Rifts Archetypes #2: Juicers

The second Archetype is the first of the "classic Rifts" characters to be shown, the Juicer.  Years before A-Rod, MacGuire, and Sosa juiced up for critical acclaim and accolades, Rifts introduced us to the pinnacle of the chemically enhanced warrior.  Here is the write up for the class that has a life expectancy only slightly longer than that of a Rifts campaign.

JUICER

You’ve chosen to trade your life for a few years of god-like power. Maybe you’ve made an arrangement with a local lord to protect his kingdom in exchange for wealth, fame, and the Bio-Comp Augmentation System.  Maybe you’re down on your luck, and need something to get you through this horrific world.  Or maybe you think it’s better to go out in a blaze of glory with the strength of twenty men, the speed of a cheetah, and the reflexes of a cobra.

Path of Enhancement (Juicer): You begin play with a Bio-Comp  Chemical Augmentation system installed in your body.  The drugs grant you great speed, stamina, and strength. 

Uppers: Your Class bonus to your Reflex defense increases by +1.  If you are trained in the Initiative Skill, you gain Skill Focus: Initiative as a bonus feat. 

Injection Hero: You start with a number of Juicer abilities equal to your Constitution Bonus plus your Wisdom bonus. 

The drawback to this path is that you’re killing yourself for a few years of power.  For each character level, you recalculate your race’s age categories, reducing the upper end of each age category by 10% per 2 character levels (rounded down).  So a 10th level human Juicer is considered Middle Aged at 20, Old at 30, and Venerable at 40.  You only get the age penalties for this, the age benefits are still calculated based on your actual age.

                After 7 years (or level 20, whichever comes first), your Juicer’s time is up.  He’s only got a few weeks left, by this time, to get his affairs in order and go out in a blaze of glory, instead of keeling over dead due to a massive drug induced coronary or embolism, caused by years of constant drug use and an adrenaline-filled life.

 The Juicer is also the first of the "Paths of Augmentation" Archetypes.  Each path (Cyborg, Crazies, or Juicer) gains access to a special talent tree.  We're still working out if this tree will definitely be in the Scout class, or if it can be taken with any Class Talent.

 JUICER AUGMENTATION Talent Tree

You must have the Juicer archetype to take Talents from this tree. 

Additional Juicer Abilities: You gain two additional Juicer abilities.  This talent may be taken up to five times.

Chemical Boost: Once per Encounter as a swift action you may move +2 steps along the condition track.

Combat Ready: During the Surprise round, you may make a full set of actions instead of only one Standard action, Move action, or Swift action.  In addition, you may “Take 10” on an Endurance check to Sleep in your Armor.
Pre-requisites: Uncanny Dodge I

Scrapper: Opponents attempting to target you with ranged attacks take an additional –5 penalty to their attack rolls while you are engaged in melee with their allies.  This penalty is in addition any other penalties for firing into melee, making the normal penalty to hit you –10
Steroid Giant: Your size increases to Large.  Your Reflex Defense decreases by 1, your Stealth skill receives a –5 penalty, your Damage Threshold increases by +5, your carrying capacity doubles, you gain Damage Reduction 5/-, and all your unarmed attack dice increase by one step.
Pre-Requisite: Increased Strength (4), Super Endurance

 You may be wondering what the Juicer abilities are.  Here's the list, which is also accessible to Crazies as well.

CRAZY/JUICER ABILITIES
Enhanced Stamina: Add your Constitution Bonus to your Damage Threshold.  You may also re-roll any Endurance check, but you must accept the second roll even if it’s worse. 

Super Endurance: You gain a +2 Equipment bonus to Constitution score.  This ability may be taken multiple times, increasing the Equipment bonus by +2 per time it’s taken. 
Pre-Requisite: Enhanced Stamina

Increased Strength: You gain a +2 equipment bonus to Strength score.  This ability may be taken multiple times, increasing the bonus by +2 per time it’s taken.
Pre-Requisite: To take Increased Strength (3) or higher, you must have the Steroid Giant talent.

Increased Speed: You gain a +2-square Equipment bonus to your Movement.  This ability may be taken multiple times; increasing the movement bonus by 2-squares per time it’s taken.

Heightened Reflexes: You gain Uncanny Dodge I, as per the Scout Talent.  This ability counts as having the Uncanny Dodge I talent for the purposes of meeting any pre-requisites.

Heightened Agility: You gain a +2 Equipment bonus to your Dexterity score.  This ability may be taken multiple times, increasing the bonus by +2 per time it’s taken.
Pre-Requisite: Heightened Reflexes  

Enhanced Senses: You gain a +2 Equipment bonus to Perception checks, and gain low-light vision.  

Enhanced Healing: When resting, you heal 2 times the normal amount of hit points per hour.

Bio-Regeneration:  When you use Second-Wind, you heal an additional number of hit points equal to your character level. 
Pre-Requisite: Enhanced Healing

 There's still some work to be done, and this is likely not the final version, but this gives you an idea of the flavor.