Creating balanced villains, campaigns

[Tedology]

New GM question alert.  

 

Some background of the campaign I'll be starting this weekend:

 

Four (4) players

Character maximums:

• Offensive powers: 75 AP
• Defensive powers: haven't given this much thought, though most are 25 rPD/25 rED, 1/2 damage reduction (is the toughest guy); others have Desolid or other ways to protect themselves
• Built on 325 base CP + 75 Complications

Not sure what guidelines I should use to create my supervillains and/or agents, etc?

 

Right now I have:

• Offensive powers: 90 AP max
• Defensive powers: 30-35rPD/rED, and possibly damage reduction (depending on the concept)
• Built on: (it varies)

How do you GMs create villains that you know won't trounce all over your heroes, but also won't be wet tissue paper within the first turn or so?

 

(I apologize if this comes across as a dumb question)

 

Can you tell I'm nervous about running my first Champions game in many years?!  

[Grailknight]

First off, your guidelines look good.

 

If you have copies of the PC's run a few trial battles with the pre-gen villains in CC. They're fairly basic and any large holes or advantages of the PC's should come out.

 

Have a back-up villain for the walkovers, but just to advance the plot not to swing the combat. Don't take a victory away from them.

 

Team losses are a part of the genre. Just don't make the victorious villains too brutal. Mockery,in moderation, however can lead to great gaming moments.

 

The dice can make any battle a mismatch or an epic struggle. Try to minimize this by keeping general villain OCV and DCV  an average of 1 less than the PC's. inability to hit or to be missed is the most frustrating thing for PC's, IME and should only be for a few villains that specialize in it. Big and small damage rolls are usually no big.

 

Keep the characters fluid for the first 2-3 adventures. Even a balanced character may not play as the player envisioned it. Allow for tweaks.

 

It's a game, have fun.

[Tedology]

Thanks for your help and insight, Grailknight.

 

I especially appreciate the tip of OCV and DCV; I can see how hitting/missing snafus would cause much grief!

 

I also agree with keeping the characters fluid. I've already told the guys they have one free "re-roll" (either to tweak their current hero, or to create a different character, altogether). I figure this way they should have the opportunity to, after they see how a Hero Games session runs...make alterations as they see fit.

 

Because as you say, after all, it's a game.

[Gravitron]

I look at the average dice my heroes are throwing and gauge defenses from that.

I look at the average defense my heroes have and gauge damage from that.

I look at OCV/DCV and gauge DCV/OCV from that.

 

For instance.. the main character in my game is a MA/Blaster with 11d6 attack OCV 9, DCV 8 with 2 levels for martial arts and a 26 PD/ED

 

So.. villains that are approximately equal to him are gunna throw 10-12d6, have OCV/DCV around 8-10 and approximately 24-27 PD/ED.

 

NOW.. Here are a few things to consider...

1) You have 4 heroes that can gang up on any one char (the same goes for villains but you can control this). This means if your villain defenses aren't decent they will drop like flies.

2) Giving your villains lots of levels instead of OCV/DCV makes your life more complicated during combat.. and combat is complicated enough as it is. :-)

3) STUN is the great equalizer. Giving your villains a bunch of stun is a good way to allow your players to smack your villains around while not having them go unk instantly.

4) Players will ALWAYS surprise you and perform better than you expect. This is because the players are MUCH more familiar with their own characters than you are with the villains you write. All they have to think about is what they will do. You have to decide actions for multiple villains. They also get all the time in the world to think about it (while other stuff is happening).

 

and finally...

 

What you write down on a villain sheet is not set in stone. Hardly an encounter happens in my game where I don't adjust the villains on the fly as I notice they are not balanced quite the way I want. I fudge rolls, alter defense, change OCV/DCV etc all for the sake of the "feel" of the game. I just make sure the players don't know it is going on so it doesn't affect their enjoyment of the session. :-)

[Tedology]

Such excellent advice, Gravitron...thank you for it!

 

I especially appreciate the "and finally..." portion. I sometimes feel guilty, but then that's what the GM screen is for...what they don't know won't hurt them and will enable them to have more fun.

[Greywind]

Villains don't all need to be balanced. It depends on what their place in your world is. There is no way that Penguin is as capable as Batman. Penguin is a planner. Not a fighter.

[Tedology]

Thanks, Greywind! (I'm sensing a pattern with all the "Gr" responders!)  

 

And you're right. I'm thinking my mega-villain at the end of the campaign will be more a planner/mastermind than anything else.

[Greywind]

This is one of the "boss level" villains that I use.

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/85693-greywinds-characters/?p=2271453

[Gravitron]

Such excellent advice, Gravitron...thank you for it!

 

I especially appreciate the "and finally..." portion. I sometimes feel guilty, but then that's what the GM screen is for...what they don't know won't hurt them and will enable them to have more fun.

 

EXACTLY! I always use a screen for this reason. You never want the heroes to feel they haven't earned the victory.

 

I really should have used your numbers when making up my examples, but consider that a normal attack does (on average) 3.5 * #d6 in damage.. So that's 67 points on a 18d6 attack (90 AP). That's a ton. A hero with 25 defense is likely to take 40+ stun and could easily take 50 or more. That is a one shot. Of course that won't be the case for someone with 1/2 damage reduction on top of that.. but be careful. I certainly have villains with 90 AP powers (or more), but I carefully consider the actual effectiveness of the attack. Generally, like Greywind said, I don't bother trying to "balance" the villains. I just give them the powers I want them to have and consider the effect of their attacks (and defenses) compared to the average values the heroes are likely to be throwing around.

 

Consider.. a 6d6 NND (60 AP) is going average 21 points and be plenty effective against anyone that doesn't have the defense. A couple shots of that and most heroes will be going down. Now consider 6d6 NND, AE.. That's 90 AP and going to be very ugly. I don't have anyone in my game with that. :-)

On the other hand.. one of my boss villians has a 110 point multipower with Aquatic summoning and control. Because it fits.. But summoning a whale is hardly going to bother the heroes much.

 

And then.. there is my re-write of Blackstar who at 415 points is the most dangerous guy they've ever seen.. with up to a 75 strength and up to 45 PD/ED. It doesn't take a lot of points to be crazy tough. :-)

[Tedology]

Thank you.

 

Hmm...now I'm questioning what I may be doing! LOL

 

If I have a 90 MP, then quite often the "pure blast" includes reduced END (either 1/2 or 0 END)...which means it may be as little as 12d6 0 END...he can keep going...but do about 42 damage on average.

 

I figure I'll just fudge the numbers as necessary...watching the battles as they progress.