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Everything posted by Amelia
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Actually, everyone who made their Notice check can go ahead and react to the sensation of something or someone invading their minds and reading their souls like pages in a book in this next round of IC posts. No illusions or fear yet, though.
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- twilight lodge
- hitter
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@Avenger Assembled Sorry, can I also get a DC20 Notice check to see if Wadjet notices the prying into her mind?
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I think @KnightDisciple is up next in the IC?
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- mr. strix
- dr. thorne
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Gremlin notices that someone or something is invading her mind and looking at her worst fears, and it's finding them, but she'll be able to tell that the illusions aren't real and they won't scare her. L0vel@ce doesn't notice the mental intrusion, but the house isn't able to read her mind. But the illusions it'll come up with will seem real to her, and she'll be Shaken by them. @Gizmo Can I please get those checks for Hitter? Since the last IC post was a GM post, instead of doubling up, I'll wait until my next GM post to describe the power effects. Until then, everyone can do another round of IC posts describing their initial reactions to entering the house and what they've seen so far.
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GM Hernandez averted his eyes and growled when the silver bars of his cell came into view, and he started hissing and groaning and writhing in pain the second Dead Head clamped the silver manacles on his wrists, but the second the manacles went on his superhuman strength vanished. His flesh audibly sizzled under the silver, and the smell of burning flesh quickly filled the cell. The front doors to the mansion closed themselves behind Wadjet, just as they had opened themselves for her. She stood in an antechamber with mahogany paneled walls and a marble floor covered by a large Persian rug. Several smaller mats lined the walls, and the antechamber was flanked with closets on both sides. Another set of double-doors waited at the other end of the antechamber. A large man with yellow-tinted and bloodshot eyes peeking out from under dark bushy eyeybrows stood behind one of the doors. He wore a suit that looked like something she'd seen in movies about Jack The Ripper or Sherlock Holmes, with a white shirt and matching bow tie and gloves, framed by a black jacket, vest, and trousers. A couple different colors of fluid had leaked through the suit in a few places, forming dark spots. The flesh on his head was grey with a greenish tint to it, and in total, roughly one-third of it was missing (including one of his ears), exposing the skull underneath in a dozen different spots. He chuckled. "I think youuu...willlll find the stahhhfff here...woooeeefully unnnderrrr-equipped...for such ahhhctiiivitiesss. Ssshhhaaahhhlll I...take your coat? Pleeease, follow meee."
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- bedlam
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@Avenger Assembled Please have Wadjet make a DC15 Will save against the house's Mind Reading effect, and DC20 Will saves against its Illusion and Emotion Control effects. EDIT: She also gets a DC20 Notice check to pick up on the presence trying to pry into her mind. @Dr Archeville I assume from the IC dialogue that you're having Dead Head use the library for some Knowledge checks Anything in particular?
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NEW STUDENT Name: Benicio "Ben" Wang Codename: Octoman Year: Sophomore Pronouns: He/Him Prospective Roommate: Horrorshow(?) Goal: Become Geckoman! Favourite YA Fiction Novel: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
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In Brief: Neo-Nazi Mac Gargan Character: Webmaster (Spider Centaur Form / Normal Form) Power Level: 10 Tradeoffs: -2 Attack / +2 Damage, -2 Defense / +2 Toughness) Power Points: 233 Alternate Identity: Josef Bankowski Identity: Public Legal Status: USA citizen and fugitive Birthplace: Freedom City, New Jersey Base of Operations: Freedom City, New Jersey Residence: Mobile Occupation: Former: Mechanic, Current: Criminal Affiliations: None Family: Olivia Lenkiewicz (ex-wife), Mia Bankowski (daughter), Gabriel Bankowski (son), unnamed brother, sister, parents, cousins, aunts, and uncles DESCRIPTION Age: 27 (Date of Birth: 1992) Apparent Age: 27 Gender: Male Ethnicity: Caucasian Polish-American Height: Werespider Form: 8'6", Human Form: 6'1" Weight: Werespider Form: 1,200 lbs., Human Form: 170 lbs. Hair: Werespider Form: None, Human Form: Blond Eyes: Werespider Form: Black, Human Form: Blue In his human form, Josef Bankowski is tall and lean. Excessive drug use leaves him looking pale with dark circles around his bloodshot eyes. In his "werespider" form, he's a "spider-centaur". From the waist down, he has the body of a giant northern funnel web spider. From the waist up, he's still humanoid, but his flesh is red and covered with black spiky chitinous plates. In his "spider swarm" form, he's a human-sized mass of spiders all coordinated by a hive mind. HISTORY Josef Bankowski's grandparents were devout Catholics who fled Poland in the 1960s, escaping the Communist regime which would control that country for another quarter of a century. They immigrated to America, where they were granted refugee status and, eventually, citizenship. Josef, like his parents, was born in Freedom City, growing up as part of the multi-ethnic tapestry that is Freedom's West End. Josef's father enlisted in the Marine Corps and then worked as an auto mechanic, eventually owning his own shop, where Josef started working as a teen. Josef started doing hard drugs in high school. His already terrible grades got even worse, and by his senior year, he managed to not only flunk out, but also impregnate his 17-year-old classmate Olivia Lenkiewicz, the daughter of family friends. Olivia carried the child to term, and the two were married before her senior year. With no other prospects, and at the urging of his father, Josef joined the Marines, like his father before him. The discipline didn't take. He resumed his old lifestyle, using again and cheating on his wife (both with random pick-ups and with professional sex workers), almost as soon as he got out of basic training, as often as he could make the time for it. The first few times he was caught, he was reprimanded, but let off with warnings or light informal punishments. But eventually, his behavior became too egregious for the Corps to ignore. He made it almost halfway through his first 4-year enlistment term before being arrested, court-martialed, and dishonorably discharged. He spent a year in prison. Olivia stayed married to him for several more years despite his behavior. She was forced to become the primary breadwinner when he proved to be chronically unemployable. Despite his record, he would get various mechanic jobs, but he could never hold them for long before either losing his temper or failing to show up to work on time (or at all) because he was too busy indulging his addictions. He regularly cheated on his wife, spent their money on his addictions, and physically abused both his wife and their two children. Olivia finally kicked him out of their apartment in 2017, getting a restraining order which Josef frequently violated. They were separated for a year before Olivia filed for divorce, which was finalized in 2019. Josef spent the two years after their separation sleeping on his brother's couch, and tumbling down an online rabbit hole of political radicalization. He'd been interested in pick-up "artistry" and "uncensored" anonymous image-sharing message boards since he was a teenager, but after his long-suffering wife left him, he found a ready-made pipeline to an ideology which affirmed that he was the true victim. His political views quickly shifted from reactionary to outright fascistic, buoyed by rabid bigotry. He established his own online presence during those two years, starting a vlog series where he parroted the same bigoted talking points as a thousand other guys just like him, and presented an account of his life which was heavily distorted in his favor. Meanwhile, his addictive behavior continued to escalate. In 2019, after his divorce was finalized, Josef started abusing "super" drugs. After taking a "powerball" of Max and Zoom, he went to his ex-wife's apartment. His own brother called the police on him after he left. After breaking in, he assaulted Olivia, her mother, and her new boyfriend, and took the entire family hostage at gunpoint. On his first outing as a superhero, Octoman intervened, and, with Bombshell's aid, he defeated Josef, though Josef almost beat him to death in the process. After the police took him into custody, Josef suffered multiple organ failure. The super-drugs had taken their toll. With his history, no hospital would consider transplants. He was advised to check into hospice care for what the doctors expected to be the last few weeks of his life. Meanwhile, despite his prognosis, the city, state, and federal attorneys offices all moved forward with indictments. The charges included multiple counts of kidnapping, and, because of the super-drugs in his system at the time, assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault, and attempted murder. Josef was facing multiple lifetimes worth of prison time alongside certain death, before his thirtieth birthday. Because he no longer had powers once the drugs had left his system, and because he was physically incapacitated, Josef was held in the Freedom City Correctional Facility just outside Hanover, while awaiting the trial no one expected him to live to see. Doctor Cooper Seidel, who had kept Octoman under surveillance ever since the accident which gave Octoman his powers, had observed Octoman's battle with Josef, taking an interest in him. Seidel infiltrated the minimum-security facility and kidnapped Josef, spiriting him away to Seidel's new secret laboratory. Months before, Seidel had genetically altered a group of venomous animals with months of retroviral therapy and nuclear radiation exposure, as part of his continuing quest to refine and enhance the universal antivenom serum which gave him the ability to transform into the monster Goanna. Seidel had lost those animals when he had to pack up his lab to flee the authorities, and his hired thug crashed the truck after swerving to avoid 15-year-old Ben Wang, who had run out into the street to save a dog. During the following few months, Seidel had split his efforts between spying on Wang, who had gained powers after being bitten by the blue-ringed octopus, and combing the sewers with a Geiger counter to recover as many of the experimental specimens as he could. One of the animals Seidel managed to recover was a northern funnel web spider. Seidel injected the spider's venom into Josef, out of pure scientific curiosity. Seidel didn't care whether Josef lived or died. He just wanted to see what would happen. And he told Josef as much. But Josef didn't die. He gained the ability to shapeshift into a giant centaur-like human/spider hybrid, or a human-sized swarm of spiders with his mind as a collective consciousness spread out among them. He escaped from Seidel's lab after his first transformation. Josef quickly parlayed his new powers into a career as a professional criminal. His main sources of income are violent armed robbery, extortion, and murder, both on his own initiative and for hire to other supervillains and organized syndicates. He also occasional commits various terrorist acts for his own gratification, using his superhuman strength to wreck buildings such as community resource centers, restaurants, and nightclubs which are associated with people he considers "degenerates" or "foreign invaders". Some of his earliest "work" was for the national designer drug cartel owned and operated by Cortex (Threat Report, page 24). Along with money, and super-drugs tailored to overcome Josef's enhanced physiology, Cortex provided Josef with a unique form of compensation: He used his world-class tech skills to help Josef maintain and expand his social media presence, despite his fugitive status. With Cortex's help, Josef has been able to continue his vlog series, which has attracted a significant following in a short time among the worst people on the internet. The regressive reactionary politics he advocates in his rambling, drug-fueled hours of recorded hate-speech still aren't any different from what a thousand other men just like him are already saying, but his status as a powered supervillain gives him a level of prestige above and beyond his peers. His videos get taken down from the more legitimate platforms almost as soon as they go up, but they get downloaded and re-posted all over the less reputable parts of the web. Despite multiple active law enforcement investigations, and the more legitimate crowdfunding platforms refusing to get anywhere near him, he has been able to collect regular crypto-currency donations from his fans, which keeps him living comfortably between "jobs". Multiple technologically-inclined heroes have attempted to trace the source of his uploads or cut off his funding, but so far, Cortex has foiled those efforts. Cortex considers it both an amusing intellectual exercise, and another means of controlling a useful but ultimately disposable asset. The moment Josef steps out of line, Cortex can cut off his supply of drugs, donations, and adulation with a few keystrokes. PERSONALITY & MOTIVATION Josef describes himself as "a ladies man", "an alpha male", "a soldier", "a working man", "a patriot", "a man of God", and "a defender of Western Civilization". In reality, he's a coward, a bully, a bigot, an addict, and a blowhard. His ego is inflated and his skin is paper-thin. He loudly, belligerently hates and disdains anyone who isn't a white male heterosexual cisgender Christian-identified native-born citizen who's seeking or already in a nuclear family. Everyone else, he refers to as "degenerates", "parasites", and "globalists". He isn't nearly as intelligent or well-educated as he claims or even thinks he is. He used to have a sort of "bad boy charm" which bought him initial success in his romantic endeavors, but he drowned it in bitterness and resentment years ago. Now he appears at first glance to be the hateful creep he truly is. He doesn't love anyone, but there are people (like his ex-wife and their children) whom he wants to possess. His main priority in life is to secure for himself a never-ending stream of money, drugs, sex, and adulation. His secondary priority is vengeance on everyone who ever "wronged" him, everyone who ever dared to make him feel weak. Goanna, Octoman, and Bombshell are all at the top of that list. A distant third is to promote an ideology which just so happens to state that those things are his birthright. POWERS & TACTICS Josef has limited shapeshifting abilities. He can become a swarm of tiny spiders (a form used mainly for escape and infiltration, though the spiders do have deadly venom), or a giant spider/human hybrid. Every transformation is extremely painful and bloody, driving him to further drug abuse. He "molts" or "sheds" like an arthropod or a reptile. Like them, he can regrow lost limbs. In his "werespider" form, Josef is superhumanly strong and agile. His carapace is hard enough to deflect bullets. He has four arms, each of which can deploy a retractable sword-like claw from the forearm, and eight spider legs, each ending in a similarly sharp claw. The spider legs allow him to climb walls, run faster than a bicycle or an Olympic sprinter, and jump several hundred feet through the air. Despite his size, his spider legs are surprisingly quiet, allowing him to sneak up on his foes. Glands in his forearms can fire streams of sticky webbing which is stronger than steel cable. A pair of glands in his jaw secrete two chemicals into his mouth which become highly acidic once mixed. When he acid dissolves organic matter, he finds the resulting slurry irresistibly delicious. ABILITIES 12PP Strength: 30/12 (+10/+1), 60/12 Lifting (Heavy Load: 50 tons / 130 lbs.) Dexterity: 26/12 (+8/+1) Constitution: 28/12 (+9/+1) Intelligence: 10 (+0) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 14 (+2) COMBAT 36PP Initiative: +8/+1 Attack: +8/+9 (+9 Base, -1 Size), +10 Webs Damage: +10/+1 Unarmed/Thrown, +12 Claws, +10 Acid, +10 Webs Grapple: +32/+10 vs one target, +28/+10 vs multiple targets (+8/+9 Melee Attack, +10/+1 Strength, +4 Size, +4 Additional Limbs, +6 Super-Strength) Defense: +8/+9 (+9 Base, -1 Size), +4/+5 Flat-Footed Knockback Resistance: 15/0 SAVING THROWS 9PP Toughness: +12/+1 (+9/+1 Con, +3 Protection, Impervious 8 ) Fortitude: +9/+1 (+9/+1 Con, +0PP) Reflex: +8/+1 (+8/+1 Dex, +0PP) Will: +9 (+0 Wis, +9PP) SKILLS 52R = 13PP Acrobatics 0 (+10/+1) Bluff 3 (+5) Climb 0 (+6/+1) Craft (Mechanical) 8 (+8) Drive 5 (+15/+6) Gather Information 3 (+5) Intimidation 4 (+18/+6) Knowledge (Current Events) 5 (+5) Knowledge (Pop Culture) 5 (+5) Knowledge (Streetwise) 8 (+8) Knowledge (Technology) 5 (+5) Languages 1 (English [Native], Polish) Notice 0 (+10/+1) Search 1 (+10/+1) Sense Motive 0 (+10/+1) Stealth 0 (+15/+1) Survival 4 (+5) Swim 0 (+6/+1) FEATS 5PP All-Out Attack Distract (Intimidation) Move-By Action Power Attack Startle Enhanced: Uncanny Dodge (Sense Types: Tactile) POWERS 158PP Additional Limbs 4 (+10 Limbs, Feats: Ambidexterity) [4PP] (Descriptors: 2 Extra Arms, 8 Spider Legs, Mutation) Burrowing 4 (10MPH, 100ft per Move Action) [4PP] (Descriptors: Acid, Claws, Mutation) Enhanced Skills 52 (Acrobatics 2, Intimidation 12, Notice 9, Search 9, Sense Motive 9, Stealth 11) [13PP] (Descriptors: Horrifying Appearance, Mutation, Spider Eyes, Spider Legs, Super-Agility, Super-Senses) Enhanced Constitution 12 (Feats: Regrowth) [13PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Regeneration, Super-Stamina, Super-Toughness) Enhanced Dexterity 14 [14PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Super-Agility, Super-Reflexes) Enhanced Strength 10 [10PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Super-Strength) Growth 4 (Size: Large, Size Modifiers: +5ft Reach, +8 Strength [+13 Lifting], +4 Constitution, -1 Attack, -1 Defense, +4 Grapple, +4 Knockback Resistance, +2 Intimidation, -4 Stealth, Extras: Duration [Continuous], Flaws: Permanent, Feats: Innate) [13PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Spider-Centaur) Immovable 1 (Extras: Unstoppable) [2PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Spider Legs) Immunity 1 (Own Powers) [1PP] (Descriptors: Mutation) Impervious Toughness 8 [8PP] (Descriptors: Carapace, Mutation) Leaping 4 (x25, Running Long Jump: 500ft) [4PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Super-Strength) Morph 1 (One Form, Extras: Duration [Continuous], Feats: Metamorph 2 [Human Form, Spider-Centaur Form, Spider Swarm Form], Drawbacks: Action 2 [Standard]) [2PP] (Descriptors: Molting, Mutation, Shapeshifting, Shedding) Protection 3 [3PP] (Descriptors: Carapace, Mutation) Speed 2 (25MPH, 250ft per Move Action) [2PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Spider Legs, Web Swinging) Spider Power 16 (32PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power 2) [34PP] (Descriptors: Mutation) Base Power: [4PP] (Additional Descriptors: Forearm Claws, Spider Leg Claws) Damage 2 (Feats: Improved Critical [19-20], Mighty, Variable Descriptor [Forearm Claws and/or Spider Leg Claws, Piercing and/or Slashing damage], Drawbacks: Lethal) [4PP] Alternate Power: [31PP] (Additional Descriptors: Acid) Drain Toughness 10 (Extras: Affects Objects, Linked [Damage], Secondary Effect, Flaws: Requires Grapple, Feats: Improved Critical 2 [18-20]) [22PP] Damage 10 (Extras: Linked [Drain], Secondary Effect, Flaws: Requires Grapple, Drawbacks: Lethal) [9PP] Alternate Power: [32PP] (Additional Descriptors: Webs) Snare 10 (10 120ft Range Increments, 1,200ft Max Range, Extras: Contagious, Feats: Accurate [+2 Attack], Tether) [32PP] Super-Movement 5 (Sure-Footed 2, Swinging, Wall-Crawling 2) [10PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Spider Legs, Webs) Super-Senses 9 (Danger Sense [Sense Types: Tactile], Low-Light Vision, Radius Visual Senses, Ultra-Vision, Tremor-Sense, Uncanny Dodge [Sense Types: Tactile]) [9PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Spider Eyes, Spider Hairs) Super-Strength 6 (Lifting Strength: 60, Heavy Load: 50 tons) [12PP] (Descriptors: Mutation) Abilities (12) + Combat (36) + Saving Throws (9) + Skills (13) + Feats (5) + Powers (158) - Drawbacks (0) = 233 Power Points Character: Webmaster (Spider Swarm Form) Power Level: 10 Tradeoffs: None Power Points: 163 ABILITIES 35PP Strength: 01 (-5) (Heavy Load: 10 lbs.) Dexterity: 30 (+10) Constitution: 28 (+9) Intelligence: 10 (+0) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 14 (+2) COMBAT 40PP Initiative: +10 Attack: +10 Damage: -5 Unarmed, +10 Venom Grapple: +5, Automatic Escape with Insubstantial Defense: +10, +5 Flat-Footed Knockback Resistance: 5 SAVING THROWS 9PP Toughness: +10 (+9 Con, +1 Protection) Fortitude: +9 (+9 Con, +0PP) Reflex: +10 (+10 Dex, +0PP) Will: +9 (+0 Wis, +9PP) SKILLS 36R = 9PP Acrobatics 2 (+12) Languages 1 (English [Native], Polish) Escape 0 (+10, Automatic with Insubstantial) Notice 9 (+10) Search 10 (+10) Sense Motive 9 (+10) Stealth 5 (+15) FEATS 0PP [None] Enhanced: Uncanny Dodge (Sense Types: Tactile) POWERS 78PP Burrowing 1 (1MPH, 10ft per Move Action) [1PP] (Descriptors: Claws, Mutation) Immunity 3 (Critical Hits, Own Powers) [3PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Spider Swarm) Insubstantial 1 (Liquid, Extras: Duration [Continuous], Flaws: Duration [Permanent], Feats: Innate) [6PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Spider Swarm) Morph 1 (One Form, Extras: Duration [Continuous], Feats: Metamorph 2 [Human Form, Spider Centaur Form, Spider Swarm Form], Drawbacks: Action 2 [Standard]) [2PP] (Descriptors: Molting, Mutation, Shapeshifting, Shedding) Protection 1 [1PP] (Descriptors: Carapace, Mutation) Spider Power 15 (30PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power) [31PP] (Descriptors: Mutation) Base Power: [30PP] (Additional Descriptors: Necrotic Venom) Damage 10 (Extras: Autofire, Alternate Save [Fortitude], Feats: Accurate, Drawbacks: Lethal) [30PP] Alternate Power: [2PP] (Additional Descriptors: Webs) Create Object 1 (Volume: 1 5ft cube, Toughness: 1, Lifting Strength: 5 [Heavy Load: 50 lbs.], Extras: Duration [Continuous], Flaws: Permanent, Range [Touch], Feats: Innate) [2PP] Super-Movement 5 (Slithering, Sure-Footed 2, Wall-Crawling 2) [10PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Spider Legs) Super-Senses 9 (Danger Sense [Sense Types: Tactile], Low-Light Vision, Radius Visual Senses, Ultra-Vision, Tremor-Sense, Uncanny Dodge [Sense Types: Tactile]) [9PP] (Descriptors: Mutation, Spider Eyes, Spider Hairs) DRAWBACKS -8PP Disability (Mute, Frequency: Very Common, Intensity: Moderate) [-4PP] Disability (No Hands, Frequency: Very Common, Intensity: Moderate) [-4PP] Abilities (35) + Combat (40) + Saving Throws (9) + Skills (9) + Feats (0) + Powers (78) - Drawbacks (8) = 163 Power Points
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I'm still down.
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Persephone Alternate Identity: Camellia Blume, M.D. Base of Operations: Vibora Bay Concept: "Moonstone meets Poison Ivy, with a dash of Venom, and side helpings of Elle Woods and Blanche Devereaux" Table of Contents Allies, Associates, & Enemies Costume & Appearance Current Role & Hooks Design Notes Headquarters History Personal Life Personality & Motivation Powers & Skills Timeline Reputation Allies, Associates, & Enemies Allies Brother & Sister-In-Law Camellia's younger brother J.B. is her fraternal twin, born a few minutes after her. He entered the workforce, got married, and started a family several years before Camellia did, only staying in school long enough to get his MBA. He and his wife, Pamela, have two small children, Abby and Alan. Pamela was Camellia's sorority sister and best friend in college. Camellia set the two of them up in the first place. She adores her niece and nephew, and the feeling is mutual. Parents Camellia Blume’s parents, Lena and Bernie, met while they were both students at Sinclair University. Lena was a cheerleader, and Bernie played football. They both stuck around long enough to earn Master’s degrees, hers in interior design and his in engineering. After graduation, she started her own design firm, while he went to work for Vibora Petroleum. He started as an engineer, but he quickly ascended to upper management. Her family also owns dozens of rental properties and restaurant franchises, in Vibora Bay and across north Florida. Her father and grandfather have both been members of the elite Mahogany Club since before she was born. Camellia is their little princess and there's nothing they wouldn't do to indulge her, but she tries her best to stand on her own two feet. Associates City of Vibora Bay As one of Vibora Bay's official municipal defenders, Persephone works directly with the city government. A small handful of city officials, including Mayor Richenda Barker, even know her secret identity. Extended Family Camellia maintains contact with the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on both sides of her family. Professional Contacts & Sorority Sisters Camellia was one of the vice-presidents of her chapter of the Omega Beta Gamma sorority at Sinclair University. She worked as a model and pageant contestant in her teens and early-to-mid-twenties, including during her year in Paris. She spent four years at the University of Vibora Bay School of Medicine, the most prestigious medical school in the state of Florida, and another four years completing her psychiatric residency at the world-renowned UFVB hospital. She's maintained all of her contacts from those worlds. Her Christmas card list includes models, photographers, newspaper and magazine editors, fashion designers, university professors, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, and dozens of women who went on to become and/or marry some of the wealthiest and most influential people in every walk of life on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Enemies The New Shadows The pack of vampires Camellia destroyed on her first night as Persephone were affiliated with the New Shadows gang. The gang doesn't know that Camellia is Persephone, but they have figured out that Persephone is the one who killed their comrades. They haven't put a bounty on her, because, as a matter of honor and reputation, they want to be the ones to avenge themselves. But they are offering a reward for information about her and her whereabouts. The changes the alien symbiote has made to Persephone's biology make it unlikely that vampires would derive nourishment from her bodily fluids or that they would be able to transform her into another vampire, but they do intend to make her suffer and die for her affront against them. If repeated attempts to capture or kill her fail, then they may swallow their pride and seek outside assistance. If the gang got word of her presence in a particular place, then they could show up and make a bad situation even worse. Costume & Appearance A friend once described Camellia as “Grace Kelly’s head on Kate Upton’s body”. She has brilliant blue eyes set into a heart-shaped face, framed with a mane of shiny and thick platinum blonde hair which falls down well below her waist. She has the kind of hourglass figure that usually requires aggressive corsetry, and most of her substantial height is in her long legs. Her voice is heavy, breathy, and deeper than most people expect, with a slight Southern drawl. She carries herself with the calm, quiet confidence of someone who’s accustomed to being welcome everywhere she goes. She has a big smile, and it gets a lot of exercise. When she uses her powers, her skin turns green, and her eyes and hair both turn purple. Her hair grows even longer, almost touching the ground, and it takes on a life of its own, gently floating and swaying as though she were underwater. She is a skilled seamstress, an asset she had already made extensive use of on her normal clothes before she ever got superpowers, altering them to better fit and support her body. After she became a superhero, she altered them further, fastening them with magnets to make them quickly and easily removable (a trick stage productions use to facilitate frequent costume changes). Her superhero costume is a leotard composed of thousands of overlapping leaves growing out of her own skin. When Camellia turns into Persephone, she triggers the pigmentation changes, grows the leaves, and snaps her civilian clothing off. She has the whole process down to less than a second. When it's time for Persephone to turn back into Camellia, she just snaps her civilian clothing back on, changes color, and lets the leaves fall off. They quickly dry out once they're no longer attached to her. There's usually a flower in her hair, growing straight out of her head. She can also release luciferns and their catalyzing enzymes into parts of her body, causing them to glow. She does this most often with her hair and eyes. In her civilian life, Camellia has an extensive wardrobe; more than one person has joked that they’ve never seen her wear anything twice. Her personal style, heavily influenced by the Vibora climate, consists mainly of above-the-knee sundresses in bright colors and floral prints, paired with some kind of ornate sandals, more often than not with 4-5 inch heels that make her tower over most of the people around her. During the couple of months a year where the weather in Vibora Bay dips below 70F, she’ll switch to sweater dresses with higher necklines, swap out the sandals for closed-toes or boots, and add some heavy tights for extra warmth. In more casual settings, she sometimes trades the dresses for crop tops paired with denim short-shorts or short skirts, and on the beach, which she visits every chance she gets, she rocks the bikini. She loves jewelry; pearls are her favorite, and she owns pieces in every color of the rainbow. Outside, she’s rarely seen without both oversized sunglasses, some kind of a large, floppy-brimmed straw or silk hat with a bow or flower on the ribbon, varieties of which she also owns in every color. In professional settings, she wears decorative glasses with clear lenses, mainly in the hope that she’ll be taken more seriously once the “smart people have poor eyesight” stereotype cancels out the “dumb blonde” trope, but also because it gives her another accessory to play with. Current Role & Hooks Even when she was an independent superhero, Persephone tried to make herself available for any crime-fighting or disaster relief opportunities which presented themselves in the Vibora Bay metropolitan area. Now that she's one of the city's official municipal defenders, she has not just a moral obligation to do so, but a legal obligation as well. As far as she's concerned, there's no problem too small for her to help with. At one point she literally used her powers to bring a stuck kitten down from a tree, and she still considers it her best superhero moment. She lacks the power to cover a larger region, and even within the city, her mobility is limited. She can command local plants to ferry her around like a sort of relay race of ski lifts, but at only 25MPH, it's usually faster for her to just take her car. She would rather be loved than feared. She always tries to resolve a situation peacefully, and if things get violent, she always uses the minimum force required, and she's quickly becoming known for that. Even when she was an independent hero, she would gladly stick around long enough to make any bystanders feel safe, and to talk with and assist rescue workers, police, and the media. Design Notes Persephone is an exercise in taking tropes normally reserved for villains and making a hero with them instead. Her color scheme is the green/purple/orange combo colloquially known as "Secondary Color Villain", to contrast with the "Primary Color Hero". She's a blonde, blue-eyed white girl from the South. She used to be a cheerleader and a sorority sister. Her powers include Emotion Control, delivered by what is basically poison. She's a traditionally feminine and unashamedly sexual adult woman who wears a revealing costume and fights indirectly through what are basically summoned minions. Normally, all of those things would scream "villain", or, at best, "Character it's OK to kill", in any genre. Persephone is as far outside my own wheelhouse as I've ever strayed as a role-player, an exercise in embracing and playing with tropes I used to avoid like the plague. She's both a Southerner and a "basic white girl", two types of people whom I used to hate, mock, and write off at first glance. I also used to look down upon any feminine and/or sexually alluring RPG characters, dismissively calling them "GM's Girlfriend PCs". Persephone was born out of the cultural and emotional evolution I've felt happening both in the larger geek culture and in my own life. A lot of us have been doing some growing up and waking up all at once to the nuanced truth that the declaration of all things soft-feminine to be "bad" is rooted in misogyny. What's "bad" is making one thing, whether it's one type of femininity or masculinity or anything else, the only available option, and forcing people to adhere to rigid stereotypes which don't fit them. Tomboys shouldn't be mocked or punished for not being girly-girls, but the reverse is also true. We're waking up to the fact that the whole idea of the "Mary Sue" character archetype in RPGs and genre fiction is rooted in that same misogyny, so, in defiance of that, I went ahead and gave Persephone several "Mary Sue" traits, like the infamous purple eyes. Similarly, while it's a problem when every female character in a work is forced to be titillating for an assumed hetero male audience, it's not an innately bad thing for a female character (or anyone else) to be "sexy", and cheesecake can be fun without being creepy, although everyone has their own boundaries when it comes to that sort of thing. Headquarters Camellia lives in a rented two-bedroom house in Atwater, one of the better neighborhoods in the worse half of the city. She could afford to live in Easton, where she grew up and where the rest of her family lives, but she's trying to save money, dip as little as possible into her trust fund, and achieve some semblance of independence. Like most Floridians, she has a small pool in the backyard, and both the back and front yards are dominated by her extensive flower gardens. At any given time, there are also multiple vases filled with fresh flowers in every room inside the house. She uses her second bedroom as a mixed home office, sewing room, and walk-in closet. The walls are covered with framed photographs of family and friends, occasionally broken up by art prints, mostly Monet and Van Gogh. She also rents a studio apartment in Far Weston, not as nice as Atwater but far from the worst neighborhood Weston has to offer. She uses the apartment as an office, so that she doesn't have to see clients in her home. It's her attempt to force some work/life balance, and to keep a professional boundary between her and her patients. The apartment-office is as filled with flowers as her home. It is furnished with a couch and several plush chairs surrounding a coffee table, a desk where she keeps her notes and her work computer locked up, and a mini-refrigerator she keeps stocked with a couple pitchers of sweet tea she always offers to her patients. Framed copies of her university and medical school diplomas and other credentials adorn the walls, along with some more Monet and Van Gogh prints. History Camellia Blume's family has roots in the east side of Vibora Bay going back at least as far as her great-grandparents on both sides. Her family are all wealthy, highly educated professionals, with real estate holdings across north Florida. Camellia beat her “little” twin brother J.B. into the world by a few minutes. She grew up in a Cluet Farms mansion, immersed in luxury and privilege. Her teens and early twenties were a hurricane of private schools, cotillions, debutante balls, modeling jobs, and beauty pageants, just like her mother before her. Like her mother before her, she was the queen of her high school. Unlike her mother, she was a benevolent queen, who never tolerated bullying. She attended Sinclair University, a legacy admission, like her parents before her. She joined the same sorority her mother had belonged to. She was a cheerleader like her mother before her. She even spent a year studying abroad in Paris, like her mother had at her age. But ultimately, she decided that, while dancing and modeling were fun, they weren't a fulfilling career. She wanted to spend her life helping people in a more direct manner. So after she graduated college, she applied to UFVB's prestigious medical school. At first, her parents did not approve, though they knew well enough to cloak their objections with polite euphemisms. But as far as they were concerned, a mostly-black school on the west side of the city, even a nationally renowned one, may as well have been another planet. Camellia stood firm. In 22 years, it was the first time she ever made a real decision for herself instead of just following in her parents footsteps. Her parents refused to pay for it, and even threatened to cut off her trust fund. But she'd saved enough of the money she'd made from a decade of modeling jobs and pageant prizes to take a big bite out of the tuition, and she was willing to take out loans to pay for the rest. The idea of their little princess taking on debt horrified them more than the idea of her living in Weston or going to school with black people, so they relented. After four years of medical school, Camellia chose psychiatry as her specialty, combining her academic prowess and her social skills to make the world a better place, one person at a time. After another four years, she completed her residency and obtained her medical license. She rented an apartment in Far Weston (separate from the rented Atwater house she lived in), and started her own practice out of it, living off of her trust fund until she accumulated enough patients to make her practice self-sustaining. Her refusal to charge patients more than they could afford, or to limit her clientele to the wealthy, slowed that process considerably. Camellia kept a garden at home, and her office space was filled with flowers. This caused one of her first patients visible distress. But he wasn't floraphobic. Instead, he seemed to be suffering from auditory hallucinations, or some other delusion. He claimed that one of his wife’s plants was talking to him. No one else seemed to be able to hear the voice, but it was growing louder and more insistent, while not making any sense, and he was convinced it was coming from the purple orchid his wife had brought home a few weeks prior. After a few weeks of talk sessions and a prescription for anti-anxiety medication failed to yield any results, he brought the orchid in question to his session, and refused to bring it back home with him. She didn’t think it would help his recovery to force the issue, so she let him leave without it, intending to return it to him later. The orchid was sitting on the front seat of her car during her commute home. That commute was interrupted when she drove by what appeared to be a mugging or assault taking place in an alley just off the street. She pulled off into the alley, flashed her lights, honked her horn, and shouted that she was calling the police, hoping to scare away the attackers. But the attackers were a pack of vampires affiliated with the New Shadows gang, and they weren’t mugging their victim; they were about to feed on him. They used their superhuman strength to flip her car over, trapping her in the alley. But as they started to drag her out of the wrecked car, she heard a woman's voice inside her mind, and it seemed like time froze. The voice offered Camellia power, the power she would need to survive this ordeal and many like it. But she could only give Camellia that power if they were “bonded”. Camellia decided that, whatever that meant, it was better than letting herself or that poor man be killed, so she agreed. Time started passing again, and the orchid started moving under its own power, shattering its pot and pressing itself against Camellia. The flower somehow phased through her flesh and bone, sinking into her chest. She felt its roots expand throughout her body. It occurred to her that this should have been painful or terrifying or disgusting, but instead it was invigorating. Leaves and bark sprouted from her flesh, covering every inch of her skin. The vampires were shocked when they reached for a human but pulled out a humanoid plant-monster. Their claws and fangs couldn't pierce her bark-armor. Acting on instinct, she summoned plants to her aid, and they responded. Roots from a nearby tree stretched and snaked through the dirt before bursting bursting up out of the ground, breaking through the concrete like it was glass. The roots hardened into spears and impaled the vampires, who all collapsed into piles of ash. As soon as the danger had passed, the leafy armor dried up and crumbled off of Camellia’s skin. She used her cell phone to call an ambulance for the bleeding man and a tow truck for her totaled car, and she tended to his wounds as best she could while they waited. She told the police that she’d turned too fast into the alley and flipped over, which must have scared away “the muggers”. The wounded man didn’t contradict her. Camellia spent the weeks after the incident telepathically communing with her new symbiote, learning what little the symbiote knew of her own history, and growing accustomed to her new abilities and the changes the symbiote was making to her body. The symbiote had been part of a race of semi-sentient plants engineered and grown as biological weapons by the humans of another Earth in an alternate dimension. That dimension fell to Omega, and this symbiote happened to be on a part of that Earth which wound up floating in the Terminus instead of being annihilated. When a rift opened up near the symbiote during the most recent Terminus incursion into her dimension, she pulled up her roots and let herself fall through. The symbiote offered to separate from Camellia if she so desired, but Camellia refused when she learned that separation would require intensive surgery which could kill both of them. Instead, Camellia decided to cope with whatever changes might come, and put her new abilities to good use, making the world a better place like she’d always wanted to. Personal Life Camellia invests a great deal of time and effort into maintaining her extensive network of family, school friends, sorority sisters, and coworkers (both from her modeling days and from the teaching hospital where she completed her residency). Once you're part of her world, you don't leave. She calls and sends cards for every birthday and anniversary, and she sends hand-written “Thank You” notes for everything else. Her psychiatry practice and superhero activities take up most of what time remains. When she somehow manages to squeeze a few more drops out of her schedule, she likes gardening, sewing, cooking and baking, and making occasional trips to the beach or to go out dancing at night clubs. She has no regrets about putting her personal life on hold for the sake of her career, but it's not on hold anymore. She has an active profile on ErosUnlimited, where she's hoping within the next few years to find a guy to settle down with, get married and have kids. Personality & Motivation Camellia's behavior comes from a combination of a naturally big heart and being raised in a semi-aristocratic subculture in which tradition was revered and courtesy was paramount. She strives to always be polite, modest, generous, and forgiving. She hates to see people suffer, even when they deserve it. She’s sensitive to the moods of the people around her, and it’s important to her to make those people as comfortable as possible. Her guiding principle in daily life is “Make everybody feel welcome, and never make anybody feel second-rate.” She greets everyone with a warm smile and an opening for as much small talk as they'd like, and she almost never swears or insults people. When someone else commits a faux pas, she’s far more likely to ignore it or attempt to cover for it than she is to draw attention to it or mock them. She values integrity, both in herself and in others, so she won’t lie to protect people’s feelings, but she will distract, deflect, and omit. Every child gets told at some point “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”, but unlike most children, she took that sentiment to heart, leaving the hard truths for one-on-one sessions behind closed doors. She detests bullying of any kind, and she won't hesitate to step in and put herself between the bully and their victim. She loves social interaction and embraces every opportunity for it. Everyone has a story, and she wants to hear them all. She likes attention, which is fortunate, because she’d get plenty of it whether she liked it or not. She doesn’t demand the spotlight, but she’s very comfortable under it. She’s a hopeless romantic who falls hard and fast both in and out of love. She doesn’t expect or demand old school chivalry, but she’s a total sucker for it. Powers & Skills Camellia Blume is a medical doctor with a specialty in psychiatric medicine, fully licensed to practice in the state of Florida. The symbiotic alien plant which fused with her has transformed her body on the molecular level into an ambulatory plant. She looks human on the surface, but beneath the skin, her flesh, blood, and bone has mostly been replaced with cellulose, sap, and wood. Her plant tissues are more durable and resilient than her old flesh, her aging process has slowed considerably, and she can completely regrow any lost body parts. Her body engages in photosynthesis, so she doesn’t need to breathe or eat food, though she still does, both for the pleasurable sensation and because she can derive nutrients from it; it’s the equivalent of spreading fertilizer over crops. She can also extend roots from her body down into soil to obtain water and nutrients, but eating and drinking feels more familiar. The diseases and poisons of animals no longer affect her, although certain chemical fertilizers have effects on her similar to those of caffeine or alcohol when she discreetly adds them to her coffee and cocktails (which also makes those drinks toxic for anyone else). However, as a plant, she is more vulnerable to dehydration and extremes of temperature, her tissues are more flammable, and defoliants and herbicides which would be harmless to a human will kill her in a matter of seconds. But if she is killed, a piece of her corpse can be re-planted like a cutting, and, if it is able to take root and it gets the water, nutrients, and sunlight it needs, then it will eventually regrow her entire body. Through the symbiote, she can psychically detect, communicate with, animate, control, and alter plants. She can make them move and act on her behalf, and she can transform them extensively, shaping them like clay, greatly increasing or decreasing their size, strength, and resilience, and making them sprout flowers which burst open to unleash sedative latex, or psychoactive pollen which can cause hallucinations and render the victim susceptible to suggestion. She doesn't strictly need to take any physical action to alter or control plants, but she uses physical gestures to help herself focus. In battle, she looks like she's dancing or conducting an orchestra. Most of the transformations she causes reverse themselves quickly once she stops exerting the mental effort to maintain them; permanent changes require greater effort. Nearby plants respond to her unconscious desires and survival instincts, moving out of her way, or moving and stretching to protect her, blocking or swatting aside incoming attacks. Her ability to shape plant matter with her thoughts also extends to her own body. She can make plant appendages like vines, thorns, leaves, and roots sprout from her skin, with whatever pigmentation or texture she desires. In battle, she often grows an extra layer of thick bark over her skin, harder than rock. She can release luciferns and their catalyzing enzymes into parts of her body, causing them to glow. In a battle, engaging directly with supervillains is her last resort. Her first priorities are healing the wounded, and using her Create Object and Move Object powers to protect bystanders and other heroes, either by shielding them or by moving them to a safe place. When she does fight directly, she attempts to restrain or incapacitate her foes while doing as little harm as possible. She can create vines to whip or strangle, or thorns to cut and stab, either from her own body or by altering other plants, but she’s so loathe to inflict direct harm that she refuses to do so in all but the most desperate of circumstances. Timeline 1989 Camellia Blume is born in Vibora Bay. 2001 Camellia Blume begins working as a model and competing in beauty pageants. 2007 Camellia Blume graduates from a private high school in Vibora Bay, and begins attending Sinclair University. She joins the Omega Beta Gamma sorority and the cheerleader squad for Sinclair's NCAA teams. 2011 Camellia Blume graduates from Sinclair with honors, and begins attending the UFVB school of medicine. She joins the cheerleader squad for the UFVB Gators. 2015 Camellia Blume graduates from the UFVB medical school, and begins her residency at the UFVB hospital. 2019 Camellia Blume finishes her psychiatric residency, becomes a board-certified physician, and starts her own psychiatric practice. During an attack by the New Shadows, she bonds with a symbiotic plant from an alternate universe and gains superpowers. She becomes a superhero, taking the name "Persephone". Storm of The Century: Persephone teams up with Cheval, The Immutable Betsy Brooks, Sagrado Corazon, Speed-Demon, Torque, and The Woodsman, to repel an incursion by an undead crocodile kaiju and its zombie horde. Rough Draft: Persephone meets with the other heroes from "Storm of The Century" to discuss the mayor's offer to back an official Vibora Bay super-team. Persephone becomes one of Vibora Bay's official city defenders. Dragon's Harvest (IN PROGRESS): Persephone and the other Vibora Bay Defenders meet The Dragoneer at his home. Even The Mere Reports of Such (IN PROGRESS): Persephone and the other Vibora Bay Defenders investigate a haunted house. Thy Golden Stair (IN PROGRESS): Persephone and Cheval meet up on ErosUnlimited. 2020 Deep Runs The Dreadnaut (IN PROGRESS): The Dreadnaut holds Vibora Bay hostage. Transylvanian Mix Tape (IN PROGRESS): Persephone and Sagrado Corazon help The Immutable Betsy Brooks look into the local vampire problem.
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Searchable Profile [A posed photo of a tall, pale woman in her late twenties, standing on a beach. The camera is facing her at a three-quarter view while she faces the ocean. The sun is shining directly down on her, and the tide is covering her bare feet. She's wearing a large floppy-brimmed white straw sunhat, round over-sized sunglasses, and a lavender halter-top bikini. The hat is wrapped in a lavender ribbon, with a purple camellia pinned over the knot. Several feet of platinum blonde hair are flying out from under the hat and behind her, indicating that she's facing a strong breeze. She's grinning and holding her arms out to her sides, as if offering an embrace. The white beach sparkles behind her, looking more like sugar than sand.] [A candid shot of the same woman at some kind of gathering. She's standing at a three-quarter angle again, but much closer to the camera in this one, cutting off halfway down her torso. She's grinning or laughing at something off-camera while holding up a silver platter with a pyramid of brownies stacked on it. A strand of white pearls is visible above her surplice neckline. A red rose in full bloom is clipped or pinned to the hair on the side of her head, raising the hair up to reveal a white pearl earring. Her lipstick, her dress, and the rose in her hair are all the same shade of bright red, or close.] [Another candid shot of the same woman, this time standing in a stadium crowd. She's wearing a women's fitted version of an orange and blue football jersey, tucked into a pair of blue denim short-shorts. Her hair is tied into two long braids which rest in front of her, trailing down to the tops of her thighs out from under another floppy brimmed sun hat, this one made of blue fabric with an orange ribbon. Her hands are cupped around her mouth as she shouts something.] Name: Camellia Gender: Female Preferred Era of Pop Culture: I turned the big Three-Oh this year, and I got there in the usual way, by being born three decades ago and then getting older. (And like my Granny always said, "The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune".) I spent the last eight or nine years in a bit of a pop culture void while I pursued my doctorate. So I was only around for stuff that came out between about the late Nineties and the early Twenty-Teens. But every era has its gems. Pop culture is like everything else: If you go looking for stuff to like, you'll find it, and if you go looking for things to hate, you'll find those, too. I'm not gonna grab my pocketbook and head for the door if you put on a Cary Grant movie or a Madonna album. And yes, despite my time in the void, I do know that I happen to be the same age as Taylor Swift. I have more ex-boyfriends than she does, though. Get on my level, Taytor-Tot. ? About You: In my other life, I've sent honest-to-goodness vampires to their final reward, I’ve pulled stuck kittens down from trees, and I’ve done most things in between. And so far, honestly, I liked helping the kitten best of all. If you hear about a puppy who fell down a well, holler at me. In my normal life, I'm a small business owner (and I do mean "small"), so most days, I’m busier than a moth in a mitten. When I can find the time, I like prove I still know my way around a kitchen (you'll get your money's worth out of that gym membership, I promise you that), a sewing machine (my niece and nephew always have the best Halloween costumes, their momma and I make sure of it, and if your suits don’t fit right, they will after I'm done with 'em), and my flower garden (I still want you to bring me flowers, you can never have too many flowers). When I can make the time, usually about once a month, I like to slip away to any place with a floor where they'll let me shake my booty to whatever music they play, ideally "the same stuff they play on the radio, but louder". I couldn't care less about most sports, but the Orange and Blue has a special place in my heart, so you should know better than to try to schedule anything on a game day. I have a personal relationship with God, but that's between me and Him. And yes, they're real. Looking For: Men. Please take note of the fact that I did not write “Males”, "Guys", "Boys", or "Bros"; I wrote "Men". I'm hopelessly citified myself, but the cowboys can skip to the front of the line. You don't have to be a prince if you have a prince's manners, and you don’t need to be tall, but you do need to have a tall man’s confidence, because I am NOT leaving my heels at home just because they make YOU feel small. My daddy wears Old Spice, hint. Partner Goals: Rings on our fingers, kids in our back seat, and matching trees in the marble orchard. Fun Prompts My Favorite Thing About The Place I Live Is... The best beaches in the world. Vibora Bay has the warmest, clearest water washing over the most gorgeous glittering white sands you’ll ever see. I soak up the sun and the surf every chance I get, and I wouldn't mind some company while I do. Most People Who Know Me Would Say I'm... "Sweet as cherry pie, wouldn't hurt a fly." They're exaggerating, but only slightly. I know a lot of people in "our line of work" enjoy a good scuffle, but I'm not one of those people. And if you're the type of man who tries to make himself feel big by making other people feel small, then you and I will NOT have a good time, but we WILL have words. My Favorite Childhood Memory Is... My parents taking my little brother and me to Disney World for the first time on our 7th birthday. I got to meet the “real” Cinderella while I was wearing my own Cinderella dress. I was happier than a woodpecker in a lumberyard. I lived in Paris for a year, in my early twenties no less, and even THAT wasn’t as exciting as that 7th birthday. Five Things I Am Not... Cruel, Callous, Cowardly, Crude...or On Time. Private Letter to ErosUnlimited
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OK, removed Torpedo Lass from the Vibora PC list.
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A maxed-out version: Character: Persephone Power Level: 15 (Built as PL10) Tradeoffs: None (At PL10: -2 Attack / +2 Damage, -2 Defense / +2 Toughness) Power Points: 250/250 Unspent Points: 0 ABILITIES 54PP Strength: 10 (+0) Dexterity: 18 (+4) Constitution: 30/18 (+10/+4) Intelligence: 20 (+5) Wisdom: 24 (+7) Charisma: 24 (+7) COMBAT 14PP Initiative: +8 (+4 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative) Attack: +4, +8 Plant Control Grapple: +4 (+4 Melee Attack, +0 Str), +20 Plant Control (+8 Attack, +12 Move Object) Defense: +8/+4 (+7/+3 Base, +1 Dodge Focus), +4/+2 Flat-Footed Knockback Resistance: 11/2, 6/2 once Unreliable Impervious is depleted SAVING THROWS 3PP Toughness: +12/+4 (+10/+4 Con, +2 Protection; Impervious 10 [Unreliable, 5 uses]) Fortitude: +10/+4 (+10/+4 Con, +0PP) Reflex: +8/+4 (+4 Dex, +4 Enhanced Reflex, +0PP) Will: +10 (+7 Wis, +3PP) SKILLS 148R = 37PP Acrobatics 6 (+10) Bluff 15 (+22)Distract, Skill Mastery, Taunt Concentration 5 (+12) Craft (Artistic) 10 (+15) Diplomacy 15 (+22)Connected, Fascinate, Skill Mastery Gather Information 15 (+22)Contacts Knowledge (Behavioral Sciences) 15 (+20) Knowledge (Current Events) 3 (+8) Knowledge (Life Sciences) 15 (+20) Knowledge (Popular Culture) 3 (+8) Languages 2 (English [Native], French, Spanish) Medicine 3 (+10) Perform (Dance) 8 (+15) Perform (Oratory) 8 (+15) Sense Motive 15 (+22)Skill Mastery Swim 10 (+10) FEATS 16PP Benefit 2 (Status [Vibora Bay City Defender], Wealth) Connected Contacts Distract (Bluff) Dodge Focus Fascinate (Diplomacy) Improved Initiative Interpose Leadership Luck 3 Quick Change Skill Mastery (Bluff, Diplomacy, Perform [Oratory], Sense Motive) Taunt POWERS 141PP Enhanced Constitution 12 [12PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body) Enhanced Defense 4 [8PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control, Psychic) Enhanced Reflex 4 [4PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control, Psychic) Environment Control 4 (Hamper Movement [1/4]; Area: 50ft radius; Extras: Selective; Flaws: Range [Touch]) [8PP] Environment Control 3 (Light [Level 1]; Area: 25ft radius; Extras: Action 2 [Free]; Flaws: Range [Touch]) [6PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Bioluminescence, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Flight 2 (25MPH, 250ft per Move Action; Extras: Affects Others; Flaws: Platform; Feats: Progression [Subjects] 1 [2 subjects]) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control, Psychic) Immunity 9 (Aging; Critical Hits; Disease; Own Powers; Poison; Starvation/Thirst; Suffocation) [9PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Photosynthesis, Plant Body) Impervious Toughness 10 (Extras: Force Field [Free Action, Sustained Duration]; Flaws: Unreliable [5 uses]) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Bark Armor, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Morph 1 (Broad Group [Humanoids]; Extras: Duration [Continuous]; Flaws: Action [Move], Limited [Plant-People]) [1PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Plant Control 24 (48PP Array; Feats: Alternate Power 6) [54PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Psychic) Base Power: [47PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants) Move Object 12 (Range: 10 120ft Increments, 1,200ft Max; Lifting Strength: 60, Heavy Load: 50 tons; Extras: Damaging; Feats: Accurate 2 [+4 Attack], Improved Critical 2 [18-20], Improved Disarm, Improved Pin, Indirect 3, Subtle, Variable Descriptor [Animating plants, either to move themselves, or to grasp and move non-plant targets]) [47PP] Alternate Power: [48PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Plant Growth) Create Object 12 (Range: 1,200ft; Volume: 12 cubes; Toughness: 12; Lifting Strength: 60, Heavy Load: 50 tons; Extras: Duration [Continuous], Movable; Flaws: Feedback; Feats: Indirect 3, Progression [Size] 6 [500ft cubes], Selective, Stationary, Subtle) [48PP] Alternate Power: [46PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Flowers, Psychoactive Pollen) Emotion Control 12 (Extras: Contagious, Secondary Effect; Flaws: Range [Ranged, 10 120ft Increments, 1,200ft Max]; Feats: Accurate 2 [+4 Attack], Improved Critical 2 [18-20], Indirect 3, Mind Blank, Reversible, Subtle) [46PP] Alternate Power: [46PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Flowers, Sedative Latex) Fatigue 12 (Extras: Range [Ranged, 10 120ft Increments, 1,200ft Max], Secondary Effect; Flaws: Action [Full]; Feats: Accurate 2 [+4 Attack], Improved Critical 2 [18-20], Indirect 3, Reversible, Sedation, Subtle) [46PP] Alternate Power: [48PP] (Additional Descriptors: Medicinal Plants, Plant Body) Healing 12 (Extras: Action [Standard], Restoration, Total; Flaws: Limited [Others]) [48PP] Alternate Power: [33 + 13 = 46PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Grasping Branches/Roots/Vines) Snare 12 (Range: 10 120ft Increments, 1,200ft Max; Extras: Contagious, Linked [Trip]; Flaws: Feedback; Feats: Accurate 2 [+4 Attack], Improved Critical 2 [18-20], Indirect 3, Reversible, Subtle) [33PP] Trip 12 (Range: 10 120ft Increments, 1,200ft Max; Extras: Linked [Snare]; Feats: Improved Throw) [13PP] Alternate Power: [48PP] (Additional Descriptors: Shape Plants) Transform 12 (Plants; Extras: Duration [Continuous, Lasting]; Flaws: Action [Full], Range [Touch]; Feats: Accurate 2 [+4 Attack], Extended Reach [10ft], Indirect, Progression [Mass] 7 [500 tons], Subtle) [48PP] Plant Telepathy 2 (4PP Array; Feats: Alternate Power) [5PP] Base Power: [4PP] Comprehend 2 (Plants 2 [Speak To; Understand]) [4PP] Alternate Power: [4PP] Super-Senses 4 (Postcognition; Extras: Simultaneous; Flaws: Medium [Plants]) [4PP] Protection 2 [2PP] Regeneration 9 (Recovery Rate: Bruised 3 [No rest], Injured 6 [No rest]) [9PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body) Regeneration 4 (Recovery Rate: Staggered 1 [20 minutes], Disabled 2 [1 hour], Resurrection 1 [1 week]; Flaws: Source [Sunlight]; Feats: Regrowth) [3PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Cutting, Plant Body) Super-Movement 4 (Permeate 3 [Full Speed]; Trackless; Flaws: Limited [Plants]) [4PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control, Psychic) Super-Senses 6 (Plant Awareness; Descriptor Frequency: Common; Sense Type: Mental, Default Extras: None; Extras: Acute, Extended [100ft Notice Increments], Radius, Ranged) [6PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Control, Psychic) DRAWBACKS -15PP Vulnerability (Cold effects; Frequency: Common; Intensity: Moderate [+50% Effect Rank]) [-3PP] Vulnerability (Dehydration effects; Frequency: Uncommon; Intensity: Minor [+50% Effect Rank]) [-2PP] Vulnerability (Fire/Heat effects; Frequency: Common; Intensity: Moderate [+50% Effect Rank]) [-3PP] Weakness (Defoliants/Herbicides; Frequency: Uncommon; Intensity: Moderate [-1 Con]; Time: 2/round) [-7PP] Abilities (54) + Combat (14) + Saving Throws (3) + Skills (37) + Feats (16) + Powers (141) - Drawbacks (15) = 250/250 Power Points
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pl 10 Persephone (PL10) - Grumblefloof (Platinum)
Amelia replied to Amelia's topic in Archived Characters
Works for me! I knew that dropping an object on someone was a General Area attack, but I'd assumed that trapping would require an attack roll. But the book doesn't say it does, and that saves me some rolls and some points, so I'm on board. Edited. EDIT: Also saw that I had the effective Strength wrong for Stationary Created Objects. They resist with a Strength bonus equal to the power rank, not the power rank x5 lifting Strength they use to support weight. Fixed that. -
pl 10 Persephone (PL10) - Grumblefloof (Platinum)
Amelia replied to Amelia's topic in Archived Characters
*edits* Like that? -
In Brief: Moonstone meets Poison Ivy, with a dash of Venom, and side helpings of Elle Woods and Blanche Devereaux. Character: Persephone Power Level: 12 (Built as PL10) Tradeoffs: None Power Points: 186/189PP Unspent Points: 3 Alternate Identity: Camellia Blume, M.D. Identity: Secret Legal Status: USA citizen with no criminal record Birthplace: Vibora Bay, Florida Base of Operations: Vibora Bay, Florida Residence: A rented house in Atwater Occupation: Psychiatrist (self-employed, private practice) Affiliations: University of Florida (alumnus), Delta Delta Delta (alumnus), Florida Board of Medicine (licensed physician), American Medical Association (board-certified psychiatrist) Family: Younger fraternal twin brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew, parents, several aunts, uncles, and grandparents DESCRIPTION Age: 30 (Date of Birth: 1989) Apparent Age: 30 Gender: Female Ethnicity: Anglo-Germanic Caucasian American Height: 5’10” Weight: 140 lbs. Hair: Human Form: Platinum-Blonde, Plant Form: Purple Eyes: Human Form: Blue, Plant Form: Purple A friend once described her as “Grace Kelly’s head on Kate Upton’s body”. She has brilliant blue eyes set into a heart-shaped face, framed with a mane of shiny and thick platinum blonde hair which falls down to the top of her thighs. She has the kind of hourglass figure that usually requires aggressive corsetry, and most of her substantial height is in her long legs. Her voice is heavy, breathy, and deeper than most people expect, with a slight Southern drawl. She carries herself with the calm, quiet confidence of someone who’s accustomed to being welcome everywhere she goes. She has a big smile, and it gets a lot of exercise. She has an extensive wardrobe; more than one person has joked that they’ve never seen her wear anything twice. She has personally altered most of her clothes, both to better fit and support her body, and to replace the buttons and clasps with magnets, which allows her to get in and out of them quickly (a trick live stage productions use to cope with frequent costume changes). Her personal style, heavily influenced by the local climate, consists mainly of above-the-knee sundresses in bright colors and floral prints, paired with some kind of ornate sandals, more often than not with 4-5 inch heels that make her tower over most of the people around her. During the couple of months a year where the weather in Vibora Bay dips below 70F, she’ll switch to sweater dresses with higher necklines, swap out the sandals for closed-toes or boots, and add some heavy tights for extra warmth. In more casual settings, she sometimes trades the dresses for crop tops paired with denim short-shorts or short skirts, and on the beach, where she goes every chance she gets, she rocks the bikini. She loves jewelry; pearls are her favorite, and she owns pieces in every color of the rainbow. Outside, she’s rarely seen without both oversized sunglasses, some kind of a large, floppy-brimmed straw or silk hat with a bow or flower on the ribbon, varieties of which she also owns in every color. In professional settings, she wears decorative glasses with clear lenses, mainly in the hope that she’ll be taken more seriously once the “smart people have poor eyesight” stereotype cancels out the “dumb blonde” trope, but also because it gives her another accessory to play with. When she uses her powers, her skin turns green, and her eyes and hair both turn purple. Her hair grows even longer, almost touching the ground, and it takes on a life of its own. The coloration shifts to different shades depending on her mood, and the hair moves of its own accord, suddenly when in response to her emotional state, but otherwise gently floating and swaying as though she were underwater. Her ability to shape plant matter with her thoughts also extends to her own body. She can make plant appendages like vines, thorns, leaves, and roots sprout from her skin, with whatever pigmentation or texture she desires. Her costume is made from such appendages, consisting of thousands of overlapping leaves growing out of her skin, and falling away when she switches back to a human appearance. There's usually a flower in her hair, but that's because it's growing out of her head. She can also release luciferns and their catalyzing enzymes into parts of her body, causing them to glow. She does this most often with her hair and eyes. HISTORY Carmellia Blume’s parents met while they were both students at the University of Florida’s Vibora Bay campus. Her mother was a cheerleader and her father played football. They both stuck around long enough to earn Master’s degrees, hers in interior design and his in engineering. After graduation, she started her own firm, while he went to work for Vibora Petroleum, where he quickly ascended to upper management. By gradually invested in dozens of rental properties and restaurant franchises, in Vibora Bay and throughout North Florida, her parents did their part to maintain their family's wealth for another generation. Her father has been a member of the elite Mahogany Club since before she was born. Carmellia beat her “little” twin brother into the world by a few minutes. She grew up in a Cluet Farms mansion, immersed in luxury and privilege. Her teens and early twenties were a hurricane of private schools, cheerleading practices, cotillions, debutante balls, modeling jobs, and beauty pageants, just like her mother before her. She was the queen of her high school, but she was a benevolent queen, who never tolerated bullying. She attended the University of Florida, a legacy admission, like her parents before her. She joined the Tri-Delta sorority, like her mother before her. She even spent a year studying abroad in Paris, like her mother had at her age. But ultimately, she decided that, while dancing and modeling were fun, they weren't fulfilling. She wanted to spend her life helping people in a more direct manner. So after four years of college, she applied to UFVB's prestigious medical school. It was the first time in her life when she made a real decision, instead of just following in her parents footsteps. The modeling money and pageant prizes she’d saved up took a big bite out of the tuition, so she didn’t have to dip too far into her trust fund. After four years of medical school, she chose psychiatry as her specialty, combining her academic prowess and her social skills to make the world a better place, one person at a time. After another four years, she completed her residency and obtained her medical license. She rented an apartment in Far Weston (separate from the rented Atwater house she lived in), and started her own practice out of it, living off of her trust fund until she accumulated enough patients to make her practice self-sustaining. Camellia kept a garden at home, and her office space was filled with flowers. This caused one of her first patients visible distress. But he wasn't floraphobic. Instead, he seemed to be suffering from auditory hallucinations, or some other delusion. He claimed that one of his wife’s plants was talking to him. No one else seemed to be able to hear the voice, but it was growing louder and more insistent, while not making any sense, and he was convinced it was coming from the purple orchid his wife had brought home a few weeks prior. After a few weeks of talk sessions and a prescription for anti-anxiety medication failed to yield any results, he brought the orchid in question to his session, and refused to bring it back home with him. She didn’t think it would help his recovery to force the issue, so she let him leave without it, intending to return it to him later. The orchid was sitting on the front seat of her car during her commute home. That commute was interrupted when she drove by what appeared to be a mugging or assault taking place in an alley just off the street. She pulled off into the alley, flashed her lights, honked her horn, and shouted that she was calling the police, hoping to scare away the attackers. But the attackers were New Shadows gang members, vampires, and they weren’t mugging their victim, they were feeding on him. They used their superhuman strength to flip her car over, trapping her in the alley. But as they started to drag her out of the wrecked car, she heard a woman's voice inside her mind, and it seemed like time froze. The voice offered Camellia power, the power she would need to survive this ordeal and many like it. But she could only give Camellia that power if they were “bonded”. Camellia decided that, whatever that meant, it was better than letting herself or that poor man be killed, so she agreed. Time started passing again, and the orchid started moving under its own power, shattering its pot and pressing itself against Camellia. The flower somehow phased through her flesh and bone, sinking into her chest. She felt its roots expand throughout her body. It occurred to her that this should have been painful or terrifying or disgusting, but instead it was invigorating. Leaves and bark sprouted from her flesh, covering every inch of her skin. The vampires were shocked when they reached for a human but pulled out a humanoid plant-monster. Their shock gave her all the time she needed. Acting on instinct, she summoned plants to her aid, and they responded. Roots from a nearby tree stretched and snaked through the dirt before bursting bursting up out of the ground, breaking through the concrete like it was glass. The roots hardened into spears and impaled the vampires, who all crumbled into ash. As soon as the danger had passed, the leafy armor dried up and crumbled off of Camellia’s skin. She used her cell phone to call an ambulance for the bleeding man and a tow truck for her totaled car, and she tended to his wounds as best she could while they waited. She told the police that she’d turned too fast into the alley and flipped over, which must have scared away “the muggers”. The wounded man didn’t contradict her. Camellia spent the weeks after the incident telepathically communing with her new symbiote, learning what little the symbiote knew of her own history, and growing accustomed to her new abilities and the changes the symbiote was making to her body. The symbiote had been part of a race of semi-sentient plants engineered and grown as biological weapons by the humans of another Earth in an alternate dimension. That dimension fell to Omega, and this symbiote happened to be on a part of that Earth which wound up floating in the Terminus instead of being annihilated. When a rift opened up near the symbiote during the most recent Terminus incursion into her dimension, she pulled up her roots and let herself fall through. The symbiote offered to separate from Camellia if she so desired, but Camellia refused when she learned that separation would require intensive surgery which could kill both of them. Instead, Camellia decided to cope with whatever changes might come, and put her new abilities to good use, making the world a better place like she’d always wanted to. PERSONALITY & MOTIVATION Camellia's behavior comes from a combination of a naturally big heart and being raised in a semi-aristocratic subculture in which tradition was revered and courtesy was paramount. She strives to always be polite, modest, generous, and forgiving. She hates to see people suffer, even when they deserve it. She’s sensitive to the moods of the people around her, and it’s important to her to make those people as comfortable as possible. Her guiding principle in daily life is “Make everybody feel welcome, and never make anybody feel second-rate.” She greets everyone with a warm smile and an opening for as much small talk as they'd like, and she almost never swears or insults people. When someone else commits a faux pas, she’s far more likely to ignore it or attempt to cover for it than she is to draw attention to it or mock them. She values integrity, both in herself and in others, so she won’t lie to protect people’s feelings, but she will distract, deflect, and omit. Every child gets told at some point “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”, but unlike most children, she took that sentiment to heart, leaving the hard truths for one-on-one sessions behind closed doors. She detests bullying of any kind, and she won't hesitate to step in and put herself between the bully and their victim. She loves social interaction and embraces every opportunity for it. Everyone has a story, and she wants to hear them all. She make a point of maintaining correspondence with all of her family, former school friends, sorority sisters, and coworkers. Once you're part of her world, you don't leave. She remembers every birthday, and she sends hand-written “Thank You” notes for everything. She likes attention, which is fortunate, because she’d get plenty of it whether she liked it or not. She doesn’t demand the spotlight, but she’s very comfortable under it. She’s a hopeless romantic who falls hard and fast both in and out of love. She doesn’t expect or demand old school chivalry, but she’s a total sucker for it. POWERS & TACTICS The symbiotic alien plant which fused with her has transformed her body on the molecular level into an ambulatory plant. Her flesh, blood, and bone has mostly been replaced with cellulose, sap, and wood, and what remains has little value beyond the cosmetic. Her plant tissues are more durable and resilient than her old flesh. Her body engages in photosynthesis, so she doesn’t need to breathe or eat food, though she still does, both for the pleasurable sensation and because she can derive nutrients from it; it’s the equivalent of spreading fertilizer over crops. She can also extend roots from her body down into soil to obtain water and nutrients, but eating and drinking feels more familiar. The diseases and poisons of animals no longer affect her, although certain chemical fertilizers have effects on her similar to those of caffeine or alcohol when she discreetly adds them to her coffee and cocktails (making those drinks toxic for anyone else in the process). Like an old tree, her aging process has stalled to the point of being imperceptible. With an infusion of sunlight, her body is able to mend most wounds instantly, and even grievous injuries will heal in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks. However, as a plant, she is more vulnerable to dehydration and extremes of temperature, her tissues are more flammable, and defoliants and herbicides which would be harmless to a human will kill her in a matter of minutes. Through the symbiote, she can psychically detect, communicate with, animate, control, and alter plants. She can make them move and act on her behalf, and she can transform them extensively, shaping them like clay, greatly increasing or decreasing their size, strength, and resilience, and making them sprout flowers which then burst open with psychoactive pollen or latex. She doesn't strictly need to take any physical action to alter or control plants, but she uses physical gestures to help herself focus. In battle, she looks like she's dancing or conducting an orchestra. The transformations she uses most often reverse themselves as soon as she stops exerting the mental effort to maintain them; permanent changes require greater effort (power stunts for Continuous/Lasting or Independent versions of her powers). Nearby plants even respond to her unconscious desires and survival instinct, moving out of her way, or moving and stretching to protect her, blocking or swatting aside incoming attacks. Her ability to shape plant matter with her thoughts also extends to her own body. She can make plant appendages like vines, thorns, leaves, and roots sprout from her skin, with whatever pigmentation or texture she desires. In battle, she often grows an extra layer of thick bark over her skin, harder than rock. She can release luciferns and their catalyzing enzymes into parts of her body, causing them to glow. In a battle, engaging directly with supervillains is her last resort. Her first priorities are healing the wounded, and using her Create Object and Move Object powers to protect bystanders and even other heroes, either by shielding them or by moving them to a safe place. Even when she does fight directly, she attempts to restrain or incapacitate while doing as little harm as possible. Technically, she can create vines to whip or strangle, or thorns to cut and stab, either from her own body directly or by altering other plants, but she’s so loathe to do so that she leaves that to occasional power stunts, instead of buying any Damage-based alternate powers for her Plant Control array. COMPLICATIONS Accidents: Her powers are potentially destructive, especially when used indoors. Tree roots might burst up through floors or streets, while tree branches and stretched bushes come crashing through windows and walls. The GM can give her a Hero Point if the use of her powers causes a setback. Perhaps she triggers an effect like Environment Control which hinders her in the rest of the fight. Or maybe she endangers bystanders, and she must try to rescue them while the villain is still attacking. Alternately, the GM can give other PCs a Hero Point in exchange for making her attack powers affect her allies as well as the villains. For example, if she were to use her Fatigue power to spray a villain with a plant-derived sedative, and another hero then used a melee attack against that villain, the GM could declare retroactively that the Fatigue effect had acquired the Contagious extra, and some of the sedative was transferred from the villain to the melee-attacking hero, who now has to save against the Fatigue effect as well. Honor: She will always choose to help bystanders, even if it means letting the villain get away. She always uses the minimum force required to incapacitate a villain, and she will accept any surrender immediately. Even though she’s good at sniffing out lies, cunning villains can manipulate her by telling her what she wants to hear. The GM can give her a Hero Point if this causes some sort of setback, such as a penalty on a Sense Motive check or a free surprise attack against her. Hopeless Romantic: Friends and family have joked over the years that she "falls in love with every man she meets". The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for giving her a circumstance penalty on opposed interaction skill checks like Bluff or Diplomacy, or saving throws against effects like Emotion Control (Love), if her opponent is a man with a high Charisma score, interaction skill bonus, and/or the Attractive feat, or if the player and GM agree that he’s “her type”. The GM can also give her a Hero Point if she suffers a setback on account of being distracted by attraction, such as being surprise attacked. Finally, the GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for forcing her to make a saving throw or skill check to avoid being Dazed or Fascinated, as if the attractive character had and used those feats, even if he did not. Medium (Plant Control): The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for arbitrarily deciding that there are no plants close enough for her to use her Plant Control array. At the GM’s discretion, this could 1) deprive her of the power entirely, 2) make it operate at a reduced power rank, since she would have to harvest material for the plant structures from her own body, or 3) make it acquire the Tiring or Side-Effect flaw, for the same reason. Normal Identity: If a villain were to restrain her or otherwise render her helpless, then they could surgically (or violently) remove the symbiote plant from inside her chest. If this were to happen, then all the changes it has made to her body would gradually revert, and she would lose all her powers and become a normal human again. Both she and the symbiote would suffer from withdrawal, and either of them could die, especially the symbiote. If the GM ever caused such a horrendous thing to occur, then giving her a Hero Point would be the least they could do. Phobia (Fire): Fire is one of the few things which can cause her serious harm, and she has an instinctual fear of it. The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for forcing her to make a Will save against an Emotion Control (Fear) effect. The GM is free to assign the effect whatever power rank they choose, but it should take into account the size and intensity of the fire (the effective Damage rank) and her proximity to it. Power Loss (Immunity): There are some circumstances in which her Immunity to Suffocation would not apply, such as being caught in a vacuum, or being immersed in water too dark and deep for any sunlight to trigger her photosynthesis. Similarly, if deprived of both food (either animal food or nutritious soil) and sunlight, then she will begin suffering from starvation, despite her Immunity to it. The GM can give her a Hero Point if she is caught in such circumstances and begins suffocating or starving. The GM can also give her a Hero Point when a villain scores a critical hit or a Sneak Attack against her, and suppress her Immunity to Critical Hits, allowing the villain to keep their damage bonus. Responsibilities: She has a large, active social network of family, school friends, sorority sisters, and former coworkers. She’ll drop everything to come to their aid. The GM can give her a Hero Point if a request for that aid comes at the worst possible time. She also has standing appointments with paying clients at her psychiatry practice four days a week, with the potential for emergency calls during off hours. The GM can give her a Hero Point if her day job somehow interferes with her hero work. Secret (Identity): The GM can give her a Hero Point if a potential reveal of her identity causes her some sort of setback, or if a villain learns her identity and then creates a setback for her by going after her friends, family, and/or patients. Soft-Hearted: She doesn’t like to see anyone suffer, even villains. As good as she is at telling truth from lies, she’s still a sucker for a sob story. The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for a penalty on checks like Sense Motive to discern the truth behind a wounded-gazelle gambit. Where others may see “A hard man doing a hard job, willing to make the tough choices and do what’s necessary”, she sees only callousness and cruelty which she cannot abide. She’s as likely to come to blows with “grim dark avenger” vigilantes as she is with actual supervillains. The GM can give either her or another PC a Hero Point in exchange for forcing her either to not take a certain action which would harm another person, or else to take a certain action which would prevent harm to another person or end harm they were already enduring. For example, if a villain appeared to already be restrained, incapacitated, or severely weakened, and another PC were still attacking them, or interrogating them in a violent or threatening manner, then the GM could invoke this complication, force her to put a stop to it, and give either her or the other PC a Hero Point. ABILITIES 40PP Strength: 10 (+0) Dexterity: 14 (+2) Constitution: 30/18 (+10/+4) Intelligence: 14 (+2) Wisdom: 20 (+5) Charisma: 24 (+7) COMBAT 16PP Initiative: +2 Attack: +4 Base, +10 Plant Control Grapple: +4, +20 Plant Control Defense: +10/+4 Base, +5/+2 Flat-Footed Knockback Resistance: 10/2, 5/2 once Ablative Impervious is gone SAVING THROWS 7PP Toughness: +10/+4 (+10/+4 Con, Impervious 10 [Ablative]) Fortitude: +10/+4 (+10/+4 Con, +0PP) Reflex: +10/+4 (+2 Dex, +6 Enhanced Reflex, +2PP) Will: +10 (+5 Wis, +5PP) SKILLS 108R = 27PP Acrobatics 8 (+10) Bluff 11 (+18, +22 Attractive)Distract, Taunt Concentration 5 (+10) Craft (Artistic) 8 (+10) Diplomacy 11 (+18, +22 Attractive)Connected, Fascinate Gather Information 13 (+20)Contacts Knowledge (Behavioral Sciences) 13 (+15) Knowledge (Life Sciences) 8 (+10) Knowledge (Pop Culture) 2 (+4) Languages 1 (English [Native], French) Medicine 3 (+8) Perform (Dance) 3 (+10) Perform (Oratory) 3 (+10) Sense Motive 15 (+20) Swim 4 (+4) FEATS 12PP Attractive Benefit (Wealth) Connected Distract (Bluff) Fascinate (Diplomacy) Interpose Leadership Luck 3 Quick Change Taunt POWERS 96PP Enhanced Constitution 12 [12PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body) Enhanced Defense 6 [12PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control) Enhanced Reflex 6 [6PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control) Environment Control 1 (Light [Level 1], Area: 5ft radius, Extras: Action [Move], Flaws: Range [Touch]) [1PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Bioluminescence, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Flight 2 (25MPH, 250ft per Move Action, Extras: Affects Others, Flaws: Platform) [4PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control) Immunity 5 (Critical Hits, Own Powers, Suffocation) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Photosynthesis, Plant Body) Immunity 4 (Aging, Disease, Poison, Starvation/Thirst, Flaws: Limited [Aging Immunity is 1/2 effect; Immune to Diseases and Poisons which affect animals, but not those which affect plants; Immune to Starvation but not to Thirst]) [2PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Photosynthesis, Plant Body) Impervious Toughness 10 (Extras: Force Field [Free Action, Sustained Duration], Flaws: Ablative) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Bark Armor, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Morph 1 (Broad Group [Humanoids], Extras: Duration [Continuous], Flaws: Limited [Plant-People]) [2PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Plant Control 14 (28PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power 6) [34PP] (Descriptors: Alien) Base Power: [28PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants) Move Object 10 (Range: 10 100ft Increments, 1,000ft Max, Lifting Strength: 50 [Heavy Load: 12 tons], Feats: Accurate 3 [+6 Attack], Improved Pin, Indirect 3, Variable Descriptor [Animating plants to either move themselves or to grasp and move non-plant targets]) [28PP] Alternate Power: [28PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Plant Growth) Create Object 10 (Range: 10 100ft Increments, 1,000ft Max, Volume: 10 cubes, Toughness: 10, Lifting Strength: 50 [Heavy Load: 12 tons], Feats: Indirect 3, Progression [Size] 3 [50ft cubes], Selective, Stationary [Resists being moved with Strength 30]) [28PP] Alternate Power: [28PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Flowers, Psychoactive Pollen, Toxin) Emotion Control 10 (Extras: Secondary Effect, Flaws: Range [Ranged, 10 100ft Increments, 1,000ft Max], Feats: Accurate 3 [+6 Attack], Indirect 3, Mind Blank, Reversible) [28PP] Alternate Power: [28PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Flowers, Sedative Latex, Toxin) Fatigue 10 (Extras: Range [Ranged, 10 100ft Increments, 1,000ft Max], Secondary Effect, Flaws: Action [Full], Distracting, Feats: Accurate 3 [+6 Attack], Indirect 3, Reversible, Sedation) [28PP] Alternate Power: [28PP] Healing 9 (Extras: Action [Standard], Total, Flaws: Distracting, Feats: Variable Descriptor [Mending plants directly with florakinesis, or using medicinally enhanced plants to heal non-plant targets]) [28PP] Alternate Power: [27PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Grasping Branches/Vines) Snare 10 (Range: 10 100ft Increments, 1,000ft Max, Feats: Accurate 3 [+6 Attack], Indirect 3, Reversible) [27PP] Alternate Power: [28PP] (Additional Descriptors: Shape Plants) Transform 10 (Plants, Extras: Duration [Continuous, Lasting], Flaws: Action [Full], Distracting, Range [Touch], Feats: Accurate 3 [+6 Attack], Extended Reach [10ft], Indirect, Progression [Mass] 3 [5 tons]) [28PP] Plant Telepathy 2 (4PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Psychic) Base Power: [4PP] Comprehend 2 (Plants 2 [Speak To, Understand]) [4PP] Alternate Power: [2PP] Super-Senses 2 (Postcognition, Flaws: Medium [Plants]) [2PP] Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1 [1 week], Feats: Regrowth) [2PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body) Super-Movement 1 (Permeate 1 [1/4 Speed], Flaws: Limited [Plants]) [1PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control) Super-Senses 5 (Plant Awareness, Descriptor Frequency: Common, Sense Type: Mental [Default Extras: None], Extras: Acute, Radius, Ranged) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Control, Psychic) DRAWBACKS -12PP Vulnerability (Cold effects, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Minor [+1 DC]) [-2PP] Vulnerability (Dehydration effects, Frequency: Uncommon, Intensity: Minor [+1 DC]) [-1PP] Vulnerability (Fire/Heat effects, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Moderate [+50% Effect Rank]) [-3PP] Weakness (Defoliants/Herbicides, Frequency: Uncommon, Intensity: Moderate [-1 Con], Time: 1/round) [-6PP] ATTACK RANGE SAVING THROW EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC15 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Create Object Ranged DC20 Reflex Trapped Dropped Object Ranged/Area DC20 Reflex Avoided DC25 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Emotion Control Ranged DC20 Will (Staged) Calm: Removes all Emotion Control conditions Despair: Shaken/Helpless Fear: Shaken/Frightened/Panicked Hate: Attitude = Hostile Hope: Removes Despair and Fear Love: Attitude = Friendly/Helpful/Fanatical Fatigue Ranged DC20 Fortitude (Staged) Fatigued/Exhausted/Unconscious Healing Touch DC19 Fortitude (Harmless) Healing Move Object Ranged Grapple vs +20 Pinned/Bound Thrown Object Throwing (Str 50) DC25 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Snare Ranged DC20 Reflex (Staged) Entangled/Bound Transform Touch +5ft DC20 Fortitude Transformed Abilities (40) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (7) + Skills (27) + Feats (12) + Powers (96) - Drawbacks (12) = 186/189 Power Points
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In Brief: Moonstone meets Poison Ivy, with a dash of Venom, and side helpings of Elle Woods and Blanche Devereaux. Character: Persephone Power Level: 12 (Built as PL10) Tradeoffs: None Power Points: 180/180 Unspent Points: 0 Alternate Identity: Camellia Blume, M.D. Identity: Secret Legal Status: USA citizen with no criminal record Birthplace: Vibora Bay, Florida Base of Operations: Vibora Bay, Florida Residence: A rented house in Atwater Occupation: Psychiatrist (self-employed, private practice) Affiliations: University of Florida (alumnus), Delta Delta Delta (alumnus), Florida Board of Medicine (licensed physician), American Medical Association (board-certified psychiatrist) Family: Younger fraternal twin brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew, parents, several aunts, uncles, and grandparents DESCRIPTION Age: 30 (Date of Birth: 1989) Apparent Age: 30 Gender: Female Ethnicity: Anglo-Germanic Caucasian American Height: 5’10” Weight: 140 lbs. Hair: Human Form: Platinum-Blonde, Plant Form: Purple Eyes: Human Form: Blue, Plant Form: Purple A friend once described her as “Grace Kelly’s head on Kate Upton’s body”. She has brilliant blue eyes set into a heart-shaped face, framed with a mane of shiny and thick platinum blonde hair which falls down to the top of her thighs. She has the kind of hourglass figure that usually requires aggressive corsetry, and most of her substantial height is in her long legs. Her voice is heavy, breathy, and deeper than most people expect, with a slight Southern drawl. She carries herself with the calm, quiet confidence of someone who’s accustomed to being welcome everywhere she goes. She has a big smile, and it gets a lot of exercise. She has an extensive wardrobe; more than one person has joked that they’ve never seen her wear anything twice. She has personally altered most of her clothes, both to better fit and support her body, and to replace the buttons and clasps with magnets, which allows her to get in and out of them quickly (a trick live stage productions use to cope with frequent costume changes). Her personal style, heavily influenced by the local climate, consists mainly of above-the-knee sundresses in bright colors and floral prints, paired with some kind of ornate sandals, more often than not with 4-5 inch heels that make her tower over most of the people around her. During the couple of months a year where the weather in Vibora Bay dips below 70F, she’ll switch to sweater dresses with higher necklines, swap out the sandals for closed-toes or boots, and add some heavy tights for extra warmth. In more casual settings, she sometimes trades the dresses for crop tops paired with denim short-shorts or short skirts, and on the beach, where she goes every chance she gets, she rocks the bikini. She loves jewelry; pearls are her favorite, and she owns pieces in every color of the rainbow. Outside, she’s rarely seen without both oversized sunglasses, some kind of a large, floppy-brimmed straw or silk hat with a bow or flower on the ribbon, varieties of which she also owns in every color. In professional settings, she wears decorative glasses with clear lenses, mainly in the hope that she’ll be taken more seriously once the “smart people have poor eyesight” stereotype cancels out the “dumb blonde” trope, but also because it gives her another accessory to play with. When she uses her powers, her skin turns green, and her eyes and hair both turn purple. Her hair grows even longer, almost touching the ground, and it takes on a life of its own. The coloration shifts to different shades depending on her mood, and the hair moves of its own accord, suddenly when in response to her emotional state, but otherwise gently floating and swaying as though she were underwater. Her ability to shape plant matter with her thoughts also extends to her own body. She can make plant appendages like vines, thorns, leaves, and roots sprout from her skin, with whatever pigmentation or texture she desires. Her costume is made from such appendages, consisting of thousands of overlapping leaves growing out of her skin, and falling away when she switches back to a human appearance. There's usually a flower in her hair, but that's because it's growing out of her head. She can also release luciferns and their catalyzing enzymes into parts of her body, causing them to glow. She does this most often with her hair and eyes. HISTORY Carmellia Blume’s parents met while they were both students at the University of Florida’s Vibora Bay campus. Her mother was a cheerleader and her father played football. They both stuck around long enough to earn Master’s degrees, hers in interior design and his in engineering. After graduation, she started her own firm, while he went to work for Vibora Petroleum, where he quickly ascended to upper management. By gradually invested in dozens of rental properties and restaurant franchises, in Vibora Bay and throughout North Florida, her parents did their part to maintain their family's wealth for another generation. Her father has been a member of the elite Mahogany Club since before she was born. Carmellia beat her “little” twin brother into the world by a few minutes. She grew up in a Cluet Farms mansion, immersed in luxury and privilege. Her teens and early twenties were a hurricane of private schools, cheerleading practices, cotillions, debutante balls, modeling jobs, and beauty pageants, just like her mother before her. She was the queen of her high school, but she was a benevolent queen, who never tolerated bullying. She attended the University of Florida, a legacy admission, like her parents before her. She joined the Tri-Delta sorority, like her mother before her. She even spent a year studying abroad in Paris, like her mother had at her age. But ultimately, she decided that, while dancing and modeling were fun, they weren't fulfilling. She wanted to spend her life helping people in a more direct manner. So after four years of college, she applied to UFVB's prestigious medical school. It was the first time in her life when she made a real decision, instead of just following in her parents footsteps. The modeling money and pageant prizes she’d saved up took a big bite out of the tuition, so she didn’t have to dip too far into her trust fund. After four years of medical school, she chose psychiatry as her specialty, combining her academic prowess and her social skills to make the world a better place, one person at a time. After another four years, she completed her residency and obtained her medical license. She rented an apartment in Far Weston (separate from the rented Atwater house she lived in), and started her own practice out of it, living off of her trust fund until she accumulated enough patients to make her practice self-sustaining. Camellia kept a garden at home, and her office space was filled with flowers. This caused one of her first patients visible distress. But he wasn't floraphobic. Instead, he seemed to be suffering from auditory hallucinations, or some other delusion. He claimed that one of his wife’s plants was talking to him. No one else seemed to be able to hear the voice, but it was growing louder and more insistent, while not making any sense, and he was convinced it was coming from the purple orchid his wife had brought home a few weeks prior. After a few weeks of talk sessions and a prescription for anti-anxiety medication failed to yield any results, he brought the orchid in question to his session, and refused to bring it back home with him. She didn’t think it would help his recovery to force the issue, so she let him leave without it, intending to return it to him later. The orchid was sitting on the front seat of her car during her commute home. That commute was interrupted when she drove by what appeared to be a mugging or assault taking place in an alley just off the street. She pulled off into the alley, flashed her lights, honked her horn, and shouted that she was calling the police, hoping to scare away the attackers. But the attackers were New Shadows gang members, vampires, and they weren’t mugging their victim, they were feeding on him. They used their superhuman strength to flip her car over, trapping her in the alley. But as they started to drag her out of the wrecked car, she heard a woman's voice inside her mind, and it seemed like time froze. The voice offered Camellia power, the power she would need to survive this ordeal and many like it. But she could only give Camellia that power if they were “bonded”. Camellia decided that, whatever that meant, it was better than letting herself or that poor man be killed, so she agreed. Time started passing again, and the orchid started moving under its own power, shattering its pot and pressing itself against Camellia. The flower somehow phased through her flesh and bone, sinking into her chest. She felt its roots expand throughout her body. It occurred to her that this should have been painful or terrifying or disgusting, but instead it was invigorating. Leaves and bark sprouted from her flesh, covering every inch of her skin. The vampires were shocked when they reached for a human but pulled out a humanoid plant-monster. Their shock gave her all the time she needed. Acting on instinct, she summoned plants to her aid, and they responded. Roots from a nearby tree stretched and snaked through the dirt before bursting bursting up out of the ground, breaking through the concrete like it was glass. The roots hardened into spears and impaled the vampires, who all crumbled into ash. As soon as the danger had passed, the leafy armor dried up and crumbled off of Camellia’s skin. She used her cell phone to call an ambulance for the bleeding man and a tow truck for her totaled car, and she tended to his wounds as best she could while they waited. She told the police that she’d turned too fast into the alley and flipped over, which must have scared away “the muggers”. The wounded man didn’t contradict her. Camellia spent the weeks after the incident telepathically communing with her new symbiote, learning what little the symbiote knew of her own history, and growing accustomed to her new abilities and the changes the symbiote was making to her body. The symbiote had been part of a race of semi-sentient plants engineered and grown as biological weapons by the humans of another Earth in an alternate dimension. That dimension fell to Omega, and this symbiote happened to be on a part of that Earth which wound up floating in the Terminus instead of being annihilated. When a rift opened up near the symbiote during the most recent Terminus incursion into her dimension, she pulled up her roots and let herself fall through. The symbiote offered to separate from Camellia if she so desired, but Camellia refused when she learned that separation would require intensive surgery which could kill both of them. Instead, Camellia decided to cope with whatever changes might come, and put her new abilities to good use, making the world a better place like she’d always wanted to. PERSONALITY & MOTIVATION Camellia's behavior comes from a combination of a naturally big heart and being raised in a semi-aristocratic subculture in which tradition was revered and courtesy was paramount. She strives to always be polite, modest, generous, and forgiving. She hates to see people suffer, even when they deserve it. She’s sensitive to the moods of the people around her, and it’s important to her to make those people as comfortable as possible. Her guiding principle in daily life is “Make everybody feel welcome, and never make anybody feel second-rate.” She greets everyone with a warm smile and an opening for as much small talk as they'd like, and she almost never swears or insults people. When someone else commits a faux pas, she’s far more likely to ignore it or attempt to cover for it than she is to draw attention to it or mock them. She values integrity, both in herself and in others, so she won’t lie to protect people’s feelings, but she will distract, deflect, and omit. Every child gets told at some point “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”, but unlike most children, she took that sentiment to heart, leaving the hard truths for one-on-one sessions behind closed doors. She detests bullying of any kind, and she won't hesitate to step in and put herself between the bully and their victim. She loves social interaction and embraces every opportunity for it. Everyone has a story, and she wants to hear them all. She make a point of maintaining correspondence with all of her family, former school friends, sorority sisters, and coworkers. Once you're part of her world, you don't leave. She remembers every birthday, and she sends hand-written “Thank You” notes for everything. She likes attention, which is fortunate, because she’d get plenty of it whether she liked it or not. She doesn’t demand the spotlight, but she’s very comfortable under it. She’s a hopeless romantic who falls hard and fast both in and out of love. She doesn’t expect or demand old school chivalry, but she’s a total sucker for it. POWERS & TACTICS The symbiotic alien plant which fused with her has transformed her body on the molecular level into an ambulatory plant. Her flesh, blood, and bone has mostly been replaced with cellulose, sap, and wood, and what remains has little value beyond the cosmetic. Her plant tissues are more durable and resilient than her old flesh. Her body engages in photosynthesis, so she doesn’t need to breathe or eat food, though she still does, both for the pleasurable sensation and because she can derive nutrients from it; it’s the equivalent of spreading fertilizer over crops. She can also extend roots from her body down into soil to obtain water and nutrients, but eating and drinking feels more familiar. The diseases and poisons of animals no longer affect her, although certain chemical fertilizers have effects on her similar to those of caffeine or alcohol when she discreetly adds them to her coffee and cocktails (making those drinks toxic for anyone else in the process). Like an old tree, her aging process has stalled to the point of being imperceptible. With an infusion of sunlight, her body is able to mend most wounds instantly, and even grievous injuries will heal in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks. However, as a plant, she is more vulnerable to dehydration and extremes of temperature, her tissues are more flammable, and defoliants and herbicides which would be harmless to a human will kill her in a matter of minutes. Through the symbiote, she can psychically detect, communicate with, animate, control, and alter plants. She can make them move and act on her behalf, and she can transform them extensively, shaping them like clay, greatly increasing or decreasing their size, strength, and resilience, and making them sprout flowers which then burst open with psychoactive pollen or latex. She doesn't strictly need to take any physical action to alter or control plants, but she uses physical gestures to help herself focus. In battle, she looks like she's dancing or conducting an orchestra. The transformations she uses most often reverse themselves as soon as she stops exerting the mental effort to maintain them; permanent changes require greater effort (power stunts for Continuous/Lasting or Independent versions of her powers). Nearby plants even respond to her unconscious desires and survival instinct, moving out of her way, or moving and stretching to protect her, blocking or swatting aside incoming attacks. Her ability to shape plant matter with her thoughts also extends to her own body. She can make plant appendages like vines, thorns, leaves, and roots sprout from her skin, with whatever pigmentation or texture she desires. In battle, she often grows an extra layer of thick bark over her skin, harder than rock. She can release luciferns and their catalyzing enzymes into parts of her body, causing them to glow. In a battle, engaging directly with supervillains is her last resort. Her first priorities are healing the wounded, and using her Create Object and Move Object powers to protect bystanders and even other heroes, either by shielding them or by moving them to a safe place. Even when she does fight directly, she attempts to restrain or incapacitate while doing as little harm as possible. Technically, she can create vines to whip or strangle, or thorns to cut and stab, either from her own body directly or by altering other plants, but she’s so loathe to do so that she leaves that to occasional power stunts, instead of buying any Damage-based alternate powers for her Plant Control array. COMPLICATIONS Accidents: Her powers are potentially destructive, especially when used indoors. Tree roots might burst up through floors or streets, while tree branches and stretched bushes come crashing through windows and walls. The GM can give her a Hero Point if the use of her powers causes a setback. Perhaps she triggers an effect like Environment Control which hinders her in the rest of the fight. Or maybe she endangers bystanders, and she must try to rescue them while the villain is still attacking. Alternately, the GM can give other PCs a Hero Point in exchange for making her attack powers affect her allies as well as the villains. For example, if she were to use her Fatigue power to spray a villain with a plant-derived sedative, and another hero then used a melee attack against that villain, the GM could declare retroactively that the Fatigue effect had acquired the Contagious extra, and some of the sedative was transferred from the villain to the melee-attacking hero, who now has to save against the Fatigue effect as well. Honor: She will always choose to help bystanders, even if it means letting the villain get away. She always uses the minimum force required to incapacitate a villain, and she will accept any surrender immediately. Even though she’s good at sniffing out lies, cunning villains can manipulate her by telling her what she wants to hear. The GM can give her a Hero Point if this causes some sort of setback, such as a penalty on a Sense Motive check or a free surprise attack against her. Hopeless Romantic: Friends and family have joked over the years that she "falls in love with every man she meets". The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for giving her a circumstance penalty on opposed interaction skill checks like Bluff or Diplomacy, or saving throws against effects like Emotion Control (Love), if her opponent is a man with a high Charisma score, interaction skill bonus, and/or the Attractive feat, or if the player and GM agree that he’s “her type”. The GM can also give her a Hero Point if she suffers a setback on account of being distracted by attraction, such as being surprise attacked. Finally, the GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for forcing her to make a saving throw or skill check to avoid being Dazed or Fascinated, as if the attractive character had and used those feats, even if he did not. Medium (Plant Control): The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for arbitrarily deciding that there are no plants close enough for her to use her Plant Control array. At the GM’s discretion, this could 1) deprive her of the power entirely, 2) make it operate at a reduced power rank, since she would have to harvest material for the plant structures from her own body, or 3) make it acquire the Tiring or Side-Effect flaw, for the same reason. Normal Identity: If a villain were to restrain her or otherwise render her helpless, then they could surgically (or violently) remove the symbiote plant from inside her chest. If this were to happen, then all the changes it has made to her body would gradually revert, and she would lose all her powers and become a normal human again. Both she and the symbiote would suffer from withdrawal, and either of them could die, especially the symbiote. If the GM ever caused such a horrendous thing to occur, then giving her a Hero Point would be the least they could do. Phobia (Fire): Fire is one of the few things which can cause her serious harm, and she has an instinctual fear of it. The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for forcing her to make a Will save against an Emotion Control (Fear) effect. The GM is free to assign the effect whatever power rank they choose, but it should take into account the size and intensity of the fire (the effective Damage rank) and her proximity to it. Power Loss (Immunity): There are some circumstances in which her Immunity to Suffocation would not apply, such as being caught in a vacuum, or being immersed in water too dark and deep for any sunlight to trigger her photosynthesis. Similarly, if deprived of both food (either animal food or nutritious soil) and sunlight, then she will begin suffering from starvation, despite her Immunity to it. The GM can give her a Hero Point if she is caught in such circumstances and begins suffocating or starving. The GM can also give her a Hero Point when a villain scores a critical hit or a Sneak Attack against her, and suppress her Immunity to Critical Hits, allowing the villain to keep their damage bonus. Responsibilities: She has a large, active social network of family, school friends, sorority sisters, and former coworkers. She’ll drop everything to come to their aid. The GM can give her a Hero Point if a request for that aid comes at the worst possible time. She also has standing appointments with paying clients at her psychiatry practice four days a week, with the potential for emergency calls during off hours. The GM can give her a Hero Point if her day job somehow interferes with her hero work. Secret (Identity): The GM can give her a Hero Point if a potential reveal of her identity causes her some sort of setback, or if a villain learns her identity and then creates a setback for her by going after her friends, family, and/or patients. Soft-Hearted: She doesn’t like to see anyone suffer, even villains. As good as she is at telling truth from lies, she’s still a sucker for a sob story. The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for a penalty on checks like Sense Motive to discern the truth behind a wounded-gazelle gambit. Where others may see “A hard man doing a hard job, willing to make the tough choices and do what’s necessary”, she sees only callousness and cruelty which she cannot abide. She’s as likely to come to blows with “grim dark avenger” vigilantes as she is with actual supervillains. The GM can give either her or another PC a Hero Point in exchange for forcing her either to not take a certain action which would harm another person, or else to take a certain action which would prevent harm to another person or end harm they were already enduring. For example, if a villain appeared to already be restrained, incapacitated, or severely weakened, and another PC were still attacking them, or interrogating them in a violent or threatening manner, then the GM could invoke this complication, force her to put a stop to it, and give either her or the other PC a Hero Point. ABILITIES 32PP Strength: 10 (+0) Dexterity: 14 (+2) Constitution: 30/18 (+10/+4) Intelligence: 14 (+2) Wisdom: 14 (+2) Charisma: 22 (+6) COMBAT 16PP Initiative: +2 Attack: +4 Base, +10 Plant Control Grapple: +4, +20 Plant Control Defense: +10/+4 Base, +5/+2 Flat-Footed Knockback Resistance: 10/2, 5/2 once Ablative Impervious is gone SAVING THROWS 10PP Toughness: +10/+4 (+10/+4 Con, Impervious 10 [Ablative]) Fortitude: +10/+4 (+10/+4 Con, +0PP) Reflex: +10/+4 (+2 Dex, +6 Enhanced Reflex, +2PP) Will: +10 (+2 Wis, +8PP) SKILLS 108R = 27PP Acrobatics 8 (+10) Bluff 11 (+17, +21 Attractive)Distract, Taunt Concentration 8 (+10) Craft (Artistic) 8 (+10) Diplomacy 11 (+17, +21 Attractive)Connected, Fascinate Gather Information 9 (+15)Contacts Knowledge (Behavioral Sciences) 13 (+15) Knowledge (Life Sciences) 8 (+10) Knowledge (Pop Culture) 2 (+4) Languages 1 (English [Native], French) Medicine 6 (+8) Perform (Dance) 4 (+10) Sense Motive 15 (+17) Swim 4 (+4) FEATS 13PP Attractive Benefit (Wealth) Connected Contacts Distract (Bluff) Fascinate (Diplomacy) Interpose Leadership Luck 3 Quick Change Taunt POWERS 94PP Enhanced Constitution 12 [12PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body) Enhanced Defense 6 [12PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control) Enhanced Reflex 6 [6PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control) Environment Control 1 (Light [Level 1], Extras: Action [Move], Flaws: Range [Touch]) [1PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Bioluminescence, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Flight 1 (10MPH, 100ft per Move Action, Extras: Affects Others, Flaws: Platform) [2PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control) Immunity 5 (Critical Hits, Own Powers, Suffocation) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Photosynthesis, Plant Body) Immunity 4 (Aging, Disease, Poison, Starvation/Thirst, Flaws: Limited [Aging Immunity is 1/2 effect; Immune to Diseases and Poisons which affect animals, but not those which affect plants; Immune to Starvation but not to Thirst]) [2PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Photosynthesis, Plant Body) Impervious Toughness 10 (Extras: Force Field [Free Action, Sustained Duration], Flaws: Ablative) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Bark Armor, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Morph 1 (Broad Group [Humanoids], Extras: Duration [Continuous], Flaws: Limited [Plant-People]) [2PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Plant Control 14 (28PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power 6) [34PP] (Descriptors: Alien) Base Power: [28PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants) Move Object 10 (Range: 10 100ft Increments, 1,000ft Max, Lifting Strength: 50 [Heavy Load: 12 tons], Feats: Accurate 3 [+6 Attack], Improved Pin, Indirect 3, Variable Descriptor [Animating plants to either move themselves or to grasp and move non-plant targets]) [28PP] Alternate Power: [28PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Plant Growth) Create Object 10 (Range: 10 100ft Increments, 1,000ft Max, Volume: 10 5ft cubes, Toughness: 10, Lifting Strength: 50 [Heavy Load: 12 tons], Feats: Accurate 3 [+6 Attack], Indirect 3, Selective, Stationary [Resists being moved with Strength 50]) [28PP] Alternate Power: [28PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Flowers, Psychoactive Pollen, Toxin) Emotion Control 10 (Extras: Secondary Effect, Flaws: Range [Ranged, 10 100ft Increments, 1,000ft Max], Feats: Accurate 3 [+6 Attack], Indirect 3, Mind Blank, Reversible) [28PP] Alternate Power: [28PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Flowers, Sedative Latex, Toxin) Fatigue 10 (Extras: Range [Ranged, 10 100ft Increments, 1,000ft Max], Secondary Effect, Flaws: Action [Full], Distracting, Feats: Accurate 3 [+6 Attack], Indirect 3, Reversible, Sedation) [28PP] Alternate Power: [28PP] Healing 9 (Extras: Action [Standard], Total, Flaws: Distracting, Feats: Variable Descriptor [Mending plants directly with florakinesis, or using medicinally enhanced plants to heal non-plant targets]) [28PP] Alternate Power: [27PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Grasping Branches/Vines) Snare 10 (Range: 10 100ft Increments, 1,000ft Max, Feats: Accurate 3 [+6 Attack], Indirect 3, Reversible) [27PP] Alternate Power: [28PP] (Additional Descriptors: Shape Plants) Transform 10 (Plants, Extras: Duration [Continuous, Lasting], Flaws: Action [Full], Distracting, Range [Touch], Feats: Accurate 3 [+6 Attack], Progression [Mass] 5 [25 tons]) [28PP] Plant Telepathy 2 (4PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power) [5PP] Base Power: [4PP] Comprehend 2 (Plants 2 [Speak To, Understand]) [4PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Psychic) Alternate Power: [2PP] Super-Senses 2 (Postcognition, Flaws: Medium [Plants]) [2PP] Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1 [1 week], Feats: Regrowth) [2PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body) Super-Movement 1 (Permeate 1 [1/4 Speed], Flaws: Limited [Plants]) [1PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control) Super-Senses 5 (Plant Awareness, Descriptor Frequency: Common, Sense Type: Mental [Default Extras: None], Extras: Acute, Radius, Ranged) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Control, Psychic) DRAWBACKS -12PP Vulnerability (Cold effects, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Minor [+1 DC]) [-2PP] Vulnerability (Dehydration effects, Frequency: Uncommon, Intensity: Minor [+1 DC]) [-1PP] Vulnerability (Fire/Heat effects, Frequency: Common, Intensity: Moderate [+50% Effect Rank]) [-3PP] Weakness (Defoliants/Herbicides, Frequency: Uncommon, Intensity: Moderate [-1 Con], Time: 1/round) [-6PP] ATTACK RANGE SAVING THROW EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC15 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Create Object Ranged DC20 Reflex Trapped Dropped Object Ranged/Area DC20 Reflex Avoided DC25 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Emotion Control Ranged DC20 Will (Staged) Calm: Removes all Emotion Control conditions Despair: Shaken/Helpless Fear: Shaken/Frightened/Panicked Hate: Attitude = Hostile Hope: Removes Despair and Fear Love: Attitude = Friendly/Helpful/Fanatical Fatigue Ranged DC20 Fortitude (Staged) Fatigued/Exhausted/Unconscious Healing Touch DC19 Fortitude (Harmless) Healing Move Object Ranged Grapple vs +20 Pinned/Bound Snare Ranged DC20 Reflex (Staged) Entangled/Bound Transform Touch DC20 Fortitude Transformed Abilities (32) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (10) + Skills (27) + Feats (13) + Powers (94) - Drawbacks (12) = 180/180 Power Points
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I updated the first post with a list of links and quick descriptions for the sheets I've seen so far.
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I'm working on a PL9 180PP plant controller who gets their powers from a bond with an alien symbiote.
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@Heritage Do I remember correctly that you're going to be basing your Autobot character in VB?
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Vibora Bay is getting imported from the Champions universe into our Freedomverse. Lots of people have lots of ideas for their Vibora-based PCs. Why don't you all write down your plan here, as much of it as you have, so we can avoid doubling up? EDIT: Here's the sheets I've seen so far. I'm replacing links to the Character Building forum with links to the Character Bank as characters get officially submitted. Vibora Bay Defenders: Cheval: PL12 Powerhouse. Colossus, but instead of being a mutant, he's being ridden by a loa. Boxer turned local celebrity. Vibora native. Age: 29. Persephone: PL10 Plant Controller / Social Expert. Empowered by an alien symbiote. Psychiatrist. Neo-Southern Belle. Vibora native. Age: 30. Speed-Demon: PL10 Fire Controller / Speedster. Also being ridden by a loa. Courier. New Orleans transplant. Age: 25. Independent Heroes: The Dragoneer & Niro Saki: PL10 dragon-themed flying firepower with a martial artist sidekick. World famous pro-wrestler, rock star, and action hero. Ages: 38 & 39. The Immutable Betsy Brooks: PL10 Powerhouse. Half-vampire. Monster hunter. Elsa Bloodstone meets Blade. British expatriate with dual-citizenship. Age: 35. El Sagrado Corazon: PL10 Mind Controller / Social Expert without the mind reading. If Jesse Custer were a Latino circuit boy. Mexican refugee. Age: 21. The Woodsman: PL10 Badass Normal. Swamp-Batman, with a crossbow and a utility belt full of animal urine. Interdimensional refugee. Freedom City transplant. Age: 20. Archived/Inactive: The Mirror: PL7 shapeshifting blob. Former cop turned private eye. Vibora native. Age: 52. Torque: PL10 Robot. Mechanic. If Rei Ayanami were an Autobot instead of a clone. Vibora native. Age: 25.
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Speaking as a player whose main PC is a construct: You're wrong. The house rules clarify our interpretation of the existing rules, but it's not just something we made up. That's the most common interpretation of the rules-as-written. If nonlethal damage that hit a construct wasn't automatically converted to lethal instead, then all constructs would effectively have Immunity to all nonlethal damage. That's a 40PP trait they'd be getting for free. Constructs already have the advantage of not suffering nonlethal damage conditions. Constructs don't get Bruised, or Staggered, and they don't fall Unconscious. So if they purchase Regeneration (see more on that below), that's half as many conditions they have to worry about recovering from. Constructs don't have to "buy up" any "stats". To be a construct, you only need to do two things: 1) Cash in your default 10 points of Constitution. 2) Purchase Immunity 30 (Fortitude effects), so that having no Constitution doesn't kill you. The net cost is 20PP. The Equipment chapter of the core book also recommends dropping two other ability scores to zero, so that it's a net zero change in cost, but that isn't required. Constructs can use Extra Effort. They suffer fatigue from it, just like living creatures. Constructs do not have a Constitution score, so they're not living creatures, so, by default, they do not recover from damage or fatigue over time. They must be repaired with a Craft skill instead. They can repair themselves if they're capable of taking actions. Otherwise (if they're too damaged or too tired), they need outside assistance. If they want to be an automatically self-repairing sort of construct, then they can purchase Regeneration ranks to acquire a recovery bonus. Since having 0 Con would normally put you at a -5 Con penalty, the first rank of Regeneration a construct buys gives them a -4 recovery "bonus", and since they now have a recovery bonus, they can now make checks to recover from damage and fatigue with rest as if they were a living creature. They can invest more points if they want a higher recovery bonus (it's common to purchase 14 ranks, since that would give them a +9 bonus, which is enough to make the DC10 recovery check automatically, even on a "1"). Constructs can also be healed with a Healing power effect which has the "Affects Objects" extra (see Ultimate Power for details), whether they have any Regeneration or not. This doesn't really work for getting rid of fatigue, since the "Energizing" extra on Healing transfers the fatigue to the character using the Healing power. Constructs, like living creatures, can also just spend Hero Points to get rid of fatigue.
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Fire: Basically out at this point, thanks to Dead Head. Grim Diddle: Standard Action: Attack Strix with Paralyze. Strix is flat-footed, since he's grappling, and he's at -4 Defense on top of that from All-Out Attacking and Charging, so his Defense is +0. Grim Diddle's Attack roll (DC10): 11. Just barely. Strix's Will save (DC19): 25. He saves. End of round. Initiative & Conditions Summary Woodchuck Man: 27, Pinned, Sickened Ethan Pfeffner, Fratboy #1: 20, Bruised, Injured, Shaken Fratboy #2: 20, Bruised, Injured, Staggered, Disabled, Unconscious, Dying, Dead, Shaken, Prone Fratboy #3: 20, Bruised x2, Injured x2, Staggered, Disabled, Unconscious, Dying, Shaken, Prone Fratboy #4: 20, Bruised x3, Injured x3, Staggered, Disabled, Unconscious, Dying, Dead, Shaken, Frightened, Prone Fratboy #5: 20, Shaken, Frightened, Panicked Fratboy #6: 20, Shaken, Frightened, Panicked [Other]: 19, Unharmed Mister Strix: 12, 0HP, Injured Dead Head: 11, 2HP, Fatigued Fire: Out Grim Diddle: 4, Unharmed Homeless Man: -, Helpless, Bruised, Injured Next round: Woodchuck Man: Move Action: He tries to Escape the grapple. Woodchuck Man's grapple check: 19. Strix's grapple check: 27. Woodchuck Man is still Pinned. Standard Action: He attacks Strix. Attack roll (DC10): 22. He hits. Strix's Toughness save (DC23): 21. He takes another Injury. Ethan Pfeffner: Move Actions to keep up with Dead Head. Fratboy #2: Still dead. Fratboy #3: Still dying. Fratboy#4: Still dead. Fratboy #5-6: More full actions to move all-out away. [Other]: At the start of their turn, Mister Strix regenerates the Injury they'd previously inflicted. Standard Action: Mind Reading against Strix. Mind Reading check: 9. Strix save against that even on a "1". Mister Strix: At the start of his turn, his Defense jumps back up (though he's still flat-footed against everyone except the person he's grappling), and he becomes Fatigued. Standard Action: He makes another Grapple check to strengthen his hold. Strix's grapple check: 29. Woodchuck Man's grapple check: 26. He's still Pinned, but he isn't Bound. Woodchuck Man would normally get a new save at +1 to end the effects of the Lasting Nauseate and Mind Reading, but Strix used another Standard Action, so he's just saving at the original DC, one save against both since they're Linked. Woodchuck Man's Will save: 7. Strix's Mind Reading check: 13. Woodchuck Man is Helpless from the Nauseate, and Strix's probe gets another question. Strix's Mind Probe Question: "Why did you assault the woman?" Initiative & Conditions Summary Woodchuck Man: 27, Pinned, Sickened, Nauseated, Helpless Ethan Pfeffner, Fratboy #1: 20, Bruised, Injured, Shaken, Intimidated Fratboy #2: 20, Bruised, Injured, Staggered, Disabled, Unconscious, Dying, Dead, Shaken, Prone Fratboy #3: 20, Bruised x2, Injured x2, Staggered, Disabled, Unconscious, Dying, Shaken, Prone Fratboy #4: 20, Bruised x3, Injured x3, Staggered, Disabled, Unconscious, Dying, Dead, Shaken, Frightened, Prone Fratboy #5: 20, Shaken, Frightened, Panicked Fratboy #6: 20, Shaken, Frightened, Panicked [Other]: 19, Unharmed Mister Strix: 12, 0HP, Injured, Fatigued, Grappling Dead Head: 11, 2HP, Fatigued Fire: Out Grim Diddle: 4, Unharmed Homeless Man: -, Helpless, Bruised, Injured Dead Head is up.
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Mister Strix The man in white was more startled by the memories he found in the Woodchuck Man's blood than he was by the Woodchuck Man's feeble attempts to disembowel him. That...doesn't make sense...More...deeper... He shifted his grip on the Woodchuck Man and sucked more of the blood trickling from the creature's neck, down Strix's chin and into the creature's already matted fur. Why did you assault that woman?
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GM Around the corner from Dead Head, the blue glowing man's moans grew loud enough to qualify as "screams". His eyes glowed brighter, like road flares in his skull. Mister Strix felt like hands had plunged into his skull and were squeezing his brain. But the glowing man's efforts did little but give Strix a headache. The Woodchuck Man twisted and squirmed in Strix's grasp, but he couldn't break the vampire's superhuman grip. He frantically failed at Strix with his enormous claws, carving several deep gouges in Strix's stomach. As usual, not a drop of blood came out of any of the wounds. Strix barely reacted to them, and while the white cloth of his shirt remained shredded, the flesh beneath started knitting itself back together almost immediately. The Woodchuck Man's flailing slowed down and grew more erratic, and his feet stumbled, as he gradually lost himself in the euphoric effect of Strix's bite. Strix felt another pair of hands, just as clumsy, trying to pry open his own mind. But the locks on those doors proved just as sturdy as those on Dead Head's thoughts. Though part of the fire still raged in the alley behind him, thanks to Dead Head's vigorous efforts, all of the burning flesh was now merely burnt flesh.
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