Bishop

September 2, 2011 6:25 am. "What, you thought you could rip us off?!" The tall hooldum wearing a denim jacket kicked the scrawny teenage kid one more time who laid curled up in a fetal position on the street. There was no traffic in this West End neighborhood this early in the morning. The boy's bicycle lay on the curb with a bent up rim. The teenage boy was dressed expensively: new, stylish shoes and a white jacket, which was now torn and bloodied. A second young street thug stood by, holding an open bank bag and counting the money inside. He wore mirrored shades even in this pre-dawn light. Zzzzzzut "You little punk, you better come up with a lot more the next --" "Ahem." The two young hoods turned to the voice just 20' behind them and saw an older man in a bold black-and-white patterned costume. Half his face was covered with a metalic mask. He held a metal, ball-tipped stick in his right hand and tapped it gently on his left sholder, his arms crossed in front of him. Denim Jacket turned from the boy on the ground and faced the man, looking him up and down. "Wha? Who the hell are you!?" "I'm the superhero who's about to ruin your day." "Man..." Denim Jacket picked up a baseball bat he had laying to the side. "Superhero, my ass!" He held up the baseball bat in a threatening posture. "You wanna piece of this?! You best be rollin' up on outta hea'!" Mirror Shades calmly zipped up the bag, stuffed it under his armpit, and just held up his hands in a surrendering manner. He chuckled, shaking his head. "Dawg, you be trippin'," he said to Denim Jacket. "Can't you see this dude's a Cape? Just chill." "Yeah? He ain't got no cape! And I'm 'bout to bust that shiny head o' his!" Mirror Shades looked back to Bishop. "Dude, I ain't never seen you 'round this neighborhood. What you doin' down here, anyhow? Shoudn't you be uptown rescuing cats from trees or some sh*t?" That got a giggle from Denim Jacket. "I couldn't sleep," Bishop replied matter-of-factly. Denim Jacket was still bobbing, holding the bat at the ready, itching to take a swing. Mirror Shades cocked his head. "Huh?" "Yeah, I couldn't sleep. So, I went out on patrol. Nothing better to do," he said with a shrug. "Sure, other times of day probably would have been better for finding a bank robbery to foil, or a burning building to pull orphans out of, maybe." He smiled and added, "or even kittens to rescue from trees." He took the scepter off his shoulder and patted the palm of his hand with it. "But, you take them as they come. So, here I am, about to trash a couple of punks instead." "Aww, F**K YOU!" yelled Demim Jacket as he stepped forward and took a swing at Bishop's head. The black-and-white clad hero stood unmoving. But, at the last moment, he shimmered slightly and was instantly just a few inches out of range of the bat, which wiffed harmlessly in front of his face.

August 30, 2011 on the set of "Good Morning Philadelphia," an early morning TV talk show. ADAMS: Good morning, Philadelphia! Roger Adams here with Philly's latest local boy turned superhero, the Bishop! AUDIENCE: (Applause) ADAMS: Welcome, Bishop, good to have you with us this morning. BISHOP: Thank you, Roger. Good to be here. ADAMS: So, is Philly where you were born? BISHOP: That's right. I've lived here all my life. ADAMS: And what exactly is your superpower? BISHOP: Well, I can instantly move from one place to another, or "teleport," by thinking about it just right. Basically, I think about it like I might a particular chess move. Somehow, that triggers my ability. ADAMS: That's amazing! So, that's why you have this whole "chess-thing" going here, with the... the black and white and -- BISHOP: Yes, yes. ADAMS: -- And that cool looking scepter thing. BISHOP: Right. ADAMS: Does that scepter... what does it do? BISHOP: It was built for me by some of the geniuses of the Freedom League. It enhances my natural powers and lets me use my power to attack rather than just jump around here and there. It also has a few other nifty features, but that's basically it. ADAMS: Cool, cool. Now, Bishop, I understand that you've decided NOT to keep your true identity a secret. That seems kind of unusual. Why did you decide to do that? BISHOP: Well, supers who keep secret identities do so to protect their loved ones or to maintain their normal lives. I don't really have anyone I need to protect, or a normal life I care to try to maintain. Also, it gives me a lot more freedom. ADAMS: What do you mean? BISHOP: For starters, I don't need a car anymore. No worrying about finding parking places and all that. AUDIENCE: (Laughter) BISHOP: I want to go somewhere, I just teleport there. It really frees up the schedule! AUDIENCE: (Laughter) BISHOP: If I had a secret identity, I'd have to drive around everywhere to keep up appearances. ADAMS: What motivated you to be a superhero? BISHOP: My wife and my daughter. I'd want them to be proud of me. I think it’s what they’d want me to do with this gift. ADAMS: So, it's okay for us to talk about your "normal" identity, right? You are a chess master, is that right? BISHOP: Yes. A FIDE International Grandmaster. I ran a chess club on South Clarion Street. ADAMS: What's it called? BISHOP: Oh, nothing original: "the Clarion Chess Club." AUDIENCE: (Laughter) ADAMS: And you're not running it anymore? BISHOP: No, not really. I resigned as president. I still plan to "pop" in from time to time, but, as you might imagine, I've got a lot on my plate right now. This whole "superhero" thing is still pretty new to me. ADAMS: So, being a chess master, the chess name, the chess-looking costume... does chess have a lot to do with your powers or is it just a cool theme, or what? BISHOP: Well, a little of both, I guess. The supers who helped get me started may have taken the theme a little farther than I would have personally, but I still like it. As to my abilities, well, I'm also known for my tactical skills. I'd like to think my chess experience has helped with that. ADAMS: You think playing chess has prepared you in some way? BISHOP: Oh, certainly. For over a thousand years, it was used to train kings and generals in the arts of leading war. Chess is 99% tactics. It is about analyzing and exploiting weakness, about marshaling and deploying resources, calculating attacks. Really the biggest difference between chess and warfare is that in chess, the pieces aren't all moving around at the same time. AUDIENCE: (Laughter) BISHOP: But, that's not really as big a difference as one might think. ADAMS: So, Bishop, you haven't been a superhero for long, right? BISHOP: Right. It happened just a couple of months ago. It was an accidental kind of thing, like one of those freak lab accidents in the comic books. ADAMS: It was a lab accident? BISHOP: Well, no, it was a relatively ordinary house fire. You see, my powers are genetic. I'm a mutant. But they lied dormant all my life until I faced a life-threatening situation. I guess I've led a pretty quiet life up until now. ADAMS: Do you have any plans to go back to chess? BISHOP: I never fully left it. I mean, I still play lots of games, I just don't enter tournaments any more. I'm playing several games now by correspondence with friends for fun. But, I don't think I'll go back to playing professionally. I haven't discussed the issue with FIDE yet, and there is no rule against supers playing chess, per se, but it’s not an issue I want to press. I have reason to believe they will think my powers give me an unfair advantage. ADAMS: Why would they consider teleportation an unfair advantage? BISHOP: Well, there is the question of whether my intelligence itself is part of my superpower. ADAMS: Oh, so you have some kind of super-intelligence, too? BISHOP: Well, I'd hesitate to say that. I mean, I'm no Dr. Archeville or anything. AUDIENCE: (Laughter) ADAMS: And you have that because of your mutant power? BISHOP: Who can say, really? Intelligence and various features of our mental processes are at least partly genetic, after all, and so is my superpower. There are people who, as a result of their genetic makeup, can perform amazing mental feats, but we don't call them super-powered. Where is the line between "normal" genetic abilities and "super" ones? It's a question I've asked myself a number of times, but I don't have a clear answer. I don't seem to be any "smarter" now then I was before my accident. But, my power DOES seem to rely on how my brain processes information. So, there's just no way to say for sure. If I stay in professional chess, it may even call into question my past level of performance. How much of that was due to some "unfair super-powered" advantage? I doubt it would really come to some kind of revocation of my ranking. After all, I’ve never been the World Champion or anything. But I have, as you can imagine, "bigger fish to fry" now. I'm okay with letting that part of my life go. ADAMS: I see. So, Bishop, I'm sure all the supervillians out there want to know: do you have any weaknesses? Some kind of "kryptonite?" AUDIENCE: (Laughter) BISHOP: (Laughs) No, no. Well, not that I know of yet anyway. I mean, I do have a weakness for Reuben sandwiches. Does that count? AUDIENCE: (Laughter) BISHOP: Amazing things they are. Normally, I don't care much for sauerkraut, rye bread, Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing, OR corn beef. But, man, put them all together? I turn weak in the knees thinking about it. AUDIENCE: (Laughter) ADAMS: I take it telling jokes isn’t one of your superpowers. AUDIENCE: (Laughter) ADAMS: I kid! I kid! So, are you staying in Philly or doing the big move over to Freedom City? BISHOP: Right now, I'm between permanent residences. ADAMS: Right, right. BISHOP: Anyway, I'm staying in hotels and "couch surfing" at friends houses and superheroes' headquarters and such. I probably will land in Freedom City, given it's the "Mecca" for supers, but the good thing is it's not really an either/or thing. With my powers, the world is a much smaller place. I can travel from Freedom City to Philly in basically the blink of an eye, and I plan to make myself available to the Philadelphia community. I think it's what my wife and daughter would have wanted. AUDIENCE: (Applause) ADAMS: So, what's the hardest thing you've found so far about being a superhero? BISHOP: Oh, that's easy: the workouts! ADAMS: Workouts? BISHOP: Oh, yes. As you can imagine, chess is not exactly the most athletic of sports, and I've never been one for the gyms. All I did to stay a bit in shape was swimming and biking. That had to change. Being a superhero, you have to be in good shape to take a hit. I try to use my head to avoid getting hit, but all the same... there are guys out there who can punch me through a brick wall! So, now... now I do a lot of sit-ups. A LOT of sit-ups... More sit-ups than I ever thought I'd be able to. ...I have to tell you, I HATE sit-ups. AUDIENCE: (Laughter) BISHOP: The Freedom League has some real slave-drivers when it comes to workouts and practice. ADAMS: You're with the Freedom League? BISHOP: Oh, no, no, not really. They have helped me get started and are still helping me by training me in the things I need to know and be able to do if I expect to survive long... like that "getting punched through a brick wall" issue. AUDIENCE: (Laughter) ADAMS: Are you part of a super hero team, or would you like to be? Why? BISHOP: I am not part of a team, yet. I would certainly like to be, though, as I think I'd be much more effective that way than entirely solo. ADAMS: Well, it's time for a commercial break. But after the break, we'll take questions from the audience for The Bishop! AUDIENCE: (Applause) [break] ADAMS: And, we're back, Philadelphia! AUDIENCE: (Applause) ADAMS: We're here with one of the newest superheroes, chess master Donovan Kross, now known as "The Bishop." So, let's see if our audience has any questions. Yes... AUDIENCE MEMBER 1: Hello, Bishop, my condolences for your recent loss, sir. BISHOP: Thank you. AUDIENCE MEMBER 1: I followed the story of the fire in the papers and I was wondering: do you have any idea who started it? BISHOP: No. No, I don't. AUDIENCE MEMBER 1: Well, I mean, why would someone set YOUR house on fire? Did they know you had super powers or something? BISHOP: I... I really have no idea who started it or why. I do know this, though... I will find out. And I will see that whoever is behind it is brought to justice. AUDIENCE: (Applause) AUDIENCE MEMBER 2: Hello Mr. Bishop, my name is Connie, and I start college this fall. ...and, I don't know, I've never gotten to talk to a super genius superhero and I just wanted to know, what kind of advice could you give me for, like, life and stuff? BISHOP: Well, I may be some "super-brain." I think the jury’s still out on that one. But, I sure don't have the answers. I make mistakes. So, take anything I say with a grain of salt. As for starting college, all I can offer you is the same advice I would have given my own daughter. She would have been starting college this year, too, by the way. And what I'd tell her is this: “do what you love.†The rest will sort itself out. Sounds cheesy and obvious, but the really important things often do. AUDIENCE: (Applause) AUDIENCE MEMBER 3: Mr. Bishop, what is your greatest ambition? BISHOP: Other than battling evil and injustice? AUDIENCE: (Laughter) BISHOP: I am thinking of starting a new chess club in Freedom City. It would be nice to bring new players to the game. AUDIENCE MEMBER 4: How do you feel about the state of the world and your place in it? BISHOP: I'm not really sure how much real effect I will have in the world. All I can do is what I can do. Living true to my values is the best I can do. AUDIENCE MEMBER 5: How do you get along with others? Especially other supers? BISHOP: I think I get along pretty well with other people, other supers. I’d probably even get along with many villains, too, if it weren’t for, you know, their whole “being evil†thing. AUDIENCE: (Laughter) BISHOP: There is one kind of person I don’t get along with: I don't care much for people who think being super-smart makes them somehow superior to others. Hubris. Maybe that's my own insecurities talking, though. Maybe that's something I don't like about myself, or afraid I might see in myself. Who knows. AUDIENCE MEMBER 6: How spiritual are you? Do you follow a religious tradition? BISHOP: That's something I don't normally discuss, and my answer is likely to offend some people. I don't mean to offend, and I don't think any less of people for their beliefs. As for myself, I consider myself a secular humanist. I think we are responsible to ourselves for our morality, not to some supernatural being in the sky. So, I don't consider myself "spiritual." But moral? Yes. AUDIENCE MEMBER 7: How do you feel about the place of metahumans and aliens on Earth? BISHOP: How do I feel about it? I guess it makes life a lot more interesting than it would be without them. But, it's kind of like that Chinese curse: "may you live in interesting times." These ARE interesting times, indeed. ADAMS: Well, thank you, Mr. Bishop, for joining us this morning. AUDIENCE: (Applause) BISHOP: Thank you, Roger. It's been a pleasure. ADAMS: It's time for another commercial break. Stay tuned for "Jungle John" from the Philadelphia zoo and find out what wild animals he brought for us today!

Table of Contents 20 Questions Wiki Page

Took out the teleport attack and fixed the snare formatting. Also put in the snazzy-floating-picture thingy for good measure.

I see what you mean about the Restricted. The idea I had was that its teleportation enhancement powers had to have "teleport power" channeled though it to work, so those functions could only be used by someone who had pretty much the same kind of teleport power he does. However, the grenades and limpets are triggered mechanically, and so could be used by anyone picking the thing up. I'll see if I can figure out a way to elegantly word that in the Device power itself. I copied the format directly from the sample sheet, so it should be the same, but after lots of cutting and pasting, maybe not so much. I'll go through it again to see if I can find any problems.

Right. Definitely just a protection thing. Tough material and all that. Fixed.

I went ahead and put that bit in his sheet under "Personality and Motivations." He's ready.

Cool. I'll fix that. There is. It's actually something I was going to explore in an early thread or journal entry. Basically, it's the same reason he still has the scars: it's all that he has left. He was offered the opportunity to have all that fixed and he turned it down. Whether he's doing it out of a feeling of guilt, or out of memory of his family, even he is not entirely clear. It just didn't feel right to him. Would it be better to put that in his sheet?

I made the following changes: replaced Seize Initiative with Speed of Thought and added Penetrating to his damage attack. Submitted for your approval.

Not a problem. I was expecting it to take a few days at least. That seems to be the case with most characters I've checked out. No worries, especially when it means I get the awesome feedback I've been getting! Man, that made me laugh! "Oh, no! He is standing right in front of me! My teleport power is useless! What can I possibly do!" Thinks for a moment. "Ah HAH!, I've got it!" Turns 45 degrees to the right. "Now you will taste -- hey! Stand still! Stop trying to get in front of me like that!" Cool! Actually, I thought they should be in a container together, just not sure how to code it, and didn't think it made a difference. Thanks! What?! Oh HELL yeah! I didn't know about that feat! I was aware of the problem and it niggled at me. That's one reason I got the Seize the Initiative feat, but burning an HP every time, I knew that would still be a problem. I have the power feat of "use 2x movement to feint." That's what I was planning to use to set up folks. That works, doesn't it? Oooh.. nice catch. I thought it was 2pp per level. Yes, I can add something nasty to that. Penetrating, probably. That would make sense. Right. The idea is that his IR can see though it, but he'd teleport just out of the area (to avoid the stun), fire in the grenade, then get ready to strike wherever there is a weakness to exploit. He'd have to do that at the very beginning before his friends wade in, since they'd get hit with the stun, too. He also would have to consider whether his allies can see through the smoke. It's probably going to be more of a "fighting solo" tool to help even the odds against multiple opponents, or for situations where he needs a covering screen, the way smoke grenades are used in warfare.

It's been brought to my attention in chat that I'm a pretty "unknown quantity." My less-than-desirable-for-the-setting initial draft for my character (to put it mildly) surely did nothing to alleviate that! So, who the hell is Bishop?! My wife and I are attorneys in Houma, Louisiana, and we have an 8-year-old son. We do mostly criminal and domestic law and have our own practice. I've been getting on chat a lot, but I'm going to have to cut that back if I'm going to get any work done! It's just so addictive! I got started in RPG's back when there was only one. I got into playing mainly Champions when I was in high school and GURPS in college. I also dabbled in MUDs after college. I did lots of MMO's over the years, starting with Ultima Online when it first came out, beta'd EverQuest, which came out when I was in law school, played DAOC the longest (maybe because my wife was into it, too. WAY more into it than I was, really.) Like Tendril, I tend to get bored with MMO's pretty quickly, though. They just aren't the same as "the real thing." I've played most major RPG's at least a little, but I never actually played M&M. Since I have a hard time finding a group to play with these days, I originally bought the first edition of M&M pretty much assuming I'd never actually play it. I just liked exploring the rules and making up characters. Over the years, it seems I enjoy that more than actually playing, since that is what I spend the far larger percentage of time doing. (Even doing it for games I know, or think I know, I'll never play!) So, a few years back, probably through Atomic Think Tank, I discovered an Online PbP for Freedom City. It was a different one from this one. I think it was in about 2003 or 4 or so. I was very excited, since it seemed my dream-come-true: a way I could play online without the artificial limitations of an MMO! Cool! Sadly, just after I got a character ready to play (a teenage were-rat!), it folded and vanished. So, when on one of my day-wasting-binges of surfing TV Tropes, I discovered THIS group, I was delighted beyond belief. I spent a few days just reading stuff here: characters, adventure threads, lots of stuff. Then I boldly set out to make my first character! ...and alienate probably half the board in the process. :oops: Doh! Fortunately, the problem-stuff was nothing integral to the character, so it was no big deal. Bishop's a completely new character for me. Usually, I tend to stick with a few archtypes / concepts that I've worked on over the years, but I thought I'd try something a little different. In fact, I came up with three pretty unique concepts. At first I had my heart set on a magic-guy: a druid who, because he spent 30 years in Tir Na Nog with the Fair Folk (while no time past here, and not aging in the process), he's basically a 50 year-old "trapped" in an 18 year-old's body, trying to maintain a secret ID with old friends he really has nothing in common with anymore. I had another of a human mentalist trapped in the body of a cat. (Meh. Blatant rip-off from Darker than Black.) And then there was this one, who I wasn't really into because I hadn't come up with anything interesting for his background, and his personality and motivations I just couldn't get a handle on. All I had was his theme, name, and basic power set. Well, my son, who had just finished his first chess tournament and did pretty well, jumped on the idea of a chess-guy. (Like that should have surprised me.) He was pretty insistent, really. So, I slept on it and came up with some nifty fluff. In fact, when the idea of his daughter came to me, that was when I was like: "aw yeah... I can roll with this!" Eventually, I hope to introduce his daughter as an NPC. My basic thought is this: Her arch-nemesis found out her secret identity, captured her, and torched the house in an attempt to make her "disappear" from the League's radar, so s/he could.. I don't know... brainwash her or something. Anyway, she escapes and finds out what happened to her parents (but not that her father got superpowers). Blaming herself, she goes "to ground" to find and stop her nemesis. She didn't contact the League and wasn't following the news, so didn't know about her father for some time. (My earlier idea was that, while mind controlled, SHE started the fire... then realizes the horror of what she'd done... but that's just way too dark.) So, I also have a bunch of ideas for NPC's that will probably start off as contacts for Bishop, then either become minions or full-fledged NPC's depending on the relationship. And ideas for stories... SO many ideas.... From reading threads and meeting you guys in chat, you all seem like a really cool bunch of folks that I look forward to getting to know better!

Ok, I think it's ready for your re-review. I've implemented all of the points made, I think... In short, here is what I did: I made his teleport just a straight up power with no array. His offensive powers (maybe not a good idea, I don't know) are in the scepter. With it, he can teleport other / minor nauseate, do damage, snare, or do the smoke / stun thing. There won't be a huge pile of effects all at once on some poor mook. (Still, accurate teleport up to 300' away can make for some "interesting" options.) I've boosted my saves, got my damage / toughness a bit closer to max (but still not quite there), and updated the fluff to reflect the big changes. ... I can't help but think I forgot something...

That thought had occurred to me, actually. That's one reason my original design had things more split up so he had offensive capabilities even without the sceptre. One thing I did with the new design, though, is put back in the "Set-up" feat. If he loses his offensive capabilities, he could still work to maximize that of his allies, giving them the benefit of his +14 feint. But, yeah, without the scepter... he's going to have to get REALLY creative...

I paid, I thought, 6 points for base +3 attack and 6 points for +3 defense. Did I make a mistake there? (I'm not really super-well-versed in M&M, never having played live, but I'm trying to get my head around it.) I think my toughness IS at cap (+10 is cap, right?), or does the Defensive Roll not count towards cap? My defense comes in at +9. Yeah, I was thinking that, too. I'll look at adjusting that. I think I was thinking Disable Device, but it is pretty pointless. He can really do that with a hero point? Heck yeah, that changes things. Hmm.. Yeah, you're right. I'll change that. No, just linked to each other, not to teleport. They are mainly for the smoke concealment. (I had extra points, so threw in a stun effect for the lols). But they do not work in conjunction with teleport. He'd fire this off, then teleport around and mess folks up while they couldn't see exactly where he was. Or, that's the idea, anyways. The other two powers are intended to be attacks linked to a little bit of teleport. The idea is that he can use them to teleport a resisting target, or teleport himself AND a resisting target, and also mess them up a bit in the process. The damage effect was not intended to have a will save. In cutting and pasting I left than in inadvertently and will edit accordingly. The nausea I made Will because it is about disorientation. Could go either way, though. I'm not married to either. Right, his power is a little under the max possible single effect, but I thought that would be compensated by the fact it does stack on so much nastiness. His main tactic is to look for every opportunity to use maneuvers to crank up the damage. He can feint with a +14, surprise with a +15, put on stuns and such, and then hit with a +5 power attack. As I wrote him, he could teleport, stun, and either damage or nauseate all at once. If there is concern that is OP, (which I completely understand) I'll be happy to redesign it and would appreciate any suggestions for appropriate changes. I'm all about making him fun to play WITH as much as fun for me to play. :)

Edited the fluff to clean up a host of grammatical errors my wife found. I'm pretty good at that kind of thing, but my wife is Queen of All Grammar.

BEHOLD! The Kinder, Gentler Bishop! Now with Scrubbing Action!

Objectivists tend to be extremely moral,(well, technically, "virtuous"), but your point is well taken. My concept of him, and what people tend to automatically associate with objectivism, are very different. There is no need to confuse the issue, and I'm not interested in being a soap-box about it, regardless of my personal views. So, it's probably best to dump the unfortunately negatively-charged term. I will work on a re-write on that. And, right, he is NOT a member of the Freedom League. But, they have his phone number.

[floatr][/floatr] Player Name: Bishop Character Name: Bishop Power Level: 10 (150PP) Trade-Offs: None Unspent Power Points: 0 Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30 In Brief: A teleporting tactical genius. Alternate Identity: Donovan Kross Identity: Public Birthplace: Philadelphia, PA Occupation: Freelance Consultant Affiliations: None Family: None Description: Age: 44 (DoB: 1967) Gender: Male Ethnicity: Caucasian Height: 5' 10" Weight: 148 lbs Eyes: Brown Hair: Brown Donovan Kross is a slender, middle aged man. His hair is a dark brown and graying at the temples. It's of a medium length and usually a bit unkempt. He is missing his right eye, and the right side of his face is disfigured from burns. Where his right eye was is a cybernetic socket that interfaces with his optic nerve. Because he doesn't try to maintain a secret identity, he nearly always wears his mask, which covers the scars on his face. The only time he normally takes it off is to sleep, shower, and play chess. He feels it interferes with his concentration during play and gives the appearance of an unfair advantage. Bishop's costume is in a "chess motif" large black-and-white checkered pattern. He carries what looks to be a medieval king's scepter, about a foot and a half long, which clips to his belt. The rest of his belt is much more utilitarian in appearance. (He thinks the whole "chess-theme" thing is a bit overdone, but he didn't have a lot of input into the design...) Most of the right side of his face is covered with a metallic mask / headset which also completely covers his right eye. Power Descriptions: Bishop's primary power is his mutant ability to teleport. When he uses his power, whatever is teleporting shimmers briefly before disappearing. The teleport makes a soft "zzzut" sound. History: Donovan Kross was a professional chess master -- an international grandmaster who was running a small chess school in downtown Philadelphia. He lived in a modest home in the suburbs with his wife Melinda and daughter Julia. That was until the night of the house fire that destroyed his life. It happened late at night. There was an explosion, and the first thing Donovan remembers is waking up in terrible pain, pinned by a burning support beam. The right side of his body was pressed into drapery and carpet that had caught on fire and was scorching his face and upper torso. He panicked. In the terror of the moment, he could think of nothing but wanting to get out, escaping to the safety of the front yard. In his mind, it was like he could understand the space between him and the yard in the same way he would visualize a chess board. All it took, he intuitively realized, was a diagonal move across the space in between like the move of a bishop. With that thought, he instantly teleported himself to the front yard and collapsed on the grass. Later, Donovan awoke in the hospital, groggy and in pain. He was in the burn unit being treated for third degree burns over half his face and upper torso. He was attached to IV fluids, pain killers, and monitors. His first guests were police detectives sent to investigate the fire. They told him that his wife and daughter had died in the blaze. They also told him that the fire appeared to be intentional but that he was not currently a suspect. The next few days Donovan spent in a medicated haze, but he was vaguely aware of being transferred to a wheeled stretcher and transported somewhere. When he fully came to his senses, he found himself in an ultra-high-tech medical facility; and his newest visitors weren’t police or medical staff, but costumed superheroes! He learned that he was in the infirmary of Freedom Hall, the Freedom City headquarters of the Freedom League! Donovan’s accident had drawn the attention of the Freedom League for a few reasons – not the least of which was the shocking revelation that Donovan’s daughter Julia was secretly an associate member of the League! His own daughter had been living a double life as a superhero. Julia had been the superhero code named “Empress†and had possessed impressive telekinetic powers. The League believed that Empress – Julia – didn’t die in the fire. The burnt corpse left behind was not hers. But they had no idea what had happened to her, where she was, or why nobody had heard from her since the fire. Donovan also learned that his daughter’s powers were genetic and that she had inherited her genetic mutation from him! Its power wouldn't reveal itself until there was a life-threatening event which, in the panic of the moment, triggered the latent abilities. He remembered the car accident his wife and daughter had been in a few years back. It seemed a miracle they had survived without a scratch considering the extensive damage to the car and the semi-truck it had collided with. He had chalked it up to a fluke of chance. Julia had acted differently ever since that accident. She was secretive, distracted, and seemed to go on a lot of sudden overnight trips. He had worried about her but didn’t want to pry. Now, the grief of her loss was even greater than when he thought she had died. He blamed himself: if only he had known the truth; if only he had used his “great intellect†and “supremely analytical mind†to figure out what was happening in his own family. Maybe then, none of this would have happened. The League helped Donovan control his abilities. Donovan trained hard and devoted his talent for tactical chess to tactics of a different sort. While not an official member, Donovan now assists the League and various agencies as a master tactician. He also invests much of his free time in investigating what happened to his daughter and who killed his wife. Personality & Motivation: What happened to Bishop's family drives him to fight for justice and freedom. Though the surgery was offered to him to completely repair his scarring and replace his eye, he turned it down. He doesn't want to erase the reminder of what had happened, possibly out of a feeling of guilt over the incident. He is especially driven to unravel the mystery behind what happened to his daughter. But, more than anything else, what motivates him is a desire to be someone his daughter would be proud of. He loves intellectual challenges. That is what he loves most about chess, and sometimes he sees what he does now as the greatest chess game in the world. He particularly seeks to defeat "mastermind" villans who pride themselves in their intellect. He no longer plays or teaches chess professionally, but still loves the game and is usually playing several correspondence games online at any given time. Bishop tends to be "cool, calm, and collected." He has tremendous patience. He prefers to collect as much relevant information as possible before acting, but can act quickly and decisively when the situation calls for it. While polite, he tends to be a tad formal with others. He seems warm and friendly, but also reserved and a bit aloof. Powers & Tactics: Bishop can teleport himself with a remarkable degree of skill. He is also capable of “micro†teleports which lets him dodge attacks and avoid damage more effectively. His mask plugs into the optical nerve where his right eye once was. It delivers tactical information, input from video cameras in the area, and interfaces with computer systems, including the one built into a small backpack on his costume. He prefers to dart in and out of a battle using hit and run tactics to confuse and disrupt his enemies. He can teleport behind full cover, keeping tabs on his targets with cameras in the area or ones he might deploy on site, then strike and withdraw again quickly. His primary weapon is a specially designed "scepter" which works with and enhances muntant teleportation abilities and has some additional useful features. He can use it to channel his teleportation power to teleport someone it touches, or to "rend" them by teleporting away parts of them or teleporting slightly into them. Smoke/stun grenades are launched from the top of the scepter. The light smoke only blocks normal vision, not the infrared of his mask or his video camera. A "limpet" dispenser built into the butt of the sceptre releases a "snare limpet" which sticks to a target on contact and fires coils of snare wire, entangling the target. Lastly, the sceptre can enhance his natural teleporting ability, greatly extending his range and carrying capacity. His costume also includes a miniaturized, folding paraglider. His favorite strategy is to teleport high into the sky where he can slowly drift as he analyzes and prepares his battle plans. During downtime, he does this to monitor reports and keep an eye out for trouble spots he can teleport to instantly. Complications: A Mystery to Solve: He is willing to go to great lengths to find out what happened to his family and to avenge the death of his wife. Owes One to the Big Guys: Bishop is not an official member of The Freedom League, but they have helped him a lot and he has an obligation to them. Also, since he makes frequent use of his Connected feat, bartering favors as he does so; he almost always owes favors to various powerful individuals. "The Game is Afoot!": Bishop prefers to match wits with “mastermind†supervillians and he won't back down from an intellectual challenge. Two-Face's Twin Brother: Bishop is scarred over half his face and upper torso from burns. This sometimes gets a negative reaction, though the scars are usually covered by his mask and costume. He is not concerned with his appearance, but the scars do remind him of what he has lost. Abilities: 0 + 0 + 6 + 16 + 6 + 2 = 30PP Strength: 10 (+0) Dexterity: 10 (+0) Constitution: 16 (+3) Intelligence: 26 (+8) Wisdom: 16 (+3) Charisma: 12 (+1) Combat: 8 + 6 = 14PP Initiative: +8 (Speed of Thought) Attack: +4 Base; +4 Melee (+10 Scepter), 0 Ranged (One Eye) Grapple: +3 Defense: +9 (+3 Base, +6 Shield), +2 Flat-Footed Knockback: -0 Saving Throws: 4 + 4 + 7 = 15PP Toughness: +3/+6/+10 (+3 Con, +3 Protection (Costume), +4 Defensive Roll) Fortitude: +7 (+3 Con) Reflex: +4 (+0 Dex) Will: +10 (+3 Wis) Skills: 40R = 10PP Computers 6 (+14) (Mastery) Diplomacy 9 (+10) (Mastery) Disable Device 1 (+9) Investigate 2 (+10) Knowledge: Streetwise 2 (+10) Knowledge: Tactics 7 (+15) (Mastery) Knowledge: Technology 2 (+10) Knowledge: Others (+8) Notice 2 (+5) Search 2 (+10) Sense Motive 7 (+10) (Mastery) Feats: [18PP] Attack Specialization 3 (Scepter) Benefit 3: Connected Eidetic Memory Elusive Target Equipment 1 [5EP] Luck Master Plan Online Research Power Attack Set-up Speed of Thought Skill Mastery (Tactics, Diplomacy, Computers, Sense Motive) Well-Informed Equipment Computer (Masterwork) [2EP] IR Video Camera [2EP] Mini Tracer [1EP] Powers: 15 + 12 + 4 + 8 + 27 = 66PP Device 5 "Scepter" (Easy to Lose, Restricted (Mutant Teleporters, all but grenades and limpets)) (Array [20 pts] (Feats: Alternative Power 4)) Base Power: Damage 10 (Extras: Penetrating) [20PP](Rend) Alternate Power: Snare 10 (Extras: Transparent, Flaws: Range [Touch]) (Snare Wire Limpet) Alternate Power: Obscure Vision 5 (Flaws: Normal Vision Only); Stun 4 (Extras: Ranged, Area (Burst), Linked to Obscure Vision) [21PP] (Smoke / Stun Grenades) Alternate Power: Nauseate 10 [20PP](A disorienting teleport-in-place) Alternate Power: Teleport 3 (Extras:Linked to Teleport Power (Increases power to rank 10: 1000' / Earth to Moon), Accurate, Feats: Progression 2 (Increases capacity to 1,000 lbs)) [15PP] (Teleport Booster) Device 3 "Mask" (Hard to Lose) [12PP] ESP 4 Vision, Extras: Simultaneous, Flaws: Medium (Video Cameras) [8PP] Datalink 5 [5PP] Infravision [1PP] Super Senses 1 Vision range increment 100' [1pp] Device 1 (5PP) "Costume" (Hard to Lose) [4PP] Protection 3 [3PP] Flight 2 Flaws: Gliding [2PP] Shield 6 (Feats: Defensive Roll 2) (Defensive Teleport) (Mutation) [8PP] Teleportation 7 (700' / 200 miles)(Extras: Accurate, Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Easy, Turnabout, Progression 1 (200 lbs), Moving Feint)[27pp] Drawbacks: (-3) = -3PP Disability (One Eye, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Moderate) [-3PP] DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Rend Touch DC25 Toughness Damage Teleport Touch DC15 Fort (Staged) Sickened, Nauseated, Helpless Snare Limp. Touch DC20 Reflex (Staged) Entangled, Helpless Stun Grnde Range DC14 Fort (Staged) Dazed, Stunned, Unconscious Totals: Abilities (30) + Combat (14) + Saving Throws (15) + Skills (10) + Feats (18) + Powers (66) - Drawbacks (3) = 150/150 Power Points

BISHOP - PL7 BUILD [floatr][/floatr] Player Name: Bishop Character Name: Bishop Power Level: 7 (105PP) Trade-Offs: -2 Attack, +2 DC Unspent Power Points: 0 Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30 In Brief: A teleporting tactical genius. Alternate Identity: Donovan Kross Identity: Public Birthplace: Philadelphia, PA Occupation: Freelance Consultant Affiliations: None Family: None Description: Age: 44 (DoB: 1967) Gender: Male Ethnicity: Caucasian Height: 5' 10" Weight: 148 lbs Eyes: Brown Hair: Brown Donovan Kross is a slender, middle aged man. His hair is a dark brown and graying at the temples. It's of a medium length and usually a bit unkempt. He is missing his right eye, and the right side of his face is disfigured from burns. Where his right eye was is a cybernetic socket that interfaces with his optic nerve. Because he doesn't try to maintain a secret identity, he nearly always wears his mask, which covers the scars on his face. The only time he normally takes it off is to sleep, shower, and play chess. He feels it interferes with his concentration during play and gives the appearance of an unfair advantage. Bishop's costume is in a "chess motif" large black-and-white checkered pattern. He carries what looks to be a medieval king's scepter, about a foot and a half long, which clips to his belt. The rest of his belt is much more utilitarian in appearance. (He thinks the whole "chess-theme" thing is a bit overdone, but he didn't have a lot of input into the design...) Most of the right side of his face is covered with a metallic mask / headset which also completely covers his right eye. Power Descriptions: Bishop's primary power is his mutant ability to teleport. When he uses his power, whatever is teleporting shimmers briefly before disappearing. The teleport makes a soft "zzzut" sound. History: Donovan Kross was a professional chess master -- an international grandmaster who was running a small chess school in downtown Philadelphia. He lived in a modest home in the suburbs with his wife Melinda and daughter Julia. That was until the night of the house fire that destroyed his life. It happened late at night. There was an explosion, and the first thing Donovan remembers is waking up in terrible pain, pinned by a burning support beam. The right side of his body was pressed into drapery and carpet that had caught on fire and was scorching his face and upper torso. He panicked. In the terror of the moment, he could think of nothing but wanting to get out, escaping to the safety of the front yard. In his mind, it was like he could understand the space between him and the yard in the same way he would visualize a chess board. All it took, he intuitively realized, was a diagonal move across the space in between like the move of a bishop. With that thought, he instantly teleported himself to the front yard and collapsed on the grass. Later, Donovan awoke in the hospital, groggy and in pain. He was in the burn unit being treated for third degree burns over half his face and upper torso. He was attached to IV fluids, pain killers, and monitors. His first guests were police detectives sent to investigate the fire. They told him that his wife and daughter had died in the blaze. They also told him that the fire appeared to be intentional but that he was not currently a suspect. The next few days Donovan spent in a medicated haze, but he was vaguely aware of being transferred to a wheeled stretcher and transported somewhere. When he fully came to his senses, he found himself in an ultra-high-tech medical facility; and his newest visitors weren’t police or medical staff, but costumed superheroes! He learned that he was in the infirmary of Freedom Hall, the Freedom City headquarters of the Freedom League! Donovan’s accident had drawn the attention of the Freedom League for a few reasons – not the least of which was the shocking revelation that Donovan’s daughter Julia was secretly an associate member of the League! His own daughter had been living a double life as a superhero. Julia had been the superhero code named “Empress†and had possessed impressive telekinetic powers. The League believed that Empress – Julia – didn’t die in the fire. The burnt corpse left behind was not hers. But they had no idea what had happened to her, where she was, or why nobody had heard from her since the fire. Donovan also learned that his daughter’s powers were genetic and that she had inherited her genetic mutation from him! Its power wouldn't reveal itself until there was a life-threatening event which, in the panic of the moment, triggered the latent abilities. He remembered the car accident his wife and daughter had been in a few years back. It seemed a miracle they had survived without a scratch considering the extensive damage to the car and the semi-truck it had collided with. He had chalked it up to a fluke of chance. Julia had acted differently ever since that accident. She was secretive, distracted, and seemed to go on a lot of sudden overnight trips. He had worried about her but didn’t want to pry. Now, the grief of her loss was even greater than when he thought she had died. He blamed himself: if only he had known the truth; if only he had used his “great intellect†and “supremely analytical mind†to figure out what was happening in his own family. Maybe then, none of this would have happened. The League helped Donovan control his abilities. Donovan trained hard and devoted his talent for tactical chess to tactics of a different sort. While not an official member, Donovan now assists the League and various agencies as a master tactician. He also invests much of his free time in investigating what happened to his daughter and who killed his wife. Personality & Motivation: What happened to Bishop's family drives him to fight for justice and freedom. Though the surgery was offered to him to completely repair his scarring and replace his eye, he turned it down. He doesn't want to erase the reminder of what had happened, possibly out of a feeling of guilt over the incident. He is especially driven to unravel the mystery behind what happened to his daughter. But, more than anything else, what motivates him is a desire to be someone his daughter would be proud of. He loves intellectual challenges. That is what he loves most about chess, and sometimes he sees what he does now as the greatest chess game in the world. He particularly seeks to defeat "mastermind" villans who pride themselves in their intellect. He no longer plays or teaches chess professionally, but still loves the game and is usually playing several correspondence games online at any given time. Bishop tends to be "cool, calm, and collected." He has tremendous patience. He prefers to collect as much relevant information as possible before acting, but can act quickly and decisively when the situation calls for it. While polite, he tends to be a tad formal with others. He seems warm and friendly, but also reserved and a bit aloof. Powers & Tactics: Bishop can teleport himself with a remarkable degree of skill. He is also capable of “micro†teleports which lets him dodge attacks and avoid damage more effectively. His mask plugs into the optical nerve where his right eye once was. It delivers tactical information, input from video cameras in the area, and interfaces with computer systems, including the one built into a small backpack on his costume. He prefers to dart in and out of a battle using hit and run tactics to confuse and disrupt his enemies. He can teleport behind full cover, keeping tabs on his targets with cameras in the area or ones he might deploy on site, then strike and withdraw again quickly. His primary weapon is a specially designed "scepter" which works with and enhances muntant teleportation abilities and has some additional useful features. He can use it to channel his teleportation power to teleport someone it touches, or to "rend" them by teleporting away parts of them or teleporting slightly into them. Lastly, the sceptre can enhance his natural teleporting ability, greatly extending his range and carrying capacity. The scepter is frequently tinkered with and might also include experimental "one off" features he can access by power stunting. His costume is lightly armored and also includes a miniaturized, folding paraglider. His favorite strategy is to teleport high into the sky where he can slowly drift as he analyzes and prepares his battle plans. During downtime, he does this to monitor reports and keep an eye out for trouble spots he can teleport to instantly. Complications: A Mystery to Solve: He is willing to go to great lengths to find out what happened to his family and to avenge the death of his wife. Owes One to the Big Guys: Bishop is not an official member of The Freedom League, but they have helped him a lot and he has an obligation to them. Also, since he makes frequent use of his Connected feat, bartering favors as he does so; he almost always owes favors to various powerful individuals. "The Game is Afoot!": Bishop prefers to match wits with “mastermind†supervillians and he won't back down from an intellectual challenge. Two-Face's Twin Brother: Bishop is scarred over half his face and upper torso from burns. This sometimes gets a negative reaction, though the scars are usually covered by his mask and costume. His looks are distinctive. He is not concerned with his appearance, but the scars do remind him of what he has lost. Guinea Pig for Technology: Part of the deal he's getting in using his high-tech gear is that it is experimental and still subject to modification. Though this means he is sometimes given useful and unusual one-off "upgrades" he can power stunt, it also means things sometimes don't work as intended or can have unpleasant side-effects. Abilities: 0 + 0 + 4 + 12 + 4 + 2 = 22PP Strength: 10 (+0) Dexterity: 10 (+0) Constitution: 14 (+2) Intelligence: 22 (+6) Wisdom: 14 (+2) Charisma: 12 (+1) Combat: 6 + 6 = 12PP Initiative: +6 (Speed of Thought) Attack: +5 Melee (+3 Base, +2 Scepter), -1 Ranged (+3 Base, -4 One Eye) Grapple: +3 Defense: +7 (+3 Base, +4 Shield), +2 Flat-Footed Knockback: -0 Saving Throws: 2 + 3 + 4 = 9PP Toughness: +2/+5/+7 (+2 Con, +3 Protection (Costume), +2 Defensive Roll) Fortitude: +4 (+2 Con) Reflex: +3 (+0 Dex) Will: +6 (+2 Wis) Skills: 32R = 8PP Computers 4 (+10)Skill Mastery Diplomacy 6 (+7)Skill Mastery Investigate 2 (+8) Knowledge: Streetwise 2 (+8) Knowledge: Tactics 9 (+15)Skill Mastery Knowledge: Technology 2 (+8) Knowledge: Others (+6) Search 2 (+8) Sense Motive 5 (+7)Skill Mastery Feats: 10PP Attack Specialization (Scepter) Benefit 3: Knowledge (Tactics) in place of Stealth to set up a surprise attack Notice or Sense Motive to detect an ambush or avoid a feint in combat Intelligence check for the Master Plan featEidetic Memory Equipment 1 [5EP] Master Plan Online Research Speed of Thought Skill Mastery (Tactics, Diplomacy, Computers, Sense Motive) Equipment 1PP = 5EP Computer (Masterwork) [2EP] IR Video Camera (to drop in place and access with ESP)[2EP] Mini Tracer (Benefit: Teleport Anchor) [1EP] Commlink [0EP] Powers: 13 + 8 + 4 + 5 + 17 = 47PP Device 4 (20PP Container, Flaws: Easy to Lose, Feats: Restricted (Mutant Teleporters))[13PP] ("Scepter") Scepter 9 (18PP Array, Feats: Alternative Power 2) [20PP] Base Power: Damage 9 (Extras: Penetrating)[18PP] (Rend / Teleporting tip into a target) Alternate Power: Nauseate 9[18PP] (A disorienting teleport-in-place) Alternate Power: Teleport 4 (Extras:Linked to Teleport Power (Increases power to rank 8: 800' / 2,000 miles), Accurate, Feats: Progression 2 (Increases capacity to 500 lbs)) [18PP] (Teleport Booster) Device 2 (10PP Container, Flaws: Hard to Lose)[8PP] ("Mask") Computer Interface and Video Camera 4.5 (9PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power) [10PP] Base Power: ESP 3 (Vision, 1,000' range) (Extras: Simultaneous, No conduit, Flaws: Medium (Video Cameras)) [9PP] (Remote Video Feed Tap) Alternate Power: Super Senses 3 (Vision range increment 1,000', Infrared) and Datalink 6 (20 mile range) [9PP] (Remote Computer Interface and IR Video Camera with 100x Zoom) Device 1 (5PP Container, Flaws: Hard to Lose) [4PP] ("Costume") Protection 3 [3PP] (lightly armored) Flight 2 (250'/25MPH Flaws: Gliding) [2PP] (miniaturized folding parawing) Shield 4 (Feats: Defensive Roll) [5PP] (Defensive Teleport) (Mutation) Teleportation 4 (400'/1 Mile)(Extras: Accurate, Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Easy, Turnabout, Moving Feint)[17pp] (Mutation) Drawbacks: (-3) = -3PP Disability (One Eye, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Moderate) [-3PP] DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Rend Touch DC24 Toughness Damage Teleport Touch DC19 Fort (Staged) Sickened, Nauseated, Helpless Totals: Abilities (22) + Combat (12) + Saving Throws (9) + Skills (8) + Feats (10) + Powers (47) - Drawbacks (-3) = 105/105 Power Points