Maven (PL 10 Tier 2 NPC) - Eternal Phoenix

[EternalPhoenix]

Character Name: Maven

Power Level: 10 (180/180 PP)

Trade-Offs: +5 Attack, -5 Damage (Unarmed)

Unspent PP: 0

 

In Brief: Intuitive savant, master criminal, and archnemesis of Terrifica

 

Alternate Identites: None

Identity: Unknown

Birthplace: Unknown

Occupation: Professional Criminal, occasionally Vigilante

Affliations: Terrifica (enemy)

Family: Unknown

 

Age: Unknown

Apparent Age: 25-40 years of age

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Unknown (always masked

Height: 6’

Weight: 200 lbs.

Eyes: Unknown (masked)

Hair: Unknown (masked)

 

Description: Maven could virtually be anyone. He is obviously male. His mask is red and covers his entire head. It fits the upper half of his head snugly, but the lower half is made of voluminous fabric that obscures his mouth and jawline quite thoroughly. He favors a leather jacket, jeans, and military style boots for clothing, however this is not in any way a permanent look. He can and has worn every low key men’s style imaginable.

 

History: Maven’s real identity is completely unknown. His DNA and fingerprints on not on file in any database or languishing in some forgotten file room. If he were to take the mask off, no one would recognize him. This is not an accident. Based on the way he moves and handles weapons, it seems he has a military background. However, he’s sanded off enough of the edges so that it’s impossible to know which government trained him. His first recorded appearance is Terrifica’s third recorded Boston case, and he has appeared often since then, forever mysterious. The only thing that is certain is that he is not the missing Lucas Carson. Terrifica checked. His DNA doesn’t match hers at anywhere the degree required to be a blood relative.

 

 Personality & Motivation: Maven’s personality is…somewhat variable. He’s never a cackling lunatic. However his ethics, methods, and level of focus appear to be different in each appearance. One appearance he could be a bank robber with an enormous respect for life, and in another he could be casually bombing subway stations and trains with a blithe disregard for casualties. With that stated, he speaks in a stoic monotone and never betrays the slightest emotion with his body language. The only clue to his motivations is what he himself stated in his first appearance. His only goal is to make Terrifica better at being Terrifica. To that end, he is fiercely loyal to her, going so far as to protect her from other villains should they get the better of her. In between Terrifica appearances, he hassles other heroes, looking to improve Terrifica’s peer group. Because he can’t always be around to save her skin, and even if he is, there will be times where he lacks the power required.

 

Power Descriptions: Maven is an intuitive savant. His mind is incredibly intelligent and flexible providing solutions to problems without any of that “thinking” nonsense. There is virtually no mental discipline in which he cannot casually perform to an expert level. However, when asked to explain how he performed a given task, he cannot do so. He just knows how to do it. He has no other powers and it is uncertain whether or not the power is truly his own or a benefit of his mask or some other device.

 

However, he is a gifted and obsessive planner that puts even Terrifica to shame. GMs should represent this by cheating on his behalf liberally, allowing him to perform things that should be flatly impossible for someone who had not planned ahead to that degree. Sudden ambushes, miraculous escapes, off screen teleportation (the trope, not the literal power), and more can and should be liberally employed to make the heroes’ lives as miserable as possible. Within reason, of course. He has no reason to actually kill heroes, and every reason not to do so.

 

Powers & Tactics: Misdirect, misdirect, and misdirect some more. Maven lies with impunity, vanishes when it suits him, and appears in front of heroes just long enough to catch their attention. He is a capable hand to hand combatant, and a crack shot with his submachine guns. In addition to these standard combat methods, he is sure to have an ace in the hole or two (or twelve, depending on the heroes’ luck against him that day) to frustrate any attempts to nab his once and for all.

 

Complications:

 

Just As Planned: Maven’s plans aren’t necessarily complicated, but they always work just as he planned them to. Which does not necessarily mean the heroes lose and/or fail. His entire methodology revolves around pushing the current heroes to the absolute limit of their capabilities before letting them be. For GMs, assume he’s read your PCs’ character sheets from Complications down to the bottom, even if he technically has never met or even heard of them before. That’s the savant part, and he’s never surprised by it. And it’ll make it all the more satisfying when they finally corner him for good. But about that…

 

Uncatchable: Maven’s mystique stems largely from the fact that he’s never been caught. Supervillains who get caught get unmasked, identified, and then the mystery of them is gone. In retrospect, it’s never even been close. In fact, the tighter the trap, the more impossible the coincidence that allows Maven to escape. And every time it’s related to one (or several) innocent seeming things he did earlier for no apparent reason. This is essentially a blank check for a GM to contrive some near impossible coincidence that allows Maven to escape capture for that adventure. He’s especially fond of the letting the heroes catch someone he’d previously kidnapped and dressed as himself.

 

 

Abilities: 10+10+10+0+0+0=30

 

Strength 20 (+5)

Dexterity 20 (+5)

Constitution 20 (+5)

Intelligence 30 (+10) [10 (+0)] (Enhanced Statistic)

Wisdom 30 (+10) [10 (+0)] (Enhanced Statistic)

Charisma 30 (+10) [10 (+0)] (Enhanced Statistic)

 

Combat: 24+10=34

Initiative: +5 (+5 Dex)

Attack: +12 Base, +13 Melee, +15 Unarmed

Grapple: +18

Defense:  +10 (+3 Flat Footed, +5 Dodge Focus)

Knockback: -4

 

Saving Throws: 2+3+0=5

Toughness: +10 (+5 Con, +3 Body Armor, +2 Defensive Roll)

Fortitude:  +7 (+5 Con, +2)

Reflex:  +8 (+5 Dex, +3)

Will: +10 (+10 Wis)

 

Skills: 56 SP= 14PP

Acrobatics 10 (+15)

Climb 3 (+8)

Drive 5 (+10)

Escape Artist 10 (+15)

Pilot 5 (+10)

Sleight of Hand 10 (+15)

Stealth 10 (+15)

Swim 3 (+8)

 

Feats: 26PP

Attack Focus (melee)

Attack Specialization (Unarmed)

Defensive Roll

Dodge Focus 5

Equipment 16

Evasion

Uncanny Dodge (auditory)

 

Enhanced Feats:

Improvised Tools

Inventor

Jack of All Trades

Skill Mastery 1 [Bluff, Computers, Craft (artistic), Craft (chemical)]

Skill Mastery 2 [Craft (electronic), Craft (mechanical), Craft (structural), Diplomacy]

Skill Mastery 3 [Disable Device, Disguise, Gather Information, Intimidate]

Skill Mastery 4 [Knowledge (arcane Lore), Knowledge (art), Knowledge (behavior science), Knowledge (business)]

Skill Mastery 5 [Knowledge (civics), Knowledge (current events), Knowledge (earth sciences), Knowledge (history)]

Skill Mastery 6 [Knowledge (life sciences), Knowledge (physical sciences), Knowledge (popular culture), Knowledge (streetwise)]

Skill Mastery 7 [Knowledge (tactics), Knowledge (technology), Knowledge (theology & philosophy), Search]

 

Powers: 71PP

Features 1 (Can fire two firearms with a damage bonus of +4 or less simultaneously) (Guns Akimbo)

Container 14 (Passive, 70 PP, Intuitive Savant)

[device] Enhanced Charisma 20 [20PP]

Enhanced Feats 10 (Improvised Tools, Inventor, Jack of All Trades, Skill Mastery 7) [10P]

Enhanced Intelligence 20 [20PP]

Enhanced Wisdom 20 [20PP][/device]

 

Equipment: 16PP=80 PP for equipment

Body Armor (Protection 3) [3EP]

Submachine Gun (Blast 4, Autofire) x2  [24EP]

Vehicles, HQ, Other Weapons, and Miscellaneous (GM’s Choice) [53EP]

 

DC Block:

 

Unarmed (+15 Hit, Touch, DC 20 Toughness)

Submachine Gun (+12 Hit, Ranged, DC19 Toughness, Autofire)

 Abilities 30 + Combat 34 + Saving Throws 5 + Skills 14 + Feats 26 + Powers 71– Drawbacks 0= 180/180

 

This is Terrifica’s arch nemesis, as it stated above. For the record, the mystery of this guy’s true identity is supposed to be a permanent mystery, like what happened to Terrifica’s father. I think he works pretty well, and I’d like to submit him as an NPC. But first, let’s you fellas have at him. Did I build something wrong? Is there something that breaks the house rules? Hit me with your best shot.

[Raveled]

Well in general even if something is supposed to be mysterious, the player should at least know the answer. Joker's multiple-choice-background wouldn't fly in Freedom City, and even if the details will never be revealed you-as-the-player should have some idea of what's going on.

 

If you want to make a character that exists more as a theme and less of a concrete set of details, you might want to rework this as a possessing spirit a la the spirit of Murder in the setting book. If this is a magical entity it would explain why none of Terrifica's science-y approaches are helping her; or it could be an alien or extradimensional intelligence that Terrifica wronged somehow.

[EternalPhoenix]

I'll explain it better. Terrifica is the queen of information. Knowing stuff is her primary hat. Keeping things in order is the second one. So her perfect arch enemy is someone who behaves randomly only for it to work in his favor, with a past that for all intents and purposes doesn't exist. If I know anything about him, that opens the door for Terrifica to know at some point down the line. And it would ruin his appeal as a villain, regardless. It's not that I couldn't figure something out. It's not that I'm being lazy about it. It's authorial intent.

 

With that stated, Freedom City requires all of it's characters to have a properly explained background. Having one would diminish him. So, Terrifica can't have her arch nemesis as an official NPC. Thanks for the info, Rav.