NPC Combat Power Tier List

[xenoz]

What would a tier list of the most powerful combatants in the sourcebooks look like?

 

This is on the basis of power in direct battle, most personal resources included, unlike the Superhuman Survey which takes into account other factors like motivations and organizational coordination abilities (formulating and executing dastardly plots) for its threat level assessments. Allies and powerful henchmen are not taken into consideration, so the placements for characters with teams/organizations don't take into account their various compatriots. I want to focus on individuals so organizations like VIPER and teams like the Crowns of Krim are excluded, although individual members like Viperia and Dark Seraph are not. Characters like Dr. Yin Wu who mostly relies on summoning a personal army of monsters qualifies.

 

I want to keep this restricted to characters with published writeups. There are many powerful characters, mostly cosmic/mystic entities, that are stated to be powerful on a multiversal scale, but serve more as plot devices/elements, not combatants, and most don't even have character sheets AFAIK, so I don't think including them makes much sense. Characters like the Four Zoas,  Chrono, Lord Entropy, Mortalus, etc. will therefore not be included. This also goes for characters from Earth that are stated to be very powerful but never got writeups published for them, like Vanguard and Hyperion.

 

I'm only familiar with some 5E and 6E material, so characters from prior editions that never got updated do not appear. Champions 5E and 6E taken together seem to form the established modern setting and continuity of the CU, so let's restrict it to this canon. If there are any characters from 5E/6E that deserve placements, don't hesitate to bring them up.

 

The listings within tiers are not ranked.

 

As a CO player who is, at least for now, only interested in the lore of the sourcebooks (and of course I only have a few of the many that HG has published), I'm not that familiar with the TTRPG and how these characters would perform in actual gameplay. This tier list is really just something I threw together to get the ball rolling and hopefully experienced, knowledgeable players can chime in to iron out the kinks and add characters I missed or am unaware of. I also haven't looked over all the character writeups thoroughly, so there's bound to be some over/underestimations.

 

Champions NPC Power Tier List

 

Tier 1

Astron the Living Asteroid Belt, Galaxars with character sheets (namely the Examiner, Lawbringer and Warmonger from Champions Beyond), Mechanon 3000, Tyrannon the Conqueror, Xarriel

 

Tier 2

Dr. Destroyer, Dr. Yin Wu, The Dragon Incarnate (from the Mystic World, true form would be Tier 1), Hecate, Mechanon, Menton, Shadow Destroyer, Sharna-Gorak, Skarn the Shaper, Takofanes, Tezcatlipoca ("avatar" character sheet presented in CV3, would likely be Tier 1 at full power), Vulshoth (weakened state presented in Arcane Adversaries, would be Tier 1 at full power)

 

Tier 3

Arthon, Arvad the Betrayer, Black Paladin, Borealis, Bromion, Celestar, Dark Seraph, Demoiselle Nocturne, the Drifter, Eclipsar, Firewing, Galaxia, Geothermal, Gravitar, Holocaust, Incubus, Josiah Brimstone, Kigatilik, Kinematik, the Left Hand, Li Chun the Destroyer, Mordace, Necrull, Rashindar, Shadow Queen, Sovereign (Galactic Champions), Sunburst, Supernova (GC), Tetsuronin (Champions Worldwide), Taipan, Therakiel (as presented in the Vibora Bay sourcebook, seems to be more powerful in CO), Valak the World-Ravager (weakened state presented in CV3, would likely be Tier 2 or 1 if restored to full power), Viperia, The Warlord

 

Notes:

- It definitely feels like I could be over/underestimating entries in Tier 3. Some of the listings might make you go "If he/she made it, X should be there too." Could move some entries up to Tier 2 and/or remove some from Tier 3 to tighten it up.

- At first glance, one might think this is a tier list of CU villains, but there are a few heroes, all in the last tier. There are multiple reasons for this, such as players needing more villains than they need allies for campaign purposes, the need for villains powerful enough to challenge entire teams and instigate crisis-level threats, NPC heroes are designed such that they don't overshadow PCs who might want to be made the greatest heroes in their campaign world, etc. I also might not have access to sourcebooks with other powerful NPC hero writeups.

- An official writeup has never been published for Vanguard, but based on descriptions he was probably Tier 2. Hyperion would likely be in Tier 3.

- Eclipse (Kim Culhane) from CV3 is built on over 2000 points and is designed to steal the powers of other superhumans. It seems like she could potentially be in Tier 3 if she were to absorb/steal the abilities of a powerful enough target, but her dependence on such targets, potential inefficient use of powers due to unfamiliarity and the requirement for the powers to be innate/natural have convinced me to exclude her from the list. The same reasoning applies to Echo from GC.

- I really wanted to include Grond in Tier 3 but CV3 says he's meant to be just "cannon fodder" for a tough fight. He also has some glaring weaknesses and shortcomings. Based on his sheet, I think he would fit into a Tier 4 if there was one but way too many characters would probably qualify for that tier, some with better claims for it.

Edited May 13 by xenoz

[Grailknight]

Nice list. You might want to consider the Empyreans (Tier3 with possible Tier 2) and the big baddie from the Atlantean Age, Sharna-Gorak (Tier 1).

Edited May 11 by Grailknight

[Lord Liaden]

From one Champions Universe obsessive to another, this is a pretty comprehensive list!

 

I have a few suggestions. I would recommend moving Menton to Tier 2. His Sixth Edition character sheet in Champions Villains Volume One is ridiculously overpowered, and while he has no specific minions listed, his powers would let him subvert just about anyone he has a use for.

 

I would add the heroic Indian super-mage Rashindar (from Champions Worldwide) to Tier 3. He commands a wide and versatile range of potent spells and weapons, including the ability to grow to 200' tall giving him a STR of 110. He can't keep that size long, but it would let him get in some good shots. I'd also include Geothermal, from CV Vol. 3, in that tier. He's a literal combat monster. I also suggest you consider Taipan, also from CV3, for this tier. His attacks may look more limited than some on your list, but his incredible Speed and CV make up for it.

 

Since you included Viperia, I assume strong combatants who are members of organizations are fair game. In that case I would dip into DEMON: Servants Of Darkness, and add The Left Hand (the Edomite's enforcer), and possibly Demoiselle Nocturne of DEMON's Inner Circle (at least including her Night Terror servants), to Tier 3.

 

There's a mini-book for CU Champions, The Hercules Force, which includes a full write-up and character sheet for Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft. She totals over 1,800 CP, and her magic spells are even more powerful than those of Takofanes. She can also summon formidable demon and undead servants. I would urge you to include her in Tier 2.

 

36 minutes ago, Grailknight said:

Nice list. You might want to consider the Empyreans (Tier3 with possible Tier 2) and the big baddie from the Atlantean Age, Sharna-Gorak (Tier 1).

 

By far the most powerful Empyrean written up is Arvad the Betrayer, in Hidden Lands. Although physically superhuman, his Mental Powers are probably the strongest on Earth after Menton's, and he commands Lemurian followers... although those may be more limited if you include the Lemurian civil war in your calculations. I would put Arvad at least in Tier 3, perhaps Tier 2 with Lemurian backing.

 

The issue of including characters written up in other books should probably be clarified. There are a few from the past or future eras of the shared Hero Universe, and/or who come from books written for other genres, who could fit on your lists.

[xenoz]

2 hours ago, Grailknight said:

You might want to consider the Empyreans (Tier3 with possible Tier 2) and the big baddie from the Atlantean Age, Sharna-Gorak (Tier 1).

Added Arvad the Betrayer to Tier 3. Has a writeup/character sheet for Sharna-Gorak been published?

 

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

I have a few suggestions.

Based on your suggestions, I edited the OP with the follow changes:

- Promoted Menton to Tier 2

- Added Hecate to Tier 2

- Added Arvad the Betrayer, Demoiselle Nocturne, Geothermal, the Left Hand, Rashindar and Taipan to Tier 3.

 

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

Since you included Viperia, I assume strong combatants who are members of organizations are fair game.

As mentioned in the OP, individuals from teams/organizations like Viperia and Dark Seraph who are powerful combatants in their own rights qualify for the list.

 

1 hour ago, Lord Liaden said:

The issue of including characters written up in other books should probably be clarified. There are a few from the past or future eras of the shared Hero Universe, and/or who come from books written for other genres, who could fit on your lists.

I'm not familiar at all with the non-Champions material published by HG. Since this topic was posted in the Champions sub-forum, I think restricting the list to characters who appear in Champions books makes sense. Or could you make the case for certain characters to be included based on some direct-ish connection they might have to Champions lore?

[Lord Liaden]

59 minutes ago, xenoz said:

Added Arvad the Betrayer to Tier 3. Has a writeup/character sheet for Sharna-Gorak been published?

 

 

Sharna-Gorak gets a full write-up and character sheet for 5E, in The Atlantean Age, the source book for Hero Earth when CU Atlantis and Lemuria were great global powers. TAA is a fantasy setting with pseudo-Classical style, but a power level as high as fantasy can get without turning into straight superheroes. Sharna-Gorak as written not only would fit into a "super" world, he'd definitely belong in your Tier 2. He's almost Tier 1.

 

1 hour ago, xenoz said:

 

I'm not familiar at all with the non-Champions material published by HG. Since this topic was posted in the Champions sub-forum, I think restricting the list to characters who appear in Champions books makes sense. Or could you make the case for certain characters to be included based on some direct-ish connection they might have to Champions lore?

 

To me that seems like a perfectly reasonable restriction. I mean, you could certainly make a case for including characters from elsewhen if you wanted to deal with that. Modern Atlantis and Lemuria are direct descendants of their antediluvian incarnations. A number of artifacts from the Turakian Age have endured to modern times, not to mention the Archlich version of the age's namesake. You yourself brought in characters from the far future, and there are a few others from Hero's sci-fi line who might qualify. But I'd hardly call any of those cases irrefutable.

 

[xenoz]

9 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Sharna-Gorak gets a full write-up and character sheet for 5E, in The Atlantean Age, the source book for Hero Earth when CU Atlantis and Lemuria were great global powers. TAA is a fantasy setting with pseudo-Classical style, but a power level as high as fantasy can get without turning into straight superheroes. Sharna-Gorak as written not only would fit into a "super" world, he'd definitely belong in your Tier 2. He's almost Tier 1.

Added Sharna-Gorak to Tier 2.

 

9 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

To me that seems like a perfectly reasonable restriction. I mean, you could certainly make a case for including characters from elsewhen if you wanted to deal with that. Modern Atlantis and Lemuria are direct descendants of their antediluvian incarnations. A number of artifacts from the Turakian Age have endured to modern times, not to mention the Archlich version of the age's namesake. You yourself brought in characters from the far future, and there are a few others from Hero's sci-fi line who might qualify. But I'd hardly call any of those cases irrefutable.

The Atlantean Age is categorized in the store as a Fantasy Hero book, but Sharna-Gorak is relevant enough to Champions lore that he belongs on the tier list. In addition to his place in the ancient history of CU Earth, Sharna-Gorak is the one whose powers Luther Black stole. I would say characters from HG books for other genres who have a similar level of CU lore prominence belong here too. The only characters from the future I know of are from Galactic Champions, but if characters appearing in Star Hero books are tied to the CU's future they qualify for the list.

 

On a related note, if Luther Black's ascended form as the Edomite was ever written up, that would certainly deserve a spot. He appears in a partial version of this form (he does not complete the ritual to steal the powers of the avatars of the Kings of Edom) as the final boss of CO's Demonflame adventure pack. I'm assuming that, like SD's Eidolon form, this never made a true appearance in the TTRPG. FWICT he's presented in the books as a powerful but decidedly non-combatant master manipulator who relies on his DEMON cronies like the Left Hand and Demoiselle Nocturne for direct confrontations, which is why he's not on the tier list while those two are.

[xenoz]

I'm reconsidering my placements for Istvatha V'han and Skarn the Shaper.

 

In CV1, V'han is built on just 801 points while Skarn is built on 1842.

The Powers/Tactics section of V'han's writeup states that while she could potentially be deadly with her innate powers, she is "not really a combat machine, and isn’t intended as a frontline opponent for the PCs. She neither enjoys nor seeks out combat, and a group of powerful PCs is likely to defeat her with relative ease if she tries to duke it out with them." Based on this passage and her character sheet, I think she should be omitted from the tier list with the same reasoning I gave for Luther Black: mastermind with powerful organizational capabilities (in V'han's case, one of the most threatening in the multiverse), but not much of a direct combatant.

 

Skarn the Shaper, on the other hand, seems a much more formidable combatant. He's described as a gifted brawler even without taking his magic into account. His list of Powers is fairly long and includes a 260-point Cost VPP and some Multipowers. Skarn is definitely a force to be reckoned with, but when it comes to direct combat with PCs/other NPCs, maybe he's more of a Tier 2 character? I also seem to recall Tyrannon being described as the more powerful of the two and Tyrannon's Tree Throne character sheet looks much more intimidating than Skarn's, which is saying something. With the vast resources he has as ruler of the Congeries, Skarn is certainly a cosmic threat in plot terms. But as a combatant, I think he belongs in Tier 2.

 

Edits to the OP:

- Istvatha V'han removed from tier list

- Skarn the Shaper demoted to Tier 2

Edited May 13 by xenoz