Outwit is one of the most expensive powers in the game, and with good reason: it alone has the ability to render useless the powers and/or abilities an opposing figure is paying good points for.

Not only that, but it can do so from the relative safety of 10 squares away, requiring only a clear line of fire. Thus, while the Outwitter is well away from the action, he or his pals can pile on the rendered-defenseless target.

That’s the problem with Outwit for a lot of players. Sometimes, for just a few points to use Outwit and little else, said Outwitter can essentially make multiple clicks of a single damage reducer, which a more powerful opponent needs to stay alive, utterly useless. Coupled with the action disadvantage the heavy hitters already have to overcome, this weakness to Outwit is somewhat unbalancing.

What, then, to do with Outwit? Some suggest restricting it to a shorter range. But I have sore memories of un-Stealthed Outwitters being easy kills even at the 10 range zone. And do we really want to make the best Outwitters — the Batman family and other sneaky types (The Question) — even better by encouraging them to Outwit you AND then shoot you, too? (Not that they can’t do it already, but this rule change would make it more commonplace.)

Others want Outwit not to affect higher-point characters, or to force a power action to do so. There, though, we run the risk of making the already-most-expensive-power-in-the-game Outwit a severely overcosted power on those cheaper pieces, who have paid the cost of the power so that their whole team need not be utterly helpless against high damage reduction. Anyone who’s faced an Invulnerable opponent with a team of only 2-damage fighters knows how much it stinks to depend on critical hits while praying to avoid the just-as-likely critical miss.

Here’s the solution: shorten Outwit’s duration somewhat. We’ve all seen this scenario play out:

PLAYER A: “Batman Outwits Hulk’s Invulnerability and shoots for 3.”
PLAYER B: “Hulk takes 3; he’s down to Toughness.”
PLAYER A: “Question Outwits his Toughness and takes a shot…HIT!”
PLAYER B: “Hulk took 2 and is back Invulnerable again.”
PLAYER A: “OK, since Invulnerability is still countered, Johnny Quick will Perplex his own damage to 3 and push to Hypersonic Hulk.”
PLAYER B: “#%@#%@!!!! I just took 8 straight clicks of damage from these peons!”

The enduring Outwit is the problem here, to me. Thus, the #3 most needed change to HeroClix ought to be this rewrite to Outwit:

“OUTWIT: Give this character a free action to counter a power or a combat ability possessed by a single target opposing character until the beginning of your next turn. Any game effects with a duration specified by the countered power or combat ability are removed. A character using this power must be within 10 squares and line of fire to the target. If a target character is damaged or healed, the effect of Outwit on that character ends immediately.“

This change reins in Outwit in a manner more fitting to the source material. Perhaps Daredevil found a way to pierce The Thing’s rocky hide for one attack, but the pain of the hit makes Mr. Grimm tighten up his defenses and not get hit in that way again. It also keeps, say, old-school Black Panther’s 20-points’ worth click of Outwit from negating Superman’s 50-plus run of Impervious, giving Big Blue a chance against a swarm that gets around 6 attacks to his one.

And lest some think this weakens Outwit beyond usefulness for its cost, consider the scenario a few paragraphs above. With this small change, Hulk is STILL taking six clicks of damage that turn. But on a 10-11-click dial, that’s a significant improvement of his odds of survival.