More Rules Questions

[Nuristas]

Greetings,

I would first and foremost thank everybody who answered my last questions.
Meanwhile a few new ones have come up:

1. If you are paralyzed, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will")?
2, If you are grappled, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will") taking your assailant with you?
3. Same as the above 2 but can you teleport?
4. Can you Dominate (mind Control) a demon/deevil into giving up its true name since I see no protections against it in this gaming system?
5. Would Phase energy penetrate a demon knight's armor since said armor has bonded with the being becoming a part of him but phase energy bypasses armor. Is it still.. armor?

Thank you again for any and all answers.

[drewkitty ~..~]

Answering 1&2&4 as a GM
1 I would say it depends how the char was paralyzed. If by KOed/stunned nope-the computer that controls the locomotion is rebooting. if by magic or psi, then yes.
2 if the char's payload weight can carry the other..then yes if you are just flying off outside. Flying the two chars into a wall is risky. Bones might get broken.
3 T-porting out of a hold using a natural/super ability...unqulified yes. if the mage has to speak the spell out loud the char 'holding' the mage will have a chance of breaking the mage's concentration.
4 I would rule that the char and demon would hold a contest of wills (see the summoner class for details) for that.
5....not touching this with a 11 foot pole. (I'm not digging about to see if I still have the book for this.)
(gets out the 11 foot 2 inch pole...I would think this would have the same answer as for Cyber Knight.)

[narcissus]

4. Can you Dominate (mind Control) a demon/deevil into giving up its true name since I see no protections against it in this gaming system?

As per Domination (RUE 207) "The only things the bewitched victim will not do are commit suicide, inflict self-harm, or kill a friend or loved one."

I would consider a demon/deevil revealing his true name to be self-harm. He knows the consequences of doing so - lifelong servitude (and demons/deevils have a looong life). If that isn't self-harm, I don't know what is.

On the other hand, Compulsion and Words of Truth have no such restrictions.

[Fenris2020]

Greetings,

I would first and foremost thank everybody who answered my last questions.
Meanwhile a few new ones have come up:

1. If you are paralyzed, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will")?
2, If you are grappled, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will") taking your assailant with you?
3. Same as the above 2 but can you teleport?
4. Can you Dominate (mind Control) a demon/deevil into giving up its true name since I see no protections against it in this gaming system?
5. Would Phase energy penetrate a demon knight's armor since said armor has bonded with the being becoming a part of him but phase energy bypasses armor. Is it still.. armor?

Thank you again for any and all answers.

1. Yes
2. Maybe
3. Probably
4. NO.
5. No. The phase weapon would damage the armor first, since it's now a living part of the being. Which is why it damages a 'Borg as a whole, and can't target the brain alone or whatever. With cyber-armor, I'd say that if it doesn't surpass the AR, it does MD to the armor, or if it surpasses the AR, it does SDC or MD depending on the being it's grafted to

[torjones]

Meanwhile a few new ones have come up:

1. If you are paralyzed, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will")?

Probably, it kinda depends on how you were flying before and what stopped you from continuing that way.

2, If you are grappled, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will") taking your assailant with you?

See #1

3. Same as the above 2 but can you teleport?

Possibly, possibly not. depends on which spell/ability you're using to teleport, and how it deals with additional passengers.

4. Can you Dominate (mind Control) a demon/deevil into giving up its true name since I see no protections against it in this gaming system?

sure, however, since true names don't really have any power over demons, it's not really all that useful. Sure, you can summon that particular demon/deevil, but not much more than that. Unless your GM has a house rule otherwise of course.

5. Would Phase energy penetrate a demon knight's armor since said armor has bonded with the being becoming a part of him but phase energy bypasses armor. Is it still.. armor?

without knowing exactly what a Demon Knight is, and without having read the entry, my generic ruling would be that while you're getting whatever benefits of the fusion that the text says you're getting, it's still armor, and you're still having to deal with the down sides of having armor. Unless it becomes a living part of the character, it's still dead enough to be ignored by phase weapons and energy. If it does become a living part of the wearer, then the energy will have to chew through the armor's MDC value first.

[narcissus]

sure, however, since true names don't really have any power over demons, it's not really all that useful. Sure, you can summon that particular demon/deevil, but not much more than that. Unless your GM has a house rule otherwise of course.

I haven't read DB10 - Hades yet, but in DB11 - Dyval, it states "Like the Demons of Hades, the minions of Dyval are also vulnerable to having their true names known. Anyone who knows the infernal’s true name can command him and the monster must obey"

[torjones]

sure, however, since true names don't really have any power over demons, it's not really all that useful. Sure, you can summon that particular demon/deevil, but not much more than that. Unless your GM has a house rule otherwise of course.

I haven't read DB10 - Hades yet, but in DB11 - Dyval, it states "Like the Demons of Hades, the minions of Dyval are also vulnerable to having their true names known. Anyone who knows the infernal’s true name can command him and the monster must obey"

ya know, I purchased those books looking for crunchy bits, too bad there was so little crunch. When I bought them, it was right after SoT and my huge disappointment therein. Never read them past the crunchy bits.
That makes things a bit too easy for not enough effort. I mean, these are supposed to be Demons and Deevils, which should be right up there with Dragons, as to how dangerous they're supposed to be. The simple use of Domination to get that true name makes it too easy to essentially enslave a powerful monster. Anyway, I like your idea of the saving throw to give up their true name, I'll be using that from now on...

[Nuristas]

sure, however, since true names don't really have any power over demons, it's not really all that useful. Sure, you can summon that particular demon/deevil, but not much more than that. Unless your GM has a house rule otherwise of course.

I haven't read DB10 - Hades yet, but in DB11 - Dyval, it states "Like the Demons of Hades, the minions of Dyval are also vulnerable to having their true names known. Anyone who knows the infernal’s true name can command him and the monster must obey"

ya know, I purchased those books looking for crunchy bits, too bad there was so little crunch. When I bought them, it was right after SoT and my huge disappointment therein. Never read them past the crunchy bits.
That makes things a bit too easy for not enough effort. I mean, these are supposed to be Demons and Deevils, which should be right up there with Dragons, as to how dangerous they're supposed to be. The simple use of Domination to get that true name makes it too easy to essentially enslave a powerful monster. Anyway, I like your idea of the saving throw to give up their true name, I'll be using that from now on...

Giving them some sort of defense only seems plausible and in line with "how it should work" because otherwise people would enslave them much quicker and easily.
There is however a danger to having an enslaved demon/deevil being it doesn't have your best interest at heart and can make your life very interesting by taking things very literally.

[Nuristas]

Greetings,

I would first and foremost thank everybody who answered my last questions.
Meanwhile a few new ones have come up:

1. If you are paralyzed, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will")?
2, If you are grappled, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will") taking your assailant with you?
3. Same as the above 2 but can you teleport?
4. Can you Dominate (mind Control) a demon/deevil into giving up its true name since I see no protections against it in this gaming system?
5. Would Phase energy penetrate a demon knight's armor since said armor has bonded with the being becoming a part of him but phase energy bypasses armor. Is it still.. armor?

Thank you again for any and all answers.

1. Yes
2. Maybe
3. Probably
4. NO.
5. No. The phase weapon would damage the armor first, since it's now a living part of the being. Which is why it damages a 'Borg as a whole, and can't target the brain alone or whatever. With cyber-armor, I'd say that if it doesn't surpass the AR, it does MD to the armor, or if it surpasses the AR, it does SDC or MD depending on the being it's grafted to

According to the FAQ you shoot through a borgs armour and hit the fleshy bits with a phase energy attack.
https://www.palladiumbooks.com/index.ph ... Itemid=200 number 9
Is this FAQ official?

[Killer Cyborg]

Greetings,

I would first and foremost thank everybody who answered my last questions.
Meanwhile a few new ones have come up:

1. If you are paralyzed, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will")?
2, If you are grappled, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will") taking your assailant with you?
3. Same as the above 2 but can you teleport?
4. Can you Dominate (mind Control) a demon/deevil into giving up its true name since I see no protections against it in this gaming system?
5. Would Phase energy penetrate a demon knight's armor since said armor has bonded with the being becoming a part of him but phase energy bypasses armor. Is it still.. armor?

Thank you again for any and all answers.

1. Yes
2. Maybe
3. Probably
4. NO.
5. No. The phase weapon would damage the armor first, since it's now a living part of the being. Which is why it damages a 'Borg as a whole, and can't target the brain alone or whatever. With cyber-armor, I'd say that if it doesn't surpass the AR, it does MD to the armor, or if it surpasses the AR, it does SDC or MD depending on the being it's grafted to

According to the FAQ you shoot through a borgs armour and hit the fleshy bits with a phase energy attack.
https://www.palladiumbooks.com/index.ph ... Itemid=200 number 9
Is this FAQ official?

Nope. Not at all.
The issue with Borg SDC/HP was resolved for good in RUE 47:
[Borgs are impervious to] any attacks or weapons that do damage direct to Hit Points (is considered a Mega-Damage being now).

Borgs are MDC beings, so they don't have Hit Points or SDC any more.

The original FAQ that Palladium posted was a fan-created FAQ that Palladium slapped online as a quick and lazy way to address some questions, but the answers were mostly just stuff that the fans who wrote it thought made sense.
The newer FAQ is composed of stuff we've argued about in the forums, in the Palladium Books Q&A section, BUT that's not any better. If one person asked a question, and another person offered an unsupported opinion, and the question-asker accepted the answer, that was sometimes enough to get something in the FAQ.

The FAQs are only really good for:
a) sifting through to find answers that include canon quotes and citations addressing the question.
b) filling in gaps in canon with house-rules or house-interpretations that somebody somewhere thought made sense.

Edit:
As for armor in general, IIRC the issue is that phase beams bypass "nonliving" material. So a phase beam could shoot a Dead Boy through his armor, but a Cyberknight's living armor would block it.

[Nuristas]

Greetings,

I would first and foremost thank everybody who answered my last questions.
Meanwhile a few new ones have come up:

1. If you are paralyzed, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will")?
2, If you are grappled, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will") taking your assailant with you?
3. Same as the above 2 but can you teleport?
4. Can you Dominate (mind Control) a demon/deevil into giving up its true name since I see no protections against it in this gaming system?
5. Would Phase energy penetrate a demon knight's armor since said armor has bonded with the being becoming a part of him but phase energy bypasses armor. Is it still.. armor?

Thank you again for any and all answers.

1. Yes
2. Maybe
3. Probably
4. NO.
5. No. The phase weapon would damage the armor first, since it's now a living part of the being. Which is why it damages a 'Borg as a whole, and can't target the brain alone or whatever. With cyber-armor, I'd say that if it doesn't surpass the AR, it does MD to the armor, or if it surpasses the AR, it does SDC or MD depending on the being it's grafted to

According to the FAQ you shoot through a borgs armour and hit the fleshy bits with a phase energy attack.
https://www.palladiumbooks.com/index.ph ... Itemid=200 number 9
Is this FAQ official?

Nope. Not at all.
The issue with Borg SDC/HP was resolved for good in RUE 47:
[Borgs are impervious to] any attacks or weapons that do damage direct to Hit Points (is considered a Mega-Damage being now).

Borgs are MDC beings, so they don't have Hit Points or SDC any more.

The original FAQ that Palladium posted was a fan-created FAQ that Palladium slapped online as a quick and lazy way to address some questions, but the answers were mostly just stuff that the fans who wrote it thought made sense.
The newer FAQ is composed of stuff we've argued about in the forums, in the Palladium Books Q&A section, BUT that's not any better. If one person asked a question, and another person offered an unsupported opinion, and the question-asker accepted the answer, that was sometimes enough to get something in the FAQ.

The FAQs are only really good for:
a) sifting through to find answers that include canon quotes and citations addressing the question.
b) filling in gaps in canon with house-rules or house-interpretations that somebody somewhere thought made sense.

Edit:
As for armor in general, IIRC the issue is that phase beams bypass "nonliving" material. So a phase beam could shoot a Dead Boy through his armor, but a Cyberknight's living armor would block it.

Thanks for the Feedback, much appreciated.

[Borast]

Greetings,

I would first and foremost thank everybody who answered my last questions.
Meanwhile a few new ones have come up:

1. If you are paralyzed, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will")?
2, If you are grappled, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will") taking your assailant with you?
3. Same as the above 2 but can you teleport?
4. Can you Dominate (mind Control) a demon/deevil into giving up its true name since I see no protections against it in this gaming system?
5. Would Phase energy penetrate a demon knight's armor since said armor has bonded with the being becoming a part of him but phase energy bypasses armor. Is it still.. armor?

Thank you again for any and all answers.

1) Would depend on HOW paralysed you are. If you're paralysed from the waist down and have ANY form of Flight, you can still fly, since the appropriate nerves are not damaged. If you were paralysed from the nose down, YES, you could use "mental" abilities for gross movement.
2) Depends on your overall load. If I recall, you can only fly with half your maximum load. If your equipment plus your grappler (and his/her) equipment) exceeds that maximum load, you're grounded. The same would be true if someone used Gravity powers to increase your local G-field to multiple G`s.
3a) Situationally dependant...if you are unable to focus (casters), no. If the ability doesn`t require focus (i.e.: an innate ability), then sure...if you`re not exceeding your maximum capacity. Someone grappling you would likely go with, just like your carried gear.
3b) If you can Ghost or Phase, you can do so, if you can trigger the ability, spell, or effect.
4) I`d say no. Mind Bond...sure...if you`re willing to take the chance, given the exceedingly massive alien nature of the being in question.
5a) If the canon states the armour becomes part of the creature, then no. (This would include Cyberknight cyber armour.)
5b) I`d say full `borgs are immune. Otherwise, a phase bomb or field dropped or projected onto a battle field would kill every `borg with only 1-2 dice of potential damage.

[torjones]

Giving them some sort of defense only seems plausible and in line with "how it should work" because otherwise people would enslave them much quicker and easily.
There is however a danger to having an enslaved demon/deevil being it doesn't have your best interest at heart and can make your life very interesting by taking things very literally.

That's rather my thought as well, but I am of the opinion that a GM should only do that if the power/ability/whatever hack/exploit they came up with is abused, and how badly it's abused. For example, if the mage enslaves an Imp for information retrieval purposes, and uses that ability only when normal information sources don't get the info needed, I'm not going to jerk the player's chains too much, once or twice during the campaign as a reminder that yes, this is still a demon/deevil you've enslaved here... If they use it for everything under the sun and then some, well, that'll be a lot more common, especially if they try to start enslaving an entire army of Balrogs... Well, we're going to have to do something about that kind of abuse.

[Nuristas]

Giving them some sort of defense only seems plausible and in line with "how it should work" because otherwise people would enslave them much quicker and easily.
There is however a danger to having an enslaved demon/deevil being it doesn't have your best interest at heart and can make your life very interesting by taking things very literally.

That's rather my thought as well, but I am of the opinion that a GM should only do that if the power/ability/whatever hack/exploit they came up with is abused, and how badly it's abused. For example, if the mage enslaves an Imp for information retrieval purposes, and uses that ability only when normal information sources don't get the info needed, I'm not going to jerk the player's chains too much, once or twice during the campaign as a reminder that yes, this is still a demon/deevil you've enslaved here... If they use it for everything under the sun and then some, well, that'll be a lot more common, especially if they try to start enslaving an entire army of Balrogs... Well, we're going to have to do something about that kind of abuse.

That would be the perfect moment to bring moment to bring out the "heart of freedom" which makes everybody within a mile radius immune to mind-control and movement limiting effects.
And then break out the popcorn with the question:" so these Baalrogs are angry, what is your next action?"

[Fenris2020]

Greetings,

I would first and foremost thank everybody who answered my last questions.
Meanwhile a few new ones have come up:

1. If you are paralyzed, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will")?
2, If you are grappled, can you still fly if you have a mode of locomotion like Wingless flight and can hover and fly (aka moving "at will") taking your assailant with you?
3. Same as the above 2 but can you teleport?
4. Can you Dominate (mind Control) a demon/deevil into giving up its true name since I see no protections against it in this gaming system?
5. Would Phase energy penetrate a demon knight's armor since said armor has bonded with the being becoming a part of him but phase energy bypasses armor. Is it still.. armor?

Thank you again for any and all answers.

1. Yes
2. Maybe
3. Probably
4. NO.
5. No. The phase weapon would damage the armor first, since it's now a living part of the being. Which is why it damages a 'Borg as a whole, and can't target the brain alone or whatever. With cyber-armor, I'd say that if it doesn't surpass the AR, it does MD to the armor, or if it surpasses the AR, it does SDC or MD depending on the being it's grafted to

According to the FAQ you shoot through a borgs armour and hit the fleshy bits with a phase energy attack.
https://www.palladiumbooks.com/index.ph ... Itemid=200 number 9
Is this FAQ official?

The FAQ is... well that word starts with an "F" as well.

[drewkitty ~..~]

If there isa different between the published text and the FAQ, (even more so when the FAQ was answering a question from the last edition of the Rifts Game,) then the published text stands as canon.

Since as of RUE Borgs are just MDC beings, This puts the old FAQ that the Borgs fleshy bits can be targeted with phase weapons into the "Not Part of Current Canon" file. *points at the round file next to your desk* That one.
As with most of the older books, the FAQ is O.L.D. and the answers should be updated.

Now as a GM how would I have both the phase weapons by-pass armor and Borgs are MDC beings? The easiest way to do it is to just say that Borgs are immune to phase weapons.

[Nuristas]

If there isa different between the published text and the FAQ, (even more so when the FAQ was answering a question from the last edition of the Rifts Game,) then the published text stands as canon.

Since as of RUE Borgs are just MDC beings, This puts the old FAQ that the Borgs fleshy bits can be targeted with phase weapons into the "Not Part of Current Canon" file. *points at the round file next to your desk* That one.
As with most of the older books, the FAQ is O.L.D. and the answers should be updated.

Now as a GM how would I have both the phase weapons by-pass armor and Borgs are MDC beings? The easiest way to do it is to just say that Borgs are immune to phase weapons.

Sounds reasonable since phase weapons don't do damage against inorganics.
And it further explains why they aren't the end of all weapons under any and all circumstances.

[Library Ogre]

If there isa different between the published text and the FAQ, (even more so when the FAQ was answering a question from the last edition of the Rifts Game,) then the published text stands as canon.

Since as of RUE Borgs are just MDC beings, This puts the old FAQ that the Borgs fleshy bits can be targeted with phase weapons into the "Not Part of Current Canon" file. *points at the round file next to your desk* That one.
As with most of the older books, the FAQ is O.L.D. and the answers should be updated.

Now as a GM how would I have both the phase weapons by-pass armor and Borgs are MDC beings? The easiest way to do it is to just say that Borgs are immune to phase weapons.

Sounds reasonable since phase weapons don't do damage against inorganics.
And it further explains why they aren't the end of all weapons under any and all circumstances.

I tend this way, too, simply because of Wolfen Quatoria. If phase weapons would effortlessly murder them, one would think it would be mentioned (especially since it's a CJ-written thing, which tend to be a bit more tightly written than Kevin-things)