Dave_Of_Mutilation
First Post
Strong Guy is a character I have a lot of affection for, and I was knocking around in my head the idea of making a D&D character modeled after him. For those of you not familiar with semi-obscure X-Factor characters from the 90's, here's a snippet from the Marvel wiki:
"Strong Guy has the ability to absorb kinetic energy and use it to enhance his physical strength to above normal limits. However, he cannot store the energy he absorbs for very long; as a rule he must expend it within 90 seconds to prevent the enormous amounts of energy from permanently distorting his body. He is in constant pain from the existing distortion, although he hides it well, traditionally playing the role of team comedian to distract himself. An unusual percentage of his body mass is stored in the upper half of his body, causing him to appear top-heavy, imposing, and somewhat comical"
"Weapons? With arms like these, my fists are the weapons"
I guess I should point out I'm not trying to recreate the character 1:1. Rather, I'm trying to create a guy who captures the spirit of the source character. Obviously a PC that can lift 50 tons would be a smidge overpowered in a campaign, so that's out. The challenge now becomes finding a way to express his enhanced strength, preferably through punchies, without being overpowered. My plan is to build him as a tanky human using his fists to pummel enemies. I would make the conceit that he just doesn't use traditional melee weapons. I keep coming back to two ideas:
I don't know if one or both or neither of these ideas hold any water, but they're what I've thought up for now. I like the idea of treating his fists as weapons, and using feats like Charger or Great Weapon Fighting.
Is there a good way to approximate his ability to absorb kinetic energy and turn it into strength? Something like "when you take X damage from a single non-magic source (X being a considerable amount. Maybe 50% of Max HP or something?) you can make [some kind of roll]. If successful, add [some amount of damage] to your next melee attack. If failed [some kind of penalty]." I like the idea of there being a risk/reward aspect. It kind of meshes with the way Strong Guy can't store energy for very long without it posing serious health risks. Whatever the case I'm into the idea of his strength being a gift/curse situation.
I am totally into the idea of his condition being the result of a curse or a spell gone wrong or something like that, with whatever weakness or downsides that involves. My goal is to come up with a character with an interesting dynamic as opposed to a super powered crushing machine, so I definitely looking for ways to keep him honest.
I realize it's a tall order asking for help adapting a character most folks probably haven't heard of, even more so when he doesn't exactly gel with the setting. Maybe it'll at least be a fun thought experiment if nothing else. Either way thanks for any advice or ideas!
"Strong Guy has the ability to absorb kinetic energy and use it to enhance his physical strength to above normal limits. However, he cannot store the energy he absorbs for very long; as a rule he must expend it within 90 seconds to prevent the enormous amounts of energy from permanently distorting his body. He is in constant pain from the existing distortion, although he hides it well, traditionally playing the role of team comedian to distract himself. An unusual percentage of his body mass is stored in the upper half of his body, causing him to appear top-heavy, imposing, and somewhat comical"
"Weapons? With arms like these, my fists are the weapons"
I guess I should point out I'm not trying to recreate the character 1:1. Rather, I'm trying to create a guy who captures the spirit of the source character. Obviously a PC that can lift 50 tons would be a smidge overpowered in a campaign, so that's out. The challenge now becomes finding a way to express his enhanced strength, preferably through punchies, without being overpowered. My plan is to build him as a tanky human using his fists to pummel enemies. I would make the conceit that he just doesn't use traditional melee weapons. I keep coming back to two ideas:
- Treating his fists as weapons (or even heavy weapons. He's a big fella, after all) for feats and the like.
- Giving him hit dice for his unarmed attacks, similar to a Monk.
I don't know if one or both or neither of these ideas hold any water, but they're what I've thought up for now. I like the idea of treating his fists as weapons, and using feats like Charger or Great Weapon Fighting.
Is there a good way to approximate his ability to absorb kinetic energy and turn it into strength? Something like "when you take X damage from a single non-magic source (X being a considerable amount. Maybe 50% of Max HP or something?) you can make [some kind of roll]. If successful, add [some amount of damage] to your next melee attack. If failed [some kind of penalty]." I like the idea of there being a risk/reward aspect. It kind of meshes with the way Strong Guy can't store energy for very long without it posing serious health risks. Whatever the case I'm into the idea of his strength being a gift/curse situation.
I am totally into the idea of his condition being the result of a curse or a spell gone wrong or something like that, with whatever weakness or downsides that involves. My goal is to come up with a character with an interesting dynamic as opposed to a super powered crushing machine, so I definitely looking for ways to keep him honest.
I realize it's a tall order asking for help adapting a character most folks probably haven't heard of, even more so when he doesn't exactly gel with the setting. Maybe it'll at least be a fun thought experiment if nothing else. Either way thanks for any advice or ideas!
