Jump to content

Warp (PL 10/12) - Curious Key


Recommended Posts

Player Name: Curious Key
Character Name: Warp
Power Level: 10/12 (156/184)
Trade-Offs: +4 Defense / -4 Toughness, +3 Attack / -3 DC
Unspent Power Points: 28
 
In Brief: A college student and emergent mutant of Terminus energies trying to prove she has what it takes to be a hero.
 
Alternate Identity: Katharine Lilly Shade
Identity: Secret
Birthplace: Normal, Illinois
Occupation: Student
Affiliations: Claremont (Alumni), FCU
Family: Rose Shade (Mother), Alexander Shade (Father), Lyle Shade (Brother)
 
Age: 20 (DoB: 1997, 3rd of August)
Gender: Female
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 135lb
Eyes: Red
Hair: Red
 
Kat's face is rounded and heart-shaped, with a pointed nose and eyes a little too wide for her face. Her rust-red hair, when left free, falls to her shoulders, but usually she ties it with hairband into a tail behind her; her skin is fair and lightly freckled and her eyes are a fiery, almost luminous red. Kat has thin shoulders and a slight, whipcord build, maintained with deliberate effort and supernatural potency. Tiny . . . But fierce!
 
During day-to-day activities, Kat has a wide variety, but tends to lean more in toward comfortable sameness, sticking with leggings, boots, shirts and a vest, perhaps shorts instead during warmer months. She favors browns and reds. While in her capacity as a costumed heroine Kat lets her hair fall free; she sports a close-fitting black full body suit, extending from neck to wrists to ankle, with red boots and dark gloves to top it off. Warp wears a red vest over the rest, with a wavy spiral insignia emblazoned in white across its back.
 
Power Descriptions:
 
Warp's namesake directly relates to her connection to the Terminus, the heart of entropy which lies between all dimensions. She breaks through the barrier between them and moves along the edge where they meet, where distance means something much different, before breaking through the other end. It's painful to watch. It looks like she is ripping open flesh of reality and leaping through. With a red glow and threads of light-eating darkness Warp can cross great distances, tear open portals and draw reality-dissolving energies out of the void to hurry the end of things.
 

When Warp uses her powers, she is rending the fabric of space time. Inherently destructive, she teleports by ripping holes of the universe and stepping through it, she creates her pocket space by ripping objects out of the universal fabric and putting them in a pocket. Rather than manipulating space, Warp breaks it in her hands.

 

 Her abilities seem to react more potently when turned to wholly destructive purpose. Overall, Kat's powerset would seem to better fit a villain than a hero.

 
History:
 
" . . . Look at these records. See the way they flare up? That's terminus energy."
 
"Why didn't we pick this up beforehand? Does no one remember the invasion?"
 
"Whoever did this, they did it right. Subtle. Somewhere no one would look too close. It was pegged as ordinary cosmic radiation until they found the Shade girl. More important, look at where it's centered on."
 
". . . The maternity ward, it's centered on the maternity ward."
 
"It's no invasion, but the Shade girl is proof at that strength and proximity, mutations can still occur, if rarely. Fascinating."
 
"T-babies. Someone's been making more."
 
"That much is obvious, doctor. What we really need to know is . . . Why?"
 

~o~o~o~o~

 

There was no clear, dramatic moment when Katharine realized she was special. No epiphany, no realization in the face of adversity. It came in fits and starts, surfacing and falling back below by turns as her nature fought to exert itself more fully. Kat sleep-walked. Sometimes, she woke up in absurd places that she could not explain. Her hands were quick and clever and no sickness kept her down for long.
 
She grew up in Illinois, in Normal Illinois, far from Freedom city. Metahumans and superheroes existed, of course, but they were something that happened to Other People, like hurricanes, like miracles. They didn't come to Normal. Perhaps this explains why no one came to the obvious conclusion.
 
She played in martial arts tournaments in her father's dojo and won a great deal. It was something she did because it made her father smile and she enjoyed the challenge, while it was a challenge, and she learned the strength that comes to people who practice fighting their whole lives. She tried out in plays with the AbNormal Children's Acting troupe, and loved it. Loved the nervous feeling in her gut before walking out onto a stage, loved looking at the smiling crowd, loved that it was hard.
 
One day, the AbNormal troupe was going to perform a depression era piece, and Kat was going to play a major role as street urchin in Chicago, working her way up. She dreamed of it the night before, and when she woke up she was in a dumpster. In downtown Chicago. In her pajamas.
 
Kat was terrified. Back at home, her parents were terrified. A missing children's report was filed and some generous soul lent Kat their phone to call 911. The problem was solved before it could make too many waves . . . but Claremont has special sources that kept an eye on these impossibilities.
 

~o~o~o~o~

 

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Shade. As she is now, your daughter is a potential threat. Not just to herself, but everyone around her. She doesn't know what she is, she doesn't know how to control it, and one day she'll hurt someone badly enough that 'I'm Sorry' won't be enough."
 
"Don't make that face; I know you're a good girl. And you can fix this. You just need to learn how."
 
"I represent Claremont Academy. We teach many gifted children like Kat every year; to control their blessings, to be safe, and then go back to living normal lives, if that's what they want."
 
"Thank you. You'll find that your daughter will receive the very best of care. Please sign here."
 

~o~o~o~o~

 

Day after day, Kat struggled to bring her power under control, working day in and day out with specialists to help master herself. Kat's parents made noise about moving to Freedom city and finding new jobs to be there for their daughter. But they never did.
 
Heroes were something that just didn't happen in Normal, but in Freedom . . . they were everywhere. One by one the Kat's irregularities were singled out and brought under her control, and she wondered, surrounded all the while by young superheroes making a name for themselves . . . what would she do with it?
 

Fail, it turns out.

 

Her heroing career was promising enough, to begin. As a student at Claremont, she made ties. She worked with other heroes and built bonds. Listless and lost, Kat felt she had found some purpose in being Warp. When the Day of Wrath came, she served through it. As students died, she served through it. As her school was burned, she served through it. At the end, she seemed to be one of the students that had fared better.

 

Kat was a very good actor.

 

It was her powers that betrayed her, in the end. They did not care how good a face she put on it. Her emotional control helped keep it in check and she was falling apart. She pushed too far one day while patrolling as Warp and overloaded. The core of terminal power fed on her negative emotions and cascaded, rolling out of her body in waves and into the pavement. She did a great deal of property damage, nearly did harm to other heroes and barely kept from disintegrating herself alive.

 

Her advisers at Claremont gently insisted she hang up her cape for now. And perhaps consider that, if her power could be so unstable, that she should consider living life as a normal person. It took years of treatment in the Claremont facilities for her to totally restore the facilities faith in her ability to use her powers without spilling over, but by the time her teachers were willing to allow her to try on the cape again she was too disheartened to try.

 

~o~o~o~o~

 

Claremont had ties to a lot of powerful schools. With their help and with decent grades, Kat had little trouble getting into FCU, following their program to help give metahuman kids integrate into normal life. She gave up on being a hero and cut ties with her powered friends and tried to fall into the rhythm of a normal life. She lived her life. She took exams, like a normal student would. Tried to ignore the capes flying overhead. Changed the channel when something superheroic came up on television.

 

It wasn't anything specific or dramatic that brought her back. Just another cape, just another work of magic, just another metahuman being themselves and Kat couldn't take pretending any longer.

 

Unceremoniously, without fanfare, Warp returned. 

 
Personality & Motivation:
 

Dubious, weary cynicism.

 

The flare and enthusiasm that Kat wore so openly on her sleeve when she came to Freedom City and joined Claremont has been . . . Not stamped out, but tempered. The events of the day of wrath . . . affected her. The fire and death were a great blow, and her powers failing the last pillar left, knocked aside.

 

But . . . In the end, she has not changed so much. The younger Kat hid her insecurities behind a deliberate veil of optimism and energy. Today, Kat's countenance hides her optimism. In an way, Kat feels that she let herself down. Let Freedom down. Let the world down. Part of her insists that she was always a kid playing at heroism in a suit that didn't fit. That it was Not For Her.

 

Nonetheless . . . Kat wants to believe she can. Wants to try. 

 
Powers & Tactics:
 
The way Kat makes use of her powers depends mostly on how she conceptualizes it; as part of her body. She unleashes bursts from punches and kicks. In any engagement Warp prefers getting up-close and personal and striking down her targets with her bare hands, which her powerset makes quite simple, and when that isn't ideal she can always fall back to hitting hard with entropic blasts from a distance.

 


Complications:
All The World's A Stage: Kat has a flare for the dramatic even when restraint should hold her in check. As Warp she's even worse.
Secret Identity : Warp's identity as Katharine Shade is not widely known, and she would prefer it stay that way.
But I Have Exams! : Professors at FCU do not write exceptions on assignments for heroism.
Terminal Terror :  Kat has had curiously accurate nightmares about the Terminus for as long as she can remember. She remains quietly, horridly worried that her dreams are more than nightmares. That her powers connect her to the Terminus in a way above and beyond other T-babies.
It Was One Time! : During her Claremont days, Kat's powers threatened to overwhelm her in a cascade of energy that threatened those around her. She has since recovered much of her control, but there remains an earmark next to Warp's name which is only exacerbated by her powers' known connection to the Terminus.
Power Overwhelming : The way Kat's powers work revolve around strictly controlling and directing her own negative feelings. When that is compromised, so is her control, causing her powers to work in unpredictable ways. When an intense negative emotional state causes Warp's powers to go haywire a GM may offer a hero point.
 
Abilities: 6 + 8 + 6 + 0 + 8 + 8 = 36PP
Strength: 16 (+3)
Dexterity: 18 (+4)
Constitution: 16 (+3)
Intelligence: 10 (+0)
Wisdom: 18 (+4)
Charisma: 18 (+4)
 
Combat: 10 + 10 = 20PP
Initiative: +12
Attack: +5 Base, +13 Unarmed, +13 Entropic Bolt
Grapple: +8
Defense: +14 (+5 Base, +9 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed
Knockback: -3/-1
 
Saving Throws: 4 + 6 + 4 = 14PP
Toughness: +6 (+3 Con, +2 Defensive Roll +1 Armor), +4 Flat-Footed
Fortitude: +7 (+3 Con, +4)
Reflex: + 10 (+4 Dex, +6)
Will: +8 (+4 Wis, +4)
 
Skills: 64R = 16PP
Acrobatics 8 (+11) Skill Mastery
Bluff 12 (+16) Skill Mastery
Concentration 8 (+12)
Diplomacy 8 (+12)
Disguise 6 (+10)
Gather Information 4 (+8)
Notice 8 (+12) Skill Mastery
Perform [Acting] 4 (+12)
Sense Motive 6 (+10) Skill Mastery
 
Feats: 32PP
Attack Specialization (Unarmed) 4
Challenge (Fast Feint)
Defensive Attack
Defensive Roll
Dodge Focus 9
Elusive Target
Evasion 2
Equipment 1
Improved Critical (Unarmed) 2
Improved Initiative 2
Luck 2
Power Attack
Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, Notice, Sense Motive)
Stunning Attack
Takedown Attack
Taunt
Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)
 
Equipment: 1PP = 5EP
Commlink [1EP]
Flashlight  [1EP]
Handcuffs [1EP]
Reinforced Costume: Protection 1 [1EP]
 
Powers: 5 + 35 = 40PP
 
Strike 4 (Power Feats: Mighty) [5PP] (Martial Arts Training)
 
Prime Terminus Array 17.5 (33PP Array; Power Feats: Alternate Power 3, Drawbacks: Power Loss [Daka Crystals, -1) [35P]
BP: Disintegration 7 (Flaws: Action [Full]; Power Feats: Accurate 4, Incurable, Slow Fade [5 rounds]) [33/33PP] (Entropic Bolt)
 
AP: Teleport 8 (2000 Miles; Extra: Portal, Accurate; Flaws: Long-Ranged), [32/33PP] (Tear)
 
AP: Teleport 14 (1400' / 2 Billion Miles; Power Feats: Turnabout, Change Direction, Change Velocity, Progression 2 [500lbs]) [33/33PP] (Slip)
 
AP: Dimensional Pocket 10 (100000lbs [50 Tons]; Flaws: Limited [No Attack]; Power Feats: Quick Change 2) [12/33PP] (Pocket)
 
Drawbacks: -2
 
Vulnerability (Daka Crystals, Frequency: Uncommon, Intensity: Moderate [x1.5 DMG]) [-2PP]
 
DC Block
ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT
Unarmed Touch DC18 Toughness Damage (Physical)
Martial Arts Strike Touch DC22 Toughness Damage (Physical)
Stunning Attack Touch DC17 Fortitude Stun/Daze/Unconscious
Entropic Bolt Ranged DC17 Fortitude Drain Toughness
DC22 Toughness Damage (Energy)
Entropic Shroud Aura DC17 Fortitude Drain Toughness
 
Totals: Abilities (36) + Combat (20) + Saving Throws (14) + Skills (16) + Feats (32) + Powers (40) - Drawbacks (2) = 156/184 Power Points
Link to comment

Ok!

There are some formatting errors. Could you attend to them? Skills do not need "[]" for the name of the skills, for instance. I am not sure what the first paragraph is doing there...it seems to be a very long summary (we prefer just one or two lines). Take a look at some other sheets for guidance.

Feats should have number such as "Dodge focus 9" rather than roman numerals.

Maths wise:

Attributes miscounted - need 2 more PP for the STR.

Skills miscounted - 60R not 52R

DOnt need Language skill if she only speaks English.

Powers:

Portal - you cannot have "easy" feat for any teleport powers with long range only.

Disintegration, as per UP, is 5PP/Rank as the drain toughness component has the affects objects extra (+1) too.

Dimensional Pocket is something we are very wary of here, as it is an effect which removes a target from play with any degree of fail save. If its only an instant effect then that smooths it over, but I bring this up to forewarn its a power which has, in the past, caused some consternation and will be scrutinised. The "utility" aspect of it is fine, its the "attack" component that can be difficult. I'll let other GMs comment on it, this is a heads up.

Link to comment

Those formatting errors should be fixed now, assuming some roman numerals have not escaped me. Skills are no longer bracketed.

I shifted two points from Charisma to leave some open for strength and changed all modifiers accordingly.

Skills should be cut down to 52.

Language is no longer listed.

Her portal is no longer easy.

Disintegration now has the 'Action' flaw, to bring it down to four per level again.

I'm a little surprised that dimensional pocket was used that way, since it seems to read like a snare that you can struggle out of with a Will save. I am perfectly willing to never use the 'attack' aspect of it to keep this power for Warp if it comes down to that. Actually, I'll take that out of her DC block right now.

After talking in chat, I've brought the rank down to five and piled tons of progression bonuses on top.

Link to comment

Solid backstory. I think I may have to conscript you into a thread or two down the pike.

You're right at the edge of what we allow for Accurate and Attack Specialization. Nothing over the line, just remember that it's an issue next time you buy up her combat.

I would go ahead and either:

move her ability scores out of their container, buy the innate feat for it, or make it a number of PP divisible by five. Makes bookkeeping easier.

Put in her Dimensional Pocket load so that you have it handy for reference.

Link to comment
  • 1 year later...
×
×
  • Create New...