Avenger Assembled

Citizen The Lands Beyond Out Into The World 2525 Kaisokusen Colony Triton Neptunian Orbit "...I don't get it." Sitting on her bed, Neptunia, aka Arna Ideen, studied her lover in his new costume, trying to keep the bafflement off her face. She loved Sieg-El with the fierce intensity of any young woman in her early twenties, having known him since they were both teen sidekicks to the adult heroes of the Legion, but sometimes she thought she didn't understand him. A descendant of the first human settlers in trans-Uranian space, Arna's interests lay in practical fields like plasma manipulation, genetic modification, and interstellar politics. The Ultiman Sieg-El, however, had an interest in history; particularly the history of the Earth that had once been his people's home. Though she'd absorbed a great deal from him, he always seemed to expect everyone else to get his references. "I mean, don't get me wrong," she admitted. "Citizen is a better name than Ultilad. But what's so special about it?" Between them, they were heads of the Triton Teens, the Legion group charged with defending the fringes of the Sol System from space pirates and other threats. If her partner was going to change his name up, they had to have something they could tell the young people about it. Sieg-El sighed, a wry smile on his face as he sat next to her on the bed, its organic metal body shifting to accomodate his weight. Putting his arm around the azure-skinned Neptunian, the square-jawed young paragon said, "Actually, Arna, this one's pretty obscure, but I think it's important. You remember a few years ago, right after the Legion pulled me out of the Zone, when I was adventuring with the Centurion?" Arna nodded, though of course it wasn't really a tough question: Sieg-El had been the junior partner of the new Centurion for several years before leaving to join the Legion, then going on reserve status to head the Tritans. Most people in the System still thought of him as the Centurion's sidekick, really, especially since his powers meant he aged so slowly that even a decade out of the Zero Zone he still looked 17. She and he were still the subject of ribald jokes when they went back to Earth. "Well, one of the first places we went was Tronik. We spent a long time there, met some very interesting people, and they told me about the first Citizen." Arna sensed a story coming, but if she didn't at least tolerate elaborate historical anecdotes, she wouldn't have been with Sieg-El in the first place. "So Citizen is the native heroes of Eris?" she hazarded. She'd never been to Eris herself (as no organic people lived there, her biokinetic powers wouldn't have been terribly useful in a fight or rescue work), but of course she knew about Tronik, the ancient machine city that had been placed there centuries earlier by Earth heroes after Tronik had wandered into the Sol System thanks to the machinations of the Curator. "Won't it be confusing if we ever have to jack in there and they mistake you for the local version?" she joked half-seriously, remembering what had happened when they'd tried to visit the Lucas-settled colonies on Titan. "There are a lot of Citizens in Tronik nowadays," said Sieg-El with a little shrug. "It's actually the name of their local militia brigade, among other things. But no heroes of their own, at least, not yet. Citizen was...he was something else. Way back in their early history, Citizen was the very first AI in Tronik to develop superpowers. He was faster than a laser, more powerful than an antigrav train, the works: he could even leave Tronik and upload himself onto the old Net, where he-" Neptunia's jaw dropped at the audacious story she was hearing, which was at least a lot more interesting than Sieg-El's usual stories. "Mazerei," she swore in her native Tritonian, "a Tronik machine intelligence went out on the old 'Net? The one before the Great Crash, with the copper-wire and IR network base? Well he was brave, I'll give him that much. I'm surprised that didn't fry every one of those old integrated circuits." "Hey, they had good scientists even then," said Sieg-El, a little defensively. Computers weren't his area of expertise either when you got right down to it. "Anyway...he even was able to leave the Net and make the first contact with heroes outside like the first Centurion. He helped repair Tronik's systems when they were failing and was their local hero for decades afterwards. With his partners, Dragonfire and Lady Americana, he saved their city, and the whole world, time and time again. He even did some adventuring outside for a while, all over old Earth. I actually found an old solid-medium picture of him in Claremont," he added, "so he must have been a teacher there at some point." Neptunia was a Claremont grad too, but of course she'd have had to be a computer brain herself to know the names and faces of every graduate that century, much less one who'd lived and died five hundred years earlier. "So what happened?" his lover asked, frowning again. "Why isn't he better-known, if he was such a great hero back in the day?" Records of the early 21st century were pretty scarce, but on the other hand it was still much better represented than the late 21st and 22nd centuries; all-digital ages who had lost all their records on the Great Crash. It wasn't hard to guess what might have happened to a machine hero active before the Great Crash, though, and sure enough Sieg-El confirmed her theory a moment later. "He married, had a family, even a dynasty in Tronik...but then the Great Crash came," said Sieg-El, his smile downturning. "The first Citizen was long since gone by then, of course. The last Citizen died severing Tronik's connection to the 'Net, saving everyone she could. They built a museum to honor the old legacy, but they didn't start having their own heroes again until the Confederation contacted them again a few decades ago. The Tronikians who had an interest in the outside world were mostly outside when the Crash came, so they either died or had to make their own way, and the city lost interest in him for a while. Even the name was mostly honorary. It's only recently they've revived the story at all." Neptunia considered that one for a moment. "Mm. Well, if Citizen X comes out of Tronik and wants to join the Legion next year, you have to tell him why you stole his people's name," said Arna with a thin smile. "I like the name, though. It's novel, it means something important to you, and people will get what it means, the part about civic duty, even if they don't know the story." "It's a good story," agreed Citizen, glad that this was going so well. "It's a story about a hero who came from nowhere, saved people who barely understood him, and retired to live a long and happy life." He put his hand on Neptunia's heart and smiled. "He's a good role model, I think."

Radioactive Mermaid PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 44 pp STR 24 (+7) DEX 20 (+5) CON 24 (+7) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+10 radiation/+13 melee) DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +5 Grapple: +20 Saves: 7 pp TOU +7 (+7 Con) FORT +7 (+7 Con) REF +7 (+5 Dex, +2) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 40 r=10 pp Bluff 13 (+15) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 5 (+10) Survival 3 (+5) Swim 3 (+10) Feats: 17 pp Attack Focus: Melee 5 Dodge Focus 5 Environmental Adaptation (Underwater) Move-By Action Power Attack Precise Shot Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 40 pp Flight 3 (50 MPH) [6+1=7 pp] AP: Swimming 6 (100 MPH) Immunity 4 (drowning, environmental cold, environmental radiation, high pressure) [4 pp] Super-Senses 7 (Darkvision, Radiation Awareness [2] [Extended 2 (x100)] (mental), Tremorsense) [7 pp] Underwater Radiation Array [21+1=22 pp] Blast 10 (PF: Accurate) AP: Damage 10 (Extra: Area [Cone]) (PF: Reverse Progression on Area) costs abilities 44 + combat 32 + saves 7 + skills 10/40 + feats 17 + powers 40 = 150 pts ------ Design Notes: You know, I don't recall how the subject of a radioactive mermaid came up in chat. But when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. All kinds of pollution gets dumped into the ocean these days, some of it radioactive. And who's to say some of that might not mutate some legless denizen of the deeps, giving her the power to fire blasts of sickly green radiation at her enemies and to survive in radioactive environments. And now she's come to the surface to battle polluters everywhere, and make friends among her fellow heroes. You can play her so that she has a scaly lower body all the time, but in my mind you're better off taking a page from DC's Post-Crisis Lori Lemaris (who hey, was Superman's girlfriend for a while there) and say that she's in a human body while dry and in a mermaid body while wet. Keep that particular 'involuntary transformation' a complication, though, since you'll need the HP for it going off! She's got high enough Bluff to maybe talk a bored and randy sailor into the water with her, but clearly you should only do that for heroic reasons. She's really strong, easily meeting her caps both with her punches and her radiation blasts, making her a formidable fighter and probably a veteran of undersea warfare in her native community. She's fast underwater and in the air, and with her formidable super-senses she's very difficult to sneak up on wherever she lives. How do you work mermaids (and mer-dudes, I guess) into the World of Freedom? Well, presumably they are also Atlanteans, but perhaps from a sub-group of the original population. Maybe they used direct genetic fusion with fish and other undersea creatures to survive beneath the waves, or maybe they've adopted natural stylings (by science or sorcery) as a way of atoning for the disaster that brought Atlantis beneath the waves in the first place. Or more sinisterly, perhaps she's from a community punished by the gods for their role in bringing Atlantis underwater; worse yet, maybe she's from a line of Deep Ones that was cast out of Atlantis centuries ago. Our Atlantis is somewhere in the north Atlantic, so maybe mix it up a bit and say she's from the Pacific, or perhaps shes a hardy Great Lakes native! (Who's to say what lies beneath the waves there in Lake Superior...) Avoid the Stripperific costumes so common to mermaids, really: no one's interested in seeing that stuff. If a Disney cartoon can make that kind of outfit look innocent, you should be able to do the same thing. Speaking of physical characteristics, having legs at least part of the time also lets you enjoy a more personal relationship with surface-dwellers; as Futurama and other franchises have demonstrated over the years, there are actually some pretty serious biological differences between primates and fish, and someone who is a merger of both is going to have some strange cares. Play up the aquatic nature of the character to drive home the dual physical identity and earn delicious HP, but remember: contrary to some depictions of Aquaman, you probably don't care if people eat fish in front of you. You're from a volcanic trench off the East Coast. You've eaten fish your entire life. Fish are jerks. But delicious jerks.

"You're right, I could," said Sharl thoughtfully. "I mean, I'm really busy with Miss A, and with our big project going on right now, but I could go over to Claremont and at least meet some people. They may even know me," he said with a little smile. "I'm not just Miss A's assistant, I'm also her sidekick. My superhero name is Citizen," he confided. "There's not really a point in maintaining a secret identity here," he confessed, "since there's not really any hiding I'm not like the other boys. I helped Miss A and the Lab crew beat an alien mind invasion earlier this spring. It was really scary, but we saved the whole city."

"Uh, I met Sage, the little one," said Sharl, who came from a planet where access to nutrition and genetics meant that everyone could grow tall. He made a little gesture about five feet off the ground. "She seemed nice enough; so did Cobalt Templar, the other boy I met. I don't...I don't know a lot of teenagers here. There's Dragonfly, she works here at the Lab, but she's a lot smarter than I am and she's a little hard to talk to sometimes." He shrugged, and admitted, "I guess that's another reason I'm looking forward to being at Claremont. I don't have a lot of friends here, and I don't know a lot about other kids. I guess we're in the same boat?" he hazarded.

The Scarlet Scarab PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 52 pp STR 18 (+4) DEX 26 (+8) CON 18 (+4) INT 12 (+1) WIS 26 (+8) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+14 melee) DEF: +14 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +8 Grapple: +22 Saves: 6 pp TOU +6 (+4 Con, +2 Costume) FORT +6 (+4 Con, +2) REF +10 (+8 Dex, +2) WILL +10 (+8 Wis, +2) Skills: 17 pp=68 r Acrobatics 12 (+20)* Climb 1 (+5) Intimidate 9 (+10) Investigate 4 (+5) Knowledge (Streetwise) 4 (+5) Languages 2 (English, Japanese) (Base: Spanish) Notice 12 (+20)* Sense Motive 12 (+20)* Stealth 12 (+20)* Feats: 25 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee (6) Beginner’s Luck Blind-Fight Challenge (Fast Acrobatic Bluff) Dodge Focus (6) Evasion (2) Grappling Finesse Luck Move-By Action Power Attack Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Notice, Sense Motive, Stealth) Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (mental) Powers: 18 pp Device 2 (Scarlet Scarab Costume) (Hard to Lose) [8 pp] Enhanced Feat 1 (Second Chance (Tou. vs Ballistics]) [1] Flight 2 (25 MPH) (Flaw: Gliding) [2] Protection 2 [2] Super-Movement 1 (Wall-Crawling) [2] Strike 2 (PF: Mighty) [3] Enhanced Feat 1 (Ultimate Save [Will]) [1 pp] Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Senses 7 (Accurate Acute Radius Ranged Mental, Precognition (Flaw: Unreliable)) [7 pp] costs abilities 52 + combat 32 + saves 6 + skills 17/68 + feats 25 + powers 18 = 150 pts ---- Design Notes: On Earth M-Lucas-1, Overshadow used his world's Elena Guerrero as a false version of the _real_ Scarab, Alexander Rhodes, the greatest ever to bear that title, as a weapon against the Freedom League of America. Rhodes fought back against Overshadow's forces and escaped, rescuing the League and the poor exploited young Latina who'd been used by his enemies from the consequences of Overshadow's machinations. Stripped of the power of the Scarab, Elena returned to her law school career and the barrio where she'd grown up and seemed inclined to slip out of the pages of history. But the world was changing around her, and changing around all the other heroes too. The barrio was no longer a home of cheerful Latins and their blousy wives; it was a place where good people were kept in poverty by the system, where exploitation by the powerful kept her Latino and Latina brothers and sisters down. And despite the promises of Alexander Rhodes, the voices in Elena's head never quite went away: her mind was opened now as it had never been before, with dreams of the future coming her way when she closed her eyes. The world had noticed her, just as she'd noticed the world, and there was no getting away from it. Alexander Rhodes was sympathetic, but his focus was on the skies, not the streets; he'd saved the world a thousand times over, but what had he ever done for the working man? Something in her words when she went to him for help chastened him, though, and earned her his support. So with the help of money from the Rhodes Foundation and her own hard work, Elena fashioned a costume like her mentor's and began training fanatically, using the fighting skills she'd learned growing up in the barrio and sharpening them with her new powers and training to become one of the world's greatest hand-to-hand fighters. And then one night, she took to the rooftops as the Scarlet Scarab, wearing a costume that homaged the man she'd once replaced, but unlike him she fought for the people on the streets. She's a streetwise protector of the barrio and _all_ the people who live there, a champion of the working class against the Man and all the people who want to keep down her brothers and sisters. I think this would make a fine build for a costumed adventurer with some psychic surprises: not bad for people expecting just a Badass Normal they can take out. OK, so this is House of L-Elena Guerrero as of the Graduation Day thread: with the universe around her having shifted from Silver to Bronze Age, she's gone from one-shot ethnic character quickly discarded to a streetwise ethnic hero designed to prove that the writer is politically correct. (Because all Latinas are streetwise and live in the barrio. I guess?) She's a very good hand-to-hand fighter and acrobat; a fast, sneaky fighter who plays a lot like a precognitive Daredevil with her super-senses: I figure her Strike is brass knuckles and such built into her suit to augment her punches, while she's got some kind of scarab wings under her costume that let her glide down from a fall with the help of her acrobatic training. She's got some kind of scarab-claws in her hands as descriptor for both her Strike and her Wall-Crawling.

Sharl shifted in his seat again, his body making no noise thanks to its insubstantial state. "So do you really not know where you came from?" he asked Cole quietly when Miss A was out of the room. "I'm sorry I was so nosy, then," he said a little ruefully. "I...I come from a place where privacy is very important, being on the Internet and all, and sometimes I go too far with what's acceptable here. I can't imagine what it would be like not knowing where home was." And then, because he knew the last thing Cole wanted is pity, he said, "So, have you been there? Are the girls cute? I only met one, and I don't think she likes boys that way."

In addition to what Ecal has said: Visual is not a good choice for his Uncanny Dodge, particularly since he'll be fighting a lot of invisible demons and such. Consider auditory. You need to get the template formatting right. The agency is spelled AEGIS. You are going to need to provide some considerable fluff for how AEGIS got an anti-demon program, since as described in _Agents of Freedom_ it's at best a sideline for them. (Note: this is not a passive-aggressive way of saying it's a bad idea! This is saying you have a good idea that needs more explanation) Why is he alone? (Why are there not more soldiers equipped like he is?) What makes him a _superhero_, as opposed to a man wearing a government prototype? Again, these are not slams. These are things that knowing will make you a better writer before the character comes in. Move Action is not a suitable Extra for Move Object or Damage; powers like that need to be kept to a standard action for fairness' sake. Affects Insubstantial is a PF. (It's also not necessary for a Portal Teleport) Two things with Affects Insubstantial: If you _do_ get it, you want two ranks. Secondly, we're really trying to keep AI from being abused because of how powerful it is. It makes sense that a magic-based soldier would have those abilities, but why would his magic sword let him affect somebody with Insubstantial that isn't magic? Consider this construction: Affects Insubstantial 2 [2 pp] (on whatever power) with the 1-pt Power Loss Drawback (only vs. magic Insubstantial) for a total of 1 pp. 2 ranks of Reflective is useless. I'd like to see his combat scores go up: he doesn't really reflect his fluff at all right now. i.e., there's no reason in the numbers he'd be chosen by the government. Still thinking about this: A major Complication the character is going to have is trust. Government-sponsored solo heroes are not really trusted in the WoF the way they are in other settings, given that the World of Freedom's Captain America expy betrayed the secrets of the Golden Age Liberty League to the government in the 1940s. (It's one of the setting's biggest divergences from other comic book universes) This is going to be much much worse in a magic setting, as magic heroes are sneaky types who don't play well with others. The idea of letting a government spook into their ranks is going to be a challenge for you to sell. I'm not saying it can't be sold! But that's going to be something you'll have to deal with.

Edge looked a little uncomfortably at Midnight, flexing his hands in unconscious anticipation. While he'd never heard the details of Erin's world's demise, maybe because at the end of the day he just didn't want to know, it had been plain to him how tense and emotional she was here, and he knew how hard it had to have been for Trevor to see her like that and be unable to help. "What do you need, Midnight?" he whispered to Trevor urgently. Down below, Red Falcon said, a little disconsolately, "Yes, I took the brunt of that last hit, but Redbird suffered for it all the same, didn't she? Redbird, describe yourself to the shadow warrior." The battered bike spoke in a shaky electronic voice. "Redbird is autonomic machine intelligence from the Silver Free. I have suffered 60% damage from impact including flight stabilizers and gyroscopes. Core intact. Power systems intact. Need repairs to be able to fly."

"I've never been to high school at all," Sharl explained, "so the whole thing will be new and different. I can't believe they put that many kids together, but I guess that huge campus can hold them all. And there's so much to learn! I can't believe all the things you guys have in this world." He whistled a little, carefully avoiding the equipment as he peered over Miss A's shoulder for a moment to watch the readings, then added, a little abashedly, "Hey, uh, I don't mean to pry," he said with a little blush. "I guess I shouldn't be reading your medical charts if I'm going to be your classmate." Privacy was important where Sharl came from, after all.

"Okay," said Sharl agreeably, looking a little abashed at the gentle reminder of his place. He wouldn't have just shut up for anyone else, but since it was Miss A, he got back to work. "It's okay, I don't like talking much about where I come from either," said Sharl with a little shrug. "And I read your file, I know it's a mystery." He shifted in his seat, or rather seemed to pass through it as he read off some readouts to Miss A. "So are you already a Claremont student?" he asked Cole curiously. "What's it like?"

Yankee Doodle Jones PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 48 pp STR 30 (+10) DEX 14 (+2) CON 30 (+10) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (10 Melee) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +21 Saves: 10 pp TOU +10 (+10 Con) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 44r=11 pp Diplomacy 5 (+5) Intimidate 10 (+10) Knowledge (Civics) 5 (+5) Languages 3 (German, Japanese, Russian) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Survival 5 (+7) Feats: 14 pp Attack Focus: Melee 4 Dodge Focus 4 Fearless Power Attack Startle Takedown Attack Track Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 43 pp Immunity 32 (Critical Hits, Fortitude Saves) [32 pp] Impervious TOU 8 [8 pp] Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Strength 1 (Heavy Load: 1.5 tons) [2 pp] costs abilities 48 + combat 24 + saves 10 + skills 11/44 + feats 14 + powers 43 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Yankee Doodle Jones is among the most outright messed-up characters in comics. To make a long story short, Yankee Doodle Jones is a two-fisted Golden Age protagonist with a goofy kid sidekick. He is also made out of corpses. Yeah, he's made of disabled WWI veterans who volunteer to have their organs used (and a donation of serum made from the rest of their remains) to build the perfect patriot. The Golden Age was messed up, people. So that's what I've tried to do here: Yankee Doodle Jones is a low-grade powerhouse/living weapon, a two-fisted Golden Age guy who can punch his way through a crowd of Nazi thugs and shrug off a strangling with a reminder from his sidekick that he's actually okay. He also has full Fort immunity, despite being a living creature, and is fast, agile, and nearly bulletproof. So yeah, Golden Age patriotic Frankenstein-type. If you're not happy with the messed-up Golden Age origin, this would make an OK build for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Frankenstein has actually been turned into a comic book character several times, mostly recently that I can remember by Grant Morrison in the pages of Seven Soldiers. (I might do a build or two from there myself one of these days) Note that you don't need to add a mute drawback there, since the Frankenstein in the book (and usually in comics) can actually not stop talking once you get him going. Picture it, a famous monster condemned as a killer, but actually with the soul of a hero! The Superlink supplement Algernon Fires: of War has an interesting take on the Frankenstein family as a legacy of evil geniuses opposed by their most famous creation. I think you could get a lot of meat out of a similar story for a hero like this! Heck, he could even still be a Golden Age hero. Note that it's not actually clear YDJ the product of patriotic Frankensteinism, but I prefer to take the most horrible route possible in matters like this. He's a horrible thing in a chiseled hero's body, an assemblage of the dead wearing the face of the living. I'd treat that, if you want to play it up, as Fearsome Presence with lots of Complications: maybe he is innately disturbing to the world around him, enough that dogs howl, children cry, and psychics clutch their head in pain when he walks by: he is the thing that should not be! But he is, and he's here to fight Nazis and other enemies of America! It's more fun to do that if he's still a noble, upright man himself, who's not going to feel bad about where he came from anymore than necessary: let the world decide if he should exist later, he's busy saving the day!

"Zero-point energy?" asked Sharl curiously. He gave Cole not exactly a suspicious look, but one full of questions. "The only ZPG modules I've ever heard of that size were used as the seeds in interstellar drives." Tronik didn't have FTL drives, they were too expensive to build given the planet's resources (at least, that was what he'd always been taught to believe) but he'd heard about how to build them in school. "Are you sure you're from another dimension and not from outer space?" Advanced Lor technology would certainly explain the battlesuit, as well as the amnesia the young man was suffering from.

"Freedom City has become a stronghold of Omega," replied Red Falcon seriously. "The skies are black with Omegadrones, and Terminus towers have replaced the old skyscrapers. It is a city of the walking dead." With Mark's help, he sat up, leaning against a fallen piece of debris. "If the Terminus towers here are destroyed, then this universe's connection to the Terminus will be severed. Omega will not go hunting a lost scrap when there are innocents to hound; he will leave it bide. As for where to rest...I saw no living survivors as I passed over the continent, and no Omegadrones east of the furthest mountains, the Appalachians. If you can rest here, you can rest anywhere." He let out a slow breath. "Omega will be ready in days, I believe. Your time is short." "We'll do it," Mark promised the man. "We'll get to Freedom City, we'll stop the bomb, and we'll make sure that Omega can't destroy this world or any others today." He hesitated a moment, as if trying to summon up a memory, then shook his head. "I could swear I've seen those bombs before," he admitted. "The cosmic bombs we've spent all this time dealing with. Somewhere right in Freedom City, but I wasn't...I wasn't paying enough attention. It was in the past, anyway...no matter. We'll find the ones here, we'll get rid of them, and we'll save the whole goddamned multiverse," he added with an uncharacteristic oath. "Whatever we have to do."

Black Orchid PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 18 pp STR 30 [16] (+10/+3) DEX 14 (+2) CON 30 [16] (+10/+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Melee) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +25 Saves: 9 pp TOU +10 (+10 Con) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +5 (+2 Dex, +3) WILL +7 (+1 Wis, +6) Skills: 52 r=13 pp Bluff 15 (+15) Disguise 5 (+5/+25) Knowledge (Life Sciences) 10 (+10) Languages 1 (Spanish) (Base: English) Notice 4 (+5) Sense Motive 9 (+10) Stealth 8 (+10) Feats: 14 pp Attack Focus: Melee (4) Dodge Focus (4) Fearless Power Attack Second Chance (Disguise checks) Takedown Attack Ultimate Save (Will) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 76 pp Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp] Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp] Flight 5 (250 MPH) [Dynamic] [10+1+2=13 pp] DAP: Super-Strength 5 (Heavy Load: 48 tons) Immunity 12 (Aging, Life Support, Sleep, Starvation and Thirst) [12 pp] Impervious TOU 10 [10 pp] Morph 4 (humanoids) [8 pp] Regeneration 2 (Resurrection 2 [1/day]) (PFs: Persistent, Regrowth) [4 pp] Drawbacks: -4 pp Vulnerable (vs. fire) (common, moderate) [-4 pp] costs abilities 18 + combat 24 + saves 9 + skills 13/52 + feats 14 + powers 76 -drawbacks 4= 150 pts ---- Design Notes: I don't recall how Black Orchid came up in chat, but checking her out on Wikipedia gave me a Batman/Superman hybrid who is also a living plant. It seemed worth building, so I did it! Her background's a little dark and gritty for our site, given that she is a child of early Vertigo, but I think you could come up with something interesting based on her early and contemporary (i.e. non-Iron Age) adventures. Murdered by her abusive husband, Black Orchid was revived by a good buddy scientist of hers with plant powers. Now she's a flying brick who's also a good sneak and great infiltrator, using her formidable abilities to fight crime and make sure no one was ever victimized as she was. If something bad does happen, that's okay; she'll just regrow underground in her greenhouse and fly out again in a day or so, ready to give one heck of a surprise to that baddie who thought he'd disposed of the Black Orchid. I went with making her Morph a power rather than just high Disguise; I figure it (and her other powers) are the result of moving her plant-based cells around as camouflage. Normally I don't give Impervious to Sentient Plant types, but bullets bouncing off the chest of a Superman expy are too iconic a moment to turn down. Like most of my plant-based builds, she is vulnerable to fire, but of course it doesn't actually kill her for good: getting set on fire just lets her come back later, new and revitalized and ready to take on new challenges. You know what would be kind of awesome, is if you took this character and made her a visitor from a grim, gritty other dimension where everyone talks in Britishisms and there's lots of really 'adult' magic, and now she's really happy to be in a nice, happy Silver Age setting like Freedom City. (Take that, Vertigo! Bam!) Coming from a rough background like that could give you the grim origin without the fridging stuff, and give you lots of complications as you adjust to the necessities of superheroing in a neo-Silver Age setting. (What does that mean? Well, look at it this way: it's like the Silver Age, but not stories written for hyperactive nine-year-old Baby Boomers reading Superman laugh in Lois Lane's face, while desperately hoping that someone will invent the Sexual Revolution before they get too old to enjoy it.) Look, she's a master of disguise plant paragon. What more do you want? Well OK: she could use more Regeneration if you don't want her constantly respawning at her greenhouse when she's getting into bad times, and maybe fewer immunities if you don't want her to be a space-going plant paragon. (I just liked the image of her being like interstellar seaweed if necessary.) Plants aren't actually immune to things like starvation and thirst, of course, but those things are pretty hard to emulate in M&M: it's not quite fine-tuned enough to get that kind of distinction. She get her powers from some kind of crazy connection to the plant dimension, go with that! Think about what it means to be empowered by the very substance of plants, and how it might influence your behavior. Remember, she's Batman and Superman before she's some hippie, though! She could use higher attributes, too, but if you take this as her just starting out with what were once a bystander's skills, she's fine.

Sharl drifted over to get to work, firing up the deep genetic scanners while Miss A and Cole talked. He made sure _not_ to pass through any of the machinery here, having had some painful lessons already about the consequences of that both to the machinery and his own magnetically-projected body: which was to say, it hurt like hell! "All ready here, Miss A. I'll get the magnetic scanners going as soon as I'm out of the way. And to answer your question, Cole," he called, "there's a projector system for me all over the Lab so I can fly around and be solid when I want to. I've got a portable one I can carry around with me, but it's much easier to hook up to something else. They're actually building a system for me over at Claremont right now, for when I start in the fall."

"It's...it's a lot to think about," Mark admitted. "I spent a lot of my life not really thinking about my powers, not ever trying to develop them, and when they just sort of ramped up the last few years, I wasn't really sure what to do about it. I mean..." He shifted uncomfortably. "I haven't found a lot of things I _can't_ do, just things that are too hard for me to do right now. And that's scary to me. I mean, I'm a good person, I use my powers to help people. But I've seen what happens when powers like this aren't used to help. And I worry about being that kind of person." He put his hands around his teacup as if trying to keep himself warm. "Being thoughtful about things isn't something I know how to do. But it seems like all I can do is think about this."

"Miss Americana is a genius," agreed Sharl without hesitation. "She's the smartest person I've ever met, or ever heard of, and she's a great person too. A lot of her work is in the field of cybernetics; she makes artificial limbs and organs for people who need replacements. Right now we're working on...well, I can't talk about it!" he grinned, "but she's working on something with the heroine Dragonfly and myself that's going to totally revolutionize cybernetics and treating sick people." He beamed, then added, a little more seriously, "Well, uh, I'm really more of just Miss A's assistant. I know a lot about computers, but I'm not really a scientist myself. I'm actually a computer-based intelligence. From the Internet," he lied smoothly as the doors slid open. "Ah, here we are!"

"Hah! Good work, shadow-warrior," said the Furion, a smile on his bloody lips as he shifted his weight around. "I may yet see another sunset and more, if we are lucky..." He patted Trevor's shoulder with a hand nearly as large as Midnight's head. "My name is Red Falcon. Many years ago, when the heroes of your world came to the Terminus to fight Omega," he said, referencing the aftermath of the invasion of '65, "I met a man named Rick Lucas. He came to me recently and alerted me, and all the Furions, to Omega's most terrible plot yet." His eyes reddened with rage at the name of the dark lord of the Terminus, subsiding as he winced at the pain. "I was to greet you here and alert you to the danger on the coast, where the forces of the Terminus rule what was once your home, but...I was careless, and forgot that even Omegadrones have eyes. I killed many, and more pursued, but now they will think me dead and report as such to their master." He studied the teens as he said, "Within days, Omega's last great bomb will be ready. If you have come this far, the multiverse may, and I say _may_, yet live if this world dies...but this world, and all stacked on it in this axis, will fall to the lord of the Terminus if he is not stopped."

Ymir, the Radioactive Viking Abilities: 30 pp STR 30 [16] (+10/+3) DEX 14 (+2) CON 30 [16] (+10/+3) INT 18 (+4) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Melee/+12 Blast) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +21/+26 Saves: 7 pp TOU +10 (+10 Con) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +5 (+2 Dex, +3) WILL +7 (+3 Wis, +4) Skills: 36 r=9 pp Intimidate 10 (+10) Knowledge (Physical Sciences) 6 (+10) Knowledge (Technology) 6 (+10) Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 1 (+5) Languages 2 (French, Old Norse) (Base: English) Notice 3 (+5) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Feats: 13 pp Attack Focus (Melee) 4 Dodge Focus 4 Power Attack Precise Shot Quick Change Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 67 pp Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp] Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp] Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp] Immunity 10 (Aging, Life Support) [10 pp] Super-Senses 1 (Low-Light Vision) [1 pp] Super-Strength 1 (Heavy Load: 1.5 tons) [2 pp] Viking Might Array 10 (20pp; PFs: Alternate Power 3) [20+3=23 pp] BE: Blast 8 (PFs: Accurate 3, Precise) AP: Drain Radiation 8 (Extra: Ranged; PFs: Accurate 3, Slow Fade) AP: Enhanced Feats 8 (Extended Reach 2, Improved Crit 2, Incurable, Precise, Variable Descriptor 2 [any energy]), Impervious TOU 10, and PFs on Super-Strength: (Groundstrike, Shockwave [both radiation]) AP: Flight 5 (total of Flight 6 [500 MPH]) and Super-Strength 5 (total of Super-Strength 6; Heavy Load: 48 tons) Abilities 30+Combat 24+Saves 7+Skills 36/9+Feats 13+Powers 67=150 pp ----- Design Notes: Another Wargames build, here's Ymir, the Radioactive Viking! He's Canada's native superhero and one of the most powerful heroes in his native setting, as befits a Thor/Captain Atom mashup. He's a basically amiable guy, but scary if you tick him off. His backstory is this: Ymir was once a scientist in western Canada using a fission reactor to probe other dimensions for sources of power. It was all going great until one day when an overload of unknown energy exploded his equipment, heavily irradiating the scientist and leaving him dying. As he lay there, who should step through the portal from the other dimension but Loki Laufeyson, the Adversary of Asgard? (It turns out that he'd tapped into the dimension where the Aesir had once imprisoned Loki milennia ago) In gratitude for his salvation, Loki healed Ymir's injuries and granted him a measure of his own power before moving on, not incidentally just before his brother showed up determined to give him a savage pummeling. (Ymir and Thor are still on very bad terms after that incident) As someone who enjoys twists on Viking archetypes, I like the cut of Ymir's jib. (I opted not to reproduce the pictures of the character from the Halt Evil Doer supplements and elsewhere where he appears; track them down to get a look at his really awesome look.) I figure he can use his Viking-themed radiation powers in a variety of ways; flying fast and lifting heavy objects, blasting or draining radiation, or summoning a radioactive frost ax and armor and going to town on bad guys. Ymir works for NATO in his own setting, a proud Canadian patriot, but I think he'd work fine as Canada's Flying Brick paragon guy if you want to have one of those in your game. He makes for a fine tweak on the usual Norse mythology, even if you assume as we do that Loki is still a bad guy! Tweaks to one's loyalty are always interesting. He speaks French because he's Canadian, natch. People don't expect the big burly Viking dude to be particularly savvy, but this guy is hella savvy! He'd make an interesting rival for my Military Fairy build upthread, as well as any other Norse-influenced PCs running around. There's nothing to say there can't be good guys on Loki's team, and you can at least make a plausible argument that maybe that old bastard Odin should have his palace pulled down on his head. (OK, maybe not here since Shaen's been rehabilitating the Norse pantheon, but maybe in your own game those wing-headed so and sos can get what they deserve!) Ymir's not really a guy who's obsessed with old religions, though; he's a scientist and adventurer determined to be the best hero he can be, an example for all those Canadian schoolkids who might one day want to grow up to be a radioactive Viking paragon! (And who wouldn't be?)

As Cole walked into the lobby, the Lab secretary nodded a cordial hello. "Good morning," she said sociably. "Someone will be with you in just a moment." And sure enough, someone was. A figure in a black coat flew through the ceiling overhead, giving Cole a chance to get a good look at his greeter. The young man was about his own age, tall and lanky with slicked-back black hair, his eyes hidden by dark glasses, and wore a glowing wi-fi symbol on his chest. His body fuzzed slightly as he passed through the ceiling, but settled back to normality afterwards as he landed on the ground next to him. "Hello, I'm Sharl," said the young man, shaking Cole's hand because that was what humans did. "Welcome to the Lab!" he said with a smile, leading the way to the elevator. "I'm Miss Americana's assistant. Nice to meet you."

Crimson Tarantula PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 28 pp STR 26 [16] (+8/+3) DEX 26 [16] (+8/+3) CON 26 [16] (+8/+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+12 Melee/Spider’s Bite) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +8 Grapple: +20 Saves: 5 pp TOU +8 (+8 Con) FORT +8 (+8 Con) REF +8 (+8 Dex) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 64 r=16 pp Bluff 12 (+15) Intimidate 12 (+15) Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 5 (+5) Knowledge (History) 5 (+5) Language 2 (English, German) (Base: Russian) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 12 (+20) Feats: 18 pp Attack Specialization: Melee 6 Challenge (Fast Feint) Dodge Focus 6 Power Attack Quick Draw [Draw] Stunning Attack Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (olfactory) Powers: 64 pp Device 4 (Spider’s Bite) (Easy to Lose) [12 pp] Blast 8 (PFs: Accurate 3, Precise) [20] Enhanced CON 10 [10 pp] Enhanced DEX 10 [10 pp] Enhanced STR 10 [10 pp] Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp] Immunity 10 (aging, life support) [10 pp] Impervious TOU 8 (Flaw: Not vs. Fire/Silver/Wood) [4 pp] Regeneration 2 (Resurrection 1/day; PF: Regrowth) [3 pp] Super-Senses 3 (Acute Scent, Darkvision) [3 pp] Drawbacks: -6 pp Vulnerable (Wood [Piercing]; uncommon, major) [-3 pp] Vulnerable (vs. light-based Dazzles; uncommon, major) [-3 pp] ------ Design Notes: Here's Crimson Tarantula, one of my favorite characters from the Wargames universe (consisting of Wargames 1-4 and Defcon-1, published by Vigilance Press these days, I believe). Crimson Tarantula's backstory is this: a Soviet agent, she was sent to infiltrate the home of a prominent Romanian aristocrat to investigate strange rumors about his activities. It turned out, however, that said aristocrat was no less than Dracula, King of the Vampires! He saw through her deceptions and made her one of his immortal brides, but her commitment to the values of her mortal life (in this case, her devotion to Soviet Communism and the KGB) were enough to break her vampiric conditioning and fight her way free of Dracula's power. She presented herself to her former masters some months later, and now the superheroes of the Soviet Union include the Crimson Tarantula, an attractive, agile gun bunny who wears a full-body costume when she goes adventuring in daylight. The Wargames books are pretty Iron Age, but in a cheerful sort of way: CT's efforts to maintain her humanity are always getting hamstrung by the KGB's desire to have her just rip the throats out of dissidents and such. You'll have to dial that back some for our game, but I think you can keep the gist of it. She's basically Black Widow infected with Blade-style vampirism; she's a human with a disease rather than actual undead. I figure her Spider's Bite is some kind of high-tech super-gun she's picked up over the years, or was issued during her time in Soviet service: it shoots hard light or laser blasts, or maybe electrical bursts, rather than bullets, and so is fine under Comic Book Science for our site. She's quite a surprise for people expecting an unpowered agent and who get a vampire who can throw men twice her size across the room; she's also quite a surprise for people who may not expect a vampire to be a highly-trained and well-armed spy who responds to a cross by pulling out a gun and blasting them. (She's also based a little on Andy, one of my first M&M characters, a vampire vigilante who used guns to hide his teeth). She's fast, she's beautiful; she's a good ranged combatant and she's very good in melee. If you don't like the idea of her being a long-lived ex-Soviet agent, you could make her transformation of more recent vintage: this build would work fine for an AEGIS agent or a UNISON spook. Give her some Benefits like Security Clearance if she's still a spy for an active agency; AEGIS is pretty broad-minded and if one of their agents became a vampire, they might not necessarily boot them out as long as their behavior was under control. Her nature is a tremendous source of complications, ranging from the Secret of what she is to the Secret of who she works for, all the way up to how it is she gets the blood she needs. Being dependent on a serum of some kind, or on blood secured from blood banks, is probably of equal value to you as a Complication. Note that as written, I'd say her 'bite' represents a use of the Stunning Attack feat rather than Mind Control. She hasn't really developed more than the basic vampire powers, probably out of a concern for her own humanity.

"Bless you, baby," said Freedom Angel, folding his wings in so he didn't get in the way of everybody as they crowded in around the baby. Mindful of the new parents, he didn't want anything to be between Derrick, Stesha, and their little girl that day. He did reach down and lightly touch the newborn on the forehead, just for a moment, looking pleased as he pulled his hand back a second later. "Yes, everything is in order here. Congratulations, Stesha and Derrick. This is a blessed day for everyone. And you too, Mrs. Madison," he added with a smile for Stesha's mom. "A new member for your family, and the family of all people. What a blessed day this is!"

As the haze cleared all around them, the heroes of Young Freedom saw a winner in the struggle overhead: the big gleaming dot suddenly was in a death spiral towards the Earth, towards their location, in fact, while the half-dozen others in the sky turned and headed east. As the heroes pulled themselves out of the debris, the fallen craft crashed to Earth nearby, plunging into an assortment of rusted red pipes that had once been an abstract sculpture hereabouts. Keeping his distance from the broken-off stub of the Space Needle, Mark made his way towards the crash site where he found a bizarre figure and craft waiting for them stretched out on the ground. That had been no spaceship in the air, it had been a bike! Though scored with plasma fire and damaged from the crash landing, the gigantic motorcycle still hummed with the power of an engine that had let it fly through the air, its body large enough to hold a half-dozen people and the alien writing on its surface showing it came from no Earthly garage. Not that any garages on Earth-EZ01 these days were making anything...unable to make heads or tails of the machine, Mark concentrated on the fallen driver: a tall, muscular humanoid with a solid build, his shiny red outfit torn by crash damage and his body equally battered and broken from the fall and wounds that unmistakable came from Omegadrone pikes. Weakly, ignoring the concavity in his stomach that bled an alien purple blood, the rider looked up as the heroes approached. "Young...Young Freedom..." He coughed, his voice a shadow of what had once been heartiness. "I greet you on behalf of the Furions...my apologies for my appearance, but I was...I was not quite as clever as I thought I was over Freedom City. But the enemy will think me dead, and not trouble you here for the moment...and I think a moment is all I have..."

Continued from >Leaves from the Vine Earth-Z-Omega-1 Edge froze in shock as the toppling tower came down right where he was! Unable to dodge in time, instead he stood his ground and fired back. "NO!" His eyes glowing black, he fired straight upwards as the reality of this dead world warped around him at his will. He would not die because of a falling building! Mark Lucas would not let this, or anything else, stop his friends in their efforts to save all of existence from the dark machinations of Omega! At his command, the falling debris broke around him like a tide breaking around a rock, the so-small clear zone around him the only island of sanity beneath the avalanche of falling steel, concrete, and glass. A falling brick bounced against his back, knocking him to his knees, but Mark did not fall as the collapsing debris fell around him, his powers warping the very air and very rocks to keep his friends from being buried by the avalanche, even if he wasn't able to save all of them from the damage produced by the collapsing Needle. Before he even focused on the aerial battle, he called out over the echoes of the collapse, "Young Freedom! Sound off!"

The last things. Please make sure to carefully note all HP expenditure in this thread in the OOC. I'll call the collapsing space needle a rank 15 Area attack. I need Reflex saves vs. 25, please. 24 Unfortunately, Mark only has one rank of Evasion, so he takes full damage. DC 30 save. He spends an HP on his Ultimate TOU and passes.