BoloOfEarth

My favorite example of this was when the heroes were fighting Dot, formerly of CLOWN but I moved him to the Foxbat Five and semi-heavily rewrote him.  Among his powers, Dot opens portals, similar to Spider-man's foe Spot, to attack through, grab things through, and (in this particular instance) spy through.
 
One of the heroes noticed one of Dot's spy-holes, so he grabbed a fire extinguisher, stuck the nozzle at the spy-hole, and started spraying Dot in the eye.  I ruled it an impromptu Flash attack, NND (defense is goggles / solid eye covering).  And then when Dot opened a larger hole to attack through, the hero bashed him in the head with the extinguisher.

Regarding using agents against the heroes, for speed and ease of play I use mass combat rules where I group agents into one meta-character, though I also tend to give one or two agents from each group distinctive personalities or actions so they're not all just faceless mooks.  For instance, a more vocal agent might trash-talk the heroes, or do something crazy or stupid (rush ahead of his teammates, etc.).  The funny thing is, the heroes sometimes decide to concentrate their attacks on that hapless agent, rather than taking on bigger threats.
 
A recent example of this was an adventure I ran when a powerful vampire had a cadre of lesser vampires, mostly college students or gangbangers she had bitten.  Compared to the PC heroes, none of those lesser vampires were very powerful, so I was mainly grouping them together.  Except for one... Vampire Elvis.  This was a would-be Elvis impersonator the Countess had turned into a minion, and for fun I modified lyrics to some Elvis songs and sang them when he took his actions.  Several of the PCs decided to ignore more pressing threats to concentrate attacks on Vampire Elvis just to shut him up. 

My favorite example of this was when the heroes were fighting Dot, formerly of CLOWN but I moved him to the Foxbat Five and semi-heavily rewrote him.  Among his powers, Dot opens portals, similar to Spider-man's foe Spot, to attack through, grab things through, and (in this particular instance) spy through.
 
One of the heroes noticed one of Dot's spy-holes, so he grabbed a fire extinguisher, stuck the nozzle at the spy-hole, and started spraying Dot in the eye.  I ruled it an impromptu Flash attack, NND (defense is goggles / solid eye covering).  And then when Dot opened a larger hole to attack through, the hero bashed him in the head with the extinguisher.

I've done this as well.  In a lot of cases, the players say they're okay with it... until the villains actually do it.  Then, the players are suddenly not so keen on it.  (My favorite tactical example of this is the "extra shot when he's down" to take advantage of causing 2x STUN to an unconscious person.  The PCs in my game do it *ALL THE FRICKING TIME*.  But heaven forbid the bad guys do it to one of them!)
 
BTW, I do the reverse as well -- before giving a villain a particular power or use his powers in a creative and potentially abusive way, I ask myself if I'd be okay with the players doing the same.  In most cases, I've decided not to allow myself to do it in the first place.

Tactically and thematically - great move.  But, I was thinking more in terms of game balance.
 
If you allow the grab & tunnel combo you're effectively giving that character a massive barrier/entangle/darkness ability that is on par with Extra-Dimensional Movement Usable as an Attack.
 
The lever I normally use at my tables for such abilities is:  Are you OK with the villains doing this to your characters?
 
That normally dissuades the over-the-top powers.
 
 

Xanthous
 
You are judged. By Xanthous ! Whatever you have done Xanthous will uncover it using the light of truth. There is no escape. There is no reprieve. There is just Xanthous. From the depths of the ocean to the far reaches of outer space Xanthous can seemingly appear at will and judge you.

My wife and I are currently on vacation, and spent much of today driving.  While going through Kentucky, I saw a police officer had pulled someone over far ahead on the right shoulder, so I pulled into the left lane, as did most other drivers.  The person coming up behind me, however, pulled into the right lane just before getting to where the police car was  so he could speed past everybody else.  I commented that the guy was an idiot, and what he did was illegal.
 
Wife:  "Maybe it wasn't illegal.  Different states have different laws.  Maybe in this state, you're not required to change lanes when you're passing a police car on the side of the road...
Me:  (silently points to sign that is very conveniently placed less than a mile from where the cop had pulled someone over, which we are approaching as she's finishing her sentence)
Sign:  "STATE LAW:  Pull over or slow down when passing a stopped emergency vehicle."
Wife:  Okay.  So he's an idiot and what he did was illegal.

Okay, here's my take on the first season. Spoilered for verbosity and, well, Spoilers for those who haven't watched it.
 

In many of my Champions campaigns, I've gotten much use of the supernaturally lucky lawyer Irving Probalino (from Digital Hero #16, and mad props to Allen Thomas for creating him), making him a constant thorn in the players' sides as he finds ways to get various captured supervillains cleared of charges.  This current campaign, however, they finally had the idea for a "filthy rich" PC to use his wealth to put Probalino on exclusive retainer.  Not only do the heroes no longer have legal issues to bother them, but they also found a way to keep a lot of supervillains locked up. 

Note:  In my campaign world, the members of Deathstroke remain alive, and are based on the versions of the team in 4E's Champions Universe.  They've even added a member:  Draconic, a good-ol-Southern-boy handyman who discovered a long-forgotten lab once owned by Dr. Draconis and who uses an early battlesuit left behind by the evil doctor.  The team has since used some of Dr. Draconis' old plans and devices to further their ill-fated attempts as world conquest.
 
The members of Deathstroke were sitting around their newest base, the ubiquitous formerly-deserted warehouse, divvying up the haul from their latest "big score."  A stolen widescreen TV was playing in the background, showing Chiller's favorite movie, The Day After Tomorrow; it had just come to the part where the massive hyper-cold hurricane was flash-freezing New York City and the rest of the eastern seaboard.
 
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" crowed Chiller as the characters on the screen scrambled to safety.  "Run away, boys, you don't want to catch cold!"
 
Shockwave snorted at his teammate's wordplay.  "It's too bad you can't ramp up your blizzard and generate that much cold, Chiller," he said.  "We could hold the whole city hostage."
 
"Ah don't see why y'all can't do that," said Draconic.  "Just use Doc Drac's meta-enhancer pack.  Should crank ol' Chiller's power up to eleven.  Bet he could turn the city into a deep freeze quicker'n a jackrabbit crossin' the highway."
 
Everybody else turned to stare at their junior member.  "Meta-enhancer pack?" asked Requiem.  "What the heck is that?"
 
"Didn't y'all know 'bout that?" Draconic asked.  "Big o'l backpack, micro-nuke plant on the butt end?  Lots o' flashy lights and dials?  Ah found it in a closet in Drac's lab.  His notes say it works like a gee-tar amp, boost the whozits along the mutational event horizon and what was it, oh, yeah, 'amplify mutagenic transitive output tenfold'."  He took a long hit of his Budweiser and then chowed down on some chips.  "Didn't do nothin' for me 'cept make my fingers tingle, but ah'm not a mutant.  Felt sure he'd a strapped one o' you into it to test it out."
 
Requiem grinned, but not as wide as his twin brother.  "I believe I know what our next master plot is going to be," the Deathstroke leader said with a smile. 
 
- - - - -
 
The trustworthy "meta-enhancer" can be a device, or a drug, or a radioactive stone, or a magical totem - whatever strikes your fancy.  I prefer a bulky device, most likely requiring the theft of a few key components.  With it, a mutant with radioactivity powers can threaten to irradiate the city.  A fire-powered mutant could generate a blocks-wide firestorm.  A weather-manipulator could bring floods and hurricane-level winds to threaten the city.  And of course, a cold-generator could lock the city in a deep freeze.

My daughter just watched that video and said, the only Avengers that should have been singing "We didn't start the fire" were the ones who were turned to ash. 

Probably the meanest things I've ever done
 
is create an AVLD vs. Non-magical Defenses does Body RKA.  If they put on a bulletproof jacket, they were fine, but most of them had these strange heavy magical defenses with little explanation other than its magic. an entangle which blocked all normal senses and the person was entrapped in what appeared to be stone. HKA damage shield powered by the attacker's strength (lots of bricks in this game) a guy with acting and absorption into his physical (not ED) stats.  Every time he was hit, he played as if he could only barely take the punch (kind of like pro wrestling).  After he got powered enough, he began his attacks against them. a guy with completely invisible power effects on his desolid and a high speed.  
 

Gee, I only have 2,500 rep - so I guess people only like me a quarter as much as they like Cygnia.  (sulk)  Nah, never mind, forget the sulking, I'm over it.

Thanks. Hopefully this hasn't been posted before.

Gee, I only have 2,500 rep - so I guess people only like me a quarter as much as they like Cygnia.  (sulk)  Nah, never mind, forget the sulking, I'm over it.

My Easter weekend costume at a sci-fi con.
 
The Ashter Bunny, star of the Easter Dead series:
"All right, you primitive screw-heads, listen up. THIS is my Carrot stick. It has a hare trigger. Tomorrow the dead will rise, so hop smart: hop S-Mart."
"Klaatu Barada... Hasenpfeffer!"
 
 

 

I don't know if these count as tactics or strategies (I never could keep their differences straight).
 
Keeping in mind I only run Champions games...
 
Moves that I've seen players use:
Shrinker with no-range small-dice Continuous NND attack.  Lands on / clings to middle of target's back (so he/she can't see and is almost impossible for said target to attack the PC) and then "stings" the target.  Move onto next target, lather, rinse, repeat. PCs find a way to make a foe go Berserk... and then the PC Teleporter uses his teleport UAA to repeatedly put the berserker facing his friends (typically behind said friends so they're at a lower DCV) The ever-popular "I Entangle the bad guy so my more powerful teammates can dogpile on him."  Especially when the Entangle is transparent to damage, or a mental entangle. PC having TK with Reduced END, a bunch of CSLs, and Rapid Attack.  Multiple-Attack Grabs 2-3 foes at once and lifts them up, preferably facing away from the heroes.  (Facing straight up works well most of the time.) Moves I've used against players:
Variation on Move #1, but with the Shrinker having Mental attacks.  And if the bad guy is the shrinker, he can also cling to normal bystanders, so the heroes won't throw out a bunch of AoE attacks. Move #3 above works great when you have agent-level characters - one well-placed, well-timed Net Grenade can do wonders, and teaches the heroes that they can't just ignore the agents. Tactically-minded foe uses invisibility / cover and holds his action to watch what the PCs are doing, especially if they're setting someone else up for a  pounding, and then uses his powers to derail the PCs' strategy.  For instance, PC #1 entangles Bad Guy #1 immediately after BG #1 acts, then PC #2 runs up and begins a Haymaker.  So Tactical Bad Guy #2 targets his Double Knockback Explosion attack right between PC #2 and Bad Guy #1 - which both screws over the hero's Haymaker and frees BG #1 from the Entangle. Bricks with lots of Running and CSLs - Multiple Move-Throughs, baby!  Especially if the brick has a teammate with a decent AoE Flash attack.  Sure, the heroes may have enough Flash Defense so they're only blinded for a Segment or two, but sometimes that's all it takes.  I did this once with Bulldozer, he plowed through three heroes and CON-stunned two of them.

None of them seem particularly scared.  They must not have heard a peep out of the ghost.
 

I don't know if these count as tactics or strategies (I never could keep their differences straight).
 
Keeping in mind I only run Champions games...
 
Moves that I've seen players use:
Shrinker with no-range small-dice Continuous NND attack.  Lands on / clings to middle of target's back (so he/she can't see and is almost impossible for said target to attack the PC) and then "stings" the target.  Move onto next target, lather, rinse, repeat. PCs find a way to make a foe go Berserk... and then the PC Teleporter uses his teleport UAA to repeatedly put the berserker facing his friends (typically behind said friends so they're at a lower DCV) The ever-popular "I Entangle the bad guy so my more powerful teammates can dogpile on him."  Especially when the Entangle is transparent to damage, or a mental entangle. PC having TK with Reduced END, a bunch of CSLs, and Rapid Attack.  Multiple-Attack Grabs 2-3 foes at once and lifts them up, preferably facing away from the heroes.  (Facing straight up works well most of the time.) Moves I've used against players:
Variation on Move #1, but with the Shrinker having Mental attacks.  And if the bad guy is the shrinker, he can also cling to normal bystanders, so the heroes won't throw out a bunch of AoE attacks. Move #3 above works great when you have agent-level characters - one well-placed, well-timed Net Grenade can do wonders, and teaches the heroes that they can't just ignore the agents. Tactically-minded foe uses invisibility / cover and holds his action to watch what the PCs are doing, especially if they're setting someone else up for a  pounding, and then uses his powers to derail the PCs' strategy.  For instance, PC #1 entangles Bad Guy #1 immediately after BG #1 acts, then PC #2 runs up and begins a Haymaker.  So Tactical Bad Guy #2 targets his Double Knockback Explosion attack right between PC #2 and Bad Guy #1 - which both screws over the hero's Haymaker and frees BG #1 from the Entangle. Bricks with lots of Running and CSLs - Multiple Move-Throughs, baby!  Especially if the brick has a teammate with a decent AoE Flash attack.  Sure, the heroes may have enough Flash Defense so they're only blinded for a Segment or two, but sometimes that's all it takes.  I did this once with Bulldozer, he plowed through three heroes and CON-stunned two of them.

Insector is an alien bug which got bitten by a 'radioactive' human which gave him advance intelligence and a humanoid form, but kicked him out of the galactic hive mind. Thinking for itself for the very first time, it realized that it's queen's quest to conquer all other planets to make a hive-universe under her control was wrong. The Queen's insectoid henchbugs hunt it with extreme prejudices, and it found a place to hide upon Earth. But it fell In love with the world and swears to protect it, even from themselves.
 
(If it is not obvious, Insector is a drone of his race. This "it" as oppose to "him/her".)

I rather like Quackhell's Red Eye - nicely done.  I could see using him in my Champions campaign.
 
Quackhell, you're up!

Elaborate.  (just kidding)
 
I finally got to watch this over the past few days.  Enjoyed it a lot.  After watching the first 4 episodes, I mentioned to my daughter that she might like it, especially Five.  That was Saturday.  By Sunday she had binge-watched all 10 episodes.  And I was right, Five was her favorite character, followed by Ben and Klaus.
 
She did say something to the effect that "it seems like the whole team only has five brain cells that they pass between them, and Five usually has like three of them."  She watched a few episodes with me, and there were occasions where she'd point out, "Oh, it's Diego's turn with some brain cells" or "Hey, Luther got to use a brain cell!"

I demand the kid from Christmas Story play him then.