Powerhouse 4th ed Villain

[Ninja-Bear]

Hi All,

 

I might be soon running a Super Martial Art game, one shot. And I was curious if any one has ever used Powerhouse. And if so, did they use him as is or modified him? I personally never liked the Growth,  Flight and Breathes Water abilities he has. And FWIW, for this game, he’s going to be a Hero.

[steriaca]

1 hour ago, Ninja-Bear said:

Hi All,

 

I might be soon running a Super Martial Art game, one shot. And I was curious if any one has ever used Powerhouse. And if so, did they use him as is or modified him? I personally never liked the Growth,  Flight and Breathes Water abilities he has. And FWIW, for this game, he’s going to be a Hero.

Basically Powerhouse was a flying brick with a grecian roman wrestling martial arts. I forgot he breathes water also. (Growth is ignorable basically because he was permantly grown). In my 5th edition/6th edition headcanon, he was a college janitor working during the incident which gave Teriset and that other guy his powers. To make matters worse, the shard went into his head and brain, so it is slowly killing him while gifting him flight and super strength.

[Ninja-Bear]

@steriaca, one thing about Growth is that I don’t see anyone myself included remembering his disadvantages of being grown, especially his weight. And the funny thing is that him flying is that I don't see that as being “realistic” yet I have no problem with Superman being a Flying Brick. Lol.

[steriaca]

@Ninja-BearI never said anything about Powerhouse being "realistic", only that "Always On Growth" is now covered by stats and Complication combo.

[Ninja-Bear]

2 hours ago, steriaca said:

@Ninja-BearI never said anything about Powerhouse being "realistic", only that "Always On Growth" is now covered by stats and Complication combo.

I never said you did. I was talking about myself.

[Duke Bushido]

We played a _lot_ of 4e, amd even more 2e with 4e assets.

 

I swear to you, I absolutely cannot remember Powerhouse at all (and as far as I know, I have all the official 4e stigg and a fair chunk,of third party stuff from the various magazines, etc.).

 

Where can I look him up (when it is not so far after bedtime)?

 

 

[starblaze]

He is in the Big Blue Book.  I think he is almost at the end of the villain section.

[steriaca]

2 hours ago, starblaze said:

He is in the Big Blue Book.  I think he is almost at the end of the villain section.

What Starblaze said. He is the guy with the hairy chest, wrestling outfit (NOT Professional Wrestling), and clean shaven, if I remember correctly. 

[Duke Bushido]

Oh yeah-  that I remember!

 

Thanks!

 

[Tech]

I've used him a couple time. Never had him fly, though. Due to an oversight on my part, during combat I forgot he had growth. So, next PHA to remedy that, I say he's grown. Oddly now, when he shows up, the players think "This is the villain who grows bigger as combat goes on."

 

Having said that, a few changes to him for powers/disadvantages (complications) and he can be a hero.

[steriaca]

37 minutes ago, Tech said:

Having said that, a few changes to him for powers/disadvantages (complications) and he can be a hero.

That can be said of most villains. With maybe an exception for Dr. Destroyer and Takophanes (you know, the Litch).

[Lord Liaden]

In its description of Left-Handed Earth (the CU's "backworld") Book Of The Empress mentions Professor Preserver and Takofriel the Arch-Angel. As well as the "beneficent robot Organitron."

[steriaca]

On 10/24/2022 at 2:31 PM, Lord Liaden said:

In its description of Left-Handed Earth (the CU's "backworld") Book Of The Empress mentions Professor Preserver and Takofriel the Arch-Angel. As well as the "beneficent robot Organitron."

Well, yes. Technically ALL villains are heroes in Left-Handed Earth. Like ANGLE and VIPER (well, yes, same name but different acronym).

[Ninja-Bear]

Well, I got a hold of my friend and he wants a traditional Champions game. So I’m going to use Powerhouse but as written. 

[Ninja-Bear]

My gut feeling is that Powerhouse is a replacement for Brick from the older editions.

[Christopher R Taylor]

If you isolate characters from your mental canon and look at them, a lot are odd.  The Flash can run fast!  And run through walls, and time travel.  Spiderman can climb walls and shoot webs!  And sense danger around him and is very durable and strong.  We're just used to their odd.  I like characters like that, they have unpredictable, sometimes unrelated powers.  Powerhouse can fly and breathe water?  Cool, that makes him different.

[Duke Bushido]

Yep.

 

Lots of folks seem to forget that Superman can do those things, too.

 

Sure, the justification is "he is holding his breath!", but I recall panels from years long gone of him _speaking_ underwater.  Holding his breath or not, he has a finite size, which means a finite interior volume, and only a finite portion is allocated lungs.

 

Superman can breathe underwater.

And fly.

And is a brick.

 

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

On 10/25/2022 at 10:00 PM, steriaca said:

Well, yes. Technically ALL villains are heroes in Left-Handed Earth. Like ANGLE and VIPER (well, yes, same name but different acronym).

 

Not all. BOTE mentions that while some villains on LHE are reversed, others are still villains only worse. For example, Foxbat is deadly serious, very capable, and uses lethal weaponry. GRAB are utterly ruthless, killing any witnesses to their crimes. Personally I like that that makes Left-Handed Earth more unpredictable than a bog-standard "backworld."

[steriaca]

7 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Not all. BOTE mentions that while some villains on LHE are reversed, others are still villains only worse. For example, Foxbat is deadly serious, very capable, and uses lethal weaponry. GRAB are utterly ruthless, killing any witnesses to their crimes. Personally I like that that makes Left-Handed Earth more unpredictable than a bog-standard "backworld."

Ah. I see. Everyone gets a personality reverse. It is not just Villains become Heroes and Vica Versa. 

[Duke Bushido]

8 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

. For example, Foxbat is deadly serious, very capable, and uses lethal weaponry. 

 

 

You know, on the very rare occasion that I use Foxbat (it isn't that I dislike the character; I actually,use him more than any other published character.  I think since 1e, I have used him five or six times!)

.

Anyway- I stick with the whole goofball non-lethal angle, but he _is_ terrifyingly effective: his capers (though screwy and bizarre) _work_, and very rarely is there a hitch.  His eventual downfall usually is not related to his ability to create and exexute a plan, but is a reault of his sheer audacity.

 

Just as an example, last halloween in the youth group game, he was masquerading as John the Good Reverend Smith and doing a simple fleecing from the pulpit of his new Church of Believers Don't Die.

 

It was working, and revenue was quickly growing as the crowds were gettinf larger and larger.

 

The tip off dor moat people that something was wrong here was t hat he was wearing his will suit and salt-and-pepper wig over his Foxbat costume, to the point of havibg tailored slits to allow the pointy bits of his gloves and boots to not get bunched up inside the sleeves and pants legs.

 

That, and he spray painted Leroy's exoskeleton and oitched him as The Golden Man, agent of the Almighty on Earth, but to save money on studio photography, he had run to Kinkos and gotten one of Leroy's wanted posters blown up to banner-size and hung it behind the pulpit.

 

And the sacrements consisted of microwave chicken nuggets and Sunny D.

 

But it all _worked_, and flawlessly.  Right up until one od the heroes decided to try the new church that was taking the town by storm....

 

 

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

Gee, Duke, that plan sounds as full of holes as that suit Foxbat wore over his costume. Only fools and yokels would fall for... oh. Right. Never mind.

 

Just looking at Foxbat's official character sheet from CV Vol. 1, he actually makes for a pretty decent starting Champs character. He's competent in a fight and quite versatile. I know he wasn't created to be a joke villain, the character evolved that way over time.

[Lord Liaden]

On 10/26/2022 at 7:52 PM, Ninja-Bear said:

My gut feeling is that Powerhouse is a replacement for Brick from the older editions.

 

I'd say your gut has good sense.

 

I never felt the desire to use Powerhouse myself. The character just doesn't seem very compelling to me. And especially at this point in Champions history, I have so many more interesting villains to choose from.

[Ninja-Bear]

Somewhere along the line I picked uo the concept that the Heroes and Villains had to a tight concept for All their Powers and such logically fit. That is probably my biggest issue with Powerhouse’s build. However I changed my mind on it.

 

@Lord Liaden, could you go into more detail why he isn’t compelling to you? Just curious as usual.

[Lord Liaden]

Well, as written, Powerhouse is Bulldozer (see CV Vol. 3) without his comic relief value. Powerhouse has no redeeming features. Sure, he lost out on a promising football career when he became super, but that's no tragedy -- he didn't deserve success anyway, and he seems to be just as happy earning a living by beating people up. The difficulties someone who's 13 feet tall would encounter in life are barely even alluded to. I suppose if I had to use him I'd play him like Bulldozer.

 

Origin-wise, he's another random guy who gained powers from a VIPER experiment and then left VIPER to work solo. The pre-5E villains who follow that path are legion. His power set is bog-standard brick aside from permanent Growth and some Wrestling MA, and Flight and Water Breathing which have no explanation at all. But his Damage Resistance is really low, making him a big easy target for opponents with guns or blades. Again, an issue not even mentioned.

[Ninja-Bear]

I’ll definitely have to remember Powerhouse’s limitations from Growth and D.I. when I use him.
 

I’m thinking though that he’s a villain and greedy, he also still fights fair. He may be conceded in his abilities but that doesn’t mean he has to cheat to win. I can see him ignore opponents that aren’t worth his effort. However if someone does dirty he might focus on him.