A Riddle:

[JmOz]

How do you make a super hero, with no offensive capability, who was still useful in combat...

[Zen Archer]

Well, I once conceived a character who had mental attacks that were only triggered when he was mentally attacked (or scanned, or whatever), but I never actually played him. But I'm not sure that's quite what you mean.

Question: Does "useful in combat" refer only to fighting, or are there other considerations in play, like protecting normals and such.

[csyphrett]

If in combat, i would go with things like aids, high defenses, missile deflection, things like that.

If in combat but in a support role, I would go with abilities to help the injured, movement powers so forth
CES

[Lucius]

The Defender

Protects self, others, bystanders


The Healer

Cares for self, others, bystanders


The Enhancer

Improves the capabilities of others


The Transporter

Rescues bystanders, gets others where they need to be


Lucius Alexander

The palindromedary

[Log-Man]

I'd go with a Luck special effect.

[Opale]

If by no attack you mean no power that inflict damages you can always use other abilities to neutralize your opponents. Much of them are mental powers or aid powers.

For instance, I'm actually working on such a character : Queen of Heart

Empathic Opale.

[Midas]

Battery Lad!!
(Aid to END)

(First suggested in Southern Knights)

[Captain Obvious]

A guy with normal strength, no attack powers, but high defenses could draw fire from the enemy, thereby allowing his comrades to stand and fight longer.

[teh bunneh]

In my UNITY 2020 game, one of the players had a character named Mittarbeit (German for "cooperation") who had a huge variety of Aid powers. She was strictly a buffer; her role in combat was to juice up the other PCs, heal them when they got knocked down, that sort of thing. It worked OK in play. Not great, but OK. She was mostly satisfied with the character.

[teh bunneh]

A guy with normal strength, no attack powers, but high defenses could draw fire from the enemy, thereby allowing his comrades to stand and fight longer.

What was that character's name in Champions 3000? "Bulletproof" or something like that? He was basically invulnerable, but didn't have any special powers beyond that.

I played a character kind of like that in an online game (called her "The Shield"), but she had some superhuman strength (not quite Brick level) and a number of martial maneuvers that could kick up her damage to respectable levels.

[Clonus]

How do you make a super hero, with no offensive capability, who was still useful in combat...

Define "offensive". Do restraining attacks count?

[Escafarc]

A Teleport VPP makes for a character without normal combat skills that's still useful.

[Arkham]

How do you make a super hero, with no offensive capability, who was still useful in combat...

I have a character, Mr. Blackwings, who commands crows. While he isn't _totally_ lacking in offensive ability, a 6d6 Reduced Penetration AoE in a 12d6 game doesn't count for much. Instead, he used the crows to control the battlefield. -OCV and -DCV Change Environments were really useful in helping his teammates take down the villains. And after a few sessions working together, they could even buy the Environmental Movement: Crows to avoid the effects themselves.

[Log-Man]

I just thought of another concept I toyed with before, the ethereal tactician. Basically a ghost/astral projection/hologram that acts as a coordinator and source of info for the battle.

[TheQuestionMan]

Superhero Support

The Transporter Hero
The Healer
The Illusionist or Hologram Caster
The Booster
The Information Supplier
The Resource Provider/Government Liaison (Bases, Vehicles, Contacts, Money, etc...)
The Investigator
The Danger Sense/Precognition protagonist Hero
The "I know a "guy/girl"
The Conspiracy Theorist (Who happpens to be right?)
The Sage/Fortune Teller/etc...