Watcher chars & Berserk, Collateral Damage, Unleashed, etc

[Duck Call Lass]

Berserk: Add a die from the doom pool to one or more attack actions. Step up the doom pool by +1 for each action; return it to the doom pool when you're done.

Collateral Damage: Instead of spending 1 PP, add d6 to the doom pool to create a POWER SET stunt.

Unleashed: Step up or double any POWER SET power for one action. If the action fails, add a die to the doom pool equal to the normal rating of your power die.

Anyone else think that these need to be modified for Watcher characters, or else villains will be pumping up the Doom Pool (and thus helping themselves) constantly by using Berserk, Collateral Damage, Unleashed, or other such SFX?

E.g., for Collateral Damage, it's basically saying "gain a +d8 on any die roll for free AND boost the doom pool." For Unleashed, it means if the villain misses, you get to dump a big die into the doom pool, which is a benefit for the villain -- while it's a disadvantage for the hero.

And Berserk is just free dice plus pumping that doom pool even higher, which makes bigger free dice, which makes bigger doom pool ...

I realize that some people may say "well, that's what happens with villains, they pump up the doom pool!" but it seems to me that basically any villain should have one or another of these free gimmes. What villain WOULDN'T want the Collateral Damage or Berserk SFX?

[Grimmshade]

Unleashed has been on a few villains already. It works something like "if the action fails remove a die from the Doom Pool equal or larger than the normal rating of the power die."

Lady Deathstrike has Berserk. It goes "Add a doom die to your dice pool and then step back the doom die."

I would say Collateral Damage would not make sense if it lowered the Doom Pool. It also wouldn't make sense for every villain to have it however. Its more for rampagers, like Rhino. It doesn't seem like an SFX you would give to a villain really.

[metalman42]

They mention in the Operations Manual when they create the evil wolverine that his Berserk would step up the doom die, making him even more dangerous. That struck me as weird though, and a bit unfair.

[Doc_Nova]

I would say that it depends on the villain.

Some villains are intended to be fearful, dreadful, and a holy terror on the battlefield where their actions cause tremendous amounts of damage to the areas around them. Wrecker is one of them, hence his having Collateral Damage SFX.

As I recall, however, his is far from "free". His highest die is first stepped back (then you add a D6) and then the highest-rolling die is added to the doom pool before using it for the total. So there is a definite cost.

Some villains are simply going to be doom generating machines. Provided all are not that way, their presence, when used, steps up the drama and tension dramatically. They are also, likely, target numero uno.

[Supplanter]

They mention in the Operations Manual when they create the evil wolverine that his Berserk would step up the doom die, making him even more dangerous. That struck me as weird though, and a bit unfair.

It also seems to have been reversed as of the villain writeups in Civil War. Basically, now you try to reverse everything doom-pool-related in your mind. Grimmshade explains Unleashed and Berserk pretty well. And as he says, it's harder to reverse some of them.

Maybe for something like Collateral Damage, the Watcher character can add his smallest unused die to the doom pool as a free second effect die, and maybe has a Limit that lets player-heroes work to shut that down. Or when a hero rolls against that villain, the Watcher gets a free bonus doom-die bump IF the player rolls any opportunities. (So the Watcher could get a D8 our of one 1, a D10 out of 2 . . . ) Or, if that villain rolls opportunities that the player doesn't buy, the Watcher may buy them as if a player-hero had rolled them. Or an SFX where the Watcher can pay the player a PP to grandstand as a second effect die - that lets the Watcher grow the DP with a second action rather than shrinking it, but the hero gets compensated.


Jim