Rifts vs Star Wars Saga Edition
Compare Rifts and Star Wars Saga Edition side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Rifts | Star Wars Saga Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Post-Apocalyptic, Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, Superhero | Scifi |
| Tags | Character Building, Combat-Heavy, Crunchy, Fear & Stress Mechanics, Gonzo, High-Power, Mana Points, Mecha, Superpowers, Tactical | Licensed IP, Space Opera, Heroic, Cinematic, Character Building, Tactical |
| 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 d20 + modifiers against a target number or opposed defense score. Three static defense values (Reflex, Fortitude, Will) replace saving throws. Trained skills grant a flat +5 bonus. A five-step Condition Track applies cumulative penalties as characters take damage, replacing hit-point attrition with escalating impairment. Force Points and Destiny Points provide narrative and mechanical resources for critical moments. |
| Dice | d20, d100 | d20 |
| Complexity | Very High | Medium |
| Accessibility | Medium | Very Low |
| Runnability | Very High | High |
| License | All Rights Reserved | Star Wars license (Wizards of the Coast, expired 2010) |
| 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 | $$ | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Palladium Books Inc. | Wizards of the Coast |
| Year | 2005 | 2007 |
| 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. | Star Wars fans who want a d20-based system with deep character customization through talent trees, covering all film eras from the Old Republic through the New Jedi Order. |
| 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. | Talent trees let two characters of the same class play differently based on branch selection, Condition Track creates escalating combat tension without binary alive-or-dead states, covers all major Star Wars eras with era-specific content in supplements, streamlined skill list consolidates the d20 System's skill bloat |
| 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. | The game has been out of print since 2010 with no official digital release, so acquiring a copy means the secondary market. Force-using characters reach powers that can outpace non-Force party members at higher levels. Characters track a condition track alongside hit points and talent-tree choices, adding per-character bookkeeping over the d20 baseline it derives from. |