Didn't you receive the invite from Gabe? He sent out a shared invite to his G-Drive with all the books on it about a month back or so. I just added to it. He used your idzentity@gmail.com account since it is Gmail.

Regarding Sub-Particle Acceleration:

I agree, here is what I just added as house rules for magic:

Individual Spell Modifications [house rules]
   Sub-Particle Acceleration recharges the following amounts per casting
        1/2 of standard E-clip; 1/4 of long E-clip (or FSE clip); 1/6 of Energy Canister
   Winged Flight is Self or Others by touch

Note that Sub-Particle Acceleration is only 20 PPE per casting, not 40.  So using that spell its 40 PPE for a standard E-clip, 80 for a long E-clip, and 120 for a canister.  Does that seem fair?  Or should we go 60 PPE, 120 PPE, and 180 PPE?

If he sent an invite, I may have missed it. But I've got the books now, so we're good. Thanks for those.

Wow, going through these books... all kinds of nostalgic flashbacks.

I know right?

I was looking through the combat rules thread and noticed that for parrying there was a rule for how many parries you get per round.  Unfortunately it isn't addressed later in the rules so I am not sure how many Erik ha in mind.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:54, Sun 01 Nov 2015.

In Ultimate Edition it says you can parry a maximum of three attackers, but the fourth one gets an auto-hit.That was just for regular combat (hth), so I'm not sure if paired weapons changes any of that. I think the logic behind it was that the 4th person would be behind you and thus you'd be unable to detect and parry the attack.

The exception would be those RCC/OCCs that say you can parry all incoming attacks, like Juicers.

So I'm going to keep using the previous auto-parry rules that we used to use.

And of course, I just realized that they aren't posted because I haven't posted the hand-to-hand stuff yet.  So, here is what will be posted once I get the hand-to-hand stuff posted:

Automatic Parry Rules [house rules]
*Some of these rules don’t apply to Juicers or similarly super-enhanced beings.

   Automatic parries per melee round [house rule]
        # of attacks + # of available limbs for parrying + (P.P.-16)/4 rounded off
        Add 1 parry at levels 4,7,10, and 13
        So, if you have four attacks, two arms, and a P.P. of 23, you can parry 8 times in a round
   Paired Weapons skill allows one parry to count as two, but only if they are done at about the same time
   Attacking with a gun makes you lose one automatic parry.
   Parrying bare-handed
        -3 to parry weapons 6 inches or less.
        Parrying weapons over 6 inches damages your arm
   Parrying with a gun risks damaging the gun


The rule Mike mentioned from Ultimate Edition is talking about how many different attackers you can parry at once, as opposed to how many parries you get in a round.  I'm going to continue to operate under common sense as opposed to a locked rule on this one, since its based on attacker size, positioning, stealth, etc.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:29, Mon 02 Nov 2015.

So I added the Hand to Hand stuff to the combat rules (including the automatic parry stuff above).  I also added a few other bits and pieces to the non-combat rules, including house rules on skills and bionics effects on magic and psionics.

Mercenary Company details have been expanded and updated.  Sections on the location and relationship with Lazlo were added.  Lazlo's partial funding of the clinic allowed for redistribution of points which actually lets your team have a base more like what you were wanting, which also increased the security of default.  The overall relationship with Lazlo, various exploits, time in the area, and point redistribution allowed the reputation to increase as well.

Note that the new reputation will really take effect when you return from Africa.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:21, Wed 11 Nov 2015.

Hey guys, here are two magic tattoo-related revisions:
(currently these only affect Rob's character and the NPC Undead Slayer in the group)

The Undead Slayer and the Monster Hunter (from South America) ARE supernatural creatures and DO have Supernatural P.S. and P.E.  I went through a lot of books and forum posts to come to this rule decision and it appears Palladium CHANGED this. Atlantis was an older book, but every NPC Undead Slayer in a Siembieda book since has Undead Slayers written this way (ironically it is the Carella book 'Pantheons of the Megaverse' which is the only book that doesn't give it).

Eyes: Three (Supernatural Vision) also provides hawk-like vision for the duration of the tattoo

So the Supernatural Strength tattoo for Undead/Monster Slayers and T-Men just has the effect of adding 6 to P.S. for the duration, since they already have super strength?
This message was last updated by the player at 03:06, Wed 09 Dec 2015.

For Undead Slayers and Monster Hunters, yes the tattoo only increases the PS by 6.  Those are the only two classes that have supernatural strength (excepting Chiang Ku of course).

None of the other Tattooed Men (T-Men, T-Monster Men, T-Archers) have supernatural strength to start, so for them it provides supernatural strength and the bonus.

Just in case I don't get a chance to talk to you all in person or text tomorrow, have a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Thanks dude, you too!

This isn't really related to what's happening in-game, but I was looking through the psionics section and noticed how crap the Mind Bolt power is relative to other super psionic damage abilities. I mean the concept of the power is fine, and you could argue the damage scale is ok as well, but the amount of ISP it take is crazy.

For 40 ISP you do 2D4 MD @ +4 strike, or 50 ISP for +8 strike.

If you take Electrokinesis, you get 5 separate sub-powers, one of which is an electrical MD attack that does up to 3D6MD for only 18 ISP. And that's just a regular super-psionic version.

Seems like one of those old powers that never got adjusted. May want to look at adjusting it for the future campaign to make it a more relevant ability.

So after looking through this and talking to Mike, I agree that every other super psionic power was given an MD boost in the Ultimate Edition while Mind Bolt was left the same.  So in the original edition, Mind Bolt was fine, but in the new edition in clearly needs updating to be relevant.

I will be looking at how to update it a bit.

I'm also interested to hear thoughts on this:

I am considering combining Palming and Concealment into one skill.  It seems to me that Palming is actually part of the Concealment skill already.

I'm cool with that; considering it is a skill solely dedicated to hiding things in your hand it is a little too focused. Meanwhile you can take another single skill that gives you Electrical Engineering.

Sorry Erik, your written description makes more sense than what you were saying to me tonight, lol.  The way you have written it I can agree with.  That palming acts as a part of concealment makes a certain kind of sense.  I would even consider making it one of those slash "/" skills where the different percentages mean different things. So one would be for traditional concealment, and the other for palming.

The two skills are the same in Rifts, Heroes Unlimited, and Palladium Fantasy.

The only difference I see is that Palming is done in one hand and thus only applies to smaller objects, while Concealment applies to both hands and pockets etc.  From shows I've been watching on sleight of hand, these aren't really different skills.  You learn these techniques together as part of sleight of hand tricks.

Concealment: 20% +4% per level
The practiced ability to hide small items on one's body or in hand, usually by moving it around from hand to hand or place to place, or hide them on one's person or an innocent bystander unnoticed.  Objects must be no larger than 14 inches in height and 6 inches in width.  The weight must be 10 pounds or less.  The smaller and lighter the object, such as a knife, gem, key, etc., the easier it is to conceal (add a bonus of +5%).  Larger items such as a book, scroll, club, statue, or similarly large or heavy object are difficult to conceal on one's person for obvious reasons.

Palming: 20% +5% per level
Simply the ability to pick up and seemingly make a small object, such as a coin, key, dagger, or playing card, vanish by concealing it in one's hand.  Adds +5% to the Card Sharp, Concealment, and Pick Pockets skills.

I would propose this:
Concealment and Palming: 20% +5% per level (+5% with small objects)
The practiced ability to hide small items on one's body or in hand, usually by moving it around from hand to hand or place to place, or hide them on one's person or an innocent bystander unnoticed.  Objects must be no larger than 14 inches in height and 6 inches in width.  The weight must be 10 pounds or less.  The smaller and lighter the object, such as a knife, gem, key, etc., the easier it is to conceal (add a bonus of +5%).  Small objects can also be "palmed", which is the ability to pick up and seemingly make a small object, such as a coin, key, dagger, or playing card, vanish by concealing it in one's hand.  Larger items such as a book, scroll, club, statue, or similarly large or heavy object are difficult to conceal on one's person for obvious reasons.  Adds +5% to the Card Sharp and Pick Pockets skills.

I think this is a great conversion of both skills.  I still think of concealment in the weapon mindset, but this is a better interpretation.  I would suggest if the character plans on moving the item around their person much it would require a roll each time the object moves.

Ok, the updated version of those skills has been added to the rules page.

Rob brought up a really good point in our Palladium Fantasy game.  The games have no rules on what happens to damage when you are wearing incomplete armor (like all fantasy armor) and you get hit by area affect weapons.  Rob can correct me if I am describing this wrong, but the current method he is using is to have area affect damage hit both the armor and the character.  Rob did seem to indicate that he wanted to put more thought into this.

I spent some time thinking about this problem as well, since it could come up in Rifts in certain circumstances as well.  I came up with what I hope are a variety of interesting solutions which could be used variably for different campaign and game styles.  I am posting this to generate discussion and hopefully find something that is generally liked. :)  I was a little concerned about area affect damage becoming over-powered in the game if it hit both the armor and the character for full damage.  This would mean that all area affect damage essentially counts as double damage if you are wearing armor.

Here are the various methods I came up with:

Area Affect Damage versus worn Armor [house rules]

Heroic method:
Armor always absorbs damage

Armor Rating method:
Suitable for more realistic distribution vs. attacks like fragmentary grenades
Roll vs. Armor Rating to determine randomly whether damage hits or bypasses armor

Distributed methods are possibly better for things like area affect fire, which should distribute quite evenly.

Distributed method – based on armor coverage:
Fantasy Armor – Half suits see 50% damage absorbed by armor, 50% damage to character
Fantasy Armor – Full suits see 90% damage absorbed by armor, 10% damage to character

Distributed method – based on armor rating:
Armor Rating 6 to 10 – 50% damage absorbed by armor, 50% damage to character
Armor Rating 11 to 15 – 75% damage absorbed by armor, 25% damage to character
Armor Rating 16 to 19 – 90% damage absorbed by armor, 10% damage to character

An interesting way to look at this issue for sure Erik!

I will say that I don't agree with the armour absorbing any of the area effect damage. It just doesn't make sense with regards to elemental type damage.

I can see a reason for a fragmentation effect, and in that case I would probably roll for the fragments to hit and see what came of that.

Using AR for the basis helps keep it in the spectrum of the game system, but I feel it misses the point.  Unless enchanted a suit of plate is going to offer no extra protection from intense heat or electricity, nor would leather or chain.

A spell like fireball requires an 18 to dodge it.  So as I did with Mike's* character if you have an AR of 18 or higher I could see some of the damage being mitigated from the character.  That being said, the armour would still take the whole effect. For armours with less than an AR of 18 though I would say both person and armour would take the total amount of the damage as the effect of the spell would hit both equally.

For a spell that emitted a kinetic type attack in an area of effect I would have to play it by ear.  As medieval type armours were created to protect from such attacks.

*Armour of Ithan is a totally different situation as it functions more like a force field with an AR.  So no damage of any kind would be transferred to the character.  Other spells or enchantments similar would yield the same results.

Some attacks do bypass armor in the game.  But, these are always described as armor-bypassing in the rules.  In the rules, fire and heat attacks are different and have different effects.  Penetrating/disrupting electrical attacks and lightning (ion) attacks are also different.  Fire attacks and call lightning do contact damage only to whatever they hit - they have no significant armor bypassing component.  They are blocked by physical objects and require line-of-sight.  Call lightning is not real lightning and is does not behave like real lightning.

This makes sense as well.  Most armors in Palladiums' games cover every part of the body except for the face.  If you are covered in metal or leather and you walk through a fire, you will get hurt less than if you were naked.  Even electricity is dissipated by extra layers unless the material is a perfect conductor.

I think the game becomes very unbalanced if area affect attacks like this do full damage to both the armor and the wearer.  This means every attack of that nature now does double damage and all of these attacks are now the most powerful attacks in the game.  Fire swords, plasma rifles, lightning (ion) blasters, normal ion blasters, Naruni plasma guns, etc., would also bypass armor now.  PPE/ISP costs would no longer reflect relative power of an attack because the cheaper area affect attacks of lower levels will do more damage than the more expensive individual attacks.

Any attack that does a certain amount of damage, with the exception of criticals and vulnerabilities, should only be able to its normal damage to an area.  If 90% of that area is armor and 10% is face, then 10% goes to the face and 90% gets applied to the armor.  If there is a good reason to have some bypass the armor, then it bypasses the armor.  For the same reason, if a sword attack beats the armor rating, it does not hurt both the armor and the wearer - it only hurts the wearer.

Also, the rules for kinetic attacks are laid out.  They hit the armor and if a certain amount of damage is done to the armor, the person inside can take extra SDC and get stunned, but it is minimal by comparison.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:10, Mon 23 May 2016.