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Talon (PL 10) - Secondling


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Talon
Power Level: 10 (150/162PP)
Unspent Power Points: 12
Trade-Offs: Blast (+4 Attack/-4 Damage)

 

In BriefSlightly psionic cowl from Anti-Earth

 

Alternate Identity: Tyler Lee (Secret), Samuel Amber (Alias), Magpie (Former Superheroic Name), Yamanu (Former Superheroic Name)
Birthplace: Empire City

Residence: West Freedom, Freedom City
Base of Operations: The Nest (A hidden bunker beneath West Freedom)

Occupation: Network Penetration Specialist
Affiliations: None, yet
Family: Tyler “the Magpie” Lee, alternate Earth Prime self

 

Description:
Age: 23 (DoB: 1995)
Apparent Age: Early Twenties
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Middle-Eastern 
Height: 5’9” (175 cm)
Weight: 159 lb. (72 kg)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black

In civilian garb, Tyler is a man that easily blends into a crowd. Without many distinguishing features, he often does just that. He wears simple, casual clothes that fit the environment, with a slight favoring of the color green. Neither tall nor short, broad nor slender, Ty’s most distinguishing features are the scars that are mostly covered by his clothing.

 

As Talon, he wears a grey, brown, and green costume that breaks up his outline, along with a cowl-mask that strongly resembles a stylized owl. Across his chest in an X shape, he wears a set of pouches that form his utility belt, with a buckle bearing the symbol of an owl flying directly at the viewer. He also wears a grey cape that reaches to the back of his knees, allowing him to glide from high perches.

 

History:
On Anti-Earth, in Empire City, there was once an orphan who was named Tyler Lee. A member of the Red Fangs, one of Empire City’s many minor criminal gangs practically from birth, Ty, as he preferred to be called, was trained by his superiors as a pickpocket and roof-climber, for very few places were made secure enough that a small child could not slip through their protections. 

 

By twelve, Ty had become something of an expert thief, breaking into lower middle-class homes to loot their treasures. Nevertheless, something seemed to be missing in this life – he saw how the violence of his superiors often effected the families he was stealing from, and felt something odd when he did so – a thing that he would later learn to call guilt.

 

Ty was thirteen when he found his life turned on its head. The boss of the Red Fangs got too big for his boots, and sent Ty after some more lucrative scores, in wealthier districts. It was easily the most risky endeavor that Ty had undertaken, and it proved that he was not so skilled as he (and his boss) had thought he was, as the owner of the house, a woman called Saturnalia Roman, caught him in the act of stealing some of her jewels.

 

A mixture of terror, guilt, and shame consumed Ty, and he quickly began babbling apologies in both an attempt to avoid punishment and out of genuine regret. The fact that she was easily the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen may also have influenced his regret.

 

Luckily for Ty, Saturnalia was more amused than offended, and was intrigued by both his skill at getting into her home and his sincere apologies, and offered him a chance to work for her rather than for the Red Fangs. Confused and conflicted, Ty fled the home, whose owner made no attempt to stop him.

 

Harrowed by the experience, Ty made a resolution – he wasn’t going to steal from anyone ever again. Being thirteen, he didn’t really consider what implications this decision might have on his relationship with his gang, and so he returned to the base… just in time to discover that those unforeseen consequences had no real meaning anymore, as all the Red Fangs were either dead or vanished. The base that they had been using was the site of a massacre – Black Bowman had taken offense to an attack on one of his businesses by the Red Fangs, and had taken matters into his own hands.

 

Left alone on the streets of Empire City, Ty had few options, and fewer chances to pursue them. With no other choice, he broke into the Roman home once more and found that Saturnalia was waiting for him – after swallowing what little pride he had remaining, he begged her to hire him, on the condition that he not need to steal.

 

After much (mock) deliberation, Saturnalia accepted his offer, and declared that he needed training to be useful to her. She sent him to the Maximus Ring, where Ty was educated in all manner of subjects, from history to close and ranged combat, from calculus to acrobatics.

 

Taking to these studies like a fish to water, Ty gradually discovered that the faculty of the Maximus Ring was staunchly opposed to the Tyranny Syndicate, and by the time he was sixteen, his suspicions were confirmed. The Courage Foundation, the great foe of the Tyranny Syndicate, sponsored the Maximus Ring as a training ground for their operatives.

 

Two years later, Ty’s training was complete, and the class with which he was graduating was prepared to begin their activities against the Tyranny Syndicate. However, agents of the Syndicate – mostly law enforcement officers led by Master Metropolis, crashed the day of their graduation ceremony. In the ensuing chaos, most of Ty’s new friends and allies died, and he was forced to flee. He fled to Saturnalia’s home, where he discovered his patroness had already been captured by the League’s cronies.

 

Burdened by guilt and a deep well of anger, Ty adopted the name “Magpie” as a nod to his past, and began a solo war against the operations of the Syndicate. It didn’t last too long – four months after beginning his operations, the Syndicate discovered his hideout and captured him, imprisoning him in the Fortress, their base in Empire City. 

 

There, their scientists analyzed him intensively, looking to discover how he’d managed to survive. For three years he was tormented and experimented upon, but they did not execute him. By the time he was twenty, though, he discovered that their experiments were unlocking some sort of potential in him – he no longer fell into exhausted sleep after their experiments, or… very often at all, for that matter.

 

Ghosting through the halls reminded Ty of his earliest memories, but the stakes were much higher. He managed to evade or take down patrols until he finally found himself in a room where the scientists had created a device… a portal of some sort. Any thoughts of testing where it might go or how safe it was to use were banished as the alarm went off, and he threw himself into the portal.

 

Ty awoke to find himself, burned and badly damaged, awakening in a hospital in someplace called “Freedom City,” though no one seemed to know who he was, or what the Tyranny Syndicate was.

 

Escaping from the hospital, Ty hid in an abandoned building and began to research where he was. After getting over small facts like the sun rising in the wrong directionand the fact that the Syndicate here was called the Freedom League, Ty concluded that he was in an alternate reality, where things seemed to be the total opposite of his home.

 

Investigating his other self, Ty discovered that he was a wealthy (and deeply immoral) head of a crime syndicate based mostly in Freedom City. Disgusted with his other self, he decided to “re-appropriate” some of his own funds, and took on the name Yamanu – the original Egyptian form of Amon, which translates to “the Hidden One,” and began working in secret to support the superheroes of this new world, whilst researching where he had come from.

 

For two years, Yamanu stayed off the field, functioning as an information broker for the superheroic community, but usually staying under the radar, and began working as a Network Penetration Specialist at a local company under the assumed name of “Samuel Amber.”

 

Now, in 2019, at 23, Ty is finally (more) used to Earth Prime and Freedom City, and has begun to consider making his next move to reintegrate himself in the field. Donning a costume, cape, and mask that he’d been working on building during his nights for the past two years, he took the name Talon - focusing on the clawed and powerful feet of owls. Silent and powerful, these winged predators were the ones from which he took his costume’s inspiration.

 

Personality & Motivation:
Tyler is driven by many things – he wishes to make up for his past as part of the Red Fangs, where he enriched petty criminals at the cost of tormenting the poor innocents of Empire City. He is driven by his perceived failures to save his classmates from the Maximus Ring, who were killed and arrested by the Syndicate when he survived, and by the fact that his one-man heroics in Empire City were such a dismal failure. To Ty, Earth Prime represents a second chance, where he’ll be able to redeem his past failures. It also is something of a training ground, for he hopes to one day return to Empire City and break the back of the Syndicate.

 

So far, no one on Earth Prime truly knowsTy, and he somewhat prefers it that way – trust does not come easily to someone born on Anti-Earth, especially in its capital. Nevertheless, some part of Ty wishes to share the burden with other heroes, comrades of the sort that he had during the years of his training.

 

Ty holds himself to a high standard, both in terms of morals and in terms of excellence, though he acknowledges somewhat bitterly that he often fails in both accounts. He deals in very strict absolutes, at least when it comes to himself, regarding failure and success, though even he is forced to acknowledge that sometimes you have to acknowledge that a victory is a victory, even when it feels like a defeat.

 

Nevertheless, he tries hard not to take himself too seriously – you have to laugh at the world, or you’ll end up crying. Besides, Earth Prime is so much betterthan Anti-Earth that it seems to practically be a paradise.

 

Powers & Tactics:
Unbeknownst to Talon, he has latent psionic powers invested in him (or catalyzed by) the scientists’ experiments back in the Fortress in Empire City. While thus far he has only found these manifested in his ability to go totally without sleep, it is possible that he will develop further powers as he grows into them.

 

Left without any offensive superhuman abilities, Talon investigates his targets with utmost care, sometimes shadowing them, and other times thoroughly researching them online, but always learning about their weaknesses and fears. After doing so, he will strike from the shadows, relying on surprise and stealth to win the day. He also is quite skilled in martial arts, wielding his battle staff expertly and his body only just below that.

 

Power Descriptions:
The most notable of Talon's abilities are not powers, but can seem that way to an uninformed observer – indeed, most are functions of devices that he built into his costume. He can hack into computer systems using his onboard datalink, and has a wide variety of onboard sensor systems that allow him to perceive threats and obstacles even in the dark. 

 

Complications:
Am I Enough?: Talon is plagued with self-doubt and low self-esteem, as a result of perceived failures in his past. Anyone challenging him in this particular way is likely to cast him off balance.

Bird of the Night: Due to the legacy of die Eule, an infamous Nazi supervillain, virtually no heroes have adopted owls as their iconic animal. All unknowing, Talon has done just that, and may be faced with stigmatization from those aware of the associations.

Identity Struggles: The Tyler Lee of Earth Prime is a fairly low-level crimelord of Freedom City, and anyone tying him to his Anti-Earth counterpart would have a decent chance at causing trouble for said counterpart. While Talon has hacked into databanks to create the identity of Samuel Amber, any DNA test or even a fingerprint might connect him to his criminal counterpart.

I will not be Contained!: Thanks to his long-term confinement in the Fortress wherein he was experimented upon, Talon has a deep, visceral reaction to being imprisoned or confined in any physical way.

Stranger in a Strange(r) Land: Being in a world where the sun rises in the eastrather than the west, and where the Freedom League takes the place of the Tyranny Syndicate is still rather startling to Talon. Though he is mostly used to being on Earth Prime, occasionally acts of simple virtue and the differences in history or other such details take him aback, and reveal him to be not quite what he initially seems.

You say Trust, I ask Where's the Knife?: Trust does not come easily to those who have lived in the deepest pits of Empire City, and it took Ty much of his time at the Maximus Ring to get used to trusting his comrades. This can lead him to investigating the claims others make independently, or otherwise hamper his effectiveness in social situations.



Abilities: 8 + 8 + 2 + 10 + 6 + 2 = 36PP
Strength: 18 (+4)
Dexterity: 18 (+4)
Constitution: 12 (+1)
Intelligence: 20 (+5)
Wisdom: 16 (+3)
Charisma: 12 (+1)



Combat: 16 + 10 = 26PP
Initiative: +4
Attack: +8 Melee (+8 Melee), +8 Ranged (+8 Base), +10 Battle Staff (+8 Base, +2 Attack Specialization)
Defense: +10 (+5 Base, +5 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed

Grapple: +12
Knockback: -5



Saving Throws: 6 + 6 + 5 = 17PP
Toughness: +10 (+1 Con, +4 Defensive Roll, +5 Protection)
Fortitude: +7 (+1 Con, +6)
Reflex: +10 (+4 Dex, +6)
Will: +8 (+3 Wis, +5)



Skills: 84R = 21PP
Acrobatics 4 (+8)

Bluff 4 (+5)

Climb 4 (+8)

Computers 10 (+15) Skill Mastery

Craft (Electronic) 6 (+11)

Disable Device 7 (+11)

Investigate 10 (+15)Skill Mastery

Knowledge (Technology) 8 (+13)

Languages 2 (English [Native], German, Mandarin)

Notice 10 (+13)Skill Mastery

Search 4 (+7)

Sense Motive 4 (+7)

Sleight of Hand 2 (+6)

Stealth 11 (+15)Skill Mastery

Feats: 27PP

Attack Specialization (Battle Staff)

Benefit 1 (Wealthy)

Benefit 1 (Alternate Identity)

Defensive Roll 2

Dodge Focus 5

Eidetic Memory

Equipment 7

Evasion 2

Fearless

Hide in Plain Sight

Inventor

Online Research

Skill Mastery 1 (Computers, Stealth, Investigate, Notice)

Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

Well Informed

 

Equipment: 7PP = 35EP

The Nest (Toughness: 10 Size: Medium; Features: Communications, Computer, Concealed, Gym, Laboratory, Living Space, Power System, Security System, Workshop) [11EP]

Utility Belt [24EP]

Binoculars [1EP]

Snare 6 (Bolas) [1EP]

Immunity 2 (Suffocation) (Breath Mask) [1EP]

Drain Toughness 5 (Cutting Torch, Flaws: Limited to Metal Objects) [1EP]

Dazzle Burst 6 [Visual, Auditory] (Flash-Bang Grenade) [18EP]

Super-Movement [Swinging] (Grapple-Gun) [1EP]

Blast 5 (Owl Talons) [1EP]



Powers: 1 + 16 + 6 = 23PP

Immunity 1 (Sleep) (Efficient Activity) [1PP] (Psionic, Mutant)

 

Device 4 (Talon Costume; 20 PP Container; Flaws: Hard-To-Lose) [16PP] (Technology)

                  Communication 3 (Radio; Feats: Subtle) [5PP]

                     -  Alternate Power: Datalink 3 (Radio)

                  Flight 3 (Flaws:Gliding) (4PP)

              - Alternate Power: Super-Movement 1 (Slow Fall)

                  Immunity 2 (Cold, Heat) (2PP)

                  Protection 5 (5PP)

                  Super-Senses 4 (Direction Sense, Distance Sense, Infravision, Low-Light Vision) [4PP]

 

Device 2 (Enhanced Battle Staff; 10 PP Container; Flaws: Easy-to-Lose) [6PP] (Trained)

Battle Staff Array 4.5 [9PP Array; Alternate Power 1] [10PP]

BP: Strike 6 (Feats: Mighty) + Enhanced Feat 2 (Stunning Attack, Improved Critical) [9/9PP] (Bludgeoning Damage)

SP: Blast 3  (Feats: Accurate 2, Mighty 3, Drawbacks: Reduced Range 2 [Max Range 75 ft.]) [9/9PP] (Bludgeoning Damage)



DC Block

ATTACK              RANGE              SAVE                               EFFECT
Unarmed                Touch        DC 19 Toughness            Damage

Battle Staff             Touch       DC 25 Toughness            Damage

Battle Staff             Ranged    DC 21 Toughness            Damage

Bolas                         Ranged     DC 16 Reflex                     Snare

Owl Talons         Ranged     DC 20 Toughness                Damage

Flash-Bang         Ranged Burst DC 16 Reflex/Fortitude      Dazzle

 

 

Totals: Abilities (36) + Combat (26) + Saving Throws (17) + Skills (21) + Feats (27) + Powers (23) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/162 Power Points

Edited by Thevshi
+1pp for Feb 2020
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Looks like you adjusted the Strength score, and did adjust the Strength Mod.  So Grapple bonus is off, Climb is off due to that.

We also use the Power construction from UP, this shows up in the Templates and Sample Characters.

Or:
 

Power Name Rank (Descriptive Name; Extras: ???, ???, Flaws: ???, ???, Feats: ???, ???, Drawbacks: ???, ???[XPP] (descriptors)

 

Example

Damage 10 (Heat Vision; Extras: Range [Perception, +2], Flaws: Action [Full], Feats: Precise, Subtle) [22PP] (heat, solar radiation, alien physiology)

 

The Equipment will need to have this construction as well.

Also Powers descriptors should follow Source and Effect, which you've done for everything correctly, though the Trained descriptor really can't apply to the Staff, it would be on Power, or is the implied Descriptor for most Feats.

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