The Culture: Going Solo Through The Rifts (Rolling A Man Pt.4)

(Following from yesterday's post.)

Alexandros is a capable man. How capable? Let's take a closer look.

We'll start with his raw physical prowess, then look at what his magic tattoos do, and then take a look at the spells he knows. With that in mind, we can figure out what gear to equip him with, given the limits of his Occupation and Race.

As with yesterday's post, this is going to be a long one with plenty of stat talk.

Posting Physique

Alexandros is a supernatural being. If he wasn't because of being a Demigod, he would have become one when he became an Undead Slayer (Secrets of the Atlanteans, pg. 68). Therefore, all of his attributes are measured as a supernatural being.

He can carry 50 times his P.S. score in Pounds (PS 28 means a carry limit of 1400 lbs. (635 kgs.), and he can lift twice that (RIFTS Unlimited Edition, pg 286). That means he can carry 70% of an Imperial ton and march, and he can lift over a ton and a half, which means he's plenty capable of lifting and throwing several monsters, robots, and vehicles. Not Superman--he ain't lifting aircraft carriers--but certainly in Spider-Man territory.

His punches do a base of 5d6 SDC when restrained (pulled), 3d6 MD normally, and power punches do 6d6 (costing two attacks). His restrained punches get a further +13 to damage, and all of that is just him throwing hands. Add in formal attack modes from combat training and he can use armored soldiers as weapons against their own armored vehicles. (Imagine being the AFV driver that has to witness seeing the platoon not only get wrecked, but used as projectiles that trash your ride.)

He can run 5 times his Speed score in yards per round, and 20 times per minute. That's 190 yards in 15 seconds, and 760 yards per minute. As he defaults to five attacks per round (and gets more when under certain circumstances), he can move up to 38 yards per attack and still act. (RUE pg. 281). He runs rings around peak Football (either sort) players. That is superhuman.

As a Demigod, he takes half damage to fire and cold damage inherently. He also has a baseline regeneration of 1d6x5 MDC per minute, and then his Racial/Occupational training overlays upon that (2d6+10 per 24 hours; if meditating at a ley line/nexus point, 1d6 per hour- more at a Healing Pyramid- SotA pg. 48). Suffice to say that this is superhuman resilience. He can regenerate back to full health from a near-total thrashing within a day, and that's before his magic tattoos kick in.

His countenance can inflict a Horror Factor of 15 or higher (SotA, pg. 47 for a base of 12, +1d4 for Demigod (Pantheons of the Megaverse, pg. 17), with those failing their saves either terror-stricken or awe-struck.

And now we move on to his more obvious augmentations.

'Ware The Woad Warrior

Alexandros received his first two magic tattoos as a child. These are the Marks of Heritage, and all True Atlanteans get them at this age. His left wrist bears a flaming sword; his right a heart pierced by a stake. Respectively, these are a Magic Weapon and Protection From Vampires.

It was his decision--prompted by his father, encouraged by his mother and clan elders--to become an Undead Slayer, one of the Tattooed Warriors unique to True Atlantean culture. He was already a supernatural being, so receiving additional tattooes did not have the transformative effect that it usually does. (Most True Atlanteans are SDC beings.) As he went through his Occupational training at the feet of his elders, he received additional tattoos; over time, this panapoly of tattoos became body art with an intricate lattice of chain-like laurel weaving about his form.

He has an extraordinary amount of Potential Psychic Energy (PPE) to power these tattoos (355). Most cost between 10 and 40 PPE to activate; he can have up to six active at a time. Most of them have durations measured in minutes per level, but as they are combat powers that's a lot of time even at the beginning. The rest (including Protection From Vampires) are in hours per level.

The catch? Either he needs to be in melee combat range, or at most 300 feet away and within Line of Sight. He has no capacity via tattoos to go beyond that range or outside Line of Sight. Something as simple as a well-hidden spotter with a mortar or a well-concealed sniper capable of engaging beyond 100 yards will cause him serious problems.

The other problem is that, being that these are tattoos, they are obvious and thus Alexandros needs to be able to either go invisible or maintain plausible disguises to hide them when being revealed is a liability (such as, say, scouting out an area known to be where Vampires are). This is one of those things where he has to resort to gear to cover his gaps.

And no, his spell-casting doesn't help- yet.

His Father Taught Him Spells And Secret Knowledge

His Demigod gift from his father was an inherent mastery of the ways of the Ley-Line Walker, so chosen because he would easily assimiliate into True Atlantean culture if he possessed their racial capacity for this practice.

In addition to all the Occupation-specific abilities (RUE pg. 113-116) he automatically learns all Invocations of a given level when he reaches it; right now, that's all 1st level spells (RUE pg. 197). He also starts with 12 more from level 2-4 (Occupational abilities); this is an oversight from previous posts.

Of these, the most useful to him are Globe of Daylight (as it repels Vampires), Sense Evil (detect same), Chameleon (duh), Invisibility: Simple (duh), Carpet of Adhesion (crowd control), Multiple Image (force misses), Shadow Meld, and Swim as a Fish (get away from Vampires; they can't do water) are most useful.

But the same catch applies: short range, Line of Sight.

However, he can not only learn Invocations automatically as he levels up, he can (RUE 115) meditate on a Ley-Line to automatically learn big spells like Dimensional Portal and make use of his ability to automatically garner and apply free PPE when on a Ley-Line or Nexus Point to help fuel those big spells- and he'll need them when he goes after the Vampire Intelligence directly as that tends to sit on a Nexus Point.

It's the big spells that make Alexandros a major threat, but he needs time to acquire those spells and then more to get the PPE needed to use them when required. Merely fighting the guerilla war campaign necessary to successfully set up an assault on a Vampire Intelligence's lair will force the expediture of time needed to acquire those spells and get that power ready and handy.

Because True Atlanteans are not stupid, neither is Alexandros. Having the means to fight beyond visual range is required, and concealing one's true nature is necessary.

And His Mother Bestowed Him Great Gifts For His Quest

True Atlanteans are Megaversal travelers. His clan is no different, having had a house in their nation's home-in-exile Alexandria (and thus tied to the Three Galaxies).

But the nature of his mission necessitates keeping that off-world acumen (and access) to a minimum. Rather, using connections on-world (i.e. Tolkeen), his mother arranged for him to get his hand on a typical Line Walker's armored suit (Medium suit, RUE pg. 113), an L-20 rifle, and a NG-57 pistol in addition to the usual field kit (SotA, pg. 70).

The pistol and rifle, coupled with his inherent Speed and Endurance, allow him to close the gap on those trying to use range on him. Furthermore, being that these are obvious pieces of gear, all Alexandros needs to do most of the time is to stay armored up and refrain from obvious displays of his powers to pass as yet another explorer or mercenary in a dangerous frontier world.

His contacts have briefed him on the State of Affairs on RIFTS Earth, as best they can know--and as they have 100 Ley-Lines running through their city-state, that's a lot--so he's now in First Contact mode and attempting to get more intelligence on the big threats (especially Vampire Intelligences, but any Big Nasty will do).

Commentary

Big guy, Alexandros.

RIFTS Earth has bigger threats. Lots of them. The Vampire Intelligences in Mexico and Central America are not even in the Top Five, and they are not to be taken lightly- they are dangerous and only get more dangerous with every foolhardy move against them. (Neither is Lord Splynn, and he's a literal Cosmic Horror.)

But they are not The Thing Under The Waters. They are not Nxla the Devourer. They are not The Four Horsemen. They are not The Mechanoids (or, "Uncle Kevin's Daleks") either- all of them are far more dangerous than the Vampire Intelligences.

But Alexandros is gunning for them first and foremost because True Atlanteans in particular have a hate-on for Vampires (see Secrets), and he's on a divine mission to take them out.

Which means he's going to run head-long into more monsters than just Vampires. Maybe, just maybe, Alexandros will get lucky and run across a certain Dhampir before he gets in over his Demigod head.

This is the RIFTS movie.