How do you employ the enchanter?

[Gef]

Originally Posted by starslayer

Now- he himself is likely effectively indestructible, indomitable, and invincible if his power works on himself. His keepers are likely mostly ok with that. I mean they know it'll be a big deal if they somehow loose him, but its much harder to get someone out of a secure facility then it is to destroy it, and they are probably happier knowing there 'portable god factory' is going to survive a tactical atomic strike then worry about the off chance his effectively immortal indestructible and fully immune to mind control self might be captured and reprogrammed before he can be retrieved.

His power isn't unlimited. He can have lots of cheap powers but no big ones. (Remember the game mechanic; effectively he can never get a big break for limitations.) There are some great powers outside the point budget, and some enhancements as well, notably Cumulative. He can make a gadget of boost IQ, but he can't benefit from more than one, because they're not cumulative (though he can add hypermind traits like talent, Enhanced Time Sense, and Compartmentalized Mind). Now he could theoretically manage DR+1 (Hardened Force Field) with Cumulative, and make a thousand, but that's starting to get impractical even if they're beads on a string, and it's still not enough to save him from a nuke. Plus, there are a few mutants out there whose power is to negate mutant powers and all related phenomena. China has its share.

All that said, best bet on controlling this guy is that a telepath conditions him for loyalty before he figures out what all he can do; I figure that's standard procedure by now. And yeah, at least some of the programs will happily use a mutant's weaknesses for sex and drugs against him. You wanna know why the muggles call the shots? Because the muggles can give you the rock star treatment. The carrot's good enough that we don't need to talk about the stick, right?

[Gef]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Hahaha, a cloner in a country with birth restrictions must feel so frustrated. :]

It's hardly fair. In spite of the one child policy, China gets the most mutants anyway.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

We're talking about teenagers here. If we get 'em early and go all Brave New World on them, with all the Sex, Soma, and Centrifugal Bumble-Bunny they can crave, I anticipate little in the way of serious rebellion until they hit at least 18/21-or-so and really start thinking about stuff, at which point we've had ample time to brainwash them and can simply execute the stubbornly-disloyal.

Thanks. That was my initial take on it too, and very different from how mutants are treated in the West. However, I don't actually know that much about modern China, and I want to get it right, or at least plausible, because one of my players is an expert in geopolitics.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Gef

Thanks. That was my initial take on it too, and very different from how mutants are treated in the West. However, I don't actually know that much about modern China, and I want to get it right, or at least plausible, because one of my players is an expert in geopolitics.

At the risk of understatement and putting it very broadly, they're a nation of over a billion currently leaping into capitalism with both feet since they regained Hong Kong without really admitting it, and a little fast-and-loose with the whole "human rights" thing. Any super setting with an even distribution of supers among the world population is going to see China become a little or a lot scary and possibly weird.

[starslayer]

Originally Posted by Gef

His power isn't unlimited. He can have lots of cheap powers but no big ones. (Remember the game mechanic; effectively he can never get a big break for limitations.) There are some great powers outside the point budget, and some enhancements as well, notably Cumulative. He can make a gadget of boost IQ, but he can't benefit from more than one, because they're not cumulative (though he can add hypermind traits like talent, Enhanced Time Sense, and Compartmentalized Mind). Now he could theoretically manage DR+1 (Hardened Force Field) with Cumulative, and make a thousand, but that's starting to get impractical even if they're beads on a string, and it's still not enough to save him from a nuke. Plus, there are a few mutants out there whose power is to negate mutant powers and all related phenomena. China has its share.

All that said, best bet on controlling this guy is that a telepath conditions him for loyalty before he figures out what all he can do; I figure that's standard procedure by now. And yeah, at least some of the programs will happily use a mutant's weaknesses for sex and drugs against him. You wanna know why the muggles call the shots? Because the muggles can give you the rock star treatment. The carrot's good enough that we don't need to talk about the stick, right?

Effective invulnerability just means he has to have:
Extra life
Unaging.

Since he makes gadgets a bracelet of 'lives+10' (ten separate 'extra life+respawns somewhere safe +equipment follows you when you come back') will give him amazing staying power.

[RaRaRasputin]

If you'd like to compare to a setting where the presence of Parahumans does (eventually) mean massive social upheaval, check out Worm.

China doesn't have a monopoly on Tinkers (tech-based superheroes), but they do have a couple of Parahumans whose abilities allow them to, basically, take other parahumans' abilities apart and distribute them equally among everyone in a network of a few dozen. Given that one of the first people added to this network had the power to boost other people's powers, each member of the Yangban ends up having about 40% of 30+ different power sets.

Are Neutralize (Super), Static (Super) and Power Theft a thing in your setting? If so, they'd be a really useful effect to be able to mass-produce.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

If you'd like to compare to a setting where the presence of Parahumans does (eventually) mean massive social upheaval, check out Worm.

Highly-recommended, and I was also reminded of the Yangban.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

China doesn't have a monopoly on Tinkers (tech-based superheroes), but they do have a couple of Parahumans whose abilities allow them to, basically, take other parahumans' abilities apart and distribute them equally among everyone in a network of a few dozen. Given that one of the first people added to this network had the power to boost other people's powers, each member of the Yangban ends up having about 40% of 30+ different power sets.

It's worse than that; they have 5-6 teams of about 30 each, with different specialties like Stealth, Shock Troops, Social Engineering, etc, IIRC; we just only get a close look at the one Cody is in.

Originally Posted by RaRaRasputin

Are Neutralize (Super), Static (Super) and Power Theft a thing in your setting? If so, they'd be a really useful effect to be able to mass-produce.

This is a great idea. Saturating an area with cannon fodder equipped with widgets of Static (Super), rifles, and basic training would be a relatively-cheap way to hunt supers. Duplicating the Yangban is a little more dubious (as we saw in Worm), but could probably be managed if we use only fanatical volunteers and not slave labor.

[Gef]

Thanks much for the book recommendation. Yes, there are Anti's, about 2% of the total mutant population but reported at less than half the actual rate. They're all different, though, for instance some who can make barriers that spirits can't cross, some who can blackout an area against telepathy, some who can shutdown all powers in a target mutant. China has a mutant who can force mutants to power down* within a mile radius, but a sixth of all mutants have some degree of special ability that works even under domino. The US has a mutant who can prevent all mutant-related phenomena withing 200'. And a Mexican cartel has the only known power thief.

*The way the mutant template works, this is just Affliction (Negated Advantage: Awe/Terror). Even baseline mutants lose their enhanced strength and agility, and most mutants with additional powers lose them as well, or at least find them weaker.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Gef

Thanks much for the book recommendation.

No worries. Worm kicks ass and I recommend it to everybody.

Originally Posted by Gef

Yes, there are Anti's, about 2% of the total mutant population but reported at less than half the actual rate. They're all different, though, for instance some who can make barriers that spirits can't cross, some who can blackout an area against telepathy, some who can shutdown all powers in a target mutant. China has a mutant who can force mutants to power down* within a mile radius, but a sixth of all mutants have some degree of special ability that works even under domino.

Cosmic +50% for basic immunity to being interfered with.

Originally Posted by Gef

The US has a mutant who can prevent all mutant-related phenomena withing 200'. And a Mexican cartel has the only known power thief.

Of course they do.

Originally Posted by Gef

*The way the mutant template works, this is just Affliction (Negated Advantage: Awe/Terror). Even baseline mutants lose their enhanced strength and agility, and most mutants with additional powers lose them as well, or at least find them weaker.

Can we see the math on this one?

[Gef]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Can we see the math on this one?

The baseline mutant templates have Awe or Terror, by sight, as a Potential Advantage (Awe for Type I, Terror for Type II - giant/titan/demon). It has the limitation that it doesn't affect fellow mutants or genetic carriers (parents of mutants). "Potential" advantage in this case means that it is a weak aura granting +2 to the Fright Check. If Will 10 is average, half the people a mutant encounters would fail a Fright Check against full Awe, but only a quarter will fail with the +2 bonus. Some mutants have stronger auras (even strong enough to affect fellow mutants).

A baseline male mutant has ST 16 and DX 12 (Type I) or ST 20 and DX 10 (Type II). As an alternate Ability to the Striking/Lifting component, he has ST 25 (or 43) bought as Self-Only Telekinesis (with enough Compartmentalized Mind, again as a potential advantage, to provide passive ST to both limb pairs, torso, and head/neck). The TK is also based on Will, for Type I, or based on Per, for Type II. Type I has Will 16, and Type II has Per 14 (plus Unfazeable and Resistant +8 to Mind Control - the lower Will applies mainly to resist Influence skills).

Furthermore, the TK (and Compartmentalized Mind, and some other traits like Trained by a Master for Type I or Constriction Attack and some enhanced senses for Type II) also have an Accessibility limitation, only with Awe/Terror. I figure having the non-mutants around you on edge, and sometimes stunned or worse, is good for -20%. A baseline mutant is comparable to Captain America; for those mutants with additional powers, the same 20% discount can apply (helps to pay +20% to base the powers on Per or Will).

Recognizing that categories are subjective and overlap, half of all mutants are functionally baseline - only a sixth are true baseline but a third have very weak powers (built on 1 to 10 points, from a power perk like Air Jet to something like Catfall or Super Jump). Another sixth are monsters, with extreme physiology that isn't technically a power. For instance, DR from chitin doesn't even get a discount for Power Mod: Super, although it's an Unnatural Feature and may justify a reduced Appearance level. Of the remainder, half have some significant powers that lack the Accessibility limitation Only With Awe/Terror. And of these, some fraction of their powers will have it (especially leveled powers), and of course the enhanced strength and agility that they share with baseline mutants will also be affected.

Mutants think of being powered up as normal, and being powered down as wearing a mask, or Domino.

So, the guy who can enforce Domino has Affliction (Negated Advantage Awe +30, Negated Advantage Terror +30%, Extended Duration 10min +40%, Reflexive +40%, Long Range Malediction +200%, Emanation -20%, Power Mod -10%, NOT with Awe/Terror -10%, and a bunch of Area Effect). Throw in a Will bonus to make it reliable.

Since the power is reflexive, mutants in the area have to roll every second to resist. Mutants also get a HT bonus that doesn't depend on Awe/Terror, but even with HT 16+ they'll blow it eventually, probably within a minute. They still have athleticism and any benefits from extreme physiology, and a few have additional powers but typically a fractio of what they'd have powered-up. So, this power isn't as good as Static, but it casts a very wide net. Also, as you pointed out, Cosmic is a defense against Static, and I allow power stunts, which means that a mutant can attempt to use powers at -5, for 2FP, even in a Static zone.

GEF

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Gef

[snip] A baseline male mutant has ST 16 and DX 12 (Type I) or ST 20 and DX 10 (Type II). As an alternate Ability to the Striking/Lifting component, he has ST 25 (or 43) bought as Self-Only Telekinesis (with enough Compartmentalized Mind, again as a potential advantage, to provide passive ST to both limb pairs, torso, and head/neck). The TK is also based on Will, for Type I, or based on Per, for Type II. [snip]

If passive strength is all you want it to do, wouldn't it be easier to just buy Lifting and Striking ST with Access: Only w/ Awe/Terror -20% and PM: PK -10%?