Ultimate Edition Cover
Synopsis[]
Rifts Ultimate Edition is the 2nd edition released in 2005 of the Rifts RPG that debuted in 1990.
Rifts® is a multi-genre role-playing game that captures the imagination unlike any other. Elements of magic, horror, and the supernatural co-exist with science, high technology and the ordinary. The game spans countless dimensions, making anything and everything possible. Players are truly limited only by their imaginations!
- Approximately 30 unique Occupational and Racial Character Classes, including Cyber-Knights, Cyborgs, Glitter Boys, Psi-Stalkers, Dog Boys (mutant humanoid dogs), Juicers, Crazies, Techno-Wizards, Ley Line Walkers, Mystics, Shifters, Elemental Fusionists, Mind Melters, and many others.
- Supernatural and magical creatures, like dragons, available as player characters, others are horrifying menaces from the Rifts.
- Bionics and cybernetics offer a vast range of mechanical augmentation, meanwhile chemical enhancement (Juicers) and brain implants (Crazies) can turn a human into a superman, though with tragic results.
- Psychic powers are the source of the Burster, Mind Melter and Mystic’s abilities.
- Strange forms of magic are at the command of characters like the Ley Line Walker, Shifter, Elemental Fusionist, Rifter and Techno-Wizard (who combines magic and technology).
- Super-technology with Mega-Damage™ body armor, energy weapons, rail guns, power armor, and human augmentation.
- The Coalition States. Humankind's salvation, or its own worst nightmare?
- Character sheets.
- Cover by Scott Johnson.
- Color end sheets by John Zeleznik.
- New artwork and color pages throughout.
- Written and created by Kevin Siembieda.
- 376 pages, including color sections.
- Cat. No. 800HC – ISBN 1-57457-150-8
Description and cover art from Palladium Books Web site, copyright 2005 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved. Rifts®, Megaverse® and Palladium Books® are registered trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. and Kevin Siembieda. All other titles and names are trademarks of Palladium Books.
Palladium Books Online Catalog[]
This title is available directly from
DriveThruRPG[]
The first-edition version of this title is available at
.
Because this book is for a previous version, some changes may be required for game information to be compatible with current rulebooks.
Contents[]
|
The Setting - page 9 Our American Homeland, 109 P.A. - page 17 Life in North America - page 20 The Coalition States - page 24 Coalition State of Lone Star - page 26 Minnesota, a CS Occupied Territory - page 29 Southern Michigan - page 31 The Magic Zone - page 31 The South - page 32 The Characters - page 42 Combat Cyborg O.C.C. - page 45 Black Market Bionics - page 48 Cyber-Knight O.C.C. - page 61 Glitter Boy O.C.C. - page 67 Headhunter O.C.C. - page 74 Juicer O.C.C. - page 78 Juicer Detoxification - page 80 Merc Soldier O.C.C. - page 81 Adventurers & Scholars - page 86 City Rat O.C.C. - page 88 Cyber-Doc O.C.C. - page 89 Operator O.C.C. - page 91 Rogue Scholar O.C.C. - page 93 Rogue Scientist O.C.C. - page 95 Vagabond O.C.C. - page 97 Wilderness Scout O.C.C. - page 98 Practitioners of Magic - page 100 Elemental Fusionist O.C.C. Stats - page 104 Ley Line Rifter O.C.C. - page 116 Mystic O.C.C. - page 118 Shifter O.C.C. - page 120 Shifter O.C.C. Stats - page 125 Techno-Wizard Construction Rules - page 129 TW Creation Bonuses & Penalties - page 134 Mind Melter O.C.C. - page 150 Psi-Stalker O.C.C. - page 152 Wild Psi-Stalker O.C.C. - page {{{2}}} Dragon Hatchling - page 156 Species of Dragon - page 158 Physical Psionics - page 166 |
Step 5: Understanding Magic - page 186 Notable Game & Rifts Terms - page 276 Attributes Beyond Thirty - page 284 Step 2: Understanding Damage Ratings - page 286 Hit Points - page 287 Step 3: Understanding Mega-Damage & M.D.C. - page 288 Step 8: Rounding out the Character - page 296 Skill Bonuses - page 300 Wilderness Skills - page 329 Insanity Tables - page 332 Cures for Insanity - page 338 Combat Terms & Moves - page 344 Robot (and Power Armor) Combat: Basic - page 351 Mega-Damage & M.D.C. - page 355 Missile Combat - page 362 Surviving an Aircraft Crash-Landing - page 365 Final Thoughts - page 375 |
The Setting[]
The setting of Rifts Earth is described, mostly in the form of writings by Erin Tarn. The World Overview is an excerpt from Tarn's book, Our Changing World, which is a follow-up to her famous novel, Traversing Our Modern World. The information in this section is summarized in the History section of this Wiki.
The Recollections of Erin Tarn
There are also several excerpts from Tarn's other books, Humankind's Rise from Chaos and Born in Darkness.
The Characters[]
Rifts Ultimate Edition includes the following Occupational Character Classes (O.C.C.s):
|
|
The following Racial Character Class (R.C.C.) is also included:
Psionic Powers[]
The powers of the mind are described in this section. The basic psionic powers are described in the Rifts base book.
Magic[]
The Principles of Magic, Ley Lines, and Dimensional Rifts are given an overview in this section, followed by a description of Spell magic.
|
|
The Coalition States[]
Rifts Ultimate Edition has an overview of the Coalition, their O.C.C.s (see above), and their current state of war.
More information about the Coalition and their new gear can be found in Rifts® World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign™.
Equipment[]
Common gear, including much of what is available in modern day, is described.
Rift's introduces the concept of Super-Technology left over from the Time Before the Rifts, also known as the Golden Age of Mankind. The wonders of this technology include ultra-resilient ceramic armors, laser, ion and plasma weapons, and nanotechnology. Mechanical wonders, like Power Armor and giant Robots are also prevalent.
The following weapons are described in the Rifts base book:
|
|
Personal Body Armor, also made of poly-ceramic alloys, are included. The following body armor is described:
|
|
Commercial and coalition military vehicles are included in the Rifts Ultimate Edition:
|
|
Super-Technology is best expressed by the use of Power Armor (or PA) on Rifts Earth. The few suits of PA are rare, expensive, and powerful. In Rifts Ultimate Edition, only a few are detailed:
|
|
An example of a Robot Vehicle, the Titan Combat Robot is described, as are Coalition Robots.
- Coalition Robot Vehicles
- UAR-1 Enforcer
- Spider-Skull Walker
The other type of Robot shown in Rifts is the Skelebot. These robots are fully Artificially Intelligent drones used by the Coalition. Other types of robots exists on Rifts Earth, and are described in more detail in Rifts® Sourcebook One™, including rules for using these as player characters.
Rules and Game Information[]
A large section of the Rifts Ultimate Edition book is dedicated to the rules for running the Rifts Role-Playing Game. These pages contains all of the rules for creating a character, learning and using skills, dealing with insanity, combat, psychic and magical rules, and general information about running a role-playing game.
While the Rifts Wiki does not describe rules for role-playing, descriptions of skills and abilities can be found on the following pages:
- Glossary of Terms
- Role-playing game terms on Wikipedia
Artwork[]
In addition to the outstanding cover, the Rifts® Ultimate Edition™ features three sections of full-color artwork, and end sheets on each inside cover. The following artwork is shown:
Cover Painting: A Splugorth emerging from a Rift behind a Ley Line Wizard, by Scott Johnson.
Front End Sheet: Chi-Town skyline, by John Zeleznik. This artwork is available as a poster from Palladium Books.
Rear End Sheet: Throne room of Emperor Prosek, by John Zeleznik. This artwork is available as a poster by Palladium Books.
Full Color Spreads: The first section of full-color art features a view of Rifts Earth from space, adventurers overlooking a ley line, and Xiticix emerging from a rift, all by Kevin Long. Also shown are two spreads of images from the Rifts Collectable Card Game.
The second section includes Long's Red Borg, and Ley Line Walker prints, along with three spreads of Rifts CCG artwork.
The final section features a SAMAS in the ruins of Old Chicago, and the Splugorth Slave Barge, by Wayne Breaux, Jr., and two spreads of Rifts CCG art. Also featured is a full-color ad spread for the Rifts® Promise of Power™ game and the Nokia N-Gage system.
Other artists featured in the Rifts CCG art include Ran Ackles, Chris Arneson, Tobias Brenner, Mark Evans, Joachim Gmoser, Scott Johnson, Roman Kochnev, April Lee, William Li, Britt Martin, David Martin, Keith Parkinson, Michael Phillippi, Steve Roberts, Dan Scott, William Teo, Matt Thompson, Freddie Williams II, Slawek Wojtowicz, and John Zeleznik.
Interior Art: The interior black and white artwork is also amazing, and features work by Chris Bourassa, Kent Burles, Wayne Breaux Jr., Ryan Csaszar, Brandon C. Clark, Mark Dudley, Michael Dubisch, Kevin Long, Comfort Deborah Love, Michael Mumah, Apollo Okamura, Ramon Perez, Kevin Siembieda, Chuck Walton II, Freddie Williams II, Michael Wilson, and Adam Christopher Withers.
Errata[]
"When a new book is released by any company, it is often riddled with many errors or mistakes which slipped through the cracks during the editing process. Palladium is certainly no exception, nor have they ever claimed to be. When a book as monumental as Rifts®: Ultimate Edition is released, which completely revisited the core rule book of what is arguably Palladium Books' most revolutionary game line, fans are bound to notice mistakes. It is with the help and perseverance of such dedicated fans and supporters that this list of errata is being released, for without their help and constant requests for such a document it very well may have gone unprinted."
- -Brandon K. Aten
The official errata for the Rifts Ultimate Edition first printing can be found here.
Previous Versions[]
Rifts RPG Cover (first edition)
The first edition featured Keith Parkinson's Splugorth slaver barge cover,
- Nearly 30 character classes: Cyborgs, Juicers, Dragons, Crazies, Cyber-knights, Psi-stalkers, Line Walkers, and much more!
- Super-science and high technology: Bionics, cybernetics, power armor, and mega-damage weapons.
- A transformed Earth where magic is a reality and supernatural creatures from the rifts stalk human prey.
- Compatible with Heroes Unlimited™, TMNT® & Other Strangeness, Beyond the Supernatural™, Mechanoids®, and Palladium's other role-playing games.
- Rifts: Opening New Dimensions in Role-Playing
- Cat. No. 800
- I.S.B.N. 0916211-50-9
The first editon Cyber-Knight is quite different from its modern Ultimate Edition version.
The Elemental Fusionist was not present in the first edition rulebook.
The Dragon Hatchling R.C.C. featured the traditional Palladium dragons in the first edition rulebook. The Great Horned Dragon, Fire Dragon, Ice Dragon, and Thunder Lizard Dragon Hatchlings were available as optional R.C.C.s.
Other changes in first edition (under construction)
Reviews[]
2006 ENnie Nominee
Awards[]
- 2006 ENnie Award Nominee for Best Cover Art
| Sourcebooks |
|---|
| Core Rule Books Rifts® Ultimate Edition™ Rifts® Game Master Guide™ Rifts® Book of Magic™ Rifts® Adventure Guide™ Rifts® Bionics Sourcebook
|