Is this the Most Powerful Character Build Possible?

[EliBenedict]

While clearing out the basement, I stumbled across a box of Palladium titles from my high-school days, and this thought popped into my head. And since I was looking for any excuse not to clean, I cracked open a couple of the books, and worked this thing out.

I get that Palladium, and RIFTS specifically, is prone to power abuse, so determining the “Most Powerful Character Build Of All” is, inevitably, an ever increasing comedy of absurdities. But I think this build ends up on a vastly different tier of power abuse than your average munchkin antics. This is some DragonBall-Z-level cosmic-shattering nonsense.

Meet Jane, the World Breaker. Jane is curious, adventurous, and obsessed with the ancient, pre-Rifts Kung-Fu movies her dad used to watch on decaying pre-cataclysm holo-reels.

She starts with any of the adventurer OCC from Rifts Ultimate edition. Doesn’t matter which one. Per Rifts Conversion Book (Revised), Jane is eligible to take up to 3 major and 3 minor superpowers. Jane takes Invulnerability (Skryapers), Zombie Flesh (Powers Unlimited 3), Immunity to Magic (Powers Unlimited 1, counts as a Major Power on Rifts Earth), Immunity to Psionics, Space Native (both Powers Unlimited 1) and one other minor power, doesn’t really matter which one. Something that gives her an extra attack (maybe Extraordinary Physical Prowess) would be nice. She also gets really lucky and rolls a 30 for PE and PP.

Early in her adventuring career she falls into a rift, and lands in the world of Mystic China, right on the steps of a Chinese Alchemist. Noticing her peculiar physiology, he asks her to test the elixir of immortality he’s working on. By luck and happenstance, it works. Jane becomes an Alchemical Immortal.

Stuck in the past, with nothing but time on her hands, she decides to devote herself to the study of martial arts. She finds teachers, spends the required “years of study” skill cost, and one by one learns most of the martial arts forms from Ninjas and Superspies (with a few exceptions that she’ll get to later.) She also picks up every physical skill that offers a PE bonus, using the continuing study rules from Heroes Unlimited. Finally, she picks up Snake Style.

She continues adventuring and starts leveling up, while continuing to learn new styles. She learns Lee Kwan Choo and Aikido at 2nd level, Tien-Hsueh at 3rd, Mien-Ch'uan at 4th, Tai Chi at 6th, Xing Chao and Isshin-Ryu at 10th and Taido, Wu Wing Chung, Yu-Sool and Bok Pai at 13th.

At 15h level she bumps into Odin, who takes a shine to her and teaches her to use magic. He’s a real nut-job so part of his training involves bringing her to Yggdrasil and nailing her to its trunk with a magic sword. She survives, and as result of the experience, decides to change OCCs.

She continues adventuring as a 1st level Ley Line Walker, still picking up new martial arts here and there. She learns Kyojushinkai at 1st level, Monkey Style at 3rd, Sumo at 6th, and Zanji Shinjinken-Ryu at 9th.

Somewhere along the way she decides to study Chi-Magic, learning every Living Chi spell from Mystic China. True, it means her experience will advance at one third speed, but again, she’s got nothing but time on her hands. She also meets up with a Bio-Wizard and gets the Supernatural Strength Conversion and MDC boost. Byt 15th level, she’s very probably the most powerful being in the Megaverse.

Why? Three factors.

#1-Durability
The combination of her super-powers, Alchemical Immortality and Bio-Wizardry treatment renders her invincible to virtually all harm.

Invulnerability makes her immune to most forms of injury, except magic weapons, supernatural strength, radiation, poison, disease, suffocation and non-energy based magics or psionics. Immunity to Magic, and Immunity to Psionics make her immune to any Psionics or Magic that offer a saving throw. Space Native makes her immune to radiation and suffocation. Alchemical Immortality makes her immune to disease, drugs and poison (and aging).

So the only thing left that can actually hurt her is physical attacks from magic weapons or supernatural strength. This is where Zombie Flesh comes into play. Zombie Flesh gives a kind of virtual invulnerability to all physical attacks (including those from magic weapons and supernatural strength). These attacks can still open wounds, or blow holes in her body, but they don’t actually hurt her, or slow her down. Essentially she only suffers virtual damage from these attacks. The power has a caveat. If her body is blown into several large pieces, and those pieces are kept apart for 48 hours, then she will die.

Palladium doesn’t actually have any rules for dismembering folks in combat, so we’ve got to do a little GM guesswork about how that would work. An attack that tears a body in half would kill a normal person, so it's fair to say that to tear a Zombie Flesh opponent in half, you’d have to do enough damage in a single attack to have killed them if they didn’t have the Zombie Flesh power.

In Jane’s case, she has 500 MDC (700 from Invulnerability halved for Immune to Magic, and another 200 from Bio-Wizardry), she takes half virtual damage from magic weapons or supernatural strength, but no damage from other sources. So to dismember her, an opponent would need to do at least 1000 MD with a single attack from a magic weapon or supernatural strength. Not even the Lord of the Deep (Underseas) can pull that off. As far as I can tell there isn’t any statted Palladium critter that could.

Short version: there’s not much of anything that can hurt her.

#2-Raw Power
The PE bonuses from Jane’s Physical Skills, plus the Chi Bonuses from her Martial Arts give her a starting Chi of 50. The sequencing of when she learns new Martial Arts means she gets a Chi multiplier at every level from 1-15 as an adventurer OCC, and every level 1-15 as a Ley Line Walker (I admit, I had to cheat and use an Excel sheet to work this out). So her final Chi is roughly 50x2^30, or about 50 billion.

The Chi powers and Chi Magic from Ninja and Superspies and Mystic China use a unique mechanic that I think can’t be found anywhere else in Palladium’s books: They scale up based on how much Chi you pump into them. And she’s got a lot of Chi to pump into them.

To list just a few examples:

-The Chi Push maneuver (from Tai Chi in Ninja and Superspies) knocks an opponent back [Chi] feet. While the effect is based on her current Chi, it doesn’t cost any Chi to use, so she can do this all day, everyday. And with Tai Chi plus Boxing at 15th level, she gets 5 attacks/round to try this, with a +9 bonus to hit (given that all her physical skills and martial arts boost her PP past 30). There’s no size limit regarding how large an opponent she can do this to. So she’s got a pretty good shot at launching 5 Alien Intelligences 100 billion feet into space each round, every round, until the cows come home. If she’s got a clear shot to the horizon, and she aims for the Sun, they’ll end up a quarter of the way to Venus.

-The Body Chi (Kokyu) Chi power (Ninjas and Superspies) lets Jane boost one of her physical attributes by 5 for each Chi point spent, for a full round. So she can boost her PS or Spd up to 250 billion. Her PS is Supernatural (because of her Bio-Wizardry enhancement) so she can lift 6 billion tons (roughly the weight of a 10,000 foot tall mountain,) or throw a punch that does about 250 billion MD, or run at 100 times the speed of light.

-The Exhale Cloud of Acid spell (Mystic China) lets her create an acidic cloud 1000 cubic feet in volume per CHI invested, that does 2d6 MD/round/square foot of exposed surface to everything within it. She can determine the dimensions of the cloud when she first exhales it. If she spreads it out thin, and dumps all her CHI into it, she can dissolve half the contiguous United States in a single round.

#3-Versatility
Through her ordeal at Yggdrasil, she knows all Spell, Temporal and Necromantic Spells, from level 1-15. She’s also learned all the Mystic China spells, and we’ll go out on a limb and guess that she's managed to pick up every Spell of Legend too.

As a 15th level Ley Line Walker, she’s got a sizable PPE battery to begin with. But what really super-charges her is the Convert CHI ti PPE spell from Mystic China. This spell takes one round to cast, and lets her convert an unlimited amount of Chi to PPE on a 6 to 1 basis. She can channel those PPE to refill her PPE battery (up to its normal maximum) or to cast a single spell. Functionally, this means she’ll never run out of PPE as long as she can get a free round of downtime every now and again. Furthermore, she can cast big ticket PPE spells (like the Spells of Legend or that exceed her PPE battery with just one additional round of preparation, circumventing the need for elaborate rituals, ley line nexus events or messy sacrifices. Basically, she can just pull any magical effect she might need out of her har, at will. If, for some reason, she needs to sterilize a planet, she could cast Draw Yin Yang Symbol (Mystic China) to summon the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and then immediately chanel them the PPE then need to form the Apocalypse Beast.

#4-Endurance
It’s unlikely Jane would run out her CHI reserve under any normal circumstances but, if she did, it would normally take a very long time to refill it. Except for one fact. At some point, she learned the Discorporate power (Mystic China) from any of the many martial arts she knows that teach Zenjorike. Discorporate can be safely used once per day. It heals her of all damage and refills her CHI to max with positive CHI. Effectively she’s got a daily budget of 50 billion CHI. If she happens to need negative CHI, she can alway cast Ride the Yin Tiger (Mystic China), which converts that all to negative CHI.

Jane vs. The Old Ones
I’ll take it as a given that Jane can take out any statted Palladium critter without breaking a sweat. The Old Ones, generally considered the most powerful beings in the Megaverse, are not statted, but Pantheons of the Megaverse notes that they have millions of MDC, and can do thousands of MD with a single attack. Let’s assume the upper limit of those statements. Jane finds herself facing an Old One with 999,999,999 MDC that can do 999,9999 MD in a single attack.

Jane wins the fight hands down. After all her martial arts training and physical skills, her PP is well past 46. That, plus Iaijutsu (Ninjas and Superspies) gives her an +12 initiative bonus. So she almost certainly goes first. Knowing what she's facing she casts Evoke Animus of Element Wood (Positive) (Mystic China) and pumps it up with, maybe a billion CHI, giving her a 10 million MDC in armor. The Old One attacks. At best, it scratches her animus. Now she retaliates. She uses Body Chi and drops 1 billion Chi into it, boosting her PS to 1 billion (Supernatural) for one round, letting her do 1 MD per strike. She one hit drops the Old One. In two rounds, the fight is over, she’s unharmed, and she’s used about one percent of her CHI for the day.

Further Development
Of course, Jane could change classes again, and again, picking up an arbitrary number of psychic or magical powers or get a bunch of magical enhancements, or could learn every skill at 98% using the continued learning rules in HU2. But these would all be relatively marginal increases in her power.

There are a couple ways that she could boost her power by a significant factor, however.

If she took the The Philosopher, Meditative, Weapon and Open Hand Martial Artist Classes, plus the Demon Hunter, Immortalist and Geomancer classes, to learn An Ying, Eight Trigrams, Bak Mei, Gui Lung, Ha Yu, Hsien Hisa an Hsing-I, and advanced each one to 15th level, spaced out her other martial arts a little bit, and took Extraordinary Physical Endurance, she could pick up another 13 Chi multipliers, boosting her CHI by a factor of 8000, at which point she could Chi Push someone halfway to Alpha Centauri, lift the equivalent of 240 Mount Everests, or dissolve the entire surface of planet Earth under an acidic cloud, in a single action, with plenty of CHI to spare.

She could ditch the Adventurer OCC with Super Powers, and instead start out as a Mutant (Heroes Unlimited Revised) with unstable powers that grow with age. It’s debatable whether the Heroes Unlimited Powers Categories can change OCCs. The HU Game Masters Handbook specifically advises against it, without forbidding it. And the NPC Gabriel from Madhaven is specifically a Mega-Mutant who changed classes to Knight of the White Rose. If she took this course, by 15th level, she could have five major powers, and two minor powers (Immune to Magic is a minor power in HU2), letting her pick up all the powers in the above build (including Extraordinary PE), plus the major power of Multiple Selves (Heroes Unlimited Revised). Assuming she takes a couple extra levels to space out her CHI multipliers, so she can delay taking a CHI multiplier at 15th level, this would give her 15 duplicates of herself, under her control but capable of acting independently, with powers essentially equal to her own. So now she can multitask 16 different cosmos-ending problems at once.

Or she could become an Enlightened Immortal of the Ninth Refinement (Mystic China). This is also a debatable possibility. There’s no RAW method for becoming an Enlightened Immortal, but, per RAW, people do become Enlightened Immortals, so…

If she manages it somehow, she becomes truly immortal. Even if someone finds a way to kill her, she’ll just be reborn as a baby somewhere and back up to full power in a couple decades. She also gets a few nifty and scalable CHI powers to abuse. But most importantly, she gets 81 duplicates of herself, each equal to her power, to command. If she combines that with the Multiple Selves option above, she’s got 1,312 independently conscious, equivalent powered versions of herself, under her control. So that’s fun.

All in all, Jane might be the Most Powerful Character Build Possible.

Anyway, I should get back to cleaning the basement. Was this worth the three hours I wasted on it? No. But I really don’t want to clean that basement.

[drewkitty ~..~]

1st thing I saw was that the only char class that can have multiple MAFs is the dedicated martial artist OCC. Three is the highest know to be allowed (under a very liberal reading of the relevant text) to the DMA. Yes there is the presumption that what is being talked about are humans or races with human like life spans.

Then there is the assumption that the GM will allow you to pull super powers from multiple games.
Then there is the assumption that Odin is going to 'take a shine' to them. gods within the games are under control of GMs not players.

PB does have rules about called shots. So dismembering an opponent is not outside the rules. Though a pool of lava is probably the best way to immobilize this char.

At most this is a "let's make a char that any and all GMs will rip up the char sheet".
Though I do find this construct of implausibility is more implausible than the winner of the "most APM" Construct.

[ITWastrel]

Nice experiment, though it does rely on circumstances beyond the player's control. Odin, time travel, and similar events are a per-GM thing, so YMMV.

Reminds me of Pun Pun, or really anything built over on GITPG.

[wyrmraker]

As a thought exercise, and in response to a couple of challenges posted on these boards, I created a book-legal character that was overpowered.
Start with a 1st Edition Robotech Zentraedi. Roll as normal for their alien species. Then take skills and super powers, make into a Mega-Hero. Mega-Hero makes PS supernatural, and adds 50% to the SDC. I took Shrinking and Immune to Psionics as the powers (I wanted minimalism), the mega-power was No Need to Eat or Drink, the Achilles Heel was Magic. Sounds okay so far, right?

No problem, a bit on the low end side, stat-wise. That's when the multipliers come into play. PS, PE, HP, and SDC are multiplied by 100 when in full sized form (specifically, non-micronized). So now it's a guy who stands 43 feet tall, with a PS of over 2000 Supernatural. Base SDC would be in the 8000 range, bumped to 12,000 thanks to Mega-Hera. HP would be in the range of 1500. Shrinking allows him to maintain a normal sized form without cutting his strength (by the book, 1/2 PS at 6 inches tall).

Now we take this guy to Rifts Earth. SNPS in the 2000-2300 range, 20,000 MDC, and can maintain normal size. The physically strongest character that is book legal, AND has only a 2% chance of failing the Test of Yggdrasil.

[Library Ogre]

As a thought exercise, and in response to a couple of challenges posted on these boards, I created a book-legal character that was overpowered.
Start with a 1st Edition Robotech Zentraedi. Roll as normal for their alien species. Then take skills and super powers, make into a Mega-Hero. Mega-Hero makes PS supernatural, and adds 50% to the SDC. I took Shrinking and Immune to Psionics as the powers (I wanted minimalism), the mega-power was No Need to Eat or Drink, the Achilles Heel was Magic. Sounds okay so far, right?

No problem, a bit on the low end side, stat-wise. That's when the multipliers come into play. PS, PE, HP, and SDC are multiplied by 100 when in full sized form (specifically, non-micronized). So now it's a guy who stands 43 feet tall, with a PS of over 2000 Supernatural. Base SDC would be in the 8000 range, bumped to 12,000 thanks to Mega-Hera. HP would be in the range of 1500. Shrinking allows him to maintain a normal sized form without cutting his strength (by the book, 1/2 PS at 6 inches tall).

Now we take this guy to Rifts Earth. SNPS in the 2000-2300 range, 20,000 MDC, and can maintain normal size. The physically strongest character that is book legal, AND has only a 2% chance of failing the Test of Yggdrasil.

You're horrible. I love it.

[wyrmraker]

As a thought exercise, and in response to a couple of challenges posted on these boards, I created a book-legal character that was overpowered.
Start with a 1st Edition Robotech Zentraedi. Roll as normal for their alien species. Then take skills and super powers, make into a Mega-Hero. Mega-Hero makes PS supernatural, and adds 50% to the SDC. I took Shrinking and Immune to Psionics as the powers (I wanted minimalism), the mega-power was No Need to Eat or Drink, the Achilles Heel was Magic. Sounds okay so far, right?

No problem, a bit on the low end side, stat-wise. That's when the multipliers come into play. PS, PE, HP, and SDC are multiplied by 100 when in full sized form (specifically, non-micronized). So now it's a guy who stands 43 feet tall, with a PS of over 2000 Supernatural. Base SDC would be in the 8000 range, bumped to 12,000 thanks to Mega-Hera. HP would be in the range of 1500. Shrinking allows him to maintain a normal sized form without cutting his strength (by the book, 1/2 PS at 6 inches tall).

Now we take this guy to Rifts Earth. SNPS in the 2000-2300 range, 20,000 MDC, and can maintain normal size. The physically strongest character that is book legal, AND has only a 2% chance of failing the Test of Yggdrasil.

You're horrible. I love it.

Thank you. I tried to make the most broken, yet book-legal, character possible.

I did consider going further. Strength of the Whale (doubles PS) with a permanency rune set into one of his bones. Some sort of chi martial art form. There's a lot of possibilities once we range out from 'strictly book-legal' to 'if I can talk the GM into it'.

[Hotrod]

We did a Rules Lawyer/Munchkin contest a while back on the boards to create a plausible, book-legal character who could survive the Yggdrasil ritual with a 100% success rate.

As I recall, the first winner was a mutant flying elephant.

Yeah, here it is! Somehow, Dumbo the flying wannabe wizard doesn't feel as outlandish as the one in this thread's OP.

[wyrmraker]

Hmm. I wonder...
I went with a minimal approach to my OP Zentraedi, I'll admit. I wonder what else I could legally pile into the poor guy to make GM's twitch...
I already thought up Strength of the Whale, linked to a Permanency run implanted in one of his bones. That doubles his strength and adds 50% to MDC.
Ooo! Extraordinary Speed! Base states a running speed of 220MPH. Well, at full size, the SPD stat is multiplied times 10. Need to add in some sort of space and regular flight power.

What else could I ramp this guy up with that would be unseemly, yet book-legal? I want to make any number of GM's have slight heart attacks.

Edit: Anything I'd add to this guy would have to be book-legal without needing GM approval for oddities in the character's background.

[Curbludgeon]

Much like with several U.S. state legislatures' current efforts to apparently return to the Gilded Age, the exploitation of children can really grease some wheels here. Soulmancy's Permanency ritual is a little more open to abuse than Diabolism's equivalent, with most any combination of spells with listed durations arguably applicable if you throw enough kindergartners at it.

I feel like a Soulcrafted Dark Weapon has some potential for snagging a blanket immunity or three. I'm thinking maybe a Zavor sacrificed to make mouth darts?

As long as Mystic China abuse and multiple shifts of *CC are on the table a few levels in Tao Shih grants a 98% chance to learn spells from scrolls. Scrolls of Create Magic Scroll, when combined with a ready source of PPE, the spell Id Alter Ego, and your standard Boschian garden, can help your nascent powermonger lift spells from those mages too uppity to share.

[ShonicBurn]

I had a minmaxer show up with a Stupid Minimaxed Cosmo Knight Meets Godling that also had some DBZ level nonsense unfortunately for him he didn't read the whole you can't do bad thing and decided to join a group of space pirates. Who subsequently got stranded in space with no oxygen, short lived but funny.

[ITWastrel]

I had a minmaxer show up with a Stupid Minimaxed Cosmo Knight Meets Godling that also had some DBZ level nonsense unfortunately for him he didn't read the whole you can't do bad thing and decided to join a group of space pirates. Who subsequently got stranded in space with no oxygen, short lived but funny.

Nice Munchkin Kill.

I had a munchkin that declared the Headhunter OCC's weapon and vehicle choices (any) extended to a Greatest Rune Weapon and a Proctor class interceptor from Phase World.

To this very day he still argues any class with an unrestricted weapon choice can opt for literally any weapon, even unique ones found only in NPC descriptions.

[Killer Cyborg]

I had a minmaxer show up with a Stupid Minimaxed Cosmo Knight Meets Godling that also had some DBZ level nonsense unfortunately for him he didn't read the whole you can't do bad thing and decided to join a group of space pirates. Who subsequently got stranded in space with no oxygen, short lived but funny.

Nice Munchkin Kill.

I had a munchkin that declared the Headhunter OCC's weapon and vehicle choices (any) extended to a Greatest Rune Weapon and a Proctor class interceptor from Phase World.

To this very day he still argues any class with an unrestricted weapon choice can opt for literally any weapon, even unique ones found only in NPC descriptions.

lol
Nice.

I tended to just say "Nice character! I don't have any adventures to run for somebody of that power level, though. What else do you have?"

Because that's what it comes down to, whether or not any given character will be disruptive for an adventure, campaign, party, etc.
It's not about their "right" to make a given character, and it's not even ultimately about what the rules do or do not allow.
It's about the GM wanting to run a certain kind of adventure, and having the right to do so.

[guardiandashi]

I had a minmaxer show up with a Stupid Minimaxed Cosmo Knight Meets Godling that also had some DBZ level nonsense unfortunately for him he didn't read the whole you can't do bad thing and decided to join a group of space pirates. Who subsequently got stranded in space with no oxygen, short lived but funny.

Nice Munchkin Kill.

I had a munchkin that declared the Headhunter OCC's weapon and vehicle choices (any) extended to a Greatest Rune Weapon and a Proctor class interceptor from Phase World.

To this very day he still argues any class with an unrestricted weapon choice can opt for literally any weapon, even unique ones found only in NPC descriptions.

lol
Nice.

I tended to just say "Nice character! I don't have any adventures to run for somebody of that power level, though. What else do you have?"

Because that's what it comes down to, whether or not any given character will be disruptive for an adventure, campaign, party, etc.
It's not about their "right" to make a given character, and it's not even ultimately about what the rules do or do not allow.
It's about the GM wanting to run a certain kind of adventure, and having the right to do so.

I have characters that are both pretty weak and some that are really weak in most ways but crazy powerful, and other chars that are broken powerful but still manageable just because while they CAN totally destroy a game they usually don't because its too boring.

to give an example: I have a character who is a dogboy with basically broken stats and has 2 mutations from the tables 1 off the dogboy table (etremely large) so she is 7ft tall, and ~350-400lbs, and also got the supernatural strength, and linked supernatural endurance (SPS, SPE ) on attributes but in the grand scheme of things she wouldn't be all that bad in most campaigns.

and then I have my seriously broken character. Alecia DeVreis I have posted her before.
but when I first rolled up the char rifts mercenaries had recently come out, she was a near human DB with somewhat broken physical stats, and psionics, made using the special forces occ. she then through GM fiat got some archie 3oz gear, and a modified monst rex. after years of playing and dimension hopping she is essentially a goddess, and has access to a version of washu's lab (if you are familiar with tenshi Moyu) in her lab she has a pocket demi-plane roughly the size of the solar system. in that she has factories, a variety of combat gear, mecha, storage and repair facilities for over 100 mecha, and even a shipyard and spacedock with a couple capitol ships that are all kinds of broken but when playing, she usually goes around basically on par with what the gm throws at her, and only escalates when the GM does.

as an example gm throws out a coalition or splugorth patrol? she goes to town with a shemarian railgun and mabie a NE cpasma cartridge pistol.
gm escalates to throwing out something nasty she either puls out Mechs or mecha, or uses her "show stopper" its a robotech invid invasion "syncro Cannon" she has at least 2 1 has been turned into a weapons pod for a mech, the other is built into a shemarrian railgun external frame, that is linked to a dimensional pocket that the syncro cannon is inside,
the other times she has escalated the GM started a campaign in star wars or star trek settings so she puled out a capital starship (imperial interdictor cruiser, and a massively modified imperial star destroyer.

[drewkitty ~..~]

I am familiar with Washu's extradimentional lab from Tench Muyo (no need for tench).

According to the RT 1 , the SDF 1's main reflex cannon destroys everything in it's path. No And's but's or exceptions.

[guardiandashi]

I am familiar with Washu's extradimentional lab from Tench Muyo (no need for tench).

According to the RT 1 , the SDF 1's main reflex cannon destroys everything in it's path. No And's but's or exceptions.

I know, and the syncro cannon is the sdf1/3 main guns baby brother, same damage code, but only 50ft wide and 1-2 miles long instead of a mile wide 60,000 mile long beam

[ShadowLogan]

I went with a minimal approach to my OP Zentraedi, I'll admit. I wonder what else I could legally pile into the poor guy to make GM's twitch...

Well a 1E RT Zentreadi, when giant-size has the potential to power nearly any spell/ritual in the Rifts Book of Magic ALONE at 1st Level if they take any magic class that has PE attribute bonus to PPE (as the PE attribute is x100 when full size). IINM you can count the spell/rituals on one hand they couldn't cast within the possible ranges.

These guys might actually be one of the few cases where a 1st Level Mage could go PEW PEW for Magic Combat and not notice it like your average character at the same level if the PE dice where nice to them (and if not, your still looking at a few hundred PPE for Level 1, something no other player options can compete with IINM).

[Hotrod]

Having a player character with great power in a particular area can be rather fun to build and play. Making a character as powerful as possible in every dimension isn't.

[EliBenedict]

1st thing I saw was that the only char class that can have multiple MAFs is the dedicated martial artist OCC. Three is the highest know to be allowed (under a very liberal reading of the relevant text) to the DMA. Yes there is the presumption that what is being talked about are humans or races with human like life spans.

Then there is the assumption that the GM will allow you to pull super powers from multiple games.
Then there is the assumption that Odin is going to 'take a shine' to them. gods within the games are under control of GMs not players.

PB does have rules about called shots. So dismembering an opponent is not outside the rules. Though a pool of lava is probably the best way to immobilize this char.

At most this is a "let's make a char that any and all GMs will rip up the char sheet".
Though I do find this construct of implausibility is more implausible than the winner of the "most APM" Construct.

Definitely not intended to be a character used in real play, just a thought experiment. And of course, any character build is dependent on the GM saying “yeah, you can use that book” (this would apply to super-powers as well as anything else.) That said, in defense of the rules legality of the character build:

True, the dedicated martial-artist is one of the only characters (post-1ed-Ninjas and Superspies) who can take more than one martial arts form at first level (the Open-Hand Martial artist from Mystic China is another). However, the concept here is not about martial arts at character creation, but rather, spending the required years of study to learn a martial arts for after 1st level.

There’s no specific rule that allows this, but there isn’t any rule that precludes it either, and one would be hard pressed to explain why a character couldn’t do it. Plus, there’s some solid circumstantial evidence in the rules that support it, specifically:

-Ninjitsu and Thai Kickboxing both reduce the time necessary to learn a number of other martial arts forms. Since Ninjitsu and Muay Thai both take up all a character’s martial arts slots at first level, this fact only makes sense if the character can learn other forms after first level.

-Heroes Unlimited Revised does allow a character to find a teacher, go back to school and learn other, new, scholastic skills after first level (p. 48). One would be hard pressed to explain why this wouldn’t apply to Martial Arts forms.

-The NPC “The Black One” from TNMNT (p. 95) appears to have done exactly this: starting out with Ninjitus at 1st level, then studying and picking up Lee Kwan Choo at 6th.

I get that that’s debatable, but you could build a version of the character under a stricter interpretation of the rules using the multiple O.C.C.s rule from Adventures on the High Seas (p.10). As you noted, the Dedicated Martial Artist O.C.C. gets 2 forms. The Worldly Martial Artist, Wired Agent, Gadgeteer Agent, Operative Agent, Wandering Free Agent and Dreamer Gizmoteer each get one. Per Gramcery Island (p. 140), a Physical Training Character can take a style as well. That’s nine styles altogether. WIth that array, you can get 23 chi multipliers, just by taking multiple OCCs. If she also takes the Mystic China OCCs, and the Chil Multiplier for Extraordinary PE, she can pick up another 13, getting her to a final total of 36, multiplying her base CHI by roughly 16 billion. So, still pretty cosmos-shaking.

Regarding the Odin thing, the character doesn’t actually need the All-Father to take a shine to her. That was just for flavor. She could just as easily go to Yggdrasil and perform the ritual herself.

There are definitely less obtuse builds out there that let you do crazy stuff at first level, with far less reliance on GM latitude. But they generally fall into the realm of “I can one-hit that starship over there.” Whereas Jane the World Breaker is like: “hold my drink while I dissolve everything on the entire surface of Earth without breaking a sweat.”

I swear I’ll get this basement cleaned out at some point.

[Killer Cyborg]

Mulka Vagabond:
-Has all spells
-Has limitless PPE
-Has all psionics.
-Has limitless ISP
-Impervious to all hostile magic/psionics and physical attacks
-Can Eyeball-A-Fella!

[Sohisohi]

-Can Eyeball-A-Fella!

Game Breaking

Though anything built around chi conversation is also pretty broken.

[ShadowLogan]

-Can Eyeball-A-Fella!

Game Breaking

Though anything built around chi conversation is also pretty broken.

I thought Chi abilities (or some of them) had been converted in Rifts to being either PPE or ISP powered depending on where you look.

[EliBenedict]

-Can Eyeball-A-Fella!

Game Breaking

Though anything built around chi conversation is also pretty broken.

Definitely agree regarding Chi. The multipliers were the problem (which is what this build exploits.) Worth noting that, even without these Munchkiny shenanigans, a straight Dedicated Martial Artist, who takes Tai Chi and Snake Style gets 8 chi multipliers by 15th level, for a cumulative multiplier of 256. With even average PE, he's tossing chi-pushing 4 opponents a round a half mile away.

[Blue_Lion]

-Can Eyeball-A-Fella!

Game Breaking

Though anything built around chi conversation is also pretty broken.

I thought Chi abilities (or some of them) had been converted in Rifts to being either PPE or ISP powered depending on where you look.

There are ppe and ISP versions of chi abilities but chi itself comes from ninja and super spie conversions.

Typically people with super powers should not have magic or chi powers.
Hand to hand would not advance once she leaves the OCC that she took it in, unless the new OCC had it.
Dedicated martial artist are the only occ that can have more than 1 martial arts skill.
Ninjas and super spies martial arts are not available to ley line walkers.

(So the build is not true build open to most games.)

[EliBenedict]

-Can Eyeball-A-Fella!

Game Breaking

Though anything built around chi conversation is also pretty broken.

I thought Chi abilities (or some of them) had been converted in Rifts to being either PPE or ISP powered depending on where you look.

There are ppe and ISP versions of chi abilities but chi itself comes from ninja and super spie conversions.

Typically people with super powers should not have magic or chi powers.
Hand to hand would not advance once she leaves the OCC that she took it in, unless the new OCC had it.
Dedicated martial artist are the only occ that can have more than 1 martial arts skill.
Ninjas and super spies martial arts are not available to ley line walkers.

(So the build is not true build open to most games.)

Re-Posting Earlier Response:

True, the dedicated martial-artist is one of the only characters (post-1ed-Ninjas and Superspies) who can take more than one martial arts form at first level (the Open-Hand Martial artist from Mystic China is another). However, the concept here is not about martial arts at character creation, but rather, spending the required years of study to learn a martial arts for after 1st level.

There’s no specific rule that allows this, but there isn’t any rule that precludes it either, and one would be hard pressed to explain why a character couldn’t do it. Plus, there’s some solid circumstantial evidence in the rules that support it, specifically:

-Ninjitsu and Thai Kickboxing both reduce the time necessary to learn a number of other martial arts forms. Since Ninjitsu and Muay Thai both take up all a character’s martial arts slots at first level, this fact only makes sense if the character can learn other forms after first level.

-Heroes Unlimited Revised does allow a character to find a teacher, go back to school and learn other, new, scholastic skills after first level (p. 48). One would be hard pressed to explain why this wouldn’t apply to Martial Arts forms.

-The NPC “The Black One” from TNMNT (p. 95) appears to have done exactly this: starting out with Ninjitus at 1st level, then studying and picking up Lee Kwan Choo at 6th.

I get that that’s debatable, but you could build a version of the character under a stricter interpretation of the rules using the multiple O.C.C.s rule from Adventures on the High Seas (p.10). As you noted, the Dedicated Martial Artist O.C.C. gets 2 forms. The Worldly Martial Artist, Wired Agent, Gadgeteer Agent, Operative Agent, Wandering Free Agent and Dreamer Gizmoteer each get one. Per Gramcery Island (p. 140), a Physical Training Character can take a style as well. That’s nine styles altogether. WIth that array, you can get 23 chi multipliers, just by taking multiple OCCs. If she also takes the Mystic China OCCs, and the Chil Multiplier for Extraordinary PE, she can pick up another 13, getting her to a final total of 36, multiplying her base CHI by roughly 16 billion. So, still pretty cosmos-shaking.

[EliBenedict]

PB does have rules about called shots. So dismembering an opponent is not outside the rules.

Curious (genuinely, not rhetorically) where you can find those rules.

The called-shot rules I see in most ranged-combat sections describe how to make a called shot, but not what happens when you do.

The mechanic for armor with MDC/SDC by location is pretty obvious, as is the fact that if you hit an SDC opponent wearing MDC armor without a helmet in the head with an MD weapon that's an automatic KO.

But, unless I missed something, for a target without MDC/SDC by location (like a standard character), it seems like the effects of a called-shot are up to GM adjudication without guidance.

[drewkitty ~..~]

PB does have rules about called shots. So dismembering an opponent is not outside the rules.

Curious (genuinely, not rhetorically) where you can find those rules.

The called-shot rules I see in most ranged-combat sections describe how to make a called shot, but not what happens when you do.

The mechanic for armor with MDC/SDC by location is pretty obvious, as is the fact that if you hit an SDC opponent wearing MDC armor without a helmet in the head with an MD weapon that's an automatic KO.

But, unless I missed something, for a target without MDC/SDC by location (like a standard character), it seems like the effects of a called-shot are up to GM adjudication without guidance.

Called shots can be done with melee weapons. It is just that Rifts is mainly written for combat with modern weapons so rifters don't 'think' about how to do melee combat as much.....as much as say those that play the PF game.

Most of the possibility for called shots doing dismembings resides in each GM and how lazy they are. There are the random wound tables in the RCB1 that can be used to give the effects of dismembering.

Hitting as HP/SDC being in the head (unhelmeted) with a MD strike is not KOing the target...its' killing the the target.
--However, if you have a MDC weapon and (blunt) strike the head of a SDC char it follows the same rules and effects of SD melee weapons.
***Just because it is made out of MDC materials does not give it and inherent MD strike ability. The only thing being MDC does is make the weapon less likely to break.
(if you don't understand the above three lines, get out your OCD and read it critically.)

[The Beast]

PB does have rules about called shots. So dismembering an opponent is not outside the rules.

Curious (genuinely, not rhetorically) where you can find those rules.

The called-shot rules I see in most ranged-combat sections describe how to make a called shot, but not what happens when you do.

The mechanic for armor with MDC/SDC by location is pretty obvious, as is the fact that if you hit an SDC opponent wearing MDC armor without a helmet in the head with an MD weapon that's an automatic KO.

But, unless I missed something, for a target without MDC/SDC by location (like a standard character), it seems like the effects of a called-shot are up to GM adjudication without guidance.

Called shots can be done with melee weapons. It is just that Rifts is mainly written for combat with modern weapons so rifters don't 'think' about how to do melee combat as much.....as much as say those that play the PF game.

Most of the possibility for called shots doing dismembings resides in each GM and how lazy they are. There are the random wound tables in the RCB1 that can be used to give the effects of dismembering.

Hitting as HP/SDC being in the head (unhelmeted) with a MD strike is not KOing the target...its' killing the the target.
--However, if you have a MDC weapon and (blunt) strike the head of a SDC char it follows the same rules and effects of SD melee weapons.
***Just because it is made out of MDC materials does not give it and inherent MD strike ability. The only thing being MDC does is make the weapon less likely to break.
(if you don't understand the above three lines, get out your OCD and read it critically.)

That's true for most weapons, but there are some out there that say they still do MD when used as a blunt and not SD (unless of course that the authors assumed the wielders would be capable of MD HtH attacks and not regular Joe Shmoes who were using those weapons, but that's a different issue).

[EliBenedict]

PB does have rules about called shots. So dismembering an opponent is not outside the rules.

Curious (genuinely, not rhetorically) where you can find those rules.

The called-shot rules I see in most ranged-combat sections describe how to make a called shot, but not what happens when you do.

The mechanic for armor with MDC/SDC by location is pretty obvious, as is the fact that if you hit an SDC opponent wearing MDC armor without a helmet in the head with an MD weapon that's an automatic KO.

But, unless I missed something, for a target without MDC/SDC by location (like a standard character), it seems like the effects of a called-shot are up to GM adjudication without guidance.

Called shots can be done with melee weapons. It is just that Rifts is mainly written for combat with modern weapons so rifters don't 'think' about how to do melee combat as much.....as much as say those that play the PF game.

Most of the possibility for called shots doing dismembings resides in each GM and how lazy they are. There are the random wound tables in the RCB1 that can be used to give the effects of dismembering.

Hitting as HP/SDC being in the head (unhelmeted) with a MD strike is not KOing the target...its' killing the the target.
--However, if you have a MDC weapon and (blunt) strike the head of a SDC char it follows the same rules and effects of SD melee weapons.
***Just because it is made out of MDC materials does not give it and inherent MD strike ability. The only thing being MDC does is make the weapon less likely to break.
(if you don't understand the above three lines, get out your OCD and read it critically.)

That's true for most weapons, but there are some out there that say they still do MD when used as a blunt and not SD (unless of course that the authors assumed the wielders would be capable of MD HtH attacks and not regular Joe Shmoes who were using those weapons, but that's a different issue).

To be clear, when I wrote "MD weapons" I meant a weapon that does Mega Damage (like a railgun) not one that has MDC.

[Albert05]

The Old Ones are a race of Alien Intelligences within the megaversal setting of Palladium Books' game module PFRPG. The Old Ones are the most powerful.

[EliBenedict]

The Old Ones are a race of Alien Intelligences within the megaversal setting of Palladium Books' game module PFRPG. The Old Ones are the most powerful.

Based on the description of the Old Ones given in Dragons And Gods (that they have millions of SDC and do thousands of SDC with a single attack) and repeated in Pantheons of the Megaverse (that they have millions of MDC and do thousands of MD with a single attack) Jane the World Breaker (if deemed rule-legal) can take any of them out without breaking a sweat.

[wyrmraker]

I finally, after many, MANY years of threatening to do so, have rolled up my Overpowered Zentraedi Character. I went with the Zentraedi Officer, and stayed as close to book legal as I could. I am guessing that a lot of people new to the Palladium system of skills have no idea of how FEW skills are actually in the original Robotech setting. It was hurtful to me, after having gotten used to the variety that is Rifts. Seriously, Running isn't a physical skill in there.
Zentraedi Officer gets good bonuses to stats, but darned few skills, something that all of the early Palladium classes suffered from. Bear in mind that in full size form of 43 feet tall, the Speed attribute is multiplied by 10. Non-micronized Zentraedi have PS, PE, HP, and SDC multiplied by 100.
Alien Experiment Mega-Hero/Ley Line Walker
Level: 2/1
IQ: 18
ME: 17
MA: 15
PS: 2300 SNPS
PP: 15
PE: 2000
PB: 15
SPD: 22 human size, 220 full size, 2200 MpH with Speed Power Full Size
SDC: 14,400
HP: 2400
In Rifts: MDC: 16,800
PPE: 2120
All normal Zentraedi skills, the physicals I could justify:
Running
Boxing
Hand to Hand: Expert
(I haven't run up the LLW skills yet)

Mega-Power: Doesn't need to eat or drink
Achilles Heel: Magic

Powers:
Shrink Max 1/8 inch, Mass Reduced with Size

Immune to Psionics

Extraordinary Speed

And that's what I have so far. I broke out and dusted off my dice case for this. It's a solid beginning, with one Major and two Minors. If he's not going into space, he's solidly, ridiculously overpowered. At this point, I think that any more powers would mostly be frosting, so I level switched him as soon as possible.

What do you guys think?

[EliBenedict]

I finally, after many, MANY years of threatening to do so, have rolled up my Overpowered Zentraedi Character. I went with the Zentraedi Officer, and stayed as close to book legal as I could. I am guessing that a lot of people new to the Palladium system of skills have no idea of how FEW skills are actually in the original Robotech setting. It was hurtful to me, after having gotten used to the variety that is Rifts. Seriously, Running isn't a physical skill in there.
Zentraedi Officer gets good bonuses to stats, but darned few skills, something that all of the early Palladium classes suffered from. Bear in mind that in full size form of 43 feet tall, the Speed attribute is multiplied by 10. Non-micronized Zentraedi have PS, PE, HP, and SDC multiplied by 100.
Alien Experiment Mega-Hero/Ley Line Walker
Level: 2/1
IQ: 18
ME: 17
MA: 15
PS: 2300 SNPS
PP: 15
PE: 2000
PB: 15
SPD: 22 human size, 220 full size, 2200 MpH with Speed Power Full Size
SDC: 14,400
HP: 2400
In Rifts: MDC: 16,800
PPE: 2120
All normal Zentraedi skills, the physicals I could justify:
Running
Boxing
Hand to Hand: Expert
(I haven't run up the LLW skills yet)

Mega-Power: Doesn't need to eat or drink
Achilles Heel: Magic

Powers:
Shrink Max 1/8 inch, Mass Reduced with Size

Immune to Psionics

Extraordinary Speed

And that's what I have so far. I broke out and dusted off my dice case for this. It's a solid beginning, with one Major and two Minors. If he's not going into space, he's solidly, ridiculously overpowered. At this point, I think that any more powers would mostly be frosting, so I level switched him as soon as possible.

What do you guys think?

Solidly OP. Curious why you went wirh can't eat or drink for the mega power?

[wyrmraker]

I finally, after many, MANY years of threatening to do so, have rolled up my Overpowered Zentraedi Character. I went with the Zentraedi Officer, and stayed as close to book legal as I could. I am guessing that a lot of people new to the Palladium system of skills have no idea of how FEW skills are actually in the original Robotech setting. It was hurtful to me, after having gotten used to the variety that is Rifts. Seriously, Running isn't a physical skill in there.
Zentraedi Officer gets good bonuses to stats, but darned few skills, something that all of the early Palladium classes suffered from. Bear in mind that in full size form of 43 feet tall, the Speed attribute is multiplied by 10. Non-micronized Zentraedi have PS, PE, HP, and SDC multiplied by 100.
Alien Experiment Mega-Hero/Ley Line Walker
Level: 2/1
IQ: 18
ME: 17
MA: 15
PS: 2300 SNPS
PP: 15
PE: 2000
PB: 15
SPD: 22 human size, 220 full size, 2200 MpH with Speed Power Full Size
SDC: 14,400
HP: 2400
In Rifts: MDC: 16,800
PPE: 2120
All normal Zentraedi skills, the physicals I could justify:
Running
Boxing
Hand to Hand: Expert
(I haven't run up the LLW skills yet)

Mega-Power: Doesn't need to eat or drink
Achilles Heel: Magic

Powers:
Shrink Max 1/8 inch, Mass Reduced with Size

Immune to Psionics

Extraordinary Speed

And that's what I have so far. I broke out and dusted off my dice case for this. It's a solid beginning, with one Major and two Minors. If he's not going into space, he's solidly, ridiculously overpowered. At this point, I think that any more powers would mostly be frosting, so I level switched him as soon as possible.

What do you guys think?

Solidly OP. Curious why you went wirh can't eat or drink for the mega power?

Because I know FAR too many GMs who would happily screw over a character with nutritional requirements like a Zentraedi. Call it an old defense mechanism. If it wasn't so ingrained, I would have gone with something else.

[Curbludgeon]

I'd add that HU has pretty proscribed instances of when a character can have both super powers and spell access, which makes some of the above a harder sell than using the year-based Skill Cost for Martial Art Forms, or maybe even having a HU character switch to an O.C.C.. While that does make the Zentradi a little less formidable, it's worth noting that since they're apparently genetically equivalent to humans they're arguably viable subjects for procedures like Juicer modifications or Cold-Blooded, or at certain tables one followed by the other. While it would presumably be wildly expensive to convert a 43' tall person, and the latter procedure does set strength as Robotic, it does add an effectively indeterminate amount to MDC (thousands to hundreds of thousands, depending on the procedure order) as well as regeneration and other bonuses.

[wyrmraker]

I'd add that HU has pretty proscribed instances of when a character can have both super powers and spell access, which makes some of the above a harder sell than using the year-based Skill Cost for Martial Art Forms, or maybe even having a HU character switch to an O.C.C.. While that does make the Zentradi a little less formidable, it's worth noting that since they're apparently genetically equivalent to humans they're arguably viable subjects for procedures like Juicer modifications or Cold-Blooded, or at certain tables one followed by the other. While it would presumably be wildly expensive to convert a 43' tall person, and the latter procedure does set strength as Robotic, it does add an effectively indeterminate amount to MDC (thousands to hundreds of thousands, depending on the procedure order) as well as regeneration and other bonuses.

While I can understand the potential appeal of the Juicer augmentation or the Cold Blooded transformation, I personally didn't want anything that might interfere with the key Shrinking power, or anything too transformative.

Magic on the other hand, specifically spell casting, is specifically described as a Skill-Based powerset in the 'Two Power Categories as a Mega-Power' article of a Rifter. If the character, in-game, decided to pursue mystical study, the GM would have as little ground to object as someone spending the learning time required for a martial arts form. That's why the Zentraedi would be a Level 2 Alien Experiment, and Level 1 Ley Line Walker.

In addition, the whole 'magic and powers are discouraged' thing, as I recall, first really came up in the Rifts Conversion Book, but 1: That was mostly for starting off characters (or so it seemed to me), and 2: Things in later HU material have spells and powers.

But, hey! I'm always up for ideas on making this ridiculousness more overpowered that won't interfere with the base of the character (basically, a Zentraedi Mega-Hero with Shrink).

[Curbludgeon]

The "optional" nature of the Mega Hero Rifter article is noteworthy, I guess? Palladium isn't a particularly optimization-forward ruleset, so the notion of "most powerful character" necessarily delves into the unadjudicated.

[EliBenedict]

But, hey! I'm always up for ideas on making this ridiculousness more overpowered that won't interfere with the base of the character (basically, a Zentraedi Mega-Hero with Shrink).

One way to keep the basic concept, but give it a significantly boost:

Instead of a megahero zentraidi (which is debateably rules
-legal, since megahero is a power category instead of an OCC), you could make a zentraidi who was transformed by the Book of Heroes (from Heroes of the Megaverse).

This can give them up to 4 powers, which can be taken either from the special powers listed in the book, or from HU2. So you can get shrinking. Then add in the "multiple powes" ability from heroes of the megaverse (which adds some bonuses in addition to another power selection).

For your second selection, you'd take the "Super Powerful" power, which has you add HP and SDC together, then multiple by 10, and convert it, point for point to MDC (giving you, in average 10,000 MDC).

It also converts your PS to supernatural PS, but with double normal lifting capacity.

The multiple powers ability set lets you survive in any environment for PEx2 minutes. Whic for your character would be 33 hours, on average.

You also get a bio regeneration power that lets you heal 1d6×10% of your MDC once every 24 hours.

You've still got two powers to select.

I'd spend one on "Magic Spell Caster," which gets you a ton of spells from levels 1-11, and PPE equal to PE×10, in your case 10,000, on average.

There are a ton of solid choices for your last power, but one fun option would be growth. With an average PE of 1000, you could become a 2000' giant, adding 400,000 MDC to your already insane total, and another 2000 onto your PS, which, in terms of durability and damage per round, puts you on par with the heaviest hitting alien intelligences, at first level.

[Killer Cyborg]

As a thought exercise, and in response to a couple of challenges posted on these boards, I created a book-legal character that was overpowered.
Start with a 1st Edition Robotech Zentraedi. Roll as normal for their alien species. Then take skills and super powers, make into a Mega-Hero. Mega-Hero makes PS supernatural, and adds 50% to the SDC. I took Shrinking and Immune to Psionics as the powers (I wanted minimalism), the mega-power was No Need to Eat or Drink, the Achilles Heel was Magic. Sounds okay so far, right?

No problem, a bit on the low end side, stat-wise. That's when the multipliers come into play. PS, PE, HP, and SDC are multiplied by 100 when in full sized form (specifically, non-micronized). So now it's a guy who stands 43 feet tall, with a PS of over 2000 Supernatural. Base SDC would be in the 8000 range, bumped to 12,000 thanks to Mega-Hera. HP would be in the range of 1500. Shrinking allows him to maintain a normal sized form without cutting his strength (by the book, 1/2 PS at 6 inches tall).

Now we take this guy to Rifts Earth. SNPS in the 2000-2300 range, 20,000 MDC, and can maintain normal size. The physically strongest character that is book legal, AND has only a 2% chance of failing the Test of Yggdrasil.

It's book-legal IF there's a rule somewhere allowing Zentraedi to have super-powers.
I'm not sure if that's a rule.

This is not a complaint about your build; I like it, and have done similar things myself.

[Aermas]

An human Techno-Wizard in a modified Glitterboy could destroy her though.

[Killer Cyborg]

An human Techno-Wizard in a modified Glitterboy could destroy her though.

Since you bring up Techno-Wizardry...

The thing about Techno-Wizardy is that there are TW Device creation rules that say anything is permissible if the GM approves it.
Which makes Techno-Wizardry arguably THE most powerful book-legal thing there is, providing you find a GM who signs off on it.

Like a Level 1 Technowizard could make a device powered by "Blinding Flash" that destroys the entire universe, as far as I can tell, and as long as the GM signs off on it, it's legal.

[taalismn]

I'm glad that this thread makes my Full Conversion Cyberhumanoid Cyborg Natural Genius with a martial arts aptitude look tame in comparison...

[Aermas]

An human Techno-Wizard in a modified Glitterboy could destroy her though.

Since you bring up Techno-Wizardry...

The thing about Techno-Wizardy is that there are TW Device creation rules that say anything is permissible if the GM approves it.
Which makes Techno-Wizardry arguably THE most powerful book-legal thing there is, providing you find a GM who signs off on it.

Like a Level 1 Technowizard could make a device powered by "Blinding Flash" that destroys the entire universe, as far as I can tell, and as long as the GM signs off on it, it's legal.

Well, within reason at least. It's like an Artificer in 3.5 D&D, given the right choices & supplies you can become an extremely overpowered immortal by level 12 (sooner than that really, but everything breaks when you get Etch Schema & Persist Metamagic) the fact of the matter is, any game that allows for magic as gear allows for a character to layer & cherry pick every perfect option, until they have no weaknesses & every strength. Take X item, add Y qualities, embed Z magic. Synthesize the strongest & most fiddly options weld it together during down time & sooner or later you just upgraded yourself into being a God

[EliBenedict]

It's book-legal IF there's a rule somewhere allowing Zentraedi to have super-powers.
I'm not sure if that's a rule.

Per RAW, the Book of Heroes (Heroes of the Megaverse) can grant super-powers to any race, Zentraedi (presumably) included.

[taalismn]

It's book-legal IF there's a rule somewhere allowing Zentraedi to have super-powers.
I'm not sure if that's a rule.

Per RAW, the Book of Heroes (Heroes of the Megaverse) can grant super-powers to any race, Zentraedi (presumably) included.

"No, Thoth doesn't have an enchanted Xerox machine in his home that he'll let you borrow to run off a few hundred copies of the Book of Heroes."

[The Beast]

It's book-legal IF there's a rule somewhere allowing Zentraedi to have super-powers.
I'm not sure if that's a rule.

There's no rule excluding them from having superpowers either. Personally that's what I would base my ruling off of.

[Killer Cyborg]

It's book-legal IF there's a rule somewhere allowing Zentraedi to have super-powers.
I'm not sure if that's a rule.

There's no rule excluding them from having superpowers either. Personally that's what I would base my ruling off of.

That’s the thing about Palladium; so many gray areas!
Makes it hard to definitively declare whether a lot of things are Book Legal or Book Illegal, because there’s arguments both ways and no clear answer.

[Fenris2020]

If I wanted the most powerful character possible, I'd just make a Splugorth.