{"id":1674,"date":"2013-05-23T09:47:41","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T16:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/?p=1674"},"modified":"2013-05-23T09:48:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T16:48:25","slug":"better-angels-devilish-optimization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/2013\/05\/better-angels-devilish-optimization\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Better Angels\u2019 &#8212; Devilish Optimization"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.arcdream.com\/zencart\/index.php?main_page=product_info&amp;cPath=14&amp;products_id=53\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1579\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/2013\/05\/better-angels-now-available-in-pdf\/better-angels-cover-v4-front-612px\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Better-Angels-cover-v4-front-612px.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"612,787\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Better Angels cover\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Better Angels cover&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Better-Angels-cover-v4-front-612px.jpg\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1579\" alt=\"Better-Angels-cover-v4-front-612px\" src=\"http:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Better-Angels-cover-v4-front-612px-233x300.jpg\" width=\"233\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Better-Angels-cover-v4-front-612px-233x300.jpg 233w, https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Better-Angels-cover-v4-front-612px.jpg 612w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 233px) 100vw, 233px\" \/><\/a>Written by Caleb Stokes and Shane Ivey, \u00a9 2013<\/i><\/p>\n<p>In <i>Better Angels,<\/i> Greg Stolze\u2019s tabletop roleplaying game of supervillainy, players create their supervillains and demons collaboratively\u2014and maybe a little competitively, as you can see in the <a title=\"\u2018Better Angels\u2019 Character Creation\" href=\"http:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/?p=1606\">character creation chapter<\/a>. First the supervillain\u2019s main player picks stats, a superpower, and an aspect for the villain, then that supervillain\u2019s demon\u2019s player picks stats, a superpower, and an aspect for the same villain.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases that can lead to strange combinations of powers and aspects. Usually that\u2019s fine. Whether you\u2019re fending off rivals or battling a superhero, <i>Better Angels <\/i>is powered by player characters\u2019 moral choices, not by strategically sound allocation of character points.<\/p>\n<p>But the truth is, some players love a little strategy in their character creation. With that in mind, here are some combinations of powers and aspects that tend to compliment each other well in <i>Better Angels,<\/i> and the tactics and strategies that make them most effective.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve given each a title that ought to give you an idea what that combination of powers and aspects will do.<\/p>\n<h2>The Devil Himself<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Powers:<\/b> Terror, Body Control<\/li>\n<li><b>Aspects: <\/b>Horns, Flame-Wreathed<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Strategies:<\/b> Sly, Devious<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Tactics:<\/b> Cruelty, Deceit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Infiltrator<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Powers:<\/b> Dead Ringer, Teleport<\/li>\n<li><b>Aspects:<\/b> Ghost Form, Invisible<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Strategies:<\/b> Devious, Sly<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Tactics:<\/b> Deceit, Corruption<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Poltergeist<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Powers:<\/b> Telekinesis, Clairvoyance<\/li>\n<li><b>Aspects:<\/b> Ghost Form, Darkness-Shrouded<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Strategies:<\/b> Cunning, Devious<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Tactics:<\/b> Deceit, Espionage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Quartermaster<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Powers:<\/b> Summon, Banish<\/li>\n<li><b>Aspects: <\/b>Carapace, Cloven Hooves<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Strategies: <\/b>Cunning, Devious<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Tactics:<\/b> Greed, Cowardice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Shape Shifter<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Powers: <\/b>Animal Form, Dead Ringer<\/li>\n<li><b>Aspects: <\/b>Darkness-Shrouded, Carapace<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Strategies: <\/b>Cunning, Devious<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Tactics: <\/b>Espionage, Deceit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Sniper<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Powers: <\/b>Ineffable Defense, Dominator Strike with Enervating<\/li>\n<li><b>Aspects: <\/b>Invisible, Wings<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Strategies: <\/b>Sly, Devious<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Tactics: <\/b>Espionage, Cruelty<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Social Monster<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Powers: <\/b>Arrogance, Impossible Beauty<\/li>\n<li><b>Aspects: <\/b>Cloven Hooves, Darkness-Shrouded<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Strategies:<\/b> Cunning, Devious<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Tactics: <\/b>Cowardice, Corruption<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Tank<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0<b>Powers: <\/b>Armor, That Hideous Strength<\/li>\n<li><b>Aspects: <\/b>Carapace, Flame-Wreathed<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Strategies:<\/b> Sly, Cunning<\/li>\n<li><b>Key Tactics:<\/b> Cruelty, Cowardice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Have you come up with any favorite combinations of powers and aspects in <em>Better Angels?<\/em>\u00a0Tell us about them!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written by Caleb Stokes and Shane Ivey, \u00a9 2013 In Better Angels, Greg Stolze\u2019s tabletop roleplaying game of supervillainy, players create their<\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a class=\"myButt \" href=\"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/2013\/05\/better-angels-devilish-optimization\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[242,85],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-better-angels","tag-caleb-stokes","tag-shane-ivey"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Better-Angels-Ch-6-6.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1wrNI-r0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1674"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1677,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions\/1677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}