Cubist

"Yes, I talk," Jubatus affirmed. "I'm a carbon-based life-form, and I vote! Apart from that, I'm curious: You got a Concealed Carry license for that toy of yours?"

Jubatus sped through City Center, criss-crossing the streets in a pattern that would take him over every foot of street in the area with minimum back-tracking. He hadn't been entirely sure it was necessary to go that far, but... he was a perfectionist, after all. Better to look and not miss anything, than to not look and miss something. And right now, the fastest cat alive wasn't missing a pair of men, one of them carrying a crowbar, in an otherwise-deserted side street. And... yes, Jubatus caught the scents of metal, oil, and gunpowder; the two were armed. There was another scent he didn't recognize, but it wasn't pleasant. He'd have to watch out for whatever-it-might-be. Jubatus set up four inconspicuous mini-cams for 360° coverage of the scene, and took a position behind the two men, on the opposite side of the alley. Only then did he decelerate to the speed at which normal humanity operated (or "downshift to a tempo of 1", as he liked to describe it privately). "Hi there!" Jubatus said, rather louder than necessary. He didn't like the way his 'voice' sounded, but in this case, the disquieting, inhuman tone and timbre would probably be helpful to his purpose. As would his inhuman appearance... "Is this a private party, or can anybody join?"

This thread is for any OOC stuff (die-rolls, etc) which may be necessary in the A Hero's Quickening IC thread.

Journal of Jay Nelson Xavier, excerpt from 6 January 2011 entry: ...Have I mentioned how much the [bg=black]xxxxxx[/bg] nanny-filter annoys me? Today? Anyway, moving right along: Of course I'm scared! The same [bg=black]xxxxixx[/bg] thing which makes me a super-powered entity -- that being my Timeshift -- means I'm one [bg=black]xxxxxx[/bg] dangerous son of a [bg=black]xixxx[/bg]! I actually started to catalog all the different ways my speed would allow me to damage a normal person, but I gave up after the first 139, okay? How the [bg=black]xxxx[/bg] am I supposed to not be scared that I'll screw up and leave a bunch of people lying in puddles of their own blood? That's one pretty [bg=black]xxxxxx[/bg] unappetizing prospect, believe you me... But Halstonne believes in me. Okay, maybe that's just what a shrink is supposed to do for his clients. But even so, as far as I can tell, he [bg=black]xxxxixx[/bg] well believes in me -- believes my fears on this point are groundless. And it has been more than seven calendar days since the last time I slipped up, even a tiny bit, in a practice session. So... I've procrastinated long enough. Practiced, well, I don't think it's ever possible to practice 'enough', but I've got a not inadequate amount of practice under my belt. I'm gonna do it. I'm finally going to do it. And may Kwan-Yin smile upon me. With a momentary gust of disturbed air, a large spotted cat -- a cheetah -- appeared on the sidewalk in front of Freedom Hall. He stood on his hind legs, and if that posture caused him any discomfort, it didn't show on his face. That, plus the khaki vest he wore, signified to all onlookers that the feline was not an escaped zoo inmate. The cheetah's name was Jubatus. At least, that's what he would have replied if anyone had asked him. But nobody did, in large part because he disappeared too quickly, after a couple of seconds' scanning the vicinity for any visible street crime; a mugging, a snatch-and-grab, anything. Some people would have advised Jubatus that it was a waste of time to look for such activity in the very shadow of Freedom Hall, the headquarters of a world-famous team of superheroes; Jubatus knew different, and the publicly-available crime statistics backed him up on this. It seemed that the missions of the City's world-famous hero team often took them to exotic locales far distant from their headquarters... and 'while the cat's away, the mice will play'. It was a gamble, of course, but a nontrivial number of criminals felt it was a bet worth making. As it happened, there didn't seem to be any illegal activities within line-of-sight of Jubatus' position at this time. So the fastest cat alive sped off to the next stop on his pre-planned 'tour' of the City...

My name is Jay Nelson Xavier, and I'm the fastest feline around. As far as I know, anyway. There are some non-feline speedsters who can run circles around me, and I'm okay with that. More than okay, really… I haven't been a cat for all that long; the body-change was a bit of a shock, and I'm still not used to it. Every so often I look in a mirror, expecting to see my human face starting back, and the fuzzy face I do see comes as a surprise. Fortunately for my mental well-being, that sort of thing is happening less and less. The one I got to thank for it is Ed Hallstonne, the licensed therapist whose office I'm in right now. Ed just shoved a DVD into a player; as I suspected, it's a recording of the interview I did with that 'Voyeur' character… -- today's guest is… Jubatus. Thanks for being here! 'Salright, but you can call me 'Jube'. I'll answer to either name. Alright. To start off, what's the significance of the name 'Jubatus'? Well, as your viewers can see, I'm basically a cheetah. And the scientific name for that species is Acinonyx jubatus. So I figured, why not? Where are you from, Jube? A fair bit west of here. [short pause] And, could you be more specific..? I could, yes. [pause] But you're not going to, are you. You got it. Ah… you do realize that that sort of answer isn't exactly helpful… [amused expression] [shoulders move forward and a little up] Hey, guy, you came to me, not the other way around. So if you don't like how this interview's going, that's your problem, not mine. I… see. By the way, what was that little gesture you just did? You mean this? [shoulders move forward and a little up] It's a shrug, or as close as I can get to one, anyway. [bleep] anatomy, how does it work? Speaking of anatomy, how would you physically describe yourself? Like your audience can't just see what I look like? [waves a forepaw in front of his face] Dude. I'm a [bleep] cheetah. How the [bleep] do you think I describe myself? Do you think others would describe you the same way? Of course! [sarcastic smile] Unless they've dropped acid or something… Your voice is… very distinctive. How do you get it to do that? Like I said, I'm a cheetah -- which means I got a cheetah's vocal tract, not a human vocal tract. So as far as actual spoken language is concerned, well, I'm [bleep] outta luck. But us cheetahs are real good at sound effects, okay? I can make clicks and squawks and so on like you wouldn't believe, and some of these noises resemble the component phonemes of speech. So when I 'talk', what I'm really doing is, I'm faking it with sound effects. Yeah, the end result sounds like it's a product of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, but at least it's comprehensible, and that's as much as I could ask for. What is your motivation, Jube? [short pause] For what? I mean, I have different motivations, depending on what context you're talking about. Wanna be more specific? Well, for being a superhero. I'm doing this thing because my therapist asked me to, and I thought it made sense. You've been in therapy? Anything you care to say about that period of your life? Naah. [shrugs] It's all in the public record, so why waste your bandwidth repeating it here? What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses? [short pause] Am I on Candid Camera? Excuse me? I repeat: Am. I. On. Candid. Camera? [pause] Ah… I don't see… Look. You're interviewing me because I'm about to be a superhero, right? [puzzled look] Yes, I am… And your ultimate goal is, presumably, to broadcast this interview on the open airwaves, where everybody and their dog can watch it. Well… that is the plan, yes. And..? And you know that I, as a hero-to-be, will be putting my fuzzy [bleep] on the line against any number of eugenically-twisted freakazoids, some of whom just love to hit superheroes with the kind of psychotic mindgames not seen since the last Saw movie. Um… And you actually think I'm going to consider, even for half a clock-second, answering any question of yours in a way that would help those nutbars hit me where I live? [uncomfortable pause] [derisive snort] Yeah, I thought so. At this point, I'm not sure if I should ask you what drugs you're on, or which villain you're working for, or what color the sky is on your homeworld. Ah… right. What do you love? [short pause] [shakes head, amused] This, you can ask immediately after I've [bleep] told you why I ain't answering personal questions? Can't blame me for trying. How would you describe your mental and emotional state? 'Existent'. That's a nice word for it, I think. What do you fear the most? Doing Dr. Nefarious' homework for him. Hint-hint? Come on, Jube, work with me here. Why? Because if I don't work with you, you're gonna give me lousy PR? Well, I wouldn't put it that way, but… [short pause] Look, Royer: The whole point of being a superhero is to make a real, objective, empirical difference for the better. That's the prize I got my eyes on. And if I can make the world a better place, I don't give a [bleep] if some blow-dried talking head's teleprompter says I'm not a nice person. Conversely, if I can't make a difference, who the [bleep] cares if a talking head says I'm wonderful? Oh… kay. What is your greatest ambition? To strangle the last king with the entrails of the last priest. [looks directly into camera] And while Peeping Rich here is [bleep] bricks, I'd recommend that the home audience try googling that phrase. You know, just for [bleep] and giggles. How do you feel about the state of the world and your place in it? Guarded optimism. Like Bucky Fuller said, the future is a race between utopia and oblivion; I think utopia's in the lead right now, but it's not all that solid a lead, so anything I can do to help is good. Do you have any prejudices? [meaningful glance] I'm very prejudiced against stupidity. Other things, not so much. What -- Jubatus hates the mentally challenged? [short pause] Sloppy phrasing on my part; make that 'willful stupidity'. Whether your IQ is 75 or 150, there's no shame in being what you are, to the best of your ability. What gets me is when somebody's got the brains and education to know better, and they still insist on doing something totally stupid. Such as? Thoth and Athena, where do I begin… [short pause] Okay, the anti-vaccine movement. You can break out all the hard data you want about how the stats for a disease drop way the [bleep] down when a vaccine for that disease comes out, and those stats come creeping back up when people stop vaccinating… and your typical anti-vaccine twit will yammer about how it wasn't really the vaccine, it was sanitation or whatever other excuse. If that isn't willful stupidity, what the [bleep] is? How do you get along with others? [dour smile] How do you think I get along with others? Where do your loyalties lie? Two words: Candid Camera. Do you have a lover -- Candid Camera. [pause] So… it would be a waste of time to ask you what your, ah, partner, thinks of… right. [short pause] Moving right along: Do you have a family, Jube? 'Course not -- I was spawned in a vat. I can't tell if you're serious… [rolls eyes, sighs] Yes, that was a joke. I have a family, public record, yada yada yada. So you have siblings and parents. How's your releationship with them? Eh, my family is like any other, really. [shrug] We're talking about people you're stuck with through no fault of your own, and some of them you get along with better than others. The people closest to you: How would they describe you? I dunno. Why don't you ask them? [annoyance] I can't, because you haven't told me who… [self-satisfied smile] Ah -- investigative journalism at its finest! [discontinuous cut, indicating the passage of an indefinitely long period of time] Is Jubatus a role model? Am I? Nobody told me… Would you like to be a role model? Heiliger Christus, no! Sure, I try to do what I think is right. But if you're looking for someone who sincerely believes their [bleep] doesn't stink, or they're just so [bleep] spiffy that everybody else ought to follow their lead, you're gonna have to keep right on looking, is all. How spiritual are you? [rolls eyes] Give me a break. 'Spiritual' is a weasel-word used by religious sheeple who don't want to admit what they are. Okay. How religious are you? Not. At. All. Do you… [stare] …follow… [intense stare] …any religious… [disquietingly intense stare] …aaand, I'll just mark that down as a 'no', shall I? [nods] You can learn. Good. Are you part of a team? Nope; I'm a lone wolf, you should pardon the expression. Do you think you might like to be on a team? [shrug] Could be nice. Having backup, pooling resources, that sort of thing. Of course, the interpersonal relationships might be a problem… How do you feel about the place of metahumans and aliens on Earth? People are people. I try to judge by behavior, not by the color, shape, or substance of the skin. Last question, Jube: If you could give just one piece of advice to our audience, what would it be? Always play the odds, and never bet when the odds aren't in your favor. …and the interview is over. "Well?" says Ed. "Well, what?" I reply with a shrug. "Yes, I was obnoxious. Yes, I said some stuff that Mr. and Mrs. Middle America wouldn't approve of. So what? You keep on telling me I should be myself, and I was being myself. And if Rich Royer decides not to air this interview… that's okay by me." Ed is silent for a short time before he speaks: "Jay. I know you're worried about the worst-case scenario, but honestly: You don't have to be a hyper-abrasive SOB. It's okay for you to have friends! Even if your most horrifying nightmare comes true, and your mind regresses to an animal level, there are people out there who can deal with out-of-control speedsters." "And if you're wrong about that, I leave a supersonic trail of corpses behind me," I say quietly. "And you don't really believe that's possible," Ed says. "If you did, you'd never in a million years have agreed to be a superhero! This is just residual self-loathing talking, am I right?" Sigh... Ed is right. The thing is, it really, really bugs me that I could go on a Mach-speed feral killing spree. True, it's not even remotely likely. And the odds of it happening grow smaller every day. Even so… the odds of me losing it and going on a lethal rampage are greater than zero. It's a continuing crapshoot, and I 'roll the dice' every day… and if I keep on rolling those dice, someday I will crap out. Can you blame me for worrying?

Jubatus' active threads The one and only 20Q

Table of Contents Jubatus: The character sheet Alternate versions of Jubatus: (Anti-Earth) • Jubatus (Earth-XX) • (Erde) !!! Jubatus' page on the FCPbP Wiki Jube's !!! Jube's backstory added to Timeline 6 Jan 2011, Jube's inaugural storyline. 10 Feb 2011, Jube consults a specialist about some medical problems -- and Dr. Archeville sits in. post-mortem 13 February 2011, For the first time, Jubatus battles a foe who's faster than he is! post mortem 4 Mar 2011, Jube's 'civilian' life brings him into contact with something he thought was lost to him: Music. Starring Breakdown. post-mortem 8 Mar 2011, Jube is inadvertently drawn into a murder mystery on a parallel world. post-mortem Jubatus is invited to help preserve a little bit of galactic biodiversity. post-mortem 4 Apr 2011, In the aftermath of some natural disasters on Haiti, Jube helps speed some (re-) construction work along. post-mortem 14 May 2011, Extradimensional interference sends a bus very far off its scheduled route -- with a few heroes (Jubatus included) on its passenger list. post-mortem June 2011, In which a (somewhat disquieting, actually) part of the cheetah's legacy is revealed 23 Jun 2011, Jubatus helps deal with leftover Nazi war machines that unexpectedly threaten Southside. post-mortem 15 Jul 2011, The fastest cat alive looks into a wave of suburban kidnappings. post-mortem First half of Oct 2011, Jube must spend a week on all fours -- or risk permanent, crippling damage to his spine. post-mortem 21 Oct 2011, A laboratory accident sends Jube and would-be sidekick Martin Brandtford hurtling backwards into the past of an alternate timeline. post-mortem 5 January 2012, While investigating a series of high-tech thefts, Jubatus' problems… and his entire body… and a crowd of civilians… are drastically minimized when he's caught up in a Toy Boy scheme. post-mortem 4 February 2012, Jube meets a novice speedster. Social interaction ensues. post-mortem 4 February 2012, In which Jubatus encounters Life Knight, a hero who can raise the dead… and restore Jube's humanity..? post-mortem Late Mar 2012, After the Hot Zone: Jubatus reconstructs what happened to him as a result of the Proteus virus. 14 May 2012, Jubatus is recruited to combat a bizarre pathogen that threatens to sweep across Freedom City. post-mortem 15 May 2012, On patrol, Jubatus happens to be on the scene when destructive mutant cat-things rampage through a Hanover Zoo-sponsored petting zoo exhibit. post-mortem June 2012, Whatever happened to the five thugs that Jay Xavier ripped hell out of in the first couple of weeks after his fur coat was installed? 23 June 2012, While rescuing civilians from an apartment fire, Jubatus encounters the new, heroic, Bee-Keeper, among others. post-mortem 14 July 2012, Jay Xavier meets a sentient acoustic wave while working as a sound-engineer at the Battle of the Bands. post-mortem 13 August 2012, Jubatus helps troubleshoot a museum exhibit of audio-animatronic dinosaurs gone rogue! post-mortem 24 August 2012, What's up with people freaking out bad around Jubatus? post-mortem 15 September 2012, A strange visitor from another world(let), and Jubatus is on the welcoming committee? post-mortem 11 October 2012, The heroic financial titan, Amir al-Misri, makes Jubatus an offer he can't refuse—no matter how much he'd like to… post-mortem 12 October 2012, A hidden enemy of Jubatus transforms innocent citizens into animals. post-mortem 20 October 2012, Jay Xavier's first job on al-Misri's payroll is interrupted by supervillains. post-mortem 4 November 2012, Criminal apes from another dimension, with an ape-ifying weapon? Welcome to Jube's Sunday. post-mortem 26 December 2012, In which Jubatus meets a redneck from outer space!

Jubatus needs some edits in his fluff -- thank god his crunch is not affected. Specifically: I had a grossly wrong idea about some thing called "Project Freedom", and there's a couple bits of fluff which depend on that grossly wrong idea, and things just gotta change. Rather than Jay getting court-ordered into a Government program to help wayward supertypes (which is what I mistakenly thought "Project Freedom" was), Jay went into psychological therapy. The changes I wnat to make are consequences of this. Change Number the First Existing (erroneous) bit: Affiliations: Hero group he's attached to by court order (see History for details) What I want to replace it with: Affiliations: None. Jubatus operates independently Change Number the Second Existing (erroneous) bit: The second paragraph of Jay's History ends, That comfortable routine ended a few weeks ago. Since Jay needs to spend some time in therapy before he's fit to be a hero, the time reference must change. What I want to replace it with: That comfortable routine ended a few months ago. Change Number the Third Existing (possibly erroneous) bit: Then one of the thugs died, in hospital, from the injuries Jay had inflicted. More, that thug's parents insisted on charging Jay with murder! However the judge might have originally planned to handle this case, Jay derailed that plan by pleading guilty. So the judge was forced to come up with a 'plan B'. Well, it was pretty clear that Jay wanted to be a good citizen... but it was also clear that he was having problems dealing with his transformed body, and that he could be a danger to the public, if those problems weren't dealt with. Dude is still dead. Not good. 'Self-defense on behalf of an innocent citizen' is fine, but it only goes so far... What I want to replace it with: Then the parents of one of the thugs insisted on charging Jay with assault and battery! However the judge might have originally planned to handle this case, Jay derailed that plan by pleading guilty. So the judge was forced to come up with a 'plan B'. Well, it was pretty clear that Jay wanted to be a good citizen... but it was also clear that he was having problems dealing with his transformed body, and that he could be a danger to the public, if those problems weren't dealt with. Change Number the Fourth Existing (erroneous) bit: The last paragraph of Jube's History reads, In the end, the judge remanded Jay to the custody of Project Freedom, so that he could get the help he needed... and make up for the crime he had inadvertently committed, by becoming a superhero. What I want to replace it with: In the end, the judge ordered Jay to get the psychological help he so clearly needed. After some months of treatment, Jay still has bad days from time to time... but he's recovered from the worst of his traumas, and when his therapist suggested that Jay put his special abilities to public-spirited use, Jay agreed. And now Jay battles injustice with the blazing speed of... Jubatus! Change Number the Fifth THe Personality & Motivation text needs some additional material What I want to add: After the second sentence: However, he has recently come to understand that the results of ignoring altruistic impulses can be worse. I've added these changes to Jube's character sheet, so a complete copy-and-paste transplant, entirely replacing the existing sheet in Jube's thread, will work just fine: [b][u]Players Name[/u]:[/b] Cubist [b][u]Characters Name[/u]:[/b] Jubatus [b][u]Power Level[/u][/b]: (10) (150/150PP) [b][u]Trade-Offs[/u][/b]: +2 Attack / -2 Damage, +2 Defense / -2 Toughness [b][u]Unspent PP[/u][/b]: 0 [b][u]Gold Status[/u][/b]: 0/30 [b][u]In Brief[/u][/b]: Speedster who is his own worst enemy -- his toughest challenge will be overcoming 'the demons within' [b][u]Alternate Identities[/u][/b]: Jay Nelson Xavier [b][u]Identity[/u][/b]: Public (it's kind of hard to maintain a Secret Identity when you're blatantly Not Human...) [b][u]Birthplace[/u][/b]: San Francisco Bay Area [b][u]Occupation[/u][/b]: Freelancer specializing in technological troubleshooting and tech writing [b][u]Affiliations[/u][/b]: None. Jubatus operates independently [b][u]Family[/u][/b]: Parents: Albert Xavier (father -- dead), Rebecca Xavier (mother -- Alzheimer's-stricken 105 yrs. old in nursing home). Siblings (in birth order): Corrie Xavier (sister, 86), Maxwell Xavier (brother, dead), Dan Xavier (brother, dead), Elaine Xavier (sister, 79), Nancy Xavier (sister, dead), Randolph Xavier (brother, 64). Jube is aware that he has several more-distant relatives (cousins, etc) in various parts of the US and Europe, but has never attempted to build relationships with any of these persons. [b][u]Age[/u][/b]: 64 (DoB: September, 1946) [b][u]Apparent Age[/u][/b]: Young adult (how old does a cheetah look..?) [b][u]Gender[/u][/b]: Male [b][u]Ethnicity[/u][/b]: Cheetah (formerly Caucasian) [b][u]Height[/u][/b]: 6'1" [b][u]Weight[/u][/b]: 102 lbs [b][u]Eyes[/u][/b]: Green [b][u]Hair[/u][/b]: Fur w/ typical cheetah markings -- sandy-yellow w/ black spots all over, with white on the torso's front side [b][u]Description[/u][/b]: First impression: The guy's a cheetah, end of discussion. A closer look reveals that his braincase is rather larger than that of a 'real' cheetah, and the digits on his forepaws are a fair amount longer, slimmer, and more dexterous than those of a 'real' cheetah (which isn't saying much). He typically doesn't wear anything more than a khaki vest that's got ridiculously many (gadget-filled) pockets. [b][u]Power Descriptions[/u][/b]: Jubatus' only exotic ability is what he calls "Timeshifting", the power to control how quickly Time flows for himself. He calls it 'upshifting' when he's running faster than normal, and 'downshifting' when he's running slower than normal. This ability has some innate side-effects. One, gravity becomes weaker (when he upshifts) or stronger (when he downshifts). Two, it 'Doppler shifts' all wavelengths (of light or sound or whatever else); when he's running X* faster than normal, he percieves all wavelengths as [sup]1[/sup]/[sub]X[/sub] of their 'normal' value. [b][u]History[/u][/b]: With an IQ around 140, Jay Nelson Xavier has been 'the smartest kid in the room' for most of his childhood (and a good fraction of his adult life). Thanks to an intermittent, continuing series of abusive incidents at the hands of his so-called 'peer group', incidents which were either ignored or dismissed as "kids playing around" by adults who were nominally in positions of responsibility, Jay learned early on that most people are stupid or crazy or both... a conclusion which was only reinforced during his adolescence and later years. For the past 30-40 years, Jay has been a technocrat, specializing in troubleshooting and technical writing; his life was a comfortable routine of accepting, and fulfulling, freelance contracts. That comfortable routine ended a few months ago. Unknown to Jay, he'd been chosen by a Grue sleeper agent as a suitable test-subject for biological experimentation... so one day, Jay went to sleep normal, and woke up with a five-o'clock shadow that just wouldn't quit. Overnight, his body had changed from 'normal human' to '[i]almost[/i]-normal cheetah'. As if the associated changes to his vision, hearing, and other senses weren't bad enough, he also found himself 'floating', as if gravity had somehow been reduced to [sup]1[/sup]/[sub]6[/sub] of its customary strength. Confused and disoriented by this radical transformation, Jay managed to dial 9-1-1... and [i]that[/i] freaked him out even more: There was no person on the other end of the line, just a slow [i]basso[/i] droning. Even worse, Jay discovered that he was no longer capable of speech -- all that came out of his mouth were animal noises! In desperation, Jay barked out the classic SOS code. Then he lost consciousness... Jay woke up in a hospital room, tied to a bed by loose restraints. During the week or so he spent in hospital, Jay learned about his new, highly cheetah-esque body; what he could and couldn't eat safely, that he was permanently stuck at 6* faster than the rest of the world, [i]etc etc[/i]. As well, he figured out how to talk with a vocal tract that can't produce speech (the secret is, make a series of carefully-selected sound effects that [i]sound like[/i] human words), and how to 'downshift' (slow himself down) to the same speed as everybody else. At which point, he returned to his normal life, as best he could. A week after his release from hospital, Jay happened to be passing by the site of a five-on-one mugging. Ordinarily, Jay would have just dialed 9-1-1 on his cellphone and let the police handle it... but this time, he [i]couldn't[/i] just let the victim suffer, because he was a by-God [i]human being[/i], not a friggin' [i]animal![/i] Jay thought his monstrous appearance would be enough to drive the thugs away. Wrong: Inhuman he might seem, but he was also obviously scared & underconfident, and he appeared to be a scrawny little bugger (6' tall and 100 lbs). So the thugs figured a weak, frightened animal (albeit one that was a little bit larger than the last animal they'd tortured) would be easy meat. The thugs were [i]very[/i] wrong: In the ensuing scuffle, Jay 'upshifted' for the first time, and his 'beast side' took over for the first time... or at least he friggin' well [i]hopes[/i] it was his 'beast side' taking over. Because when it was over, Jay was horrified to see all five thugs sprawled out on the asphalt, unmoving, in puddles of their own blood. Jay called for ambulances, and spent the next several minutes puking his guts out. All five of the thugs were alive when the ambulances arrived. Jay reported the incident to the police, who assured him that there would be no legal repercussions -- it was a clear case of self-defense on behalf of an innocent victim -- which made Jay feel a [i]little[/i] better about his having ripped and torn and shredded and... anyway, Jay resolved that the next time he came across a crime-in-progress, he [i]would[/i] let the police handle it. Then the parents of one of the thugs insisted on charging Jay with assault and battery! However the judge might have originally planned to handle this case, Jay derailed that plan by pleading guilty. So the judge was forced to come up with a 'plan B'. Well, it was pretty clear that Jay wanted to be a good citizen... but it was also clear that he was having problems dealing with his newly-transformed body, and that he [i]could[/i] be a danger to the public, [i]if[/i] those problems weren't dealt with. In the end, the judge ordered Jay to get the psychological help he so clearly needed. Now, some few months of treatment later, Jay still has bad days from time to time... but his mental condition is sufficiently improved that when his therapist suggested Jay put his special abilities to public-spirited use, [i]Jay agreed.[/i] And now Jay battles injustice with the blazing speed of... Jubatus! [b][u]Personality & Motivation[/u][/b]: Jay Nelson Xavier has never been anyone's idea of a superhero. He's a cynical, hardshell pragmatist, and while he [i]does[/i] have altruistic impulses, his life experiences have forcibly taught him that acting on said impulses usually has a bad outcome. However, he has recently come to understand that the results of [i]ignoring[/i] altruistic impulses can be [i]worse.[/i] Jay has few friends, and he likes it that way -- especially now that his brain has been rewired to add cheetah traits/instincts, such as their generally solitatry nature. Jay, a detail-oriented fussbudget, is aware that he's more competent than most people, but where some might think "damn, I'm great!", Jay wonders "why can't [i]they[/i] do it, too?" [b][u]Powers & Tactics[/u][/b]: Jube is about speed and precision, not brute force. He prefers the surgically exact strike to carpet-bombing, pre-planned activity to improvisation. [b][u]Complications[/u][/b]: [b]Can't Touch Me[/b]: Jube's Danger Sense is permanently active -- he [i]cannot[/i] shut it down -- and whenever the DS thinks there's trouble inbound, [i]it[/i] actives his Timeshift [i]for[/i] Jube... [b]The Nature of the Beast[/b]: Jube's eyes and ears are cheetah-normal; thus, he has lousy color discrimination, and he cannot hear any sounds below 100 Hz or so. The digits on his forepaws are longer and slimmer than those of normal cheetahs, but nowhere near as good as human fingers; hence Jube's manual dexterity suffers at times. Obligate carnivore; chewing on one leaf won't [i]hurt[/i] him, but a whole salad would give him horrible diarrhea. Human-style clothing is very uncomfortable -- it chafes against his fur and makes him overheat, not to mention his skeletal structure is all wrong for it -- so he wears as little of it as he can get away with. Jube's voice sounds [i]terrible;[/i] he can't actually speak, so he strings together carefully-selected sound effects to produce 'speech' which is easy to comprehend. Jube is naturally quadrupedal, but he insists on standing up on his hind legs anyway, no matter how much it hurts. [b]Thou Shalt Not...[/b]: (ube is [i]very very very[/i] opposed to killing [i]any[/i]thing, and takes a rather dim view of even inflicting injury; he's scared spitless that the scent of blood might allow his 'beast side' to take over. [b]Time [i]Will[/i] Let Me[/b]: Jube's Timeshift affects gravity (Timeshifting slower = stronger gravity; faster = weaker gravity). He can Timeshift to [i]slower than[/i] normal, with the accompanying effect on personal gravity. As well, the Timeshift affects anything with a wavelength; when Jube is running N* faster than normal, he percieves the frequency of an X-Hertz sound as (X/N) Hz, and analogous color-shifts affect light. His Infravision, Ultra-Hearing, Ultravision, and X-Ray Vision are all affected by this quirk. [b]Too Darn Fast[/b]: Jube's bodily processes (metabolism, nerve impulses, etc) are permanently stuck at 6* normal speed; in order to interact with normal-speed characters, he [i]must[/i] use his Timeshift power to slow down to [i]their[/i] speed. As well, he needs to eat 6* more than anyone else; Jube going 1 day without food affects him much the same way a normal person would be affected by not eating for 6 days straight. Similarly, Jube's sleep cycle is [sup]1[/sup]/[sub]6[/sub] as long as that of any normal person. [b][u]Abilities[/u][/b]: -4 +14 +4 +8 +6 +2 = 30pp Str 18/06 (+4/-2) Dex 24 (+7) Con 14 (+2) Int 18 (+4) Wis 16 (+3) Cha 12 (+1) [b][u]Combat[/u][/b]: 12 + 20 = 32pp Initiative: +7/+23 Attack: +6 ranged, +12 melee Grapple: +16/+10 Defense: +10 (+10 Base), +5 Flat-Footed Knockback: -5, -1 Flat-Footed [b][u]Saving Throws[/u][/b]: 4 + 0 + 6 = 10 Toughness: +10 (+2 Con, +8 Defensive Roll) / +2 Flat-Footed Fortitude: +6 (+2 Con, +4) Reflex: +7 (+7 Dex, +0) Will: +9 (+3 Wis, +6) [b][u]Skills[/u][/b]: 28R = 7pp Knowledge: Business 4 (+8) Knowledge: Current Events 4 (+8) Knowledge: Technology 5 (+9) Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 5 (+9) Language 2 (English [native], Spanish, French) Notice 6 (+9) Stealth 2 (+9) [b][u]Feats[/u][/b]: 19PP Attack Focus (Melee) 6 Defensive Roll 4 (+8 Toughness) Environmental Adaptation (Low gravity) Equipment 4 (20 EP) Evasion Jack of All Trades Master Plan Uncanny Dodge (Motion Sense) [quote name="Equipment 4PP = 20EP"] [i]Contents of Jube's "utility vest": Stuff from the Core book[/i] Binoculars [1EP] Commlink [1EP] Cutting torch (Blast 1, Drain Toughness 1) [3EP] Digital A/V recorder [1EP] Ear protectors (+5 vs Dazzle (auditory)) [1EP] Fire extinguisher [1EP] Flash-defense goggles (+5 vs Dazzle (visual)) [1EP] Forensics kit [1EP] Gas mask [1EP] GPS unit [1EP] Handcuffs [1EP] Lock release gun [1EP] Mini-tracer [1EP] Palmtop (PDA) [1EP] Police scanner [1EP] Rebreather [1EP] Swiss army knife (i.e., multi-tool) [1EP] UV 'blacklight' [1EP] [i]Contents of Jube's "utility vest": Stuff which probably won't have much effect on combat, but is in there anyway[/i] Duct tape Protein bars Spare batteries (all kinds needed for his gadgets) Vials of concentrated energy fluid (i.e., Rockstar/Monster/Red Bull)[/quote] [b][u]Powers[/u][/b]: + 2 + 4 + 6 + 7 + 1 + 4 + 30 = 56PP [b]Immunity 2[/b] (aging, cheetah-specific & human-specific diseases) [2pp] [b]Regeneration 2[/b] (Recovery Rate: Bruised 1 [1 round], Staggered 1 [20 minutes]) [2pp] [b]Strike 3[/b] ([i]Feats:[/i] Mighty) (Claws, fangs) [4pp] [b]Super-Movement 3[/b] (Safe Fall, Sure-footed, Wall-Crawling) [6PP] [b]Super-Senses 7[/b]: (Danger Sense (Motion Sense), Low-light Vision, Motion Sense [Tactile, [i]Extras:[/i] Ranged], Normal Olfactory Sense [[i]Extras:[/i] Acute, Tracking], Ultrasonic Hearing) [7PP] [b]Super-Senses 1[/b]: (Infravision, [i]Complications:[/i] Power Loss [Only active when Jube is Timeshifted slower than normal]) [1PP] [b]Timeshift[/b] (30PP Container [Active]) [30pp] [list][b]Enhanced Feats 6[/b] (Improved Initiative 6) [6pp] [b]Enhanced STR 12[/b] [12pp] [b]Quickness 6[/b] (x100) [6pp] [b]Speed 6[/b] (500MPH/5,000 ft per Move Action) [6pp][/list] [b]Abilities (30) + Combat (32) + Saving Throws (10) + Skills (7) + Feats (19) + Powers (52) = 150pp[/b] Doktor'd

Like it says in his "Nature of the Beast" Complication: "Jube is naturally quadrupedal, but he insists on standing up on his hind legs anyway, no matter how much it hurts." You can teach a dog to stand up on its hind legs, right? Same general idea here. If it was just a matter of anatomy, Jube should be exclusively quadrupedal -- but there's also Jube's pathological refusal to accept his non-human status. "Animals go on four legs. I am not an animal. Therefore, I go on two legs, and that's all there is to it!!1!"

I will not disagree with anything you've said, Dok. For one thing, you actually, like, know what you're talking about. So if an Undead Rights movement actually did show up in a Freedom City plotline, that UR movement would most likely be some sort of scam, and the plotline might well focus on the player-characters finding out who's running that scam, plus what their agenda might be. Yes? No?

In that case, Ecalsneerg, I am even less clear on Sandman's objections. [shrug] 'Tis a mystery. In any case, the concepts are out there for anyone who wishes to use them.

I'm not clear on what your objection to this concept is. Silver Age DC comics could and did use Governmental agencies, the law, and political processes, as plot devices (from the Prankster's scheme to copyright the alphabet and collect royalties, to the IRS agent who wanted to make Superman pay all his back taxes from reward money and gifts, to Gorilla Grodd using his force-of-mind to get himself elected mayor of Central City, to Prez Rickard), so I don't see why the concept of an Undead Rights movement would be beyond the pale for Freedom City. If undead in FC are too few to warrant a legitimate Undead Rights movement, that would just mean that any such movement which exists is some sort of scam, so the resulting plot would be about discovering (and foiling, one hopes) the real agenda of whatever evil mastermind is running the show. Yes? No? Again, I'm not clear on what your objection is. If Silver Age DC had room for a story in which Gorilla Grodd got himself elected mayor of Central City (and it did), I think Freedom City has room for a PR Man kind of character. Heck, there was a Silver Age story in which Professor Zoom used his future science to mind-control Central City's government into outlawing super-speed -- and I defy anyone to argue that Silver Age Central City was less supportive of the Flash, than Freedom City is of its superheroes! If your objection is that either/both of these concepts could be used for plotlines which simply don't belong in Freedom City, I agree. I just don't think either concept requires violating FC's established 'ethos'. It jujst takes a bit of care on the part of the GM, is all.

Villain concept: The PR Man This guy is a consummate master of public relations, able to shape consensus on a national scale and change people's minds with nigh-supernatural efficacy. He's not an active villain in his own right; rather, he's 'support crew', one of the people who's doing the bidding of $Big_Bad. Maybe he sold his soul to the Devil; maybe he's a highly-skilled master of the science of memetics; maybe he's something else entirely. Game-mechanics-wise, I'm thinking he's got a heavily-Modified version of Mind Control. The number of Ranks in Mind Control should be relatively small; enough to have a very good chance of mindzapping your typical civilian-on-the-street, but not such a great chance of affecting heroes. The Mind Control affects people who see the ads (or read the essays, or etc), so it might need Sense-Dependent; it has the potential of affecting every person who sees the ads, so we could be talking Shapeable Area with 20-or-so PP in Progression; people aren't likely to recognize that PR Man's ads are hitting them with Mind Control, so it prolly wants Subtle; Mind Control victims are not automatons, so give it Conscious; Mind Control victims may well 'spread the wealth', forwarding relevant webpages and YouTube links on to their entire address book, so Contagious is a viable possibility; use of so-called 'dog-whistle speech', specific phrases which have significant meaning to a particular group of people while being completely innocuous to anyone outside the intended target group, could merit Selective Attack; and since it does take time to make ads and so on, it wants enough of the Action flaw that PR Man needs several days to use his power.

Freedom City needs an Undead Rights movement. The Law typically regards dead people as unpersons, who are not allowed to own property; are only permitted to exist in specialized 'ghettos' (see also: "cemetaries"); etc etc. Even if an undead entity wanted to be a good citizen, the Law conspires against them! Imagine a civic-minded vampire trying to register to vote... or sue a carpenter for breach of contract...

THis thread is for, well, what it says on the label: Crazy ideas (with emphasis on crazy ideas that might be interesting/useful for the Freedom City setting). Anybody is invited to add new craziness to it at any time.

THis post serves only as a signpost to make it clear that I've updated the character. See (edited) first post for the updated character sheet.

Yep, it was. I wanted a scenario in which Jay committed a heinous-enough act to justify his being called into court for it, but with sufficient mitigating factors that it would be reasonable for the judge to not just lock Jay's fuzzy butt away for whatever length of prison term. My take on it: The dead guy had a close relative who insisted on bringing the case to court. No matter how excellent the legal system is, you're going to have problems preventing random people from starting ridiculous court cases, not so? The judge might well have felt like throwing the case out... but with a defendant who's pleading guilty right off the bat, the judge would've had to issue some kind of sentence. Yes? No? One: They're drunk or high on [insert name of drug here]. Two: When Jay stands on his hind legs (as he always does), he's about 6' tall and 100 lbs. In other words, he is one scrawny-looking sumbish, hence could be viewed as an easy 'mark' by some criminals. Three: This is supposed to have happened very early in Jay's existence as a non-human lifeform, hence he's still pretty scared and underconfident and so forth, hence he's basically giving off high-intensity "I'm a victim" vibes, hence he's a perp magnet. If those three factors do not reduce the implausibility enough, an obvious alternative occurs to me: The thugs were engaged in doing something heinous to an innocent victim when Jay happened to pass by. Jay decides to intervene. The thugs take violent exception. The thugs end up thrashed, one of them badly-enough thrashed to die in hospital N days later. Better? This would seem to be a point regarding which my HeroSystem experience has led me astray (see also: Psychological Limitations). I will review the (overly long) list of Complications, as you suggest... Frump! Thank you for catching my error(s), and I'll see what I can do about shaving the extra 4 points I hadn't realized I was spending.

Looks like a BEN 10 expy. Coolness. I suspect you'll be asked to provide stats for all of your different alien forms...

Players Name: Cubist Characters Name: Jubatus Power Level: 13 (175PP/196PP) Trade-Offs: +2 Attack / -2 Damage, +2 Defense / -2 Toughness Unspent PP: 21 Progress to Silver Status: 46/60 In Brief: Speedster who is his own worst enemy -- his toughest challenge will be overcoming 'the demons within' Alternate Identities: Jay Nelson Xavier Identity: Public (it's kind of hard to maintain a Secret Identity when you're blatantly Not Human...) Birthplace: San Francisco Bay Area Occupation: Freelancer specializing in technological troubleshooting and tech writing Affiliations: Sometimes works with Martin Brandtford of ASTRO Labs for scientific purposes Family: Parents: Albert Xavier (father -- dead), Rebecca Xavier (mother -- Alzheimer's-stricken 105-year-old in nursing home). Siblings, in birth order: Corrie Xavier (sister, 86), Maxwell Xavier (brother, dead), Dan Xavier (brother, dead), Elaine Xavier (sister, 79), Nancy Xavier (sister, dead), Randolph Xavier (brother, 64). Jube is aware that he has several more-distant relatives (cousins, etc) in various parts of the US and Europe, but has never attempted to build relationships with any of these persons Age: 66 (DoB: September, 1946) Apparent Age: Young adult (how old does a cheetah look..?) Gender: Male Ethnicity: Cheetah (formerly Caucasian) Height: 6'1" Weight: 102 lbs Eyes: Green Hair: Fur w/ typical cheetah markings -- sandy-yellow w/ black spots all over, with white on the torso's front side Description: First impression: The guy's a cheetah, end of discussion. A closer look reveals that his braincase is rather larger than that of a 'real' cheetah, and the digits on his forepaws are a fair amount longer, slimmer, and more dexterous than those of a 'real' cheetah (which isn't saying much). He typically doesn't wear anything more than a khaki vest that's got ridiculously many (gadget-filled) pockets. Power Descriptions: Jubatus' only exotic ability is what he calls "Timeshifting", the power to control how quickly Time flows for himself. He calls it 'upshifting' when he's running faster than normal, and 'downshifting' when he's running slower than normal. This ability has some innate side-effects. One, gravity becomes weaker (when he upshifts) or stronger (when he downshifts). Two, it 'Doppler shifts' all wavelengths (of light or sound or whatever else); when he's running X* faster than normal, he percieves all wavelengths as 1/X of their 'normal' value. History: With an IQ around 140, Jay Nelson Xavier has been 'the smartest kid in the room' for most of his childhood (and a good fraction of his adult life). Thanks to an intermittent, continuing series of abusive incidents at the hands of his so-called 'peer group', incidents which were either ignored or dismissed as "kids playing around" by adults who were nominally in positions of responsibility, Jay learned early on that most people are stupid or crazy or both... a conclusion which was only reinforced during his adolescence and later years. For the past 30-40 years, Jay has been a technocrat, specializing in troubleshooting and technical writing; his life was a comfortable routine of accepting, and fulfulling, freelance contracts. That comfortable routine ended in 2011. Unknown to Jay, he'd been chosen by a Grue sleeper agent as a suitable test-subject for biological experimentation... so one day, Jay went to sleep normal, and woke up with a five-o'clock shadow that just wouldn't quit. Overnight, his body had changed from 'normal human' to 'almost-normal cheetah'. As if the associated changes to his vision, hearing, and other senses weren't bad enough, he also found himself 'floating', as if gravity had somehow been reduced to 1/6 of its customary strength. Confused and disoriented by this radical transformation, Jay managed to dial 9-1-1... and that freaked him out even more: There was no person on the other end of the line, just a slow basso droning. Even worse, Jay discovered that he was no longer capable of speech -- all that came out of his mouth were animal noises! In desperation, Jay barked out the classic SOS code. Then he lost consciousness... Jay woke up in a hospital room, tied to a bed by loose restraints. During the week or so he spent in hospital, Jay learned about his new, highly cheetah-esque body; what he could and couldn't eat safely, that he was permanently stuck at 6* faster than the rest of the world, etc etc. As well, he figured out how to talk with a vocal tract that can't produce speech (the secret is, make a series of carefully-selected sound effects that sound like the phonemes of spoken language), and how to 'downshift' (slow himself down) to the same speed as everybody else. At which point, he returned to his normal life, as best he could. A week after his release from hospital, Jay happened to be passing by the site of a five-on-one mugging. Ordinarily, Jay would have just dialed 9-1-1 on his cellphone and let the police handle it... but this time, he couldn't just let the victim suffer, because he was a by-God human being, not a friggin' animal! Jay thought his monstrous appearance would be enough to drive the thugs away. Wrong: Inhuman he might seem, but he was also obviously scared & underconfident, and he appeared to be a scrawny little bugger (6' tall and 100 lbs). So the thugs figured a weak, frightened animal (albeit one that was a little bit larger than the last animal they'd tortured) would be easy meat. The thugs were very wrong: In the ensuing scuffle, Jay 'upshifted' for the first time, and his 'beast side' took over for the first time... or at least he friggin' well hopes it was his 'beast side' taking over. Because when it was over, Jay was horrified to see all five thugs sprawled out on the asphalt, unmoving, in puddles of their own blood. Jay called for ambulances, and spent the next several minutes puking his guts out. All five of the thugs were alive when the ambulances arrived. Jay reported the incident to the police, who assured him that there would be no legal repercussions -- it was a clear case of self-defense on behalf of an innocent victim -- which made Jay feel a little better about his having ripped and torn and shredded and... anyway, Jay resolved that the next time he came across a crime-in-progress, he would let the police handle it. Then the parents of one of the thugs insisted on charging Jay with assault and battery! However the judge might have originally planned to handle this case, Jay derailed that plan by pleading guilty. So the judge was forced to come up with a 'plan B'. Well, it was pretty clear that Jay wanted to be a good citizen, but it was also clear that he was having problems dealing with his newly-transformed body, and that he could be a danger to the public, if those problems weren't dealt with. In the end, the judge ordered Jay to get the psychological help he so clearly needed. And some few months of treatment later, Jay still had bad days from time to time... but his mental condition was sufficiently improved that when his therapist suggested Jay put his special abilities to public-spirited use, Jay agreed. And now Jay battles injustice with the blazing speed of... Jubatus! Personality & Motivation: Jay Nelson Xavier has never been anyone's idea of a superhero. He's a cynical, hardshell pragmatist, and while he does have altruistic impulses, his life experiences have forcibly taught him that acting on said impulses usually has a bad outcome. However, he has recently come to understand that the results of ignoring altruistic impulses can be worse. Jay has few friends, and he likes it that way -- especially now that his brain has been rewired to add cheetah traits/instincts, such as their generally solitatry nature. Jay, a detail-oriented fussbudget, is aware that he's more competent than most people, but where some might think "damn, I'm great!", Jay wonders "why can't they do it, too?" Part of the reason Jay acts as a superhero is because he believes his cheetah-like body is doomed to die of old age within 2-3 years, and he's determined to make as much of a difference as he can, while he's still capable. In reality, Jay's accelerated metabolism heals the ravages of Time as quickly they occur, so he's effectively immune to aging -- he just doesn't know this yet. Powers & Tactics: Jube is about speed and precision, not brute force. He prefers the surgically exact strike to carpet-bombing, pre-planned activity to improvisation. Complications: Can't Touch Me: Jube's Danger Sense is permanently active -- he cannot shut it down -- and whenever the DS thinks there's trouble inbound, it actives his Timeshift for Jube... The Nature of the Beast: Jube's eyes and ears are cheetah-normal; thus, he has lousy color discrimination, and he cannot hear any sounds below 100 Hz or so. The digits on his forepaws are longer and slimmer than those of normal cheetahs, but nowhere near as good as human fingers; hence Jube's manual dexterity suffers at times. Obligate carnivore; chewing on one leaf won't hurt him, but a whole salad would give him horrible diarrhea. Human-style clothing is very uncomfortable -- it chafes against his fur and makes him overheat, not to mention his skeletal structure is all wrong for it -- so he wears as little of it as he can get away with. Jube's voice sounds terrible; he can't actually speak, so he strings together carefully-selected sound effects to produce 'speech' which is easy to comprehend. Jube is naturally quadrupedal, but he insists on standing up on his hind legs anyway, no matter how much it hurts. Thou Shalt Not...: Jube is very very very opposed to killing anything, and takes a rather dim view of even inflicting injury; he's scared spitless that the scent of blood might allow his 'beast side' to take over. Time Will Let Me: Jube's Timeshift affects gravity (Timeshifting slower = stronger gravity; faster = weaker gravity). He can Timeshift to slower than normal, with the accompanying effect on personal gravity. As well, the Timeshift affects anything with a wavelength; when Jube is running N* faster than normal, he percieves the frequency of an X-Hertz sound as (X/N) Hz, and analogous color-shifts affect light. This quirk affects Jube's Infravision, Ultravision, and Ultrasonic Hearing, and he may eventually learn to exploit it for X-ray Vision. Too Darn Fast: Jube's bodily processes (metabolism, nerve impulses, etc) are permanently stuck at 6* normal speed; in order to interact with normal-speed characters, he must use his Timeshift power to slow down to their speed. As well, he needs to eat 6* more than anyone else; Jube going 1 day without food affects him much the same way a normal person would be affected by not eating for 6 days straight. Similarly, Jube's sleep cycle is 1/6 as long as that of any normal person. Abilities: - 4 + 18 + 4 + 8 + 6 + 2 = 34pp Str 20/6 (+5/-2) Dex 28 (+9) Con 14 (+2) Int 18 (+4) Wis 16 (+3) Cha 12 (+1) Combat: 12 + 20 = 32PP Initiative: +9/+37 Attack: +6 Base, +12 Melee Grapple: +16/+10 Defense: +10 (+10 Base), +5 Flat-Footed Knockback: -5, -1 Flat-Footed Saving Throws: 4 + 0 + 6 = 10 Toughness: +10 (+2 Con, +8 Defensive Roll) / +2 Flat-Footed Fortitude: +6 (+2 Con, +4) Reflex: +9 (+9 Dex, +0) Will: +9 (+3 Wis, +6) Skills: 32R = 8PP Knowledge: Business 4 (+8) Knowledge: Current Events 4 (+8) Knowledge: Technology 5 (+9) Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 5 (+9) Language 2 (English [native], Spanish, French) Notice 6 (+9) Sense Motive 4 (+7) Stealth 2 (+11) Feats: 24PP Attack Focus (Melee) 6 Benefit: Wealth 2 Defensive Roll 4 (+8 Toughness) Eidetic Memory Environmental Adaptation (Low Gravity) Evasion Fearless Improvised Tools Jack of All Trades Master Plan Online Research Stunning Attack Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (Motion Sense) Well-Informed Powers: 1 + 6 + 2 + 2 + 5 + 6 + 1 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 1 + 35 = 67PP Feature 1 (Mimicry: Jube's throat produces excellent sound effects) [1PP] Gadgets 1 (5PP Variable Power, Any Power, Multiple Powers At Once; Extras: Duration [Continuous]; Flaw: Easy to Lose) [6PP] Example Gadgets Immunity 2 (Aging, Cheetah-Specific & Human-Specific Diseases) [2PP] Regeneration 2 (Recovery Rate: Bruised 1 [1 round], Staggered 1 [20 minutes]) [2PP] Strike 4 (Feats: Mighty) (claws, fangs) [5PP] Super-Movement 3 (Safe Fall, Sure-Footed, Wall-Crawling) [6PP] Super-Movement 1 (Water Walking, Drawback: Power Loss [Only when Timeshifted > 6*]) [1PP] Super-Senses 3 (Danger Sense, Tremorsense [Tactile Sense; Extras: Ranged]) (motion sense) [3PP] Super-Senses 4 (Low-Light Vision, Normal Olfactory Sense [Extras: Acute, Tracking], Ultrasonic Hearing) [4PP] Super-Senses 1 (Infravision; Drawback: Power Loss [Only when Timeshifted < 6*]) [1PP] Super-Senses 1 (Ultravision; Drawback: Power Loss [Only when Timeshifted > 6*]) [1PP] Timeshift (35PP Container [Active]) [35PP] Enhanced Feats 7 (Improved Initiative 7) [7PP]Enhanced Strength 14 [14PP]Quickness 7 (250) [7PP]Speed 7 (1,000 MPH/10,000' per Move Action) [7PP]DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE vs. EFFECTUnarmed Touch Toughness, DC19 (15+4) Damage (Physical) Strike Touch Toughness, DC24 (15+9) Damage (Physical) Blast Range Toughness, DC17 (15+2) Damage (Physical) / from Gadgets Snare Touch Reflex, DC15 (10+5) Entanglement / from Gadgets Abilities (34) + Combat (32) + Saving Throws (10) + Skills (8) + Feats (24) + Powers (67) = 175PP/196PP

Danke schœn, Dr. Archeville. With that in mind, here's the latest roster of Stuff In Jube's Utility Vest: The rest of the sheet seems pretty solid... I hope... so perhaps Jube is in shape for posting to the Character Bank?

[checks Core rulebook] Hmmm... so I should use the cost figures from the tables on pp. 135/138/139/140 as needed, pay the full number of points for the most expensive item, and pay 1 point for every other item, since all the less-expensive items will be Alternate Powers?

This guy sounds like an old (1950s) DC character, Captain Comet, who was explicitly defined as being a man far ahead of his (evolutionary) time. You could run with the sci-fi concepts thereby suggested?

Sounds like the rationale behind forbidding Regen vs. Unconsciousness is one of those things which is perfectly obvious once you've actually played MnM... which I, um, haven't... yet... Proposed new power! Yes? No? The latest and greatest version of Jube! • Have futzed w/ the Combat stuff; Jube's melee bonus is the same, but he has a little better chance of hitting with ranged attacks. • Have compiled a list of items for the utility vest. If I've screwed up somewhere, it wouldn't surprise me; should this end up being more expensive than I figure, I can remove items from the list, or revert my changes to the Combat stuff, or both. • Have given Jube 1 rank of the proposed Motion Sense power (plus 1 rank in Extended on Motion Sense). • This version weighs in at 150 pts. Should this version pass muster, I'll start up Jube's thread in the Character Bank forum (hope hope hope)... Abilities: -4 +14 +4 +8 +6 +2 = 30pp Str 6 (-2) // WIth Timeshift: 18 Dex 24 (+7) Con 14 (+2) Int 18 (+4) Wis 16 (+3) Cha 12 (+1) Combat: 12 + 20 = 32pp Initiative: +7/+23 Attack: +6 [12pp] (+6 ranged, +12 melee) Grapple: +12 Defense: +10 [20pp] (+10 Base), +5 Flat-Footed Knockback: -5, -1 Flat-Footed Saving Throws: 0 + 4 + 6 = 10 Toughness: +10 (+2 Con, +8 Defensive Roll) / +2 Flat-Footed Fortitude: +6 (+2 Con, +4) [4pp] Reflex: +7 (+7 Dex) Will: +9 (+3 Wis, +6) [6pp] Skills: 28R = 7pp Knowledge: Business 4 (+8) Knowledge: Current Events 4 (+8) Knowledge: Technology 5 (+9) Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 5 (+9) Language 2 (English [native], Spanish, French) Notice 6 (+9) Stealth 2 (+9) Feats: 19PP Attack Focus 6 Defensive Roll 4 Environmental Adaptation (Low gravity) Equipment 4 Evasion 1 Jack of All Trades Master Plan Uncanny Dodge (Motion Sense) Powers: 30 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 7 + 5 = 52PP Timeshift (set of Linked powers) [30pp] Enhanced STR 12 (Linked to Speed)[12pp] Improved Initiative 6 (Linked to Speed)[6pp] Quickness 6 (Linked to Speed) [6pp] Speed 6 [6pp] Cheetah-related stuff: Immunity 2 (aging, diseases specific to either humans or cheetahs) [2pp] Regeneration 2 (recovers faster from Bruised and Staggered) [2pp] Strike 3 (Feat: Mighty) (Jube's claws and fangs) [3pp] Super-Movement 3 (Slow Fall 1, Sure-footed 1, Wall-Crawling 1) [6PP] Super-Senses 7: (Danger Sense (Motion Sense), Low-light Vision, Motion Sense, Scent, Tracking (Scent), Ultra-hearing; Extra: Extended 1 on Motion Sense) [7pp] Super-Senses: (Infravision, X-ray Vision (Power Modifier: Linked to Timeshift -- X-ray Vision only active when all 7 ranks of Speed are in use, IR only when Jube is Timeshifted slower than normal) [5pp] Abilities (30) + Combat (32) + Saving Throws (10) + Skills (7) + Feats (19) + Powers (52) = 150pp

Minor note before getting to the main event: It would appear that my "why can't Jube throw objects around?" gut reaction was interpreted by some folks as if I'd ended that sentence with the clause "without paying for it". In reality, I am down with the you-get-what-you-pay-for paradigm, and I didn't have any problem with the fact that Geez3r's suggestion would, indeed, result in the absence of a missile attack; I was just thinking, hey, it makes sense that a speedster should be able to do that, so I'm not sure I want to shave points in that manner. And then I realized that there was a valid in-character reason for Jube to not throw superfast objects, so my gut reaction was moot... The rationale behind FC's house rule forbidding Regeneration from unconsciousness is unclear to me. However, I expect you guys have a valid reason for it, so Jube's "Regen vs Unconsciousness" gets swapped to "Regen vs Staggered". By concept, Jube's superfast metabolism means he heals real fast, so he should have gobs and gobs of Regen. Accordingly, this is one of the things I'll be pouring points into over time. Have added the Ranged (tactile) and Radius (tactile) power feats to Jube's Super-senses, as (what strike me as) a good, albeit weird, way to represent "detecting motion via sensing air currents" in the game system. It may or may not be appropriate to include a Drawback about "Ranged and Radius do not allow Jube to sense textures or pressure at a distance"? Alternately, perhaps this might be a new option for Super-Senses; call it "Detect Motion", and it's worth either 1 or 2 PP. Or not. Assuming I haven't botched up somewheres, this edition of Jube weighs in at 144PP, which means I've got 6 PP I could buy equipment with. Yay for Jube's utility vest! And here we go: Abilities: -4 +14 +4 +8 +6 +2 = 30pp Str 6 (-2) // WIth Timeshift: 18 Dex 24 (+7) Con 14 (+2) Int 18 (+4) Wis 16 (+3) Cha 12 (+1) Combat: 8 + 20 = 28pp Initiative: +7/+23 Attack: +4 [8pp] Grapple: +12 Defense: +10 [20pp] (+10 Base), +0 Flat-Footed Knockback: -5, -1 Flat-Footed Saving Throws: 0 + 4 + 6 = 10 Toughness: +10 (+2 Con, +8 Defensive Roll) Fortitude: +6 (+2 Con, +4) [4pp] Reflex: +7 (+7 Dex) Will: +9 (+3 Wis, +6) [6pp] Skills: 28R = 7pp Knowledge: Business 4 (+8) Knowledge: Current Events 4 (+8) Knowledge: Technology 5 (+9) Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 5 (+9) Language 2 (English [native], Spanish, French) Notice 6 (+9) Stealth 2 (+9) Feats: 17PP Attack Focus 8 Defensive Roll 4 Environmental Adaptation (Low gravity) Evasion 1 Jack of All Trades Master Plan Uncanny Dodge (Spatial Awareness via detecting subtle air currents) Powers: 30 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 7 + 5 = 52PP Timeshift (set of Linked powers) [30pp] Enhanced STR 12 (Linked to Speed)[12pp] Improved Initiative 6 (Linked to Speed)[6pp] Quickness 6 (Linked to Speed) [6pp] Speed 6 [6pp] Cheetah-related stuff: Immunity 2 (aging, diseases specific to either humans or cheetahs) [2pp] Regeneration 2 (recovers faster from Bruised and Staggered) [2pp] Strike 3 (Feat: Mighty) (Jube's claws and fangs) [3pp] Super-Movement 3 (Slow Fall 1, Sure-footed 1, Wall-Crawling 1) [6PP] Super-Senses 7: (Danger Sense (tactile), Low-light Vision, Scent, Tracking (Scent), Ultra-hearing, Feats: Radius on tactile, Ranged on tactile) [7pp] Super-Senses: (Infravision, X-ray Vision (Power Modifier: Linked to Timeshift -- X-ray Vision only active when all 7 ranks of Speed are in use, IR only when Jube is Timeshifted slower than normal) [5pp] Abilities (30) + Combat (28) + Saving Throws (10) + Skills (7) + Feats (17) + Powers (52) = 144pp

My immediate reaction, when I read Geez3r's suggestion to exchange a bit of Attack Bonus for Attack Focus (Melee), was Gimme a break -- why can't Jube throw small objects at transsonic velocity (or higher)? My second reaction, which followed fairly quickly after the first, was Dude. In this game, Jube will be a friggin' novice. And since airflow (hence, trajectories of throw objects) gets wonky in the transsonic-and-up regime, it makes sense that he wouldn't yet have learned how to compensate for said wonkiness. So yeah, I'm trading in some baseline Attack Bonus for some Attack Focus (melee). Jube's defenses: I am actually okay with the idea that Jube will be comparatively fragile, not to mention weak against attacks that depend on exotic saves. The basic concept, cheetah with TIme control, kind of mandates that he be soft and squishy w. r. t. any attack that can actually hit him; should this prove to be a problem, well, that's what XP are for, right? Jube's Danger Sense: The specific mechanism I envision for this is motion-sensing via detection of subtle air currents (see also: vibrissae), which is a (kind of) tactile sense. I mean, it's based on feeling the aforementioned subtle air currents, right? Given the practical effect of this mechanism, however, I suppose "spatial awareness" could also be a valid way to describe it... maybe... Jube's Timeshift power: The Array is gone. Is just a list of Linked powers, now. Jube's caps: See below for the current (fourth) version of Jube. It gives him Attack Bonus of 5, and the Attack Focus (Melee) Feat of +10; if I'm understanding how it all works, this means Jube's Melee Attack Bonus is 15. His Strike has a rank of 3, plus the Mighty feat; Jube's Timeshift boosts his STR up to 18, which is worth a STR bonus of +4; and that +4 gets added to the 3, for (what I hope is) a total DC of 7. If I haven't screwed up somewhere, this version of Jube ends up with an offensive cap of ((15 + 7) / 2 =) 11. Regarding the defensive cap, I added Defensive Roll 4 to Jube's Feats, which raises his Toughness roll to 6; his Defense of 10 is the same, so his defensive cap ends up being (10 + 6) / 2 =) 8. I think. If I'm correct about the values of the caps in this version of Jube, I should be able to reset both of those caps to 10 by redirecting 4 PP from his Attack Bonus to Defensive Roll. Yes? No? Abilities: -4 +14 +4 +8 +6 +2 = 30pp Str 6 (-2) // WIth Timeshift: 18 Dex 24 (+7) Con 14 (+2) Int 18 (+4) Wis 16 (+3) Cha 12 (+1) Combat: 10 + 20 = 30pp Initiative: +7/+23 Attack: +5 [10pp] Grapple: +12 Defense: +10 [20pp] (+10 Base), +0 Flat-Footed Knockback: -1 Saving Throws: 0 + 4 + 6 = 10 Toughness: +2 (+2 Con) Fortitude: +6 (+2 Con, +4) [4pp] Reflex: +7 (+7 Dex) Will: +9 (+3 Wis, +6) [6pp] Skills: 32R = 8pp Stealth 1 (+8) Notice 5 (+8) Language 2 (English [native], Spanish, French) Knowledge: Current Events 2 (+6) Knowledge: Business 3 (+7) Knowledge: Technology 3 (+7) Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 2 (+6) Profession: Writer 7 (+10) Profession: Troubleshooter 7 (+10) Feats: 19PP Attack Focus 10 Defensive Roll 4 Environmental Adaptation (Low gravity) Jack of All Trades Master Plan Evasion 1 Uncanny Dodge (Spatial Awareness via detecting subtle air currents) Powers: 30 + 5 + 5 + 6 + 3 + 2 + 2 = 53PP Timeshift (set of Linked powers) [30pp] Speed 6 [6pp] Quickness 6 (Linked to Speed) [6pp] Improved Initiative 6 (Linked to Speed) [6pp] Enhanced STR 12 (Linked to Speed) [12pp] Cheetah-related stuff: Super-Senses 5: (Low-light Vision, Scent, Tracking (Scent), Ultra-hearing, Danger Sense (Spatial Awareness via detecting subtle air currents)) [5pp] Super-Senses: (X-ray Vision, Infravision (Power Modifier: Linked to Timeshift -- X-ray Vision only active when all 7 ranks of Speed are in use, IR only when Jube is Timeshifted slower than normal) [5pp] Super-Movement 3 (Wall-Crawling 1, Slow Fall 1, Sure-footed 1) [6PP] Strike 3 (Feat: Mighty) (Jube's claws and fangs) [3pp] Regeneration 2 (recovers faster from Bruised and Unconscious) [2pp] Immunity 2 (aging, diseases specific to either humans or cheetahs) [2pp] Abilities (30) + Combat (30) + Saving Throws (10) + Skills (8) + Feats (19) + Powers (53) = 150pp