I have listed as one of my heroes weaknesses that she is susceptible to certain chemicals which can temporarily shut down a majority of her powers from prolonged or large amounts of exposure. are there any specific chemicals or drugs in the champions universe which could have this effect?
To a limited degree. UNTIL and VIPER both employ a variety of chemical weapons as part of their agents' arsenals. These include anesthetic, paralytic, and tear gasses, usually delivered in grenades; and contact poisons on blades or darts in the case of VIPER. Some of their compounds instead drain the target's strength, coordination, or willpower, which may additionally affect their ability to use some of their other powers.
Most of the specifically superpower-negating technology in the CU has progressed to the level of projected or explosive energy, such as some exotic weapons employed by the above agencies, and the broad-effect power negators at Stronghold. The CU does have a few substances which induce or augment superpowers.
What I would suggest is either that such targeted compounds have a greater than normal effect on her, or that commonly-used chemical weapons additionally affect her powers.
here's another idea, what about having power enhancing drugs have the opposite affect on her?
Fair enough, although those are uncommon, and wouldn't normally be administered as an offensive weapon, unless someone knows the character has this weakness. They also tend to focus on enhancing specific types of powers or physical abilities, so the opposite effect might not impare your character's powers.
Then, perhaps this power-dampening effect occurs when she's near substances which contain innate magic? For example, the Atlantean metal orichalcum, or the Lemurian magic fuel ignaetium, or fragments of the Philosopher's Stone, aka the exploded fuel core of the Madragalore.
Well it's not chemical, I suppose, but what about grenades that release a nano-cloud that gets breathed in by the target(s) and temporarily "shut-down" the genes that provide them with their powers (at the cellular level)?
Or something like Moxocillin, from Aberrant, that targets the part of the brain that controls the powers (in Aberrant, the M-R Node), making it diificult (if not impossible) to use their powers until their body can flush the drug from system.
These are clever approaches, and certainly fit comic-book "super science." But if you want to work with the official setting, they're not known to be in use. In particular, "genes/brain regions controlling powers" is not a universal explanation for how powers work in the Champions Universe. In fact there isn't one source for them.
Power-dampening energy is the tech of choice for superpower negation in the CU.
It's a tricky thing to play with, no matter what. I offer fair warning against employing it in a role-play setting with other participants.
Just to let you know how it is, I have completely blown off players who have tried to 'EMP magic killswitch' my character. Why? Because it's cheap, lazy... and oh, EMP isn't 'harmless' to living, breathing people. It can cause extreme neurological damage and a lot of folks don't like to roleplay out the repercussions of that. That, and I handwave cheap RP 'kryptonite' attacks like that away (biological faraday cage around the vital augmentations, etc- also, it's not normal to go out bar-hopping with an EMP grenade).
How to be more fair about 'kryptonite' attacks? Say X element 'weakens'. The general idea is, take a lycanthrope. I'd expect a mook werewolf to drop and howl and scream if I skewered or slashed him with a silver-alloyed bayonet or fighting knife. He's a mook, he's supposed to do that. A player? I'd expect a 'weakening' or 'something like being poisoned'.
These things should be equalizers, not 'magic bullets'. My character employs a variety of weapons for supernatural foes, like silver-alloyed weapons/silver-filled hollowpoints, rock salt/orichalcum/silver/etc shotgun shells and grenades. I don't expect them to ever 'down' another player. It's cheap and lousy.
As far as circumventing a weakness goes- there's a reason you go to other heroes in this field of expertise. Get warded, or something.
Since this is in the PnP game forum, let me just say that in that game, the effects of attacks, defenses, specific weaknesses the characters have, can all be quantified and balanced against each other. There are almost no "absolute" effects, e.g. attacks that are always instantly fatal, or which totally shut down another character; unless there's a big strength disparity between the attacker and his target. Even the power negators in Stronghold have an upper limit on the magnitude of super power they can suppress, and can be overloaded by too much power exerted against them.
Because you used the term 'Kryptonite kill-switch', keep in mind that the particular alien in question got a bunch of disadvantage/complications points for taking the vulnerbility/susceptibility to kryptonite.
Also, they would have saved even more points on their defensive powers by excluding or getting only reduced protection from kyptonite-based attacks- as this is the case, the player of this character must know that those were not free points and that by putting a kill-switch into their character, the chance of it eventually being discovered and used against them would occur.
So if you build a killswitch into your character, expect it to get used sooner or later.
**
Sorry- just noted on re-reading you did not use kryptonite and killswitch together- sorry about that.
Hi there, I had an idea, based on the information and requirements provided:
- something to incapacitate target toon via exposure, takes time
- has to be magical
- cannot be a direct attack, which an enchanted waistcloth is designed to defend
However, there are 2 assumptions I have to make:
- the target toon has to breathe air, isn't a robot or a cyborg with lung filters, etc.
- ignaetium is a fuel that gives off fumes like gasoline, but the scent can be disguised
The chemical used to target this toon would not be ignaetium, but the ignaetium fumes.
The real-life counter-example is gasoline. Gasoline is toxic; like you shouldn't drink it or y'know, bathe in it, open flames notwithstanding. I mean we all know that, duh. However, accidentally breathing in the fumes is a possibility.
Breathing gasoline fumes can be fatal, just from the carbon monoxide from it, which is odorless. Then there's the other toxic bits in the gasoline in the hydrocarbons, all of which is pretty unhealthy for the body.
So I imagine ignaetium, also a fuel, would at least have -some- qualities like that. It's not a direct attack, so might not be negated by an enchanted waistcloth, it's something in the air that enters the target toon's body via breathing.
The effect won't cancel the target toon's powers per se. It's meant to make the target toon very sick, dizzy, possibly unconscious, rendering him/her useless in combat. Then, in that weakened state, you'd be able to shackle on a power negater, etc.
Regarding implementation, I'd set up a trap for this toon, some sort of crime scene investigation for him/her in an enclosed space, like an abandoned factory. Lots of chemical smells, that vent in these ignaetium fumes to disguise its scent.
Alternative approach - using magical bacteria instead of magical gas fumes, but I actually have more trouble imagineering magical bacteria than fumes that come from this magical fuel that already exists/is a Rampage token in-game.
Quick followup to Tiger's cool concept: ignaetium used to burn a compound made by the Lemurians produces a magical smoke-like substance, called fulminor, which levitates their aircraft.
Comments
Most of the specifically superpower-negating technology in the CU has progressed to the level of projected or explosive energy, such as some exotic weapons employed by the above agencies, and the broad-effect power negators at Stronghold. The CU does have a few substances which induce or augment superpowers.
What I would suggest is either that such targeted compounds have a greater than normal effect on her, or that commonly-used chemical weapons additionally affect her powers.
Fair enough, although those are uncommon, and wouldn't normally be administered as an offensive weapon, unless someone knows the character has this weakness. They also tend to focus on enhancing specific types of powers or physical abilities, so the opposite effect might not impare your character's powers.
Or something like Moxocillin, from Aberrant, that targets the part of the brain that controls the powers (in Aberrant, the M-R Node), making it diificult (if not impossible) to use their powers until their body can flush the drug from system.
Power-dampening energy is the tech of choice for superpower negation in the CU.
Just to let you know how it is, I have completely blown off players who have tried to 'EMP magic killswitch' my character. Why? Because it's cheap, lazy... and oh, EMP isn't 'harmless' to living, breathing people. It can cause extreme neurological damage and a lot of folks don't like to roleplay out the repercussions of that. That, and I handwave cheap RP 'kryptonite' attacks like that away (biological faraday cage around the vital augmentations, etc- also, it's not normal to go out bar-hopping with an EMP grenade).
How to be more fair about 'kryptonite' attacks? Say X element 'weakens'. The general idea is, take a lycanthrope. I'd expect a mook werewolf to drop and howl and scream if I skewered or slashed him with a silver-alloyed bayonet or fighting knife. He's a mook, he's supposed to do that. A player? I'd expect a 'weakening' or 'something like being poisoned'.
These things should be equalizers, not 'magic bullets'. My character employs a variety of weapons for supernatural foes, like silver-alloyed weapons/silver-filled hollowpoints, rock salt/orichalcum/silver/etc shotgun shells and grenades. I don't expect them to ever 'down' another player. It's cheap and lousy.
As far as circumventing a weakness goes- there's a reason you go to other heroes in this field of expertise. Get warded, or something.
Also, they would have saved even more points on their defensive powers by excluding or getting only reduced protection from kyptonite-based attacks- as this is the case, the player of this character must know that those were not free points and that by putting a kill-switch into their character, the chance of it eventually being discovered and used against them would occur.
So if you build a killswitch into your character, expect it to get used sooner or later.
**
Sorry- just noted on re-reading you did not use kryptonite and killswitch together- sorry about that.
- something to incapacitate target toon via exposure, takes time
- has to be magical
- cannot be a direct attack, which an enchanted waistcloth is designed to defend
However, there are 2 assumptions I have to make:
- the target toon has to breathe air, isn't a robot or a cyborg with lung filters, etc.
- ignaetium is a fuel that gives off fumes like gasoline, but the scent can be disguised
The chemical used to target this toon would not be ignaetium, but the ignaetium fumes.
The real-life counter-example is gasoline. Gasoline is toxic; like you shouldn't drink it or y'know, bathe in it, open flames notwithstanding. I mean we all know that, duh. However, accidentally breathing in the fumes is a possibility.
Breathing gasoline fumes can be fatal, just from the carbon monoxide from it, which is odorless. Then there's the other toxic bits in the gasoline in the hydrocarbons, all of which is pretty unhealthy for the body.
So I imagine ignaetium, also a fuel, would at least have -some- qualities like that. It's not a direct attack, so might not be negated by an enchanted waistcloth, it's something in the air that enters the target toon's body via breathing.
The effect won't cancel the target toon's powers per se. It's meant to make the target toon very sick, dizzy, possibly unconscious, rendering him/her useless in combat. Then, in that weakened state, you'd be able to shackle on a power negater, etc.
Regarding implementation, I'd set up a trap for this toon, some sort of crime scene investigation for him/her in an enclosed space, like an abandoned factory. Lots of chemical smells, that vent in these ignaetium fumes to disguise its scent.
Alternative approach - using magical bacteria instead of magical gas fumes, but I actually have more trouble imagineering magical bacteria than fumes that come from this magical fuel that already exists/is a Rampage token in-game.
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