• Battle Magus O.C.C. (3%): A jedi wizard that gets a farcical number of combat bonuses, as well as quick-draw / sharpshooting / dual-wielding (including for spells, even though that generally doesn't actually work because they're usually not aimed) like a gunfighter. Can pilot automatons, which are magic mecha we'll be seeing later. But they have restricted access to spells, mostly just getting combat casting. They get a full suit of armor that doesn't restrict spellcasting because it isn't "environmental". Didn't know that was a limitation that wizards had as well, but okay.
  
• Controller O.C.C. (6%): A variant on the Battle Magus that trades the gunslinger-styled abilities for a wide variety of bonuses when controlling automatons, including controlling multiple automatons at once. For those interested in busting down the action economy, this is a good start. Of course, good luck obtaining and maintaining the 5+ automatons you can control at once, but I'm sure you'll find a way as an enterprising murderhobo. Hell, you do end up getting 4 free ones by level 5-6 if you're working for Dweomer, after all, including the likely possibility of getting a friggin' 1600 M.D.C. Kilairgh Automaton (in addition to the other ones!). Ridiculously not well thought-out, combine this with a powerful race that can take an O.C.C. and go to fuckin' town on the game. Glad we already decided balance isn't important and characters don't need to be equal.
  
• Lord Magus O.C.C. (1%): Special meditation techniques let them channel magic to become a "creature of magic" and become an M.D.C. creature, and they specialize in low-to-mid level spells, and can't cast anything above 10th level. Not much else to add, especially given that so few characters are going to qualify for this class that it may as well not exist.
  
• High Magus O.C.C. (5%): So, this is supposed to be an enchanter and crafter, and works in the creation of magic items, and are supposed to be nice and sensitive and creative... because. (Now if we only had rules or even guidelines for magical item creation!) Because they're "attuned to magic" they get a lesser version of the Battle Magus' combat bonuses. They can also assist with creating automatons and can "bond" them to new users. In addition, they get stacks of bonuses and get a special ability every level, with the big defining one being able to turn invisible at will from first level. They're supposed to be leader sorts, but there's nothing really in their skill or ability sets that gives them any particular facility with leadership. The particularly bizarre thing is though they get a huge laundry list of lower-level spells, other than those fixed picks they can only ever learn spells above 7th level, and automatically clear all spells of spell levels 11-15 by class level 5. Unlike other fantasy games, though, this is actually heavily restrictive because of the high power and action cost of those spells - they can do a lot of big ritual stuff but don't get nearly as much practical magic.

• The Corrupt O.C.C. (100%): Want to sell your soul and you don't particularly care who? Why, pledge your soul to be mysterious "Liberator" who gives you power in exchange for going around making people afraid, sad, and dead. Side effects include a sudden lust for leather, spikes, and spooky armor. Become a scary mega-damage monster with claws and super-strength, as well as a few powers based around sneaking around. If you're really strong willed, you can look normal most of the time (save for dressing entirely in belts) but only go Buffy-style vampface when you unleash your powers. If you want to go full doomed manchild, you can play one of these as a good guy but all your bonuses get sliced in half and you're really more of a dark gimp than a dark lord at that point. My advice is: don't!
  
• Mystic Knight O.C.C. (9%): The evil dark magic answer to Cyber-Knight, complete with a code of dishonor that expouses ruthlessness and loyalty. How to become one? But they're supposedly bad dudes. They can channel magical energy to power items, shoot blasts, and ignore non-magical energy attacks. They get some ley line powers, modest combat bonuses, and low level magic and psionics. That, and a skull mask, apparently. Basically just dark jedis minus lightsabers.

• Conjurer O.C.C. (9%):

  Rifts World Book 16: Federation of Magic posted:

  “Some folks say we ain't nothing but a pack of T-Man wannabes. But let me ask you this: Who’s more likely to catch ya with yer pants down? A beefed up, hay-naked tattooed freak, or a kindly old man who ya met walking dawn the road?"
  
  - Hawkfire the Hidden

  
  Maybe you'd have better chances at catching people with your pants down if you didn't brag about it, Hawkfire. These are gimmick spellcasters created by Doug Coughler and coopted by Siembieda, and who specialize in their namesake. They can create items and animals temporarily, but most of them are non-technological and S.D.C., rendering it pretty much useful for tricks and not most of confrontations. You can make some M.D.C. objects, but only at high expenditures. Making permanent stuff has permanent costs. There's also a laundry list of limitations to keep you from dropping whales onto villains or poofing snakes into their pants, so the fun police ride high here... though you can still probably find some wiggle room to argue with the GM when you try to summon a bear in the Coalition Officers' outhouse. Otherwise, they get some very basic spells and are generally really, really lovely spellcasters outside of conjuring, so unless you like their smirky trickster gimmick, you can give them a pass.
  
• The Grey Seer O.C.C. (38%): These are independent, neutral, pacifist mystics who try to aid people with their precognitive gifts. They're universally opposed to the True Federation, seeing Alistair a possible "5th Horseman" that endangers the world (from a prophecy wayyy back in Rifts Sourcebook 2: the Mechanoids). As a class, they're basically just variants on the corebook Mystic O.C.C., trading some of its psychic powers for the ability to sense death or life, whether or not somebody causes death or protects life, and a completely GM fiat precognition ability. Will it be useful? Ask your GM!

Alien Rope Burn fucked around with this message at 13:10 on Mar 3, 2018

• Battlelord Automaton (1000 M.D.C.): Swings a big sword that can shoot lightning or fire eyebeams. Versus Coalition: It's modestly damaging, but its defensive over offense measure means missiles and rail gun blasts will likely tear it apart; SAMAS power armors can dance out of the range of its damaging melee attacks and strafe it into rubble. Coalition 1, Dweomer 0.
  
• Colossus Automaton (2000 M.D.C.): Though its iron mace does a ton of damage for an automaton, its eyeblasts only do passable damage. Its big effect is to be able to cause stompy shockwaves that can effectively stunlock infantry and many human-scale landbound creatures, leaving them stuck on their rear end. In addition, its ability to cast disharmonize, firequake, or collapse will make the going impossible for most groundpounders. Lastly, it can cast annihilate once or twice a fight to just do 700 M.D.C. with magical antimatter, or 100+ on a miss. And all of that seems pretty badass until you remember only high magi can pilot this, which means they have to sit in the missile impact zone as the skullfaces drop high ordinance on his head from miles away. Whups. Gonna call this one early, score is now Coalition 2, Dweomer 0.
  
• Earth Thunder Automaton (500 M.D.C.): It's a smaller one with a hooked sword that is an "anti-dragon" weapon that acts like a "can opener". Damage? 25 M.D.C. That's 10+ successful hits just to take down a suit of power armor, just less the 50-100 hits you'd need to kill a dragon. It has some short-range spells, so all the Coalition has to do is set up a fire zone and have one side withdraw if it starts getting close. Laser rifles and rail guns can take this thing apart at range pretty easily without even bringing missiles and artillery to bear. Coalition 3, Dweomer 0.
  
• Fire Demon Automaton (500 M.D.C.): A big flaming minotaur statue, and we're told that "few things can stand before its brutal fire attacks". However, given its fire attacks do between 1d4 and 6d6 mega-damage, even a suit of dinky Plastic-Man armor holds up to that for at least a single shot. Even though it has a ton of redundant fire spells, once again the Coalition can just set a line of laser rifle guys and gun it down. Coalition 4, Dweomer 0.
  
• Ice Drake Automaton (300 M.D.C.): A flying drake that radiates cold, its ability to coat targets with blinding frost and ability to outspeed a SAMAS means it could actually catch up to flying power armor and keep it blinded while raining down magical attacks. Pretty cool! Unfortunately, the Coalition also has sky cycles and jet fighters that can dogfight circles around this thing and missile it out of the sky. Coalition 5, Dweomer 0.
  
• Kilairgh Automaton (1600 M.D.C.): Named after supernatural predator not appearing in this game, this is basically a big bugbot with pincers. This is the top of the wizard game, folks: pincers. To be fair, it has some nasty spells, like the damage-reflecting house of glass, but its limited range puts it in the same camp as the Colossus. It's more or less the diet colossus, with an even more limited arsenal. I don't even need to get into the details: Coalition 6, Dweomer 0.
  
• Infiltrator Automaton (220 M.D.C.): A human-sized automation made out of magic glass that can pass through walls and gets a variety of sneaky spells. As such, it requires a controller to tag along after it. Its success pretty much depends on the response times of dog boys and psi-stalkers to a supernatural assassin, but given this thing can run 50 MPH, I'm gonna say it can ghost into a Coalition compound, murder some high-ranking officials in their skivvies, and get out unless they happen to have psycho-stalkers who can both sense and react to it fast enough (and very few units will, given there about fifty of the guys in the world). Dweomer picks up a point in the final stretch. Coalition 6, Dweomer 1.

Mr.Misfit fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Mar 4, 2018

Mr.Misfit fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Mar 4, 2018