Favorite Damage Shields?

[matrix3]

An interesting Entangling damage shield was mentioned on this thread, and I was wondering: what some of your favorite/unique damage shields?

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

I ran a person who in Hero ID was completely made of flame. Had desolid (only to physical), and the GM houseruled (under 4th) that I can attack with energy as long as I could be affected by energy.

 

I had an end drain damage shield that I used when I flew through people (or they hit me) - they got a sudden case of dehydration.

[Hermit]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

My favorite Damage Shields are 4th Edition ones

[matrix3]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

I had an end drain damage shield that I used when I flew through people (or they hit me) - they got a sudden case of dehydration.

That's a cool idea. I thought of (I believe) an inventive drain, but not as a damage shield. It was a room with a very small, AoE drain STR on it. If the chars tried to run through, they'd hit the Clinging, UAA, AOE, IPE in the center of the room.

 

My favorite Damage Shields are 4th Edition ones

 

I only got into Hero recently, so all I know really is 5ed Revised. What was the big difference for 4th ed damage shields?

[Hermit]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

 

I only got into Hero recently, so all I know really is 5ed Revised. What was the big difference for 4th ed damage shields?

 

The required Advantages. Even a minor Damage Shield can REALLY cost compared to what they used to.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Penetrating RKA damage shield, also known as 'eventually, I will get out of this Entangle'.

[BNakagawa]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Penetrating RKA damage shield' date=' also known as 'eventually, I will get out of this Entangle'.[/quote']

 

Unless it's hardened.

 

Entangle damage shields are fun when you get swarmed by ninjas.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

I'm the gamemaster in our Champions games, and one of my players loves the ol' high-STR Grab. In fact, his latest character is named Squeeze, so you can guess what his normal tactic is.

 

A recent villain he ran into is Torg, a dim-witted swordsman with magical armor. Anyone touching the armor gets hit with a STR Drain Damage Shield. (I was going to do a STR Transfer Damage Shield, but that seemed too over-the-top.) It's not a lot, only 3d6, and since a teammate has Force Fields UBO that include 5 points of Power Defense this means he typically only loses 5 STR a phase, but Squeeze nonetheless avoids Torg like the plague.

 

I also had a radiation character, with the ability to go Desolid and fly. She had a small (I think 2d6) NND EB Damage Shield, Affects Real World. She'd fly through people, dosing them with radiation. It wasn't a lot of damage, but the fact that few of the heroes could hit her made her quite a threat.

 

A recent VIPER Nest Leader I created, Magnetite, had a 3d6 AVLD (Power Defense) Continuous Damage Shield, Half END. It was a variation on a power in the USPD, where his intense magnetic field messes with the target's blood flow. It was the no-range counterpart to his favorite ranged attack, a Continuous Uncontrolled 3d6 AVLD, Half END.

 

In general, I've found that with 5th Edition Damage Shield (having to buy Continuous as well), the only way to make it cause any damage at all with EBs or RKAs is to pile on other Advantages (like Penetrating, NND, etc.) Otherwise, your Damage Shield is a joke. If you want a Continuous Damage Shield in a 60-point Multipower, you can't even have 5d6 EB. (To do that, you'd have to bump it up to a 62-point MP.) If you're a player whose GM has put an Active point cap on attacks, it's either NND, AVLD, or Penetrating if you want a chance of doing any damage at all.

[Psylint]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

One of the more "abusive" or "munchkin" damage shields I've heard of was:

 

Bounce!

 

5" Teleport w/ Position Shift: Usable as an attack +1, Continuous +1, Damage Shield +1/2, Reduced Endurance 0 +1/2; [Active Cost 60 pts; limitations to taste, but "Must travel intervening space -1/4, "Fixed Location" defined as the point on the ground exactly 5" in front of the character -1/4;] Defenses to the UAA: having Teleport; Desolid; or a Mass in excess of 200kg.]

 

As the power does not have the "usable simultaneously" advantage, it's a great way to get rid of grabs.

 

Essentially any hand to hand strike caused the offender to be thrown 5" away and knocked prone.

 

There's always the eternal favorite

 

Necromantic Leach: 2d6 Drain Body, Damage Shield +1/2, Continuous +1, 0 End +1/2: [Active Cost 60 pts.]

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Psylint, I may have to try that one.

 

I quite like the concept behind the 5E Monster's (Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks) Mental Damage Shield: its thoughts are so evil that they cause any mentalist contacting its mind to suffer physical pain and even injury (Ego Attack, Does BODY). However, because of all the Advantages already on Damage Shield the Base Points in Ego Attack for his Power as written are too low to significantly harm most mentalists with a moderate amount of Mental Defense.

 

When I ran the Monster last, I changed the Power used in the DS to Killing Attack, BOECV, Does BODY. By the rules Mental Defense is not Resistant by default, but no Champs character I've ever seen has bought Damage Resistance for his MD, so that construct will blow right past it unopposed.

 

Our group's PC mentalist was appropriately shocked when he tried to attack the Monster. He wanted to soldier on anyway despite the pain, until I mentioned that he was bleeding from his eyes.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Psylint, I may have to try that one.

 

I quite like the concept behind the 5E Monster's (Conquerors, Killers, And Crooks) Mental Damage Shield: its thoughts are so evil that they cause any mentalist contacting its mind to suffer physical pain and even injury (Ego Attack, Does BODY). However, because of all the Advantages already on Damage Shield the Base Points in Ego Attack for his Power as written are too low to significantly harm most mentalists with a moderate amount of Mental Defense.

 

When I ran the Monster last, I changed the Power used in the DS to Killing Attack, BOECV, Does BODY. By the rules Mental Defense is not Resistant by default, but no Champs character I've ever seen has bought Damage Resistance for his MD, so that construct will blow right past it unopposed.

 

Our group's PC mentalist was appropriately shocked when he tried to attack the Monster. He wanted to soldier on anyway despite the pain, until I mentioned that he was bleeding from his eyes.

 

Great idea, and very appropriate. Repped.

[BNakagawa]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

One of the more "abusive" or "munchkin" damage shields I've heard of was:

 

Bounce!

 

5" Teleport w/ Position Shift: Usable as an attack +1, Continuous +1, Damage Shield +1/2, Reduced Endurance 0 +1/2; [Active Cost 60 pts; limitations to taste, but "Must travel intervening space -1/4, "Fixed Location" defined as the point on the ground exactly 5" in front of the character -1/4;] Defenses to the UAA: having Teleport; Desolid; or a Mass in excess of 200kg.]

 

The mass in excess of 200kg portion of the limitation is not valid, as the teleport wasn't bought with the capacity to teleport anything that heavy in the first place.

[Psylint]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Indeed you are correct BNakagawa, a typographical oversight (that is, it was in my notes, but I forgot to type it in.)

 

In any event, the auto-knockdown damage shield is essentially murder on melee types. And they have enough woes already, don' ya think?

 

Peace

[teh bunneh]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

I used a construct similar to Psylint's for a villainous teleporter. If you touched her, you'd basically "fall through" her and end up someplace else. A pretty expensive build, IIRC, but effective as hell. The PCs hated her.

[Comic]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

I've had various characters with Dispel, Suppress or Transform damage shields aimed at foci. Melt/burn weapons, teleport powersuits away without their wearers, turn projectiles into homing pigeons that turn around and deliver their damage back at the one who shot them...

 

Doesn't take a lot of damage, considering foci generally have low, low Body scores.

[matrix3]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Some great ideas.

 

I thought of a couple really odd damage shields, but I don't know if they are legal. What would you say to a Desolid, UAA damage shield, or an EDM, UAA damage shield? Are they even legal?

[Outsider]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Yes, but stop signs and point costs abound.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Some great ideas.

 

I thought of a couple really odd damage shields, but I don't know if they are legal. What would you say to a Desolid, UAA damage shield, or an EDM, UAA damage shield? Are they even legal?

 

Seems to me that the Desolid UAA damage shield would only turn the target desolid while they were in contact with the damage shield... and once they go desolid, they're no longer in contact with the damage shield, so they solidify. So to that, I'd say no.

 

The EDM... I'd say it's marginally legal, though as GM I wouldn't allow it, nor would I put it on an NPC.

[mattingly]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Tunneling Damage Shield, Fills Hole Behind.

[rdalton]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

I had a similiar teleporting damage shield but ended up with a lot more advantages on it.

It's for a hero named Heisenberg (after the uncertainty principle).

 

Basically, if you get near him, you are teleported to a random hex 2" away from him, facing a random direction. It pretty much prevents any hand to hand attacks from getting to him.

(He also has a darkness field covering the same area when he is running or no darkness if he teleports. You can either know his position or his speed)

 

Teleportation 2", Position Shift, Personal Immunity (+1/4), Safe Blind Teleport (+1/4), Damage Shield (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Area Of Effect (2" radius; +3/4), Continuous (+1), Usable As Attack (+1), Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger resets automatically, immediately after it activates; +1) (61 Active Points)

[Doc Samson]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Two of my personal favorites...

 

"The Blob" Clinging (+90 STR), Damage Shield (+1/2) (60 Active Points)

 

"Cloak" Extra-Dimensional Movement (The Darkforce Dimension), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Damage Shield (+1/2), Usable As Attack (+1), Continuous (+1) (90 Active Points)

[matrix3]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Two of my personal favorites...

 

"The Blob" Clinging (+90 STR), Damage Shield (+1/2) (60 Active Points)

When would a clinging Damage Shield be better than an entangle DS?

 

"Cloak" Extra-Dimensional Movement (The Darkforce Dimension), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2), Persistent (+1/2), Damage Shield (+1/2), Usable As Attack (+1), Continuous (+1) (90 Active Points)

 

 

This is cool. Is there a time limit, or is the attacker stuck in this Darkforce Dimension if they don't have EDM themselves?

[MilkmanDan]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

When would a clinging Damage Shield be better than an entangle DS?

 

You can break out of an Entangle, but, depending on your interpretation of the rules, 90 STR clinging would require beating a 90 STR strength-to-strength roll. Evil.

[GoldenAge]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

Napalm (a villiain and substance all the same) was always one of my favorites AVLD/Sticky/Damage Shield.

 

Another ruthless one was the Deathmaster's cumulative Body Supress Damage shield.

[jtelson]

Re: Favorite Damage Shields?

 

My favorite was a very basic one that caught my players completely off guard.

 

Talion, a rifle wielding villian, had as one of his MP slots a simple physical EB DS. He would have it active in phases he wasn't planning on shooting anyone (Covering people, Dodging, Moving into Position etc). The effect, I slam them with the butt of my rifle. After he laid out the DCV martial artist the players always thought twice about engaging the 'Rifle Guy' in HtH.