Metaphysician

Re: Power Level of a the Mafia

Hmm. . . I take a slightly orthogonal viewpoint. To an extent, the opportunistic element of a Hunted shouldn't really effect the strength of the Hunted. This is because pretty much any Hunted, down to the feeblest LessPow, is going to take advantage of their initiative in order to target the hero when and where it will actually do any good. Its an advantage intrinsic in the fact that they are *hunting* you, as opposed to being hunted. They get to choose the time and place of engagement.

Instead, I would factor this initiative advantage into the occurance frequency. An 8- Hunted is probably *only* going to ever show up when they have a situational advantage. A 14- Hunted, on the other hand, because they are doing their best to hound you constantly, will often strike with suboptimal opportunity, simply because there are only so many optimal opportunities available.

Re: Power Level of a the Mafia

So one of the characters I am building has "Hunted by Viktor Mogilevich (Russian Mafia)." A fictitious leader of the Russian Mafia. They are after the character for revenge (personal honor and all). My question now is, how powerful would you consider such orginizations? The hero is about 500pts and I have the Hunted as being as powerful. Does this seem appropriate to anyone else? I normally would put it as more powerfull but 500 pts is quite a bit to go up against. Thoughts?

 

La Rose

Now, this specific case. . .

I'd have to know more about the hero in question, and the mob leader. Does the hero have any real NCI? Does he have a particularly harsh Secret Identity?

Is Viktor Mogilevich a pocket Lex Luthor, with a lucrative legitimate front corporation and good PR? Is he ex-intelligence, with a criminal operation resembling a freelance espionage organization? Is he just the hardened thug who controls the gunrunning at the waterfront, with a bunch of guys with AKs as his men?

Re: Your PCs might be Underpowered if...

Unfair example: John Carter wasn't a 150 point character even to start with, and the moment he appeared on Mars, he got something like 100 points of boosted stats.

Re: Power Level of a the Mafia

Another relevant factor: whether the PC has significant non-combat influence of his own. Sure, the Mafia ( or other organized crime ) can cause a person trouble through indirect means, but if the PC in question is, say, a billionaire industrialist, or one a first name basis with the POTUS? It becomes a question of competing influence and resources.

That said, I'd be inclined to rank the Russian Mob as a higher threat level than, say, the Mafia. In the Champions Universe, the traditional niche of the Mafia is often supplanted by VIPER, thus undermining their biggest resource, extensive political and social influence. Meanwhile, the Russian Mob has access to extensive ex-KGB talent and large amounts of ex-Soviet military hardware. This likely includes both superhumans, and supertech weaponry.

So, getting a single local gang of Mafiya pissed at you, is worse than getting the local Mafia angry, and likely worse than getting a single VIPER Nest angry. Getting the collected Russian Mob pissed at you, is worse than getting the whole Mafia angry, but not as bad as getting VIPER as a whole angry.

Re: Your PCs might be Underpowered if...

. . . you are a team of normals

. . . your most powerful attack is a Red Rider BB Gun

Hah! Like I'd ever be insane enough to let a party get a Red Rider BB Gun.

Re: Enter Fluffy (or "Aw, can't we keep 'em?")

Hermes: Lives too mobile and hazardous of a life for a pet, normally. . . but hey, if Artemis approves of the critter, I'm sure he could find the time to take care of it. Or at least find it a safer home.

As for turning into some horrific giant form in response to danger? Meh, its not like he's not best friends with someone who does that, herself. . .

Re: Superhero Legacy 2: He took my old ID!

Hermes: "Well. . . hmm. . . so, your a wizard, with various magical powers. And you practice occult rituals to invoke unmanifest gods."

"Why the hell did you decide to name yourself Hermes Trismegistus? I'm not a wizard. I never was a wizard. I'm a scientist."

Re: The Death Of Vinnie The Viceroy

Due to the video evidence of Mr. Fairweather being shot first any action that he took to preserve the life of himself and his secretary was within the constraints of meeting the force with a bit more force to overcome the opposition. There's no way to prove when the thugs dropped their weapons, so arguing excessive force is pointless. Any defense attorney worth his salt would argue that Mr. Fairweather had a legal obligation to protect his secretary from harm under the auspices of it being a citizen's duty to protect others when they have the means to do so. See citizen's arrest for examples of what a citizen can do.

 

However, the video evidence clearly shows that Mr. Fairweather was unarmed while the thugs weren't and he used his natural abilities for self defense. While he may be bulletproof, his secretary isn't and with the thugs discharging their weapons willy nilly with no thought to innocents down range of them it was his legal obligation as an officer of the court and a private citizen to ensure that no innocent was harmed from the actions of the criminals.

However, if the physical evidence proves that the individuals were tortured to death. . .

Re: Ultimate Suppresser

Um, you do realize a 1d6 iceball is absolutely useless, doing less damage than the punch of an absolutely untrained individual of average strength?

Re: What's the point? They're gonna escape anyways

Why bother?

 

Because somebody has to stop them from doing what they are trying. I don't know about yoyu but I'm not ready to live under Dr. D's rule or have myself and my loved-ones replaced by machines or ... whatever that plan is they are hatching this time.

 

Sure they escape, but that's not the point. The point is that your country is still free, your friends aren't toasters, and ... well you've foiled their plans.

 

Plus it's always fun to turn it back on them when they inevitably come back: "Oh please! This is how many times we've foiled your plans? Why do you even try? You know you'll loose. Yes you'll escape and come up with another scheme to take over the world/destroy organic life/whatever, but that's not the point. The point is that going on past experience your going to loose. Again! I mean, really, what's the point?

 

It's not Heroes that should be asking 'what's the point?' it's villians. Heroes get what they want (adoration, the girl, the warm feeling that comes with a job well done) Villians get beaten up, made to look like fools (even when they are Megavillians) and have to run away with their tails between their legs. Even when they score a victory it never lasts, the world doesn't work like that.

 

It's better to be a hero, that way you'll know that eventually you'll win (even if you must sacrifice everything to do it). Which is why so many of my villians think they are 'heroes'. "I'm only taking over the world for it's own good", "Humanity is the greatest threat this planet has ever faced it must be eradicated for the good of all life", "machine life is the next step in evolution and I am it's champion", etc...

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Karma again."

Re: Ultimate Suppresser

I think its more "he didn't know all the tricks he could do." He was still basically a sentient hole into the Darkforce. I'm pretty sure he was still in the "I am only street level in the sense that I walk on it" range guys like Spider-man and Ghost Rider are in, though.

Re: Your PCs might be Underpowered if...

Randal's Raiders could kick your asses.

Re: Ultimate Suppresser

*cough* I'd really be disinclined to use "Cloak" and "low powered" in the same sentence, ever. . .

Anyway, I'd ask your GM, its possible *he* is confused over what the point benchmarks are. Could be he's saying "125 points" because he doesn't realize that disadvantages *add* to that total.

Re: Ultimate Suppresser

Um, none? 125 points is on the low side for a non-powered character in a mundane setting. You'll be hard pressed to fit any power of any kind in there. As for VPPs, the only thing even slightly feasible would be a "mystic ritual" VPP. And even then, even with a whole bunch of limitations, you'd probably have to spend half your budget to get even 30 points.

Re: Ultimate Suppresser

Honestly, 125 points, you'll be hard pressed to build super *anything*, let alone something as exotic as a power suppressor.

Re: Ultimate Suppresser

Also, as has come up before, "Suppress vs All" is really not a supportable mechanic. Or at least, it doesn't do what you think it might do ( suppress all powers ), because "all powers" is not really a meaningful concept.

Re: Ultimate Suppresser

Elucidate: do you mean "you only want to spend 125 points on this effect", or "the character is only 125 points"?

Re: Dr. Yin Wu -- Archmage?

It makes even more sense if you assume there was already an Archmage in Dr Wu's youth, and his involvement in the Watchers started early.

Or, for a slight variation. . . Dr Yin Wu *could* receive a blessing of hell. However, by virtue of his status among the Watchers of the Dragon, and mystic involvement with keeping the Death Dragon out, doing so would create a vulnerability. Basically, him specifically letting even a little of the Dragon's power in, would compromise the wardings that keep him the bugger out.

So, while he *could* become the next Archmage, it would at the very *least* mean fifty years of the Death Dragon free and rampant about the world. Which, if this were an act of desperation in the face of mystic horrors invading, could well be enough even in itself to destroy civilization. I could see it having effects all the way up to "drop the Earth entirely into the Dragon's maw, plunging all of humanity into eternal hell."

Thus, its the kind of thing anyone rational would only do if they've already written off the planet Earth ( and possibly all the populace ), and are now to the point of just trying to prevent, say, lovecraftian horrors from eating all of reality.

Re: Dr. Yin Wu -- Archmage?

Another possibility: his membership in the Watchers of the Dragon, and continual opposition to the Death Dragon, has put him on what amounts to the Dragon ( ie, Hell's ) shit list. As such, he is rendered incapable of receiving the Netherworld blessing needed for achieving Archmage status.

Re: Wait, he's on our side?

You know, my reading of this scenario isn't a "deal with a devil" situation, so much as a "alliance of necessity." Lucifer isn't offering the power to win in exchange for souls, he's just showing up for the big fight with Asmodeus or whatnot.

Which is still a very risky scenario, but its not the *same* kind of risk.

Re: Not "Secret", not "Public", just "Identity"

I don't know, while she didn't live a prominent alternate life like most secret ID types, she *did* have a number of enemies quite intent on tracking down her true identity, and more importantly, location.

Personal details about her are generally unknown, she puts considerable effort into keeping them that way, and the consequences of a security breach are considerable ( as they were the times when such happened ). I'd say it counts.

Re: Not "Secret", not "Public", just "Identity"

Dr Strange is another such example. He's not really known by the public, but those who do know of him, know who he is and what he does. However, even though his villains know who he is and where he lives, it doesn't especially cause him troubles beyond the expected.

Or, looking at it from another angle, those villains who can cause him trouble, could see through any secret identity anyway, and those who would be obstructed by such, would not be a problem for him anyway.

Re: When your superhero group became powerful enough to rule the world?

I think in the Vanguard campaign I ran, the PCs started strong enough to take over the world. . .

Re: Your Gaming Group's Jargon

'Gangrel'. To most, its the name of a clan from Vampire. To us, its an adjective or a verb, referring to improbable dice luck.

'Getting Gangreled' means your dice luck is awful. You not only roll crappy once, but repeatedly.

'Gangrel Hands' means your dice luck is, by contrast, incredible. Every time you toss them, you crit succeed.

Also, 'Gangrel Rule' is a house rule we use in systems involving hero points. Specifically, if a PC's dice luck is such that they are getting Gangreled, as agreed by everyone, they get a hero point free.

Re: Superhuman women and normal women

Vaguely possible scenario: lawsuits over using superhumans in bra advertising. Implying, or outright stating, that its your brand of bras that keep her 'assets' up and in place, when they actually stay in place just as well wearing nothing at all? It'd be like using somebody with gastric bypass to promote an exercise center.