Paranormal threat levels

[Orion]

Long-time Hero system user, but just found this discussion board. I look forward to reading a bunch of the historic threads. In the meantime, maybe some of ya'll can help with my current problem.

 

I'm writing a new player guide to my campaign. In it I plan to have a Known Paranormal section. It would have a paragraph or two of known info about each paranormal, good or evil, description of powers, etc. No stats or rules whatsoever. A key part of this would be a Threat Level / Power Level / Classification thing. I've seen a similar thing in some comic books, but never a detailed chart. I'm hoping someone has already done this and could post it or direct me to one on the web. I'd prefer something rules agnostic, but would look at any suggestions.

 

A general idea would be:

0 - normal human

1 - normal with guns, some HTH training

2 - automatic weapons

.

.

.

9 - can destroy Earth single-handed

10 - able to destroy universe, rewrite reality

 

What would you as a player or GM want to see in the level gradations? Is it better to have a single system, or a separate chart for technologists, mages, mutants, etc?

 

Thanks all.

[Tasha]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

From the powerlevels described it looks like you are probably talking about a Champions (SuperHeroic) campaign.

 

Before you get into the fluff of how the people of the campaign quantify superheroic powers.

 

You should decide what Power Level you are going to place the PC's at. Then decide if the PCs are better than the average Superhero, less powerful, or about average. Once you have that squared in your mind you can decide what that Powerlevel is called. The other powerlevels should flow from that. You shouldn't need any classification beyond that.

 

I am not sure that you need a Destroy the Universe powerlevel. That's a huge leap from destroying a planet, and not likely to be seen by the PC's.

 

As a player, I would want to know how many points that I have to build my character, What the Average OCV, DCV, OMCV, and DMCV (or ECV for 5e players). The Average Damage Class, Average, and maximum PD & ED. Also, it's usually nice to know how much Non-combat skills will be used. I wouldn't really care about what the powerlevels are named beyond thinking about it briefly background info. IMHO Be specific in your campaign guidelines and you will get PC's that will fit what you want to run.

 

Tasha

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

You might adapt the prisoner classification system presented in the most recent (Fifth Edition) sourcebook for the Champions Universe's superprison, Stronghold. While it's geared to how Stronghold will have to deal with each inmate while incarcerated, it could translate well to a general threat rating IMO. It's also simple and easy to use.

 

Stronghold uses two scales to classify inmates: Escape Risk and Danger. The first scale accounts for general power level, as well as the type of powers the prisoner has and how useful they'd be for escaping. The latter condition could be modified to refer to particularly combat-effective powers.

Level One: Nominal Risk. Mostly includes low-level paranormals.

Level Two: Minimal Risk. Somewhat stronger or more effective powers.

Level Three: Moderate Risk. The standard supervillainous power level.

Level Four: Significant Risk. Stronger or particularly effective powers.

Level Five: Extreme Risk. Mostly includes massively powerful villains.

 

The Danger scale rates a prisoner's capacity for and likelihood to use violence.

Blue: Low Threat. No history or known inclination toward violence.

Green: Medium Threat: Non-Fatal. Capable of violence if necessary, but usually try to avoid it.

Yellow: Medium Threat: Violent. Willing to use violence, but not deliberately homicidal or unnecessarily brutal.

Orange: High Threat. Tendency toward violence and/or disregard for human life.

Red: Intense Threat. Actively seek to kill, and/or willing to commit wholesale slaughter.

 

Prisoners are referred to by both codes, e.g. "Green-3" is an average-powered villain who will usually fight only if pushed to it. "Blue-4" is a villain possessing significant power, but who almost never hurts anyone with it. While "Red-5" translates to "Run for your life!"

[DusterBoy]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

You might adapt the prisoner classification system presented in the most recent (Fifth Edition) sourcebook for the Champions Universe's superprison' date=' [i']Stronghold[/i]. While it's geared to how Stronghold will have to deal with each inmate while incarcerated, it could translate well to a general threat rating IMO. It's also simple and easy to use.

 

Stronghold uses two scales to classify inmates: Escape Risk and Danger. The first scale accounts for general power level, as well as the type of powers the prisoner has and how useful they'd be for escaping. The latter condition could be modified to refer to particularly combat-effective powers.

Level One: Nominal Risk. Mostly includes low-level paranormals.

Level Two: Minimal Risk. Somewhat stronger or more effective powers.

Level Three: Moderate Risk. The standard supervillainous power level.

Level Four: Significant Risk. Stronger or particularly effective powers.

Level Five: Extreme Risk. Mostly includes massively powerful villains.

 

The Danger scale rates a prisoner's capacity for and likelihood to use violence.

Blue: Low Threat. No history or known inclination toward violence.

Green: Medium Threat: Non-Fatal. Capable of violence if necessary, but usually try to avoid it.

Yellow: Medium Threat: Violent. Willing to use violence, but not deliberately homicidal or unnecessarily brutal.

Orange: High Threat. Tendency toward violence and/or disregard for human life.

Red: Intense Threat. Actively seek to kill, and/or willing to commit wholesale slaughter.

 

Prisoners are referred to by both codes, e.g. "Green-3" is an average-powered villain who will usually fight only if pushed to it. "Blue-4" is a villain possessing significant power, but who almost never hurts anyone with it. While "Red-5" translates to "Run for your life!"

 

You say "Run For Your Life", I saw "Terminate With Extreme Prejudice, Using All Necessary Force".

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

In 5e, I think it was a simple four-point scale of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Omega level threats, with Alpha being the most dangerous world-beaters.

[megaplayboy]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

You could also, just as a rule of thumb, if you want a 10 point scale, peg it as level 1= 30 active points, and + 15 active points per level up to level 9(150 active--Dr. Destroyer level threats), and maybe set 10 = 180+ active points(high end Dr. D, Tyrannon, Kings of Edom, cosmic and divine entities, etc.)

[Orion]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

Good thoughts from all. I'm stupified that I didn't specify a Champions campaign, as that does make a big difference. Using 4th ed rules, although if this gets off the ground I will likely get 6th ed and take a look at it as I've heard good things. I've been doing fantasy stuff in Harn for years, and have just decided to try and do super heroes again. Don't think I have anything for Champions that is less than 20 years old.

 

No actual players at this time, and I'd let them decide the overall power levels. I do have guidelines on what to expect from a wimpy, average, and tough opponent, but it's up to the players to decide the campaign power level and genre (agents, monster hunter, alien invasion, etc). Frankly, I just tell them to show up with a character. If balanced characters are important, they can agree on a point cap, but I won't set one. The character background and story are far more important to me.

 

The only reason I'd want the extreme levels is to be complete. I'm not going to have a Spectre or Galactus show up in the campaign, but that doesn't mean they aren't in the database. I guess I'm envisioning this as the UNTIL database, or the Wikipedia entry for each publicly known paranormal. I hadn't considered a danger level before, but that will definitely be included now.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

You say "Run For Your Life"' date=' I saw "Terminate With Extreme Prejudice, Using All Necessary Force".[/quote']

 

That's assuming you have the necessary force.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

I'm stupified that I didn't specify a Champions campaign' date=' as that does make a big difference.[/quote']

 

Well, you did post this in the Champions forum, so I thought it reasonable to assume that's what you intended.

[Tasha]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

Well' date=' you did post this in the Champions forum, so I thought it reasonable to assume that's what you intended. [/quote']

 

Yeah, my fault for not noticing the post was in the champions folder. I clicked the link from the "New Forum Posts" sidebar.

[Orion]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

I couldn't find anything I liked online, so ended up creating my own power level table. I wanted it to cover all possible power levels, and to be rules agnostic. As I plan for it to be used in multiple possible campaigns, it could not be pegged to the characters power levels. The fiction is that UNTIL did this as part of their known powers database.

 

Assumptions are:

1. One-time use of equipment does not count, nor does an ability or power that is rarely seen at levels well above that normally used.

2. Only one ability or power is needed to qualify for the power level – having multiple listed abilities raises the level.

3. Those with high levels of training in combat or the use of their powers are typically rated a level higher.

4. Those with power suits or inherent powers are rated one or two levels higher than their damage level would normally deserve due to the difficulty in neutralizing or removing those powers.

5. Flight, teleportation, and super speed give an extra bump to power level.

 

Here it is for anyone interested. Comments are welcome.

 

0 Normal

Average person. No weapons, specialized abilities, or powers. No combat training.

1 Competent

Standard personal weapons such as pistols, shotguns, and rifles and non-lethal weapons such as tasers and pepper spray. Some martial arts or combat training. Armor often not worn. Most law enforcement are at this level.

2 Trained Normal

Highly trained, but unpowered, martial artists. Automatic weapons and light armor such as kevlar vests common. Most SWAT teams and basic military units at this level.

3 Low paranormal

Grenades, land mines, and other explosive devices. Have low psionic ability, light power blasts, or can lift 1 ton. Can disable a car, but have considerable difficulty with armored vehicles and small buildings.

4

Small rockets and such as early RPG and LAW. Armor or inherent ability gives immunity to standard personal weapons, can lift 10 tons, or emit blasts which destroy armored vehicles and small buildings with time.

5 Med paranormal

Medium anti-tank rockets, and man-portable anti-aircraft rockets. Armor or inherent ability makes them immune to heavy personal weapons. Can lift 25 tons. Emits blasts that quickly destroy armored vehicles and small buildings; can destroy tanks and hardened buildings in time.

6

Modern anti-tank rockets, light artillery, and light tank main weapons. Can lift 50 tons or destroy tanks and hardened buildings.

7 High paranormal

Can lift 75 tons. Given time, could sink large ships and destroy small cities.

8

Can lift 100 tons. Can create tornadoes, earthquakes, or hurricanes. Can sink large ships, destroy cities.

9 Extreme

Can destroy large portion of planet; extreme loss of life.

10 God-like

Can alter reality

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

I suspect most organizations with any political connections would avoid "God-like" to avoid pushing religious buttons.

 

What about 3 - Low Paranormal; 4 Medium Paranormal; 5 - High Paranormal; 6 - Extreme Paranormal; 7 - City Level; 8 - National Level; 9 - Planetary Level; 10 - Cosmic Level

 

At 7, you mention destruction of cities, and 9 mentions planetary scale destruction, so I'd broaden 8 out to being a threat to an entire state or nation.

[SleepyDrug]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

I use the simple method of taking the character's point cost and turning it into a threat rating, on a 10 point scale. As an example....

 

Thor 11.3 (yeah, a bit higher than 10)

Captain America 10.8

Scarlet Witch 9.1

Vision 8.1

Nova 8.0

Giant Man 7.5

[megaplayboy]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

If you want a little bit more granularity on that scale, you could use hexadecimal notation(i.e., 0-9,A-F). So, 0 would be a normal with no training and no weapons, F would be a cosmic level threat, and you'd have 14 values in between the two.

[Orion]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

Hugh - good point re: God-like. I think I'll change it to cosmic right away.

 

megaplayboy - I think I do need more granularity. My world will never have a level 9 or 10 paranormal in it - they just don't exist. Even something that could destroy a city is extremely rare, and would do so with an earthquake or hurricane. I was thinking that anything bigger than this would just get lumped into one large category, since it's never been seen. That said, it would be just like a anal-retentive UNTIL bureaucrat to create an index that covers everything in detail, just in case.

[Lucius]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

Hugh - good point re: God-like. I think I'll change it to cosmic right away.

 

megaplayboy - I think I do need more granularity. My world will never have a level 9 or 10 paranormal in it - they just don't exist. Even something that could destroy a city is extremely rare, and would do so with an earthquake or hurricane. I was thinking that anything bigger than this would just get lumped into one large category, since it's never been seen. That said, it would be just like a anal-retentive UNTIL bureaucrat to create an index that covers everything in detail, just in case.

 

The Fujita Scale to measure tornadoes included a "theoretical" category 6 that has been described as "beyond any tornado ever observed on Earth."

 

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

 

Lucius Alexander

 

an uncategorized palindromedary

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

The Fujita Scale to measure tornadoes included a "theoretical" category 6 that has been described as "beyond any tornado ever observed on Earth."

 

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

 

So, by definition, a category which cannot actually exist on earth - any tornado which would meet this category, once observed, no longer meets the category.

[Armitage]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

In the campaign I worked on years ago, I used the following government-assigned categories for superhumans and non-powered heroes and villains.

 

Grade 1 - Minor Metahuman with trivial powers, like a Deuce in the Wild Cards series. Typically 1-10 AP and 1-4 Defense.

Grade 2 - Metahuman super genius who isn't a hero or villain.

Grade 3 - Trained Normal Human.

Grade 4 - Normal Human or Metahuman supergenius with super-tech, subdivided into 4a to 4f.

Grade 5, 4a - Weak Metahuman. 11-30 AP, 5-12 Defense.

Grade 6, 4b - Below Average Metahuman. 31-50 AP, 13-20 Defense.

Grade 7, 4c - Average Metahuman, 51-70 AP, 21-28 Defense.

Grade 8, 4d - Above Average Metahuman. 71-90 AP, 29-36 Defense.

Grade 9, 4e - Powerful Metahuman. 91-110 AP, 37-44 Defense.

Grade 10, 4f - Very Powerful Metahuman. 111+ AP, 45+ Defense.

 

Since Grade 10 was "anything above Grade 9", there were unofficial Grade 11, Grade 12, Grade 13, etc. metahumans, but they were officially classified as Grade 10.

[Lucius]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

So' date=' by definition, a category which cannot actually exist on earth - any tornado which would meet this category, once observed, no longer meets the category.[/quote']

 

I said "described" not "defined." But yeah, it seems kind of a pointless category and was dropped, as I understand it.

 

Wikipedia claims that a category 5 is already so destructive you couldn't tell a hypothetical 6 from a 5 anyway.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary is asking why I'm sitting around when I should be unplugging and heading back to Affordable Computer Repair

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: Paranormal threat levels

 

I said "described" not "defined." But yeah, it seems kind of a pointless category and was dropped, as I understand it.

 

Wikipedia claims that a category 5 is already so destructive you couldn't tell a hypothetical 6 from a 5 anyway.

 

Well of course not - once you observe it, it's no longer a 6 (assuming, of course, you observe it on earth).