YurkleNorf's creations

[yurklenorf]

These here are some of my character ideas, help me decide which one to flesh out first!

Battlesuit / Costumed Adventurer Hybrid: Like Batman meets Iron Man, but not as broken. Or as suggested in chat, Azrael!Batman or Batman Beyond.

"Dominion Lord": Not as scary as it sounds - the Dominion Lords are from Weis & Hickman's Sovereign Stone trilogy, essentially they're the "Paladins" or "Magic Knights" of the setting. If I were to do this, I would also do their evil counterpart - the "Vrykyl," or "Eaters of the Dead," vampiric knights of equal power to the Dominion Lords.

Battlesuit(s): A few different ideas for this.

-First would be something I thought of for a story a long time ago, essentially a "symbiotic" suit bonded to the user's flesh, giving him all sorts of abilities - think Alex Mercer's abilities (from Prototype), but technological in nature.

-A second would be more akin to the Crysis style Nanosuits, which have different "modes" keyed towards different functionalities - speed, armor, strength, cloaking.

-A suit that relies on force fields instead of armor plating for protection - it utilizes basically boots, gloves, helmet, a belt, and some joints, with force fields covering everything else.

Armored Telekinetic: Something akin to Darth Vader, in that he wears an armored suit for some reason and is incredibly skilled in the varied applications of telekinesis. Could be either a hero or a villain.

Mage: Easy enough to understand, yet with Magic is incredibly versatile.

I've got a few more ideas floating around, as well, but I think this is a good starting list to pick from.

[Ecalsneerg]

Battlesuit / Costumed Adventurer Hybrid: Like Batman meets Iron Man, but not as broken. Or as suggested in chat, Azrael!Batman or Batman Beyond.

Well, honestly, to me this sounds both the easiest to build and develop. After all, both are twists on the "rich billionaire with gadgets" character. It also gives a lot of room for variance, on how much of the build skews to Batman or Iron Man, and also makes it easy to differentiate yourself from other battlesuits or Badass Normals.

"Dominion Lord": Not as scary as it sounds - the Dominion Lords are from Weis & Hickman's Sovereign Stone trilogy, essentially they're the "Paladins" or "Magic Knights" of the setting. If I were to do this, I would also do their evil counterpart - the "Vrykyl," or "Eaters of the Dead," vampiric knights of equal power to the Dominion Lords.

While we're not opposed to the idea of introducing new elements & organisations into the setting (hell, that's how you get a shared setting), we do like them to fit in with existing lore. However, we've got mages and we've got vampires of many different stripes and abilities, so this could work.

Battlesuit(s): A few different ideas for this.

-First would be something I thought of for a story a long time ago, essentially a "symbiotic" suit bonded to the user's flesh, giving him all sorts of abilities - think Alex Mercer's abilities (from Prototype), but technological in nature.

-A second would be more akin to the Crysis style Nanosuits, which have different "modes" keyed towards different functionalities - speed, armor, strength, cloaking.

-A suit that relies on force fields instead of armor plating for protection - it utilizes basically boots, gloves, helmet, a belt, and some joints, with force fields covering everything else.

All sound like a good, interesting twist on an archetype I feel is pretty bland when played straight. However, the "different modes" one seems like it'd be difficult to balance in play, as PCs are assumed to hit caps in offence and defence off the bat.

Mage: Easy enough to understand, yet with Magic is incredibly versatile.

Well, not incredibly, we do like mystics to fit in with a basic underlining theme. For example, Nick Cimitiere's magic is necromancy/spirits, Equinox's is elementalism/witchcraft, Changelings is illusions & glamour, etc.

[yurklenorf]

That's the kind of feedback I like!

Yeah, I'm leaning toward the Battlesuit/Costumed Adventurer as my initial (perhaps primary, for the time being. How much it'll lean towards Batman or Iron Man isn't something I've decided yet.

Dominion Lord: this was just a idea I was toying around with. In reality it would probably play out something more like a mystically-fueled Battlesuit.

Battlesuit Variants, specifically the "modes" one:

Yeah I like how they are large departures from the archetype. I do agree it would be hard to do the alternate modes, especially dealing with damage & defense. Basically it would be a Speed/SuperSpeed mode, a Concealment (passive) Mode, and an Enhanced Strength mode. Balancing them would definitely be an issue, especially if I wanted to be at the caps for offense & defense at all times. Though really, I could incorporate some of the ideas for it into the Battlesuit/Costumed Adventurer Hybrid - in fact, that would really be the better option.

Mage: Well I was speaking in terms of how, by the book(s), Magic can be the explanation for almost any power. Of course, having a "theme" for the character would be a good idea, though. I just hadn't thought of one yet.

[Ari]

About the Mage thing....

One possible way of differentiating yours if you choose to make one here is to make them book-learned. Most of the mages in the Freedom City seem to work with natural talent honed by experience, and making yours the result of exotic education would make for a very different kind of magic.

[yurklenorf]

Been a while since I posted. Anyway, here's my initial character, it's none of the above-mentioned ideas, but it came to me recently in a moment of inspiration. I am aware that the submission isn't formatted along the guidelines (and I just realized I completely forgot the Combat section), but posting from my phone is a pain, and I'll clean it up later when I have access to a computer that's connected to the Internet.

Unnamed telekinetic character:

PL10 - 149/150

STR 16 (+3)

DEX 18 (+4)

CON 18 (+4)

INT 14 (+2)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 14 (+2)

Toughness +12(8 Impervious) / +4 (without Protection)

Fortitude +9

Reflex +9

Willpower +9

Skills

Acrobatics 8 (+12)

Bluff 8 (+10)

Concentration 8 (+10)

Gather Information 4 (+6)

Notice 4 (+6)

Feats

Attack Focus (ranged)

Evasion 2

Instant Up

Jack-of-All-Trades

Power Attack

Precise Shot

Uncanny Dodge

Powers

Flight 5

Protection 8 (E: Impervious, PF: Subtle (unnoticeable))

Telekinesis 10 (PF: AP-Strike 8 [E], Subtle)

Complications: Rivalry (feels compelled to test his "strength" against physically strong enemies)

Secret (hides that his powers are actually telekinetic, not actual physical strength)

Cost: Abilities (34) Combat (32)

Skills (8 (32 ranks)) Feats (8) Powers (51) Saves (17) Drawbacks (0) = 149/150

The idea behind this character is pretty simple. He's a telekinetic that doesn't like to have it known that his powers are telekinetic in nature, so he constantly hides that they are; for example, if he were to toss a car with telekinesis, he'd go over to it and "pick it up" with his hands, before throwing it telekinetically and making the motions of throwing it with his physical abilities. And when flying, he tries to move in a straight line as much as possible, or mimicking a Leap to get to a rooftop. He'll only *not* do the above if things get real serious.

I haven't decided on a name and personality yet, so... yeah. And I think I may trade around some powers or feats. When using Muta-Gen to build him, I accidentally added the Damaging extra for Telekinesis (but only one rank), so I am at 50 points for powers, or 149/150pp total, I believe. But that's why we have to submit drafts, so someone else can look everything over.

[Raveled]

The thing I have to point out is, M&M is an effects-based system. It's often useful to consider what you want a character to do, mechanically, rather than the name of the power. In this case I'd build this character as a straight-up Paragon or Powerhouse, lots of Enhanced Strength and Super-Strength. Don't even give him Move Object if he's not going to use it, save it for a stunt.

[yurklenorf]

Hmm. What if I disregarded the "concept" of him hiding the Telekinesis, took put the various Subtle Power Feats, and maybe added an AP Blast?

[Raveled]

Well if he's not hiding the TK, then sure. Build the array around Move Object and go wild.

[yurklenorf]

awesome. I'll see if I can get a new version up later this evening.

[yurklenorf]

Well, that never happened, lol.

Anyway, now that I have better Internet access at home, I figured I'd try this again. I'm working on a "technomancer" of sorts, though most of his powers will be in a Device (think a PDA full of different "spells", basically), though he'll have some basic Datalink and maybe Machine Control outside of the Device.

I could also go with Arimachus' suggestion, do a "book-learned" Mage.

Question before I get started, though. Say I have a power (like, Magic 2 or something like that), and then on a Device, add something like Magic 6. If they have the same base power, would the powers stack or remain separate?

[KnightDisciple]

In answer to that, I have a few links.

-The most direct example is Equinox, who has a Magic Array that is augmented (but not replaced) by her Device.

-This build for Blue Moon just adds a couple of APs onto an existing Array with a Device.

-The Armored Sorceror buys off flaws with his armor.

-This Vampiric Necromancer has 2 stacking arrays, though neither is in a Device.

So it's very possible to stack things like you're asking. The big thing is just to clearly mark what's happening, and in the Device, perhaps note the rank that it adds up to (aka if the Device brings the total rank to, say, 15, note both the ranks that the device has, like say 7, and then the new total, 15).

Another more generally helpful resource because it has links to many things: Character Building Hub.

[yurklenorf]

Alright, thank you, KD. That's a big help.

[yurklenorf]

Rather than have two different posts with the same character within the topic, I'm editing this one out.

-yn

[Supercape]

Without ruling one way or the other - I give the heads up: Having enhanced skills in an array is looked at closely, particularly when they are skills that would be used out of combat (like craft, knowledge, etc). Essentially its giving the utility of several PP worth of skills for 1 PP off an array.

Sense Motive is a lot more likely to fly than the others (although I wont say yes or no, as the whole thing is something that will probably have some ref discussion!).

[yurklenorf]

That's what I figured. If it comes down to it, I can always drop that Enhanced Skills AP and put that point into the actual skill(s).

[Supercape]

That would probably be wisest and appreciated!

[yurklenorf]

Heh, after looking it over, it's not going to be as simple as just swapping a point from that array over into skills - that's all a part of a Device.

So, switching out Enhanced Skills for Create Object instead.

[yurklenorf]

And here is Unicast! There's still some work yet to be done, mostly in regards to Complications and history and that sort of thing, but mechanically he should be sound.

Player Name: YurkleNorf

Character Name: Unicast

Power Level: 10 (150/150PP)

Trade-Offs: None

Unspent Power Points: 0

Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30

In Brief: Magitech wizard, with a tablet instead of a spellbook.

Alternate Identity: David Nicholas Stewart

Identity: Secret

Birthplace: Freedom City

Occupation: Junior Network Administrator

Affiliations: N/A

Family: Parents, James and Sara, sister Christina

Description:

Age: 29 (DoB: March 29, 1984)

Apparent Age: 29

Gender: male

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Height: 6'0

Weight: 170

Eyes: green

Hair: light brown

When at his day job, David wears dress shirts and khakis - the usual business casual fare. He used to have long hair back in his college days at FCU, but decided to cut it short just after he graduated. He is tall and skinny, but with some muscles. He is very lightly tanned.

[heroic outfit TBD]

Power Descriptions:

Everything has a digital glow to it, very angular things, there are no "curves" to his powers. Most of his powers tend to either be silver or red in color.

History:29 years old, went to FCU to get a Computer Science degree, then spent several years bouncing around smaller tech companies while he worked on an advanced degree at HIT. From there, he was hired on as a junior systems administrator to help at a growing tech firm in Hanover.

Then one day, he came back to work from lunch and found a mysterious (and large!) package addressed to him laying on his desk. There was no return address listed, and it was too early for the mail to be delivered. Wondering what it could be, he opened the package - inside was a box, unlabeled, with a cheap cell phone and a note attached to it.

The note had a phone number listed, no name. All it said was to turn on the cell phone and use it to call the number.

Unsure of what to make of it all, thinking it must be a prank, he put the box and everything back into the mail package, and did a quick phone lookup of the number. Nothing, it was as if the phone number didn't actually exist. Putting the box aside, he turned back to the computer and started reading his emails and making notes of what he had to do the rest of the day, mostly bureaucratic nonsense and paperwork, though he had to prepare the system's servers for an upgrade and get one of the interns to help him perform the upgrades.

At the end of the work day, after chatting with his boss for a bit, he went back to his office to gather his things and head home. Somebody had been in his office - the package was at the center of his desk, though it otherwise looked to be un-messed with. Opening it back up just to be sure, he saw the note had changed, it added a warning: don't show anyone what is in the box, don't tell anyone about it. Feeling really uneasy about it all, he picked it up, avoided the few co-workers who were still in the building, and left for home.

Once home, he fixed himself some dinner and ate before he finally re-opened the package.

David turned on the phone - it booted up much faster than he anticipated. He checked for messages, contacts, anything that could be used to help him find out who sent him the package, but no use. The phone was blank, a pre-paid phone.

With a sigh, he grabbed the note and dialed the number. Dial tone. Dial tone. Dial tone. Just when he was about to hang up, a voice spoke from the other end.

"Unicast activated. Systems online. Copying data to user."

The phone began vibrating against his head. Suddenly the phone stopped. David pulled the phone away from his ear, and looked at it. That's when it happened. The screen flashed, then flashed again! Soon, the screen was blinking on and off at speeds no mere human could hope to follow, and it mesmerized David.

As soon as it all started, it was over. David had a massive headache. The cell phone in his hand rang, and he answered it without thinking. "Hello? What?" he spoke into the receiver. No answer. Then the same voice from earlier spoke again. "Everything is complete on our end. Get some rest. Reboot." There was a click, whoever it was on the other end hung up. David looked at the phone - it was apparently dead.

He suddenly felt very tired. Tomorrow was Saturday, maybe he'd sleep in and open the box tomorrow...

[to be continued]

Personality & Motivation:

At first reluctant to be a hero, he's since grown to accept his role. The strange nature of his powers prevents him from really fitting in with either the tech-based heroes, or the magical ones, though he's tried. He is always trying to do the right thing, even if he's not always sure what the right thing is, he just thinks about what one of the Freedom Leaguers would do.

Powers & Tactics:

Uses his snare mainly against "minions," saving his Blast for actual villains, and uses Create Object to try and make sure they can't get away. If he can take out an enemy while doing as little harm to the surroundings as possible, he'll try.

---

Complications:

Secret: Identity.

Abilities: 4 + 6 + 4 + 8 + 2 + 2 = 26PP

Strength: 14 (+2)

Dexterity: 16 (+3)

Constitution: 14 (+2)

Intelligence: 18 (+4)

Wisdom: 12 (+1)

Charisma: 12 (+1)

Combat: 18 + 18 = 36PP

Initiative: +3

Attack: +9 Melee, +9 Ranged

Grapple: +11

Defense: +9 (+9 Base, +0 Dodge Focus), +4 Flat-Footed

Knockback: -0

Saving Throws: 7 + 6 + 7 = 20PP

Toughness: +10 (+2 Con, +2 Defensive Roll, +6 Force Field (6 Impervious))

Fortitude: +9 (+2 Con, +7)

Reflex: +9 (+3 Dex, +6)

Will: +8 (+1 Wis, +7)

Skills: 72R = 18PP

Computers 8 (+12)

Craft (electronic) 4 (+8)

Disable Device 4 (+8)

Drive 8 (+11)

Gather Information 4 (+5)

Intimidate 4 (+5)

Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 4 (+8)

Knowledge (Streetwise) 4 (+8)

Knowledge (Technology) 8 (+12)

Profession (network administrator) 8 (+9)

Search 4 (+8)

Sense Motive 4 (+5)

Stealth 8 (+11)

Feats: 17PP

Accurate Attack

Artificer

Defensive Roll 2

Equipment 2 (10EP)

Hide in Plain Sight

Inventor

Luck 2

Online Research

Power Attack

Ritualist

Ultimate Aim

Ultimate Computers Check

Uncanny Dodge (visual)

Well-Informed

Headquarters

Size = Small [0EP]

Features:

Communications

Computer

Fire Prevention System

Gym

Library

Living Space

Security System 3

Workshop

Powers: 2 + 22 + 8 + 1 = 33PP

Comprehend: Machines [2PP] (Due to the powers granted by the Tablet, David can understand the language of the machines, though he cannot converse with them.)

Device 7 (Wizard's Tablet, Magical device; Easy-To-Lose; Feats: Indestructible) [22PP]

Wizard's Tablet: Magic 6(improves Magic to rank 10, improves Telekinesis to rank 10; Feats: Affects Insubstantial 2, six Alternate Powers) [20PP]

Alternate Power: Blast 10 (electrical blast) [20PP]

Alternate Power: Snare 10 (lines of code solidify into cables wrapping around the target) [20PP]

Alternate Power: Create Object 10 (pixels adding up to create solid objects) [20PP]

Alternate Power: Speed 10 [10PP]

Alternate Power: Datalink 10 [10PP]

Alternate Power: Transmit 10 (Networks) [10PP]

Force Field 6 (Impervious 6) [12PP]

Super Senses 4 (Magical Awareness, Direction Sense, Time Sense)[3PP]

Magic 4 (base power: Telekinesis 4) [8PP]

Super Senses (radio) [1PP]

DC Block

Code Block

    ATTACK      RANGE     SAVE                        EFFECT

    Unarmed     Touch     DC17 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Physical)

    Blast       Ranged    DC25 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Magical)

    Snare       Ranged    DC20 Reflex                 Entangled/Helpless

    Create Object Ranged  DC20 Reflex                 varies/helpless

Totals: Abilities (26) + Combat (36) + Saving Throws (20) + Skills (18) + Feats (17) + Powers (33) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points

[Ari]

I would suggest having at least one or two other powers in the base Magic Array outside the Device, just for those times when it might come up.

[Supercape]

My quick comments:

1. To be honest, having a base power of telekenesis 4...heh, it may be better just to say hell with it and put all magic into the device. Give yourself the spare PP to have a back up pistol equipment or bump up your attack roll base.

2. Comprehend: Understand only. I get where you are coming from here, but this may need reflection. I always envisaged things like machines not spontaneously speaking, but you could get some mileage out of asking them questions with comprehend 2. Personally I would soup this up to rank 2. Maybe with a funky / interesting flaw like "not if made of copper" or something (it might be interesting if the tablet has some aversion to machines made in a certain way or of a certain material!)

Just a few throwaway comments! Interesting character!

[yurklenorf]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I'm actually sidelining Unicast - he isn't the character I will be using once I actually start playing here. For that, I've got a few other character ideas that I'm tinkering with - those might start showing up here sometime this week. He was just a... test, I guess. An interesting character concept for sure, but not something that I might want to play right now. Anyone who wants to take him, tweak him, and use him themselves are free to do so.

[yurklenorf]

edit: removed Teleport Brawler WIP, see below.

[Ari]

Hey Yurklenorf! Glad to see you.

A couple of ill things strike me: first, In Brief is about the character, who they are and what they do, not just what their combat ability is! Second, Follow-Up Strike seems a little iffy. Allowing another attack that is almost sure to hit doesn't sit quite right with me. It only coming into play with a Critical Hit mollifies that, though.

[yurklenorf]

Aye. This is just a work in progress. Usually, when I design characters, I start with an idea (like earlier concepts from this topic, for example), then stats, then flesh them out with actual characterization first.

Follow-Up Strike is from Warriors and Warlocks (it may also be in the Mastermind's Manual). The actual text is:

If you score a critical hit with a melee attack, you can make an additional melee attack against the same opponent immediately as a free action, with the same attack bonus as the attack that scored the critical hit.

I almost had Improved Critical, but I decided against it - a 5% chance of getting an additional hit is big enough, let alone 10%!

[Supercape]

Sounds fun.

A few mechanical points:

Flash Bangs and Smoke Grenaedes cost a lot more than 1 EP!

Many of those feats, as they are not in the core book, will be scrutinised. Some will be outright forbidden (especially First Strike, which will put you over caps). To make it easier on everyone, I would suggest (and it is only a suggestion) reworking this to standard feats - or at least more "usual ones". The feats of W&W are good for a W&W setting, all swords and sorcery. In a fast paced superhero setting, using feats people aren't familiar with, I am not sure its a good idea. Personally, I think a lot of what you are trying to mimic could be achieved by using the moving feint ability.