Hey, sorry for the extended absence. I'm going to try and get back into my games and get caught up. Can anyone summarize what I missed? Basically everything after the new party showed up.
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Sorry, I've been absent. Going through a break up.
Ya, it's from Arcana and Mystisism. I dont think he has Warrior's Gift, but there is no reason he couldn't take it. He has a bunch of unused advances. Though, Bruiser is a Seasoned Edge, meaning it would cost 50000 cr, not 25k. He'd also need Brawler to be able to use it, which is the Novice edge. Maybe you just meant Brawler, and not Bruiser. I'm not sure he can enhance your armour; I'm thinking he still wears Shakti's Combat Mage armour?. I think those suits are considered fully enhanced already. The Vigor bonus he could add to anything, like a bracer or amulet, but I dont know if an armour bonus on another item would stack. What was the armour he used before the Combat Mage suit? If it was a typical suit, Josiah might be able to bump the armour bonus a little higher. Edit: Just checked your sheet, and it doesn't look like you ever bothered to use her armour. Well, check it out, see if you want to use it, otherwise sell it off or give it away because it's worth a ton.
Jingu has a side-kick as well, so I'm pretty familiar with how they work. He got his through a MARS roll, I think though. Josiah Oats is a cranky old vehicle crew-chief that maintains the team's main ride, a hover-big rig called Elsie. She's big, has ugly armour plating welded on, and a whole bunch of guns, and she's never let us down. He's a Techno-Wizard, and since he's a side-character, he usually waits with Elsie to guard her, or storm in with her to rescue the rest of us when we need it. Ounce: Let me know if you need any help with a dragon build, or in making up an alternative if you don't want to use the default Flame-Wind dragon species.
The form the dragon can assume is just a shape, not actually that species, so the traits and hindrances of that shape are actually irrelevant.
Jesse Heinig Glitterboy Pilots are not hard to make, because Glitterboys are insane! Main things to worry about are the need to plant yourself before firing, and that the Shockwave of the boom gun hurts everyone near you; including allies. I actually helped someone in an IRL game build their Glitterboy pilot, and i figured out what the trick is to making them better. First off, you need to be as good as possible outside the suit, because it is huge, and we found she got caught outside of it all the time. Fortunately, there was a simple answer. Because it is power armour and not a robot, being tougher outside the PA also makes you tougher inside the PA. The answer, is Cybernetics! First, drop your Training heroic journey roll, and take another Cybernetics Roll instead. Then take Rich, and Filthy Rich, and use all 4 extra rolls on Cybernetics. Take the Upgradeable edge if you are afraid of running out of strain. Unfortunately, you can't qualify for the Upgrade Edge, or I'd suggest taking it at every rank. As it is, maximizing Shooting skill, and upping Vigor as often as possible are both good ideas. If we get any major payouts, see if you can afford any new Cybernetics, because they are pretty much always useful to you.
Ounce If you're open to feedback, ive had a look at your build too. It actually looks pretty solid. My only concern would be about the snow leopard. In a Rifts Setting, Railguns, Plasma Blasters, and explosives are a regular fact of life. If you keep the critter companion, you should talk to the GM about getting it some custom armour of some sort or you'll be replacing it every other mission, if not sooner. Or ask if given the setting, he'd give you some sort of supernatural animal as a companion. Again, because I totally overbuild my characters, I'd probably go in a completely different direction. Rifts uses the Born a Hero setting rule, meaning you can take Legendary Edges at character creation. So instead of spending 3 Edges on a fuzzy flesh sack, you could spend 1 edge, and get a companion just as tough as you are, and advances at the same rate you do. I can't remember if there was a dragon in the other applicants, but a dragon hatchling companion would be pretty sweet. One of the original Paladium Books Rifts had a type called the Catseye dragon, sort of based on the Chinese lion headed dragon, so it would go really well with the Mystic theme. Other options could be an animal mutant, similar to a dog-boy, but with a more animal shape (Lone Star, the facility where Dogboys were invented experimented on a lot of animals), and it would still have an iconic framework of its own. A were-panther that spends almost all its time in animal shape would also be an option. Besides being exponentially more powerful, the Sidekick option would also free up two of your Edges. If you decide to use the Dragon option, I was working on a Cats-Eye conversion at one point, and I'm sure with DMSBM we could hammer out the details.
A couple of thoughts. Be warned, I tend to heavily overbuild my characters, so the advice tends to go along a theme of specializing and getting better at the extremes of what you can do, so if you purposely chose less optimized options because you like a more varied organic character, this won't apply as much to you. First, you qualify for Major Psionics, but took extra power points. Major Psionics actually doubles your ISP, so you'd actually end up with more if you switched it (20 instead of 15), as well as having the boosting ability of Major Psionics. You don't have the abilities for Master Psionics, so you can't quite reach Mega-powers, but it wouldn't be impossible to reach if you wanted to rearrange a few things. Mega powers are pretty awesome, though allow you to burn through all your ISP very fast. Personally, if I make a character with Psionics or Magic, I make them capable of Mega-Powers. You have Two-Gun Kid, and Two Fisted, and yet you have Psi-Shield? In addition to Ambidextrous, thats Three edges invisted into something you'll rarely, if ever, use. Forgetting that with Warrior's Gift (as an innate ability that doesn't cause a multi-action penalty), and you could therefore just give yourself either power if you needed it for a few rounds, and chances are you will almost never use either. If you want to be able to hit twice in a round, take Frenzy. You'd hit with your sword both attacks, and do much more damage. Is there a reason your athletics is D10? Is that to qualify for an edge? Fighting is usually much more important. Cyber-Knights often make great "Face" characters, due to their respected status. Since your spirit is already d8, I'd make it at least that. If it were me, I'd probably also go for Improved Psi Sword. You'd go from 3d8 to 4d8, and have a whole extra die that can Ace. At 3d8, Jingu would do more damage with his Psi-Blade (2d12+4+Smite {which he needs to use to activate his blade}. Since Psi-Sword is kind of the Cyberknight signature ability, don't know if it would bother you if Jingu was better with it than you. Those are my thoughts. As I said, feel free to use all or none of them, as you please.
I agree with Burgurk that there is like room for everyone, but I will look over the characters, to see if I have any build suggestions.
We updated to Swade rules along the way in the campaign somewhere. I vaguely remember Burgurk asking for some old rule to be grandfathered in regarding his character, but can't recall the details. Jingu follows the current rules, or at least is intended to. Josiah Oates is his sidekick, so basically another character controlled by me. We use him mostly as backup and as the vehicle driver, so as not to steal limelight from the main stars.
Dragon Hatchlings are pretty cool. I think the flame dragon in the books is the only official species available, but I've seen a few fan versions of other breeds. I think I did one at one point for a campaign; it was the Catseye Dragon, which is more of a chinese lion-headed type dragon with no breath weapon, but a hypnotic gaze and at-will invisibility, I think. I'd have to look and see if I ever finished it. Jingu is a Psi-Warrior (melee specialist with Mega-Psionics {Illusion, Force Fields, Telekinesis}), but he has a Techno-Wizard sidekick, so that role is covered (not that we can't have another). TW is one of my favourite archtypes in SW Rifts, which is funny, because they kind of sucked in the original Rifts game. Jingu was kind of envisioned as a scout/thief/saboteur, but he's got a bit of the samurai one-man army flavour to him in a fight when he needs it. Burgurk is a Burster that has been reflavoured from Fire to Telekinesis, but essentially he's another combat psychic.
Sorry, I think I'm basically having the same issue. I don't really want the game to end either, but with just the two of us, it is really hard to get the motivation to keep it going. There is just not enough of a team to interact with in these situations. Is there any possibility of a recruitment drive? I know we've had mixed luck with that in the past, but I don't know if the game is sustainable with just two players.
●So, their leader appears to be waiting for something. She keeps checking a device on her belt. I imagine that it is either a timepiece and she is waiting for a specific time, or a communication device and she is awaiting a signal. The way she is checking it implies she is feeling impatient. The rendezvous is either approaching rapidly or already overdue. That means that whatever we choose to do, we should probably do it soon. If we can find a way to scout for any other approaching groups, that would be helpful. Do you know if there are any Simvan tribes in this area? If we could contact them, they would be a great source of information, and these folk must be using psi-stalkers to keep the Faelerin drained of their psychic potential. That would make us natural allies.● ●When it comes to the operation, I see a few options. First, direct. Move our squads up from multiple directions, fire off a warning shot, and demand surrender. If we get the squads in position, it has a good chance of success. Liabilities are that if noticed while getting into position, we could end up in a pitched battle. Whether we are noticed or not, we also run the risk of getting into a hostage situation with the Faelerin we came to rescue. I think we'd have to play it as though we don't know who they are or who the Faelerin are, and we are just a patrol wanting to know what an unaffiliated armed group is doing here.● ●Option two: guile. We drive up to them as though we met by chance, make conversation, and ask if we can trade for supplies. We gather as much intel as we can, and can then decide how to proceed next. Downside is, we don't know how much time we have, and this option needs time to pay off. If a second team shows up, our odds decrease.● ●Third: subterfuge. I go in invisible, sabotage equipment, and potentially even communicate with the Faelerin. I saw one walking about, so even if they are prisoners, they don't seem to be restrained. I could theoretically even bring them a few weapons. Even if they can't help us, weapons might be enough to hold off any of the slavers that try to rush in to try to use them as shields. This option would still require a direct intervention of some sort, but if their vehicles and heavy weapons are inoperable, and they can't use hostages, we could probably negotiate a surrender relatively easily. If they know they can't escape, it would also make a scorched earth strategy, killing the hostages, less likely, as we would be motivated to kill them, either to stop them or in reprisal.● ●There are probably other strategies we could use, but that is what comes to mind for me. Any of those appeal to you, or spark any ideas of your own?●
After scouting things from a distance, Jingu cloaks himself with his best invisibility, in case they have scouts watching with Thermal Imagining or magic, and then cloaks his psionic signature as well. Thus prepares, he does a closer flyby of the encampment to gather more details.
●I certainly could. It wouldn't be difficult to do a flyover, get a headcount and log mechs and defensive emplacements.● Jingu zooms in with his optics, trying to get a better view from here.
●An airborn transport would be highly advantageous if we could get one. Quick evac. Any indication what level of protection they'll have? Are these prisoners considered high priority, or routine? It would be good to know if we should be expecting two guards in a truck, or a power armour unit with Samas escorts.● ●I wish we had more regular members in this unit. It would be nice to have some other resources to call on.●
If appropriate, Jingo makes a report to the officer. He tells them what they discovered about the smuggling ring, that they are using local wild Psi-Stalkers to capture the apparently energy rich blue skinned d-bees. The wild stalkers bring them in drained and docile, and then the coalition is shipping them out again. He'll also report on the grove of sentient trees, and inform them about the sabotage operation that was performed on the logging crew.
Jingu activates his invisibility in order to move in.
●OK, lets do it. I suggest we go at end of day; second mess. People will be the most tired, but it won't be dark yet.●
●Sounds good. I'm tempted to just try to wipe the group out entirely, though that is probably unnecessary, and might cause the locals more trouble than we intend. Doing minimal damage might be a better plan. Saboteurs can be caught. An entire group gets wiped out, and the Coalition might just carpet bomb the whole forest.●
●I think deadboy armour does have thermal, so going at mess time might not be a bad idea. They won't be using thermal during daylight hours. Only real question is whether we just sabotage the equipment, or decide to take them all out. An explosive set off at the mess would probably take out 80% of the camp.●
●That should not be a problem. If we expect me to have enough time to rest afterwards, I can use True Invisibility and get a thorough look around.●
= Raise
Turning invisible, Jingu flies a wide circle around the work site, stopping at various vantage points and cycling his multi-optics visor through its various settings to look for thermal signatures or posted sentries he might otherwise have missed. He sends a mental image of the guards positions to Burgurk and Josiah, who is waiting back at the truck. Once done with that Jingu moves in parallel to Burgurk, close enough to maintain line of sight, but far enough that if one of us were spotted, the other would not be in the line of fire (15-20m?).
●It's threading a thin line; if we destroy the equipment, they could bring in more, making whatever we do just a delay. I think that is really all we implied that we would do, and its just more of a friendly gesture than anything else. It might give the sentient trees time to move and migrate out of the harvesting area. ●We could try to scare the Coalition off, but I think anything we did to cause that would probably just make them paranoid enough to respond by burning the whole forest down or just carpet bombing the whole area. ●Taking out the equipment is probably the best we can offer. After thinking a moment he says, ●An out-there strategy would be to reprogram their equipment. I think Josiah still has a few Skelebot parts lying around from that op we ran a while back. They should have a basic AI on board. If we pulled out the computer core, and I reprogrammed it to recognize Coalition forces as hostiles, we could sneak into one of the big bots, plug it in, and hardwire it to override any manual inputs. Then we could take off while it ran amuck, and they have to blow it up themselves. They would figure out what was done eventually, but ideally they'd have no idea who did it. The hard part would be sneaking in and staying hidden long enough to do the wiring. Its a much more complex plan, but might be more disruptive and leave them confused and wary longer. The fact it was a Skelebot head might also make them worry about having a traitor among them, and slow them down for longer.● ●If you want to try it, I'm down, but I think simple sabotage, a slash and dash, is probably our best bet.●
Silence does the opposite, muting all sound up to a loud shout within a Large Blast Template. A raise on the roll mutes all sound, no matter how loud. Those with Arcane Background (Magic) and Arcane Background (Miracle) cannot activate powers while silenced. Edit:
Silence does the opposite, muting all sound up to a loud shout within a Large Blast Template. A raise on the roll mutes all sound, no matter how loud. Those with Arcane Background (Magic) and Arcane Background (Miracle) cannot activate powers while silenced.
●I suggest we retrace our steps going back. We still have our cover, though we will have to come up with an excuse for leaving. Perhaps we received word another mercenary company has found a large vampire nest, and wants to hire us as additional manpower to help route it out. If we run into anyone that asks questions along the way, we stick to that story. We'll need a name and details for the job so the story stays consistent. We'll stop back at the forest and put the harvesting equipment out of commission before moving on. Sound good?●
●After a fashion. Help them get rid of the harvesting equipment. Should be easier to achieve now that our cover is not as vital. Still better not to get caught, but if we do, it doesn't blow the mission.● ●Josie may be able to rig up some sort of sound dampener or cloaking device for you, to make it a little easier to sabotage the equipment and get out.●
●I'm very good at sneaking, but I grant that not everyone is.● He cocks his head to look askance at Josie with his compound eyes, ●His idea of stealth is probably to turn off Elsie's headlights.● He sits and thinks for a moment. ●I would be comfortable following them alone, though intervening with a group of Psi-Stalkers would likely be a bad idea solo. There would be very few better suited to counter me in a fight. And if innocents are endangered, I have a tendency to act impulsively. You are probably right that the wisest plan is to return with the intelligence gained and receive new orders.●
●Looks like a classic sentient-trafficking operation. The wild-Psi stalkers hunt the d-bees, drain them to make them easy to handle, and then hand them over to the dead-boys, probably for a finder's fee. Dinner and a paycheck. We could bug out with that info, but it might be nice to do a little more digging and get a sense of the scale of the operation. Maybe we should try to keep an eye out for one of these deliveries. After that, we can follow either the prisoners and find out where they are going, or follow the hunters back to their tribe. Then we could decide whether we have the means to cut that particular link in the chain, or we follow them on to wherever the d-bees are holding out against these raids.●
●So, what do we do next? We're not going to get anywhere with the 'Stalkers, and they're liable to give you at least a pretty hard time if they see you out and about. We seem to have done OK getting in with the populous, for whatever good it does. I'm not much at the whole 'Streetwise' connection stuff. My people are natural telepaths; secrets and rumours are handled very differently.● ●We could try approaching a few of the Deebees around; while its not a lot of them, there are some. There is always the idea of hacking the coalition mainframe here; I'm pretty sure I could pull that off. Other than that, I'm not sure what else to try. Buying lots of beers?●
●I don't do mind-control, or even smooth emotions; best I can do is a distraction.●
Jingu activates the alarm, indicating an incoming threat, and presumably causing everyone to drop whatever they are doing and run to their posts. When the alarm sounds, Jingu jumps up, grabs Burgurk's arm, and indicates we'd best get back to our truck.
●We came here in the same car; little late to create distance... If we fight these guys, somebody is going to die, and then we'll have bodies to deal with, and angry deadheads commanders. If we want to stick with the mission, I think our best options might be to apologize, or bug out and hope it blows over.●
Jingu sits quietly in the background, but might be raising an eyebrow, if he had eyebrows. To Burgurk he sends, ●Are you trying to start a fight? I thought we were supposed to be making nice and keeping a low profile?●
Jingu does not have much to offer in terms of social skills, or any good way to set people at ease. As a result, he stays mostly quiety, offerring to help out around town where he can. He uses Psionics to communicate, so he will not try to conceal he has those abilities, though he will try to avoid any conspicuous uses of power. He'll offer to help out with tasks where his ability to fly helps, such as patching roofs, running things up poles, or using some telekinesis (only regular, not mega) to lift heavy objects and shift loads.
Jingu concentrates for a moment before wandering away from Elsie, holding in his auras. While Psionics are not exactly illegal in CS lands, TW armour is, and he'd rather not pick up any interest from spike-heads. Sending only to his teammates, he says, ●Alright, so we're supposed to get in with the locals, and try to see if there is a Faelerin population or connection here, and locate the CS RCSG team that has been tasked with rounding them up. Strategy? Spread out and look for rumours? I can try to locate the CS office and hack their database perhaps? Disappear a scout and grill him for info? How should we procede?●
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