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Radiant - Halberd - PL10 Hero


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[floatl]April___Commission_by_yumedust.jpg[/floatl]Player Name: Radiant

Character Name: Special Agent Tania Sanders

Power Level: 10 150/150PP

Trade-Offs: -5 Defense / +5 Toughness, +4 Attack / -4 Damage on minigun only

Unspent PP: 0

Gold Status: 0/30

In Brief: Former Air Force test pilot turned AEGIS agent in a battlesuit with plenty of heavy ordnance.

Alternate Identities: Frequently referred to as Halberd, even though it's her armor's designation.

Identity: Public

Birthplace: Santa Fe, Texas

Occupation: AEGIS Agent

Affiliations: AEGIS, USAF

Family: Lisa and Walter Sanders (Mother and Father) [santa Fe], Emily Sanders (Younger Sister) [Freedom City], Roland Sanders (Grandfather) [Freedom City]

Age: 28 (DoB: September 18th, 1982)

Gender: Female

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Height: 5'0"

Weight: 98 lbs

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blonde

[floatr]imA9AsBpAldUxOr4dvyjWUwmini.jpg[/floatr]Description:

Agent Sanders is a small, pleasant-looking woman in her late twenties with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a generally inoffensive demeanor that's about as intimidating as a house cat. Modest, innocuous, and prone to vanishing in crowds.

Her work clothes, the mechanized armor Halberd, is a pile of weapons, computers, ammunition, and motors smashed together with as much armor plating as they could pile on. It is a clunky, ugly pile of olive green steel its own creators have nicknamed "The Killer Trashcan." This monstrosity bears AEGIS' emblem on its back, and openly displays its arsenal for the world to see.

Power Descriptions:

Outside her armor, Agent Sanders may be more capable than most humans, but she's still only human. Inside her armor, however, she's a wrecking ball. Halberd is a sturdy juggernaut, heavily armed and designed for all terrain.

By and large, it's a return to basics, combining conventional armor and weaponry with modern robotics and excessive scale.

History:

Tania Sanders was born to a middle-class family in Santa Fe, Texas. Her father is a chef and entrepreneur, and her mother is a history professor. She was a good student, talented, and well-liked by her peers, raised with traditional American values. Or rather, one of the hundreds of sets of values that get labeled “traditional American values.†In her case, it’s the hard work and personal responsibility subsets.

It is, of course, normal for children to have their heroes; when Tania was in grade school, Captain Thunder was particularly popular. Her hero, however, was her grandfather, Roland Sanders, a former marine MP who became one of the first AEGIS agents back in the sixties. Sure, the stories about Captain Thunder’s latest fights against Dr. Stratos are fun and all, but she always preferred hearing about the time her grandfather’s team had to drop a building on a dragon (ignoring the fact that at the same time, every superhero in the area was busy fighting several other, bigger dragons plus the mad wizard who had summoned them).

Tania’s father had hoped she would go to culinary school and take over the family restaurant. Her mother hoped she would get her degree in something admirable, maybe become a lawyer. Her grandfather just hoped she’d go into something with a low risk of getting eaten by a cybernetic dinosaur. Instead, at seventeen years and five-foot-nothing, she joined the military. More specifically, the Air Force, where she became a pilot. Originally, she’d planned to serve her commitment, then return to civilian life with the government paying for her education. Until the Grue invaded.

While most of the credit goes to the Freedom League and associated heroes in stopping the Grue fleet back in ’03, but they weren’t the only ones fighting; the military fought where the heroes could not, and Tania took to the skies against the technologically advanced fleet. Three of the best fighter pilots the U.S. had to offer went up against one stray Grue fighter. Only Tania survived, the collective firepower of all three jets having only barely been enough to get through their enemy’s shields. That was the point where she realized just how fragile the safety of the planet really was, and suddenly, getting out of law school without and student loan debts seemed a lot less important.

She stayed on as a pilot, but it was a frustrating lot. She served her country with distinction, and that was all well and good, but the scale of the threats she dealt with were mundane compared to what really needed doing, and the technology available just wasn’t up to par with what she fought in the Grue invasion. When she had enough experience under her belt, she immediately transferred to become a test pilot, in the hope that in some small way she could help advance modern weaponry to the point where it’s not instantly wiped out by any alien force of appreciable size. She got a better offer than she’d hoped.

Project Halberd was the brainchild of one Dr. Maxwell Harken of AEGIS R&D. The puts particular emphasis on the ‘D,’ and while he’s not much of an inventor, he’s a master of making the most of existing technology swiftly and efficiently.

R&D had long wanted to create the next step beyond the Super-MAX armor, and most members had their own idea of how to proceed, some even had working prototypes, but all had always encountered the same problem; they couldn't manage a reliable, cost-effective production model. Other experiments had been too expensive or too narrow in scope to be useful on a larger scale. Harken sought the practical solution, and in time, he found one. He got word of the Army decommissioning some of their heavy armaments, among other components, and AEGIS could get their hands on them at a very good price. Using them as parts for a battlesuit would reduce costs considerably, and if the project were a wash, they’d have a cache of heavy ordnance on hand in the event of an emergency. Thus, with the director’s blessing, Project Halberd was born.

The armor itself was not particularly sophisticated, relying on little more than strapping the existing parts together and reinforcing them, focusing on older, proven technology rather than the latest, shiniest, most expensive toys floating around. Unfortunately, the original design had cooling issues that weren’t identified until well into production, which required a lot of extra hardware to keep from scrapping the project entirely. There was one problem with this solution; now the pilot wouldn’t fit, so they had to scramble to find another who would work.

They found Tania, Air Force test pilot with a sterling record. An ideal recruit. Needless to say, Grandpa Roland was pissed when he found out. One battle with alien conquerors is enough. Thankfully, it was not his decision.

When she first saw the Halberd, she was a bit disappointed at the mini-Abrams, but it wasn’t long before she convinced herself that advanced infantry was an equally noble goal. With her help, AEGIS has managed to work the kinks out of the prototype, and now it’s ready for field testing.

Personality & Motivation:

Tania worries. She worries about her family, about her future, about those around her, about her own ability. She joined the Air Force in part because she was worried about her family’s safety, in part because she was worried about loans, and in part because she was worried her size would be a burden in any other branch of the military.

When she fought the Grue, she learned perspective. She still tends to fret, but when things are below threat of imminent death and/or planetary annihilation, she’s come to accept that they’ll probably work out well enough.

Overall, Tania has great faith in the system and her government. Even when she disagrees, following orders ultimately leads to the greater good in all but extreme cases. On the job, she’s obedient, relentless, and efficient, if high-strung.

Off the job, Tania is far more personable, though she still tends to be rather formal. She tends to use that formality to keep people at a safe distance and has trouble making any real attachments.

Powers & Tactics:

The Halberd is not a graceful or nuanced device. It's designed to plow through all obstacles with brute force. The closest it comes to sophisticated tactics is to lay down a thick smoke cover or tear gas, then plow through all obstacles with brute force, using radar in place of eyes, or firing cluster grenades over cover. The rest is just details of which plow to use.


Complications:

Limitation: The Halberd's hands are designed for use with specific weapons that are, in turn, designed for use with the Halberd's hands; they (and the machine in general) are not designed for precision work, and as such, it's easier to smash through a wall than turn a door knob and fine tasks such as writing are impossible (save in very, very large letters).

Responsibility: Tania lives with her (much) younger sister, currently in culinary school, and her grandfather. She supports both and shares responsibility for taking care of her grandfather, whose health has been in decline for years now.

Responsibility: As an agent of AEGIS, Tania subject to their orders.

Prejudice: After the Grue invasion, Tania's less than comfortable around aliens, especially Grue.

Abilities: 0 + 10 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 2 = 24PP

Strength: 10/30 (+0/+10)

Dexterity: 20 (+5)

Constitution: 14 (+2)

Intelligence: 14 (+2)

Wisdom: 14 (+2)

Charisma: 12 (+1)

Combat: 12 + 8 = 20PP

Initiative: +5

Attack: +6, +8 Melee, +10 with Gauss Rifle and Quarter-Ton Fist, +14 with Minigun

Grapple: +4/+16

Defense: +5 (+4 Base, +1 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed

Knockback: -3/-14 (-1/-12 flat-footed)

Saving Throws: 5 + 4 + 7 = 16PP

Toughness: +6/+15 (+2 Con, +4 Defensive Roll, +3 Density, +7 Protection [impervious 8]), +2/+11 flat-footed

Fortitude: +7 (+2 Con, +5)

Reflex: +9 (+5 Dex, +4)

Will: +9 (+2 Wis, +7)

Skills: 36R = 9PP

Acrobatics 5 (+10)

Diplomacy 4 (+5, +9 with Attractive)

Driving 1 (+6)

Investigate 1 (+3)

Knowledge [Civics] 3 (+5)

Knowledge [Current Events] 1 (+3)

Knowledge [History] 1 (+3)

Knowledge [Technology] 3 (+5)

Notice 8 (+10)

Piloting 5 (+10)

Ride 1 (+6)

Sense Motive 3 (+5)

Feats: 11PP

Attack Focus (Melee 2)

Attractive

Benefit (Security Clearance)

Defensive Roll 2

Dodge Focus

Equipment

Interpose

Luck

Power Attack

Commlink [1EP]

Handcuffs [1EP]

Knife (Damage 1, improved critical, mighty) [3EP]

Powers: 74 = 74PP

Device 18: (Mechanized Armor: Halberd, Flaws: Hard to Lose, Gives 90 device PP, Feats: Restricted 2: Requires small build & +5 Piloting/Technology to use) Mechanized Armor: Halberd [74PP] (Technology)

Density 6 (Heavy Metal, Provides +12 Strength, +3 Toughness (impervious), Immovable 2 & Super-Strength 2, Extras: Permanent, Feats: Innate) [19PP] (Technology)

Enhanced Strength 8 (Mechanized Strength) [8PP] (Technology)

Flight 3: (Jump Jets) [6PP] (Technology)

Immunity 9: (Life Support) [9PP] (Technology)

Protection 7: (Heavily Armored, Feats: Impervious Toughness 5) [12PP] (Technology)

Super-Sense 5: (High-Precision Radar: Accurate, Acute, Ranged, Radius) [5PP] (Radio, Technology)

Weapons Array [25 + 6 = 31PP]

  • Blast 10 (Gauss Rifle, Feats: Accurate 2, Improved Range 3) [25PP] (Ballistic, Technology)
    AP: Blast 10 (Cluster Grenades, Extras: Area- Burst, Feats: Indirect Flaws: Action- Full action) [21PP] (Explosive, Technology)
    AP: Blast 6 (Minigun, Extras: Autofire, Feats: Accurate 4)[22PP] (Ballistic, Technology)
    AP: Damage 0 (Quarter-ton Fist Feats: Accurate 3, Knockback 10, Mighty, Penetrating 10) [24PP] (Physical, Technology)
    AP: Damage 10 (Flamethrower, Extras: Line Area, Feats: Split Attack) [21PP] (Fire, Technology)
    AP: Obscure 5 (Smoke Grenades, Visual & Olfactory, 100', Extras: Independent, Feats: Improved Range 3, Indirect, Slow Fade) [20PP] (Technology)
    AP: Stun 5 (Tear Gas, Extras: Area- Cloud, Independent, Range- Ranged, Feats: Indirect, Slow Fade) [22PP]

Drawbacks: 4PP

Normal Identity (full-round to don suit, Frequency: common, Intensity: major) [-4PP]

DC Block:


ATTACK          RANGE     SAVE                                    EFFECT

Unarmed         Touch     DC15 Toughness (Staged)                 Damage

Unarmed /w Suit Touch     DC25 Toughness (Staged)                 Damage

Knife           Touch     DC16 Toughness (Staged)                 Damage

Flamethrower    Line      DC20 Reflex, DC25 Toughness (Staged)    Damage

Gauss Rifle     Ranged    DC25 Toughness (Staged)                 Damage

Minigun         Ranged    DC21 Toughness (Staged)                 Damage

Missile Pods    Ranged    DC20 Reflex, DC25 Toughness (Staged)    Damage

QT Fist         Touch     DC25 Toughness (Staged)                 Damage

Tear Gas        Ranged    DC15 Reflex, DC15 Fortitude (Staged)    Stun

Abilities (24) + Combat (20) + Saving Throws (16) + Skills (9) + Feats (11) + Powers (74) - Drawbacks (-4) = 150 Power Points

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On the one hand, the idea behind unreliable Flight was that the hunk of junk could only fly for a little while before running low fuel and having to turn to the other movement modes. On the other, it costs more points to go that way. Go figure.

Okay, so the array turned into Flight 4, no flaw.

Anywho, I recalculated PP expenses and apparently had a point left to spend (I'd tallied too many skill points). Also, some other tweaks came up (a number of powers were over-capped, so I'm nixing a point of attack, and there's a spot of streamlining going in).

Full list of changes:

-1 base Attack

-1 base Defense

+1 Will

Removed Accurate Attack

Added Dodge Focus 1

Added Equipment 2

Used Equipment points to get a commlink, handcuffs, and a knife.

+5 Investigate

+5 Knowledge: Civics

+1 Knowledge: Current Events

+1 Knowledge: Military

Removed the Movement array from the battlesuit, replacing it with Flight 4.

Edit: Okay, so apparently 2e Knowledges aren't like 3e Expertises and Knowledge: Military isn't actually a skill. So, that's Knowledge: History now.

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Backstory:

This is not the sort of backstory we like to see on new builds. Too many people have brought in characters that don't really fit the tone of the setting, then hung their entire roleplay on the things that work the least in Freedom City, thus increasing the work the Refs have to do once they're in play. This way, we can fix the problems before they start:

"She benefited from someone else gaming the system, but she's too sheltered to realize it" is the sort of backstory that we prefer players with more credibility to have. You have to prove your characters can work within the system of the setting before you start playing characters who work outside it. AEGIS is like Silver-Bronze Age SHIELD in this setting, it's an agency of smart, talented patriots with a commitment to defending America. It's not really a place where obnoxious uncles pull strings on behalf of the undeserving, and where sleazy super-scientists get one over on the direction.

It doesn't help that we already have a character with the concept "technologically empowered AEGIS super-agent", so the moral contrast between Victory, the disabled veteran turned super-agent, and Halberd, the littlest princess of privilege, is pretty sharp. This is a setting where superheroes are genuinely heroic.

Character sheet:

Use actual Mutants and Masterminds 2E notation for your sheet, please. You can get a look at that by looking at some of our sample sheets. I'd recommend Ecalsneerg's Battlesuit build for that, as he took pains to make sure he wrote the sheet accurately.

She's over caps offensively; having +11 ATK with +10 DMG powers at PL 10. We prefer battlesuit characters to be less inept outside their suit; given how rarely battlesuits are taken away in this game, a character with hard-to-lose Device 21 is getting a massive discount for a flaw that's really not very likely to come up. I'd recommend dropping ranks of the grossly overpowered device to actually build up the character, though again you do need to actually use the correct notation for that.

You've had a lot of trouble fitting in with your character concepts, I know, but you're not dead yet. This can still be salvaged.

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Mechanics:

I actually caught the cap a couple posts up, and dropped a point of base attack to fix that.

As for ramping Tania up a bit, yeah, I can find some fat to trim. Probably drop a bit of Protection for a rank of defensive roll, pull a point or two out of the weapon array to give her some Attack Focus: Ranged, and I'll futz with Equipment to see if I can't get her a better sidearm, ideally a blaster pistol (then again, if she loses the suit, she's probably losing the blaster, too...). The Flight is a bit excessive for what's supposed to be a brick anyways, the Enhanced Constitution is a bit odd... Getting down to Device 20 should be easy, and to 19 shouldn't be too out there, though getting down to 18 may be a push. I'll deal with that a bit later, though, that's just arithmetic and arranging letters.

Backstory:

I've been meaning to contact Jackgar to level things out; I'll get on that. As for the, "AEGIS is competent," issue... let's see how this revision goes.

1) Gramps' Favor: Grandpa Sanders did call in a favor, for AEGIS to look at Tania, which doesn't seem a significant breach of protocol, so long as it's an honest appraisal. This time, AEGIS is interested, but not quite enough to approach her yet; they choose to monitor her progress and see how her talents mature. This time, Tania goes through TPS and becomes a test pilot. I'll bump her age up a bit, though it wouldn't be enough for her to be in TPS at the same time as Victory.

2) Dr. Harken: This guy really came across all wrong, and I completely misused him. So, starting from the top, he's still in R&D. He's still far from the brightest scientific mind they've got. Rather, he's the guy in R&D with the keenest business sense, who's best at taking a project, and giving you something that works on time and under budget. He also keeps on top of the goings on in the organization and has plenty of connections that he uses to help AEGIS' finite resources go as far as they can.

3) Project Halberd: Likewise, the project becomes less massive political humiliation and more a good idea that ran into some stumbling blocks. Harken got word of the army decommissioning a large amount of heavy weaponry, armor, and the like, which AEGIS could acquire at a fraction of what it would normally cost. So, the good doctor takes this information to the director, along with some preliminary plans for the next step beyond the Super-MAX; if it works, they got a great deal on better power armor. If it doesn't, they got a great deal on an emergency cache of heavy weaponry. It's win/win. But, in production it runs into a snag getting the cooling system to work that requires either a very expensive rebuild or a smaller test pilot, which leads to...

4) Tania's Recruitment: First off, Tania's no longer an AEGIS agent. Rather, she's still with the Air Force as a lieutenant, but she's assigned to work with AEGIS (whether or not AEGIS does opt to recruit her in the end is an issue for later). She got her assignment right out of TPS, and has been putting Halberd through its paces for quite a while, and been through combat training (and psyche/security screenings, and the whole government rigmarole). So, the Halberd's ready to see the field, Tania is the only person they can reasonably trust to pilot it, and the jury's still out on whether the project's worth the considerable price tag (though that one's a foregone conclusion; no, AEGIS is not getting a half dozen PL10 supers running around unless they're going to get stolen by supervillains in some major event, but IC, it's still being kicked around).

Better?

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With the caveat that of course I'm not going to write your backstory!:

You need to make this character not a joke. She's an inept political appointee who literally doesn't deserve to be a superhero. There's nothing likable or heroic here, just a spoiled child of privilege wearing the uniform of a better person, benefiting from the corruption of others. What you have right now is an antagonist character, the sort of people heroes in this setting strugle against. This is not something that belongs in this setting as a hero. This is a 4-color, Neo-Silver Age setting. Heroes are good people, not propped up by corruption and their own ineptitude.

When you've made the required adjustments to your backstory and your numbers, let me know and I'll move your sheet.

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That will have to wait for tomorrow. It's too late already.

Revised mechanics are up. If the formatting is still an issue, I'm going to need some specifics because I followed the model from Ecal's battlesuit as best I could.

Raw stats are up. More attack and defense comes from Tania instead of the suit, through some Attack Focus and Defensive Roll, among some other boosts to Tania herself. The suit itself is down to Device 18, same as Ecal's, and... really, there's a lot of futzing.

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Backstory updated.

There were also some mechanical tweaks. Mostly, I noticed Ecal's battlesuit had a 4-point Normal Identity drawback that Tania's every bit as qualified for, so I tossed that in, shifted her Combat Focus over to melee, and trickled the effects through, which didn't alter much.

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Some costs were listed incorrectly. There was nothing wrong with the tally; just a case of some numbers listed in four places being updated in two. That has been fixed.

Technology is now Knowledge: Technology.

I've talked with Jackgar; there are no problems there. It's physically impossible for our characters to not know each other, but that's not a problem for either of us.

Background is still fixed. Everything I've been asked to fix is still fixed.

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