Help with designing an arch-foe

[talmor]

One of my players is playing an Alien speedster (with both Sonic Speed and Extraordinary PP--and these were rolled randomly). As part of his background, he has an idea for tech based foe called RocketJock. I'm seeing this foe as being a Power Armor kinda guy, looking like the robot dude in the corner of the football bumpers.

This is, this is my first time running Heroes Unlimited in, well, a long freaking time, and even then it was a one-shot. My rules-fu is weak, and I want this NPC to give Capt. McSpeedy a run for his money. Any ideas of what kind of gear I should give him to put the character through the wringer? If he can at least hold his own against a Psionicist, an Invulnerable mutant, and a sneaky mutant with Chameleon, all the better.

Thanks!

[Regularguy]

One of my players is playing an Alien speedster (with both Sonic Speed and Extraordinary PP--and these were rolled randomly). As part of his background, he has an idea for tech based foe called RocketJock. I'm seeing this foe as being a Power Armor kinda guy, looking like the robot dude in the corner of the football bumpers.

This is, this is my first time running Heroes Unlimited in, well, a long freaking time, and even then it was a one-shot. My rules-fu is weak, and I want this NPC to give Capt. McSpeedy a run for his money. Any ideas of what kind of gear I should give him to put the character through the wringer? If he can at least hold his own against a Psionicist, an Invulnerable mutant, and a sneaky mutant with Chameleon, all the better.

Working solo against a team of heavy hitters? Tall order.

I figure he's "looking kinda like the robot dude" because he's the Artificial Life Form/Robot type of Alien; figure Gravity Manipulation to counter McSpeedy; figure Invulnerability and Negate Super Abilities to hold his own against mutants who'll be minus their toughness and sneakiness if they get near him while he sticks to two attacks per round -- one of which he'll be using on his arch-foe -- and figure he's "immune to psionic powers that are not physical in nature" sure as he's wearing high-tech gauntlets and boots.

[guardiandashi]

Potentially your armour suit guy could do it. He's like a swiss army knife. Gear him up properly and he could take on multiple threats. Think Boba Fett. Rocket launcher, laser, another laser, jetpack, a grappling gun... you get the idea.

I'd only worry about the Psychic really. I think there's ways to neutralize the invulnerable guy (or maybe just stay out of reach and taunt him). But the psychic is a problem. I'll have to get the book and find out if armour boy has a mind reader blocking helmet or something.

give mr armor a "plot device" psi damper especially if mr psychic hero messes with him.
invulnerable is iffy for a power armor to get around unless he uses a particle beam weapon or has a psionic/magic friend/henchperson. basically read up on the powers and think about the vulnerabilities to each power /power category then start building baddies that have a reason to be the counter to the various team members even if it falls into the whole despicable me idea IE you have the "bad guys" have issues with each other not just the heroes so mr power suit is fighting the heroes in front of the bank when psionic thief comes out of the bank from robbing it and starts attacking both groups (heroes and the villain they are engaged with because they are stopping their get away" of course mr bad thinks he will steal on of thiefs money bags .. on spec and chaos ensues

[talmor]

Aren't there helmets in Rifts that guard against Psionics? Alternately, how do Psionics work against people in Power Armor--like, if you can't SEE them, can you still use Bio-Manipulation or Mental Illusion against them?

Fortunately, none of the villains (yeah, I'm running one of THOSE games) can fly, so hoverjets should allow RocketJock to avoid Mr. Invulnerable. And if push comes to shove, a grabbling hook and hanging him from something should neutralize him pretty handily.

I could make a house ruling about power armor vs. psionics, but I'd rather have it come from a semi-official source.

I don't have the book with me, but wasn't there an APS: Techno in one of the Power Unlimited books? Would that work?

[Regularguy]

If you're not loving my idea for an immune-to-psi alien robot who relies on invulnerability while negating powers and immobilizing non-flyers, how about giving the Sonic Speed runner a Sonic Flight arch-foe?

So that pursuer is just as fast, but with keener eyesight and the big aerial edge, to keep up with his prey. And if he's anywhere near his quarry, he's got Control (Others) to get the "do absolutely anything" win-by-surrender.

You want a helmet to guard against psionics? Fine, he's got one; he's got Gem Powers, so wearing the right gear means he's got Mind Block; he's got whatever he needs to hold his own against his opponents du jour, be it Invisibility or Energy Expulsion or whatever. And figure he's a Mega-Hero, so he can do it all as a metallic humanoid just like you'd hoped.

[Severus Snape]

Take a look at the Super Invention character type in PU2. Essentially, you should be able to give Mr. Power Armor guy any super ability in his armor that would potentially counter the good guys, as well as give them a run for their money.

Psychic? Impervious to Psionics.
Speedy? Carpet of Adhesion.
Invulnerable? Any gas attack. Invulnerable does not equal "does not have to breath".
Chameleon? Illusions. Try blending in with that.

[Glistam]

Are you trying to beat your players, or challenge them? The Sonic Flight idea on the super suit was a good one, but don't go overboard w/ abilities and moves that totally counter the group - tht's no fun. From a mundane standpoint, missiles fired in volley's of 4 or more can't be dodged - let the speedster chew on that. Sure, maybe he could outrun them, but that'll keep him occupied for a few actions, anyway. A particle beam weapon can hurt an invulnerable character - it's also wildly inaccurate so there's plenty of opportunity for collateral damage and endangering bystanders. Versus the psychic, it's a bit tougher. Some ideas:

1. Suck it up, he has no (initial) defense against psionics, other than superior range. As a failsafe, the suit could have an A.I. that can take over when the pilot is incapacitated, allowing the suit and wearer to flee. It could also help see through any illusions the pilot is under ("There is no target there, what are firing at? Pilot bio-scaan indicates abnormal energy signature in your brain.")
2. Smoke missiless/grenades/bombs. Psionics require line of sight and that's broken in a smoke cloud. Also good to have in order to escape.
3. Make the armor pilot a minor mutant w/ the Powers Unlimited 3 power of "Impervious to Disease." It makes the user immune to only Bio-Manipulation.
4. Make the armor pilot a latent psychic himself! His save will be better, and he'll be able to retaliate in kind.

Options 1 and 2 are the ones I'd prefer, personally.

[Regularguy]

Are you trying to beat your players, or challenge them? The Sonic Flight idea on the super suit was a good one, but don't go overboard w/ abilities and moves that totally counter the group - tht's no fun.

In retrospect, I agree. Let me suggest combining, and toning down, my two earlier ideas: give the guy a jetpack, but play him as if his armor could artificially duplicate the runner's abilities -- as if to say (a) he can follow McSpeedy anywhere, and (b) once he gets there, you'll pretty much be slugging it out as equals, since you both have Sonic Speed.

So it's a tactical problem for McSpeedy: you're starting off evenly matched, so figure out how to get an advantage. And to ensure the answer isn't just have my buddies stomp him, the arch-enemy -- well, (a) doesn't use Control: Others for the insta-incapacitation, but (b) fiddles with a little dial on his gauntlet and cue the run-a-little-interference effect of a Divine Aura's awe factor, plus the once-a-minute-or-so attempt at brief mental crowd control via the power of command.

You know, kind of as if he's mimicking the psionicist.

Figure he still has the Mega-Hero's supernatural ability to harm the tough mutant, and still has robotic immunity to various psi attacks -- again, as if he's mimicking his opponents -- but not the invulnerability to mundane physical harm; they could still win (or lose) a straight-up slugfest.

So both sides have an incentive to get creative; it's just that one is a goody two-shoes who 'happens' to have public support and a big fan following, while the PCs are even more obviously the bad guys.

[NMI]

For a fight against the psychic, you could equip the guy with a white noise generator, psi-scrambler implant/device [equal to a mind block], some sort of bright flash light/strobe light to flash in the eyes of the psychic.

[Iczer]

Armour suit: AR 16. SDC 300.
Optional suit features: Jump jets. Some psychic shielding. Definitely some sensory features. (hearing may pick up the heartbeat and breathing of the chameleon)

Weapons of choice: Glue gun/Glue bombs. Area effect explosions. Flash bangs.

Good old fashioned HTH Martial arts so that he can perform the conventional parry every now and again.

The armour and the combat training makes him less vulnerable to the sneaker (whose damage output is inferred to be fairly unimpressive) and gives him an edge against the invulnerable guy (who has the superhuman strength covered, but no implicit bonus to hit).

Some close quarters knock out gas and some smoke out to level the playing field.

The best way to sneak in some extra tricks is to make the guy a psi mechanic. It gives the technical skills to make all the equipment he needs, as well as the wherewithal to field some more unusual tech, and some much needed psi resistance. I cannot express how often I've had a psychic undo the big bad for a season by expending 10 ISP. If you would like standard tech (like the stuff above) might I suggest an experiment with a handful of the more tech aligned powers (weapon merge springs to mind - it allows merging with armour as well)

All in all, against this group, set up and surprise will work better than raw combat force. Change his arsenal regularly. have his escape planned ahead of time (not merely his planned escape, but your plan for his escape)

I'm thinking trip wires are great for a speedster. piano wire webs in narrow corridors.

Batts

[Soldier of Od]

Some good ideas so far. here's mine:
Having ways to counter some powers is fun. negating them or making them useless is less so.

I would stick with the standard Robotics character. He may appear to be an exoskeleton type with lots of nasty missiles/rockets. A jet pack is a must. With $400-500,000 he can soup it up to be as fast as the speedster. Though I would intentionally make him slightly slower than the speedster, so he doesn't outclass the hero. With the added advantage of flight he will need to think carefully in order to escape or catch up with the hero - he may be able to take the direct route, flying in straight lines whereas the hero may need to run around objects. The hero can then lure the baddie into open areas to use his speed advantage.

Use the chemical spray option to slow down the invulnerable character with some mace or tear gas. Grenade launchers with smoke and gas will also be useful against him and his friends. A grappling gun too. If you don't mind helping yourself to extras from outside the category then a particle beam rifle as mentioned by others might be fun too. But how about he doesn't have the PB in his first encounter, but goes and fetches the big gun for his next bout!

Some thermo-imaging will easily pick out the sneaky chameleon. Or amplified hearing and radar for a less absolute method of countering the power. In any case, having the sensor array become an obvious flashing target when employed might make it fun for the PCs to try and take out the radar/thermo-goggles so that the chameleon can do his stuff!

And if you want to totally counter the psychic, simply make him an android instead of an exo-man. The speedster and his buddies may all think that Rocketjock is a guy in a suit. But when the psychic tries his mind powers he senses nothing. Does he have some sort of shielding? Or has the psychic just uncovered the Rocketjock's secret - he is really a robot!

As the hero is an alien, the villain might also be an alien too, giving him legitimate access to the aforementioned particle beam gun (or a stun gun!) and a few more extras. Go nuts!

I'm thinking trip wires are great for a speedster. piano wire webs in narrow corridors.

Batts

P.S. Iczer always comes up with the nastiest ideas!