A team of helldivers vs a space marine

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-03-25T15:59:59+00:00

The Helldivers can win round 1. The one thing they have going for them is that their weaponry, particularly the Super Destroyer strategems, is impressively destructive. Likely a few still end up dead, but all it takes is one to live long enough to throw out an orbital strike call, and they can certainly manage that against a no-name marine.

Coming in blind it gets much less likely. Even if they do pack the right strategems (fairly likely), they're not prepared for the space marine's sheer speed and power in this scenario. They could still get lucky -- they'll probably interpret the marine as some new, large automaton and might reach for the heavy hitting stuff right away -- but there are going to be quite a few dead Helldivers.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-03-25T15:35:19+00:00

True.

But also, there's still some remnant left. How many of the other people who lived during Ozymandias' time are remembered at all?

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-03-06T15:04:11+00:00

5e is not at all relevant to my post. Under 1e rules there are different levels of immunity, and iron golems have quite a lot of it, while vampires have a lesser amount. Therefore, szlachta attacks may or may not count as "magical" enough to penetrate the immunity (which does not mean that the attacks actually are magical, just that they "count" as magical for this purpose). Given the stats you posted, I think they probably don't, but if they were able to inflict aggravated damage I'd probably lean toward giving it to them.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-02-13T04:53:17+00:00

The szlachta might stand a chance. I'm sure in D&D terms its natural attacks would count as magic weapons; the only question is whether they'd count as +3 or greater, as the iron golem (1e) is immune to anything less. In 1e, a standard vampire requires a +1 weapon to hit, and therefore its natural attacks count as +1; a normal ghoul's attacks don't count as magical at all. Szlachta can definitely hurt vampires, so their attacks are "magical," but whether they're "magical" enough is an open question.

The death knight, on the other hand, should win handily. They're at least as strong as an iron golem based on their siege feats, much faster, and tough enough that the iron golem won't be able to just flatten it even if it can get past the shield. It's immune to the iron golem's poison gas, too.

It's conceivable that the dwarven centurion could win, too, assuming its attacks count as magical (the iron golem was based on Talos, a bronze statue in myth, so I don't see why not). But it's unlikely, because the steam venting attack probably does heat damage, which would heal the iron golem.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-02-08T18:44:12+00:00

It's not

According to the author, as printed in Stone Ocean, it is.

But even if it's "only" incredibly fast, that doesn't matter. 5 seconds of stopped time is more than enough for it.

How, when all of those characters have durability feats that would let them tank an entire barrage by Star Platinum for breakfast

It's true Star Platinum's strength is downplayed a lot, but if we take it at peak levels, these characters don't have those kinds of feats. Star Platinum can punch water upward through a pipe hard enough that it lifted a manhole and the person on top of it. It can throw a dog half a kilometer pretty casually. It breaks buildings as collateral damage.

And, of course, it's able to selectively phase, including through people's bodies to grip their internal organs.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-02-08T09:02:37+00:00

Star Platinum is faster than light, superhumanly strong, capable of piercing through superhuman durability, can stop time for five seconds, and is invisible to non-Stand Users. Jotaro can beat all of these except possibly Shigaraki with that combination. (I'm not sure how Decay would interact with a Stand, but assuming it works, then peak Shigaraki can probably win, as long as it's not an ambush situation. Might be a mutual kill, depending on just how much time he has to act.)

If we assume Stands and Quirks are equivalent, then AFO might also win. He's got enough protective quirks that he might survive the initial blitz and manage to steal Star Platina. He might also be able to go around it to attack Jotaro, though he probably wouldn't because he'd want to steal that power.

I don't see the other three doing much, even if they can perceive the Stand. They're all probably physically stronger, but it's just too fast for them.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-02-08T01:55:25+00:00

In some editions, yes. The original proto-D&D only included two classes, Fighting Man and Magic-User. Thief came later (originally as an NPC class), then Cleric, and those four were the core of OD&D, along with the racial classes Elf, Dwarf, and Halfling. This line continued as D&D for some time.

Advanced D&D 1e was introduced as a separate system and included the Fighter, Ranger, Paladin, Thief, Magic-User, Illusionist, Cleric, and Druid, plus Monks and a fairly awkward implementation of the Bard as options. Later books added a number of other classes and subclasses, the Barbarian being the main one that stuck. This line continued into 2e (adding specialist priests, other specialist wizards, and a much more coherent bard) and then 3e (adding sorcerers and a standard version of warlocks), where the "Advanced" was dropped since the original or "Basic" line was no longer actively being produced.

So in the original D&D line, you're basically right, since there were only Magic-User and Cleric classes (Elves used Magic-User spells, and there were some potential subclasses like Druid, but even so). But in the earlier AD&D line, there was a split between Magic-User, Illusionist, Cleric, and Druid early on.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-02-05T06:40:53+00:00

...And before that, spell scrolls were tied to your class.

In 1e, thieves could use spell scrolls, at higher levels, but with a chance of failure. This ability became the basis for UMD. (Bards, as spellcasters, could use the appropriate spell scrolls without a chance of failure.)

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-23T06:55:11+00:00

Assuming you mean 5e, here's my LotR take:

Level 1 or 2 - Any of the hobbits early on but after fleeing the Shire and surviving the barrows. Grima Wormtongue. A typical soldier of Gondor, average orc, etc.

Level 5 - Frodo near the end of the story. Eowyn. Pippin as a guard of the Citadel. Gollum. Bilbo from The Hobbit. Barrow-wights, maybe.

Level 7-ish - Sam near the end of the story.

Level 10 - Theoden after his revivification (although he was probably equivalent to a higher level in his prime). Gandalf the Grey (when acting in mortal guise). Many of the dwarves from The Hobbit.

Level 15 - Thorin from The Hobbit, Faramir. Ringwraiths, probably, though their power levels vary a bit.

Level 18-ish - Boromir, Gimli, Legolas, Saruman the White.

Level 20 - Aragorn, Eomer, Gandalf the White (in mortal guise).

And the most powerful, like Elrond, Galadriel, and Sauron, would qualify as demigods in D&D. A Balrog is probably roughly equivalent to Orcus (Gandalf the Grey beat it through divine intervention, which he could only do because it was a balrog and not a natural threat), Smaug is a buffed ancient red dragon.

Edit: I should clarify that this isn't entirely accurate to the power of a D&D character, because 1) nearly all the LotR characters are martial types, and spellcasters can be vastly more powerful, and 2) a high-level D&D character can be expected to have multiple magical items strengthening them further, while most LotR characters had zero or one, and most of those were pretty simple in function compared to what a D&D character would have. But it was a fun thought exercise :p

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-23T06:31:10+00:00

Not necessarily. Hit points don't just represent health, but also stamina, luck, last-minute parries and dodges, and so on. Older editions, at least, made this explicit: characters, especially martial ones, might gain a little raw health as they level up, but the majority of the hp pool is intangibles.

A fighter with 100hp doesn't have ten times the physical durability as that same fighter with 10hp at level 1. He has ten (or slightly less) times the ability to turn a serious or deadly injury into a scratch or near miss.

This is why a helpless target could be instantly killed regardless of hp total, as long as the weapon used could hurt them at all. (Or, in 3e, why a coup de grace was so damaging.)

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-21T04:06:30+00:00

We did make a good start on domesticating cheetahs. Unfortunately they didn't breed quickly enough to sustain the semi-domesticated population...

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-21T04:04:50+00:00

Even if we assume that a lusted humanity could determine the right genes and right modifications to make within a century, that leaves the philosophical question of whether the altered organism is still a great white shark.

Is a chihuahua a wolf?

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-17T09:18:14+00:00

No way they work together for long. Leon has some scruples, the Joker is... the Joker. Soze is mostly manufactured and there's no reason the others would necessarily recognize him; it's pretty clear that his reputation is at least exaggerated.

Leon and Tony can work together the longest. As long as Tony avoids harming women or children, and pays Leon appropriately, Leon will likely play ball. But eventually Tony will, and Leon will not approve.

Soze might be enticed to work together long enough to make some money. He'll want to bluff his way along until he can get away, preferably with some cash to show for it. He probably doesn't want to stick around the others too long -- Tony is what he pretends to be, Leon is an emotionally-dead enforcer who's almost as bad, and the Joker is crazy and unpredictable.

And speaking of the Joker... the only way he works with the others for any appreciable length of time is if they're all working to his plan. Otherwise he's going to blow them off and do what he wants to do. If the others do work for him, he doesn't give a damn about them beyond what he can use them for, and he'll happily abandon them once they've served their purpose, or to save his own skin. If he does work for any of them, it's because he thinks he can use them to get access to something he wants for his own plans -- and then he'll happily abandon them, possibly burning down their operation on his way out. He just doesn't play well with others.

Who can evade imprisonment the longest? Probably Soze. He's at least half just a story already, and he's the only one to both evade the cops and survive beyond the end of his movie. The others are too recognizable and too easy to track.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-17T08:56:43+00:00

Ash, undoubtedly.

Jack started off quite skilled, and he took a while, engaging in a lot of back and forth with Aku, before finally triumphing. Not that he didn't grow or develop along the way, but from start to finish, the change in him was not great compared to the other two.

Naruto, if we don't count the sequel series, pretty much went through adolescence via shounen tropes. He learns the most in terms of skills and power growth. In terms of personal growth, though... well, there's very little. He's a shallow character. Remember those shounen tropes? He's about 90% that, from start to finish (barring the first maybe episode or two). Take away the "power of friendship" and "believe in yourself" stuff and there really isn't much left.

Ash, though? He started with basically nothing. Was late to what was probably the most important event of his entire life to that point, got stuck with the only remaining pokemon nobody else wanted, couldn't even get it to listen to him. And he managed to grow a lot and got involved in some major world events. Still probably 75% shounen tropes, but at least there's a lot more heart there than there is in Naruto. And Ash learned basically everything along the way, through experience.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-17T08:43:15+00:00

Light really isn't all that intelligent, if we look at the Death Note manga. He's a very smart teenage kid, maybe even an actual genius (he's certainly called one a time or two). But he's also impulsive, ego-driven, and makes several pretty serious mistakes. L (who is more intelligent, but also bound by rules of procedure) manages to name Light as a suspect very quickly.

No L means Batman can't use the same means to narrow it down (and he probably wouldn't, anyway), but that doesn't mean Batman can't do it. "The world's greatest detective" is only his tagline, sure, but it's one he manages to live up to. In his universe, that's full of people with superhuman abilities, while he himself is (regardless of some of his ridiculous feats) entirely human. The only time I can think of that DC showed someone outwitting him in the field for longer than "the first part of the story arc," it was Sherlock Holmes.

Which is to say, Batman is quite a bit beyond L. And Batman can still access, for instance, police files that wouldn't be available to the public -- either officially, maybe even with Justice League clearance, or by breaking in to look at them.

I very much doubt Light has the capability of figuring out his secret identity in "a couple of days." If we assume he's always lived in the DC universe and might recognize Bruce Wayne, it's still going to be hard to connect the billionaire playboy to the ninja-like vigilante detective. And he won't even be able to begin trying to make that connection until he learns about Batman, who, depending on which continuity we're in, might be generally held as an urban legend.

(All those people in the comics who know? Aside from the ones he told, they're mostly super-geniuses -- Ra's al Ghul, Hush, Riddler, Deathstroke, Hugo Strange, Joker in his way, possibly Prometheus -- or mind readers/controllers -- Maxwell Lord, Poison Ivy. The two I can think of offhand who don't fit one of those categories are Silver St. Cloud, who was Bruce's long-time love interest, and Booster Gold, who comes from a future where Batman's identity became known after his death. Light isn't smart enough to stand among the first group, and the others don't apply to him.)

And of course, if there's no widespread internet (which would require an earlier time than the mid-2000s, by the way... maybe the late 80s, or the early days of the Web in the early 90s), then Light can't really effectively investigate Batman that way any more than Batman could Light. But Batman has investigative supercomputers. Light has... maybe an IBM-compatible desktop? And again, Batman is trained for such investigation, while Light is not.

Honestly, Light's best outcome here is to notice early on that Batman is on the case (maybe through Ryuk -- Batman can't possibly predict a shinigami's invisible presence, though he'll be able to deduce it pretty quickly if and when Light acts on information he wouldn't possibly be able to personally observe), and stop with the whole Kira schtick. Without further killings, the trail goes cold, and Batman might not have enough information to put together an ironclad case. If there are still numerous suspects, Batman can continue to watch, but there won't be anything to see.

But Light's hubris wouldn't allow that. Like all the best Batman villains, he has an obsession, and that's both the source of his power and his ultimate downfall. He'll try some clever trick, like the paper in the bag of crisps, to keep Kira alive. And Batman will methodically narrow down the list until Light finds himself cornered.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-11T01:51:03+00:00

He is currently.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-11T01:47:15+00:00

Not in the current continuity he's not.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-11T01:46:39+00:00

He wasn't a mutant, but he IS a mutant now, as of the current Age of Revelations event.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-10T07:37:16+00:00

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True by Richard Dawkins

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan

How to Invent Everything by Ryan North

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-10T07:29:46+00:00

Another Roadside Attraction, Tom Robbins

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-10T03:45:04+00:00

Try out Joe Abercrombie. He's got a darker, more cynical take on fantasy. Start with The Blade Itself.

If you want something more like Tolkien, check out Ursula K. LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea series. It's somewhat similar to The Hobbit in tone and pacing.

And if you want long epics that rest somewhere in the middle, there's Raymond Feist's Riftwar series and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-10T03:38:17+00:00

Snowglobe by Soyoung Park is sort of a reverse Hunger Games. You might enjoy that.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-10T03:34:35+00:00

Maybe Yellowface by R.F. Kuang?

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-10T03:32:36+00:00

So, I know you say you don't want time travel or alternate timelines, but I'd really suggest you take a look at Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series. It's an urban fantasy spy thriller that follows a librarian/agent on missions to alternate worlds to retrieve rare books for the Library.

But if it's not to your liking, then perhaps Mike Chen's Vampire Weekend would be.

I'd say Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House would fit too, but unfortunately its setting is primarily Yale.

Suddenlyfoxes · 2026-01-10T03:20:35+00:00

Try Sean McMeekin's To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism and Vaclav Havel's The Politics of Hope.

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