WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

[AdamLeisemann]

Long ago, I posted a joke WWYCD where your character's mind was swapped with Foxbat's for some unknown reason. Here's a redux of that situation, made more seriously:

 

After a long fight with Doctor Destroyer, you discover that your mind has somehow just been swapped with Doctor Destroyer, but you only have a fraction of his power, while Doc D has seem swapped with you and given greater power. What would you do with Doctor Destroyer's body and what would Doctor Destroyer do with yours?

 

[Note: keep in mind that the powers have just gotten scaled down to the point totals for the mind.]

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

Unless it's just a matter of the PC suddenly looking like Dr. D, and Dr. D suddenly looking like the PC, for Soulbarb, things would get very complicated very quickly. This is because there's a third individual automatically enmeshed in this scenario -- Camuranima, the demon that's grafted to Soulbarb's soul and the source of her powers. With only Soulbarb's physical body to work with, Dr. D would have no powers at all; if the link with her soul is now somehow transferred to Dr. D's soul instead, exactly what happens will depend on how well he and Camuranima can get along (my guess -- not well at all, but this depends on GM interpretation.) On the other hand, the GM could rule that such a transformation could waken Soulbarb's latent magical abilities.

 

One possibility is that it could play out like this: Soulbarb switches bodies with Dr. D, and from a high-magical-potential body to a low-magical-potential body. This has the effect of dampening her own connection with Camuranima, to the point where his hold on her soul is broken entirely. She's freed to pursue the technological secrets she inherits in Dr. D's armour, but at first has very limited understanding of them. Meanwhile, Dr. D is now in a body that is experiencing a wild magic backlash effect as a result of being freed of the demon feeding on its potential. By raw willpower, he discovers that he can shape that magic to nearly any form he wishes, becoming a supermage of the first order. With magic to grant him immortality, an idealized physical form, and anything else he might wish, he no longer needs his armour, and tosses both it and the body encased in it aside as superfluous to his plans. However, Camuranima is not happy about this state of affairs, and is determined to recover both his connection to the physical world and to sate his hunger for magically-endowed souls. He starts seeking to corrupt Destroyer, who proves all too easy a target, due to his innate proclivities and lack of mystic experience. But Destroyer realizes soon enough what his happening, and quickly determines that he must find his old body and the girl trapped in it, so that he can draw on her experience coping with the demon. Of course, she will have been seeking him, since she's not exactly happy about being trapped in a shell of an old man's body...

 

Ultimately, Soulbarb would be able to use her understanding of occult lore and principles to take advantage of a mystic confrontation between Destroyer and Camuranima in such a way as to reverse the switch, and take residence in her own body once again, this time with her magical potential activated. At this point, Soulbarb would probably need a rewrite, though exactly what form that rewrite would take is up for grabs, since she'd have potential access to demonic, sorcerous, and super-technological powers.

 

Sylph has a much less complicated time of it. Her powers are granted by Dionysius, and can be revoked by him at his whim; there is nothing special about her at all otherwise. So in this instance, Dr. D is truly screwed unless he can at least get his armor back, 'cause I don't think Dionysius would be very interested in Dr. D having access to divine magic. Of course, Sylph is just as clueless about high technology as she is about magical theory, and in any case she'd probably be too stunned by events to prevent Dr. D from activating some function on his suit that knocks her out so he can take it back. I expect that a visit to the local Avatar of Dionysius would quickly set things straight again with respect to the body switching, at least; Dionysius would probably prefer that his handmaiden not look like a grubby old man ready for his deathbed.

[jkwleisemann]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

Void... this is Very, Very Bad. Not only does Destroyer have the same - or superior - financial resources, the pumped up powers mean that he's now probably enhanced Void's energy-sponge mutation to the point where he's practically invulnerable (75% resistant Damage Reduction, massive Absorbs linked into it, things like that), his own iron will and related abilities, and the technical knowhow to turn DuBey Industries into a truly terrifying force... particularly since he's got one (admittedly intermittently paranoid) power armor designer on the payroll already.

 

Void, on the other hand, is now a nonagenarian waiting for the Grim Reaper... and his powers were mostly martial arts based before.

 

If he can figure out the armor though, he'd have to work fast to figure out how to reverse it. His only real chance would be to catch up with himself and set things straight before Destroyer can put his resources to use too well.

 

Though he *would* leave one little present behind before switching back... he'd sabotage the armor so that, when Destroyer got back in his own body, there wouldn't be too much concern about the fact that his secret ID is now totally blown....

 

Outsider: This could get... interesting. On the one hand, Destroyer now has the body of a teenaged man, all his knowledge and skills, and tentacles....

 

On the other hand, that's probably just about all he's got, unless mystical knowledge transferred along with him.

 

Outsider, however, has an ancient body... and all of his mystical knowledge. With Destroyer's resources at hand, he could probably get ahold of various components to work a counterspell fairly easily... what would be worrisome is the possibility that he might not choose to. He doesn't have rogue tentacles anymore, after all... and he *does* have a reasonably good chance of getting that body into a better shape, if he wants to.

 

But if the mystical knowledge *does* transfer... well, with any luck, as soon as he started acting weird the rest of the team would assume something was Very Wrong, turn, and blast him *before* he managed to unleash elder gods on them and things like that.

 

But that's not too likely, sadly for them....

 

Sparky: This has backfired tremendously upon Doc D., unless it's part of a cunning ploy to take over K. Dogma's organization.

 

But what *I* want to see...?

 

Foxbat and Doctor Destroyer get swapped!

[Brandi]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

I have a feeling Irving would be distracted by the bewildering new phenomena of opposable thumbs and color vision (not to mention a plethora of biological needs, since we're talking Dr. D and not Mechanon here). I suspect in turn Dr. D would find his new body equally confusing and far more frustrating unless he decides to just get his ya-yas out by smashing things.

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

Jake the Troll - not applicable - Jake's the personification of a concept, and as such his body, mind, and soul are the same thing.

 

Icon - Aaaaarrghh! gender-bending, especially with someone THAT old, is not on Emma's "list of things to even think about". After she started freaking, she'd immediately turn herself in, as Doc Destroyer is WAY beyond her capabilities to do anything about. In contrast, the Doc now is flying around in a Cosmic Energy version of a Kryptonian (scaling for power).

 

Shinji Miromoto - Shinji's has nothing more than his magic and an athletic build; essentially, everything would come with him. In contrast, the doc is stuck in a teenage (realistic) martial artists's body and an insanity-causing link to the Dark Dimension. The Doc probably wants back more than Shinji does.

[Memona]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

Godhand has the arm of a god grafted were his old right hand used to be. Dr. Destroyer power would be monsterous in his body. He has a trigger that increases his END reserve for every attack that misses him, he does BODY damage or deals BODY. When he gains enough BODY he can go into his "Godhand" mode and gains Succor to STR, SPD and 50 rPD/ 50 rED Armor. I don't want to imagine a more powerful version of this attack...

 

Godhand on the other hand would be up a river without a paddle. Most of his attacks are martial arts.

 

Vampelle has the powers of fencing and dark energy (DEX drains and EBs). Actually not that much different from the current Doctor Destoryer, only weaker.

 

I don't think Doctor Destroyer would like to pick up his weakness to sunlight in any case.

 

Stranger would be a head ache. Stranger has two powers: those he has gained from Singularities, the other from his Atlantis hertiage. His Singularty power, the Strange Singularity grants him a completely random ability that has not yet manifested in the superhuman in the world. I'm not sure how this would work out.

 

Doctor Destroyer would have a hay day in any case with this power, but considering he couldn't use it with any regularity it might be worse off.

 

Stranger on the other hand...would probably be better off. He actually knows what his powers will do day in and day out. Plus, Stranger is just as smart as Doctor Destroyer, so it will be a bad day indeed if he actually learns to use the suit. But thankfully, Stranger is technophobic...living in Doctor Destroyer's battlesuit. Ha.

[Drhoz]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

After a long fight with Doctor Destroyer' date=' you discover that your mind has somehow just been swapped with Doctor Destroyer, but you only have a fraction of his power, while Doc D has seem swapped with you and given greater power. What would you do with Doctor Destroyer's body and what would Doctor Destroyer do with yours?[/quote']

 

Hmm, interesting. With Truman/Zero that's almost plausible. He's already dreading the day Destroyer turns up looking for him, and may well use some previously unknown mental ability from his psionic set to swap minds, in self defense.

 

Zero would then run for his life, skipping the dimension entirely if possible, because a super-telepathic Destroyer with prescience, and the points to strip bare any mind on the planet is even more terrifying then he is already. Especially once he starts using the mind-link power to perfectly coordinate his actions with a half-dozen other super-villians, on a global scale, etc.

 

Vitus would be profoundly annoyed. He isn't at all fond of hairless monkeys to begin with, and thought of some local thug going around wearing his body would be too much to bear.

 

On the other hand, Vitus's abilities are almost all spells that he has learnt or devised over decades, that Destroyer doesn't know, and useless with a broken arm, etc. It wouldn't be that difficult for Vitus in Destroyer's body (even down-powered) to disable his old body and spend the next few weeks yelling at him, and, since Vitus is borderline psychopathic, torturing his old body until he gives it back.

 

(yes, I know that that would mean getting back a brutalised and probably blunt-gonad-traumatised body back, but like I said, Vitus is not exactly sane )

 

The Destroyer-body's bizarre, monomaniacal and viciously vindictive behaviour hunting down the Vitus-body might be a bit of a giveaway as to what happened, but knowing Destroyer's reputation probably not.

 

In the unlikely event Vitus can outwit any contingency plans Destroyer prepared before setting out to infiltrate the Skeleton Crew ( and thru them all the dimensions and military-industrial secrets they have access too ), Vitus would probably end up capturing himself, handing himselves over to UNTIL, disabling as many of the Destroyer-Body's powers as possible, and threatening to kill his old body if they didn't swap back *right now*

 

And he'ld do it, too.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

Long ago, I posted a joke WWYCD where your character's mind was swapped with Foxbat's for some unknown reason. Here's a redux of that situation, made more seriously:

 

After a long fight with Doctor Destroyer, you discover that your mind has somehow just been swapped with Doctor Destroyer, but you only have a fraction of his power, while Doc D has seem swapped with you and given greater power. What would you do with Doctor Destroyer's body and what would Doctor Destroyer do with yours?

 

[Note: keep in mind that the powers have just gotten scaled down to the point totals for the mind.]

 

Doctor Destroyer has no powers; he has gadgets. I'm reading "a fraction of his power" as "You have no idea how to operate any of this junk; you can't even get the clock in the helmet's HUD to stop blinking 12:00".

 

Style is a mage, his powers mostly knowledge based. He retains some of his magic, possibly all, but can't get Destroyer's armor to even move. He frees "his" body from the armor, gets dressed, and goes after Destroyer in the body of a crippled old man.

 

Destroyer meanwhile may gain some residue magic in Style's body, but retains his own memories and knowledge. He enjoys having a much younger, healthier form and re-contacts his agents, smoothly taking control of his organization once more.

 

Style attempts to reclaim his old body, but trapped in Destroyer's he finds himself prone to wild mood swings, paranoia, and delusions of grandeur.

 

With a healthy brain for the first time in decades, Destroyer finds his own moods even, his mind reasonably free of flights of wild anger. He also finds that Style's brain, while excellent, can't support his own unrivaled genius. The physical architecture just isn't there. Destroyer begins racing to find a way to enhance that brain.

 

Style, driven by his new psychotic genius brain, makes a deal with the Dragon, promising to break its chains in exchange for the power he needs to revenge himself on Destroyer. Leading a small army of Red Banner cultists and wearing a demon bound into the form of mystic armor, Style attacks Destroyer's invisible flying fortress above Washington, D.C. Destroyer fights back with almost his full might, wearing a suit of his best armor, but the mad genius his flawed brain provided just isn't there. Flaming vehicles plummet to the streets of Washington, and finally the fortress itself tumbles down, destroying most of the capitol in a single massive explosion.

 

Destroyer and Style survive, protected by their armor. Destroyer attempts to reverse the mind switch, only to find himself blocked by the demonic armor Style now wears and impossibly sophisticated spells woven with Destroyer's own stolen brain. Style declares himself Shiva, true Destroyer of Worlds, and using the power of the Dragon smashes through Destroyer's armor, killing his old body and destroying Zerostein's soul. Roaring his triumph, Style opens gates to worlds of unspeakable horror in the ruins of Washington, in Paris, London, Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow, city after city, loosing radiation, disease, and demons of every description. The chains binding the Dragon will shatter, and the world will scream beneath the cloven hoof of a true Destroyer!

[jkwleisemann]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

Oddhat: Dude. I think you just explained the vast shift in focus between 4th Ed. and New Millennium....

 

(As an aside: I, for one, actually kinda appreciated Mystic!Destroyer....)

[Drhoz]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

well, Oddhat, thanks for more details about Destroyer. And for making me hope no-one EVER puts Style in such a situation

 

Vitus, on the otherhand, despite all the feeble kicking of nads he'll be capable of, would also enjoy actually being able to out-smart somebody for a change

[hfergus]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

Olorin, my "mad mage" would, first of all go "Not again!" At 747 years old from a fantasy world he's seen about everything. Just about every power he had would go with him since his is mind based, except for reduced sleep need and eternal youth. He could quickly figure out how to use the armor and such - at a basic level (38 intel) 3-4 month he could figure it all out. Also, he could fake every power the Doctor has - one at a time (Huge variable power pool, but not cosmic - and somewhat limited in hard to explain ways.). He could really mess up the doctors networks. Once he really messed things up, he'd switch back.

 

Meanwhile, the Doctor would enjoy the non aging, needs little sleep 33 year old biological body. Only mental powers would go along, his armor is on Olorin. He would not know how to use the magic except maybe at basic levels, it went with Olorin. He would have to act fast to preserve his power base and create new armor. He'd be in trouble.

 

Volt, my energy caster would be in trouble. All his powers would be gone and he'd have to rely on the armor, which he wouldn't know how to use (18 intel). He'd contact Olorin fast to have this remedied. (Remember, Olorin has seen it all, he'd have no problem believing this.) The doctor would have Volt's electrical powers ramped up and a nice (well, at least better in some aspects) 62 year old, pudgy body.

 

Note the two extremes - one could make the Doctors life difficult, the other would have his life made difficult.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

Aquatic- Clearly, Doctor Destroyer is attempting to find and take out Atlantis! Or maybe take out the OSC! Who knows? With the powers of all sea life at his command, Doctor D would be pretty scary.

 

Aquatic would be screwed. He'd try to get to a communicator, and get word to Kodiak and Meghan in about that order using his past experiences to prove who he is.

 

Gaze- Gaze is a mentalist, with some martial arts. As such, he might actually get to keep his powers as they are more than merely physical components. In such a case, Doctor Destroyer is in deep doodoo. No doubt, the Doctor would try to steal some high tech from the other Saints or their base.

IF somehow, Gaze lost his powers and Dr. Destroyer kept them, you're looking at Menton's replacement while Gaze is stuck with some limited martial arts. However, Gaze is a fairly good actor, would pretend to still BE the mastermind and would have access to Dr. Destroyer's army. He'd put them to good use before trying to restore himself. Certain supervillains/organizations might even be targeted, and, if he could arm them with anti-psi tech, he'd send them after his body for capture. By the time Gaze was done, Doctor Destroyer's empire would be severely outed. Gaze knows several other superheroes, and would do his best to contact and warn them. His chief concern would be for his love-Jazz. No doubt she'd notice something was wrong...but she might also be the first to fall victim to Doctor D's new mind control powers.

 

Mole- A teenage pocket brick with tunneling powers and a 'matter awareness' that lets him sense through the objects around him, Mole in Dr. D's body would be pretty horrified. He'd feel blind, and not be sure how any of this #$#$ worked. In a classic 'Teen Champion' twist, he'd be shocked at exactly what Dr. Destroyer could do with his powers as no doubt the Doctor would be a veritable terraformer and master of soil and rock, doing things Mole never dreamed of.

 

Fortunately, Mole is in luck, because among his allies are soul reading mystics who'd discover the swap in a heartbeat, hopefully before Dr. D would use his new powers and form to destroy a more important hero like Kodiak.

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: WWYCD: "I Am Doctor Destryoer!"

 

Sparky: This has backfired tremendously upon Doc D., unless it's part of a cunning ploy to take over K. Dogma's organization.

 

But what *I* want to see...?

 

Foxbat and Doctor Destroyer get swapped!

 

That could be an amusing scenerio.