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Lucky Strike

"Lucky Strike has gone to war!"

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 22 pp

STR 30 [16] (+10/+3)

DEX 14 (+2)

CON 30 [16] (+10/+3)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 12 (+1)

CHA 14 (+2)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+10 Melee)

DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed)

Init: +2

Grapple: +25

Saves: 9 pp

TOU +10 (+10 Con)

FORT +10 (+10 Con)

REF +5 (+2 Dex, +3)

WILL +7 (+1 Wis, +6)

Skills: 48 r=12 pp

Diplomacy 4 (+6)

Intimidate 8 (+10)

Knowledge: Civics 5 (+5)

Knowledge: History 5 (+5)

Perform (rap) 4 (+6)

Notice 9 (+10)

Sense Motive 9 (+10)

Survival 4 (+5)

Feats: 12 pp

Attack Focus: Melee (4)

Dodge Focus (4)

Fearless

Power Attack

Takedown Attack

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 71 pp

Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp]

Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp]

Immunity 4 (disease, poison, sleep, starvation and thirst) [4 pp]

Impervious TOU 8 [8 pp]

Luck Control 4 (spend an HP for another character, give HP to others, spend HP to negate HP/Fiat, force reroll) (PFs: Luck 5) [17 pp]

Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp]

Super-Strength 5 (Heavy Load: 24 tons) [Dynamic] [10+1+2=13 pp]

DAP: Leaping 10 (x2500)

costs

abilities 22 + combat 24 + saves 9 + skills 12/48 + feats 12 + powers 71 = 150 pts

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Design Notes:

Since the subject of Lucky Strike came up in chat, here's my build for Wander and Edge's kid from the FC2 timeline. (Check out the cool art, courtesy of Gizmo!) Clara White was born when her parents married hastily after the defeat of a big world-shattering threat, conceived on the night that a much more callow version of Mark Lucas accidentally-on-purpose made his new wife's birth control not work. She had it pretty tough after her dad left (she calls Mark Lucas 'Mark', something he's never really tried to discourage), but luckily Erin had faced problems much more serious than being a single mom with a superpowered kid: And Mark did pay child support, at least when he wasn't busy blowing his money elsewhere or generally ruining his very promising life. For all the bad circumstances of her life, Clara was lucky: her mom loved her, she had a good job to support her, and even her dad wasn't really a bad guy. He just never grew up.

Clara herself grew up to join the Freedom League, a few years ahead of her FC2 contemporaries since Mark and Erin hooked up so very fast, and in a branch timeline survived the cataclysm of Zephyr's home timeline when a teleporter accident stranded her and her team from the Northwest outside Freedom City. She's got a bright future ahead of her, and with her strength and luck control, she's going to do just fine with that. She can stay in a fight much longer than you'd think a pocket powerhouse like her could reasonably get away with, given that she's got the HP reserves of a battleship. (And with her tough life, Complications to go with them!) With her OK Super-Strength, she can stunt what she likes, and with her Enhanced abilities and various other powers she can get around just fine.

She's more of a people person than her mom, but she lacks her dad's nigh-preternatural gift for gab: a kid raised by Wander is not going to be particularly deceptive, but she's not going to be all anger and unpleasantness either: luckily her mom was able to keep things together, maybe because she had her kid around with her. She doesn't use melee weapons, unlike her mom as a teen: she had good combat training from an early age, and never had to be taught not to rip the heads off dudes. Unlike her cross-universal half-sibling, Lucky Strike does have Fearless. Her mom had a few rougher spots than our Erin, and wasn't able to shield her from the reality of the world as much as she might have liked. Good luck only takes you so far, especially if that luck isn't actually yours...

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  • Avenger Assembled

    476

Devil Brick

"...let's just skip this dimension." -Midnight II

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 58 pp

STR 30 (+10)

DEX 14 (+2)

CON 30 (+10)

INT 14 (+2)

WIS 16 (+3)

CHA 14 (+2)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+10 Melee)

DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed)

Init: +6

Grapple: +21

Saves: 9 pp

TOU: +10 (+10 Con)

FORT: +10 (+10 Con)

REF: +6 (+2 Dex, +4)

WILL: +8 (+3 Wis, +5)

Skills: 60 r=15 pp

Bluff 8 (+10)

Intimidate 8 (+10)

Knowledge: Arcane Lore 8 (+10)

Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 4 (+6)

Languages 4 (Ancient Egyptian, Aramaic, Old Norse, Latin) (Base: English)

Notice 8 (+10)

Perform (electric guitar) 4 (+6)

Sense Motive 4 (+6)

Stealth 8 (+10)

Survival 4 (+6)

Feats: 21 pp

All-Out Attack

Attack Focus: Melee 4

Challenge (Fast Startle)

Dodge Focus: 4

Fearless

Improved Init

Luck

Move-By Action

Power Attack

Takedown Attack

Ritualist

Second Chance (arcane lore checks)

Startle

Ultimate Save (Will)

Uncanny Dodge (mental)

Powers: 23 pp

Enhanced Feats 4 (Affects Insubstantial 2, Extended Reach [unarmed], Improved Crit [unarmed]) ‘hell weapons’ [4 pp]

Immunity 5 (aging, disease, environmental heat, poison, starvation and thirst) [5 pp]

Impervious TOU 8 (Flaw: Not Vs. Magic/Holy/Silver) [4 pp]

Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp]

Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp]

Super-Senses 6 Infernal Awareness [mental], Detect Infernal 2 (Acute, Analytical, Extended, Radius) [mental] [6 pp]

Super-Strength 1 (Heavy Load: 1.5 tons) [2 pp]

costs

abilities 58 + combat 24 + saves 9 + skills 15/60 + feats 21 + powers 23 = 150 pts

---

Design Notes:

And so it came to pass in a universe closer to this one than we might want to admit that Hellion and Wander became man and wife. Hellion's fiery temper and tragic past proved a good match for Wander's own dark history and vigorous nature, while savage beatings helped make sure he never stayed from the path of right. Or monogamy, which is pretty much the same thing in this situation. Their son was born with the last legacy of his grandfather's demonic taint, but trained as an adventurer and champion by his parents to battle the dark forces of Satan and to generally tear it up when the situation called for it: thus was born a new generation of heroes, a legacy of two people determined to escape the horror that birthed them through the sheer power of heroism.

So here's one way to play an infernal hero without going full demon like I did above in this very thread; he doesn't have particularly many demonic drawbacks, he can face holy symbols down without a problem, and indeed his biggest issue is that magic and divine powers hurt him! But he has his parents' durability and skill, if not quite his father's supernatural charisma. He's a very effective melee fighter, just like his mother, summoning a wide variety of bladed weapons from the arsenals of hell itself to battle the forces of darkness! He's determined to make sure that nothing befalls this world! (Why doesn't he have the Prophet family money? Well, because James is still alive, and not looking likely to die any time soon, and maybe his mom doesn't want him running around spending everything just yet.

I see this as a character likely to make frequent use of the Ritualist feat: make frequent use of his Second Chance feats and HP (perhaps even before an adventure begins) to give him a one-shot device handy. If not, do all you can to jury-rig. He lacks a really fast movement power, so if you need that best to produce it off a Ritualist use: perhaps Teleporting in gouts of flame? His physical abilities are natural, inherited from his mother: unlike the demonic powers inherited from his dad, which are ultimately most unnatural indeed. Maybe if he's really lucky, his dad will let him ride that spaceship of his one of these days...

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Atlas of all Blades

"Always beware the unexpected stroke"-The Virgin in the Ice

Abilities: 44 p

STR 40 [30] (+15/+10)

DEX 12 (+1)

CON 40 [30] (+15/+10)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 12 (+1)

CHA 10 (+0)

Combat: 20 pp

ATK: +5

DEF: +5 (+2 flat-footed)

Init: +1

Grapple: +25

Saves: 10 pp

TOU +15 (+15 Con)

FORT +15 (+15 Con)

REF +5 (+1 Dex, +4)

WILL +7 (+1 Wis, +6)

Skills: 40 r=10 pp

Bluff 15 (+15)

Disguise 0 (+15 w/Morph)

Knowledge: History 5 (+5)

Languages 2 (Russian, Spanish) (Base: English)

Notice 9 (+10)

Perform (jug) 5 (+5)

Sense Motive 4 (+5)

Feats: 6 pp

All-Out Attack

Fearless

Power Attack

Takedown Attack

Taunt

Ultimate Save (TOU)

Powers: 60 pp

Enhanced CON 10 [10 pp]

Enhanced Feats 4 (Affects Insubstantial 2, Extended Reach, Improved Crit [unarmed]) [4 pp]

Enhanced STR 10 [10 pp]

Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 pp]

Impervious TOU 8 [8 pp]

Leaping 2 (x5) [2 pp]

Morph 3 (any humanoid) [6 pp]

Super-Senses 1 (Acute Scent) [1 pp]

Super-Strength 5 (Heavy Load: 180 tons) [10 pp]

costs

abilities 44 + combat 20 + saves 10 + skills 10/40 + feats 6 + powers 60 = 150 pts

---

Design Notes:

Did you know Grue reproduce by skin-to-skin contact? Well you do now! Alternatively, AoAB hails from the same universe as the Lucky Psychic upthread. Back when Mark Lucas thought that touching boobs got you pregnant, it worked across the universe for anyone from Freedom City, and since Atlas has no shirt and those massive pectorals...well. So here's my attempt to wed together two massive character sheets: Atlas, Freedom City's Hulk expy, and Jack of all Blades, another popular Freedom City character. What you get is something decidedly odd: a powerhouse who specializes in tricking and bluffing rather than Intimidate, with a massive sword he can summon at will and subsequently use to smite his foes: or he can just punch them in the face since he doesn't actually get additional damage from wielding his massive blade. Either way, he's a powerful character, and certainly has many more options in combat than your typical powerhouse or your typical swordsman.

Low Charisma, as I can't imagine he's had a great childhood. But he speaks the various languages of both his dads, and I assume that the Espadas' and Samael are both stand-up enough people to take care of the son that spawned off Atlas like a bud from a leaf one very strange day. His Morph doesn't look that great, but remember he can always take 20 on it near the beginning of a thread and come out fine, and even +15 has a decent chance of fooling bystanders and low-level NPCs. He's totally spaceworthy with his Immunity, but really should get a device or two if he's going to go off on any space battles. OTOH, at least his base Leaping isn't that awful considering his very high Leaping score with his high STR. (Let me just note: I really don't like the way they did Leaping in 3.0; how on Earth do you nerf an already really-badly written power?) He's got Fearless, because what the Patton could possibly faze him?

This character is going to have a lot of complications and thus, many HP! What a great way to get integrated into the setting, and also make sure there's always something going on for you. With his Morph and his pretty good Taunt, he has a decent chance of catching foes flat-footed and laying them out with Power Attack. I gave him Takedown Attack because melee specialists _all_ need Takedown Attack unless they have some form of Selective Area or other goon-sweeping strategy. Do you want to be the guy who spends the entire fight doing nothing but punching out one mook at a time? Didn't think so. Didn't think so.

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Combat Magician

“Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.”-Goethe

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 36 pp

STR 16 (+3)

DEX 18 (+4)

CON 18 (+4)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 16 (+3)

CHA 18 (+4)

Combat: 32 pp

ATK: +8 (+12 melee/+13 playing cards)

DEF: +14 (+4 flat-footed)

Init: +8

Grapple: +15

Saves: 11 pp

TOU +6 (+4 Con, +2 Costume)

FORT +7 (+4 Con, +3)

REF +7 (+4 Dex, +3)

WILL +8 (+3 Wis, +5)

Skills: 96 r=24 pp

Acrobatics 11 (+15)

Bluff 11 (+15)*

Craft (mechanical) 5 (+5)

Escape Artist 11 (+15)*

Knowledge: Arcane Lore 1 (+1)

Notice 12 (+15)

Perform [stage magic] 11 (+15)*

Sense Motive 12 (+15)

Sleight of Hand 11 (+15)*

Stealth 11 (+15)

Feats: 29 pp

Acrobatic Bluff

Attack Focus: Melee 4

Attack Specialization: Playing Cards 2

Challenge 2 (Fast Acrobatic Bluff, Fast Distract)

Distract (Bluff)

Dodge Focus 6

Equipment 5

Evasion

Improved Initiative

Power Attack

Skill Mastery (Bluff, Escape Artist, Perform [stage magic], Sleight of Hand)

Sneak Attack

Quick Draw [Draw]

Takedown Attack

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 18 pp

Device 1 (Combat Wand) (easy to lose) (PF: Subtle [collapsible]) [4 pp]

Strike 3 (PFs: Mighty, Precise)

Device 1 (Magician’s Outfit) (hard to lose) [4 pp]

Feature 1 (Compartments), Protection 2, Quick Change 2

Mind Control 10 (Flaw: Sense-Dependent [visual]) [10 pp]

Equipment: 25 ep

Grappling hook and line gun: Super-Movement 3 (Slow Fall, Swinging, Wall-Crawling) [6 ep]

Playing Cards: Blast 2 (PFs: Masterwork, Mighty 3, Improved Range—50 foot range increment, Improved Ranged Disarm, Subtle) [11 ep]

Smoke Bombs: Obscure 4 (25 ft) (visual) [8 ep]

costs

abilities 36 + combat 32 + saves 11 + skills 24/96 + feats 29 + powers 18 = 150 pts

---

Design Notes:

Based on the never actually played Magnificent, here's my build for a Combat Magician: she's an incredibly talented stage musician who uses her knowledge of human behavior and the laws of illusion to fight crime. She has basically no idea how real magic works; she may not even believe in any of that stuff. Instead she's an entertainer and illusionist by day and a crime-fighter by night! My half-thought out backstory for her is that her dad, the famous stage magician and adventurer, was killed saving some friends of his from a common mugger when she was a little girl: luckily that family took her in, raised her, and she decided to use her family business to make sure no family ever suffered as hers did! (Too bad about her dad's trunk getting lost in the shuffle before her adoption...ah well)

With her high Stealth, Bluff, and Acrobatics (not to mention well-placed use of a smoke bomb), she should have no problem catching opponents flat-footed: perhaps pretending to teleport in via cunning use of her grappling gun, thus being able to sneak attack with her 'wand'; i.e., a solidly-built combat baton, or disarm them with a well-placed reinforced throwing card that just happens to be able to dent a solid oak door! (They basically have the same stats as a well-built boomerang; I don't think it's over the limit for what you should reasonably be able to do with equipment: they're on the line, but I'd argue not actually over it.) Her Mind Control is her only power: it lets her pull off what mundane hypnotists can do in comics without actually functioning as a magic spell. It's also a really effective interrogation tactic in the wake of a nice solid savage beating laid down on a room full of bad guys.

This would be a fun character to play, especially with the ID confusion when your fellow superheroes may expect you to have any idea what all that mumbo-jumbo stuff is all about. But you know magic is just all tricks and mummery, even if there's real power behind it. You saw that fancy world come to an end when a criminal put two bullets in your dad before he could say a word, and you know that real power comes from smarts, strength, and the sheer power of human cunning and preparation pitted against the bad people of the world. Your work on the stage is about entertainment and education: making people gasp while teaching them all you can do with just clever tricks; you probably spend some time busting phony psychics and such when you're not working. Criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot, and luckily you know a lot of superstitions...

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Psychic Paragon

Everyone talks about rock these days; the problem is they forget about the roll. -Keith Richards

Abilities: 30 pp

STR 30 [16] (+10/+3)

DEX 14 (+2)

CON 30 [16] (+10/+3)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 16 (+3)

CHA 18 (+4)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+10 Melee)

DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed)

Init: +2

Grapple: +21/+26

Saves: 8 pp

TOU +10 (+10 Con)

FORT +10 (+10 Con)

REF +5 (+2 Dex, +3)

WILL +8 (+3 Wis, +5)

Skills: 32 r=8 pp

Bluff 6 (+10)

Concentration 5 (+8)

Language 1 (Russian) (Base: English)

Perform (bass) 6 (+10)

Notice 7 (+10)

Sense Motive 7 (+10)

Feats: 13 pp

Attack Focus: Melee 4

Dodge Focus 4

Move-By Action

Power Attack

Quick Change

Takedown Attack

Uncanny Dodge (mental)

Powers: 67 pp

Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp]

Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp]

Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp]

Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 pp]

Mental Array [22+4=26 pp]

Add Flight 5 [total Flight 6 (500 MPH)] and Super-Strength 5 [total Super-Strength 6 (Heavy Load: 96 tons) (PFs: Countering Punch, Super-Breath)

AP: ESP 4 (1 miles) (all senses) (PFs: Rapid 4 [x10k], Subtle)

AP: Impervious TOU 10 (Extra: Reflective [ranged]) (PFs: Selective, Subtle)

AP: Mind Reading 10 (Extras: Area [burst], Selective) (Flaw: Duration [instant]) (PFs: Insidious, Subtle)

AP: Telekinesis 7 (Heavy Load: 1.5 tons) (Extra: Range [Perception]) (PF: Subtle)

Super-Strength 1 (Heavy Load: 1.5 tons) [2 pp]

costs

abilities 30 + combat 24 + saves 8 + skills 8/32 + feats 13 + powers 67 = 150 pts

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Design Notes:

From another possible future, here's a child of Psyche and Phalanx that's a pretty straightforward psychic paragon: she has formidable psychic abilities backed up by the power to punch you so hard, you'll wish she hadn't punched you so hard! If she turns on her 'telekinetic force field', she can make herself bulletproof and even spin those bullets around so they bounce back at the people who fired them off. I'm not gonna lie; she's pretty badass. She can focus her powers and be a successful paragon, she can read your mind or search most of the city with a couple of actions (a nice way of faking Superman-style super-speed), and she can even catch things with her mind without touching them. She also has a powerful force of personality, good looks, and she can play a mean bass guitar. (Everyone always forgets about the bassist)

When Shaen built this character, he went with a speedster: this is no criticism of his excellent Zephyr build, rather it's simply an alternate take on a similar concept. Depending on what descriptors you like, I think this works great if you want to play a John Byrne-style 'psychic Superman', who flies around carrying heavy objects without them falling apart because of her powerful psychic abilities. As mentioned in the Lucky Psychic build up-thread, you can get away with a lot with psychic descriptors, they're quite broad. I deliberately gave her both Enhanced STR and Super-Strength outside her big psychic array so she can stunt and still act like a paragon. (Note that she can lift as much with her Perception range TK as she can with her base Super-Strength. A mere coincidence!?! Yes, actually, but it certainly has a nice flavor to it about her total lifting strength and similar abilities.)

If you want someone more Martian Manhunter-y, give her Insubstantial or some kind of crazy eye-blasts; paragons are meant to be flexible and this lady has lots of different options to choose from both inside and outside of combat. She's a strong woman in control of her sexuality, but one who may not make a lot of great choices with her personal life. But that's OK, a complicated backstory and difficult personal life is nothing more and nothing less than a great font of HP, as I've tried to suggest here and elsewhere in the thread. If you do make her a time-traveler like her original version (though with a different background, obviously), pick up some Temporal Inertia for her and maybe have her pick up more and more time-travely traits as the game goes on. With time as your backyard, there are no limits!

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Asgardian Archer

"I shot an arrow into the air; it came down, I know not where..."

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 38 pp

STR 18 (+4)

DEX 20 (+5)

CON 18 (+4)

INT 12 (+1)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 16 (+3)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+10 Ranged/+12 Ordrag)

DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed)

Init: +9

Grapple: +10

Saves: 10 pp

TOU +8 (+4 Con, +4 Protection)

FORT +7 (+4 Con, +3)

REF +8 (+5 Dex, +3)

WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4)

Skills: 52 r=13 pp

Acrobatics 10 (+15)

Bluff 7 (+10)

Knowledge: Tactics 8 (+9)

Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 4 (+5)

Language 1 (Old Norse) (Base: English)

Notice 8 (+10)

Perform (fiddle) 4 (+7)

Sense Motive 4 (+6)

Stealth 5 (+10)

Survival 3 (+5)

Feats: 28 pp

Acrobatic Bluff

All-Out Attack

Attack Focus: Ranged 4

Attack Specialiation: Ordrag

Dodge Focus 6

Evasion

Fearless

Improved Init

Master Plan 2

Move-By Action

Power Attack

Quick Draw [draw]

Uncanny Dodge (mental)

Powers: 37 pp

Device 6 (Ordrag) (hard to lose) (PF: Restricted [Norse ancestry]) [25 pp]

Blast 4 (PFs: Improved Crit 2, Incurable, Mighty 4, Precise, Variable Descriptor 2 [any magic]) [18]

Teleport 3 (300 ft) (Extra: Accurate) (PFs: Change Velocity, Easy, Turnabout) [12]

Dimensional Movement 1 (Asgard) [2 pp]

Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison) [3 pp]

Protection 4 [4 pp]

Super-Senses 3 (Divine Awareness [mental], Extended Vision 2 [x100]) [3 pp]

costs

abilities 38 + combat 24 + saves 10 + skills 13/52 + feats 28 + powers 37 = 150 pts

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Design Notes:

This build is for the baby that Valkyrie was carrying when she went to the vicinity of Valhalla. Whoopsie! But luckily the Norse gods aren't all that bad, and her daughter grew inside her and was born on the rainbow bridge overlooking Midgard. Between that and her ancestry below, she was able to just slip past the Pact's strictures: she can go to and from Earth and Asgard, fighting evil in both dimensions, but one day when she comes of age she'll have to make a choice. Will she live in Asgard with her mother, or adventure in Freedom City alongside her father? Perhaps she'll even tour his native land of Scotland, a marvelous land of mystery and wonder which she's only heard a little about! In the meantime, wielding a mystic Asgardian bow that can strike with burning flame or shocking lightning at her whim, or shoot through the world and let her propel herself across fantastic distances.

I'm not a big fan of the Norse pantheon; I think our admiration for them is driven largely by our cultural distance from their followers. Vikings are cool badasses in the pages of history, so we don't think of them as the murderous biker-gang/pirate savages that they really were. Their deities weren't really a lot better. Their "Heaven" was not a pleasant place if you were not a warrior. But we can bend that for comics, I think, even in Freedom City with its built-in reasons for a lack of Norse heroes running around. This is a character trapped between two worlds, trying to have the best of both while figuring out what sort of person she's going to be: a brawler in Asgard or a hero on Earth? She fits well as a teen heroine, playing into themes of maturity. As you get older, you have choices to make about your destiny, and sometimes you only get to make them once.

She has her father's tactical acumen and talents as a ranged fighter, but her mother's strength and Norse heritage. If you had enough divine-themed characters around, you could assemble a "God squad" of divine champions of various pantheons, but that might be tough to finesse in a Freedom City context. As it is, you could easily play this one along. One interesting thing: this character may have been born in Asgard, but there's no reason she'd actually be a follower of the Norse pantheon. When you live in a place, it's pretty weird to worship the people there as gods, even if they are really powerful. Frankly, she may be glad to be in a place where she's not always the smallest and weakest, and where she can kick some serious butt with the help of her mighty bow!

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Dark Scarab

"An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself." -Charles Dickens

Abilities: 18 pp

STR: 10 (+0)

DEX: 16 (+3)

CON: 16 (+3)

INT: 10 (+0)

WIS: 16 (+3)

CHA: 10 (+0)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+10 melee)

DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed)

Grapple: +6

Init: +3

Saves: 12 pp

TOU: +10 (+3 Con, +7 Protection)

FORT: +7 (+3 Con, +4)

REF: +5 (+3 Ref, +2)

WILL: +9 (+3 Wis, +6)

Feats: 12 pp

Attack Focus: Melee (4)

Dodge Focus (4)

Move-By Action

Power Attack

Takedown Attack

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Skills: 14 pp=56 r

Intimidate 4 (+4)

Medicine 7 (+10)

Notice 12 (+15)

Perform (percussion) 8 (+8)

Sense Motive 13 (+15)

Stealth 12 (+15)

Powers: 70 pp

Mental Gravity Array 23+4=27 pp

Concealment 10 (Extra: Affects Others) (Flaw: Phantasms) (PFs: Close Range, Progression [2 additional], Selective) (all senses)

AP: Drain Wisdom 10 (Extra: Autofire) (PFs: Extended Reach, Precise, Reversible)

AP: Emotion Control 10 (PFs: Insidious, Mind Blank, Subtle)

AP: Mind Reading 10 (Extras: Area [burst], Selective) (Flaw: Duration [instant]) (PFs: Rapid [x10], Insidious, Subtle)

AP: Telekinesis 10 (Extra: Affects Corporeal) (Flaw: Feedback) (PFs: Accurate 2, Precise)

Flight 1 (10 MPH) (PF: Subtle) [3 pp]

Immunity 12 (aging, life support, sleep, starvation and thirst) [12 pp]

Insubstantial 3 (energy) (Sustained) (PFs: Selective, Subtle, Variable Descriptor 1 [gravity/psychic]) [18 pp]

Protection 7 [7 pp]

Space Flight 1 (1c) [1 pp]

Super-Senses 2 (Darkvision) [2 pp]

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Design Notes:

OK, so the idea here is that Scarab tried to persuade Dark Star of her more practical, less Silver Age lifestyle with a little bow-chicka-wow-wow. Ridiculous? Yes. But on the other hand, Scarab and Dark Star did abruptly stop talking, Scarab herself went away for a while, and she had a very complicated personal relationship with both Dark Star and Fleur de Joie in the aftermath. So nine months later, it turned out they had a son, a boy born with a combination of his mother's psychic ability and his father's gravity powers. (You know, maybe it makes more sense if Evil Doktor Archeville decided to play God with a little genetic subtraction, multiplication, and then addition...but anyway!) This is a powerful character, able to transform himself into either psychic energy or gravitic, and to use both kinds of very broad powers he got from his parents to do some pretty awesome things.

He can even fly in space! Which leaves open some other options for you. If you're not a fan of the insane origin story, this would also work just fine as a build for the Cosmic Mind II; the Cosmic Mind being the disembodied psychic intelligence from the Soviet Union that bedeviled the Atom Family for so many years. Perhaps said entity spawned a child-intelligence that has flown back to the planet of its origins in order to learn more about this mysterious thing called humanity. This would work fine as a build for any other kind of psychic intelligence, really. However, as it is, he does have a body by default, but you could give him the Special duration on his Insubstantial to make it a default part of his nature. Perhaps his Earth-XX counterpart has a power like that... So it turns out you don't need Affects Corporeal with Insub 3 on anything but Strength. Nice!

One thing to watch out for with Insubstantial is that you do have a tendency to run into people with Affects Insubstantial 2 much more than you would expect: admittedly, this is because you don't want the dude to be an unkillable monstrosity in every fight, but on the other hand you don't want to get pwned either. That's why you want to ignore what Kenson tells you: character with Insubstantial 3 and 4 need to be built to match their Toughness caps, and maybe have some Impervious to go with them! Talk to your GM about making sure you get a good balance for the (very expensive) power you bought without becoming too invulnerable in the process. Luckily, we're reasonable people.

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Brick Brickerson

Who put the glad in gladiator?-Hercules

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 40 pp

STR 30 [18] (+10/+4)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 24 (+7)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 16 (+3)

CHA 16 (+3)

Combat: 32 pp

ATK: +8 (+10 Unarmed)

DEF: +10 (+4 flat-footed)

Init: +7

Grapple: +25

Saves: 7 pp

TOU +10 (+7 Con, +3 Protection)

FORT +7 (+7 Con)

REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3)

WILL +7 (+3 Wis, +4)

Skills: 36 r=9 pp

Diplomacy 7 (+10)

Intimidate 7 (+10)

Language 1 (German) (Base: English)

Notice 7 (+10)

Perform (banjo) 4 (+7)

Sense Motive 7 (+10)

Survival 3 (+5)

Feats: 12 pp

Attack Specialization: Unarmed

Dodge Focus 2

Improved Initiative

Interpose

Luck

Move-By Action

Power Attack

Takedown Attack

Ultimate Save (TOU)

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 54 pp

Density 6 (Extra: Duration (Permanent) [+0]) (PF: Innate) [19 pp]

-+12 STR, +3 Impervious TOU, Immovable 2, Super-Strength 2, Massx5

Flight 1 (10 MPH) (Flaw: Duration [Concentration]) [1 pp]

Immunity 10 (Life Support, Starvation and Thirst) [10 pp]

Impervious TOU 7 [7 pp]

Leaping 5 (x50) [5+1=6 pp]

AP: Speed 5 (250 MPH)

Super-Strength 5 (Heavy Load: 96 tons w/Density) (PF: Countering Punch) [11 pp]

costs

abilities 40 + combat 32 + saves 7 + skills 9/36 + feats 10 + powers 54 = 150 pts

----

Design Notes:

Phalanx and Wander's kid was born big and strong, the double inheritance of super-strength and toughness contributing to his incredibly dense muscles. A baby who weighs five times as much as a normal baby is less of a worry when your parents have super-strength, but the first time he sank to the bottom of the pool was pretty nerve-wracking for both of them! Luckily he can hold his breath underwater just fine, and honestly going underwater is cool enough that he's seriously considering making a career out of marine biology, at least when he's not performing a 'mighty fine a' pickin' and a singin'" on his custom-built banjo. He's not the sharpest knife in the box, but that doesn't mean he can't hold down a perfectly fine career teaching high school or community college. Or at Brown.

How do you put a brick on top of another brick so you can brick while you brick? Well, you make him as dense as a brick! Sure, there are some disadvantages to weighing five times what a normal teenager should, but body image issues are all about what a Hero High PC should be dealing with. What a great source for Complications! If you want even more Complications, drop the Subtle from his Density (maybe replace it with Buoyant?) and let him run around looking like Ben Grimm in an organic shell, or maybe like a steroid patient in a teenage body. He's got a weak Flight (which takes a standard action each round) so you can walk over fragile surfaces without necessarily breaking them; if you want him to be stuck with the consequences of his powers, put that point elsewhere. (Maybe dress his Leaping and Speed up a bit?)

Another way to build a super-brick is to make someone with Growth, but I have a kid with Growth already on the burner. (Plus, I didn't want to do that to poor Wander; if you want a giant baby, make sure it comes out of a mom with giant hips! Not that Wander couldn't handle a Caesarean, but I imagine having someone with a diamond-tipped saw performing a C-section would be pretty deeply unpleasant.) Another route is immunities, but full-scale damage immunities are tough. It's pretty tough to save up any serious damage immunities as a PL 10: even a Limited immunity to lethal damage (limited to converting lethal to non-lethall) will set you back a hefty 20 pp, and that's just so you don't die...but you don't die anyway in our game!

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Black Hole Hero

"There might be more than you believe; there might be more than you can see..."

Abilities: 20 pp

STR 30 [14] (+10/+2)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 16 (+3)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 10 (+0)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+10 Melee

DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed)

Init: +3

Grapple: +21

Saves: 10 pp

TOU +10 (+3 Con, +7 Protection)

FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3)

REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3)

WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4)

Skills: 36 r=9 pp

Concentration 10 (+10)

Knowledge: Physical Sciences 10 (+10)

Notice 8 (+10)

Sense Motive 8 (+10)

Feats: 11 pp

Attack Focus: Melee (4)

Dodge Focus (4)

Power Attack,

Takedown Attack,

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 76 pp

Dimensional Pocket 10 (Extra: Duration (Sustained) [+2] ) (100k lbs) [40 pp]

Enhanced STR 16 [16 pp]

Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp]

Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 pp]

Protection 7 [7 pp]

Super-Strength 1 (Heavy Load: 1.5 tons) [2 pp]

costs

abilities 20 + combat 24 + saves 10 + skills 9/36 + feats 11 + powers 76 = 150 pts

----

Design Notes:

This is my build for a hero who makes use of the Dimensional Pocket power, in his particular case with the idea that he is a living black hole who can hold up to 100,000 pounds (50 tons) at once. Sustained is about as high as you want a PL-capped Dimensional Pocket to be; he takes things in and holds them inside him, with unwilling people getting saves like any other Sustained power (i.e., on the Time and Value Progression Table) to try and break out. The default Duration of Dimensional Pocket isn't that great, giving people a chance to bust out every round, while buying up to Continuous (while a reasonable out-of-combat power) is totally broken at rank usable in combat.

My idea here is that this was a college student touring a supercollider laboratory when Something Went Wrong, and what was supposed to be the start of an internship turned out to be the start of a superheroic career as our hero was merged with an artificial black hole. He's got elements of Firestorm, but also Captain Atom's insanely cracked-out problem (i.e., Complication) where if his body is breached, something very bad happens! With a Sustained (lasting) duration on his powers, he can switch to other abilities (i.e., stunt off the power) and people will still technically be confined: they'll just start getting saves immediately and with a +1 bonus on the intervals. Note that if you do that, you can't 'turn it back on'.

I gave this a science-y background, but you could just as easily make this a magic-oriented guy, maybe a dark and shadowy dude with a magic cape that can swallow anything, perhaps with my light-controlling Speedster build upthread as his good boddy. If you or your GM doesn't like the Sustained, consider the +3 Aura extra on your Pocket. That way anyone who touches you is sucked into another dimension, for all that it's not going to be that hard for them to get out again! (That's also going to cost you more points, and probably cost you that Enhanced STR and paragon traits) If you want to be able to get inside yourself, buy or stunt a dimensional pocket to do the snake-eating-its-own-tail thing.

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Big Science

Exactly the man you alway wanted to be. -Princess and the Frog

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 48 pp

STR 30 [22] (+10/+6)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 24 [20] (+7/+5)

INT 20 (+5)

WIS 20 (+5)

CHA 10 (+0)

Combat: 32 pp

ATK: +8 w/Growth (+10 Unarmed)

DEF: +6 w/Growth

Init: +5

Grapple: +26

Saves: 5 pp

TOU +14 (+7 Con, +7 Protection)

FORT +7 (+7 Con)

REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3)

WILL +7 (+5 Wis, +2)

Skills: 56 r=14 pp

Craft: Artistic 5 (+10)

Craft: Electronic 5 (+10)

Craft: Mechanical 5 (+10)

Knowledge: Earth Science 5 (+10)

Knowledge: Life Science 5 (+10)

Knowledge: Physical Science 5 (+10)

Knowledge: Technology 5 (+10)

Languages 2 (German, Persian) (Base: English)

Medicine 5 (+10)

Notice 5 (+10)

Perform (tuba) 5 (+5)

Sense Motive 5 (+10)

Feats: 6 pp

Attack Specialization: Unarmed

Inventor

Master Plan

Speed of Thought

Takedown Attack

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 45 pp

Enhanced Feats 4 (Extended Reach, Improved Crit, Incurable, Precise [on unarmed]) [4 pp]

Flight 3 (50 MPH) [6 pp]

Growth 4 (Extra: Duration (Permanent) [+0]) (PF: Innate) [13 pp]

Immunity 9 (life support) [9 pp]

Protection 7 [7 pp]

Super-Strength 3 (Heavy Load: 12 tons) [6 pp]

costs

abilities 48 + combat 32 + saves 5 + skills 14/56 + feats 6 + powers 45 = 150 pts

---------------------

Design Notes:

Here's my build for the future child of Doktor Archeville and Fulcrum. He's a super-strong eight-foot-tall German-Iranian genius who flies into space, summons glowing black Terminus energy around his fists to augment his already formidable punches, and he plays a mean tuba. (Well, what else is an eight-foot-tall super-strong German going to play?) I think he's a viable blend of various different archetypes all put together; the giant genius paragon! I'm sure there are plenty of webcomics out there just looking for a hero like this. He's not actually bulletproof, but with +14 TOU he's not going to be bothered by too many bullets: if you can get the GM to let you use the Inventor feat in play with him, try to come up with some kind of personal forcefield belt for him that lets him have Impervious TOU.

Folks have sometimes objected to Speed of Thought in the past, but you know it's really not all that bad. (It lets you use your INT modifier for initiative; it helps explain why Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man, not physical primary characters [despite Mister F's Elongation] aren't just standing there going "Hurp durp" while the high-Dex members of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers are going into combat. I think it's fine here. After all, in this guy's case, I could actually give him a higher base init just by buying Improved Init for him. But Speed of Thought honestly seems to make a lot more sense for him, and it gives him a lot to build on for the future.) His Charisma's not that high; being a giant freakazoid will like as not do that to you, especially if you have a very complicated heritage from even another side to deal with! (OTOH, his great-grandpa would be just horrified at the sight of him, and that's pretty awesome.)

At INT 20, he's somewhere in the Henry McCoy/drunk-Iron Man/divorced Mister Fantastic range in my personal roster of comic book geniuses, which I think is just about right for someone who's very smart indeed, much smarter than almost any non-super NPC he'll ever meet, but isn't quite the focused super-genius that some of the real bad boys are. That's OK. His inventions and genius aren't that powerful, but he more than makes up for that with the power he himself brings to the table. When the bad guys drop an EMP on the lab all the science nerd types are in, it's Big Science they call on to go fight the legion of robots outside while they fix the rest of their gear. And hey: he can beat up the jocks in the bargain!

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Pixie Cowboy

"Where have all the cowboys gone?" -Paula Cole

Abilities: 30 pp

STR 18 (+4)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 22 (+6)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 10 (+0)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+14 vs. Medium-sized)

DEF: +6 (+14 vs. Medium-sized)

Init: +3

Grapple: -4 vs Medium

Saves: 9 pp

TOU +6 (+6 Con)

FORT +7 (+6 Con, +1)

REF +7 (+3 Dex, +4)

WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4)

Skills: 56 r=14 pp

Bluff 5 (+5)

Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 5 (+5)

Notice 8 (+10)

Perform (accordion) 10 (+10)

Ride 7 (+10)

Sense Motive 8 (+10)

Stealth 10 (+13/+30)

Survival 3 (+5)

Feats: 9 pp

Evasion

Fearless

Hide In Plain Sight

Move-By-Action

Power Attack

Precise Shot

Second Chance (Reflex save vs. being stepped on)

Takedown Attack

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 56 pp

Device 1 (Teeny Sword) (easy to lose) (PF: Restricted ) [4 pp]

Strike 2 (PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty, Precise) [5]

Device 3 (Teeny Pistols) (hard to lose) (PF: Restricted) [13 pp]

Blast 6 (PFs: Improved Crit 2, Precise) [15]

Flight 2 (25 MPH) 'pixie wings' [4 pp]

Shrinking 16 (Extras: Duration [Permanent] (+0), Normal Strength, PFs: Innate, Normal Movement, Normal Toughness) [35 pp]

costs

abilities 30 + combat 32 + saves 9 + skills 14/56 + feats 9+ powers 56 = 150 pts

-------------

Design Notes:

When Colt and Grimalkin finally had that baby, magical complications (the thing you have to understand is that there are alway magical complications) forced them to relocate to Fairyland for a while so the baby could be born. Much to their surprise, they learned that the relocation to Fairyland meant that their son was part of the fae! Luckily they were able to leave with him, but the magical influence on his birth meant that he never grew more than three inches high, complete with an adorable pair of sparkly pixie wings on his back that let him fly like a hummingbird. His parents chose to run with this, however, and they taught him all the things a young pixie cowboy should know. With a fairy sword on his back and teeny-tiny pistols at his hip (manufactured by a visibly inebriated Viktor Archeville), the young man was ready to seek his fortune in the wide world, podnas.

The thing of it is, this build actually holds up pretty well. If you don't want the connection to PCs here, my advice is to make this an action figure brought to life: how does Pixie Cowboy deal with the knowledge that his entire life was just a phantom on the pages of a storybook, or perhaps a CGI animated movie? Perhaps he's seeking a way to restore his friends to the real world just as he was, or maybe he's content to let them have their fictional lives and never learn that they're simply the creations of another being's mind. Or maybe they're just part of another dimension, and said storybook or movie writers simply tapped into that dimension's history unconsciously. It's comics, a whole lot of things can happen when you get right down to it.

Normally I'm not a fan of PCs with guns, but I think a three-inch-tall cowboy can probably get by without raising any eyebrows. At least, not because he has real working guns! Given his size and the massive Stealth bonuses therefrom, the Pixie Cowboy can probably catch just about anybody flat-footed with his sword or his pistols. He's an OK melee fighter and ranged fighter both, as a cowboy really ought to be; one of the advantages of Shrinking is that it gives bonuses to both! He's also a pretty effective opponent against foes closer to his own size, a helpful thing when he finds a job pigeon-wrangling for the city, or just gets away from it all to live on squirrel in the park for a while. With his Precise Shot and the Precise on his pistols, he can easily plunk one of those slow, giant targets all around him even if they're in melee. He plays a mean accordion, and luckily has had one custom-made in just his size.

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Pacifist Monk

Real living is living for others-Bruce Lee

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 42 pp

STR 24 (+7)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 24 (+7)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 14 (+2)

Combat: 32 pp

ATK: +8 (+9 Melee, +13 Unarmed)

DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed)

Init: +7

Grapple: +20

Saves: 10 pp

TOU +7 (+7 Con)

FORT +8 (+7 Con, +1)

REF +7 (+3 Dex, +4)

WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5)

Skills: 16 pp=64 r

Acrobatics 12 (+15)

Concentration 8 (+10)

Diplomacy 8 (+10)

Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 5 (+5)

Languages 3 (Chinese, Japanese, Latin) (Base: English)

Notice 8 (+10)

Sense Motive 12 (+14)

Stealth 8 (+10)

Feats: 16 pp

Acrobatic Bluff,

Attack Focus: Melee,

Attack Spec: Unarmed 2,

Dodge Focus 5,

Evasion,

Improved Throw,

Improved Trip

Interpose,

Luck,

Power Attack

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 36 pp

PaciFIST Array [35+1=36 pp]

Autofire Unarmed Damage (Extras: Aura [+3], Selective)

AP: Trip 7 (Extras: Aura [+3], Knockback, Selective) (Flaw: Range [Touch])

abilities 42 + combat 32 + saves 8 + skills 16/64 + feats 14 + powers 36 = 150 pt

--------------------------------------------------------

Design Notes:

Here's my build for a peace-loving martial artist, a Shaolin monk who Walks the Earth on a never-ending quest to battle for justice. He doesn't seek out fights, indeed, he does his best to stop them when they start. But they have a way of seeking him out anyway, as is often the problem for this sort of hero. Luckily, he has ways of dealing with that. His incredible martial arts training means that the moment someone actually attacks him (or thank to Interpose, tries to attack an innocent through him), he can go to town with a formidable array of flying fists and flashing feet: the lesser bad guys get knocked to the ground and given a stern lecture about the Way and the Path, while the real baddies get beaten senseless and have a chance to think about their karma in the spiritual confines of jail.

But what's that you say, AA, I don't want to play a passive fighter? Well, a pacifist doesn't have to be a passive guy! He can go out and teach martial arts as a means of discipline and self-control to adorable moppets and housewives alike, and then he can walk the streets to try and talk the kids out of gang violence. Perhaps he shows up to super-battles and spends an action trying to talk the rampaging monsters down? (i.e., gets an HP for the Complication of being a peacemaker!) His holier-than-thou attitude may rub his allies the wrong way, but in his defense, he is holier than they are...anyway, be a missionary for peace and muscular non-violence by your actions, not your words, and let your friends make the choices they want to make. People who are ultimately good will learn the right path, and you can teach them by example.

In Freedom City, this guy may well have come from Shamballa Vale, the mystic land in the Himalayas where martial artists learn their secret arts. Or maybe he's just a well-trained monk from a monastery somewhere, Walking the Earth to find his own path to inner peace. I've written him with the assumption that he's an Asian-influenced character, but it would be an interesting subversion to make him a Catholic or Orthodox monk. There's been enough Dan Brown-esque stuff done in recent years that it's not so crazy to imagine a secret monastery of Irish monks off somewhere learning martial arts against the inevitable day of judgement (or to fight off the Protestant Reformation)!

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Midnight Bear

If you go out in the woods today,

You'd better not go alone.

It's lovely out in the woods today,

But safer to stay at home.-Teddy Bears Picnic

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 36 pp

STR 30 [22] (+10/+6)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 20 [16] (+5/+3)

INT 14 (+2)

WIS 20 (+5)

CHA 14 (+2)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +5 w/Growth (+6 melee/+10 unarmed)

DEF: +10 (+2 flat-footed w/Growth)

Init: +3

Grapple: +20

Saves: 10 pp

TOU +10 (+5 Con, +5 Protection)

FORT +8 (+5 Con, +3)

REF +5 (+3 Dex, +1)

WILL +10 (+5 Wis, +5)

Skills: 52 r=13 pp

Climb 4 (+10)*

Gather Info 5 (+7)

Intimidate 10 (+12/+13 w/size)*

Investigate 4 (+6)

Language 1 (Russian) (Base: English)

Notice 5 (+10)*

Perform (harmonica) 3 (+5)

Sense Motive 10 (+15)*

Stealth 5 (+8/+7 w/Growth)

Survival 5 (+10)

Feats: 15 pp

Attack Focus: Melee 1,

Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2,

Challenge (Accelerated Climb)

Dodge Focus 5,

Move-By Action,

Power Attack,

Skill Mastery (Climb, Intimidate, Notice, Sense Motive)

Startle

Takedown Attack,

Uncanny Dodge (olfactory)

Powers: 38 pp

Comprehend 2 (speak to and understand bears) (PF: Innate) [3 pp]

Growth 4 (Extra: Duration (Permanent) [+0]) (PF: Innate) [13 pp]

Immunity 1 (own powers) [1 pp]

Obscure 3 (25 feet) (visual and olfactory) [9 pp] ‘midnight mist’

Protection 5 [5 pp]

Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp]

Super-Senses 6 (Acute Accurate Tracking Scent, Darkvision) [6 pp]

------

Design Notes:

This is Midnight as a bear. Yeah, I went there. I've left it open whether or not this is the Trevor Hunter of Ani-Earth, a young bear raised by his grouchy old grandsire to carry on the family legacy of defending the city, or whether or not this is perhaps Midnight III brought to life through some unlikely chain of events (or even ones planned on by the redoubtably brilliant Midnight II) to protect the things the Hunter family hold most dear. If a costumed adventurer were a bear, he would probably look a lot like this: he's big, he's strong, and he's as scary as a gigantic black bear with glowing red eyes and its own cloud of smoke can be. Which is pretty scary, honestly. He's a great climber, going right up walls with the help of his gigantic claws (which as usual I didn't stat) and doing it darn fast. That's why you don't climb a tree to get away from a bear: bears can climb faster than you. He's a really good tracker, capable of following his nose all the way across town, and it's unlikely he wants any of your honey.

If for some reason you're some kind of monster and don't want to play a teddy bear brought to life or a dimensional refugee, I think this works fine as a Russian costumed adventurer who fell foul of the Labyrinth, was dropped in a DNAscendant machine and managed to escape just before his soul could be destroyed. He's probably a pretty grouchy guy, just as you'd expect a bear in a world of people to be. He doesn't have any good way to disguise himself, and he's not that sneaky: that sort of thing just isn't a good trait for bears. He's better off making frequent use of his midnight mist as a disguise; sure a walking smoke cloud is decidedly odd, but it might attract a bit less attention than a bear on the loose in a black costume with adventure on his mind.

He doesn't have a motorcycle: get him one! If you want him to have one, that is. Harmonica seemed like the kind of music a bear would probably play, all sitting in the woods in costume, or maybe on stakeout, perhaps a campfire burning nearby. Remember, though, that grumpy bear or not, you don't want to be That Guy and make this dude an angsty loner who nobody wants to talk to: 'it's my character' is a nice way of saying 'I don't get why no one ever wants to talk to me.' Just because you're not a people person (or, you know, a person) doesn't mean you can't be around people at all. Luckily with this guy's strong personality and musical talent, he fits in just fine around people!

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Psychic Adventurer

"All music is important, Dick. It's the universal language. One of our best hopes for the eventual realization of the brotherhood of man."-Bruce Wayne

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 26 pp

STR 26 [16] (+8/+3)

DEX 26 [16] (+8/+3)

CON 26 [16] (+8/+3)

INT 12 (+1)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 12 (+1)

Combat: 32 pp

ATK: +8 (+12 Unarmed)

DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed)

Init: +12

Grapple: +16

Saves: 5 pp

TOU +8 (+8 Con)

FORT +8 (+8 Con)

REF +8 (+8 Dex)

WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5)

Skills: 52 r=13 pp

Acrobatics 7 (+15)

Gather Info 4 (+5)

Intimidate 9 (+10)

Investigate 4 (+5)

Knowledge: Streetwise 4 (+5)

Languges 2 (French, German) (Base: English)

Notice 8 (+10)

Perform (beatboxing) 4 (+5)

Search 4 (+5)

Sense Motive 3 (+5)

Stealth 2 (+10)

Feats: 18 pp

Acrobatic Bluff,

Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2,

Dodge Focus 4,

Evasion,

Improved Initiative,

Leadership,

Luck,

Move-By Action,

Power Attack,

Takedown Attack 2,

Ultimate Save (Will),

Well-Informed

Powers: 56 pp

Enhanced CON 10 [10 pp]

Enhanced DEX 10 [10 pp]

Enhanced STR 10 [10 pp]

Immunity 1 (own powers) [1 pp]

Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp]

Mind Reading 10 (Flaw: Duration (Instant/Lasting) (PF: Subtle) [6+1=7 pp]

AP: Concealment 10 (all senses) (Flaws: Blending, Phantasm) (PF: Selective)

Obscure 2 (10 ft) (visual and olfactory) ‘midnight mist’ [6 pp]

Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp]

Super-Senses 10 (Accurate Hearing, Danger Sense (Mental), Darkvision, Precognition, Uncanny Dodge [Mental]) [10 pp]

-----

Design Notes:

Here's the offspring of Trevor Hunter and Eve Martel from Earth-Paragons. I figure a few year down the line, his parents are both celebrities, and so he's definitely grown up in the media spotlight. Good thing he's so sneaky! He has his father's enhanced physiology and his mother's incredible acrobatic training; he's more inclined to be fast, silent, and deadly than full of threats like his dad. (And probably has a less active mental sex life than his mom, if only because when he was about sixteen he realized she could hear what he was thinking... :| ) Between his father's command of midnight mist and his mother's psychic sneakiness, he's a very stealthy ninja dude indeed. (That's one reason why his Stealth is relatively low; with Concealment and Obscure, he usually doesn't have to roll!) With his high Super-Senses, he'll be pretty tough to catch flat-footed in return.

I took Shaen's (Instant/Lasting) for this guy's Mind Reading, which I think makes a lot of sense. He can't just bust his way into someone's mind, he has to make his way in every time. Having to have a little finesse in his Mind Reading seemed to fit someone who's basically a sneak and tricker like this. He's got the Leadership because I figure he's done some adventuring with his parents at this point: Trevor and Eve seemed media-savvy enough to create some kind of Midnight-brand they could market. (Well, once they got a little older and grew out of their obnoxious teen rebellious phase: they both come from money and you've got to do some work to have even more money to pass down to your sneaky little kid...) As I usually do, I didn't flaw his Precog: if you can't see the future at some point in the adventure, let the GM give you phat HP for the Complication!

A psychic detective is a fun build. Paragons-style heroes are pretty grating on Earth-Freedom, but I think if you were very careful about it and a good writer, you could probably get away with it: maybe this is a guy who's been cut off by his rich family if you play him on Earth-Prime, and he needs to have a little hero-related merch in order to pay the bills. He doesn't have a lot of skills beyond beating people up and finding people to beat up, but that's OK, those are the sorts of things superheroes are supposed to do. He uses his scant spare time to practice the mad rhymes and dope beats of the all-American professional beat-boxer!

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Midnight Witch

"If you take my life away, God will give you blood to drink."-Sarah Good

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 40 pp

STR 20 (+5)

DEX 20 (+5)

CON 20 (+5)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 16 (+3)

CHA 14 (+2)

Combat: 32 pp

ATK: +8 (+13 Melee/+15 Unarmed)

DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed)

Init: +9

Grapple: +18

Saves: 8 pp

TOU +8 (+5 Con, +3 Protection)

FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2)

REF +7 (+5 Dex, +2)

WILL +7 (+3 Wis, +4)

Skills: 23 pp=92 r

Acrobatics 15 (+20)

Bluff 4 (+6/+10)

Diplomacy 4 (+6/+10)

Intimidate 13 (+15)

Investigate 5 (+5)

Knowledge: Arcane Lore 10 (+10)

Knowledge: History 5 (+5)

Languages 2 (Arabic, Greek) (Base: English)

Notice 7 (+10)

Perform (torch singing) 5 (+7)

Search 5 (+5)

Sense Motive 7 (+10)

Stealth 10 (+15)

Feats: 20 pp

Acrobatic Bluff

Attack Focus: Melee 5

Attack Specialization: Unarmed

Attractive

Challenge: Fast Acrobatic Bluff

Dodge Focus 4

Evasion

Improved Initiative

Move-By Action

Power Attack

Ritualist

Takedown Attack

Uncanny Dodge (mental)

Powers: 27 pp

Immunity 2 (aging, own powers) [2 pp]

Magic Array [12+3=15 pp]

Autofire and Penetrating on Unarmed and Enhanced Feats 2 (Affects Insubstantial 2 [unarmed])

AP: Obscure 4 (50 ft) (mental and visual) 'Medean Mist'

AP: Teleport 4 (1 mile) (Extra: Accurate) (shadow step)

Protection 3 [3 pp]

Super-Senses 7 (Darkvision, Magic Awareness (Extended 2 (x100) [3] [mental]) [7 pp]

costs

abilities 40 + combat 32 + saves 8 + skills 23/92 + feats 21 + powers 27 = 150 pts

--------------------------------------

Design Notes:

Picture it! Freedom City, 1946. Midnight I is going about his business on the streets when Medea appears! He draws his gas gun, ready for battle, when she presents him to his surprise with an infant girl wrapped in a blanket. "It's yours!" the immortal witch announces imperiously, giving him a look to melt the face off a statue. "...but we never-" "No backsies! First rule of magic!" Medea rebutted, and then disappeared into the night, leaving Travis Hunter with a little girl as his ward. She grew up learning both magic and the martial arts from her costumed detective teacher; it helped that he had friends all over the world who could teach her how to use magic. When she was old enough to go out on her own, she did so, leaving Travis to start his own family with his eventual partner.

OK, so this is my attempt at magic Batman. Not too bad, I think! Her magic is a supplement to her formidable martial arts training, not a replacement; she's perfectly badass with no spells cast at all. But the spells do help, whether they're letting her walk through doors or across town, disappear in a cloud of magic mist, or just augment her punches with powerful magical blows. Acrobatics and such tricks are languages that go beyond fooling and persuasion. Even elder gods can be distracted by a well-placed backflip! She can also be very scary when she wants to be: she's not just Midnight's magical successor, after all, she's also the daughter of Medea. (As for Medea herself, well, it's probably best she doesn't take an interest in her daughter's life. Medea knows she's not really cut out to be a mother. She remembers what happened the last time she made a serious go of it) She's a good investigator, though not quite as smart as she thinks she is. Experienced magicians never are, really.

If you don't want the immortal magic investigator schtick, drop the aging immunity and the Midnight connection and just make her magic Batman, period. I could easily see a young witch who's a variant of the Combat Magician upthread, using physical training to compensate for any 'lack' brought about by her relatively weak powers, and finding ultimately that the ability to blow an HP for Stunning Attack and beat the crap out of your wussier fellow mystics before they can get their force fields up is a very fine thing indeed. Give her a drawback where she needs her hands free to cast spells for more points, but this seemed like the kind of lady who has learned to use magic while tied up at the bottom of the ocean. Sometimes you have to get a little rough here...

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World Devourer

(For comparison)

“I am the ultimate Preserver!”

The Gorgon is the last great terrible work of the Preservers. Built as that mighty race was slipping towards the inevitable decay that comes to all empires, the Gorgon is perhaps best understood as the end of the cultural journey that began with scattering the humanities among the stars, then moved towards collecting the humanities (and much else beside) under the watchful, paranoid eye of the all-powerful Curator. (She has poor relations with the Curator, who has ‘poached’ her of several planets, but the two have united against pan-galactic threats that have threatened the great work of the Preservers.) The Gorgon thinks of herself as the ultimate Preserver (and indeed, that’s what she calls herself), traveling the universe and preserving planets, civilizations, whole stars from the ever-encroaching ravages of entropy. She is a famous enemy of the Terminus, one of the few entities in the multiverse who Omega genuinely...well, not fears, but one of the few entities whose potential actions he must be concerned with as he goes about his affairs. She loathes the touch of entropy, and will attack any planet showing its taint. Indeed, her near-miss with Earth in the mid-1960s helped alert the Freedom League to the threat posed by Omega.

But the Gorgon, of course, poses a tremendous threat in her own right. She is called ‘destroyer of worlds’ in a hundred space-born languages, her terrifying visage a figure in space-monster stories across the Milky Way and beyond. She takes the form of a gigantic humanoid head cast in steel, her green-eyed visage and protruding rear horn perhaps a clue to what the Preservers themselves looked like, a gigantic head the size of the planet Earth itself. Surrounded by lashing ‘serpents’ as long as continents, she flies through space powered by a gravitic drive [which also help cut down on the tidal stresses caused by her passage] that lets her open wormholes to jump from star system to star system in an instant. When she arrives in orbit above a suitable planet (i.e., one that carries sentient life of a suitably advanced degree), she extends her serpents into the atmosphere and fires a package of powerful nanites. The ‘grey plague’ sweeps across the planetary surface within hours, transforming all life into a grey, unbreakable metal harder even than impervium, and within days the planet’s surface changes to that same grey substance as even the atmosphere is hardened into a nigh-unbreakable shell to preserve the specimens within. And then the Gorgon moves on, hunting for another planet to transform and preserve. How many planets has she transformed in this way? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? Leaving behind only spheres of grey goo in her wake (spheres which, incidentally, swallow pirates and those who seek to plunder those 'preserved' worlds: she has very little tolerance for those who would lay hands upon her collection) where once green and brown orbs spun.

The Gorgon is, as you might imagine, a formidable opponent. She has survived multiple space battles with the fleets of the various interstellar empires over the millennia, having fought in recent centuries the Grue, the Lor, and the Stellar Khanate in turn. (Indeed, her destruction of the Rhodian fleet off Lalande 21185 helped play a major role in the military and political shift between the First and Second Lor Republics, but that’s a story for another time.) She has been defeated on (very rare occasion), and each time retreats to lick her wounds somewhere her enemies cannot follow: perhaps the heart of a red giant. Each time the nanites at her core repair her wounds, each time she goes back out into space to continue her work: planets that have repulsed her before can expect to have her show a renewed interest in them. After all, any place that has such great power surely should be Preserved against the forces of the Terminus! Her last encounter with Earth came in 1964, when an encounter with the Silver Age Freedom League in the asteroid belt persuaded her to delay her plans for the Preservation of Sol's third planet. Said conversation remains off the record even today, but friends do remember that Daedalus began drawing up plans for a personal space vessel not long after sharing the true history of humanity with the grey monster of space.

In addition to her powerful nanite packages, incredible energy reserves (though overheating forced her to retreat, a few centuries ago she absorbed, and was actually able to counter, the channelled power of an entire globular cluster by the local civilization), and formidable defenses (as mentioned above, she has fought and won battles against multiple space armadas, sometimes simultaneously), the Gorgon also has ‘children’. Honeycombed with passageways that possess Earth-normal gravity and oxygen atmospheres, the Gorgon is home to a uniquely mixed population made up of the descendants of refugees from multiple destroyed worlds. Having absorbed the beliefs of their mother, the people living in the Gorgon have come to believe that their mother is a savior of endangered worlds, and that those who seek to harm her enemies of the galaxy! They will defend her to the utmost, and they have access to high technology (force fields, energy weapons, and the more exotic things added to the mix over the centuries) in order to do so.

In recent years, with the Khanate becoming active again and the Lor in a period of expansion (as well as growing conflicts with the Grue), the Gorgon has been considering a change of strategy: no small thing for a creature of so many milennia! Perhaps she needs help with her endless search, a herald to cross the universe for her and find the worlds that need Preserving (or destroying), thus allowing her to concentrate on her all-important great work. She has shared her knowledge with humanoids in the past when they had something to offer her in return; perhaps this relationship can be expanded on to make life better for everyone. For her, an aide and counsel, for them, unspeakable technological power! From a resting place deep in the heart of white-hot Sirus, while her children work to repair the damage recently inflicted by a major battle with the Grue Arcane near the galactic core, her sensors scan the cosmos for a suitable sentient for that great and terrible work. When she finds him or her, a bombardment of nanites shall change that being to the core, reshaping it to her mighty vassal and pawn to go forth and assist her with her task. But whether said herald succeeds or fails, the Gorgon will endure.

The Gorgon is, the Gorgon was, and ever shall the Gorgon be!

-

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Protean Paragon

"I've had this sneaking feeling throughout the game that it's there to be won." -Ron Atkinson

Abilities: 30 pp

STR 30 [16] (+10/+3)

DEX 14 (+2)

CON 30 [16] (+10/+3)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 16 (+3)

CHA 18 (+4)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+10 Melee)

DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed)

Init: +2

Grapple: +21

Saves: 8 pp

TOU +10 (+10 Con)

FORT +10 (+10 Con)

REF +5 (+2 Dex, +3)

WILL +8 (+3 Wis, +5)

Skills: 32 r=8 pp

Bluff 6 (+10)

Concentration 5 (+8)

Disguise 0 (+4/+39)

Language 1 (Russian) (Base: English)

Perform (clarinet) 6 (+10)

Notice 2 (+5)

Sense Motive 7 (+10)

Stealth 5 (+7)

Feats: 13 pp

Attack Focus: Melee 4

Dodge Focus 4

Move-By Action

Power Attack

Quick Change

Takedown Attack

Uncanny Dodge (mental)

Powers: 67 pp

Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp]

Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp]

Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp]

Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 pp]

Sneaky Array [23+3=26 pp]

Drain Wisdom 10 (Extra: Vampiric) (PFs: Precise, Reversible, Slow Fade)

AP: Illusion 4 (all senses) (Extras: Duration [sustained], Selective) (Flaw: Phantasms) (PFs: Progression 2 [25 ft], Precise)

AP: Insubstantial 4 (Extra: Progressive [+0])

AP: Morph 7 (same mass) (PFs: Covers Scent, Precise)

Super-Strength 1 (Heavy Load: 1.5 tons) [2 pp]

costs

abilities 30 + combat 24 + saves 8 + skills 8/32 + feats 13 + powers 67 = 150 pts

----------------------------------------------------------------

Design Notes:

Remember when Grimalkin kissed Atlas? Sure, we all do. Anyway, here's the child that was born as a result of that union. Fairies and Grue shouldn't mix, kids. But when they do, they make pretty OK babies! The Protean Paragon here flies around, bashing people in the face like her dad, but she's also got the incredible sneaky powers she inherited from her mom. She's really, really good at catching people flat-footed: her massive Morph lets her turn into anything and be damn near impossible to detect even for Notice specialists at her PL, while her Illusion is so good she can keep it up while in combat. (Sure, the DC to see through it isn't that high, but a well-placed Illusion is one you never even try to make the roll to avoid. You should never quite know who or what you're dealing with when interacting with the Protean Paragon, which is all for the best given the dual deceptions: Grue AND fae, at the very heart of her nature.

If sorely pressed, she can fall back on her Grue heritage and grab you by the head to suck your brain energy out! It'll grow back, eventually, but in the meantime a foe with no WIS is an unconscious foe, and even if he stays on his feet, a guy with low WIS is one who'll have a much harder time seeing through all those Illusions and other tricks. Her Stealth is relatively low, she's more a deceiver than a sneak. Her skills in general could be higher, but I've gone with the idea that she has a lot of potential to grow; this is her quite early in her career! (Hence the fact that she's adventuring in her Claremont uniform, presumably...) If you want to get her more points, add a vulnerability or two: I could see her with a fae allergy to cold iron, or a Grue's potential problem with fire. You could combine the two, I guess, but really most people have a vulnerability to red-hot iron pressed against their flesh.

Have her hang out with my Meta-Grue build upthread as sisters in Grueness, who know all about being judged by appearances. Luckily with her Morph and Illusion powers, her appearance can be just about whatever she wants! Grue-influenced PCs naturally have a lot of Enemies, both among humans and among their relatives in the stars. Grue may be Acceptable Targets, kind of, but those who carry their blood are just victims of circumstance. Such Complications make for great HP fonts: I can't stress enough how helpful those are to have in play! Stand up for the oppressed people and fight the power. Heck, maybe you could work up a plot of people with Grue blood in them running around and facing (entirely reasonable, but still bad) prejudice from the man on the street...

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Gumshoe

"Here's looking at you, kid."-Humphrey Bogart

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 0 pp

STR 10 (+0)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON n/a (-)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 10 (+0)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+12 ranged/+14 pistol)

DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed)

Init: +3

Grapple: +6

Saves: 7 pp

TOU +8 (+8 Protection)

FORT n/a

REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3)

WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4)

Skills: 13 pp=52 r

Bluff 10 (+10)

Gather Info 5 (+5)

Intimidate 5 (+5)

Investigate 5 (+5)

Knowledge: Streetwise 5 (+5)

Language 1 (Italian) (Base: English)

Notice 8 (+10)

Search 5 (+5)

Sense Motive 8 (+10)

Feats: 19 pp

Attack Focus: Ranged 6,

Attack Specialization: Pistol

Dodge Focus 6,

Fearless,

Luck,

Power Attack,

Precise Shot,

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 93 pp

Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp]

Immunity 40 (Fortitude Saves, Mental Effects) [40 pp]

Insubstantial 3 (Extra: Duration [Default] [+0]) (PF: Innate) [16 pp]

Noir Array [18+1=19 pp]

Blast 6 (Extra: Autofire) ‘pistol’

AP: Dimensional Movement 2 (any dimension with a ‘picture’ descriptor)

Protection 8 [8 pp]

Regeneration 5 (Recovery Bonus +0) (PF: Regrowth) [6 pp]

Super-Senses 4 (Postcognition) (Limited: Medium [images]) [2 pp]

Drawbacks: -6 pp

Weakness (magnetic fields; Uncommon, Major [-1 all physical ability scores], per 1 minute, potentially lethal; -6pp)

costs

abilities 0 + combat 24 + saves 7 + skills 13/52 + feats 19 + powers 93 - drawbacks 6 = 150 pts

-----------------

Design Notes:

The detective was in the middle of doing his usual work, shaking down a few skells for information on what Nicky the Nose was doing in Canarsie the night the old man took a header into his own mansion's swimming pool, when suddenly there was a great flash of light and noise and he was elsewhere: standing in a darkened movie theater while gunsels in shiny union suits and dames with great gams battled it out right in front of him with crazy powers like something from a kiddie comic book, or even the Liberty League! Luckily he recognized Lady Liberty and figured out what was going on, and he pulled out his trusty .45 and put two slugs in what turned out to be a creation of some lowlife freak named Toy Boy and his Toon Gang. It was only later, when he sat down to talk with the heroes, that they got a good long look at him and realized something very, very strange was going on.

Here's my build for the Gumshoe archetype from Instant Superheroes, a classic character from pulp comics who has been grafted onto superhero stories with mixed success. The idea here, based on Film Noir, one of my favorite characters from the Algernon Files, is that the Gumshoe is indeed a fictional private eye from a film serial from the 1940s (one that luckily included a mention of the Liberty League to give him a frame of reference) that got pulled into the real world thanks to the mighty magic of the mysterious being known as Quirk. (And yes, he is in black and white and sees the world that way too; treat his colorblindness as a Complication) As this is a little beyond the resources of even your typical super-scientist, the Gumshoe has been let loose on the streets to do what he does best: fight crime! Hey, it turns out you don't need Affects Corporeal on a Blast with Insubstantial 3.

Always having to fight the urge to narrate his activities is probably a complication too, really. So the idea is that he is a movie image brought to life: he can shoot people with his gun (which hurts despite being made of some kind of crazy movie energy) and do some decent low-level PI work. Real bullets pass right through him, since he's just made of a flickering image that really should be on a screen there. He's conscious of his true 'nature' and can use it to his advantage: talking to images on the wall to see if they saw a guy pass through here just a few minutes ago, or duck into pictures on the wall for cover! (You could depict that last one as Concealment, depending on exactly how you want to play with the many points available in the array.) He's a sucker for a sob story or a dame with great gams, and maybe likes a little whiskey now and again. He's not Batman, but Batman isn't a living image straight off a movie screen, either!

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Temporal Conqueror

“Conquest is not in our principles; it is inconsistent with our government” -Thomas Jefferson

The Qajarite Shah is a mystery. To students of Freedom City’s history, his story is a familiar one: God of Gods and King of Kings, the Shah is lord and master of the galaxy in the year 4000! Dissatisfied with the mere mastery of stars and planets, the Shah has set himself the mighty goal of conquering Time! Itself! Again and again, the Shah and his mighty armies of power-suited, genetically engineered warriors have tossed themselves against the heroes of Freedom City. Possessing mighty weapons like plasma cannons, antigrav troop carriers, and warriors wielding everything from flaming swords to whirling chain-swords, the Shah and his armies have been a formidable threat at every appearance: in his powersuit, the Shah was the equal of the Centurion himself (though not, as the Man of Adamant graphically demonstrated to the Shah, his superior), while the mightiest of his personal guard, the Immortals, can fight most superheroes on even terms. The Shah is not a particularly imaginative conqueror: a direct ground invasion was defeated in the 1940s, an attempt to conquer the Earth from space in the early 1960s was subverted by the genius of Alexander Atom, a strike against the Lor defeated by Daedalus in the 1980s, and most recently the time-traveling Freedom League teamed up with the Patriot Regiment to crush the Shah’s invasion of the 1860s, Each time he has been outsmarted, outgeneraled, or simply crushed by the weight of superior power. Despite all this, he is a potent threat, particularly since his era (which he describes as simply “the time of LIGHT that came after the time of DARKNESS”, focal point for his “CRUSADE THROUGH TIME”) lies so far beyond the era of even the Freedom Legion that his technology is largely a ‘black box’ even to Freedom’s finest sciences.

But why hasn’t he killed us all yet? It’s a logical question: surely someone with regular access to time travel and a galactic empire could simply pour never-ending waves of Space Warriors into the past, burying Freedom’s heroes in unstoppable waves of supermen and women from millennia in the future. Why hasn’t he dumped a nanite plague in the past to devour people with super-genes, or sent agents back to strangle the Centurion in his rocket, or any number of other simple, logical things that anyone with a time machine and no morals could do if they sought to crush their enemies in the womb? Granted, there have been collapses of civilization between our day and the Shah’s, but surely he could use his command of time travel to find out something. When directly confronted by these contradictions, he grows visibly enraged, booming that the “WEAK and FEEBLE” minds of the past could never understand a 10th-level intellect such as himself. With his combination of great power and complete lack of strategic forethought, he is a frustrating enigma for hero and villain alike. (Indeed, both Mastermind and Overshadow have sought the Shah out with feelers for an alliance over the decades, planning to steal and subvert his power for their own: the Shah, however, notably does not share his resources with others). Too, that our grandchildren’s distant descendants are evidently enslaved by a world-conquering tyrant, and an inept one at that, is certainly a depressing thought for any optimist about the nature of the human condition.

The truth about the Shah is at once much better, and much worse, than anyone in Freedom City knows. The Qajarite Shah is no king, no god, particularly in his own era. In an age of universal prosperity and peace, where men, women, and the rest from a thousand different species live together in brotherhood across the Milky Way, the Shah is a freak: socially stunted and given to intellectual obsessions, the Shah lives in the lower dimensional reaches noosphere where he was born, still sharing space with the ancestral members of his birth plurality. Unable to function in ‘modern’ society, he turned his attention to the grim violence of the past, a dark era where there was only conflict and bloodshed! Deciding he could make himself a king in those past worlds, he used cloning banks and nanite fabricators to build himself an army of toy warriors, and again and again has used a temporal generator with access to the past of an alternate dimension (thee are fairly common for household use in the 4000s, given how easy they make waste disposal) to assault the past for the pleasure of his hindbrain. His legion of concubines are synthetic faux-intelligences that are the only members of the opposite sex who have ever shown any interest in him; his armies are so many toys created by the impossible super-science of the future, his ‘playing’ with them making him the subject of scorn and derision by his peers. The Shah of Shahs and King of Kings, like many so-called great conquerors, is ultimately a small, petty man in control of something much larger and more important than himself. If ever he came truly close to victory, the Shah would have no idea what to do with himself.

The best lasting way to defeat the Shah near-permanently would be to send agents forward into the future to speak directly to the locals: true, the local authorities would do nothing to help inhabitants of an alternate world's past, but the Shah's embarrassing antics pose a serious problem for his birth-plurality in a culture where social esteem and tolerance are very important: one young man's obsession with violent imagery and conflict makes everyone involved look bad. The evidence for this will be easy to find: the Shah proudly boasts of his 'conquests' to his fellow social deviants, living for their praise and worship being one of the few things that gives his life meaning,. If the heroes can manage the trip to the distant future and navigate the bizarre, alien world of humanity at the cusp of the technological and social Singularity, they can end the Shah's campaign of terror with the man himself near-tears as the elders of his plurality take away his cloning vats and his temporal projector, all the while lamenting to each other about where they went wrong with this one. Oh, he'll storm and fuss about how this isn't over: one day he'll get out of his home noosphere and be his own man, one day he'll get his revenge on the past by leading an unstoppable army of warriors to crush all that lie before him and become a god! But in the end, he'll come up with excuse after excuse not to leave the noosphere, and he'll ultimately sink into the haze of virtual realities and hallucinogens that mark the typical deviants of the world of 4011.

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Rock Star

When friends asked me, Can we help? I'd say, Not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest or teleport me off this rock. I used that line from Star Wars. -Charlie Sheen

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 26 pp

STR 30 [14] (+10/+2)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 16 (+3)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 16 (+3)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+10 Unarmed)

DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed)

Init: +7

Grapple: +10/+19

Saves: 10 pp

TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection)

FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3)

REF +6 (+3 Ref, +3)

WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4)

Skills: 48 r=12 pp

Bluff 7 (+10)

Intimidate 7 (+10)

Knowledge Pop Culture 10 (+10)

Languages 1 (Spanish) (Base: English)

Notice 8 (+10)

Perform (DJ) 7 (+10)

Sense Motive 8 (+10)

Feats: 16 pp

Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2

Dodge Focus 6,

Elusive Target,

Evasion,

Improved Initiative,

Luck,

Move-By Action,

Power Attack,

Takedown Attack,

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 62 pp

Music Array [32+3=35 pp]

Damage 10 (Extras: Area [Cone], Selective) 'killer chords'

AP: Emotion Control 10 (Extra: Area [Cone]) (Flaw: Sense-Dependent [auditory]) (PFs: Insidious, Subtle) 'dope beats'

AP: Enhanced STR 16 and Impervious TOU 8 and Super-Strength 4 (Heavy Load: 12 tons) 'mighty ax'

AP: Illusion 10 (visual and auditory) (PFs: Progression 2 [25 ft]) 'setting the scene'

Flight 6 (500 MPH) (PF: Moving Feint) [13 pp]

Immunity 4 (aging, disease, poison, temporal effects) [4 pp]

Protection 5 [5 pp]

Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1/week) [1 pp]

Super-Senses 3 (Accurate Analytical Hearing) [3 pp]

costs

abilities 26 + combat 24 + saves 10 + skills 12/48 + feats 16 + powers 62 = 150 pts

-

Design Notes:

Here's Breakdown and Zephyr's kid as a PL 10 starting hero. It's really too bad we didn't see this fellow in play, as I for one would have enjoyed the threads that would have resulted from his conception. Anyway, he's a blaster and sonic controller. Flying around at nearly the speed of sound (with Flight 6, he goes about Mach 1 at sea level as a move action), he blasts people with waves of powerful sound and music, or just punches them in the face with the power of rock and roll behind him. I deliberately didn't give him any Dazzle: the man is a DJ and blowing out people's eardrums is not what you're supposed to do in that profession even if you're a superhero in combat. What kind of rock star brags about deafening people, even bad guys? Instead he has waves of powerful sound that he can use to clear a room with the sheer power of his music, visual and auditory illusions that make a great backdrop to his work.

I really don't like Arrays of Alternate Forms: they really are one of those things that you should not play in a setting where people are usually held to a common set of rules. And even if they aren't, well, you shouldn't go out of your way to annoy the GM! His big array is a decent compromise, given that his stats only change a little: in particular, his saves and TOU doesn't change, it just varies whether he's doing damage with unarmed strikes or musical blasts. I figure some of his powers come from his mother's phenomenal command of temporal energy: that's why he shares her immunity to temporal effects. Might he spend a while in his manhood traveling from era to era to learn music alongside the various greats? If so, he should hook up with Freedom City's own Bluesman, a jazz-playing two-fisted pulp hero from the 1920s, and one of the first black heroes in Freedom City.

Minus the connection to PCs, I think this would work just fine as a music-based hero. If you don't like the (pretty generic) rock/club music theme I've given this guy, feel free to sharpen his skills and powers in whatever direction you want. Consider making a country/western themed hero, or a metalhead! You could make this an international hero if you want, perhaps inspired by the metal scene of Botswana. Music really is international and immortal: that's why this guy can go everywhere, and why you never really can kill him off. Bluenoses may sneer, haters may hate, but the sheer power of human creativity expressed in song and dance is about as heroic as you can get!

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Ring-Bearing Paragon

"Up up and away!"

Abilities: 30 pp

STR 30 [16] (+10/+3)

DEX 14 (+2)

CON 30 [16] (+10/+3)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 16 (+3)

CHA 18 (+4)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+10 Blast/Unarmed)

DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed)

Init: +2

Grapple: +17/+27 Max

Saves: 8 pp

TOU +10 (+10 Con)

FORT +10 (+10 Con)

REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4)

WILL +7 (+3 Wis, +4)

Skills: 32 r=8 pp

Diplomacy 6 (+10)

Knowledge: History 5 (+5)

Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 5 (+5)

Languages 2 (Arabic, Latin) (Base: English)

Notice 3 (+5)

Perform (choral singing) 4 (+8)

Sense Motive 7 (+10)

Feats: 13 pp

Attack Specialization: Blast 2

Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2

Dodge Focus 4

Power Attack

Quick Change 2

Takedown Attack

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 67 pp

Device 6 (Power Ring) (Hard to Lose) (PF: Restricted [Family]) [25 pp]

-Blast 10 [Dynamic] [20+1+2+2+2=28 pp]

-DAP: Flight 10 (total of 11 [25000 MPH])

-DAP: Impervious TOU 10

-DAP: Super-Strength 10 (total of 11 [Heavy Load: ~1500 tons)

-Space Flight 2 (2c) [2 pp]

Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp]

Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp]

Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp]

Immunity 3 (aging, starvation and thirst, sleep) (Flaw: Half-Effect) [2 pp]

Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 pp]

Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1/week) [1 pp]

Super-Strength 1 (Heavy Load: 1.5 tons) [2 pp]

----------------------

Design Notes:

Here's Cobalt Templar and Quo-Dis' daughter as a flying brick with a power ring. Not an easy build! (This would also be a respectable build if you were trying to make Sodam Yat, or his non-union non-DC universe equivalent.) She's not that tough right now. It takes a while for Ultimen to come into their full power, and even with human blood inside her (ugh!) she's just a kid. Granted she's a kid who can fly, lift cars, and punch through steel doors, but her older relatives can do some really crazy things. She's got a lot of years to develop yet. In the meantime, she gets by with her baby Ultiman powers as well as the power ring she inherited from her dad, one that lets her tap directly into the energy of the cosmos: sure she can't call on vril on her own yet, but on the other hand she can fly very fast, lift very heavy objects, and blast people across the room. With her ring's help, she can even fly up into space and have crazy adventures among the planets! (2c is fast! Very fast indeed. But it could be faster as things go)

I figure she's had a pretty conventional childhood in some respects: she's a nice, if blunt person just like her mom and dad, she's real pretty, and she sings in the church choir. Isn't that a pretty sound? (I figure the Ultimen aren't really religious types; if only because their connection to vril gives them all a connection to the meaning of the universe. You don't really get excited about the source of all things if you hang out with it all the time and you've known it since you were a little kid) In other respects, of course, she's been not conventional at all: she's been a globe-trotting adventurer, flying around from archeological site to archeological site (her power ring saves on air fare, that's for sure!) for many crazy adventures! One day she's fighting monsters from the depths of reality with her mom; one day she's fighting Zombie Dan Brown and his army of Implausible Zombie Priests! Either way it's a pretty good life when your parents are superheroes!

As mentioned above, I had to cut the massively overbuilt Ultiman archetype for this one given everything going on with it: if you're attracted to playing a conventional Ultiman, look upthread for a regular archetype that I built as something that's a little more representative and a lot more playable, at least compared to the book Ultiman Exile archetype. I think this build would work in multiple contexts: maybe this is a superpowered Lor who has come to Earth to seek her fortune, bearing her mighty alien heritage and a powerful cosmic artifact. Perhaps she's the last of her people, shot to Earth with a glowing ring in the rocket with her that is the last inheritance of her race? This would also work fine as any other sort of archetype mashup, given that she's basically Supergirl with Green Lantern's ring. The idea of playing an heir to a superheroic legacy is a fun one, especially if your parents are still there...

costs

abilities 30 + combat 24 + saves 8 + skills 8/32 + feats 13 + powers 67 = 150 pts

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Dragonclad

"This is my BOOMSTICK!"-Army of Darkness

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 46 pp

STR 30 [20] (+10/+5)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 20 (+5)

INT 20 (+5)

WIS 20 (+5)

CHA 10 (+0)

Combat: 32 pp

ATK: +8 (+10 Blast)

DEF: +8 (+4 flat-footed)

Init: +5

Grapple: +13/28

Saves: 5 pp

TOU +12 (+7 Protection, +5 Con)

FORT +6 (+5 Con, +1)

REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3)

WILL +6 (+5 Wis, +1)

Skills: 56 r=14 pp

Climb 5 (+10)

Craft: Mechanical 10 (+15)

Knowledge: Arcane Lore 5 (+10)

Knowledge: Physical Sciences 5 (+10)

Knowledge: Technology 10 (+15)

Medicine 5 (+10)

Notice 5 (+10)

Perform (drums) 5 (+5)

Sense Motive 5 (+10)

Survival 1 (+6)

Feats: 5 pp

Inventor

Master Plan

Power Attack

Takedown Attack

Speed of Thought

Powers: 48 pp

Device 2 (Magic Sword) (hard to lose) (PFs: Restricted 2) [8 pp]

-Strike 2 (PFs: Extended Reach, Improved Crit 2, Incurable, Mighty, Precise, Subtle)

Device 7 (Dragon Armor) (hard to lose) (PFs: Restricted 2) [30 pp]

-Blast 10 (PF: Accurate) [21+2=23]

-AP: Damage 10 (Extra: Targeted Area [Cone]) (PF: Progression on Area)

-AP: Enhanced STR 10 and Super-Strength 5 (Heavy Load: 24 tons) (PF: Super-Breath)

-Flight 2 (25 MPH) [4]

-Impervious TOU 8 [8]

Immunity 3 (disease, poison, starvation and thirst) [3 pp]

Protection 7 [7 pp]

costs

abilities 46 + combat 32 + saves 5 + skills 14/56 + feats 5 + powers 48 = 150 pts

---

Design Notes:

Dragonclad was born after his moms (Dragonfly and Ironclad) were forced to make a hasty relocation to Freedom's Reach after the Incident. (You know the one I mean). Though their tremendous technical expertise and formidable prowess meant the two young ladies were swiftly able to become quite powerful in the region (as well as to induce certain political changes in both the local monarch and the local dominant religion), they were both confronted with the problem of how to find partnership and companionship in a world where no one washes. Luckily, they had ways of dealing with that, and between one thing and another, their son Dragonclad was born. (Good old-fashioned magic super-science helps explain how two girls had a boy) They equipped him with a formidable battlesuit constructed via the mightiest magics and most powerful technologies they had learned to wield, armed him with a powerful sword carrying the power cosmic, and the doughty young genius went off to seek his fortune in a world he never made!

OK, so this is my attempt at building a magic battlesuit: I think he's mostly OK? I figure he spends most of his time on your typical fantasy battlefield flying around and blasting people with his fire-breath: with his Flight and Impervious, he's essentially immune to mundane weapons on the ground. Since his suit is primarily technologically-based, what the locals interpret as firebreath is like as not some sort of cosmic energy blast or maybe just good old-fashioned napalm. Two glands in the mouth send your enemies south, as the dragons love to say. When sorely pressed, he enters melee with the help of a mighty sword that lets him cleave her way through his enemies: in a superheroic context, of course, he can do all that non-lethally, smashing mooks aside with a ridiculously over-sized sword and bringing down really tough opponents with the vigorous application of firebreath.

Incidentally, I figure the immunities and protection are a result of her moms treating him in the womb so that he could survive in the really stinky world of Freedom's Reach. I really cannot emphasize how much even a vaguely realistic fantasy world would seem like a dirty hellhole to modern eyes. Luckily Freedom's Reach is a basically nice setting, where magic means women don't die in childbirth all the damn time, and where they've managed to bring in Venetian-style democracy rather than kneel under the lash of a king. (Absolute monarchies suck, kids. It gets really tough to watch Lord of the Rings with that in mind. Go democracy! This young fellow has the values of a modern world in a fantasy one, or maybe he's a Claremont student learning about the world his parents came from before he goes home again. He's here to drag these people into at least the 19th century.

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Demeter

How can people trust the harvest, unless they see it sown? -Mary Renault

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 20 pp

STR 10 (+0)

DEX 14 (+2)

CON 16 (+3)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 26 [16] (+8/+3)

Combat: 24 pp

ATK: +6 (+10 Plant Control)

DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed)

Init: +6

Grapple: +6

Saves: 13 pp

TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection)

FORT +7 (+3 Con, +4)

REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4)

WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5)

Skills: 44 r=11 pp

Bluff 12 (+20)

Knowledge: Life Sciences 5 (+5)

Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 5 (+5)

Notice 7 (+10)

Language 1 (Greek) (Base: English)

Perform (harp) 2 (+10)

Profession (florist) 3 (+5)

Sense Motive 6 (+8)

Survival 3 (+5)

Feats: 15 pp

All-Out Attack

Distract (Bluff)

Dodge Focus 6

Improved Initiative

Luck

Move-By Action

Power Attack

Precise Shot 2

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 70 pp

Enhanced CHA 10 [10 pp]

Immunity 6 (aging, disease, poison, starvation and thirst, suffocation) [6 pp]

Impervious TOU 5 [5 pp]

Plant Control Array [22+2=24 pp]

Blast 10 (PFs: Accurate 2) 'grain bomb'

AP: Dimensional Movement 2 (any Olympian dimension) and Teleport 7 (700 ft/200 miles) (PFs: Easy, Progression 2 [x500 lbs], Turnabout) 'plant-walking'

AP: Snare 10 (PFs: Accurate 2) 'entangling vines'

Protection 5 [5 pp]

Regeneration 19 (Bruised 3 [no action], Injured 6 [no action], Staggered 5 [standard action], Disabled 4 (5 minutes), Resurrection 1 [1 week]) (PF: Regrowth) [20 pp]

Drawbacks:

Vulnerable (fire) (common, moderate) [-3 pp]

costs

abilities 20 + combat 24 + saves 13 + skills 11/44 + feats 15 + powers 70 -drawbacks 3= 150 pts

---

Design Notes:

Never, never, never get drunk with an Olympian. Even if you trust them. I'm not saying they're all bad people, but (especially) if they're drunk too, even the most moral son or daughter of Olympus can get up to some pretty rowdy business. This is a PSA, folks. Unfortunately, Fleur de Joie skipped one day in 9th grade health class, and missed this very important announcement. One thing led to another, and Moira Morley reappeared in the mortal world just long enough to give Fleur de Joie and Dark Star her daughter by her. Wait, what? But the first rule of magic in dealing with the Greeks is of course "No backsies!", and the Olympian lockdown afterwards left them with few options and one squalling baby with a very pretty smile and bright green hair. Well, you know, these things do happen in Freedom City. How does it even work?

OK, so this is a very, very pretty plant controller, with a divine and plant heritage inside her veins. I figure she's worried her mom a lot over the years; she's more stressful to deal with her than her less crazy kind of sister Amaryllis, but luckily her button-down parents in general have probably been nice enough to steer her down a decent path. She's got the usual tricks I give low-level plant controllers, but she's also an immortal and very, very persuasive, especially to men or ladies of a certain preference. I didn't give her plant-based Emotion Control because she's got Charisma to burn, but you can fluff her Enhanced Charisma as being the product of strategic plant manipulation. If you don't like that, going ahead and giving her the Emotion Control would also make a lot of sense.

Minus the insane clown backstory, this would make a lot of sense as a sheet for the daughter of the goddess Demeter: perhaps she had herself summoned to Earth as a way of keeping tabs on the place, and decided that maybe another kid wouldn't get sucked into Hades and hook up with her brother. Demeter probably worries a lot about Persephone, for all that her daughter and Hades have come to an accommodation over the years, and planting a superhero loyal to her at ground-level is a good way to make sure she has an 'in' on finally rescuing her daughter. And maybe her grandkids! And wouldn't the sons and daughter of Hades be an interesting set of characters to have in the background in the Freedomverse...

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Grass of all Blades

"A man who wants time to read and write must let the grass grow long."

Sloan Wilson

PL: 10 (150)

Abilities: 26 pp

STR 16 (+3)

DEX 20 (+5)

CON 16 (+3)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 12 (+1)

Combat: 28 pp

ATK: +6 (+12 melee/+14 swords)

DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed)

Init: +5

Grapple: +15

Saves: 10 pp

TOU +7 (+3 Con, +4 Protection)

FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3)

REF +8 (+5 Dex, +3)

WILL +10 (+2 Wis, +8)

Skills: 72 r=18 pp

Acrobatics 10 (+15)

Bluff 8 (+9/+13)

Climb 7 (+10)

Intimidate 4 (+5)

Knowledge: History 5 (+5)

Knowledge: Streetwise 5 (+5)

Languages 2 (French, Spanish) (Base: English)

Notice 8 (+10)

Perform (jaw harp) 4 (+5)

Sense Motive 4 (+6)

Stealth 10 (+15)

Survival 3 (+5)

Feats: 20 pp

Acrobatic Bluff,

Attack Focus: Melee (6),

Attack Specialization: Sword,

Attractive,

Dodge Focus (5),

Equipment,

Evasion,

Luck,

Move-By Action,

Power Attack,

Takedown Attack,

Uncanny Dodge (olfactory)

Powers: 41 pp

Immunity 6 (Aging, Disease, Poison, Suffocation, Starvation and Thirst) [6 pp]

Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp]

Protection 4 [4 pp]

Planty Array [24+1=25 pp]

Damage 8 (Extras: Autofire, Penetrating) ‘plant sword’

AP: Teleport 7 (200 miles) (Extra: Accurate) (PFs: Easy, Progression [250 lbs], Turnabout) ‘walking through plants’

Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp]

Super-Senses 3 (Acute Scent, Darkvision) [3 pp]

Equipment: 5 pp

Sword (Strike 3) (PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty)

costs

abilities 30 + combat 28 + saves 13 + skills 18/72 + feats 20 + powers 41= 150 pts

-----

Design Notes:

This is what happens when Willow and Jack of all Blades decide to celebrate her moving into the Interceptors' backyard by getting busy. (Consider this a cautionary tale: don't get with a fertility being in the springtime. Or if you do, wrap it before you tap it.) Their son is a swordsman of great skill and a plant manipulator of no little prowess: I figure his primary 'blade' is some kind of hardened blade of grass, one that he uses with great finesse to cut his way into the toughest and most dangerous opponents. He carries a regular sword too, just in case some emergency happens: his dad was very good at the whole combat training thing. He's very sneaky and very fast, though like his mom he's not that great dealing with people. Not hard to look at, though! He'd fit in really well as a nature-themed swordsman, perhaps the ranger hero of your local park? Or maybe he works out in Wharton State Forest on the fringes of the city. He's not the sort of guy to take intrusions into his space lightly, at least if those intrusions are carried out with hostile intent.

I think this guy works pretty well as a Badass Abnormal exemplar: take away his powers and put him in a tactical vest (or maybe buy some Defensive Roll with those points) and he'll still be one of the finest swordsmen in the world: with his power he has superhuman scent and can see in the dark, as befits someone with a superhuman connection to nature and strong relationship with acuity. He can teleport 200 miles at a step, letting him get around most of the Eastern Seaboard in just a few steps. Heck, he can even jump up to the orbital garden on the International Space Station or the Freedom League's own Lighthouse, though he'd really better get some Change Velocity on his Teleport if he wants to avoid terrible things happening in the process. He'd be a dangerous assassin and this build would make a great eco-themed bad guy; as it is he'd work great as a fast, tough hero.

Switch the theme up however you want: with his ample powerbase, this guy could have a wide variety of themes. (And indeed, maybe he will: watch this space!) You can mix up his signature 'weapon' however you like; maybe he uses a few feet of solid ash as his own baseball bat, or maybe he's a ranged fighter with a plant-based bow and arrow! Don't go beyond the iconic comic book weapons, though. With the exception of halfway funny characters like the Green Sharpshooter above, your superhero shouldn't be running around carrying guns! Not even plant-themed guns, which would probably involve some kind of potato launcher. I dunno. Stick with this badass melee fighter with plant powers as an awesome backup, and you'll do just fine. One possible change might be to give him a Snare in his big array; as that's a lasting effect, he could tie people up with his plant powers and go to work with his flashing blade

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Grim of all Blades

"What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas."-Vegas

Abilities: 32 pp

STR 14 (+2)

DEX 18 (+4)

CON 18 (+4)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 16 (+3)

CHA 16 (+3)

Combat: 30 pp

ATK: +7 (+13 Melee) (+15 Sword)

DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed)

Init: +8

Grapple: +15

Saves: 10 pp

TOU +7 (+4 Con, +3 Protection)

FORT +7 (+4 Con, +3)

REF +7 (+4 Con, +3)

WILL +7 (+3 Wis, +4)

Skills: 18 pp=72 r

Acrobatics 11 (+15)

Bluff 12 (+15)

Knowledge: History 5 (+5)

Knowledge: Streetwise 5 (+5)

Languages 5 (Celtic, German, Hebrew, French, Spanish) (Base: English)

Notice 7 (+10)

Perform (bagpipes) 2 (+5)

Sense Motive 12 (+15)

Stealth 11 (+15)

Survival 3 (+5)

Feats: 24 pp

Accurate Attack

Acrobatic Bluff

All-Out Attack

Attack Focus: Melee 6

Attack Specialization: Sword

Challenge (Fast Taunt)

Defensive Attack

Dodge Focus 5

Improved Initiative

Move-By Action

Power Attack

Quick Draw [draw]

Takedown Attack

Taunt

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

Powers: 36 pp

Damage 3 (PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty) (Extras: Autofire and Penetrating on Strength and Strike) [11 pp] 'fae sword'

Protection 3 [3 pp]

Super-Senses 10 (True Sight) [10 pp]

Teleport 4 (400 ft/1 mile) (Extra: Accurate) ‘fae step’ [12 pp]

costs

abilities 32 + combat 30 + saves 10 + skills 18/72 + feats 24 + powers 36 = 150 pts

-

Design Notes:

So Grimalkin and Jack of all Blades went on an adventure to Las Vegas together where maybe they partied a lot and ended the fight really hammered after getting drunk on the casino's tab (the price of saving the place from bad guys!) and nine months later she had a baby who could summon a magic sword. Look, who can say how these things happen? Anyway, Grim of all Blades here is a badass fae swordswoman with a lot of cool tricks: she can step through a wall and come out a mile away, summon a mystic blade from nowhere that'll cut through almost anything, and with her formidable fae powers of observation she can see through any trickery or illusion, mortal or otherwise. She can still be fooled by a particularly talented human liar, though: deception from the heart is always the toughest to see through. She's also one of the deadliest fighters on the planet, trained to be a skilled and daring fighter by her uncle, Jack of all Blades.

Whaaat? Anyway, she's a skilled athlete and equally at home in her mother's Avalon or her father's Freedom City; she can fight in a forest as well as on a skyscraper. There have been some worries that True Sight is overpowered, and indeed it is quite a powerful ability. Consider using it not as a mystery-killer, but as a mystery-finder: there are some enigmas that she'll be the only one with the capacity to even notice, leaving it up to her to use the remainder of her formidable abilities to track down the bad guy. That said, if you do think True Sight is overrpowered, feel free to cut it down to something more manageable. Another bit of flavor you might want to add is giving her the Transmit flaw on her Teleport: maybe give her a fae-friendly medium like plants, mirrors, or water. Flavor her swords however you want; she has a generic super-sharp, super-fast rapier right now that you could mix up however you like.

Concealment would make another reasonable power for a fae-inspired character, as would pixie wings like her half-cross-universe brother Sundance upthread. If you don't like the connection to PCs (or if the players in question are somewhat put off by this possibility), this would be just fine as a human being with fae powers: perhaps she's Oberon and Titania's answer to Captain Marvel? Keep in mind as you play this character that this is not a fantasy site: your superhero doesn't need to care what the fairies think about her and what she does. The Avalon-or-whatever flavor here is just that, flavor; it' not what your character should be about. Superheroes are about breaking old mystic pacts and punching elder things in the face, not dancing to their sprightly jig.

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