golentan

September 3rd, 2009 It was dark when the car pulled up outside the home of Mr. Wilson. The occupants were a couple of tough guys. "So, what's the score again?" asked the younger one. "We're just going to scare him a little tonight. Smash some stuff up, tell the jerk he should buy some more insurance," said the senior fellow. "I don't know. Zzounds Rizzky," Clicks the third. "Are you that much of a coward?" asked the second. "Dude, that wasn't me," says the first. "What if zomeone interferezz? I think I zhould juzzt take you guys home. Zafer." The car lurches, then lifts into the air. "Where do you wizh to be dropped? H*h*h*!" laughs the outsider, as the passengers look at each other in terror.

Since their's been no posted interest, I'm going to fire this up as a Solo thread. Feel free to join in, just let me know, okay?

Yes, people have pointed this out already. I just read down and counted 2 posts which seemed to have "Approved" and didn't see they were both by Geez3r. I'm leaving this here for now, cuz I'd still like to do this.

Doh! With many many apoloagies. I'll delete that and wait.

Yay, Hercules has been approved. I'd like to run something for him right away. Looking for heroes who'd like to see the mob taken down a peg or two and maybe can handle an escort mission for the squishies. Aptera Construction has been attracting some attention lately by a number of insurance salesmen. Last night, they tried to arrange for a small mishap to the tiny construction company, a technique that works best when there are no supers on the rolls. After talking to the victim, Hercules is looking for an opportunity to go in for a bust and is trying to request help. His only requests are that damages stay nonpermanent and that the "Insurance company" lays off his employees.

Hey, just letting you know Hercules'll probably be popping in.

Maybe we can say he has the power to make simple arithmetic fail? Since evidently I'm not the only one with this problem now. I think I'll add the extra point to strength. Editing it now.

Hi, I'm back (as if anyone remembers me). I'd like to start with a fresh slate with a bit more experience under my belt now, and so submit to you: Hercules (as in the beetle, not the greek myth) as a new hero. I've tried to be a bit more careful with this guy, please let me know any problems you see up front before I start doing something I can't by RAW. I'm a bit worried because earlier I summed him to 150 exactly, and now I'm getting 149. So I'm not sure whether my arithmetic was off then or now. Players Name: golentan Power Level: 10 (150/156pp) Trade-Offs: -2 Attack for +2 Damage, -2 Defense for +2 Toughness Unspent PP: 6 Characters Name: Hercules Alternate Identity: Cole Aptera Height: 5'4" Weight: 180 lbs. Hair: none Eyes: black Description: Cole Aptera is a middle aged, bald man who is both short and overweight. Certainly not the typical super hero image. He has dark skin, and usually wears his work clothes, fairly standard construction site fair. He tends not to blink, and has a number of odd grooming habits, and despite his constant attempts to fit in just always seems somewhat off. History: Cole was an ordinary child, if anything a little below average. Respectable grades, a little bit on the heavy side, 2nd string lineman on the football team. A nondescript run in college left him prepared to take over the family construction company, which he managed passably for 14 years. Unfortunately, last year Cole was kidnapped off the street Dr Hanks (The Labyrinth, Foes of Freedom), working on a side project from DNAscent involving hybridization. Cole was to be a throwaway, a proof of concept to avoid spoiling "valuable" specimens. Following the proof of concept experiment, Hanks had Cole "disposed" of, but Cole escaped through the use of his fledgling powers. As the hybridization entrenched itself, Cole found himself growing more and more distant emotionally, and alienated many of those closest to him. On the other side, the abilities which once only appeared under extreme stress are beginning to come naturally. He constantly keeps up on the upper crust through gossip columns, and has connections to just about everybody who's nobody through his company. Personality & Motivation: Cole enjoys being exceptional, as much as his limited emotional response will allow. Flight is beyond anything he imagined, and the ability to lift massive objects comes in handy in construction jobs. Fearing his dehumanization, Cole has worked hard to continue acting normally while enjoying the benefits of superhumanity. Though compassion for strangers is now difficult, he acts as if it is easy in his role as a hero. His "secret identity" is known to many of his employees, whose help he enlisted in the construction of a base. Powers & Tactics: Cole's powers stem from an infusion of Grue and Hercules Beetle DNA. He is able to use a low level, empathic form of Grue telepathy on insects, and shift into a significantly stronger, tougher form somewhere between his own and that of a beetle. The transformation is particularly disturbing, and he prefers to rely on intimidating foes if he can stop them without using his strength. He uses insects to scout for him, and unorthodox movement and surprise to take out foes individually (preferably silently, through his chokehold). He also carries a taser, just in case. Stats: 10pp Str: 18 (+4) / 33 (+11) Dex: 6 (-2) Con: 14 (+2) / 24 (+7) Int: 10 (+0) Wis: 16 (+3) Cha: 6 (-2) Combat: 32pp Attack: +8 Grapple: +11/+24 Defense: +8 (+4 flat-footed) Knockback: -6 Initiative: -2 Saves: 15pp Toughness: +12 (+4/+7 Con, +5 other) Fortitude: +10 (+4/+7 Con, +3) Reflex: +4 (-2 Dex, +6) Will: +9 (+3 Wis, +6) Skills: 48r = 12pp Gather Information: 8 (+6) Handle Animal: 12 (+10) Intimidate 8 (+6) Knowledge Life Sciences 4 (+4) Profession 8 (+11) Survival 8 (+11) Feats: 20pp Animal Empathy Equipment x6 (underground lair [17 EPs] and taser [12 EPs]) Fearless Fearsome Presence x8 Chokehold Improved Trip Track Well informed Powers: 61pp Alternate Form 10 (Beetle Form: Mutation, Flaws: None; Extras: None; PFs: None) [50] Animal Control 5 (Telepathic, Extras: Sensory Link; Flaws: Limited (insects only); PF: Mental Link) [11] Drawbacks: 0pp DC Block: ATTACKS: SAVE DC: DAMAGE TYPE: Punch (26/toughness) (Bruise) Taser (15/Fortitude) (Stun) Costs: Abilities (10) + Combat (32) + Saves (15) + Skills (12) + Feats (20) + Powers (61) - Drawbacks (00) = 150/156 Total Cost

Yeah, but my problem isn't with schooling. Sorry for not being here the past week. Unfortunately it looks like I'll be in enforced exile for a while. Please archive Neurologic, and if I don't make it back here again thanks for the fun times.

Sorry again.

I'd always like to get involved.

Alright, could you disregard my post? I have to think some stuff over that affects my long-term plans for the character, and she would definitely NOT be stupid enough to pull this stunt if everybody would realize it was her. Especially since she's out of costume in her neighborhood of residence, and it could seriously jeapordize her secret identity.

The problem with looking at the DnD scale from a pure numbers perspective, is that the scale isn't linear. I'm pretty sure one point of INT isn't supposed to equal 10 on the IQ scale, but is more representative of standard deviations away from the center, where 10.5 INT is equivalent to an IQ of 100, a 3 being the bottom limits of sentient intelligence (which may actually score lower on the AIQ than a dog with an INT of 2), and an open ended top. It says in M&M that 24 is the limit of ordinary human ability, which if I'm remembering right would place it at an AIQ of 210 (You may notice my use of the acronym AIQ and wonder what the A stands for. The Adjusted Intelligence Quotient is a scale that is used for measurement of both non-human intelligence, and is geared to not require language skills for completion of puzzles. Unfortunately, it is still biased to require fine manipulation for the higher puzzles, and as such dolphins only get about a 39. But they're still cute ) Still, IQ is quite flawed in many respects: I measure at about 140-145 when my handicaps aren't regarded, and I can run rings around one of my friends who claims to have scored a 160. By contrast, there is the matter of the physicist with the embarassingly low score of 123 (Wikipedia. That's not even top 5%): The Late Great Feynman. Shameless plug time: I'm trying to run Neurologic as an intelligent character, and have a psychological thriller mapped out for any who dare question her intellect and her ability to manipulate, deceive, and otherwise mentally loop-de-loop her opponents. See my thread: Who wants to play a game of Cat and Mouse?

Sorry for the confusion. It is Neurologic doing this, and she's trying to put the painting near him, the bluff check is to try to get him to reach out and catch the painting. Is the source of telekinesis obvious? I thought the object moved (obvious) but the source wasn't, that's how I've been playing it and several posts I've made have relied on that fact. Nobody has commented, so I thought that was correct. As for the post, you'll notice it is in third person except for her internal thoughts (marked by asterisks before and after).

*Why can't I have a quiet night out? I mean, I'm only a couple of blocks from home, and I still manage to run into a super? I just wanted to go out, have some good food, go to the gallery, maybe buy something.* She oohed and aahed with the sheep, watching the hero mug it up. Then she had a brilliant idea. *Let's make this boy's first days in Freedom interesting. Nothing like some mistaken identity issues to screw with someone.* She reached out with her thoughts, smashing outward the front glass, grabbed the most expensive painting (she had marked it's location earlier) and launched it at the hero at just the right speed to try to get him to catch it. *Let's see how he handles THAT!*