My yang needs a little help

[Richard Logue]

One of my players has created a martial arts type character. Its a good character concept using chi to power his super fu. In coming up with his Disadvantages, he opted for a (More Powerful) Hunted. And of course, he wants it to be more of a mystery than known, so he left it up to me to come up with the villain.

 

After discussing his character a bit, we came to some conclusions. In the world, there is yin chi and yang chi. His martial artist is one of those folks who overflows with yin chi. Among a few other things, it powers his style and he can use it to make extra-hard punches or steel himself up good to ward off attacks.

 

I want, and need, of course, to create his nemesis. My immediate idea is to have a yang-powered master fill the role. But I feel it would be somewhat of a cop-out and not very creative to simply have an opposing martial artist with super yang chi fu attacks. (Which I think is exactly the sort of thing my player would be expecting!)

 

So I've come to our world-wide community here for your awesome ideas.

 

Thanks

Richard

[caris]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

One of my players has created a martial arts type character. Its a good character concept using chi to power his super fu. In coming up with his Disadvantages, he opted for a (More Powerful) Hunted. And of course, he wants it to be more of a mystery than known, so he left it up to me to come up with the villain.

 

After discussing his character a bit, we came to some conclusions. In the world, there is yin chi and yang chi. His martial artist is one of those folks who overflows with yin chi. Among a few other things, it powers his style and he can use it to make extra-hard punches or steel himself up good to ward off attacks.

 

I want, and need, of course, to create his nemesis. My immediate idea is to have a yang-powered master fill the role. But I feel it would be somewhat of a cop-out and not very creative to simply have an opposing martial artist with super yang chi fu attacks. (Which I think is exactly the sort of thing my player would be expecting!)

 

So I've come to our world-wide community here for your awesome ideas.

 

Thanks

Richard

 

Well, rather than going for martial arts go for mysticism. IIRC fire and wood are the elements of yang (metal and water are of yin). How about a mystic energy project with a Chinese feel.

[OddHat]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

Female internal stylist with the full range of Yang style mystic powers. Huge DCV, reflection, HA on a trigger every time she blocks an attack, EGO Attacks, Mental Illusions, Telepathy, Mind Scan, Dream Control, Flight, Teleport, Poison Touch; have him deal with a character who is as good or almost as good as he is at pure martial arts, with all the wild powers on top.

 

For real Hong Kong Martial Arts weirdness (lifted from the Swordsman series iirc), She used to be a He until she started practicing her art. Her goal is to drain his Yin and become a perfect sacred hermaphrodite, leaving him both powerless and female. Probably best to simulate it with a long term Transfer and a cosmetic Transformation Attack with the Partial Transformation advantage. Bonus points if the other PCs make fun of him as he grows progressively more feminine after each battle.

[Nekkidcarpenter]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

Since yin and yang must balance, the characters cannot affect each other directly at all. They both have Immunity to the others powers and the villain, being mystical, knows this. And since they must balance, every time the yin does something selfless and kind, the yang does something selfish and cruel. Furthermore, whenever the yin helps someone else without benefit to himself, it also helps the yang at a direct penalty to someone else.

 

Since the yang is aware of this, he wants the yin to do good in the world. He will actually aid the yin in his pursuit of other evildoers, perhaps even setting himself up as the yin's benefactor.

 

See 'Unbreakable' for examples of how opposites aren't necessarily direct opposites.

 

Ooo, oo! Have the yang have a superpowered martial arts sidekick that the yin thinks is the yang!

 

(thats the surprise plot twist)

[McCoy]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

Female internal stylist with the full range of Yang style mystic powers. Huge DCV' date=' reflection, HA on a trigger every time she blocks an attack, EGO Attacks, Mental Illusions, Telepathy, Mind Scan, Dream Control, Flight, Teleport, Poison Touch; have him deal with a character who is as good or almost as good as he is at pure martial arts, with all the wild powers on top.[/quote']

And a Secret ID. Introduce her civilian ID as an NPC, maybe growing int a romantic interest for the PC. At least three scenerios later introduce her Villian ID. If he has no secret ID she is manipulating their relationship to gain any advantage, and may "Kidnap" herself to bait a trap. If he does have a secret ID, they can be lovers in their civilian ID's and trying to kill each other in Heroic ID.

[OzMike]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

How powerful is the Hunted? And does it have NCI? Two distinct possibilities that already exist in the Champions Universe (current or past) spring to mind:

 

Lung Hung - The Red Dragon. Head of VOICE.

 

Dr Yin Wu (or one of his four flunkies).

 

Another, more personal type of hunted would be Jade Phoenix who is threatened by anyone he perceives as challenging his mastery of Kung Fu.

[Susano]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

There's a good eunuch swordsman in Ninja Hero that might fit the bill.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

Sounds like some of you guys are getting your yin and yang mixed up.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

[Black Rose]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

Sounds like some of you guys are getting your yin and yang mixed up.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

 

I was thinking that myself. Aside from the terminology, though, the PC seems fairly stereotypically "yang". If it were me (and I have worked on Yin-based characters before) I'd go for soft-style Tai Ch'i elements, especially defensive tricks based off of "touching hands". Either straightforward PD requiring contact with the attacker, or possibly some Defensive Absorption. Think of water when coming up with powers; flowing, never directly resisting, but able to wear down mountains.

[Cancer]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

A truly dangerous nemesis would be an evil sorceror type who could steal (Transfer) or corrupt (Drain with long-delayed return) your martial artist's chi. Preferably painfully (sfx, not real damage). And maybe linked to a PRE Drain to boot. Then followed up with attacks with Corrupted Chi Bolts or Scumfire (both EBs powered by stolen chi), or just Unfaceable Evil (Mind Control powered by stolen chi, limited to forcing target to flee in horrified panic).

[ParagonAlpha]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

My idea: (assuming your PC is Asian or very eastern in upbringing)

 

The Shadow Master:

David Winthrop III, a rich, British ex-patriot, who has turned his families fortune into a very successful land development company. Winthrop stops at nothing to get what he wants. Paying local gangs to devalue neighborhoods, bribing officials for favorable, nothing stands in his way.

 

Winthrop also like his toys. Especially his modified Mark II battlearmor, a state of the art field combat suit developed and abandoned by some arms firm. It gives him strength, flight, and energy blasts. It helps fuel his thrillseeker, meglomanical side.

 

(Okay so basically I created an evil Tony Stark, but what martial arts character would expect a technological villian? Keep him on his toes.)

[Doc Samson]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

I am feeling a bit heavy handed at the moment. How about have the Hunted be a powerful entity named Tao. Tao has the Duplication power and is able to seperate out his Yin and his Yang from himself. His Yang has come home nicely, but his pesky Yin seems to have forgotten that he is part of a greater whole. Instead of explaining the matter to his Yin (the character), he's decided to just kill him to restore his balance. Perhaps down the road if Tao tires of chasing his wayward Yin, he will try reasoning with him (Luke, I am your father!).

 

As far as concept, I agree with caris and Cancer. A Chinese style Wu Jen sorcerer (perhaps with some martial arts thrown in) is scary stuff. Along with some elemental based Ranged Attacks, I would give him Summoning (spirits) and the ability to Multiform into a dragon (well, he is more powerful).

[Certified]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

I am feeling a bit heavy handed at the moment. How about have the Hunted be a powerful entity named Tao. Tao has the Duplication power and is able to seperate out his Yin and his Yang from himself. His Yang has come home nicely' date=' but his pesky Yin seems to have forgotten that he is part of a greater whole. Instead of explaining the matter to his Yin (the character), he's decided to just kill him to restore his balance. Perhaps down the road if Tao tires of chasing his wayward Yin, he will try reasoning with him [i'](Luke, I am your father!)[/i].

 

Wow, that is nice. Lots of potential for development. One could make it very convoluted when it comes down to the PC learning the truth about the Yang and Yin aspects. Encounters with the diminished Tao are always violent and brutal but the players could hear stories of other actions he has taken both good and bad. Saved a Monastery from destruction, later, Killed an innocent in cold blood. Stories come in a different times and never the full tale. By the time the big reveal comes around the PC could be so turned around he doesn't know if it's a trick or possibly the truth.

 

I think it would be great if the true self was a kind of Dark Mystic Hero, with a misunderstood reputation. Something that the PCs can't use to help with judgment calls about Tao's motivation. Without his missing counterbalance his deeds have grown more brutal he needs the PC to make him whole again.

 

Then again what this makes me picture is the eventual loss of the character or a complete overhaul once the three parts are reunited.

 

Anyway great idea.

[Kirby]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

One of my players has created a martial arts type character. Its a good character concept using chi to power his super fu. In coming up with his Disadvantages, he opted for a (More Powerful) Hunted. And of course, he wants it to be more of a mystery than known, so he left it up to me to come up with the villain.

 

So I've come to our world-wide community here for your awesome ideas.

Have him hunted by the Cult of the Red Banner. If you have (or can borrow) a copy of Watchers of the Dragon (4E), you'll know why they're a good hunted.

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

Other thought: the enemy of (yang) imbalance is not (yin) imbalance, but rather balance itself.

 

Thus, the enemy could be someone who is truly balanced with their yin and yang, and thus has achieved philosophical/alchemical perfection. The martial artist PC is, in this paradigm, an abomination, due to his massive over-abundance of yang chi. The goal of the enemy is to bring spiritual balance to the universe, starting with the PC. Doing so will regrettably rob the PC of his powers, but the road to enlightenment is never easy.

[Richard Logue]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

Good stuff here. I've come up with an interesting idea based on your suggestions. How does this sound?

 

Just to review from my original post, my player purchased a Hunted Disad who is "more powerful" and wants to "harshly punish" the PC, and he told me to work it all out myself. The only suggestion he made was that his enemy could be a yin martial artist to his yang martial artist.

 

 

Is she right, or is she merely insane?

 

The "yin chi" enemy is a woman. She is not a martial artist, per se, but rather a sorcerer/mystic type. She has discovered ancient texts/knowledge that allude to yin and yang coming together to form a perfect being of great power. So she has decided to mate with the PC and produce the "perfect being." And then when the child is born...

 

She has a dark plan. She is going to kill him, but not just yet. She knows his secret ID, and she is going to break him first. She is going to introduce herself into his civilian life and will manipulate a love affair between them.

 

While this is going on, she is going to embarass and kill a friend and ally of his - a superheroine who is going into semi-retirement and whom my player wants to make as a contact. (Should I do it before he spends the points on her to make her a contact, or should I do it afterward and just have him respend the points, or does it not matter?)

 

She will also innocently introduce a young man into his life who needs a mentor. He has "escaped" the clutches of an evil martial arts-based organized crime syndicate and needs a mentor to show him the proper path of enlightenment. (It's nice because my player is toying around with the idea of purchasing a Follower sidekick.) She will, over a long period, twist the young man's mind behind the scenes into hating the PC.

 

She will eventually (say, when she's a good nine months preggo) "help" the PC discover evidence that the sidekick was responsible for the friend's murder and further evidence will show that the sidekick has all along been... duh duh DUH... the "yin chi enemy martial aritst" he's been expecting from the beginning! He did, after all, come from an evil crime syndicate. He's just been "deceiving" the PC all this time!

 

Of course a fight will ensue and she will be present. Because, as we know, yin and yang chi cancel each other out, right? My player will discover that his yang chi powers just aren't working against his "evil sidekick" whose supposed yin chi powers are also "not working." I think the sidekick will accidently die in this fight.

 

The child will disappear after he/she is born. Further distress for him, but she will seem calm, as if it were "okay." (She has made previous arrangements, of course, to give the child to some sort of foster care. She does not want to contaminate him/her with the opposing yin and yang forces present in the couple.) She will now attempt to kill him, and afterward, herself. Perhaps through poison. After all, yin and yang chis does cancel each other out, and she's no martial artist.

 

As an alternative ending, he can pursue the "kidnapping." When he finds the lair of the people that stole the child, she is there ready to finally and ultimately break and thwart him.

 

The child? He/she/(both?) will grow up to achieve inner harmony and balance and become the "perfect being" known as Tao. That's her plan anyway.

 

Suggestions? Ideas? I think its a decent way to incorporate all, if not most, of the ideas you've all proposed.

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

Sounds like an interesting plot - from a game mechanic/design standpoint though, I'd say that you shouldn't have the PC spend points on stuff you're going to immediately take away from him or use in a way that he didn't intend: that sounds like the GM interfering with what he wanted to do with the character.

 

(extreme example)

 

PC: "I'd like to have a contact and a sidekick. Here's the points."

GM: "OK...oh, look, they get killed in the next session and/or go evil. Sucks to be you!"

PC: "But I just spent points on them! They're supposed to be advantageous, not DIS-advantageous!"

GM: "Yeah, but I"m the GM, and what I say goes. And they go."

 

Even if you give the player the points back, you just had him waste the effort he put into making them up to begin with (or the emotional inventsment he had in THINKING that he'd be able to do cool stuff with them.)

 

What you're describing above doesn't sound like a sidekick (which, by definition, is an advantage): it sounds more like a DNPC with useful skills (which is, by definition, a disadvantage).

[Balabanto]

Re: My yang needs a little help

 

That's a really jerky plot, because there's little to no way the PC has any chance to figure it out. There's no hope of redemption once this guy has KILLED HIS OWN FOLLOWER, and there's no possibility that he'll ever figure this out until after evil lass has already screwed with his head.

 

I recommend, instead, the following.

 

Have the character's enemy be a Fung Shui expert or Japanese Flower Arranging expert. Manipulate everything so that all of his chi is negated, and constantly works behind the scenes to thwart him while slowly giving him more and more unluck.

 

When I did this to a PC, they freaked.