Elric's Builds: X-Men fight in pdf, Martial Artist

[Elric]

Colossus

Power Level 10 (150 pp)

Abilities: STR: 36 [21] (+13), DEX: 12 (+1), CON: 20 (+5), INT: 12 (+1), WIS: 14 (+2), CHA: 14 (+2)

Skills: Climb 0 (+5/+7 in Organic Steel Form), Craft [Artistic] 4 (+5), Diplomacy 4 (+6), Knowledge [Art] 4 (+5), Notice 6 (+8), Pilot 1 (+2), Sense Motive 8 (+10), Language 1 (English; Base: Russian)

Feats: All-Out Attack, Dodge Focus, Improved Overrun, Interpose, Power Attack, Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack, Teamwork 2, Tough

Powers: Alternate Form 10 (Organic Steel, Continuous) (60 pp) (Weight in Alternate Form: 1200 lbs)
Organic Steel Form:
Density 6 [Permanent; +12 Strength, +3 Toughness, Impervious Toughness 3, Immovable 2, Super-Strength 2] (18 pp), Enhanced Strength 3, Super Strength 3 (PF: Ground Strike, Shockwave, Heavy Load: 59 tons),
Protection 5 (Extra: Impervious 9), Immunity 10 [Critical Hits, Disease, Environmental Cold and Heat, High Pressure, Poison, Starvation & Thirst, Suffocation]
Drawback: Vulnerable [Magnetic attacks; Uncommon, Major; -3pp]

Combat: Attack +7 [Unarmed +13 dmg], Defense 16 (13 flat-footed), Initiative +1, Grapple +25, Knockback -15

Saves: Toughness +14 (12 Impervious), Fortitude +12, Reflex +4, Will +8

Abilities 33 + Skills 7 + Feats 10 + Powers 60 + Combat 24 + Saves 16= 150

Notes: Here’s Colossus as a PL 10, 150 pp PC. He’s slow, but since he has a good ranged attack bonus and enough strength to throw objects exceedingly long distances, it’s less of a problem for him than it would be for most melee characters. Especially if Wolverine is around. Colossus has the Shockwave power feat on his Super-Strength- you can’t be an incredible Brick without having Shockwave!

Note that Ground Strike and Shockwave are both limited to rank 10 (his PL), since they're Area Attacks and thus the tradeoff rules don't apply (though there's nothing about Trip being limited as if it forced a save DC in the core book, Steve has said Trip should be limited as such and will update the errata to reflect this). If I were GM I’d be nice and would let Ground Strike be a full rank 13 effect, though, because otherwise it’s way outclassed by Shockwave.

Note that as of Ultimate Power there’s no requirement that the powers in an alternate form all have the same duration as the Alternate Form itself. So changing into and out of Steel Form is Continuous Duration, but when Colossus is in Steel Form his Density is a Permanent power and can’t be turned off unless he turns his entire alternate form off. Having Continuous duration on an Alternate Form is a crummy deal in terms of pp but it’s too thematic to change it.

[smashed247]

Power Point savings. No other reason Thanks for the comments! Glad you liked using the builds!

Yeah they understood that it was to save points, they just didn't think it fitted in with the rest of Rogue's build, I had to explain the whole thing about what Rogue's actual mutant power was and how she got the 'permanent' paragon-type power suite.

L8er

[smashed247]

[b]Colossus

Yay Colossuss Thanks Elric

L8er

[Taliesin]

An option would be to make the Super-Strength feats that are area effects into Targeted Areas, since characters with Super-Strength often have traded off in favor of damage and wouldn't be able to use a General Area to full advantage.

[Elric]

Cannonball

Power Level 10 (150pp)

Abilities: STR: 12 (+1), DEX: 14 (+2), CON: 12 (+1), INT: 12 (+1), WIS: 16 (+3), CHA: 12 (+1)

Skills: Acrobatics 3 (+5), Concentration 8 (+11), Diplomacy 9 (+10), Gather Information 4 (+5), Handle Animal 3 (+5), Knowledge [Earth Sciences] 4 (+5), Notice 7 (+10), Profession [Miner] 2 (+5), Sense Motive 7 (+10), Stealth 3 (+5), Survival 2 (+5)

Feats: All-Out Attack, Attack Focus 8 (Melee), Diehard, Dodge Focus 5, Evasion, Fast Overrun, Improved Initiative 2, Improved Overrun, Instant Up, Leadership, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Second Chance (Concentration checks to maintain powers), Teamwork

Powers: Energy Control Array (25 pp) (Drawback: only while Flight power active)
Strike 10 (Extras: Linked to Overrun Attack (up to Strike rank times a round) (+1), Partial Extra: Penetrating 4) [Thermochemical Energy] (24 pp)
AP: Blast 10 (Power Feats: Accurate x4) (24 pp) [Kinetic]
AP: Strike 10 (Area- Explosion, Penetrating, Limited- only on a significant impact) (20 pp) [Kinetic]

Force Field Array (Drawback: only while Flight power active) (22 pp)
Force Field 11 (Extra: Impervious) (22 pp)
AP: Force Field 11 (Extra: Affects Others)

Flight Dynamic Array (21 pp)
Flight 9 (5000 mph; Feature: Barreling Overrun, Drawback: Minimum Speed, Dynamic) (19 pp)
DAP: Super-Strength 6 (Heavy Load: 4.2 tons)

Combat: Attack +2 (Kinetic Blast/Melee +10) [Unarmed +1; Strike 10 dmg], Defense 18 (12 flat-footed), Init +10, Grapple +11 (not counting Super-Strength), Knockback -11

Saves: Toughness +12 (11 Impervious), Fortitude +6, Reflex +8, Will +7

Abilities 18 + Skills 13 + Feats 26 + Powers 68 + Combat 10 + Saves 15= 150

Notes: Here’s Cannonball as a PL 10 PC. He was a huge pain for me to build and to cut down to 150 pp. In the end I had to invent a new extra so he'd work better. But it may make him too complicated, even though I think it's cool. So give me feedback on that. This version might make a better NPC because he's a good simulation, but will require a lot of GM oversight. Let me go over a bunch of issues:

1) Barreling Overrun is a feature that I made up that is similar to but worse than the Improved Throw feat, applied to Overrun attacks (note that neither Improved Throw nor Improved Trip apply to Overrun attempts). It makes total sense, though. Barreling Overrun: Both you and opponents who resist your Overrun attacks must use your Strength scores to add to your opposed trip rolls.

2) Minimum Speed is a flight drawback from Ultimate Power.
Minimum Speed: You must fly no less than half your maximum speed or you “stall” and begin falling. You can restart your Flight as a move action unless circumstances prevent it (including other drawbacks). You can’t hover while in flight.

I’d interpret “maximum speed” here as your maximum speed with a move action, as half of your all-out speed wouldn’t make much sense. I would say that even if Cannonball starts to fall because of not moving half his speed, the Flight power is still active so his Drawback turning his Force Field off won’t kick in. Fortunately, his Super-Strength DAP means that he can get his movement speed down to 50 mph if he wants to, which means that he can move a minimum of 250 feet in a round in order to keep from falling (using the 1 mph=10 feet as a move action approximation). The GM should hold him to reasonable flight maneuverability in general- no "I'm in a room that's only 50 feet long, so I'm going to fly in a 10-foot circle repeatedly to satisfy the movement requirement.”

3) He has a high Concentration score because you really don’t want his Flight and Force Field to deactivate when he’s stunned. He gets one Concentration check (DC 10+rank, compare the result against the DC for each power) to keep both Force Field and Flight up while he’s stunned. If he misses the roll to keep Flight up, his drawback will take out his Forcefield as well, although this doesn't matter much since any concentration check that fails the DC of his Flight power should also fail the DC of his Force Field power. He could roll high enough to keep up Flight but miss the DC for Forcefield and lose the Forcefield while Flight is still active.

4) How does his offense typically work? OK, here’s where that extra that I used comes in—there’s no way of linking combat maneuvers and powers in the rules, so I made it up. He flies at someone with his Strike power active and rolls an attack roll. If he misses, he’s done for the round. If he hits, he does damage from his Strike power and gets to try an Overrun (they can’t avoid it because of Improved Overrun). He rolls the trip roll at +14 (+9 Flight, +4 Improved Overrun, +1 Strength), provided he has all his DAP ranks in Flight.

If he wins the trip check, the opponent is knocked prone and Fast Overrun kicks in and he gets to make another Strike/Overrun attack against a different enemy. He can change directions between attempts, provided he can move in a 10-foot straight line between each attempt. If he loses, he gets pushed back to the square in front of that opponent. They can try to trip him back but Instant Up means that it won’t matter, as he’ll spring up as a Free Action (since it’s still his action). I probably wouldn't let him use Move-by Action to keep moving if he loses an opposed Overrun roll- that doesn't really make sense.

Why the restriction on only being able to link Strike and Overrun his Power Rank (10) times in a round? Without this limitation he could essentially take out an army single-handedly in one round, which is a little much. I’d let him take 10 on Trip rolls against minions (you can take 10 on attack rolls against them, so this makes sense too) and I might waive the 10-foot straight line between overrun attempts requirement on Fast Overrun against minions—so he can often take out 10 minions a round with this tactic, which is pretty good!

If you wanted to do this without inventing the Extra that I did, you could link a Targeted Area (Shapeable) Trip power to a Targeted Area (Shapeable) Strike power and then take a few Progression feats to increase the size of the area. But then Cannonball would be able to attack almost all of his enemies every round, which would be less fun and too powerful, and it would also cost more pp. That's how I started out building him, but then I switched to this.

5) What qualifies as a significant impact for his Area Strike power? A Slam attack, for one! Or if you find a large object to slam into, his Impervious Protection should protect him and you can activate the power based on that.

If you want to really alpha-strike a person/area, use a Slam Attack with all of his ranks in Flight—you might have to take a move action to get far enough away to slam and then slam as a standard action (or you can slam as an all-out move if you start from far away). That will deal +11 or +13 damage to the target if you hit. Impervious Protection will protect you from your share of the damage (unless your target has some ranks in Immovable). Then, assuming you hit, switch your AP over to the Area Strike power and use Extra Effort to surge and activate it.

6) His greatest vulnerability, by far, is being caught without his Flight power up, which is particularly deadly if it happens while he’s flat-footed at the start of combat. But he’s a very powerful character so he can use a weakness.

[smashed247]

Cannonball

Thanks Elric 1,000,000 cookies for you (assorted flavours)

But why Super-strength

L8er

[Elric]

Cannonball

Thanks Elric 1,000,000 cookies for you (assorted flavours)

But why Super-strength

I gave him Super-Strength to represent that he can apply thrust from his Flight effect to lift heavy objects. The website here mentioned him as having that ability. "When he uses his powers to apply thrust beneath him, the force thus generated enables him to bear aloft over a ton of weight in addition to his own." I only remember reading one comic book with Cannonball in it, so I have no idea whether he uses the ability often- if it's exceedingly rare then this could be extra effort to gain an AP. But it makes sense that this would be one of his normal abilities. Oh- he should only be able to push/throw an object farther in the direction he's flying, but I think that's too small of a penalty to qualify as a drawback- if it ever really matters, it can be a Complication.

If you get a chance to use the build, let me know how it goes!

[Elric]

An option would be to make the Super-Strength feats that are area effects into Targeted Areas, since characters with Super-Strength often have traded off in favor of damage and wouldn't be able to use a General Area to full advantage.

I don't think that would make much sense for the Super-Strength power feats. As I see it, a Targeted Area is one that isn't particularly wide and can be dodged (Cyclops's Line Area Blast), or is a sweeping Cone attack (what Cyclops would have if he power stunted a Cone Area Blast), or represents running up and punching people individually (Rapid Strike). An effect that fills a huge volume simultaneously like the Super-Strength power feats should be a general area and allow Reflex saves for half effect.

[JoshuaDunlow]

Nice cannonball, his power write up is a toughie. That i would never want to try and convert. But i think you did a good job on him.

[Elric]

Nice cannonball, his power write up is a toughie. That I would never want to try and convert. But i think you did a good job on him.

Thanks! He was tough. One small update since I first posted him: I decided that his concentration score was too high- he was too much of a "meditative master" for my tastes. So I removed 4 ranks of Concentration and added Second Chance (Concentration checks to maintain powers), which leaves him with about the same chance to maintain powers, but is more flavorful.

[Elric]

March, 2006—about a week ago:
Daniel Foreman, better known as the loathsome supervillain White Knight (from the Freedom City source book), was spotted around the Washington, D.C. area. The Avengers were contacted about this development and the team decided to dispatch Beast, Black Widow and Luke Cage (a longtime foe of White Knight) to bring him to justice.

The players: Leon (Luke Cage), Brian (Beast), Bethany (Black Widow). The players all start with 2 Hero Points, as each has taken the Luck feat.
The GM: Greg (GM)

Bethany: Black Widow has Knowledge: Current Events at +10, so I’m going to take 10 on the skill to get a total of 20. Are there any events happening that would cause the White Knight to particularly want to be in the DC Area?

GM: Nothing in particular that you know about—no Nazi-themed supervillain conventions, for example. Washington D.C. is a majority black city, so it would probably provide a natural target for him.

Leon: Is there anything going on in the DC underworld? Luke Cage has Knowledge: Streetwise +9, so I’ll take 10 as well for a 19.

GM: There is a growing presence in the DC area of skinhead gangs—still small, but present on the scene, which wasn’t true a couple of years ago. There have been an increasing number of hate crimes against blacks, Jews, and gays reported in the city.

Leon: OK, let me use Gather Information to see if I can find out more about White Knight and these skinhead gangs. Can I take 20?

GM: Normally you can’t take 20 on Gather Information checks. However, due to your Contacts feat, you would be allowed to take 20 (see the feat description), but the Gather Information skill description says that you may draw attention to yourself by repeatedly pursue some kinds of information. So if you take 20, White Knight will probably be aware of what you’re doing. You can take 10, though.

Leon: I’ll just roll in that case. Rolled a 6! That’s not very good—total of +16.

GM: All that you find out is that people have seen the White Knight in an area of town that is associated with the skinhead gangs.

Bethany: I’ll try Gather Information as well. I’ve got a +10 bonus—rolled a natural 20! Total of 30.

GM: Wow. Through your contacts you are put in touch with a reformed member of one of the minor skinhead gangs, who tells you that one of the bigger skinhead gangs seems to be gearing up for a major event on the 70th anniversary of Hitler’s re-militarization of the Rhineland, which is March 7. The White Knight is reportedly involved.

Leon: “Sweet Christmas! That’s next Saturday.” (March 7, 2006 wasn’t actually a Saturday, but let’s run with it ).

Brian: Beast will go to the authorities and tell them what we’ve learned so far and request that they increase the number of officers on security duty in the city that night. I guess that might involve Diplomacy—roll an 8, for a total of 18.

GM: They get a lot of threats in DC. They’re not too convinced by talk of a threat on the anniversary of a military reoccupation (isn’t that a little obscure for a major attack? Seems more likely they’d hold a rally and burn books somewhere), but they’re always glad for your assistance.

Bethany: Black Widow has Benefit: Security Clearance, so I’ll see if I can get access to some of their resources based on that.

GM: They agree to help you out.

Dupont Circle, Washington D.C., 10 p.m, March 7, 2006

A camera picks up a group of skinheads exiting the subway at the Dupont Circle exit, right across the street from a just closed Baja Fresh. The employees of Baja Fresh, mostly Hispanic, step back into the kitchen area away from the street upon seeing them.

Across the city:
From their perch in a room provided to them by the government, the Avengers monitor selected points around the city through hidden cameras, including the Dupont Circle subway exit. (Beast and Black Widow have used their Computers skill to set this up).

Bethany: Dupont Circle. That’s a prominent gay night district. Uh-oh.

Leon: “Better haul ass—White Knight is sure to be there. We have to stop that mo fo!"

Brian—“Let’s head for the car. I’ll drive—and fast.”

The heroes head for their government-provided police car and turn on their siren. Beast uses his +8 Drive score to blaze a path to their destination.

Back at Dupont Circle:
The White Knight swoops out of the sky to greet his followers. People who see him scatter. He turns to his men “My Sturmabteilung! It is the anniversary of the Fuhrer’s first bold move in his quest to purify Europe for the Aryan Race! Tonight we honor his memory by eradicating the perversion of the homosexuals to cleanse this befouled city!”

He turns and looks at a small video store. “Is that a video store dedicated to pure and true Americans, or godless sodomites?

One of his men chimes in “I got lost there once and stopped for directions. They were friendly, but I thought, ‘Gee, all of the videos feature big buff male leads. And what's that large back area of the store for?’”

“Godless sodomites!” White Knight summons a ball of flame in his hands and hurls it into the store’s window, where it explodes with a low roar. Screams can be heard. He points towards a bar down the street by the name of ‘Larry’s Lounge.’ “Destroy the sodomites! Starting there!” His men draw their guns and advance as White Knight, surrounded by his flame aura, turns the street into a conflagration…

Shortly thereafter
A police car pulls up on the street, siren blazing. White Knight sneers as he looks down on it. “Police officers? You are no match for me!”

It screeches to a halt and the doors pop open. Then White Knight sees Luke Cage and Beast in the front seat and roars in anger. “Luke Cage! I will enjoy watching you die! Sturmabteilung, destroy them!”

Coming up next: Avengers (Luke Cage, Black Widow, Beast) vs. White Knight

[Elric]

Tale of the Tape:

Luke Cage, Power Level 10 (150 pp)

Abilities: STR: 30 (+10) DEX: 14 (+2) CON: 30 (+10) INT: 12 (+0) WIS: 14 (+2) CHA: 14 (+2)

Skills: Bluff 4 (+6), Drive 2 (+4), Gather Information 8 (+10), Intimidate 12 (+14), Investigate 4 (+5), Knowledge [Pop Culture] 4 (+5), Knowledge [Streetwise] 8 (+9), Notice 6 (+8), Sense Motive 8 (+10), Stealth 4 (+6)

Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus [Melee] (5), Chokehold, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Diehard, Dodge Focus (1), Fearless, Improved Critical [Unarmed], Improved Initiative, Improved Throw, Interpose, Luck, Power Attack, Startle, Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack (2), Teamwork, Ultimate Effort [Ultimate Toughness Save], Uncanny Dodge [Sight]

Powers:
Impervious Toughness 8, Speed 1 (10 mph)
Super Strength 4 (Heavy Load: 12.8 tons)

Combat: Attack +5 (+10 melee) [Unarmed 10 dmg; 19-20 Crit], Defense 20 (15 flat-footed), Init +6, Grapple +24, Knockback -9

Saves: Toughness +10 (8 Impervious), Fortitude +12, Reflex +6, Will +6

Black Widow, Power Level 10 (150 pp)

Abilities: STR 12 (+1), DEX 20 (+5), CON 18 (+4), INT 14 (+2), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 18 (+4)

Skills: Acrobatics 5 (+10)*, Bluff 10 (+14/+18)*, Computers 8 (+10), Diplomacy 4 (+8/+12), Disable Device 8 (+12)*, Disguise 4 (+10), Escape Artist 5 (+10), Gather Information 6 (+10), Knowledge [Current Events] 8 (+10), Notice 8 (+10), Search 8 (+10), Sense Motive 8 (+10), Stealth 8 (+13)*, Languages (English, Russian [native], Spanish)

Feats: Attack Focus [Ranged] (6), Attack Specialization [Firearms], Attractive, Benefit (security clearance), Contacts, Defensive Roll (2), Dodge Focus (6), Equipment (4), Evasion (2), Fascinate [Bluff], Fearless, Improved Aim, Improved Initiative, Jack of all Trades, Luck, Quick Draw, Quickness 1, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Set Up, Skill Mastery [Acrobatics, Bluff, Disable Device, Stealth], Sneak Attack, Teamwork, Tough, Uncanny Dodge [Hearing]

Powers: Device 6 (widow's bite, easy to lose) (18 pp)
Widow's Bite: Stun 10 (Extra: Ranged)

Equipment: Assault Rifle: Blast 5 (Extra: Autofire, Feature—Masterwork: +1 to hit), Widow's Line Grapple Gun (Super-Movement 1- Swinging 1), Masterwork Tools (Disable Device, Disguise)

Combat: Attack +4 (+10 ranged, +13 Assault Rifle) [Unarmed 1; Rifle 5 Autofire dmg; Widow’s Bite Fort save DC 20 //+2 damage on Surprise Attack], Defense 23 (14 flat footed), Initiative +9, Grapple +5 (use Escape Artist +10 to resist/escape grapples), Knockback -3

Saves: Toughness +7 (+5 flat-footed), Fortitude +6, Reflex +10, Will +6

Beast, Power Level 10 (150 pp)

Abilities: STR: 26 [16] (+8), DEX: 26 [16] (+8), CON: 26 [16] (+8), INT: 22 (+6), WIS: 18 (+4), CHA: 14 (+2)

Skills: Acrobatics 8 (+16), Climb 5 (+13), Computers 4 (+10), Craft [Chemical] 4 (+10), Craft [Electronic] 4 (+10), Diplomacy 8 (+10), Knowledge [Life Sciences] 8 (+14), Knowledge [Physical Sciences] 4 (+10), Knowledge [Technology] 8 (+14), Medicine 4 (+8), Notice 8 (+12), Perform [Keyboards] 2 (+4), Sense Motive 8 (+12), Languages (German, Latin, Japanese, Russian, Spanish; base English)

Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Ambidexterity, Attack Focus [Melee] (8), Defensive Roll (2), Dodge Focus (3), Eidetic Memory, Evasion, Grappling Finesse, Improved Grab, Improved Overrun, Inventor, Jack of All Trades, Luck, Move by Action, Power Attack, Sneak Attack, Takedown Attack, Teamwork

Powers: Enhanced Strength 10, Enhanced Dexterity 10, Enhanced Constitution 10
Super-Strength 1 (Heavy load: 1840 lbs), Super Senses 2 (Acute Scent, Low Light Vision),
Speed 1 (10 mph), Leaping 1, Super-Movement 1 (Wall-Crawling 1)

Combat: Attack +2 (+10 melee) [Unarmed +8 damage //+2 on Surprise Attack], Defense 20 (14 flat-footed), Initiative +8, Grapple +19, Knockback -5

Saves: Toughness +10 (+8 flat-footed), Fortitude +8, Reflex +9, Will +7

[Elric]

GM: It’s a normal start to a fight. There are 25 minion Thugs (straight from the core book, pg 229), mostly scattered around in groups of 3-4 and White Knight, who is hovering in the air about 30 feet up. Time for initiative rolls.

Initiative:
Black Widow: 28 (2 HP)
Luke Cage: 21 (2 HP)
Thugs: 19 (Greg decides to roll for all of the thugs as a group, separately from White Knight)
Beast: 11 (2 HP)
White Knight: 5

GM: Black Widow is up first.
(Greg is using White Knight straight out of Freedom City, except that he doesn’t have Sneak Attack- he does plenty of damage without it. Instead he has Immunity 1-Own Powers)

Brian: Beast rigged a system where the car doors would spring open at the push of a button with Craft: Mechanical/Electronics. This is just a 1 pp Feature, so given that Beast had several days to do it with his Inventor feat, his skills are easily sufficient here (inventing rules on page 131). In game mechanics, it’s a move action to open a door (pg 157, Manipulate Object), so this is a helpful innovation.

Bethany: Black Widow is on the passenger’s side in the back. She’ll exit the car using her 5-foot step (pg 154). What’s around here?

GM: There aren’t any thugs real close to you on this side of the car, but there are about 12 thugs within pretty easy shooting distance, including four thugs in a cluster across from you on the other side of the car.

Bethany: “We need to take out some of his thugs before they can harm more innocent people.” I’ll Quick Draw my assault rifle off my back and will use a full-round action to use the Multiple Targets feature of Autofire attacks to shoot at the nearest group of thugs on the same side of the car that I’m on (pg 160).

GM: OK. They’re scattered over 6 squares, so you’ll have a -6 penalty to hit because of that (see pg. 160—note that it’s -1 per square, including the first square you attack). But they’re about 40 feet away, so no penalty for range since the assault rifle has a 50 foot range increment.

Bethany: That’s fine. I have a +13 attack bonus, so I’ll take 10 on my attack rolls, which I can do since they’re minions (pg 163). So that’s a total of 17 to hit against all four of them. Black Widow has Stun Ammo in the gun, so 5 nonlethal damage to anyone it hits. “Lights out, suckers.”

GM: You hit all of them. You don’t get the bonus damage from Autofire when you use the Multiple Targets feature, since you’re spreading out the fire. They all have to make Toughness saves at DC 20. All misses—they’re all knocked out by a hail of bullets. Luke Cage is next.

Side Note: The Thug stat block has a typo—the toughness save should be +3: +2 for Constitution and +1 for the Leather Jacket, but it’s only listed at +2).

Second Side Note: any failed toughness save knocks a minion out—pg 163. This extends to powers that don’t force Toughness saves as well. From the FAQ:

Should minions be assumed to always suffer the worst effect of a failed save on all saves and not just Toughness saves versus damage?
Yes. Generally, if a minion (for example) fails to save against Snare the minion is bound, failing to save against Stun results in unconsciousness, and so forth.)

Bethany: Wait a second. After firing, I drop prone as a free action (pg. 156, “Drop Prone”) and use the car as cover.

Leon: “White Knight! You won’t escape me this time! You and your fascists-in-training are going down!”

Luke Cage exits the car. He gets 100 feet as a move action (you go your listed miles per hour speed with a move action, Luke Cage has Speed 1, and the game is using the 1 mph= 10 feet per round approximation). I’ll run up to the closest group of thugs and take them out! I’m taking 10 on attack rolls and I’ll also Defensive Attack for 4, since I know I’ll hit anyways. Damage of 10. I’ll use Takedown Attack 2 if possible.

Bethany: Good idea. I have Power Attack and Defensive Attack and I probably could have used a couple points of one of them while still being assured of hitting.

GM: There’s a group of 3 thugs almost directly in front of you. Your attack rolls will all hit. Minions don’t get any special benefit from rolling a 20 on a toughness save like heroes do (Impossible Toughness Saves rule, pg 163), so they can’t possibly make this save. They’re close enough together that you can hit them all thanks to Takedown Attack 2. Luke Cage knocks out three fascist thugs with one mighty swing!

The thugs are up next. 18 left. Five of them will move over and spray Beast with bullets through the windshield. Four of them will shoot at Luke Cage. Six of them will use all-out moves to get around to the side of the car where Black Widow is in two groups of three, and three will move towards the car from behind it on the driver’s side and take shots at Black Widow.

Brian: “Oh my stars and garters.” Right now I’m flat-footed (all combatants started flat-footed, see pg 150) which means I’d lose my dodge bonus to Defense and with it my Defensive Roll feat. So I think I’ll spend a hero point on the Dodge function to keep my Dodge bonus to Defense.

Side note: Beast would not be “surprised”, just flat-footed. See pg 153, Surprise—“when a combat starts, if you are not aware of your enemies, but they are aware of you, you’re surprised.” If the thugs were attacking Beast like this in a surprise round and he hadn’t noticed them and thus hadn’t rolled initiative for the surprise round, then he’d be surprised and would also get a -2 to defense. By the time you’re in a non-surprise round, even if you haven’t acted yet you’re only flat-footed, not surprised.

GM: That’s a good idea, although you don’t have to be that concerned about pistols as Beast, since even without Defensive Roll, your Toughness save is still +8. Three of the thugs shooting at Beast are within 30 feet, so no attack penalty—the other two are within 60 feet, so -2 on the attack rolls. They all miss, but two would have hit you otherwise. The thugs shooting at Luke Cage and Black Widow all miss, since they can’t hit even on a 20. Beast is up.

Edit: I did this wrong. A natural 20 does auto-hit for a minion; it's just that minions can't critical hit non-minions.

Brian: Beast manages to dodge all of the bullets whizzing at him as they shatter the car’s windshield. I’ll jump out of the car and attack the group of three thugs that was just shooting at me. Takedown Attack to try to hit all of them. Take 10 on attack rolls and power attack for 2.

GM: They’re not right next to each other, so you’ll only be able to hit two of them. Again, you make the attack rolls and they can’t make the Toughness saves, so you knock them out.

Brian: I’ll use my Move-by Action feat combined with Wall-Crawling/Leaping to leap/climb 10 feet up onto the wall of a nearby building after my attack.

GM: Sure. White Knight is up next. He scowls at the incompetence of his minions. “You fools! You couldn’t hurt the black savage even if you could manage to hit him! Leave him to me!”

White Knight hurls a bolt of fire at Luke Cage. Attack at +10, attack roll of 11 for a total of 21. But your Defense is 24 from having used Defensive Attack, so it misses as Luke Cage ducks under the hissing flames.

Side note: White Knight is listed as having a ranged attack that does 11 damage. However, he has nothing on his stat-block that directly corresponds to this. Fire Control, listed on his character sheet, is a controlling flames power, not a Blast power like (for example) Cosmic Energy Control. I've taken this to mean that Steve just forgot that Fire Control wasn't a Blast power and have simply assumed that White Knight also has Blast 11 [Fire] in that array.

“My flame too hot for you, boy? You should have never left the cotton fields!” White Knight will try to use Intimidate to demoralize Luke Cage as a move action. Unfortunately for him, Luke Cage has the Fearless feat and automatically resists (see here). Luke Cage stares at White Knight in defiance. End of round 1. Black Widow is up again.

Bethany: There are 9 guys who could be firing at me this round and I won’t have cover. That’s a little too much. I’ll get up from prone with a DC 20 Acrobatics check to stand up as a free action—I have a +10 modifier and Skill Mastery, so I can take 10 even when under pressure in combat and make it automatically. Then I’ll use my grapple gun and cast it up to a nearby rooftop and swing up there.

GM: It will take you a double-move to get up there, since you only go 30 feet with a move action. Luke Cage is next.

Bethany: Fine. Next round I’ll take a shot at White Knight from here.

Leon: Luke Cage will attack the group of four thugs who shot at him. Can I get them all with Takedown Attack 2? Same procedure as last round, using Defensive Attack for 4.

GM: You send all of the thugs flying. Thugs are up. 12 left. Two near Beast move towards him and shoot at him and three behind the car on his side also move towards him and attack, taking a -2 penalty for range. Two natural 20s in those five rolls! Those aren’t auto-hits (and they aren’t criticals, since minions can’t critical hit non-minions), but they both hit his Defense- the rest miss. Two Toughness saves at DC 18.

Brian: Rolled a 15 and a 12, for a total of 25 and 22. Made both of them.

GM: Beast rolls away from the bullets and is only barely grazed. The six thugs nearest to Black Widow take shots at her using Aid Another in groups of 3—for one thug to aid another, he has to make an attack roll that hits Defense 10 and success gives the person he’s aiding +2 to hit (pg 154). -2 penalty on the main attack rolls for distance. One attack roll is at +2 and would only hit on a natural 20; the other one is at +4 and also misses.

(Edit/Side Note: I messed up on Aid Another here and throughout this fight. The Aid Another action only helps a character engaged in melee (see page 154). However, you are allowed to use Combined Attack (pg 155) with ranged attacks.

This is somewhat strange, because Aid Another is much more genre appropriate for minions with pistols than Combined Attack, since if a whole bunch of thugs with pistols used Combined Attack on the Powerhouse archetype, for example, they could seriously injure him despite his Impervious Toughness 10, which usually makes him completely immune their pistols. So it would be reasonable for a GM to let thugs with guns use Aid Another, but not Combined Attack.)

The last thug near Beast runs into the restaurant he’s in front of and holds a gun to the head of a woman cowering under a table. In game terms, this is a covering attack (pg 156); the woman is prone but he’s essentially using the gun as a melee weapon since she’s lying right there and not really trying to defend herself—so she’s at Defense 6 (10 base as a PL 0 bystander -4 for being prone). Attack roll of 9 for a total of 11—that would hit, so he’s holding the attack as a readied action. He looks over at Luke Cage—“make one move and she’s dead.” The woman cowers in fear even more and starts to stammer incoherently. Beast is up next.

Brian: “How uncouth.” Beast will try to attack that thug without letting him see Beast coming. Will Acrobatic Bluff to feint as a move action work?

GM: Normally you'd have to spend a move action to Acrobatic Bluff and feint, a move action to move over to him, and a standard action to attack, which would require using Extra Effort to Surge to do all that in a round. However, you can auto-knock out this guy without needing a feint in mechanical terms, so let’s just say that you roll an Acrobatics check at -5 for doing it as part of your move action to get over there, and if you beat the best of his Notice/Sense Motive then he doesn’t get to pull the trigger because he doesn’t see the attack coming.

Brian: Sure. Feint at +11 (+16 base -5 for doing it as a move action). Natural 20! Total of 31. Taking 10 on the attack as usual, Power Attack 2.

GM: He can’t beat that roll—he doesn’t see it coming in the slightest. Beast leaps down, swings onto the ceiling then jumps right behind the thug and cracks him over the head—he’s down before he can even cry out. The woman stammers her thanks and crawls further under the table than before. White Knight is next.

Leon: “Sweet move, Hank. But so unnecessarily gentle!”

GM: White Knight is pissed that Luke Cage dodged his last attack. He’s going to All-Out Attack for 5 and fly down and take a swing at Luke Cage. Attack roll is a 15, plus 13 because of All-Out Attack (he has Base Attack +8 and Attack Focus 2- Ranged)- that hits. You have to make 2 simultaneous Toughness saves; one at 8 damage against his punch and another at 11 damage because of his fire aura.

Leon: Ouch. Too bad my Impervious isn’t one higher—Impervious 8 only protects me from attacks dealing 7 damage or less. First save rolled a 7 for a total of 17 against DC 23—Stunned, Injured and Bruised. Second save rolled a 9 for a total of 19 against DC 26—Stunned, Injured and Bruised again. So that’s 2 Injuries, 2 Bruises, and Stunned.

GM: Both attacks stunned you, so both could cause Knockback. His Aura has enough of a damage bonus to cause you Knockback, but it makes sense that his punch would cause Knockback and his Aura wouldn’t- and his punch isn’t high enough damage to knock you back. End of round 2. 12 Thugs still standing. Luke Cage has 2 HP (2 Injuries and 2 Bruises), Beast 1 HP, Black Widow 2 HP. Let's take a break and get something to eat- Black Widow is up again when we come back!

[Elric]

Bethany: Black Widow sees an opening. I’ll Quick Draw my wrist-mounted Widow’s Bite energy weapon (it slides out from under her costume) and aim it at White Knight.

GM: He’s between 100 and 200 feet away, so you’ll have -2 to hit for range.

Bethany: Attack roll at +8 then. Rolled a 6.

GM: That would barely miss (White Knight's Defense is 15 from All-Out Attack). But you can reroll it with a hero point.

Bethany: Sure- I have two of them. Reroll is a natural 20! Critical hit! Stun 10, +5 to the save DC for Fort save DC 25. A bolt of electricity arcs towards White Knight and strikes him dead-on at an incredible, paralyzing voltage.

GM: Rolled a 12, with a +7 Fortitude save for a total of 19. That would leave him stunned. I think I’d better use GM Fiat and try to do better. Reroll is a 14—not great, but total of 21 keeps him only dazed. The critical hit shouldn’t count towards his subsequent breakout rolls (see Steve Kenson’s answer here). Black Widow gets an HP for the use of GM Fiat, so she's still at 2 HP.

White Knight can no longer perform free actions, so he has to make a Concentration check immediately to maintain his powers with a sustained duration (see Steve’s answer here). Unfortunately for him, he has a +1 Concentration check and the DC to maintain his Strike Aura is 21 (10 + its rank of 11). So only a natural 20 would let him keep it up, and he doesn’t get it. He misses the check by enough that his Flight 4 (DC 14) also drops, but he had landed so that doesn’t matter (it's one Concentration check, and you apply the result to all Sustained powers, as per Steve's answer here). The electricity jolts White Knight and disrupts his concentration—his flame aura fades away.

Bethany: Black Widow will drop prone after her attack to avoid the attacks by the thugs below.

Leon: Luke Cage pulls himself back together. I’m spending a hero point to shake off the stun so I can get my action for the round, before he gets his Flame Aura back up. Attacking him, Power Attacking for 5! Darn, rolled a 2. That would have done real damage if it had hit.

GM: Luke Cage sees an opportunity, but White Knight dodges his wild haymaker. Thugs are up—11 still standing. Five fire at Beast again, all missing. The six near Black Widow realize they have no shot to hit her. Three of them move towards Beast. The thugs are a little worried seeing White Knight without his Flame Aura but at least that means he won’t incinerate one of them by flying by them—there have been some close calls.

Greg decides that White Knight is getting beaten fairly badly now, so it’s time to have his minions help by attacking more civilians. Three of the thugs who were menacing Black Widow move to a nearby bar and use covering attacks on the patrons there. One trains his gun on a Caucasian man hiding behind a bar stool; another aims at an Asian man who has been unable to take cover because he is in a wheelchair, and the third targets his gun at an African-American waiter, who is standing up trying to get the patrons to move into a room further away from the street. These aren’t hostage taking situations, exactly—I’m essentially giving you a round to deal with them or they’ll shoot the patrons when their next turn rolls around. None of the thugs is adjacent to each other. Beast is up.

Brian: “Oh my, not again.” Beast will use a Charge to dash all of the way over to the other side of the street and land a leaping kick on the first thug. Power Attack 2, taking 10.

GM: Beast sees what’s happening and springs across the street on all fours. As he gets near the bar he jumps into the air and clears a parked car, landing with a crash caused by the impact of his foot and the thug’s back. The thug is thrown 25 feet, lands against a table, and doesn’t move. White Knight would be up, but he’s dazed. End of round 3. Luke Cage has 1 HP (2 Injuries/2 Bruises), Beast 1 HP, Black Widow 2 HP.

On Black Widow’s action, before she goes, White Knight gets a roll to recover from the Stun and he gets a +1 bonus (see page 70- "An Instant Lasting power allows a new saving throw each round on the initiative count when the effect occurred"). Natural 20! White Knight recovers from the electricity coursing through his system!

It makes sense that he can activate his Flame Aura now, since it dropped immediately the last time. Edit: I did this wrong. It's a free action to activate White Knight's Aura, so he should have to wait until his turn to reactivate it).

Black Widow can tell by hearing and from the Thug’s actions what is happening at the bar, but she doesn’t have a line to attack the thugs on at the moment.

Bethany: Black Widow has to stop those guys. I’ll throw my grappling hook onto a nearby building and swing down to the ground. While I’m in the air, I’ll use Extra Effort to surge and take 2 attack actions with my rifle to shoot both of the thugs in a hail of bullets. Power Attack 5 so I know they’ll miss the Toughness saves, but with +8 attack and taking 10 I should still hit fine.

GM: Wow, what a cool move. Black Widow swings towards the thugs and hits both of them with a furious barrage from her assault rifle. They crumple to the ground. I’m giving you a hero point for that one.

Bethany: I’m allocating that one towards avoiding the Fatigue from Extra Effort caused by that maneuver, which will kick in on my action next round.

GM: White Knight’s flames reappear and he looks over at Luke Cage with disdain. “Want to take another swing now, boy?”

Leon: Are there any parking meters around? I want to rip a parking meter out of the ground and hit him with it

GM: Sure. There’s one right near you. You can rip it out of the ground with a DC 25 Strength check as a move action. Of course, your ranks in Super-Strength count as bonuses to strength here.

Leon: I’ll go for it. Rolling at +14- rolled a 14, total of 28. Got it! Taking a swing at White Knight, rolled a 9—total of 19.

GM: Just misses—his Defense is 20. White Knight barely gets out of the way as the parking meter spins in a wicked arc that almost hits his head. The parking meter is a little singed by his aura. The rest of the thugs are up—8 of them now.

Four of them have forgotten about White Knight’s instructions, or never heard in the first place—they’ll shoot at Luke Cage. Four others will move towards Beast and Black Widow and take shots at them, two apiece—they all miss. Beast is up.

Brian: Well, Beast isn’t going to be very effective against White Knight now that he has the flame aura back up. So let my try a different approach. I’ll Acrobatic Bluff as a move action to try to Trick (see the Bluff skill description) White Knight into attacking me because he thinks I’m vulnerable. Rolling at +11 (+16 base -5 move action), rolled a 12 for 23. Opposed by highest of Sense Motive and Acrobatics.

GM: He got a total of 19 (rolled a 12 with +7 Sense Motive)—you beat him. White Knight thinks he sees Beast trip as Beast tries to move back towards him.

Brian: Now I’m going to use my standard action for Total Defense (pg 159), which boosts my Dodge bonus to Defense by +4.

GM: White Knight is up. He’ll fly into the air about 30 feet and launch an attack at the “vulnerable” Beast, power attacking for 2. Attack roll at +8, rolls an 8—that’s a miss. Too late he realizes his mistake. “Mutant scum! You will not evade me again!” White Knight is distracted and doesn’t remember to tell his minions not to attack Luke Cage. End of round 4. Black Widow has 3 HP and has to spend one in a moment or suffer fatigue from Extra Effort, Beast 1 HP, Luke Cage 1 HP and 2 Injuries/2 Bruises.

Bethany: Black Widow spends a hero point to counteract the fatigue, so I’m back to 2 HP. I’m going to use Bluff to feint him so he loses his Dodge bonus against my attack. Bluff at +9 as a move action—Attractive probably doesn’t help for Feints in general (that wouldn’t make much sense). Rolled a 15 for a total of 24. Opposed by best Sense Motive and Bluff check.

GM: He’s using his Sense Motive skill. Roll of 11, for a total of 18—you beat him.

Side note: the book doesn’t say if you should tell a player whether a feint/trick has worked before they go to make an attack/take some other action based on the results. I personally think you should tell the player, but the GM for a game I’m in right now does the opposite. I asked Steve Kenson about this and he said that the policy is just up to the GM’s discretion- see here. White Knight doesn’t have Uncanny Dodge, but while I’m at it, note that Uncanny Dodge does not protect against feints: see here.

Bethany: Blast Widow seems to take aim at the thugs with her assault rifle but she actually aims the Widow’s Bite at an unsuspecting White Knight! Attack roll=10, for a total of 20. Since he loses his Dodge bonus and gets a further -2 to Defense, that should definitely hit. Fort save DC 20

GM: Fort save roll is 6, for a total of 13. I’ll have him reroll that with GM Fiat. Black Widow gets another hero point- up to 3 now. He rolls a 13 for a total of 20—makes it exactly. White Knight is hit by the energy weapon but is able to resist the electricity coursing through his body.

Bethany: Well, no point in having so many hero points floating around. I’ll use Extra Effort and take another shot at him. Rolled a 19 for a 29 total—another hit.

GM: Rolled an 18 for 25 total. We can call that part of the same attack that he resisted last time. Good thing, too, because GM Fiat is limited to gaining the effects of Improved Roll once a personal round for a villain in the same way a PC can only use Improved Roll once a round.

Leon: Man, 30 feet. That’s out of my reach even with this parking meter.

Brian: Luke Cage weighs about 400 lbs, right? Then Beast can throw you 25 feet in the air—wait for my action and we can do that.

Leon: Sure. Luke Cage will delay until Beast’s action.

GM: OK. Since he’s throwing you we’ll say that you’re on the same initiative count as Beast, but go after him—and you’ll be there in all rounds. Thugs are up again. Four take aim at Luke Cage, harmlessly. Two take aim at each of Beast and Black Widow, using Aid Another. All misses. Beast and Luke Cage are up.

Brian: Beast will move over to where Luke Cage is and throw him 25 feet in the air towards White Knight. Can I use Teamwork to aid another with that?

GM: No, since you moved this round. A throw is a move action on its own and you used your move action to get up to him, so you have to use your Standard Action for the throw. Otherwise you could use the Standard Action for aid another and a Move Action for the throw as part of one maneuver.

Leon: I’m using All-Out Attack for 5 and Power Attack for 5. Rolled a 13 for a total of 23! 15 damage—DC 30 Toughness save! “Eat parking meter, villain!!”

GM: That’s a hit. Luke Cage goes flying through the air and hits White Knight a with the parking meter with tremendous force. Luke Cage can feel the heat sting his hands as the parking meter melts. White Knight rolls a 12—total of 24—he’s stunned and bruised. Concentration check to keep his Sustained powers up- rolled a 10, for 11 total. He’s knocked out of the sky and his flame aura dissipates. He hits the ground with a crash. 3 falling damage, so DC 18 save. Rolls an 11—makes it.

Leon: Luke Cage lands and sort of catches his balance. “Sweet throw, Hank!”

Brian: “A most excellent swing as well. You could play major league baseball yet, my friend.”

GM: White Knight shakes off the Stun with GM Fiat for Recovery. Luke Cage gets a hero point. White Knight reactivates his Flame Aura and sends a roaring fireball at Luke Cage. “Die, scum!” Blast, Power Attacking for 5—he rolls a 3. I don’t want him to go out so easily. I’ll use GM Fiat for Improved Roll to reroll that. Natural 20! A critical for 21 lethal damage! DC 36 Toughness Save. Ouch! Luke Cage gets another hero point—up to 3 now.

Leon: Holy crap! This is a good time for my Ultimate Toughness feat. I’ll spend a hero point and use Ultimate Toughness to get an auto-20 instead of rolling (but it doesn’t count as a natural 20). Rolling at +8 due to 2 previous injuries—total of 28. Stunned and Injured and Bruised.

GM: This ought to qualify for some Knockback. Luke Cage is hit by a huge ball of flame and the heat sends him reeling and drops him to his knees, but amazingly he isn’t burnt to a crisp!

White Knight can’t believe it. “Why won’t you die!!?” End of round 5. Black Widow has 3 HP and will have to spend one to avoid fatigue. Beast has 1 HP; Luke Cage has 2 HP and 3 Injuries and 3 Bruises, and is Stunned.

Bethany: “Time to end this.” Hero point to avoid fatigue. 2 Hero Points left. Attacking him with Widow’s Bite, power-attacking for 2, so attacking at +8. Rolled a 9—that would miss, so I’m rerolling it. Rolled a 7—Improved Roll increases that by 10, so total of 25. Fort save DC 22. 1 Hero Point left.

GM: Rolled a 5, for a total of 12. I can’t reroll it because he already rerolled the attack roll at the end of last round (and he can only use Improved Roll once in a personal round—see pg 153, “one round= span of time from one initiative count to the same initiative count in the next round.” The beginning and end of “round 4” is almost always irrelevant in game terms—it’s just a way to demarcate the combat). Miss by 10—that’s Unconscious. White Knight is out! Black Widow sets her Widow’s Bite on high power and shoots an especially powerful bolt of electricity at the White Knight. It hits him in the chest and overloads his body completely—he slumps to the ground, unconscious and his Flame Aura winks out.

Seeing their leader crumple to the ground, the eight remaining thugs drop their guns and flee. Black Widow and Beast knock them all out in short order as Luke Cage manages to pick himself up. Ambulances are already responding to the scene.

Leon: Luke Cake growls, “I told you not to @#*& with me, $^*#%!” I go over to the police car and report that we have White Knight ready to be taken into custody at Dupont Circle. They’d better send a superhero containment unit, and fast.

GM: Beast and Black Widow each get 1 HP for dealing with thugs shooting at innocents. Luke Cage gets 1 HP for the enemy complication, as White Knight targeted him with almost every attack. A handful of people were killed and several dozen more injured, but you stopped a major terrorist attack on the nation’s capital. Well done!

THE WINNER: THE AVENGERS White Knight lasted a long time because I didn’t use especially good tactics on the part of the players and because his minions helped out by distracting the heroes at the right times. The thugs were pathetic, as you’d expect--+2 attack and +3 damage does not threaten PL 10 characters. But they took time to take out. You can see the difficulties a lone villain faces—White Knight has an incredibly powerful flame aura that makes him very hard to fight in melee, but his average Fortitude save, lack of ranks in Concentration, and not being hard to feint helped do him in.

[smashed247]

That was awesome Elric!

L8er