Aberrant RPG - Mega-Strength 5+ stunts

[Sprocket]

Hey there, folks. A few nagging questions have cropped up in the course of my hammering out the material for Chapter 3 of Aberrant: The New Flesh, and the Development Team is pretty much at a loss to answer them. So here's hoping that the rest of the lot here at EON might have some ideas on this.

The question is this: Just what sort of "feats of strength" should a Mega-Strong nova be capable of at Mega-Strength ratings of 5 dots and higher, barring the use of enhancements? (The Mega-Strength ratings at 4 dots & lower have already been finished.) We've come up with a scant few examples on our own (seen below), but we're currently coming up empty. We're aiming for 5 examples per dot rating. Any serious examples that you guys are willing to suggest would be greatly appreciated. ::smile

Mega-Strength 5: (deadlift 100 metric tons)

>Smash through a bank vault wall without slowing down

>Use a Main Battle Tank as a weapon.

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Mega-Strength 6: (deadlift 200 metric tons)

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Mega-Strength 7: (deadlift 400 metric tons)

>Catch a falling 747 passenger airliner with inflicting only minor damage to it and/or its contents.

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Mega-Strength 8: (deadlift 800 metric tons)

>Catch a falling 747 passenger airliner without harming it or its contents.

>Use a Cyclone-class patrol ship as a weapon.

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Mega-Strength 9: (deadlift 1,600 metric tons)

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Mega-Strength 10: (deadlift 3,200 metric tons)

>Carry a fully-loaded (liftoff weight) NASA space shuttle with ease.

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[metaphysician]

I'd actually not say you could use a MBT as a weapon at Mega 5, unless by that you just mean picking it up and throwing it a relatively short distance. Its about an order of magnitude too heavy, relative to lift weight, to be effectively wielded as a melee weapon.

[Arashi]

I'm not that familiar with the Abberant rules, but normaly nobody should be able to catch a 747, no matter how strong he is.

The plane will just drive him in the ground. He would need the ability to fly or levitate the object.

Megastrenght just works at ripping things apart and such. No matter the strenght, lifting objects or catching them is mass vs. mass respectively velocity vs. how much the ground under your feet can hold. And even if he would catch the plain, the impact should kill him unless he has muchos Megastamina.

My ideas what you can do with enough Megastrenght would be to perform outstanding tasks in jumping or killing people by throwing even tiny objects ::smile

[BlueNinja]

Here's a recommendation that should work for all levels of Mega-Strength.

They can use anything as a weapon that weighs half or less of their lift weight. They can catch, or lift, or otherwise maneuver an object that weights one tenth their lift weight. This way a nova can catch airplanes, move entire buildings or ships, etc.

What point of mega-strength lets them crush charcoal briquettes into diamonds? ::happy I'd say about 7, if that hasn't been decided yet.

[SkyLion]

I'd actually not say you could use a MBT as a weapon at Mega 5, unless by that you just mean picking it up and throwing it a relatively short distance. Its about an order of magnitude too heavy, relative to lift weight, to be effectively wielded as a melee weapon.

How much does a MBT weigh??? If you can juggle several you should be able to grab one by the turret and swing it pretty good...

Also as an aside one could already shove through bank vaults with a high enough might...

I'm not that familiar with the Abberant rules, but normaly nobody should be able to catch a 747, no matter how strong he is.

The plane will just drive him in the ground. He would need the ability to fly or levitate the object.

Megastrenght just works at ripping things apart and such. No matter the strenght, lifting objects or catching them is mass vs. mass respectively velocity vs. how much the ground under your feet can hold. And even if he would catch the plain, the impact should kill him unless he has muchos Megastamina.

Obviously you aren't familiar with the rules or you wouldn't commented as such. A baseball thrown at velocity at someones head will crack it open. However the catcher is able to do so by combination of protective glove and the technique of decelerating it. A strong enough Nova could in theory decelrate a plane if they had enough strenght to. Since you don't know, in Abby Mega Strength works like a no-range TK effect...and allows such beings to do things that no amount of "ordinary" strength should be able to.

God it's great to be a Nova! ::wink

[Alex Green]

General Ideas I'm tossing out without doing the math behind them:

1) Picking up buidings and hitting each other with them. Maybe not skyscrapers, even your standard 1 or 3 story home would be interesting as an option.

2) Picking up a foot or 3 of ice from a frozen lake.

3) Picking up a crowd of people (although this sounds more like an enhancement).

4) Picking up a foot or 3 of sand over a large area (ditto).

5) Picking up a foot of cement from the surface of a street.

6) Picking up bridges.

[metaphysician]

MBTs weigh about 70 tons. Thats 70% of your full non-Might lift weight at Mega 5. Even the heaviest melee weaponry in real life don't exceed 10% of what an adequately strong wielder can lift without strain, and most don't even weigh 3 pounds.

Combine that with the fact that an MBT, or indeed any vehicle, is poorly balanced for any kind of combat usage, and you really are not going to be hitting anything that would be worth using it for. The best you can hope for is a sort of no-range throw thats only going to hit mooks that you could hit casually with your fists anyway.

[metaphysician]

Let me just revise that one bit: You can't really use a tank as a melee weapon at Mega Str 5. 2-3 dots higher, and it'd be entirely possible, especially if backed with Mega Dex. And I could see a Mega Str enhancement that allows unpenalized use of objects as weapons irrespective of weight or balance, too.

[Alex Green]

I don't disagree about the weight, but when mega-str is involved it's always "balanced".

[Finbar]

I'm not that familiar with the Abberant rules, but normaly nobody should be able to catch a 747, no matter how strong he is.

The plane will just drive him in the ground. He would need the ability to fly or levitate the object.

It's a superhero game; the physics are comics-based. Meaning that characters with the requisite strength can catch planes. Or use buildings as clubs....

Metaphsycian: Back AG: As long as you can lift it, you can use it as a weapon. Reality goes out the window when we start dealing with Mega-Strength...

FR

[Gideon]

Alright - just to have some fun...

Mega-Str 6 (200 Metric Tons)

-- The obvious: Blue Whale can be deadlifted (averaging 100-120, but the largest was just 200 metric tons (in 2005))!

-- Cleopatra's Needle (21m tall stone oblesque donated from egypt to USA in 1870 - now in NY, NY) weighs 200 metric tons - the one in London is only 160 metric tons

-- Lift the proposed NASA Mars Phase 1 habitat

-- Note: the nova may now act as an industrial shipping Crane (the mid-sized to large one can typically each lift 200 metric tons)

Mega-Str 7 (400 metric tons)

-- Small submersed Oil Pipeline Station - rated at 800 meters of depth.

-- a fully-fueled Boeing Hypersonic plane ~200 passenger model

-- conventional Cruise Ship Motor (44 MW) - now you can rip one out

-- a typical Inter-city Train

Mega-Str 8 (800 Metric Tons)

-- large submersed Oil Pipeline station - rated at 1,300 meters of depth

[Sprocket]

Nice to hear from some of the old EON hands here. Thanks for the suggestions, but keep 'em coming - plausible examples at the 8-10 ratings were a little sparse when I was researching this.

I'll post an updated stunt list after I hammer it out & it's been peer reviewed.

[blushing_bunny]

This might help. Modern day weight chart It was designed with white-wolfs God game Scion in mind. Which system for mega---errr, epic attributes is pretty much a souped up, cleaner version of Abberants...But without all the hyperbole.

[Sprocket]

Re: Modern weight tables-

Much thanks for pointing this out, it looks like it'll be very helpful. ::thumbup1

[blushing_bunny]

How about introducing the idea of stunting to Abby, from the Exalted and Scion line?

I mean it sounds reasonable that if the thing of Quantum is it's infinite power, and it's ultimately unionized existence with it's respective Nova might allow the idea of "Quantum lets Nova's regularly do things that should absolutly not be fucking possible simply by virtue of their will." (I know that the Players guide sorta phased over it, but it seems like it has a lot more potential than RP'er fiat)

Could also serve as another big reason for the whole Ab v Monkey conflict. How does it look when an otherwise ordinary man sits down to a table and basically eats enough to feed a small village. I mean most people eat until they've had their fill whether their actually "full" or not. What does that mean for Nova's with even the slightest bit of mega-stam? Do a pack of Nova buddies who all have high Mega Stam sit in resteraunts all day living it up while eating a neighborhoods supply of food in a week? "These Nova's are parasites. SOMEDAY THEY'LL EAT US OUT OF HOUSE AND HOME---OR PUT US IN THE FIELDS!"

Or when Spider-Freak jumps 50 stories out of a building and catches a lamp-post without ripping his arms off, that HAS to stick in the craw of most scientists, and the vast majority of the knowledgeable.

Or that super-sexy Nova Schlong-Dongg with the 18 inch Dong-O-Terror and enough Mega-App to make virtually any woman fawn after him, what happens when he inadvertently steals away with half of the women in their little town and the worst part in the eyes of the men-folk? The women aren't even rupturing or being torn asunder for their infidelity with that magnificent freak meat! Think about it, modern-day Pans roaming the mid-west with Tens of thousands of Followers. Thousands of men divorcing their wifes, and giving their every resource for the sake to worship eternally at the feet of the mighty All-Woman.

Finally what happens when some young kid jumps out of the window to catch a branch and snap his neck because "They can do it!" That could be a fun way to introduce earlier beats of Abby-War with Nova restrictions, and bans, and such.

My point is, stunt offers an explanation beyond "It just does", and at the same time could offer a lot to the story. And it's a pretty cool way to do combat in any environ social, academic, or physical. Granting dye based on vividness, creativity, and coolness of the description.

[Sprocket]

Re: Exalted-style stunting-

I'll bring up that idea with the rest of the Development Team, although my own preference would be using some form of Adventure!-style dramatic editing. AFA your examples, most have already been touched on in AB:TNF & AB:FP. Nice try, though. ::smile

Re: Mega-Strength stunts-

I've finished hammering these out & have put them up for Development Team peer review. This will likely take longer than normal due to interference from the impending holiday lunacy.

[Sprocket]

Re: Exalted-style stunting-

Just got word back from the Development Team - stunting's a no-go AFA we're concerned. Reighnhell said it'd be gilding the lily, although he noted that he'd like to see it in a 2nd edition of Aberrant ST.

Re: Mega-Strength stunts-

They just passed peer review, so here's the finalized version I promised. Much thanks to everyone who helped out, esp. Gideon & blushing bunny. ::smile

Mega-Strength 1

•Break a metal lamppost free from its moorings.

•Smash through an average interior or wooden wall without slowing down.

•Snap thin steel cables, most steel chains and heavy-gauge barbed wire with little effort.

•Twist a pistol into a paperweight as if it were soft taffy.

•Use a motorcycle as a weapon.

Mega-Strength 2

•Bend a small steel girder.

•Mash an item of metallic hardware - like a firearm - into a ball as if it were Play-Doh.

•Rip a locked bank vault door off its hinges.

•Shatter bulletproof glass as if it were blown glass.

•Uncouple subway cars by hand.

Mega-Strength 3

•Bend a large steel I-beam girder.

•Split a boulder of 1 cubic meter volume with one strike.

•Smash through a stone or brick wall without slowing down.

•Tear a sports utility vehicle in half bare-handed.

•Twist the barrel of a Main Battle Tank's primary gun into a pretzel.

Mega-Strength 4

•Body-check a fully-loaded semi-trailer truck.

•Dropkick a rhinoceros across the Grand Canyon.

•Mash a sportscar into a ball as if it were made of aluminum foil.

•Smash through a thick stone or reinforced concrete wall without slowing down.

•Use 6 to 12 meter metal cargo containers as hand-held luggage.

Mega-Strength 5

•Carry around a STS Orbiter (NASA space shuttle) with ease.

•Lift an empty maglev consist (the "engine" of a maglev train).

•Smash through a bank vault wall without slowing down.

•Uproot a moai statue from Easter Island for a souvenir.

•Use a Main Battle Tank as a weapon.

Mega-Strength 6

•Club a foe with a locomotive engine.

•Deadlift even the largest blue whales.

•May act as an industrial shipping crane.

•Move a typical wooden house to a new location by hand.

•Use a 60 meter tall radio tower as a javelin.

Mega-Strength 7

•Catch a falling 747 passenger airliner without harming it or its contents.

•Install a hydro-electric generator by hand.

•Rip a conventional Cruise Ship Motor (44 MW) from its housing.

•Uproot a large single-story brick house.

•Uproot a small submersed oil pipeline station (rated at 800 meters of depth).

Mega-Strength 8

•Rip the Statue of Liberty free from its base & haul it on your shoulder.

•Uproot a full 38 meter tall water tower.

•Uproot a large submersed oil pipeline station (rated at 1,300 meters of depth).

•Use a Cyclone-class patrol ship as a weapon.

•Use a 300 meter tall radio tower as a fighting staff.

Mega-Strength 9

•Carry the London Eye observation wheel and keep it upright.

•Deadlift an Agosta 90B diesel-electric submarine.

•Rip a small bridge from its moorings.

•Uproot a heavy five-story brick building.

•Uproot the statue of Christ the Redeemer (at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Mega-Strength 10

•Mount a Wärtsilä RTA96-C (the world's biggest internal combustion engine circa 2008) on a ship by hand.

•Move a Saturn V rocket onto the launchpad by hand.

•Steal the largest jade boulder known circa 2008 (weighing 3,000 metric tons) from its underground museum in northern Myanmar without heavy equipment.

•Uproot and carry off the Kiev TV Tower.

[Jeremiah]

•Dropkick a rhinoceros across the Grand Canyon.

Nice Planetary shout out!

Looks like a well thought out and pretty consistent list. Nice job guys.

[SkyLion]

I would only comment to say that pushing through things like brick walls and bank vaults is already a feat covered by Might...so those things could be available to less strong Novas with a good Might roll.

[Sprocket]

I would only comment to say that pushing through things like brick walls and bank vaults is already a feat covered by Might...so those things could be available to less strong Novas with a good Might roll.

True enough, but using Might isn't what those examples were intended to represent. What I had in mind was the way that Juggernaut (at least, the version of him from the X3 movie) didn't even bother to use Might when running through walls. To him, steel rebar-reinforced concrete walls were as flimsy as Japanese shoji (ricepaper screen panels/doors) are to a baseline.

[blushing_bunny]

Is there any chance of a stunt list for Stam and Dex?

(How about the other Mega Stats? Perhaps a community project is in order. Be a great way to maybe get some work going with N-Prime, White-Wolf remnants, and any other of the remaining cults to this game.)

[Sprocket]

Mega-Dexterity & Mega-Stamina are guaranteed to both be given attention, but there won't be "stunt lists" exactly like what was posted here. The main impetus for the Mega-Strength stunt list was a lack of RL examples for players to wrap their minds around. Mega-Dexterity & Mega-Stamina have some of that problem, but not nearly to the same degree.

But that's for the near future as I'm busy working on the other parts of the Mega-Strength sub-subsection of this part of Chapter 3. I should also mention that Reighnhell has been doing an absolute bang-up, first-rate job on the combat styles & new maneuvers for Chapter 2.

-Sprocket, signing off. ::happy