Tracker

The galaxy is a big place, even when you’re just considering the small portion inhabited by humanity and its nearest alien neighbors. When something tends to get lost in all that space it tends to stay lost unless someone goes out specifically to find it.

Most of the time, that someone is a professional tracker.

Trackers are private investigators, bounty hunters and scouts who specialize in finding things that are particularly hard to find. It could be children lost during a colony attack, fugitives from justice or even an Earth-like planet suitable for habitation. They know the stars and they know the streets. They also tend to know the law, whether to work within it or to avoid it. Many have backgrounds in law enforcement and struck out on their own.

Trackers are seldom men and women people want to trifle with. They are tough, independent, and dangerous when someone or something gets between them and their goal.

Special Skills

Class 2 Weapons Permit: Not so much a skill as it is a perk, whether the tracker has taken the path of private investigator, bounty hunter or scout they have qualified for a Class 2 weapons permit, allowing them to use paramilitary starship armaments. For private investigators and bounty hunters, this is because they are bonded deputies with either the G.I.S.S. or the Terran Protectorate Magisterial Division. For scouts, it is because they are trained to go beyond the borders of known space to explore uninhabited areas. The Terran Protectorate and other human groups know the areas are dangerous, but know that to expand they must be explored. This is why scouts can gain access to more powerful starship weapons and systems.

Piercing Stare: Similar to psychic and magical abilities to see someone’s aura, the tracker is experienced enough that he or she can just look someone (or something) over and get a general feel for its nature. They can tell profession, general alignment (good, evil or selfish), and general level (low, medium or high), just by staring intently and watching the target for about one minute (4 melee rounds).

Bonuses: +1D4 to M.E. and M.A., +2 to Perception rolls, +2 to roll with punch, fall or impact.

Tracker O.C.C.

Alignment: Any, but most are Scrupulous, Unprincipled or Aberrant.

Attribute Requirements: I.Q. and M.A. of 12 or better. High P.S. and P.P. are also recommended, but not required.

Racial Restrictions: None. Any playable species can be a tracker.

Starting S.D.C.: 1D4x10+10

O.C.C. Skills

Speak and Read Native Language: 98%

Speak two additional languages of choice (+20%)

Read one additional language of choice (+10%)

Advanced Math (+10%)

Basic Math (+10%)

Basic Electronics (+5%)

Detect Concealment (+10%)

Navigation: Space (+10%)

Pilot Small Starship (+5%)

Radio: Basic (+10%)

Sensory Equipment (+10%)

Surveillance (+15%)

Tailing (+10%)

Tracking: humanoids and robots (+15%)

W.P. Energy Pistol

Two W.P.s of Choice

Hand-to-hand: Expert, can be upgraded to Martial Arts or Assassin (if evil) at the cost of one O.C.C. Related Skill.

Skill Packages

Choose one of the following skill packages from the list below:

Bounty Hunter

Private Investigator

Scout

O.C.C. Related Skills: Select five additional skills at level one, plus one skill at levels 3, 6, 9 and 12.

Communications: Any

Cowboy: Any (+5%).

Domestic: Any.

Electrical: Basic or Computer Repair only.

Espionage: Any (+5%).

Horsemanship: Any.

Mechanical: Basic or automotive only.

Medical: First Aid, Holistic and Paramedic only.

Military: None.

Physical: Any (+5% where appropriate)

Pilot: Any (+5%)

Pilot Related: Any.

Rogue: Any (+10%).

Science: Math or Astronomy only.

Technical: Any.

W.P. Ancient: Any.

W.P. Modern: Any.

Wilderness: Any (+5%).

Secondary Skills: Select six Secondary Skills at first level from the Secondary Skill List in the Skill Section of Rifts: Ultimate Edition. These are additional areas of knowledge that do not get any bonuses, other than any possible bonus for having a high I.Q. All Secondary Skills start at the base skill level.

Standard Equipment: Several sets of traveling clothes, a set of light body armor and a set of heavy body armor, one energy or rocket pistol of choice, a vibro-knife, and two other weapons of choice, four additional clips for each firearm, binoculars, sunglasses, wrist communicator, mini-computer, flashlight, digital magnifying glass, headcam attachment for body armor helmet, with 200 hours of digital recording memory, laser distancer, backpack or saddlebags, concealable shoulder holster, flask, and personal effects. Also has an apartment or small home with three months rent paid.

Vehicle: Light transport-class starship, stock. The player still owes the bank 2D4x10% of the base price.

Cybernetics: None to start, and while the Scout and Bounty Hunter have no problem with cybernetics, the Private Investigator is usually a bit more averse.

Experience: Use the Headhunter experience table in Rifts: Ultimate Edition.

Skill Packages

Bounty Hunter: Also known as a manhunter or bounty dog, these men and women make their living bring in wanted fugitives who have been able to avoid capture by standard law enforcement or who have fled outside of the jurisdiction of local authorities who would like to have them arrested. Some bounty hunters also work for crime lords and other underworld figures and hunt down people who owe them money, who have betrayed them or are otherwise wanted for nefarious reasons. Most bounty hunters take pride in taking targets alive, but are just as happy to bring in identifiable remains if they have no other choice.

Detect Ambush (+10%)

Interrogation (+10%)

Galactic Law (+5%)

Recognize Weapon Quality (+5%)

Streetwise (+10%)

Trap and Mine Detection (+10%)

Weapon Systems

Wrestling

W.P. Rope

Boxing OR Hand to hand: Martial Arts or Assassin

Special Gear: Arcblaster 120 stun gun, neural mace, 4 sets of carbon nanotube weave restraints (25 M.D.C. each), vehicle enhancements include 25% increased sensor range and the addition of molecular sniffers with a range of 50 miles that can scan the interior of a ship and identify life forms and cargo.

Private Detective: Also known as a private investigator, these are usually former law enforcement officers who opened a private practice. Their cases can go from the mundane, like following a spouse suspected of cheating, to the extraordinary, like tracking down a lost child captured and sold into slavery by pirates. Most private detectives take significant pains to work within the law whenever possible.

Computer Hacking (+10%)

Find Contraband (+15%)

Galactic Law (+15%)

Pick Locks (+10%)

Prowl (+10%)

Streetwise (+10%)

Biology (+5%)

Chemistry (+5%)

Chemistry Analytical (+10%)

Crime Scene Investigation (+10%)

Special Gear: Business office on a major planet, with a secretary or robot assistant (noncombat only); hand-held general purpose scanner, digital binoculars, mini-camera and directional microphone (1,000 ft range).

Scout: This character has taken to exploration, and seeks out new worlds for other species to inhabit. It can be a very lucrative field, if the scout is lucky. But it can also be very frustrating, as very few scouts ever find a habitable planet. If they do, it can be worth millions or even billions of credits. Most make their living prospecting planets for resources that can be mined, and sometimes they get lucky and find ancient alien ruins. Sometimes they get very unlucky, however, and find that neither the ruins, nor the aliens, are ancient at all…

Cryptography (+5%, +15% when it comes to deciphering alien languages or writing)

Detect Ambush (+10%)

Land Navigation (+10%)

Lore: Galactic (+15%)

Mining (+5%)

Navigation: Space (+20%, overrides the 10% under O.C.C. skills)

Outdoorsmanship

Speaks one additional language of choice (+10%)

Tracking (animals; +15%)

Wilderness Survival (+15%)

Wilderness Survival: Space (+15%)

Special Gear: Portable Surveyor, Ship-to-shore uplink, ship’s range is increased 25%.