Protection against the mooks

[Alverant]

I'm starting a DC campaign and one of the players wants to buy up defense because "I just don't want to get creamed by joe shmoe." It's understandable. No one wants to be taken out by the cannon fodder. But IMHO that's part of the risk and appeal in DC. When you're dealing with ordinary people, anyone attacking you is a threat. It doesn't matter if they're a wannbe gangbanger looking for some respect or a trained assassin. Am I wrong? Does anyone else have this problem and how do you deal with it?

[OddHat]

Re: Protection against the mooks

 

Well, there's the mechanics, and there's what I think may be the underlying issue.

 

Mechanically, just tell the player what the average street thug's CV is. If the average thug, after all levels are added in, is attacking with a CV of 4 or 5, then a DCV (after levels) of 8 or 9 should be very effective protection. Combat Luck even more so. Not very expensive to manage even on a limited point budget.

 

More important, I'd talk with the player and make sure we were on the same page as far as what we want in the campaign. If I'm thinking The Shield, where common street punks can be a real danger to the protagonists, and he's thinking Jackie Chan's Supercop, where our hero can take on entire gangs and reasonably expect to emerge intact, there's a disconnect. Unless you're both on the same wavelength, there will be problems in play.

[Narratio]

Re: Protection against the mooks

 

I'd agree with Oddhat. Show him a standard NPC character sheet, the better he understands what normal humans can do, the more confident he will be in his character creation.

 

Better yet, play a scenario or bank robbery scene and let him run the thugs against another player who is a designated hero. They'll get a kick out it playing one on one and both will see what can and can't be done with normal humans.

[bubba smith]

Re: Protection against the mooks

 

good point narratio btw how is that pronounced?

[Alverant]

Re: Protection against the mooks

 

good point narratio btw how is that pronounced?

 

If I had to guess it's nar (rhymes with tar) ra (the cheer) tio (like the nick name).

 

Thanks for the suggestions. As a player I wanted my characters to be nigh-invulurnable. As a GM, I see what a pain that can be.

[Narratio]

Re: Protection against the mooks

 

I've always found playing lower powered characters to be more fun. It makes you think rather than stand there looking smug as bullets bounce off your manly (or womanly) chest. Think 60's Avengers or X-men rather than 90's equivalents. Something where the Ringmasters Circus of Crime can be a genuine threat rather than comic relief.

 

(I pronounce it "nar (rhymes with tar) ray she oh")

[bubba smith]

Re: Protection against the mooks

 

I've always found playing lower powered characters to be more fun. It makes you think rather than stand there looking smug as bullets bounce off your manly (or womanly) chest. Think 60's Avengers or X-men rather than 90's equivalents. Something where the Ringmasters Circus of Crime can be a genuine threat rather than comic relief.

 

(I pronounce it "nar (rhymes with tar) ray she oh")

thanks, i agree its better for super-heroes NOT to be all powerfull and infalible let them work to EARN their victories by effort not steamrolling their opposition

[samarkand]

I feel for this player

 

Heh.

 

I was involved in a game a few years ago where I was a solo supermage. He had something like 20 for defenses and roughly 30 stun. It was a 50 active point game. Seems reasonable, right, He could take two hits before he went down.

 

Well, the GM armed his thugs with a pistols (2d6 RKA), and he always rolled in front of the players. Invariably, at the start of every combat involving thugs, my character would attack and take out a thug. Then, the remaining thug(s) would roll to hit. One would hit and would roll something like 10 or 11 body with a x5 stun multiple and one shot my mage. It got to the point that my character would work harder to avoid thugs than other supervillains.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's one thing for common thugs to be a threat and another thing for the randomness of the dice to make them the primary threat.

[Vulcan]

Re: Protection against the mooks

 

Sounds like something that happened in a Champions game a while back.

 

Chain (a Chost-Rider ripoff) steps through an illusionary wall, and is confronted by 16 DEMON (or was it VIPER? I don't remember very well) agents. He still has an half-phase, so he pastes one of them.

 

The other 15 coordinate and blast him. All told, the damage is lethal.

 

The rest of the party (on the other side of the wall) 'sees a burnt corpse blown back through the illusion.'

 

We went another way...

[Eosin]

Re: Protection against the mooks

 

Knowing when to dodge, dive for cover, and creatively use the environment is 90% of the battle. Also, never facing a horde of thugs without grenades is a good rule of thumb.

 

In the various DC games I've played in we have lost a few characters. Mostly to thugs and mostly when doing something that leaves you hanging. A sweep when a Card Shark thug has an automatic weapon isn't smart... It can even be lethal.

 

We actually bump up the lethality in our campaigns (enforced low BODY and +1-2 DC on all firearms.) It works well for us since the joy is in the challenge but occasionally there is a head shot that ruins someones week, even while wearing a helmet.

[Shoutybloke]

Re: Protection against the mooks

 

PD 6, 2 levels of combat luck and level IIa body armour will protect you from all but the luckiest thug.

In fact, it once saved the character it was atached to from body damage when heatseeker shot his car with a rtocket launcher.

 

Actually those 200 pt pcs were tough. the only bad guy who beat them in a fair fight was pokerface, although the kissing bandit and gunmetal silk came close, and some of Spregans thugs took them down with a gas missile once, but thats about it.

 

The really embarassing thing was, they were pre-gens...