"Siiiiiiiide-kick!" (Shrike WIP)

[Heritage]

Player Name: Heritage
Character Name: The Shrike
Power Level: 8 (135/135PP)
Tradeoffs: Defense -2/Toughness +2
Unspent PP: 0

In Brief: Snarky barista/musician with three magical artifacts.
Alternate Identity: Gretchen McDaniels
Identity: Secret
Birthplace: Portland, ME
Occupation: Barista/bookseller/personal crime-fighting assistant
Affiliations: Grimalkin, Silberman's Books
Family: Evelyn Woolsey (mother, deceased), Mark McDaniels (father), Caroline Clement (aunt)

Age: 23 (DoB: November 21, 1991)
Gender: Female
Height: 5'1" (5'4" in costume)
Weight: 113 lbs.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue

Gretchen is an attractive young woman in her early twenties; she tends to keep her brown hair loose, and has a lightly-muscled athletic build. She has several tattoos on her body, including bars of music on both forearms, inspirational lyrics on various parts of her torso, and the words 'The Future Is Unwritten' on the four knuckles of her left hand. Her ears bear multiple piercings, mostly a mix of rings and ear spikes. Gretchen usually doesn't wear much makeup, but she experiments with lips gloss and eyeliner. As far as clothing goes, she sort of falls into the 'hipster chick' look, mostly because she just hits the same resale shops she favored as a FreeSA student, so comfortable jeans, hi-tops, combat boots, fatigue jackets, plaid shirts, t-shirts, vests, etc. When she's feeling frisky, she'll show some skin (typically a more revealing top), but if she's feeling antisocial, she'll dress down. She often wears rings and bracelets, but always has a silver ring with a large red stone on her left index finger.

The Shrike is a mysterious figure wrapped in black; her costume is mostly reinforced black leather with silver accents, topped with a hawk-like silver half-face mask bearing another large ruby in the middle of her forehead. Her heavy reinforced boots add three inches to her height, much to Grim's annoyance. A black hooded cloak reaches down to her ankles; when she pulls the hood up, the Shrike disappears from view! A silver ring with a red stone is visible on the index finger of her left gloved hand.

History:
For most of her life, Gretchen McDaniels has been disappointed; by a father who abandoned her mother to raise a child alone, by a world that seems more concerned with money than reducing human suffering, and by a music industry obsessed with churning out catchy crap. Growing up in Portland, Maine, young Gretchen was drawn to the performing arts from an early age; her mother Evelyn was a successful attorney specializing in labor law, and though their family was small it was full of love, and the budding musician never lacked for love and encouragement. There were piano lessons and violin recitals, and Evelyn couldn't be prouder.

But then when Gretchen was fourteen, her mother was killed in an accident while driving home in a New England ice storm; with her father nowhere in sight, it was decided it would be best for the girl to live with her free-wheeling aunt Caroline in Freedom City. Moving to a much larger city during her freshman year of high school, especially right have her mother's tragic death, proved to be particularity painful for the introverted girl, and she began to slowly build walls around herself. However Caroline, who was also musically inclined, offered something to Gretchen to help with the pain: classic punk rock. The anger, passion and energy of the music struck a chord with the unhappy girl, and even though she often struggled to express her grief and frustration through words, she could always turn to punk to feel better

Personality & Motivation:
Gretchen is keenly aware of life's injustice, but for most of her life, she felt powerless to do anything about it; her BFA opened a few doors but didn't lead to steady employment, so like many recent college graduates she turned to the world of retail to make ends meet. She frequently found herself 'working with idiots to serve idiots', and her dry humor and rather surly demeanor did little to enamor her to either her coworkers or customers.

Powers & Tactics:
The Shrike is still learning to use the three Gifts; her ability to communicate telepathically with her partner Grimalkin allows them to better coordinate attacks, which means the elder heroine can provide her with both needed advice and intel. The Shrike's combination of flight, stealth and ranged attacks make her an ideal infiltrator and combat 'sniper', and the psychokinetic power of the ring allows her to grab and detain foes as well as move objects and remove obstacles with ease.

Abilities: 2 + 4 + 4 + 6 + 2 + 4 = 22PP
Strength: 12 (+1) [Heavy Load: 130 lbs]
Dexterity: 14 (+2)
Constitution: 12 (+1)
Intelligence: 16 (+3)
Wisdom: 12 (+1)
Charisma: 14 (+2)

Combat: 8 + 12 = 20PP
Initiative: +2
Attack: +4 Ranged, +4 Melee, +8 Ring of Power
Grapple: +5, +12 Ring of Power
Defense: +6
Knockback: -8 (-1 without Cloak)

Saving Throws: 6 + 6 + 5 = 17PP
Toughness: +2/+10 (+2 Con, +8 Protection)
Fortitude +8 (+2 Con, +6)
Reflex +8 (+2 Dex, +6)
Will +6 (+1 Wis, +5)

Skills: 142R = 24PP
Bluff 2 (+5)
Computers 7 (+10)
Craft: Electronics 7 (+10)
Disable Device 7 (+10)
Investigate 2 (+5)
Knowledge (Current Events) 2 (+5)
Knowledge (Pop Culture) 7 (+10)
Knowledge (Technology) 7 (+10)
Medicine 2 (+5)
Notice 9 (+10)
Perform (Keyboards) 8 (+10)
Perform (Singing) 8 (+10)
Perform (Stringed Instruments) 8 (+10)
Search 2 (+5)
Sense Motive 9 (+10)
Stealth 8 (+10)

Feats: 4PP
Attack Specialization 2 (Ring of Power)
Improvised Tools
Precise Shot

Powers: 20 + 8 + 20 = 48PP

Device 5 (Cloak of Mystery, Magical Cloak, 25PP, Flaws: Hard-To-Loose) [20PP]
     Concealment 4 (All Visual Senses. Power Feats: Close Range) [9PP]
     Immunity 2 (Cold and Hot Environments) [2PP]    
     Protection 8 (Power Feats: Impervious 6) [14PP]

Device 5 (Helm of Truth, Magical Helmet, 10PP, Flaws: Hard-To-Loose) [8PP]
     Comprehend 1 (Read Any Language) [2PP]    
     Super-Senses 8 (Detect Magic [Ranged, Visual], Vision Counters Illusion, Vision Counters Invisibility, Vision Counters Obscure [Darkness]) [8PP]

Device 5 (Ring of Power, Magical Ring, 25PP, Flaws: Hard-To-Loose) [20PP]
     Blast 8 (Power Feats: Affects Insubstantial 2, Dynamic) [19PP]
          AP: Flight 5 (250 mph) (Extras: Continuous Duration, Power Feats: Subtle) [2PP]
          AP: Move Object 8 (Strength 40, Heavy Load: 3 tons. Power Feats: Precise, Subtle) [2PP]
     Feature 1 (Quick Change) [1PP]
     Super-Senses 1 (Communication Link) [1PP]

 

Abilities 22 + Combat 20 + Saving Throws 17 + Skills 24 + Feats 4 + Powers 48 - Drawbacks 0 = 135/135 Power Points

DC Block:

ATTACK          RANGE             SAVE                 EFFECT
Unarmed         Touch             DC16 Toughness       Damage (Physical)

Blast           Ranged            DC23 Toughness       Damage (Physical)

Edited May 12, 2015 by Heritage

[Heritage]

So this is my first pass at statting up Gretchen to be Grim's Sidekick, paid for with her Silver Reward. Still need to figure out her full combat stats and add a bit of a write-up on her backstory and the like.

[Raveled]

So... what is Gretchin supposed to provide Grim, exactly?

[Heritage]

Gretchen is a researcher and handles the technical side of things; when Grim is in the field, she can contact her to get information on people, places and events. Floorplans, tech specs, etc. Gretchen also will be monitoring police bands and news sources to point her in the direction of crimes and suspicious activity.

In short, she will be the Oracle to Grim's Bat-Family-type-person.

[Raveled]

She needs waaaaaay higher Knowledge and Investigation and Computers skill to be Oracle.

[Heritage]

True, I went the slightly more realistic route, which means she's more of an entry-level Oracle. Is it possible to apply additional rewards to her later? Then she can grow into the role over time.

[N/A]

Rav's right. With those skill levels, there's no way she'll be worth the points you pay for her.

To answer your other question, you can either spend normal PP or another vet reward to get her more points.

Consider making her a Minion instead. More points to play with, and it sounds like she's a noncombatant anyway.

[Heritage]

You guys are probably right about her not working out as a Sidekick, but it seems downright cruel to maje her a super-crushable Minion. Perhaps the best course is to just make her a regular PL5 NPC and leave her at that.

[Heritage]

So Gretchen as an actual powered Sidekick (via three magicsl Devices) is back on the table! Having a lot of fun with this stuff.

What is baseline for Power Loss for magic item activation? The three Devices are a helmet/mask, ring and a cloak; the idea is she always has the ring in, but has to turn it clockwise to activate Quick Change and summon the helm and cloak. So she can use the ring at anytime, but the other two items must be activated; the ring is the focus of offensive powers, the cloak defensive, and the helm sensory.

Edited April 3, 2015 by Heritage

[Heritage]

based on chat discussion, will probaly just go the Complication route.

[N/A]

Complication HPs will almost always be more useful than Drawback PPs in the long run.

But sometimes you just need dem points. Having to turn the ring to activate everything sounds like a Power Loss or Normal Identity drawback, depending on whether or not she has any powers outside the devices. And yes, the Device flaw on the power container CAN stack with that. The most commonly known example is the core book power armor build which has the armor as a device, and a Normal Identity drawback which prevents the character from using the device if she's unable to take the required action to "activate" it (i.e., put it on).

[Heritage]

Okay, here's Shrike's sheet (tongue twister!) minus the fluff, which will include her Complications such as having to twist her ring to summon the Helm and Cloak. I think she's pretty damn cool, all things considered; I especially like that while she's only a PL8, she can do some stuff that not even Grim can do!

Grim will also have Communication Link added to her Super-Senses to pay for her half of the link.