RULES LAWYERS ALERT: How to build a character with unlimited Strength?

[Roter Baron]

So, my rule attorneys, munchkin huns and power limit cracking maniacs - here is the objective:

 

How do you build a character who can - under the right circumstances and with a halfway realistic amount of points (so, we speak in three digits real cost here) - increase his Strength virtually without an upper limit?

 

A little like baiting the Hulk with a pointy stick (made of adamantium whielded by Galactus ...) and making him agrier and angrier all the time.

 

It does not matter that in the end the chances of "limitless strength" are practically and realistically 0 or that the END cost would crush the character - I just find the idea of a character with STR 60 who COULD, under the right circumstances (Galactus baiting him with a adamantium-stick, Chulhu rises, the stars are right, all three together etc.) very intriguing.

 

So, whatchasay?

[Lord Liaden]

The way I've approached this in the past is most definitely a GM-permission case, but this character probably wouldn't be a PC anyway. I would give the character a Continuous Aid, half the points going to his Strength, the other half going to the increase the Aid itself. Thus with every use the maximum that can be rolled for Aid grows larger.

[Clonus]

There was a character named Quantum (before the Champions universe one) in a old Dragon magazine article. She had a tiered build that I can't remember the details of because that was 30 years ago. I remembered she had roll 11- to move up each level...

[Hugh Neilson]

The way I've approached this in the past is most definitely a GM-permission case' date=' but this character probably wouldn't be a PC anyway. I would give the character a Continuous Aid, half the points going to his Strength, the other half going to the increase the Aid itself. Thus with every use the maximum that can be rolled for Aid grows larger. [/quote']

 

This - a positive adjustment power that boosts STR and its own maximum at equal rates allows an unlimited increase.

[Tigereye]

Without going into something like Lord Liaden's idea (sneaky-good though it is); I'd ask myself:

 

What do I want the character to do with this power? Punching Galactus or Cthulhu (or Dr. Destroyer) so that they'd feel it hard.

 

How much Strength would that take? Well, Galactus can eat a planet (M-mm, crunchy!); under the theory that no one can should eat something larger than their head (unless a glutton), and assuming that Galactus' head is therefore proportional to a planet, we can extrapolate that, given an upper average limit of 5 kg for a human head, the average human hero in Champions can lift 20 times that much. Galactus' head must mass about one Earth-mass. Assuming further that Galactus' strength is also proportionate, he must be able to lift 20 Earth-masses, slightly more the mass of Neptune. That's a Strength (in 5th-edition Ultimate Brick) of 415.

 

But we want to exceed that. "Lifting" Jupiter requires a STR of 435; it scales exactly to 415 as a STR of 35 does to 15. Holy smeg, that's 87 dice of HTH! You'd turn Dr. Destroyer into a monomolecular stain on the wall with that punch (there wouldn't be enough BODY left to do knockback!), and the Great Old One would be converted his acronym. That's enough. (If that's not unlimited enough - you can go the whole hog and give 'em the strength to lift a neutron star; that's a STR of 490.)

 

A STR of 435 is pretty pricey though - let's see if we can reduce it. We'll give them a base STR of 60. We don't want all 435 right away - just as we get riled up. The best way to do that would be STR +300 with Limited Power (-1; only 60 points can be added per Turn). It will take us a full minute to get to the boiling point. The last 75 points we want to give only when toweringly PO'd - We can do that either by No Conscious Control (-2; given a trusting GM) or Only When Enraged (-1/2 or -1/4 depending on the frequency of that). You can add more limitations as you see fit.

 

So, given the baseline power lims:

+50 STR = 50 pts.

+300 STR (Limited Power: Can only be built up at 60 points per Turn, -1) = 150 pts.

+75 STR (Limited Power: +300 STR must be engaged fully; -2; Only When Enraged; -1/2)= 21 pts.

 

Total Cost = 221 points. Not bad, and I'm sure most GMs would allow you to take the group under a Unified Power (Get Offa My Planet!: -1/4) as well. That would reduce the price to 40+132+20= 192 points.

 

We'll also want a bunch of END to expend for this and a high REC to boot. Pricey, but hey, you want to give a character a godlike power, you get what you pay for!

[Tigereye]

Without going into something like Lord Liaden's idea (sneaky-good though it is); I'd ask myself:

 

What do I want the character to do with this power? Punching Galactus or Cthulhu (or Dr. Destroyer) so that they'd feel it hard.

 

How much Strength would that take? Well, Galactus can eat a planet (M-mm, crunchy!); under the theory that no one can should eat something larger than their head (unless a glutton), and assuming that Galactus' head is therefore proportional to a planet, we can extrapolate that, given an upper average limit of 5 kg for a human head, the average human hero in Champions can lift 20 times that much. Galactus' head must mass about one Earth-mass. Assuming further that Galactus' strength is also proportionate, he must be able to lift 20 Earth-masses, slightly more the mass of Neptune. That's a Strength (in 5th-edition Ultimate Brick) of 415.

 

But we want to exceed that. "Lifting" Jupiter requires a STR of 435; it scales exactly to 415 as a STR of 35 does to 15. Holy smeg, that's 87 dice of HTH! You'd turn Dr. Destroyer into a monomolecular stain on the wall with that punch (there wouldn't be enough BODY left to do knockback!), and the Great Old One would be converted his acronym. That's enough. (If that's not unlimited enough - you can go the whole hog and give 'em the strength to lift a neutron star; that's a STR of 490.)

 

A STR of 435 is pretty pricey though - let's see if we can reduce it. We'll give them a base STR of 60. We don't want all 435 right away - just as we get riled up. The best way to do that would be STR +300 with Limited Power (-1; only 60 points can be added per Turn). It will take us a full minute to get to the boiling point. The last 75 points we want to give only when toweringly PO'd - We can do that either by No Conscious Control (-2; given a trusting GM) or Only When Enraged (-1/2 or -1/4 depending on the frequency of that). You can add more limitations as you see fit.

 

So, given the baseline power lims:

+50 STR = 50 pts.

+300 STR (Limited Power: Can only be built up at 60 points per Turn, -1) = 150 pts.

+75 STR (Limited Power: +300 STR must be engaged fully; -2; Only When Enraged; -1/2)= 21 pts.

 

Total Cost = 221 points. Not bad, and I'm sure most GMs would allow you to take the group under a Unified Power (Get Offa My Planet!: -1/4) as well. That would reduce the price to 40+132+20= 192 points.

 

We'll also want a bunch of END to expend for this and a high REC to boot. Pricey, but hey, you want to give a character a godlike power, you get what you pay for!

[Cassandra]

Define Unlimited, and what you want to do with that level of STR.

 

If you just want to lift thinkings, have a base strength of 50, and then take +50 STR, NFC (-1/2), Only to Lift (-1/2)

[Andrew_A]

Why not just build a really expensive Aid and use the Absolute Effect Rule? It can increase STR by X*, but does so, an unlimited number of times.

 

*"X" represents the number of effect dice you roll.