Supers in Distress

[Valerian]

Hrm, ghostly stuff?  I don't know how well teleporting fits, exactly, though it does make her difficult to get hold of, of course.  A ghostly sort of name could fit; we could just have a theme in that respect, maybe...

[Chris Brady]

I was just kidding.  Making fun of the whole 'Lesbian Stripper Ninja who's never wearing more than a swimsuit' deal.  Psylocke's one of the Patron Saints of LSNs.

I was the impression that the ninja girls of DoA were the patron saints...  >.>

Though, I've got preferential feelings toward Christie from Dead or Alive and the assorted female cast of Devil May Cry.

The gun bunny may work.

I would like you people to be natives of the City (I'm not sure what I'm going to name it, yet.)

[Hikari]

Ayane might count, but...  to some extent, it's about attitude.  The LSN is sort of like the trenchcoat wearing Teflon Badass of female characters, she has to be unflappable, clearly superior, etc.  The female leads of UltraViolet and Tomb Raider are probably closer than Ayane and Kasumi, though Christie certainly counts.  Likewise, you'd probably count Trish but no Lady, even though they're both similar in other ways.

(Though, it looks like DMC4 Lady is a LSN now, anyway!)

Regardless, I'll see what I can come up with.  I'm thinking a mix of guns and power-type equipment (knock-out gas, grenades, etc.), and generally being more of a character along the lines of The Bride than a killer stripper.  Anti-syndicate revenge trip, you know the drill.

[Chris Brady]

That works.  And for the record, The Knightwatchman was more or less Batman with a pair of .45s and a sword.  And he wasn't the first man to wear that suit, there's always been something of a 'Mystery Men' going on in the world, it's only since the late 40's has out and out supers shown up.

And the Revenge Angle works as the common theme, actually.  And you guys don't even need to hate the same group of criminals either.

[Chris Brady]

This is a fun toy to play with when making supers.

http://fabricadeherois.blogspot.com/

It's in Portuguese, but Criar means 'create'.  The rest is easy to guess.

[Valerian]

Okay, I asked a real-life friend for help on this, but he's being slow, and I'm impatient.  Heh.  I thought I might as well post it here and see if anyone had any suggestions on it.  There are still 38 points to spend...

Also, my back story is still fairly open, so I can work in a revenge angle if that's what we want to do.  A vengeance from beyond the grave theme does sound nicely dark and creepy.

6  STR 16 +3
10 DEX 20 +5
4  CON 14 +2
0  INT 10 +0
2  WIS 12 +1
4  CHA 14 +2
(26 pts.)

Skills: (27 pts.)
Acrobatics    +10
Bluff         +11
Climb         +11
Concentration +9
Escape Artist +10
Intimidate    +12
Notice        +10
Search        +9
Sense Motive  +10
Stealth       +12

Feats: (25 pts.)
Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, Assessment, Attack Focus 2, Blind-fight, Critical Strike, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 3, Elusive Target, Evasion, Favored Opponent (aliens), Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Critical (staff), Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Takedown Attack, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge

Powers: (8 pts.)
Teleport (Rank 3)
-1 Short-range
+1 Change Velocity
+1 Easy
+1 Turnabout

Combat: (26 pts.)
Attack  +5
Defense +8
Damage  +3/+5

[Chris Brady]

Not to sure about the 'aliens' on the Favoured Opponents, also for the 38 points, you can sink those into a selection of specialized weapons.  I see that you have Imp. Crit for Staves, and yet no staff...

[Hikari]

Second Effort, First Draft:

The Remnant
Katalinna Anne was taken in as an orphan by a member of the Buselli crime syndicate after he killed her parents to keep them from testifying against him.  Exactly why the Mafia hitman felt the need to do so is a matter of some mystery, as he otherwise was not prone to showing guilt or sentimentality.

Regardless, he provided Katalinna with a good life: money, protection, and influence.  For her, it was never enough; she spent her prodigious allowances and vast amounts of unsupervised time trying to learn the tricks of the trade, with every intention of one die killing her foster father.  He was fully aware of this fact, and seemed to regard it with a mixed sense of amusement and surprising empathy, even secretly assisting her in her mission at times, covertly grooming her to be a hitwoman of the highest caliber.

Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, Katalinna finally made her move.  The young woman faced her adoptive parent in a brutal battle that left their stately home a blown-out husk of ashes and flame, but just when she was ready to finish him off--stating her intentions and reasons over his prone and disarmed form--Mafia hitmen descended on the both of them, wounding Katalinna badly and her 'father' fatally, though she managed to ultimately fight them off.  With his last breath, her foster father explained himself to her: he had never wanted to kill her parents--he had a strict policy of only killing other Mafiosi--but the local Don, a corpulent man well-accustomed to getting his way, had arranged to ensure they witnessed a hit he performed to make sure it happened.  They, he explained, were old family of the Don, who was going out of his way to eliminate any traces of their bloodline...

Since then, Katalinna has become the terror of the underworld, targeting Family operations wherever she can find them, and even going so far as to attack major Mafia figures in their own homes.  Aside from her vigilante work, she also has been known to take contracts on other syndicate figures--Yakuza, Triads, Vory--to bankroll her activities.  The Knightwatchman took her under his proverbial wing for a time, and thanks to his influence she's curbed her violent tendencies somewhat and learned to care about the 'big picture' outside of her personal vendetta, though she still sees red whenever the Don pokes his head out of hiding...

Katalinna is among the finest markswomen in the world, and an extremely well-trained fighter besides.  Her accuracy with any sort of firearm is absolutely uncanny, to such a degree that she generally uses weapons normally decried as 'inaccurate' to every bit as great effect as a longarm.  Her particular prefence is for a pair of custom firearms, one of which was made for her--Balmung, a submachine gun with a rate of fire too high for most people to use with any reasonable degree of accuracy--and the other survives her foster father, a refurbishment of his favorite weapon--Gram, a hand-cannon that fires rounds somewhere between a heavy-calibre bullet and a mini-rocket.  Gram's rounds are somewhat self-correcting in flight and usually explode a minute after impact if not quickly removed.

150 PP
Ability Scores:
Strength 12 (2 PP)
Dexterity 18 (8 PP)
Constitution 14 (4 PP)
Intelligence 14 (4 PP)
Wisdom 12 (2 PP)
Charisma 14 (4 PP)
(24 PP Spent)

Attack +10 (20 PP)
Defense +5 (10 PP)
Toughness +0 (0 PP)
Reflex Save +6 (6 PP)
Fortitude Save +3 (3 PP)
Will Save +4 (4 PP)
(67 PP Spent)

Acrobatics 15
Climb 5
Disable Device 6
Drive 4
Gather Information 9
Intimidate 8
Investigate 9
Notice 8
Profession (Mercenary) 5
Search 4
Sense Motive 8
Sleight of Hand 3
Stealth 8
(92 SP, 90 PP Spent)

Acrobatic Bluff
Ambidexterity
Assessment
Contacts
Defensive Roll Rank 3
Diehard
Dodge Focus Rank 5
Elusive Target
Equipment Rank 3
*Motorcycle (9 EP)
*Undercover Vest (4 EP)
*Gas Mask (1 EP)
*Commlink (1 EP)
Evasion Rank 2
Grappling Finesse
Improved Aim
Improved Critical (Blast) Rank 2
Improved Grapple
Instant Up
Improved Sunder
Precise Shot Rank 2
Quick Draw Rank 2
Redirect
Well-Informed
Uncanny Dodge
(123 PP Spent)

Device (Submachine Gun, Balmung) 4 (12 PP)
*Blast 4 (Autofire 2, Split Attack, Ricochet 3)
Device (Hand-Cannon, Gram) 5 (15 PP)
*Blast 8 (Penetrating 1, Poison, Unreliable (5-shot), Homing)
Device (Grappler) 1 (3 PP)
*Super Movement (Swinging, Slow Fall)
*Snare 1 (Entangle -1)
Super-Senses (Accurate Hearing) (1 PP)
(150 PP Spent)

Wealth Bonus +10

[WyzardWhately]

Just took my Con Law final.  Completely brain-damaged now.

Short Form:  I'm going to get rid of the Insubstantial power, because it's too distorting.  That's going to free up a whopping thirty points, with which I can easily buy Permeate at a high enough level to walk through walls and stuff (six points).  That should leave me 24 left over to make The Ghost a little more balanced as a character.  I'm probably going to beef up his defenses and saves (probably some Impervious and Impervious Defensive Roll, in order to adequately represent the fact that normal attacks simply pass through him without effect.  This looks a little wonky on paper, but from a mechanical and gameplay standpoint is a MUCH better way to represent his powers anyway.  It makes him less of a "Ha Ha fuck you all"/"OMG I'm dead" character.  I can explain why that is if anyone gives a shit.) 

I'll also probably drop wall-crawling and crank more of those points into Leaping.  Instead of sort of worming his way up a surface by plunging his hands and feet into it, he can just jump through walls/floors/ceilings with impunity.  It's a better image and reduces the splattering of powers he's got so far. I'll probably save a few for that Frightful Presence I want so desperately, and maybe go ahead and build him the organ-punching strike, or some reasonable facsimile.  An equipment array is also a possiblity, although it will tend to be mundane stuff rather than stepping on Hikari's expensive custom foot.  Her character has futuristic firearms and grenades and stuff.  The Ghost does just fine with a bottle of drain cleaner and a power drill.

Oh yeah.  This is going to work out way better.   

Lastly, I think he needs an arch-nemesis.  I don't know if you have bad guys already plotted out for the setting or not, so I figured I'd ask before the rewrite.  I need one of those sick crazy types, with less outright powers and more, well, costumed villainy.  Think like the Joker, Scarecrow, or Jigsaw, or Mysterio if he didn't kinda suck.  If you've got somebody in a roster that fits the bill, let me know.  The Ghost is also doing the Vendetta thing, you see, although he's more after the terrorizing costumes than just mobsters.  Although he'd probably whack some of them too, given an opportunity.

[RedEve]

If this had been free-form, I so would have joined this. As such, I'm only familiar with the EABA system, so I guess I'm out of this one. :(

[Antone]

... I don't know if this thing is still available, but I'd be interested in trying to do it.... if there is room for another person.... *puppy dog eyes*

[WyzardWhately]

The Ghost
Jason Prince
PL 10
PP: 150
Banked: 0
HP: 3

STR 10
DEX 18 +4
CON 20 +5
INT 14 +2
WIS 12 +1
CHA 14 +2
28

Combat
Attack: +5 (+10 melee)
Defense: 15 (+5 Dodge for 20)
Damage: +4 (strike) OR +2 (Penetrating Strike)
Toughness: +5, Impervious, +7 Impervious w/ defensive roll (+10 w/ Armor)
Fort: +5
Rflx: +4
Will: +7
Initiative: +12
28

Skills:
Acrobatics +12
Computers +4
Craft Electronic +8
Intimidate +12
Investigate +4
Knowledge Physical Sciences +4
Knowledge Technology +8
Knowledge Streetwise +4
Notice +8
Search +8
Stealth +12
21


Feats:
Defensive Roll x2 (Impervious)
All-Out Attack
Attack Focus Melee x 5
Dodge Focus 5
Improved Initiative x2
Luck x 2
Fearsome Presence x 7
Fearless
Acrobatic Bluff
Attractive
Distract (intimidate)
Hide In Plain Sight
Power Attack
Sneak Attack
Redirect
Skill Mastery: Acrobatics, Intimidate, Stealth, Notice
Equipment 2
34

Powers:
Permeate 3
Regeneration: Regrowth
•   Injured: 20 minutes
•   Staggered: 20 Minutes
•   Disabled: 1 Hour
Danger Sense (mental)
Speed 2 (5 times as fast as a normal human)
Leaping 3 (Running long jump 100 feet, standing long jump 50 feet, vertical jump 25 feet)
Immunity: Sleep, Critical Hits
Strike 4
ALT: Strike 2, Alternate Save: Fortitude
24

Equipment & Devices:
Mask (Rank 2 Device, hard to lose)
•   Voice Changer 1 pt Auditory Illusion.
•   Darkvision 2 pts
•   Time Sense 1pt
•   Radio 1 pt
•   Infravision 1 pt
•   Visual Tracking, Full-speed, 2 pts.
•   Zoom (1 point extended vision, 100ft increment)
•   Micro-enhancement, 1pt Microscopic vision (dust-sized objects)
Armored Jumpsuit +3
Secret Lair:  Hidden section of abandoned factory: Toughness 10, Size Medium, Concealed, Power System, Workshop, Living Space, Gym: 7pts
8

150

Drawbacks & Complications:
Secret Identity

Jason Prince was one of life's designated victims.  His dad had died as an innocent bystander in a costumed dustup when he was very small (tie-in to archnemesis here, maybe?).  His mom developed a number of neuroses including agoraphobia immediately afterward - she hasn't left her apartment more than a half-dozen times since.  He's been bullied, repeatedly mugged, and scared every time one of those custom news bulletins comes over the radio.  There's a special jingle they use when it's the costumed types getting rowdy, it gets everyone's attention so they know if they need to get out of the way.  It still tended to give him panic attacks every time he heard it, right up until two months ago.  That's why some of the jackasses in the electronics lab used to set it as their ring tone, to see him go all pale and shaky in the middle of trying to solder something.

Two months ago, though, he was helping monitor the equipment as his university's new particle accelerator.  They were trying to do some kind of advanced physics experiments with it, something to do with gravitons and the curvature of the space-time continuum.  A lot of the math was beyond him, but it was still pretty darned interesting stuff, and Jason was glad to help out. Somehow, he managed to be partway inside the unit making adjustments to the capacitors when it was "accidentally" set off by a grad student.  Jason got a pretty good jolt of weird elementary and theoretical particles, plus an electrical shock and an electromagnetic field passing through his brain that could have cooked a hardened military installation.  They drug his unconscious self over to the clinic, where he woke up a few hours later and was given tea and some tests.  It didn't look like anything was wrong with him, and it was the wrong kind of radiation to do much to him, so...they pretty much sent him home.  He went to his apartment and fell asleep.  Around midnight, he got up and went down to the local quickie-mart for a burrito, and got mugged again on the way home.  Everything seemed to slow down and it was like he was nearly weightless, and he beat the everloving hell out of both of them.  Then went home and crashed back out.  When he woke up, he decided it must have been a dream.  The martial arts classes he was in hadn't done him that much good, his knuckles weren't scuffed up, and, well, he was pretty damn confused after that thing at the lab.

But he was wrong.  It had happened.  And a part of him knew it.  That part of him got up every night and made a costume.  Started to learn about the bizarre, byzantine network between organized crime and the freaks.  Studied tactics, built a lair.  Jason noticed he wasn't afraid of the masked villainy warning jingle anymore, and dismissed it as a side effect of having nearly been killed.  He did in fact seem to not be scared of much of anything these days.  That was a nice side benefit.

He didn't figure it out until just lately.  The radio on his desk started playing that tune, but he could already hear the noise and gunfire outside.  Instead of panicking, he went straight to the chest in his closet where he kept his personal stuff, that he almost never opened.  He had the costume halfway on before he even knew what he was doing.  He let the reflexes and that weird presence in his head take over for the duration, but that night they had a long conversation in front of a mirror.

That accident did something to him.  Changed the way his biology interact with the normal space-time continuum.  Again, the math is beyond him, and the medical aspects are hopeless.  But, essentially, he's just a little outside normal reality.  Enough that there's a way his body is "supposed" to be, and that's what it tends toward.  It's why he never gets tired, and his injuries just fade away.  Gravity can't hold onto him the way it does others, and time is something he swims through.  He can fight against the current, making everyone around him seem to move at a crawl, while he leaps impossible distances and slides "around" solid matter, in the dimension where it doesn't exist.  Speed times mass equals power, and his strikes land with nearly inhuman speed when he wants them to.  He doesn't even have to limit himself to the opportunities in three dimensional space.  The other day he tore out someone's heart without leaving any kind of visible wound.  He can sense danger, just a little before the threat becomes manifest.  His costume is a thing of beauty.  An armored jacket and pants, solid black, with a tattered half-cape under the arms and a great hood to protect his head.  The mask looks like a bleached skull, blank black sockets for eyes, and great backward-curving ram's horns emerging from his forehead, curving up from under the hood then back to protect the back of his head and neck.  They're also full of some of the most advanced electronics he's ever seen, he can't believe he built it himself.  Aside from the voice changer, which lets him emulate anyone he's heard, it's packing a heads-up display and any number of related goodies.  It shows him the scene with infrared overlays, highlights microscopic features, lets him see in the dark, and even shows him the time so he doesn't need a watch.  The internal radio pickup lets him hear broadcasts on normal and emergency bands, and calls his attention to weird transmissions.  It lets him see distant things with incredible acuity, and lets him track people who don't leave behind any normal, visible trace.

Jason's friends and colleagues have noticed a change in him.  He's confident, fearless, looks people in the eye.  He's in way better shape than any junior electrical engineering student has a right to be, and he's dressing better, too.  He has money all of a sudden, instead of living on cafeteria food and ramen.  It's sexy in a way, and dangerous.


Chris:  Any help on an arch-nemesis?

[Hikari]

So, what's the word.  Anyone still interested in this?  Anything that needs to be changed to make it work?

[WyzardWhately]

I'm still in.

[Chris Brady]

I'm waiting for Valerian, and then I'll make the OOC thread.

[WyzardWhately]

You might want to poke her with a PM.

[Valerian]

Yeah, I'm not so good with this ruleset.  *sigh*  Staffs and knives would be considered devices in this system, yes?  Would it be possible to give the knives their own sort of 'teleport' to go back to her hand after she throws them?

Version 2, in case anyone has any suggestions:

ABILITIES:
STR: 16 (+3)
DEX: 19 (+4)
CON: 14 (+2)
INT: 10 (0)
WIS: 12 (+1)
CHA: 14 (+2)

SKILLS:
Acrobatics 10 (+14)
Bluff 11 (+13)
Climb 11 (+14)
Concentration 9 (+10)
Diplomacy  (+2)
Disguise  (+2)
Escape Artist 10 (+14)
Gather Info  (+2)
Handle Animal  (+2)
Intimidate 12 (+14)
Streetwise 10 (+10)
Notice 10 (+11)
Search 9 (+9)
Sense Motive 10 (+11)
Stealth 12 (+16)
Survival  (+1)
Swim  (+3)               

FEATS:  Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, Assessment, Attack Focus (Melee) (2), Blind-Fight, Critical Strike, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll (3), Elusive Target, Evasion (), Improved Critical (), Improved Defense (), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative (3), Improved Sunder, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Takedown Attack (), Uncanny Dodge                               
POWERS:  Teleport [3], Change Velocity, Short Range               
COMBAT:  Attack 10  [Staff 5 (Bruise), Knives 5 (Lethal)]   Defense 20 (15 flat-footed)   Init  16                        
SAVES:  Toughness 5 (2 flat-footed)  Fortitude 7  Reflex 14  Will 6

DRAWBACKS: 
               
Abilities 25  +  Skills 29 (114 ranks)  +  Feats 24  +  Powers 6  +  Combat 40  +  Saves 20  –  Drawbacks 0 = 144 / 150

[Chris Brady]

Weapons coming back to her?  Um, I'm not averse to making it a 1 point (If even that) advantage to the blades.

[WyzardWhately]

Or, if they automagically come back to her no matter what, you build it as a Blast power, and the returning knives are just a special effect.

Also:  Stuff like staves and knives are Equipment (super cheap) if they're normal, or Devices if they're not.  You don't need to buy Knives AND a staff if you don't want to, superhero types are assumed to be able to deal either bruising or lethal damage with any weapon (including firearms, amusingly).  You should seriously consider something to beef up your defense a little, too.  If you're going the equipment route, the armored jumpsuits both other characters already wear are a good choice for you: they're 3 Equipment points (which is like, .6 power points) for a +3 to your toughness save, and come in a wide variety of styles and colours to suit your wardrobe.

I'll look over your sheet more thoroughly and see if anything else jumps out at me.

[WyzardWhately]

Your character does look cool, though.  Kind of a nightcrawler vibe, I guess?

I look forward to seeing her background and so forth.

[Valerian]

Yeah, Nightcrawler-ish... it just seems such a handy thing for a close-up fighter, to be able to retreat and regroup now and then.

Maybe those jumpsuits can be part of the theme -- all similar designs and capabilities.  And bruising with a knife... I guess that's from whacking people with the hilt or something.  Heh.

Okay, background: Julia had it all, so it seemed.  Only daughter of a wealthy family, Old Money that had also moved with the times, creating an electronics empire; she attended the best schools, travelled, and was seen in all the best places with all the best people.

But the perfection was even more shallow than usual.  Her parents were constantly feuding, fighting sometimes just for the sake of fighting, and living the rest of the time in icy silence.  This had been going on for as far back as Julia could remember, and though she was used to it, in a way, it was a constant strain, driving her out of the house as much as possible.  Worse, her younger brother, Brandon, who was as neglected by their parents as she was, began dabbling in drug use and was constantly on the verge of getting into serious trouble.

At first she ignored it, wrapped up in her own problems, but after he nearly fell off the roof of the family's thirty-story office building while in a drug-induced haze, she started trying to rein him in.  The meddling of a sister only three years older worked about as well as one might expect, and mainly succeeded only in making him angry with her.

Finally the inevitable happened, and he fell in with a truly rough crowd, civilized though they often seemed on the outside.  When that group was caught up in the latest scheme of [insert supervillain here], Brandon saw a chance for fame, or at least infamy, in his own right, and tried to take it.  He ended up dead in the crossfire when police and a group of heroes tried to intervene.

After that, the family fell apart on the outside as well as the inside.  The scandal of Brandon's death was quickly followed by the scandal of his father's insider trading and other financial crimes.  Julia's mother sued for divorce, and the empire quickly began to crumble, eaten up in fines and legal fees.

Julia, now twenty-one, took what money was solely hers and used that to rebuild her life.  She changed her name, moved to another city, and recreated herself as a hero.  Her ability, which she'd always tried to hide and ignore, she now honed as she trained herself in other ways, learning to fight in combination with her teleporting.

No one would recognize her now as the spoiled girl she once was, now an ordinary young woman by day, a crime-fighter by night.

---

Hrm.  I don't have my book here... how does Wealth work?  It might be appropriate to give her just a little of that, to represent the last of the family fortune...

[Antone]

*looks around to see if there is room available for another....... though he would need help with the system your using, if he were allowed in...... mostly just curious at the moment if there is room <_<*

[WyzardWhately]

Wealth is covered under a feat called (I believe) Benefit.  I mean, I know it's a feat, and I think it's called benefit.  Each time you take it is +4 to wealth checks or something, and you can take it multiple times.  There are some rather abstract rules for making wealth checks in order to represent your buying power, but quite frankly they aren't very interesting.  If you want to be rich, spend 2 or 3 PP on the feat, and call it good.

[Valerian]

Okay, any further tweaks?  I still have more points to spend, I think, so throw them at me...

[WyzardWhately]

You should really take the turnabout feat for teleport.  I would also highly recommend the Accurate extra.