The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

[Powerhouse]

Comic book fans might know about the Batman protocols (revealed in JLA where Batman devised ways to take down the JLA) and the Xavier protocols (created by Professor X to take down the world's most powerful mutants, including himself and the X men, if they became a dander).

 

What if someone with intimate knowledge of you and your team decided to figure to take you down "just in case." This would likely include weaknesses that few people know about.

 

For my team:

 

Lady Silver (powerful sorceress): her powers are difficult to counter and varied. Her weak point is that she needs to summon her most powerful defenses and they are quite visible (ie mystic shields). She has been noted to used lower powered shields that are invisible to detection and also screen out harmful substances.

 

Solution: sniper shot when she is unaware. Given her frequency at charitable events, she would be easy to stalk. Use a very powerful round (explosive, depleted uranium, etc) and be ready to move in very quickly to confirm the kill. If you don't see a ton of missing brain matter, follow up with plastique.

 

Nova: alien energy projector: physically tough and a fast flier. Noted weakness includes vulnerability to drains.

 

Solution: use gravity bolos that when they wrap against a target activate a gravity well and increases the target's weight many fold. If the resulting shift does not rip her in half, it will certainly slam her into the ground with stunning force. Follow up with lethal attacks now that she is stunned and her mobility lessened.

 

Alternatively, fire off monofilament webs in her path. They are almost impossible to notice and, when combined with her speed, will slice her to pieces.

 

Starknight: uses alien armor that lets her fly, create energy constructs, melee weapons, and energy blasts. Between armor, force fields, and force walls she is tough to hurt.

 

Solution: armor lacks defenses to the senses. Concentration also required to manifest constructs. Use high intensity light bursts and sonics to disoriented and bypass defenses and degrade offensive capabilities. Ground her with the above gravity bolos to prevent escape. Do not close into melee combat.

 

Titan: high tech wonder with powerful armor.

 

Solution: lure into prepared area with several powerful electromagnets. When in the designated area, rip him apart. Otherwise, use magnets to hurl him about until unconscious or armor is damaged. Have backups in case he destroys them. Also, be ready to change the magnet's strength and direction if he tries to counter with magnetics (he has a gadget pool).

 

Speed Demon: speedster

 

Solution: fire off monofilament webs in his path. They are almost impossible to notice and, when combined with her speed, will slice him to pieces. Or lure him into a null gravity area where he can't run. Use chemicals that he accelerated metabolism will absorb quickly. Landmines.

[Powerhouse]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

Sentinel: (human special forces soldier): no particular strategy is needed powerwise although he would be the one most likely to keep his head and escape. Very easily underestimated. Use conventional attacks like gas and explosive but be ready to move in quickly. Best to plan out a place with few escape routes.

 

Lodestar: magnetic controller.

 

Solution: simple enough: non ferrous objects whether as bullets, entangles, sharpnel, etc. You might want to start off with some metallic attacks to boost his confidence and make him sloppy. Or just lobe near him in a non ferrous grenade some gas which will bypass his force field.

 

Tyr: Norse god of justice: ok you got me there. Think Thor minus the storm powers and hammer but with a powerful "final justice" attack, powerful melee weapons, and a few misc powers related to tactics and truth. Maybe some powerful artifact...

[Trebuchet]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

Zl'f: She's hard to hit; easy to hurt. Either catch her out of combat where she'll have a whole 6 PD/6 ED since her Combat Luck won't apply (by surprise is even better for 2X Stun) or use AoE and/or EX attacks. Any average 9d6 with EX or AoE will Stun her; then it's all over.

 

She's not really powerful enough to rate this type of analysis anyway, as any such analysis would clearly demonstrate.

[Adventus]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

Adventus: Very hard to hurt made of Adamantium.

 

Solution: has a problem with Magnetics. Suggest lure to location and hold in place with intense magnetic fields. When defenses down, shot with depleted Uranium rounds.

 

 

unfortunately at that point they will find his defenses aren't down. He is just weaker.

[Sundog]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

With Terminus, things could be easy or difficult.

 

His major weakness is Mentalism. On his world, there were no powerful Psis, so he wasn't engineered to deal with their powers.

 

Otherwise, you'd probably want to hit him with gas attacks when he isn't wearing his Hardsuit - it's atmosphere sealed. He's quite good at dealing with conventional attacks.

[Powerhouse]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

She's not really powerful enough to rate this type of analysis anyway, as any such analysis would clearly demonstrate

 

Some White Martians thought that about Batman...

[Powerhouse]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

Adventus: Very hard to hurt made of Adamantium.

 

Does he still need to breathe?

 

If so, lure him onto the ocean somehow and blow up the boat/structure. He'll sink right to the bottom. Even if he can survive underwater, he can not get depth charged to hell.

[Adventus]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

No he doesnt FULL life support.

[Lethosos]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

I'll have to think about this for a bit for the Hero City team... I run CrashTest, a kinetic speed-brick there. It wouldn't be in his Psych makeup, but it would be a useful intellectual exercise...

[jkwleisemann]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

Okay - easiest ways to take them out:

 

Darkchild: Threaten Heat Wave. He makes very good bait for her, even if she would turn bad. From there, if you can lure her some place where she can't access her magic (ironically, luring her into a church would do the trick well; the guy in charge is just a smidge possessive, doesn't like letting other gods work their miracles there, something which is *not* well known.)

 

Void: Physical attacks on Dominic DuBey. Catch him when his guard is down, and he's just a minor mutant with the ability to absorb energy attacks. Snipe him, and he's out of the picture.

 

Huntress: Fastest way to take her down would be to lace her prescription with something, or bribe her supplier (assuming that, if she went bad, she'd have to go to the streets to supply her speed addiction) to taint her next hits.

 

Galaxy Girl: Get the suit off of her. Then she's just a distinctly bright teenager.

 

Charger: Hit him fast and hard, before he has the chance to pump up his stats. He's based almost entirely off Aids (followed by beatdowns), so that'd do the trick.

 

Bombshell: Grab a bystander (or apparent bystander). Even if she goes bad, she isn't likely to go so bad that she'll let fly with her energy blasts (all explosive) on somebody who's at point-blank range from an innocent.

 

Hellhound (I really hope the GM of this campaign isn't reading.... ): Two-pronged attack. Open up with luring her into a church, probably dousing her in holy-water to weaken and neutralize the hellfire powers she inherited from her father. Second, nail her with a mutation-neutralizer, and take her on in hand-to-hand. A sufficiently powerful hero - like either of her parents, or their former colleagues - could probably take her down with relative ease simply on the basis of her relative inexperience.

 

Scarface: Stage one: Lure him out of Winthrop City. This isolates him from his support network, leaving him entirely without the support of the Underground People who are willing to do just about anything for "the Black Angel." Stage two: Throw a high PRE villain or hero at him, preferably bulletproof. He doesn't have the superpowers that most do; all he's really got is his reputation and face, and a schnitload of high calibre guns that would bounce off the average brick.

[David Johnston]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

The Wizard of Oz Incorporated: All of his hardware is vulnerable to electromagnetic pulses.

 

The Scarecrow of Oz Incorporated: Best handled with dazzle attacks to incapacitate his ability to make eye contact and instill fear. Without his protective costume he's vulnerable to sunlight, but not quickly enough to be an exploitable weakness. Stay out of arm's reach and try to use crossbows to put a quarrel through his heart, knocking him out.

 

Tin Man: Tin Man is unpredictable since he's a suit of powered armour that can be operated by remote telepresence, given preprogrammed instructions, or manned by a human pilot. And it has electromagnetic pulse shielding. The fire-fighting foam cannon isn't particularly dangerous but it can knock people off balance while making the ground slippery. However, as suits of powered armour go, it's pretty physically weak. The best approach? Just bash it to pieces with a stronger brick who can fly. Or sneak up on it and use a shaped charge to take out the on-board computer. Even if there's a human pilot, the armour will be incapacitated.

 

Lionheart: Lionheart is fast and agile but doesn't dish out much damage. His fast metabolism makes him vulnerable to gas attacks but also makes him get up quickly again, so be sure to restrain him quickly.

 

Tea (Pronounced with two syllables): Tea's birds and rodents can only really be dangerous against someone who doesn't significant defenses but she's easy to one punch into unconsciousness. But be _sure_ she's out cold since her little friends can cause a lot of confusion while she invisibly communicates with them.

 

Boris: Tea's modified bear can be put down with a couple of tranquiliser darts.

[McCoy]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

Millennium: He can deflect ranged attacks. His force field is tough, not invulnerable. Dogpile him with three or more flying bricks.

 

Cheeta: Is dependent on his preformance enhancing substances. Has no power defense. Hit him with an area effect entangle, follow up with a SPD or DEX drain.

 

Iron Will: Take out his Life Support Module, and possibly his gadget pool, with an EMP.

 

Snow Leopard: Her enhanced senses make her vulnerable to Flash attacks and sonics.

 

Dolphin: Is nearly invulnerable. He's got full life support, has evolved the defense for every NND and ALD he's been hit with in the past, and has an always on force field over nonfocused armor. Go indirect. Take a hostage, or a dozen. Threaten to nuke a pod of whales if he doesn't surrender.

[Duke Bushido]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

Martin Power: nearly impossible to hurt physically. However, exploitation of his sister has worked in the past, as does threatening retaliation against others (hostages, 'plot forks', etc.) He's a hero in his heart: even if he can't be hurt, he would sacrifice his own life before letting someone else's be taken.

 

Armorine: A quick and overpowering attack while she's in Flight mode could knock her directly into healing mode. In this mode, she is semi-catatonic, and her automated systems will use any available endurance to move her as far as possible from any threat. If she's in combat form, avoid using any light based attacks; focus on powerful sonic attacks. If she can't shift forms and escape, she will be forced into healing mode.

 

Panther: Primarily a martial artist / gadget type. Any show of overwhelming force will most likely keep her away from the action. Normal Characteristics Maxima and low defenses make her wary.

 

T'Bukai: Attacks based on extreme cold or solid entangles, applied with good tactics, would shut him down for a good while.

 

Mark II: waves of small groups. While he's not stupid, his preffered method of dealing with small groups is his AOE EB. He's not fast enough or strong enough to deal with a group one opponent at a time. His AOE is increased END. Repetitvely sending in small groups would rob him of his END reserve, which recovers _very_ slowly.... Think days....

 

Silver Streak: Any opponent with enough defense to withstand his attacks has a chance. He has no special attack powers, relying on his high SPD and move-by's to increase his effectiveness. Area Effects are a personal fear of his.

[David Johnston]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

 

Silver Streak: Any opponent with enough defense to withstand his attacks has a chance. He has no special attack powers, relying on his high SPD and move-by's to increase his effectiveness. Area Effects are a personal fear of his.

 

Dude. Tripwire. It's the cure for speedsters.

[Amber Nytstar]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

Luna Moth: Acrobactic gadgeteer thief. The only powers she has that doesn't involve a focus is the ability to detect any thermals within a one kilometre radius of her and enough luck to usually evade any attempts to harm or unmask her. Her worst vulnererabilities are the poison in her bloodstream, which will kill her by the last setting of the full moon that cycle, unless she drinks a dose of the pallative, and the fact that her father is also the head of the taskforce set up to catch the Luna Moth (although he doesn't know that his daughter is also the thief he's chasing.)

 

If someone wanted to take the Moth down permenently, their best bets would be to a) steal the pendant containing the Medusa's Tear, and to keep her from getting it back until after the full moon has passed, or deny her access to moonlight, usually by trapping her somewhere deep underground. It may take two or more lunar cycles for the poison to finally kill her, as Luna always has an emergency supply of the pallative hidden on her.

An easier, albet more temporary, method is to leak the Luna Moth's secret identity to the task force after her.

 

Blackie, Midnight, and Trisk: Luck altering gadgeteers. The Flying Kittens constantly give people within a 20 metre radius 3d6 of Unluck for each Kitten close enough to affect him, and can focus the transformation on a person within 20 km by telling someone the target's identity (the Kitten must use a name or nickname, not a descriptive title or insult. i.e. 'Foxbat', 'Foswell' or 'Freddie' would trigger an attack if he was in range, whereas 'Mom', 'Sensei', or 'that yellow-winged idiot' would not affect anyone.) All three Kittens are immune to their own and each other's area effect, but each one could still be affected by their siblings' name-calling. The plans for most of the gadgets the Kittens use have copied from their parents' library and workshop, then miniturized and kidified.

 

The best way to take out the Kittens would be some sort of long range attack unless you were very, very lucky. Or clever enough to get each kid mad enough to start calling each other by their real IDs.

Or he could tell their parents who Kittens really are. Of course, this may also complete the Flying Kittens' singular objective, to make their Mom and Dad so embarrassed that they give up their attempts to be supervillains.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

The problem with translating the Batman/Xavier protocols to the game is that we get bogged down in the game mechanics. The Protocols generally contained some creative strategies (Bat's mechanism for taking down Plastic Man comes to mind), rather than relying exclusively on known disadvantages, limitations and weaknesses in the build.

[Manic Typist]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

 

Dolphin: Is nearly invulnerable. He's got full life support, has evolved the defense for every NND and ALD he's been hit with in the past, and has an always on force field over nonfocused armor. Go indirect. Take a hostage, or a dozen. Threaten to nuke a pod of whales if he doesn't surrender.

 

 

A defense for every NND?

 

Seems like an oxymoron, to me.

[McCoy]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

A defense for every NND?

 

Seems like an oxymoron, to me.

"every NND and ALD he's been hit with in the past" His power was defined as adaptability. 90% of his XP have gone to defenses and immunities.

[calonnau]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

Warlock: Anything that could do a mass dispel/drain/supress on magic and still get through a decent power defence since every one of his powers depends on magic. Going technological you could try combat robots with some serious defence and armaments.

[Cancer]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

Mr. Terrific: Take him alone, and be patient. His powers come from power pills, two minutes each, a max of four in 24 hours.

 

[Mind you, eight minutes of HERO System combat means about 18 months of real-world time, so the exhortation "be patient" means a bit more....]

[wylodmayer]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

A lot of my characters are skilled normals, so there's nothing really to say except "try real hard." For the record, though...

 

Cat: Catch her without her costume. She's a skilled normal, but she doesn't fully believe she's a hero without the suit.

 

Ace: Easy. Throw a cute girl in his path to distract him, or threaten a cute girl so he'll have to do something dumb to rescue her. Ace is easily smart enough to know these are ruses, and easily enough of a slave to his passions to be susceptible anyway.

 

Terminaxx: He's a speedster, so Entangles are still the best, because his increased damage in hand to hand is all based on speed - nail him to the floor and he can't do much. That's about it, though; Terminaxx's Psych Lims lean more toward making him a flinty bastard than anything else.

 

Disco Angel: She's a hard one to figure. She's got a host of oddball powers, including interdimensional travel. I can't think of anything offhand that would SPECIFICALLY work against her.

 

Der Geist: He's Inherently Desolid and Invisible - he has to spend END to be solid/visible - so the best way to take him out is to SOMEHOW hold him still; knocking him unconscious, say, is self defeating. He's vulnerable to magic, and he can't pass through magical barriers, so a Force Wall bubble with a magic special effect is about it.

[Thrakazog]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

The problem with translating the Batman/Xavier protocols to the game is that we get bogged down in the game mechanics. The Protocols generally contained some creative strategies (Bat's mechanism for taking down Plastic Man comes to mind)' date=' rather than relying exclusively on known disadvantages, limitations and weaknesses in the build.[/quote']

 

Would anybody have a link available where I could read up on Batman's protocols? I found the google results far from helpful.

[Karmakaze]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

I had a character at one point who developed a set of these protocols, based on her teammates. Her thinking ran

- Tactics developed for a specific metahuman can often be generalized for other metahumans. My teammates provide the closest and most reliable source of data for tactical research.

- My teammate's enemies often have similar origins/powersets to my teammates. If I can take down my teammate, I am likely to be able to also stop his nemesis.

- It is possible for my teammates to be possessed or duplicated. The better able I am to counter a teammates abilities, the better I will be able to stop a rampage without having to cause permanent damage to a friend.

For some reason, the rest of the team saw it as "Why are you plotting ways to take us all down?"

 

As for my existing characters:

 

Sparkle (flying energy projector). She's much better with disguises and distance combat. Force her into close conditions until a brick can get ahold of her.

 

Roxy (teleporting shapeshifter). First, someone needs a way to suppress the teleport. She's another who'se defenses include being hard to hit (either through disguise, teleporting dodge, or invisibility). Lacking a teleport suppressor, best bet is to surprise attack -- it is possible to one-punch her (at least to con-stun) with a solid enough hit.

[DEFCON Clown]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

Gregory Cauldron: Your best bet would be to use his sense of honor against him. Lure him into a trap by claming his family is doing something at the place you want him to be. He'll immediately leave to stop them, and he won't tell his teammates since its a family matter.

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: The Champion Protocols (ie how to take down your character)

 

It wouldn't take much for my characters.

 

If anyone needed to subdue Reinard The Fox, all it would really take a good-old fashioned pummeling. The Damage Reduction is Body only, and Regeneration only heals back Body, so Stunning or knocking him out shouldn't be too hard. Of course, if you want him dead, there's Paint Thinners.

 

Sonic Eagle can be brought down easily if you have ear protection and are fast enough to land a hit on him in flight.

 

Lab Rat simply has to be deprived of his gadgets and then it's a simple beat-down from there.

 

Kitsune can easily be subdued with ofuda (Japanese spirit wards) and mirrors (of which she has a phobia concerning)