Outriders

[Ale Golem]

Has anyone toned down the Outrider in their games? I’ve never run Splicers before and looking over the available OCC options it seems that the Outrider is far and away superior to any other OCC in damage output and defensive capability. I’m usually the first to admit that Palladium is nowhere near balanced, that’s one of the reasons I love the setting, however the Outrider seems to dwarf all other available OCCs. I’m thinking of simply removing Host Armor from the starting equipment list. Thoughts, theories and flames are all welcome.

[Shark_Force]

much like a glitter boy in rifts, an outrider should become the logical target of most attacks. the drawback of being so scary is that everyone knows they need to get rid of you first.

[Guy_LeDouche]

Has anyone toned down the Outrider in their games? I’ve never run Splicers before and looking over the available OCC options it seems that the Outrider is far and away superior to any other OCC in damage output and defensive capability. I’m usually the first to admit that Palladium is nowhere near balanced, that’s one of the reasons I love the setting, however the Outrider seems to dwarf all other available OCCs. I’m thinking of simply removing Host Armor from the starting equipment list. Thoughts, theories and flames are all welcome.

No flames here; this forum is flame free zone. Now, to your concern:

Mounted Outriders are ridiculously powerful. They'll mow through a lot of enemies fairly quickly and easily. But, to some extent, they need to be. As the saying goes, all that power comes at a pretty steep price.

Normally, they're one of the largest things on a battlefield which means any mounted Outrider is walking around with a giant bullseye on them. As one of the largest, more obvious, and definately more dangerous targets on a battlefield, any Outrider is in for a world of punishment. Even in the main book, it states that Outriders are number 2 (or is it 1? I don't have the book with me) on the Machine targeting priority list. N.E.X.U.S. forces will even ignore other, less dangerous looking (key word here, "looking") targets to go after an Outrider. While an Outrider's bonuses will definately be high, they're going to need it. The enemy is going to come gunning for them with everything in any kind of confrontation.

Additionally, from a purely logistical standpoint, Outriders offer a few more areas of consideration. Any type of stealth will be almost non-exsistent with a War Mount in the party; these are the literal bulls in a china shop. Care and feeding of larger War Mounts, something that should be a major concern in any game, can be a tremendous challenge in and of itself. A starving War Mount won't be of use to anyone, but trying to come with 100+ pounds of food every other day won't be easy either.

There are several threads on the forum where various posters have expressed opinions on whether or not Outriders should only receive Living Armor vs. true Host Armor. I would say ultimately, you are the GM. Whatever fits your game universe best is good for me.

[Ale Golem]

much like a glitter boy in rifts...

I never thought of them that way, they fill the giant robot role in the Splicers universe. Now I can wrap my head around them, thank you.