Nemesis Tactics

This list of tactics is inspired by a discussion on the Wushu list that was started when Aaron Smith asked how other members handled big Nemesis battles. Enjoy.

The nemesis defends and attacks all pcs simultaneously. . In one game I ran a sorceror nemesis was floating off the ground, encased in a bubble of negative energy that could absorb or deflect any and all attacks up to whatever dice successes he had allocated as Yin. The sorcerer also attacked with area effect magicks. This meant that all Pcs were engaged in simultaneously attacking and defending against the one foe. Note that the sorcerer's actions were rolled as a single dice roll with a single allocation of yin/yang each round which was applied versus all PCs. Escherwolf.
The nemesis defends against all, but attacks only one at a time. We've all seen this kind of thing. Think of the musketeer furiously holding off a virtual army simultaneously with lightning parries and dodges while skewering one foe at a time. Mechanically, the nemesis rolls dice. Allocated Yin dice are applied against all PCs, but Yang dice are applied only to one PC (usually the most threatening).Escherwolf .
The nemesis attacks and defends against only one PC at a time. This can work great for mortal enemies facing off agaionst each other, but if there is a large PC party and they are not distracted by other problems (mooks, traps, defusing a bomb etc), then the free shots the other PCs make can really shorten a combat. Of course, the nemesis might resort to special tactics, such as those listed below...Escherwolf .
The Nemesis regenerates. There are two ways of doing this. The first is to do the old Werewolf regeneration schtick - the nemesis regenerates 1 point of chi each round. Escherwolf. Alternatively, you can let the nemesis die, then if a special condition is not met, (such as stake a vampire or burn a troll), he starts to regenerate his chi. If the PCs don't hang around, they could end up with a Jason style resurrection. Bruno.
The Nemesis can lifedrain. For every successful hit against a PC, or even an innocent NPC, the Nemesis replaces one pointg of his or her lost chi. Escherwolf .
The Nemesis is invulnerable. The PCs cannot kill the nemesis, or even hurt him or her. All they can do is hope to trap the Nemesis (but let them work that out for themselves). Personally, I'm fond of sealing them into the foundations of buildings. I use chi loss on these guys to represent the attemptsto manuevre the nemesis into traps of these kinds. Escherwolf .
The Nemesis harries PCs with mooks. I've seen video game big boss battles work this way. Again there are two approaches here. In the first, the PCs get to choose whether they are attacking the nemesis or the mooks, but even if they ignore the mooks, the mooks won't ignore them. The PCs must defend against the mook attacks, or take damage. Usually I set a fix a set number of yin successes that are required to avoid mook damage, which of course reduces the amount of yang dice that the PCs can throw at the Nemesis. Escherwolf. Another approach is that of letting one PC attack the nemesis outright while the other PCs handle the mooks. Think of Robin Hood taking on the Sheriff of Nottingham while the Merry Men keep the palace guards at bay....Bruno.
The Nemesis fights the PCs, but the PCs must cope with environmental problems. Pcs must defend against a fixed environmental threat - such as pumice falling from a volcanic eruption or debris from a collapsing building. I also apply this to things such as slippery ice, fighting while hanging off the edge of a mountain, or struggling not to get washed overboard while fighting on a ship caught in a storm. In this case, if the players would normally lose a point of chi, they might instead choose to take an environmental setback (lose balance and slide across the ice, get washed overboard, lose grip on mountainside, etc). Escherwolf.
Nemesis Fights, but the Pcs are plagued by a distracting time limit. Lots of possibilities here. The Nemesis can breathe underwater, but the PCs are forced to seek the surface for air every three rounds or lose a point of chi to drowning. Or the PCs are in spacesuits, but must finish the fight before the air in their suits runs out. Or th ePcs might be trying to stop a core meltdown, and must reach the reactor before a certain amount of time has elapsed - and they may also be risking radiation damage the longer they hang around... Escherwolf.
Nemesis fights, but hides behind an innocent. A possession demon will, on the death of its host, transfer to another body and start again with the chi of that person. Think "The Hidden" of "Fallen". It may take a while for the PCs to catch on that killing the host does not kill the demon - for that they either need to catch it while transfering, or use a Taoist ritual. ...Don't forget that the demon may confuse PCs by occassionally possessing an animal instead - to fly away, fit through a small hole in a wall to escape, or just as camouflage. As another aspect of this, the nemesis could possess the PC (Let the player call the shots for the Nemesis diuring this time). Now the other PCs have the quandary of getting the demon while keeping the PC alive and not letting any innocents come to harm.Escherwolf.
Nemesis fights, but triggers an escape plan before losing all chi. This is best suited to Pulp-Fu style villians. The nemesis might fall against a wall, supposedly punnelled into submission - then suddenly smirks as he touches a hidden button and drops through a trap door as the room teh PCs are still in suddenly turns into a deathtrap (with its own threat rating to be overcome in order to escape0. Needless to say , the nemesis will one day return to do more evil that the PCs must stop...Escherwolf.
Nemesis fights, but pulls a switcheroo. Nemesis makes a run for it, turning a corner out of view momentarily while PCs pursue. When they round he corner, they can see the nemesis hurrying away at the far end of the corridor, and they pursue. In actuality, the "Nemesis" they are now following is actually a Mook that has been dressed as the nemesis - the real nemesis has slid behind a secret panel just around teh corridor, while the decoy nemesis waits at the far end of the corridor for the PCs to catch a glimpse of him...The expression on the PCs faces when they discover they have been foiled...Needless to say, the nemesis will regroup and return for vengeance against the PCs eventually...Escherwolf.
Nemesis has an unholy amount of chi. Reserved for truly over the top villians, such as Godzilla...Escherwolf
Nemesis has hidden chi away where it cannot be easily touched. This is stolen from an old Sinbad movie, though it was also used in an episode of Angel...The nemesis has magically removed his heart and hidden it away using strange magicks. Until that heart can be found and destroyed, the nemesis cannot be finally killed. Escherwolf. Here's Claude Gueant's take on the subject, in his own words: ", I've done something similar, stolen from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. This is essentially the same thing, except that the nemesis is killable, but if you put the heart back in ethe dead body, she revives. Mechanically, I let the nemesis put aside her last point of Chi, 'Hiding' it in a place or object. This makes the nemesis weaker, but she *will* come back from the dead, starting with the chi point she locked away. This point of chi doesn't always need to always stand for the life of the NPC. It could be her darkest secret (or her True Name), which can't be revealed as long as the Chi point remains hiddenIt could be the 'emotional heart', making the nemesis vulnerable to emotional manipulation (not subject to a love spell for example), but leaving her with a heart of stone." Claude Gueant. As I was transcribing this, it occurred to me that Ras Al Ghul and his Lazarus pit could be simulated using Claude's rules quite well. If you would like to use this trick for PC's, check out Claude's guide to magic in Wushu, which you can find in the French Wushu E-zine, "Dice Don't Rule". Escherwolf.
Nemesis is invisible. Generally I give the Nemesis a bonus of two Yin and yang dice until the PCs work out a away of detecting him...You know, throw something over him, lead him into water or soft sand, or perhaps even using some kind of blindfighting skill. Then the advantage is lost. Escherwolf.
Nemesis holds dead man's trigger in hand. The nemesis reveals that he holds a dead man's trigger. It may be to the Semtex around his waist, it may be to the bus of innocent schoolchildren that's rigged to explode, or something equally dire. In any case, kill him and the trigger sets off one hell of an explosion somewhere. Escherwolf .
Nemesis reveals hidden ace to extort freedom when defeated. Just as the heroes close in on the Nemesis he smiles and says something like "It's 11:00 pm - Do you know where your daughter is? I do...but no-one else does, and she's only got a limited air supply left...". Yup, its the old pull an Ace out of the sleeve to try and get the upper hand again.Escherwolf .
Nemesis is toxic. Don't you hate it when the nemesis is dangerous to the touch? Or getting too close when fighting it might get you splashed with acidic blood (Think Aliens)? Or perhaps the nemesis is a carrier of a deadly contagious disease? Sometimes it is true that this will hurt me more than you. For every point of villian chi lost, the attacking PC loses 1/2 point chi (Round up).Escherwolf .
Defeat of Nemesis results in major revelation. "Luke - I'm your Father..." would be a possible example. Or perhaps the PC rips the mask off the deadly female assassin to discover the face of the woman he loves under it. You get the idea...Escherwolf.
Nemesis turns out to be twins - or triplets. The players don't realise the nemesis is actually more than one person. They might wonder how he heals so fast, or why sometime his fighting styles change (How come he didn't fireball us this time like he did last time? Where'd he suddenly learn how to do those amazing martial arts stunts?). The truth might be suspected, but won't actually come out until one of them dies. Escherwolf.

NemesisTactics

Nemesis Tactics