The villain Holocaust

[Questar]

I'm using Holocaust for the first time to play one of the published adventures. If you're not familiar with the character, you might want to skip this thread to keep from learning anything your GM might not want you to know.

 

Just curious if the many creative GM's on these boards have any suggestions on interesting ways to run this villain or tactics to consider. I want to make this a fairly epic confrontation. He has been in the background for awhile, but will be meeting the PC's face-to-face in combat for the first time.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

Well, if I'm remembering his personality right, he's not one for subtlety ... he'll want to smash good-guy face in a pretty blatant manner, and he's overconfident enough that he probably won't do a lot of pre-fight research unless he's already been beaten (which, from what you said, he hasn't).

 

His best trick (IMHO) is his Absorption Pool ... I think a good, simple trick would be to have that feed into END so he can blast with his high-end, high-END powers and try to end the fight swiftly.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

I agree with CC's evaluation.

 

Despite being fairly strong and having a small HKA, Holocaust really isn't that good at close combat. He has good tactical movement with his Flight, which doesn't cost Endurance, and he's very accurate with his Eyebeams, so he should probably stay in the air and maintain his distance from his opponents. With his Speed of 8, a good standard tactic would be to Half-Move away from opponents trying to close on him, then attack.

 

Holocaust's Telekinesis is easy to overlook, but if he's using one of his less END-intensive Eyebeam attacks you could try to combine them in a Multiple-Power Attack against an opponent who isn't strong enough to easily overcome the TK. If Holocaust snares such an opponent he'll be a much easier target to blast with the full-power Eyebeams.

[Metaphysician]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

Another nasty tactic to to have him whip up an Absorbtion vs energy, feeds STR MP PD ED, with decay rate cut back to about 5/10 minutes or so. . .

 

. . .and then bust into a power plant and grab the main.

 

5 minutes later, he's about ready to smash anyone short of Dr Destroyer.

[TheTemplar]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

As "B" level master villains go, he's probably the best there is in the published CU.

 

Personality wise, I've always thought of him as being very Magnetoesque. Maybe it's the "mutant power" thing. Maybe it's the fact that he wears red and purple. I dunno. If Dr. Destroyer is the CU equivalent (roughly) of Dr. Doom, then Holocaust has to be Mags.

 

Tactics-wise, as has been stated, fly around and blast away. He's got enough versatility in his blast options to give any character type fits - from speedsters and MA's all the way down to Bricks. And, don't forget the TK. If he's outnumbered, set his Absorption pool to take whatever kind of punishment your heroes most commonly dish out, and set it to absorb to STUN, CON, or Defense to make him increasingly tougher as the fight draws on (the Black Diamond Principle, if you will.) If he's got the advantage, absorb to his offensive capabilities and go for the quick finish (unless you want your players to win... which is a silly notion. )

 

And that trick about the power main is straight up nasssssty! I love it.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

Yes, I used Holocaust quite successfully in the role of "Magneto-esque" solo baddy vs a group of six 500 ish point characters -- the Millennial Men about a hundred xp ago:

 

Millennial Men

 

As I recall the lineup that was present at that time was:

 

Rook: Mutant Force Field Brick

War Man: Flying Robotic Blaster

Chitin: Bug Brick

Major Savage: Power Armor / Gadgeteer

John Wrath: Skillmonger Superagent

 

and a would be ally:

 

Metis: VPP Mentalist

 

 

I tweaked Holocaust out a bit to make him more efficient and tougher to serve in that role. If you send me an email at killershrike@killershrike.com and type a sentence or two from Holocausts bg (so I know that you have a copy of CKC that you theoretically paid for) Ill dig up the hero designer file and send it to you. If you dont have hdc, just let me know and Ill send you an HTML or RTF version instead at your preference.

 

 

The encounter w/ Holocaust is described here; you might glean some tactics from it:

 

Arc 3 Campaign Log

[Questar]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

Yes, I used Holocaust quite successfully in the role of "Magneto-esque" solo baddy vs a group of six 500 ish point characters -- the Millennial Men about a hundred xp ago:

 

Millennial Men

 

As I recall the lineup that was present at that time was:

 

Rook: Mutant Force Field Brick

War Man: Flying Robotic Blaster

Chitin: Bug Brick

Major Savage: Power Armor / Gadgeteer

John Wrath: Skillmonger Superagent

 

and a would be ally:

 

Metis: VPP Mentalist

 

 

I tweaked Holocaust out a bit to make him more efficient and tougher to serve in that role. If you send me an email at killershrike@killershrike.com and type a sentence or two from Holocausts bg (so I know that you have a copy of CKC that you theoretically paid for) Ill dig up the hero designer file and send it to you. If you dont have hdc, just let me know and Ill send you an HTML or RTF version instead at your preference.

 

 

The encounter w/ Holocaust is described here; you might glean some tactics from it:

 

Arc 3 Campaign Log

 

 

Thanks to all for your suggestions. I have to dole out some serious rep here. Killer Shrike, I read the account of your battle with a great deal of interest, since it's the same scenario I'm building my adventure from. But my players are only 365 points and have spent a decent amount on skills, so they're not that heavy on combat. I don't think I need a boosted Holocaust to give them a challenge. I mostly need to make sure I use what's there effectively. As a GM, one of my weaknesses is that I have so much being juggled that I often do not run the villains as effectively as I could. (Which is generally fine with the players). I don't want this to be the case with Holocaust, but neither do I want him to totally overwhelm the PC's.

 

Deciding how to configure the variable PP before the start of the combat is something I'm giving a lot of thought to. But maybe the power plant idea is the way to go, starting the combat with him already fully charged up (or having Stormfront feed it with his lighting bolts, which is suggested in the adventure). But if it happens "offstage" it does tend to rob some of the drama of the PC's seeing him absorb their attacks. For that, though, I have to figure out which of the kinds of attacks he is going to be able to absorb in this combat.

 

One thing I'm concerned about if he is always flying around, is that he seems very vulnerable to getting knocked all over the place and having to keep using half-phases to reorient himself. If I do boost him, I may just wind up giving him a good bit of KB resistance.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

One thing I'm concerned about if he is always flying around' date=' is that he seems very vulnerable to getting knocked all over the place and having to keep using half-phases to reorient himself. If I do boost him, I may just wind up giving him a good bit of KB resistance.[/quote']

 

A few things to keep in mind about that: One, Holocaust using his Flight to maintain distance from his opponents adds Range Penalties to their attempts to hit him. Two, if you allow the option of Movement Skill Levels adding to DCV when using a defensive Combat Maneuver like Dodge, Holocaust has three of them with his Flight. Three, if Knockback does become an issue, Holocaust can use some or all of his Flight to brace against Knockback coming from a particular direction, on a 1" per 1" basis.

[CraterMaker]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

I think one of his defining powers is his All-Sense.. Normal flashes and Darkness attacks will have no effect on him. I could see him arranging his confrontation during a night game for the NFL, and when the heroes arrive - Holocaust lifts his arms and all the lights explode! Mass chaos and panic, televised defeat of his enemies, and a healthy reminder to the world what happens when you defy a god.

 

Add in a radar/radio jammer, and the heroes have to play "Hunt the Muzzle Flash"..

 

-CraterMaker

[Questar]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

A few things to keep in mind about that: One' date=' Holocaust using his Flight to maintain distance from his opponents adds Range Penalties to their attempts to hit him. Two, if you allow the option of Movement Skill Levels adding to DCV when using a defensive Combat Maneuver like Dodge, Holocaust has three of them with his Flight. Three, if Knockback does become an issue, Holocaust can use some or all of his Flight to brace against Knockback coming from a particular direction, on a 1" per 1" basis.[/quote']

 

 

That's true, thanks for the suggestion. But the bracing requires a half-phase action and lowers the DCV by half. If he's already gone on a segment, he can't use it. With my limited tactical ability as a GM, I'm probably safer with KB resistance.

 

As a player I'm far more formidable and creative in combat than as a GM. I have to really prepare, and try to keep things simple but effective.

 

I once created a group of chess-themed villains whose powers worked in conjunction with each other in a variety of ways. In theory it should have made them effective and surprising. But in combat, they were too complex to run easily and I really wasn't able to take advantage of their abilities to the fullest extent.

[ThothAmon]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

Holocaust wears a purple helmet. That's sufficient temptation for my players to diss him in a Monty Python stylee until he suffers a rage-induced coronary collapse

 

I'll support most of the suggestions so far and add that the 20d6 EB does a lot of knockback so is therefore best used from above to drive the target into the ground. Also I never understood why the writeup didn't include a No Range Penalty eyebeam attack

[Killer Shrike]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

Yeah, the All-Sense was a major component in the Mill Men encounter as well. Major Savage has a very nasty flash attack with his Energy Rifle which he hit Holocaust with in the middle of the fight. When it had no noticeable affect on Holocaust there was great consternation.

 

As far as his Absorption goes, if it causes so much angst for you just tweak the character to buy a Physical and an Energy Absorption straight up and drop the VPP.

 

You could also use the "Absorption As A Defense" x2 cost multiplier option provided in the Ultimate Brick for added fun.

[Metaphysician]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

One thing to keep in mind is, Holocaust doesn't have the Power skill. He *does* have Megalomaniac and Unluck.

 

Thus, he can't change it once in battle, and you've got at least a decent shot, depending on circumstances, that it won't be totally optimized. So, taking the initiative helps, as does hauling out something totally unexpected.

[Questar]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

As far as his Absorption goes' date=' if it causes so much angst for you just tweak the character to buy a Physical and an Energy Absorption straight up and drop the VPP.

 

I wouldn't describe it as angst, just careful consideration.

 

Basically, whatever I do with it will be a one-shot deal anyway, because this particular encounter will only involve a single combat. Right now I'm leaning toward a 5d6 absorption with the varying effect advantage which feeds half to STUN and half to END. (He really doesn't need more powerful attacks against my PC's. His 20d6 blast is pretty hellish.) This limits him to only 30 points of absorption, but at least he can get it from either physical OR energy attacks.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

In that case, Holocaust could use Flight to brace himself against Knockback and essentially leave himself open to someone blasting him - which revitalizes him. Simple but nasty sucker tactic.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: The villain Holocaust

 

In that case' date=' Holocaust could use Flight to brace himself against Knockback and essentially leave himself open to someone blasting him - which revitalizes him. Simple but nasty sucker tactic. [/quote']

 

Another fun one ... set Absorption to just Physical, and fly through a few buildings haphazardly. Regain/recharge abilities, AND endanger innocents so the heroes have to break off a heavy assault!