I am your NEMESIS!

[Adventus]

I have an idea for a character and i am having a little problem defining the limitations.

His power is: he scans you (a detect need good wording for this too) and alters his powers(his VPP) to be your nemesis. This is done on an intuitional level. He doesn't know what his powers are (or what yours are either) just they make him your Nemesis,the omega to your alpha, your opposite.

However it doesn't work vs gadgets or robots or powersuits. The powers must be part of you, i.e mutants for example.

So, if you have an vulnerabilities or susceptiblities, my powers would be that special effect. However in combat is when I would have to figure this out.

[Vulcan]

Once upon a time, a GM I gamed with did something similar with his version of the Golden Avenger. He gave him a Fully Variable Special Effect Energy Blast and Detect (not Find) Weakness, Discriminitory, Ranged.:D

And if the Detect Weakness found nothing, a second scan (Bought as a Transform: You to You with exploitable weakness) would turn something up... :eek: http://www.herogames.com/forums/images/icons/shock.gif :help:

[ghost-angel]

Hrm, possibly:

Detect: Powers/Weaknesses
VPP: NCC at -1; Not vs Gadgets/Etc.

[Fearghus]

Wow! This is a tough build... but I love it for a villian. I think you have the basic concept right. It's a variable power pool with NCC limitation. the detect ability is some form of enhanced senses, and basically the character turns into whatever the GM decides best counters the characters opponant.

I'd never let a PC play it though.

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

I'd actually suggest this might be a VPP with a limitation only to make multiforms and no Conscious Control. I don't know about other peoples games, but I mostly see characters without susceptibility or vulnerability. When I think of a nemesis, the biggest thing to me is someone who is psychologically the polar opposite. This means when you fight superman, you fight for lies, injustice and the unamerican way, when you fight magneto, you fight to oppress the mutant minority, etc. Plus that gives you the freedom to completly change character archetypes (like be a mentalist vs. a speedster/martial artist/person who is weak against mental attacks)

[LordGhee]

just a note

on craig list a man put up a posting for a Nemesis ( in a small way), someone to ad some adventure to his life.

Lord Ghee

[Kenn]

Having had more than a few arch-enemies in the past 19 years, the guy looking for one is nuts.

[Adventus]

Wow! This is a tough build... but I love it for a villian. I think you have the basic concept right. It's a variable power pool with NCC limitation. the detect ability is some form of enhanced senses, and basically the character turns into whatever the GM decides best counters the characters opponant.

I'd never let a PC play it though.

Why Not?

You have total control over what powers the player has. The player has to figure out what powers he has in the middle of combat. A very dangerous thing to do. The character has at best a feeling of what his powers are but still has to guess. Guess wrong quick trip to the hospital ICU.

[Fearghus]

Why Not?

You have total control over what powers the player has. The player has to figure out what powers he has in the middle of combat. A very dangerous thing to do. The character has at best a feeling of what his powers are but still has to guess. Guess wrong quick trip to the hospital ICU.


Several reasons...

:( First and foremost>>> I have to basically remake all that characters powers every time he switches opponents. That is way too much hassle

:sneaky: Second>>> It gives the player an edge or every enemy he meets. Yes he doesn't know exactly what powers he has, but as a GM I would have to assume it stands to reason that if your powers automatically change themselves to counter your opponent’s abilities that it would include appropriate defenses as well. Which would give you time to figure out your offensive powers. The only opponents that would offer such a character any challenge at all would be gadget characters that don’t have any powers of their own... it’s all in their tech.

:confused: Third>>> This is kind of an extension of the reason above, but I don’t like the feel of it for a player. What’s the fun in playing an un-beatable good guy? The fun of the game exists in the struggle. But a villain with this ability is delicious. The characters don’t know what to expect out of him. They know the only way to beat him is to do something that their powers don’t do. If he is going to be the perfect counter to all your moves... then you need new moves. The players need to out think this guy. They need to find a way to be what they are not, and that is what makes him NEMESIS.

:eek: Lastly>>> I’ll admit this is kind of a cop out, but I do not let Players use Variable Power Pools in character creation anyway. I do allow Multi-powers and Elemental Contol, but VPPs are really just a cheap way of creating the “I can do anything” character.

[sbarron]

The player has to figure out what powers he has in the middle of combat. A very dangerous thing to do. The character has at best a feeling of what his powers are but still has to guess. Guess wrong quick trip to the hospital ICU.How does this work? How does a player figure out what powers he has? How do we define the characters "feeling" of what his powers are? What power conveys this feeling? How accurate is it?

My problem with this power idea is that it seems to have a lot of handwaving built into it. If you define how the power works more clearly, it will probably make things easier to build, and more importantly, easier to play.

[Roy_The_Ruthles]

first off, i want to say I'm a big supporter of PC's with VPPs ,my first hero character had a surprise one that forced me to learn the rules for building powers.

Secondly, due to the amount of book keeping inherent in this character (NCC VPP of (in my opinion, multiforms)), it works better as an NPC, just to the GM can handwave when he needs to, and do prep when he can.

It could be done as a PC, and by no means would be unbeatable (especially as a simple VPP not of multforms). This is due to once a villian realizes how his power works, he can take steps to offset this (like if my vulnerability is fire, i will try to fight you in a gasoline refinery, Are you sure you can risk missing?), or just have concepts that are hard for him to counter, like speedster, or mentalist, even with the right attack.