All this evil without a Champion to oppose

[Kirby]

Hello everyone,

 

Okay, here's what's been going through my mind. (And no, I won't let the doctors extract it.) We have lots of evil (and I mean EVIL, as from the village E-Ville) NPC villains that plague Champions Universe. We have Anubis, The Crowns of Krim, DEMON, Morningstar, Shadowdragon, and Takofanes who have either susceptibilities and/or vulnerabilities to holy items/places/attacks, along with (in my opinion) Black Paladin, Leech, and Slug who should. I have yet to see any character written up that would apply to these weaknesses, and a Disadvantage that isn't used ever in gameplay is like a limitation that doesn't limit. Has anyone created either a PC or NPC to "fight evil" of these types?

 

I have tried to create a 350 point hero just to see what kind of beacon of hope I could create. I'm still contemplating changes and open for suggestions. I still have one point left, as I'm trying to eliminate the "flat of the blade attack" for a HtH attack with gauntelts. Who knows?

 

Name: Paladin (or Champion, or something else good)

 

Val Char Base Cost

25 STR 10 15

23 DEX 10 39

25 CON 10 30

15 BODY 10 10

15 INT 10 5

15 EGO 10 10

20 PRE 10 10

16 COM 10 3

8/26 PD 5 3

8/26 ED 5 3

5 SPD 3.3 17

10 REC 10 0

50 END 50 0

41 STUN 41 0

6" RUN 6 0

2" SWIM 2 0

5" LEAP 5 0

 

-------------------------

STR Roll: 14- Run: 6"

DEX Roll: 14- Swim: 2"

CON Roll: 14- Leap: 5"

INT Roll: 12-

EGO Roll: 12-

PER Roll 12-

 

-------------------------

Pts. Power/Skill/Perk/Talent END

 

Helmet of Salvation

2 1) Sight Group Flash Defense (4 points) (4 Active Points); OAF (-1) 0

2 2) Hearing Group Flash Defense (4 points) (4 Active Points); OAF (-1) 0

 

24 Breastplate of Righteousness: Armor (12 PD/12 ED) (36 Active Points); OIF (Magic Armor; -1/2) 0

23 Flight 15", x4 Noncombat (35 Active Points); OIF (Armor; -1/2) 3

 

25 Sword of the Spirit: Multipower, 50-point reserve, (50 Active Points); OAF (-1)

5u 1) Energy Blast 10d6 (50 Active Points) 5

2u 2) Flat of the blade: Hand-To-Hand Attack +5d6, Penetrating (+1/2) (37 Active Points); Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/2) 4

4u 3) Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 2d6 (3d6 w/STR), Affects Desolidified Any form of Desolidification (+1/2) (45 Active Points); No Knockback (-1/4) 4

9 Demonbane magic: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1d6 (2d6 w/STR), Affects Desolidified Any form of Desolidification (+1/2),

Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (30 Active Points); OAF (Sword; -1), Custom Modifier (Only vs. Magical and Evil creatures; -1/2),

Linked (Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand; -1/2), No Knockback (-1/4) 0

 

28 Shield of Faith: Multipower, 50-point reserve, (50 Active Points); all slots OIF (-1/2), Activation Roll 15- (-1/4)

3u 1) Missile Deflection (Any Ranged Attack), Missile Reflection, Reflect At Any Target (50 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Activation Roll 15- (-1/4) 0

1u 2) Armor (6 PD/6 ED), Hardened (+1/4) (22 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Activation Roll 15- (-1/4) 0

 

37 Danger Sense (general area, any danger, Function as a Sense) 12-

 

5 Iron Will: Mental Defense (8 points total) 0

 

7 Power Defense (7 points) 0

 

10 Shape Shift ( Group), Instant Change 1

 

6 +2 with any three maneuvers (EB, HtH, HKA)

3 Deduction 12-

3 KS: Code of Chivalry 12-

0 Language: English (completely fluent) (3 Active Points)

2 Language: Latin (fluent conversation)

3 Paramedics 12-

 

 

Disadvantages Pts

Custom Disadvantage 35 (Fancy way of saying "I haven't figured these points out, yet")

Hunted: Black Paladin 11- (Mo Pow, Harshly Punish) 20

Hunted: Dark Seraph 8- (Mo Pow, Harshly Punish) 15

Hunted: Anubis 8- (Mo Pow, Mildly Punish) 10

Hunted: Morningstar 8- (As Pow, Mildly Punish) 5

Distinctive Features: Mystical Aura (Not Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction; Detectable Only By Unusual Senses) 10

Psychological Limitation: Code vs. Killing (Very Common, Strong) [Notes: Does not apply to unholy creatures/beings] 20

Psychological Limitation: Code of Chivalry (Very Common, Strong) 20

Physical Limitation: Chaste (Frequently, Greatly Impairing) 15

 

XP 0

150 : Powers Cost

54 + Skills Cost

145 + Characteristics Cost

349 = Total Cost

 

Some things I'm still not happy with are his few skills, his lack of non-lethal yet effective melee attack, I wanted him to be able to 'detect' evil people in his presence, should I give him a secret ID or public, and his hunteds. I wanted to capture the theme of the lone good guy versus overpowering baddies (sort of like the paladin class in D&D as the one who is destined to go up against multiple enemies or a single powerful one and he has a chance with his divine abilities.) He has 50 points of Hunteds, and that's *without* DEMON. I put them at 8- rolls because I didn't want them flocking together to deliver a brutal beating (also why he has Dark Seraph as opposed to all of The Crowns of Krim). Black Paladin has 11- because of his adamant anti-Christian views and I've always like him as a villain. I purposely did not give him any vulnerabilities to evil/unholy magic/attacks which would be the one big factor in his favor, i.e. they are more powerful than he is, but they are vulnerable to his attacks.

 

Well, what do you think? All non-bashing critiques welcome.

[death tribble]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

It is a good idea. I have a couple old style Champions characters who were religious and could oppose such enemies as mentioned.

Archangel who got her powers from God after the Nazis dropped the A Bomb on Coventry in a parallel timeline.

And the Demoness who could use Black or White Magic. One moment a rain of caustic blood, the next holy water like a hosepipe.

 

And yes the weaknesses should be opposed and opposable.

[Jarekk]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

Hmm...

 

The real question to that is, what makes one holy?

 

Could a warpreist of Odin (the name for the religion has completely slipped my mind at the moment) banish the demon as easilly as a warrior for Christ?

 

The problem with demons is, it's easy to know who the bag guys are... Which ones are the good guys?

 

Er--that's just my take, though. (%)

[Ghost who Walks]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

I don't really like the Paladin in fantasy, but this writup looks pretty good. The only problem I see is his lack of being able to do anything once his focuses are taken away.

 

I would expand his personality a bit, have him "protect innocence". Fights evil, keeps kids out of R-rated movies, and drinks milk.

 

Don't like the flight. Fighting evil should not be a chase scene. Give him a vehicle, and the ability to drive and modify it (mechanics). Could also buy him a Force wall, with the idea that he can't attack through it either (sanctuary). That way he could protect people.

 

I assume he is coming from some alternate reality, with only 3 points of english. Perhaps he could have the ability to sense dimensional distortions?

 

For extra disadvantages:

~Enraged at corruption, lust, or any of the seven deadly sins (allow evil into the world)

~DNPCs: shelter he works at/protects

~Rivalry: Law enforcement, that do little to fight evil/demons

 

 

As for "holy" it could be defined several ways...

 

(game definition)

1) Blessed or considered sacred by an organized religion, made up of worshippers who generally believe in its tenets.

 

2) Protected or imbued by the mystical/divine power of divine being, or one who claims divinity.

 

3) The remains of someone "touched" by the divine, such as a saint.

 

(notice good is not mentioned, but thats me)

 

A lot would depend on the campaign. Has anyone ever run a scenario, where Takofanes stomps the heroes, and is defeated by a mob of nuns wielding holy relics?

[Kirby]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

Could a warpreist of Odin (the name for the religion has completely slipped my mind at the moment) banish the demon as easilly as a warrior for Christ?

I would say "yes." One of the areas comics (and Champions) have been able to produce heroes from is the B.C. myths. Marvel and Champions (3rd or 4th E) had Thor, DC had Hawkman and Hawkgirl who were originally reincarnated Egyptians, and Champions under ICE had The Olympians. It would be easy to create a warrior from one of these and designate it as "holy" for special effect and complimentary background.

[Chuckg]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

Campaign I'm in right now, our team leader is the son of the ancient Turakian sun god. (The character combines elements of Black Adam, Nuada of the Silver Hand, and Thor.) He's pretty much a walking Holy Smite, and he predates Christianity by about 68,000 years.

[Hermit]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

I remember some threads we had about this sort of thing before hand. Some interesting points and counter points were brought up about what would make a character holy enough to work against susceptabilities/vulnerabilities etc.

 

Utlimately the GM gets to decide, but that can be an unsatisfying answer

[KA.]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

Kirby:

How about "Change Environment : Holy Ground" ?

Based on the description in Fred, it looks like you could do some type of "consecration" with either temporary or permanent effects.

Handy against things that take damage on Holy Ground, or shun it, etc.

You could build it into one of the Multipowers.

I think you can even have it do tiny amounts of NND Killing damage to certain specific types (Undead?)

 

KA.

[Kirby]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

The only problem I see is his lack of being able to do anything once his focuses are taken away.

Yeah, I didn't like this part either, which is one reason I was trying to make his HtH attack via gauntlets. Maybe I can work on buying him martial arts (probably 'comic book' style) for those occassions.

 

I would expand his personality a bit' date=' have him "protect innocence". Fights evil, keeps kids out of R-rated movies, and drinks milk.[/quote']

I love this! I probably would have never thought of it before he was able to be in a game. Thanks!

 

 

Don't like the flight. Fighting evil should not be a chase scene. Give him a vehicle' date=' and the ability to drive and modify it (mechanics). Could also buy him a Force wall, with the idea that he can't attack through it either (sanctuary). That way he could protect people.[/quote']

The flight was more for his method to get to the battle, as opposed to chasing. Also, I built this character off of Black Paladin's template in CE. I didn't think teleport would be a good transportation method (as flight he could at least rescue someone without paying 5 extra points) and a "stop that watertower from falling on the innocents" kind of thing where he could fly up to it. Also, teleport would have been too weird (or funny) when he faces Black Paladin. Can you imagine both people doing 1/2 move teleports before attacking? If he DEX gets to 24, the same as BP, then that might lead to some frustrating (though funny) scenes of simultaneous teleporting 'behind' or 'next to' their opponent, only to wind up out of HtH range.

 

I assume he is coming from some alternate reality' date=' with only 3 points of [E']nglish.

Ah, um, no. That was a misclick by me. I'll correct that. Thank you for spotting that.

 

Perhaps he could have the ability to sense dimensional distortions?

I like it. Now, where to find the points to pay for that?

 

For extra disadvantages:

~Enraged at corruption, lust, or any of the seven deadly sins (allow evil into the world)

~DNPCs: shelter he works at/protects

~Rivalry: Law enforcement, that do little to fight evil/demons

Good thinking, especially the DNPCs.

 

Has anyone ever run a scenario' date=' where Takofanes stomps the heroes, and is defeated by a mob of nuns wielding holy relics?[/quote']

Not exactly. I did have some PCs run into a church when being trounced by my Speed Demon (the only 12 SPD character I've ever created). It tried to complete its victory, but taking susceptibility damage every phase or segment (can't remember which now) was too much for it. Besides, it had already accomplished its mission for Legion by obtaining a blood sample of all the PCs.

[Kirby]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

Campaign I'm in right now' date=' our team leader is the son of the ancient Turakian sun god. (The character combines elements of Black Adam, Nuada of the Silver Hand, and Thor.) He's pretty much a walking Holy Smite, and he predates Christianity by about 68,000 years.[/quote']

I always did like the Black Adam character (probably because I liked Captain Marvel and Hawkman a lot ).

 

I like this, especially since the character is Turakian, an opponent for Takofanes (yeah, I'm not a fan of that one, can you tell?). Rereading Takofanes bio, it stood out that he was in Oklahoma 70K years ago. Isn't that like 40-45K years before humans came to North America? But hey, in the comics genre, that's doable! "[A] walking Holy Smite," that rocks.

[Kirby]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

How about "Change Environment : Holy Ground" ?

Based on the description in Fred, it looks like you could do some type of "consecration" with either temporary or permanent effects.

Handy against things that take damage on Holy Ground, or shun it, etc.

You could build it into one of the Multipowers.

I think you can even have it do tiny amounts of NND Killing damage to certain specific types (Undead?)

Oh, a wonderful idea! Now, where are the points? Bring me my points!

[KA.]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

Kirby:

How about "Change Environment : Holy Ground" ?

Based on the description in Fred, it looks like you could do some type of "consecration" with either temporary or permanent effects.

Handy against things that take damage on Holy Ground, or shun it, etc.

You could build it into one of the Multipowers.

I think you can even have it do tiny amounts of NND Killing damage to certain specific types (Undead?)

 

KA.

 

Okay, this is a little freaky.

 

As those of you who know me will verify, I am as unaware and uninterested in my post count as anyone could possibly be.

I am much more interested in the content of my posts, than the number of them.

Because of that, I never go out of my way to look to see how many posts I have made, although I do check my Rep from time to time, since that is based on (for better or worse) the quality of my posts.

 

A couple of minutes ago, I made the post on Holy Ground that I quoted above.

 

After that, I went to check my Rep, and saw that I had gotten some on a post from yesterday. I went to check out that thread and just for the heck of it, decided to "cursor over" the little Rep icon to see what it had to say,

you know "KA. will soon be famous." or whatever.

 

That was when I noticed my post count.

 

666

 

Now I am not what you would call "traditionally religious", although I consider myself both Christian and "spiritual", but it was still a little weird.

Religion does not come up that often around here, at least not on the boards I usually frequent (Champions, Hero System, HeroDesigner).

 

So what are the odds that a post on creating "Holy Ground" for a Paladin, one of the few religious topics I would ever post to, would turn out to be number 666?

 

Not that I really make anything significant out of this, but it is a little weird.

KA.

 

Oh well, it could have been worse.

I could have been posting something like:

"I don't really believe that there is a Devil. If there is, I challenge him to show me evidence of his existence. Even a shred will do!"

That would have been a little too freaky.

[Kirby]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

So what are the odds that a post on creating "Holy Ground" for a Paladin' date=' one of the few religious topics I would ever post to, would turn out to be number 666?[/quote']

The odds? Maybe 1 in 666? Heh. While it probably is just a major coincidence, I'm convinced God has a sense of humor. (Hey, look at giraffes and the platypus.) But I did notice that on the post; it just didn't click for me, despite the fact that I started this thread.

 

Take care.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

When it comes to characters with these kinds of Vulnerabilities and Susceptibilities, I've long ruled that any characters that either are or are empowered by worshipped supernatural entities, from any source, of essentially benign motivation, are classed as wielding "holy power." Any artifacts or sites consecrated to such entities would count as well. As you pointed out, Kirby, comics are full of these.

 

For example, one of the members of the Millennium City Eight hero team (published in Digital Hero #13) is an avatar of the goddess Athena, so I would say that mixing it up with her would trigger those Disadvantages. Then there is the supermage spell set from the 4E Mystic Masters sourcebook, the "Eleven Lights of Luathon": "Luathon is a higher-dimensional entity, a great force for good who is known in most dimensions." (MM p. 80) I'd call the essential nature of these spells "holy" for this purpose.

 

Someone else in one of the previous discussions Hermit alluded to, suggested that existing sites sacred to another faith from an earlier age might have an equally detrimental effect on the "sacredly challenged." Dark Seraph is unlikely to follow you into a Christian church, but maybe you could lure him to the middle of Stonehenge.

[Kirby]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

Could also buy him a Force wall' date=' with the idea that he can't attack through it either (sanctuary). That way he could protect people.[/quote']

Yes, Pinky! {Ahem} I mean, very nice. The multipower concept was floating within me. Dang those points, dang them.

[Kirby]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

When it comes to characters with these kinds of Vulnerabilities and Susceptibilities' date=' I've long ruled that any characters that either are or are empowered by worshipped supernatural entities, from any source, of essentially benign motivation, are classed as wielding "holy power." Any artifacts or sites consecrated to such entities would count as well. As you pointed out, Kirby, comics are full of these.[/quote']

Absolutely. Unfortunately, I haven't seen enough of these. Maybe CU will have a counter to Anubis down the road I'll have to pull out my Mystic Masters to Luathan to see if I'd want to use him.

 

Now, if Chuckg's "son of the ancient Turakian sun god" could make its way to CU or the board....

 

Someone else in one of the previous discussions Hermit alluded to' date=' suggested that existing sites sacred to another faith from an earlier age might have an equally detrimental effect on the "sacredly challenged." Dark Seraph is unlikely to follow you into a Christian church, but maybe you could lure him to the middle of Stonehenge. [/quote']

Could be a difficult trek from North America. Maybe someone could create a mass teleport ( "MEGA SCALE!") to go to Central or South America to some of the Aztec or Mayan sites. Hey, maybe that's one reason these evil villains aren't seen often in South America! Of course, Dr. D may be another reason, but still....

 

Wait a minute! If Takofanes was found in Oklahoma, maybe there is a plot deep in the recesses of some GM's mind where the PCs find a holy Turakian site. Maybe? I'm ignorant of the Turakian Age, so I don't know if I'm off-base or not.

[Chuckg]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

Now' date=' if Chuckg's "son of the ancient Turakian sun god" could make its way to CU or the board....[/quote']

 

a) It's not mine, it belongs to another player in the same campaign I'm in. I did help with chargen, but it's not mine.

 

It's already made it to the board, several times -- "Horus-Re". (granted, Mark's version of the origin story is a little different than the version I listed in the '1000 point JLA' thread...)

[Intrope]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

Wait a minute! If Takofanes was found in Oklahoma' date=' maybe there is a plot deep in the recesses of some GM's mind where the PCs find a holy Turakian site. Maybe? I'm ignorant of the Turakian Age, so I don't know if I'm off-base or not.[/quote'] Heh. Maybe the PC's could find a lost temple of the Drakine gods in South America or something. Of course, they'd probably be pretty surly, since *their* chosen people are all gone.

 

Maybe they'd only help you if you brought some of their people back to life (somehow--Teleios might be able to do this with a flesh sample...)

 

This would probably be more amusing if the players know about the Turakian age and the characters don't!

[Lord Liaden]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

Could be a difficult trek from North America. Maybe someone could create a mass teleport ( "MEGA SCALE!") to go to Central or South America to some of the Aztec or Mayan sites. Hey' date=' maybe that's one reason these evil villains aren't seen often in South America! Of course, Dr. D may be another reason, but still....[/quote']

 

I wouldn't be surprised if various Amerindian burial grounds, Mound Builder sites, or Pueblo ruins could be counted.

 

BTW you did know that Dark Seraph is an English baronet with an estate there, right?

 

 

Wait a minute! If Takofanes was found in Oklahoma' date=' maybe there is a plot deep in the recesses of some GM's mind where the PCs find a holy Turakian site. Maybe? I'm ignorant of the Turakian Age, so I don't know if I'm off-base or not.[/quote']

 

Seems pretty reasonable to me. IIRC there's a NPC hero written up in an issue of DH who discovered an ancient tomb of one of the dwarven kings, and received a power-granting object from him. I'll have to look that up and get back to you.

[Kirby]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

BTW you did know that Dark Seraph is an English baronet with an estate there' date=' right? [/quote']

Um, yes? Well, I remember the English part, but not the estate. Besides, what would my American heroes be doing in Europe? Vacationing?

[Powerhouse]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

If you still want to fly, consider a winged horse... definitely gives you that knight in shining armor thing.

 

I'd also consider making the sword a little more special... maybe take away the focus limit so it's really a SFX ie it can't be taken away. If looking for points you could consider an "Only in Hero ID thing..." then an added limit could be accidental change.

 

I would recommend lowering the dark seraph hunted to 11 since the character is just so powerful. Personally in a campaign I would never allow a MoPow any roll higher than an 8.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

I've been doing a little research into the official Champions Universe, looking for characters who might fit our working definition of "holy power." The list isn't as short as one might have thought. Mind you, not many of them have been written up yet.

 

Note that this list will include some more "secret" info about these characters, so if you don't want to know, read no further!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides Megaera of the MC 8, several other heroes around the world claim to be avatars of various divinities, often taking their names. These include the Egyptian Maat, goddess of justice; the metal-controlling Ogun, from the West African god of crafts and the forge; and Ushas, empowered by the Hindu goddess of the dawn. During WW II Himeki fought for the Japanese with solar powers bestowed by the goddess Amaterasu; it's not clear whether he/she is still alive and active, though.

 

One American superhero, Archangel, claimed powers to fight evil from God Himself; but she was killed in 1987 by Takofanes.

 

Another probable wielder of "holy attacks" is the mystic Robert Caliburn of Vibora Bay. He carries a .44 semiautomatic blessed by Azrael, Angel of Death, and a submachine gun consecrated to the Hindu god Shiva.

 

IMO the martial-arts superhero Shugoshin is another likely candidate. He wields the mystical Sheishinkin ("Spirit Swords"); according to his sensei, the swords will "grow in power as your soul becomes purer."

 

There are a few other possibilities depending on how you would define the SFX of their powers. For example, some superheroes practice mystic disciplines that are part of religions in their own right, such as the Haida shaman Ravenspeaker, and the voodoo practitioners Brother Thunder and Sister Rain.

 

The mighty British hero Albion is supposedly the embodiment of the "nobility and heroic nature of the British people." (Sounds like GestaltBennie created him.)

 

Finally, another member of the MC 8, Stalwart, may or may not have received his powers through an act of God... that's left deliberately unclear.

 

As far as extant writeups go, Shugoshin is in Champions Universe; Megaera and Stalwart are in Digital Hero #13; and Robert Caliburn, Brother Thunder and Sister Rain will almost certainly appear in the upcoming Vibora Bay sourcebook. Some of the others may appear in Champions Worldwide in '05.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: All this evil without a Champion to oppose

 

Um' date=' yes? Well, I remember the English part, but not the estate. Besides, what would my American heroes be doing in Europe? Vacationing? [/quote']

 

Sure, why not? Or pursuing a fleeing villain, tracking down an international conspiracy, called in to help foreign heroes because of needed expertise... international jaunts can make a fun change of pace and scenery from domestic heroing.