Full-Conversion Cyborg

Overview

The Full-Conversion Cyborg ("Cyborg" for short) is Rifts' most extreme cybernetic transformation: a human brain implanted in a fully cybernetic body. Where Redliners and Manics augment their existing biology, the Full Conversion replaces it almost entirely. The pilot is a brain — sometimes a brain and spinal column, in the Heavy variants — inside a constructed body. That body is humanoid in most cases, but its specifics depend entirely on its purpose: Special Forces, Recon, Heavy Combat, Industrial, Aerial. Rifts has multiple Cyborg body types, each optimized for a different role.

Full-Conversion Cyborgs are walking tanks. Their bodies are MDC constructions — high Hardness, integrated weapons, advanced sensors, specialized movement. They don't wear armor; their body is the armor. They don't carry weapons; their body is the weapon. Every Cyborg is unique, custom-built to its pilot's specifications and intended role.

The trade-off is humanity. Cyborgs struggle with emotional capacity, social integration, and the lingering knowledge that their original body is gone forever. Many become loners; some serve corporate or military interests that pay for body maintenance; a few break free and live as wandering enigmas. They cannot use cyberware in the conventional sense — their body already occupies every cyberware slot — they cannot benefit from biological augmentation, and they cannot wield magic or psi: the conversion process suppresses these capacities entirely.

At a glance

Class features by level

Body Hardness scaling

Built-in Weapon scaling (Cyber-Arm Cannon, exemplar)

Body Configurations

Choose one Configuration at L1. It defines your body type, movement, weapon access, sensor emphasis, and your specialty features at L7 and L15.

Heavy Combat Cyborg

• L1 Configuration: Slowest, toughest. Speed 20 ft. Hardness baseline +2 (so Hardness 14 at L1 instead of 12). Weapon access: Cyber-Arm Cannon, Plasma Lance. No Vibro-Claws — the body is too heavy for finesse combat.
• L7 Specialty (Reinforcement): Trigger: your body's HP drops to its Broken Threshold. Spend 1 Reserve Power; your Hardness increases by an additional 4 for 3 rounds (the body's reserve plating activates).
• L15 Master Specialty (Walking Fortress): While stationary (no movement on your turn), gain +4 Hardness, stacking with all other Hardness sources. Effectively turns the Heavy Combat Cyborg into a defensive emplacement when locked into position.

Special Forces Cyborg

• L1 Configuration: Balanced. Speed 25 ft. Standard Hardness baseline. Weapon access: Cyber-Arm Cannon, Vibro-Claws, Integrated Rifle, Energy Pulse Emitter — the most versatile loadout.
• L7 Specialty (Tactical Reflexes): +1 status bonus to attack rolls when you've moved at least 10 ft on the same turn. The body's combat AI rewards mobility.
• L15 Master Specialty (Multi-Action): Spend 1 Reserve Power to take an additional 1-action activity on your turn (effective 4 actions for that turn). Your body's parallel processors push you past human limits temporarily.

Recon Cyborg

• L1 Configuration: Fastest. Speed 35 ft. Hardness baseline −2 (so Hardness 10 at L1 instead of 12). Weapon access: Vibro-Claws, Integrated Rifle, Energy Pulse Emitter. Maxes mobility and sensor capability at the cost of armor.
• L7 Specialty (Stealth Systems): +2 status bonus to Stealth checks. Your body's surfaces dampen radar reflection — radar-based detection of you requires a successful Perception check at −2 to your DC.
• L15 Master Specialty (Predator Sensors): Sensor Suite extends to 1 mile (vs. 30 ft baseline). You can identify specific individuals by sensor signature within that range, provided you've previously logged their signature.

Aerial Cyborg

• L1 Configuration: Speed 25 ft on land, no flight at L1. Standard Hardness baseline. Weapon access: Plasma Lance, Energy Pulse Emitter — no Cyber-Arm Cannon, too heavy for flight.
• L7 Specialty: Gain Fly Speed 40 ft (jet-powered hover). Requires a Reflex save in combat to maintain altitude — the body's hover-stabilizers are fragile, and significant damage drops you to the ground.
• L15 Master Specialty: Sustained flight (no Reflex save required to maintain). Fly Speed 60 ft.

Industrial Cyborg

• L1 Configuration: Speed 25 ft on land. Standard Hardness baseline. Weapon access: Vibro-Claws (no ranged Built-in Weapon — the body is optimized for utility, not combat). +2 status bonus to Crafting checks. +20 lifting capacity (carry significantly more than a normal character).
• L7 Specialty: Gain access to specialized utility cyberware: precision tool arms, an embedded welder, a scanner suite. Bonus Crafting actions during downtime.
• L15 Master Specialty: Construct or repair complex tech (vehicles, power armor, fortifications) at 50% normal time and cost during downtime.

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

• Built-in Weapon (Second). Gain a second Built-in Weapon from your Configuration's available list. The second weapon is available alongside the first; switch between them as a free action.
• Reinforced Frame. +1 status bonus to Body Hardness (so Hardness 13 at L1 instead of 12, scaling thereafter).
• Sensor Specialist. +2 status bonus to Perception checks; you can identify specific individuals by sensor signature within 60 ft.
• Immovable Chassis. Your constructed bulk is hard to move or topple. +2 circumstance bonus against Shove, Trip, and other forced-movement or knockdown effects, and you can't be knocked prone except by a critical hit or a vehicle-scale impact.

Level 2

• Reactive Servos. Your combat AI tracks threats the instant they drop their guard. You gain the Attack of Opportunity reaction, usable with a melee Built-in Weapon.
• Servo-Assisted Stride. Hydraulic legs power through obstacles. Ignore the first 10 ft of difficult terrain you enter each turn, and treat rubble, mud, and similar non-magical terrain as normal terrain.
• Threat Analysis. Your sensors cross-reference a target's construction. When you Recall Knowledge to learn a creature's or object's resistances, weaknesses, or Hardness, you may roll using your class DC's key statistic, and on a success you learn one additional relevant fact.

Level 4

• Cyber-Arm Strike. Trigger: a successful melee attack with your Built-in Weapon. The body's mechanical reflexes execute a follow-up: deal 1d6 additional bludgeoning damage. Once per round.
• Body Repair. When you Reboot, you also restore Hit Points equal to 5 + your level — your self-repair routines run during the power-cycle (no separate activity; it rides on the 10-minute Reboot).
• Heavy Weapon Specialist (Heavy Combat only). Plasma Lance damage gains +1 die. Cyber-Arm Cannon range extends by 30 ft.
• Auto-Targeting. Integrated stabilizers steady your repeat fire. Reduce your multiple attack penalty by 1 on the second and any further ranged Built-in Weapon Strikes you make in a turn.

Level 6

• Overcharged Shot. Spend 1 Reserve Power. Your next Built-in Weapon Strike this turn deals 1d6 additional damage of the weapon's type and increases its Penetrating value by 2 for that attack (a weapon with no Penetrating value counts as Penetrating 2).
• Shock Frame. Trigger: a creature hits you with a melee attack while adjacent. It takes electricity damage equal to half your level from your reactive shock plating. Once per round.
• Configuration Cross-Training. Custom retrofit work widens your arsenal. You gain access to one Built-in Weapon from outside your Body Configuration's normal list; you still choose Built-in Weapons normally.

Level 8

• Combat Surge. Spend 1 Reserve Power to take an additional 1-action activity on your turn (effective 4 actions for that turn). The surge stresses your frame: you take 1d6 self-strain damage (cannot be reduced) when the surge resolves.
• Hardened Plating. +1 status bonus to Body Hardness (stacks with Reinforced Frame for a total of +2 if both are taken).
• Sensor Override. Trigger: a Detect, Sense, or Scry spell or psi effect targets you. Ignore that effect; your sensor suite cloaks you briefly. Recharge: after using it, roll a d6 at the start of each of your turns — available again on a 5–6.
• EMP Shielding. Your systems are hardened against electromagnetic disruption. You ignore the Cyborg's EMP vulnerability (no Hardness halving, no Built-in Weapon disable), and you gain resistance to electricity damage equal to half your level.

Level 10

• Twin-Linked Fire. Requires two Built-in Weapons. Spend 1 Reserve Power and make a Strike with each of your two Built-in Weapons against the same target. The second Strike takes the multiple attack penalty as normal.
• Adaptive Plating. Trigger: you would take damage of a single type (fire, cold, electricity, etc.). Spend 1 Reserve Power to increase your Body Hardness by 5 against that instance of damage.
• Relentless Advance. Nothing slows the juggernaut. You ignore all difficult terrain, and the first time each turn you Stride into a space adjacent to an enemy you may attempt a Shove against it as a free action.

Level 12

• Body Reconfiguration (1). Spend 1 minute to swap which Built-in Weapon is active (normally swapping requires a Body Reconfiguration downtime activity). The 1-minute cost keeps it out of combat, but there's no daily limit — adapt between fights as often as you like.
• Maximum Output. Trigger: you score a critical hit with your Built-in Weapon. Spend 1 Reserve Power; that Built-in Weapon deals double damage on the critical hit, independent of your normal critical damage modifiers.
• Walking Death (Heavy Combat only). Your reserve plating no longer costs power. While your body is at or below its Broken Threshold, Reinforcement activates as a free action without spending Reserve Power, with no limit on how often you do so (the +4 Hardness for 3 rounds, refreshed as needed). The wounded Cyborg only gets harder to kill.
• Onboard Arsenal. All of your Body Configuration's Built-in Weapons are active at once, and you can switch which one you're using as a free action (this supersedes the two-weapon limit of Built-in Weapon (Second)).

Level 14

• Devastating Salvo. Ranged Built-in Weapon only. Spend 1 Reserve Power. Make a single Built-in Weapon Strike against your primary target, then deal half that Strike's damage (basic Reflex save vs. your class DC) to up to two other creatures within 15 ft of the primary target.
• Siege Frame. Your Built-in Weapons are built to break fortifications. Against objects, structures, vehicles, and unattended constructs, your attacks treat the target as off-guard and double your weapon's Penetrating value.
• Regenerative Frame. Your body runs constant self-repair. At the start of each of your turns, if you are above your Broken Threshold, restore Hit Points equal to your level.

Level 16

• Singularity Mode. You can use the Overclock activity (from the L20 capstone Optimal Configuration) without the L20 prerequisite. It works exactly as the capstone describes — costing your entire Reserve Power pool (minimum 1 Reserve Charge) and inflicting the same 30 HP system-strain + Drained 2 cost afterward.
• Body Mastery. Permanent +2 to Body Hardness (in addition to all other modifiers).
• Fortress Protocol. While you take no movement on your turn, allies adjacent to you gain standard cover from your bulk, and the first hit each such ally takes before the start of your next turn is reduced by half your Body Hardness.

Level 18

• Apex Frame. Permanent +2 to your Body Hardness, and your Built-in Weapons' Penetrating value increases by 3.
• Overdrive Reactor. Your Reserve Power maximum increases by 1.
• Emergency Reboot. Trigger: you would be reduced to 0 Hit Points. Spend 1 Reserve Power; you instead remain at 1 Hit Point as your systems force a reboot. You can't use this if you have no Reserve Power to spend.

Level 20

• Total War Configuration. While Overclock (or Singularity Mode) is active, you gain an additional action at the start of each of your turns, and your Built-in Weapon Strikes ignore all Hardness.
• Perfected Chassis. Your Body Hardness can no longer be reduced — it ignores Penetrating, the Broken condition's halving, sundering, and EMP effects.
• Legend of Steel. When you score a critical hit with a Built-in Weapon, every other enemy within 10 ft of the target takes damage equal to your level as the kinetic shock radiates outward (basic Reflex save vs. your class DC).

The body is the class

There is no out-of-rig mode. The body cannot be unequipped, set aside, or temporarily removed. If the body is destroyed, the character is functionally retired — or recoverable via a brain-in-jar plot device, as below.

Body destruction and recovery

• Combat damage to the body. The body's HP and Hardness are the character's HP and Hardness in combat. Standard dying and death rules apply.
• Body destruction in non-combat scenarios. Catastrophic damage (dropped into a star, melted in an industrial accident) destroys the body. The brain, if not destroyed in the same incident, may survive in a brain-in-jar form for emergency recovery.
• Recovery to a new body. A new body can be constructed, but the process is non-trivial: 4–8 weeks of downtime; a significant resource cost (60% of expected wealth for the character's level); and access to a Chopper facility specializing in Full Conversion. The new body may not be identical to the original (cosmetic differences, possibly minor mechanical variations — GM's call).

This mirrors a Chromeboy losing their suit, but it is far more dramatic narratively — the character is brain-only for the downtime period. Treat body loss as a major narrative event, not a routine setback.

Where the class shines

• Open combat, armored opponents, breach-and-assault: the Cyborg dominates, Heavy Combat especially — mobile Hardness, integrated weapons, high HP.
• Mobile combat, harassment, hit-and-run: Special Forces or Recon Cyborg excels — Tactical Reflexes, speed, integrated ranged weapons.
• Indoor combat, urban, civilization: mixed. Cyborgs are conspicuous (no one mistakes them for human) and social scenes are difficult; the Industrial Cyborg brings utility and the Recon Cyborg brings stealth.
• Magical, dimensional, cosmic, or mental challenges: the Cyborg struggles. Will Trained at L1 leaves them vulnerable to mental effects, and no magic means dimensional encounters fall to other party members. Anti-magic zones don't affect the Cyborg (there's no magic to suppress), but mental-effect-heavy encounters expose the weakness.
• EMP / electromagnetic / anti-tech zones: a significant penalty. An EMP burst reduces the body's Hardness to half for 1 minute and disables one Built-in Weapon. Class feats can mitigate this.