Rate my "Big Bad Evils"

[pestigor]

Originally Posted by Maz

I must admit I never put this much effort into statting my villains up. :D

I agree, why are you stating them out in such detail? Background fluff, sure but unless you need to justify things to your group or maybe you like making characters...which is totally cool...but why hamstring yourself if the players do something completely from left field and you need so "GM wiggle room", I mean these characters are stated to the point that one would feel compelled to be slavish to what was written on the page, a very bad sign for a GM of any game.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by pestigor

I agree, why are you stating them out in such detail? Background fluff, sure but unless you need to justify things to your group or maybe you like making characters...which is totally cool...but why hamstring yourself if the players do something completely from left field and you need so "GM wiggle room", I mean these characters are stated to the point that one would feel compelled to be slavish to what was written on the page, a very bad sign for a GM of any game.

I have found that to be the exact opposite of my experience. When I write up a complete character sheet for an opponent or other NPC, if something unexpected comes up in play, I can look at it, and it's entirely possible—it's happened a number of times—that something I put onto it, often something I had no particular plan to use in play, will suggest a direction for things, one that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. On the other hand, I've hardly ever found myself trapped by too much background, and on the gripping hand, if I did, I could always just delete the thing that was causing problems.

[Phantasm]

Most of my big bads I don't have sheets for. The major named villains tend to get sheets, but never really detailing background skills or various traits that I'll never roll against. It doesn't really matter if Fred the Evil Elf knows how to play Fizzbin at professional or greater levels, because the PCs aren't likely to play a game against him for any real stakes... not when he's more Grima Wormtongue in action and ordering guards to attack them in the Sultan's name.

The characters that get stats are the ones more likely to face the PCs in actual opposition, the second and third tier villains and non-villain antagonists. Even then, I dispense with points and sometimes select modifiers (f'rex, instead of saying "Increased 1/2D Range x5; Reduced Range x1/2" for an attack, I just say "Range 25/50"). This isn't necessarily in "combat" either; a motorboat or horse race for stakes using Boating or Riding is just as valid as the Karate/Wrestling/Broadsword skills.

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Giant ants? Just how much pseudo-science is this campaign tolerating? Ants breathe by diffusion of air through tracheae, and at current oxygen concentrations, you can't get much over a square centimeter cross section. That would give you an ant around 450 feet long. You really need a respiratory pigment in the blood to get as big as 30 pounds.

Paleoclimate data shows that the concentration of atmospheric oxygen was by then up to 30%, while nowadays it´s 21%. This phenomena is usually considered to be correlated with the decreasing of insects size, since it was considered to be what allowed insects to overcome some respiratory bottleneck problems. These problems could also be solved by making proportionally bigger tracheal systems and improving their use of abdominal muscles to force air in and out of it, or simply by increasing their respiratory efficiency, which could be achieved by customizing the "breathing" cycles of thoracic compression and relaxation. So there would be indeed a sustancial variation in tracheal morphology and respiratory dynamics. However a deeper analysis would conclude that the evidences for a link between insect sizes and atmospheric oxygen levels are weakly correlated at best, making the ultimate factors environmental and genetic, such as food availability and quality, temperature and a variety of hormones and signalling cascades that regulate growth rate and time. Although it could be discussed that the presence of exoskeletons forces a number of limitations, there are extinct arthropods which grew to 1.8 meters in length and crustaceans that weigh 15 pounds. The square-cube law should also be brought into the table, specially during molting. Or you could hop over all of that and use a respiratory pigment instead, just like you said.

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I don't think that is what is meant by "eugenics." The movement that went by that name worked over a span of generations, and through normal sexual reproduction.

Aside from the name, what is the actual process you have in mind? It seems vanishingly unlikely that you could find remnant DNA from the best 46 individuals in human history. Some of them may not even be known by name; and the odds are that any one of them might have had their remains disposed of in a way that didn't allow DNA extraction. I suppose you could collect DNA samples from all the human remains you had access to (though doing collection from indigenous American remains would probably have to be done in secret, given how hard many tribal governments fight against it); do you mean "the best 46 of all the people whose remains we could sequence?"

And what is your criterion for "best"? If you can look at the DNA sequence by itself, and say, "okay, this person was fit in the following ways," then you must have solved the problem of interpreting DNA; and then you could just generated random sequences on a computer, feed them into your sequencer, pick the best, and use them as seeds for more random DNA, never bothering with actual human DNA. Or if you can't do that, youi can only work with remains of people whose biographies you know, which isn't going to be very many. And then there's the criterion of "best": Do Genghis Khan count as the fittest human being who ever lived?

Yes, I believe that an organization with a few hundred thousand employees and billions of dollars could develop such historical and archaeological research. Then everything would be a matter of sacrificing a few hundred or thousand children and interpreting the results.

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Once again, comic book reality.

As to actual criticisms...that many talents is simply pointless. You might as well just bite the bullet and give him an IQ of 18.

In this case talents do not upgrade the base stat beyond 15, they only grant special abilities. For example, Empath works like Empathy by level 4.

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by Maz

That sounds like the perfect villain. Control the world "for their own good" that never gets old :)
I mean that. It works better IMO than "destroy the world becasue why not". ... I always like Laweful Evil better as villains than Chaotic Evil.
And he has a good mix of fascism and more than a hint towards wanting to cleanse the unfit.

From his different trait it also seems he has a lot of socio-econoic power which can give him direct political influence as well as the wealth to have lots of minions. Thats always a plus for a big bad evil.

He also seems to have the stats to hold his own in an inevitable fight vs. the heroes who come to stop him. Ofcourse depending on the powerlevel, but with the high bases stats, very high skills and epsecially the possibility for Altered Time, he is not easily stopped by physical force.


Specific traits:
Pitiable. I don't think this will fit because, at least I read him as the typical dictator to be and it just seems weird for him to look like some innocent person you would want to care for. But this might be deliberate?

Megalomania + Obsession + Overconfidence: I feel like these overlap too much. Overconfidence states "Overconfidence is like Megalomania (p. 144) on a smaller scale". So it feels like doubledipping to have both. This is even more true for his obsession, because Megalomania literally means "Obsession - rule the world" in GURPS terms.

Enemy: How is The Media an enemy? Are they watchers? Do they target him more than any other famous person. Are there perhaps a specific paper or journalist who are 'gunning' for him? If there are, this might be a useful ally for the PC's.

Other: He definitely sounds like a person who might be Callous though.
He could also be a Bully ("The strong has a right to rule the weak") but that's not in his personality right now, but is a typical villain trait, and could open up for why some of his allies/henchmen might want to go against him despite his formidable charisma/reaction bonus.

Quirks: His "like bioenginering" seems redundant when he already have Fanatism (Transhumanism). Same for "likes leading" when he already has Megalomania. He also "likes knives and guns". What exactly does this mean for him? Does it mean than in a potential combat-situation he is going to prefer to fight using knives and guns? Because all of his natural attacks seems to suggest he would prefer unarmed combat. Or maybe it's just that his an avid collector an connoisseur of fine guns and knives? This might be a good way for the PC's to get close to him if they can offer a rare or old special knife or gun.
I love his "likes punning" that's also awesome for a big villain. :)



I must admit I never put this much effort into statting my villains up. :D

Good post and thank you! Pitiable has been bioengineered in deliberately as a possible mean of survival when there is no room for more resources. I will check again Megalomania, Obsession and Overconfidence, to see if I should scrap any of them. The Media counts as an enemy with the watcher limitation because they´re famous and they´re leading illegal researches. The knives and guns part is exactly like you said, he likes them, not to use them in a fight, but because he appreciate some inherent beauty in them. I considered the punning very important by the way haha

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I have found that to be the exact opposite of my experience. When I write up a complete character sheet for an opponent or other NPC, if something unexpected comes up in play, I can look at it, and it's entirely possible—it's happened a number of times—that something I put onto it, often something I had no particular plan to use in play, will suggest a direction for things, one that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. On the other hand, I've hardly ever found myself trapped by too much background, and on the gripping hand, if I did, I could always just delete the thing that was causing problems.

This. Some of the disadvantages and specially quirks can be easily swapped out to be substituted by similar ones, but having them written is very useful to be loyal to the character.

[Alonsua]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Most of my big bads I don't have sheets for. The major named villains tend to get sheets, but never really detailing background skills or various traits that I'll never roll against. It doesn't really matter if Fred the Evil Elf knows how to play Fizzbin at professional or greater levels, because the PCs aren't likely to play a game against him for any real stakes... not when he's more Grima Wormtongue in action and ordering guards to attack them in the Sultan's name.

The characters that get stats are the ones more likely to face the PCs in actual opposition, the second and third tier villains and non-villain antagonists. Even then, I dispense with points and sometimes select modifiers (f'rex, instead of saying "Increased 1/2D Range x5; Reduced Range x1/2" for an attack, I just say "Range 25/50"). This isn't necessarily in "combat" either; a motorboat or horse race for stakes using Boating or Riding is just as valid as the Karate/Wrestling/Broadsword skills.

Combat is a bit harder, because apart of considering the skill values, you need to consider several other stats, such as Strength, Basic Speed, Dodge... And then, in cases like this, the possibility of temporary enabling advantages such as Altered Time Rate.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Alonsua

Paleoclimate data shows that the concentration of atmospheric oxygen was by then up to 30%, while nowadays it´s 21%. This phenomena is usually considered to be correlated with the decreasing of insects size, since it was considered to be what allowed insects to overcome some respiratory bottleneck problems. These problems could also be solved by making proportionally bigger tracheal systems and improving their use of abdominal muscles to force air in and out of it, or simply by increasing their respiratory efficiency, which could be achieved by customizing the "breathing" cycles of thoracic compression and relaxation. So there would be indeed a sustancial variation in tracheal morphology and respiratory dynamics. However a deeper analysis would conclude that the evidences for a link between insect sizes and atmospheric oxygen levels are weakly correlated at best, making the ultimate factors environmental and genetic, such as food availability and quality, temperature and a variety of hormones and signalling cascades that regulate growth rate and time. Although it could be discussed that the presence of exoskeletons forces a number of limitations, there are extinct arthropods which grew to 1.8 meters in length and crustaceans that weigh 15 pounds. The square-cube law should also be brought into the table, specially during molting. Or you could hop over all of that and use a respiratory pigment instead, just like you said.

I'm pretty sure that crustaceans have respiratory blood pigments. Most of them have gills, after all; tracheae don't seem to work under water.

If the tricks you describe could enable present-day insects to get up to 30 pounds, I think there would be at least a few insect species within a factor of 2-3 of that, given that there are hundreds of thousands of species. Wikipedia says the largest known insect is a giant weta whose record adult weight was 2.5 oz., or less than 1% of the weight you propose. And having insects use a respiratory pigment would require a radical redesign of the organism; you have to circulate the pigment through a gill, lung, or other structure with large internal surface area to get it oxygenated, and insects don't have such a structure.

Dying of suffocation because you've outgrown your respiratory system wins you the Darwin Award every time.