Specialty Mystics

[Curbludgeon]

I've been thinking about types of Mystics who intentionally develop a more narrow focus so as to gain benefit. I'd want to aim for something a little closer to Mystic Knights in effectiveness than the default class. What are some concepts which seem particularly interesting for such?

A dedicated Mystic Sensitive could work, with an expanded Open Oneself to the Supernatural, a small amount of sensitive psionics which can be used without ISP cost, and magic across a few disciplines focused entirely on the senses. To avoid stepping on the Grey Seers' shoes I'd not give the M.S. auto-dodge, but in terms of combat they'd potentially be quite the crackshot.

A Healing Mystic has enough competition with Healing Shaman, the Gifted in Europe, Biomancers, and a species or two in WB30 that I'm unsure what sort of niche they might carve out. Is there much in the way of wound transfer abilities seen in Rifts? There are a couple of HU superpowers that could be good to lift.

Physical Mystics have a lot of potential. The powers from the Chaos Earth article in Rifter 50 might themselves be a bit much, but there are plenty of spells to turn a mage into a melee combatant, to pair with trance and telekinetic style powers.

Elemental Mystics have more competition that would healers, so I'd say that's on the far back burner.

Astral\Ethereal\Entity\Spirit-focused Mystics have a couple of examples from Phase World and a Rifter, and there aren't a whole lot of abilities. The Phase World class summons entities as a psychic, so avoiding that might be worthwhile.

There are a couple of examples of intuitive casters which can learn some spells in the manner of Wizards\Line Walkers (Arken Warrior, Hidden Witch, Blue Zone Wizard(arguably), Magii Athanatos, Dweomer Mage from the Rifter). I was thinking a mystic focused a bit on some of the Dweomer Mage's "spells which affect spells" and more raw magical manipulation could be neat, with a focus more on being able to learn spells which can only be used as rituals.

What might any of y'all consider a fun niche from which a Mystic might get a bit of a boost at the cost of flexibility?

[taalismn]

The 'Smoker' from the Rifts Manhunter book could be construed as a Combat Mystic, except that they have a bit more leeway in learning new spells than the traditional mystic.

I'm thinking that some of the magic sub-classes in Heroes Unlimited might qualify as Mystic-like in their limited ability to select additional spells, especially when coupled with physical abilities or superpowers.

[Nekira Sudacne]

The mystically bestowed classes are closer to Witches than Mystics. Making some kind of deal with a higher power for set power

[Curbludgeon]

I really like the Smoker, and have replaced the Combat Mage from Mercenary Adventures with a version that can learn the Combat Magic spells while also swapping out the 5 or so space-themed skills. It's a caster class capable of learning spells like wizards, including things not related to combat, so might be a bit broad in focus here. The Seeker from that book has some nice Sensitive abilities which could be lifted, of course.

While the HU power categories capable of magic outside Mystic Study are generally granted them the actual mechanical abilities are a good framework. Something like a Mystic focused on force, shadow, healing, or other effects could very well be modeled with a power alongside a limited spell\psionics selection.

[Marcethus]

I am pretty sure that the Vanguard book has a mystic spy in it. NGR and Mystic Russia have the Gypsy Mystic Thief.

[thorr-kan]

The Physical Mystics could utilize the martial arts from Rifts Japan. Or if you want to go whole-hog, the martial arts from Rifts China.

[Marcethus]

The Physical Mystics could utilize the martial arts from Rifts Japan. Or if you want to go whole-hog, the martial arts from Rifts China.

Better yet Martial Arts for Ninjas and Superspies or Mystic China.

[MyDumpStatIsMA]

For a combat-oriented Mystic, I typically use one of my psionic sensitive choices to get Blind Combat from Coalition Manhunters. Pair that with Cloud of Smoke, which is cheap enough to run constantly in a fight.

Once I get to level 5-6, I get Supernatural Speed and Strength. Alternatively you could use the super-psi choice at level 4 to get the psi-sword, and make that your offensive melee focus.

Another important spell to choose is Aura of Death, so you can't be tracked via thermal vision when you're in your smoke clouds.

After that, I focus on getting Invincible Armor and Lightning Arc; the latter being the rare magic ranged attack that's exceptionally cost-effective and has okay maximum range at level 8.

Mix in some stuff like Fly as the Eagle, Simple and Superior Invisibility, etc, and there are very few combat situations where you'll be at a major disadvantage.

For a non-combat concept, I would try to exploit the super-psi choices by getting stuff like Hypnotic Suggestion, Mind Wipe, or Mind Bond. Imagine the possibilities of mixing those with spells like Mental Shock, Memory Bank, or at a higher level, Mindshatter.

The idea is to use Dominate or a similar spell to get close to your target and pacify them; then Mind Bond them; steal whatever valued info you want from them; use either Memory Bank or maybe your own Total Recall to safely store that info for future use; shatter the target's mind so they don't remember the encounter with you; or at the very least, they're scrambled for the 3-12 hour window where the Mind Bond allows them to clearly recall everything about you.

There's also some memory-altering psionics available in Coalition Manhunters that could be useful, but I'm not sure how it'd interact with Mind Bond. For instance, there's a simple Forget super-psi that makes the target forget they ever met you (if the encounter was brief, under 1 minute per level); but would that work after a Mind Bond? I don't think so.

The advantage of Mindshatter specifically is that it could keep them incapacitated for days, possibly weeks; and all memories from the Mind Bond vanish after 30 days.