Avenger Assembled

Murdock mused that this made one gadgeteer (besides Miss Americana) who was almost certainly not interested in analyzing his staff and armor. "Showing the power of what you have built is not a promise of sold weapons; neither is a demonstration of the consequences of attempting to inflict violence on those under your care," he suggested. "Showing your power is showing your power, nothing more and nothing less. If you can strike a nerve with your enemies, you can chase them away, or induce them to expose themselves to your retaliation."

"Hmm," said Sharl, not minding the dismissal of his technical abilities for once at the prospect of going out with Koshiro sometime and getting some action. "Eve is rich so I don't think she'll have an interest in going anywhere secretly, and Corbin seems like the kind of guy who might tattle on us..." He ticked points off on his fingers. "On the other hand, Kimber seems like she'd like the adventure, and Indira's species likes exotic metals so we could use her for cleanup afterwards. I'd stay away from those other kids, the Irregulars, the headmaster is already keeping an eye on them."

Suddenly in the sky overhead, a grey-skinned face of metal and snakes appeared in a torrent of light: for a half a second, the heroes thought the Gorgon had arrived early. Instead, her image was simply projected overhead, hovering above the street at some minuscule fraction of her actual size. At the sight of Willow in Jack's arms, she gave a great cry of terrible grief so loud it rang across the West End. "Sister, in the name of those that made us, I beg you not to abandon your charge! In uncounted eons of time and unmapped vastness of space, I have met only one of us who still remembers our ancient and mighty cause." They'd spoken of sending Willow's child along as the Gorgon's herald, out there in the vastness of space, but that seemed not to be on her mind at all. "Sister-daughter. Do not abandon all that we have been. All that we can be. Together."

Murdock nodded, listening attentively to all that Dragonfly said. Cautiously, now that he was hired, he asked carefully, "What would you describe as minimum violence?" From all he'd seen of Wander, he doubted she'd countenance working as a pacifist, but on the other hand one could never be sure of what someone else might be willing to do for money. "What if a certain amount of violence was done publicly, so as better to impress criminals on the danger of robbing your facility? Could also function as an advertisement for the power of your wares."

With the others liberating any remaining prisoners, Freedom Angel went about flying the other prisoners: the ones who had actually sinned, off to jail so they could receive a fair and just earthly punishment for their transgressions. While he was disappointed they hadn't caught the one in the big armored suit, they'd driven him off peacefully and won the day, thus doing good even to the bad. He gave some sympathetic talks about mercy and justice to the goons who woke up on the way, most of them at least momentarily getting the wrong idea about waking up in the company of an angel after being punched, blasted, or sworded across the head. It had been a good morning's work. Even if it was going to be hard getting those doughnuts now.

I'm still not hearing why the Blasts are mighty. It's not as if you're describing it as him summoning sonic arrows or anything: he's firing regular sonic blasts that have no visible connection to how strong he is.

"I have..." Murdock hesitated, then changed the subject, evidently thinking better of it. "Thank you, Mara," he said. "I will endeavor to protect your facility and all within it from all threats, and obey all the rules you establish." He looked gratified and profoundly relieved all at once. "I will give my notice at Champions, and allow them to hire another busboy." He studied Mara and asked, "I have questions, if I may ask them." When she gave assent, he went on, "Will you be providing uniforms? Are there particular threats to your facility about which you are particularly concerned?"

"If I become more active than I am now as a hero, in my own face instead of the disguise I often wear, eventually I will probably overcome the terror on the faces of the innocent and they will come to accept me. I do not deserve the acceptance of others," replied Murdock. "Nor should I have it, lest they mistake my fate for what might befall other Omegadrones." He fell silent for a moment, then admitted, "My great fear has been that someone will take my example, or the example of those children we rescued on the Moon, and take that as an example that Omegadrones can be rehabilitated. That they should be not be destroyed. That they can be trusted." He fell silent again, then added, "I can never be like normal people. But I want to have some things that a normal man would have. A job. A home. A life."

Murdock listened with patient impassiveness as Mara explained why frightening people was a bad idea. He was glad when she changed the subject, not sure if he could have responded readily to what she'd said. "To better serve my fellow human beings," he replied, "as well as to work alongside the inventor of..." He described, somewhat awkwardly, some of Mara's public inventions. He had evidently done his research, even if he wasn't smooth enough to keep it from sounding rehearsed. "I want...I want to matter. I want the things I do in my life to have meaning and to be worthwhile. I have a limited set of skills. Guarding those who cannot defend themselves is one of them."

"Murdock." When she didn't offer to shake, Murdock didn't either: probably for the best, given how people seemed to react to the touch of his bare flesh as it hung on Terminus steel. "My born first-name is Stephen." He folded his hands in front of him, processing her words, and made a confession. "I have not been part of a group since my arrival on Earth-Prime. I am unused to considering the needs of others beyond their physical safety." He had the idea you were supposed to admit weaknesses during an interview, and even if not he was ultimately too honest to sugar-coat himself, eager for the the job though he was. He felt no shame over Mara not wanting it known to the world she had an Omegadrone in her employ; who would ever want that broadcast? "I will protect the reputation of your business as well as its personal and physical assets. Destroying the agents of Omega and ensuring no one wears the dark colors of the Terminus is, however, valuable for all in this dimension."

"My armor is cast to absorb multiple light drone attacks. They will not be able to impede me. Most will likely flee at my approach. Assuming all are in the air, I will shoot them down with a focused entropic beam. Destroying the fuel reservoir of a light drone will detonate the entropic infusion in the fuel, without breaching the armor itself. They will crash to the ground, helpless to escape. I will then find whichever one spoke the most during the initial battle and rip the armor from his flesh with my armored hands. I will then put my hand on his naked face," he went on, extending his hand, "and ask them if this is truly the fate they want for themselves. If I do so where all can witness the act, they will surrender. And remember. The Terminus is not a frightening mask for them to wear. It is their death." He cocked his head, studying the robot she was working on impassively, and waited for her reply.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Murdock stared up at the source of the dialogue, placing Dragonfly's voice from their trip to the Moon some months earlier. "Whether raid or invasion, evacuate the staff and any other civilians in the area at any cost," he said, his voice flat and metallic even without the speaker. "The Terminus has access to the technology of a near-infinite number of parallel dimensions. There is nothing here they cannot find elsewhere save particular human victims." His hands tightened into fists, then relaxed. "If not an invasion, most likely human criminals using Omegadrone disguise to strike fear. Convince them of their mistake."

With the heavy footfalls of a man much denser than he looked, Murdock strode into the room and sized up the mechanical security. "Formidable," he finally said aloud, staring unblinkingly into the drone's robotic eye with a flat gaze of his own. "But insufficiently armed." He resisted the temptation to destroy the robot as a demonstration of power; he knew that wasn't how job interviews worked and he badly wanted to get the job on his own merits, not because of the Terminus enhancements in his body. But still: Destroy the eyepiece and fire an entropic charge through the opening. Likely to disable. May destroy higher functions It was easier to think that way about robots than it would have been about people. Much easier. Leaving the robot alone, he turned and headed into the elevator.

Late October, 2011 Dragonfly's New Building Having walked from his Lincoln apartment, Murdock stared up at Dragonfly's headquarters, assessing the building that Wander had described to him. High technology. No surprise there. Little sign of activity beyond the menial workers outside. Hm. He walked through the construction castoffs without looking right or left, judging the scene carefully, before he found the front door. He stood in front of it for several minutes, staring flatly and blankly at the closed door, before he turned and hit the buzzer. No greeting. And no alarms. Hm. If someone who'd recognized him had been watching, they'd have come down; if they hadn't, surely they'd have done something about the grim-faced man at their door. When he'd held the buzzer down, he released it and resumed his stance at the door, waiting for Dragonfly or one of her lackeys, er, employees, to come down and let him in or open the door. I must make sure I get the terminology correct. In his Goodwill suit and tie, he bulked large, his scarred skin slightly misshapen where it hung on his massive body.

It could be worse; he's just dazed thanks to our house rules revisions. And thanks to the way staggered works, he only picked up the one bruise, because he got hit so hard he didn't get that badly hurt. Which makes sense, somehow. All right, we're back in normal initiative. Cosmicstar is as bruised as he ever was, but is no longer dazed or bound.

There was a lot to talk about after that; however, the headmaster's private office wasn't really the spot for a particularly intimate tete a tete. Though Summers had prepared the paperwork for Blake's 'return' ahead of time, he made sure the boy was aware of all of it, even following him out into the front office to make sure he was set up with all the forms he'd be signing to get back into his old room. With a nod to Corbin and Quo-Dis, Summers left Blake to the work, heading back into his office and closing the door with a snap.

Spider-Monkey Abilities: 46 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 24 (+7) CON 20 (+5) INT 14 (+2) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+11 Melee/+15 Unarmed) DEF: +15 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +11 Grapple: +20 Saves: 10 pp TOU +5 (+5 Con) FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF +10 (+7 Dex, +3) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 72 r=18 pp Acrobatics 13 (+20)* Bluff 8 (+10) Climb 10 (+15)* Knowledge (Life Sciences) 8 (+10) Language 1 (Swahili) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10)* Sense Motive 8 (+10) Survival 3 (+5) Stealth 13 (+20)* Feats: 26 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee 3 Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2 Challenge 2 (Accelerated Climb, Fast Acrobatic Bluff) Dodge Focus 7 Evasion 2 Grappling Finesse Improved Initiative Move-By Action Power Attack Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Climb, Notice, Stealth) Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 18 pp Leaping 2 (x5) [2 pp] Speed 2 (25 MPH) [2 pp] Super-Movement 2 (Swinging, Wall-Crawling) [4 pp] Super-Senses 6 (Accurate Acute Tracking 2 [half-speed] Olfactory, Low-Light Vision) [6 pp] Super-Strength 2 (Heavy Load: 1500 lbs) [4 pp] costs abilities 46 + combat 32 + saves 10 + skills 18/72 + feats 26 + powers 18 = 150 pts -------------- Design Notes: Here's Spider-Monkey, an obvious Spider-Man expy from the pages of Randy Milholland's excellent Super Stupor. He's basically a simian Peter Parker, a fast, acrobatic guy with a quick wit, the proportional strength of a monkey (which is a lot; monkeys are strong as) and a keen simian nose. I made him a biology guy rather than a technical expert like Peter, with the idea that he was a lab tech bitten by an irradiated monkey during a test. We see him swinging on a vine in the comic, but there's no evidence he can produce that kind of effect, so my assumption is that there was just a convenient vine hanging somewhere in the picture we see. (It's no crazier than all those comics where Batman's grapple gun is extending off into the middle of nowhere.) He's equally at home swinging on lamp-posts and water towers as well as trees and jungle vines, and like most of my animal builds could do just fine living in the wild. He doesn't hit quite as hard as most Spidey-types, but since he can basically Power Attack all the time (given his mobility, his Acrobatics, and his Stealth, he should take people flat-footed basically all the time) you should still be satisfied with his capacity at kicking butt: he's certainly an excellent goonsweeper versus thugs and low-level bad guys. In the comics he looks like a person, but you could make this an animal-looking guy like Marvel's Gibbon just fine if you wanted. If you shuffled the points around a bit, upping the Strength and Intelligence, probably at the expense of powers, and dropped the physical skills for more mental ones, this could be a perfectly fine Beast build. In the Super Stupor, he's happily married (eventually, probably; his fate is left ambigious after the fanboy retconner who ruined his life is decisively disposed of) so why not run with that here? There's nothing wrong with a story about a boy becoming a man, about learning that his greatest power and his greatest responsibility is being a husband and a father. (And that balancing that relationship with the need to defend the innocent is part of the _Big Leagues_ of being a superhero.) If he's in his thirties now, he was probably an up-and-coming young hero of the 2000s, just the sort of mature statesman who might be about to move on to bigger and better things!

The psionic attack struck the cosmically-warped paragon in the head. Cosmicstar blinked, twitched, and suddenly gave Changeling a truly malevolent leer. "You just put the human to sleep." it informed her in the Gorgon's voice before snapping its bonds with contemptuous ease. With blinding speed, he casually reached up and grabbed Myrmidon by the face and hurled the super-soldier at Changeling so fast she felt part of her costume torn away as Myrmidon blasted past her and slammed into the side of the gymnasium with a sickening boom and hideous crunch. "Megas is quiet too. There is only me. Now fight," Cosmicstar informed the others, grinning wickedly.

MOD NOTE Actually, Raveled, since Cosmic Star has a damage 17 more than the most generous possible interpretation of that Snare's rank, even with +1 from Myrmidon layering it on (what with Super-Strength providing that bonus towards inanimate objects), there's actually no reason why this NPC should be in this situation. With that in mind, I'm going to step in and make a quick GM post. Everyone take an HP for the Fiat. I'll have all of his damage conditions stay intact, since changing that would be a nightmare of book-keeping. (And since at this late date, we don't want the thread Cosmicstar Free Action: Cosmicstar switches his Cosmic Array to Super-Strength 14 and breaks the snare. Standard Action: Cosmicstar grabs Myrmidon. 24 That hits. Myrmidon is not capable of beating a +44 Grapple check, so I will not bother to roll. Move Action He will throw Myrmidon at Changeling, continuing to All-Out Power Attack. (I will call this a ranged attack) 17 Good news for Changeling; the attack misses. Bad news for Myrmidon, he will hit the nearest wall at Mach 3. That'll be a DC 38 Tou save, and then a DC 25 Tou save; one for the grab, and one for the sudden stop. After this, normal Initiative will resume.

The stolen energy poured around Erik as if he'd put his face to a blowtorch; he was standing in a field of cosmic radiation that could have transformed him into a statue or simply flash-fry him into ash and fire in a second. But there were few men more nimble than Jack of all Blades, and he stood in the flames without being burned. As for Willow herself, the booming, pleading voice in her head seemed to fade to a dull roar at Jack's approach, letting her hear his words and understand them. She wasn't alone. She had her partner right there, and as she realized that, the voice in her head didn't get any louder: as the heroes looked on, the Gorgon-grey coating of metal over Willow's body seemed to grow thin and tarnished, as if ready to crack at any moment.

Satanic Spider PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 10 pp STR 24 [10] (+7/+0) DEX 24 [10] (+7/+0) CON 24 [10] (+7/+0) INT 16 (+3) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 24 [10] (+7/+0) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+13 melee) DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +27 Saves: 5 pp TOU +7 (+7 Con) FORT +7 (+7 Con) REF +7 (+7 Dex) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 64 r=16 pp Acrobatics 8 (+15)* Bluff 13 (+20)* Climb 3 (+10) Craft (Artistic) 1 (+4) Diplomacy 5 (+12) Intimidate 13 (+20)* Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 2 (+5) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 3 (+5) Stealth 8 (+15)* Feats: 19 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee 5 Dodge Focus 5 Evasion Move-By Action Power Attack Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, Intimidate, Stealth) Startle Takedown Attack Taunt Powers: 74 pp Additional Limb 1 (tail) [1 pp] Enhanced CHA 14 [14 pp] 'diabolical charm' Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp] Enhanced DEX 14 [14 pp] Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp] Immunity 2 (aging, environmental heat) [2 pp] Impervious TOU 6 [6 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Senses 2 (Danger Sense [mental], Uncanny Dodge [mental]) [2 pp] Super-Strength 2 (Heavy Load: 1 ton) [4+2=6 pp] AP: Leaping 4 (x25) AP: Super-Movement 2 (Wall-Crawling 2) Drawbacks: -6 pp Vulnerable (vs. holy) (uncommon, major) [-3 pp] Weakness (repelled by crosses; dazed via Charisma check vs. holy symbols) [-3 pp] costs abilities 10 + combat 32 + saves 5 + skills 14/56 + feats 19 + powers 74 -drawbacks 6= 150 pts ------------ Design Notes: A murdered uncle; a grieving teenager faced with an awesome responsibility. Until that is, a man of wealth and taste came to see him, offering him great power in return for, well, nothing! (Or so it seemed, anyway). Faced with no other choices, the young man chose the Devil's bargain and gained inhuman powers! Now superhumanly fast and strong, with a tremendous force of enhanced personality, the young man is a devil with the ladies and feared and hated by criminals everywhere. He can't throw hellfire, his enhancements are all internal, but he's still enormously powerful (and actually bulletproof) thanks to his infernal enhancements, enough that sometimes he forgets he had superpowers before all this started out! What's not to like? Well, perhaps that little voice gnawing at the back of his head that tells him he made a terrible mistake and the price of gaining all these good things from infernal powers Spiderman getting something valuable from the Devil? Only in a What If, Shirley. If you do want him tossing around infernal webs, perhaps black sizzling strands of tar, shuffle the points around as you need it: with 21 points in non-spider powers, you can get Hellfire Control 10 (PF: Accurate), even more if you shuffle more points around and maybe add some more satanic drawbacks. In the Freedom City setting, this young man is a Claremont student empowered first by an accident, then by the terrible Mister Infamy. As Infamously empowered people tend to be ticking time bombs in one way or another, he's closely watched by his fellows at the school as he tries to do as much good in the world as he can before the consequences of his hellish mistake come back to haunt him. Naturally he's done his best to keep all this from his aunt, as he certainly wouldn't want her to know about it! Satan or not, this character has many of the powers and attributes associated with comic-book arachnids. He can jump hella high, climb walls as easy as you or I climb up a flight of stairs. He’s very hard to sneak up on: most characters don’t have Concealment vs. mental senses, and between Uncanny Dodge and Danger Sense he's very protected that way. Not saying it can’t be done, but it’ll take a smart character, and maybe a specific immunity (perhaps a result of knowing this character especially well, or having once been a very close ally) to get close. He needs a good supporting cast and a good relationship to get into, though perhaps he'll want to cultivate a relationship with the Almighty before any girlfriends!

Luck Controller With a Gun PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 28 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 20 (+5) CON 20 (+5) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 36 pp ATK: +9 (+14 Blasters/+15 melee) DEF: +15 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +5 Grapple: +20 Saves: 9 pp TOU +5 (+5 Con) FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF +7 (+5 Dex, +2) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 56r=14 pp Acrobatics 10 (+15) Climb 5 (+10) Drive 5 (+10) Language 1 (Spanish) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Pilot 5 (+10) Sense Motive 12 (+14) Stealth 10 (+15) Feats: 25 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee 5 Dodge Focus 7 Move-By Action Power Attack Precise Shot Quick Draw [draw] Takedown Attack Ultimate Save 4 (Fortitude, Reflex, Toughness, Will) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 38 pp Device 4 (Paired Blasters) (Hard to Lose) (PFs: Restricted [DNA Lockout], Subtle [concealed]) [18 pp] Blast 6 (Extra: Autofire; PFs: Accurate 2) [20dp] Leaping 2 (x5) [2+1=3 pp] AP: Speed 2 (25 MPH) Luck Control 4 (spend an HP for another character, give HP to others, spend HP to negate HP/Fiat, force reroll) (PFs: Luck 5) [17 pp] costs abilities 28 + combat 36 + saves 9 + skills 14/56 + feats 25 + powers 38 = 150 pts -------- Design Notes: Here's Domino, a luck controller with a gun, an Iron Age character so iconic she made it into the Iron Age book via her Freedom City expy Kismet. She got to sleep with Cable back at the height of the Iron Age, which pretty much makes her one of the memetic sex gods of comics in the 1990s. She's a sneaky, acrobatic gun bunny who's equally skilled in hand-to-hand as she is with her stunning laser pistols. Her Luck Control makes a fine supplement to her strong training, making her one of the most badass women in the world. This is a very Iron Age archetype, of course, but so long as you put non-lethal weapons like the Black Widow's Spider Bite in her hands and make her a skilled hand-to-hand fighter as I did here, you should do just fine. I added a little bit of superhuman acrobatics to go with her abilities, but for the most part she's just very very good, and very very lucky. This probably isn't our Kismet; you shouldn't pick up Iron Age characters or legacies here without a _very_ good story to go with it. Besides, FORCE Ops is dead. Odds are pretty good that the anti-heroine Kismet died in the Terminus Invasion, giving her life as the real hero she'd never really believed she was. But it could be a relative; 1993 was a long time ago, and a daughter born sometime near the end of Kismet's life (perhaps as a result of one of those wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am relationships the Iron Age loved so much) would be an adult now; if she was raised by a friend of Kismet's from her mercenary days, she may have gotten the same kind of training her mother had, though without the personal, Iron Age style education in the realities of doom and gloom. If she's not a direct Kismet legacy, maybe she's just a luck-controlling agent that UNISON or AEGIS has sent off to be a superhero. Hey, if it worked for Black Widow; you can make it work for you! There's no reason she can't be open about her background, but a mysterious and secretive past works just fine too. Consider paying for the Enigma feat. I've made her a fairly serious gun-bunny type with strong physical skills; up her Charisma and Bluff if you want to make her more the flirty femme fatale type: Attractive is a must for that sort of character. Another possible change might be to her signature weapon; maybe instead of stunning energy blasts you prefer arrows or some other iconic type of comic book weapon.

Acrobat in Power Armor PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 10 pp STR 24 [10] (+7/+0) DEX 24 [10] (+7/+0) CON 24 [10] (+7/+0) INT 16 (+3) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+13 melee) DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +26 Saves: 5 pp TOU +7 (+7 Con) FORT +7 (+7 Con) REF +7 (+7 Dex) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 56 r=14 pp Acrobatics 8 (+15) Bluff 15 (+15) Climb 3 (+10) Craft (Artistic) 2 (+5) Craft (Mechanical) 2 (+5) Knowledge (Technology) 2 (+5) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 8 (+15) Feats: 19 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee 5 Challenge (Fast Acrobatic Bluff) Dodge Focus 5 Evasion Luck Move-By Action Power Attack Takedown Attack Taunt Powers: 70 pp Device 5 (Acrobat Armor) (Hard to Lose) (PF: Restricted [DNA lockout]) [21 pp] Additional Limbs 4 (Extra:Duration: Sustained) [4dp] Concealment 4 (all visual) (Flaw: Passive) [4dp] Enhanced Feats 2 (Quick Change) [2dp] Flight 1 (10 MPH) (PF: Subtle) [3dp] Immunity 2 (disease, poison) [2dp] Impervious TOU 5 [5dp] Super-Senses 5 (Direction Sense, Infravision, Radio, Time Sense, Ultrahearing) [5dp] Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp] Enhanced DEX 14 [14 pp] Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp] Super-Senses 2 (Danger Sense [mental], Uncanny Dodge [mental]) [2 pp] Super-Strength 2 (Heavy Load: 1 ton) [4+1=5 pp] AP: Leaping 2 (x5) and Speed 2 (25 MPH) costs abilities 10 + combat 32 + saves 5 + skills 14/56 + feats 19 + powers 70 = 150 pts --------- Design Notes: A few years ago, a young man sat in his room and swore an oath of vengeance and responsibility. His foster father was dead, murdered by a nameless criminal, and he and his foster mother were faced with unimaginable poverty and grief. Making matters worse was his own secret knowledge that he could have prevented the crime! If only he had used the amazing physical powers he’d gained from that lab accident some months ago to be a hero instead of trying to become a super-celebrity, he could have been there when his family needed him. And then, there came a knock at the door, and a man was standing there he’d never met. The playboy industrialist had recently suffered a life-changing accident himself, and while laid up in recovery he’d read about the murder of one of his company’s employees and been struck with sympathy. After all, he’d lost his own parents from a young age. From the equipment scattered around the room, the industrialist recognized a budding gadgeteer and offered the high school student an internship (along with paying his family’s way for the rest of their lives), and the young man at that moment finally unburdened his secret shame and secret pride to the older, wiser man. Hmming, the industrialist stroked his goatee and made a proposition to him. You see, he’d been working on this suit of armor for himself, but perhaps he and the young man could build one for him, too? Together? Yes, here’s my attempt at building a PL 10 version of the Iron Spider armor; this requires essentially taking the very very early Spiderman and putting him in a brand-new suit of Starktech armor. (In this universe, he had a full research laboratory and didn’t have to make do with dinky little fluid shooters.) He’s fast, he’s mobile, he’s really strong, and he’s bulletproof (at least vs. small arms fire); with the additional limbs on his armor and his own innate super-strength, he’s a very good grappler. His suit’s not actually sealed, but he is in something of a restricted environment: he can avoid being exposed to airborne toxins and pollutants, he’s just got no supply of oxygen in there! I figure this is a version of the character who’s a good mechanic and something of a techhead, but not really a super-genius yet; that’ll come with time and earned PP. (That’s one of the problems with Spiderman conversions, there have been so many versions of the character that capturing him at any one point in his career is always a challenge) I think this works fine as any acrobatic hero in powered armor; shuffle the points around and this could easily be a patriotic hero in an all-American costume. In the Freedom City setting, this guy is probably a Claremont student, perhaps one sponsored by one of our tech heroes or a heroic NPC like Daedalus. He could easily have built his own suit, or borrowed someone else’s. You can certainly save him a lot of points if you have him be a pure techie and put all his enhanced attributes in the suit too! Like a lot of Spidey-esque builds, he’s in trouble if you nullify his Danger Sense and Uncanny Dodge. (Why such a low Charisma? Well, taunts aside, nobody seems to like Spiderman, especially this early in his career) As a villain, maybe this is a sneak thief who stole someone else’s suit of power armor (or built it himself off-camera) and now he’s sneaking into places and stealing the most valuable things there.

Psionic Weather Controller PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 34 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 14 (+2) CON 22 (+6) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 28 pp ATK: +6 DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +15 Saves: 11 pp TOU +8 (+6 Con, +2 Force Field) FORT +7 (+6 Con, +1) REF +7 (+2 Dex, +5) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 40 r=10 pp Concentration 5 (+7) Intimidate 3 (+5) Knowledge (Physical Sciences) 3 (+3) Notice 8 (+10)* Pilot 8 (+10)* Sense Motive 3 (+5) Survival 3 (+5)* Swim 5 (+10)* Feats: 9 pp Dodge Focus 4 Endurance Move-By Action Second Chance (Weather Control power checks) Skill Mastery (Notice, Pilot, Survival, Swim) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 56 pp Flight 3 (50 MPH) [6 pp] Force Field 2 [2 pp] Immunity 5 (all weather effects) (Extra: Duration (Sustained) [+0]) [5 pp] Super-Senses 8 (Postcognition [Flaw: Unreliable], Precognition [Flaw: Unreliable]) [4 pp] Weather Control Array [33+5=38 pp] Blast 10 (Extra: Range [Perception]; PFs: Indirect 2, Variable Descriptor 1 [any weather]) AP: Damage 10 (Extras: Area [shapeable], Selective Attack; PFs: Indirect 2, Variable Descriptor 1 [any weather]) AP: Dazzle 10 (visual and auditory) (Extra: Range [Perception]; Flaw: Action [Full]; PFs: Indirect 2, Variable Descriptor 1 [any weather]) AP: Environmental Control 10 (1 mile) [3/pp mix-and-match] (Extras: Duration [independent] (+0), Total Fade [+1]; Flaw: Range [Touch]; PFs: Slow Fade 3 [5 minutes/rank]) AP: Move Object 10 (Heavy Load: 12 tons) (Extra: Range [Perception]; PFs: Indirect 2, Variable Descriptor 1 [any weather]) AP: Obscure 10 (1 mile) (visual and auditory) (Extra: Duration [independent] (+0); PFs: Slow Fade 2 [1 minute/rank, Variable Descriptor 1 [any weather]) costs abilities 34 + combat 28 + saves 11 + skills 10/40 + feats 8 + powers 56 = 150 pts --------- Design Notes: Here’s Semper Paratus, aka Ted White, one of the first super characters I ever played from an old Aberrant game with Electra. Ted was a Coast Guard rescue pilot, one of those guys who flew choppers in to rescue people from storms and capsized ships. He was good at his job and happily married to his wife Veronica, a NASA research scientist and astronaut, right up until his wife developed superpowers during a space mission: now she was an impossibly beautiful, super-strong flier who could bruise him with a touch, and he was just this guy who flew helicopters, you know? (It didn’t help that, having become beautiful and tough instead of smarter, Ronnie had been shunted out of her scientific work by NASA and put to work on the rubber-chicken circuit, so she was under significant stress herself). When Ted’s powers emerged during a lightning storm over their home (being near a nova is a great way to develop powers yourself), everything seemed better until his newly-formed psychic abilities gave him an up-close-and-personal graphic perspective on the long-term affair Ronnie had been having with another nova. (It wasn’t really her fault, since an enhanced constitution in Aberrant terms gives you very, very strong drives). Stripped of the very Aberrant backstory, I think Ted’s sheet works just fine as a psychic weather controller: someone who can predict the coming weather and who can go out there and do something about it! He wound up as a hurricane fighter in the Coast Guard (it helped that he lived in Florida) and I think this character could do that job just fine, flying up into the heart of storms and taking them on mono-a-mono. Mechanically he’s not that different from your average weather controller, with a few changes. He’s buffer than most weather controllers, and a better hand-to-hand fighter, but his best strategy in a fight is to hang back and make with the hostile weather conditions: he can drop lightning bolts from the clear blue sky on command, deafen people with near-miss thunderclaps, or knock people around with high winds, or drop a tornado on the spot where he’s standing. He’s immune to the effects of his powers as long as he’s conscious, so if he fails a Concentration check while in the middle of a raging Category 5 (even one he created) he’s in trouble! Given the particular utility of his powers, he might be a super-person who’s grown up under military tutelage, perhaps an early graduate of one of those T-mutant schools. Weather controllers have lots of pretty broad opportunities for stunting, with his big array it shouldn’t be that hard for you to build whatever it is that you need. He shouldn’t have many issues with living in comfort wherever he does happen to settle down, thanks to that big environmental control power of his. (There’s always some debate over how Independent exactly works, so make sure you get clear with your GM his interpretation of it before you take it out for a spin.) If you put the powers in some other direction, he works just fine as a Steve Trevor-type who has hooked up with your local Hot Amazon. If you take him as a villain, which he was for a while when his powers emerged, he makes a fine scary weather god, perhaps a crazed stalker of some famous celebrity who he imagines is cheating on him...(he's craaazy)

Don't forget, TT, Medea is dazed rather than stunned.