Cheshire Blade, The (PL11) - Taar

[Taar]

[floatr][/floatr]Player Name: Taar

Character Name: The Cheshire Blade

Power Level: 11 (159/161PP)

Trade-Offs: -1 Attack / +1 Damage (Melee)

Unspent PP: 2

Progress To Bronze Status: 11/30

In Brief: Mystic swordswoman with an life-sucking sword and a snazzy suit!

Alternate Identity: Sarah Prescott

Identity: Secret

Birthplace: Hopewell, New York, USA

Occupation: Programmer, Adventurer

Affiliations: Star Island SCC

Family: Frederick Prescott II (Father), Frederick Prescott Senior (Paternal Grandfather), Danica Prescott (Mother), Matthew Prescott (Brother), Lisa Prescott (Sister-in-law), James Prescott (Nephew), Karolina Gurov (Aunt)

Age: 28 (DoB: March, 1983)

Gender: Female

Ethnicity: English / Slavic

Height: 5'7"

Weight: 132 lbs.

Eyes: Green

Hair: Ash-Blonde

Description: Sarah is a slim, fit young woman who, while attractive, should not be as striking as she is. Closer inspection reveals eyes a shade of green too bright, actually reflecting light at the right angles; an unusual level of physical grace; and a sort of wild, charismatic presence, like some great predator stalking through life. She usually wears her hair drawn into a ponytail and prefers loose jeans with a t-shirt or blouse.

When up to heroic antics, the Cheshire Blade wears a dark suit and tie, with a black domino mask over her eyes. Her weapon is a bastard sword forged from black steel with red-glinting Atlantean runes scrawled along the blade.

Power Descriptions: The surge of power when she first took up the sword left Sarah’s body mystically enhanced as well has gifting her with knowledge of an ancient style of sorcery as well as stray flashes of knowledge and skill, accounting for her new talent for swordplay. It also left her with a need to be slightly more careful around cast iron and bad nightmares from some of the more unpleasant memories she absorbed.

Her runeblade is able to partially phase through different dimensions, both allowing her to harm incorporeal beings, but also inflict non-lethal wounds. In addition it is able to twist the fabric of space around her, distorting her actual position from moment to moment. Sarah can also briefly tear open a rift in space and send it slashing through her foes.

Sarah's own magic typically expresses itself as blue-tinged, crystalline light, giving a gem-like appearance to any powers she invokes, and she has enchanted a ring with a number of protective spells.

History: Born in a mid-sized town in western New York, Sarah had a fairly normal, if slightly nerdy, childhood. After getting into the Hanover Institute on a scholarship program, she majored in Computer Science. Upon graduation, she was able to get a job with the SCC, coding test programs for various pieces of equipment.

While she always admired several superheroes and often daydreamed of being one herself, nothing had come of those dreams until a group of criminals attacked the Hunter Museum while she was visiting. A stray energy blast collapsed the floor near where Sarah was hiding, dropping her into a storage room containing several magical artifacts Adrian Eldritch had yet to catalogue.

Dazed from the fall, Sarah felt herself drawn towards one item in particular: a large sword that seemed to pulse in time with her heartbeat. The instant she laid hand to the blade, her life changed forever. Her world disappeared in flaming agony as some dark presence within the blade invaded her mind even as a torrent of energy poured through her body.

The sword had belonged to a sorcerer-king from the time shortly after the Great Cataclysm. Slain in combat, the wizard’s essence had retreated into the blade, waiting the day when a descendant would lay hands on it. After millennia, the spirit of Sarah’s distant ancestor sought to consume her mind and soul and thus be reborn in her body.

Though not understanding what was happening, Sarah refused to submit to the dark will. Whether her determination to live, time having robbed the spirit of its power, or both, the spell was turned back on its caster and the mage was instead destroyed with everything he was given to his many times removed granddaughter. Awakening from the ordeal Sarah found the pain completely gone, a sword, her sword eager to be put to use again, and a whole bunch of bad guys waiting to be thrashed.

Since then she has taken up heroics and begun studying the arcane in order to master her new powers.

Personality & Motivation: Sarah is friendly if often quiet person, preferring to listen with brief interjections. Formerly fairly controlled, recent events have left her with a tendency towards boredom, a violent streak, and occasionally erratic behavior.

Her stubbornness and determination to do the right thing means she fully intends to use her abilities to help protect people.

Powers & Tactics: The Cheshire Blade's preferred tactics are fairly simple. Teleporting hit-and-run attacks against singular targets or standing back and pelting foes with spatial rifts against groups.

---

Complications:

:!: Psychic Scarring: The failed possession attempt nevertheless left deep scars upon Sarah’s mind not only weakening her resistance to future mental assaults, it damaged her emotional control, attention span, and sense of self-preservation.

:!: Responsibility: Employed as a software engineer with the Star Island Space Control Center.

:!: Secret: Identity.

:!: Weirdness Magnet: Her new nature, coupled with the powers of her sword, means strange supernatural things are drawn towards her.

Abilities: 0 + 0 + 2 + 5 + 0 + 0 = 7PP

Strength: 20/10 (+5/+0)

Dexterity: 20/10 (+5/+0)

Constitution: 20/12 (+5/+1)

Intelligence: 20/15 (+5/+2)

Wisdom: 20/10 (+5/+0)

Charisma: 20/10 (+5/+0)

Combat: 8 + 8 = 16PP

Initiative: +5/+0

Attack: +4 Ranged, +9 Melee

Grapple: +14/+9

Defense: +10 (+4 Base, +6 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed

Knockback: -5/-0, -2/-0 without Ring

Saving Throws: 3 + 3 + 0 = 6PP

Toughness: +10/+1 (+5/+1 Con, +5 Ring)

Fortitude: +8/+4 (+5/+1 Con, +3)

Reflex: +8/+3 (+5/+0 Dex, +3)

Will: +5/+0 (+5/+0 Wis, +0), +10 (Impervious 5) vs Mental Effects with Ring

Skills: 36R = 9PP

Computers 5 (+10)

Craft (Electronics) 4 (+9)

Intimidate 5 (+10)

Knowledge (Arcane) 5 (+10)

Knowledge (Technology) 4 (+9)

Languages 1 (Atlantean, English [Native])

Notice 6 (+11)

Sense Motive 6 (+11)

Feats: 16PP

All-Out Attack

Attack Focus (Melee) 5

Dodge Focus 6

Fearless

Jack of All Trades

Power Attack

Ritualist

Powers: 17 + 12 + 22 + 8 + 10 + 5 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 1 + 1 + 6 + 1 = 113PP

(All powers have the "Magic" descriptor)

Atlantean Sorcery 7 (14PP Array; Feats: Alternate Power 3) [17PP]

• Base Power: Spatial Control 3 (300 ft per Move Action, 1,000ft per Full Action; Extras: Accurate; Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Turnabout) [12PP]
  
  Alternate Power: Dimensional Pocket 6 (5,000 lbs.) [12PP] & Features 2 (Quick Change 2) [2PP]
  
  Alternate Power: Move Object 4 (Lifting STR 20 [Heavy Load: 400 lbs.]; Extras: Range [Perception]; Feats: Precise) [13PP] (Mystic Hand)
  
  Alternate Power: Healing 10 (Flaws: Distracting; Feats: Persistent, Regrowth, Stabilize) [13PP]

Device 3 (15PP Container, Flaws: Hard-To-Lose) [12PP] (Enchanted Ring)

Immunity 1 (Poison) [1PP]

Mind Shield 5 [5PP]

Mirror Image [4PP]

Protection 5 [5PP]

Device 7 (35PP Container; Flaws: Easy-To-Lose; Feats: Indestructible, Restricted [bloodline]; Drawbacks: Power Sink) [22PP] (Runeblade)

Hungry Steel 17 (34PP Array; Feats: Alternate Power) [35PP]

• Base Power: Strike 6 (Extras: Autofire 2 [interval 1, Max +3], Penetrating, Vampiric; Feats: Affect Insubstantial 2, Improved Critical [19-20], Mighty) [34PP] (Runeblade Strike)
  
  Alternate Power: Blast 10 (Extras: Area [General, Shapeable, 10 5ft cubes]; Feats: Affects Insubstantial 2) [32PP] (Spatial Rift)

Enhanced Constitution 8 [8PP]

Enhanced Dexterity 10 [10PP]

Enhanced Intelligence 5 [5PP]

Enhanced Strength 10 [10PP]

Enhanced Wisdom 10 [10PP]

Enhanced Charisma 10 [10PP]

Immunity 1 (Aging) [1PP]

Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1 [1 week]) [1PP]

Super-Senses 6 (Darkvision, Detect Magic 3 [Visual, Extras: Analytical]) [6PP] (Mage Sight)

Super-Senses 1 (Danger Sense [Mental]) [1PP]

Drawbacks: (-3) + (-4) + (-1) = -8PP

Recurring Nightmares (DC10 to wake up Fatigued, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Moderate) [-3PP] (Mental Trauma)

Vulnerability (Mental Effects, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Major [x2]) [-4PP] (Mental Damage)

Vulnerability (Cold Iron, Frequency: Uncommon, Intensity: Minor [+1 DC]) [-1PP] (Supernatural Nature)

DC Block:

ATTACK             RANGE        SAVE                                      EFFECT

Unarmed            Touch        DC20 Toughness (Staged)                   Damage (Physical)

Runeblade          Touch        DC26 Toughness (Staged)                   Damage (Physical and Life Energy)

Spatial Rift       Ranged       DC20/25 Reflex (Area)/Toughness (Staged)  Damage (Energy)

Mystic Hand        Perception   Grapple                                   Pinned/Bound

Dimensional Pocket  Touch        DC16/DC16 Reflex/Will                     Trapped in Pocket

Abilities (7) + Combat (16) + Saves (6) + Skills (9) + Feats (16) + Powers (113) - Drawbacks (8) = 159/161 Power Points

[N/A]

As far as her listed height/weight goes, with the physique in that pic, I wouldn't put her over 135 lbs. This site is a great resource for figuring out what a particular height/weight combination actually looks like.

There are a lot of mistakes with the numbers.

The Magic array is confusing. Adding the Distracting flaw to the array itself makes it difficult to understand how many points each power actually has to work with. Please rework it to add the flaw to whichever individual powers it may or may not apply to.

You can't have more points in Drawbacks than the character's PL. Drawbacks on specific powers (basically the opposite of power feats) don't count against this limit. The "Parasitic Device" drawback should probably apply specifically to the sword itself.

The "Parasitic Device" drawback is giving way too many points. A natural "1" on an attack roll is not a "Very Common" frequency. It's "Uncommon" at best. And since her Toughness save is 2 ranks higher than her sword damage, I'm not sure it even qualifies for Major intensity.

The frequencies on the Vulnerabilities are too high as well. I'd say Iron or Steel based attacks are Common, and Mental powers are Uncommon, at best. There aren't many psychic PCs or NPCs running around, and while knives and the occasional baseball bat are relatively common among the criminals of Freedom City, guns are even more common, and those use lead.

The DCs in the combat chart are off as well. Damage effects are DC 15+rank, and non-Damage effects are DC10+rank.

Since you lose half your base Defense bonus when caught flat-footed, odd-numbered ranks of base Defense are a waste of points. You could save a point by dropping your base Defense to +4 and buying a 6th rank of Dodge Focus, and you'd still have the same Defense, both with dodge bonus and while flat-footed.

[N/A]

Edits look good to me.

APPROVED

[Avenger Assembled]

OK, though you may optimize later, this holds up.

APPROVED

[Dr Archeville]

Archived at player request.

[N/A]

Reactivated and retooled at player request.

[Dr Archeville]

Archived due to player absence.