Onslaught's heroic stature

From: Loren Miller <loren_at_wharton.upenn.edu>
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 00:08:13 +0000


As with many of you I didn't like Onslaught's stats when I saw them. They seemed too high, and too full of powergamer stuff like the critical-proof enchantment and the mastery of 5 languages while pretending to be a moron stuff. That stuff is goofy, and the crit proofing for one thing is against the rules and personally I wouldn't allow it in my campaign, because I don't want the players to get it.

After reading Mark Smylie's story of Rook etc and martin's further defense of Onslaught it gelled. I understood what bothered me about Onslaught's stats.

They are too high for a minor hero or demi-hero. They are at the major-hero level. With his crit-proof suit and doubled attacks Onslaught is considerably more effective in melee than Conan, and Conan is the model for Harrek. My belief is that Onslaught's stats and powers, as they are, are equal to Harrek's. Now Harrek has other powers which are even more miraculous, and he has armies following him, so in the end he'd be more effective than Onslaught, plus he embodies that handy-dandy infinity rune that would just dispell all of Onslaught's magic, but without that and other mysterious hero-powers I think that Onslaught and he would be evenly matched.

I also dislike the way that Onslaught, whom I believe is an incarnation of DEATH of the same sort but to a lesser extent than Harrek, uses Healing spells with such alacrity. Healing should be difficult for him, and his weapons should cause wounds that may not be healed with magic, or that will only heal with magic, like the Seal Wound spell.

Finally, I believe that if Onslaught is to keep these hero-level stats and powers he should have some mystical effects on his environment. People near him should feel sick to their stomachs, as if they were weakened by disease, food should spoil at twice normal rate, small animals should age and die quickly, people who are talking in his presence should find it difficult to keep their concentration as their thoughts keep dying off, and their throats and mouths should go dry. Through these effects Onslaught would know that he is approaching the status of an IMMORTAL in the service of Death, and those around him would better understand the nature of the power he wields.
whoah!

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Loren Miller <loren_at_wharton.upenn.edu> Computer Guy <http://hops.wharton.upenn.edu/~loren>

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