Not-so-noob making his second character

[Cubist]

Now that Jubatus is reasonably well-established, I've been pondering what to do for my second, PL7, character. I don't want to get stuck in a rut, so this second character will be neither a speedster nor a totem. Maybe a Claremont student, maybe not; unsure on that. Right now, I just have some rough concepts... in no particular order:

One -- An honest-to-God Toon. Not sure how well the 'standard' Toon-ish powerset can be shoehorned into a 105-pt budget, however, so I suspect it would be better for this guy to be a Toon from a genre that's at least somewhat realistic, as opposed to 'anything goes' comedic. Could be a Toon superhero; Lord knows there's plenty to choose from...

Two -- A "ninja" who is, in fact, not all that ept, physically speaking, but who uses technology to make up for their own lack of actual skill. A user of light-based tech, I'm thinking; he's got holographic imagery to make himself look like he's doing all sort of spiffy tricks, like being immune to damage (in reality, the attack just 'hit' an image that's off to one side of the character proper), etc etc. I see him as having designed and built his own equipment.

Three -- A limited gravity-controller. They can't change the strength of local gravity, but they can screw around

with the vector, meaning they get to decide which direction is 'down'. Declare 'down' to be parallel to the ground, and walk up a wall. That sort of thing.

Comments?

[Dr Archeville]

2 and 3 sound the most viable.

The gravity controller idea sounds kinda limited, though, if it's specifically not controlling the strength of gravity. What else do you envision the char capable of doing aside from shifting gravity's pull on himself to enable wall-crawling? Flight, at a rank/speed no greater than terminal velocity of an object in freefall?

[Quinn]

Number two seems to be the most entertaining, to my eyes. The poor guy eventually coming out of his shell that he's not all that ept, insecurities that he's nowhere near his comrades (but he can still kick plenty of bad guy keester when he has to), etc.

Plus, we've got a lot of Badass Normals around, quite a few Batman-expys, but no real "ninja" per se. I'd roll with the second.

[Cubist]

Fun (and perhaps not obvious) things to do with controlling the vector of gravity:

• [*:1mhgr62k]Make people fall up. For an indefinitely long time. Eventual results dependent on how long the effect is maintained, of course.
  [*:1mhgr62k]Have remarkably good aim with thrown objects, because 'down' is where the target is.
  [*:1mhgr62k]Small, localized vector-shift centered on the target's inner ear = Instant Nausea.
  [*:1mhgr62k]Make 'down' be to the left for the target's head, and to the right for the target's feet: holy Trip, Batman!
  [*:1mhgr62k]Throw off enemies' aim, because they're not adjusting for the current gravitational vector.
  [*:1mhgr62k]Let 'down' be directly overhead for the left side of the target's body, and only for the left side of the target's body, so they spin in midair... this one works best for flyers whilst they're in the air, methinks. Then again, once you've made them fall up, anybody is "a flyer in the air", right?

Hmm. Looking over that list, it seems like nausea (disruption of equilibrium) would be a necessary, unavoidable side-effect of the power, when it's used on a living thing. People puking their guts out all over the place... summat questionable for a hero, methinks. May build a villain around this powerset...

Okay, I'll go with the not-a-ninja. Thanks for the feedback, folx!

[Cubist]

So, a tech-dependent not-a-ninja.

Dude's a genius inventor type, in and of himself -- designed and built his own toys. A lot of his power-granting gizmoes, maybe all of them, have the same Descriptor, that being "Photonic technology".

He's gotta have Invisibility vs. the entire EM spectrum. So, 8 pts there.

Also gotta have Illusion vs. the entire EM spectrum. Am unsure why the Core rules for Illusion say that "visual senses count as two sense types", but fine, it's Illusion vs those two sense types. So, 2 pts/rank for this Illusion power.

He's got a laser Blast that looks like mystical, glowing shuriken.

He should have a Flight gizmo -- 3-4 ranks at most, but that's okay, since he's mainly using it to support the "uber-skilled ninja" persona he's tryna portray.

Ninja gadgets: Smoke bombs, of course. Trivial application of photoonic tech -- just neutralize the energy of photons in whichever region. Shuriken, I've covered. Hmmm... Swords, of course. Can you say "light sabre"? Sure you can.

The "ninja" that people see is a holographic illusion; the actual person may or may not be in the same location as the 'ninja'. He usually projects the 'ninja'-illusion around his own body, because otherwise, people with exotic senses can see thru it real easy. But at the same time, he is perfectly capable of sneaking off to one side and letting the 'ninja' wade thru a battlefield without getting hurt or touched, heh heh heh...

[Quinn]

*notes down the gravitational effects for his eventual gadgeteer genius*

Mwahaha.

[Cubist]

I don't see the not-a-ninja as a socially crippled type; rather, I see him as a prankster. Think Steve Wozniak, who (in his pre-Apple days) once called the Pope pretending he was Henry Kissinger, and who sells $2 bills for $5 for a perforated sheet of four (and the bloody things are legal tender!). The guy's major motivation for being a not-a-ninja is, "how long can I keep the gag running before someone figures out what's really happening?" Okay, doing the hero thing is good, too...

[Cubist]

Here be the zeroeth draft of the PL7 not-a-ninja character. If you think a "zeroeth" draft sounds like it should be sketchier/rougher than a first draft, you're right; at this point, pretty much all of the game-mechanical details are up for grabs. I fully expect that this sheet will go thru some massive changes-- for one thing, I know that this draft doesn't meet the caps for PL7. It is, how you say, a foundation upon which to build, yes?

Advice is appreciated, welcomed, and requested.

---

STORMSHADOW appears as a ninja-shaped black void, with uncanny, piercing bright eyes.

== CHARACTER CONCEPT ==

Devastatingly skilled ninja is, in reality, the tech-enhanced prank of a playful geek.

== ABILITIES ==

8 STR (-2)

14 DEX (+4)

10 CON (-0)

16 INT (+3)

10 WIS (-0)

12 CHA (+1)

== SAVES ==

+0 Toughness (-0)

+5 Fort (+5)

+5 Reflex (+3)

+2 Will (+2)

+2 Initiative

== COMBAT ==

+0 Attack Bonus

+0/+4 Attack (melee/range)

-1 Grapple

+3 Defense Bonus (+6)

+0 Knockback Resist

== SKILLS ==

+5 Bluff (+1 CHA, +4)

+3 Climb (-1 STR, +4)

+7 Computers (+3 INT, +4)

+4 Craft/Electronic (+3 INT, + 1)

+4 Craft/Mechanical (+3 INT, + 1)

+7 Disable Device (+3 INT, +4)

+4 Drive (+2 DEX, +2)

+6 Escape Artist (+2 DEX, +4)

+5 Gather Information (+1 CHA, +4)

+3 Knowledge/History (+3 INT, +0)

+3 Knowledge/Physical Science (+3 INT, +0)

+3 Knowledge/Technology (+3 INT, +0)

+4 Notice (+0 WIS, +4)

+5 Perform/Comedy (+1 CHA, +4)

+3 Search (+3 INT, +0)

+6 Sleight of Hand (+2 DEX, +4)

+3 Swim (-1 STR, +3)

== FEATS ==

Attack Focus/Ranged 4

Eidetic Memory 1

Equipment 3

Fighting Style: Judo 7

-- Accurate Attack

-- Defensive Attack

-- Improved Disarm

-- Improved Grab

-- Improved Pin

-- Improved Trip

-- Stunning Attack

Hide in Plain Sight 1

Improvised Tools 1

Inventor 1

Precise Shot 2

Quick Change 2

Weapon Break 1

Well-Informed 1

== POWERS ==

Blast 7 (Descriptors: Light, Technology) (DC 22) (14 pp)

Dazzle 7 (Descriptors: Light, Technology // Affects all visual senses) (DC 17) (14 pp)

Illusion 7 (Descriptors: Light, Technology // Affects all visual senses) (DC 17) (14 pp)

Invisibility 4 (Descriptors: Light, Technology // Total concealment from all visual senses) (8 pp)

== EQUIPMENT ==

Light Pistol (6 ep)

Night-Vision Goggles (1 ep)

Smoke Grenade (4 ep)

Suppressor, for LP (1 ep)