Iron Age Topic: Superhuman killing spree

[steriaca]

The Scourge In Marvel Comics killed 18 costumed villains in a single attack using only a automatic rifle loaded with armor piercing rounds.  

 

The mortality of comic book characters is based on how popular they are.

This is mostly because the victims of the Bar With No Name Massacre were all low level villains with no real protection powers, and were caught by surprise. Of course, it didn't help that Marvel was using The Scourge to clean out all the villains the writers were no longer interested in using anymore.

 

A GM could use a similar plot to clean out there deadwood of villains acquired over the years of playing which they are no longer using AND the players no longer like.

[Greywind]

It wasn't the writers. It was the editor.

[megaplayboy]

Well, for a 40 active point cap, 8rPD and 20 total PD, with a 20 CON and 40 stun, is not unreasonable. That would be a low-powered brick who could still kill a normal with a couple of blows(once they go to 0 BODY, the normal will bleed out/die within 2 to 10 minutes, depending on whether we are going combat or non-combat time). A .30 caliber rifle might do 2d+1 KA, which will not get body through on average and which would do minimal stun damage on an average roll as well. So, yes, even a low powered brick could cause quite a bit of damage before law enforcement/government forces could bring enough firepower to definitely bring him/her/it down.

[massey]

A guy with 40 Str, 20/8r PD, a 20 Con and 40 Stun?  I think I've seen that before.

 

 

I don't think it ended too well for the cops.

[Comic]

You'd want Flash Defense, Sonic Flash Defense, LS: Need not Breath, Damage Negation Electricity, and Clinging to counter the flashbangs, gas grenades, tasers and water cannon of riot police.

 

If he has those, then your low power rampaging Brick would wade through everything short of a hail of heavy rounds or lucky AP shot. If he's the sort to pick up cars and use them for cover while charging, he could keep going until cars run out or he's taken down by some heavier special weapons and tactics.

 

Of course, he's not getting away, given the slow, slow rate of low-powered movement, if pursued by observers in helicopters or using drones.. unless he finds some deep water and swims for it.

 

Is it wrong that my mind goes to the builds that make for a worse massacre?

[massey]

You'd want Flash Defense, Sonic Flash Defense, LS: Need not Breath, Damage Negation Electricity, and Clinging to counter the flashbangs, gas grenades, tasers and water cannon of riot police.

 

If he has those, then your low power rampaging Brick would wade through everything short of a hail of heavy rounds or lucky AP shot. If he's the sort to pick up cars and use them for cover while charging, he could keep going until cars run out or he's taken down by some heavier special weapons and tactics.

 

Of course, he's not getting away, given the slow, slow rate of low-powered movement, if pursued by observers in helicopters or using drones.. unless he finds some deep water and swims for it.

 

Is it wrong that my mind goes to the builds that make for a worse massacre?

 

I think tasers are just an attack that goes against ED.  I think 20 ED with 8 resistant is easily enough to stop a taser.  Besides, with 8rPD those prongs aren't going to stick in him.  Police don't use any sort of gas that will knock him out, so he doesn't need LS.  Sure, tear gas might suck, but it's not going to stop him.  As far as flashbangs, they don't carry that many and I'm sure he can last a few phases until the effects wear off.  Water cannons?  I don't think those are likely to be used against this guy.  It isn't a riot where they're trying to disperse 10 Str protesters.

 

Getting away?  Normal criminals get away all the time.  As long as he isn't wearing a big bright costume, I don't see them having any particular advantage chasing this guy.  If he's in a downtown type area, he can just go into a building and come out on an exit on a different side.  Do that 4 or 5 times and you'll be multiple blocks away.  That's enough to lose immediate pursuit.  Or kick open a manhole cover and go down to the sewers.  Just wander around for half an hour or so, then come back up through another manhole.  Yeah, the city has plans and things that show where those tunnels go, but it will take a while for them to pull those up.  They aren't accessible on a smartphone or anything like that.  The easiest way to escape might be to just take a hostage.

[Comic]

I was about to click "Like This".. but it's more "Respect the Truth of This."

 

There are scientists like Stephen Hawking today who worry about artificial intelligence becoming a rival for us..

 

It appears artificial muscle and skin could be far more dangerous in the short term, in the hands of any average lunatic.

[SteelCold]

So.. a campaign setting where superheroes are treated like exotic, dangerous wild animals: in some places poached for their parts (but not always killed outright), in some places caged in zoos, often penned up in reserves, or requiring special licenses to keep and ship.

 

And a small group of player characters have escaped this treatment to find each other and band together.. but which one is the traitor?

"Today on Duck Dynasty, the family are hunting their favorite kind of superhuman, telepaths. Watch the hijinks as the usual duck calls backfire."

[Christopher]

Well, for a 40 active point cap, 8rPD and 20 total PD, with a 20 CON and 40 stun, is not unreasonable. That would be a low-powered brick who could still kill a normal with a couple of blows(once they go to 0 BODY, the normal will bleed out/die within 2 to 10 minutes, depending on whether we are going combat or non-combat time). A .30 caliber rifle might do 2d+1 KA, which will not get body through on average and which would do minimal stun damage on an average roll as well. So, yes, even a low powered brick could cause quite a bit of damage before law enforcement/government forces could bring enough firepower to definitely bring him/her/it down.

All people with a knife can "kill a normal with a couple of blows". 8D6 normal is not that impressive compared to even 2d6 killing.

 

Also you still asume they attack one by one, something they should not do.

Even people that are paid to serve and protect will not drive into a tornado or go into a firestorm without knowing they have a chance to make a difference.

After the first few cars go unresposive or start flying they asume that this is much worse then what it appears to be, cordon the whole area and call in the swat guys. Wich will then lay a trap/do proper scouting to combine thier fire effectively. Mook chivalry is not for a realistic world, wich is where you just dropped that guy.

[massey]

All people with a knife can "kill a normal with a couple of blows". 8D6 normal is not that impressive compared to even 2d6 killing.

 

Also you still asume they attack one by one, something they should not do.

Even people that are paid to serve and protect will not drive into a tornado or go into a firestorm without knowing they have a chance to make a difference.

After the first few cars go unresposive or start flying they asume that this is much worse then what it appears to be, cordon the whole area and call in the swat guys. Wich will then lay a trap/do proper scouting to combine thier fire effectively. Mook chivalry is not for a realistic world, wich is where you just dropped that guy.

 

How do you cordon the area if the guy wants to leave?

 

Do you think this guy is wearing a costume?  How do you identify him other than "guy in blue jeans and a shirt"?  What if he runs away and pretends to be a normal human?

 

Is he prevented from carrying guns and/or driving a car?

 

How are police going to react when he Schwarzeneggers through a shotgun to the face and then PRE attacks them?

 

 

 

Honestly, if I'm that guy and I'm on a rampage, I'm going to pretend to be a normal human as long as I can, especially if there aren't any known supers on the planet.  Wear a heavy leather jacket and let cops think you've got body armor underneath it.  They'll think they either missed you or hit armor.  Carry some guns.  When you hit people and break lots of bones, they'll think you are on steroids and PCP or something.  Don't go throwing cars until you have to.

[Comic]

If I'm on a rampage.. am I going to be holding onto the idea of pretending to be 'a normal guy', or am I going to be hiding my face, so when I get away I can resume a normal life.. or am I on a rampage, so not thinking straight enough to do such clever things?

 

Sooner or later, the tactics of the inexperienced fall to the tactics of the experienced.

 

Everyone's inexperienced at having 40 STR; all police forces in major US cities know about dealing with rampages.

[massey]

Well, is this person berserk in the game sense?  Unable to distinguish friend from foe?  Or is it a "rampage" as in Columbine?  Is this guy rabid and drooling, or did he just go axe crazy and decide that all those people with their stupid faces are gonna pay?  Tactics or no, sometimes raw power wins.

[Comic]

Flipping this on its head.. is a 40 STR 'hero' "going after the bad guys" going to be better, the same, or worse, all things considered, for the same tactics?

[Comic]

All people with a knife can "kill a normal with a couple of blows". 8D6 normal is not that impressive compared to even 2d6 killing.

 

How much more impressive is 40 STR than a knife?

 

It's true you can throw a knife with deadly effect (on a lucky throw); 40 STR can leap as far as a normal can throw a knife with accuracy.

 

40 STR can pick up a truckload of knives and throw it at a gas station full of school buses.

 

40 STR can pick up a tour bus and use it to swat other tour buses like badminton birdies.

 

You can't drop your 40 STR by accident, or be disarmed of your STR by a skilled opponent on a lucky shot, or have your STR broken by an attack that overcomes its DEF. And there's no normal knife wielder in the world who wouldn't be disarmed easily by our 40 STR Rampager. There aren't even that many knives that 40 STR wouldn't shatter like peanut brittle, even casually.

 

40 STR with KB against a normal with 2 DEF on average does 6 BODY and leaves the victim lying flat on their back 1" away with standard damage.. which is 1 BODY less than a standard knife; but if Rampager is attacking hundreds or thousands of times before brought down, some of Rampager's victims will fly over fifty feet and impale in brick walls, knocking substantial holes in buildings and demolishing them, on one punch, using standard game mechanics: the more common but so much less extreme outcomes of knife knockback won't matter much side-by-side with the video of that.

 

Joker in the Christopher Nolan Batman had a knife.. bombs, heavy machine guns, armies of thugs.. and everything, all the harm Joker did as carefully planned mayhem over the course of his whole career the Rampager could do casually using just STR in the course of a few minutes. Movie Bane wouldn't even register for Rampager.

 

Ras Al Ghul? Snapped like a twig by Rampager, and his invisible knife-wielding ninja army too.

 

Drop one single Rampager into one of the Transformers movies, and suddenly the Decepticons are only special because they can fly away to space.. Which they'd likely do, if Rampager let them.

 

That's how much more impressive 40 STR is than a knife.