Calling all space heroes!

[BoloOfEarth]

First, the one-line synopsis: Which (published 5E) superheroes can operate in space?

 

Now, for my typical too-lengthy explanation:

 

In my Champions game I've started an Alien Invasion story arc, with the heroes already having captured an alien starship so they have a way to get into space and potentially to the alien homeworld.

 

Since I don't want the invasion arc to overpower all other parts of the game, I wanted to have some things happen in the background (an alien attack on the ISS, a battle outside lunar orbit, etc.) that the heroes would hear about, in between actual PC actions against the aliens. My problem is, who is to appear in those Earth super vs. alien interaction?

 

Any space-capable super has to either have LS: self-contained breathing + LS: vacuum, or a vehicle capable of providing those. Ideally, the super would have Flight or Teleport for ease of movement in zero-G. If a vehicle, it must be able to reach orbit on its own.

 

I have the UNTIL Gateway space station, with a number of fighters stationed there. (I'm using the Argos III Deep Space Port from the Future Armada series for maps of Gateway, since I plan for the aliens to soon take control of Gateway and the PC heroes to help re-take the station. BTW, if you haven't checked out Future Armada, I highly recommend it.) So I can use UNTIL space fighters for some of the background stuff, especially the small-ship encounters.

 

Defender (at least, the version from 5E Champions) doesn’t have LS: vacuum, nor does the Champions’ jet, though it could be added to either easily enough. So I'm putting the Champions in as space-capable.

 

From CU and MC, I have Victory, Cavalier, Dr. Silverback, and Teknique. (All either have LS + Flight already, or have VPPs to provide that.)

 

From CKC, I've found Photon, Tesseract, and Utility, all of whom might be offered amnesty in exchange for their help against the aliens. There are a few other supervillains that are space-capable, but I don’t think the UN is going to ask Firewing (as one example) for help.

 

I have a few home-brew heroes that can pitch in, plus a few from 4th edition books that I can use. But this still seems like a pretty small list.

 

Are there any others that I missed? Or suggestions for other space-capable villains that might be coerced into helping fight the invaders?

[Black Ops]

Re: Calling all space heroes!

 

Black Rose (from the Sentinels Magic VPP, Champions Universe )

Diamond (from the Sentinels, Brick LS Vacuum, Champions Universe )

Brawler III (from the Justice Squadron, Brick, LS Vacuum, Champions Universe )

The Drifter (from the Justice Squadron Thaumaturgic VPP, Champions Universe )

Superstar (from the Sentinels, Cosmic Power, LS usable by up to eight others, Champions Universe )

Archon (Empyrean,Brick, LS, Hidden Lands)

Chevalier (French Superhero, Energy Powers, LS, Champions Worldwide )

Gyeroy Vedun (Russian Supermage, LS, Champions Worldwide )

Stalnoy Volk (Russian PA Hero, LS, Champions Worldwide )

Anvil (Indian Brick Hero, LS, Champions Worldwide )

Charm Girl (Japanese Brick Hero, LS, Champions Worldwide )

Tetsuronin (Japanese PA Hero, LS, Champions Worldwide )

Acantilado (Mexican Brick Hero, LS, Champions Worldwide )

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Calling all space heroes!

 

Also, from Champions Worldwide,

Autour (French gadgeteer hero with "hypermagnetic" flight harness --50+25 VPP

Stalnoy Volk (Russian power-armour hero; has self-contained breathing and LS vacuum separately)

Ma'at (Egyptian divine avatar of Goddess of Truth) LS: total.

Rashindar (Indian mystic hero) --60+30 Thaumaturgy pool

Quantum (Until: Defenders of Freedom, energy projector) is a being of energy and naturally has all the necessary LSs.

There are more sorcerors with VPPs to devote to life support who are slightly less probable deep space combatants than monsters like the Drifter, Gyeroy Vedun and Rashindar: Witchcraft, Drs. White and Black, Robert Caliburn.

There's another listed Empyrean superhero with the standard LS, the speedster Davos, and if you really want to bulk up the numbers, Thalia is already contemplating life as a superhero.

 

And there's maybes:

Corrente (Portuguese brick) has Life Support, all safe environments, but no self-contained breathing

Macahuitl, who should be in everything, he's so cool (Mexican light brick) has heat/cold/radiation life support and self-contained breathing, but not explicitly vacuum protection. But he needs to be in the scenario somewhere, because he's cool. Am I repeating that he's cool? Because he is. Cool, that is.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Calling all space heroes!

 

Thank you, and repped. I'm most appreciative of the team membership / nationality and character type being provided in addition to the name and source. Since I don't have any of CU: NotW, HL, or CW, that info will help me in describing any of those individuals / groups battles against the aliens.

[wcw43921]

Re: Calling all space heroes!

 

From CKC, I've found Photon, Tesseract, and Utility, all of whom might be offered amnesty in exchange for their help against the aliens. There are a few other supervillains that are space-capable, but I don’t think the UN is going to ask Firewing (as one example) for help.

 

Are there any others that I missed? Or suggestions for other space-capable villains that might be coerced into helping fight the invaders?

 

If you have CKC, then you also have access to Doctor Destroyer and The Warlord. While neither would particularly be interested in joining the UNTIL war effort, they would both be very likely to oppose the invaders on their own, to protect their interests and reap the benefits of captured alien technology--especially faster-than-light travel, which is something not even Herr Doktor has developed. (As far as I know. )

 

As for any of the others--the key word here is not coerce, but entice. Appeal to their ego, something villians have in overwhelming quantity. ("Hey Firewing--you say you're the best warrior in the universe--here's your chance to prove it--") Of course, getting them to follow orders and sticking to the strategy is quite problematic--unless you're able to somehow factor that into the strategy.

 

Hope that helps.

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: Calling all space heroes!

 

Okay, well, Gyeroy Vedun and Stalnoy Volk are both not only Russians, but members of the Russian Defenders. GV isn't that active, right now, but Volk is a diehard --a sort of Russian Captain America, who would drag Vedun in.

Quantum is a member of Unity, the UNTIL superteam, so he would be in the frontline of defence for Gateway. So are Drs. White and Black. Unity has two other regular and one reserve member. The reserve member, the super-intelligent Mentiac would make a good chief of staff for a superhero army, but lacks any kind of life support, or, oddly enough, power pool.

 

Macahuitl and Acantilado are former team-mates, with a variation on the Stalnoy Volk-Gyeroy Vedun mechanic. Macahuitl would bring Acantilado in, but the reason that Acantilado wouldn't volunteer to start with is that he isn't feeling very heroic right now.

 

And I missed a few last time through:

From Champions: News of the World,

Juryrig (pure gadgeteer with an 80+40 pool) although the writeup is actually in Vibora Bay

he is currently team-mate with

Micro-Man II (shrinker plus gadgets), who does not have a full writeup. In fact, you would have to give him a Life Support gadget

Hydro, (power suit aquatic hero), not only has the LSs, but a VPP as well. He's a fish out of water in space (ha! I'm so funny!), but he's got the goods and would probably tag along with the Champions.

Cavalier (power suit) is an independent hero who doesn't get along with Defender, but has the LS, self-contained breathing bought separately, and a VPP on top of that.

 

From Champions of the North

Celestar (energy projector) is a 1300 point veteran space-travelling hero, who will be the core of the team --can't believe I missed him.

Forceknight, a powerful independent Canadian armour hero might be excluded by SFX, as it looks like her propulsion is air-breathing. She has, however, sufficient life support, and the disadvantage isn't bought, so you could ignore it.

Of Toronto's official superteam, only the obnoxious Albertan speedster-brick Dust Devil has the requisite LS. Again, bit of a fish out of the water.

 

Extending the "staff to an army of supers," I would definitely recruit Augury, the precognitive anti-hero who currently serves the Canadian superpatriot villain Borealis. She doesn't have LS, but she seems like the right fit, somehow, especially for that good old trope with the mysterious, untrustworthy figure gathering a team of heroes to save the world from a menace only she can foresee.

For the airbreathing heroes, someone needs to supply a spaceship. The problem is that none are written up. You'd think that the Liberty League's Starracer could do it, but that takes one in the direction of doing your own write ups. Which would be cool, because it tickles my sense of humour to imagine that the best official Champions universe analogue to a Captain America type with the universal respect required to lead this team might well be a member of Tiger Squad, like Heart of the People (martial artist, patriot).

And, another sorceror with a significant VPP: Ravenspeaker. There's also La Chatelaine of Les Esprit Guardiens.

That takes you into Scott Bennie's CoTN outtakes, where there are also writeups for Ottawa's COMET, who might all be spacefarers. (I haven't gone and looked, lately.)

[bubba smith]

Re: Calling all space heroes!

 

could witchcraft be able to be usedin this campaign i'm positive ironclad would fit

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Calling all space heroes!

 

Many thanks, and rep to all who replied. Lots of good info, enough to provide plenty of Earth super vs. alien encounters in the background. It also gives me some supers to help distract the aliens so the PCs can strike at them behind the lines.

 

I'll have to figure out a way to keep UNITY from stopping the alien takeover of Gateway (perhaps they'll be dealing with an alien feint far away), though they should join the PC heroes in retaking the station. It's a big station, so there's not much chance of them overshadowing the PCs.

 

My plan is to have the players run a group of pregen UNTIL agents when the aliens board the station in overwhelming numbers. Once it becomes apparent that help isn't going to arrive in time and that the aliens are winning, the agents' superior will order any remaining agents to find someplace to hide and conduct guerilla operations. Just something to give the players a little personal stake in their characters retaking the station.

 

Thanks again, each of you.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: Calling all space heroes!

 

Many thanks, and rep to all who replied. Lots of good info, enough to provide plenty of Earth super vs. alien encounters in the background. It also gives me some supers to help distract the aliens so the PCs can strike at them behind the lines.

 

I'll have to figure out a way to keep UNITY from stopping the alien takeover of Gateway (perhaps they'll be dealing with an alien feint far away), though they should join the PC heroes in retaking the station. It's a big station, so there's not much chance of them overshadowing the PCs.

 

My plan is to have the players run a group of pregen UNTIL agents when the aliens board the station in overwhelming numbers. Once it becomes apparent that help isn't going to arrive in time and that the aliens are winning, the agents' superior will order any remaining agents to find someplace to hide and conduct guerilla operations. Just something to give the players a little personal stake in their characters retaking the station.

 

Thanks again, each of you.

why not have unity be on earth at the time on another assigment?

 

 

fomerly known as bubba smith