weight, and body type are left up to the player….or using the Step 8 table.]

#3: Mages can gather and store up to 3x their base PPE. Divergent opinions: some GMs say this 3x is what is above the base PPE and some say that it includes the base PPE. The difference between 4 and 3. I fall in that the about gathered from outside the mage can be 3x the base PPE. This extra gathered PPE can be held for PE minutes.
With starting players with L1 or low level chars there should be no problem cause they will not have the high PPE cost spells, for the most part.

One thing you should do as a GM is to inform your players what sort of game you intend to run So they do not make magic users or DeBees if you are going to run a "you are CS military" game.

[xandarr2000]

Wow great information guys. Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to help me understand things. I have been fiendishly trying to go through the books, and feel like the kid trying to binge read in order to pass a test. I had already concluded the best way to let the players experience different aspects is to let them run pregens for the first adventure or two. I think rifts takes a lot for a player to wrap their head around because it is so absolutely over the top compared to other games. Part of how I am trying to control the level of play is by restricting them in part to certain books for class choice for now. So they are being given a list that I update as a read and understand other palladium products. Right now I am limiting them to anything from PFRPG, RUG, and HU and Rifts sourcebook 1. I read the vampire kingdoms and Atlantis books back in the early 90's and only vaguely recall some details. Reading the RUG now has been enlightening because I feel like that book has 3 very specific good and bad issues.

1) It is wonderful for art and setting detail, totally conveys the setting even better then the original rifts book. I find Siembieda's descriptions to be completely entrancing and it really makes you want to dive into this damaged earth.
2) The ruleset is hampered because the layout in terms of where things are located is super confusing for a person new to the product or game. Two of my players were confused as hell because your reading about classes before you have even touched on what most of the game terms mean and what effect one attribute has over another
3) Sometimes you will read the same information presented a different way, but still attempting to say the same thing, it stumbles over itself a lot, which I think at least in my case causes information overload.

It is strange because other palladium products are far more readily setup and its easy to follow the flow from setting to character creation basics to more advanced stuff but RUG is the most gorgeous visually confusing epic I own besides some of the first run Runequest products. It will not stop me from running it, I am more concerned about explaining this awesome game to new players and not losing them because I am shaky myself on the details. It has been 24 years since I have truly tried to run this game but I feel it is time. I have collected up through book 25 on world books with hit or miss on titles after that, have a ton of rifters from my subscription and about half of the dimension books and sourcebooks as well as the novels. My work is cut out for me in terms of reading, though I think I will most assuredly run the siege of tolkeen campaign. I cannot envision having that occur in the world and not let the PC's play a role in the events.

Tell you what guys,ANY tips you have I will gratefully listen to!

Thanks again

[Bill]

I strongly suggest that you focus on having fun. Rifts can be confusing and difficult to figure out, but as long as you stick to the goal of having fun, it's a great game.

You're welcome to use any of my pregens that you like. Links are in my resources thread, see the link in my signature. I've also got a few house rules that I've used in there.

[drewkitty ~..~]

I strongly suggest that you focus on having fun.
…snip

this

[glitterboy2098]

in regards to PPE storage.. keep in mind that by the time a mage has access to spells with such high costs, they usually have access to several other options for storing/obtaining PPE.

there are a number of spells that can create a PPE battery effect, storing PPE in objects so that the mage can draw it off later. TW's can make those even more effective by using those spells in a TW device.

also, time and place matters.. you can cast some of those ultra high cost spells without even dipping into your own PPE if your casting them on a nexus during certain astronomical events (solstice, equinox, eclipses, etc) when the ley lines surge with extra power.

also if you do the spell as a ritual, you can draw on the PPE of willing participants. a spell that would be hard to cast alone can become easy if you have 20+ people all volunteering some of their energy. (even non-mages can help there, it just means you need more people)

[Alrik Vas]

Making a character in Palladium can be taxing. Most of my current group were new when the campaign started, they few who had played did it over a decade prior. Everyone needed a course on the subject, so I lead then through it as a group.

Unsurprisingly, the players with the most character deaths have managed to cut creation time down to about 20-30 minutes as soon as they know their basic criteria (what's allowed for the campaign).

More than most games, Palladium takes practice.