Review of Rifts: China 2: Heroes of the Celestial Court

Summary

Overall this book has excellent potential, but fails to carry through with that potential. As sad as it seems, I consider this Erick Wujcik's worst book to date, though not the worst Rifts book I've seen. On a scale of one to ten, I give this book a two.

General Review

Page 7: "One section in particular, the Martial Art Powers, was, I think, the most difficult writing of my whole career." That has got to be a joke. Seriously, the so-called "Martial Art Powers" in this book are rewritten martial art forms from Mystic China, with some new goodies. How difficult is that? Not very I'll tell you (yes, I can actually tell you, I've written more martial art styles and martial art powers than Erick, I know just exactly how hard it is do each). However, I suppose Erick is correct about it being the most difficult part, after 90% of the rest of the books was conversions of material from Mystic China with a ton of cut and paste.

Eastern Dragons vs Western Dragons. This section might actually be useful...if we had any stats for Eastern Dragons to make it useful.

Asian Meditation vs Western Psionics. Lame justification trying to make Chi = I.S.P. #1. The net result is that no matter what, the writers think Chi = I.S.P. and this talk of inward vs outward doesn't mean anything.

Page 8: Magic Spells vs Martial Art Powers. Lame justification trying to make Chi = I.S.P. #2. This one is even better, since if both magic and martial art powers are "both seem to end up with characters throwing around mystic energies..." then Chi = Magic. But this predisposes the energies being thrown around are "mystic" which is to say Magic which is to say P.P.E. If the stated difference is that magic uses PPE and martial art powers use ISP, then the energies aren't mystic.

Hand to Hand Martial Arts vs Mystic Martial Art Powers. This is supposed be come across as why MAPs are different than HTHs, but basically comes across as "HTH is external, MAPs are internal...both are martial art styles." This is the justification used to allow characters to take more than one HTH combat in Rifts. Also note that Martial Art Powers provide "mystical benefits" hence magic.

Dragon Lines vs Ley Lines. I got a kick out of this. Absolutely no mention of I.S.P. In fact, the description reads more like some of the N&S chi descriptions than even the PPE they try to use. On a more interesting note, since 6 chi can be converted to 1 PPE, the note about dragon lines having less than a single PPE makes things even more interesting. Especially compared with the natural flows listed for Fhu Zhensong in N&S.

Chi. Lame justification trying to make Chi = I.S.P. #3. You have to wonder why the writers try to stress this so much. It's almost like they know there's going to be problems, yet went through with this anyway. This however, is the lamest justification yet. First they try to categorize I.S.P. as "totally internal and mental." Okay, how does that explain the various kinetic abilities? Next they talk about positive and negative energy calling it "Chi/I.S.P." That's extremely interesting since I.S.P. has no negative energy aspect. But then we get "So, in one way Chi is just another way of saying I.S.P., but Chi should also be thought of as spiritual energy, flowing everywhere, and especially as the force behind Mystic Martial Art Powers." From this sentence we get three things that are mutually exclusive. "Chi is another way of saying I.S.P." with nothing to support it (that's right, everything up to this point has not supported this statement." "Chi should also be thought of as spiritual energy" again, with nothing to support it (it flows through the environment, how does that make it spiritual?). (I should also take the time to note here that Rifts Japan continually tries to use PPE as "inner spirit" in it's justification of PPE = Chi, which just provides more contradictory fodder.) Lastly we have "especially as the force behind Mystic Martial Art Powers." Hmm...well we know that Mystic = Magic = P.P.E. so how does this statement justify Chi = I.S.P. Answer: It doesn't, quite the opposite in fact.

Some Definitions & Points of Reference. Celestial Court, The. Okay, this is more of a general issue, both with the Rifts China books, and RPGs in general. Most of the time you see The August Personage of the Jade or The Jade Emperor referenced, it's in English. When will RPGs start giving us his Chinese name? Luckily my own research has turned up his name, Yu-huang.

Page 9: Dragon Lines. Lame justification trying to make Chi = I.S.P. #4. I personally love this one, since it is a key to letting us do away with Rifts poor handling of Chi. "...Chi (represented as I.S.P.)." What? They aren't the same thing? Amazing. And there you have it folks. Your true answer as to just what's going on here. I.S.P. isn't Chi, it's being used to represent Chi in Rifts China (and doing a bad job of it).

Page 10: A Quick Note about Money in Rifts China. I personally love the note about "....especially to the tens of thousands of Rifts players who have a really good grasp on the value of the credit." Hey, wait a minute, let's take a look at Rifts Japan again. That's right, you know, the Credits explanation. Why would that have been needed if players had a really good grasp on the value of the credit? Why would questions about credits keep popping up? I'm not even going to get into the whole bit about the idea of credits working. You could have easily substituted any other form of currency, as has been already done in Rifts, with no ill effects.

Complete List of Western Skills. Yup, a reprint from the RGMG that is still missing all the skills the RGMG missed.

Pages 13-18: China Skills. Many of these are straight up Mystic China conversions, no real problems there. There are several new skills as well, of which only some rate mention.
Play Chinese Musical Instrument: Flute. This specialized version of the standard Rifts Play Musical Instrument skill is only notable because it allows the character to craft musical instruments in addition to being able to play them.
Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine. Both of these long missing skills were originally done by fans. In fact, it's interesting to note how similar EW's version of Chinese Herbal Medicine is to my own version of Chinese Herbology, down to the skill percentage.
Demon Wrestling. This is converted from the Demon Hunter Body Hardening Exercise (a Martial Art Power) of the same name found in Mystic China.
Hand to Hand Tai-Chi Ch'uan. What's this, "a system for regenerating mystical energy (P.P.E.)" That's interesting with the supposed focus of Rifts China 2 of Chi = I.S.P.
Lore: Feng Shui. A skill that actually deals with Chi, making no mention of I.S.P. or P.P.E. in the description.
Lore: Western. Yeah, the Chinese don't have much communication with the "outside world" (even less than other Rifts nations), yet they know about things like Siege of Tolkeen and the Gargoyle Empire. Right.

Page 19: Ancient Chinese Weapon Proficiencies. Hmm...all four of these work by using "the movement of the weapon to scoop up, redirect, and twist the flow of magical energy to turn a seemingly ordinary weapon into one that can inflict Mega-Damage on demons, dragons and other creatures of magic, supernatural beings and M.D.C. creatures" Then goes on to state "is capable of scooping up enough ambient P.P.E. to do real Mega-Damage." That's pretty unambiguous as far as describing these skills as using magic and PPE. While I found this an interesting idea, I personally thought it was just another lame way to get normal weapons to damage supernatural creatures, similar to the lame Japanese Rune Samurai swords. This problem could have been prevented if they hadn't used M.D.C. in Rifts, but that's an argument for another time and place.

Pages 19-20: Hand to Hand Tai Chi. Hmm...didn't we just see on page 16 that Tai Chi is supposed to regenerate mystical energy? Yes, we did...why is it there are no PPE based modifiers in the Level Advancement Bonuses for this hand to hand skill? In addition, why are there I.S.P. modifiers listed? Also, where are the combat moves for this hand to hand skill. We know they get Grab & Throw and Open Hand Push as they go up in levels, but what else chan they do?

Pages20-21: Hand to Hand Dog Boxing Kung Fu. At least this hand to hand style lists some basic combat moves in addition to the special ones. What's this, "Select one additional Body Hunter Exercise (including Demon Hunter Exercises)" Uhmm...there aren't any in RC2. There's Demon Queller Mystic Body Hardening Exercises, but no DHBHE. Also of note is the +1 to rear attacks (Backward Sweep, Backhand Strike) that this style receives at fourth level...yet the skill hasn't listed these as available combat moves!

Page 21: Hand to Hand Drunken Style Kung Fu. Hmm...this sort of has basic combat moves, if you count the first level bonuses as combat moves. It's starting to look like a player needs Mystic China for this material to be usable. BTW, love the new drunken combat moves.

Pages 21-22: Hand to Hand Eighteen Weapons Kung Fu. Well, at least we're provided with the starting weapon proficiencies. Love that Joker, er love that W.P. Shen Biau (from Mystic China, not included in Rifts China 2). Also love W.P. Blowpipe, W.P. Dartgun, W.P. Large Sword, W.P. Short Sword, W.P. Bow and W.P. Crossbow, all from N&S/MC without showing up in Rifts China 2. On a more interesting note, it looks like Erick followed my guidelines for creating Quickie Hand to Hand versions of full blown Martial Art Styles with this hand to hand combat, since it doesn't give the character the majority of weapon proficiencies to start like the full blown version does.

Pages 22-23: Hand to Hand White Jade Fan. Ah, I love you, penalties for non-fan usage and THE ACTUAL STATS FOR WHITE JADE FAN WEAPONS!. Ugh. The only level advancement bonus for 2^nd level is "Critical Strike on Natural 20." That's a null bonus, since every character gets a critical strike on Natural 20.

Pages 23-24: Hand to Hand Monkey Style Kung Fu. Well, we know they can do back flips and somersaults, rolls and climb, but we don't know what strikes or other combat moves they get.

Pages 24-25: Hand to Hand Shao-Lin Kung Fu. Yay! Actual combat moves. I personally like the "Additional Body Hardening Exercise with bonuses...but no name. It must be "Body Hardening Exercise." But wait, there's three different ones, all with different bonuses.

Page 25: Mystic Martial Art Powers of Rifts China. Okay, it's pretty obvious to the MC folks that these are ALL martial art styles, not martial art powers. The only possible justification for this that makes sense is to allow characters to have more than one hand to hand skill at a time. Also note the special emphasis placed on "Mystic" or "Mystical" throughout the descriptions. It's also interesting to note, that despite the claims of having "12 Mystic Martial Art Powers" and page 25's attempt to list 12, there are only 11 "Mystic Martial Art Powers." Of those, only 9 are available to the classes in this book. Sorry folks, Ba Gua and Hsien Hsia are in limbo.

Pages 25-28: Ba Gua Kung Fu. What, the powers are I.S.P. powered, yet "mystical"? Yeah, fundamental breakdown in the established system of PPE and ISP. But wait, what's this, "Ba Gua Map P.P.E. Absorbtion." OOH, I really like this one. It absorbs PPE but converts it to ISP. Funny, I thought psychics converted PPE to ISP permanently to fuel their psychic powers (BTS1 for those of you who don't get the reference). What this whole ability boils down to (as well as some of the later abilities) is PPE fueled psionics. What's the point of even having ISP if it's the same thing as PPE?

Pages 28-29: Bok Pai Kung Fu. Muwahahahahah. "Crane Style, as a simple hand to hand martial art..." followed by "However, the mystic version of Bok Pai...offers a martial art power based...spirit creature of enormous power." Yeah. So this is a mystic version of a hand to hand skill, just like I said. Hell, it even has hand to hand combat moves listed in the level advancement bonuses. At least the Body Hardening Exercises get a name in this style, "Immortal Crane Body Hardening" #1, #2, etc. At 11th level we see a special hand attack alternately labeled as "Grab and Thrust" and "Grab and Trust." The Immortal Crane Transformation also appears to have two sentences transposed: "However if there is active combat the Transformation may last until the enemy is defeated or until all allies have safely escaped. Cost: 80 I.S.P. and lasts one melee per level of experience."

Pages 29-30: Gui Long Kung Fu. Awaken Personal Chi Blade. More fun with "Awakened I.S.P. in Chi Blade:" How about "Blade Chi Healing" which uses a flow of Positive Chi to generate healing.

Pages 30-31: Hsien Hsia Kung Fu. This is notable for it's use of I.S.P. based Zenjorike powers. Calm Minds and Mind Walk both cost more to use than the conversion listed in "revised" Conversion Book 1. Also note Mind Walk's usage of "pure Chi (pure I.S.P.)," "I.S.P./Chi"and my personal favorite "I.S.P. necessary for healing." Since when has I.S.P. been necessary for healing (Hell, in Spirit West it was P.P.E. that was necessary for healing)? Let's not forget more references to I.S.P. as "spiritual energy." Another interesting note is that Discorporate now works for two melee actions (about 6 seconds). Yes, this is one of those things that people to try to use to equate an attack per melee to a number of seconds (MC's version said one attack for about 3 seconds). Unfortunately for them, it doesn't say that two melee attacks is six seconds, it says they use up two attacks and that the effect lasts about six seconds. Not the same thing at all. I also like the 15^th level advancement bonus that doubles existing P.P.E.

Pages 31-33: Mien-Ch'uan Kung Fu. Nothing really of note here. Like Bok Pai, they get "named" Body Hardening exercises (though it would be better to say "numbered"), and basically provide a hand to hand skill good against supernatural critters.

Page 33: Pao Chih. "Living I.S.P." Huh? I also like "various Martial Art Powers, I.S.P. based abilities, and psionics" These are all different now? How interesting. Ooh, I also like the Animus Sense PPE and Dragon Lines ability which senses "The movement or flow of P.P.E., I.S.P. and the even weaker Chi." Oh look, they're all different yet once again. We also get a differentiation between, "I.S.P.-based energy attack" and "magical P.P.E.-based blast." Next we move on to Animus Sense Souls & Spirits, which senses "P.P.E., I.S.P. and Chi..." Let's not forget Detach Animus, with it's ability of "using its Chi senses, and any of the mortal character's Chi Mastery Abilities." What Chi Mastery Abilities? Ooh, I laso like the part about "the physical body of the Pao Chih Master." Maybe they meant "(Pao) Chih Mastery Abilities." Animus Absorb also provides us more PPE->ISP fuel conversion.

Pages 34-35: She Shen Kung Fu. Ooh, "Yin Energy" Interesting side note is the "Knockout/stun or Critical Strike (depending on the character's intent) from behind on a roll of Natural 17 or better. Hmm...that's very interesting since A) The character already gets a KO/stun from behind which doesn't require a natural number. B) Attacks from behind in general don't need a natural number to succeed. C) Evidently characters with styles providing the "Knockout/stun or Critical Strike from behind" have to declare their intent. As for the Arts of Invisibility. It's nice to know that Chi Zoshiki has a seriously reduced I.S.P. cost compared to "revised" CB1 and the other AoIs have been fixed to have no cost.

Pages 35-37: Tien-Hsueh Kung Fu. I applaud the acupuncture requirement for taking this. Healing Tien Hsueh appears to be an advanced version of N&S's Duatsu, yet I have to wonder why acupuncture has an I.S.P. cost. I also have to wonder how healing and resuscitating the human body provides a chance to do "Cybernetic Device/Engine/Machine Repair, Installation or Removal." For the Touch Mastery Tien-Hsueh Powers in general, I have to wonder why any have an I.S.P. cost. All of these are physical attacks based on the study of the human body. The only exceptions are Electronic Tien-Hsueh (see comment above on how healing humans works with electronics) and Long Distance Tien-Hsueh (which actually makes sense to have a cost value).

Pages 37-39: Tong Lun Kung Fu. "This fast-moving form is one of the strangest of all the martial arts," Uhm...yeah. Since Erick's clearly established that his usage of "Martial Art Form" really means "Martial Art Style" you can pretty much kiss the idea of this being a "Martial Art Power" goodbye. BTW, I love the "Mantis Morphus." Oops, wrong game.

Pages 39-40: Xian Pu Kung Fu. Another "Martial Art Power" that stresses the "mystic." Luckily Falling Technique loses it's "revised" CB1 ISP cost here. "Mystic" Slime that's composed of "psychic energy." Inflict Mystic Drunkenness brings up a good point. Listed here is a saving throw vs non-lethal poison that needs to be made. Flip to page 24 real quick and look at Yung Chin (Eternal Clarity). This Power provides it's user with the ability to resist the effects of alcohol using a percentile system. This problem appears in the original N&S/MC system as well. So PB, which is it, saving throw or percentile roll to resist the effects of alcohol? (I already made a note of this after asking Erick about the problem in MC, and he replied with the bit about a saving throw. However, by using the target number of the saving throw, we can convert that to a percentile number, giving us a base of 40% to resist the effects of alcohol. Conversely you could convert Yung Chin's percentile bonus to a D20 based +4 at first level and +1 every other level after that.)

Pages 40-41: Xian Tai Chi Chuan "(Chi Manipulation)". Here's a fun usage, "body's inner Chi (I.S.P.)" But even better is the Note: "While I.S.P. and Chi are essentially the same thing in Rifts China, it's possible for someone like a Xian Tai Chi Master to see the subtle flow of Chi, where I.S.P. is too slight to observe." Hmm..based on the description, this "Mystic Martial Art Power" uses Chi to evoke the Chi Ball, but gathers I.S.P. (I love how I.S.P. has magically become an ambient energy myself). Ooh, I like that Chi Ball Defense, where it acts as a shield against "I.S.P. and magical attacks...can be used to absorb psychic, mystical, spiritual, spectral, or demonic energies and other non-physical attacks." But further goes on to note, "As effective as a Chi Ball might be against Chi, psionics, and magic, it is totally useless as a shield form attacks from physical weapons, bullets, lasers, and (non-magical) energy blasts." Uhm...yeah. You know, I wonder sometimes if Palladium will ever learn the meaning of term "semantics."

Page 43: O.C.C.s. Okay, quick run down. 7 of the 12 OCCs listed here are conversions from Mystic China (number one reason we never saw Mystic China conversions in "revised" CB1...they were saving the majority of it for publishing under Rifts China).

Pages 43-45: Jian Shih. Okay. Power Number Four is my personal favorite of these, since I've already gone over the "Mystic Martial Art Power = cheat to bypass characters having more than one hand to hand combat skill in Rifts" bit several times. Power Number 4 is "Trained to Sense and Manipulate Chi" which goes on to define "Chi" as "the life force that exists even in very weak P.P.E. environments" However, this power is actually W.P. Wen Jen (Scholar's Sword) found under skills on page 19. Powers of Meditation is interesting because is stresses "focus all internal energies of the mind (Inner Strength Points) into meditation...and increasing internal sensitivity to the stirring of subtle Chi." You know, this sort of makes sense in a "Cheesy cop out" way. Evidently PB is trying to say that Chi Manipulation in Rifts China is the result of using your psychic powers to attune yourself to the manipulation of Chi. Unfortunately, this has already been broken in multiple places with the evident confusion between just exactly what Chi, psionics, and magic are. Also note that W.P. Large Sword, W.P. Short Sword, W.P. Bow, and W.P. Crossbow make appearances under the Jian Shih's skills. Along with the mysterious "W.P. Spear (Thrown)."

Pages 45-48: Chun Tzu. See Jian Shih for all points already covered. (Pretty much the same here, some class specific differences, not enough to make me cut and paste the Jian Shih stuff and change a couple of words.)

Pages 48-51: Nei Chia Wu Shih. Woo Hoo! This character has TWO, yes that's right TWO hand to hand skills. *gasp* Oh wait, that's not possible in Rifts. Actually, this character has THREE Hand to Hand Skills. Don't believe me, see Hand to Hand Combat under the Nei Chia Wu Shih skills, "See #2 & #3 of O.C.C. Powers & Abilities, above, as well as Mystic Martial Arts Power #4." Damn, I actually feel sorry for Revised N&S's Dedicated Martial Artist even more. Not only did they get castrated from the original to "revised" edition, now the Nei Chia Wu Shih, in Rifts no less gets the three martial arts the DMA used to get. [sarcasm]NO, there's no power creep in Rifts.[/sarcasm] Other than that, everything under Jian Shih applies here as well.

Pages 52-54: Wai Chia Wu Shih. Here's a new Hand to Hand Skill...of sorts. Basically this is HTH Tai Chi PLUS Xian Tai Chi with some new powers. The notes for Jian Shih about Trained to Sense and Manipulate Chi and Powers of Meditation apply. In addition, this character gets Psychic abilities.

Pages 54-56: Chi-Gun Seng Ren. Okay, I'm not going into the whole bit about how certain parts of the description sound like a bad porn story. *Shudder* What I found interesting is how Chi-Gung is a mystical energy flowing from the spirit but is also a "fountain of Chi-of I.S.P." Actually, looking over the writeup, and ignoring the bad porn writing, I don't see Chi at all. This energy would be either Jing or Jing. Yes, that's right, in fact it looks like Erick tried to combine Jing with Jing so they would be one thing instead of two. Confused you haven't I? There's a reason for that. There's two forces of energy in Chinese called Jing. The first is separate and clearly identified as not being Chi, it is Jing, the essence, or more accurately, sperm, where Chi is breath. The second Jing is coiled energy, often used in martial arts to increase the force of blows and other movements. Everything under Chi-Gung Seng Ren pretty much eliminates it as Chi. However Jing could be more easily equated to I.S.P. than Chi. I'm going to have to think about this one for a while.

Pages 56-62: Chi-Gung Powers. See my notes above on Chi-Gung and it's Chinese derivation.

Pages 63-67: Soothsayer. Under Hand to Hand Martial Arts Skill there is an interesting note. "...no Martial Art Power, but make up for it with intuition and psychic ability." Interesting phrase that. It pretty much eliminates martial art powers as being psionic-based.

Read Chi is also interesting, because we get the mention of Chi Mage (which appeared first in RC1). Unfortunately we've got no real details on Chi Mages in Rifts yet. It will be quite interesting what Erick and Kevin try to do to make this class work in Rifts. Recognize the Face of Evil tries to equate good and bad energy with Chi (I.S.P.) And magical energy (P.P.E), yet there is nothing inherently evil about negative chi, much less magic or psionics.

Pages 67-72: Spirit Host. Mystic Martial Art Power and Born to Sense and Manipulate Chi notes as per Jian Shih.

I particularly love the View Ghost Drama ability. This "Power" is almost a direct cut and paste from Mystic China, changing only the specific wording under saving throw (interestingly, the saving throw is the same as the Chi Magic version of this), pretending it costs I.S.P. instead of P.P.E (without even bothering to change the cost), changing the last sentence of the first paragraph of the description from "This spell" to "This special Psionic power of the Spirt Host" the first few sentences of the second paragraph, combining the third paragraph of the spell into the second paragraph of the ability (and adding an i.e. note into one sentence), and dropping the "As Celestial Calligraphy" note, but NOT the play-test paragraph, including the exact wording on who was using the spell, and that it was cast.

Pages 72-77: Blind Mystic. Yup, the description is pretty much cut and paste from Mystic China. The Chi Sight power is pretty much identical to the original, substituting "Pure Negative Chi" creatures with supernatural beings. In fact, most of the abilities are pretty much cut and paste, with I.S.P. substitutions whenever they try to make the game mechanics work. It's also interesting that they get psychic and magic abilities in addition to their MC-derived powers.

Page 77: Demon Quellers. Okay, Kevin promised his fans "Demon Quellers", what we got were MC's Demon Hunter and two new classes.

Pages 77-83: Fu Yao Da Chia. See Jian Shih for notes on Mystic Martial Art Power, Trained to Sense and Manipulate Chi, Powers of Meditation , and W.P. notes. I should also note that W.P. Demon Snare from MC gets reprinted here. What's more important is that, like White Jade Fan, there's actual weapon stats for the Demon Hunters' sword here. Hallelujah.

Pages 83-86: Demon & Dead Slaver. See Jian Shih for W.P. notes.

Pages 86-91: Goblin Wrangler. See Jian Shih for notes on Trained to Sense and Manipulate Chi, Powers of Meditation, and W.P. notes.

Pages 92-94: Demon Queller Mystic Body Hardening Exercises. Only a few things of note here. One, these aren't really "Mystic" at all. Two, there's some new ones to add to your MC list. Three, Resist Psychic Drain has the most interesting game mechanic, "ignore the forces that fill or drain it (the body) of P.P.E., I.S.P. or Chi." However, the description of this power is pretty much the same as Kangeiko from N&S. (I've already brought up the problem with Yung Chin, no need to repeat it here.)

Pages 94-96: Demon Queller Secrets. Pretty much cut and paste from Mystic China.

Pages 96-101: Reformed Demon. See Jian Shih for notes on Mystic Martial Art Power (Called Human Martial Art Powers here), Trained to Sense and Manipulate Chi (called Human Sense and Manipualte Chi here), and Powers of Meditation (Called Human Powers of Meditation here). See Hsien Hsia for Mind Walk Power notes. Of interst is the note under P.P.E. that states, "Unlike those indoctrinated in Chinese magic, the Enlightened Demon understands all about sucking the P.P.E. From living beings and blood sacrifices." This is a result of the note on page 69 of Mystic China concerning Drawing PPE from other living creatures.

Pages 101-114: Magic Items. While these are all supposed to be magic items, there are some bizarre exceptions. Binding Demon Stamps, Phoenix Eye or Peacock Tail Fans, Fire Pearls, Pink Cloud Pearls, Viper Scarves or Silk Vipers, and Cobra's Tooth Daggers for instance use I.S.P. for effect.

Pages 116-121: The Geofront. I love how the caves are filled with Positive Chi. I also like how foul beings' "bio-regenerative powers and available Chi - in this case, both I.S.P. and P.P.E." are affected. I also like the note on 121 under Living Conditions & Technology where it states, "...advanced technology on par with (or superior to) the Coalition States, New German Republic and the most modern cities of Japan." Nope, sorry Rifts: Japan already scotched that one with it's claim to have the highest technology on the planet.

Page 123: Chi Warrior. I like how Chi is developed into "inner strength" by these guys. Uhm...didn't we see this sort of confusion in Rifts Japan? I also like how they have a Permanent I.S.P. Base (Chi) that acquires additional Chi. Most importantly I like that this class (and most of the ones that follow) don't waste time repeating OCC stats from the OCC they are derived from.

Pages 123-124: Chi-Commando. See Chi Warrior for notes.

Page 124: Geofront Military Specialist: See Chi Warrior for notes.

Pages 124-125: Geofront Scout/Ranger. See Chi Warrior for notes.

Pages 125-126: Technical/Communication Officer. See Chi Warrior for notes.

Pages 126-127: Whack Job Scientist. See Chi Warrior for notes.

Page 127: Mystic Consultant. Interestingly enough, there's a note here that "They see the use of Chi, Martial Art Powers and psychic or spiritual abilities as separate from magic and part of the natural world." Uhm...so why do we keep seeing magic in reference to Martial Art Powers and spiritual abilities?

Pages 128-132: Geo-Borgs. I can lump all these together for the simple reason that the only important note is the interference of bionics on I.S.P. (which is based on the M.E. attribute as opposed to Chi's basis on the P.E. attribute...that's one of the big fundamental differences between Chi and I.S.P.).

Pages 132-134: Lightning Warrior. Here's another indication of the difference between I.S.P. and true Chi. The Lightning Warrior's I.S.P. is doubled. Chi on the other hand is affected by the insanities of a person, depending on the type of insanity present.

Pages 134-135: Metal Warrior. See Chi Warrior for notes.

Pages 135-136: Shadow Warrior. See Chi Warrior for notes.

Pages 136-141: Gun Master. Hmm...interestingly enough, this class doesn't get any W.P.s except for their special abilities. Which makes things interesting because, without a W.P. they can only shoot Wild! Hell, even W.P. Sharpshooting requires a W.P. before it can be selected. That means that their W.P. Sharpshooting bonuses are null and void. NO "Sharpshooter's "Aimed Shot" no "Sharpshooter's Called Shot", no Trick Shots. They fire Wild all the time. While "One with the Gun" provides bonuses, these are effective only in partially (or fully when you're high enough level) compensating for the Shooting Wild penalty. Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, if the writers had thought their way through that little problem, they could have countered it. See Jian Shih for Trained to Sense and Manipulate Chi and Powers of Mediation Notes.

Page 141: Losing the Power of Chi. I love how "Chi" changes outside of China. This has to be the most bogus part of the entire book.

Nuclear Power Cell. I love how there's a note on this, yet we never get real details on what the damn thing is. According to the GHT-88 (on page 144), it's a nuclear energy cell that's experimental. Under the GHT-89 (on page 145) we're told of a mini-nuke cell. That's it.

Pages 145-147: Chi Weapons. *Sigh*

Overall Review

Appearance: A bit better than Rifts China 1 for appearance, worse for actual content (better ideas, worse execution). Hell, with some real clean up towards Hand to Hand Skills and Martial Art Powers, this book could have organized them like Mystic China, so they were all in one place instead of scattered around the book.

Artwork: Awesome Zeleznik cover. Artwork is listed as being by Kent Burles, Apollo Okamura, Michael Wilson and Drunken Style Studios, including Brandon C. Clark, Mark Dudley, Mike Majestic, Liz Refuss, Charles Walton, and Ka Xiong. Everything I said about Kent Burles not being in Rifts China 1 applies here as well. Sorry, but BCC gotta go, his stuff tried for that Chinese feel, and failed. The DSS pointilism artwork needs to go as well, it just isn't that great art-wise (Splicers and BTS2 suffered just as bad from this style of artwork sadly). Also, whichever person did the picture of the elf holding a "chi ball" needs to go. Charles Walton I'm a little mixed about, his technique looks good, and his artwork was interesting, but the sword-like objects (as cool looking as they are) have got to go. There's hundreds of exotic Chinese weapons to choose from and we got SLOs, that's just sad.
Liz Refuss is among those at DSS who definitely belong in this book. Michael Wilson's various pics, including the reprinted Rifter #7 stuff fits in here as well. Ka Xiong's stuff is more greatness from DSS. Roger Peterson, uncredited, but easily recognized by his material reprinted from Mystic China helps this book out.

Structure: Like China 2, I'll be commenting on the product summary:
12 Mystic Martial Art Powers--ROFLMAO, yeah, right, 12 hand to hand combats disguised as martial art powers so Rifts China characters could bypass the edict preventing a character in Rifts from having more than one hand to hand. In reality, all those little "sub-powers" that pop up ALL over the book are the true "Mystic" Martial Art Powers.
Rifts China's Greatest Heroes-fancy way of saying OCCs.
Channeling and using Chi, Chi Weapons, Chi Sight and many other powers-Nope, not in here, sorry.
Demon Queller weapons and magical demon-binding items-True but misleading at the same time. Despite Kevin's wanted use of "Demon Queller" it's pretty obvious only Erick Wujcik's Demon HUNTER saved the day on that bit of advertising. Likewise the weapons and magical items seem to come more from the Green Scarves than the "Demon Quellers."
Geofront weapons, power armor, gear and military OCCs-sure, they're in there.
Written by Erick Wucjick ad naseum-yeah, pretty much.
160 pages of one incredible idea, power or character after another-Uhm, while they do better with the 160 pages bit (not having any ads that I saw), I doubt you even get 160 incredible ideas in any form through those pages. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of stuff to choose from, but all of it being incredible, I think not.

Editing: Standard Palladium books lack thereof.

Continuity: Like China 1, this could have tied in Rifts Japan, but didn't. It does tie in fairly well to Rifts China 1 however.