Most Destructive Superpower?

[acreRake]

Oppinions on the most destructive power wanted!

Supernatural Strength?
Alter Physical Structure: Plasma?
Control Radiation?
Control Elemental Forces: Earth?
Geothermal Energy?
Energy Doppleganger?

I'm trying to create an NPC that is capable of incredible devestation, hopefully with only one major power (the minors are for other things ).

[Sentinel]

Oppinions on the most destructive power wanted!

Supernatural Strength?
Alter Physical Structure: Plasma?
Control Radiation?
Control Elemental Forces: Earth?
Geothermal Energy?
Energy Doppleganger?

I'm trying to create an NPC that is capable of incredible devestation, hopefully with only one major power (the minors are for other things ).

Honestly?
I have to go with combinations of powers.
I can wreak a lot of havoc with APS Plasma, or Supernatural PS, but for villains, I can get a lot of devastation with a combination of Sonic Flight, Invulnerability, and APS Plasma. That would be a flying Sonic Ram, while ablaze, and not taking damage.

I also like the combination of Geothermal Control with APS Lava, or CES Earth.

I believe you can get some good destruction with Detonation (we used to call this power "Explosive De-Moleculaization" in other systems).

[Reagren Wright]

Geo-Thermal Control and APS-Lava. Want to take out large numbers,
just melt them to nothing either by making rivers of lava or turning yourself into one.

Here's a thought, what if you use the power Gateway and open a portal in the ocean?
Will millions of gallons of water come rushing through
and flood the area? If so, a high level villian could open several of
these portals flood out an entire city.

[acreRake]

Stupidity.

I think some of my customers here at work have that on the same level as a MegaHero....

:lol: Perfect!

[MrTwist]

A lot of powers can be devestating in the right situation or by someone very cleverl. And yes, sometimes by stupid people.

Combinations work best. One I used was APS: Sand and Geothermal. You can cause devesation while merged with the sand, unless there's something somewhere that disallows it. Most people would have no idea why rivers of lava are appearing out of nowhere. And if you do need to show yourself, there's quite a few handy powers in APS: Sand.

Catastrophic System Failure and Gateways might be able to take down a nuclear power plant. Not sure how long before the stuff would go critical, or if shutting down everything would cause a meltdown. Then you could just gate yourself somewhere far away before the explosion.

Flight and catastrophic systems failure might be able to bring down a commercial airplane in a populated area. The power itself can be pretty devestating in the right hands. Mechano link might be able to reprogram a cockpit's machines to cause it to crash land. You might want to get out though.


No matter what, a smart villain can use many types of powers to cause great damage in the right conditions. For just sheer destructive force, combining Growth, Gravity Manipulation, and some flight power could rain down destruction on a city. Just target yourself with the increased gravity and fall on buildings from high up. Of course, invulnerability wouldn't hurt here.

[sinestus]

Multiple selves (at high level) + APS Fire is always a good combo.... never have to risk yourself...



tho,
Mystic Study + Open Rift kinda trumps all...

[Sir_Spirit]

Catastrophic System Failure and Gateways might be able to take down a nuclear power plant. Not sure how long before the stuff would go critical, or if shutting down everything would cause a meltdown. Then you could just gate yourself somewhere far away before the explosion.

A meltdown isn't an explosion.

[The Artist Formerly]

I think CEF Earth can be actually, thinking of what Earthmover was reported as having done in VU.

>>>----Therumancer--->

Bingo.

APS Plasma can wreek untold devistation, destroying building by building.

But CEF Earth can level entire cities with a little fault line manipulation, or hell, maybe even entire states (good bye California, we're aren't going to miss you.).

[MrTwist]

Catastrophic System Failure and Gateways might be able to take down a nuclear power plant. Not sure how long before the stuff would go critical, or if shutting down everything would cause a meltdown. Then you could just gate yourself somewhere far away before the explosion.

A meltdown isn't an explosion.

Actually, a meltdown could lead to an explosion.

[The Beast]

Shapeshifting, Extraordinary MA & PB + a job in politics. Far more damage-capable.

Learning from the Nightlords are we?

[The Beast]

Whatever space flight and/or survival powers there are with gravity manipulation. Go into space, find yourself a nice sized rock, and just give it a little push toward Earth.

[The Beast]

Whatever space flight and/or survival powers there are with gravity manipulation. Go into space, find yourself a nice sized rock, and just give it a little push toward Earth.

similar to what I was going to suggest cept CEF: Void has the power to move asteroids and survive in space all he would need would be the minor power of space flight for locomotion.
Given the weight restriction on the size of the asteroid used I recommend using many of them at once. Just used advanced math/ physics to plot trajectory so they all arive at roughly the same time for maximum destruction.

There is no weight restricition in space though. Any tug of gravity would be enough to change its course. The only downside is that it may still take decades before your seeds come to fruitition.

[The Beast]

Whatever space flight and/or survival powers there are with gravity manipulation. Go into space, find yourself a nice sized rock, and just give it a little push toward Earth.

similar to what I was going to suggest cept CEF: Void has the power to move asteroids and survive in space all he would need would be the minor power of space flight for locomotion.
Given the weight restriction on the size of the asteroid used I recommend using many of them at once. Just used advanced math/ physics to plot trajectory so they all arive at roughly the same time for maximum destruction.

There is no weight restricition in space though. Any tug of gravity would be enough to change its course. The only downside is that it may still take decades before your seeds come to fruitition.

There is still mass in zero gravity invironments

Mass and weight are two different things.

[acreRake]

So, as far as single-power answers: it seems like CEF: earth and Geothermal are tied.

[MrTwist]

So, as far as single-power answers: it seems like CEF: earth and Geothermal are tied.

In terms of how easy a stupid, one dimensional villain can produce. Color manipulation in creative hands can create an international nuclear accident.

In the right hands, any power is devastating.

[Sentinel]

I don't think level of destructive power and quality of villainous character are mutually exclusive.
I think most comic fans can agree that (however inconsistant) Mageneto is an interesting, three-dimensional character, with complexity and inner-conflict.
He is also capable of levitating hundreds of tons, sinking naval vessels, and destruction on a large scale in general.

The power to destroy a city block, or even a city proper, does not reduce a character to one-dimensionality.

I personally like to have epic villains who present a magnitude of threat on a grand scale.

Something else to consider when comparing "power": The Kingpin possessed great influence and power in his city, and beyond.
Yet, in a hot shooting war with the super-organization Hydra, Kingpin found himself ducking for cover, as his tower was shot to heck, and his various operations were blown up (literally) all in one night. Political power, subtlety and intrigue were no match for advanced firepower.
While creativity and subtlety have their place, sometimes you just want to smash something into submission to remind everyone who's boss (figuritively).

[NMI]

The most destructive power is....









not yet printed!!!

[acreRake]

i hate younot really

[Sentinel]

I don't think level of destructive power and quality of villainous character are mutually exclusive.
I think most comic fans can agree that (however inconsistant) Mageneto is an interesting, three-dimensional character, with complexity and inner-conflict.
He is also capable of levitating hundreds of tons, sinking naval vessels, and destruction on a large scale in general.

The power to destroy a city block, or even a city proper, does not reduce a character to one-dimensionality.

I personally like to have epic villains who present a magnitude of threat on a grand scale.

Something else to consider when comparing "power": The Kingpin possessed great influence and power in his city, and beyond.
Yet, in a hot shooting war with the super-organization Hydra, Kingpin found himself ducking for cover, as his tower was shot to heck, and his various operations were blown up (literally) all in one night. Political power, subtlety and intrigue were no match for advanced firepower.
While creativity and subtlety have their place, sometimes you just want to smash something into submission to remind everyone who's boss (figuritively).

That's why you don't argue astrophysics with Stephen Hawking, but you do challenge him to a boxing match.

Everyone has their strengths...you fight opponents using your strengths, but don't fight them if their strength is your weakness.

Yes.
Bear in mind, that while we were discussing "power levels", the determining factor was how great the destructive level was, not how flexible and adaptable or generally useful the power could be.
If I need to destroy something fast, I'll take Johnny Storms' power over Reed Richards' intelligence any day.
But, that is simply a measure of how fast I can incinerate something, or burn the atmosphere, etc. Intelligence can't crumble building all by itself (it requires tools and time). Unless, you can find a way to convert Intelligence into Telekinetic Force Beams.

[acreRake]

Some good points. But for the purposes of this question, i'm looking for a single superpower that is destructive in almost all circumstances (ie you don't need a fission reaction nearby) and pretty quickly (character transforms and immediately begins devastation.)

The Gateways/water idea is interesting, but really not my style. I d'know if the earth mover powers are either...At least for this character, i'm sure they are the most "powerful" Published powers.

I'm considering using Control Radiation, but replacing "radiation" and "heat" with "chaos" ...or demons... or something.

[Sentinel]

For total sheer destructive abilities, you might consider rolling up a Dragon, and choosing some Spells of Legend, and some of the more devastating Invocations from the Rifts Book Of Magic. Meteor, for example.
For villains, depending on the level of power of the players, I like to either roll up a Hatchling, and give him 1D8 Levels of Experience, or roll up a "first level" adult (higher attributes).

If a Dragon doesn't have enough PPE, you might also consider a Godling.

I realize the topic was asking about the most powerful powers and not characters, but in this case, the character needs enough PPE in order to able to access the more destructive spells.

[Sentinel]

Heck, just having Supernatural PS, and going on a rampage would do it.
Even at medium levels of strength, killing an "average" man only requires about 50 points of damage (figure 30 SDC and 20 Hit Points, and I'm being generous).
A Supernatural Power Punch can flatten cars. Do enough power punches, power tears (two-handed), and body block/shoulder rams, and you can start to bring down buildings.

[VooDu]

I like Vibration. You can rip buildings, rend the earth, and not get hit.

[Sentinel]

I have a house rule that allows a player to select Super-Energy Expulsion and a power like Magnetism or Gravity Manipulation and double the effects of that power.
Since Magnetism doesn't have a ranged blast attack, doubling the range and weight seemed helpful. Same for Gravity manipulation.

With Control Radiation, I double the amount of radioactive heat generated so the character can actually melt tungsten, titanium, and other metals and alloys.

[Sentinel]

I have a house rule that allows a player to select Super-Energy Expulsion and a power like Magnetism or Gravity Manipulation and double the effects of that power.
Since Magnetism doesn't have a ranged blast attack, doubling the range and weight seemed helpful. Same for Gravity manipulation.

With Control Radiation, I double the amount of radioactive heat generated so the character can actually melt tungsten, titanium, and other metals and alloys.

To digress from this thread for a moment, I thought the coolest part of the Fantastic Four movie (besides Jessica Alba of course) was when Johnny Storm started to melt the titanium containment cell that he was in.

To help digress, I agree: one of the "cool" things about having such powers is being able to do things like that.
Again, while I do not advocate characters who can sink battleships in a single blow, or teleport from Earth to the Moon in one easy jaunt, or raze a whole skyscraper in a single shot (if I wanted power levels like that, I'd play DC Heroes), but the power level of HU could stand to go up a little.

[NMI]

For single powers without the need of combos, gimmicks or a nearby fault line, I'd say geothermal energy and control radiation take the cupie doll.
Both of them just do sheer massive amounts of damage on a large scale.
Vibration also tends to be crowd pleaser.


The most purely destructive NPC I ever created was Mass Driver. She was an experiment with APS: Metal, Negative Matter, and growth. She'd turn to metal, become giant and kick on the negative matter field. She could level entire cities given enough time. Also, she had a brother named gestalt with weight manipulation and intangibility. He'd crank her weight to the max and the negative matter repulsion field would take on an effect similar to that black globe of doom from Akira.

And your players defeated them how?

[VooDu]

el magico -- darklorddc wrote:
For single powers without the need of combos, gimmicks or a nearby fault line, I'd say geothermal energy and control radiation take the cupie doll.
Both of them just do sheer massive amounts of damage on a large scale.
Vibration also tends to be crowd pleaser.


The most purely destructive NPC I ever created was Mass Driver. She was an experiment with APS: Metal, Negative Matter, and growth. She'd turn to metal, become giant and kick on the negative matter field. She could level entire cities given enough time. Also, she had a brother named gestalt with weight manipulation and intangibility. He'd crank her weight to the max and the negative matter repulsion field would take on an effect similar to that black globe of doom from Akira.
And your players defeated them how?

The only I can see them being beat is by magic or psionics. You can't hit or get close to them so blow their minds.

[SoulofThunder]

im suprised no one thought of control radiation and APS: plasma. one could throw water at you all day long. water cant put out nuclear fueled fire. as well and kicking off radiation and extreme tempatures , theres not much that could stop you. even dragons/gods will think twice of physically fighting you.

maybe even throw some disentigration in there for good measure.

[Sir_Spirit]

For single powers without the need of combos, gimmicks or a nearby fault line, I'd say geothermal energy and control radiation take the cupie doll.
Both of them just do sheer massive amounts of damage on a large scale.
Vibration also tends to be crowd pleaser.


The most purely destructive NPC I ever created was Mass Driver. She was an experiment with APS: Metal, Negative Matter, and growth. She'd turn to metal, become giant and kick on the negative matter field. She could level entire cities given enough time. Also, she had a brother named gestalt with weight manipulation and intangibility. He'd crank her weight to the max and the negative matter repulsion field would take on an effect similar to that black globe of doom from Akira.

And your players defeated them how?

Gravity manipulation+
Negate Super powers
Duh!

[Sentinel]

im suprised no one thought of control radiation and APS: plasma. one could throw water at you all day long. water cant put out nuclear fueled fire. as well and kicking off radiation and extreme tempatures , theres not much that could stop you. even dragons/gods will think twice of physically fighting you.

maybe even throw some disentigration in there for good measure.

This is a good combination, and I've used it a couple of times myself.
But, if you compare the damages done by these two powers to the SDC table (in the Comabt section of HUII), you'll see how limited your destructive ability is, particularly when Control Radiation limits the alloys and metals one can affect with their heat emissions.

I house ruled Super-Energy Expulsion to double the damages done by other energy powers, so a character with both Super-E Expulsion and Control Radiation could actually melt vanadium and titanium.

[Killer Cyborg]

APS: Fire.
Go nova.

[Sentinel]

For Multiple Selves, I had to "house rule" a random option into the power to make it possible to create more duplicates, and to be able to accquire skills from duplicates over time.

From the Sentinel Secret Files:

Multiple Selves.


Changes to the power as presented in HUII:

1) The super-being can create as duplicates as dictated on the following table:

NOTE: Once established, these limits are permanent.

Roll Percentile Dice: 01-45%; Can create ONE duplicate every two levels of experience, with a maximum of seven at level 14.
46-85%; Can create one duplicate per level of experience, for a maximum of fifteen at level fifteen.
86-00%; Can create Two duplicates per level every level of experience, for a maximum of 30 duplicates at level 15.

In all cases, the duplicates can teach ONE scholastic skill EACH after being reabsorbed into the original. The duplicate will require enough time to learn any skill not already possessed, and this may require weeks, months, or even years. HtH skills can be upgraded to HtH: Martial Arts, HtH: Aikido, HtH: Karate, HtH: Jujutsu, HtH: Kendo, or HtH: Judo. No Martial Arts from N&SS or Mystic China can be learned in this fashion. Additional physical skills can only be assimilated one at a time no matter how many duplicates are reabsorbed: Thus if three duplicates are reabsorbed and each attempt to teach one physical skill, only one can learned on this occasion. Any skills not learned at the moment of reabsorbtion are lost, and must be re-learned.


All other aspects of this power remain unchanged.

[acreRake]

Except................................
By the NEW idiotic rules that is.
You see...despite conflicting it self only 5 or 6 paragraphs later by say'n you can "Do cool things like, taking Mimic and Shape changing to make perfect copys of yourself" the new rules still say "No two APS's may be used together!"

Then for NO good reason even slightly plausible, the book states Multiple Beings as an APS power.
And clearly....IT AIN'T!
However...Mimic & Shapechange ARE!

So we're all so very sorry, but because of more Palladium "fare play", all you RPG'ers that played your favorite Super Powered characters for all those many years, that had super powers involved two APS's, magically had them stop working the second the new rules (Now With more "Better & funner" restriction and fairness up the____) came out.

I.E. They never existed!, Dropped dead!, Caught the S.H.I.F.T.Y.S. virus ((Stupidly Hideous & Insultingly "Fair" Theft of Your Superpowers)), And or got deleted from the "Time Steam" (TM)of Palladium...or soon to be once they whine to some dimwit judge (that's never heard of Einstein) telling him how everyones been using our concept that we invented!

That's stupid. A bad new rule never replaces an old good one.

Anyway, what do you guys think of a major power that consists entirely of "Supernova" (APS fire sub-ability), without all the harmful side effects...ie you could use it every melee, if you desired (no rolling to see if you die or mutate), but that is the lone effect of your power?

[Dorlar]

Multiple Selves / Mimic / APS Fire.

I've brought this up before, but provided the 'core group' is within a certain area, you can have -insane- numbers ... Something on the level of Agent Smith infestation in the Matrix... Except with fire... And the ability to go Nova... Again, and again and again... Because when the original reabsorbs all of his multiples, the new multiples that he makes will be able to mimic him and get the same amount yet again...

So ... Annihilate various countries in one fell swoop...

Just make sure that the original group all remain so that they can be reabsorbed... Any defects or whatever are ignored and will not be present, so they don't lose the ability to make more dupes when they are popped out again...

What stops that alternate being from thinking on its own and becoming independant of the others?
Like it rebels against the orginal creator and decides not to chose its lifestyle.

Would be a very interesting plot/story line i think.

[Sentinel]

I added the Supernova to APS Plasma as well.

I'll have to check to see what the MDC of supernovas are.
Not that I use MDC, but I am curious all the same.

[Sentinel]

For Multiple Selves, I had to "house rule" a random option into the power to make it possible to create more duplicates, and to be able to accquire skills from duplicates over time.

From the Sentinel Secret Files:

Multiple Selves.


Changes to the power as presented in HUII:

1) The super-being can create as duplicates as dictated on the following table:

NOTE: Once established, these limits are permanent.

Roll Percentile Dice: 01-45%; Can create ONE duplicate every two levels of experience, with a maximum of seven at level 14.
46-85%; Can create one duplicate per level of experience, for a maximum of fifteen at level fifteen.
86-00%; Can create Two duplicates per level every level of experience, for a maximum of 30 duplicates at level 15.

In all cases, the duplicates can teach ONE scholastic skill EACH after being reabsorbed into the original. The duplicate will require enough time to learn any skill not already possessed, and this may require weeks, months, or even years. HtH skills can be upgraded to HtH: Martial Arts, HtH: Aikido, HtH: Karate, HtH: Jujutsu, HtH: Kendo, or HtH: Judo. No Martial Arts from N&SS or Mystic China can be learned in this fashion. Additional physical skills can only be assimilated one at a time no matter how many duplicates are reabsorbed: Thus if three duplicates are reabsorbed and each attempt to teach one physical skill, only one can learned on this occasion. Any skills not learned at the moment of reabsorbtion are lost, and must be re-learned.


All other aspects of this power remain unchanged.

Nice...With your permission id like to make it cannon in my games.

Go right ahead.
I found it made for a nice opponent, who didn't have to be loaded up with a slew of additional powers in order to be offensive.

[Sir_Spirit]

Some good points. But for the purposes of this question, i'm looking for a single superpower that is destructive in almost all circumstances (ie you don't need a fission reaction nearby) and pretty quickly (character transforms and immediately begins devastation.)

The Gateways/water idea is interesting, but really not my style. I d'know if the earth mover powers are either...At least for this character, i'm sure they are the most "powerful" Published powers.

I'm considering using Control Radiation, but replacing "radiation" and "heat" with "chaos" ...or demons... or something.

Self-Explosion.
Nuff said.
APS:Fire.

[LostOne]

Growth, APS: Metal or Gravity Manipulation, Negative Matter.
I think I worked the max weight out once at something like 8800 Tons if you chose the right background.
Then you Negative Matter and everything weighing less than 8800 Tons goes flying away.
Personally, I think you'd have more fun with 1 Major and 1 Minor, Gravity Manipulation, and Gravitational Plane. 50G's+ Brick Wall Behind you=Ow.

Is there anything on this planet that wouldn't affect? That's 17.6 million pounds...instant crater around you...

I'm no physics major, but it seems to me if you were standing on a faultline, or better yet managed to drill down into a tectonic plate (maybe with the help of another superhero that had some kind of burrowing/earth manipulation ability) this seems like it could break the planet...or at least cause the earthquake of the millenium.

[MrTwist]

Transmutation can be devestating if you know what you're doing.

You could very well cause a serious nuclear explosion with it I believe. Of course, you most likely would die in the attempt. And also, I might not be correct that turning a a 50lb piece of whatever into plutonium would cause an explosion.

[Stattick]

Transmutation can be devestating if you know what you're doing.

You could very well cause a serious nuclear explosion with it I believe. Of course, you most likely would die in the attempt. And also, I might not be correct that turning a a 50lb piece of whatever into plutonium would cause an explosion.

The weight of plutonium, uranium, or other fissionable material wouldn't matter.

If the object was solid (ie, non-porous), and of a pure enough isotope, it would go super criticle, but it still wouldn't explode. It would just get super hot, and produce a lot of radiation. It would probably slowly start melting it's way toward the core of the planet.

However, under the conditions above, it the object was then compacted in just the right way, KABOOM...

It's actually incredibly hard to produce a nuclear explosion of any sort. A "dirty" bomb on the other hand would be easy if one had radioactive materials on hand. The chernobyl nuclear powerplant explosion was a convensional explosion caused by steam build up. It was a "dirty" explosion, bad enough that the jet stream carried the radiation world wide, but in miniscule quantities to most areas.

People tend to think that nuclear powerplants could create a nuclear explosion under the wrong conditions. Having researched this, I can definatively say that it couldn't happen, under any conditions (unless 50+ years of nuclear physics is wrong, or there's a world wide conspiracy hiding a dark truth).

I doubt that the science is wrong, or that there's conspiracy though. I think there is a reason why 3rd world countries aren't nuking each other, and why terrorists hit the twin towers with airplanes on 9/11 instead of nuking New York City.

[goodhometownboy]

self explosion in pu3 is pretty strong as well