Chopper

Overview

The Chopper is Rifts' surgical specialist for cybernetic and bionic implants. Where ordinary doctors stitch wounds and prescribe drugs, the Chopper installs cyberware — eyes that see through walls, arms that punch through steel, neural implants that reorganize a patient's cognition. They are the linchpin of Rifts cyberware culture: every Redliner, every Manic, every Cyborg, every voluntarily-augmented Federation officer or wasteland operator owes their condition to a Chopper somewhere.

Choppers range from corporate Federation surgeons with formal credentials and well-equipped clinics to back-alley wasteland operators who'll install illegal modifications in a converted garage for the right price. The work is precision technical surgery — a craft that takes years to master and one that almost no other class can do. A party without a Chopper has to find one as an NPC; a party with a Chopper PC suddenly has access to cyberware they couldn't otherwise acquire without significant downtime travel.

This is the project's premier expanded-skill class. Its identity comes entirely from Specializations — no spellcasting, no focus pool, no state machines, just skills, deep proficiency, and class-action expertise. The Chopper is the party's downtime engine: a moderate support character in combat, and the one who unlocks everyone else's cyberware aspirations the rest of the time.

At a glance

A few notes set the chassis apart. The Chopper is trained only in simple weapons (no martial proficiency), reflecting its non-combat identity. It is Will Expert at L1, reflecting the mental discipline of a surgeon. And it depends on the Expanded Skills system — the Chopper cannot function without the Specializations framework.

Class features by level

Sub-Specs

Three Sub-Specs shape the class. The Corporate Chopper is the most fully developed; the Wasteland and Combat builds are alternatives.

Corporate Chopper

• L1: Federation-trained or comparable formal credentials. Field Install not available at L5 (gained at L7 instead). Access to corporate suppliers reduces cyberware installation downtime cost by 10% (cumulative with class baseline −5 DC).
• L7 Greater: Field Install becomes available. Cyberware installation downtime cost reduced by 25% in Federation or corporate-faction territory.
• L15 Master: Sanctioned Install (spend 3 Bay Reserve) — install a cyberware item from a corporate catalog at full DC, full cost reduction, item delivered via supply chain (no material acquisition delay).
• Lore: A formally credentialed surgeon. Operates in major cities, military bases, or established clinics. Has a reputation as a "real" doctor; reduced suspicion in legitimate spaces.

Wasteland Chopper

• L1: Self-trained, scrap-and-improvise. Can install cyberware without formal Bay infrastructure with a +5 DC increase. Improvised cyberware (made from scrap) costs significantly less.
• L7 Greater: Improvised Install (spend 2 Bay Reserve) — a 1-minute installation of off-the-shelf scrap-cyberware in non-lab conditions. The patient's install reliability is reduced (−2 status to all uses).
• L15 Master: Improvised Install becomes a 10-minute activity; reliability penalty reduced to −1 status.
• Lore: A wasteland independent. Operates from converted garages, abandoned facilities, or mobile vehicles. Reputation varies — some respect the resourcefulness, others distrust the lack of credentials.

Combat Chopper

• L1: Military medic specialized in field surgery during combat. Combat Heal becomes a 1-action activity (vs. 2-action standard). Field Install is available at L3 (vs. L5 standard).
• L7 Greater: Field Triage loses its 10-minute per-creature cooldown. Combat Heal scales with class level.
• L15 Master: Field Surgery (new specialized task) — perform Major Surgery during combat as a 3-action activity with a +5 DC penalty.
• Lore: A military combat medic, either Federation-trained or independent (mercenary). Specializes in keeping soldiers alive during operations.

Class feats

Class feats available at each feat level — you gain one at every even level, and can always pick a feat of your level or lower.

Level 1

• Skill Specialist. Gain an additional Specialization from the Expanded Skills catalog beyond your class's 3 starting Specializations.
• Equipment Specialist. +1 status bonus to checks made with surgical tools, medical instruments, and cyberware installation equipment.
• Bedside Manner. +1 status bonus to Diplomacy and Medicine checks made to interact with patients (calming a fearful patient, convincing a reluctant one, etc.).
• First Responder. Trigger: an ally within 30 ft is reduced to 0 HP. Stride up to your Speed toward them; if you end your movement adjacent, the ally becomes stable.

Level 2

• Diagnostician. When you Recall Knowledge about a creature's biology or condition, you also learn its current Hit Point bracket (healthy / injured / badly wounded) and any active conditions affecting it.
• Sedative Dart. Make a ranged attack (20 ft) with a prepared sedative dart against a living creature; on a hit, it attempts a Fortitude save vs. your class DC or be slowed 1 until the end of its next turn (clumsy 1 on a critical failure instead). Nonlethal.
• Field Pharmacist. Once per round. Administer a prepared stimulant to yourself or an adjacent ally: the target gains a +1 status bonus to attack rolls and saving throws until the start of your next turn.

Level 4

• Modular Practice. When you perform cyberware installations during downtime, you can install two implants on the same patient with a single preparation, combining (and roughly halving) their time. No daily limit — the install time and cost are the limiter.
• Cyber-Anatomy (Enhanced). Your Cyber-Anatomy passive feature extends to identifying cyberware in destroyed creatures — useful for forensic investigation of cyber-related deaths.
• Pharma-Modify. During downtime, you can use your Pharmaceuticals Specialization to craft custom drugs that target specific creature types or conditions (e.g., a drug that neutralizes a specific poison, or grants +1 status to one stat for 24 hours). Gated by crafting time and materials, not a daily limit.

Level 6

• Anatomical Insight. When you successfully Recall Knowledge about a creature, you may grant one ally who can see you a +1 circumstance bonus to their next attack roll against that creature before the end of your next turn. Once per round.
• Improved Triage. Your Field Triage's per-creature cooldown drops from 10 minutes to 1 minute, and it heals 1 additional die.
• Pharma Grenade. Throw a chemical canister (30 ft); each creature in a 10-ft burst attempts a Fortitude save vs. your class DC or be sickened 1 (sickened 2 and slowed 1 on a critical failure). Nonlethal gas.

Level 8

• Expert Surgeon. Master Medicine reduces all surgery DCs by an additional −2 (cumulative with class baseline). Effectively, your installation DC is class baseline −7 by L13+.
• Cybernetic Specialist. Your Cybernetic Surgery Specialization gains access to a custom catalog of experimental cyberware items that cannot be installed by standard Choppers.
• Field Veteran (Combat Sub-Spec only). Combat Heal restores additional HP equal to 1d6 + your Medicine proficiency level (in addition to baseline healing).

Level 10

• Combat Surgeon. You can use Cybernetic Repair on any creature (not only cybered ones) as battlefield surgery, and its in-combat version is a 2-action activity that also removes one persistent damage condition.
• Mass Triage. Apply Field Triage to all allies within 15 ft at once (roll once, apply to each). The per-creature cooldown applies to each as normal.
• Adrenaline Shot. Once per round. Administer a combat stimulant to an ally within 30 ft: they gain a +10-ft status bonus to Speed and can Step as a free action on their next turn.

Level 12

• Mass Install. You can perform up to 3 cyberware installations in a single preparation — different patients, or one patient with 3 implants — combining their prep time. No daily limit; the time and cost are the limiter.
• Cyber-Network. Establish a network of Chopper patients — you can communicate with up to 6 of your past patients via a cyber-network at any time, through their installed cyberware. Useful for intelligence-gathering or remote troubleshooting.
• Specialized Equipment Master. Your Surgical Bay's tools provide a +1 status bonus to all your installation, modification, and repair checks (cumulative with all other bonuses).

Level 14

• Master Diagnostician. Your Anatomical Insight / Cyber-Anatomy ally bonus increases to +3 to the attack roll and +2d6 to damage, and you learn a creature's lowest saving throw as a free action whenever you Recall Knowledge about it.
• Emergency Reconstruction. Trigger: an ally within 30 ft is reduced to 0 HP. The ally is restored to 1 Hit Point, stabilized, and heals an additional amount equal to twice your level. Usable once per 10 minutes.
• Battlefield Pharmacy. Your Field Pharmacist and Adrenaline Shot feats can affect two targets at once, and any ally currently under one of your stimulants gains a +1 status bonus to saving throws.

Level 16

• Cyber-Resurrection Mastery. Cybernetic Resurrection (L13 specialized task) extends to creatures who died up to 1 month ago (vs. 24 hours). The brain must still be recoverable.
• Surgical Trance. You can enter a focused surgical trance for 1 hour. During it, your installation/modification activities operate at half time, with no critical-failure risk and a +5 status bonus to relevant checks. After the trance, you need 8 hours of rest before you can enter another — the recovery is the limiter, not a daily cap.
• Living Legend Chopper. Your reputation extends across the wasteland. Your fees are halved; people seek you out for major procedures from significant distance.

Level 18

• Surgical Mastery. Your cyberware installations, modifications, and surgeries can never critically fail, and you perform all of them in half the normal time.
• Master Healer. Your Field Triage and Cybernetic Repair restore the maximum value of their dice plus your level, and their per-creature cooldowns are removed.
• Living Network. Your Cyber-Network extends to all of your past patients regardless of distance, and once per round you can grant a networked ally you can sense a +1 circumstance bonus to a check by feeding them real-time guidance.

Level 20

• Miracle Worker. Your Cybernetic Resurrection works on creatures dead up to 1 month, and no longer strictly requires an intact brain if enough of the body remains for your cybernetics to reconstruct the patient (GM discretion).
• Apex Chopper. Your identified-vulnerability bonus (Cyber-Anatomy) applies to every ally against the studied creature, and allies exploiting it score a critical hit on a natural 19 or 20 against that creature.
• Field Hospital. You can establish a temporary Surgical Bay anywhere in 10 minutes (no material cost). Allies who rest within it recover additional Hit Points and remove one lingering condition, and your installation and repair tasks there work as if in a fully equipped Bay.

In and out of the spotlight

The Chopper has a unique spotlight pattern: their identity is downtime-focused, so the real question is how they hold up in combat.

Combat

• The Chopper is a moderate support character. Main combat contributions:
  • Field Triage (1- or 2-action restore HP to an ally).
  • Combat Heal (ally heal, once per round).
  • Cybernetic Repair at L9+ (heals a cybered ally significantly).
  • Cyber-Anatomy + identified vulnerability (grants attacking allies +2 status to attack rolls).
  • Simple weapons + class proficiency progression.
• Damage output is low. Survivability is light-armor-tier. The class plays as a healer/support, not a frontline fighter.

Downtime

• The Chopper dominates. The class enables cyberware installation, modification, repair, and resurrection — all things other classes need but cannot do for themselves.
• A party with a Chopper has access to cyberware operations it would otherwise need NPC specialists for.

Without a Surgical Bay

• The Chopper loses major installation capability.
• Field Install and Field Triage remain available.
• The class is still functional but cannot perform full installations until a new Bay is established.

Where the class shines

• Cyberware-heavy campaigns: the Chopper is central. The party's installed cyberware all routes through them.
• Death-and-resurrection plot threads: a Chopper with Cybernetic Resurrection at L13+ becomes plot-critical.
• Mass-installation scenarios (refit the party for a major mission, etc.): the Chopper handles in days what would take weeks of NPC outsourcing.
• Investigation of cyber-related crime or deaths: Cyber-Anatomy and Cyber-Surgery Lore make the Chopper the party's forensic expert.
• Pure combat with no downtime: the Chopper plays as a moderate support character — functional, but not dominant.