Avenger Assembled

"I...knew Zephyr," replied Fusion, her voice metallic and echoey inside the suit. It was hard to tell if this was Joan, or someone else who'd taken up the legacy. "She was one of my Claremont students. But she would have been born well after 2011 in almost any reality." She sounded tense, they all did, and Amaryllis was ostentatiously studying her teleport beacon as if she was trying to stay out of a conversation that didn't directly involve her. "Was there a time travel incident on your world recently?" "As for who briefed me...well," replied Lucky Strike, "a few days ago, another version of my grandfather contacted me. He said I needed to meet versions of...my parents and their friends from the past to save the world. My friends were in town because of the work and they all had a connection to you." "...wait, Rick Lucas is your grandfather?" asked Mark, his eyes widening as he took in what had happened here. "You're my daughter?!" "...yeah, sort of, Mark," replied the lucky powerhouse a little diffidently, running her hand through her hair in a familiar gesture. "But that's not really important right now, schway? We've got the bomb on lockdown in Freedom Hall, and we need to get there now before anyone else pops in."

Punch 1 Staggered and Stunned Punch 2 Unconscious

The visit to the future

Continued from >Familiar Faces Earth C-Future-2 With just enough warning to grab what they needed, Young Freedom slipped from one world to another in the early morning light of a clear summer's day. Within moments, they found themselves in a new world: this time in suburban Kingston, right under the WELCOME TO KINGSTON sign installed just a few years ago by the City Council. Pulling his costume all the way on, Mark pushed his thoughts about his father out of his head and looked around. It looked like everyone was dressed and in costume, though no one had had much warning about getting their clothes on and ready to go. For a moment, he thought they'd somehow solved everything and gone back to their world: Kingston in 2035 didn't look that different. Sure, the car in the suburban garage they were next to looked electric and had the sleek, efficient lines of something from a science fiction movie or car company special showroom, and sure the billboard down the street was a shimmering spectacle of light. It took him a few moments to take in the black. Black banners were hanging on every house, each with a date emblazoned in silver: 6/21/2034: NEVER FORGET! Turning around, he gasped at the sight of Freedom City; shining towers rose high in a monument to futurity, but every single one was under repair, with the marks of devastation visible even from this distance to his inexpert eyes. What had happened here, and what were they rebuilding from? Before he could react to the grim monument in suburbia and the recovering city before them, suddenly there was a cascade of light in front of them on the green lawn and five superheroes formed up out of what was obviously a very advanced teleporter's beam. In the lead of the largely female group was a >tall brunette in white and blue, a pair of dice on her costume's chest showing snake eyes. Next to her was a >muscular young man in all black, long ribbons extending from the back of his head like a novel kind of cape, a familiar symbol on his chest. Next to him was a young woman >Corbin almost recognized, her face like the young woman he'd met who claimed to be his daughter, but with a costume subtly different, more like Quo-Dis' than anything else and cast in purple from the ring on her finger. In the rear were two older women; >one with green hair and a purple and black outfit, and behind her a gleaming metal battlesuit with waving metallic tentacles like a robotic octopus. The group eyed each other for a moment before the ring-bearing girl said, her serious look suddenly cracking to pain, "You'd...you'd better be who you look like!" "Stand down, Vril Knight," said the dice lady, giving her ally a serious look before looking at the others, shooting a wide-eyed glance at Erin and Mark before mastering her own facial expression. "I'm Lucky Strike. Welcome to 2035, Young Freedom. We've been briefed on why you're here and we've located your target. Please, remember that you're from the past of an alternate world." It sounded like she was talking to her own team as much as Young Freedom. "You can't...you can't change what you see here. This is Midnight, Vril Knight, Amaryllis, and Fusion. We're here to help you get to Freedom Hall safely." "Call me Psilent," replied 'Midnight', his voice raspy and dry, with just the faint hint of a French accent. "While he's here."

Early the next morning, Mark woke up to the realization someone was watching him sleep, and that someone was his father. His double had crashed in the room opposite in their little clubhouse, sleeping on the shag carpet so Mark could enjoy the comforts of a bed before he went off to save the multiverse. "Dad?" Anger was forgotten in the moment, given the work his father and Oliver were doing to save the multiverse from total destruction. "What's going on?" "You're doing really well, son," said Rick. "I knew you could do it." He was smiling, a little, anyway. "I've always known you'd be a better hero than I was, and you've certainly proven me right." "...thanks, Dad," said Mark, who couldn't look his father in the eye after saying so much and telling him that his father hadn't started acting heroic until very, very recently. He concentrated on getting dressed, glancing at the clock as he did so with a wince. God, was everyone else awake, probably ready to yell at him for sleeping in so late when they were supposed to be saving the world."It's not me, anyway, it's the others who are saving the day. I'm just helping. But how are you even here? Shouldn't you be with the-" "I stole a moment. Listen, Mark..." Reaching into his pocket, Rick took something out and showed it to Mark: a sparkly, glittery ball the size of a marble on the end of a short black baton like a magician's wand. "With everything that's happening, we may not have another moment, and I don't want you to be surprised This will be in my study when everything's done. When everything's done, go find it and keep it safe. It's...it's something from me. Something better than me. Please." There was a plea in his father's voice, one that made Mark nod. "All right. All right, I'll do it. If you're here, does that mean we need to..." END OF PART FOUR Continued in >Leaves from the Vine

Nick O'Time PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 38 pp STR 26 (+8) DEX 14 (+2) CON 20 (+5) INT 14 (+2) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+12 Sonic Blast/Melee) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +20 Saves: 15 pp TOU +8 (+5 Con, +3 Costume) FORT +8 (+5 Con, +3) REF +8 (+2 Ref, +6) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 17 pp=68 r Acrobatics 13 (+15) Climb 2 (+10) Craft (Mechanical) 4 (+6) Intimidate 10 (+10) Knowledge (Technology) 8 (+10) Knowledge (Streetwise) 2 (+4) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 13 (+15) Feats: 18 pp Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus: Melee 6, Dodge Focus 6, Evasion, Move-By Action Power Attack Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 39 pp Device 6 (Nick O’Time Costume) (Hard to Lose) (PFs: Restrictedx2, Subtle) [27 pp] -Blast 8 (PFs: Accurate 3, Improved Crit, Precise) [21+1=22] -AP: Autofire and Penetrating on Unarmed Damage and Enhanced Feats 4 (Extended Reach, Improved Crit 2, Precise) on Unarmed Damage 'sonic sword' -Protection 3 [3] -Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1] -Super-Movement 2 (Slow Fall, Wall-Crawling) [4] Immunity 6 (sleep, sonic damage) [6 pp] Super-Senses 3 (Accurate Hearing, Time Sense) [3 pp] costs abilities 38+ combat 24 + saves 15 + skills 17/68 + feats 18+ powers 39 = 150 pts -- Design Notes: Erik L. Hunter grew up with the taunts of his classmates: his mom was a cripple, his mom was gay, he was biracial and neither of them had much money. He learned to deal with being thought of as a freak, even though it always made him silently brood. Learning to fight helped him deal with bullies, but it didn't do much to change what he was _really_ worried about, becoming like his father. His father, a shady businessman and entrepreneur, had abandoned his mother when Erik himself had been just a small boy, unable to deal with her bisexuality when it became a threat to his masculinity, not to mention the fact that the demands of her hero work would always have to come first. That left his mom, the Iron Age Nick O'Time and granddaughter of the Golden Age hero of that name, without a support system, and when she was shot in the back while breaking up a gay bashing, she was permanently paralyzed by the time the EMTs found her. He was determined not to leave his mother the way his father had, and he decided to prove to her that she didn't have to worry anymore about the heroic legacy she thought her own failures had ruined. What better way to show her that he would always be there for her than to fight in her name? Having inherited a measure of his mother's powers, though not her full mutant potential, he trained in secret and built his own Nick O'Time costume, a cunningly-crafted suit cast in the style of his late grandfather that let him fire the sonic blasts his mom had once used while wearing it, and then took to the streets as a superhero! His mom has always been in his corner since, and she's helped guide him towards a mature understanding of his mission. He met Walkabout early on after her arrival on Earth-Prime, and the two have been close ever since. Okay, here's a Jack of all Blade/Midnight II/Wail mashup: he's a biracial hero with sonic powers and a really big sword! I figure the first Nick O'Time was something of a Golden Age swashbuckling action hero, while his granddaughter was his Captain Ethnic Bronze Age/Iron Age successor, and this Nick has adopted the sword style as well as his mother's sonic powers to great effect. I figure his sonic sword power represents channeling sonic energy into the blade he carries as part of his costume, giving him a buzzing blade that cuts through almost anything like a buzzsaw. It's super-effective! Between that and his sonic blast, he's also a pretty effective ranged fighter. He's also a really good scout with built-in 'sonar', and in fact could fight in pitch darkness if he so desired. (I deliberately did _not_ give him a Dazzle as part of his costume thanks to his own reliance on sonic powers, but he could easily stunt that off his big array) It's up to you how much protection his immunity gives him against sonic damage: it's not clear to me he wouldn't be blasted off his feet by, say, Wail's sonic scream even if the sonic vibrations themselves couldn't hurt him. Still, maybe he has the innate ability to vibrate along with it. Consider sonic knockback as a possible complication and source of free HP! In his costume, which I figure is powered by vibrations, he can vibrate himself to move at great speed and leap very high, so fast he can cling to solid objects without falling off them! You could make him a flier easily enough, though. His sleep immunity has the coffee descriptor, natch. His mom was a super-strong blaster in my mind (perhaps with some Innate Density!), so he inherited a peak human body from her. The idea of someone using technology to compensate for powers they 'should' have is an old one; this could work as a hero who has lost his powers and is making them up elsewhere, or one who for whatever reason is trying to give the appearance of having innate abilities he does not have. The Subtle on his costume represents that it's a skintight Guardian/Booster Gold-esque combat suit, and doesn't look like it gives him any superpowers until you give it a close inspection. Change the names up and keep the tradition and backstory, and I really do think this build works as is! In my mind, his family was one of the first black superheroic legacies, and he's determined to live up to that legacy while at the same time forging his own traditions. Legacies are a great source of Complications, whether immortal girlfriends of the last person to hold the crown or just old enemies who still hold a grudge after all these years. He's got good all-around saves, and he's good everywhere in general. The energy powers could easily be shifted into another direction, giving him a different sort of focus (and probably different super-senses to boot), but of course keeping the sonic theme intact is a natural part of the mashup this is supposed to be.

Dangerproof PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 36 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 18 (+4) CON 20 (+5) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+9 Melee/+15 Unarmed) DEF: +15 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +4 Grapple: +14 Saves: 9 pp TOU +5 (+5 Con) FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF +6 (+4 Dex, +2) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 72 r=18 pp Acrobatics 1 (+5) Bluff 8 (+10) Climb 5 (+10) Diplomacy 8 (+10) Disable Device 10 (+10) Drive 1 (+5) Intimidate 8 (+10) Knowledge (History) 5 (+5) Language 1 (Ancient Egyptian) (Base: English) Pilot 1 (+5) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 8 (+10) Survival 3 (+5) Swim 5 (+10) Feats: 17 pp Attack Focus: Melee 1 Attack Specialization: Unarmed 3 Beginner’s Luck Dodge Focus 7 Evasion Fearless Power Attack Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 38 pp Immunity 40 (all lethal damage) (Flaw: Converts to Non-Lethal) [20 pp] Regeneration 16 (+9 Recovery Bonus [5], Bruised [no action] 3, Staggered [no action] 6, Resurrection 1/week [1] (PFs: Persistent, Regrowth)) [18 pp] costs abilities 36 + combat 32 + saves 9 + skills 18/72 + feats 17 + powers 38 = 150 pts ------ Design Notes: Here's my build for the Man Who Cannot Be Killed, that two-fisted pulp adventurer, Ace Harris, Dangerproof! He's got the skills and feats he needs to be a two-fisted man of action, a gentleman adventurer who travels the world, seduces fine ladies, and punches Nazis and other bad guys in the face. His low TOU means that a Nazi who sneaks up behind him can coldcock him into unconsciousness, but he'll just wake up tied to an idol to listen to the crazy bad guy's rants, poke him in the eye, and then escape with his latest amour on a rowboat as the Nazi base on Skull Island blows up behind him. This isn't a bad build for the Two-Fisted Adventurer from the Golden Age, ramped up significantly to be a PL 10 character. Of course, he has a pretty good secret for how he does that: he cannot be killed at all! Bullets just knock him out and explosions just toss him around, and even if he is killed by some arcane means he'll be back in time for the sequel and ready to kick some Nazi butt. A Phalanx/Ace Danger Amalgam! He's tough to kill! The best way to do it would be a long-term Drain Con, but even that'll wear off eventually. He doesn't have Immunity to aging, since as written this isn't a character who actually has been around since the Golden Age. That'll be easy enough to give him, though, especially since you probably want to have Immunity to aging when you have Resurrection, otherwise in about fifty years you are going to be pretty unhappy with the eternity stretching out before you. Immunity to lethal damage is a pretty powerful ability, but on the other hand he's still feeling every hit, it's just not going to kill him. Consider surviving a nuclear blast inside a refrigerator: you'll be fine eventually! Given that non-lethal is the default anyway in our game, he's still going to get knocked out and ranted to all the time. And of course, as per our house rules, he doesn't have Regeneration vs. Unconscious, so if he does get coldcocked he'll be out as long as anyone else. He's certainly not free from the possibility of danger, given that if he gets buried in an avalanche or something he is _booooned_. If he gets blown out to sea, he'll probably drift around forever until he washes ashore on some deserted island...which, come to think of it, is how it usually works with these sorts of heroes anyway! His lack of movement powers means that the best way to give him a long-term bad time is to throw him somewhere or put him in a hostile environment; he won't die from being in the lava, but the hostile environment will eventually put him down for quite a long time. He could use some Impervious, I suppose, but then how will he get all ruggedly bruised and battered in his combat with Nazi goons? If you don't like the two-fisted pulp adventurer angle, I could see this as a police officer too; perhaps an FCPD bomb squad officer who survived an accident on the job and got some power to go with it: in fact the original inspiration for the crunch was John McClane.

Lucky Star PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 22 pp STR 10 (+0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 14 (+2) INT 10 (+0) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 22 (+6) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Blast) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +6 Saves: 18 pp TOU +10 (+2 Con, +8 Protection) FORT +6 (+2 Con, +4) REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4) WILL +10 (+0 Wis, +10) Skills: 15 pp=60 r Bluff 14 (+20) Diplomacy 14 (+20) Knowledge: History 5 (+5) Languages 3 (English, German, Spanish) (Base: French) Perform (pop music) 4 (+10) Notice 8 (+8) Sense Motive 10 (+10) Feats: 19 pp Attack Specialization: Blast (2) Benefit 3 (Fame [pop star], Wealth 2 [realistically rich]) Dodge Focus (4) Fearless Inspire (5) Set-Up Taunt Ultimate Save (TOU) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 52 pp Fortune Array [22+3=25 pp] Blast 10 (PFs: Variable Descriptor 2 [any accident]) AP: Damage 10 (Extra: Targeted Area [Cone]) (PFs: Variable Descriptor 2 [any accident]) AP: Drain INT 10 (Extra: Range [Perception]) (Flaw: Sense-Dependent [auditory]) (PFs: Reversible, Subtle) AP: Teleport 7 (700 ft/200 miles) (Extra: Accurate) (PF: Progression [250 lbs]) 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] Protection 8 [8 pp] costs abilities 22 + combat 24 + saves 18 + skills 15/60 + feats 19 + powers 52 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Edge and Seraph's daughter grew up at her mother's country estate in France, after her mom was sent back to France in the wake of a quietly hushed-up teen pregnancy scandal. Young Lucky Star was fortunate enough to be wealthy, beautiful, and greatly powerful, with the downside that her mother's influence and her dad's occasional visits didn't do much to hold up her sanity. When you get everything you want, it's hard to worry too much about the future, or even make a lot of plans for the present. She could easily have become a villain, but luckily she adopted enough of her parents' values to become a hero: and what a hero! She's not just France's greatest hero, she's a teen pop star beloved by millions of screaming teenagers across the world, a gorgeous pop princess with incredible superpowers. Her deeply skewed view of the world actually works to her favor, letting her stay moral even when surrounded by ridiculous wealth and power, and in fact she's so odd when you really get to know her that if you hear her talk it actually can make your brain seize up. She gets by just fine, though, and that particular power is one she hasn't even noticed she possesses. It makes a great complement to her inspiring speeches in combat, though! Luckily her inner charm and personal warmth (and tremendous wallet) helps her have a lot of friends, even if they realize she's a very special sort of person. Woof. This is a powerful character, thanks both to her luck control and tremendous social-fu, and she'd made a dandy antagonist if you want to cast her as a spoiled Eurotrash princess playing at hero, backed up with tremendous wealth and power to cover her shortcomings as a human being. She'd make a great Queen Bee for a Hero High setting, too, particularly if she's still performing on the side, and quite a social antagonist for a whole group of teen heroes. (She's not likely to be a _real_ threat, though; too dangerous for her image! Unless she finds a chance to break into the supervillainy market.) But I think this Oddball works just fine as a pop superhero; a diva who genuinely does care about the community and wanting to make a better place for her fans. She's cheerful, she's perky, she's impossible to scare, and she will never stop believing in the sheer power of the human spirit or caring about the friends who love her and who she loves with all her heart. (If you don't like the "making you go mad" angle, she's a natural for Emotion Control.) Innocence and naivete may get a bad rap, but there are plenty of worse qualities out there. It's a safe bet you won't be able to keep the Oddball's backstory, but I think there's a lot of merit to this character's sheet and the general concept of pop princess turned heroine. (I've used it before, but why not come back to the well?) Obviously you can tweak the sheet too: in particular, you could give her the Probability Control that makes such a nice augment to Luck Control. But in my (admittedly limited to just one character) experience, Probability Control just doesn't come up as often as Luck Control. And besides, you can use the points to buy so many other exciting things! You don't have to make her a blaster, either, you could make her a more straightforward badass normal with higher combat scores. Either way, don't be afraid to chew the scenery a bit: Luck Controllers should be about _personality!_ Her mom had Healing, that's certainly a perky bubblegum enough power for her to have, but she's more of the area-wrecking machine that her dad is in combat. The Fort save on her Drain INT is deliberate; think SAN loss from Call of Cthulhu for the mechanics of a too-smart mind going mad from the sound of her voice.

15 ...WTF. He's just standing there stunned, fully taunted and savagely beaten, and he's...WTF. I don't even know. He's still stunned. Gabriel is up. I've got nothing here folks.

Everybody, have an HP. Gaian Knight is up.

Taunt failure (i.e. he failed vs. the Taunt) 11 Stunned!

Punch 1: Bruised and stunned again Punch 2: Wow! Okay, he's bruisedx3 and stunned again. Jill is up.

Magnetic Avenger Abilities: 38 pp STR: 18 (+4) DEX: 18 (+4) CON: 18 (+4) INT: 12 (+1) WIS: 18 (+4) CHA: 14 (+2) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Magnetic Control/Melee) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +8 Grapple: +10/+14 Saves: 9 pp TOU: +10 (+4 Con, +6 Protection) FORT: +7 (+4 Con, +3) REF: +7 (+4 Ref, +3) WILL: +7 (4 Will, +3) Skills: 20 pp=80 r Acrobatics 6 (+10) Bluff 8 (+10) Diplomacy 4 (+6) Gather Information 5 (+7) Intimidate 8 (+10) Investigate 4 (+5) Knowledge: History 4 (+5) Knowledge: Streetwise 4 (+5) Knowledge: Tactics 4 (+5) Languages 3 (English, Spanish, French) (Base: German) Notice 6 (+10) Sense Motive 6 (+10) Stealth 4 (+8) Feats: 19 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee 4 Dodge Focus 4 Equipment Evasion Improved Initiative Leadership Master Plan 2 Move-By Action Startle Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 40 pp Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp] Magnetic Mastery Array [24+5=29 pp] Damage 10 (Extra: Penetrating) (PFs: Extended Reach, Improved Crit, Precise, Variable Descriptor 1 [any metal]) AP: Damage 6 (Extra: Autofire [2]) (PFs: Accurate 2, Extended , Mighty, Precise, Variable Descriptor 1 [any metal]) AP: Magnetic Control 16 (Heavy Load: 800 tons) (Flaw: Duration [Concentration] on 7-16) (PFs: Indirect 3, Subtle) AP: Move Object 7 (Extras: Range [Perception]) (PFs: Indirect 2, Precise, Subtle) AP: Snare 10 (PFs: Accurate 2, Improved Crit, Subtle) Impervious TOU 8 (Flaw: Not When Flat-Footed) [4 pp] Protection 6 [6 pp] Equipment: [5 ep] Big Knife (Strike 3 (PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty) ) --- Design Notes: Here's a rough take on Magneto, circa the events of X-Men: First Class. He's a very different character than his comic book/later movie self, one whose powers are more of a supplement to his physical prowess and skills than an actual replacement for them. He's much more likely to pull out his knife when confronted with a gang of Nazi hooligans, only pulling his powers out when put in serious jeopardy by Nazi thugs and other hooligans. He's competent enough to pursue Nazis all across Europe and into the Americas, a deadly hand-to-hand fighter who just happens to have some incredible surprises on hand, particularly when working in a world without superhumans. He hasn't yet figured out what kind of man he is, but his discovery of what it is to be a mutant throughout the movie will figure prominently into the character's evolution. His Magnetic Control was chosen after a brief study of WWII military equipment's weight; those of you who have seen the movie will know the one I mean. This is probably Magneto near the film's ending: those of you who've seen the movie will probably remember the particular scenes I had in mind when looking at his various magnetic alternate powers: I found his use of barbed wire as a Snare an especially evocative way of showing that while he's not yet a crusader for mutant supremacy, he's certainly not messing around even with opponents who he doesn't actually want dead. When he evolves into his truly powerful self, his strong skills and physical attributes will make him all the more threatening to his enemies. He's also a pretty competent leader and planner, as seen in the movie's climax and of course what happens later when he finally goes his own way. (Really trying to avoid a lot of spoilers here!) I put the emphasis on his skills (and gave him the knife) because in the scene where he _thinks_ he's about to end the movie (pretty early in its run) he seems to be planning to cut a dude. His really _big_ trick at the end of the movie should be repped by spending the many HP he's accumulated thanks to the many Complications he's had invoked in previous scenes; the man had a lot going on! (He's really the Hero of the movie, with Charles as his increasingly unhappy Lancer). His Impervious TOU is a good way to show him deflecting bullets: he has to be paying attention to pull off making them bounce off him, but he's tough enough that he could take a few hits from them even while not paying attention. (It's my way of using our revised version of Defensive Roll, but just for Impervious TOU rather than all the character's Toughness). I think this build would work great as a low-grade superagent-type, a guy who has superpowers but who primarily gets where he's going thanks to his agency training. Not everyone is going to be the world's most powerful mutant, so using your abilities to land a good solid government job using your magnetic powers to beat up bad guys is just fine. And who wouldn't want to go beat up Nazis and look good doing it?

Atlantean Monarch PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 36 pp STR 30 [20] (+10/+5) DEX 16 (+3) CON 30 [20] (+10/+5) INT 12 (+1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Unarmed) DEF: +6 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +21 Saves: 7 pp TOU +14 (+10 Con, +4 Protection) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +5 (+3 Ref, +2) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 14 pp=56 r Bluff 8 (+10)* Diplomacy 2 (+4) Intimidate 13 (+15)* Knowledge (Civics) 4 (+5) Knowledge (History) 4 (+5) Knowledge (Life Sciences) 4 (+5) Language 1 (English) (Base: Atlantean) Notice 8 (+10)* Sense Motive 8 (+10)* Feats: 16 pp All-Out Attack Attack Specialization: Unarmed (2) Benefit (King of Atlantis) Challenge (Fast Startle) Environmental Adaptation (Underwater) Fearless Improved Initiative Leadership Move-By Action Power Attack Quick Change Startle Takedown Attack Skill Mastery (Bluff, Intimidate, Notice, Sense Motive) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 55 pp Comprehend 2 (speak to and understand sea life) [2 pp] Enhanced CON 10 [10 pp] Enhanced STR 10 [10 pp] Immunity 4 (aging, drowning, environmental cold, high pressure) [4 pp] Impervious Toughness 10 [10 pp] Protection 4 [4 pp] Super-Senses 2 (Darkvision) [2 pp] Super-Strength 5 [Dynamic] [Heavy Load: 24 tons] [10+1+2=13 pp] DAP: Flight 5 (250 MPH) Drawbacks: 2 pp Vulnerable (dessication attacks) (uncommon, moderate) [-2 pp] costs abilities 36 + combat 24 + saves 7 + skills 14/56 + feats 16 + powers 55 - drawback 2 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Look, I don't want to take sides in the conflict between fans of Namor and Aquaman. Suffice it to say that Namor is a much better character in every way, and Aquaman sucks. Anyway, here's my build for the King of Atlantis, a short-tempered brawler with a penchant for punching surfacers so hard. He flies around, perhaps on little ankle wings, lifts tremendous weights thanks to his underwater heritage, and shrugs bullets off his broad, muscular chest while speechifying about surfacers and all they've done to his beloved Atlantis. Characters like this are a long-time staple of comics; personally, I much prefer the two-fisted half-naked king (with the blue-skinned inhuman subjects) to the undersea Aryan guy. In a PL 8 Golden Age campaign, he also makes a great rampaging monster, one that'll force you to call in that flaming robot guy to help save the day. Treat him as one of those old-timey monarch types, quick to anger and forgive all at once: King Arthur et al. may have been good leaders and heroes and all, but they have been pretty difficult to deal with, especially if there are significant cultural problems afoot like not really getting how surface romance works. How to finesse this guy in a Freedom City campaign, given that we already know about the Atlantean royal family? A few ideas come to mind: maybe make him one of the barbarian warlords the book talks about, perhaps a people kicked out of Atlantis thanks to their Deep One heritage. Perhaps Atlantis has been rather dishonest as a polity over the years, and what makes those 'barbarians' so wicked is that they are in fact not loyal to the Atlantean state, or perhaps they practice a religion all their own. Or maybe he's just a brawling member of the royal family, the son of a surfacer who overcompensates for his daddy issues by being the biggest, toughest guy on the block. It's up to you what kind of benefit being Atlantean royalty gives a PC in your campaign. As with my Black Prince build, he's probably better off as the crown prince given that there are some pretty heavy responsibilities behind royalty. Or just say that Atlantis doesn't have universal authority under the sea, and perhaps this fine royal fellow is from the Pacific? Having once been a villain is certainly a great source of Complications, even if you've since removed that stain from your character via decades of hard-working heroism. A good environmental crusader has a lot to deal with even in a fairly nice setting like Freedom City: so much pollution! I've treated any power loss out of water as a Complication rather than a Drawback, given that Freedom City is a coastal city. Don't forget that Flight defaults to Swimming underwater, giving him a still-healthy underwater cruising speed of around 100 MPH. Just fast enough to catch those dang U-Boats. Treat his vulnerability as being towards anything that could reasonably dry him out: ideally he should be covered in water at all times, or at least often quite wet. If surfacers don't understand your skimpy costume, perhaps it is because they are simply jealous that you are built like the king you are, and unafraid to show the surfacers how an Atlantean warrior looks!

Walkabout PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 38 pp STR 26 (+8) DEX 14 (+2) CON 20 (+5) INT 14 (+2) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+12 Melee) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +20 Saves: 15 pp TOU +8 (+5 Con, +3 Protection) FORT +8 (+5 Con, +3) REF +8 (+2 Ref, +6) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 18 pp=72 r Climb 2 (+10) Computers 3 (+5) Craft (Chemical) 8 (+10) Knowledge (Life Sciences) 5 (+7) Knowledge (Physical Sciences) 3 (+5) Knowledge (Technology) 3 (+5) Language 3 (Chinese, Russian, Spanish) (Base: English) Medicine 3 (+5) Notice 13 (+15) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 13 (+15) Survival 8 (+10) Feats: 17 pp Attack Focus: Melee 6, Dodge Focus 6, Equipment, Move-By Action Power Attack Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 39 pp Concealment 10 (all senses) (Duration: Permanent [+0]) (Flaws: Machines Only, Passive) [5 pp] Immunity 6 (aging, disease, poison, starvation and thirst, suffocation) [6 pp] Plant Control Array [22+2=24 pp] Create Object 10 (Duration (Permanent) [+0]) (PFs: Innate, Selective) AP: Healing 8 (PFs: Persistent, Regrowth, Stabilize) AP: Teleport 7 (700 ft/200 miles) (Extra: Accurate, PF: Turnabout) Protection 3 [3 pp] Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1/week) [1 pp] Equipment: 5 ep Grapple Gun (Super-Movement 2 (Slow Fall, Swinging) and Speed 1 (10 MPH)) [5 ep] costs abilities 38+ combat 24 + saves 15 + skills 18/72 + feats 17+ powers 39 = 150 pts ---- Design Notes: Stesha White-Evans hardly noticed when the nanite plague broke out. Antisocial and insular, she was perfectly happy with her job at the Morton Arborteum near Chicago and could have spent her whole life working there among her beloved plants if her life, and everyone else's, hadn't been changed forever when an alien bomb from the stars detonated over Freedom City and began changing everything. The nanites were everywhere, infecting all organic life and transforming it into a mechanical, efficient, soulless thing. Suspicious of authority figures after years of living under the tyrannical thumb of her domineering mother, she used her scientific training to see through Daedalus' 'vaccine' and realize the world was being lied to: she hastily cobbled together a counteragent in her basement laboratory and injected it into herself, and spent days sweating and gasping on her floor as the treatment changed her inside and out, only to emerge and find that she'd been only too right about Daedalus: the nanite bomb had changed the Freedom League first, and they'd begun the tyrannical technological domination of the Earth by infesting almost every superhero with the soul-destroying probes. After months of struggle that took her across the planet, she realized it was hopeless, and when heroes from Amalgam City arrived she decided to find a new world. Woof. Here's a mashup of Fleur de Joie, Wander, and Gina Evans (the person behind Miss Americana) as a PL 10 starting PC. As you can see, a lot of corners had to be cut! But I think I wound up with an interesting character despite that: she's a very effective infiltrator and scout, and downright lethal versus the machines she spent so much time battling. She's absolutely invisible to machines so long as she's not directly attacking them; a lifesaver when she was a lone hero fighting on in a world going over to machines. I figure her Create Object represents a forest of trees just erupting out of the ground around her, giving her cover to fight in and not incidentally forcibly shoving life right back into the harsh dead world of machines all around her. She can't damage someone directly with the effect, but she could still trap them; i.e., grabbing a whole host of killbots in a forest's limbs as she makes her escape! If you want her to damage something directly with that, let her stunt an Area Damage effect. With her skills and feats, she could easily have survived in and fought back against a world overcome by machine transformation, but ultimately that struggle would probably have been hopeless enough to force her to eventually relocate. Still, all in all she's super-effective! Develop her however you want given her abilities in various areas: up her STR and maybe give her plant-based Super-Strength to play up her powerhouse roots, more INT and skills for her gadgeteer ancestry, and the like. I think this build works just fine as someone empowered by nature to fight technology gone wrong for whatever reason; perhaps she's an environmentalist turned superheroine, or maybe she's a scientist who once worked for a polluter who has turned her back on her former employers in the most spectacular way possible.

"My dad's been in deep space a lot," said Mark reflectively, "I always thought I'd go out into space with him when I was old enough. Maybe meet the Lor, or fight the Grue..." He shrugged as if chasing away a bad memory. "Anyway, where's next? I don't think we can stay on this place forever, though I could change it up a little if you wanted." He hmmed, scratching his chin through his little bubble helmet. "Maybe back to Earth, and taking some of this with us as a way of seeing how much mass I can carry over the super-long-distance trips?"

"Actually, no," said Heyzel, speaking with great clarity despite the sharp object lodged perilously close to his heart. "I specifically helped the prison install anti-divine buffers in order to keep their demonic inmates from burning their way out of their cells. If this form dies, take me outside the walls so that I can resume my connection to the angelic..." He stopped talking when Jill managed to stem the bleeding out his chest, and looked very impressed. "Well, this is marvelous. Thank you, Jill! I shall not pass into that dark kingdom after all. I should not have doubted your skills." For his part, Heyzel's assassin was in a bad way; having been distracted by Jill's taunting and Gaian Knight's savage pummeling, not to mention the attacks he'd been facing from the other heroes. "Snitches get stitches!" he yelled again, flailing around as he tried to come to grips with the earthen swordsman. For their part, the other hostages were shouting at "Marksman" to surrender, his lawyer yelling that the only thing he'd stabbed through the heart was his chance for release before 2050...

Freedom Angel bleeeeds Bad Guy is stunned. Gabe is up

Wrath of God Abilities: 18 pp STR: 10 (+0) DEX: 16 (+3) CON: 16 (+3) INT: 10 (+0) WIS: 16 (+3) CHA: 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 melee) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Grapple: +6 Init: +3 Saves: 11 pp TOU: +10 (+3 Con, +7 Protection) FORT: +5 (+3 Con, +2) REF: +5 (+3 Ref, +2) WILL: +10 (+3 Wis, +7) Feats: 12 pp Attack Focus: Melee (4) Dodge Focus (4) Move-By Action Power Attack Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Skills: 14 pp=56 r Concentration 4 (+7) Intimidate 15 (+15) Notice 12 (+15) Sense Motive 13 (+15) Stealth 12 (+15) Powers: 71 pp Wrath Array [23+3=26 pp] Concealment 10 (Extra: Affects Others) (Flaw: Phantasm) (PFs: Progression 2 [x10 others], Subtle) AP: Damage 10 (Extra: Affects Corporeal) (PFs: Improved Crit, Variable Descriptor 2 [any divine]) AP: Illusion 10 (all senses) (Flaws: Phantasms, Single Target Only) (PFs: Progression 3 [25 ft) AP: Move Object 4 (Extras: Affects Corporeal, Damaging, Range [Perception]) (PFs: Indirect 2, Subtle) Flight 1 (10 MPH) (PF: Subtle) [3 pp] Immunity 12 (aging, life support, sleep, starvation and thirst) [12 pp] Insubstantial 4 (Extra: Duration [Default]) [20 pp] Protection 7 [7 pp] Super-Senses 3 (Darkvision, Tracking [visual]) [3 pp] -------------- Design Notes: Here's a build for the Wrath of God made flesh, the embodiment of divine justice and power made into a grim avenger of evil. This is basically DC's Spectre, but of course much closer to his Golden Age incarnation than the god-like PL-X entity he became later in the comic's history. He's very powerful, and very scary: his Damage power lets him manifest all sorts of horrible punishments for the guilty, while with his Illusion power he can trick them into thinking they've suffered even worse: with his Tracking power, he can hunt them down wherever they run and give them the fate they deserve: the Spectre has traditionally been a very dark character, terrifying in the Golden Age and deep in the Iron Age elsewhere. That doesn't mean you have to play him that way, though: it's God who hands out mortal punishment, after all, while theoretically his agents on Earth are simply there to punish the guilty onto the wrong path: be a scourge of the guilty, not a slayer. The traditional way to portray a character like this is the classic "murdered cop turned divine vigilante", with perhaps the idea that he acted like a superhero because all the powered people around him were doing so. I rather like the Hal Jordan version of the character, though, where this is a fallen hero who died in his sin, or perhaps earned Redemption Through Death, only to discover that he had work to do on the Almighty's behalf before he could wash away the sins of his life. (Frankly, I much prefer the Hal Jordan Spectre to his Geoff Johns revival; he worked much better as a man looking for redemption for his own [admittedly poorly-plotted] sins rather than the guy who got things back and suddenly everything was great again and hooray: but that's a different issue.) If you go that route, figure out who this person used to be, and work on how he found himself working to wipe away his sins. With his Concealment and other abilities, he's a scary, nigh-invincible monster of revenge until he starts encountering other superhumans: perhaps he's started teaming up with other heroes after his mob boss enemies started hiring supervillains to hunt them down? You could upgrade his Super-Senses a bit to make him more like the (surprisingly well-built, at least in some respects) Vengeance Demon in the Iron Age book; if you're going to do that, you could maybe make his Insubstantial 3 rather than 4: that would free you up some points, and he'd still be all but invincible vs. the standard thugs, criminals, and common murderers with whom he is traditionally at war. How much you relate him to his supernatural roots is another story as well, he's much more likely to have Daredevil-style visits to his nearby cathedral than hang out with angels like Zauriel in my mind for this sort of character. Street-level, but so much power!

The heroes wound up staying on the planet of the disco longer than they'd anticipated; an entire night passed for them on the world Mark's dad had created. This wasn't as easy as it sounded: not only there was a lot going on what with the other Breakdown's incarceration and interrogation, but there was the urgent fate of the multiverse to deal with. Still, the fact that as hours went by and the nebbishy scientists of ASTRO Labs dismantled the cosmic bomb entirely, as hours went by and the kids of Radio Freedom put the kids up in the groovy clubhouse of Alex Albright, where mp3s of wacky disco music played on the sound system and where a disco ball spun overhead, was certainly suggestive that for the moment the multiverse wasn't going to collapse into ruin and despair. In the next couple of hours, anyway. Between the day-glo posters on the wall and the groovy dialogue of Radio Freedom, It was all like something out of Scooby-Doo, if Scooby-Doo had done more crossovers with the Freedom Friends. It had been a long day and night without rest or sleep for the heroes of Young Freedom, and the possibility of rest was really very tempting. Given the chance to rest up and recuperate, Mark took the opportunity to shower and change into a clean costume with a funky new silver-colored cape thanks to the courtesy of his host, only when he was alone stopping to think about this world and just how had it come to be? Were the heroes here all better off thinking that all Breakdown had said had been product of his mind twisted by Omega and the promises of a reunion with an ex-girlfriend as shocked as anyone else by all this terrible news? He thought, he hoped they were: he certainly wasn't going to disillusion another version of himself that way.

12 Ouch: he's bruised and stunned! He takes the surge, though

28 Fleur is up.

Ah, the downside of late-night threading. He's straight-up dying (and she'll go before his recovery action), so we'll go ahead and say she stabilizes him. Go ahead and get that Taunt in.

17 Weeaaaaak Jill is up

Initiative: Bad Guy: 25 Gabriel: 21 Jill: 21 Fleur de Joie: 18 Gaian Knight: 12 Freedom Angel: 10 Bad Guy throws knifes at the Bee-Keeper! They hit one of the robots. 26 30