Need some help with a character

[xagen]

Hey all.

 

I'm building a villian for my campaign, and need some assistance. His name is Backlash (originally Spite, and then Guilt Trip). He has some skills and talents, but his only real power is his ability to deal damage back to anyone that attacks him. I have some ideas on how to do that, but none of them do exactly what I want. Here's what I have so far:

 

1) Vengeance Field: 10d6 Ego Attack, Dmge Shield, works with physical attacks, no end, persistent, inherent, always on, not for grabs, only if actual dmge was done, and only up to twice the amount done, ranged.

 

Basically, if he gets hit by either a mental attack or a hth attack, the person gets whopped by up to a 10d6 ego attack (depending on the damage he took). I want this to work vs. ranged attacks as well, so I made it Ranged. Does that work the way I'm thinking? If so, since this still only affects physical ranged attacks (no energy blasts), would it be better to add an ego attack triggered by being attacked by anything? But how does that work? Would he need an autofire to "attack" multiple people if they all attacked? I'm so confused...

 

Any advice?

[Kristopher]

Re: Need some help with a character

 

Originally posted by xagen

Hey all.

 

I'm building a villian for my campaign, and need some assistance. His name is Backlash (originally Spite, and then Guilt Trip). He has some skills and talents, but his only real power is his ability to deal damage back to anyone that attacks him. I have some ideas on how to do that, but none of them do exactly what I want. Here's what I have so far:

 

1) Vengeance Field: 10d6 Ego Attack, Dmge Shield, works with physical attacks, no end, persistent, inherent, always on, not for grabs, only if actual dmge was done, and only up to twice the amount done, ranged.

 

Basically, if he gets hit by either a mental attack or a hth attack, the person gets whopped by up to a 10d6 ego attack (depending on the damage he took). I want this to work vs. ranged attacks as well, so I made it Ranged. Does that work the way I'm thinking? If so, since this still only affects physical ranged attacks (no energy blasts), would it be better to add an ego attack triggered by being attacked by anything? But how does that work? Would he need an autofire to "attack" multiple people if they all attacked? I'm so confused...

 

Any advice?

 

I think the Ranged, works vs mental and physical Damage Shield is close to what you want. There's really no limit, IIRC, on the number of time a Damage Shield can go off in a single Segment. The power you've written up is 0 END, so there's no need to worry about that drawback.

 

What kind of defenses does this villain have? Will he be able to withstand a lot of damage while letting the heroes kill themselves on his power, or will he go down if the heroes just have the guts and determination to take the pounding?

 

I'm thinking that this is the villain you want to use a lot of Indirect attacks on, or throw objects of opportunity at from far away. Or won't that help? In fact, I suggest you rule that sufficiently Indirect attacks don't invoke the Ego Attack, thereby giving this villain a weakness, especially if he has impressive defenses.

[xagen]

Thanks. My issue right now is that it doesn't work vs. energy blasts. The campaign is set in a very low powered setting, with the characters being paranormals, with only 150 points, so his defenses don't have to be high. Plus, most paranormals are little more than normal people with a few powers, not really superheroes in the traditonal sense.

 

Anyway, so how do I get this field to work vs. energy blasts as well? Add an Ego attack with a trigger?

 

Any recommendations?

[Kristopher]

Actually, I think the "works vs physical too" Advantage would still cause the Damage Shield to be set off by a 0 range energy attack. I think it's physical-as-in-not-mental, not physical-as-in-not-energy. Adding the Ranged advantage would, IMO, cause the Damage Shield to fire off against ranged attacks, whether physical or energy.

 

Think of what you have to pay for just one die of Ego Attack in this power:

 

+1 Continuous

+1/2 Damage Shield

+1/2 also vs physical

+1/2 Ranged

+2 1/2 total advantage

 

For a grand total of 35 points per die.

 

EDIT: Ooops, typo...

 

[Blue Jogger]

I would buy it in a weird way.

 

10D6 Ego Attack, No Range, 1 Hex Area Affect, +1/4 MegaScale Area, 0 END,Persistent,Continous,-2 Limit: Damage is limited to the amount of damage actually done to Backlash x2 and only one return attack for one attack done.

 

(375 Active, 107 Real)

 

Basically anyone coming within combat range will suffer a 10d6 Ego Attack, but only if they damage Backlash and only up to the amount of damage actually done. He only gets one return attack (since it's like Damage Shield)

 

EDIT: Forgot Continous

EDIT: Forgot Ego Attack is 10 not 5 per base die

 

[xagen]

Thanks guys!

 

Um... I'll have to reread damage shield. It sounds like it only affects physical attacks (ala Fire Shield D&D spell). But I'll check on it.

 

Also, you wouldn't need Continuous - unless I wanted them to get zapped again and again and again. ;-) I only want them to get zapped once. Unless... that the way he can attack multiple times. Well, That would work vs. one opponent. But your idea Jogger is only missing one key ingredient. Well, two, actually. The first is that it won't affect ranged attackers. The second is that I want my opponents to feel immediate pain. If the timing were right, someone could attack him more than once and before feeling any backlash (and where's the fun in that?).

 

Thank you both for your imput. I think I'm on the right track, but I'll have to play with it some more. That sounds kinky. ;-)

[Kristopher]

Continuous is now a prerequisite for Damage Shield. As to why, I haven't a clue. Ask Steve.

[Lightray]

Originally posted by Blue Jogger

I would buy it in a weird way.

 

10D6 Ego Attack, No Range, 1 Hex Area Affect, +1/4 MegaScale Area, 0 END,Persistent,Continous,-2 Limit: Damage is limited to the amount of damage actually done to Backlash x2 and only one return attack for one attack done.

 

(375 Active, 107 Real)

 

Basically anyone coming within combat range will suffer a 10d6 Ego Attack, but only if they damage Backlash and only up to the amount of damage actually done. He only gets one return attack (since it's like Damage Shield)

 

EDIT: Forgot Continous

EDIT: Forgot Ego Attack is 10 not 5 per base die

You also forgot Selective, since this power will subject Backlash - and everyone within 1 km - to his own attack.

 

Unless you're arguing that the -2 Limitation gives the benefits of the Selective advantage? I hope not; using MegaScale is cheesy enough without geting a huge benefit (you don't blast everyone within range) out of a huge limitation.

 

Actually, it looks like that -2 limitation is giving the benefits of BOTH Selective AND Damage Shield. oy.

[levi]

Sorry Xagen, but this is yet another case of the math and the system getting in the way of running a game.

 

Buy it as an AE Damage Shield if you want to, the important part is how it plays in the game.

 

I think Kristopher was on the right track with the question about how this power is played. The most important thing about this villan is that the heroes MUST decide to endure damage to themselves to save the day.

 

I have often heard that Superman isn't much of a hero since he can bounce bullets and there is no real chance of him getting hurt unless someone whips out the Kryptonite. In other words it is EASY to be a hero when you aren't risking anything.

 

Your villan has the potential to really define the heroic nature of the PCs in your campaign. Seperate the posers from the bonafide heroes. I would suggest giving it the Does BODY Advantage to really test them. In fact, a recognized tough guy NPC should fall to this guy before the PCs fight him to give them a real sense of how much peril their characters are putting themselves in to fight Backlash.

 

Here's my system suggestion:

 

10D6 Ego Attack Reduced END (Zero END) +1/2, Continuous (+1), AE Radius 38" selective (+1 1/4), Damage Shield Offensive Affects Mental, Energy & Physical Attackers (+1 1/4) 500 active points. Limited Power - Cannot cause more than double the damage caused to Backlash (-1/2)

Cost: 333 pts.

 

Hope that helps...

[xagen]

Thanks!

 

Levi, this is actually the best suggestion yet. I especially like the text preceding the power reminding us that as a GM, the powers are only guidelines, and how they affect the game world is far more important. And I like the idea of how to introduce him to the heroes as well. All good suggestions. Thank you very much.

 

I also like the thought about Supes. I had never thought of him in that way. True, he can do some amazing things, but I think his heroism comes in the form of the fact that though he could be sitting at home wathcing Will & Grace, he's spending his nights saving lives and preventing disasters. True heroes not only risk themselves, but give themselves selflessly. In my opinion, there are plenty of true heroes in today's world. I think people that feed the homeless on a volunteer basis every sunday are heroes, too. You don't have to save lives to be one! Back to Supes, though he's not in any real danger from the public, you will notice that on many occasions he is fighting people that will definitely hurt him and could kill him, given the chance (Darkseid comes to mind, but there are plenty of others).

 

Anyway, thanks again, all of you. You've been very helpful.

 

xagen