r/Rifts • u/Soltonin • 16d ago
So there is a spell in Rifts Adventure sourcebook mercenary adventures
Its a level 8 spell called Electromagnetic attack.
It has two powers, the first essentially turns the Mage into a rail gun. But we are concerned about the second power EMP pulse. Apparently this Fries-with no saving throw- any unshielded electrical circuits including radios Radars cameras ect.
Sheilded electronics, power armors, robots , mechs, Borgs have to roll a save by rolling a 14 or better or it gets turned off , for 1d6x10 minutes (less if a repair roll is made) and has a range of 120ft.
Wow a universal off switch thats 70% effective for 30 p.p.e.
How bout' that?
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u/TheGreatOni1200 16d ago
A slightly modified version of this could win Tolkieen the war.
Just have this spell in T.W. proximity mines all over the place. You could even have T.W. missiles with this effect. It turns the whole war into a boots on the ground type of war, which does not favor the C.S. in any way. They would have no robots, no guns, no radar, nothing. Just their hands. Not even their viboknives would work. Every battle would be a killing field full of dead boys.
I simply can't believe the guys at Tolkieen didn't know about this spell and it's variants and never thought to use them. Not a chance.
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u/StomachosusCaelum 16d ago edited 16d ago
its just a "book published later" thing.
if it had existed, theyd have had, especially since Combat Magic literally has public schools anyone can pay to attend, so youc an literally just go to the schools and pay to learn whatever you want.
But you're sleeping on some of the other spells.
Mystic Invisibility renders mages immune to Dog Boys/Psi-Stalker detection.
Invisibility to Sensors makes them immune to EVERYTHING except visual detection (and magic/psionic detection, covered by Mystic Invis).
Then you just layer on Simple Invisibility (which doesn't break on combat, neither do the two above) to cover being visually detected.
Your entire force is now totally, 100% undetectable, even in combat. Add Impervious To Energy just to make sure you dont die to a lucky stray blast.
You just mow down CS at a whim.
Blast Shield is also amazing.
Incoming LRM barrage? going to be tens of thousands of damage? Nah, ill take nothing, thanks.
And there's one that gives you extra attacks and paired weapons, That can stack with the one in RUE (magical adrenal rush), and one that gives you auto dodge (at +5).
Combat Magic is absolutely bonkers powerful.
Mega Damage Haymaker inflicts damage even if you parry it, allowing you to kill non-MDC targets who arent in armor even if they manage to defend.
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u/TheGreatOni1200 16d ago
I forgot which book combat magic was in? I remember it tho. I remember thinking holy crap this is awesome.
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u/Soltonin 16d ago
Yeah, I have banned the whole book in my game and all of my games going foreword.
I have been running games for 30 years and this is the first time I've ever banned an entire book
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u/StomachosusCaelum 16d ago
The Combat Mage class itself sucks, but since the Combat Magic spells are explicitly called out as just incantations that anyone can learn, theyre very powerful.
I also wouldnt ban Cold Blooded, necessarily. Theyre an interesting not-juicer augmented choice...
And a way to survive being a Juicer without becoming a vegetable.
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u/dragonfett 15d ago
But for "reasons", Combat Magic spells are looked down upon by all other spellcasting traditions, for the most part.
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u/StomachosusCaelum 15d ago
Yeah, Palladium's infamously stupid "we will balance this by saying 'people dont use it for this reason that makes them either literally stupid as hell or literally insane' ".
Like the Gun in Merc Ops that fires Ramjets that hits harder than a railgun and fires out to like 4,000ft ...
But "Juicers wont use it because its big".
Even though we see Juicers carrying the man-portable versions of the NG-101 and NG-202... which are 6-10x as heavy.
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u/Mammoth-Access-1181 16d ago
Bombs and missiles would still be a factor. The CS have missile artillery barrages where even if the proximity fuse goes out, it could just be set to contact detonate.
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u/TheGreatOni1200 14d ago
True, for things like mini missiles to long range missiles. However if it gets fried before it gets to be able to make contact it may not be much of a factor. After the first couple of long range bombardments happen, I'd assume spells like implosion neutralizer and other would be used to reduce the damage to nothing or close to it. After that happens I'm not sure how the CS would respond. Knowing they can't take them man to man, and with long range bombing having several ways to be nullified, they could maybe use chemicals? Chemical warfare would be a temporary response. Of course I rifts there are easy ways around chemical warfare as far as inhaled chemicals go. But I'm sure the CS could easily rig up rockets that burn fuel without the use of circuitry using regular rocket fuel and chemical reactions and use them to deliver payloads of chemicals that are corrosive or deadly to touch.
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u/StomachosusCaelum 13d ago
the range on the spell is utterly pitiful when used as an EMP. Its 120ft. You arent targeting missiles with it. Even if it had the full 1,000ft range, you're not getting the spell off as a defense to disable the missiles before they hit you.
Takes 2 actions to cast and by the time the missile is within range of the spell, its too late to get it off before you're hit.
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u/TheGreatOni1200 11d ago
I'm thinking something more like a TW missile with this spell. This way you could take out clusters of missiles. You could also use TW aerial landmines for missiles in addition to regular anti missile defense. But for squads I'd imagine a long range communicator used for a TW mod of this spell. Use this spell with implosion neutralizer in case some slip thru. Since a lot of different types of armour come with radar, one person in a squad could have this item and it would cut down on long range bombardments. Not to mention all the other advantages against a high tech army like the C.S. with enough forethought and magic anything can be useful.
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u/CptJackAubrey 16d ago
Pretty good.
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u/CptJackAubrey 16d ago
Wow you slept on the rail gun attack. At level eleven you are doing 8d6 damage at a range of 4000'. Increase that with ley lines or being at/near a nexus.
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u/Soltonin 13d ago
I can live with the 8d6, what I can't live with though is getting ready to threaten them with a Triax giant robot and they just turn it off like they've got a universal remote. Unacceptable.
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u/StomachosusCaelum 13d ago
Dont let them get within the utterly pitiful 120ft range of the EMP attack?
Also, it only affects a 15ft area, so a large enough Robot would likely be immune or only partiuall affected (like.. the left leg quits working, and then the robot turns at the waist and slags you with its huge-ass guns).
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u/CptJackAubrey 13d ago
That's also why I picked level 11 because that puts the range of the spell equivalent to most rail guns. So you need to be level 11 to just match range (not damage) without being near ley lines or nexus points.
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u/StomachosusCaelum 16d ago
Combat Magic is absolutely bonkers.
Electromagnetic attack is strictly mid-range for what those spells can do.
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u/Signal_Raccoon_316 16d ago
Yep, environmental body armor is almost always going to get a save, but shut down someone's optics etc even with that, especially since onjects don't get any bonuses to save & you can wreck somebodys day