Editing RIFTS (section)

==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, with a hefty dose of Telekinesis as well. 
**'''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. 
*'''Lycanmorph''': A weird, armor plated being commonly found in Europe with a simple, childlike temperament. They have the ability to cocoon themselves to heal themselves or metamorphosis into a beetle-like flying creature or a heavily-armored battle form. 
*'''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 Atlanteans( 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(basically a Cyberpunk [[Artificer]]. 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.
*'''Wolfen Quatoria''': From the Three Galaxies setting, these a basically itinerant Law-Wolf Cyborgs.