Home Rules I use In Rifts
The Sniper Skill
This is one of the things that sometimes annoy me. The sniper skill gives a one-time permanent +2 to strike, but this totally devalues the skill and training involved in true sniping. I have therefore changed the sniper skill as follows: you still get the initial +2 Sniper bonus with your chosen weapon, you then get an additional +1 to strike every third level (4th, 7th, 10th, ...). The Sniper skill has to be chosen with every specific weapon you want to snipe on.
Combat
Fire modes
With the publishing of Rifts Ultimate Edition, there has been a lot of confusion about the burst rules. The first thing that has folks confused is which weapons fire pulses, and how much damage do they do. For those who don't know, KS has decided that all energy weapons in standard firing mode fire single shots only. No longer do energy weapons burst like machine guns of old. All non-pulse weapons can fire modified bursts by "double-tapping" the trigger for x2 damage.
Now some confusion has come up as to which weapons are considered as pulse weapons and how much damage do they do. My reading on this is rather simple: First, all pulse weapons fire 3 simultaneous shots, doing x3 damage. Second, all weapons previously listed as pulse weapons do x3 the listed damage for a single shot. Third, all energy weapons that were previously listed as firing bursts (C-12, Q2-10, Q2-20,...) now are considered as pulse weapons and do damage x3.
As always, there is an exception. Heavy energy weapons (that fall under the like named WP) like the Free Quebec Q2-30 Rapid-Fire Heavy Laser can still fire bursts. They fire a set number of shots, depending on the type of burst. You should use the damage multiplier for the burst mode you use, versus using the damage that is listed in the description (which is usually nerfed lower than what the damage would be if you rolled it out).
The third thing that has caused some confusion is that R:UE no longer explicitly states what the burst rules are. You have to look in the description for Modern Weapon Proficiencies to find them. So, here's my extrapolation of the new burst rules for SDC projectile weapons.
Burst Fire Ruling
Handguns, Rifles, and Submachine-Guns
Short Bursts: 3 rounds. Counts as one attack.
Single Target: Inflicts normal damage x2.
Spray: Inflicts normal damage for one round, hits 1D4-1 (minimum 1) targets.
Long Bursts: 6 rounds. Counts as two attacks.
Single Target: Inflicts normal damage x3.
Spray: Inflicts normal damage, hits 1D6 targets. Chance of hitting innocent bystanders is 50%.
Light Machine-Guns
Short Bursts: 12 rounds. Counts as one attack.
Single Target: Inflicts normal damage x2.
Spray: Inflicts normal damage for one round, hits 1D4-1 (minimum 1) targets.
Long Bursts: 36 rounds. Counts as three attacks.
Single Target: Inflicts normal damage x4.
Spray: Inflicts normal damage, hits 1D6 targets. Chance of hitting innocent bystanders is 50%.
Heavy Machine-Guns and Mini-Guns
Short Bursts: 10 rounds. Counts as one attack.
Single Target: Inflicts normal damage x2.
Spray: Inflicts normal damage for one round, hits 1D4-1 (minimum 1) targets.
Long Bursts: 30 rounds. Counts as three attacks.
Single Target: Inflicts normal damage x4.
Spray: Inflicts normal damage, hits 1D6 targets. Chance of hitting innocent bystanders is 50%.
Weapon Proficiencies
Rifts: Ultimate Edition changed the bonuses for WPs. While I like the new write up, I am slightly modifying it for ease of use. First, the base bonuses are by fire mode, listed below. Second, the level advancement bonus progression is as follows:
All Handguns and Pistols: +1 to strike at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14.
All Rifles and Shotguns: +1 to strike at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13.
All Machine-Guns and Heavy Weapons: +1 to strike at 1, 3, 6, 10, and 14.
I am also adding some new Weapon Proficiencies. WP: Black Powder Weapons covers all ancient types of powder firearms that could possibly be encountered, including Arquebus, Flintlock, and Wheel-lock type weapons. Besides laser rifles, WP Energy Rifles also covers the use and maintenance of Laser Shotguns.
Exotic and alien weapon systems that don’t fall under the regular WP’s will also have their own WP’s. Current examples of these are the Bolt Gun and the Carousel Gun.
Bonus to Strike/Number of Attacks
Another area that got nerfed was the bonuses for the type of attack being made, and the number of actions used for each attack. My take on fixing this is below.
Standard
Standard fire is basically firing the weapon from your hip. You are trying to hit the target, but you aren't really aiming. The big benefit of this kind of firing is that you can walk (1/2 speed) while firing with no major penalties to strike (only -1). Standard weapons get +1 to strike with WP, and can fire a single shot or a double-tap. Pulse weapons get +1 to strike with WP, and can fire single shot or pulse.
Aimed Shots
Aimed Shots take up two actions, and fire at the main body only. You are concentrating on hitting the target, not picking a location. Standard weapons get +3 to strike with WP, and fire a single shot only. Pulse weapons get +3 to strike with WP, and can fire single shot or pulse.
Called Shots
Called Shots take up three actions, and you can pick your target location. Standard weapons get +3 to strike with WP, and fire a single shot only. Pulse weapons get +3 to strike with WP, and can fire single shot or pulse.
Wild Fire
Firing Wild didn't really change. All the previous examples of firing wild still hold true, and there is still a -6 penalty to strike.
Psionics
Psi-Shield
What's the point? OK, if all your going to be doing is hand to hand, but who in Rifts *doesn't* have a gun of some kind? The book says it can't parry projectile and energy attacks. If it can't parry projectiles or energy attacks, what's the point of having it? My official ruling is that you can use the shield to parry any attack you can see or hear coming. If you can't see it, or hear it, how can you parry it?
Pyrokinesis, and those poor defenseless bursters
Got flame powers? Well, the Mega-Damage abilities of these too are sadly lacking. The burster isn't too bad. His fire bolts suck, but fire-eruption can do some damage, if he can actually HIT. Which isn't as likely as with a normal energy rifle. I say this power needs a little beefing up. Some one told me "+75% I.S.P. could make the power MDC". Well, this sounds good for the normal power. (at that ISP cost, a Psychic couldn't do many blasts anyway). But for the actual Burster... Well, I say that their MDC fire attacks increase by 1D6 MD every other level. This way the mid-level ones can have some fairly powerful natural attacks (but not too powerful).
Cyber-Knight's Psi-Sword
These guys are supposed to be the protectors of the innocent, slayers of monsters, etc. Right? I imagine them as probably the closest thing that Rifts has to Knights in Shining Armor. They are one of the few classes, that honestly aren’t in the adventuring game for anything but to do good.
After reading the Coalition Wars: Cyber-Knights sourcebook, I feel that Palladium has finally fixed the Cyber-Knights into a class that is very impressive now. Getting paired Psi-Swords and the Psi-Shield are an awesome fit, and their Zen Combat is nothing to laugh at either. Despite this, I still think they dropped the ball on the Psi-Sword damage. I will grant that it shouldn't be as powerful as the Super Psi-Sword, but it shouldn't be as laughable as Palladium has it.
Here are my official changes:
Start it out doing 2D6 MD, with an additional 1D6 at levels three, six, nine, twelve, and fifteen. That way, at mid-levels, it is pretty formidable, and even at low levels it isn't something to laugh at.
Energy Clips
At some point in time, Palladium should have tried to do a grand unification of its E-Clip listings, but failed to do so. In consequence, we have e-clips that hold a certain amount of shots for one weapon, but hold a significantly lesser amount in less powerful weapons. Then there are the Long E-Clips, E-Canister, E-Packs, and other assorted E-Systems.
My ruling on the matter is as follows: Weapons with E-Clips continue to have the same amount of shots per E-Clip. Weapons that can be equipped with Long E-Clips, and are equipped with them, double the number of shots that can be fired versus using a regular E-Clip. E-Canisters provide three times the amount of power a regular e-clip can, but the weapon has to be capable of using an e-canister. Weapons that only use e-canisters keep their stated number of shots. So the C-12, which can use all three types, gets 20 blasts with an e-clip, 40 with a long e-clip, and 80-100 with the addition of an e-canister (20 or 40 + 60 from the e-canister). Only weapons that specifically state that they can use long e-clips and e-canisters can use them, otherwise they are stuck with just the e-clip.
FSE-Clips from Triax Weapons are nothing more that regular e-clips that happen to be front loaded versus being bottom loaded. E-Packs and Mini E-Clips will remain as they are, since they are so rarely used and those devices that do use them already state how much power they provide.
E-Clips *CAN* be recharged by hooking them into the power plants of power armor and robots, but the recharge process is quite slow, far slower than by commercial means, and requires a special hookup, requiring a new port to be built into the armor. No, this is not a standard modification, especially in the military where all E-Clips are issued and recharged for free, assuming you are in the service. :)
Ley Lines
Ley Lines are basically rivers of magical energy flowing across the surface of the Earth. Each major line can be up to 2D6 x100 feet wide, but the norm is closer to 1D4 x100. Lines can be as small as 2D4 x 10 feet to as long as a couple hundred miles. Walking through a ley line is like walking through a river. When you walk through a river, you make waves in the water. When you walk through a ley line, you make waves in the magic. This, of course, can lead to some very interesting effects...
Miscellaneous Rules
These are all ideas I picked from several other home rules pages, or are ideas I might, or might not incorporate into my own campaign. Some I'm thinking about incorporating, others I'm not.
Acrobatics and Gymnastics
When listed in TMNT, these skills gave the characters the ability to leap 4ft high, and 4ft long, +2ft per additional level (and made them fearless of heights). Why those abilities got taken out in Rifts, I don't know, but if you put them back in, at least you'll have something to write in the "leap" section on the first character sheets. Another home rule that I will use is if a character has both skills, he gains 2ft to his leaps.
Taking Cover
Modern combat is very deadly. A character’s attempt to dodge attacks from firearms is often futile at best. For this reason, most people will take cover during a firefight hoping the terrain around them will protect them from bullets rather than trying to dodge them.
Cover provides a character with natural armor rating. Any roll under the A.R. misses the character and hits the cover instead. The object being used for cover may take damage from the attack. If the S.D.C. of the object is ever reduced to zero, then it stops protecting the character from attacks. Cover does not need to be an object, simply lying down on the ground is considered cover. Cover simply makes the character harder to hit. In addition, some forms of cover, such as trees, underbrush, and piles of trash may give the character penalties to strike due to obscured vision.
This A.R. applies only if the cover would protect the character from the shooter due to the angle of the shot or type of attack (GM's use your discretion).
Note: The A.R. provided assumes that half to three-quarters of the character's body is hidden, such as a character leaning around a corner to shoot at someone. If a character is completely hidden by the object, the character may not be visible to be attacked (GM's discretion). The character may try the Pop-and-Shoot tactic. This is where the character pops from behind cover, shoots, and then drops back behind cover. If the character does this, the character is -6 to strike with all attacks. Any character trying to shoot the character while they are visible is -3 to strike in addition to the A.R. provided by cover. Also, the character using the pop-and-shoot tactic will not be aware of enemy actions or movement (GM's discretion).
Examples of cover and its A.R.:
Kneeling: A.R. 6, -3 to dodge.
Tree: A.R.: 8.
Large Tree: A.R. 9.
Lying prone on ground: A.R.: 8, -1 to strike and character cannot dodge.
Lying prone behind soft cover: (i.e. tree, tall grass, light wood) A.R.: 9, -2 to strike and character cannot dodge.
Lying prone behind hard cover: (i.e. street curb, heavy wood) A.R.: 10, -2 to strike and character cannot dodge.
Light/Plaster wall (common in office buildings): A.R. 9.
Heavy wood/Medium Wall: A.R. 10.
Metal/Brick/Heavy Wall: A.R.: 12.
Typical Car: A.R.: 11.
Armored Car: A.R.: 12.
Motorcycle: A.R. 9.
Armored Motorcycle. A.R.: 10.
Heavy Automobile (i.e. trucks, vans, tractor trailer, etc.) A.R.: 14
Forklift: A.R. 12.
Aerodyne: A.R. 11.
Armored Aerodyne: A.R.: 13
Combat Tank: A.R. 16.
Stomp/Crush/Fall Damage
All of the stomp damages in Rifts suck. You'd think that a 50 ton robot could actually do some damage by falling/stomping on things, but no. My solution? Well, tons of metal falling on things does MAJOR damage, so I advocate it doing 1D6 MD per 5 tons of the robot. Thus, you'd have a very powerful attack against the "little people" that get in your way. Stomps can be done against targets one third your size, stepping attacks against those one fifth your size. A full-on stomp takes two attacks, while a stepping one only takes one. Also, if the robot falls onto something, it does its stomp damage to what's beneath it, and 1/2 damage to itself (all that bulk coming down where it's not supposed to messes the bot up too).
Telemechanics
Okay, well, admittedly I feel that this was far too overpowered, no matter how useful it should be. I have not diminished its power, but I have added some common sense pieces that make it more realistic. Instead of automatically understanding everything as it stands now, it is on a time delay since not everything can be understood automatically.
| Tech Level | Time Required | Base Chance |
| 20th Century | 1D6 Seconds | 100% |
| Rifts Earth | 1D6x10 Seconds | 90% |
| Phase World | 1D6 Minutes | 70% |
| Organic Tech | 1D6x10 Minutes | 50% |
| Solid Energy Tech | 1D6 Hours | 35% |
| Alien Tech | 1D6x10 Hours | 20% |
Time required refers to the initial amount of study time required before a check can be made. Base chance is the basic chance someone with the power has of understanding the object in question. If that roll is failed, they require another time period to study it further. Operators get +5% per level to their base chance due to their almost disgustingly single-minded love of machines. For each time period past the first, the check is made at +5%. Hey, it only took Jeff Goldblum's character in ID4 about a day to figure out that alien ship, I think he got off easy. :)
Psychic Powers in Combat
Generally speaking, many psychic powers require eye contact with the victim. Environmental armor will *NOT* protect someone against psychic attack, but power armor or robots *WILL* protect them. Shooting someone who is doing a psychic attack is not as serious as shooting a spellcaster since psychic powers tend to be a fairly open and shut thing, but if caught mid-psychic assault or just previous to it (i.e.. one initiative level above the psychic) a shot may disrupt it. Psychics can mix physical and psychic assaults with ease, not needing a moment of rest in between attacks.
Illusionary Magic
Since the magic works at fooling the senses, and not directly influencing them, a standard save would not be appropriate. Instead, use ME bonuses, for the character's mental ability to see through the illusion. This makes illusionary magic quite potent, but then again, shouldn't it be?
Of course, this is assuming that you play illusionary magic as "fooling" the senses and not actually magically interfering with them. I believe it must "fool" them, simply because while many offensive spells (paralysis for example) are stopped by environmental armor, illusions still effect the wearer of such armor. This leads me to believe that the magic isn't actually "attacking" the victim’s senses, but fooling them with a realistic representation of the illusory item. With spells like Apparitions and Horrific Illusion though, the victim suffers a much more debilitating mental attack, and I am still not sure how one can be effected by magic such as these, and not be affected by something like paralysis. For someone to be so terrified, and to "see" and "feel" something claw him or her to pieces is a little more invasive than for one to see and believe an illusory wall is there. Sigh, I hate finding loopholes like this, anyone have any suggestions?
A listing of combat modifiers
I'm not sure of the original Author(s) of these, but they are really handy and I like them. If they are yours, e-mail me and I'll either just take this down or link to your page, or at least give you credit.
Penalties to hit moving targets:
under 40mph -3 to strike
over 40mph -6 to strike
firing from moving object is wild (unless you have Sharpshooting)
Distance penalties (excluding guided missiles):
without sensors: -1 to strike per 250ft
with sensors : -1 to strike per 500ft (out to range of sensors, then as above)
"sensors" include a combat computer, laser targeting, and a basic MO setup. With a sighted-in telescopic lens, minuses are reduced by 1 per point of magnification. Accurate attacks made in this manner take up (3) melee attacks each. Called shots against "asterixed" items take 3 attacks, ones against non "asterixed" items take 2 attacks
Size Penalties/bonuses
+1 to strike per 10ft of height/width
-1 to strike 3-5ft tall/wide
-4 to strike 1-3ft tall/wide
-7 to strike 1 ft tall/wide (called)
Identification Coding
*ALL* civilian psychics within Coalition jurisdiction are given an IC. They are expected to present this at all Coalition points of security without hesitation. An unidentified psychic is treated quite harshly if found within Coalition territory as all psychics are supposed to report to the Psi-Bureau for IC. Latent psychics are monitored but not coded, but as soon as they demonstrate more than three separate powers, they are coded too. Generally, the more you use your powers, the more you will be harassed about them.
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