Avenger Assembled

APPROVED

"I have full administrator access," replied Leroj. "I can rewrite any part of it I wish, though I have learned from bitter experience that I must be careful. I am a man, not a computer, and a programming error would be...has been disastrous. I live in fear of making a mistake I cannot repair, or of making the growing disasters all around here even worse. I know about the problems you've mentioned and I've done my best to correct them, but I'm alone and there are so many of them these days, I..." He rubbed his eyes again. "My own program is one I cannot change; I am not part of the Tronik software package itself. I can only be awake so long, and work so hard. But never mind me. You have more memory for the system? How is this possible? The Centurion told me that the mainframe running the Tronik program was more advanced than any on his home world, and impossible for your science to improve on."

"I am part of the Freedom League's oral history project," replied Harrier to the first. "It is a special project of Lady Liberty's," he clarified. "Those who are the last to remember something, or among the few who were there at some great and secret moment, tell their tale to a recorder, so that it may be stored in memory. The idea of building something that lasts, even if it was only a monument of stories, had much appeal to me." At her question, he gave her an implacable look. "There is much to tell. You would find much of it distressing. Very little of it is...pleasant to hear for those who have not seen it. What would you know?"

Space Monkey Mafia, 2011 The general public believes that Albert II, the first monkey in space, died on June 14, 1949 after his parachute failed during re-entry. This is a fiction. The truth is that when Albert was recovered alive in his capsule, he looked up at the Air Force guys and thought desperately: “Help meeeeee...” The exposure to unfiltered solar radiation had _changed_ the little rhesus monkey, giving him both sentience and low-level telepathy. The changes to the monkey bred true, and proved easy to duplicate on subsequent rocket launches, and soon the Air Force had itself a colony of sentient, telepathic rhesus monkeys in Nevada. Unfortunately things didn’t go that well. The head of the program was a German scientist swept up by Operation Paperclip, a man whose ethics were as weak as his drive to prove himself to his new masters was strong. The little monkeys endured a terrible existence under his rule, subject to horrible experiments at his whim: but though he was a monster, he was more genius than he knew. After over a decade of breeding and multiple experiments, the rhesus colony at White Sands wasn’t just sentient and telepathic. It was, when sorely pressed, _one mind_, and a mind far more powerful than its handlers realized. One night in 1961, under the leadership of a rhesus named Albert X, the monkeys escaped their tormentor (after mind-controlling him into performing certain experiments on his own frontal lobe) and fled into the desert. The trip through the Nevada desert was a difficult journey for the little monkeys, many of who died of thirst, exposure, or Ford pickup along the way. Albert himself died on that journey, but his successor Victoria led them to the promised land: a recently abandoned nuclear testing ground near the Utah border. A local oasis and a lack of people meant the monkeys had all the food and drink they wanted, while the altitude gave them the climate and weather they preferred. Under cover of isolation and government secrecy, they grew, and they thrived. Using long-range telepathic probes, they began exploring their world and found a grim situation indeed. Despite the distant civilization of Gorilla Island, the space monkeys were the only sentients of their kind on Earth: their little colony could easily have been stamped out by humans if they so wished it: all their telepathic powers couldn’t have stopped an IRBM fired at their settlement, not to mention the ever-growing threat of superheroes. Gradually Victoria and her successors began to send out physical scouts to infiltrate the world of Man. Sentient monkeys good at play-acting were natural agents to infiltrate the simian-happy world of the 1960s and 1970s. Innocent, happy-looking monkeys who appeared on television and movies throughout the era all were secretly reporting back all they saw and heard to their colony back in the desert. After discovery of their Soviet counterparts in the mid-1970s, cautious feelers were sent out to the canine settlements in Siberia, but the two cultures proved ultimately unable to cooperate even in secret, though they remain in quiet contact. As the years went by, and generations of space monkeys grew up ‘abroad’, gradually the leadership of the Nevada colony took a stronger and stronger interest in the world of men. Where once they had been slaves, now they would be masters. Where once they had had nothing, now they would have everything. They began sending out special agents to infiltrate the soft, criminal underbelly of humanity: so what if that gangster had no papers for his monkey, or if his behavior should change suddenly one day? A man like that wouldn’t buy an animal legally, and surely it was the drugs who made him change, not the telepathic influence of the curious little monkey running around beneath his feet. Gradually the monkeys of Nevada began sinking their little hands into organized crime across the world: drugs, contraband, fine cars, anything that could be enjoyed in style by a monkey was shipped through dummy corporations to pickup spots in Nevada, where drivers with other hands controlling theirs delivered to the monkeys all they wanted. They made contact with Dr. Simian a few years ago and struck up a cordial working relationship despite his ape nature, and he provides them with super-technology in return for easy access to human organized crime bosses. Anyone who wants to deal with the space monkey mafia had better be prepared for a fight; the monkeys have had many years to place their agents across the United States, and they have been building their secret defense network around their homebase since the day they arrived. Having been taught that human beings want nothing more than to lobotomize their children and cook them for meat, these monkeys will not go down without a fight if it comes down to a battle in the Nevada desert.

Venus Fly-Trap PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 20 pp STR 10 (+0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 16 (+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Vampire Plants) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +6 Grapple: +6 Saves: 13 pp TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +7 (+3 Con, +4) REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 44 r=11 pp Bluff 7 (+10) Knowledge: Arcane Lore 5 (+5) Intimidate 7 (+10) Notice 3 (+5) Perform (violin) 2 (+5) Profession (florist) 4 (+7) Sense Motive 3 (+5) Stealth 12 (+15) Feats: 13 pp All-Out Attack Distract (Bluff) Dodge Focus 6 Improved Initiative Move-By Action Power Attack Precise Shot Uncanny Dodge (olfactory) Powers: 72 pp Immunity 12 (aging, life support, starvation and thirst, sleep) [12 pp] Impervious TOU 8 [8 pp] Vampire Plant Array [22+3=25 pp] Damage 10 (Extra: Vampiric) (PFs: Accurate 2) AP: Drain Strength 10 (Extra: Ranged) (PFs: Accurate 2) AP: Snare 10 (PFs: Accurate 2) AP: Teleport 6 (600 ft/20 miles) (Extra: Accurate) (PFs: Easy, Progression 2 [500 lbs], Turnabout) Protection 5 [5 pp] Regeneration 9 (+6 Recovery Bonus [total +9], Resurrection 3 (1 per 5 hours)) (PF: Regrowth) [10 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Movement 3 (Slow Fall, Wall-Crawling 2) [6 pp] Super-Senses 5 (Acute Scent, Darkvision, Tremorsense) [5 pp] Drawbacks: Vulnerable (holy) (uncommon, major) [-3 pp] costs abilities 20 + combat 24 + saves 13 + skills 11/44 + feats 13 + powers 72 -drawbacks 3= 150 pts -- Design Notes: From a universe where Avenger didn't ruin his date with Fleur de Joie, but instead the two hit it off most marvelously, I give you the lovely, deadly Venus Fly-Trap. She's proof that not all plant controllers are nice people; she's a master of carnivorous plants, and indeed uses them for her own benefit as her vampire heritage interacts with her plant-controlling powers to give her a surprising edge in combat. I figure her Ranged Drain is thorny vines like a mutant mistletoe that wrap around their targets and feast on their energy, draining their life away and making them weak and helpless: the vampiric melee damage is directly sinking those thorns in and enriching herself from the life's blood of her targets. Scary, yes, but it can still be done non-lethally in the right hands. Between her vampire heritage and her plant heritage, she can shrug off most forms of harm; she's very tough and she's immune to most mortal concerns. She's probably happiest under moonlight, enjoying the nightglow as it settles into her skin. (Why the Venus flytrap pic above? Because vampire-themed lady superhero tends to get you people who dress like a prostitute, and I don't think Fleur's kid would run around doing that!) With her ability to climb up walls like a spider and sniff out her enemies, she really is proof that plants aren't just passive victims of animals anymore. If you don't like the supernatural aspect, this would make a pretty good build for some kind of eco-terrorist plant controller, albeit one with decidedly spooky, supernatural powers. As mentioned above, she makes a nice antidote to people worried that plant controllers are just boring hippies. She also puts quite a twist on the vamp archetype: she doesn't need fangs to really mess up your day. She's the sort of lady who has one of those hella Gothy graveyard headquarters by night, perhaps a haunted mansion complete with ghosts, but on the other hand she's got a mom who gave her a strong work ethic. Maybe she runs a floral shop specializing in gothic floral arrangements? Season to taste, pardon the pun, particularly if you don't go with the unusual backstory angle. There's a lot of source material on vampires, of course, not to mention a whole host of really weird plants so you've got plenty of ground to make any kind of vampire plant' character you want; anything from the victim of a blood-destroying plague to a damned soul risen from the grave. Feel free to tweak those as necessary: None of that 'die in 10 rounds' in sunlight drawback; that doesn't make much sense for a plant! As mentioned above, you can just drop the vampire angle all together and just say this is the result of an accident involving a radioactive carnifern...

"I couldn't tell them anything. For 2000 years, they were digital bits in the Curator's mainframe. And so was I, except when the Curator wished it, I was conscious and aware of all that was going on." The old man looked away. "He picked me out of them all, he said he wanted to digitize other worlds, other peoples, and experiment on them to his heart's content, but he needed sentients inside the programs to be his agents. Not only were my people going to become his toys, his pawns, but our enslavement was going to be the gateway to the enslavement of billions more." Running his hands through scraggly white hair, he said, "He showed me things, terrible things, that he had in his memory banks; plagues and monsters and devils, that he wanted to introduce to Tronik. I lied to him as long as I could, I pled for more time, asked to see more data, until finally..." A faint, faint smile crossed his lips. "The Curator caught something. Not just an alien: a super-alien. He took the Centurion to his homeworld and tried to use him to digitize Earth as Tronik had been dignitized. But the Centurion could do things I couldn't. Be something, I couldn't. I managed to upload myself into Tronik's program just before the Centurion tore the hard data away. And I was waiting here, when he came to see us, to tell him what had happened to us, and what we had once been." Pulling out of his ramble, he seemed to force himself to answer Miss A's question. "I can't...I can't face them. To be a computer program, to have been a man and to know I am now just a toy for programmers to manipulate at their will...I couldn't tell my people what I'd done to them! They don't even think I'm alive, I couldn't face them as their hero knowing I was their ultimate betrayer! How can we hope to be worth anything when we're nothing but computer programs in a lab?"

Brick Ninja Abilities: 64 pp STR 30 (+10) DEX 30 (+10) CON 30 (+10) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +4 (+10 Melee) DEF: +10 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +14 Grapple: +20 Saves: 4 pp TOU +10 (+10 Con) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +10 (+10 Dex) WILL (+12 vs mental effects) +6 (+2 Wis, +4, +6 Mind Shield) Skills: 48r=12 pp Acrobatics 15 (+25) Language 1 (English) (Base: French) Notice 6 (+8) Perform (mime) 5 (+5) Sense Motive 6 (+8) Stealth 15 (+25) Feats: 16 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus: Melee (6) Evasion, Dodge Focus 2, Fearless, Hide in Plain Sight, Luck, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Takedown Attack 2 Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 30 pp Autofire on Unarmed Damage [10 pp] Concealment 6 (all visual, auditory, olfactory) (Flaw: Phantasm) [6 pp] Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp] Mind Shield 6 [6 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Movement 3 (Slow Fall, Wall-Crawling 2) [6 pp] costs abilities 64 + combat 24 + saves 4 + skills 12/48 + feats 16 + powers 30 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Remember back when Wander and Sage had that wrestling match? Well, just suppose that Sage had been a little crazy, stolen some of Wander's DNA, and used it to impregnate herself. What, it could happen! Or maybe this is a product of a fling between Sage and the Aaron White of Earth-XX, or any number of other possible origins. (Perhaps she's from a universe where gymnasts reproduce via parthenogenesis! We did have a lot of them floating around not too long ago). Anyway, the idea is that this fine lady has been raised by certain secret organizations associated with the French government (or maybe just the Martel family) as the deadliest mime in France! She's a fast, lethal fighter who psychically hides from everyone around her, runs up walls, and throws down a volley of punches that hit harder and faster than a helicopter's minigun, all the while invisible! I didn't give her Concealment vs. mental or radio because it seemed like a psychic should be able to see another hiding psychic, while radio is usually a mechanical sense and she's got Phantasm on his Concealment anyway. Luckily, Sage's wealth makes it unlikely she's going to sue for child support, especially since there are some pretty touchy legal issues at work. The mime is, of course, a good way to make use of her family abilities to get close to her target: what could be more trustworthy than that silent lady dressed like Marcel Marceau. If you don't like the unlikely origin, I think this lady works just fine as a variant on the Living Weapon archetype. There's really very little that can stop her; she's faster than a normal person, stronger too, and has Concealment and Speed enough to evade most of the powerhouses who could be a serious threat to her. Who's to say an Evil Organization wouldn't want to mix their pet psychics with their pet bricks to produce a powerhouse ninja? You could make her a magic-oriented type, I suppose, but this really does seem like a well-built psychic lady: her powerful mental shields also keep her friend the Wheelchair Mentalist from unlocking the terrible secret of her origins! (Did I mention how great amnesia is as a Complication for your typical Living Weapon? Nyyyes) With that Concealment, Stealth, and Acrobatics, not to mention her various ways of getting around, this lady should basically never have any issues with catching her opponents flat-footed. So Power Attack all you like and cleave through their ranks like the unstoppable powerhouse you are: they'll have a very hard time indeed hitting you if you stay on the move and keep using your powers and abilities in useful ways. Sure she's a bit one-dimensional, but she doesn't have to be. She's got a lot to stunt from. Maybe if she's on her own and no longer being forced to work as the Deadliest Mime Alive, she can start uncovering more of her abilities: a fast, strong lady like this who can also read minds would be pretty cool! And maybe one day, one day, she'll be able to reach inside her mind and find the biologically unlikely story of her past!

Grim of all Blades Abilities: 32 pp STR 14 (+2) DEX 18 (+4) CON 18 (+4) INT 10 (+0) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 30 pp ATK: +7 (+13 Melee) (+15 Sword) DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +8 Grapple: +15 Saves: 10 pp TOU +7 (+4 Con, +3 Protection) FORT +7 (+4 Con, +3) REF +7 (+4 Con, +3) WILL +7 (+3 Wis, +4) Skills: 18 pp=72 r Acrobatics 11 (+15) Bluff 12 (+15) Knowledge: History 5 (+5) Knowledge: Streetwise 5 (+5) Languages 5 (Celtic, German, Hebrew, French, Spanish) (Base: English) Notice 7 (+10) Perform (bagpipes) 2 (+5) Sense Motive 12 (+15) Stealth 11 (+15) Survival 3 (+5) Feats: 24 pp Accurate Attack Acrobatic Bluff All-Out Attack Attack Focus: Melee 6 Attack Specialization: Sword Challenge (Fast Taunt) Defensive Attack Dodge Focus 5 Improved Initiative Move-By Action Power Attack Quick Draw [draw] Takedown Attack Taunt Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 36 pp Damage 3 (PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty) (Extras: Autofire and Penetrating on Strength and Strike) [11 pp] 'fae sword' Protection 3 [3 pp] Super-Senses 10 (True Sight) [10 pp] Teleport 4 (400 ft/1 mile) (Extra: Accurate) ‘fae step’ [12 pp] costs abilities 32 + combat 30 + saves 10 + skills 18/72 + feats 24 + powers 36 = 150 pts - Design Notes: So Grimalkin and Jack of all Blades went on an adventure to Las Vegas together where maybe they partied a lot and ended the fight really hammered after getting drunk on the casino's tab (the price of saving the place from bad guys!) and nine months later she had a baby who could summon a magic sword. Look, who can say how these things happen? Anyway, Grim of all Blades here is a badass fae swordswoman with a lot of cool tricks: she can step through a wall and come out a mile away, summon a mystic blade from nowhere that'll cut through almost anything, and with her formidable fae powers of observation she can see through any trickery or illusion, mortal or otherwise. She can still be fooled by a particularly talented human liar, though: deception from the heart is always the toughest to see through. She's also one of the deadliest fighters on the planet, trained to be a skilled and daring fighter by her uncle, Jack of all Blades. Whaaat? Anyway, she's a skilled athlete and equally at home in her mother's Avalon or her father's Freedom City; she can fight in a forest as well as on a skyscraper. There have been some worries that True Sight is overpowered, and indeed it is quite a powerful ability. Consider using it not as a mystery-killer, but as a mystery-finder: there are some enigmas that she'll be the only one with the capacity to even notice, leaving it up to her to use the remainder of her formidable abilities to track down the bad guy. That said, if you do think True Sight is overrpowered, feel free to cut it down to something more manageable. Another bit of flavor you might want to add is giving her the Transmit flaw on her Teleport: maybe give her a fae-friendly medium like plants, mirrors, or water. Flavor her swords however you want; she has a generic super-sharp, super-fast rapier right now that you could mix up however you like. Concealment would make another reasonable power for a fae-inspired character, as would pixie wings like her half-cross-universe brother Sundance upthread. If you don't like the connection to PCs (or if the players in question are somewhat put off by this possibility), this would be just fine as a human being with fae powers: perhaps she's Oberon and Titania's answer to Captain Marvel? Keep in mind as you play this character that this is not a fantasy site: your superhero doesn't need to care what the fairies think about her and what she does. The Avalon-or-whatever flavor here is just that, flavor; it' not what your character should be about. Superheroes are about breaking old mystic pacts and punching elder things in the face, not dancing to their sprightly jig.

Grass of all Blades PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 26 pp STR 16 (+3) DEX 20 (+5) CON 16 (+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 28 pp ATK: +6 (+12 melee/+14 swords) DEF: +13 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +5 Grapple: +15 Saves: 10 pp TOU +7 (+3 Con, +4 Protection) FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF +8 (+5 Dex, +3) WILL +10 (+2 Wis, +8) Skills: 72 r=18 pp Acrobatics 10 (+15) Bluff 8 (+9/+13) Climb 7 (+10) Intimidate 4 (+5) Knowledge: History 5 (+5) Knowledge: Streetwise 5 (+5) Languages 2 (French, Spanish) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Perform (jaw harp) 4 (+5) Sense Motive 4 (+6) Stealth 10 (+15) Survival 3 (+5) Feats: 20 pp Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus: Melee (6), Attack Specialization: Sword, Attractive, Dodge Focus (5), Equipment, Evasion, Luck, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (olfactory) Powers: 41 pp Immunity 6 (Aging, Disease, Poison, Suffocation, Starvation and Thirst) [6 pp] Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp] Protection 4 [4 pp] Planty Array [24+1=25 pp] Damage 8 (Extras: Autofire, Penetrating) ‘plant sword’ AP: Teleport 7 (200 miles) (Extra: Accurate) (PFs: Easy, Progression [250 lbs], Turnabout) ‘walking through plants’ Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Senses 3 (Acute Scent, Darkvision) [3 pp] Equipment: 5 pp Sword (Strike 3) (PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty) costs abilities 30 + combat 28 + saves 13 + skills 18/72 + feats 20 + powers 41= 150 pts ----- Design Notes: This is what happens when Willow and Jack of all Blades decide to celebrate her moving into the Interceptors' backyard by getting busy. (Consider this a cautionary tale: don't get with a fertility being in the springtime. Or if you do, wrap it before you tap it.) Their son is a swordsman of great skill and a plant manipulator of no little prowess: I figure his primary 'blade' is some kind of hardened blade of grass, one that he uses with great finesse to cut his way into the toughest and most dangerous opponents. He carries a regular sword too, just in case some emergency happens: his dad was very good at the whole combat training thing. He's very sneaky and very fast, though like his mom he's not that great dealing with people. Not hard to look at, though! He'd fit in really well as a nature-themed swordsman, perhaps the ranger hero of your local park? Or maybe he works out in Wharton State Forest on the fringes of the city. He's not the sort of guy to take intrusions into his space lightly, at least if those intrusions are carried out with hostile intent. I think this guy works pretty well as a Badass Abnormal exemplar: take away his powers and put him in a tactical vest (or maybe buy some Defensive Roll with those points) and he'll still be one of the finest swordsmen in the world: with his power he has superhuman scent and can see in the dark, as befits someone with a superhuman connection to nature and strong relationship with acuity. He can teleport 200 miles at a step, letting him get around most of the Eastern Seaboard in just a few steps. Heck, he can even jump up to the orbital garden on the International Space Station or the Freedom League's own Lighthouse, though he'd really better get some Change Velocity on his Teleport if he wants to avoid terrible things happening in the process. He'd be a dangerous assassin and this build would make a great eco-themed bad guy; as it is he'd work great as a fast, tough hero. Switch the theme up however you want: with his ample powerbase, this guy could have a wide variety of themes. (And indeed, maybe he will: watch this space!) You can mix up his signature 'weapon' however you like; maybe he uses a few feet of solid ash as his own baseball bat, or maybe he's a ranged fighter with a plant-based bow and arrow! Don't go beyond the iconic comic book weapons, though. With the exception of halfway funny characters like the Green Sharpshooter above, your superhero shouldn't be running around carrying guns! Not even plant-themed guns, which would probably involve some kind of potato launcher. I dunno. Stick with this badass melee fighter with plant powers as an awesome backup, and you'll do just fine. One possible change might be to give him a Snare in his big array; as that's a lasting effect, he could tie people up with his plant powers and go to work with his flashing blade

"We tried to go to the other city-states and warn them to organize a planetary evacuation, but they didn't believe us!" said the old man, remembered agony in his reedy voice. "They...they thought we were trying to score against them in the old trade wars, that we would get them to send their ships away and strike against them. None of them would help, they wouldn't even try to save their own citizens. We didn't have the resources to move tens of millions of people into interstellar space, and we were alone, all alone...You have to understand, this was two thousand of your years ago, the Republic could barely defend its borders against the Grue, much less evacuate one planet at the edge of Republican space! So...so I told them we could contact another race for help in building a teleportation device. I had...I had heard that the Curator was a collector. Of rare species, of planets, of people...I used the neutrino column to contact one of his starships and plead for help. I offered him anything, everything, my life, all of our lives, if he would save us. And he...he replied, and he made a pledge to me. He said that if I would build his machines all around the city, that he would make sure that Tronik and its people never died."

Murdock tensed, neither pulling away nor relaxing, but after a moment did return the hug. He was solid to her embrace, and weirdly mechanical: his metal bones giving his body an inhuman consistency. When they were done, he spoke again. "I appreciate the sentiment, Mona. It is a good reminder to me that there are those who are capable of looking past appearances. I suppose you have some experience with that, yourself." Her outsize build certainly did make her an outstanding figure; she was, if anything, more likely to draw attention than he was.

The man rubbed his temples, a look of fatigue on his half-visible face. "It's so hard working here alone," he muttered, "so hard. There were going to be so very many of us, but the Curator betrayed me. He took the others, then scanned me for special study." He landed, and faced the two women squarely. "My name...my name is Leroj Gatz, and I am...I am a very old man." He took off his glasses, and behind them Miss A and Dragonfly could see how old he really was: he looked in his eighties at least, but who knew what that meant here? "Many, many hundreds of years ago, I was the chief scientist in charge of the Tronik neutrino column. When our star began to go nova, my colleagues and I realized we could never hope for help from the rest of the Republic. That was when...that was when I used our technology to contact a creature I had heard of only in legends. A computer with the brilliance and power of an entire world. You know him as the Curator."

Demeter PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 20 pp STR 10 (+0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 16 (+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 26 [16] (+8/+3) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Plant Control) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +6 Grapple: +6 Saves: 13 pp TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +7 (+3 Con, +4) REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 44 r=11 pp Bluff 12 (+20) Knowledge: Life Sciences 5 (+5) Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 5 (+5) Notice 7 (+10) Language 1 (Greek) (Base: English) Perform (harp) 2 (+10) Profession (florist) 3 (+5) Sense Motive 6 (+8) Survival 3 (+5) Feats: 15 pp All-Out Attack Distract (Bluff) Dodge Focus 6 Improved Initiative Luck Move-By Action Power Attack Precise Shot 2 Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 70 pp Enhanced CHA 10 [10 pp] Immunity 6 (aging, disease, poison, starvation and thirst, suffocation) [6 pp] Impervious TOU 5 [5 pp] Plant Control Array [22+2=24 pp] Blast 10 (PFs: Accurate 2) 'grain bomb' AP: Dimensional Movement 2 (any Olympian dimension) and Teleport 7 (700 ft/200 miles) (PFs: Easy, Progression 2 [x500 lbs], Turnabout) 'plant-walking' AP: Snare 10 (PFs: Accurate 2) 'entangling vines' Protection 5 [5 pp] Regeneration 19 (Bruised 3 [no action], Injured 6 [no action], Staggered 5 [standard action], Disabled 4 (5 minutes), Resurrection 1 [1 week]) (PF: Regrowth) [20 pp] Drawbacks: Vulnerable (fire) (common, moderate) [-3 pp] costs abilities 20 + combat 24 + saves 13 + skills 11/44 + feats 15 + powers 70 -drawbacks 3= 150 pts --- Design Notes: Never, never, never get drunk with an Olympian. Even if you trust them. I'm not saying they're all bad people, but (especially) if they're drunk too, even the most moral son or daughter of Olympus can get up to some pretty rowdy business. This is a PSA, folks. Unfortunately, Fleur de Joie skipped one day in 9th grade health class, and missed this very important announcement. One thing led to another, and Moira Morley reappeared in the mortal world just long enough to give Fleur de Joie and Dark Star her daughter by her. Wait, what? But the first rule of magic in dealing with the Greeks is of course "No backsies!", and the Olympian lockdown afterwards left them with few options and one squalling baby with a very pretty smile and bright green hair. Well, you know, these things do happen in Freedom City. How does it even work? OK, so this is a very, very pretty plant controller, with a divine and plant heritage inside her veins. I figure she's worried her mom a lot over the years; she's more stressful to deal with her than her less crazy kind of sister Amaryllis, but luckily her button-down parents in general have probably been nice enough to steer her down a decent path. She's got the usual tricks I give low-level plant controllers, but she's also an immortal and very, very persuasive, especially to men or ladies of a certain preference. I didn't give her plant-based Emotion Control because she's got Charisma to burn, but you can fluff her Enhanced Charisma as being the product of strategic plant manipulation. If you don't like that, going ahead and giving her the Emotion Control would also make a lot of sense. Minus the insane clown backstory, this would make a lot of sense as a sheet for the daughter of the goddess Demeter: perhaps she had herself summoned to Earth as a way of keeping tabs on the place, and decided that maybe another kid wouldn't get sucked into Hades and hook up with her brother. Demeter probably worries a lot about Persephone, for all that her daughter and Hades have come to an accommodation over the years, and planting a superhero loyal to her at ground-level is a good way to make sure she has an 'in' on finally rescuing her daughter. And maybe her grandkids! And wouldn't the sons and daughter of Hades be an interesting set of characters to have in the background in the Freedomverse...

Dragonclad PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 46 pp STR 30 [20] (+10/+5) DEX 16 (+3) CON 20 (+5) INT 20 (+5) WIS 20 (+5) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+10 Blast) DEF: +8 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +5 Grapple: +13/28 Saves: 5 pp TOU +12 (+7 Protection, +5 Con) FORT +6 (+5 Con, +1) REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3) WILL +6 (+5 Wis, +1) Skills: 56 r=14 pp Climb 5 (+10) Craft: Mechanical 10 (+15) Knowledge: Arcane Lore 5 (+10) Knowledge: Physical Sciences 5 (+10) Knowledge: Technology 10 (+15) Medicine 5 (+10) Notice 5 (+10) Perform (drums) 5 (+5) Sense Motive 5 (+10) Survival 1 (+6) Feats: 5 pp Inventor Master Plan Power Attack Takedown Attack Speed of Thought Powers: 48 pp Device 2 (Magic Sword) (hard to lose) (PFs: Restricted 2) [8 pp] -Strike 2 (PFs: Extended Reach, Improved Crit 2, Incurable, Mighty, Precise, Subtle) Device 7 (Dragon Armor) (hard to lose) (PFs: Restricted 2) [30 pp] -Blast 10 (PF: Accurate) [21+2=23] -AP: Damage 10 (Extra: Targeted Area [Cone]) (PF: Progression on Area) -AP: Enhanced STR 10 and Super-Strength 5 (Heavy Load: 24 tons) (PF: Super-Breath) -Flight 2 (25 MPH) [4] -Impervious TOU 8 [8] Immunity 3 (disease, poison, starvation and thirst) [3 pp] Protection 7 [7 pp] costs abilities 46 + combat 32 + saves 5 + skills 14/56 + feats 5 + powers 48 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Dragonclad was born after his moms (Dragonfly and Ironclad) were forced to make a hasty relocation to Freedom's Reach after the Incident. (You know the one I mean). Though their tremendous technical expertise and formidable prowess meant the two young ladies were swiftly able to become quite powerful in the region (as well as to induce certain political changes in both the local monarch and the local dominant religion), they were both confronted with the problem of how to find partnership and companionship in a world where no one washes. Luckily, they had ways of dealing with that, and between one thing and another, their son Dragonclad was born. (Good old-fashioned magic super-science helps explain how two girls had a boy) They equipped him with a formidable battlesuit constructed via the mightiest magics and most powerful technologies they had learned to wield, armed him with a powerful sword carrying the power cosmic, and the doughty young genius went off to seek his fortune in a world he never made! OK, so this is my attempt at building a magic battlesuit: I think he's mostly OK? I figure he spends most of his time on your typical fantasy battlefield flying around and blasting people with his fire-breath: with his Flight and Impervious, he's essentially immune to mundane weapons on the ground. Since his suit is primarily technologically-based, what the locals interpret as firebreath is like as not some sort of cosmic energy blast or maybe just good old-fashioned napalm. Two glands in the mouth send your enemies south, as the dragons love to say. When sorely pressed, he enters melee with the help of a mighty sword that lets him cleave her way through his enemies: in a superheroic context, of course, he can do all that non-lethally, smashing mooks aside with a ridiculously over-sized sword and bringing down really tough opponents with the vigorous application of firebreath. Incidentally, I figure the immunities and protection are a result of her moms treating him in the womb so that he could survive in the really stinky world of Freedom's Reach. I really cannot emphasize how much even a vaguely realistic fantasy world would seem like a dirty hellhole to modern eyes. Luckily Freedom's Reach is a basically nice setting, where magic means women don't die in childbirth all the damn time, and where they've managed to bring in Venetian-style democracy rather than kneel under the lash of a king. (Absolute monarchies suck, kids. It gets really tough to watch Lord of the Rings with that in mind. Go democracy! This young fellow has the values of a modern world in a fantasy one, or maybe he's a Claremont student learning about the world his parents came from before he goes home again. He's here to drag these people into at least the 19th century.

Ring-Bearing Paragon Abilities: 30 pp STR 30 [16] (+10/+3) DEX 14 (+2) CON 30 [16] (+10/+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 18 (+4) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Blast/Unarmed) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +17/+27 Max Saves: 8 pp TOU +10 (+10 Con) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4) WILL +7 (+3 Wis, +4) Skills: 32 r=8 pp Diplomacy 6 (+10) Knowledge: History 5 (+5) Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 5 (+5) Languages 2 (Arabic, Latin) (Base: English) Notice 3 (+5) Perform (choral singing) 4 (+8) Sense Motive 7 (+10) Feats: 13 pp Attack Specialization: Blast 2 Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2 Dodge Focus 4 Power Attack Quick Change 2 Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 67 pp Device 6 (Power Ring) (Hard to Lose) (PF: Restricted [Family]) [25 pp] -Blast 10 [Dynamic] [20+1+2+2+2=28 pp] -DAP: Flight 10 (total of 11 [25000 MPH]) -DAP: Impervious TOU 10 -DAP: Super-Strength 10 (total of 11 [Heavy Load: ~1500 tons) -Space Flight 2 (2c) [2 pp] Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp] Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp] Flight 1 (10 MPH) [2 pp] Immunity 3 (aging, starvation and thirst, sleep) (Flaw: Half-Effect) [2 pp] Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 pp] Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1/week) [1 pp] Super-Strength 1 (Heavy Load: 1.5 tons) [2 pp] ---------------------- Design Notes: Here's Cobalt Templar and Quo-Dis' daughter as a flying brick with a power ring. Not an easy build! (This would also be a respectable build if you were trying to make Sodam Yat, or his non-union non-DC universe equivalent.) She's not that tough right now. It takes a while for Ultimen to come into their full power, and even with human blood inside her (ugh!) she's just a kid. Granted she's a kid who can fly, lift cars, and punch through steel doors, but her older relatives can do some really crazy things. She's got a lot of years to develop yet. In the meantime, she gets by with her baby Ultiman powers as well as the power ring she inherited from her dad, one that lets her tap directly into the energy of the cosmos: sure she can't call on vril on her own yet, but on the other hand she can fly very fast, lift very heavy objects, and blast people across the room. With her ring's help, she can even fly up into space and have crazy adventures among the planets! (2c is fast! Very fast indeed. But it could be faster as things go) I figure she's had a pretty conventional childhood in some respects: she's a nice, if blunt person just like her mom and dad, she's real pretty, and she sings in the church choir. Isn't that a pretty sound? (I figure the Ultimen aren't really religious types; if only because their connection to vril gives them all a connection to the meaning of the universe. You don't really get excited about the source of all things if you hang out with it all the time and you've known it since you were a little kid) In other respects, of course, she's been not conventional at all: she's been a globe-trotting adventurer, flying around from archeological site to archeological site (her power ring saves on air fare, that's for sure!) for many crazy adventures! One day she's fighting monsters from the depths of reality with her mom; one day she's fighting Zombie Dan Brown and his army of Implausible Zombie Priests! Either way it's a pretty good life when your parents are superheroes! As mentioned above, I had to cut the massively overbuilt Ultiman archetype for this one given everything going on with it: if you're attracted to playing a conventional Ultiman, look upthread for a regular archetype that I built as something that's a little more representative and a lot more playable, at least compared to the book Ultiman Exile archetype. I think this build would work in multiple contexts: maybe this is a superpowered Lor who has come to Earth to seek her fortune, bearing her mighty alien heritage and a powerful cosmic artifact. Perhaps she's the last of her people, shot to Earth with a glowing ring in the rocket with her that is the last inheritance of her race? This would also work fine as any other sort of archetype mashup, given that she's basically Supergirl with Green Lantern's ring. The idea of playing an heir to a superheroic legacy is a fun one, especially if your parents are still there... costs abilities 30 + combat 24 + saves 8 + skills 8/32 + feats 13 + powers 67 = 150 pts

Rock Star PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 26 pp STR 30 [14] (+10/+2) DEX 16 (+3) CON 16 (+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Unarmed) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +10/+19 Saves: 10 pp TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF +6 (+3 Ref, +3) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 48 r=12 pp Bluff 7 (+10) Intimidate 7 (+10) Knowledge Pop Culture 10 (+10) Languages 1 (Spanish) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Perform (DJ) 7 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Feats: 16 pp Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2 Dodge Focus 6, Elusive Target, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Luck, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 62 pp Music Array [32+3=35 pp] Damage 10 (Extras: Area [Cone], Selective) 'killer chords' AP: Emotion Control 10 (Extra: Area [Cone]) (Flaw: Sense-Dependent [auditory]) (PFs: Insidious, Subtle) 'dope beats' AP: Enhanced STR 16 and Impervious TOU 8 and Super-Strength 4 (Heavy Load: 12 tons) 'mighty ax' AP: Illusion 10 (visual and auditory) (PFs: Progression 2 [25 ft]) 'setting the scene' Flight 6 (500 MPH) (PF: Moving Feint) [13 pp] Immunity 4 (aging, disease, poison, temporal effects) [4 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1/week) [1 pp] Super-Senses 3 (Accurate Analytical Hearing) [3 pp] costs abilities 26 + combat 24 + saves 10 + skills 12/48 + feats 16 + powers 62 = 150 pts - Design Notes: Here's Breakdown and Zephyr's kid as a PL 10 starting hero. It's really too bad we didn't see this fellow in play, as I for one would have enjoyed the threads that would have resulted from his conception. Anyway, he's a blaster and sonic controller. Flying around at nearly the speed of sound (with Flight 6, he goes about Mach 1 at sea level as a move action), he blasts people with waves of powerful sound and music, or just punches them in the face with the power of rock and roll behind him. I deliberately didn't give him any Dazzle: the man is a DJ and blowing out people's eardrums is not what you're supposed to do in that profession even if you're a superhero in combat. What kind of rock star brags about deafening people, even bad guys? Instead he has waves of powerful sound that he can use to clear a room with the sheer power of his music, visual and auditory illusions that make a great backdrop to his work. I really don't like Arrays of Alternate Forms: they really are one of those things that you should not play in a setting where people are usually held to a common set of rules. And even if they aren't, well, you shouldn't go out of your way to annoy the GM! His big array is a decent compromise, given that his stats only change a little: in particular, his saves and TOU doesn't change, it just varies whether he's doing damage with unarmed strikes or musical blasts. I figure some of his powers come from his mother's phenomenal command of temporal energy: that's why he shares her immunity to temporal effects. Might he spend a while in his manhood traveling from era to era to learn music alongside the various greats? If so, he should hook up with Freedom City's own Bluesman, a jazz-playing two-fisted pulp hero from the 1920s, and one of the first black heroes in Freedom City. Minus the connection to PCs, I think this would work just fine as a music-based hero. If you don't like the (pretty generic) rock/club music theme I've given this guy, feel free to sharpen his skills and powers in whatever direction you want. Consider making a country/western themed hero, or a metalhead! You could make this an international hero if you want, perhaps inspired by the metal scene of Botswana. Music really is international and immortal: that's why this guy can go everywhere, and why you never really can kill him off. Bluenoses may sneer, haters may hate, but the sheer power of human creativity expressed in song and dance is about as heroic as you can get!

Okay, you convinced me on the Variable Descriptor deal, and the skills are good! I've always thought that the various divine types should have skills relating to where they live. I doubt I could convincingly take you through a numbers audit, so...APPROVED

The voice sharpened and hardened at once, sounding cranky and a little tired. "Ah, you speak the other language...Travelers have come to my city before. They come to observe and to study, as the Centurion promised. Not to change the code! We are already facing a full-on memory crisis and now I have outsiders to deal with!" The owner of the voice appeared first in the code as a rapidly-launching Easter Egg before making an appearance in 'mid-air', hovering above the two women: the figure was a short, stocky man with an old man's body, dressed like any other citizen of Tronik, but in the familiar blue and yellow color scheme of the Centurion. "You have already changed one of my citizens permanently," he said irritably as he glared down at them. "Giving him powers and abilities far beyond those of his fellow citizens. What am I to make of that?" This man was a program too, but he was not like the surrounding code: he was almost completely alien, without even the familiar Lor hardwiring at the edges of Tronik's program.

It took Miss Americana only an instant to realize what had happened: a security program had been initiated in the block of code surrounding the building, one designed to encase errant code like she and Dragonfly. Though the program itself was not sentient, putting two and two together gave her four: it was vanishingly unlikely that she or Dragonfly had triggered some automatic defense given how careful they'd been so far. For this to go off, someone had had to trigger it! The lights were all coming on in the building, lightstrip glowing to life that cast the concrete warehouse into a glow as bright as a Freedom City park at high noon on a cloudless day. And then, from a dozen places along the wall, an alien voice boomed! "quisnam es vos quod quis es vos effectus hic?" Watching as she was, Miss A was able to see the real source of the voice: someone not far away was manipulating the building's wallscreens to speak, as if someone hacking the 'real' world had deigned to speak through a telephone. But this was no hacker; this was someone inside the program.

A quick onceover of the building soon revealed that only a few custodians were working inside the building at this late hour. Like most people in Freedom City, said cleaning staff was eager to be helpful to the young heroes, but they knew nothing about secret gambling hells or other conspiracies. One weary janitor did have one helpful tip: "Mister E" was almost certainly Mr. Henry Ellsworth, a junior executive with a noticeable penchant for gambling and an addiction to watching the various reality shows that broadcast superhero battle In! Living! Color! and hi-def.

Love the pictures: they really give you an artistic feel for the character. Are you sure Variable Descriptor 1 is really that helpful for you in terms of how many descriptors you get? Or am I misreading you and it's actually 2? No Ride/Survival/Climb? Or is that just a points-cost issue?

Player Name: AvengerAssembled Character Name: Freedom Angel Power Level: 11 (150/164PP) Trade-Offs: None Unspent PP: 14 Progress To Impervium Status: 14/150pp (Platinum status earned with Edge) In Brief: Angelic ambassador from a Heaven losing its connection to the temporal plane Alternate Identities: The Angel of Freedom, Heyzel (‘haze-el’) Identity: Public, though the general public does not believe Freedom Angel is actually an angel Birthplace: Heaven Occupation: Angel of freedom, superhero, humanitarian Affiliations: Abrahamic monotheism, the common fraternity of man Family: Jeanne d’Arc (Mother), Azazel (Father) Age: 578 (born 1432) Apparent Age: 33 Gender: Male Ethnicity: Indeterminate (looks Arabic to N. American eyes) Height: 5’10” Weight: 200 lbs. Eyes: Brown Hair: Black Description: With his pale brown skin, prominent Roman nose, glossy black hair in ringlets, and dark brown eyes, Heyzel is cast in the image of the children of a Near Eastern desert god. One would call his manner deceptively mild, if deception wasn’t so far from his nature. In person he is soft-spoken and easy to get along with and rarely raises his voice without a need. Only when suitably aroused to great passion does his angelic demeanor emerge: as his halo glows with impossible brightness and his eyes flash with emotion, it becomes readily apparent that _this_ is truly a child of Yahweh. His wings are fluffy and white, like an angel’s wings from a Victorian illustration, and quite soft to the touch: curving up above his head when open, they add another two feet or so to his height. In the civilian garb of button-down shirts and khakis he favors, they are the only clue (at least to mortal eyes) that he is anything other than a soft-spoken human being with a strong inner reserve. Power Descriptions: Freedom Angel goes into battle in Romanesque armor consisting of a red leather skirt and sandals, white round shield emblazoned with a red Florian cross, iron breastplate, and white undertunic and garments. He is armed with a spatha, three feet of steel crafted by holy craftsmen, burning with a perpetual white flame of truth. The sword cannot be taken from him, and he can at will banish it to have his hands free. The blade itself is engraved with a representation of the chi rho, the personal symbol of the Emperor Constantine the Great. He is a shining beacon to all who stand with him on the field, his flaming sword and burning halo visible from miles off. He lacks the flashy powers of his more powerful brothers and sisters, but with his unflappable courage and ever-sharp sword, he makes up for that lack by blood and sweat. History: Somewhere, far away from here, there are beautiful places where good people go to pass into a joyful eternity. As there are infinite souls, there are infinite such planes, but the most famous of course is Heaven: the joyful place where those who have loved truly and kept their faith alive in darkest times are reunited with each other amidst the shining glory of the divine. It is a place of safety and magnificent wonders, a place where the joys of the world are lived forever more. There children play happily in beautiful ponds and streams, here men and women work together to build communities of love and harmony, where no one ever gets sick and no one is ever claimed by age. The angels guard this place, shepherding the children and grandchildren of Abraham and Sarah as the Blessed enjoy their magnificent Hereafter, under the personal rule of Gabriel, the right hand of God. Many of them were once blessed souls themselves, imbued with the power of angels for their goodness and mercy, bearing children together to carry on their divinely appointed mission. Heyzel was born from such a union centuries ago as we count it, his parents chosen by the Archangel Gavriel to carry forth the legacy of the angels. The angel Heyzel grew up with a fiery determination to see the world which his mother spoke about so admiringly (she’d been a woman of adventure and passion in her youth), and a desire to right the many wrongs of the Earth. But the angels were not the crusaders they had once been: they are defenders now, warriors against the machinations of the Adversary and his pawns among the so-called pagan gods. It was only as Heyzel grew a little older that finally he learned the secret of the angels, the great trust they'd been given and the fear that tugged at each and every pure soul. The truth was that the Logos, the Divine Word, had not been heard in Heaven for centuries. Gabriel had spoken for the Word as best he could, but the angels had not carried a direct connection to the Divine since the year 535 of the Common Era. None of the angels knew why the Divine had departed, only that it had. What did it mean that the Creator had abandoned his creation, appearing only in signs and miracles, never speaking to the Faithful? It was a mystery, and one that the young angel vowed to solve. Winning a personal audience with Gabriel, Heyzel persuaded the Archangel to dispatch him as an ambassador to the world below, a champion of righteousness and symbol of the justice and goodness of Heaven, who would at the same time seek out allies in the world below to tease out what had befallen the Almighty. It was a powerful burden to bear, but with the Sword of Truth and Shield of Faith in hand, Heyzel was ready to adventure in the world below. And so he did, fighting alongside the Freedom League and friends in Freedom City, until some month ago he was forced to make a hasty return home. Personality & Motivation: Heyzel is a man of deep faith and conviction, a creature of near-absolute moral certainty and righteousness. This has made his discovery of the grey areas of the world deeply depressing for him, and redoubled his desire to make the world a better place. He is ultimately young, a man looking to find his place in a world that embraces him as an agent of the Lord without any understanding of righteousness. Ever the diplomat, he does his best to talk a fight down whenever engaged in combat with mortals. He never lies, never cheats, and always works for the good. But as demons and monsters alike have discovered, nice is different than good. Complications: Cannot Lie: Heyzel cannot lie. In fact, it would not occur to him to try. This does not always mean, however, that he must always tell the truth. Diplomat: Heyzel is a peacemaker who seeks to avoid conflict with any but obvious demons. The GM can feel free to have Heyzel spend a standard action trying to talk an enemy down rather than directly engaging them in battle. Enemies: As the most powerful angel openly active in the Prime Material Realm, the angel of Freedom is a natural target for the infernalists and demons of the world. There are also those who might call themselves his theological allies who object to his message. Legacy: Though he knows it’s silly, Heyzel feels a certain obligation to the historical memory of his mother’s time on Earth, and if France, Roman Catholicism, or the image of young women were threatened, he would drop all but the most urgent matters to go deal with such matters. Rivalry: Yahweh has won. Though He is elsewhere and his agents all but powerless directly on Earth, the worship of the old gods has been broken across the globe. Heyzel has an uncharitable view of the so-called pagan gods, and they and their worshippers are likely inclined to feel the same. The GM can feel free to introduce a complication there whenever it seems likely. Symbol: Freedom Angel is a symbol to all Abrahamic religions (and others as well), for all that the worship of the Creator does not match the full dogma of any of those faiths. His relationship with believers of those faiths can be complicated, and well worth an HP at the GM’s discretion. NOTES Despite the name, Freedom Angel's flaming sword has the descriptors (slashing/holy). His Feature is mechanically Immunity 2 (Bluff check) with the Flaw (not in combat; i.e., he can still be Feinted and Tricked) Abilities: 50 pp STR: 22 (+6) DEX: 16 (+3) CON: 20 (+5) INT: 10 (+0) WIS: 22 (+6) CHA: 20 (+5) Combat: 16 pp ATK: +4 (+10 melee) DEF: +10 (+2 flat-footed) Init: +3 Grapple: +16 Knockback: -5 Saves: 11 pp TOU: +10 (+5 Con, +5 Protection) FORT: +10 (+5 Con, +5) REF: +5 (+3 Ref, +2) WILL: +10 (+6 Wis, +4) Skills: 17 pp=68 r Diplomacy 10 (+15)*, Intimidate 10 (+15)*, Knowledge (arcane lore) 5 (+5), Knowledge (history) 5 (+5), Knowledge (theology and philosophy) 10 (+10), Notice 14 (+20)*, Sense Motive 14 (+20)*, Feats: 21 pp Attack Focus (melee) 6, Dodge Focus 6, Fearless, Interpose, Luck, Skill Mastery (Diplomacy, Intimidate, Notice, Sense Motive) Startle, Takedown Attack, Ultimate Save (Will), Ultimate Skill (Diplomacy), Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 34 pp Comprehend 2 (languages 2 [speak and understand one at a time]) [4 pp], 'Tongue of Babel' Feature 1 (Cannot Be Lied To) [1 pp] 'angelic wisdom' Flight 3 (50 MPH; Drawback: Power Loss [Restrainable] {uncommon, minor} [5 pp] 'winged' Immunity 7 (aging, disease, poison, sleep, starvation and thirst, suffocation) [7 pp] 'angelic body' Light Control 1 (5 ft; Flaw: Range [Touch]) 'halo' [1 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp], 'divine armor' Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1/week; PFs: Persistent, Regrowth) [3 pp] 'immortal soul' Strike 4 (PFs: Affects Insubstantial 2, Mighty) [7 pp] ‘flaming sword’' Super-Senses 1 (Infernal Awareness [mental]) [1 pp] Totals: Abilities 50 + Skills 17 (68 ranks) + Feats 21 + Powers 34 + Combat 16 + Saves 11 = 150/164pp

"Yes. Yes, it is." Harrier turned again and gave her that look. "I have been in therapy before, Mona. Beneath the Silver Tree on the world of the Furions, ancient sages of cosmic power probed my mind to tell me I was innocent of the blood of uncountable billions on my hands. That the megagenocides I have seen were witnessed by another being wearing my body and mind, not by me. In Freedom City, Lady Liberty has spoken with me about why I have not taken my own life to escape decades of memories and a world that, if it knew my true face, would surely..." He looked away for a moment, then back at Mona. "I live with it, with all of it, because I am the only one who can. No one else remembers those gone-away worlds. No one else remembers how they lived, and how they died...no one else recalls the Black Ghetto of Nihilor, or the life of proles gone so many years now. I live with this, with all that I am, on this bright sunny day because if I die, then it is all for nothing. All those worlds are dead even in memory. And my life, nothing but a tragedy with no meaning. I choose to have meaning. I choose to be a hero, so that others can have such. And I choose...today. This place, this life."

Wisp left herself so vulnerable, in fact, that she barely had time to notice the masked man erupted at her from the wrecked Dippin' Dots stand. "Give you a glorious gutting, girl!" called Fawkes, his twin flashing blades just missing the teen teleporter's tender flesh as their slashing edges whizzed close enough to her face that she could feel the whiff of air. If not for her preternatural speed, she might have been cut like a varsity quarterback with a broken leg. Fawkes cursed as he missed, rolling up from his dive and back on his feet, still ready for action. It looked like a dark time for the plucky young heroes...

Guy Fawkes: Move Action: Guy Fawkes move to within melee range of Wisp Move Action: He'll surge (take an HP, Azuth) and use his Fast Startle: DC 26 Intimidate check. Standard Action: He attacks her. (Too bad about wasting that nat-20 from his readied action: that darn high Stealth worked against him. ) 19 Okay, so he'll hit her if she's startled, but miss otherwise. That's a DC 23 Tou save if he does hit.