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Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 7:22 am
by Dobergirl
All right here's the thing. Me and my players have had fun runs with usual heroes rules but lately we have started to want to play something of caliber of Marvel and DC comics. The players would like to make specific heroes for power housing and I decided to put the stakes higher than I've ever put. The being is Alien Intelligence of utmost power, a woman product of generations of the very best technology, magic, and other mystic energies, unknown for us used to help her grow and prosper.

As such and because the entire point of this game is to see just how strong people can produce, I was wondering if people have suggestions for some ultra major powers, either ones that exist or suggestion what to change to make the characters have a fighting chance. Things are even tougher because there are only four heroes. Power categories have not been chosen yet but I'd prefer leaving immortals away, along with gestalts. Hardware most likely would not find use either. The players are very experienced RP'ers and eager to do just about anything to make things interesting. Here are the stats of the being to give the idea with her being the ultimate campaign villain. (Characters will have to survive against henchmen and facing off against fragments and such first for about a 1-4 years in game time before she arrives in person) By this point, the characters SHOULD in theory be at least level 3-5 before the final show down, unless they start from other level than 1. I had a pic of her but since there's no IMG tags, there's no point putting the link though if you people think I should give link to the image of her, I can do that. :bandit:


Name: Adilaya ”Grimdrinker” Nebim
Race: Aquators
Aligment: Diabolic
Age: Over 15 thousand years, beyond human calculations.
Height: 3½ feet tall.
Weight: 4 tons. (Due to unfamiliarity with earth gravity)
Apperance: Green skin and overly long ear, horns and protuding on head. Green skin, green hair, hairy arms with bones sticking out, squat feet covered with white hair, avian like beak and face with glowing eyes. Bloody and numerous scars all over body tell the story of past battles.
IQ: 28
MA: 30
ME: 30
PS: 90 (SuperNatural)
PP: 39
PE: 25
PB: 1
SPD: 40
Natural AR: 15
Hit points: 40,000
SDC: 30,000
PPE: 16,000
Horror factor: 16
Attacks: 7

Bonuses: +6 on initiative, +2 to dodge while flying, +4to pull punch, +4 to roll with impact, +12 to save vs horror factor, +4 on all saving throws in addition to attribute bonuses. +12 to all skills, +6 save vs psionics + 9 save vs insanity, trust/intimidate 92%, +6 parry and dodge, +6 to strike, +20% save vs coma/death, +5 save vs magic/poison

SPECIAL POWER!: Create Essence Fragment: Can exist in multiple dimensions at once, four fragments at most.

Special Abilities:

Posess Animals
Metamorphosis at will to animal
Metamorphosis into insect
Teleport self up to 400 miles away
Dimensional Teleport
Healing touch Restores 1d6x10 hit points and/or SDC
Fire Energy Bolt 6D6 damage range 5000 feet
Summon 4D6 lesser demons twice a day
Summon 6D6 lesser deevils three times daily
Bio-regeneration of a minimum of 1D4x1OO S.D.C./hit points per minute (4 melees; maximum 2D6x1OO per minute) and complete regeneration of limbs and eyes within 24 hours.
Nightvision 2D6x1OO yards/meters
See the invisible
Turn invisible at will
Impervious to poisons, toxins, drugs, and disease
Does not breathe air and is resistant to cold, heat, and fire.
Resistant to normal weapons (only inflict half damage).

Vulnerabilities

Vulnerable to sunlight and daytime
Holy weapons created by Gods and rune weapons do double damage. Weapons coated in or made of silver do normal damage (as do mega-damage weapons), but other normal weapons only do half damage. Magic and psionics also do their full, normal damage. Cannot possess other supernatural beings or creatures of magic like dragons, demons and faerie folk.
Vulnerable to weapons made of iron: Inflicts M.D. equal to its usual S.D.C. damage.

Magic: Knows Diabolism and all level one wizard spells; Blinding Flash, Cloud of Smoke, Death Trance, Decipher Magic, Globe of Daylight, Increase Weight, See Aura, See the Invisible, Sense Evil, Sense Magic, Thunderclap, Ventriloquism

Deific Powers: All prototypical deific powers at usual cost.

Psionics:

Alter Aura, Death Trance, Ectoplasm, Float, Impervious to Cold, Impervious to Fire, Impervious to Poison/Toxin, Levitation, Mind Block, Nightvision, Resist Fatique, Resist Hunger, Resist Thirst, Spontaneous Compustion, Summon Inner Strength, Telekinesis, Telekinetic Punch, Telekinetic Leap, Teleport Object, Astral Projection, Clairvoyance, Commune with Animals, Commune with Spirit, Dispel Spirits, Empathy, Meditation, Mind Block, Object Read (Psychometry), Precense Sense, See Aura, See The Invisible, See Dimensional Anomaly, Sense Evil, Sense Magic, Sixth Sense, Speed Reading, Telepathy, Total Recall, Bio-Manipulation (The Evil Eye), Catatonic Strike, Cause Insanity, Hypnotic Suggestion, Invisible Haze, Mind Bolt, Pyrokinesis, Telekinetic Force Field, Telekinesis (Super), Mentally Posses Others

ISP: 3000, all psi-powers are equal to a 9th level master psychic.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:51 am
by Juce734
Dobergirl wrote:All right here's the thing. Me and my players have had fun runs with usual heroes rules but lately we have started to want to play something of caliber of Marvel and DC comics. The players would like to make specific heroes for power housing and I decided to put the stakes higher than I've ever put. The being is Alien Intelligence of utmost power, a woman product of generations of the very best technology, magic, and other mystic energies, unknown for us used to help her grow and prosper.

As such and because the entire point of this game is to see just how strong people can produce, I was wondering if people have suggestions for some ultra major powers, either ones that exist or suggestion what to change to make the characters have a fighting chance. Things are even tougher because there are only four heroes. Power categories have not been chosen yet but I'd prefer leaving immortals away, along with gestalts. Hardware most likely would not find use either. The players are very experienced RP'ers and eager to do just about anything to make things interesting. Here are the stats of the being to give the idea with her being the ultimate campaign villain. (Characters will have to survive against henchmen and facing off against fragments and such first for about a 1-4 years in game time before she arrives in person) By this point, the characters SHOULD in theory be at least level 3-5 before the final show down, unless they start from other level than 1. I had a pic of her but since there's no IMG tags, there's no point putting the link though if you people think I should give link to the image of her, I can do that. :bandit:


Name: Adilaya ”Grimdrinker” Nebim
Race: Aquators
Aligment: Diabolic
Age: Over 15 thousand years, beyond human calculations.
Height: 3½ feet tall.
Weight: 4 tons. (Due to unfamiliarity with earth gravity)
Apperance: Green skin and overly long ear, horns and protuding on head. Green skin, green hair, hairy arms with bones sticking out, squat feet covered with white hair, avian like beak and face with glowing eyes. Bloody and numerous scars all over body tell the story of past battles.
IQ: 28
MA: 30
ME: 30
PS: 90 (SuperNatural)
PP: 39
PE: 25
PB: 1
SPD: 40
Natural AR: 15
Hit points: 40,000
SDC: 30,000
PPE: 16,000
Horror factor: 16
Attacks: 7

Bonuses: +6 on initiative, +2 to dodge while flying, +4to pull punch, +4 to roll with impact, +12 to save vs horror factor, +4 on all saving throws in addition to attribute bonuses. +12 to all skills, +6 save vs psionics + 9 save vs insanity, trust/intimidate 92%, +6 parry and dodge, +6 to strike, +20% save vs coma/death, +5 save vs magic/poison

SPECIAL POWER!: Create Essence Fragment: Can exist in multiple dimensions at once, four fragments at most.

Special Abilities:

Posess Animals
Metamorphosis at will to animal
Metamorphosis into insect
Teleport self up to 400 miles away
Dimensional Teleport
Healing touch Restores 1d6x10 hit points and/or SDC
Fire Energy Bolt 6D6 damage range 5000 feet
Summon 4D6 lesser demons twice a day
Summon 6D6 lesser deevils three times daily
Bio-regeneration of a minimum of 1D4x1OO S.D.C./hit points per minute (4 melees; maximum 2D6x1OO per minute) and complete regeneration of limbs and eyes within 24 hours.
Nightvision 2D6x1OO yards/meters
See the invisible
Turn invisible at will
Impervious to poisons, toxins, drugs, and disease
Does not breathe air and is resistant to cold, heat, and fire.
Resistant to normal weapons (only inflict half damage).

Vulnerabilities

Vulnerable to sunlight and daytime
Holy weapons created by Gods and rune weapons do double damage. Weapons coated in or made of silver do normal damage (as do mega-damage weapons), but other normal weapons only do half damage. Magic and psionics also do their full, normal damage. Cannot possess other supernatural beings or creatures of magic like dragons, demons and faerie folk.
Vulnerable to weapons made of iron: Inflicts M.D. equal to its usual S.D.C. damage.

Magic: Knows Diabolism and all level one wizard spells; Blinding Flash, Cloud of Smoke, Death Trance, Decipher Magic, Globe of Daylight, Increase Weight, See Aura, See the Invisible, Sense Evil, Sense Magic, Thunderclap, Ventriloquism

Deific Powers: All prototypical deific powers at usual cost.

Psionics:

Alter Aura, Death Trance, Ectoplasm, Float, Impervious to Cold, Impervious to Fire, Impervious to Poison/Toxin, Levitation, Mind Block, Nightvision, Resist Fatique, Resist Hunger, Resist Thirst, Spontaneous Compustion, Summon Inner Strength, Telekinesis, Telekinetic Punch, Telekinetic Leap, Teleport Object, Astral Projection, Clairvoyance, Commune with Animals, Commune with Spirit, Dispel Spirits, Empathy, Meditation, Mind Block, Object Read (Psychometry), Precense Sense, See Aura, See The Invisible, See Dimensional Anomaly, Sense Evil, Sense Magic, Sixth Sense, Speed Reading, Telepathy, Total Recall, Bio-Manipulation (The Evil Eye), Catatonic Strike, Cause Insanity, Hypnotic Suggestion, Invisible Haze, Mind Bolt, Pyrokinesis, Telekinetic Force Field, Telekinesis (Super), Mentally Posses Others

ISP: 3000, all psi-powers are equal to a 9th level master psychic.


I'd like to see the picture of this character. This character sounds epic.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 6:06 pm
by wolfsgrin
Lots of power stacking that may bend or outright break the rules. Rune weapons, especially ones that can inflict triple damage (a weapon specifically made to destroy this SI and it's henchmen). May have to come up with something specific that can outright destroy or drive away this baddy. But don't give it to them until all hope is lost. Maybe something that seemed insignificant at first but then it saves their butts. Spells, wards, enchantments, whatever will lend them immunities or resistances, but each player has a different enhancement that they bring to the fight, so that it's paramount that they all survive and contribute to the final battle.
Last time I faced down an Vampire SI, I was a Gypsy Ratling in the NGR. We didn't kill it, but we put the hurt on by bring down the house in the middle of the day. I was taken out really early, had this great cinematic moment with the Master Vamp, where I had the jump on him with a crossbow loaded with a wooden steak. I rolled a one... GM had a random one chart and my roll was a slip and fall, I was high up so my back was broken and finished off by the master vamp. GM let the brain survive and we converted him into a borg. In short and long.... SIs are evil, tough turds to deal with. Thankfully they only have so many attacks. So make sure your players get as many attacks as the rules allow. :P

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:23 pm
by Regularguy
wolfsgrin wrote:May have to come up with something specific that can outright destroy or drive away this baddy.


I wonder if teleporting into the baddy, or teleporting both of you into a solid object, would result in instant death for her as well as you -- which is why you've got Multiple Selves and/or Multiple Lives, right? (Or why you've got Grant Powers and Divine Aura or something, such that your awestruck followers will so kamikaze-teleport on your behalf.)

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 9:12 am
by Dobergirl
Juce734 wrote:I'd like to see the picture of this character. This character sounds epic.


I took this picture as nude to show off that despite somewhat humanoid shape and form, she lacks humanlike re production organs (appears genderless as if having been censored in places) and to show off her tatoos/scars better. I tried to do something somewhat humanoid yet to look pb 1 like. :bandit:

http://i46.tinypic.com/2qitg5u.png

wolfsgrin wrote:Lots of power stacking that may bend or outright break the rules. Rune weapons, especially ones that can inflict triple damage (a weapon specifically made to destroy this SI and it's henchmen). May have to come up with something specific that can outright destroy or drive away this baddy. But don't give it to them until all hope is lost. Maybe something that seemed insignificant at first but then it saves their butts. Spells, wards, enchantments, whatever will lend them immunities or resistances, but each player has a different enhancement that they bring to the fight, so that it's paramount that they all survive and contribute to the final battle.
Last time I faced down an Vampire SI, I was a Gypsy Ratling in the NGR. We didn't kill it, but we put the hurt on by bring down the house in the middle of the day. I was taken out really early, had this great cinematic moment with the Master Vamp, where I had the jump on him with a crossbow loaded with a wooden steak. I rolled a one... GM had a random one chart and my roll was a slip and fall, I was high up so my back was broken and finished off by the master vamp. GM let the brain survive and we converted him into a borg. In short and long.... SIs are evil, tough turds to deal with. Thankfully they only have so many attacks. So make sure your players get as many attacks as the rules allow. :P


Yeah, I thought having Weapon Training and give them a specific rune weapon may be a good thing to give them a fighting chance, a lot like you said. But I'd rather not everyone have rune weapons, it'd be better if there would be each having different sorts of powers and such for more diversity.


Regularguy wrote:
wolfsgrin wrote:May have to come up with something specific that can outright destroy or drive away this baddy.


I wonder if teleporting into the baddy, or teleporting both of you into a solid object, would result in instant death for her as well as you -- which is why you've got Multiple Selves and/or Multiple Lives, right? (Or why you've got Grant Powers and Divine Aura or something, such that your awestruck followers will so kamikaze-teleport on your behalf.)


I am not going to allow that for various reasons, one of them being that it'd make for a very stupid and anticlimatic ending to a long campaign.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:02 am
by Juce734
Have the players come into contact with something that beefs their powers by double. That would give them really powerful offense and defense in some cases.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 8:15 pm
by Regularguy
I am not going to allow that for various reasons, one of them being that it'd make for a very stupid and anticlimatic ending to a long campaign.


Fair enough. How about Immobilization Ray and Transfer/Possess, to zap her into stasis and then keep trying and trying and trying to override her mind until she eventually fails a saving throw? (I mean, sure, maybe make the guy an immune-to-psi Alien with Invulnerability, or something, so he's not a one-shot-wonder of a glass cannon -- and maybe team up our hero with, I dunno, a Mimic who can in some ways stalemate the Big Bad, or whatever?)

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 12:46 pm
by Ranger
or let the players figure out how to defeat it themselves.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 6:03 am
by Dobergirl
Ranger wrote:or let the players figure out how to defeat it themselves.


Yeah, that's not going to work out. Figuring out helps you only to half the fight, AI like her takes also really strong characters and not just smarts.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:15 am
by Ranger
If your characters do not have a snow balls chance in a really really warm place, why throw them at it?

Also, what is the history the characters can find out about this AI and or dimensional travel? It seems to me that your only way to defeat this character is a straight up knock down winner take all brawl...sounds like a weak GM to me.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 11:09 am
by say652
or just let the players use more than one character. say you have three players each using three characters, thats nine supers with varying hopefully complimenting abilities vs the alien intelligence. when in doubt swarm.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 3:24 pm
by Ranger
another way is to use the AI as the big big big big big baddie that the players when the see it, KNOW they can not defeat it out right...at best they can stop its plans for a while and make it regroup and rethink.

Also, the AI should look at it from the way of if it wants the players down, sending in 1-3 bad guys at a time is not it...full on full scale plantery invasion from 256 different points in the world is best.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 6:30 pm
by Dobergirl
Ranger wrote:If your characters do not have a snow balls chance in a really really warm place, why throw them at it?


As said, the point is to test the limits by presenting a really hard challenge for the players to overcome using their bestest skills and good team up that compliments itself.

It's not impossible. It's very hard as anyone who fought AI can tell.

Also, what is the history the characters can find out about this AI and or dimensional travel?


Depending on their familiarity with alien cultures and acess to alien history and such, they can find out much more about her history. Humans haven't been in contact with her so any records found on earth would probably be from an alien refuge. If the players can find out, there's documentation about her main vulnerabilities which would help them prepare.

The Dimensional Travel acts normally.

It seems to me that your only way to defeat this character is a straight up knock down winner take all brawl...sounds like a weak GM to me.


Question, exactly how am I a weak GM? I rolled the AI acoardingly. :badbad:

The reason I'm asking for tips here to begin with is to help make things more fair for the players. :x

say652 wrote:or just let the players use more than one character. say you have three players each using three characters, thats nine supers with varying hopefully complimenting abilities vs the alien intelligence. when in doubt swarm.


That is a good idea. And as mentioned, the AI's only weakness is their limited attacks per melee. (Though Sphere of Destrction would eliminate that one weakness) Having 9 people all having around the same number of attacks should even the odds significantly, especially if they can cause knockbacks and/or lose turns. :bandit:

Anything that can deplete or steal PPE would help tremendously as well. :-P

Ranger wrote:another way is to use the AI as the big big big big big baddie that the players when the see it, KNOW they can not defeat it out right...at best they can stop its plans for a while and make it regroup and rethink.


I don't think it's even possible for AI to be totally killed, won't they (her followers) be able to bring her back by reincorporating her for 2d4 years to make her alive again? Otherwise, Annihlating body investments would be not as useful. :shock:


Forcing her to retreat is what the players want to do because honestly, she can outlast you in terms of combat. Hell, it's probably not a good idea to try and kill her because if things would look really desperate to her with the heroes literally trying their hardest to kill her, she could Primal Deific Bio regen and follow that with Godblaze. :cry:

Also, the AI should look at it from the way of if it wants the players down, sending in 1-3 bad guys at a time is not it...full on full scale plantery invasion from 256 different points in the world is best.


That would make it impossible for even bestest players to defeat. :?

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 5:33 pm
by Ranger
Dobergirl wrote:
Ranger wrote:If your characters do not have a snow balls chance in a really really warm place, why throw them at it?


As said, the point is to test the limits by presenting a really hard challenge for the players to overcome using their bestest skills and good team up that compliments itself.

It's not impossible. It's very hard as anyone who fought AI can tell.

Also, what is the history the characters can find out about this AI and or dimensional travel?


Depending on their familiarity with alien cultures and acess to alien history and such, they can find out much more about her history. Humans haven't been in contact with her so any records found on earth would probably be from an alien refuge. If the players can find out, there's documentation about her main vulnerabilities which would help them prepare.

The Dimensional Travel acts normally.

It seems to me that your only way to defeat this character is a straight up knock down winner take all brawl...sounds like a weak GM to me.


Question, exactly how am I a weak GM? I rolled the AI acoardingly. :badbad:

The reason I'm asking for tips here to begin with is to help make things more fair for the players. :x

say652 wrote:or just let the players use more than one character. say you have three players each using three characters, thats nine supers with varying hopefully complimenting abilities vs the alien intelligence. when in doubt swarm.


That is a good idea. And as mentioned, the AI's only weakness is their limited attacks per melee. (Though Sphere of Destrction would eliminate that one weakness) Having 9 people all having around the same number of attacks should even the odds significantly, especially if they can cause knockbacks and/or lose turns. :bandit:

Anything that can deplete or steal PPE would help tremendously as well. :-P

Ranger wrote:another way is to use the AI as the big big big big big baddie that the players when the see it, KNOW they can not defeat it out right...at best they can stop its plans for a while and make it regroup and rethink.


I don't think it's even possible for AI to be totally killed, won't they (her followers) be able to bring her back by reincorporating her for 2d4 years to make her alive again? Otherwise, Annihlating body investments would be not as useful. :shock:


Forcing her to retreat is what the players want to do because honestly, she can outlast you in terms of combat. Hell, it's probably not a good idea to try and kill her because if things would look really desperate to her with the heroes literally trying their hardest to kill her, she could Primal Deific Bio regen and follow that with Godblaze. :cry:

Also, the AI should look at it from the way of if it wants the players down, sending in 1-3 bad guys at a time is not it...full on full scale plantery invasion from 256 different points in the world is best.


That would make it impossible for even bestest players to defeat. :?

If an Alien Intelligence decides it wants the earth, it gets the earth. It has the recources of its home dimension, can pick and choose where it will fight and with how much. Centering its invasion on one city or one group is not a sound tactical decision when it has the ability to create dimensional door ways everywhere it goes.

In the Sun Tzu mind set, IT controls the high ground, where the battle is, when the battle is, and all of the other variables.

I suggest when you start this hero slaughter, you have the AI send in a recon team of 2-4 intelligence agents, then as the players defeat them, they should begin to see a pattern over time of what the bad guys are doing. If you want a straight up fight, the PCs should be slaughtered before they know what hit them. If you want them to be challanged, have them defeat the team, and then the AI decides that while it could EASILY defeat the PCs and their world, it will use them to field test new lackies and LTs. Remember, this is a creature that has lived for 1000s of years and should be thinking LONG term, as in 100s of years, not seconds.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:35 am
by Senator Cybus
Allowing each hero to be a Mega-Hero would presumably help - every character starting out with supernatural P.S., extra bonuses and double the range on their powers would be handy. Personally, I like the the idea of a Natural Genius Mega-Hero ("They call me...Think Tank!").

Rifter #37 has new stuff for Megas and rules for dual-classed heroes; Ancient Weapons master/Enchanted Weapon is a great combo, as you mentioned upthread. A Mutant/Experiment hero could end up with a lot of power. Dual-classing does allow for more D.C. Comics-level characters.

Consider also the unofficial option Bill Coffin used in Century Station, of doubling up on powers - his character of Runaway had Sonic Speed twice, giving her double the speed and normal bonuses.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:16 am
by Juce734
Senator Cybus wrote:Allowing each hero to be a Mega-Hero would presumably help - every character starting out with supernatural P.S., extra bonuses and double the range on their powers would be handy. Personally, I like the the idea of a Natural Genius Mega-Hero ("They call me...Think Tank!").

Rifter #37 has new stuff for Megas and rules for dual-classed heroes; Ancient Weapons master/Enchanted Weapon is a great combo, as you mentioned upthread. A Mutant/Experiment hero could end up with a lot of power. Dual-classing does allow for more D.C. Comics-level characters.

Consider also the unofficial option Bill Coffin used in Century Station, of doubling up on powers - his character of Runaway had Sonic Speed twice, giving her double the speed and normal bonuses.


Are those dual classed Heroes Mega Heroes or can you do it without them being Mega Heroes? Just curious as I may want to buy that Rifter.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:46 pm
by Senator Cybus
Juce734 wrote:Are those dual classed Heroes Mega Heroes or can you do it without them being Mega Heroes? Just curious as I may want to buy that Rifter.


If I recall correctly (don't have the book to hand right now), they're classed as Mega-Heroes and use the Mega-Hero XP table - they don't get the usual Mega-Hero bonuses, but the amount of powers/skills they can acquire makes them the equivalent of one.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:31 am
by Dobergirl
Senator Cybus wrote:Allowing each hero to be a Mega-Hero would presumably help - every character starting out with supernatural P.S., extra bonuses and double the range on their powers would be handy. Personally, I like the the idea of a Natural Genius Mega-Hero ("They call me...Think Tank!").

Rifter #37 has new stuff for Megas and rules for dual-classed heroes; Ancient Weapons master/Enchanted Weapon is a great combo, as you mentioned upthread. A Mutant/Experiment hero could end up with a lot of power. Dual-classing does allow for more D.C. Comics-level characters.

Consider also the unofficial option Bill Coffin used in Century Station, of doubling up on powers - his character of Runaway had Sonic Speed twice, giving her double the speed and normal bonuses.


Oh those are some really good ideas. So like, taking Supernatural Strength twice would mean you'd get to lift 1000 times your PS?

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:07 am
by Ranger
just a question...do your players want to take on an alien intelligence? Do they want their character changed?

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:08 am
by Juce734
Dobergirl wrote:
Senator Cybus wrote:Allowing each hero to be a Mega-Hero would presumably help - every character starting out with supernatural P.S., extra bonuses and double the range on their powers would be handy. Personally, I like the the idea of a Natural Genius Mega-Hero ("They call me...Think Tank!").

Rifter #37 has new stuff for Megas and rules for dual-classed heroes; Ancient Weapons master/Enchanted Weapon is a great combo, as you mentioned upthread. A Mutant/Experiment hero could end up with a lot of power. Dual-classing does allow for more D.C. Comics-level characters.

Consider also the unofficial option Bill Coffin used in Century Station, of doubling up on powers - his character of Runaway had Sonic Speed twice, giving her double the speed and normal bonuses.


Oh those are some really good ideas. So like, taking Supernatural Strength twice would mean you'd get to lift 1000 times your PS?


That would work. It would also put your characters strength levels in line with some other universes strengths I think. If the PS was 30x1000 that is 30,000 pounds.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:16 pm
by csyphrett
I have had players use nightbane as demons and half demons. Also one player had a beast boy type character that got upgraded to being able to turn into imaginary monsters. It wasn't too long before he turned into a cabbit
CES

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 4:29 pm
by Dobergirl
Ranger wrote:just a question...do your players want to take on an alien intelligence? Do they want their character changed?


Yes, they wanted a challenge. I am not changing their charas but rather we're making brand new ones for this specifically.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:14 am
by Senator Cybus
Juce734 wrote:
Dobergirl wrote:Oh those are some really good ideas. So like, taking Supernatural Strength twice would mean you'd get to lift 1000 times your PS?


That would work. It would also put your characters strength levels in line with some other universes strengths I think. If the PS was 30x1000 that is 30,000 pounds.


Exactly. Plus, double the damage bonus. :-D

The doubling-up option can be a lot of fun. I had a character once called Awol, who took Teleportation twice; it doubled his range and, more importantly, his maximum weight allowance, so he could be the groups' transport. Because not every super-team can afford a Quinjet. :-)

Also, there's a simple house-rule that my group has used in the past when allowing Mega-Heroes: Megas are allowed to swap out Supernatural P.S. for any one other Major power, or two (possibly three, depending on how strong the selections are) Minors. After all, there are characters in the comics that are real powerhouses, yet still only have human-level strength - energy-wielders, speedsters, masters of magnetism and so on.

We've tried this in combination with the doubling-up option...yikes. Take something like Magnetism or Gravity Manipulation twice, add in the doubled range Mega bonus... :eek:

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:15 am
by Dobergirl
So, I was thinking recently though, probably will not be putting this up it was somewhat unclear to me. How should Deific Curse: Confer Immortality work on heroes? What if a hero who is immune to illness or has super healing or one that's got longevity, would they be immortal with less or not any of the ill effects of the curse or would they still suffer like another mortal with the curse negating these powers?

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 3:17 am
by Ice Dragon
Build it slowly. First let the PC fight the henchmen and capos of the AI (so they can level up). Let them find some magical items (like a amulete of speed doubler, armor of ithan, etc.). Let them build an army of supporting heros and side kicks which will be present for the epic assault on the AI.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:41 pm
by Regularguy
Build it slowly. First let the PC fight the henchmen and capos of the AI (so they can level up). Let them find some magical items (like a amulete of speed doubler, armor of ithan, etc.). Let them build an army of supporting heros and side kicks which will be present for the epic assault on the AI.


Hmm. Coming back around to the OP, you could even build the heroes around being pre-specialized for that sort of beefing up. I mean, really streamline the approach you're suggesting: what would it take for "the henchmen and capos of the AI" to pretty much be the "magical items" and "army of supporting heroes" you're talking about?

Imagine if, say, three of the characters put together can just barely beat one of those mighty henchmen -- and the fourth character is a Master Psychic built around the trifecta of Empathic Transmission and Mind Wipe and Insert Memory: always standing ready to brainwash a defeated henchman into joining up with our heroes.

Character #3? He's a Mimic who can mirror the mightiest guy in range, and so has an ever-increasing list of power-up options on hand -- as long as Character #4 keeps expanding the roster -- sure as Character #2 has Life Leech and Grant Powers, to (a) likewise draw on the abilities of their stupefied support staff, and to (b) bestow powers on Character #1, who can play recipient by dint of being the team's otherwise-non-powered spellcaster.

Or whatever. The point is, they're built not to be the fastest or the strongest, but to acquire power-ups.

Re: Alien intelligence villain; How to beef player powers?

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 10:39 am
by Daniel Stoker
That could make for the ultimate reoccurring villain.

Hero1: Well we've defeated you Dr. Horrendous, the day is saved, thanks to the Mighty Defenders!

Dying Avatar: <gasping as it dies> I... I shall return!

Sidekick1: Not this time, we're going to make sure to blow you up, put your head in this blender and mail the rest that's left to Norway!

<six months later>

Avatar: I'm back! Now let's see how you like Norway you little punk!



Daniel Stoker