Amelia

Frank Brubaker stood in the northwest corner of his downstairs parlor, leaning in as he intently studied his interior decorator's latest acquisition.  The marble pillar displayed a fired clay sculpture, a human bust in profile.  The side of the face and neck facing out toward the room was open, as if the flesh had been peeled off.  Inside, the skull was flipped in the opposite direction from where it should have rested.  The shape of the head on the outside remained consistent with normal human anatomy, but the visible interior showed the vertebrae trailing down through the open mouth, while the esophagus and aorta twisted up under the teeth.

 

"This is the kind of sick crap that passes for art these days?"  His arms remained crossed in front of his chest as he turned around to face his decorator.  Taylor was less than a year out of her Master's program, young and blonde, Frank's favorite kind of woman.  He hadn't hesitated to play the sad widower angle for all it was worth, and he'd made sure to blur the lines between the professional and the personal as fast as he could.  He smirked as he looked her up and down.

I'm operating under the assumption that it's functionally impossible for the Tattered Man to lie to Mister Strix, since TM's Bluff score is +3 and MS hits 30 on Sense Motive with Skill Mastery.

Mister Strix took an abrupt sniff of the air and tilted his head slightly in John's direction.

 

No fluctuation in heartbeat.  No extra sweat.  Hormones, pheromones, all stable.  He's telling the truth, or at least, the truth as he sees it.

 

"If it's personal, not business, then the fire may not have been about destroying evidence.  It might have just been overkill.  You stab a stranger once.  You stab a friend fifty times.  Still leaves an untraceable killer and an unidentifiable victim.  The first of many.  Anyone who hates this much has more than one person on their hit list.  No one gets this kind of power and stops using it."

Quote

"Mr. Strix. I've heard of you. You disrupt the right people."

 

"Not a popular assessment."

 

Good.  The name is spreading.  It's starting.

 

The man in white didn't look directly at either person when he talked.  He spoke "at them" rather than "to them," over his shoulder.  His head occasionally cocked to the side at an angle, like a dog listening to its owner.

 

"The killer didn't leave a trail," he whispered, to seemingly no one in particular.  "They didn't walk in here, like you did.  They didn't walk out.  They just appeared, right where they needed to be, created an impossible fire, and disappeared.  They didn't touch anything.  Either they had intimate knowledge of this building, or they were able to trace their target's exact location.  Or both.  The killer isn't just a pyrokinetic, but a teleporter as well.  May also possess extra-sensory abilities.  Almost unheard of for someone in that weight class to bother with Bedlam."

It's been a week and a half since the last IC post.  What's the status of this thread?

Rep tables are here if anyone wants to make any checks.

 

Skill Mastery with Stealth is DC25 Notice for Mister Strix to not pull a Batman on you.

 

Skill Mastery with Notice hits DC30 for any relevant checks, and unless there's something stopping him, he'll take 10 on any applicable Search checks to hit DC25.  He'll sniff around, feel up, and listen to as much of the crime scene as he can.

 

If any Notice or Search checks reveal any clues, then he'll take 10 with Investigation to hit DC25, which is 10 higher than the DC15 required to collect a clue properly.  That gives him a +2 circumstance bonus to the clue analysis, for which he'll also take 10 on the Investigation check, hitting DC27.  His Feature allows him to analyze clues then and there at the scene, as if he had a laboratory (since he effectively is one).

 

Not really mechanically relevant, since PC behavior can't be affected by interaction skills, but Intimidation check to big-dog everyone as he comes out of hiding: 17.  Not very scary.

 

The carbon stench from the fire remnants wrestled with the cool salt air of the harbor outside inside Mister Strix's nose as he crept through the warehouse.  Sounds like the lady with the trenchcoat has back-up somewhere.  They must be in radio contact.  It's not like she's talking to herself.  But I should be able to hear the other voice coming through the speaker at this range.  If she does have a radio in her ear, then it’s small, too small for my echolocation to make out.  Maybe she has some kind of subdermal implant.  Either way, that's fancy tech for...what, a private detective?

 

Neither one is a plainclothes, or a gangster.  Mister Strix didn't smell cordite on either of the people at the scene.  Neither carried a gun.  And neither one would be in here alone if they were.

 

“You’re not cops,” he growled.

 

The man in white stepped out of the shadows, his boots making as much noise as a gentle snowfall.  Even from across the room, he could feel the lingering heat.  He sniffed at the air a few times, and ran his fingers along various seemingly random surfaces.  “People set fires like this thinking they’ll destroy all traces.  But you can never get rid of every bread crumb in the trail between where you are and where you've been.  You always leave something behind.“

Back in 2016, a guy who describes himself as "media activist crafting conscious memes" had a sickeningly narcissistic personal essay published by a few sites (at least one of which has since taken it down at his request because of the backlash).  "Love Will Be The Death of Us: Notes On The End of My Marriage" is an (unintentionally) hilarious read by itself.  But then another, better, more self-aware writer worked up a brilliant blow-by-blow parody, "Infidelity Will Be The Death Of My Marriage: The Unbelievably Brave Story Of One Incredibly Sensitive Man’s Intensely Personal Journey Towards Divorce."  She coined the brilliant phrase "sad boner confessional" to describe this specific flavor of self-indulgent tripe.  I couldn't make it through either piece without laughing out loud, multiple times.  If you've ever put up with a friend or lover whose head seemed permanently lost up their own ass, then I think this will resonate with you like it did with me (I swear my last ex is this guy's opposite-sex clone).  I'm tempted to turn this one into an Eye of Argon style party game where you pass a copy around the table and each person reads it out loud for as long as they can without cracking up.

The skinny young Latino man barely looked old enough to shave, let alone to have the several amateur prison tattoos Mister Strix felt as he ran his fingers along his arms.  He was checking for track marks, and he found them in abundance.  He pulled the man up to his feet.  "What is your name?"

 

The young man mumbled.  "Cesar."

 

"Cesar, did you do what these men said you did?"

 

"Gotta eat, Man.  No one else is hiring, you gotta do dirt."

 

"Got to get more drugs you mean."

 

"What else is there to do in this town?"

 

"Cesar, did you hurt anyone?"

 

"Huh?"  Cesar looked up at Mister Strix's masked face for the first time.

 

"When you robbed Mister Poplawski.  Did you hurt anyone?"

 

Cesar's heartbeat jumped.  That's a "Yes."

 

"What's that gotta do wit-"  Mister Strix punched him in the solar plexus.  He fell back to his knees, wheezing.

 

Mister Strix grabbed Cesar by the throat and lifted him back up to his feet.  "Give me the names of your friends, the ones who helped you with the robbery.  I'll tell them the same thing I'm telling you: Get out of my city.  Tonight."  He pulled Cesar around, unlocked his cuffs, and dropped him back onto the sand.  "If you're still in Bedlam tomorrow, then you become one of my special projects, too.  If the Scarpias don't kill you first.  Or if the Mara doesn't kill you to appease the Scarpias.  This city doesn't need people like you."  He turned back to the cops, still handcuffed down in the sand.  "Any of you."

 

The other cop started yelling.  "The Mob!  It's the Mob!  Who do ya think we're takin' orders from?"

 

MacMillan growled at his partner.  "Dammit, Gabe!  Shut the hell up!"

 

Mister Strix addressed MacMillan's partner, but his face stayed focused on MacMillan.  "Scarpias or Gorganzuas?"

 

Gabe almost couldn't breathe, he was talking so fast.  "Scarpias!  Scarpias!  The boys, we do jobs for 'em sometimes.  Hit a place ain't paid their protection money.  Make someone into a missing person.  Whatever they need!"

 

"And this one?"

 

"Stupid little junkie #@$% and his wetback friends knocked over Bernie Poplawski's jewelry shop.  Guy pays protection money to the Scarpias.  Never missed a month.  Cops and capos buy our wives anniversary presents from his shop, fer chrissakes!  Nobody messes with his shop!  Orders came down from on high to make an example outta this little #@$%."

Mister Strix then knelt down next to the beaten cops, pulling their wallets and phones from their pockets.  "Why were you going to kill him?"

 

One of the cops groaned.  "Go to Hell, Mask.  Your type don't run things here."

 

Mister Strix turned his back on the cop and thumbed through his wallet.  "John MacMillan, 714 Waldron Street.  Born March 7th, 1970."  He turned back to Officer MacMillan, knelt down, and held the man's drivers license in front of his bruised face.

 

"You will tell me why you tried to kill this man.  You will tell me which syndicate pays you to run these little errands.  You will tell me who else is in your gang.  And then you will leave this city forever.  I don't care if you go into Witness Protection or if you just disappear.  But this town doesn't belong to your kind anymore.  You will tell me what I want to know, because if you don't, I'll make you and your friend here my special project.  These bones..."  Mister Strix rested his knee down on MacMillan's broken thigh bone.  MacMillan screamed.  "...These bones take six weeks to heal.  I'll mark my calendar.  And six weeks to the day, I'll come back.  I'll find you, at 714 Waldron Street.  And I'll break them again.  And I'll wait another six weeks, until you're all healed up, and then I'll do it again.  And again.  The people you work for will kill you if they find out you talked to me.  They might just kill you anyway, since you're not useful while you're lying in bed with broken bones.  But I won't kill you.  I'll just keep hurting you.  Forever."

 

The dull roar of the tides and the cops' own smug overconfidence distracted them from the pellet bouncing along the sand toward their feet.  They didn't notice it until it exploded into a cloud of white smoke, so thick they couldn't see their hands in front of their faces.  They screamed and cursed, pointing their guns in random directions.  They didn't get a chance to get their bearings, or even to get a shot off, before the guns were knocked out of their hands, and their bones started to break.

 

When the smoke cleared, both cops were lying prone on the sand, coughing and groaning, bound with their own handcuffs.  Mister Strix stood over them, his face inclined downward but not directly pointed at either one.  Both of their guns, their service pistols and their drop-pistols, were lying in a pile at his feet.  He knelt down, methodically emptied the clips and cleared the chambers, then threw all four guns into the water, one after another.  "You can't be trusted with these," he snarled.  Then he pulled the cops' badges off their shirts.  He turned his back on them for a moment, ran his fingers along the badges to read the numbers, and then turned back to the cops.  "And you don't deserve these."  He heaved the badges into the water as well.

Mister Strix couldn't run or jump as fast as the dirty cops could drive, but he knew where they were going, and he could get there in a more direct fashion.

 

The cops drove up to Gravesend Beach, pulled the young Latino out of their trunk, and marched him down toward the water, past the occasional pile of broken glass or sleeping homeless person, both equally oblivious.  When they neared the water, the cops kicked the young man to his knees, and pulled pistols out of their waistbands.  Not their holsters; their registered service weapons were still taking up residence there.  These guns were clearly off the books.  They laughed down at the helpless young man.

 

"You play wit' fire, you get burned."

"Any last words, Dirtbag?"

 

Mister Strix was jumping between the rooftops of Hardwick Park when he heard the struggle.

 

"OW, Man, whatta you hasslin' me fo'?"

*CRACK*

"Shuttup and getcher taco-truck @$$ in there!  Yer goin' fer a ride."

 

Strix turned and cleared the next two rooftops just in time to witness a pair of middle-aged white patrol cops shoving a young, handcuffed Latino man into their squadcar.  Only they weren't shoving him into the back seat.  They were stuffing him into the trunk.

 

One of them pulled out a cell phone.  He had the number on speed-dial.  "Yeah, we got one.  Takin' him to the beach now to read him his rights.  Yeah, will-do."

 

Mister Strix (16)

Flames of Revenge (3)

Stomp The Grass To Startle The Snakes (13)

Mister Strix whispered again into Roger Pennington's ear.  "Their prison has been unlocked.  They are packing for their journey.  You will make sure it is well-funded.  They leave town tonight, with your money in their pocket.  Five figures.  Enough to start a new life, a real life.  If anything happens to them, I will hold you personally responsible.  You and your friends are done buying from Brubaker's stock.  He's going out of business."  Roger's heart skipped a beat.  He didn't know the seller's name, Mister Strix mused to himself.  Must have just dealt with middle-men.  But now he knows, and he'll talk.  Good.

 

"Do you understand?"  Roger's shoulders slumped, and he nodded.  "Good."  The man in white slammed Roger's forehead against the mirror.  Roger's vision clouded for a second from the pain and disorientation.  When he could see straight again, all he saw was the spiderweb of cracks that used to be his bathroom mirror.  The man in white was gone.

 

Roger stared for a moment at the crescent-shaped blade embedded in the counter through his left hand.  Then he slipped on his own blood, fell to his knees on the tile floor, and screamed for his wife.  At least I...OW GODDAMMIT OW...at least I don't have to go to the Smirlock's ball tonight...

Roger's hand weeped blood onto the counter.  The blood quickly slid onto the floor, pooling into the grout between the tiles.  His eyes filled up with tears.  He whimpered and struggled.  But the man in white's grip, as forgiving as a bear trap, held him firmly in place.

 

The man in white half-whispered, half-growled into his ear.  "The shed.  Your housekeepers sleep on the ground, and piss in a bucket.  It's not much of a servants quarters.  Locked from the outside.  Dead giveaway, even without the smell.  They're not servants.  They're slaves."

 

Roger tried to shake his head, but he could only move it a tiny fraction of an inch in any direction.

 

Mister Strix reached down with his left hand and gave the blade a slight twist.  Roger tried to wail, but with Mister Strix's hand clamped down on his mouth, he still couldn't muster more than a whimper.  "If you try to lie to me, Roger Pennington, I'll know.  I'll know, and I'll hurt you.  My name is Mister Strix, and I will never get tired of hurting you."  His left hand wrapped around Roger's left forearm and squeezed.  "Do you understand?"

 

Mister Strix loosened his grip slightly on Roger's face.  Roger nodded vigorously and whined "Mmm hmm!"

Roger froze for a fraction of a second after the light went out.  That was all the time the man creeping up behind him needed.  His right hand grabbed Roger's face, clamping down over his mouth and pulling his head back against the man's shoulder.  His left hand stabbed Roger's left hand with a crescent-shaped blade, pinning it down to the tile counter.

 

Roger's screams and whines were muffled by the vise-like grip of the man's hand.  A bit of streetlight trickled in through the bathroom window, just enough for Roger to see that his attacker was dressed in white, from head to toe, except for a pair of large black circles around where his eyes should be.  When he moved, pinpoints of yellow gleamed and twinkled at the center of those black circles, glaring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

 

Or so he thought.  Mister Strix couldn't see their reflection in the mirror.  He couldn't see anything.  He could smell Roger Pennington's sweat, his blood, his labored breaths behind Mister Strix's fingers.  He could hear that sweat sliding down Roger's face, could hear the blood sliding down between his fingers, and his heart practically vibrating out of his chest.  But the picture in his mind painted by his echolocation barely registered any difference between the mirror and the rest of the bathroom wall.

Roger Pennington lived in Stone Ridge, the most exclusive neighborhood in Bedlam City.  They had an eight-foot high stone wall, an army of round-the-clock armed private security guards, and one of the most vigilant homeowner associations in the country.  His mansion may well have been one of the most secure places in the state.

 

It wasn't enough.

 

Roger's wife called up to him as he ascended the stairs to their second-floor master suite.  "The car is picking us up in an hour."  He sighed.  "Thank you, Dear."  Roger let a wry chuckle escape his throat.  His wife would have more enthusiasm than he for the Smirlock family's "charity" functions even if she wasn't half his age.  "Charity..." he muttered.  "As if any of the money ever actually makes it to the poors."

 

He twisted the shower spigot in the master bathroom to the "Hot" end, then turned to the sink and brushed his teeth while waiting for the water to warm up.  He had just finished his bottom back molar when the bathroom light clicked off.  The toothbrush fell out of his hand and his mouth, into the sink.  "Wha..."

 

As an alternative, I can have Mister Strix jump in to replace Slither, if the rest of you want to keep this one going.

In Brief: Thomas Eichhorst meets The Purple Man.

 

 

Character: The Butcher

Power Level: 10

Tradeoffs: None

Power Points: 253

 

Residence: At least a dozen in Bedlam City alone.

Base of Operations: Bedlam City at present, although he can relocate to anywhere in the world with minimal difficulty.

Alternate Identities: Jurgen Liebniz (Birth Name), Johann Morgenstern (Current Alias)

Identity: Secret.  Jurgen Liebniz is legally deceased, and would be wanted for war crimes if he were known to be "alive."  The general public is not aware that "Johann Morgenstern" is The Butcher.

Birthplace: Vienna, Austria

Occupation: Vampire

Affiliations: Nazi Germany

Family: All Deceased

 

 

 

Description

Age: 110 (DoB: 1906)

Apparent Age: 35

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Caucasian (German)

Height: 6ft 4in

Weight: 190 lbs.

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blond

 

Jurgen is the Aryan ideal made flesh.  He is classically handsome, with a strong jaw, piercing eyes, and a relaxed smirk.  He radiates confidence, and he moves with the grace of a ballet dancer.  He usually dresses in tailored three-piece suits, the kind with five-digit price tags.  He looks like a fashion model or a movie star.

 

Power Description

 

Jurgen is a vampire, an undead monster wearing human skin.  His body is infused with the entropic essence of the Schattenwelt, the dimension of pure hungry darkness.  Drinking blood sustains his immortal existence and fuels his supernatural powers.  He doesn't need to eat food or breathe air.  He is unnaturally strong, fast, and durable.  He can jump over buildings, outrun a car, punch through brick walls, and tear steel with his bare hands.  He can regenerate from almost any wound.  His skin and bones are like kevlar stretched over carbon fiber.  He can control the mind of anyone who looks into his eyes.  He can read thoughts and see echoes of past events by tasting blood.

 

 

 

History

Jurgen Liebniz grew up in post Great War Austria as the spoiled son of wealthy aristocrats.  He was handsome and charming, but not particularly smart, driven, or exceptional in any other way.  Nazi ideology seduced him early on, and he was a proud, enthusiastic member of the Third Reich.  Eventually he rose to a command position at the Majdanek concentration camp in Poland, which his cruelty was legendary even by the standards of the Holocaust, earning him the unofficial title "The Butcher of Majdanek."  After World War 2, he was captured by the Allies and charged for his many, many war crimes.  But he didn't survive long enough to be tried.  One day, he collapsed in his cell, and was transferred to a hospital, where he lay bedridden, weak and half-delirious.  Three days later, he was dead.  Three days after that, he dug out of his grave and began stalking the night, drinking the blood of the living.  He never truly "met" the vampire who decided that the world deserved to be plagued by Jurgen Liebniz for all eternity, so he had to figure out his abilities through instinct and trial-and-error.  He spent the next few decades using his mind-control powers to make his unlife comfortable and indulge his desires.  Sometimes that means brainwashing whatever government employees he needs to create a new identity.  Sometimes it just means murdering innocent people because of the color of their skin, drinking their blood, and carving swastikas and triangles into their flesh.

 

 

 

Personality

"Evil."  Not just evil, but the most banal, lazy form of evil.  He has the power to do great things, but he lacks the ambition to do anything beyond sating his most base personal appetites.  He was born handsome and wealthy, and he joined up with a movement where his random win in a genetic lottery counted for as much as actual ability.  He's never had to work hard for anything in his life, and he isn't about to start now.  Jurgen is a sadistic psychopath who genuinely enjoys hurting people.  Sometimes he delays or even forgoes killing someone, if he's enjoying their suffering enough.  He's egotistical, petty, and extremely thin-skinned.  He cannot bring himself to ignore a sleight or let it go unpunished.  He still wholeheartedly buys in to Nazi ideology.  He truly despises the disabled, Jews, and anyone of non-Caucasian ethnicity, non-hetero sexual orientation, and/or non-cis gender identity, seeing them only as prey and/or playthings.  He views cis-gendered women as worthless for anything but breeding more of the Master Race, and serving and titillating him personally.  He doesn't hate any of those people for anything they ever did to him.  He just hates them because it's easy to hate them.  It's easy to identify and to scapegoat them, and he doesn't have to derive pride from accomplishing anything of value when he can just be proud of being a white man.  His one virtue might be his patience.  After a few decades without aging, he has come to feel like he has all the time in the world.  But even this can be a weakness that his enemies can exploit, since it makes him overconfident.

 

 

 

Powers & Tactics

Jurgen had some military training in life, but he hasn't used it in decades, so he's forgotten most of it.  He was never an elite soldier, just a bully who knew where to brown his nose.  He's an unskilled, undisciplined brawler who relies on his superhuman durability, strength, agility, and speed to win the day.  He'll usually let his opponent get the first couple of hits, just to show off his invulnerability, scare them, and toy with them.  He barely has to fight at all to get his way most of the time, thanks to his mind-control powers.  He's definitely not used to fighting anyone who can fight back in any significant way.  That's a situation he'd find intriguing at first, but the novelty would quickly give way to anger.  His go-to move when fighting superheroes is to distract them by mind-controlling as many innocent bystanders as he can to either fight on his behalf or put themselves in harms way.

 

 

 

Complications

Note: As an NPC, Jurgen does not receive Hero Points, and since he is not bound by any power point allotment, he doesn't "need" Drawbacks.  This is a list of his weaknesses and quirks for narrative and reference purposes.

• Glamour Failure: There are several physical signs of Jurgen's supernatural nature.  Some are immediately obvious, while others could require a Notice or Sense Motive check to consciously perceive
  • His flesh is unnaturally pale.
  • His flesh is cold to the touch.  His body is the same temperature as his surroundings, or colder.  He is invisible to Infra-Vision.
  • He does not breathe.  When he sleeps, or when he is Disabled, there are no signs of life; he appears to be a corpse, albeit a well-preserved one.  Since the area around him is often unnaturally cold, he is often the only one in the room without visible breath.
  • His heart does not beat.  He has no pulse.
  • He cannot eat food.  His teeth can break it up, and he can identify different foods by taste as he could in life, but they no longer taste like “food” to him.  Mortal food feels like licking a rock or chewing paper.  If he forces himself to swallow it, then he will vomit it back up, along with a great deal of blood.
  • His footsteps do not make a sound, or leave tracks, even in mud or snow.
  • He does not cast a shadow.
  • Both the irises and pupils of his eyes are completely black, and when he feeds or uses his powers, the rest of his eyes turn black as well.
  • He rarely blinks.
  • If he cries, the tears are blood.
  • He does not sweat.
  • His veins do not show through his skin unless he is feeding, fueling his powers, or forcing blood to the surface in order to feed it to another.  When his veins do show through his skin, they appear to be black.
  • He does not bleed when cut or impaled, unless the injury was to his heart, head, or neck.  When he does bleed, his blood appears to be either black or the darkest possible shade of red, depending on the angle at which the light hits it.

When he is about to feed, his appearance changes from “unsettling” to “monstrous.”  His eyes turn completely black, all four of his canine teeth enlarge and extend to triple their normal size, his tongue extends to double its normal length, and his cheeks split open at the corners of his mouth like a “Glasgow Grin,” effectively doubling the size of his mouth.

• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Jurgen’s very existence is unnatural, and the world seems to refuse to acknowledge it.  His footsteps do not leave tracks, not even in mud or snow (per his Super-Movement [Trackless] power).  Machines do not register his presence (per his Concealment [Limited to Machines, Permanent] power).  He does not have a reflection in mirrors.  He is invisible to cameras, still or video.  His voice cannot be heard through a telephone, radio, or video camera.  He cannot measure his weight on a bathroom scale.  Even automatic doors do not open for him.  He can, however, use a keyboard, mouse, or touchscreen to enter data into a computer or smartphone, and he can operate machines by pushing buttons and pulling levers; there seems to be enough of a gap between the input and the machine for it to register the existence of the information.

• Walking Wasteland: Jurgen’s existence is not only unnatural, but actively harmful, both to life and to all which sustains it.  The area immediately around him is often uncomfortably cold, regardless of the actual weather in the area.  Windows may frost over, and puddles may freeze.  Plants near him will often wither, and sometimes even die and crumble into ash.  Small animals like insects and rodents may suddenly drop dead in his wake.  His passage through an area sometimes has an effect similar to salting the earth, preventing any plants from growing there for months or years, if ever again.  (Garlic, Wolf’s Bane, and Roses are immune to these effects, although the color of rose petals may change in his wake, to red, white, or black.)  In his presence, milk may spoil, bread and cheese can mold, and sometimes even metal rusts.  Pregnant animals (including humans) may suddenly miscarry.  These effects are involuntary and inconsistent (per his Uncontrolled, Unreliable Corrosion and Environment Control [Cold] powers).

• Enemy To All Living Things: Jurgen’s presence triggers an intense and immediate fight-or-flight response in all normal animals.  He automatically fails any Handle Animal skill checks.  Larger animals will either attack him or flee, making a great deal of noise in the process.  Smaller animals, such as rodents and insects, will either flee, or just drop dead.

• Revive Kills Zombie: Since he is a creature of death and unlife, any Healing power effect which works on living creatures will instead inflict Damage of equal rank upon him.

• Horror Hunger: Despite being Immune to Fortitude effects, Jurgen requires the normal amount of sleep for a human, and he must consume blood for sustenance the same way that humans require food and water.  He cannot achieve restful sleep unless he sleeps on or in soil from his homeland, which has not been blessed or consecrated, and he cannot achieve restful sleep while exposed to sunlight.  The most nourishing and flavorful blood is fresh from a living human’s vein, while that human is experiencing intense emotion (positive or negative).  The further his feeding deviates from those ideal circumstances, the less nourishing and satisfying the blood becomes, the more preoccupied he will be with his thirst in general, and the more blood he needs, both to sustain his existence and to fuel his powers.  If he goes without blood and/or restful sleep for extended periods, he will suffer Fatigued and Exhausted conditions, his appearance will deteriorate (first he will appear sick, then aged, and finally dead and decaying), and a GM can arbitrarily reduce the rank of one or more of his powers.  If he goes too long without blood or restful sleep, he cannot recover from damage, and he loses access to most of his powers entirely, as reflected with his flaws and drawbacks.

• Unstoppable Rage: If Jurgen goes too long without blood, or subsists on blood of low quality for too long, or if he has consumed too much blood through the use of his powers, then there is a chance that he will enter a feeding frenzy, attacking and draining a human at the first opportunity.  The GM can force him to make a Will save of varying difficulty to restrain himself when he is thirsty and an opportunity to feed presents itself.  Depending on how thirsty he is, his victim may or may not survive the experience.

• Supernatural Repellant:

Jurgen suffers an instinctual aversion to many items with "cleansing," antiviral, antibacterial, and/or antimicrobial properties, and/or items with spiritual significance, including the following:

• Fire

• Garlic

• Jade

• Mirrors

• Roses and Rose Petals

• Salt

• Silver

• Wolf's Bane

• Any symbols or objects which are sacred to, or have been blessed by, any entity or religion generally associated with “Good,” “Life,” “Light,” or “The Sun,” such as Crosses, Holy Water, or Communion Wafers.

It takes an act of will on his part to approach any of these things.  Examples include entering or leaving a circle of salt, garlic buds, or rose petals, entering a building or room with a cross or a garlic flower mounted above the door, or opening a box, chest, or coffin (whether he is on the inside or outside) with a silver necklace or a rose resting upon it.  The GM can require him to make a Will save of varying difficulty to approach any of these things, and he may suffer Damage (or another attack effect) even if he succeeds.  If he is attempting to approach an inanimate object, then the saving throw should have a static difficulty.  If the object is being brandished by another character, then the GM can require an opposed check, such as his Will save, or his Intimidation or Sense Motive skill, against his opponent’s Charisma, or Bluff, Intimidation, or Perform skill.  Neither he nor his opponent needs to have any faith in the religion associated with the object for it to be effective, but if his opponent does have such faith, then they may receive a bonus to the opposed check.  If he succeeds on his check, then the offending object may crack, bend, break, corrode, melt, or burst into flame.  If such objects actually touch him, or if their shadow falls upon him, then they will automatically inflict Damage (or another attack effect) with an effective power rank chosen by the GM.  His touch may also inflict Damage upon the offending object.  He must similarly strain and injure himself to break bonds made from an offending substance.  Consuming the offending object will cause him to choke and vomit up blood at the very least, and he can suffer internal Damage (or another attack effect) as well, since he will effectively have been poisoned.

 

Attacks made with any of the following types of Damage ignore his Impervious Toughness (as reflected with the Limited flaw on that power), and may also inflict extra damage as if he had the Vulnerability drawback.

• Acid
• Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred powers and weapons
• Cursed/Demonic/Hellfire/Infernal/Unholy powers and weapons
• Fire
• Jade weapons
• Natural Weapons (Claws, Fangs, etc.) of Supernatural Creatures (Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons, etc.)
• Salt-based weapons, such as rocksalt shotgun shells
• Silver weapons
• Wooden weapons (But only if targeting his heart, requiring a coup-de-grace, critical hit, or 5-point Power Attack)

Bonds made from Silver, or from Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred items, will suppress his powers and cause him pain.

• Weakened By The Light: Sunlight burns Jurgen, inflicting Damage (or even Corrosion) of variable rank, depending on how intense the light is and how direct the exposure is.  Any amount sunlight is harmful; if there is light to see by, then it burns.  He cannot avoid the damage simply by standing in a shadow or by wearing sunblock.  His eyes are almost cripplingly sensitive to sunlight, and the rest of his senses are dulled or overwhelmed.  His powers are suppressed by exposure to sunlight (per his power drawbacks).  The GM can inflict penalties to any skill checks, attack checks, and/or saving throws he attempts while exposed to sunlight.  His instinct is to sleep during the day.  If he stays awake while the sun is up, he is lethargic at best, suffering a Fatigued condition at least.

• The Wooden Stake: An attacker can attempt to stake him through the heart with a weapon (including a bullet or an arrow) made of jade, silver, or wood, or with a Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred weapon or a Cursed/Demonic/Hellfire/Infernal/Unholy weapon.  If they succeed with a coup-de-grace, a critical hit, or a 5-point Power Attack, and if he fails his Toughness save, then he will be instantly Disabled.  He will immediately fall limp and unconscious, the wound will bleed as if he were mortal, and he will appear to be dead.  His body will begin to decay normally.  He cannot recover from damage or regain consciousness until the stake has been removed, even if he has sufficient blood in his system.  If his body is burnt (by fire or by sunlight), or dissolved (in acid or holy water), then his body will re-form at his nearest established resting place.  If all of his resting places have been blessed/consecrated or destroyed, then he will die.  However, if his ashes are mixed with blood and buried in his native soil, then his body will re-form and he will rise again.

• Off With His Head: An attacker can attempt to decapitate him with any type of Slashing Damage (super-strong attackers can also attempt to pull or tear his head off).  If they succeed with a coup-de-grace, a critical hit, or a 5-point Power Attack, and if he fails his Toughness save, then the decapitation will succeed, and he will be instantly Disabled if he has not been already.  He will immediately fall limp and unconscious, the wound will bleed as if he were mortal, and he will appear to be dead.  He cannot regain consciousness or recover from damage while his head is separated from his body.  His head and body will both begin to decay normally.  If he has not been staked through the heart, and his head is brought back into contact with his body, then he will begin to recover, assuming he has enough blood in his system, or if he is provided with blood.  If the head and body are burnt (by fire or by sunlight), or dissolved (in acid or in holy water), then his body will re-form at his nearest established resting place.  If all of his resting places have been blessed/consecrated or destroyed, then he will die.    However, if his ashes are mixed with blood and buried in his native soil, then his body will re-form and he will rise again.

• From A Single Cell: Permanently destroying him requires the following actions, at a minimum:

  1. Bless/consecrate or destroy all of his prepared resting places.

  2. Stake him through the heart.

  3. Cut off his head.

  4. Tear off his ears, gouge out his eyes, and tear off his nose.

  5. Stuff one or more of the following items into his mouth, eye sockets, ears, and nasal cavity: Silver (solid or molten), jade, garlic, wolfsbane, salt, rose petals, communion wafers, or other holy items.

  6. Burn (with fire or sunlight) or dissolve (with acid or holy water) his head and his body, separately from each other.

  7. Scatter his ashes beyond recovery.

 

 

Abilities 4 + 4 + (-10) + 0 + 4 + 10 = 12PP

Strength: 30/14 (+10/+2), 35/14 Lifting (Heavy Load: 1.5 tons / 175 lbs.)

Dexterity: 30/14 (+10/+2)

Constitution: -

Intelligence: 10 (+0)

Wisdom: 14 (+2)

Charisma: 20 (+5)

 

 

 

Combat 12 + 12 = 24PP

Initiative: +10/+2

Attack: +10/+6, +8 Claws/Fangs

Grapple: +21/+8

Defense: +10/+6, +5/+3 Flat-Footed

Knockback Resistance: 10

 

ATTACK          RANGE                       SAVE                      EFFECT

Unarmed         Touch                       DC25 Toughness (Staged)   Damage (Physical, Bludgeoning)

Claws/Fangs     Touch                       DC27 Toughness (Staged)   Damage (Physical, Piercing and/or Slashing, Lethal)

Mind Control    Perception (Visual)         DC20 Will (Staged)        Dazed/Compelled/Controlled

Nightmare Face  Area (Perception, Visual)   DC20 Reflex

                                            DC20 Will (Staged)        Shaken/Frightened/Panicked

Transform       Perception (Visual)         DC20 Will                 Memory Alteration

 

A "Compelled" victim can only be forced to take a single standard or move action per round.  The victim is using their other action to resist the mind control.

 

 

 

Saving Throws 0 + 0 + 8 = 8PP

Fortitude: -

Reflex: +10/+2^Evasion (+10/+2 Dex, +0PP)

Will: +10 (+2 Wis, +8PP)

 

 

 

Skills 100R = 25PP

Bluff 10 (+15)

Concentration 8 (+10)

Diplomacy 5 (+10)

Gather Information 5 (+10)

Handle Animal -

Intimidation 15 (+20)

Knowledge (Arcane) 5 (+5)

Knowledge (Behavioral Sciences) 5 (+5)

Knowledge (History) 5 (+5)

Knowledge (Theology/Philosophy) 5 (+5)

Languages 1 (English, German [Native])

Notice 8 (+10)

Search 10 (+10)

Sense Motive 8 (+10)

Stealth 10 (+20/+12)

 

 

 

Feats 17PP

Benefit 3 (Alternate Identity, Wealth 2)

Connected

Elusive Target

Evasion

Hide In Plain Sight

Improved Grapple

Improved Pin

Improved Sunder

Move-By Action

Startle

Takedown Attack 2

Taunt

Weapon Bind

Weapon Break

 

 

 

Powers 24 + 10 + 4 + 2 + 6 + 5 + 5 + 13 + 13 + 2 + 30 + 5 + 1 + 10 + 20 + 1 + 1 + 15 = 167PP

 

Blood Magic 11 (22PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power 5, Drawbacks: Power Loss 3 [Bound with Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred or Silver restraints, Exposed to Sunlight, or Lack of Blood]) [24PP]

 

Base Power: [22PP] (Blood Drain)

Damage 10 (Extras: Alternate Save [Fortitude], Vampiric, Flaws: Requires Grapple, Feats: Insidious, Subtle) [22PP]

 

Alternate Power: [11PP]

 

Damage 2 (Feats: Improved Critical 2, Incurable, Mighty, Variable Descriptor [Piercing and/or Slashing], Drawbacks: Inaccurate, Lethal) [5PP] (Claws/Fangs)

 

Mind Reading 10 (Extras: Action [Move/Standard], Flaws: Duration [Instant, Lasting], Range 2 [Touch], Requires Grapple, Feats: Subtle) [4PP] (Blood Echoes, Telepathy)

 

Super-Senses 4 (Postcognition, Flaws: Medium [Blood]) [2PP] (Blood Echoes, Telepathy)

 

Alternate Power: [20PP]

Emotion Control 10 (Extras: Area [Perception, Visual-Type Senses], Flaws: Limited [Fear]) [20PP] (Nightmare Face)

 

Alternate Power: [17PP] (Mist Form)

 

Flight 3 (50MPH / 500ft per Move Action, Feats: Subtle) [7PP]

 

Insubstantial 2 (Gas) [10PP]

 

Alternate Power: [21PP]

Mind Control 10 (Extras: Conscious, Duration [Sustained, Lasting], Mental, Sensory Link, Flaws: Distracting, Sense-Dependent [Visual-Type Senses], Staged [Dazed / Compelled / Controlled], Feats: Subtle) [21PP]

 

Alternate Power: [21PP] (Mind Control)

Transform 10 (Memory Alteration, Extras: Alternate Save [Will], Duration [Continuous, Lasting], Mental, Range [Perception], Flaws: Distracting, Sense-Dependent [Visual-Type Senses], Feats: Subtle) [21PP]

 

Concealment 10 (All Senses, Extras: Duration [Continuous], Flaws: Limited [Machines], Permanent) [10PP] (Humanoid Abomination)

 

Concealment 2 (All Auditory-Type Senses, Extras: Duration [Continuous], Flaws: Limited [Not vs Machines]) [4PP] (Silence of The Grave)

 

Concealment 2 (Infra-Vision, Extras: Duration [Continuous], Flaws: Limited [Not vs Machines], Permanent) [2PP] (Chill of The Grave)

 

Corrosion 1 (Extras: Action 3 [Reaction], Area [General, Burst], Flaws: Limited [Inert Organic Matter, Plants, Small Animals], Uncontrolled, Unreliable [50%], Feats: Progression [Area] 1 [10ft/rank = 10ft radius]) [6PP]

 

Enhanced Attack 4 (Drawbacks: Power Loss 3 [Bound with Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred or Silver restraints, Exposed to Sunlight, or Lack of Blood]) [5PP] (Super-Agility, Super-Speed)

 

Enhanced Defense 4 (Drawbacks: Power Loss 3 [Bound with Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred or Silver restraints, Exposed to Sunlight, or Lack of Blood]) [5PP] (Super-Agility, Super-Speed)

 

Enhanced Dexterity 16 (Drawbacks: Power Loss 3 [Bound with Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred or Silver restraints, Exposed to Sunlight, or Lack of Blood]) [13PP]

 

Enhanced Strength 16 (Extras: Linked [Super-Strength], Drawbacks: Power Loss 3 [Bound with Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred or Silver restraints, Exposed to Sunlight, or Lack of Blood]) [13PP]

Super-Strength 1 (Heavy Load: 1.5 tons, Extras: Linked [Enhanced Strength]) [2PP]

 

Environment Control 4 (50ft radius, Cold [Extreme], Extras: Action 3 [Reaction], Flaws: Duration 2 [Instant], Range [Touch], Uncontrolled, Unreliable [50%]) [2PP]

 

Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects) [30PP]

 

Impervious Toughness 10 (Flaws: Limited [Not vs Acid Damage, Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred Damage, Cursed/Demonic/Hellfire/Infernal/Unholy Damage, Fire Damage, Jade weapons, Natural Weapons of Supernatural Creatures, Salt, or Silver weapons]) [5PP]

 

Leaping 4 (x25, Running Long Jump: 500ft, Drawbacks: Power Loss 3 [Bound with Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred or Silver restraints, Exposed to Sunlight, or Lack of Blood]) [1PP]

 

Protection 10 [10PP]

 

Regeneration 22 (Recovery 14 [+9], Recovery Rate: Injured 6 [1/round, No rest], Resurrection 2 [1/day], Feats: Regrowth, Drawbacks: Power Loss 3 [Bound with Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred or Silver restraints, Exposed to Sunlight, or Lack of Blood]) [20PP]

 

Speed 4 (100MPH / 1,000ft per Move Action, Drawbacks: Power Loss 3 [Bound with Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred or Silver restraints, Exposed to Sunlight, or Lack of Blood]) [1PP]

 

Super-Movement 2 (Trackless, Wall-Crawling, Drawbacks: Power Loss 3 [Bound with Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred or Silver restraints, Exposed to Sunlight, or Lack of Blood]) [1PP]

 

Super-Senses 18 (Blood Awareness [Descriptor Frequency: Very Common, Sense Type: Olfactory, Default Extras: Radius, Ranged, Extras: Acute, Analytical, Extended 2, Tracking 2], Danger Sense 2 [Sense Types: Auditory, Visual], Darkvision, Extended Hearing, Extended Vision, Microscopic Vision, Uncanny Dodge 2 [Sense Types: Auditory, Visual], Drawbacks: Power Loss 3 [Bound with Blessed/Celestial/Holy/Sacred or Silver restraints, Exposed to Sunlight, or Lack of Blood]) [15PP]

 

 

 

Abilities (12) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (8) + Skills (25) + Feats (17) + Powers (167) = 253 Power Points

 

I broke apart the movement powers, got rid of the Innate feat, and used the spare point to buy another rank of Luck.

8 hours ago, HG Morrison said:

I only have one quibble.  And only one quibble.  Which would be the linked Swimming+Speed+Leaping.  Being the +0 version of linked you would have to swim, run, and leap at the same time.  Which seems a bit unnecessary.

They're linked so that they're the same power.  Conceptually, they're all enhanced movement on account of his enhanced physical abilities.  Mechanically, since they're all one power, the Innate feat applies to all of them.  Made more sense than buying it for each one individually.  I don't think you necessarily have to use all 3 powers at once for them to all be active at once.  But I can break them apart if you want.

 

Mister Strix

 

Gather Information

DC10: Rumor has it a “man in white” has been haunting Bedlam City at night. He may not be human. He might be a ghost or a demon.

DC15: The “man in white,” whatever he is, is real. He calls himself “Mister Strix.” He attacks both cops and criminals. He might be a vigilante, or he might be working for one of the gangs, but none of them will admit to it.

DC20: Mister Strix is a vigilante who seems to concentrate on human trafficking and smuggling more than other types of crime.

DC25: Mister Strix is a vigilante, and he isn't in anyone’s pocket. He doesn't work for any of the gangs. He doesn't work for the cops, or with them. He doesn't have any partners. He’s a wild card, and everyone wants him dead.

DC40: At this level, a character may be able to piece together that Mister Strix is Brian Brubaker, and/or that he is a survivor of the DNAscent process.

 

Knowledge (Arcane)

DC25: The fighting style Mister Strix uses is the original martial art of Atlantis, from which all others are descended. He must have trained in Shambala Vale, the only place on Earth where it is still taught.

 

Knowledge (Life Sciences)

DC15: “Strix” is a genus of owls, part of the “Strigidae” or “True Owl” family.

 

Knowledge (Streetwise)

DC10: Rumor has it a “man in white” has been haunting Bedlam City at night. He may not be human. He might be a ghost or a demon.

DC15: The “man in white,” whatever he is, is real. He calls himself “Mister Strix.” He attacks both cops and criminals. He might be a vigilante, or he might be working for one of the gangs, but none of them will admit to it.

DC20: Mister Strix is a vigilante, and he isn't in anyone’s pocket. He doesn't work for any of the gangs. He doesn't work for the cops, or with them. He doesn't have any partners. He’s a wild card, and everyone wants him dead.

DC25: Mister Strix seems to hit human trafficking and smuggling operations more often than any other types of crime.

 

Knowledge (Theology/Philosophy)

DC15: Owls appear in the mythology of dozens of cultures around the world. They are almost always bad omens, and they are often monsters.

DC20: The strix was a blood-sucking owl monster in Greco-Roman mythology.

DC25: In the oldest vampire myths, instead of transforming into bats, vampires turned into owls.

 

Brian Brubaker

 

Gather Information

DC15: Brian Brubaker is a blind artist living in Bedlam City. His sculptures are shown in galleries around the world.

DC20: Brian Brubaker is the son of Frank Brubaker, the founder and C.E.O. of Brubaker Imports. He was born in Bedlam City, like his parents before him, but he spent several years abroad.  His sculptures are creepy.

DC25: Brian Brubaker was blinded by a car bomb when he was 19. The same bomb killed his mother, Ann Miller-Brubaker, his younger brother, Wade Brubaker, and their driver. Police believe that his father, Frank Brubaker, was the intended target. Frank Brubaker was not injured.

DC40: At this level, a character may be able to piece together that Brian Brubaker is Mister Strix, and/or that he is a survivor of the DNAscent process.

 

Knowledge (Art)

DC20: Brian Brubaker is a reclusive artist in the mold of J.D. Salinger. He’s famous as much for being blind as he is for his sculptures, which are universally macabre. His preferred medium is metal, and his subject matter is human bodies in various states of dismemberment and mutation. His work has been compared to that of H.R. Giger and Guillermo Del Toro.

DC25: Brian Brubaker burst onto the European art scene out of nowhere. He spent a few months building a following there before moving back home to America. He hardly ever shows up to galleries in-person, but his showings usually sell out.

 

Knowledge (Business)

DC20: Brian Brubaker is the son of Frank Brubaker, the founder and C.E.O. of Brubaker Imports.

 

Knowledge (Civics)

DC20: Brian Brubaker was blinded by a car bomb when he was 19. The same bomb killed his mother, Ann Miller-Brubaker, his younger brother, Wade Brubaker, and their driver. Police believe that his father, Frank Brubaker, was the intended target. Frank Brubaker was not injured. The case remains unsolved.

 

Brubaker Imports

 

Gather Information

DC10: Brubaker Imports is a bulk shipping company, which moves freight by land and sea all over the world.

DC15: Brubaker Imports was founded by Frank Brubaker, a Bedlam City native son. He grew up poor and worked his way up from nothing to found one of the most successful shipping companies in the country.

DC20: Brubaker Imports is a subsidiary of Delphic Industries, which is based in Freedom City. Contrary to his public image as a legitimate businessman, Frank Brubaker is a gangster. He rose up through one of the Irish crime syndicates absorbed by the Scarpia Mafia family.

DC25: Brubaker Imports is a front for smuggling and human trafficking, with ties to the Scarpia family. The Justice Department has investigated them several times, but no charges have ever been filed.

DC40: At this level, a character may be able to connect Brubaker Imports directly to The Labyrinth.

 

Knowledge (Business)

DC10: Brubaker Imports is a bulk shipping company, which moves freight by land and sea all over the world.

DC15: Brubaker Imports was founded by Frank Brubaker, a Bedlam City native son. He grew up poor and worked his way up from nothing to found one of the most successful shipping companies in the country.

DC20: Brubaker Imports is a subsidiary of Delphic Industries, which is based in Freedom City.

DC25: Brubaker Imports has been investigated by the Justice Department several times. No charges have ever been filed.

 

Knowledge (Civics)

DC20: Brubaker Imports has been investigated by the Justice Department several times. No charges have ever been filed.

DC25: Brubaker Imports is one of many subsidiaries of Delphic Industries which has come under repeated federal investigation.

 

Knowledge (Streetwise)

DC20: Frank Brubaker is a gangster. He rose up through the ranks of one of the Irish crime syndicates that was swallowed by the Scarpia Mafia family.

DC25: Brubaker Imports is a front for smuggling and human trafficking. They pay a big cut of their profits to the Scarpias.

 

In Brief: Huntress dresses like Moon Knight and learns kung-fu in K'un L'un to control the Daredevil powers she got from Captain America's super-serum.

 

 

Player: Grumblefloof

Character: Mister Strix

Power Level: 13 (9)

Tradeoffs: None
Power Points: 193/196

Unspent Power Points: 3

Veteran Rewards:

• Bronze: Additional character slot at PL12/180PP (Mister Strix)
• Silver: 6PP of free Equipment ranks for Mister Strix, 9PP of Equipment/Minions/Sidekick unclaimed
• Gold: Unclaimed.

 

 

 

Residence: A two-story townhouse with a modest exterior and a heavily renovated interior, located in the Hardwick Park neighborhood of Bedlam City.

Base of Operations: The bunker hidden under his townhouse.

Alternate Identity: Brian Marcus Brubaker

Identity: Secret

Birthplace: Bedlam City, Wisconsin, USA

Occupation: Sculptor

Affiliations: Shambala Temple (former student), The Labyrinth (DNAscent test subject)

Family: Franklin "Frank" Brubaker (Father), Ann Miller-Brubaker (Mother, Deceased), David Brubaker (Older Brother), Joan Romita-Brubaker (Sister-In-Law), Samantha "Sammee" Brubaker-Mazzuchelli (Older Sister), Eduardo "Ed" Mazzuchelli (Brother-In-Law), Wade Brubaker (Younger Brother, Deceased), Alexandra "Alex" Nocenti (Ex-Girlfriend)

 

 

 

Description

Age: 26 (DoB: 1991)

Apparent Age: 26

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Caucasian of mixed German and Irish descent

Height: 6ft 3in

Weight: 250 lbs.

Eyes: None (Grey prosthetics)

Hair: Blond

 

The skin on the top half of his face is still heavily scarred from being lacerated and burned by jagged shards of superheated shrapnel.  His hair and sunglasses hide most of the scars, but not all of them.  He wears a set of acrylic prosthetic eyes which mimic his original grey eye color.  When out in public in his civilian identity, his usual mode of dress is "business casual," and he wears the dark sunglasses and wields the white cane which universally mark him as a blind man.  Were it not for his blindness, strangers might assume he was an NFL linebacker or a Hollywood stuntman.

 

Power Description

Thanks to the DNAscent process, all of Brian's physical abilities are just beyond the normal human range.  His strength, endurance, agility, and reflexes are all slightly higher than what any normal person could achieve, and unlike athletes without super-powers, his body is optimized for all kinds of physical activity.  Unlike a normal human, he could be the world's greatest weightlifter, sprinter, and marathon runner, all at once.

 

All of Brian's non-visual senses absorb information with far greater detail and sensitivity than a normal human.  He can hear a person's heartbeat from across the room, hear a tear sliding down their cheek, and feel the vibration through the floor when they take a step.  He can rest a pretzel on his tongue and count exactly how many grains of salt are embedded into it.  He can feel the weight of a pistol and know exactly how many bullets it contains.  He can run his fingers along a page of text and "read" it by feeling the difference between the ink and the paper, or "view" a picture by feeling the differences between the colors of ink or paint.  He can caress an object gently enough to feel any fingerprints left on it, without disturbing the prints, and he can perceive enough detail to compare them to other prints he's felt.  His nose acts as a mobile gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, able to distinguish the chemical makeup of a substance by the smell of its molecular components.  In essence, his hyper-keen senses make him a walking crime laboratory.  His enhanced senses of hearing and touch also give him superhuman balance and physical coordination.

 

Brian no longer has eyes, but his brain processes and interprets most of his enhanced sensory input visually.  He can hear sound and feel vibration just as a normal human would, but he can also "see" it in his mind, with the sound waves of different frequencies and decibel levels appearing to him as lines of correspondingly different colors and sizes, coating and illuminating the objects around them.  Scents appear in his mind's eye as translucent clouds of mist, in various colors and sizes, leaving trails he can follow. His sense of smell is acute enough to judge the distance between himself and its source, as a normal human could with sound.  As he moves closer to the source of the scent, it becomes "brighter" and "louder" to him.

 

The DNAscent process not only enhanced Brian's original senses, but provided a new one as well: Echolocation.  His brain has been altered to include a disk similar to the "melon" of a whale or a dolphin's melon.  This disk emits waves of high-frequency sound in all directions.  Those ultra-sound waves bounce off of the objects around him, and then return to his ears.  A fraction of a second later, his brain interprets the results and paints him a mental picture of his surroundings.  This allows him to "see" in all directions at once, though he focuses on one roughly 90-degree field of "view" at a time, with the rest appearing as translucent overlays.  This allows him to "see" just as a normal human would see in the visual light spectrum, only without color or fine detail.  He would, for example, perceive the difference between the bricks and the grout of a wall, but he would not perceive chalk drawings or spraypaint on that wall.  He can effectively "see" human faces, but he can't "look someone in the eye."  The echolocation is far more advanced than that of any existing animals or technological devices.  He can it echolocation "off," in a manner similar to how a human closes their eyes.  While it is active, anyone capable of hearing ultra-sound can detect the waves emanating from his brain, and the echoes returning to his ears.

 

 

 

History

Brian Brubaker never saw the world clearly until the day he lost his eyes.

 

"You can have anything you want, but you have to want it enough.  With hard work, anything is possible.  People get what they deserve."  Frank Brubaker made sure his sons lived by those words.  He was a self-described "city college kid" who "pulled myself up from nothing by my own boot-straps."  He grew up on Stark Hill, but when Stone Ridge opened, he was one of the first people to move in.  With his money, he could move anywhere, but he chose to stay in Bedlam and give back to his hometown.  To hear him tell it, Bedlam City was full of poor people because they just didn't work hard enough.  Ann Miller was a minimum-wage kid who hitched a ride out of the Shady Meadows trailer park as soon as she could pass for 18.  She didn't mind if Frank slapped her around a bit, as long as he did it less than her parents did, and as long as he was going places.  They were both young and hungry, willing to do whatever it took to get ahead.  By the time their first child was born, Brubaker Imports was well on its way to becoming one of the country's most profitable shipping empires, moving just about anything that needed moving to just about anywhere in the world.  Their kids went to private schools.  But Frank always stressed the importance of hard work, often with the back of his hand.  His kids weren't going to have a free ride.  They were going to work for everything they had, just like he had.  Despite the abuse, Brian idolized his father, and spent every waking moment desperately trying to earn his approval.  He got near perfect grades, tried out for every sport, auditioned for every play, took after-school jobs and summer internships.

 

Brian was 19, home for a visit from his sophomore year at Freedom City University, the day he saw his family for the last time.  His mother and his little brother Wade were already waiting in the limo.  Brian was walking down the driveway when the driver turned the key.  His father had just made it through the front door.  The ignition switch set off a car bomb.  Ann and Wade were blown to pieces.  Brian was blown across the driveway.  Shrapnel shredded the front of his tuxedo.  His face was a mess of steaming metal.  Frank's jacket got dirty.

 

Brian woke up in the hospital to his father's voice, telling him that he was going to fix everything.  He'd only been there a couple of days when his father told him he was being moved to a "private clinic."  Brian didn't know why the new nurse sedated him.  He was kept in an induced coma, but he could still hear the people around him.  As the "treatments" progressed, he could hear them louder, more clearly, from further away.  He heard things he was never meant to hear, like why his father took so many "business trips" to Freedom City.

 

Frank Brubaker's life was a lie.  When recounting his family history, he would neglect to mention that his grandfather was none other than the infamous Hans Graumach, also known as Die Eule of the Nazi superteam Die Ubersoldaten.  In Frank's case, the apple didn't fall far from the tree.  If he had told his sons the truth, then their words to live by would have been a different quote: "In devastation, there is opportunity.  When there is blood in the streets, buy property."  The car bomb was meant for Frank, a "gift" from one of his "business rivals."  The Brubaker fortune didn't come from moving freight.  It came from smuggling and human trafficking, on an industrial scale, and it got a big boost from new "friends" in Freedom City.  Ann and Frank had enough Irish blood between them to join the local Bedlam syndicate in Stark Hill, but once the Italians absorbed it, they knew they'd never rise to the top, at least not out in the open.  They needed outside help, secret help.  Frank and Ann's operation was built during the tail end of the Franklin Moore era and the aftermath of the Terminus Invasion.  With a period of low superhero presence in town, and the sudden death and destruction of so many Freedom City citizens and their properties (legitimate businesses and mob fronts alike), The Labyrinth and its front syndicates were able to quietly expand.  One of the fronts they expanded into was Bedlam City, where there has never been a shortage of vulnerable and desperate people, or men of means looking to take advantage of them.  Years later, the Labyrinth would wind up owning the legitimate city government as well, but they started with the black markets.  Brubaker Imports is a subsidiary of Delphic Industries, which is in turn owned and operated by Constantine Urallos, part of the inner circle of Taurus.  Most of the trafficked victims are sold to sweatshops or domestic slavery.  Some are given to The Labyrinth directly, to become test subjects for the DNAscent process.  Frank knows he's a part of something bigger than the crime syndicates he pays lip service and a small cut to, but he has no idea of the true scope of Taurus's evil.

 

When Brian lost his eyes, Frank called in a favor.  He didn't want Brian to become a brainwashed super-thug.  He just wanted to give his only surviving son his eyes back.  He didn't bother to get Brian's consent before letting the Labyrinth's mad scientists play with him.

As far as the Labyrinth scientists were aware, the treatment failed.  Brian's body was enhanced to just past the peak physical condition for a normal human, but his eyes had failed to regenerate.  Brian had heard enough during the treatments to know he should keep the unintended side-effects to himself.  He didn't tell anyone about how all his other senses had been enhanced, or how he now possessed a natural sonar that would be the envy of every navy on Earth.  The DNAscent process didn't restore what he'd lost, but it boosted everything he had left.  He knew that he would need to keep his cards close to his chest if he were ever going to be able to use his new gifts to dismantle the horrific empire his father had built on a foundation of blood and human misery.

He was quiet and distant after his "recovery."  His father, never the most emotionally available man himself, didn't press the issue.  Frank was consumed with guilt, a foreign sensation to him.  When Brian decided he wanted to "study abroad," Frank didn't try to stop him.  But the boarding school for the blind in Spain returned Brian's tuition cheque to Frank, un-cashed.  He had never shown up.  Frank had secretly sent bodyguards overseas with Brian to watch his back discreetly, but Brian gave them the slip.  His trust fund account sat untouched.  One day, Brian Brubaker just vanished off the face of the Earth.

 

He wandered through Europe and Asia for a time, learning anything he could get people to teach him, before he found himself chasing the legend of Shambala Vale, scaling the mountain peaks, and finding refuge among the ancient order of monks.  They taught him how to master his new senses, and how to temper the worst of his rage.  They gave him outlets for that rage.  He took up sculpting.  They instructed him in the original martial art from which all others descended.  They helped to temper the worst of his rage.  During one of his meditations, he observed a rat breaking into a container of stored rice, and an owl swooping down from the night sky to pluck that rat up off the ground.  That incident became a symbol for him, and soon, it would become a symbol for his city.

 

Seven years after he disappeared, Brian Brubaker quietly returned to Bedlam City.  He spent a few months in Europe first, where the "intense, macabre, Giger-esque" works of the "mysterious, reclusive blind sculptor" became a darling of the art scene on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.  Then he bought (and renovated) a humble two-story townhouse in Hardwick Park, where he planned his mission to save his city.  His father employed thugs, crooked cops, money-laundering accountants, coyotes and snakeheads, all vermin who preyed upon the innocent and the desperate.  Brian would became a creature of the night who would rid his city of that vermin.  He became Mister Strix.

 

 

 

Personality

Brian grew up as a mostly-happy son who suppressed his anger and idolized his abusive father.  Now that idol has fallen farther than he ever thought possible, and that suppressed anger is coming back like a hurricane.  The revelation of his father's true nature forced Brian to re-examine everything he ever thought he knew about himself and the world around him.  Good things didn't always come to those who worked hard for them like he was always taught.  In fact, more often than not, the worst things happened to the best people, while the worst people took advantage of them and laughed all the way to the bank.  Even if you never give up, you can still lose.  Those revelations, and the trauma of his injuries, lost family members, and subsequent transformation, left him bitter, cynical, and full of rage.  Gaining the ability to know when most people are lying showed him just how often people lie, which eroded his faith in human nature even further.  He hears everyone's dirty secrets, and he's overwhelmed by just how many dirty secrets everyone has.  His time with the Shambala monks helped to soften that edge, but he still believes that justice only happens in the world when a righteous person forces it to.  The monks showed him that the world can be a better place than it is, without vermin like his father gnawing at its foundations.  But that vermin will feed, unless an owl comes along to eat them first.  So much of the world he thought he knew is a dirty lie, that he's not even sure that world is worth saving.  But he'll die before he stops trying to save the world, because it's his family, his people, who corrupt and destroy it.  He owes the world his father's debt.

 

These days, Brian enjoys solitude, partially as a result of his disillusionment and partially as a practical matter of his enhanced senses amplifying every outside stimulus.  Just as everyone a speedster meets is the annoyingly slow customer in front of them in the ATM or checkout line, every person Brian meets is the neighbor who blasts his TV or stereo at all hours of the night or the guy sitting next to him on the bus who hasn't showered in a week.  He rarely engages in conversation at all, and even when he does engage, he remains laconic, withholding, almost sullen.  He does have a sense of humor, but it leans toward the dry, the morbid, and the self-deprecating.  He is reluctant to volunteer information, and his reaction to those he meets defaults to suspicion (though his powers make clearing that suspicion and earning some measure of trust a faster process than it would be otherwise).  Everyone is guilty (of something) until proven innocent.  He has come to view emotional attachment to other individuals as a weakness, and so he does the best he can to avoid it.  But since he is human, he can't avoid forming attachments, no matter how much he chastises himself for it in hindsight.

 

 

 

Powers & Tactics

Brian is an expert martial artist, and a world-class detective, athlete, and inflitrator.  The DNAscent process left him at peak physical condition, just barely superhuman.  His enhanced senses make it almost impossible to lie to him or to catch him off-guard.

He prefers to strike from stealth, ending a fight in one decisive blow before it begins.  When facing a foe directly, he still takes any opportunity to remove the advantage of their sight, whether by destroying light sources or by deploying smoke bombs.  He adapts his fighting style to each opponent, seeking to counter them rather than match them or beat them at their own game.  If they seem to favor karate punches and kicks, or the knee and elbow strikes of muay thai, then he'll use jiujutsu grapples.  If they fight defensively, focusing on parries or avoidance, then he'll be aggressive, getting inside their defenses.  Since the Shambala style is the foundation for every martial art on Earth, anyone fighting him is likely to see something familiar, mixed with something else completely foreign.  He uses his cape to obscure and distort his movements.  His enhanced agility allows him to move and strike in unexpected directions and angles relative to his foes.

He uses custom-built throwing knives, stylized like crescent moons or an owl's talons, to disarm and distract foes at a distance, before closing in to finish the job with fists and feet.

 

 

 

Complications

• Addiction (Painkillers and Stimulants): Brian's enhanced senses cause him chronic headaches, and make it difficult for him to get restful sleep.  The meditation techniques he learned in Shambala Vale mitigate this problem, but they do not eliminate it entirely.  The GM can force Brian to save against effects like Nauseate, or even automatically inflict conditions like Sickened, to represent the pain caused by his powers, or by medication withdrawal.  The GM can also inflict conditions like Fatigued upon Brian, to represent lost sleep, or withdrawal from stimulants.
• Disability (Blindness): Brian's enhanced touch can feel the difference between ink and paper, and even between different pigments, which allows him to perceive color by touch.  His echolocation, on the other hand, can perceive distance, size, and shape, but not color.  It can perceive texture, but not with the same level of detail as normal human vision.  This means he can only read text or view pictures if they are within arms reach.  The screens of television sets, computer monitors, tablets, and smartphones may as well be blank to him, even to his touch, unless they have been specifically modified for blind users.  He cannot directly perceive the level of light in the local area directly.  At best, he can infer by feeling the heat from a nearby light source, if it emits significant heat at all.  Incandescent bulbs are easy, but LED bulbs are difficult to impossible.  Anything in his surroundings which depends on light, text, or color is invisible to him once it is physically out of reach.  His enhanced smell can identify people by their individual scent, and his echolocation and tremor-sense together provide enough detail to differentiate between people based on size, shape, and mass, but not enough to let him tell their faces apart from one another.  The white cane and dark glasses sometimes make him a target for opportunistic criminals, and if he puts up much of a fight, he'll arouse suspicion.  He is physically capable of operating a vehicle or heavy machinery, but he cannot obtain a license to do so legally.
• Enemies (The Labyrinth, Frank Brubaker, David Brubaker): Frank Brubaker is a human trafficking kingpin, and he initiated his oldest son David into the family business years ago.  Neither Brian, nor his father or brother, understand the full scope of The Labyrinth, the grand machine in which they are tiny cogs.
• Family Secrets: His father is a crime lord with good publicity, and his great-grandfather was a Nazi supervillain.
• Lost Love: Brian had a girlfriend in college, Alexandra "Alex" Nocenti.  When he vanished from her life without warning, she came looking for him.  When she asked too many questions, Frank Brubaker panicked and overreacted.  He had her kidnapped, brainwashed, and subjected to the DNAscent process, turning her into his bodyguard and enforcer.  The girl Brian loved now stands at his hated father's side.
• Noticeable (Echolocation): Anyone with Ultra-Hearing, or any other applicable Super-Senses, can hear the waves of ultra-sound being broadcast by Brian's brain when he uses his echolocation.  This includes animals such as dogs, bats, dolphins, and whales.
• Obligation (Shambala Temple): The monks of the Shambala Vale took Brian in and trained him.  One or more of their number may call upon him for aid in the future.
• Power Loss: A GM can force Brian to make Concentration checks to make sense of the information provided by his superhuman senses.  Failure can leave him with the equivalent of hallucinations or "blindness."
• Secret (Identity): Brian may be superhuman, but he's not invincible.  One sniper's bullet could end him.  And if Brian's father finds out who's targeting him, then he'll make Brian wish for a bullet to the head.
• Vulnerabilities (Sensory Overload, Sonic Powers): A GM can arbitrarily increase the effective power rank of any effect which overloads Brian's senses, such as loud noises or tear gas.  A GM can also force Brian to save against additional attack effects, such as Auditory Dazzle or Nauseate, when someone near him uses, or is targeted by, a power with the "Sonic" descriptor.
• Weakness (Sensory Overload): When Brian is exposed to sensory overload, such as loud noises or tear gas, a GM can inflict penalties to his checks and combat traits as if he had the Weakness drawback.

 

 

 

Abilities 16 + 16 + 16 + 8 + 8 + 4 = 68PP

Strength: 26 (+8) (Heavy Load: 1,200 lbs.)

Dexterity: 26 (+8)

Constitution: 26 (+8)

Intelligence: 18 (+4)

Wisdom: 18 (+4)

Charisma: 14 (+2)

 

 

 

Combat 8 + 8 = 16PP

Initiative: +8 (+8 Dex)

Attack: +10 Melee (+4 Base, +6 Attack Focus), +4 Ranged (+4 Base), +9 Shuriken (+4 Base, +4 Attack Specalization, +1 Masterwork)

Grapple: +18 (+10 Melee Attack, +8 Strength)

Defense: +10 (+4 Base, +6 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed^{Uncanny Dodge}

Knockback Resistance: 4

 

ATTACK            RANGE    SAVE                      EFFECT

Unarmed           Touch    DC23 Toughness (Staged)   Damage (Physical, Bludgeoning)

Shuriken          Ranged   DC24 Toughness (Staged)   Damage (Physical, Piercing/Slashing, Lethal)

Stunning Attack   Touch    DC23 Fortitude (Staged)   Dazed/Stunned/Unconscious

 

 

 

Saving Throws 0 + 2 + 6 = 8PP

Toughness: +8 (+8 Con)

Fortitude: +8 (+8 Con, +0PP)

Reflex: +10^{Evasion 2} (+8 Dex, +2PP)

Will: +10^{Ultimate Save} (+4 Wis, +6PP)

 

 

 

Skills 156R = 39PP

Acrobatics 7 (+15)^{Skill Mastery}

Climb 7 (+15)

Concentration 6 (+10)^Trance

Craft (Art) 11 (+15)

Disable Device 11 (+15)

Escape 7 (+15)^{Ultimate Skill}

Gather Information 13 (+15)

Intimidation 13 (+15)

Investigation 11 (+15)

Knowledge (Streetwise) 6 (+10)

Languages 12 (Atlantean, Braille, Cantonese, English [Native], French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Morse Code, Nepali, Russian, Spanish)

Notice 16 (+20)^{Skill Mastery}

Search 11 (+15)

Sense Motive 16 (+20)^{Skill Mastery}

Stealth 7 (+15)^{Skill Mastery}

Swim 2 (+10)^Swimming

 

 

 

Feats 34PP

Acrobatic Bluff

Attack Focus (Melee) 6

Attack Specialization (Shuriken) 2

Benefit 2 (Status [Famous Artist], Wealth)

Dodge Focus 6
Equipment 6 (30EP)^{Veteran Reward}

Evasion 2

Grapple Finesse

Hide In Plain Sight

Improved Ranged Disarm

Luck 3

Quick Change (Costume)

Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Notice, Sense Motive, Stealth)
Stunning Attack

Takedown Attack 2

Trance

Ultimate Save (Will)

Ultimate Skill (Escape)

Well-Informed

 

Equipment 6PP = 29/30EP

 

Disable Device Tools [0EP]

 

Grapple-Gun Baton

Super-Movement 1 (Swinging, Feats: Subtle [Disguised as a cane]) [3EP]

 

Masterwork Smartphone (Modified for blind users) [1EP]

 

Medication (Painkillers and Stimulants) [1EP]

 

Shuriken

Blast 1 (100ft Max Range, Extras: Autofire, Flaws: Unreliable [5 Uses], Feats: Improved Range [25ft Range Increments], Masterwork [+1 Attack], Mighty 8, Subtle, Drawbacks: Lethal) [12EP]

 

Smoke Pellets

Obscure 2 (10ft radius, Visual-Type Senses, Extras: Action [Move], Independent, Total Fade, Flaws: Limited [One Sense: Normal Vision], Unreliable [5 Uses], Feats: Subtle, Drawbacks: Full Power, Reduced Range 2 [2 20ft Range Increments = 40ft Max Range]) [2EP]

 

Townhouse with Secret Bunker (PL13 HQ) [10EP]

Size: Tiny [-1EP]

Toughness: +10 [1EP] (Earthquake-Proofing, Bulletproof Windows, Steel Plate Shear Walls reinforced with Pre-Cast Concrete)

Features: [10EP]

Computer

Concealed 2 (+15DC = DC25)

Fire Prevention System

Gym

Living Space

Power System

Security System 2 (DC25)

Workshop

 

3 + 1 + 1 + 12 + 2 + 10 = 29/30EP = 6PP

 

 

 

Powers 1 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 21 + 1 = 28PP

 

Features 1 (Internal Laboratory [Can analyze clues with the Investigation skill on the spot, without access to a crime lab]) [1PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Super-Senses)

 

Immunity 5 (Interaction Skills, Flaws: Limited [1/2 Effect]) [3PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Super-Senses)

 

Leaping 1 (x2, Running Long Jump: 36ft) [1PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Training)

 

Speed 1 (10MPH / 100ft per Move Action) [1PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Training)

Super-Senses 21 (Accurate Extended Normal Hearing, Acute Analytical Extended Tracking 2 Normal Smell/Taste, Analytical Normal Touch, Danger Sense 3 [Sense Types: Auditory, Olfactory, Tactile], Sonar [Ultra-Hearing, Extras: Accurate, Counters Concealment, Flaws: Counters Concealment Limited to One Sense], Tremor-Sense, Uncanny Dodge 3 [Sense Types: Auditory, Olfactory, Tactile]) [21PP] (Descriptors: Mutation)

 

Swimming 1 (2.5MPH / 25ft per Move Action, Can always Take 10 on Swimming checks) [1PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Training)

 

 

 

Drawbacks -0PP

[None]

 

 

 

Abilities (68) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (8) + Skills (39) + Feats (34) + Powers (28) - Drawbacks (0) = 193/196 Power Points