This is the rules board. It will be here that I will post my home combat rules, clarification on Palladium rules, any changes that I decide during the campaign, and some other odds and ends that didn’t fit elsewhere. The first rule is don’t post here. This thread is exclusively for me to post information directly related to the campaign’s rules. If anyone has any comments, questions or suggestions post them in the OOC thread. Now for the campaign rules.

#1- It is somewhat ambiguous as to what constitutes a hit in Rifts. According to the Main Book a 5 or better hits. According to the Conversion Book a 4 will hit. The GM’s Guide states one needs better than 5 to hit. Thanks for clarifying that, guys. Anyway, by my ruling a 5 or better is a hit. In addition, on a called shot one needs to roll a 12 or better after taking all of the bonuses and penalties into account.

#2- Fumbles. If one rolls a Nat 1 that is a potential fumble. I say potential because I’ll give one a chance to recover without disaster. If one rolls a Nat 1 roll another d20, adding one’s PP bonus and one’s current level. If one rolls a 15 or better one avoided the fumble. Regardless of whether or not one avoided the fumble a Nat 1 is an automatic miss.

#3- In Rifts there is a penalty to strike a moving target. I consider it to be insufficient. Here is how we’ll be handling it. Take the target’s relative speed in mph and divide by 40. Then round up the results to the nearest whole number. Multiple that number by –3 and that is the strike penalty. It’s important to note I said relative speed. If one and the target were moving towards each other one would need to add the two speeds together to determine the penalty. If one were chasing the other then one would use the difference in the two speeds to determine the penalty.

#4- By the rules if one’s character isn’t a Cyber-Knight or a Duelist it takes a full round to summon a Psi-Sword. In my opinion that’s too long. To compromise it will take a few actions to summon and use the Psi-Sword. On the first action the Psi-Sword is summoned. On the second action one can use the Psi-Sword to parry only. On the third action have at you!

#5- I have revised the pair weapons fighting rules a bit. By Palladium’s rules if one attacks with both weapons at once one can’t parry on that action. That rule is now null and void. One can attack with both weapons and parry in the same action. If one is attacking with both weapons against the same target one only has to roll to strike once. If, however, one is attacking two targets at once then one has to roll to strike the two targets individually. One may also attempt to use two melee weapons at once without the Paired Weapons proficiency, but one would have no bonuses to strike. I’ll take the time to point out that one only has to take the Paired Weapons proficiency once. It’s not Paired Swords, Paired Knives, etc. One only has to take it once to cover all melee weapons. I’ll also point out that Paired Weapons covers melee weapons only. It doesn’t give one the ability to shoot a pair of pistols or any other range weapon with any skill.

#6- By the rules unless one has two melee weapons one can’t parry multiple attacks. While I agree that parrying multiple attacks at once would be difficult it would not be impossible. If one is trying to fend off multiple attacks the first parry is normal while each additional parry has a cumulative –5 penalty. This penalty is against one’s usual parry, not a flat –5 or higher penalty to parry. If one’s character is using two melee weapons s/he can parry twice before the penalty, then twice more at –5, twice at –10, etc.

#7- We’ll be using the weapon proficiencies described in Rifts Ultimate Edition but we’ll be handling the strike bonuses for modern weapons more along the previous editions rules. At first level one will be +3 to strike on aimed shots, +1 on burst attacks and +0 on wild attacks. At every third level all three strike bonuses will increase by 1. Yes, that includes wild attacks too.

#8- We’ll be employing the Range Combat rules introduced in “The Rifter #11” with some modifications. For those not familiar with the rules, they introduce range combat skills similar to Hand-to-Hand combat skills. If anyone needs me to I can e-mail a copy of the article. There will be one major difference. As per the article the skills are dependant on the WPs. Basically whatever your skill level is for a WP is the skill level for your RC skill with that weapon. To me that seems convoluted so we’ll handle it differently. Whatever one’s strike bonuses are from one’s RC skill one can employ with any firearm. However, one cannot use any of the special skills from one’s RC skill unless one also has the WP for the firearm one is using.

#9- For the dodge penalty with firearms we’ll employ a variation of the range combat rules. The penalty will be –5 plus the attacker’s dodge penalty. One will be allowed to keep one’s dodge bonus. I’ll also allow one to parry range attacks so long as one has something appropriate to parry the attack with. No catching bullets with one’s teeth or parrying laser blasts with one’s bare hands. The parry penalty will be the same as the dodge penalty.

#10- To determine casting time of a spell we’ll be employing the method from an article in “The Rifter #21.” The basic idea is that for incantations a mage charges the spell with PPE every action at a rate depending on his/her level and the type of spell. If it is a spell normally in their school of magic the mage can spend 5 PPE/XP level/action. If the spell is one that is normally outside the mage’s school of magic then the mage can charge the spell at the rate of 3 PPE/XP level/action. For example, Merv the Ley Line Walker is 3rd level and decides to cast “Armor of Ithan.” General incantations are considered a part of the Ley Line Walker’s school of magic so he can pump 15 PPE into the spell per action. Since the spell only costs 10 PPE Merv can cast the spell in a single action. Next Merv decides to cast a Necromantic spell. The spell is not considered a general incantation therefore Merv can only charge the spell at the rate of 9 PPE/action. The exceptions to this are rituals and any incantations that have a casting time listed. For example the spell “Restore Life” has a listed casting time of five minutes. So regardless of level it would take any mage five minutes to cast the spell. We’ll use this rule to determine the rate of borrowed PPE. If the mage is touching the willing donor s/he can siphon 5 PPE/XP level/action. If there are multiple donors at once I’ll consider the touching rule in play so long as there is a “closed circuit” between the donor and the mage. For example, Merv is holding Jim’s hand and Jim is holding Amy’s hand. Since Jim is acting as a physical conduit between Amy and Merv, Merv can siphon 15 PPE/action from Amy. If the mage and donor(s) are not touching then the mage can only siphon 3 PPE/XP level/action. They’re not too clear in the rules as to how far away a mage can be from a donor. My rule is 5 ft + 1 ft/level unless the mage and the donors are touching each other. There can be a chain of donors a mile long and the mage can still siphon PPE from the guy at the end of the line so long as there are live people physically touching each other from the mage to the guy at the end of the line. Physical touch is also required to siphon PPE from multiple hosts at once with the exception of rituals.

#11- I’m going to revise the rules for siphoning PPE from the dead a little bit. According to Palladium rules a mage normally can’t siphon PPE from a recently slain opponent during combat unless certain restrictions are applied. I’m going to loosen the restrictions a little bit, but at a price. If the mage is near someone or something when it dies during combat I’ll allow them to absorb the released PPE under the following rules. Firstly, the mage has to use his or her next immediate action to do so. While absorbing this PPE the mage cannot parry or dodge until his or her following action. Doing so disrupts the absorption process and all PPE is lost to the environment. The mage in question has to be within 5ft +1ft/level to absorb the PPE. The mage can only absorb 3 PPE/level max. So there’s likely to be a lot of PPE lost to the environment, especially for lower level mages, when one tries to absorb the quickly fleeting PPE. If one wants to absorb all of the released PPE then one has to follow all of Palladium’s restrictions. Which of course are difficult to follow in combat, which was probably the point. If one wants a quick and slight recharge then one can do so following my rules. These rules do not apply for ritual sacrifices. During a ritual sacrifice the mage is in complete control of the situation and therefore is fully prepared to absorb all of the PPE from the blood sacrifice.

#12- The Palladium rules allows one to raise force fields as a parry. I’m going to elaborate on the rules a little bit. Any force field that can be activated by a thought and on a single action may be raised as a parry with a +4 bonus. I’ll allow bubble/wall force fields to be raised as an attack. By that I mean the player can raise the force field as a means to trap an opponent or create a barrier for the opponent to crash into. One would be +3 to strike. In order for one to raise a bubble/wall force field it has to be connected to the ground or some structure large enough to support the force field. One can’t create the force field in midair unless the spell/power description states that one can.

#13- I’ll be utilizing the size bonus/penalty to strike rule from D&D 3E. Summarized, for every size level up or down one’s opponent is there is a cumulative -/+2 penalty/bonus to strike. And before someone comments, I know they changed it a bit in 3.5. I like the 3.0 version better.

#14- And since I’m already borrowing one rule from D&D, let’s borrow some more. We’ll be employing the same to strike penalties to strike a partially covered target with a range weapon as detailed in D&D 3.5. I’m also including the penalty to shoot into melee combat.

#15- For those with magic or psychic powers I’ll allow those characters to super charge their spells/powers. Take however much one wants to multiply the strength of the spell/power and square it. This is the cost multiplier to supercharge the spell/power. For example, if one wants to double the strength of a spell/power it’ll cost 4 times as much PPE/ISP as it normal would. This covers everything relevant to the spell/power. Range, duration, damage, etc. There are four restrictions. The first is that the multiplier to spell/power strength has to be a whole number. No multiplying the spell/power strength by 1.5 or by pi. The second restriction is that techno-wizardry or any other item charged with PPE or ISP cannot be supercharged. The strengths of such items are determined at the time of their creation. So one cannot supercharge such items to get more bang for one’s buck. The third restriction is that ritual spells cannot be supercharged, only incantations. The final restriction is that one can’t decrease the strength to one’s spells/powers. I’m not going to let one under power a spell/power to conserve PPE/ISP. The amount of PPE/ISP listed is the minimum necessary to cast the spell/use the power period.

#16- According to the Federation of Magic book the amount of PPE need to recharge a PPE-Clips is 10 PPE per shot of the weapon. That makes no sense as that would mean it’s the gun and not the PPE-Clip that is being charged. Based upon what I’ve read on Palladium Books’ web site I’m ruling that it takes 60 PPE or 120 ISP to recharge a PPE-Clip. I will let one split the recharge cost between PPE and ISP so long as one has the ability to use both, e.g. Mystic. In the case of splitting the cost is 2 ISP =1 PPE when charging the PPE-Clip.

#17- For the most part I’ll allow players to “stack” force fields. By stacking force fields what I mean is I’ll allow a player to have more than one force field up and active at the same time. There are a few rules and restrictions for stacking force fields. If the force field is a spell or psychic power it can be cast as many times as one’s PPE/ISP reserves allow. If the force field is installed, such as a NE force field harness, a TW modification or some other enchantment the force field can only be activated once and cannot be reactivated again until the force field dissipates or is deactivated. For example, if one has “Armor of Ithan” installed in one’s armor one cannot activate it several times to stack two or more “Armor of Ithan” force fields. However if one has “Armor of Ithan” and “Invincible Armor” one could activate both of the spells at the same time to stack the force fields. When stacking force fields the force field activated most recently will be the topmost layer. The exception will be for Eruptor force fields, like the Burster’s fiery aura. Those types of force fields will always be the topmost layer, regardless of the order of activation.

#18- Force fields and armor can take a little more damage than their MDC. A force field can take double its current MDC before the damage is transferred to the target. The exception is “Invincible Armor,” which states in the spell description that it absorbs all excessive damage. For SDC beings only, if the armor takes more damage than its current MDC, but within double its current MDC the SDC being will be rendered unconscious with 0 HP and SDC rather than misted.

#19- This is for anyone with a Naruni force field. According to the description if the force field’s MDC drops to zero the force field generator is out of commission for several hours. Instead of several hours the generator is OOC for the time it takes for the force field to completely recover its MDC. If the force field absorbs excessive damage as described in House Rule # 18 then it starts from a negative MDC equal to the extra damage it absorb rather than from 0.

#20- When it comes time for combat we’ll be running in full round increments. Everyone posts what his/her character does for that round plus their dice results. One will have two days to post one’s actions. If combat gets too hectic I’ll start running the combat in half round increments. If for some reason one’s planned actions become invalid I will attempt to fairly finish one’s actions for that (half-)round so that one’s character doesn’t spent a part of the round standing around doing nothing. I would suggest that one might want to post secondary actions. By that I mean if what one initially plans become invalid for some reason during the (half-)round write in what one wants to have one’s character do instead.

#21- In regards to saving verses Horror Factor include one’s ME bonus, if any.

#22- I’m going to flat out tell everyone that I’m not going to tolerate interparty fighting. It’s one thing to have a disagreement, that I don’t have a problem with, but as will be explained in greater detail in the character creation thread, your characters are expected to act like professionals. A chain of command will be designated within your squad. If you don’t think you can act like an adult, don’t bother applying. I mention this because I had an incident in one of my previous campaigns where one of the low ranking players thought he should be running things and actually attacked his squad to intimidate them into following him. Didn’t quite work out that way. His squad ended up killing him instead. While the character in question was powerful, the player severely underestimated his superiors and they promptly killed him. He calls me a crappy GM and quits. No loss on our part as far as I’m concerned. My point in all this is that if anyone repeats that player’s mistake I will respond accordingly. If that means hitting that player with something from left field, or simply letting someone turn the character’s head into a shish kabob like last time, either way it won’t work out too well for the rebel. If one cannot act like a reasonably mature adult then don’t apply. I don’t want to seem heavy handed, but I don’t want players acting selfishly and/or idiotically and trying to excuse their misbehavior by claiming that’s how their character would act. That’s what that last guy tried to do. I’m not sure who was the bigger idiot. The character for thinking he could take on eight guys single-handedly, some of who were as powerful as him, if not more so. Or the player for thinking that was a valid excuse for attacking his fellow players. Now I don’t want the players to think that their characters have to act exactly as they would. One’s character is expected to be different from the player. I expect that there are some ways the character would act differently than the player would. I’m just saying that the differences in the player’s and character’s personalities are not a valid excuse for acting like a shithead. You’ve been warned.

#23- An important item to discuss is absenteeism. Now I understand that we all have lives outside of the game and sometimes situations in the real world can result in one being kept away for a time. I’m not heartless, but I do ask if one needs time away from the game because of real-life obligations or some other reason to inform me at the earliest opportunity. I will gladly cover for a player for a short time so that the party isn’t without the character and so that said character can continue to earn XP while the player is otherwise occupied. If one doesn’t inform me about his/her temporary absence I will not cover for them and the character will miss out in any XP earned during the absence. I will also state if someone doesn’t post for a long time I will send an e-mail and if the e-mail is ignored his/her character will swiftly die. This is a war campaign. That’s not exactly hard to arrange. The same is true if I feel I’m covering for someone for too long. In another campaign someone “temporarily” left because of school and I never heard from her again. If I feel one is absent too long, even if there is regular or semi-regular correspondence between us, I will terminate the character. Along those lines, if one knows in advance that one has something coming soon that may prevent one from playing for long stretches at a time, please don’t bother applying. For example, there was one online campaign in which I played where the GM abandoned us. Before she did she told us she was in the middle of buying a new house and would be absent for a while. Instead she disappeared and we never heard from her again. What makes the situation a little baffling is that the campaign had only started a couple of weeks before that announcement. And I have to wonder, if she was in the middle of buying a new house, why in the hell did she start the campaign when she did? I mean, come on! Buying a house is a lot of work and she actually thought she would have the time to run an online RPG campaign? Either the woman wasn’t too bright or she just got bored with the campaign really quickly and she didn’t feel like telling us the truth. Either way, if one knows well in advance that there is something coming up that requires a lot of dedication and work that will interfere with one’s ability to play for long stretches at a time, then one might want to consider not applying to this campaign. I’d rather someone didn’t apply than join and then just abandon the campaign.

#24- Another important issue to me that I hope will help prevent players from outright abandoning the campaign is that I encourage everyone to talk to me. If one has an issue with the way I’m running things, say something for the sake of God! There were a few players who abandoned my previous campaigns that I suspect did so because they didn’t enjoy the game anymore and were “too polite” to say anything. If you have an issue or a suggestion, please say something. I don’t care if it’s in an e-mail, a note or a post. Hell, maybe there are other players who feel the same way. All I ask is one be honest, tactful and if possible, explain why one has an issue with what is happening. Saying, “Hey, GM! You suck!” doesn’t really tell me anything. Saying, “I disagree with [insert situation here].” goes a lot further to helping us reach a solution. Perhaps we can reach a compromise. However, I can’t deal with any problems if no one says a word. I’m not made of glass. I will not shatter to a billion pieces if you dislike some aspect of my campaign. I do ask that one exorcise tact, but otherwise be honest.

#25- In regards to the previous rule, I am the GM. I do have the final say. I will of course try to be fair and logical. However, there are rules and details in Rifts that are vague or contradictory, as a few of the previous home rules demonstrate and I doubt I got them all. If anyone thinks I’m being unfair or illogical in my rulings do speak up, but once I’ve made my final ruling that’s final. Please don’t argue with me for the sake of arguing.

These are the rules! I make them up! These rules are subject to constant review and can be changed with little or even no notice. The rules may be changed to improve the realism of the campaign, to make running the game easier for me, or just for my amusement. Welcome to my world. Have fun!

 #26- Since this has been brought up to me I’m going to post this rule here for clarity sake. The question is does talking take up an action. The answer is it depends on how much one is trying to say. A short sentence or phrase a few words long I would let a player take as a free action, to borrow a D&D 3.5 term. If one is trying to say too much at once then speaking takes up an action.
     In some cases I would let a person speak and do another action at the same. There are certain conditions to this. First one has to make it perfectly clear that one is doing both at the same time. Second, one cannot be engaged in an action that makes speaking at the same time impossible. For example, casting a spell as one has to concentrate on channeling one’s PPE and also has to chant the spell in order to cast the spell. Activating a TW enchantment is also a prohibitive action to talking at the same time as one has to concentrate on the enchantment one wants to activate and channel PPE or ISP into the activation of the spell. Using a psychic power also prevents one from speaking as the psychic has to concentrate a moment to activate the power or sometimes longer. Some powers require the psychic to meditate and concentrate for a while before using the power. For example, Psychic Diagnosis it’s 2d4 rounds of meditation to use. During this time one cannot speak at all or one has to start over. Basically any action that requires more than a moderate amount of concentration on one’s part makes speaking at the same time impossible. A simple action, such as shooting one’s weapon is easy enough to do while speaking, or yelling at the top of one’s lungs.
     As always, I’ll be the judge when speaking takes a full action to do. As the campaign progresses situations may arise that will cause me to rule differently than what I’ve stated here. I will always try to be fair and logical about the ruling.

#27- I thought I had covered this, but looking back I evidentially forgot to include this rule. During combat I will not be keeping track of your PPE, ISP, MDC, armor’s MDC, ammo, etc. I expect each player to keep track of that information for his/her character(s).

#28- I actually noticed this during the first fight and meant to say something earlier. During the first fight when certain events occurred I asked some of the players what their reaction was and they post a full round’s worth of actions. That’s not what I’m looking for. If I state something happens and ask for one’s reaction that typically means one is getting a single action to react to something. E.g. You see a hand grenade arcing towards you, what do you do? You hear a click to your right, what do you do? You feel something breathing on the back of your neck, what do you do? Some viscous goo has just dripped onto your shoulder, what do you do? Your sixth sense just went off, what do you do? This is a device I’ll typically use either just before the official start of combat, or I may place it between combat rounds. But in either case, one doesn’t get a full round of actions to react. Those whom are unusually fast, such as Juicers, may get two actions, but that’s the limit.

#29- Okay, since The White’s E-clip bomb brought this issue into question, I’ll address it right now. If one rigs two or more explosive devises together the damage from all the explosives is added together. The range will increase to the square root of the number of devices involved. For example, a plasma grenade does 5d6 MD to a 12-foot radius. In this example we’ll say that four were rigged together into a trap to detonate together. So the four grenades will do 20d6 MD. The square root of four is two. 12-foot radius x 2 = 24-foot radius.
     This is a general rule. It works easily when the rigged explosives are all the same, but what happens when it’s two or more different explosive devices rigged together? Long story short, I’ll rule on a case-by-case basis. For example, if one were to rig a plasma grenade with a fragmentation grenade. A frag grenade does 2d6 MD to a 20-foot radius. In all honestly, I don’t think the two grenades would work together very well. One is basically pure heat and the over sends out shrapnel. If anything, it’s possible that the plasma grenade would vaporize the shrapnel and reduce the damage that the frag grenade does. Another example are fusion blocks. Fusion blocks are designed to contain their explosion to a 10-foot radius. In a situation involving two or more fusion blocks detonated together, the blast radius would probably not increase much beyond 10 feet since they’re designed to contain their explosions to 10 feet. Another possibility is something other than an explosion occurring, such as when I ruled that the E-clip bomb has a 75% chance of shorting out instead and causing a fire.
     Basically, the first paragraph is a general rule, but depending on the circumstances I may rule that a jury-rigged bomb’s damage and/or range works out differently than the general rule and I may throw in some other possible effect as well.

#30- Standard Power Armor Sensors

1. Passive Night Vision: 1600 feet (488 m)
2. Laser Distancer: 6000 feet (1829 m)
3. Thermo-Imager: 1600 feet (488 m)
4. Telescope: x 300 Magnification Range: 2 miles (3.2 km)
5. Amplified Hearing: Same as the bionic implant but with twice the range. Does NOT imbue any of the combat bonuses. Will not amplify sound to hearing damage levels.
6. Sound Filtration: To protect the pilot from loud noises often associated with high speed flying, combat, etc. Not as good as the Glitter Boy’s sound filtration system. The pilot will be deafen by standing within 200 feet (61 m) of a firing Boom Gun for 1d4 minutes.

#31- One problem I have with the ISP/PPE recovery rates is that they’re too slow and in combat a mage and/or psychic can spend most or all of their ISP/PPE and be rendered relatively impotent for an entire day as they recover the spent ISP/PPE. The idea behind the mage and psychic is to cast spells or use psychic powers and with Palladium’s ISP/PPE recovery rate that’s significantly difficult to do more than one battle per day. So here are the new ISP/PPE recovery rates.

ISP:

Minor Psychics: Equal to the psychic’s ME per hour of sleep or meditation.

Major Psychics: Equal to the psychic’s ME per hour of sleep or meditation. Half ME per hour of rest.

Master Psychic: Equal to twice the psychic’s ME per hour of sleep or meditation. Equal to the psychic’s ME per hour of rest. 2 ISP per hour of activity.

PPE:

Non-magic Users: 5 PPE per hour of sleep.

Magic Users: Equal to twice the magic user’s PE per hour of sleep or meditation. Equal to the magic user’s PE per hour of rest. Absorption from other sources; volunteers, Ley Lines, PPE batteries, etc; will be as normal.

Rest: Relatively low physical activity. E.g. Sitting around watching TV or reading. Walking so long as one doesn’t walk faster than one’s normal walking pace and isn’t carrying more than 25% of one’s maximum carrying capacity. Driving can also be considered low-level physical activity so long as the drive isn’t overly exciting. E.g. if one is racing or in a car chase the heart and adrenalin will be pumping, therefore not rest. An uneventful drive from Point A to Point B equals rest. Spell casting or the use of psychic powers does not constitute rest. Engaging physical activity or use of spells/psychic power results in the hour of rest starting over.

     Some RCCs or OCCs recover ISP/PPE at a higher than normal rate. E.g. Atlantean Undead Slayers recover 20 PPE per hour of sleep. In such cases their ISP/PPE recover rate will be adjusted accordingly.

Amendment to #10- Previously I stated that a mage can absorb PPE from volunteers from 5 ft + 1 ft/level. I found a reference that it should be 10 ft/level instead, so we’ll be using that range instead.

#32- This is an idea I’ve been mulling over for awhile now. I’ve decided to try it out here and see what the results we. The basic idea is that at certain points of the campaign one would be allowed to purchase XP at the rate of 100 credits per 1 XP. So people don’t abuse this rule there are restrictions. Firstly, the purchase of XP is limited to only certain times. Typically after a major mission, although if a major mission is unusually long I may allow one to purchase the XP in the middle of the mission too. That’ll be determined on a case by case basis. Two, one may only purpose XP in full point amounts. No purchasing a pi’s worth of XP or 100.25 XPs. Yes, Chris, this rule was inspired by you. Third, there is a cap how much one can buy each time. Any time the offer to purchase XP is given one may only purchase up to 10% of the XP total necessary to advance to the next level. Let me give an example to clarify. Let’s say one is playing a 4th level Mind Melter. To reach 5th level the Mind Melter needs an XP total of 17,421. 10% of that rounded down to the nearest whole number is 1,742. That is the most the Mind Melter could purchase then. If that’s enough to make it to fifth level, good for him. If not, well he’s that much closer to leveling up. If by the time I next offer the opportunity to purchase XP the Mind Melter has reached 5th level, then he now has a cap of 2,592 XPs for purchasing. Fourth, once one has made one’s decision that’s it. One cannot change one’s mind after making the purchase. That includes a decision on not to buy. If one decides they would rather save the money for something else and not purchase any XPs, they don’t get to change their minds later. There is a time limit to decide. Typically it’s before the start of the next mission. Whenever the deadline if one doesn’t reply by then I will assume one doesn’t want to purchase any XPs.
     I admit this idea is a bit unorthodox, but I’ve been inspired by other RPG games, mostly from the “Final Fantasy” series. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in those games near the end XP grinding and more than once wished that I could use some of the vast fortune I was earning in the game towards purchasing some of that XP I wanted. Also, I don’t know how many here have player “Final Fantasy: Dirge of Cerberus,” but in that game one doesn’t get their XPs until the end of each mission. At the end of the mission one’s XP total is tallied and then one is given the opportunity to sell one’s XPs. I never did, but if I could have bought them I would have. So I have decided to try this idea here.
     I do realize that this rule favors progressive characters (i.e. character classes that get significantly more powerful as they level up) over the nonprogressive characters (i.e. the character classes that don’t get significantly more powerful as they level up) but I think this would be a worthwhile experiment. And if it proves disastrous then I owe you a Coke.

#33- Dimensional Pockets. This is an issue that was brought up earlier. The question is how much stuff can a dimensional pocket carry? The description in the book is a little vague. It says, “About 30 lbs, depending on the size of the container.” Unfortunately it doesn’t say what size container holds 30 lbs. Is it a dice bag? A grocery bag? A foot locker? Another problem is that for containers they have both a volume and weight limit. For example, a bag may only hold 10 lbs worth of weight without breaking, but depending on what you’re carrying that 10 lbs may not fit in the bag. A 10-lb brick doesn’t take up as much volume as 10 lbs of feathers so that many feathers may not fit in the 10-lb bag. So here’s my ruling on the Dimensional Pocket’s carry capacity. In regards to weight, no limit. Hopefully no one will actually try to cram a black hole into their dimensional pocket. Yes, Chris, The White, I’m looking at you two when I type that. As for size, the interior of the dimensional pocket is 5’ x 5’ x 3’. This answers the other question, what can one put inside a dimensional pocket? As long as the collective group can fit in that 5’ x 5’ x 3’ space and the individual objects can fit through the mouth of the dimensional pocket one can fit anything inside, including living things. Just remember that there’s only so much air inside the dimensional pocket. The size of the dimensional pocket can be increased via the supercharge rules. One does not have to worry about organizing the contents of the dimensional pocket. The dimensional pocket does that automatically. Also one does not have to worry about searching through the dimensional pocket to find an item. When one reaches into the dimensional pocket one will instantly find whatever one wanted to pull out. So if one is reaching for a weapon one will not pull out the wrong weapon or a toothbrush instead. In game terms, that means it takes one action to place an item into the dimensional pocket and one action to remove an item from the dimensional pocket.
     Another question that has been brought up before is who can use a dimensional pocket? Basically anyone. If one knows that a container is a dimensional pocket then one can place objects inside it or take them out. That is if the character outright knows, not suspects or believes it’s a dimensional pocket. If a character suspects that a container is a dimensional pocket then if s/he is able to sense dimensional anomalies s/he may remove an object from the dimensional pocket. Typically this means Temporal Raiders, mages and warriors, Shifters and any mage or psychic with the See Dimensional Anomaly spell/power. A mage or psychic without this spell or power but with a ME of 17 or higher may remove an object from a dimensional pocket.

     I’ve thought up a few additional combat rules for the game.
     #35- Second wind, catching your breath or taking a knee- The idea behind this is to give the characters a chance at a slight recovery without having to use magic, psionics, technology or whatever. Basically the idea is the character takes a round or more to catch their breath and recover a small amount of their stats, i.e. SDC, HP, MDC, PPE or ISP. The way it works is the player announces that they’re taking a moment to catch their breath. After pausing for one round, or longer, they recover either SDC, HP, MDC or PPE equal to their PE or ISP equal to their ME. The player picks which one stat they recover. Now to keep players from abusing this ability there are a few restrictions. Firstly, the number of times per day a character can “catch their breath” is limited to half their current level rounded up plus their PE save saving throw bonus, if any. So, for example, a first or second level character with a +3 PE saving throw bonus could “catch their breath” up to four times a day. The second restriction is that there is a minimum 20 minute space between each break in order for it to be effective. The third restriction is that each time that one stops to catch their breath the required rest time doubles. So 1 round the first time, 2 rounds the second time, 4 rounds the third time, etc. The numbers reset when the character has a chance to sleep. If during the course of the campaign the characters find themselves pushing themselves and staying awake more than a day straight, the count does not reset at midnight. The count, and time requirements, reset after the character has time to get in some solid sleep. Before some asks me, “What if I take a nap, does that count?” I say I’ll judge that on a case by case basis to be decided on how long of a nap the character takes and how many second winds they’ve already taken.
     #36- Taking time to aim- This is mostly for range weapons, but it can also apply to melee weapons in certain circumstances. For every extra action one takes to aim their weapon they receive a +1 to strike. Bear in mind that no matter how much extra time one takes to aim a Nat 1 is still a miss and requires a saving throw to see if one fumbled one’s attack. Also, to make sure no one abuses this rule and takes it to ridiculous extremes (I take an extra 19 actions to aim! I’ll only miss on a Nat 1!) there is a cap as to how large of a bonus one can receive from taking extra time to aim. The limit is one third one’s experience level rounded up. So a characters level 1-3 can take a +1, characters level 4-6 can take up a +2 bonus from aiming, etc.
     #37- Careful aim- This is a bit related to shooting into melee combat rule. This applies when one’s target is entangled with someone else that one doesn’t want to hit. There are three general scenarios in which this applies. When the target is significantly smaller than the entangled victim, when both are about the same size and when the grappler is significantly larger.
     Scenario 1: A monster about the size of a basketball has latched onto one’s buddy’s back and he’s screaming, “Get it off me! Get it off me! For the love of God and all that’s holy, GET IT OFF ME!” So now one wants to get the monster off one’s buddy but one don’t want to accidently shoot, stab, slash or whatever the friend instead. So one takes careful aim. One is setting oneself up so that if one misses the monster one doesn’t hit one’s friend instead. This is a -4 to strike, but unless one rolls two Nat 1’s in a row, one won’t hit one's friend. If one does roll two Nat 1’s in a row, I consider that a catastrophic failure and all bets are off. Other penalties may apply. So, for example, if one’s friend is really trying to get that monkey off his back I’ll consider it the same as shooting into melee combat and apply that penalty as well. If one’s friend is running around in a panic that’ll add to the penalty. The size difference is a factor too as per Combat Rule #13.
     Scenario 2: An opponent about the same size as one’s buddy has grappled him and the two are now more or less wrestling each other. One wants to strike the guy attacking one’s buddy while avoiding hurting said buddy therefore one takes careful aim with one’s weapon. Again it’s a -4 penalty, but if one misses one’s target one won’t hit one’s friend instead. Again, depending on the circumstances additional penalties may apply.
     Scenario 3: A giant monster grabs one's buddy with its hand, claw, tentacle, mouth or whatever. Besides thinking that one needs a friend that’s less unlucky, one wants to get the monster to release one’s friend. Now if one aims at the monster’s main body/center of mass one generally doesn’t have to worry about using careful aim. Not unless the monster is holding one’s friend near its main body/center of mass. But let’s say one wants to shoot the appendage the monster is using to shake one’s friend like a British nanny. Now one has to use careful aim to shoot said appendage without risking one’s friend. Once more it’s a -4 penalty for the Careful Aim and other penalties may apply, but at least one would get a size bonus to strike in this scenario.

    I've been thinking about adding this rule to the game for a while and now seems as good of a time as any.
     #38- This is another rule I'm adapting from D&D 3.0. If one rolls a Nat 20 roll again. If the result is anything other than a second Nat 20 then roll for damage as usual and double it.  If it does come up another 20 then one did their weapon's maximum damage times 2. No need to roll for damage. Plus roll again. If the result is anything other than a third Nat 20 then the previous results stand; i.e. double max damage. If one manages to roll third Nat 20 in a row then one's target is dead. That's right, dead. If human or D-Bee, you hit them dead on in a vital organ like the heart or the medulla oblongata. Armor does not prevent instant death in this case even if the armor was at full MDC with the target also a MDC being. He/she/it is dead. If a huge hulking beast, I liken it to the "The Far Side" cartoon where two cave men stand over the corpse of a woolly mammoth with a single arrow sticking out of its belly. The caption reads, "Maybe we should write that spot down." One has just did that. This also applies to vehicles, and in some cases, structures. I'll make that call on a case to case basis.
     There are a few caveats to the "Instant Dead" part of this rule. Firstly, if the target is protected by a force field and the force field can absorb all of the damage from one's attack, then the target is protected from the instant kill roll. If, however, even one point of damage makes it through then the target is dead.
     Secondly, if the target is in MDC armor and/or is a MDC being and one is using a SD weapon for some reason, if the SD weapon doesn't do at least 100 SD at double max damage then one didn't hurt the target, much less killed it.
     Thirdly, the target may have an unusual physiology that makes an instant death attack impossible. Take vampires for example. In Rifts there are only three ways to kill a vampire: running water, sunlight, or decapitation followed by cremation of the remains. So unless one is attacking a vampire with a fire hose one is probably not going to be able to instantly kill a vampire on 3 Nat 20s. At any rate, there will be some monsters out there that one cannot instantly kill, or at least are only vulnerable to a specific type of attack that could include an instant kill.

     Since there is a chance someone will notice and ask I am posting this ahead of any potential issues. Our latest member is of the Combat Mage OCC, described in “The Rifter #30. As a Combat Mage he has an ability that is basically a finer tuned version of Rule #15. Instead of, for example, paying 4 times the PPE cost to double everything about the spell he can instead pay an increased percentage to increase one aspect of that spell. The rest of you cannot do that as you do not have the training to do so. Also, Combat Mages cannot just pick whatever aspect they want to supercharge whenever they want. They have to pick which aspect they can supercharge as a skill first as they reach certain levels. I mention this in case anyone decides to look them up and discovers that technically they’re supposed to roll percentage dice to see if the supercharging worked or not. I’m not playing it that way. If a Combat Mage decides to supercharge a spell with extra PPE to increase one of its aspects then it worked. I am preemptively letting you know before someone comes in here and says, “That’s not how it’s supposed to work!” Well, it does as far as I’m concerned.