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Hooded Menace (NPC, Tier 2)


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Character Name: Hooded Menace

Power Level: 10 (165 PP)

Trade-Offs: None

Unspent Power Points: 0

In Brief: An aspiring archeologist, now the earthly avatar for Apep.

Alternate Identity: Brandon Dunn

Identity: Secret (the general public is unaware of the existence of Apep)

Birthplace: Logan's Landing, Iowa, United States

Occupation: Supervillain

Affiliations: Freedom University

Family: Father (estranged), mother (estranged).

Description:

Age: 22 (DoB: 1990)

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Height: 6' 4"

Weight: 220 lbs

Eyes: Black

Hair: Black

Brandon Dunn is a large, well-built man who towers over most anyone he meets. His skin is unnaturally pale and his eyes and hair are matte black and cut short. Apep's power provides him with any sort of clothes he can imagine, as long as its black; he usually appears in black jeans, a white muscle shirt, and a black hoodie with the image of a coiling serpent on the back, picked out in white.

Brandon is not an agile man and prefers to stand in one place, glowering if need be. When utilizing his powers shadows boil around him threateningly, obscuring his features and seeming to leech the very light from the environment.

Power Descriptions: Brandon Dunn has access to the collective powers and abilities of Apep, an ageless cthonic god. Or at least most of them -- Apep's power was divided ages ago and now Brandon seeks to gather them all. Primarily, he can summon snakes made of shadow-stuff; to strike out at people, to wrap them up, to create extra arms, or even to block blows aimed at him.

History: Brandon Dunn was an inquisitive child, always digging deeper for answers. Often literally. He grew up on a farm in Iowa, and he was never happier than when he was digging along the property line, or in the fields and forests beyond. He grew to love history and the past, and nothing thrilled him more than turning up some stone arrowheads, or brass bullet shells, or some animal bones long picked clean. Once he found a half-complete dinosaur skeleton. He donated it to the local high school; they sold it to a collector for several thousand dollars. The money was spent to buy the football team new training equipment.

That was the way things worked in Brandon's home town. Sports were the most important thing for most of the citizens. Brandon's parents sure didn't care what he dug out of the ground; they just cared that he was big and strong, but he was utterly indifferent to sports. Part of it was that he was simply clumsy, but an equal part was he simply had no desire to work hard at pushing other people around.

As the end of high school neared and college loomed, all Brandon could think of was getting out of his little town. He applied to every single college that had a half-decent archeology department (even then he knew that he wanted to spend his life digging in the dirt) and tried for every scholarship that was vaguely applicable. When the replies came back, the best choice was Freedom College.

Brandon had grand dreams for college. A meeting of minds, a place where he would be judged base on his genius. He thought it would be free of the cliques that plagued his high school experience and to a degree he was correct; at Freedom College, everyone belonged to a single clique instead, the party crowd. Brandon, though, wanted to study hard and a good job, so he once again found himself on the outside.

So he persevered and studied hard, and landed an internship with the Hunter Museum of Natural History. It was announced that the museum would be participating in a dig in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, and Brandon volunteered. He was chosen and sent on his way. The expedition explored several tombs recently uncovered after a hard rain, including one that bore no dynasty markings; in fact it seemed to be from an era long before pharaohs were interred in the valley.

Brandon worked hard and ingratiated himself to the scientists leading the expedition, so he was allowed to follow the first group to enter the tomb. They broke the seals and entered the stone structure, discovering that it was fairly small and in fact seemed to be a natural stone corridor leading to a single, square room with a low roof. The interior of the room was covered in hieroglyphs and other, more arcane symbols, and dead center was a single ceramic jar bearing the image of a coiled snake. As he was examining the jar, his clumsiness struck and Brandon tripped over his own feet, knocking the jar off its plinth and shattering it. A cold, dark fog filled the tomb almost immediately and Brandon felt like he was going to die. Instead a voice spoke to him, promising him power and revenge on his enemies if he just bowed to the will of Apep. The terrified student agreed at once and became heir to a power from before the beginning of time.

In ancient Egypt, the most evil of deities was the snake-god Apep. It was a cthonic deity, a thing of darkness and chaos from before the creation of the world, and it longed to return all of creation to that primordial darkness. It was held back by, among other things, the power of gods like Horus and Ra. In time, though, the priest-sorcerers of Egypt grew concerned with the growing power of the snake-god's cult. To defy it they enacted the ritual of the Binding of Apep, which forced the god to take a corporeal form and allowed it to be cut in eight pieces, and the eight pieces to be sealed in specially prepared jars. Many of these had since been looted or otherwise removed from the tombs and temples where they were placed, but at least one remained to be upset by Brandon Dunn.

Empowered, Brandon walked out of the Valley of Kings and traveled the world, hunting down more of the jars that held Apep's essence. Now he's tracked the remainder to Freedom City, so he has returned there. He lost his job at the Hunter Museum lost any chance of graduating, but he doesn't care. Now he has a new goal, a new purpose, and a new friend whispering in his ear from the shadows...

Personality & Motivation: Brandon feels slighted by the world; with more supportive parents or a different home town or a better college experience, he could have become one of the great scientists of history! Now he's out for the revenge against all those who've wronged him. He often comes across as angry and bitter to others, but he knows in his mind that he's fully justified; or at least that's what the voice whispering in his ear tells him.

Apep's motives are both impossible to fully comprehend and deceptively simple. It wants to destroy the world, indeed all that exists, and will do so by any means necessary. Not because it's angry at the world or because it lost something, simply because the order and life of creation is anathema to its existence and it wishes to return to the primordial chaos that existed before time began. That being said, Apep is not a raving monster of destruction. It is quite content to play the (millennial) long game, accruing power and resources before striking.

Powers & Tactics: Hooded Menace has had time to explore his news powers and he's found that he has some distinct advantages. Usually he'll start a fight by blanketing the area in suffocating darkness, then striking at his enemies from concealment. He prefers to focus on one until it is dealt with, but he's not above tying down one or two foes to cut down on the number of attackers. If he's outmatched, he'll attempt to withdraw under cover of darkness and make good his escape.


Abilities: 8 - 2 + 6 + 4 + 2 + 4 = 22PP

Strength: 18 (+4)

Dexterity: 8 (-1)

Constitution: 16 (+3)

Intelligence: 14 (+2)

Wisdom: 12 (+1)

Charisma: 14 (+2)

Combat: 12 + 8 = 20PP

Initiative: +3

Attack: +6 Melee, +6 Ranged, +10 Shadow Snake Array

Grapple: +14, +18 w/ Additional Limbs, +23 w/ Super-Strength

Defense: +10 (+4 Base, +6 Shield), +2 Flat-Footed, +5 Flat-Footed w/ Shield

Knockback: -5

Saving Throws: 7 + 6 + 6 = 19PP

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

Fortitude: +10 (+3 Con, +7)

Reflex: +5 (-1 Dex, +6)

Will: +7 (+1 Wis, +6)

Skills: 80R = 20PP

Climb 8 (+12)

Concentration 4 (+6)

Gather Information 8 (+10)

Intimidate 12 (+14)Skill Mastery]

Investigate 3 (+5)

Knowledge (Arcane) 3 (+5)

Knowledge (History) 7 (+10)Skill Mastery]

Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy) 3 (+5)

Language 4 (Ancient Egyptian, French, English [Native], Hebrew, Latin)

Notice 9 (+10)Skill Mastery]

Search 10 (+12)

Sense Motive 9 (+10)Skill Mastery]

Feats: 8PP

Accurate Attack

Defensive Attack

Improved Grab

Improved Pin

Move-By Action

Power Attack

Skill Mastery (Intimidate, Knowledge [History], Notice, Sense Motive)

Startle

Powers: 12 + 4 + 7 + 35 + 12 + 5 + 4 = 79PP

All powers have the Divine descriptor

Additional Limbs 4 (8 limbs, +4 Grapple) + Elongation 4 (50 ft. Extra: Projection) [12PP] (Shadow Limbs, Shadow)

Enhanced Feat 3 ( Challenge [Fast Startle], Fearless, Quick Change 2) [4PP]

Protection 7 [7PP]

Shadow-Snake Array 15 (30 PP array, Feats: Accurate 2, Alternate Powers 3) [35PP]

BE: Strike 6 (Extra: Autofire [10], Linked [super-Strength] [+0], Feats: Affects Insubstantial 2, Mighty) + Super-Strength 5 (Effective lifting Str 40, Extra: Linked [+0]) [29/30PP] (Shadow-Arm Strike, Shadow)

AP: Blast 10 (Extra: Penetrating) [30/30PP] (Boiling Shadow Toss, Shadow)

AP: Snare 10 (Extra: Constricting) [30/30PP] (Shadow Snakes Bind, Shadow)

AP: Obscure 10 (Visual & Mental, 10 000 ft [~2 miles], Extra: Independent) [30/30PP] (Shadow Fall, Shadow)

Shield 6 [12PP] (Shadow Arms Intercepting, Shadow)

Super-Senses 5 (Counter Visual Obscure [All]) [5PP]

Teleport 6 (20 miles, Feat: Subtle, Flaw Long-Range Only, Medium [shadows]) [4PP] (Shadow Walk)

Drawbacks: -3 = -3PP

Vulnerable(Light Energy, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Moderate) [-3PP]

Abilities (22) + Combat (20) + Saving Throws (19) + Skills (20) + Feats (8) + Powers (79) - Drawbacks (3) = 165 Power Points

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