Disposable NPC Generators: Now with GURGOYLES!

[Hotrod]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present my consolidated collection of

Disposable N.P.C. and Monster Generators

Bandit: Page 1, Page 2.
C.S. Grunt, Old Style: Page 1, Page 2.
C.S. Grunt, New Style: Page 1, Page 2.
C.S. Psi-Stalker: Page 1, Page 2.
City Rat: Page 1, Page 2.
Combat Cyborg: Page 1, Page 2.
Dog Boy: Page 1, Page 2.
Glitter Boy Pilot: Page 1, Page 2.
Juicer: Page 1, Page 2.
Vagabond: Page 1, Page 2.
Wilderness Scout: Page 1, Page 2.

Monster Generators:
Brodkil: Page 1, Page 2.
Deevil: Page 1, Page 2.
Gurgoyle: page 1, page 2.

What are these? Charts providing the important skills, combat stats, bonuses, and equipment for some generic, disposable N.P.C.'s from level 1 to 15, as well as 5 power-levels of monsters. N.P.C. generators come with the baseline stats on the first page and some optional variants and equipment on the second page. All the G.M. needs to do is select a level for the N.P.C. All the stats are generated, all bonuses are cross-referenced and summed up, and there's no on-the-fly guesswork or extensive preparation.

Why make these? Many Rifts books devote considerable space to the stats of individual N.P.C.'s, and most of those N.P.C.'s have exceptional stats and abilities. These N.P.C.'s can be useful for special encounters, but my experience has been that most groups have more encounters and interactions with ordinary soldiers, bandits, and the like. These are the stormtroopers, the red-shirted ensigns, the disposable N.P.C.'s who aren't special, but can still represent obstacles and threats to the characters. There are no good sets of stats for these N.P.C.'s in the books, forcing G.M.'s to either make some up on the fly or spend valuable time preparing them.

How were they made? In a spreadsheet program, using Rifts: Ultimate Edition (RUE), 1st printing, with the posted corrections, and then finished in PowerPoint with a combination of free use clip-art and some custom art by yours truly. These are the guidelines I used for creating these N.P.C. generators:
1. These N.P.C.'s are not elite members of their profession. There is nothing special about them, and they have no psionics or other optional perks beyond the minimum requirements for their O.C.C. In general, they should lose in a fair fight against an equivalent player character.
2. The front-page of each N.P.C. generator is an average person (usually human) with his/her O.C.C. skills and abilities only. All O.C.C. Related and Secondary skills are assumed to be unrelated to combat or the given situation.
3. On the back page, I present some variants, which add optional skills and add or substitute alternate equipment, allowing for an N.P.C. who performs a specialized role. These are not variant O.C.C.'s, but rather some skill and equipment selections that allow for a more specialized role. For example, the Juicer's gladiator variant is not the Juicer Gladiator O.C.C.
4. All single dice rolls come out as the average result, rounded down. If multiple dice are used, then I alternate rounding down and up. For example, the I.Q. attribute of 3D6 is computed as 3+4+3=10.
5. Any "of choice" weapon proficiencies in the O.C.C. Skills are chosen to match weapons in the standard starting equipment (typically W.P. knife). I may ignore additional "of choice" options for the front page or put them into variants.
6. Only the stats and bonuses that could realistically get used in an encounter are included.
7. I try to use the latest books for stats and rules, so I use the RUE ranged weapon rules and W.P.'s.
8. The character's equipment choices default to either standard issue equipment or cheap, common gear from RUE and GMG. Equipment for variants tends to be more specialized, but isn't meant to be exceptional or extra-powerful.

The monster N.P.C. generators take a different approach. These come in a range of 5 options where I assume different dice roll averages and experience levels, providing flexibility so a GM can field a range of power levels. As an example, for 6-sided attribute dice rolls, puny monsters roll ones and twos, average monsters roll threes and fours, and mighty monsters roll fives and sixes. If the monster has experience levels, then I use the default range provided as a guideline, but not necessarily a hard and fast rule for the upper experience level limit.

What's next? I'm keeping the links in this post updated to show the latest versions of these documents. I can revise and tweak these generators based on community feedback. I occasionally create new generators if people want them. On that subject:

Please let me know what I can do to improve this. What do you think of the format/structure, presentation, and the stats included? What do you think of my process?
Would you like to see more N.P.C. generators? Which O.C.C./R.C.C. would you like to see next?

Omitted Content and Simplifications:
-The modern weapons don't include scenario modifiers; I omitted these due to space concerns, and there's a pretty good list in RUE p361.
-The Called Shot rows assume a -4 penalty for small targets, but this is variable with a book-given value of -3 or -4, sometimes more; it doesn't apply to large targets (just use aimed or regular shots for called shots on large targets, but use the extra attack for the called shot).
-Personal items and credits are consolidated into a single credit total. It's up to the GM to fill in the details on loot.
-The weapon stats are intentionally incomplete, including only damage, range, and shots per one type of E-clip. This sheet is designed to supplement the book info, not reprint or replace it.
-In a few cases, I've simplified the armor skill penalties, especially for generators that include multiple armor types.
-I don't add in new skills at new O.C.C. skills and secondary skills for new levels.
-I've been at this slow-burn project for some years now, and my style has evolved. Some of my earlier N.P.C. generators are not very high-definition, as I exported them as images direct from a spreadsheet. They're legible and usable, they just don't print as pretty.

Enjoy!

[The Beast]

The current GM in my group was most impressed with your bandit generators. I'm sure he'll like the other ones as well.

[Greepnak]

I sometimes need a computerized version of this in my life.

[Glistam]

These are amazing!

[dragonfett]

Any idea which type of bad guy you are going to tackle nex?

[Hotrod]

Any idea which type of bad guy you are going to tackle nex?

I'm not entirely sure. I was thinking about doing Vagabonds, City Rats, Wilderness Scouts, Cyborgs/Headhunters, or Psi-Stalkers/Dog Boys. Of those, I'm leaning toward Psi-Stalkers/Dog Boys, but I'm open to suggestions.

[dragonfett]

Any idea which type of bad guy you are going to tackle nex?

I'm not entirely sure. I was thinking about doing Vagabonds, City Rats, Wilderness Scouts, Cyborgs/Headhunters, or Psi-Stalkers/Dog Boys. Of those, I'm leaning toward Psi-Stalkers/Dog Boys, but I'm open to suggestions.

We already have CS Grunts, so Psi-Stalkers and Dog Boys both make excellent choices.

[Willy Elektrix]

These are very useful to me. Something like this should have been in the main rule book. Conversely, I'd buy a book full of these.

Dog Boys and Psi Stalkers would be awesome.

[Hotrod]

I've put together a rough draft of a Coalition Psi-Stalker. Here it is. By itself, this version should be adequate to represent a disposable Coalition Psi-Stalker. Notes on this version:
-I omitted the %'s for the Weapon Systems skill because I needed the space and I've never seen it used.
-This page has no O.C.C. Related skills and none of the six sensitive psi-powers that stalkers get. The assumption for the front page is that the powers selected have no useful application to the scenario in which the NPC engages the party. I'll include these in the back page.

I'm planning two variants for this generator. Both variants will get the Meditation power, as I don't want to give either variant any more tricks than I have to.

The first is a tracker, a psi-stalker who specializes in finding and getting to the prey, so this one will take powers like Remote Viewing, Astral Projection, Object Read, and Telepathy; skills will include tracking, streetwise, lockpicking, some lore skills, land navigation, and tailing. Equipment would consist of stuff that would help him/her track down prey, but would otherwise be pretty standard, like binoculars, a camera, and some plastic bags (to contain blood, skin, hair, or other scent samples).

The second variant focuses more on close combat against psychics and the supernatural. Powers would include Intuitive Combat, Mind Block, See Aura, Sixth Sense, and See the Invisible. Skills would include a couple of additional weapon proficiencies and a lot of physical skills. Equipment would be a heavy weapon (plasma cannon, maybe) and a vibro-sword in place of the rifle and vibro-knife of the baseline.

Once both pages are done to a satisfactory standard of quality, I'll edit them into the OP.

[Hotrod]

Here is my rough draft of the variants page for the Coalition Psi-Stalker.If you have the time, please look over it and let me know if you see any ways I could improve it.

Version notes:
-No dedicated fighter variant. After making an attempt at a tracker and fighter variants for Psi-Stalkers, I decided to change my approach from what I originally planned. The fighter variant took up so much space that it would require its own complete page thanks to powers like Sixth Sense and Intuitive Combat, and a GM can simply up the level of a regular psi-stalker to make them tougher in combat. Instead, I decided to redefine the variants.
-It's not very pretty. I've only done formatting in the spreadsheet file so far, so I need to optimize text size and placement.

New Features:
+The Coalition Psi-Stalker variants now come in two flavors: trackers and chasers.

Find that man!

+The tracker variant is a relentless, but patient hunter who specializes in locating prey over long distances. If this NPC is hunting your party of magic or psionic characters, your players will have to be both careful and lucky to avoid Coalition patrols. Alternately, this variant could be a key ally for the party as they hunt down a foe. In addition to the usual psi-stalker powers, this character is packing a careful selection of psionics, skills, and equipment designed to provide as many ways of tracking prey from a distance as possible. This version was inspired by a depiction of a psi-stalker tracking with a patrol of C.S. grunts in Lone Star, p159.

"After him!"

+The chaser variant is built for pursuit and specializes in close-range tracking and identifying specific targets. If a chaser is on your party's scent, they're going to have a hard time hiding or getting away clean. On the flipside, this variant can be invaluable for helping the party search for and destroy a supernatural enemy. This variant was inspired by the classic image of a psi-stalker directing a patrol of dog boys on a hunt.

+Since I had some extra space, I included a few more optional weapons: vibro-swords, spiked gloves, and the old style plasma cannon. The cannon isn't a canon standard for psi-stalkers, but I included it because it's short-range, psi-stalkers likely need some extra firepower against some supernatural foes from time to time, and because my favorite Rifts fan fic, Hounds of the Hunt, features a psi-stalker Dog Pack leader who's packing one.

On a related note, a minor issue came up as I was looking over different canon editions of the Psi-Stalker. In Lone Star, the OCC gets Robot Combat: Basic, while in RUE, it does not. I don't have the Xiticix book. I'm leaning towards excluding it, as RUE is more recent than Lone Star, and robots don't seem to match the style of wild or civilized Psi-Stalkers. Also, there's not any space to cram that skill and its associated bonuses in. I can add it in later, perhaps with some kind of heavy combat variant, but for now, it's staying out.

Anyway, have a look, and let me know what you think. I'll take another look at it in a few weeks or so, polish it and the front page up, and then I'll add them to the OP.

[Glistam]

Those sounds like great builds!

[Hotrod]

Those sounds like great builds!

Thanks! This being the first psionic NPC generator I've made, it took a bit more thinking, and a couple of thrown-away ideas before I settled on these. I'd nearly completed a melee killer variant when I realized that I was picking skills to optimize the generator the way I often do during character creation, and creating optimized masters of combat is not what this project is about.

I also toyed with the idea of making a power armor/SAMAS pilot psi-stalker variant, but I decided to focus on the main thing they do: hunt down magic users and psychics. They're always portrayed as hunting on foot in body armor, so that's how I decided to keep things, though the chaser would do pretty well in a vehicle pursuit.

[Hotrod]

I've revised both the pages of the Coalition Psi-Stalker NPC Generator. Links to both are now in the original post of this thread.

Notes on this version:
+I've optimized the text sizes and placement and cleaned up some of the little mistakes and inconsistent formatting in the rough drafts. This version should be easier to read.
+I created a Psi-stalker icon similar to the Psi-Stalker badge on RUE p237, but in a simpler style, to use as theme art for this otherwise dry-as-toast stat sheet. I also re-created the PSI logo seen in most canon depictions and incorporated it into the title.
+I added grenades to the optional weapons, along with W.P. Targeting for the grenade toss. I included the two weakest types of grenades, because I figure that the CS probably prefers to keep the heavy stuff away from the psychics and dog boy packs (someone's gotta use fragmentation and light high explosive, might as well be the second-class citizens who herd the cannon-fodder slave race around)
+In the first draft, I included the Hunting skill for the Tracker variant. This skill does nothing but add bonuses to hunting-related skills, and the point of this generator is not to create an expert/master particular abilities. I also deleted the Prowl skill from the Tracker variant, because it's now no different from the default.
+I added in the -10% penalty to prowl and climb from CA-1 body armor. Note that the skill penalties depend on which book you use; I used the RUE penalties of -10% for prowl and climb, as that seems to be the most recent version (2005). According to RUE, this is the standard armor for Psi-Stalkers both before and after P.A. 105.
+I wound up having a little space left over, so I added some additional equipment. The Chaser now comes with the standard gear for ISS/NTSET O.C.C.'s, since Coalition Psi-Stalkers only kill when specifically cleared to do so. I also included some optional gear that seemed to go well with the Chaser.
+I added in the leap height and length, and I added the pull punch bonus (not that I ever saw the point of that mechanic)
+I also included a few suggestions at the bottom of the Variants page on when to have Psi-Stalkers use heavier weapons and lethal M.D. grenades vs standard weapons.

Issues and Omissions with this version:
-I applied the W.P. Targeting bonuses to grenades, but these bonuses would also apply to thrown knives as well. I can't think of a good way to include that nuance in a way that wasn't confusing or wasteful of space. Seeing as I didn't include W.P. Targeting for the Grunt or Juicer generators, I think I'll remove these bonuses completely and have no bonus to thrown grenades.
-I did not combine the Combat Driving bonus to dodge with the hand-to-hand bonus to dodge, though I did so with my Bandit generator. I'm honestly not sure how to go with this one.
-One piece of equipment that I did not include was rope, even though it's widely used with the Climbing skill, and the Chaser variant has the Rope Works skill. It doesn't seem to be a standard-issue item, but I figure a GM can throw that in easily enough if desired.
-My new spiffy CS Psi-Stalker logo fits just fine at the top of the front page, but the back page is a bit too crowded to include it as anything more than a background watermark. This may just be my ego talking, but I like having these generators be a bit more than just a wall of stat blocks.

[Hotrod]

Mini-update: I've started working on a Dog Boy generator. It's probably my most-challenging yet, as the smell senses and required psionic powers have to get added to a character that is otherwise quite similar to the Psi-Stalker. Even worse, Dog Boys get 6th Sense, which requires some additional lines due to the bonuses it contributes. That's a lot of material to cram into a single page.

[masslegion]

These are very useful to me. Something like this should have been in the main rule book. Conversely, I'd buy a book full of these.

Dog Boys and Psi Stalkers would be awesome.

+1, even if was a straight to PDF only

[dragonfett]

Mini-update: I've started working on a Dog Boy generator. It's probably my most-challenging yet, as the smell senses and required psionic powers have to get added to a character that is otherwise quite similar to the Psi-Stalker. Even worse, Dog Boys get 6th Sense, which requires some additional lines due to the bonuses it contributes. That's a lot of material to cram into a single page.

Any progress with the Dog Boy Generator?

[Hotrod]

Mini-update: I've started working on a Dog Boy generator. It's probably my most-challenging yet, as the smell senses and required psionic powers have to get added to a character that is otherwise quite similar to the Psi-Stalker. Even worse, Dog Boys get 6th Sense, which requires some additional lines due to the bonuses it contributes. That's a lot of material to cram into a single page.

Any progress with the Dog Boy Generator?

My first draft was too clunky to share; it required more judiciousness about what and what not to include. I haven't touched it in a while; other projects have taken front and center, as well as some real-life stuff (we just had our fifth kid, I'm starting a new job, and I'm working on a dissertation). I'll get back to this eventually.

[Silvananthus]

Mini-update: I've started working on a Dog Boy generator. It's probably my most-challenging yet, as the smell senses and required psionic powers have to get added to a character that is otherwise quite similar to the Psi-Stalker. Even worse, Dog Boys get 6th Sense, which requires some additional lines due to the bonuses it contributes. That's a lot of material to cram into a single page.

Any progress with the Dog Boy Generator?

My first draft was too clunky to share; it required more judiciousness about what and what not to include. I haven't touched it in a while; other projects have taken front and center, as well as some real-life stuff (we just had our fifth kid, I'm starting a new job, and I'm working on a dissertation). I'll get back to this eventually.

Congrats on a new baby on the way! My wife and I have four, so my hat is off to you. I just wanted to say I love your maps and have been getting into cartography now mainly because of you! I am taking height maps of Mars and the Moon and working on the old Mutants in Orbit Sourcebook to produce maps that are hopefully as high quality as yours. I am sure it will be slow going. Anyway that aside, I would simply put a category of "special" to cut down on clutter and save limited space, as opposed to explaining every single detail for where bonuses come from. My vote for the next generator is wilderness scout. I will be equally happy if dog boy get done next though. Anyway good luck on your dissertation.

[Hotrod]

Congrats on a new baby on the way! My wife and I have four, so my hat is off to you. I just wanted to say I love your maps and have been getting into cartography now mainly because of you! I am taking height maps of Mars and the Moon and working on the old Mutants in Orbit Sourcebook to produce maps that are hopefully as high quality as yours. I am sure it will be slow going. Anyway that aside, I would simply put a category of "special" to cut down on clutter and save limited space, as opposed to explaining every single detail for where bonuses come from. My vote for the next generator is wilderness scout. I will be equally happy if dog boy get done next though. Anyway good luck on your dissertation.

Thanks for the kind words, and good luck with your map-making! I've seen a few attempts at doing terraformed maps of the moon and other rocky planets based on their height maps, and I'd be interested to see how you would do them. Feel free to pm me if you have questions about my methods.

With these generators, I generally don't include much information about where bonuses come from, but rather simply give the resulting bonuses for each configuration or variant of the character. The problem with Dog Boys is that they have so many different abilities that I'm struggling to find a way to include them all: psi-tracking, scent-based tracking skills, and other psionic powers take up a lot of space, and I still need to include things like weapons, hand-to-hand bonuses, et cetera.

One thing I've been thinking about doing to save space is to replace the "special moves" row of the Hand-to-Hand section with a series of icons, so instead of "Kick attack: 2D6" you'd see a stick figure doing a kick with "2D6" underneath, and "Death blow on nat. 20" could be replaced by a skull with a 20 under it.

A wilderness scout should be fairly straightforward, with the one complication being their long list of skills.

[Silvananthus]

Congrats on a new baby on the way! My wife and I have four, so my hat is off to you. I just wanted to say I love your maps and have been getting into cartography now mainly because of you! I am taking height maps of Mars and the Moon and working on the old Mutants in Orbit Sourcebook to produce maps that are hopefully as high quality as yours. I am sure it will be slow going. Anyway that aside, I would simply put a category of "special" to cut down on clutter and save limited space, as opposed to explaining every single detail for where bonuses come from. My vote for the next generator is wilderness scout. I will be equally happy if dog boy get done next though. Anyway good luck on your dissertation.

Thanks for the kind words, and good luck with your map-making! I've seen a few attempts at doing terraformed maps of the moon and other rocky planets based on their height maps, and I'd be interested to see how you would do them. Feel free to pm me if you have questions about my methods.

With these generators, I generally don't include much information about where bonuses come from, but rather simply give the resulting bonuses for each configuration or variant of the character. The problem with Dog Boys is that they have so many different abilities that I'm struggling to find a way to include them all: psi-tracking, scent-based tracking skills, and other psionic powers take up a lot of space, and I still need to include things like weapons, hand-to-hand bonuses, et cetera.

One thing I've been thinking about doing to save space is to replace the "special moves" row of the Hand-to-Hand section with a series of icons, so instead of "Kick attack: 2D6" you'd see a stick figure doing a kick with "2D6" underneath, and "Death blow on nat. 20" could be replaced by a skull with a 20 under it.

A wilderness scout should be fairly straightforward, with the one complication being their long list of skills.

I really like the idea of icons that take up much less space to get across an idea that takes up a lot of space to write out. That's why emoticons (emojis) are so prevalent now. Well I will see if I have time to write up a few generic npcs myself. I will share them if I can put something together that looks good enough to not embarrass myself.

[Hotrod]

I hope you don't feel held back by the prospect of making a mistake-riddled product, I see all kinds of errors in these as I go through. Some of them are minor, like a number that isn't centered in a cell, while others are major, like the unnecessary extra grenade rows in the Psi-Stalker 2nd page, where I forgot to delete the older rows when I made the newer ones. I just made a list of the things I need to fix in the "final" versions I have posted at the top of this thread, and there are over a dozen so far.

[Hotrod]

I decided to take a step back from the dissertation today and work a little on the Dog Boy NPC generator. Some oddities I've found:
*The Dog Boy OCC (RCC?) has attribute and S.D.C. bonuses as well as attribute rolls to make (which start off as the same as human) rather than just putting the bonuses in with the attributes. These bonuses are described as applying regardless of breed. Do they apply to Dog Boys who select other OCCs? I'm not sure.
*Dog Boy supernatural senses are described as less sensitive than those of the Psi-Stalker, and this seems to hold until you get to the range of the Dog Boy's ability to sense a major supernatural being, which is 1000 feet per level of experience, while the Psi-Stalker is limited to 1000+100 feet per level of experience. This may be an oversight on Palladium's part, but it adds an interesting dynamic between Dog Boys and Psi-Stalkers, so I'll keep it unless there's official guidance to the contrary.
*Dog Boy fluff indicates that they are often equipped with melee weapons, leaving the big guns to humans or thier psi-stalker leaders. However, Dog Boys have more OCC ranged skills (pistol and rifle) and fewer melee weapon skills (1) than CS psi-stalkers do in their OCC skills.
*Dog pack spikes don't appear to be standard issue.
*Dog Boys have no bonuses to save vs Horror Factor, which seems bizarre for a class literally designed to track down and fight the supernatural.
*According to Lone Star p46, Dog Boys use the C14 Fire Breather as their standard rifle for combat missions. However, they don't have W.P. Heavy, which is required to shoot the grenade launcher on that weapon.

[Hotrod]

Here is the fruit of today's labor: The basic Dog Boy NPC Generator.
Version notes:
+You may notice that I've taken a new approach with this one. I used Powerpoint for the assembly this time.
+The image size is larger than what I've done before, which should improve the clarity and readability
+I made some icons for special combat moves, rather than text, which helped reduce the size of that section.
+I did not include any breeds, mutations, or other optional bonuses for Dog Boys.
+I eliminated the harsh black outlines I used with previous versions and opted for a beveled effect on the cells.

Problems with this version:
-I'm not satisfied with how I handled the labels for each section. Alternating vertical and horizontal text was a bad choice, as was aligning some labels right while keeping others centered. I think I need to visually connect these labels with the cells they describe.
-The "Senses and Tracking" section label is too vague and doesn't guide the user well. It's difficult to tell where to go for tracking magic/psionics, tracking supernatural creatures, and tracking by smell. The bits about how they can't be surprised from behind and how blindness/total darkness penalties are halved should probably be included with the senses section.
-For that matter, I ought to re-order the sections. Hand to Hand and the Sixth Sense blocks should come before the Psionics block, which should come just before the senses block. The current order is a bit hap-hazard.
-I didn't include the I.S.P. cost for Sixth Sense.
-I forgot to include Paired Weapons at 7th level in the Hand-to-Hand section.
-I haven't included encumbrance penalties for the EBA armor types at higher levels.
-I just threw icons into free space on the left side, and I'm not very pleased with most of them.
-I inadvertently included the Horror Factor bonus from Psi Stalkers with this generator. Dog Boys have no OCC or RCC bonuses against horror factors that I can find.

As always, I welcome suggestions on how to improve this, as well as any ideas on what variants to put on the back page.

[Hotrod]

I've revised the Basic Dog Boy Generator, addressing the problems I mentioned in my previous post. Here's version 2.

[Hotrod]

I've made some more revisions to the Basic Dog Boy Generator. Here it is! Changes include:
+I re-sized the table fill the space better. It should print out nicely on a standard piece of paper (8.5 x 11 inches)
+I changed the rifle to the C-14 Fire Breather, since that is the standard Dog Boy long gun for field use per Lone Star, p46. Although it's not listed as an O.C.C. skill, I'm also just going to give the Dog Boys W.P. heavy weapons for the purpose of using the grenade launcher, because it seems silly that the CS would issue a grenade-launching weapon en masse to thousands of Dog Boys without training them in how to use it.
+Made a bunch of other minor tweaks and corrections.

Additionally, I've created the Dog Boy Variants page. Here it is! Features include:
+The Guard Dog. This variant is trained and equipped specifically to guard key facilities and important people against a variety of threats, so the the Guard Dog gets Detect Ambush and Trap/Mine Detection. Since this variant can be expected to interact with high-ranking officials, the Guard Dog also gets Military Etiquette. Otherwise, the Guard Dog is a close-up fighter who takes Paired Weapons at level 1 and wields a pair of vibro-swords by default. Guard Dogs get See Aura as their extra psionic power, to help them size up any potential threat.

+The Hound Dog. This variant is all about patrolling and tracking down City Rat criminals, so the skill selection is mostly focused on investigations: Find Contraband, Interrogation, Surveillance, and Detect Concealment. This variant gets a Neural Mace by default, and can use images taken with the Surveillance skill with Remote Viewing to track down wanted criminals. (I went with Hound Dog because hounds hunt, and "Hound Dog" the Elvis song just came to my mind as I was making this one)

+The Pointer. This variant specializes in finding enemies in the wilderness, so it gets Track Humanoids and Track/Trap Animals. In order to approach a target quietly, this variant also gets Prowl and Camouflage. The suggested weapon for this variant is the C-10 rifle, for which the NPC also gets the Sniper skill. (A Pointer is a type of hunting dog bred to help hunters find their prey and "point" in the direction of the prey so the hunter can shoot it)

I'm also including a number of optional weapons: vibro-claws (with a level-dependent range of damages), spiked gauntlets, the old-style plasma cannon, and a selection of hand grenades.

For each variant, I only selected four skills, leaving a final one open to take as a weapon proficiency. Although I included a suggested weapon with each variant, these weapons and their corresponding proficiencies are all interchangeable (the exception is the Guard Dog variant, which takes Paired Weapons and WP Sword, but any 1-hand melee weapons (vibro-claws, vibro-knives, neural maces) can substitute in for the swords, and you can even justify allowing one of the other variants to use W.P. Sword and paired weapons together, since WP Sword is an option in the O.C.C. skills.

I hope this comes in handy for anyone who wants to throw together a dog pack in a hurry. Please let me know if you see something I could do better or fix.

[Hotrod]

I've had a bit of time this week, so I decided I'd take a crack at creating the next NPC generator. As requested by Silvananthus, it's a Wilderness Scout generator. Here's the basic front page. This one posed a couple of interesting dilemmas as I created it.

To start with, there's a problem with the Wilderness Scout OCC skills as written. They get a choice between Horsemanship, Pilot: Motorcycle, and Pilot: Hovercycle, ignoring the fact that horsemanship already appears in the list just a few lines up. Not all wilderness areas are appropriate for horses (swamps come to mind), and the equipment section doesn't include a horse but does include a vehicle that matches the piloting skill. That, and my general policy of erring on the side of less empowerment for these NPC generators, led me to interpret Horsemanship as one of three options and not give the basic NPC horsemanship automatically.

Wilderness Scouts come with four W.P.'s: knife, and three of choice. Having that kind of flexibility is a challenge when making a default/basic NPC generator, as you could take this set of options in some radically different tactical directions, and I want a set that would go reasonably well for Wilderness Scouts in any region of North America. I chose Energy Rifle, Axe, and Shotgun for reasons that I'll explain in the version notes before.

Version notes:
+I chose to give the basic NPC pilot: motorcycle / snowmobile for the baseline Scout. I'll include the other options as variants.
+It seemed appropriate to give this NPC a dedicated MDC weapon, so I went with W.P. Energy Rifle. Energy Rifles are common, and Wilderness Scouts come with a telescopic sight in their starting equipment, which makes sense for a long gun. Also, I like Kevin Long's drawing of a Wilderness Scout with an energy rifle. In the grand Palladium tradition, I'm re-using the Energy Rifle options from my Bandit Generator.
+My second W.P. selection was the axe. Wilderness Scouts also come with a hand axe in their starting equipment, and like the knife, axes have been both a tool and a weapon for folks in the wilderness since time immemorial. I'm calling it "Hatchet" instead of "Hand Axe" both because it takes up slightly less space and because I'm fond of the famous survival-in-the-wilderness book, "Hatchet."
+I wanted a versatile weapon/tool for the final choice, and I decided to go with W.P. Shotgun. I also considered Archery, but I ultimately decided against it for three reasons. First, although the Archery skill description states that bows are pretty common, guns seem far more common in Rifts than bows; I can only think of a few NPCs in canon who use them. Second, there are 14 arrowhead types vs 5 types of shotgun shells; the amount of space I'll need for arrowhead options is greater than what I can reasonably dedicate to just one weapon on the front page baseline for the OCC. Finally, the NG-11S, while versatile, popular, and cool-looking, isn't all that effective in combat, since the user must spend three actions reloading after 2 shots or one double-blast, and I prefer to err slightly on the side of weakness when it comes to these NPC generators.
+Wilderness Scouts get a lot of skills, so I broke them down into functional categories: Communication and Trade, Hunting and Survival, and Exploration and Travel.

[Hotrod]

I've drafted the Wilderness Scout Variants page. Here it is!

"My boat is my castle, and the rivers and lakes are my moat."
The Waterman is the first variant. This NPC is as home on rivers, lakes, and coastal waters as in the woods. The Waterman works out of a large boat for much of the year, making a living from fishing, trade, underwater work (with the SCUBA skill) and transportation, while spending the rest of the year on land trapping and hunting. This NPC uses a speargun in lieu of a shotgun, allowing the variant to fight well on, off, and under the water. Helpful watermen can ferry the players around or help them out of a bind. Villainous watermen might be brown-water pirates, slavers, or smugglers.

"What do we need that the forest cannot provide?"
The self-reliant Naturalist lives off the land to the greatest extent possible. This NPC only needs to trade for E-clips and high-tech or magic arrows for fighting. Everything else comes from hunting, gathering, and working with the NPC's own hands. Holistic Medicine sees to the Naturalist's health, skin/prepare hides and leatherworking provides clothes/armor, carpentry provides weapons and shelter, and Breed Dogs provides a loyal hunting companion and early warning against the supernatural. The Naturalist eschews noisy vehicles for the horse, which also provides early warning against the supernatural. Though the Naturalist keeps the basic Scout's energy rifle, this NPC eschews the noisy shotgun in favor of a homemade bow and arrows. The Naturalist may use high-tech arrowheads, magic arrows, or both, depending on the circumstances and the specific NPC's personal preference. The GM can pick from five bows and 14 types of arrows/bolts, giving this NPC the appropriate power level for a given adventure. Helpful Naturalists might help heal player characters or track down a threat. Villainous Naturalists might peddle addictive drugs or value their pristine wilderness more than innocent lives.

"Hiding, are we? Good! I could use a challenge."
The Monster Hunter studies, stalks, and kills alien and supernatural threats. The selected skills are meant to help this NPC identify, track down, root out, and kill these abominations while living to fight another day. This variant isn't content with the firepower of energy rifles, preferring to devastate and overwhelm prey with heavy single-shot weapons. Five options allow the GM to tailor this NPC's firepower to meet the needs of the game. Helpful Monster Hunters are likely to be boisterous companions in arms. Villainous Monster Hunters are more likely to be poachers or outright murderers of sentient debees.

[Hotrod]

I was going over my Wilderness Scout Generator today and I noticed several problems with it:

1. It's missing W.P. Knife and W.P. axe. This is a problem, as W.P.'s tend to take up a lot of space the way I do them.
2. Horsemanship: General is supposed to be an OCC skill per the Rifts RUE Errata. Thus this should also be on the front page. This is also a problem, as Horsemanship skills/bonuses also take up a lot of space. The front page is likely going to get very crowded at this rate.
3. Horsemanship: Exotic is one of the optional OCC skill choices. I'll probably add this to the Monster Hunter variant on the back page. I have no idea what kind of exotic critters I should give them to ride; I'll have to think on that.

The need to include Horsemanship: General and two more W.P.'s means something has to go on the front page, and the most likely to go will be the optional specialized ammunition for the shotgun and the alternate energy rifles. The scout will still have an MDC and SDC long gun by default, and I may be able to put these back in as alternatives on the back page.

I'm also contemplating adding color to make this NPC generator easier to use and easier on the eyes.

[dragonfett]

Why not s triceratops for the exotic mount.

[Hotrod]

Why not s triceratops for the exotic mount.

Mounts have a lot of relevant stats. Just for a horse, here are all the pertinent stats I'd want to include:
Speeds and endurance at those speeds
Jumping height/length
Attack modes and bonuses to strike
Horse attacks per melee
Detection radius for supernatural critters, magic, et cetera.

Really, these should go into any area that includes general horsemanship. Exotic mounts would also need to include special abilities. Space is a severe constraint with these NPC generators, as I limit myself to no more than two pages total (and no more than one for the baseline).

I'll see what I can do.

[MackDaMerc]

Please tell me you are still working on this. I've spent a lot of time rolling up "average" NPCs or varying types, but nothing like what you have created here. What you have made is ingenious!

I hope the writers take note of what you have done here. It would be nice to see it used as a basis for a Rifts NPC catalog (a "rogues gallery" so to speak). OR...

I hope that the upcoming Rifts Bestiary ("monster manual") books becomes very popular. So popular that they consider adding "average" NPCs to the books - to include using your chart system.

[Hotrod]

Please tell me you are still working on this. I've spent a lot of time rolling up "average" NPCs or varying types, but nothing like what you have created here. What you have made is ingenious!

I hope the writers take note of what you have done here. It would be nice to see it used as a basis for a Rifts NPC catalog (a "rogues gallery" so to speak). OR...

I hope that the upcoming Rifts Bestiary ("monster manual") books becomes very popular. So popular that they consider adding "average" NPCs to the books - to include using your chart system.

Thanks for the kind words. This is a slow burn project I refine/add to from time to time when the mood strikes me. It's not a high priority, but I haven't forgotten it.

Is there an NPC type you'd like to see added or improved?

[dragonfett]

A Full Combat 'Borg ought to be pretty easy.

[Hotrod]

A Full Combat 'Borg ought to be pretty easy.

I find 'Borgs to be a little intimidating, since there are so many customization options, and it probably doesn't help that I've never made one, as they just never appealed to me as characters. Looking over the RUE O.C.C., I think I could make a decent Combat Cyborg NPC that would scale up with weapons, MDC, physical attributes, et cetera, along with variants for espionage (spying), light infantry (mobility), standard infantry, and heavy infantry (tanky).

I'll see what I can do. Might be a few weeks to a couple months before you see anything.

[dragonfett]

I'm just trying to keep the ideas flowing

[Warshield73]

A Full Combat 'Borg ought to be pretty easy.

I find 'Borgs to be a little intimidating, since there are so many customization options, and it probably doesn't help that I've never made one, as they just never appealed to me as characters. Looking over the RUE O.C.C., I think I could make a decent Combat Cyborg NPC that would scale up with weapons, MDC, physical attributes, et cetera, along with variants for espionage (spying), light infantry (mobility), standard infantry, and heavy infantry (tanky).

I'll see what I can do. Might be a few weeks to a couple months before you see anything.

If you have the Triax World book just use the Red Borg as your start. It is the "iconic borg" from the RMB color section and it is a great place to start. I have never made a borg from scratch I just use it.

[Hotrod]

Before I go starting a new NPC generator, it only seems right to finish fixing the last one. In that vein, here is the revised version of the Wilderness Scout generator: Page 1, and Page 2. I'm also updating these links to these in the OP.

Changes:
+Added in W.P. Knife and W.P. Axe to the front page. Damage is given as both MDC and SDC, since this NPC is assumed to have standard and vibro versions of each, or else these simply reflect the vibro-fields being on and off. However, I have not included the hand-to-hand damage bonus, as this would be confusing, as it would only apply to S.D.C.
+Added Horsemanship and a standard riding horse's stats to the front page. This includes parry bonuses from being on horseback and using the above-mentioned weapons. Note that I'm not 100% sure on horses' sensitivity radius to the supernatural/magic; I don't remember exactly where this is mentioned.
+Removed the standard horsemanship from the Naturalist variant, as this is a standard skill for all wilderness scouts.
+Added in exotic horsemanship for the Monster Hunter variant. Since the bonuses are identical to general horsemanship, I provided four exotic options that are fairly common to North America: Tri-Tops, Fury Beetle, Ostrosaurus, and Leatherwing. I also included a robot horse option, even though it's not actually an exotic mount, because I couldn't find another option that wasn't impossible for non-Simvan/Psi-Stalkers to ride. I also considered the Silonar, but it isn't widely ridden in Rifts Earth, is harder to ride than an Ostrosaurus, and is pretty redundant with the Ostrosaurus anyway. Granted, a Pegasus or Gryphon would be cool, but neither are common in Rifts Earth as far as I know, and this NPC generator is supposed to be generic. In any case, having a robot horse seems like an appropriate option, too.

[Hotrod]

A Full Combat 'Borg ought to be pretty easy.

I find 'Borgs to be a little intimidating, since there are so many customization options, and it probably doesn't help that I've never made one, as they just never appealed to me as characters. Looking over the RUE O.C.C., I think I could make a decent Combat Cyborg NPC that would scale up with weapons, MDC, physical attributes, et cetera, along with variants for espionage (spying), light infantry (mobility), standard infantry, and heavy infantry (tanky).

I'll see what I can do. Might be a few weeks to a couple months before you see anything.

If you have the Triax World book just use the Red Borg as your start. It is the "iconic borg" from the RMB color section and it is a great place to start. I have never made a borg from scratch I just use it.

I've looked over RUE and the Triax commercial 'Borg models (Blue, Gold, and Red) As much as the Red is a classic example, it's a bit too nice for what I like to do with these NPC generators. The Red Borg is an excellent and powerful platform with lots of standard bells and whistles, and I generally try to go with mediocre at low level and scale up to reasonably competent at higher levels. The RUE model allows attributes, armor, and weapons to scale up nicely, such that a low-level borg might be a bit more threatening than a C.S. Grunt, but a high-level borg may be too much for a C.S. robot vehicle to handle.

One thing that I'll have to figure out is how to approach implants; I'll probably avoid using those that affect combat bonuses (so radiation detectors would be good, but super-hearing would not).

[Axelmania]

Disposable NPCS can be extremely dangerous

Spoiler:

to our democracy

[Prysus]

Note that I'm not 100% sure on horses' sensitivity radius to the supernatural/magic; I don't remember exactly where this is mentioned.

Greetings and Salutations. This information can be found on page 204 of Monsters & Animals. I believe it's mentioned somewhere else as well, but I'm tired and went with what I knew. Farewell and safe journeys.

[Hotrod]

Note that I'm not 100% sure on horses' sensitivity radius to the supernatural/magic; I don't remember exactly where this is mentioned.

Greetings and Salutations. This information can be found on page 204 of Monsters & Animals. I believe it's mentioned somewhere else as well, but I'm tired and went with what I knew. Farewell and safe journeys.

Thanks! I'll follow up with that when I look at the Wilderness Scout generator again.

In the meantime...

Here is my rough draft of the Combat Cyborg NPC Generator.

Features:
+MDC for all body parts increase with level from the minimum at level 1 to the maximum at level 15.
+I created a simple icon with the default medium cyborg infantry armor MDC by location. While I could have simply added these values into the borg body MDC, the locations don't match. For instance, there are separate cyborg body MDC values for the upper arms and the forearms, while the armor gives a single MDC value for each entire arm. Additionally, I think it's useful knowing when a cyborg is taking damage to cheap armor vs expensive bionic systems.
+P.S. increases with level, and punching/kicking damage is referenced and included accordingly. This also includes the +3 hand-to-hand skill damage bonus starting at Level 10.
+I included knuckle blades with their optional punching damage bonus of +2D4 MD. In some cases, I've simplified the resulting damage roll to a single type of die that has a very close median result. For example, instead of "2D6+2D4," which has a median damage of 12, I list the knuckle blade punching damage as "3D8," which has a median damage of 13.
+P.P. scales with level, and bonuses for hand to hand strike, parry, and dodge, as well as corresponding vibro blade bonuses (with W.P. knife) include the scaling bonuses.
+The first ranged weapon for the default Combat Cyborg is a choice of heavy burst-fire weapons, from the underwhelming Bandit 5500 to the scary-powerful Naruni N-200. Where there were payload options, I generally chose the middle option. The Ramjet machine gun is a .50 cal machine gun.
+The second range weapon is an energy rod or pistol in a hidden compartment (effectively W.P. energy pistol for all). To the small laser and large laser/ion rods, I've added the NG-56 light ion pistol and the NG-LP5 particle beam pistol as the top-end hidden backup weapon.
+The “of choice” piloting skill is set to motorcycle, because the cyborg gets a motorcycle or hovercycle as starting equipment, and I default to the crappier option when I make these generators.

Known Issues:
-I'm not 100% sure about how to present the Borg's body and armor MDC. I'm ok about the approach I've taken, but I'm open to suggestions.
-I haven't selected any other optional weapons/implants. I will do so on the Variants page.
-The O.C.C. includes Energy Rifle as a skill, but I've ignored this, as the heavy burst fire weapons like rail guns seem to be more generic for Borgs than energy rifles. I will likely include this W.P. and some options in one of the variants.
-I selected W.P. Heavy, W.P. pistol, and W.P. knife as the "of choice" O.C.C. skill weapon proficiencies, since these went well with the generic Borg rail gun, the energy rod, and forearm vibro-blades.
-This version isn't pretty, and it isn't meant to be; I'll port it over into a much more presentable version (made in Power Point) later.
-I haven't included all the default equipment for space reasons, and because many of those items don't seem important. Tinted goggles, for instance, when the borg has mechanical, polarized eyes by default.

[Hotrod]

I've scoped out three variants for the back page of the Combat Cyborg NPC generator. Here is the rough draft of the Combat Cyborg Variants.

The first is the Blaster.
The Blaster is built to take tremendous punishment and dish it out in the form of explosive ordnance. Using heavy infantry armor, this NPC swaps out the default weapons for grenade and missile launchers (both built in and carried). Since taking damage is expected, the Blaster is also a competent scavenger, mechanic, and armorer. The Blaster has two palm plasma torches in lieu of vibro-blades to aid in scavenging useful materials and parts after battles; these are tools that get no special bonuses to strike. This NPC hauls himself, his ammunition, and his stuff around in an armored personnel carrier. Note that this variant has movement and melee combat penalties due to the heavy armor, but these do not affect the ranged weapons, so any variant can use the missile and grenade launchers with the skill bonuses provided. This variant has no special implants beyond the bionic grenade, missile launchers, and plasma torches.

The second variant is the Scout, which uses light infantry armor and emphasizes mobility, independence, and long-range surveillance. Mobility comes in the form of jet thruster leap boosters and a grapnel launcher for climbing up to 100 ft. The scout's primary weapon is a heavy energy cannon (plasma or particle beam) in order to operate on long range patrols without needing resupply, while the other default weapons remain unchanged. To aid in recon, the Scout has telescopic nightvision eyes, a radar detector, and a motion detector.

The final variant is the Agent, which focuses on surveillance, infiltration, and/or sabotage through the use of lots of suggested implants. For surveillance, the Agent has a Camera Eye, a Micro-Recorder, a Universal Language Translator, a Tracer Bug and Tracker, and a Radio/Scrambler Implant. For infiltration, the Agent uses a facial cybernetic disguise, a hair cybernetic disguise, and a Modulating Voice Simulator. For sabotage, the Agent uses explosives; in place of energy rods/pistols, the character stores dynamite or plastique in hidden compartments, along with radio-controlled or timer detonators. These explosives serve as both sabotage tools and a handy diversion to aid in making a quick getaway. The Agent is also capable of subduing and interrogating people with a Neural Stinger and a Wrist Injector (Truth Serum = EZ interrogation). Both of these use methods use hand-to-hand strike bonuses.

Outstanding issues:
-The variants page is too long and wouldn't fit on standard paper. I may be able to squeeze it in once I port this over into PowerPoint for the final version. Then again, I may have to cut some content. The Blaster Variant takes up an especially large footprint.
-The NG-P5 in the Scout is missing its range/payload. I finished this away from home today, and I didn't have the right figures handy. I'll put them in later.
-None of the variants have any kind of specialized equipment that isn't a weapon or built-in bionic feature. I figure that borgs like being borgs and using built-in features over external stuff, with the exception of the large guns they carry. Of course, I may just be rationalizing my decision because it takes up less space.
-All Combat Cyborgs are trained gunners (with the Weapon Systems skill) but I specifically avoided including bonuses for them in that role, partly because it seems kind of a waste to put a hulking powerhouse inside an armored turret, partly because it would take up more space, but mostly because I don't have a specific type of vehicle weapon system or vehicle in mind for this generator.

Please let me know what you think.

[Hotrod]

I've completed version 1.0 of the Combat Cyborg NPC Generator! Here's page 1. Here's page 2. I'm adding these to the OP as well.

As always please let me know what you think, especially if you have any ideas for improving it.

Notes:
+I simplified the armored personnel carrier for the Blaster variant. It no longer increased stats with level. This saved space, and an unarmed light APC doesn't deserve three whole rows, in my opinion.
+I combined a few rows on the Variants page with identical bonuses/percentages and similar functions, such as Salvage/Jury Rig and Strike/Parry, in order to save space.
+Lots of minor corrections and touch-ups.

Known Issues:
-There's no thematic artwork, which is kind of lame. I don't count my armor stick figures. I rather like the title font, though (It's called "Furore").
-I'd like to implement a color coding system to help make each section stand out more for quick reference. I'm not sure how I should do that yet.

[Mack]

Great work, Hotrod!

[Hotrod]

Great work, Hotrod!

Thanks! Now that this one's done, the only remaining NPC generators I'm looking at making are Vagabonds and City Rats, unless I get requests for others.

[Willy Elektrix]

I've said this several times, but I love these and use them regularly. Thanks for all the work you do.

I think you should do a ley line walker next. You could have a suggested spell list based on combat, espionage, exploration, etc.

[Hotrod]

I've said this several times, but I love these and use them regularly. Thanks for all the work you do.

I think you should do a ley line walker next. You could have a suggested spell list based on combat, espionage, exploration, etc.

I was rather looking forward to doing vagabonds with variants like scavenger, hobo, farm hand. I also rather like the idea of making a City Rat with variants like hacker, gang-banger, drug dealer, or hipster.

Magic users would be a challenge. The basic stats and skills would be easy, but the spells... there's just so much variability when you bring in spell magic, and scaling their various factors (range, duration, damage, dimensions, et cetera). It would be too space-intensive to present a reasonable scaled-effects spell list in a single page. It might be interesting to create application-focused spell lists with some basic info, though.

I'll think on it.

[Mack]

Perhaps for a mage you don’t do all 15 levels, just something like levels 3, 6, 9, & 12. And then just pick a handful of common (or frequently used) spells. A protection spell, an offense spell, a mobility spell...

[Hotrod]

Perhaps for a mage you don’t do all 15 levels, just something like levels 3, 6, 9, & 12. And then just pick a handful of common (or frequently used) spells. A protection spell, an offense spell, a mobility spell...

Interesting. I've always disliked the shorthand that gets used with NPC magic users like "knows all spells level 1-10," as that doesn't actually communicate much useful information about what the NPC should actually do in a given scenario, and the number of spells in that range is enormous. That said, if I approached spells like I approach optional weapons in these NPC generators, this could work, especially if I included a few categories within each application. For example:

Application: Combat
Categories: Buffs, Debuffs, and Attacks

Application: Not Being Seen (cue Monty Python skit)
Categories: Stealth, Concealment, and Disguise

Application: Spying
Categories: Eavesdropping, Manipulation,

Application: Movement
Categories: surface, flight, and teleportation

Application: Communication
Categories: Translation, messaging

I'll think it over.

[Elthbert]

These are amazing. I know it has been about 8 months since you posted here but I really hope you continue the project.