How do you complicate a mob?

[Cam]

Mobs are treated like a single character in most respects except for the fact that you can reduce their power by knocking out Team dice with stress. They take a complication like a single character, use assets like a single character, etc. You could adjudicate it as inflicting smaller complications to take out team dice, sure. But if you did, the complication would go away (i.e. it's been used to remove a Team die and thus it doesn't hang around to bother the other goons in the mob.)

Cheers,
Cam

[kirezemog]

So my understanding is, if you complicate a mob to D12+, the whole mob is finished?

So, if Spider-Man is facing a 5d6 mob, and he webs the mob with a D10 webbed up complication. He deals no stress, so is still a 5D6 mob. Next round, he webs again and gets a D10 effect again. Now the mob is D12 webbed up. Next round he does so again, and now it D12+, and thus the whole mob is webbed up and out of the fight. So, he took out the whole mob in 3 rounds without dealing any stress. Does that sound right?

I think I actually like it better this way.

[IxCptMorganxI]

So my understanding is, if you complicate a mob to D12+, the whole mob is finished?

So, if Spider-Man is facing a 5d6 mob, and he webs the mob with a D10 webbed up complication. He deals no stress, so is still a 5D6 mob. Next round, he webs again and gets a D10 effect again. Now the mob is D12 webbed up. Next round he does so again, and now it D12+, and thus the whole mob is webbed up and out of the fight. So, he took out the whole mob in 3 rounds without dealing any stress. Does that sound right?

I think I actually like it better this way.

Sounds good to me!

[Cam]

Yup, that's how it would work. Remember, he gets to add in their complication to his dice pool on subsequent efforts, too. It's handy having complications AND stress. The downside is that the mob could act to remove the complication on their turn, which is something that they couldn't do with stress, necessarily.

Cheers,
Cam

[Gaelinic]

Just want to let everyone know that I really appreciate all the answers I've been getting to my questions. I've been compiling the answers in my own FAQ. If anyone is interested, I could post a link at a later time.

[Morik]

Yay! Thanks folks

[Marvellous]

Mobs are treated like a single character in most respects except for the fact that you can reduce their power by knocking out Team dice with stress. They take a complication like a single character, use assets like a single character, etc. You could adjudicate it as inflicting smaller complications to take out team dice, sure. But if you did, the complication would go away (i.e. it's been used to remove a Team die and thus it doesn't hang around to bother the other goons in the mob.)

Cheers,
Cam

It works better by complicating each die of a mob (or large-scale threat). Actually, considering the mobs like one character breaks the balance of the game.
If you consider mobs like a single character for complications, is becomes easier to "complicate out" mobs than two specialty characters : it may take less PP, but it takes more effect dice (or actions) to take down the specialty characters.
Using complications like stress on mobs and Large-Scale Threat works just fine, and each die in the Affiliation is important to give a mesure of the challenge.
With this system, the more there are Affiliation dice, the more it takes actions, effects and extensive team work to best the ennemy. I don't want my players to enter the fray against my Solo 6d12 Galactus and "complicate him out" in one big action from only one of them. I want them to enter the fight with anguish, knowing that it will take a lot of actions with their allies (with stressed out or killed characters) to defeat him.
I give an exception to this: if the complication can not "complicate out" an Affiliation die, the character may push the complication to d12, and the complication sticks on the mobs (or Large-Scale Threat) without affecting the Affiliation dice.

For the same kind of considerations, I removed the use of Area Attacks and Multiple (same type) Effect Dice on Large-Scale Threats. With that, Large-Scale Threats are no more the same as mobs, and it put a big "T" on "Threats".

Question to Cam : I don't see the point in giving "Buddy" or "Solo" Affiliations to mobs, as per definition, mobs are always "many" (and then Team).

[Cam]

We've been making Mobs only have Team dice. In some cases, the datafiles are also useful when considering the characters as single characters who may be Solo or Buddy.

Cheers,
Cam

[Marvellous]

Thanks.

[KnightErrantJR]

I think this might be my first house rule, which I didn't think was a house rule until now.

I'm not really a fan of being able to complicate out the whole mob in one shot. I think that makes complications way too attractive, and they are already kind of the best option in the game. It also seems to make people that are good at complications better for taking on masses of people than people that have area attacks.

I think the only clarification that I would make is that you work on "one die" at a time for a mob. You don't complicate one d8 with one complication and another d8 with another, and do a d6 stress to one and a d6 to another. Everything works on the "current" die.

If you want the mob to have problems from a complication, you just assign an effect die that doesn't "complicate out" the die, and this represents the people in the mob that are affected getting in the way of those that are unhindered.

I'm also really hoping this logic doesn't apply to large scale threats, as I'd hate to see Spider-Man be the go to guy for taking out Godzilla . . .