Nightbane Mystic

[drewkitty ~..~]

I've played a nightbane mage, and its really powerfullif you let them start making their own magic stuff. But as fo MB Mystic *shrugs* I've not played on but the additional talents they get for free do make up for the limitations on their spell repituar.

[Sanctu]

So going by the book a mystic is not as physically adept as the stright up RCC?

That's what the book says for both Mystics and Sorecerors.

I don't quite understand that myself. Well, yeah, there is that whole "game balance" issue. But for Mystics, Nightbane miss out on all the psychic powers, instead having Talents in Morphus and... well, being Nightbane. Learning curve-wise, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to be, since Nightbane don't study to manifest Talents or be a Nightbane, while psychics do in many of their descriptions (especially in Rifts). And Sorcerors sacrifice any but their first Talent for free, yet again it's something that supposedly comes naturally to Nightbane instinctually and they still sacrifice inital and progression spells for it.

Given the flavor of being a Nightbane, these lowering of power levels in your class always seemed rather dubious to me. (Again, yeah game balance, but there seems little justification for it role-playing-wise.) Then again, I'd need a real good explaination from a player wanting to play a Nightbane mage of some sort. (Ok, being in Rifts would do it in this case, but in a regular game I'd be hard pressed to allow it without a real good back story.)

[RockJock]

Chalk it up to inner focus and priorities.

[Tinker Dragoon]

Im playing one of these in an upcomming Rifts game. Enjoyed playing my ah...vanilla Nightbane before so I'm rolling up a new one. I think rolling the morphus up is part of the attraction too. So going by the book a mystic is not as physically adept as the stright up RCC? I take it the magic gained makes up for the lack of bonuses? Not that I'll miss them all that much cause with the morphus parts you have a chance for other bonuses.

Nightbanes are like a box of chocolates....

They are all equally adept, physically (not counting individual attribute bonuses). The Nightbane Sorcerer and Nightbane Mystic OCC bonuses are added to those of the Nightbane RCC.

[Mike Taylor]

So going by the book a mystic is not as physically adept as the stright up RCC?

That's what the book says for both Mystics and Sorecerors.

I don't quite understand that myself. Well, yeah, there is that whole "game balance" issue. But for Mystics, Nightbane miss out on all the psychic powers, instead having Talents in Morphus and... well, being Nightbane. Learning curve-wise, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to be, since Nightbane don't study to manifest Talents or be a Nightbane, while psychics do in many of their descriptions (especially in Rifts). And Sorcerors sacrifice any but their first Talent for free, yet again it's something that supposedly comes naturally to Nightbane instinctually and they still sacrifice inital and progression spells for it.

Given the flavor of being a Nightbane, these lowering of power levels in your class always seemed rather dubious to me. (Again, yeah game balance, but there seems little justification for it role-playing-wise.) Then again, I'd need a real good explaination from a player wanting to play a Nightbane mage of some sort. (Ok, being in Rifts would do it in this case, but in a regular game I'd be hard pressed to allow it without a real good back story.)

In game it's really quite simple. The Nightbane Sorceror/Mystic is dividing their time between learning the ways of magic and learning the ways of being a Nightbane. Because they don't totally focus their attention on one career, they don't gain the full benefits of it. Its sort of like having two 20 hour part-time jobs. You get your 40 hours a week, but you don't get the full perks of having just one of those jobs full-time.

[Nekira Sudacne]

The Nightbane Mystic has litterally everything the normal nightbane dose, just a different skill package and spells, in exchange for a slightly different rate of getting new nightbane talents.

[Sanctu]

In game it's really quite simple. The Nightbane Sorceror/Mystic is dividing their time between learning the ways of magic and learning the ways of being a Nightbane...

I can understand this for some things.

For example, any one in Rifts can by psychic. Psychic powers can be added on to any PCC, no problem. But it takes away from some of your skills because in addition to learning class stuff you are also honing your psychic abilties. I get this.

Re-checking Nightbane (the book), Nightbane sorcerors start with the same numebr of spells and automatically gain the same number of spells per level that regular sorcerors get. So the issue at hand (well, the one I have, anyway), is with the Mystic. Why do they get fewer spells than human Mystics? Two things bother me about this.

First is the investment in time and energy. Unlike psychics, Nightbane are (or were) pretty much regular people. They have devoted no energy into honing psychic abilities. They go along doing normal human stuff, which might include, say, becoming a sorceror. Then something happens and they go through the Becoming. So, now with no real effort on their part, thye transform into something that is weird, more powerful pysically, probably ugly, and with an instictual understand of matrial arts and a weird magic power (ie. their first Talent). None of this took any time out of their lives for training or otherwise. Soon they learn they can change back to a human. They may use their Nightbane abilities (form, Talents, cool maritial arts moves) or not from there, and in neither case will they necessarily advance in levels slower.

Nightbane don't have to study or train to use their Nightbane stuff because it's all instinctual. Should they decide to learn a new Talent, they prety much reach into themselves and change themselves in a process that doesn't seem to take long at all. Seriously, how much time and energy does it take to expend perminant PPE and "learn" a new Talent? Fiction I've read implies focus and a melee round. Some GM's might reuire it to take a day or two, or maybe a whole week. They can pretty much take a two week vacation and come back with a new power that they never have to think about again until they want to use it.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this point, but it is the impression I get.

Second, the thing I am compairing here is a Nightbane mystic with a human Mystic. Even if it takes some modicum of training on the part of a Nightbane to deal with their (potentually only initial) talent(s) and shapechanging stuff, how does that compair to the psychic powers a human mystic develops? Doesn't the human mystic have to spend far more time, effort, and energy to delveoping and learning to control psychic powers -- of which they start with 9 of them and get more slowly as they level? If it were even the same amount of effort involved, wouldn't it be a wash? In game, it seems like the Nightbane would have more time and energy to deote to learning spells, especially where they -- as a general class mentioned in the description -- tend not to sacrifice PPE to get more Talents (well, not more than once or twice, anyway).

Even from the point of view of game balance, it never struck as quite right that someone who is barred from the physic powers inherant to a PCC would also have to sacrifice spell knowledge due to their race. Neither in-game nor game balance-wise quite made sense that way with the mystic.

[Tinker Dragoon]

Nope, magic can be used in either form, as can the ability to understand the principles of magic, and sense ley lines and nexus points.

[Sir_Spirit]

From what I read of the Mightbane Mystics, most were taught the ways of the Mystic after their becoming due to the "animal" parts of there Morphus.

[Nekira Sudacne]

From what I read of the Mightbane Mystics, most were taught the ways of the Mystic after their becoming due to the "animal" parts of there Morphus.

Ummm, the Mystic is a wholely self-taught intuitive class. no one teaches them and not all nightbane mystics have any animal parts whatsoever

[Tinker Dragoon]

From what I read of the Mightbane Mystics, most were taught the ways of the Mystic after their becoming due to the "animal" parts of there Morphus.

Ummm, the Mystic is a wholely self-taught intuitive class. no one teaches them and not all nightbane mystics have any animal parts whatsoever

Not entirely true. While Mystics' abilities are innate, they usually have to learn how to access them through the guidance of an elder Mystic/Shaman who teaches the character how to meditate, go on a vision quest, etc. Additonally, while animal morphus traits are not required to be a Nightbane Mystic, they are fairly common, as the majority of Nightbane Mystics come from cultures which revere particular animals.