The Anti-Super Squad

[Randyman]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

You know. That seems like an interesting thought experiment. How do you represent having the author on your side? Sounds like Divine Favor to the rescue to me... Hmmmm.

Cosmic Divine Favor, which isn't as redundant as it sounds...

[NineDaysDead]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

You know. That seems like an interesting thought experiment. How do you represent having the author on your side? Sounds like Divine Favor to the rescue to me... Hmmmm.

Luck and Serendipity.

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

Deathstroke, like Batman, has the ultimate super power. They have the author on their side. That is an unbeatable, nearly uncounterable advantage. It's on a par with all of your list of supers' powers combined (like a bizarre Captain Planet), but still an order-of-magnitude above it. That power gives them what they need, when they need it, and the declaration, no matter how unfounded, that "yeah, this is fair and realistic."

But so to an extent does every player, most GMs engineer the world around their players, while actions may have consequences, the players are still generally favored.

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

In a "realistic" situation, removed from comic-book authorial intervention, normal humans don't stand much chance against that list, and that's being generous. Really, they had two chances, but Slim just left town. If they don't have a weakness, those power levels are simply too much. The best defense against a deific-level metahumans is your own deific-level metahuman.

Firstly, that's simply not true, for some of that list they certainly do have a chance, we're not asking them to go toe to toe with them, in single combat, just find a way to beat them. That's certainly possible for the first three on the list, just very difficult, and requiring extensive planning and vast resources. I admit that latter two are designed to be virtually impossible, I was really just looking to see if there was a solution that I'd overlooked. Secondly, we're not talking about realistic humans, we're talking about supernormals, they may not have powers, but no one ever said anything about realistic.

But there's another consideration here, it's not just the Batmen and Deathstrokes of the world that have the plot on their side, it's also the Supermen. These people have clearly defined weaknesses that can be exploited, but just aren't, or if they are then they always somehow manage to overcome them. Once you properly examine a super, they're rarely as unbeatable as they first seem.

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

You know. That seems like an interesting thought experiment. How do you represent having the author on your side? Sounds like Divine Favor to the rescue to me... Hmmmm.

Really? I'd say Super Luck with Wishing, and lots and lots of levels. That's my go-to 'You control the flow of the narrative' advantage.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

Yeah, something along those lines is a good idea, but it'd have to be fast acting to prevent them just wishing it away. A brilliant idea one of my players had was to drive them to suicide, have the reality controller kill himself so he doesn't want to come back.

Unless of course he deiced to go out with a bang and take reality with him.

[Wavefunction]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Unless of course he deiced to go out with a bang and take reality with him.

That is the one tiny flaw in the plan.

[NineDaysDead]

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

The Mentalist. He passively scans the minds of everyone within a vast radius, searching for any potential dangers to himself. He can control the minds of multiple people simultaneously, and if the worst comes to the worst, he can hop to a different body.

The Shapeshifter. Essentially perfect shapeshifting, changing her appearance down to the last molecule, ability extends to nigh instantaneous regeneration from as little as a single cell. Usually chooses as template that gives her superhuman agility, strength, reflexes, and possibly even intelligence.

The Speedster. Massively accelerated movement and processing speed. Not only could he turn his head, see a bullet coming, and move out of the way, he could feel a bullet hit him and still have time to react before it does major damage.

The Brick. Strong enough to lift a battleshift, and resistant to anything short of a nuke. And sure, why not, he can fly, and shoot blasts of energy. Here's the catch, he has no known weaknesses, so no glowing green space rocks.

The Controller. Practically a God. Possesses the ability to bend reality around herself, however she sees fit. This is semi-reflexive letting her come back from the dead if killed. Main weakness is the lack of any kind of detection ability, she can control anything, but not sense it.

Somehow co-opt the The Mentalist into controlling the rest.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

Firstly, that's simply not true, for some of that list they certainly do have a chance, we're not asking them to go toe to toe with them, in single combat, just find a way to beat them. That's certainly possible for the first three on the list, just very difficult, and requiring extensive planning and vast resources. .

The mentalist is omniscient. It knows everything everyone thinks about it in a "vast area" And you don't know what size that area is. You also have no way to know who It is.

The shapeshifter is undetectable. You will never know if you are dealing with it. You have no way to target any plan you concoct against it.

The speedster is untouchable. Any trap you could create for it is one it had have unlimited time to think through and avoid.

[Wavefunction]

You've done a very good job of singling out the things that make these guys really challenging, which, incidentally, they're meant to be, I put forward these examples because they each presented a challenge that I was struggling to find a way to overcome. That said, I don't think they're insurmountable by any stretch of the imagination.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

The mentalist is omniscient. It knows everything everyone thinks about it in a "vast area" And you don't know what size that area is. You also have no way to know who It is.

Whoever said you don't know the size of the area? If this character is an established hero then they may well have data on his powers, and know what he looks like. And he's not omniscient he just picks up on anyone wishing him harm within a large area, and can then pick out more details. It might be possible to blind this by spreading panic if he's in a crowd, there are simply to many clammering voices to pick out the ones that wish him harm, or use a drone to avoid the human element at all, or simply have people who don't know what their role is.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

The shapeshifter is undetectable. You will never know if you are dealing with it. You have no way to target any plan you concoct against it.

The only way to target it is to provide it with bait. The life of a loved one, the death of a hated enemy, or perhaps a location the target has fond memories of and returns to frequently. You still can't be certain, there's a risk involved, but it's not impossible odds.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

The speedster is untouchable. Any trap you could create for it is one it had have unlimited time to think through and avoid.

Then you set it a trap that can't be avoided. Those certainly exist. Like I said, you could seal him in a room while he sleeps and pump in gas, or hit him with an electromuscular disruption taser, the message that he's been hit may travel to his brain in nanoseconds, but with it will come agony. Or perhaps if he flies somewhere, blow up the plane, it's very hard to dodge the ground, even if you survive the fall. Or poison his food with something tasteless, so he won't know to spit it out the moment it hits his tongue.

[Andreas]

Secrecy might be a very high priority for such a group. It would become far more difficult to take down other supers if they are aware that people like them are being attacked. Also, under such circumstances many of them might very well decide to preemptively attack the government.

This might mean that difficult to hide methods such as airstrikes are unavailable. Alternatively they could forgo secrecy and strike against all known supers at the same time, but that might greatly reduce the resources available for each mission.

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

Or perhaps if he flies somewhere, blow up the plane, it's very hard to dodge the ground, even if you survive the fall.

Given the accelerations that speedster is capable of, a fall should probably not pose any danger. For such a speedster there would be plenty of time to accelerate in the opposite direction of the fall once the ground is within reach.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Wavefunction

Whoever said you don't know the size of the area?

I'll say it right now. The ability is passive, and covers a "vast range". So the characters have no way to know whether the target is hearing people thinking smack about it on the other side of the planet, and just not reacting obviously unless the target is cooperative enough to tell them the truth about about its limits.

It might be possible to blind this by spreading panic if he's in a crowd, there are simply to many clammering voices to pick out the ones that wish him harm

Not consistent with having the degree of discrimination that lets it pick out a single kind of thought from among of millions of thinkers.

The only way to target it is to provide it with bait. The life of a loved one, the death of a hated enemy, or perhaps a location the target has fond memories of and returns to frequently.

That would require the team to have comprehensive surveillance of a target...who can't be identified unless it wants to announce itself. Otherwise you don't know who it loves, and which location it returns to frequently.

Then you set it a trap that can't be avoided. Those certainly exist. Like I said, you could seal him in a room while he sleeps and pump in gas, or hit him with an electromuscular disruption taser, the message that he's been hit may travel to his brain in nanoseconds, but with it will come agony. Or perhaps if he flies somewhere, blow up the plane, it's very hard to dodge the ground, even if you survive the fall. Or poison his food with something tasteless, so he won't know to spit it out the moment it hits his tongue.

Ideas that require the target to be a careless public ID hero.