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It would depend in part on what his Toughness save is. Is it high enough that he can almost always make the Damage save? If so, the Flaw isn't really worth a Flaw. (Like having the "Check Required" flaw, but having a skill modifier high enough that you can't fail the check approximately half the time.)

Well, assuming the Long Range and -1 Side Effect [Damage], you can get a rank 10 Teleport for 5 pp, enough to get to the moon. As it's based off the Damage effect however, doing so would give you a DC 25 Toughness save, on a PL 6 character I don't plan to have meeting his caps unless it's in skills or 'inventions' (ok, if I weld this Lor blaster to a Grue computer chip, then this glowy green space rock as a power source...). It's molecular disruption, so only his Con modifer of +1 or +2 at best would apply to this save. Even a rank 7 Teleport into the next state is going to seriously hurt.

If all the Gadgets are "esoteric alien gadgetry" that he can't quite get to work right, I (speaking solely for myself here) would say yes, if all the Gadgets were equally Flawed (all had Side Effect, or Unreliable, or so on). And, possibly, if the teleporter isn't a core part of the character (i.e., it's not something used at least once an adventure, it's not something the char would be greatly upset at losing); if it is something used very frequently, it's probably best to have it as a separate thing.

Well, all the gadgets are either going to have Side Effects, Unreliable or Intelligence Check Required in order to operate them. The one exception I can see to this would be a simple scanner-type device of some sort. The teleporter really wouldn't be used often, for the reasons above. It's just too damn life-threatening that Hero Points need to be burned just to survive a jump.

I was thinking making it long-range only (i.e. no move action room-hopping) and a toughness save against the damage is possible. So, in that case, would a -1 flaw be appropriate?

I'm also aware that variable powers are judged on a case-by-case basis, so would this 'busted' teleporter be acceptable in a Gadgets power, or would you prefer it to be taken as a separate Device?

One idea I have for my PL 6 slot is an xenobiologist who uses his skills and some esoteric alien gadgetry to solve crimes. However, one of these gadgets would be a teleporter he salvaged. Unfortunately, he doesn't quite know how to repair it and using it damages him due to molecular instability.

Would this be a -2 flaw, because it always happens when he uses the power, or a -1 flaw, because there is no roll for him to fail on?

During his surveillance, Arrowhawk had been planning his raid upon the casino. His objective was to subdue all resistance before finding the ringleader for questioning. But there are civilians in there... he pondered. Crossfire could be dangerous.

He swung down from his perch, landing softly in a crouch. He doubted any of these thugs had the skill necessary to spot him. An arrogant view, perhaps, but it was true. The trick is to make them think the attack is from another direction. Perhaps from their loading bay, an area I'm not going to storm head-on. Heading in the front door will just alert them to my presence. Never good. He began to move towards the disused room's window. Smoke arrows. I fire them into the loading bay, both making it difficult to exit from that door and making them them think the attack comes from that direction. In the confusion, I head up and into that empty room, systematically subduing everyone inside with bludgeon arrows, aiming for head and groin to maximise the odds of taking them out in one shot.

He brought his bow out, and a smoke arrow. The arrow's tip, upon impact with a hard surface, would trigger an explosion of gas in a 100' radius. It took a minute for the gas to dissipate completely, and during that time he'd be in the building and dimming the lights. In the dark, they'll panic. I'm a figure of vengeance. In the light, I'm a man in a costume. Once everyone was subdued, he'd begin questioning people.

He ran forwards as quietly as he could, firing a smoke arrow into the loading bay and not even pausing to observe the huge cloud of smoke belching outwards into the sky. He'd grabbed his grappling hook from his belt and fired it above the window of the empty room, swinging up and crashing through the window. The grappling hook was quickly put away again in favour of a blunt-tipped arrow.

Crossing the floorboards, he kicked the door open and levelled the bow ready to fire at anyone in the hallway.

At least you're several steps ahead of the guy in an alleyway with his pants down.

John enjoyed going out biking. It was good to rewind with, having the wind rush through your hair and the engine roaring like an animal below you. It also let him get acquainted with the city, so today he was biking through Hanover. But then, as he passed a shop, a whole bin of CDs exploded through the window. "Dammit!" muttered John under his breath. Time for a quick change of clothes.

The bike sped around the corner, screeching into the alleyway as he was already pulling off his motorcycle leathers to reveal his black outfit underneath. Hope this doesn't take too long, he sighed, pulling open a secret compartment in the bike to reveal his bow, cloak and domino mask.

Yeah, I'll post a more comprehensive plan in his thoughts.

Christian Bale... Mwahahahaha, now you can't take him.

I dunno, although I could see Clive Owen or Thomas Jane playing Arrowhawk.

Well, the entire power of Probability and Luck Control makes you superhumanly lucky as they are. Making it Uncontrolled means you're still lucky, just at the DM's discretion.

I totally forgot about the save max, and the other 7 comes from putting PP directly into it, as per the M&M2ndedition Core Book.

Sorry, but you can't improve your Toughness directly like that. You'll either need to buy ranks of the Protection power, ranks of the Defensive Roll feat or use Equipment to buy body armour or the like (although that doesn't stack with the Protection power)

All power feats count except for Alternate and Dynamic Powers.

That example doesn't work. The cost of the alternate power feat is not factored in when determining alternate powers, so your other three comprehend powers cost too much if you give them APs.

So, how do we want to play this? A mixture of the original concept of 'dude, you screwed up. Let me show you how it's done' and bumping into people?

That is one... long questionaire.

I bet I could fill it out for Arrowhawk, he's been lurking around in my head for a looong time.

Arrowhawk nodded. "There won't be an if." He swiftly turned and fired his grappling hook upwards, disappaearing into the darkness above as he rolled and landed in a crouch. With practiced ease, he made his way over the rooftops and through the shadows towards the Mancini casino. Need to try to minimise contact with gun-wielding thugs, and find an access point. One without many people there, hopefully.

As he got to the building, he went straight to scouting it out. While he wasn't prepared to spend a few days planning one small raid, he still wasn't going to go off half-cocked. Making sure to stay out of the lights, he circled the building, scouting out second floor windows, the front door and the loading dock around the back in particular. Need to be careful here, innocent people get involved in these casinos. Yes, it's unsavoury, but it's not illegal to waste your cash of roulette tables and cards.

Skill Mastery in Notice and Stealth, 25 and 27 respectively. Would this scouting/planning qualify me to use Master Plan?

Maybe hus luck powers have some Power Loss flaw in that they don't work in the promiximity of some fairly common item?

Thoughts on Trick Arrows

Trick arrows, 'tech' arrows, 'super' arrows... why is every bow-using costumed adventurer eventually begins using high-tech arrows? They range from the simple, to smokebomb- and flashbang-tipped arrows to the complex, like my EMP and taser arrows.

My answer for their usage is because we need to stay competitive. I doubt there are any archers amongst us who rely on trick arrows to be effective, but most of us are guilty of using them as a crutch at times. Would I be a worse archer if I didn't carry smokebombs? No, but I'd be worse at crimefighting. We don't use battlesuits, we don't have superpowers and our weaponry is somewhat archaic, special arrows allow us to be true to our preferences and yet still have an arsenal of tricks we can use.

Like much of my skills, I am not a talented designer of these arrows. I have to work at it. My pride and joy are my EMP arrows. Usually an electromagnetic pulse emitter would be too bulky to fit in an arrow-tip, even the enlarged ones I use for them, but through clever and delicate work I managed to make one fit, and engineered them to activate upon impact. While they only work for a short period, with the technology intact enough afterwards to be reactivated, if I can disable a battlesuit's flight long enough to crash it to be ground, who's going to complain? I will admit, however, that they have a weak charge and definitely need improvement, but they're an achievement nonetheless. I'm not a technician, they didn't come easily to me and neither will upgrading them and keeping them affordable.

I use regular arrows though, both blunt and pointed ones. The blunt ones see heavy usage in subduing thugs, the piercing ones for when I need to hurt someone badly enough to scare them. I also have bladed arrows I only use if I absolutely have to; those things are vicious. Something I've been using occassionally are taser arrows, which work similarly to taser darts albeit with the battery built into the arrow. No cables leading back to me, which is very handy.

Tranquiliser arrows were easy to build. I'm a biologist, a strong sedative was no difficult feat. The arrows have needles for points and injection is, like the EMPs, triggered by impact. Trouble is, if I hit something solid the points shatter, and those with good constitutions can easily shrug off the drugs unless I aim for a vital spot.

On one or two occassions, I've made use of the experimental arrows I inevitably have began putting in my quiver. Explosive-tipped arrows don't fly very well due to how they're constructed, but that's not the purpose of them. What they're for is fighting superhumanly tough foes. The tip is packed with an explosive, again detonated by impact. The charge is less powerful than cheap dynamite, so I need to aim for vital spots in order to hurt the foes they're designed to face. One flaw in their design is that they are heavy, and don't even fly half as far as normal arrow. That will need to be refined.

Blast 4 (Extras: Penetrating 4, Feats: Drawbacks: Reduced Range [5 increments])

Oddly, I have never used tripwires shot by arrow. I can see their utility, I carry one in my quiver but I've never needed to use it. Maybe one day...

To close, one thing people often wonder about is how I can so quickly get the exact arrow I want from my quiver. The answer is simple: different fletching. All my arrows need to be balanced differently, and thus the fletching is different. I've trained myself to be able to distinguish between them by touch, that's all there is to it. Admittedly, it's a skill which took a long time to learn but it pays off well.

INDEX

Questions

Questionnaire

Essays

Thoughts on Trick Arrows

Journal

February 4th 2009, March 22nd 2009 and March 23rd 2009

September 16th 2009

The British Files

Sherwood III, and a general overview of the Sherwood legacy.

The Arrowhawk Protocols

Introduction

Omega --- Methods to neutralise superhumans on a power scale potentially comparable to the Centurion and Omega.

The Scarab a.k.a. Elena Guerrero Crimson

Atlas a.k.a. Samael Natorvich Crimson

Dark Star a.k.a. Derrick Lumins Crimson

Alpha --- Methods to neutralise superhumans on a significant power level.

Avenger a.k.a. Jack Faretti Crimson-Delta

Doktor Viktor Archeville Crimson

Phantom a.k.a. Taylor Chun, Taylor Faretti Crimson-Delta

Malice a.k.a. Eric Michaels Amber

Delta --- Methods to neutralise superhumans on a manageable power level

- Currently undocumented

Null --- Methods to neutralise superhumans whose powers aren't particularly noteworthy.

Ace Danger Crimson

Unclassified --- Special

Arrowhawk a.k.a. John Fraser Azure

From the Journal of Arrowhawk

September 4th 2008

Freedom City. Home of the supers, the big city. Looks good on the outside, and to a degree it is. You can feel safe on the streets, confident that someone up in the air is flying around protecting you. Trouble is, they can't stop everything. The mob rules Southside and The Boardwalk. Quite a bit of the rest of the city too. And this mob is tenacious, they have to be to survive in a city with the Freedom League in it.

Am I insane to have pledged to take them down? I don't think so. Is it so crazy to want to save the world, or at least the city? In a way, despite the external image of the selfless protector, all heroes want to be remembered as such. We want to be more than men in masks. We want to be heroes, legends. We want people to grow up and tell their grandchildren about us.

Yet that's not why we do it. The heroics aren't for our own benefit, regardless of our initial motives. I, personally, wanted to avenge a few friends. I now try to avenge everyone ever hurt by crime. The escalation of your ideals and how you cope with them is a part of superheroics.

And that is why I came to Freedom City, to leave a legacy to the next generation. If I can bring down the mob, they can take over from me in keeping them down. I wish I didn't have to operate out of a disgusting bed and breakfast but it's easier than trying to rent a flat. Or apartment as they call them over here.

I'm going out tonight, to begin tracking down the mob. Last time I was here, I was told of a man called Lenny. He knows things, and is willing to tell them. A very useful resource, so tonight I'll look for him. Until then, I better make some more arrows.

He was trying to get under his skin. It'd work if he hadn't spent years with people doing the same to him. Why oh why do people feel the need to irritate the loon running around in the Hallowe'en costume? lamented Arrowhawk silently. Oh well, I need to get the information from somewhere.

"I'm interested. Who are this 'small faction'?

I thought you just couldn't at all, high rates or not.

But I'm not especially young by UK standards, compared to US ones. for example, I can rent a car if I wanted to, albeit at extortionate rates.

Anyway, thanks everybody.

"I'm here to take out the mob, bring it so low it can't ever get back up again. Scoff if you like, but I believe I can do it. Therefore, I need starting points, small-time mob operations that will lead me up the chain of command to the 'dons'."

"I don't smoke," said Arrowhawk. That was true, no sane person who spends their time insanely running around rooftops is going to damage their health that way. Anyway...

"I am Arrowhawk. You may have heard of me, I was here on business a couple of years ago, taking down drugs runners who'd fled the UK. You were commended to me as a man who knows things, I want to put that commendation to the test."

I don't mind a team-up. After all, none of the characters step on each others toes in role despite the disparity in power level, and the only thing more fun than one super fighting stuff is several fighting stuff.

Well, Arrowhawk would be up to the task. He's not well-known in the city, but he's been doing the gig for 18 years so knows a lot about showing people the ropes.

Since Red Star's identity is public, it also means that they'd easily be able to come into contact to avoid any 'oh, look, we happen to be in the same area of town'.