Epiphanis Posted May 20, 2012 Report Share Posted May 20, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar 6th Ed. Gravitar is Hunted by the 6th Ed Champions, which is a set of 400 pt starting characters. Here is how I see the situation tactically. A fight between Gravitar and the Champions is very much a match between the women; the male Champions are far less effective than the females; they are essentially cannon fodder. However, in a fight against Gravitar having enough good fodder on hand is vitally important! By far the most serious threat to Gravitar is Witchcraft, with her Mental Blast, PRE Drain, Mental Illusions, and Mind Control. By itself, her Mental Blast will inflict an average of 21 STUN per hit, a third of Gravitar's maximum STUN (and Witchcraft should hit with it a bit better than 80% of the time). This attack by itself could KO Gravitar completely in 3 successive hits, whereupon the team dogpiles her to make her stay down. Unfortunately, Witchcraft is very much a "glass cannon" as she is also the Champion least able to withstand Gravitar's attacks. If she was forewarned enough to devote her Lesser Witcheries VPP to ED she might survive two hits, but otherwise its safe to assume that if Gravitar is able to focus her full wrath on Witchcraft for even a single phase, Witchcraft will be incapacitated temproarily, and if Gravitar can focus on her again before she recovers, she's out of the fight. As previously suggested by others, Witchcraft's Mental Illusions are effective, but her Mental Blast is the biggest stick in the Champions' arsenal against Gravitar. Its generally better to have her use her attack actions to blast Gravitar loopy than to make her waste her own attacks. Sapphire is the next best offense, with a nice NND Stun Gravitar has no defense against. Both she and Witchcraft have good Teamwork; if Sapphire can hold to coordinate her Stun Bolt (again, avg 21 STUN, but this is OCV/DCV based) with the slower Witchcraft's Mental Blast right after Gravitar's phase they can keep Gravitar stunned. And keeping Gravitar stunned is SO SO SO important. Gravitar's SPD is the equal of Sapphire's , superior to Witchcraft's, and her DEX initiative is superior to both. And Gravitar can take out either woman individually with one clear-headed phase. Fortunately, both Witchcraft's and Sapphire's relevant attacks are ranged, so with proper positioning they can avoid getting simultaneously smacked with Gravitar's AoEs. Offensively speaking, the male Champions are generally useless in this fight. Kinetik's finger-snap NND is nice, but its a no-range effect and he can't fly; its pretty safe to assume that unless/until Gravitar is already KOed he's never going to get the opportunity to use it. Defensively, the Champions men are more useful. They best function as rodeo clowns to "draw aggro" away from the women, slinging zero-phase taunts to activate Gravitar's Enraged and make her fight stupid. Otherwise, they should just Dodge the best they can and keep spread out enough that Gravitar can't AoE them as a group. Doing this, Defender and Kinetik could last though 1-3 of Gravitar's attack actions, and Ironclad could last about 2-5. Speaking generally, their defenses are not enough to keep them up for more than a phase or two of Gravitar's focussed attacks, but are sufficient that she will have to focus on them for that phase or two (she could just use Multiple Attacks to eliminate three scrubs in a single phase). If someone else has Gravitar enraged and Defender didn't need to Recover anything and Gravitar doesn't have a Barrier up, Defender could try his Electro-Bolo Entangle, but I don't really see that as particularly crucial. Gravitar could englobe herself with a Barrier and resort to her indirect attacks. This would nullify the threat posed by Sapphire's Stun Blasts and those pesky coordinated attacks, but the barrier isn't Opaque and would do jack against Witchcraft's Mental Blast, which is already the most serious threat to her. Also, Gravitar is Overconfident and even if not Enraged fighting defensively doesn't seem her style; wiping out the opposition quickly with overpowering direct attacks would hold more appeal. Given the Mental Blast, Gravitar would not likely resort to this tactic until after Witchcraft was out of play -- and, frankly, once that happens the tide of battle will probably turn in her favor anyway, so why bother? Even if everybody does everything right, chances are Gravitar will beat at least one of the men into the dust before its over. Whenever Gravitar is stunned but not KOed, they should just take recoveries rather than trying to go on the offense. The trick is to keep Gravitar stunned as much as possible, and Enraged at one of the men as much as possible whenever she is not stunned. Assume that every phase she gets that she is not stunned Gravitar will take down one team member (probably more like 2-3 phases, but assume otherwise). If either female Champion goes down before connecting with a Blast at least once, the battle is probably lost. A good Champions-victory scenario results in Gravitar going down in the middle of the third turn (i.e., after 2 post-12s) after KOing at least one of the men. The Champions doing better than that is impressive luck. If two of the men, or either Sapphire or Witchcraft have been KOed before both female Champions have connected with at least one Blast each since the most recent post-12 recovery, the battle is probably lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodstone Posted May 20, 2012 Report Share Posted May 20, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar To attack from beyond sightrange with Mental Powers you need Mind Scan effect of EGO+10 (35 Roll). With a decent amount of minions and innocents (more than 10) in the area, I wish you luck gettign that lock-on against DMCV 8 (while you are at -2 too -4). Well, I'm not talking about standing beyond sight range. Your powers are invisible to 99% of the world population, including the target in this instance. Most of my mentalist players tend to learn to take advantage of that pretty fast. Some do wade in guns a blazing, but most of those either don't last long or have some other gimmick to back them up (massive TK powers, martial artist, etc) -Use Acting to make it seem like you are just one of the many innocents. There's a reason why most of my mentalist wear trench coats instead of capes... -Use Stealth to hide. Keep in mind that she has a PER roll of 14 and mental powers don't suffer the Range modifier, so keeping your distance is a good idea here. -Attack from a position that gives you better LOS than what the target has. Since she can't ID the source of the attack, she's not going to instantly make a beeline for you. Again, Range is your friend here. I don't want to get into too much detail here because it's all scenario based. For all I know, the GM is planning to have Gravitar ambush the players while they are having tea on the moon with Steve. Generally speaking, a smart mentalist does not walk into the middle of a fight with a neon sign that says "kill me first, I'm dangerous". If they do, it's probably just a Mental Illusion anyhow Anyhow, if we want to bring up Mind Scan, that's a whole different ball game. And if we don't want to mess around with all this subtly stuff, fine. Haymaker a 6d6 Mental Blast makes it 8d6. Gravitar has a CON of 30, so you stun her on a very slightly above average roll. She has 60 Stun, so she can take roughly two of those hits before she's KOed. Even if you only have a 4d6 Mental Blast Haymakered to 6d6, you'll probably take her out in three shots. But that's alot more risky. And we haven't even considdered what the rest of the party is doing in the mean time... For the drain, don't forget Barrier. It stops drains dead in 6E. Depends on how the drain is built. Also depends on the scenario and how the GM is playing Gravitar. She may not fly in with the Barrier up. She's arrogant and tougher than most high level bricks, so she might not waste the energy to even create it until she feels she needs it. Also remember, she probably has to waste attack actions to move the thing, so putting up the Barrier means making some sacrifices (possibly just in mobility, but keeping her stationary favors the mentalist...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epiphanis Posted May 20, 2012 Report Share Posted May 20, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar I made an error in Witchcraft's Mental Blast, which I corrected by edit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywind Posted May 21, 2012 Report Share Posted May 21, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar Wich would mean you get her to attack person X over person Y' date=' when there is absolutely no one out there who is a danger.[/quote'] Objection. Supposition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted May 21, 2012 Report Share Posted May 21, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar Objection. Supposition. Yeah, with Gravitar and her massive ego, I'd wager your best bet is to Mind Control her into major tactical flubs. "We're so far beneath your incredible power, you don't need your barrier." "We don't stand a chance against you, so why don't you waste a phase gloating?" "Surely you don't need to unleash your full power to swat a horde of puny gnats." That sort of thing. (Or my personal favorite trick, the Fully Indirect Ego Attack. I'm over here, but the Mental Attack came from over THERE. Please go pursue some wild geese.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt the Bruins Posted May 22, 2012 Report Share Posted May 22, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar Witchcraft's versatility also opens a number of additional avenues of attack, such as putting a low-level Constant Transform (mutant into normal human with no powers; heals back normally) into play early on as a back-up in case subsequent uses of her Mental Blast, Mental Illusions, or Mind Control don't get the job done. She doesn't have a lot of active points to play with, but if we're talking about a three Turn fight it would be really handy for all Gravitar's powers to go bye-bye early in the third Turn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. MID-Nite Posted May 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar Thanks for all the imput on this...if it helps at all...the group facing Gravitar consists of... Surgical Steel: Powered armor type with additional powers of healing, regeneration, and a traquilizing touch(NND). Solaria: Heat projector with a broad array of heat/light related powers...including Flash..RKA..and a Dehydration NND attack. Port: Teleporting martial artist...also has an NND attack...SPFX he momentarily teleports an opponent.. Thalia: Has a magical bow with various attack powers(bought not as a focus but as restrainable) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar All those NND's and the Flash would normally be stopped by a 6E barrier. Maybe Port could teleport inside her protection to his powers on touch range. Maybe hqe could bring Surgical Steel along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodstone Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar All those NND's and the Flash would normally be stopped by a 6E barrier. The Barrier will stop many NND's, but it comes down to SFX and build. For example, a Barrier will not inheretly stop a GAS based NND unless the Barrier is airtight (typically done via linked life support) Having not seen the character sheets invovled, can't really judge. However, the Flash would NOT be stoped by a 6E barrier unless said Barrier had the appropriate Opaque adder. Gravitar's Gravitic Wall does not have such an adder. Then again, Graviter doesn't really care if you blind her anymore, due to her Gravitic Field Awareness (360º Spatial Awareness) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbywolfe Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar All those NND's and the Flash would normally be stopped by a 6E barrier. Which is only an issue if the Barrier is in use... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted May 23, 2012 Report Share Posted May 23, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar Which is only an issue if the Barrier is in use... If that works, better hope that Gravitar does not get's a rematch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. MID-Nite Posted May 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar Not too worried about Flash, but the group would definitely try to use the NNDs. On the other hand, if they don't suceed in Stunning her, they're in for a world of hurt(as my PC team isn't that tough defensively). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt the Bruins Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar I suppose it also bears mentioning that we're basically talking about a Paris Hilton analog who's capable of 100 STR Telekinesis effects. If she's on the ropes and gets her petulant mad on, she can always just pull whole buildings down to slam the entire block where the fight is happening. With her powers getting buried under hundreds of tons of rubble isn't that big a problem, but most teams of 400 pt. heroes would be hosed. Not to mention any innocent bystanders who were actually in the buildings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodstone Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar I suppose it also bears mentioning that we're basically talking about a Paris Hilton analog... How could you say such terrible things about Gravitar!?!?! She may be a supervillianess, but damn it the woman has feelings! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt the Bruins Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar Yeah, like "that's hot!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted May 24, 2012 Report Share Posted May 24, 2012 Re: Tactical Analysis: Gravitar If she's on the ropes and gets her petulant mad on' date=' she can always just pull whole buildings down to slam the entire block where the fight is happening. With her powers getting buried under hundreds of tons of rubble isn't that big a problem, but most teams of 400 pt. heroes would be hosed. Not to mention any innocent bystanders who were actually [i']in[/i] the buildings. That reminds me of Epsiode 3, the Fight between Yoda and Palpatine. When they started throwing the Senate at each other... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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