Background: Overshadow and Gamma the Atom Smasher are both in Freedom City. Gamma’s nemesis is the Atom Family, Freedom City’s Fantastic Four-equivalent.
The GM thinks Overshadow and Gamma's Fort/Ref/Will saves are a little too low. So he increases them by 1 each. Overshadow’s Second Chance (Will saves) feat seems kind of redundant, so he switches it to Speed of Thought (from the Mastermind’s Manual, lets you add your Int to Initiative instead of Dex). Since Aura has been errata’d and effectively changed to be more expensive, he (mostly) takes this into account and lowers Gamma’s Strike (Aura) power to rank 8. Deathstroke is my
PL 12, 180 pp build Overshadow’s Inventor ability has been used to create a Teleportation device built into his Battlesuit. This is primarily a plot-level power: something like a high rank Teleport effect with the Area extra, Selective Power feat and a lot of Progression feats. Overshadow has to take 5 full-actions (or 10 move/standard actions or combinations thereof) to finish transporting the nuclear power plant to Nifelheim, his secret headquarters beneath Antarctica. Overshadow has had plenty of time to use Master Plan (life is good as a Master Villain) and rolled a 19, for a total of 33, which means he can initiate a Master Plan for a +3 bonus to Attack Rolls and Skill Checks for his side (this will last for three rounds before the bonuses start to decrease). There are 40 minions (Shadow Agents, from Freedom City).
The cast: Chris (Captain America), Sarah (She Hulk), Ivan (Iron Man), Maria (Ms. Marvel), Greg (GM)
GM: It’s a normal start to a fight. You guys are a little spread out, but not much. Gamma and Deathstroke are about 50 feet away, with Overshadow about 75 feet farther back with the Shadow Agents in between. Time for initiative rolls:
Ivan: I rolled a 1. That’s terrible.
Chris: Well, I rolled a 3. That’s not much better.
Maria: I rolled a 2. We’re not doing so hot here.
Sarah: I rolled an 8. An inauspicious beginning.
Initiative:Overshadow: 21
Deathstroke: 20 (rolled a 22 total, but he delays)
Gamma the Atom Smasher: 19
Captain America: 14 (2 HP—had 3 HP to start and spent one)
She Hulk: 14 (1 HP, ties decided by Dex)
Ms. Marvel: 12 (1 HP)
Shadow Agents: 12 (ties decided by Dex)
Iron Man: 7 (1 HP)
GM: Deathstroke is up first. He’ll delay until after Overshadow, which means Deathstroke will act right after Overshadow for the rest of the combat. Overshadow is up next. He’ll activate his Master Plan (players groan in unison). You can see Overshadow concentrating on doing something with his Battlesuit after he gives the order to attack.
Ivan: Can Iron Man try to figure it out?
GM: Sure. Give me a Knowledge: Technology roll.
Ivan: Rolling at +18, rolled a 7 for a total of 25.
GM: You can tell that Overshadow is responsible for the pallid cast of the surroundings. He has some kind of slow-acting teleportation device, but you’d need to see more to figure out anything further.
Ivan: “I think Overshadow has some kind of teleportation device and he’s trying to use it to transport the entire power plant!”
GM: Deathstroke, having delayed, runs up to Captain America and takes a swing with his Power Staff. Rolls a 4, for a total of 21 (+14 attack, +3 Master Plan).
Chris: Captain America’s Defense is 24 and he retains his full defense bonus before having acted in a combat due to Uncanny Dodge, so that misses.
GM: Deathstroke pauses. “You are a worthy foe. But that will not save you in the end.” Gamma is up next. He flies at She Hulk, his body surrounded by a glowing aura of radiation. “Gamma will show you who is strongest. Gamma Smash!” He’ll Power Attack for 5, attack roll at +7 (+10 base – 5 PA + 3 Master Plan), rolled a 6 for a total of 13. You’re flat-footed since you haven't acted yet and don’t have Uncanny Dodge, but that still misses your flat-footed defense of 15.
Chris: Captain America’s turn. He’ll try to Acrobatic Bluff to feint Deathstroke as a move action. Rolling at +11 (+16 Acrobatics -5 as a move action), rolled an 11 for a total of 22.
GM: Deathstroke rolled a 9 (rolling at +17: +14 Acrobatics +3 Master Plan). He’s not fooled.
Chris: OK, Cap will try to disarm Deathstroke of his Power Staff with a swing of his shield. Improved Disarm gives +2 to hit, so attacking at +16—rolled a 13.
GM: That’s a hit. Opposed checks, you’re rolling at your plus to damage (10) and I’m rolling with Deathstroke’s Strength (+6). Captain America rolls an 8, for a total of 18, and Deathstroke rolls a 6 for a total of 12. The staff gets sent flying by a powerful swing of Captain America’s shield. She Hulk is up.
Sarah: “Like clockwork, Cap.” She Hulk will attempt to smash Gamma in return, after using Startle as a move action.
Ivan: With his radiation aura? Couldn’t that hurt?
Sarah: Maybe, but I have Impervious 10, Regeneration, and a +15 Toughness save. I can probably take it.
GM: OK, roll Intimidate at +8 (+13 – 5 as a move action) against his Will save. You rolled a 4, he rolled a natural 20. That’s not going to work.
Sarah: Just attack then, Power Attack for 2. Attacking at +8, rolled a 12 for 20 total. 16 damage if it hits.
GM: That hits. She Hulk proves completely unaffected by Gamma’s Radiation Aura (Impervious 10 renders her immune to the Aura since it only deals 8 damage—Gamma also has a Radiation Disease Aura at rank 1, but She Hulk can’t possibly miss the save against that so the GM is ignoring it ). Gamma rolls a toughness save—rolled a 15, for a 30 total vs. the DC of 31. He takes a bruise. Ms. Marvel is up next.
Maria: I’ll fly over near Overshadow and try to Blast him. Power Attack for 3, attacking at +9 for 15 damage. Rolled a 9 for a total of 18.
GM: That misses- Overshadow is able to avoid the brunt of the blast so it fails to penetrate his force field. Now the Shadow Agents are up. Half of them will shoot at Ms. Marvel with their blasters, with the rest moving forward to take shots at the other Avengers. Unfortunately for them, they don’t have Precise Shot and have to take a -2 range penalty, so none of them can hit Captain America at the moment (since the natural 20s rule doesn’t apply to minions) and their blasters can’t get through the Impervious of the other Avengers. Ms. Marvel is hit by a number of blasters, but simply absorbs the energy.
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.Ivan: Well, no reason to leave those guys around. Iron Man will fly up into the air and unleash an exploding ball of sonic force at the minions, aiming to catch Overshadow in the Blast (Area- Burst Blast 10).
GM: Won’t that hit Ms. Marvel?
Ivan: Yeah, but we’ve been together a long time. I know it can’t hurt her in the slightest. She’s got Impervious 12 to energy attacks. 10 damage, Reflex DC 20 for half. “Incoming, Carol.”
Maria: “Fire away, tin man.”
GM: You’re right. OK (using an automated die-roller for a second), eight Shadow agents make the Reflex save and only take 5 damage. Wow, a bunch more good rolls. Seven of the agents make the toughness saves—and 33 get knocked out. Overshadow is able to adjust his force field to entirely negate the blast (rolls a 15 on his Reflex save, for a total of 24, and Impervious soaks the 5 damage). He’s up again. At the start of round 2, Gamma has taken a bruise and that’s it.
Overshadow seems slightly disgusted by the ease with which Iron Man dispatched most of his Shadow Agents and also by their totally ineffectiveness. He keeps concentrating on his teleportation device. The surroundings seem to grow a little fainter. Overshadow motions towards Ms. Marvel.
“Gamma, rid me of this annoyance.”GM: Deathstroke is up, but he’s been disarmed. He’ll try to feint Captain America as a move action. Rolling at +14 (+16 base -5 move action +3 Master Plan), against Captain America also at +14 Sense Motive. Deathstroke gets a 16, Captain America gets a 7, so Deathstroke catches Captain America off guard.
Deathstroke starts to move as if to recover his Power Staff, but then spins back around, pulling his rifle off his back, and fires a burst of bullets right at Captain America. Then he drops into a defensive position. He’ll Quick Draw his Rifle, Power Attack for 5 and Defensive Attack for 5, and attack Captain America. Attacking at +10, (+17 base – 10 feats + 3 Master Plan= 10) rolls a 6 for a total of 16. Does that hit and if so by how much?
Chris: It hits by 3. Cap’s Defense against the attack is 13, since his flat-footed defense is 15 and it’s -2 more for being surprised.
GM: So that’s a toughness save against 11 damage, since it’s 5 damage + 5 for PA + 1 Autofire damage for hitting by 3 (3/2= 1.5, round down to 1). DC 26 Toughness save.
Chris: Rolled a 12, for a total of 22.
GM: Captain America doesn’t get his shield up in time and one of the bullets hits him in the shoulder. His armor absorbs most of the impact, but Captain America can feel himself bleeding. He takes an Injury and a Bruise. Gamma is up next.
He’ll abandon the fight against She Hulk for now, clearly not liking his orders. He flies over and punches Ms. Marvel, attacking at +13 for 14 damage. Attack roll 13, so total of 26 hits her 22 Defense. Her absorption soaks his radiation aura, so just give me a Toughness save at DC 29.
Maria: Rolled a 9, toughness save is +12 so that’ s a total of 21. I think I’ll reroll that one with a hero point. Rolled a 5 which becomes 15 for a total of 27.
GM: You’re only bruised, but you don’t have any more hero points. “Where is the Invisible Woman? The Avengers are no match for Gamma!”
Chris: Well, Cap won’t have a good chance to hurt Deathstroke at the moment, given his defensive attack. Let me try to Acrobatic feint him as a move action first. Rolling at +11, total of 21.
GM: He gets +1 since you’ve tried this before. He rolls a 16—beats you easily.
Chris: Seeing that Deathstroke has figured out Captain America’s style, Cap will use Aid Another to give She Hulk +4 to hit (due to his Teamwork 2 feats—he has to make a DC 10 attack roll to do this, which Cap makes automatically). Captain America tries to kick Deathstroke’s gun out of his hands, but it’s really just getting him to lower his defenses for She Hulk.
Sarah: Thanks, Chris. She Hulk is mad now, seeing Captain America wounded. She’ll charge Deathstroke, using All-Out Attack for 5 and Power Attack for 3. Attacking at +18 (+10 base, +4 Teamwork, +5 All-Out Attack, +2 Charge, -3 Power Attack), for 17 damage if it hits. Rolled a 16 for a total of 34. That should hit. She Hulk’s Defense is down to 12 (19- 5 AAA – 2 Charge) for a round. “That’s for Cap, scoundrel!”
GM: It does. Wow, that’s a lot of damage. DC 32 Toughness save, rolling at +10. He rolls a 14 for a total of 24—takes a Stun and a Bruise. I’ll use GM Fiat to buy off that Stun immediately and I’ll say that means he doesn’t take Knockback.
Side note: This is what Steve Kenson says you should do. If you like Knockback and want to run a Knockback heavy game, though, I recommend house ruling this so that you still suffer Knockback even if you use Recovery to buy off the stun from an attack immediately.Deathstroke sways on his feet but is somehow able to absorb the blow. She Hulk gets a hero point. Ms. Marvel is next.
Maria: Ms. Marvel will return the favor, hitting Gamma as hard as she can. She knows his radiation aura can’t hurt her. Power Attack for 5, rolling at +7, rolled an 8—total of 15 misses, right?
GM: Yep. Shadow Agents are up. Four continue to take shots at Ms. Marvel, ineffectively. The others go after Captain America and might hit him if they roll a 20. Nope, they all miss.
Ivan: Iron Man will take a shot at Gamma with his sonic bio-disruptor (Stun power), which takes a full-action. Attacking at +10, roll an 11 for 21. DC 24 Fort save on a hit.
GM: That hits. He’s rolling at +12—he rolls a 13, so makes it by 1. End of round 2. Captain America has an injury and a bruise and 2 HP. She Hulk has 2 HP. Iron Man has 1 HP. Ms. Marvel has 1 bruise and 0 HP. Gamma and Deathstroke both have 1 bruise. Overshadow is fine and is up to start round 3.
"Crush them, my minions." Overshadow continues his use of his teleportation device. Iron Man can tell that he’s nearing completion of the teleportation effect—it can’t take more than a few more rounds now.
Ivan: Over the commlink, Iron Man says “Overshadow is getting close now to teleporting the whole plant away. We have to break his concentration.”
GM: Deathstroke is up. He’ll use Quick Draw to sling the rifle back on his back (Quick Draw doesn’t say that it lets you put away weapons as a free action, but the GM decides it’s reasonable that it does), Defensive Attack for 5 and Power Attack for 5 and use Rapid Attack (from his Super-Speed power) to hit both She Hulk and Captain America in a flurry of punches. Attacking at +5 (+12 + 3 Master Plan – 5 Defensive Attack – 5 Power Attack). Attack roll on She Hulk is 13 for a total of 18, which hits, and attack roll on Captain America is 16 for a total of 21, which misses. She Hulk takes 11 damage—DC 26 Toughness save.
Edit: You're only supposed to roll one attack roll with Rapid Attack; you compare the attack roll to the Defense of all targets you're attacking. I messed that up here.Sarah: Toughness save at +15—rolled a 3. Forget it, I’m rerolling that with a hero point. Got an 18. That’s better. No effect. 1 HP left.
GM: Deathstroke will then try to use Bluff to trick She Hulk into attacking him. Rolling at +14 (+16 base + 3 Master Plan -5 Move Action). “Your skill is no match for mine, you inferior behemoth.” He rolls a 4, for a total of 18. She Hulk rolls a 6, rolling at +8 for her Bluff score for a total of 14. She’s tricked.
Gamma is up next. He’ll fly over and attack Iron Man as retribution for that sonic beam, Power Attacking for 3. Attacking at +10 (+10 base + 3 Master Plan -3 PA), rolled a 12 for a total of 22. Iron Man takes a hit for 17 damage, though his Impervious soaks Gamma’s Strike Aura. Toughness save DC 32 and Iron Man also needs a DC 11 Fortitude save to avoid contracting a radiation disease!
Ivan: Rolling at +14, rolled a 4. Ouch, I think I’ll reroll that. Got an 18—made it exactly. No HP left. Rolling the Fort save for the radiation disease, at +7, rolled a 19—made it easily.
GM: Gamma hits Iron Man with an incredibly powerful punch, but Iron Man is unfazed. Next up is Captain America.
Chris: Enough of this. Captain America will spend a hero point and a full-action on Inspire, giving all of his allies +5 to attack rolls, saving throws, and checks (skill checks, ability checks, and power checks) for a round. “Rally, Avengers! Stop Overshadow now!” 1 HP left.
Sarah: Well, She Hulk is a little too mad at Deathstroke to do that. But she’s Inspired to go after him anyway. Startle him as a move action—rolling at +13 (+13 + 5 Inspire – 5 move action). Rolled a 17—that might win.
GM: Deathstroke rolls a 6 (rolling at +19, +16 Intimidate base + 3 Master Plan). You got him.
Sarah: She Hulk stomps on the ground, sending out mini-shockwaves and throwing Deathstroke off balance. Then she’ll attack with All-Out Attack for 5 and Power Attack for 5. Attacking at +15 (+10 base +5 Inspire +5 All-Out Attack, -5 Power Attack)
GM: I’ll use GM Fiat to give Deathstroke the Dodge function of a hero point to retain his dodge bonus and not be surprised by this attack. So he retains his Dodge bonus (since Defensive Attack provides a Dodge Bonus, Deathstroke’s defense is 29 with his dodge bonus and would be 12—no dodge bonus and -2 defense—if he didn’t do this). She Hulk will get a hero point after resolving the attack.
Sarah: OK, better roll high then. Rolled a 7 for a total of 22. I’ll spend a hero point to reroll that. Rolled a 12, for a total of 27. If that doesn’t hit I guess I’ll use Extra Effort to try again. Down to 1 HP counting the one I just got.
GM (grinning evilly): Doesn’t hit. But not so fast. Deathstroke has the Redirect feat and since he tricked you and you missed the attack roll, you have to roll a new attack against Captain America instead. Deathstroke steps aside nimbly as an enraged She Hulk comes after him, having positioned her so that her punch is aimed straight for Captain America. Do you want to roll the attack, or should I?
Chris: Wow, that’s a powerful attack. I’m spending my last hero point to double my Dodge bonus for the round first. 0 HP left, Defense 33 until my turn next round.
Sarah: I’ll roll. Never thought I’d say this, but come on, natural 1. Rolled an 18. Oh my God, that hits exactly! I’m so sorry, Chris. 19 damage.
Chris: Rolling at +9 against a DC 34 Toughness save with no HP left. Yeah, this could be bad. Rolled a 9, for a total of 18. Miss by 16. That’s a KO.
GM: Deathstroke steps nimbly aside and Captain America can’t bring his shield up in time. She Hulk smashes Captain America in the face. He’s sent flying, lands 50 feet away with a crash, and doesn’t move. Deathstroke turns to She Hulk “And he thought I played fair.”
Maria: “Cap!” I knew all of this “me green, me smash things” would get us in trouble one day.
Sarah: She Hulk can’t quite believe what she’s done. She’ll go after Deathstroke with Extra Effort, trying to bring both fists down to smash him. Rolled an 11—that misses. Then it sinks in. “Cap! I didn’t mean it!”
GM: Overshadow laughs.
"You are making this too easy."Chris: If Chinese take-out is fine with everyone, I guess I’ll go pick it up now. Let me know how the fight goes when I come back!
GM: Imagine that this is the end of a comic-book. This would make quite a cliff-hanger before the next issue!
