Rifts vs Sentinel Comics RPG
Compare Rifts and Sentinel Comics RPG side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Rifts | Sentinel Comics RPG | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, Superhero | Modern, Superhero |
| Tags | Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Gonzo, High-Power, Mana Points, Mecha, Superpowers, Tactical | Heroic, Narrative, Superpowers, Combat-Heavy, Cinematic, Theater of the Mind |
| Core Mechanic | Combat and saving throws use a d20 plus bonuses, with high results overcoming a target number or opposing roll. Skills use d100 and succeed when the result is at or below the character's percentage. | Roll three dice (from powers, qualities, and status) and use the middle result vs. difficulty. Your status zone (green/yellow/red) changes available abilities as you take damage. |
| Dice | d20, d100 | d4–d12 |
| Complexity | Very High | Medium |
| Accessibility | Medium | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | Very High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Noncommercial only — Palladium Books Internet Policy limited license | Not yet researched |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | $$ | $$ |
| Publisher | Palladium Books Inc. | Greater Than Games |
| Year | 2005 | 2022 |
| Languages | English | English |
| Best For | Groups who want long-form science-fantasy campaigns that move from a ruined Earth to other dimensions. The game suits tables whose GM will decide which parts of the broad setting a campaign uses. | Superhero campaigns that feel like reading a comic book, with a unique status-shifting system and structured hero/villain/environment turns. |
| Highlights | Occupational and racial class packages assign distinct abilities and advancement tracks, giving each archetype a different role in the party. Mega-Damage places many supernatural creatures and war machines on a separate durability scale beyond the reach of ordinary Structural Damage Capacity attacks. Rifts and ley lines make dimensional travel a standing feature of the setting, letting campaigns move between devastated Earth and other worlds. | Captures comic book pacing well, status system creates dramatic arcs, villain/environment turns keep things dynamic, developed published setting |
| Considerations | Character creation combines rolled attributes with extensive skill selection, making first-time preparation lengthy. Combat asks each player to track an action economy, active defenses, and which damage scale applies. Magic and psionics use separate point pools and power procedures, adding class-specific rules to the shared system. | Tightly tied to the Sentinel Comics universe, status dice tracking requires careful bookkeeping, can feel constrained for freeform players |