GM advice: balancing flash

[BadTodd]

I've got a problem with one of the players in my game, and I'm hoping some of you other GMs have some advice for me.

 

How do you guys balance the use of flash (by the players) in your games?

 

I've got a player who uses flash as his main attack. He has a full multipower of attacks (energy blast, entangle, etc) available to him, but mostly sticks to flash because of its ability to "one shot" opponents (12 dice of flash basically removes you from the fight if you have no flash defense).

 

His latest trick is to spread his flash to hit multiple targets at once. And OMG, he whines like you wouldnt believe if ANY of the villians have flash defense, or have another sense that still allows them to fight back.

 

My first instinct is to boot the ass from the game, but unfortunately its not "my" group. I'm just filling in for the regular GM for a couple of months, so I'm basically stuck with him.

 

My second instinct is to just go ahead and give the majority of the bad guys flash defense, and just let him whine... but that tends to make the entire game session miserable for everybody. Once he starts whining, it becomes a non-stop marathon ordeal for the rest of the night.

 

I've tried to talking to the guy, but he is completely unreasonable. Every time the subject is even brought up, he basically sticks his fingers in his ears and starts chanting "la la la la la". Well, not literally, but thats about how willing he even is to discuss it.

 

Sorry, I got off on a bit of a rant there.

 

So... how do the rest of you handle flash in your games? What percentage of the bad guys do you normally give flash defense? Any other tips or tricks you can suggest?

 

 

BadTodd

[Monolith]

I just use the Flash modifiers from FREd. Just because someone cannot see does not mean they are out of the fight. Let the Flashed foes hit a few of the player's teammates by accident, or even some innocents on the side of the combat with a stray blast or two. Make the players defend the innocents from the blind machine gun shooter. Then the players will have a tendancy to use peer pressure to make the troublesome player conform. I'd also introduce a few Flash villains to the game. Let Mr. Flash be blind for a turn or two and see how much he likes it.

 

And if he's a whinner, then hit him again. There's nothing better than listening to a whinner whine.

[Trebuchet]

Generally about 1/3 of my villains have some Flash Defense. Flash is rare in the comics.

 

Of course, any villain team that knows it's going up against a team which uses Flash a lot would be stupid not to pick up some sunglasses or something as a cheap form of Flash Defense. If the hero doesn't have Flash Defense himself, you might also Flash him back. If not, then discover the wonders of Darkness. Put Flash Boy into a big enough Darkness field and he won't Flash anyone. Smoke bombs are your friend. So is radar and sonar. If this guy is so dangerous to the villains, it's only logical they'll focus on taking him out first. Most villains are not stupid. So first thing in every battle have every villain with a ranged attack target your boy. If he has to sit out a couple of adventures because he's "unconscious, GM's discretion", he'll straighten out pretty fast.

 

Are you using 5th Edition? Flash is not an automatic hit, it has to hit the target like any other attack. And remember that special effects trump points; if the villain covers his eyes just before he gets flash attacked he should not be blinded. Or have a villain who fakes being blinded, then when our hero turns to Flash another villain attacks from behind with a Haymakered attack.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: GM advice: balancing flash

 

His latest trick is to spread his flash to hit multiple targets at once. And OMG, he whines like you wouldnt believe if ANY of the villians have flash defense, or have another sense that still allows them to fight back.

 

Well, extra targets = less dice, so that's step 1. I agree with your first instinct, but I see your problem.

 

Try this: The next villain team encountered has one or two members who ALSO have flash attacks. They will use them on the same basis as this player. Now, when the players start discussing Flash Defense and/or compensatory senses, note what percentage of the PC's "should have" (or do have) such powers because it's "in character".

 

Look puzzled. Point at FlashMan's player. Say "but from his comments, I would have thought almost no one would ever have flash defense. I'm very confused. Let's discuss, as a group, how common flash defense should be for everyone - player characters and NPC's." A little peer pressure never hurt a GM looking for reasonableness.

 

My second instinct is to just go ahead and give the majority of the bad guys flash defense, and just let him whine... but that tends to make the entire game session miserable for everybody. Once he starts whining, it becomes a non-stop marathon ordeal for the rest of the night.

 

You may have noticed that I'm not sympathetic with this guy. Here's a few thoughts:

 

- enlist the other players. "Man, I'm tired of your whinefest - anyone else think Crybaby should suck it up and get on with the game?" Again peer pressure.

 

- Interpret the whining in-game. His "heroic character" is reported in the press as nearly in tears when a villain resisted his Flash. The other villains start calling him "Wonder Whiner" and "Captain Crybaby". [With any luck, so will other players.]

 

- Once his rep as a crybaby gets around, start docking PRE attack dice.

 

- Then dock him some xp for making the game less fun for everyone involved.

 

- for an easier out, use only published supervillain teams. When the griping starts, point to the book and say "It's not MY fault - the writer gave it to him." Try to modulate your voice to sound as whiny as his does.

 

Normally, I'd say "talk to him first", but it sounds like that option's exhausted.

 

You're stuck with him becuase you're filling in as GM. That also leaves him stuck with you. If it's to the point it's no fun, say so, and tell everyone either this guy starts acting like he's more than 10 years old, or there won't BE a game until the regular GM gets back (unless someone else wants to run a game for Captain Crybaby and his cohorts).

 

As to the "what %" question, I give characters powers that make sense in their concept. Thinking of my group of PC's (who generally don't use Flash), I think about half have flash defense or a compensatory sense. I fail to see why villain proportions would differ substantially.

[Redmenace]

A villain with reflection should make him think twice about unleashing his 12d Flash, atleast after the first time. You could build the guy so that he reflects the flash over a broader area, effecting the flashman's entire team. Hopefully thiswill get the other players to encourage the guy to find a new opening attack.

 

Along similar lines, a light based energy blaster who is made stronger by absorbing the flash energy.

 

 

I sympathise with you, one of my long time players had a character with 45 PD, 45 ED double hardened armour, 75 strength with Armor piercing. He was almost a hundred active points above everyone else and if he couldn't one punch a villain he would have his pc turn tale and abandon the rest of the team.

 

It can truly suck to listen to, but Monolith is probably right. let him whine.

[Metaphysician]

Originally posted by Redmenace

A villain with reflection should make him think twice about unleashing his 12d Flash, atleast after the first time. You could build the guy so that he reflects the flash over a broader area, effecting the flashman's entire team. Hopefully thiswill get the other players to encourage the guy to find a new opening attack.

 

Along similar lines, a light based energy blaster who is made stronger by absorbing the flash energy.

 

 

I sympathise with you, one of my long time players had a character with 45 PD, 45 ED double hardened armour, 75 strength with Armor piercing. He was almost a hundred active points above everyone else and if he couldn't one punch a villain he would have his pc turn tale and abandon the rest of the team.

 

It can truly suck to listen to, but Monolith is probably right. let him whine.

 

Whats the point of having 45/45 Hardenedx2 if you run when your first attack doesn't KO the opponent??

[Redmenace]

God I wish I knew. The group that has me now doesn't do things like that so it's little more than a worst player anecdote.

[Trebuchet]

Originally posted by Redmenace

I sympathise with you, one of my long time players had a character with 45 PD, 45 ED double hardened armour, 75 strength with Armor piercing. He was almost a hundred active points above everyone else and if he couldn't one punch a villain he would have his pc turn tale and abandon the rest of the team.

Heh. I used to run a powered armor hero named Ranger with 70 STR and better defenses than that guy. Ranger was the last guy to run from anything, and never did anything by halves. Once when our team was fighting a nest of vampires deep underground and one of the other characters shouted that we needed wooden stakes to kill them, Ranger flew out of the chamber and returned a turn later with a sharpened telephone pole.

[Wormhole]

If you really want to get nast with this little germ, send him and the team against a villain with highly destructive powers and Berserk when flashed in his disads. Even if Captain Flash doesn't get the snot beaten out of him, he'll be in dutch with his teammates and the general public from all the collateral damage that results.

[farik]

This guy sounds like too much trouble to deal with in game. Forget in pretext of teaching him a lesson since you'll most likely come off as the bad guy. Instead just explain "If I'm going to GM then we need to accept my judgement during the game and we can discuss any contentions afterwards. If that isn't acceptable then someone else needs to step behind the screen because I deserve to have fun too."

[TheEmerged]

1. First and foremost, make sure you understand the rules about the penalties for not being able to use a targetting sense versus being able to use a non-targetting sense. You might find that they don't take the victim quite as far out of the fight as you think.
   
2. Next, like most riddles you answered your own question: flash defense. Just like everyone and their dog seemed to have access to Kryptonite against the silver-aged Superman, you should probably make sure at least some of the opposition has FD.
   
3. Which brings me to the most salient point: the *best* defense against Flash is not FD -- it's another targetting sense. These are often *very* easy to justify, from the battlesuit character having radar to the ninja having "the ear that sees" to the mutant with a targetting sense of smell to the mentalist that can sense the presence of other minds... you get the picture.
   
4. Finally, always keep in mind that turnabout is fair play. If this character has enough FD, use Invisibility and/or Darkness and/or Images against him.
   

[KA.]

BadTodd,

First, please don't take this the wrong way because I don't mean to be condescending.

(I have been playing, on and off, since the early 80's, and I was double-checking the rules on Flash just the other day, because they can be a little complicated.)

Would you mind posting a "play by play" of how these Flash attacks are working in your campaign.

How many Dice of Flash is he using?

What does he Roll to Hit?

Are there any Advantages on the Attack?

What happens to people who have been Flashed?

 

I do not mean to imply that you don't know the rules, but I have found myself doing things the way I was sure was correct, only to read something later that made me realize I was incorrect.

 

Also, I agree with a previous poster.

These are villains you are talking about, not always the most reasonable people.

Imagine "Flashing" someone like "The Punisher".

He is going to open up Autofire in your general direction.

If that is a little hard on the teammates, or bystanders, then so be it.

You could also have more villains with Area Effect attacks.

If they start lobbing grenades around blind out of frustration, the Mayor himself may have a talk with this character.

 

You could also start having more thugs show up on vehicles, using them for attacks (Move By. Move Through).

When the Flasher blinds them, send them careening into the innocent crowd.

A few near catastrophes should have the other players talking to him, at the very least.

 

But the main point is this, criminals aren't stupid. If every night the news features thugs being captured because of a Flash attack, next week people will start having flash defense.

 

Have this guy go back and read a few early issues of The Human Torch. Criminals started using Fire Extinguishers, Fire Proof suits, etc. Superheroes do not get away with using the same trick over and over again.

 

KA.

[SomeAsianKid]

Try using a mentalist to throw a mental illusion on the flasher, causing him to blind the entire team. Then when the other players realize how powerful his flash is, hopefully they will say something to the guy.

[rayoman]

Whines about Flash Defense? Give villain a triggered Flash!

 

Yeah, that's right. A light-based Villain has a triggered Flash attack. What is the trigger? Being Flashed! Make it a AoE Megascaled (1KM) triggered Flash vs Sight Group.

 

Flashboy flashes LightVillain and LightVillain's triggered Megascaled Flash goes off blinding eveyone in a 1KM radius.

 

When Flashboy whines look at him then say, "YOU did it!"

[Southern Cross]

everybody seems to have better ideas than me.I just thought of this player encounter the Blind Dead.

Essentially these are zombified Templars who really were devil-worshippers,and thanks to their unho;y pact,rise from the dead as vampiric zombies! Having been blinded before they were put to death they now locate their victims by sound,which makes them immune to flashes that affect vision.

[Derek Hiemforth]

I'm going to take a dissenting position...

 

Let him use the Flash.

 

Okay, so when a 12d6 Flash hits a guy with no Flash Defense, he'll be hosed for a Turn. So what? If you hit a guy with a 12d6 Mind Control when he has no Mental Defense, he'll likely be hosed for a Turn. If you hit a guy with a 4d6 Killing Attack and he has no Resistant defense, he could easily be hosed permanently.

 

As long as 60 Active Points is an acceptable power level for an attack in this campaign, I don't see the problem with it. Sure it's effective. That's why he bought it. You shouldn't screw him over just because he uses an attack he finds effective. It's not like it's some unusually wormy construct or something; it's just a straightforward Flash.

 

You say he whines when villains have Flash Defense and make his Flash ineffective. But isn't that kinda what you're doing too? Whining because the villains don't have Flash Defense, and his Flash is effective? Turnabout is fair play.

 

Remember too that, if most villains don't have Flash Defense, then they will see someone with a sizable Flash attack as a threat, and go after him first... "That punk just blinded Professor Mentallo! Kill him first!"

[Vorsch]

I find myself agreeing with the previous post,

 

He bought the attack, it works, whats the problem?

 

If the GM resorts to Spot defence, or even worse, premeditated flash immune characters designed specifically to screw wth his character, even though they have no reason to go after him, its wrong and very confrontational.

 

a whiner will not "see the light" and change his ways. His tactic seems to be blind some one and then take em out, martial artists to the military use this particular cheesy tactic.

 

The problem is its not in genre to use your most effective attack at full power against every foe ( all supermans enemys would be dead if he did " heat vision").

 

Tell him to be a hero not an assasin

[Lord Liaden]

BadTodd, are any of the other players bothered by his attitude, or the tactics he uses? It might be worth discussing it with them if you haven't done so already. If they are upset by it then presenting a united front might be more persuasive in getting him to shape up. That would also give you more of a mandate if you feel you have no choice but to boot him out of the game.

 

If they don't have a problem with him, though, you may have no choice but to put up with him until you can bail out of GMing, or else resign before you intended if you can't run the game the way you feel is appropriate. I would say that you should take into account what the players as a group want overall, but otherwise you're the GM and you have to make the calls as to what flies and what falls. If that includes making Flash-Man whine once in a while, so be it. He sounds like the kind of player who complains whenever things don't go his way. If he becomes frustrated enough he may quite on his own, or if the other players get sufficiently annoyed they may tell him themselves to clean up his act or take a hike.

 

As a corollary to that, have you asked any of the players how their regular GM handles this guy? Maybe he/she has a technique for managing him, or maybe he's gotten this way because the GM coddled him. Or maybe he's just testing the "substitute teacher" to see what he can get away with, and if you're firm with him he'll cave.

 

On the game-play front, though, Flash is a legitimate attack which shouldn't be rendered ineffective, but I don't think it's unreasonable for at least some opponents to have the means to resist being neutralized by it - certainly master villain types should be able to if anyone in the game can. If this character develops a reputation as a Flasher, more thoughtful villains would be expected to prepare some type of counter to that tactic if they anticipate dealing with him, such as the ones suggested above. If the player complains about the "unfairness" of this tell him that it's a logical in-game development, and stick to your guns.

[Trebuchet]

Originally posted by Derek Hiemforth

I'm going to take a dissenting position...

 

Let him use the Flash.

 

Okay, so when a 12d6 Flash hits a guy with no Flash Defense, he'll be hosed for a Turn. So what? If you hit a guy with a 12d6 Mind Control when he has no Mental Defense, he'll likely be hosed for a Turn. If you hit a guy with a 4d6 Killing Attack and he has no Resistant defense, he could easily be hosed permanently.

 

As long as 60 Active Points is an acceptable power level for an attack in this campaign, I don't see the problem with it. Sure it's effective. That's why he bought it. You shouldn't screw him over just because he uses an attack he finds effective. It's not like it's some unusually wormy construct or something; it's just a straightforward Flash.

I agree that it's a valid construct for the PC and the player shouldn't be penalized for having a legal and GM-approved attack. I think what's bugging BadTodd more is the player's whining when his hitherto incredibly effective Flash attack doesn't work perfectly. That would irritate any GM, not just a drafted temporary one.

 

A good campaign, be it in Champions or in the comics, isn't static. Villains get experience too, and will likely learn to counter or reduce the effectiveness of common attacks just like the heroes do. The more often this guy uses Flash, the more likely it's going to be that smart villains will devise (purchase with XP) a countertactic or Power.

 

My general rule of thumb is an unusual attack works perfectly the first time it's used and possibly even the second, but by the third time at least some of the opposition will have an appropriate defense or countering Power. As an example, my character Zl'f in our campaign has been successfully Flashed only once in 12 years of gaming (It's been tried more often, but with her 14 DCV it has generally failed). It told my co-GM that if she got Flashed once or twice more it would be no big deal, but after that she'd buy some Gargoylesâ„¢ sunglasses or polarized contact lenses (Flash Defense) with XP to prevent another.

[Vorsch]

Does Z'lf also posess mental defence, power defence, lack of weakness?

 

Do you buy defences with XP after regulartly being attacked with them?

 

once in twelve years, wow

[Trebuchet]

Originally posted by Vorsch

Does Z'lf also posess mental defence, power defence, lack of weakness?

Do you buy defences with XP after regulartly being attacked with them?

 

once in twelve years, wow

No, no, and no. (And using Find Weakness on a character with only 12 PD would be kind of pointless.)

 

 

I was specifically referring to oddball attacks such as Flash, not the more mundane stuff dealt with by PD and ED. Character concept has to play a part as well; it would be very hard to justify Power Defense or Mental Defense within her character concept (Not impossible if I really wanted to, just difficult). Her main defense against almost everything is her high DCV. But sunglasses would be relatively easy to justify for almost any character, particularly Zl'f since her 4th Edition incarnation had Flash Defense. I dumped it when I upgraded her to 5e.

 

As I stated, it's been tried more than once (Five or six times IIRC) unsuccessfully. And there are certainly other ways to blind an opponent; she's been caught in a Darkness field more than once.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Originally posted by Trebuchet

A good campaign, be it in Champions or in the comics, isn't static. Villains get experience too, and will likely learn to counter or reduce the effectiveness of common attacks just like the heroes do. The more often this guy uses Flash, the more likely it's going to be that smart villains will devise (purchase with XP) a countertactic or Power.

All too true. Just recently our team had a fairly major run-in with a Viper team that was not only loaded for bear, but specifically gunning for us. They had stuff prepared and ready to deal with all our usual stuff: my scientist-sorcerer's Cloak of Night (darkness), our powered armor guy's goop grenades (entangle), and so on and so forth. About the second phase of combat, when one of the Viper agents did a Dive-for-Cover maneuver to get out of the way of an Invisible Power Effects Area of Effect attack that I was using for the first time in that combat (though it's one of my common tactics) is when when we realized that something was up -- he couldn't have used a Dive for Cover without realizing that what I was about to do was AoE. That's when Sentinel (our powered armor wearer and, really, our best tactician) shouted over our closed radio link, "They're prepared for us! Time to switch tactics!" -- so we all switched to actions/maneuvers we don't commonly use, or to seldom-used powers. It was a close call, but we managed to take them down without much serious injury on our side, and we prevented them from killing any more civilians (two were dead by the time we arrived).

 

Turns out it was not only a trap but a major fake-out to draw us away from our home base so they could raid it while we were "busy". They didn't realize that we had reason to suspect the public appearance might be a diversion, and had left our team brick (a living stone gargoyle) and our sneakier-than-a-rat Shadowmage/detective behind... HQ got really torn up, but they didn't get what they were after.

 

Still, it was a rather sobering lesson in that the Bad Guys will learn. We're in the process of setting up a team training schedule now to develop some variant tactics for future use.

[KA.]

Originally posted by Derek Hiemforth

I'm going to take a dissenting position...

 

Let him use the Flash.

 

Okay, so when a 12d6 Flash hits a guy with no Flash Defense, he'll be hosed for a Turn. So what? If you hit a guy with a 12d6 Mind Control when he has no Mental Defense, he'll likely be hosed for a Turn. If you hit a guy with a 4d6 Killing Attack and he has no Resistant defense, he could easily be hosed permanently.

 

As long as 60 Active Points is an acceptable power level for an attack in this campaign, I don't see the problem with it. Sure it's effective. That's why he bought it. You shouldn't screw him over just because he uses an attack he finds effective. It's not like it's some unusually wormy construct or something; it's just a straightforward Flash.

 

You say he whines when villains have Flash Defense and make his Flash ineffective. But isn't that kinda what you're doing too? Whining because the villains don't have Flash Defense, and his Flash is effective? Turnabout is fair play.

 

Remember too that, if most villains don't have Flash Defense, then they will see someone with a sizable Flash attack as a threat, and go after him first... "That punk just blinded Professor Mentallo! Kill him first!"

 

Derek,

I must respectfully disagree.

I don't see anything wrong with the use of Flash as an attack.

Even a main one it that is what the character wants.

It is the combination of this with his "requiring" the GM to serve up opponents with no Flash Defense that makes this a problem. Especially when he has been using the attack in what I assume is a public way for quite some time.

 

If you were GM'ing and a player asked you:

"Would you make sure that no villain has higher than a 15 PD and 20 CON?

I want my Energy Blast to CON Stun everyone, everytime I use it."

Would that be okay too?

 

I don't see any real difference.

 

To buy an attack that is uncommon, and thus effective, is perfectly okay.

 

But to demand that no one in the game world adapt to that attack, ever, is abusive.

 

Especially when the attack is something like Flash.

 

If your character spends 90 points on an NND Radiation attack, and everyone starts to show up in lead suits, that could be considered "screwing".

 

However, Flash is an attack that exists in the real world. Sunglasses and protective goggles are available at any Discount store.

 

Imagine if a GM did this to a Player.

"Dr. Flash just Flashed you again."

"This is the 30th time I've been Flashed. Can't I get some Flash Defense?"

"No, not in your concept."

"Can I develop an extra Targeting Sense?"

"No."

"How about if I . . ."

"Look! Your job it to get Flashed, and then beaten up, by Dr. Flash.

There is no alternative!

You exist only to be his punching bag.

You will get Flashed and like it.

From now on, you are required to stare directly into the Flash whenever Dr. Flash decides to Flash you."

 

That would be considered abuse of a player, but NPC's can be abused too.

 

Unless the villains have a Psych Lim

"Cartoon Character: Falls for the same corny gag over and over."

it does not make sense for this to work every time.

 

Also, this is a slot in a Multipower. It is not the character's only attack. You would not remove his effectiveness if everyone wasn't a sitting duck for his Flash attack.

 

A childish, but satisfying, solution for at least one session would be this:

Begin a normal session.

Start the plot, follow clues, interact with NPC's, whatever.

Except, when you get to "combat time" just say:

"And Character X Flashes everyone and the rest of you mop up.

 

After the police arrive . . ."

 

"Wait a minute! We're not going to play out the combat?"

 

"Well, no.

Since no one in the world is allowed to have Flash Defense, Flash is the most effective attack.

 

Since Character X always uses his Flash attack, you always win.

 

And since it appears that winning is more important that actually playing the game, or staying in genre, or facing anything that might be a challenge, then I will go along with your wishes.

 

You win.

 

I don't see any reason to waste a lot of my time playing it out, with the odds so obviously tilted in your favor.

 

So, from now on, all combat will be resolved by me saying "You win."

 

Now. After the police arrive . . ."

 

Sometimes people are a lot less happy when you give them what you want.

 

KA.

 

P.S. I am not an evil GM, but I have faced this kind of problem before.

One of my players would always try to come up with some foolproof method of destroying anyone he fought without taking a single Stun.

I am not talking about strategy here, I am talking about the kind of whining that BadTodd is describing.

Player: "I want to hit this guy, and then flip up in the air and kick him, and then take his gun and shoot him with it, and then hit him with it?"

 

Well, that is Five Attack actions (Punch, Half-Move Kick, Disarm, Shoot, Hit) and it will use up Five of your Phases.

 

Meanwhile, unless he is Stunned, he will get to try to hit you, and his friends may decide to shoot at you."

 

Player: . . . pout pout pout . . . "You won't let me do anything!

Okay. How about if I Flip and grab his gun first, then shoot him and kick him and hit him at the same time?"

 

Finally, I "threatened" this guy with running a "limited series" with him.

He could design whatever kind of character he wanted.

All the points he wanted.

No limit.

At first his eyes lit up at the possibilities, but then he realized what was going to happen.

I was going to fill the world with Human Punching Bags.

No defenses. No attack powers. Just cannon fodder for him to beat to a pulp with his Uber-character (Sort of like some issues of The Authority ).

 

He realized how unfun that was going to be, and straightened himself out in the regular campaign.

 

Sometimes players don't realize that the fun of the game is the challenge.

If you let them "run over" the world too much, they will grow dissatisfied and leave the game, and it will be your own fault.

 

As many kids can tell you the day after Halloween, having all the candy in the world does not make you as happy as you think it will.

 

It is the GM's job to be a better "parent" than that.

 

And "feed your kids some vegetables" once in a while.

 

It is good for them.

[Stray Cat]

After the flashy character has been around in the campaign for awhile and builds up a reputation, there will naturally be more villains who would prepare for him on the off-(or not so off-)chance that they will meet. And of course other posters mentioned reflection, other targeting senses, and the like to counter this guy.

 

Cat

[BlackSword]

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly

All too true. Just recently our team had a fairly major run-in with a Viper team that was not only loaded for bear, but specifically gunning for us. They had stuff prepared and ready to deal with all our usual stuff: my scientist-sorcerer's Cloak of Night (darkness), our powered armor guy's goop grenades (entangle), and so on and so forth. About the second phase of combat, when one of the Viper agents did a Dive-for-Cover maneuver to get out of the way of an Invisible Power Effects Area of Effect attack that I was using for the first time in that combat (though it's one of my common tactics) is when when we realized that something was up -- he couldn't have used a Dive for Cover without realizing that what I was about to do was AoE. That's when Sentinel (our powered armor wearer and, really, our best tactician) shouted over our closed radio link, "They're prepared for us! Time to switch tactics!" -- so we all switched to actions/maneuvers we don't commonly use, or to seldom-used powers. It was a close call, but we managed to take them down without much serious injury on our side, and we prevented them from killing any more civilians (two were dead by the time we arrived).

 

Turns out it was not only a trap but a major fake-out to draw us away from our home base so they could raid it while we were "busy". They didn't realize that we had reason to suspect the public appearance might be a diversion, and had left our team brick (a living stone gargoyle) and our sneakier-than-a-rat Shadowmage/detective behind... HQ got really torn up, but they didn't get what they were after.

 

Still, it was a rather sobering lesson in that the Bad Guys will learn. We're in the process of setting up a team training schedule now to develop some variant tactics for future use.

I was thinking this would be a rather cool solution. So its not just picking on the Flasher, try and limit other PCs attacks. This will only be useful if the other PCs have an assortment, but it will force everyone to shake up their attacks. Special mental helmets for Mental Defense, but they're not tied on too tight a TK can remove them, etc.

 

Also like others have said, its not a static world, if its the only attack he uses then word will get around, this guy uses this attack, pass out the Ray-Bans and lets go curb stomp him.