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RIFTS

2022-09-04T21:19:38Z

2A02:8108:49C0:A04:F0C5:BD0D:B53E:B9B4: /* Races and Monsters */

[[File:Rifts_Cover_Large.jpg|thumb|A Splugorth Slaver and his bitches]]
'''RIFTS''' is a [[RPG|roleplaying game]] made by the [[Palladium Books]] publishing company. Rifts takes place on earth about 300 years after a nuclear holocaust caused a magical reawakening and killed over two thirds of humanity. In the course of the apocalypse many things changed in the world, Atlantis rose out of the ocean which flooded most Atlantic coastlines (killing even more people), the four horsemen appeared in Africa (where they killed more people), the Lord of the Deep was awakened (He didn't kill anyone at the time), and most importantly Rifts began to open up which let numerous alien races spill out into the world. Where many of them were and are still being killed.

Rifts, for which the game is named, are what makes Rifts Earth so incredibly crazy. These Rifts allow for dimensional travel and allow everything from friendly fluff balls to malevolent alien gods out for a stroll onto Earth. So all the while the people who thought their lives couldn't get any worse now have to compete with displaced extra-dimensional beings trapped here. Those not content with just being friends with everybody chose to fight even the nicest of D-Bee's (Slang term for dimensional beings). Thus the Coalition was formed. Made up of a bunch of pricks who managed to take control of ancient super-city/fortresses wage constant war against Aliens, supernatural beings and magic users. Meanwhile all kinds of other horrible things go on all across Rifts Earth. [[grimdark|This is a really shitty place to live]].

==Disclaimer==
Every Rifts book begins with a disclaimer that warns that the book contains violence, war, magic and the supernatural. Which is redundant since every cover of every source book contains an image that shows at least one, or more commonly all four of them. The disclaimer is often accompanied by some artwork that depicts some violence or one of the other four as well. This disclaimer was a response to the wave of [[Dark Dungeons|anti-RPG]] [[Mazes and Monsters|hysteria]] in the 80s and early 90s, and its inclusion in saner times is one of many things that shows the game's age.

==Character Classes==
Rifts has a huge selection of character classes, almost as many as it does playable races. Usually a half-dozen or more with nearly every book. Some are basic Occupational Character Classes, others are Racial Character Classes that are tied to the character's race.

Character Classes is Rifts are typically very front-loaded. You'll get 90% or more of a Class' features(if it has any) right off the bat at first level. Growth is measured by an increase of those abilities and Skill proficiency.

And there are a ''lot'' of skills. Class Skills are divided into "O.C.C. Skills", which form the backbone of the class and typically have fairly hefty bonuses to use them. This usually also includes weapon proficiencies and combat skills; O.C.C. Related Skills, secondary areas of training; and "Other" Skills, which are more like personal areas of interest for the character.

Any attempt to list them all will inevitably be spun off into it's own page, but some of the more notable are:

*'''Body Fixer:''' A travelling doctor and Xenology expert. Is technically the party healer, if not for the fact that most weapons in Rifts will turn your body to a fine mist once your armor goes down. But if you happen to get sick, he's your man.
*'''Borg''': A 'Borg is a warrior who has given up their squishy human body for one of Mega-Damage alloys, becoming a twenty-four hour war machine. This shreds their magical juice, but also lets them upgrade themselves almost endlessly with extra parts and stat increases, limited only by the game's byzantine and granular rules and the depth of their wallets. It also replaces many of their physical stats, so the RNG won't screw you as hard. Your Robot Strength isn't as good as Supernatural Strength in many ways (the ''incoherent'' carrying capacity charts will fuck you particularly hard), but unlike Supernatural Strength you can still apply numerical bonuses, and yours doesn't stop working in anti-magic worlds or zones.
** '''Anti-Monster''': A Techno-Wizard cyborg warrior from Colombia. Their bodies are transformed into hulking supernatural beings, with a few magical abilities on top. When the Minion War came to Earth(again), more than three-quarters of the Anti-Monsters went AWOL to fight the demons, and the ones left behind started petitioning the Colombian government to make more.
** '''Dragon Borg''': A Japanese 'Borg with a powerful Dragon-shaped body.
** '''Mining Borg''': A 'Borg who got his body in an attempt to strike it rich mining for precious metals, minerals, and the like. But beware, anything that can dig holes in a mountain can do the same to ''you''.
*'''Burster''': A master psychic with a focus on pyrokinesis. A burster can shoot fire, control fire, and sheathe themselves in a fiery aura. For those who want to watch the world burn, or put it out.
**'''Zapper''': Pretty much the same as a Burster, but his power is ''Electro''kinesis
**'''Surger''': Hydrokinesis Burster. Most of these aren't found on dry land, for some reason. So you get a lot in Lemuria.
*'''City Rat''': Your typical Cyberpunk gang member found in high-tech cities or the 'Burbs outside the Coalition's Fortress-cities, usually a teenager or young adult.
*'''Coalition RPA Pilot''': The elite Mecha and Power Armor pilots of the Coalition States.
*'''Cosmo-Knight''': One of the game's more infamous classes, these are basically [[Paladin]]s gone Silver Surfer. Called to serve in the Three Galaxies by an engine of creation known as the Cosmic Forge, Cosmo-Knights can fly through space, shoot energy blasts, and because they only take [[Damage Reduction |one hundredth damage from energy weapons]], can fight battlecruisers single-handed.
[[File:Cyber_v_Juice.png|thumb|A Cyber-Knight battles a Coalition Juicer]]
*'''Crazy''': One of the many forms of Human Augmentation developed before the Great Cataclysm, The '''Mind Over Matter''' system manipulates the recipient's brain to improve their reflexes and let them push their bodies to their limits. It even throws in a few psychic powers. Unfortunately, it also drives them crazy. Like, ''Deadpool''/''Looney Tunes'' crazy. One of the few player options to get automatic dodge, but the random side effects and roleplay requirements are harsh. Notably, lots of crazies eventually end up killing someone innocent and cute thanks to their paranoia and super-reflexes, which eventually drives them to suicide or homicidal insanity. There are crazy variants of many other classes, like the gunslinger.
*'''Cyber-Doc''': Much like a Body Fixer, the main difference being, as the name suggests, is that the Cyber-Doc is primarily skilled in the implantation, repair, and maintenance of cybernetics and bionics. He can even make them more effective. If your party has a good number of cybernetics, he's pretty much a must.
*'''Cyber-Knight''': A cross between a [[Paladin]] and a Jedi. Cyber-Knights are defenders of the weak and innocent. At first, they were known by their cybernetically-implanted armor and psychic energy swords, a later sourcebook gave them additional powers, notably a force-like ability to know when any technological device was turned against them.
*'''Dog Boy''': [[Furry|Mutant dogs]] created by the Coalition to hunt magic-users, Dog Boys can sense the presence of magic-users and supernatural beings like a hunting dog sniffing out prey.
*'''Dolphin/Orca/Humpback Whale''': Yes, the game lets you play as a fucking whale. Dolphins have innate magic, while all three know various abilities they can use on Ley Lines. Some seaborne Human kingdoms will even outfit friendly Dolphins and Orcas with special underwater Power Armor just for them.
**'''Pneuma-Biform''': A fusion of Cetacean and Human created to be minions by the Deep-Sea horror known as the Lord of the Deep. Unlike its other monsters however, their souls merged too, allowing them to retain their free will. Of course, the Lord of the Deep didn't find that out until he had already created thousands of them. Pneuma-Biforms can change can transform into a Human form for a few hours, allowing players to be able to play as a Whale without missing much too much action on dry land(might wanna keep a ''large'' water tank handy if they wanna leave the coast, though). They also have some innate magic, so that's a plus.
*'''Dragon Hatchling''': Yes, you can play a [[Dragon]], albeit one only up to just over a month old(and as young as literally born yesterday). Dragon Hatchings have innate magical abilities, a body that can go toe-to-toe with a suit of power armor and stand a good chance of winning, and a number of other (super)natural abilities depending on their individual species.
*'''Elemental Fusionist''': A while back, Rifts actually got a video game, and by all accounts from those who played it, it was pretty good. Unfortunately, it came out on the ''Nokia N-Gage'', a would-be competitor to the Game Boy Advance which of course suffered the fate of every other system that tried to take Nintendo on in the handheld area(to say nothing of the memes making fun of its crappy-ass design). But it did leave a legacy in this class, which the makers of the game got to make up themselves. Elemental Fusionists are wilderness spellcasters who channel the latent Elemental energy of the planet. They also combine these elements, but always in clashing pairs(i.e.: Fire/Water or Air/Earth).
*'''Gizmoteer''': A sort of Psychic [[Artificer]] from an alien colony in South America. What sets this guy apart is its ability to charge any direct energy weapon to use Psychic energy instead of a power pack. The only drawback to this is that you have to pay a power points cost equal to its payload in order to fuel it. However the ''very same book it was introduced in'' also features a potent Anti-Tank laser rifle on par with the Glitter Boy's, that comes with the drawback of a payload of only one shot(that is to say, it drains an entire E-Clip, which can give most guns 20-30 shots, in one blast). You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to abuse this combination.
*'''Glitter Boy''': Rarely has a class been so defined by it's equipment. The Glitter Boy is the pilot of a suit of power-armor of the same name, a ten-foot-tall beast wrapped in gleaming laser-resistant armor and carrying a powerful railgun that can core a modern battle tank in a single shot. Some Glitter Boys are part of long-standing family traditions stretching all the way back to the Great Cataclysm.
*'''[[Gunslinger]]''': One of the best classes from the New West sourcebooks, most of whom boil down to "Gunslingers but less good at fighting." They have the somewhat unique ability to fight, parry, and riposte with two pistols at once, and they're super-fast quickdraw artists with a Fear rating.
**'''Psi-Slinger''': A variant of the Gunslinger who augments his shooting abilities with psionic power, such as firing energy bolts from his fingers and altering the power of energy attacks that hit him. Not quite as good at gunslinging ''as'' the Gunslinger, but gets psionics as well as fucking mind bullets.
**'''Wired Sligner''': Somebody thought that giving Crazy-style implants to a ''Gunslinger'' was a good idea. They basically are Crazies that swap out the psychic powers for a Gunslinger's sharp-shooting abilities. Not as funny as the vanilla Crazy, there are just some jittery adrenaline junkies. Who are also more than a little insane.
*'''Headhunter''': This started out as he basic [[Fighter]] of the game, i.e. "Dude with a gun". Over time however, the class evolved into a bionically-augmented tech-warrior and monster slayer.
*'''Juicer''': Juicers are warriors who wear a harness that feeds them a steady drip of a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs to push their bodies well past the human limit. Unfortunately, this burns their body out and kills them in five to seven years. Since then, people have refined the formula, tweaking the transformation for faster speed, more muscle mass(and metal to lace the skeleton enough to carry all that), and even supernatural strength and toughness(but when you burn out, you ''literally'' burn out, eventually exploding like a small bomb). Some dude even figured out a way to make a juicer powered by the blood of Dragons. Another of the rare methods of getting automatic dodge.
*'''Ley Line Walker''': Rifts' fancy way of saying [[Wizard]]. But they do come with a lot of abilities that deal with manipulating the energy from Ley Lines, including the ability to float or walk in the air along them. So at least the class earns its name.
*'''Mercenary Soldier/Robot Pilot''': With the expansion of the Headhunter Class, Palladium needed a new basic "Man with a Gun and Guts" O.C.C.. So in the Ultimate Edition we got these two. Not much special to them feature-wise, but they have a number of skills, and are pretty damn good with them. Robot Pilots, as you may have guessed, are the guys who get to pilots mechs and power armor. If [[Gundam]] or [[Battletech]] is your thing, this class is a good place to start.
*'''Mind Melter''': An incredibly powerful psychic, who can have weakened versions of the Burster or Zapper's powers, move objects with his mind, Create an energy sword like a Cyber-Knight, Fire bolts of mind energy like a Psi-Slinger, read your mind, erase your memories, hypnotize you or straight-up possess your body like a ghost, mentally operate machines, fuck up your nervous system, erect energy fields, keep other Mind Melters from doing all the above to ''them''(and his friends) and more. All at the same time.
*'''Mystic''': A combination of both Psychic and Mage. A bit like a [[Sorcerer]] in concept, They can also open themselves to the supernatural world around them, making them something like a magic radar.
*'''Nega-Psychic''': In Palladium's contemporary Horror RPG '''Beyond the Supernatural''', were a type of skeptic in psionics, magic and the supernatural whom ironically was himself Psychic. This disbelief fed his power, unconsciously disrupting the powers of magic-users, psychics and supernatural beings around him. In ''Rifts'', however, there's too much going on for ''anybody'' to deny, so Rifts Nega-Psychics are fueled instead by defiance. Less "They don't exist!", and more "I don't give a fuck!".
*'''Operator''': A skilled mechanic class. Given the necessity of high-tech weapons and equipment in this game, he's almost your party healer. Some Operators have psionics that allow them to work better or even mentally interface with machines.
*'''Psi-Stalker''': A mutant human subspecies that feeds on the psychic energy used to power magic and supernatural beings. Because of their abilities to detect their prey, the Coalition often recruits Psi-Stalkers to lead packs of Dog Boys.
*'''Rogue Scholar/Scientist''': The Knowledge- and Skill-Monkey of the game. Pretty much a [[Bard]] without the magic. This being Rifts, however, there are a lot of people around willing to kill for what you know and/or are trying to learn(or teach). so they're not useless in a fight.
*'''Shifter''': Think a summoner mixed in with 90's goth callbacks, this is the class that edgy "shoot up the school" kid we all know would play. Summons monsters and demons through rifts and bends them to his will. He can also make deals with powerful supernatural beings (Gods, Alien Intelligences, and the like) to give him personal power.
*'''Tattooed Man''': Also known as a ''T-Man'', this is a warrior whose body is covered in magic tattoos, which can create weapons or attack creatures among other effects. Many T-Men are servants or slaves of the Splugorth, most of the others includes True Atlantians( who were teached how create their tattoos by a race of dragon far before Atlantis'fall) of several occupations, in particular Undead Slayers .
*'''Techno-Wizard''': A spellcaster-mechanic who combines magic and technology to make magic weapons. These can range from a flaming sword to magic-powered mecha. For some reason, they like dressing like WWII-era bomber pilots.
*'''Vagabond''': You're pretty much a hobo. Just a dude wandering around doing whatever, who's only Class Feature is "Eyeball a Fella". Yeah, after all the classes listed above, you ain't picking this one.
*'''Warlock''': Not exactly like [[Warlock|those guys]]. A spellcaster who makes a connection with beings from the [[Elemental Planes]] Their spells are often powerful, but naturally limited by their focus.
*'''Wilderness Scout''': As the name implies, these are the men and women who have gone out and mastered the monster-infested wilds between the towns and cities(so yeah, pretty much a [[Ranger]]). Unless you plan to keep your adventures tied to one city, consider bringing one along.

==Races and Monsters==

Rifts has a '''LOT''' of playable races. Aside from Humans, Psi-Stalkers(Human mutants) and Dog Boys, there are tons of D-Bees(Dimensional Beings), Basically aliens from other dimensions that were yanked to Earth from their homeworlds during the Great Cataclysm, or explorers and refugees that came after. These range from Fantasy races such as Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Ogres and Giants, to strangers things like insect- or plant-people, giant slugs, Ectoplasmic creatures, demons, and more.

*'''Alien Intelligence''': Eldritch horrors of incredible power, and more than often enough evil. Your average Alien Intelligence can be described as "A giant mass of flesh with more eyes and tentacles than anything should ever need". Many are powerful enough to rival Gods(and some, like Chronos and Aspu, ''are'' Gods). One type is responsible for Vampires. Another type (the one that tends to come up the most in gameplay and lore) is the Splugorth, who are basically cosmic horrors as asshole capitalist imperialist slavers, with a uniform but highly diverse set of minions shared between all members of the "species".

*'''Alterans''': These Blind Warrior Women are (mostly) loyal slaves of the Splugorth. They look almost just like Humans, but are bald and reproduce asexually via cloning.

*'''Arkhons''': Lizard-Cat aliens that tried to invade Earth thousands of years ago, but got defeated by the Nazca Lines. In 74 PA, a disgraced Arkhon clan decided to try again, not knowing how much the Earth had changed since then. Needless to say, it didn't go well. But several of their ships managed to force a landing in South America and carved out their own little kingdom with their Cyborg hunters, psychic operatives, and hybrid energy weapons.

*'''True Atlantean''': The descendants of the original civilization of Atlantis. These guys are effectively Elves in Human form. They are one of the originators of Tattoo and Stone Magic.

*'''Cactus People''': A peaceful race of plant people who live out in the New West. Unfortunately for them, their blood is delicious, and this has led evil or desperate people to kill them as a source of water or sustenance in the deserts.

* '''Chasseur Vert''': Oddly French Plant-people. Lived on the same world as the Spinne, and warred with them for centuries because, well, they're delicious. But that was a long time ago, and they get along now(mostly). Chasseur Vert are nature-loving hedonists who can shoot sticky sap from their hands, and have more than their share of artists and philosophers.

*'''Cyber-Horsemen''': Somewhere out in Canada(around British Columbia) is a High-tech city of Centaurs called '''Ixion'''. Unlike their more rustic kin often found around Canada and the Northern US, the Cyber-Horsemen often augment their bodies with cybernetics.

*'''D'Norr''': Often called "Devilmen" due to their red skin and small horns(kinda look like [[Tieflings]], except they don't have hair, and the backs of their heads are spikey and slightly elongated). Extremely charismatic but have ''no'' supernatural abilities. The D'Norr had never evem heard of magic before coming to Earth, and are fascinated by it. As such, nearly half of them are magic-users. Needless to say, this puts them near the top of the Coalition's shit list.

*'''[[Giant]]s''': Mostly hail from the Palladium World, but can be found on Earth from time to time.
**'''Algor''': These [[Frost Giant]]s are named after a cold(in nearly every sense of the word) and aloof God in the Palladium Fantasy RPG world. They stand 14-16' tall and can breathe blasts of bone-chilling frost in combat.
**'''Cyclops''': The classic One-Eyed giant. Have the ability to create lightning arrows and javelins. Anyone else who tries to learn the art gets fucked up by Demons.
**'''Jotan''': Hill Giants. The largest and toughest of the Giants. And unlike other breeds of Hill Giant, fairly smart too. Their crafts skills are second only to Dwarves.
**'''Gigantes''': Bizzare(and often insane) mutants. Gigates have a dizzying array of appearances and abilities, such as turning invisible, having a second mouth, or looking like a giant ape. It is rare to find two with the same mutations/abilities.
**'''Nimro''': Fire-breathing [[Fire Giant]]s. A group of them have established their own kingdom in Turkey.
**'''Rahu-Men''': A rare race of four-armed Giants. A Rahu-Man named "General" Rasheen lives in the NGR and is pretty much Martin Luther King as a giant four-armed Cyber-Knight.
**'''Titan''': A race of handsome and good Giants. One runs a city in what was once Houston, Texas.

*'''Grackle-Tooth(Jin-Roh)''': These good-natured Dinosaur-like people stand eight to ten feet tall and up to 800 lbs of pure muscle with a prehensile tail. They mostly live in the New West.

*'''Iktektumiks''': Also known as Iktek Diggers. These Armadillo-like creatures came from the Deific Realm of a forgotten god, where, at 7-9 feet tall and nearly as tough as a 'Borg, they were among the ''smallest'' creatures there and preyed upon by pretty much everything.

*'''Kraks (Quartigo Cephlapodans)''': A short race of Green to Brown-skinned D-Bees with two tentacles coming from their cheeks. They are big-time social mimics who rapidly adopt the languages, dress, and customs of those around them.

*'''Kreeghor''': A race of heavily-armored humanoids that were originally slaves of the Splugorth, but managed to fight for their own freedom with the help of the suddenly-appearing "Royal" Kreeghor subspecies. They then promptly began a campaign of galactic conquest to inflict that same misery on the rest of the Three Galaxies.

*'''Larmac''': You know every stereotype about various immigrants and/or ethnic minorities being lazy and shiftless? With these lizard men, that's pretty much true. But even they can be inspired to great efforts... if you promise them some time off afterwards.

*'''Loronids''': These mutant Macaws were created by the Achilles Project under Project: Norwegian Blue. They were made to be essentially superior data analysts, skilled in number crunching and pattern recognition. Unfortunately, they turned out to be either very lazy or motivated to get the hell out of there and explore. Subsequently most of them went AWOL, eventually settling in North America. They also have the ability to enter a death-like state of suspended animation. Or maybe they're just [[Monty_Python|pining for the Fjords]]...

*'''Lyn-Srial''': A race of flying, four-armed bird-headed people who have used their Cloud Magic to build a city for themselves in the Grand Canyon. Lyn-Srial tend to be Good by nature.

*'''Millennium Trees''': Giant sentient(and mostly benevolent) trees stretching thousands of feet tall. They grow on Ley Lines and Nexuses, and like having people live in their boughs and branches, to the point of growing places for them to live. Their twigs, leaves and branches can be used to make powerful magic items, but they tend to object ''explosively'' to people taking them without permission. They can be found in England, Africa, Europe, and Asia. The Yggdrasil of Norse mythology is a particularly large and ancient one. There's an evil and twisted one in Germany's Black Forest.

*'''N'retas''': Anteater-people who mostly live in and around Mexico. N'retas have almost entirely assimilated into the life and culture of Earth, to the point most of them are Catholic. Being mortal beings in Mexico, a number of them have indeed been turned into Vampires, which is not easy on them due to lacking teeth.

*'''Octomen''': Many-tentacled, good-hearted, butt-ugly child-to-man-sized octopus people with limited regeneration. They were brought to Earth as slaves of the Splugorth, but some of them have gotten free. Notable for their ability to take Paired Weapon skills and turn them into four weapons for min-maxing; the game even mentions they enjoy warm, dry climates and therefore make geographic sense as Gunslingers.

*'''Phoenixi''': These giant bird-men are born servants of the Egyptian Goddess Bennu. As such, they are as tough as a young dragon, Have several Psionic powers, ALL Fire magic, and an insane amount of PPE to cast it, can engulf themselves in flames, and can instantly regenerate from near-death to full life. Yes, this is one of the more overpowered races in the game, but since it was from a book almost nobody read(Africa), they are hardly used.

*'''Pogtal Dragon Slayers''': These giants(13-28 feet tall) grew up on a forested world full of Dragons and similar large reptilian predators. Subsequently, they developed an immunity to fire of all kinds, an invisible field that protects them as well as turning any weapon they have into an MDC weapon. But their most striking feature is their huge mouth full of two rows of sharp teeth.

*'''Power Leeches''': Cute, childlike D-Bees with potbellies and bald heads. They absorb energy, which makes them grow bigger and more powerful. This includes energy weapons fired near(or ''at'') them.

*'''Quick-Flex Aliens''': These D-Bees look extremely close to Humans, save for smaller/slighter builds and tiny noses. They are however very agile, with reflexes that rival Juicers or Crazies(i.e.: they get an automatic dodge right off the bat). They make great pilots and gun-fighters(especially Gunslingers!), but can do little else. The temperament for things like magic or technical/scholarly pursuits just isn't there.

*'''Shemarrans''': These cyborg warrior women riding metal dinosaurs are believed to be D-Bees from another world, but are actually robots created by Archie Three.

*'''Simvan''': Savage, cannibalistic nomads with an ability to tame animals and monsters of various kinds.

*'''Spinne''': Oddly German Spider-people. They are arguably two races; the ''Starke'', a bookish bloodline descended from web-building spiders, and the ''Schnellig'', who came from hunting spiders. As noted above, lived and warred with the Chasseur Vert for centuries in the past of their homeworld.

*'''Wolfen''': A race of giant (7-9 feet tall) Wolf-people. They're prominent in both the Palladium Fantasy and Three Galaxies universes, and as such many have made it to Rifts' Earth. In particular Italy where they use an organization similar to Ancient Rome.

*'''Yeno''': A scaley/armored race of aliens with short tempers and the ability to naturally fire energy blasts or generate forcefields. There are plenty of sayings about how ill-tempered and vengeful Yeno can be. Many of them end with some variation of "and then the speaker was shot in the back by a nearby Yeno who overheard and took offense to that remark."

==Setting(s)==
As noted before, the primary setting of the world is Earth, specifically North America (mostly Eastern-to-Middle America and Canada). A few other dimensions got looked into from time to time as well. On top of that, compatibility between Palladium systems means that every other game, from ''Heroes Unlimited'' and ''Ninjas and Superspies'' to ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' and ''Robotech'' are also part of the Palladium Megaverse, copyright permitting on those last two (but if you got the books, who's gonna stop you?).

One of the most important new old features of the transformed Earth are the ''Ley Lines'', lines crisscrossing the Earth that act as a network of magical energy. In the supercharged magic levels of Rifts' Earth, Ley Lines appear as huge walls of energy miles long, and half a mile wide, that glow blue-white in the night. Where two ley lines meet, they form a ''Nexus'', a powerful font of magic power that sometimes open into Rifts leading to other dimensions, where monsters and peoples can enter the world, sometimes whether they want to or not. Where three ley lines crisscross each other like a triangle, things get even weirder. Bermuda Triangle-weird.

===Coalition States (North America)===
The former United States is completely broken, with a few new kingdoms and empires clawing their way out of the Post-Apocalypse. The largest of these is the '''Coalition States''', a Nazi-like state that keeps its people illiterate, lies about history, and is genocidally vehement against Magic and non-human beings. If you didn't get the memo about them being bad guys before, their soldiers also wear all-black Stormtrooper armor with a skeleton motif, and they like putting skulls on the front of their vehicles and mechs whenever possible. The Coalition States are:
* Chi-Town: Claiming Iowa and parts of Illinois, Chi-Town is a massive fortress-city near the haunted ruins of actual Chicago that is the capital of the CS. Around Chi-Town (and many other fortress cities) are a scattered collection of communities and shantytowns known as '''The 'Burbs''', full of mutants, gangs, D-Bees (the fact that any D-Bee is willing to live so close to the powerbase of the dudes most eager to exterminate them should tell you how shit the rest of the world generally is), and many, many people hopeful to earn a place behind the safety of the city's walls.
* Missouri: Located in the eponymous state. Mostly farm and empty land earmarked for future development. Also notable for two independent city-states in its south, Whykin (mostly human, tech-based and getting cosier with the Coalition States all the time) and Kingsdale (melting pot of D-Bees, magical beings, wizards and sympathetic humans, probably next big target on Coalition's shit-list but a bit too close to Federation of Magic for immediate annihilation).
* Iron Heart: In southern Canada immediately north of Lake Huron. An industrialized state that cozies up to Chi-Town actively. Very happy that Free Quebec is on the outs.
* Arkansas/El Dorado: Most of Arkansas is forest wilderness, with scattered Human and D-Bee towns. The primary exception is the City-State of El Dorado, which was friendly with the Coalition for years, ultimately joining during the Tolkeen war.
* Lone Star: While the CS claims the entirety of the Lone Star State, in truth they only run the Panhandle and some the area south of it. The main reason they do so is the '''Tex-Am Complex''', a Pre-Rifts compound of Genetic Engineering labs, where the CS clones their army of Dog Boys. The man running the place, a Doctor Desmond Bradford, is a bit of a Mad Scientist.
* Free Quebec: Laying claim to the Canadian state with a legion of Glitter Boys (like, tens of thousands of them, plus unique variants they developped). Quebec is... well, it's ''Quebec''. Very French and very arrogant, they eventually split off from the Coalition, sparking a civil war (then kissed and made up with them due to a hilariously poorly thought out attempt at alliance by Tolkeen, [[FAIL|dooming themselves]] since after that the Coalition had only the one major military front left, which was the Western Front to Quebec's Eastern Front if Hitler had the resources of the US, Great Britain wasn't an island and Stalin had been less of a fucktard).

===Archie 3===
In the Aberdeen Proving Ground, the mega-corp Cyberworks created a powerful A.I. called A.R.C.H.I.E. Three. This A.I. was moved to the supreme headquarters of NEMA, an organization tasked with defending North America. On the bright side, the world ended before he went Skynet on us, on the down side, that didn't stop him from going crazy anyway. Archie has decided that the only way to make sense of this crazy world is to take it over, and he has command of a surprisingly well-preserved robot factory to do it. But rather than march across the country with an unending tide of tireless death machines, Archie has decided to be more subtle, starting with an army of [[monstergirls|hot]] [[robot]] [[Amazon|warrior women]] riding mechanical [[dinosaur]]s (the Shemarrians) as his front.

But Archie has a few disadvantages. He has trouble coming up with ideas of his own, and as such needs a Human "Idea Man" to link up and help him come up with new plots and minions. This might or might not just be a function of his insecurities, but he does tend to bond with his Idea Men. When he first debuted in RIFTS, he'd basically fired his old Idea Man, a crazy cyborg who wasn't all that creative, and replaced him with Hagan Lonovitch; a very inventive scavenger (the robot warrior women were his idea) with limited [[psionics]], notably "machine empathy/telepathy".

One such idea was the hire a Shifter to help them exploit the possibilities of other dimensions. Unfortunately, the very first portal he opened up led directly to the universe of '''The [[Mechanoids]]''', a genocidal race of cyborgs with a mad on against Humanoid life (Basically [[Doctor Who|Daleks Lite]], and not all ''that'' Lite). A small force of them managed to come thought the rift before one of them killed the Human shifter and thus closed the door. The Mechanoids took over Archie's factory and set about retooling it with their technology and cloning facilities to make more of themselves, triggering the first large-scale crisis on Rifts' Earth. For his part, Archie feigned compliance and sent out his Idea Man, Hagan, to resist the Mechanoids and to gather heroes to destroy them. Needless to say, they succeeded.

Notably, the gigantic robot brain-core at the center of his base is just a feint, which is why having it repeatedly destroyed hasn't inconvenienced him much; his real core is in a desk drawer somewhere. Even Hagan doesn't actually know that Archie's real core is a little black box.

===Federation of Magic===
The eastern banks of the Mississippi River across from Missouri and Arkansas, encompassing all of Kentucky, and most of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio and parts of Tennessee is an area crisscrossed by ley lines and saturated in magic energies. This it is known as the '''Magic Zone'''.

When the Rifts opened, one big one opened right inside the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. This rift fused with the gate, rendering it indestructible, and never closed. The Coalition occupied the area around the gate (leaving the rest of the city in ruin), and use it as a Headquarters for the '''Rift Control Study Group''', a military division that seeks scientific means to control and close rifts.

Elsewhere in the Magic Zone is a loose confederation of Magic-using states referred to as the '''Federation of Magic'''. The most dangerous of which are '''Dweomer''', a mysterious city-state ruled by three God-like beings, with magic automatons in lieu of giant robots, '''Stormspire''', a city devoted to the creation and sale of Techno-Wizard equipment, run by a Lizard Mage with a robber baron mindset, and the so-called '''True Federation''', a cult-like force that consorts with demons, shadow-beasts and worse, led by the maniacal Alistair Dunscon, lord of the '''City of Brass'''.

===Lazlo===
Where the city of Toronto once stood is now the city of Lazlo, a self-styled City of Learning. Named after a pre-Rifts scholar who theorized the existence of Ley Lines and other supernatural phenomenon that later turned out to have been right all along, Lazlo is one of the birthplaces of Techno-Wizardry, and one of the unquestionably "Good" places on Rifts' Earth. It is also home to adventurer Erin Tarn. Ruled (well, he's the head of an elected council, but he's never lost an election because he's Just That Good, what with millenia of experience) by an ancient dragon who calls himself Plato.

===Mad Haven===
New York City got pretty much wiped off the map during the Great Cataclysm. Sometime during this, Manhattan Island itself somehow got slammed into the mainland, making it into a peninsula. The ruins, only lightly overgrown despite the centuries, are haunted by spirits, madness, and mutants.
[[File:Rifts ng downtown.jpg|thumb|Downtown Ishpeming]]
===Northern Gun/Manistique Imperium===
In that part of the northern half of the state of Michigan that kinda looks like a gun (get it?), The former Kingdom, now Republic, of '''Ishpeming''' is pretty much the bitch of the manufacturing giant Northern Gun. NG makes everything from tools and vehicles to guns, missiles, and giant robots, and is one of the biggest provider of weapons and gear to adventurers on the continent.

Right next to Ishpeming is the '''Manistique Imperium'''. At the tip of Michigan's "gun", The Imperium is a friendly neighbor to Ishpeming, but has recently entered the manufacturing market as well with Wellington Industries. Fortunately for Northern Gun, MI focuses more on projectile weapons and explosives rather than lasers and other energy weapons, which is NG's stock in trade.

===Pecos Empire===
The Coalition says they own all of Texas, but these guys are the reason why that's not true. The "Empire" is really several small armies of bandits and independent states run by a variety of leaders, from a giant paladin to a wannabe Mafia Don to the actual, time-displaced, real-life Sundance Kid (as in, "Butch Cassidy and the"). Kinda Mad Max-y mixed with Wild West for flavor.

===Psyscape===
A community of powerful psychic warriors somewhere in the Ohio Valley. Their main city exists partially within the Astral Plane, with the physical part anchored by a living Ley Line Nexus known as Psynex. Engaged in a secret war with the minions of Nxla, a soul-eating Alien Intelligence that's even worse than most of its kind (both more powerful and more evil) that's attempting to cross over to Earth for use as a megaversal all-you-can-eat buffet.

===Tolkeen===
Another center of Techno-Wizardry located in Minnesota. Tolkeen (real original, Kevin) was a place of acceptance and magic much like Lazlo, but found itself mostly isolated and way too close to the Coalition States. This inevitably led to war, which took Tolkeen's leaders down a dark path that ultimately failed to save it. After Tolkeen's destruction, hundreds of thousands of refugees fled west, with help from the Cyber-Knights and Lyn-Srial.

===Vampire Kingdoms===
Mexico is almost entirely overrun by [[Vampire]]s, who have established their own kingdoms where Humans and D-Bees are either willing vassals or cattle. The running water of the Rio Grande is the only thing keeping them from overrunning North America too.

===New Camelot(England)===
As it turns out, Merlin the Magician was in truth an Alien Intelligence tying to manipulate King Arthur into developing a kingdom that would eventually conquer the world. Unfortunately, the whole thing with Atlantis (well, aftershocks millenia after the facts, actually) happened before he could get to the evil parts. With the coming of the Rifts, he's giving it another try, complete with a new King Arr'Thuu and Camelot. And to make sure it goes off right, he's not only taking the role of Mrrlyn once more, but also the Lady of the Lake, and Queen Guinevere! Much of the rest of England has gone back to being like a medieval fairy tale as well (complete with Fairies), with Druids, giant insects, horned giant-controlling lizard-men, magical mountain-sized trees, and a Splugorth outpost in London for flavor. Oh, and the Formorians and Celtic Gods have come back to boot.

===The New German Republic===
Germany was one of the few nations of Earth not to fall in the Great Cataclysm, mostly due to the manufacturing might of the Industrial giant '''Triax'''. Arguably the most powerful Human nation on the planet, the NGR primarily struggles with the Gargoyle Empire that has laid claim to much of Western and Southern Europe. So yeah, for once having Germans roll over western Europe in an unstoppable tide of steel is a ''good'' thing. Somewhat Human supremacist, but more Apartheid than Genocide. Don't really give a damn about magic.

===The Gargoyle Empire===
Gargoyles in this game are a type of sub-demon that comes in five types:
* Your average Gargoyle stands about fifteen feet tall and is as tough as a suit of power armor.
* G'''u'''rgoyles (note the "u") are slightly shorter (about twelve feet) and wingless.
* Gargoyle Lords are the leaders of the flock, bigger, tougher, and have the ability to turn their bodies into living stone.
* Gargoyle Mages know some Earth Elemental magic, like a low-key Warlock. They can also turn to stone.
* Gargoylites are small (three feet) creatures that are surprisingly tough. Can also get stoned.

While most Gargoyles across the Megaverse (like those in Hades, for example) usually serve more powerful demons or mages, the Gargoyles of Europe have formed their own kingdom, stretching from the West of Germany (Belgium and Eastern France) and around the south (Austria and Northern Italy stretching down into the Balkans). They have also learned to use high-tech weapons and even manufacture their own mechs and power armor, which, along with a fast breeding rate, is why the Germans aren't anywhere near steamrolling them.

===The Brodkil Empire===
Another race of sub-demons who have carved out a territory in the south of Poland (many also live in North America and Russia, but not nearly as successful). The Brodkil are mostly helped by '''Mindwerks''', a Pre-Rifts company that still sees itself as the main rival to Triax, and developed the Mind Over Matter conversion that makes Crazies. Their leader is an insane Cyborg researcher calling herself the Angel of Death. Once close allies to the Gargoyles due to their shared enemy, they recently broke ties after the Brodkil started getting a big head. This allowed the Germans to make a big push (with the help of the New Navy and Coalition States [playing the good guys for once]) that led to them taking France (purely out of habit, we assume) and cutting the Gargoyle Empire in half.

===[[Atlantis]]===
Atlantis was a continent (in the Atlantic Ocean, duh) housing a Magically-empowered utopian-ish Human civilization on Earth thousands of years ago. Then they fucked with a rift they shouldn't have. They managed to fix the problem, but in doing so trapped Atlantis in a pocket dimension and pretty much tanked magic levels on Earth for millennia. When Atlantis came back (helping raise sea levels all over the world), it was first rediscovered by the Splugorth, in particular an Intelligence named Splynncryth. He decided to basically turn the continent into his capital/personal mansion.

Atlantis is a kingdom of Monsters. Populated by the Minions of Splugorth (Slavers, High Lords, Kydians, Kittani, Metzla, Gargoyles, etc.) and visitors from all over the Megaverse. But Humans and most "D-Bee" races are slaves at best, and food at worst. Atlantis is arguably the most powerful force on the planet, but Splynncryth likes using the Earth as his own personal Streaming service, so he has no intention of conquering/enslaving the entire world. This doesn't stop him from launching slave raids all over Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

===Japan===
Japan is a few Magical Girls and Kaiju short of going full-on Animeland. In the Kansai region, a '''New Empire''' has arisen in the shadow of a Milennium Tree, with the blessings of a new Emperor by Amaterasu herself. The Empire has deliberately gone back to their roots, a feudal Shogunate where technology from the Industrial Period onwards is forbidden. Instead, they depend on magic and the Ki powers of Monks, Samurai and Ninja to defend themselves. Meanwhile, most of the Chugoku region (particularly the cities of Hiroshima, Kure, Ichto, and Iwakuni) has been ''de''-displaced after the area disappeared because of a dimensional teleportation experiment that occurred at the exact beginning of the Great Cataclysm. Three days later, They re-appeared back on Earth, three hundred years into their future. Declaring themselves the '''Republic of Japan''', they attempt to make their own way in the changed world, defended by high-tech armies of soldiers, dragon-shaped cyborgs, and of course mecha (including Glitter Boys!). Ironically, despite their differences, the Empire and Republic are pretty close allies, even when they try to turn the other to their way of thinking. Sometime after this, the City of '''Ichto''' split off to form its own state, mostly so they could sell their mecha to wider markets around Japan.

In the Aichi and Gifu prefectures, however, they survived the hard way, and eventually formed the '''Otomo Shogunate'''. As this is RIFTS, the Otomo are assholes. They were the top dog technologically, with their company '''H-Brand''' (and if you know anything about modern Japanese Colloquialisms, you know how unfortunate that name is), and clans of Tech-Ninja. Then the Republic showed back up, knocking them down to number three. They are also really unhappy about the peaceful country of '''Takamatsu''', on the northern half of the island of Shikoku. Mostly because they have control of a rift that leads to an entire uninhabited planet (and the resources therein), that they have made bank supplying to everybody else. But Otomo has a plan, one that involves dealing with '''The Zone''', the Oni-ruled area of northwestern Honshu. This should end well.

===Australia===
As might be expected, Australia got even weirder. The interior of the country has become flooded by a shallow inland sea, with a magic projection of Ulluru (Ayer's Rock) visible in the middle right above it's location. Most of the technology has been knocked back to the stone age, which fits the Aboriginies just fine. But some tech remains, with the Whites split into three main groups: The paranoid residents of the two remaining cities, Melbourne and Perth; the Outbackers, which are the more "normal" people who both trade with and raid against the walled cities, and the Roadgangers, who are pretty much Mad Max with more giant carnivorous kangaroos. In the north of the continent, the '''Molokoi''', a race of magic alligator-men, have arrived, believing that the entire world is a gift from their gods. Won't ''they'' be surprised...

===South America===
Arguably THE absolute craziest place in the whole damn setting, the two books covering it represent both sides of the power creep and crazy ideas ramping up to truly ludicrous degrees, and with a huge variety of stuff that looks like a schizo patchwork. The first book, covering the northeastern half of the continent, is derivative, a bit empty (lots of space between most nations) and kinda boring, if mostly sane in its power levels (though it's where you find the ridiculously strong Anti-Monster cyborgs, but their cool factor and Brom-illustrated visual design makes them one of the best things in the book) and themes, while the second one, covering the southwestern half, has more batshit and overpowered stuff crammed in than any two of the other continents put together, so much so that probably the only thing keeping them from venturing out and kicking the teeth in of everybody else that's not Splugorth-ruled Atlantis is the fact that they're all stuck fighting each other over cramped living space and limited ressources.

===Lemuria===
An underwater contemporary of Atlantis, the Lemurians rushed to escape the Earth as its magic levels fell, coming back during the Great Cataclysm. The Lemurians are masters of the magic known as Biomancy, using magic to grow and shape living creatures harmlessly to suit their needs.

===The Lord of the Deep===
A.k.a. Kraken or Leviathan. An evil eldritch monstrosity with tentacles that can stretch for thousands of miles. It's slept at the bottom of the Marianas Trench for thousands of years, having been stranded there after it popped in to explore Earth right as the Magic levels tanked, and just in the right position for the fleeing Lemurians to run right into the rift leading to its home dimension and slam the door shut behind them. It naturally hates the Lemurians for that, but for now is content to reach out across the oceans and grab people to turn into minions or food.

===Naut'Yll===
An aquatic race with three tentacled mouths, the Naut'Yll have come to earth's oceans to conquer it with Particle-wave guns and coral magic. In a rare case for bad guys, they're a little outgunned, but not to be underestimated.

===The New Navy===
In the years before the Great Cataclysm, the United States Navy built a powerful submersible aircraft carrier named the ''U.S.S. Ticonderoga.'' The ship was so tough that it managed to ride out the Cataclysm, and made contact with two hidden bases, Salvation and Refuge, that had been developed to service the ship, and began rebuilding. Some time later, the son of the Ticonderoga's captain led an exploration team that got irradiated by the energies of a mysterious rift, which gave them (and their descendants) supernaturally-tough, seemingly immortal bodies (but since this isn't a comic book, no other superpowers). The ''Ticonderoga'' still sails to this day, commanded by Nemo Dobson, the leader of the original Sea Titans. Led by the ancient Super-ship, the New Navy continues to protect Humanity on the high seas.

===Tritonia===
A Pre-Rifts experimental floating city that survived the Great Cataclysm due to being far out in the ocean. Is home to a large number of Fish-based mutants due to some shady assholes in South America mutating people before the Cataclysm.

===Whale Singers===
A society of Pneuma-Biforms, Cetaceans, Humans, and D-Bees that seek the destroy the Lord of the Deep. To this end, they have develop special Spell-songs to battle it.

===Wormwood===
Wormwood is a living world. As in, the entire planet is a single biological organism, with Humans living on it like fleas on an elephant. Fortunately, the world seems to have been built for Human habitation, with food, water and shelter grown from the planet itself (hope you like bugs!). Unfortunately, the world is under attack by a demonic Host, who have the power to corrupt Wormwood's body for their own use. Protecting the world is a legion of brave knights, wormspeakers, symbiote-equipped warriors and living mecha. Somehow manages to be pretty boring by itself (apart from the living world gimmick everything else is mostly a bog-standard high fantasy/grimdark mix), plus most of the good stuff from there doesn't work on other worlds (living equipment and symbiotes die when away from the planet) so good luck using it elsewhere unless the GM says "fuck it" and houserules the problem away.

===The Three Galaxies===
For all your Star Wars needs. A Space Opera setting consisting of three galaxies; the '''Corkscrew''', the '''Anvil''', and the '''Thundercloud''', sitting oddly close together. There are three major power blocs, each controlling worlds in all three galaxies: The '''Transgalactic Empire''', your standard Evil Space Empire ruled by a powerful race called the ''Kreeghor'' and controlled behind the scenes by an evil Alien Intelligence; the '''Consortium of Civilized Worlds(CCW)''' a ''Star Trek''-like Federation of races allied for the betterment of all(and to protect their asses from the Empire); and the '''United Worlds of Warlock''', a collection of [[Eldar|Space Elves]], Space Dwarves, Space Minotaurs, and others who use magic and Techno-Wizardry. One of the central factors in the setting is the '''Cosmic Forge''', a legendary engine of creation that was built by the first race of sapient beings to ever exist, and used to create the entire Megaverse. The First were wiped out when one of their number discovered Evil, and tricked the Forge into unmaking the entire species. The Forge then wiped him out too in anger and hid itself away. Nobody knows where the Cosmic Forge is, but everyone wants to find it. Either for their own ends, or to keep any of the guys in the first group from doing so. And ever so often, it finds a Good person and calls them to fight evil as a Cosmo-Knight.
* '''Phase World''': The central planet of the setting. Phase World is the home of a race of powerful aliens known as the ''Prometheans'', who have master Phase Technology. The two most important parts of which are Phase Beamers and the Spacegate Jump system. The former are energy weapons that bypass all non-organic materials, meaning you can shoot a man right through his armor, or blast the crew of a starship through it's hull. The only thing that stops them are forcefields(which are admittedly semi-common) and your tender flesh. The latter are FTL drives that will instantly teleport your ship to Phase World from anywhere in the known universe. You have to be able to fly your own way ''back'', but hey, you just saved half your travelling time and fuel costs. This has made Phase World one of the major trade hubs in the Three Galaxies. On top of that is the city of '''Center''', a mile-tall arcology that features dimensional gateways to locations throughout the Megaverse, including Rifts' Earth.
* '''Charizolon System''': A dense and life-rich system with many worlds with nearly all harboring life. One race in the system, the Tarlok, has worked their way outwards, conquering the other worlds of the system and enslaving their peoples. Their latest conquest, Seeron, is a world with massive cities and three distinct subspecies of Humans. But the Tarlok may have made a critical mistake. A deadly virus they usually release to soften up a world's population for conquest has instead caused mutations, giving superpowers to a good portion of its people. Unable to fight the Tarlok through sheer military might, the government and Superbeings of Seeron have gone underground, fostering a Resistance and growing their powers until the day they can take back their world.

==Criticisms==
*Every now and then the fluff makes you feel like you stopped reading the book and started smoking a joint rolled from one of the pages. Some material is really weird. Like vampires with feet on their arms and hands on their legs. There's a mix of awesome, dumb, and awesome-dumb throughout.
*There is ''no'' balance between Races or Character Classes. '''NONE'''. You can literally have one player playing a demigod and another a hobo, with ''all'' the power disparity that implies. However, the GM is expected to have the final say in what's allowed or not, and to keep things balanced.
*The system is notorious for constantly one-upping itself. Every source book seems dedicated to making the weapons in the last source book look like a bunch of kitten launchers. It's not really a linear progression so much as up-and-down, but considering the books your players are most likely to pull out it's reputation for escalation is not unwarranted.
*It's very [[grimdark]]. Not as much as 40k- there's both good factions and hope around, some heroes would fit in well with [[Noblebright]] settings- but pretty much every continent has it's own extinction level threat or two, and the biggest power block on the planet by far is the Splugorth of Atlantis, who's leader Splynncryth is the answer to the question of "what if Cthulhu was a capitalist?". Having a continent-sized nation of interdimensional slave trading monsters under an eldritch abomination sounds like about as bad as things can get, but at least they don't want to rule everything (just raid it for live stock occasionally), and their presence discourages even ''worse'' eldritch abominations and supernatural hordes from descending on the planet en mass. They still descend upon the planet of course, just with more subtlety so they don't have to take the armies of Atlantis straight off.
*MOAR MEGADAMAGE! An infamous feature of the Palladium engine is the idea of Mega-Damage. Essentially [[Damage Reduction]] on steroids, it was originally designed for ''Robotech'' to reflect the idea of how conventional weapons are almost always useless against the gear of alien invaders, but the new/prototype weapons of the heroes work just fine. The gist of it is that every point of Mega-Damage(MDC) equals a hundred points of normal Structural Damage/Hitpoints(SDC). In short, traditional guns don't scratch an MDC being/mecha unless they go straight to anti-tank weaponry, while an MDC attack can wreck a tank in only a few shots/blows and generally turns normal Human bodies to paste in one. Rifts takes this and fucking ''runs'' with it. Even basic arms and armor inflict/take Mega-Damage, with the books explicitly stating that a man in body armor and carrying a laser rifle packs the toughness and firepower of a modern Main Battle Tank. Then Rifts stacks power armor, giant robots, and tanks on top of that, plus monsters and even ''playable races'' tough enough to be a threat to all of those.
*"I just spent 10 hours making a character. Oh, shit it's 4AM. When are we going to play? Never? OK then."
*TRADEMARK ALL THE THINGS!
*While it is about complex as DnD 3.5, the layout makes it seem more complicated than it actually is.
*There is a Savage Worlds edition now, in case you want a modern ruleset.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Rifts ng v7 hunter mobile gun color by chuckwalton-d6nmj8e.jpg|A Hunter Mobile Gun. No, it's not compensating for anything!
</gallery>

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Savage Worlds]]

Gunslinger

2022-09-04T14:20:07Z

2A02:8108:49C0:A04:F0C5:BD0D:B53E:B9B4: /* Iron Kingdoms */

[[File:The man with no name.jpg|thumb|300px|Yee-haw.]]
{{Topquote|Well, ya gonna pull those pistols or whistle ''Dixie''?|''The Outlaw Josey Wales''}}

Oh ''God'' yes.

Historically, '''Gunslingers''' were the rough-and-tumble frontier men of the [[Western|Old West]], where, armed with the two most famous guns ever made, the Colt revolver and the Winchester rifle, they fought the natives, the animals, and one another in the name of [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]].

Culturally, the gunslinger was the American equivalent of the European knight-errant, with many an old story of their wandering from place to place righting wrongs and shooting bandits. One famous aspect of these stories is the quick-draw duel, where two men stand in the street at high noon (when everyone knows to get out of the way and the sun is in neither of their eyes), and stare each other down, each waiting for the other to draw first so that he will have the benefit of arguing "self-defense" in court after the duel is over. In most, but not every case, the villain draws first, but the hero is faster than him and kills him.

Just like the medieval knight underwent a series of anti-heroic revisions recently, the cultural myths around the Gunslingers of the Old West have been reexamined in a number of realistic Westerns that paint them in a more morally-ambiguous light.

==Famous Gunfighters==

* '''Wyatt & Virgil Earp''' - Virgil Earp was a deputy US Marshal who formed a posse with his brother Wyatt (a gambler) and Doc Holiday (a dentist) to confront a group of cattle thieves in Tombstone. Although charged with murder they were ultimately exonerated.
* '''James "Wild Bill" Hickok''' - Wrestled a bear and won. Killed a guy over a debt then paid the widow in remorse. Killed a gambler in a duel, was [[What|charged with murder but became a deputy marshal]] in Kansas a couple weeks later. Served as a lawman in various capacities in Kansas, racking up kills for 4 years until he was fired. Pissed off a gambler in Deadwood who shot him the next day.
* '''Jesse James''' - Fought as a Confederate guerrilla in the war, then spent ten years robbing stagecoaches in the midwest. Recruited a new guy into his gang who shot him for the reward.
* '''Henry McCarty (Billy the Kid)''' - Cattle thief who participated in the Lincoln County War. Caught and sentenced to death, but escaped from jail killing two deputies in the process. The sheriff who caught him the first time tracked him down again and shot him.
* '''Robert Parker (Butch Cassidy) & Harry Longabaugh (The Sundance Kid)''' - The principle members of a group of train robbers who hit several payroll deliveries until Union Pacific hired the Pinkerton Agency to hunt them down. Escaped to South America where they tried to rob a payroll courier, which ended in a shootout with a Bolivian cavalry regiment.
* [[Officio Assassinorum|'''The Pinkerton Agency''']]: A detective agency and private military contractor that was basically the 19th century version of the FBI and Secret Service except for-hire and with even more dubious ethics. If you piss off a bank or railroad or president badly enough, odds are good they'll hire the Pinkertons to find some way to shoot you in self defense.

==Famous Guns of the Old West==
Initially pistols were designed for ball & percussion cap, and while metal cartridges did exist prior to the Civil War, very few pistols used them. For logistical simplicity, cap & ball persisted through the war, but afterwards a lot of conversions were designed to retrofit the hundreds of thousands of service revolvers to shoot cartridges.

The vast majority of Old West revolvers are single-actions, meaning that the user had to load cartridges through a small hole one-at-a-time and had to pull the hammer down between each shot. For this reason, gunfighters would carry several loaded revolvers, and would “fan-fire” revolvers by rapidly swiping the hammer with their off-hand for rapid-fire shots.

* '''1847 Colt Walker & 1848 Colt Dragoon''' - the original BIG IRONS. The Walker was the first commercially successful revolver ever made, which was lucky for Sam Colt since he was nearly bankrupt after failing to sell the fairly weak Colt Paterson. The Walker fired a .44 bullet and could kill horses in a single shot; it was the most powerful revolver to date. A couple thousand were procured for the Mexican-American War, where the high power and frequent use resulted in a number of failures. After the war an improved model called the Dragoon was introduced to address these problems, and would serve in the Indian Wars. As a cap-and-ball gun, reloading it was a finnicky business. In a Fight, you got six shots and that was it.
* '''1851 Colt Navy''' - A lighter .36 version of the Walker/Dragoon. Nearly a quarter million of these were produced, but the sheer number of copies not made by Colt (many copies were made, some of which Colt managed to squeeze a licensing fee out of) push that number even higher. Despite the obsolescence of Cap and Ball revolvers, cartridge conversions of Navy revolvers was very common and several mod kits were offered commercially.
* '''Beaumont–Adams revolver''' - A British revolver, notable for being double action. Accounts of the Indian Mutiny say the British officers had rivalry if this or the Colt was better. The Beaumont–Adams was faster to fire and was made in a larger, more powerful caliber. The Colt was more accurate and held six shots instead of five †<sup>(see note)</sup>. A ''very'' small minority preferred the instant stopping power of an even larger single shot pistol. In the Americas, it was noteworthy for being used by the Canadian mounties until the Enfield was introduced.
* '''Remington New Model 1858''' - A revolver with an all steel frame that joins the front and back that made it far stronger than the Colt. Has a notable oddity that the cylinder is relatively quick to remove and replace, so it can theoretically be reloaded comparatively quick. In reality, black powder fowling, the hand-fitting required of original examples and a second gun being faster to bear still makes the actual use more of a novelty. The extra $.50 in cost made the Union balk about buying them until the Colt factory burned down. First produced in both Army (.44) and Navy (.36) sizes, the sheer number of surplus examples post US Civil War forced Remington to make miniature versions in .31 caliber to have a market. The durability means it is now considered the best single-action cap and ball revolver for those shooting modern reproductions with no particular need for any single model.
* '''1860 Colt Army''' - A hastily redesigned 1851 Navy to shoot .44 to replace the aging Dragoons. The Union bought over a hundred thousand of these. Because the frame was originally designed for .36, they had a habit of going boom instead of bang. An 1861 Navy model was offered but not many were made as the 1851's were holding up fine. Conversions of the 1860 Army wasn't nearly as common as the 1851 Navy, as the frame's bad reputation was well known; it was just too much power and not enough gun to hold it.
* '''1873 Colt Single Action Army, aka "Peacemaker"''' - Was designed for cartridges from the start, and came in a bunch of different calibers. Previous Colt designs has been ''open topped'' (lacking any frame over the cylinder), but Colt finally acknowledged that the Remington closed top design was stronger and started using it. First cartridge revolver adopted by the US and, thanks to General Patton's eccentricity, at least two were still in service during World War II.
* '''Smith & Wesson "Schofield .45"''' - Also know as the Model 3, this was a top break designed for the Russian Army. Major Schofield made a number of recommendations for improvements which appeared in the US model in 1875. The Schofield was best known for being the fastest revolver to reload due to its top-break design, though the .45 Schofield cartridge had a reputation for being underpowered compared to the more popular .45 Long Colt.
* '''1877 Colt Double Action''' - Colt's first mass produced double action revolver, basically a double action version of the Peacemaker. Had some pretty serious reliability issues and is still today regarded as the worst double action design ever brought to production.
* '''1892 Colt Army''' - One of the first swing out cylinder revolvers; used by Teddy Roosevelt's roughriders.
* '''Remington Model 95 Derringer''' - Popular with gamblers and as a garter-gun. This tiny two-shot pistol could easily be hidden in one’s person, making it a useful personal defense or assassination weapon; though the range was pitiful beyond a couple feet.

† ''(Note: 19th and early 20th century revolvers were not known for having safe hammer designs. Only the reckless or stupid would fill all chambers on an older revolver, you needed one empty to safely rest the hammer and firing pin, otherwise you were liable to shoot yourself while riding.)''

Long guns were also common, but the sheer variety of functionally identical single shot percussion fired rifles and shotguns makes cataloging them daunting. Hell, lots of people were still using surplus flintlocks as they were dirt cheap. Besides... we're talking about gunslinging. That said, while gunslingers are most famous for the QuickDraw, there are still those like Billy the Kid with a reputation for being excellent marksmen.

A quick overview of the types of "long guns" cowboys would carry;

* '''Trapdoor Rifle''': Take a musket, saw a bit off the back of a barrel and slap a hinged breech and and firing pin in it's place. No really, that's what they did. There was a lot of civil war muskets lying about and it was cheaper for the US Army to do this quick and dirty upgrade than buy better new ones
* '''Coach Gun''': While double barreled shotguns were extremely commonplace, the "Coach Gun" configuration was an iconically Western one. This short-barreled shotgun was commonly used by stagecoach guards to defend against bandits, hence where the term "riding shotgun" comes from.
* '''Lever-Action Rifles''': These existed as early as the Civil War, and became the go-to firearm for cavalry and other horse riders. Lever-actions were commonly shorter compared to infantry rifles and could be easily stowed on a saddle, and fired pistol cartridges (making it easy to carry ammo for both your revolver and long gun). Most importantly, it was an early and extremely popular repeating firearm, before bolt-action rifles became commonplace. Popular models included the Henry 1860, Winchester 1866 "Yellow Boy," Winchester 1873 & 1894, etc.
* '''Buffalo Rifles:''' These high-caliber rifles, as the name suggests, were powerful enough to bring down Buffalo in a single shot. Of course, they were also useful for other large game, making them popular with hunters. Famous models include the Sharps 1874, Remington No. 1 Rolling Block, and the Trapdoor Springfield. Peep sights were common; 19th century telescopic sights were rare, expensive, big, and finicky.

Because of their fame, many of the guns above are still produced today in limited quantities by companies that deal in replicas such as Uberti, or in the case of the Peacemaker, by their original manufacturer.

== [[Dungeons and Dragons]]==
[[File:Pistoleer 3e Ravenloft.jpg|left|150px|thumb|The Pistoleer]]
[[File:Artillerist.jpg|right|150px|thumb|The Artillerist, or as I like to call him, Matt Meowcer]]
Because of [[Medieval Stasis|the usual problem]], for years the closest thing the ''D&D'' family had to a playable Gunslinger class were the gunfighting Paladins of [[Murlynd]] who resembled sheriffs from these Westerns, and whose holy text was basically a pulp novel of his exploits. In [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|3rd Edition]], this amounted to a single feat buried in an issue of ''[[Dragon Magazine]]''.

A gun-toting prestige class, the ''Pistoleer'', appeared in the 3rd edition update of the [[Ravenloft]] setting, where it was one of several prestige classes in the splatbook ''Van Richten's Arsenal, Volume 1''.

[[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5th Edition]] first sought to resolve this lengthy injustice by introducing Gunslingers as a sub-class of the [[Artificer]] called the Gunsmith. This first version was a quarter-caster, like the Fighter and Rogue spellcasting archetypes, that got a semi-magical "thunder-cannon" that only they could use, and which took an action to fire and a bonus action to reload. While this obviously restricted them to one shot per round, the base shot had the damage-progression of the Rogue's sneak attack, and they learned to fire other shots with various effects (blast, cone, etc.) as they leveled up. They also had the tools needed to recreate their weapon if it was destroyed, and a wonky ammunition bag that didn't ''technically'' give them as many bullets as they wanted in theory, but definitely did in practice since they were almost certainly not going to fire more shots than they can produce in a given long rest.

Unfortunately, the Gunsmith and the thunder cannon were removed with the March 2019 Unearthed Arcana, but in its place a new Artificer sub-class (now renamed Artillerist) had the means to create a walking turret buddy by sacrificing spell slots (as well as one free one each day). This turret, while incapable of scaling in damage, could either be a flamethrower, a force-damage ballista, or a healing station. You could also create wands with this subclass, though it was only usable by you and it let you add your Intelligence Modifier to the damage of one cantrip.

The official published version of the Artificer in ''Eberron: Rising from the Last War'' kept most of the above Artillerist features, adding the option to make the turret legless, tiny and hand-held (i.e. a GUN). Combined with the ability to fashion arcane focii into firearms, dual-wielding gunslingers had finally arrived in D&D.

There's also a complete 5e Gunslinger class of semi-official canonicity, created by Matthew Mercer of [[Critical Role]] fame and subsequently launched on [[DM's Guild]], which mimics the ''Pathfinder'' model. Matt had made this after switching his campaign 1 of critical role from Pathfinder to 5e. One of the players, Taliesin had played a iconic gunslinger so they decided to homebrew one for in order to keep him around.

== [[Iron Kingdoms]] ==
[[File:Gunmage.jpg|right|200px|thumb|I put on my robe and wizard hat.]]
In addition to having plenty of rifle and pistol-toting soldiers, militia and adventurers, to the point that one of the setting's unique undead monsters is a ghostly gunslinger come back from the dead due to being pissed at getting outgunned in a duel, known as a Pistol Wraith, Iron Kingdoms ups the ante by having magic gunslingers, the iconic "Gun Mages". A gun mage is a magic wielder who, instead of casting spells at his target, shoots bullets at his target ''with spells cast on them''. Instead of robes and wizard hats they wear dusters and tricorns.

The signature weapon of the gunmage is the magelock pistol, combined with rune etched ammunition. There is nothing inherently magical about a magelock, it is the runes on the bullet that allow the gunmage to empower it with spells. A magelock pistol is simply built to higher standards and of harder materials to withstand the power involved; fired through a regular pistol, empowered rune ammo will very quickly cause damage to the barrel.

Most gun mages are trained by their nation's military. In Cygnar, gun mages are typically members of the Order of the Arcane Tempest; in the former nation of Llael, gun mages were trained by the Order of the Amethyst Rose.

Both the [[Iron Kingdoms RPG]] and the [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] translation of the setting offer gunslingers - known as '''Gunfighters''' in the [[Iron_Kingdoms_(5E)|5e version]] for some reason - and gunmages as viable character concepts. The 5e version in particular turns them into fully independent classes, with their own sets of subclasses.

We'll talk about the [[Gun Mage]] on its own page, but as for the 5e Gunfighter...

Despite having "fighter" in its name, the Gunfighter should not be mistaken for a frontline tank like a real [[fighter]]. This is a mobile, agility-centric, [[Dexterity]]-focused fighting class that, of course, revolves around guns. They work off of a d8 hit diceand are proficient with light and "infantry" armor, a new category added in the Iron Kingdoms setting.

The core features of the Gunfighter are:
* Fighting Style: Gunfighters have access to the unique stils of ''Pistol Dueling'' (+2 damage when wielding a one handed pistol as your only weapon), ''Sharpshooter'' (+2 to attack rolls with firearms) and ''Two-Gun Fighting'' (you can use light pistols to two-weapon fight, add your ability modifier to damage of the second attack)
* Trick Shot - we'll cover this below, because it's the core feature.
* Fast Reload: 2nd level, you can reload a firearm as part of a ranged attack.
* Forge Shot: Whenever you complete a rest, by expending 1 gold piece worth of materials, you can craft (10+Proficiency bonus) ammo for a firearmr of your choice.
* Extra Attack at 5th level
* Overwatch: 7th level, you can use your Reaction to shoot a firearm at a creature that moves whilst within both your gun's range and your line of sight.
* Fast Reflexes: 10th level, you have Advantage on Dexterity saves against visible threats, and can use a Reaction when hit by a visible attacker to halve the damage.
* Suppressing Fire! 10th level, you can spend an action to designate a firing point; any creature within 10 feet of that point must make a Wisdom save vs. your Trick Shot DC or have speed reduced to 0 and lose the ability to use reactions until the start of your next turn.
* Hit and Run: 13th level, once per turn, you can immedaitely move your full speed after hitting a target with a ranged attack.
* Low Profile: 14th level, improve half-cover and 3/4th's cover by 1 step, to 3/4ths and full cover respectively.
* Keen Eyed: 15th level, firearms you wield increase their Normal range by +20 feet and their Maximum range by +60 feet.
* Dead-Eye: 20th level, you can turn a miss with a gunshot into an automatic hit (Dexterity modifier) times per long rest.

Trick Shots are the signature special abilities that a gunfighter has mastered. A gunfighter gains access to all of the following trick shots, plus others dictated by their subclass. Only one trick shot may be applied to an attack at a time, and the gunfighter can only use a trick shot once per short rest, increasing to twice per rest from 6th level and thrice per rest from 18th level. Any trick shot that requires a saving throw has a DC of 8 + the gunfighter's Proficiency bonus + the gunfighter's Dexterity modifier.
* Golden Bullet: Shot ignores damage resistance.
* Piercing Shot: Instead of hitting one target, your bullet strikes all enemies in a 5ft line reaching to your weapon's normal range.
* Pinning Shot: The target must pass a Wisdom save or be knocked prone and Frightened until the start of your next turn.
* Ricochet Shot: Your shot ignores total cover.
* Wounding Shot: Target must pass a Constitution save or start bleeding, suffering damage equal to your Dexterity modifier at the start of each turn until healed or a DC 10 Medicine check is made to staunch the wound. Multiple Wounding Shots stack. This trick shot only affects living creatures and steamjacks.

''Pistoleers'' specialize in the use of pistols, allowing them to draw and fire with greater speed than other gunfighters. Their thirdl evel features are Gunslinger (ignore the usual Disadvantage caused by using a pistol in melee range) and Quick Draw (add Wisdom modifier to Initiative rolls, you can draw/stow 2 pistols at once). At 6th levle, they gain two new Trick Shots; Return Fire (make a ranged attack against a creature that just made a ranged attack against you; on a hit, the assailant's attack suffers Disadvantage as they take damage from your shot) and Snipe (ignore Disadvantage on shooting a target at long range). 11th level gives them access to Chain Shot (if you shoot the same target multiple times in one turn, your secondary shots are made with Advantage). Finally, at 17th level, they can unleash a Barrage, shooting multiple creatures within 30 feet (1 per bullet loaded) once per day.

''Sharpshooters'' specialize in the use of long arms like rifles; they don't fire as frequently as pistoleers, but they hit targets a lot harder and from a lot further away. Their third level features are Crack Shot (ignore half cover and light obscurement when shooting) and Steady Aim (a ranged attack made with a rifle at long range doesn't suffer disadvantage if you didn't move that turn). 6th level gives them both the feature Prone Shooter (no Disadvantage for shooting whilst prone) and a unique Trick Shot in the form of Dual Shot (once per turn, attack a single target twice as part of the same attack). 11th level gives them Targeteer, which lets them spend an action to make an Insight check (DC 5 + target's CR); if successful, the sharpshooter does +1 damage dice worth of damage with shots against that target until the ytake a rest or pick a new target. Finally, 17ty level's Sniper lets them make a Headshot or a Crippling Shot once per turn; both do increased damage (+ Wisdom modifier) and force the target to make a Constitution save against the sharpshooter's Trick Shot DC. If the target fails, Headshots stun until the next turn, and Crippling Shots halve speed and impose Disadvantage on Dexterity saves for 1 minute.

''Commandos'' are stealthy gunfighters who specialize in quick, brutal stealth attacks to take down foes. As a result of their tendency to work in close range, they are also more adept at melee weapons than pistoleers or sharpshooters. Taking the Commando subclass grants proficiencies in Martial Weapons, Grenades and Stealth - or doubling your Proficiency bonus on Stealth checks if you were already proficient. They have only one 3rd level feature; COmbat Awareness, which is a +5 bonus to passive Perception and to Initiative checks. 6th level gives them Rapid Strike (if you shoot a target that hasn't acted yet in this round, they take +1d6 damage - +2d6 from 11th level and +3d6 from 17th level) and Brutal Assault (once per turn, you can spend a bonus action after making a ranged attack to make a melee attack). 11th level grants them the Stalker feature, which gives them Advantage on Stealth checks and lets them always use a bonus action to Hide. Finally, 17th level unlocks Tactical Flexibility, which lets them choose one of three abilities at the start of each turn:
* Silent Operation: If you attack from hiding and miss, you remain hidden if the target fails a Perception vs. Stealth check.
* Tactical Reposition: You can Dash as a bonus action.
* Sabotage: Your first ranged attack against an object, structure or vehicle does double damage.

The first Iron Kingdoms 5e splatbook, '''Borderlands & Beyond''', offers a new Gunfighter subclass called the ''Ghost Sniper'', a stealth-focused rifle expert. 3rd level gives them the features Fire and Fade (if you hit with a shot, you can Hide as a Reaction) and Longshot (rifles you wield increase their long range by 15 X your gunfighter class level feet). At 6th level, they gain the unique Trick Shots of Ghost Shot (ignores half cover and 3/4ths cover, +2 to attack if targeted is armored or has an AC boosting spell applied) and Snipe (ignore Disadvantage for shooting at long range). 11th level's Silenced Shots means you only give away your position by shooting whilst hidden if a creature can visually see your muzzle flash. Finally, Unseen Assassin at 17th level makes you Invisible to any creature more than 100 feet away from you whilst you're Hiding.

The first Iron Kingdoms 5e splatbook, '''Borderlands & Beyond''', offers a new Gunfighter subclass called the ''Ghost Sniper''.

A teaser of the classes & subclasses index for the 2023 splatbook '''Nightmare Empires''' revealed that the Gunfighter will gain a new subclass called the ''Wraith''. Described officially as "a gunfighter who wields magic and shooting irons".

== [[Pathfinder]] ==
[[File:Lirianne.jpg|right|300px]]
[[File:Gunslinger Mythic Minis.png|right|300px]]
Pathfinder actually had the balls to add the Gunslinger as a character class in a world of knights and swords, because ''fuck'' [[Medieval Stasis|medieval stasis]]; in canon, it's because there's an entire region that's just a massive anti-magic zone so they needed something to defend themselves. They're built on the "Fighter" template, so they get lots of hitpoints and lots of feats, and they enjoy a resource pool called ''[[General Sturnn|grit]]'' that they can use for various effects. In addition to rest, ''grit'' is mainly regenerated by critting or killing actual threats. However, some DMs also allow doing badass deeds of derring-do to regain grit, so shooting out chandeliers, challenging villains to quick-draw duels, and leaping sideways through the air while firing are all heartily encouraged.

More than perhaps any other class, Gunslingers benefit from Pathfinder's "archetype" system. One Gunslinger class feature basically lets the character pick a gun off a rack to start the game with, since otherwise you'd have to spend more money than the entire party probably has at character creation to buy a single weapon, let alone ammunition; sticking with one type of gun and picking an archetype to go with it is ''very'' advantageous. Musket Masters get lots of free reloading powers, Pistoleros get sneak-attack-style extra precision damage, Siege Gunners get to be ''cannon fighters'', etc. Note that there is only one "good" way to do a dual pistol build ("Gun Twirling," which is super feat-heavy), outside of weird stuff (being a member of the four-armed kasatha race, multi-classing to either witch or alchemist long enough to pick up an extra limb, picking the bard archetype for juggling weapons, etc.), so it's tricky to do.

Your [[firearm]] is your friend and your bosom buddy. You won't be starting out with a multi-shot firearm for balance, and getting one later is pretty iffy, so making reloading as quick and easy as possible is absolutely paramount. Take the ''Rapid Reload'' feat if your archetype doesn't already come with one, and take at least one rank in the ''Craft: Alchemy'' skill to make alchemical ammunition at half-cost with no crafting roll. Alchemical ammunition, even when it doesn't have any special powers, further reduces the time necessary to reload a weapon, which is a small price to pay for increased misfires. Getting it down to a free action by the time you can take multiple shots per round is important. Also, when you inevitably roll a critical fumble and your gun breaks, don't be stingy with your grit. Doing a ''quick clear'' may cost you time later, but it will save your goddamn life now, whereas having your weapon explode will basically kill you even if you survive it.

They also manage to sidestep most [[MAD]] problems, since, although they need more WIS than the average fighter-derivative for grit points, they need ''less'' STR if they aren't lugging around an artillery piece. And even then, there's a dirt cheap magic item called Muleback Cords that can easily get around that problem. Plus, one of their strongest powers kicks in at fifth level, where they start ''adding their Dex to damage with their guns'', complete with their own version of Power Attack (''Deadly Aim'').

Gunslingers aren't ''really'' overpowered, since their abilities basically begin and end at pointing guns at bad things to make them dead; they have to stay uncomfortably close for their ranged features to actually matter, misfires are the bane of their existence for most of their careers, and their whole shtick can be shut down in a hurry if the enemy spellcaster summons cover or manages to get their gun wet. That said, they ''do'' need to be played against very differently from many other martial classes, so DEFINITELY clear this class with your GM/DM before you roll one. Misfiring is also a perpetual bane until you can afford a +2 equivalent weapon, and if you aren't always prepared for it, you will most likely die.

Most of the listed problems can be easily fixed with cheap wondrous items and weapon enchantments (''distance'' on a musket will double the range to 80 feet), and combat feats like ''Cluster Shots'' and ''Improved Precise Shot'' remove the problem of DR and Cover. Also, Alchemical Cartridges can't get wet, and even if the GM is smart enough to cast water on your musket (and you lack any Dry Load cartridges), just ask a caster to cast Prestidigitation (lvl 0 spell) on your gun and it will be dry in a standard action. Or, if you're willing to get really pulpy "science-fantasy", try and score yourself some of the technological guns from Numeria; any gun works for a gunslinger, whether it's a blackpowder musket or an ancient alien laser pistol. And for those wanting to go ham on this angle, there's the Techslinger archetype from the ''Technology Guide''.

The issue with this is, of course, that the availability of guns is dependent on setting and feats. In general, a lot of DMs just aren't happy with the changes having gunslingers around would necessitate in their settings, and it ''is'' their game, after all. Paizo has ported some of the 'slinger's class features into other class variants in some of their new material, and the "Bolt Ace" archetype basically ports most of their cool stuff into crossbows, so if the mechanics sound interesting to you but the DM is unwilling, take a look. And most people agree that revolvers, rifles, and other "early modern" firearms are a bit too strong, so don't expect to get them at all.

In the end, Gunslingers are [[Tier System|tier 5 at lower levels or tier 4 at higher]]. They can throw out a ''lot'' of damage, but at lower levels they struggle to do it consistently. While good at this, base Gunslingers can't do anything else very well, although with some clever skill points, and use of their heavier CHA focus the Mysterious Stranger can take up the place of a Party Face, and the Blast Lock deed can be used to bypass locks (though the subtlety of such a tactic leaves a lot to be desired without oil of silence), so there are some ways to make an "infiltrator" Slinger. They also have a pretty good skill list and a decent number of skill points, so they edge out the fighter in that regard.

Come ''Heroes of Golarion'', any ranged [[Gish]] that wants to be is a better Gunslinger than an actual gunslinger thanks to the feat Spell Cartridges. In exchange for a swift action each turn to use Arcane Strike and slightly less damage (1d4 per 5 caster levels) your firearm is semi-automatic, requires no ammo and deals force damage (which is almost never subject to Damage Reduction or Energy Resistance).

{{Pathfinder-Classes}}

== [[Pathfinder Second Edition]] ==
[[File:InstantReturnWatt.png|frame|right|2e Gunslingers are stupid and wonderful.]]

Gunslinger was added into PF2E as part of the new book ''Guns and Gears'', alongside a brand new class for second edition, the Inventor. Among the more obvious changes to the class are the baked-in proficiencies with crossbows (making the Bolt Ace archetype now integrated in any case) and a limited degree of melee capabilities. Though their armor proficiency is quite poor, the fact that stat progression isn't nearly as item-dependent lessens the blow. Misfires also no longer carry carry the risk of making the gun go kaboom on its wielder, though it can still break the gun in some circumstances. Among other feats available see certain panache tricks, turning [[Alchemist]] bombs into bullets and, as seen to the side, feats for really weird and wacky feats of gun-slinging taking advantage of enemy attacks or saving allies.

The final publishing in ''Guns & Gears'' kept the general frame of the class and added some adjustments to guns as well. The bullet-bomb trick is hidden behind another feat that provides Alchemical Crafting and their own version of Infused Reagents, but only to make alchemical ammo and bombs and has a follow-up feat that lets you use this to make ammo out of precious metals. Each of the Subclasses also comes with a specialized means for reloading.

Currently the subclass options include the Drifter, the Pistolero, and the Sniper.

'''Way of the Drifter''': This Gunslinger likes to mix their skills with a gun with a melee in the other hand. Perfect for people who want to play as a pirate but would like a ranged option as well as melee. They can also reload in the middle of whacking the enemy with their other weapon.

'''Way of the Pistolero''': This Gunslinger is the classic Cowboy archetype. Quick to draw their weapon and gets in a lot of duels. Their reload trick lets them distract or intimidate an enemy in the middle of a reload.

'''Way of the Sniper''': This Gunslinger hides some distance away, hoping to get a good shot in with his rifle, while never being spotted by his prey. This gives them precision damage to a considerable degree. They have the ability to reload while hiding.

'''Way of the Spellshot''': Curiously an archetype merged into the class for some reason. This doesn't provide any actual spellcasting despite the name, but it offers a means to provide typed damage and other spell-like abilities. Their special reload works while they recall knowledge of an enemy.

'''Way of the Vanguard''': This Gunslinger makes the loudest booms and smashes enemies with their big guns. This makes them into a bit of an artillerist and mini-bastion. Their special reload lets them shove an enemy out of the way while loading their gun.

{{Pathfinder-2nd-Edition-Classes}}