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Measuring Strength?
thepure0ne
Posts: 57 Arc User
Quick questions on the topic of Physical Strength in the Champions Universe:
- How is physical strength measured and is there a type of tier system?
- Is there a known physically strongest Hero/Villain?
- If such a tier system exists, how does containment of higher tier physically strong Villains work?
- How is physical strength measured and is there a type of tier system?
- Is there a known physically strongest Hero/Villain?
- If such a tier system exists, how does containment of higher tier physically strong Villains work?
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The Hero System -- the game-mechanic engine for tabletop Champions -- is a point-buy system. Players are given Character Points (CP) with which to purchase any type of Characteristic, Skill, Power, Talent, Perk, etc. that they want in order to customize their PC how they want it. The total number of CP, and what they can be used for, is based on genre and the campaign parameters established by a game group's Game Master. As PCs adventure they gain Experience Points, which can be exchanged for more CP point-for-point.
The Strength of a character (STR) is bought at one CP per point of STR. Every PC starts with a free STR of 10. This allows them to lift up to 100 kilograms off the ground with effort, and punch or grapple an opponent for damage randomly rolled on two six-sided dice (D6), with their target subtracting their applicable Defense score from the damage the character actually takes.
For every additional +5 STR points, the character does 1D6 more damage, while the amount they can lift is doubled. Hence damage is a linear increase, while lifting capacity increases exponentially. Finer gradations in the benefits of STR occur at increases of less than 5 points.
The official published Champions Universe character with the highest STR stat is Astron (found in Champions Beyond), a living, sapient asteroid field with an aggregate mass as great as the Earth's. It has STR 400. Next highest is STR 310, possessed by an alternate version of Mechanon from the year 3000 (Galactic Champions), when the genocidal robot will transfer its consciousness into a mobile vessel resembling its old body's head, but 1,000 kilometers across.
For beings closer to human size, a very few top out at STR 120. Some of those don't have that STR all the time as a base Characteristic; they may augment their STR through the power to grow to giant size, to increase their density, or other conditional boosting mechanisms.
To offer you a few familiar benchmarks: Defender's powered armor grants him an effective STR of 55, but his STR is 15 without it. Ironclad has 70 STR. (See Champions Universe for their full Hero System character sheets.) The VIPER supervillain Ripper (VIPER: Coils Of The Serpent) has a "resting" STR of 70, but can use his "Omicron chemicals" contained in his bionic armor to temporarily boost that to STR 100. Grond (Champions Villains Volume Three: Solo Villains) can exert up to STR 110, although using STR above 90 tires him much faster.
In the United States, Stronghold is America's prison dedicated to confining superhuman criminals. It has two unique features for that purpose. The first are its Power Negators, devices which project energy fields over an area, suppressing all known superhuman powers within that area. The entire prison is covered by multiple fixed Negators, but there are also smaller mobile versions built into Stronghold's prisoner transports, and portable single-person Negators incorporated within prisoner personal restraints. In the case of prisoners with superhuman STR, the Negators suppress it down to a normal human range.
However, some supers are just too powerful for the Power Negators to completely suppress their STR or other superhuman abilities. Such prisoners in Stronghold are confined within Hot Sleep units. Hot Sleep induces an artificial coma, keeping the prisoners unconscious for the duration of their sentences. (The Stronghold source book goes into great detail over all features of the prison, and also discusses at some length how the American legal system has adapted to the existence of super-powers.)
Note that in Hero System, there's no limit to how much STR a character could possess if he has the CP to buy it, aside from limits the Game Master sets.
Also, is there a good place I can get access to the information you are referencing here?
For the specific characters, the titles in italics that I put next to each character's name above are for books containing full background and history for them, as well as their complete Hero System character sheets. Defender and Ironclad are a minor exception; their write-ups in Champions Universe are for more experienced versions of the characters, and don't fully describe their origins. That data, as well as the Champions' character sheets from the beginning of their careers, are in the Champions "genre book," which details how to use the universal Hero System to play superheroes.
Most of those books have much other info besides the characters; but the Champions Villains trilogy (Master Villains/Villain Teams/Solo Villains) is devoted almost wholly to detailing over 300 official supervillains. Any of these books can be purchased in PDF or hard copy from various online retailers, including the website of their publisher, Hero Games: https://www.herogames.com/store/ (click on the magnifying glass icon at the page top to search the store for specific titles).
For sources on the setting, there are several options. For a condensed, FREE overview, I recommend this fine PDF Champions Lore Primer, created by someone with impeccable credentials for the job. It only skims the surface of available lore, but will greatly help you get up to speed on who's who and what's what, including events in Champions Online through 2017.
For more in-depth info on the Champions Universe, the book titled, appropriately enough, Champions Universe, deals at least to some extent with nearly every subject related to the CU: https://www.herogames.com/store/product/39-champions-universe-6th-ed-pdf/ . Although the history it describes stops at 2010, when the book was published, the vast majority of its info still applies. Champions Universe is the foundation for the lore of the setting, but other books in the game line -- there are literally dozens of them -- delve into particular subjects in much more detail. For instance, VIPER: Coils Of The Serpent which I mentioned above in connection to Ripper, tells you practically everything you'd ever want to know about that world-threatening organization. Champions Beyond where Astron lurks, details the space/cosmic side of the CU: galactic history, alien races, advanced tech and artifacts, godlike "cosmic entities," and more.
If you're ever interested in reading more on a given topic, I could probably direct you to a source for it.
The last ruleset I played in was 3rd edition; I understand there's a 6th edition now. In 3rd, at least, while STR 10 was the default human normal, exceptional athletes without powers or enhancements could get their STR up to 18 or 20; beyond that, you're getting into at least low-level superpowers. Same for most of the other stats, although I seem to recall that PRE and CHA could be higher than 20 naturally, depending on the individual and the prejudices of the society involved.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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BTW that Lore Primer was written for our community by Scott Bennie. Besides being one of the longest-standing players of this game (primarily as the PC, Thundrax, which he used to play in the tabletop game), Scott has been one of the most prolific authors for Champions PnP over the past three decades, and has published for various other games. If you've encountered VIPER, or visited Canada in CO, you've played with some of Scott's creations.
(In case anyone's wondering, we're discussing Witchcraft and her villainous sibling Talisman.)
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