Avenger Assembled

April 30 2011 Murdock sat alone on the park bench, its sturdy steel and wood holding up even his great weight without a creak, and waited for his contact. He'd gotten word through his contact in the community, namely Miss Americana, that his old acquaintance Fleur de Joie was looking for him as a technical expert. The request had been for Harrier, not Caradoc, so he'd come in his own skin to avoid causing a panic. The last thing he needed was for that very nice young woman with the gravitic husband to be frightened at the sight of him again. So instead he closed his eyes and sat on the bench, smelling the sweet flowers of spring all around him. Nature untamed really was a glorious feeling, especially since he had so little experience of it outside this place. Could any city be more beautiful than Freedom City?

Pinball Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 30 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 14 (+2) CON 20 (+5) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 28 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Unarmed) DEF: +10 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +6 Grapple: +15 Saves: 10 pp TOU +10 (+5 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +8 (+5 Con, +3) REF +5 (+2 Dex, +3) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 64 r=16 pp Acrobatics 13 (+15) Computers 5 (+5) Concentration 5 (+7) Knowledge: Popular Culture 10 (+10) Knowledge: Technology 5 (+5) Languages 1 (Japanese) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Perform (pinball wizard) 9 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Feats: 14 pp Acrobatic Bluff Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2 Challenge (Fast Acrobatic Bluff) Dodge Focus 2 Fast Overrun Improved Initiative Improved Overrun Luck 3 Seize Initiative Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 50 pp Alternate Form 10 (Pinball) [50 pp] -Damage 10 (Extras: Area [Trail], Selective) [30] -Immunity 3 (nausea, suffocation) [3] -Impervious TOU 6 [6] -Protection 5 [5] -Speed 5 (250 MPH) (PFs: Wall Run, Water Run) [7] -Super-Senses 1 (Sight [Radius]) [1] -Drawback: No Hands (while in Ball Form) [-2] costs abilities 30 + combat 28 + saves 10 + skills 16/64 + feats 14 + powers 50 = 150 pts -- Design Notes: Here's a somewhat unusual hero: he has the power to turn into a giant ball! With his Speed and Area Damage, he can tear through a given area like a bat out of hell, sweeping through minions easily with the sheer power of his steel-hard body. He can roll up walls and across water, and if he pushes himself to all-out speed he can even break the sound barrier! Not bad for somebody who doesn't even have hands while in his ball form: it's up to you whether or not he actually turns into the ball, or whether he's just inside its casing and holding on like somebody inside one of those spinny gyroscope things at the mall or Spacecamp. I've gone with giving him a pinball feel, perhaps making this guy one of those uber-popular Bronze/Iron Age trendy heroes who has now fallen on hard times: but perhaps recently rediscovered as people have started playing pinball again for nostalgia reasons? His big weakness is probably TILTing; i.e., falling: with his low Impervious, falling off a surface on which he's rolling on is probably going to hurt. Luckily he usually doesn't need to worry about that! I gave the immunity to nauseate and radius sight because they seemed like logical power developments for somebody whose power is being inside (or being!) a giant hamster ball. (As his enemies have probably pointed out more than once over the years...) The Trail extra on his Damage means that it affects people _behind_ him: I figure in combat he'll clean up by rolling right through an area, then use his move action to go wherever he wants to be at the end of his turn. Someone like this would have been a natural for slam attacks, but that didn't quite fit the concept of the character so instead I went with this way of doing things. He's a good goonsweeper, but his lack of Power Attacking means he's better off getting someone else in to fight the final boss. I admit, I got the idea for this character from Holy Roller, one of the more enjoyable Wild Cards characters of the last couple of years. (The Rev. Thaddeus Wintergreen is that vanishingly rare evangelical Protestant from Mississippi in genre fiction: a happy man with no bigotry or prejudice in his heart, who believes in a Creator who loves all men and women). If you like the religious theme, by all means, pick it up! There' s nothing that says you have to play the pinball theme, I just liked the connection to the vast and glorious world of Bronze Age theme heroes. And who wouldn't enjoy a Rogues Gallery with a pinball theme; all pinball!

Alex's grandfather was luckily just arriving there behind his station, and he quickly began punching numbers into the teleporter control pad. "I can't get you to Blackstone proper," he agreed, "but I can put you down in the middle of the 'holding pen' where they route teleporters who come in without access. Easier than setting up dampeners for them, and lets them catch some breakouts or breakins before they start. The secured perimeter and guards will give you an extra layer in dealing with...this little lady," he said, nodding in Singularity's direction as he waited for a sign of approval from the kids.

Sharl joined them a few moments later, somewhat ungracefully sticking his finger in the IR port before reappearing inside the machine itself. As he stepped out of the 'air' to stand beside the two women, it took them a moment to realize what was different about him: after all, his avatar hadn't changed a bit. But inside the simulation, Sharl didn't look like a computer program brought to life or a cunningly projected hologram. If they didn't try and peer at the code inside him, he looked like a human being. "Wow, so here we are..." Sharl smiled a little nervously, sticking his hands into his pockets. "Uh, welcome to the computer," he joked. "Miss Americana really did a nice job programming this for me. It feels as close to home as I could have gotten. Are we ready?" When Miss A indicated they were, Sharl opened the door to his room, revealing not the pretty blue sky visible through the windows, but rather something else entirely: a long corridor that stretched out before them, leading out to a broader, wider metal security door. "Wow, that must be the gate to the network..." He added to Dragonfly, "Before, when I wasn't pro...when I couldn't understand this, it all looked like crawling chaos. I couldn't even understand I was in Miss A's computer until she started talking to me. Did you want to do the honors?" he asked Miss A.

Scary Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 26 pp STR 30 [16] (+10/+3) DEX 14 (+2) CON 16 (+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Melee) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +3 Grapple: +22 Saves: 13 pp TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF +6 (+2 Dex, +4) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 44 r=11 pp Bluff 7 (+10) Concentration 8 (+10) Intimidate 12 (+15) Language 1 (Chinese) (Base: English) Notice 3 (+5) Sense Motive 13 (+15) Feats: 16 pp Attack Focus: Melee 4 Dodge Focus 6 Fearless Power Attack Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 60 pp Alternate Form 9 (Fear Demon) (PF: Subtle) [46 pp] Emotion Control 10 (Flaw: Fear Only) [10] Enhanced Feats 5 (Challenge 3 [Fast Startle, Mass Intimidation, Powerful Intimidation], Second Chance (Startle) and Startle) [5] Enhanced STR 14 [14] Leaping 1 (x2) [1] Morph 5 (same mass) (Flaw: Objects of Fear Only) [10] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Strength 2 (Heavy Load: 3 tons) [4] Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison) [3 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1/week) [1 pp] Super-Senses 5 Detect Fear 2 (Acute, Analytical, Extended, Radius) [mental] [5 pp] costs abilities 26 + combat 24 + saves 13 + skills 11/44 + feats 16 + powers 60 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Here's my build for a 'fear-controller', modeled on Marvel's Trauma. He's a scary guy: he has the ability to sense whatever you're afraid of and turn into it, bringing about an impressive transformation that makes him very formidable in combat. He's a good hand-to-hand fighter and a low-grade powerhouse, with a power that lets him scare the pants off anyone. Anyone without Fearless, anyway, and since that lets you target almost all NPCs, why not? The idea is that his Detect lets him pick up on what you fear (though maybe not why, since it isn't Mind-Reading) and then become that thing, blasting you with a wave of terror in the process. Note that I've built him so that his shapeshifting powers work even on people who are Fearless: sure, it may not have a game mechanic effect, but he can still annoy them. And even on mindless robots, he can still beat them up with his fists. I've gone with the idea that this character is the offspring of a mortal person and some physical embodiment of the emotion of fear: this can be a magical story, or a rubber-science one about the archetypes of humanity's dreams: perhaps he's a monster of clinical psychology! You can finesse that however you want; perhaps he 'should' be a true shapeshifter and aura reader, but a grim childhood or something locked him into some fairly grim powers. Accidentally making enemies by turning into their worst fear (zombies, perhaps?), or getting a beating from them all unawares, is going to be a potential source of great complications for you, and the more complications you get, the more HP you get! This is a natural build for a Hero High setting; so many potential emotional problems he could have! Just don't get annoyingly emo about it; the character may be depressed, but there's no reason why he has to be depressing; IOW, he may be dark, but there's no reason why he has to darken all the threads he's in. Putting a smile on his face should be your goal, as well as putting expressions of pure terror on the faces of your enemies (and maybe your friends, but only if they're being real big jerks to you). He's Fearless himself, which really does seem to fit someone with his apparent background.

For once in his life, Mark didn't know what to say. How do you comfort someone who thinks you're a monster; how do you soothe someone who thinks you're her greatest tormentor? After a moment's hesitation, he realized there was only one good way. "I'm going to go check on the others," he offered while leaving the platform. "Sage got them out of here so they wouldn't get hit by us incoming, they can't have gone far." He hated to leave, but he trusted Wander and Midnight with his life, and Supercape was a good guy too. They'd be able to handle this without him.

As they all formed up together, Mark exchanged a look with Singularity, or rather, he looked at her and she began screaming in a high-pitched keen while writhing frantically in Wander's arms. Remembering all he'd heard from the other Daisy's transcript about what a filthy bastard his counterpart was, and thinking about what Singularity must have endured even at the hands of others here, Mark looked away: he could face anything but his friend's face in terror and agony, looking at him with nothing but sheer, unbridled horror. We'll make it right, he told himself. We'll make it right... "Now! Do it now!" Above them, the ceiling gave way, and terrible daylight shone in as dark figure swooped in above.

John Henry PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 32 pp STR 18 (+4) DEX 20 (+5) CON 18 (+4) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 28 pp ATK: +6 (+12 melee) DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +9 Grapple: +16 Saves: 18 pp TOU +8 (+4 Con, +4 Protection) FORT +10 (+4 Con, +6) REF +10 (+5 Dex, +5) WILL +9 (+2 Wis, +7) Skills: 72 r=18 pp Climb 1 (+5) Craft (Structural) 15 (+15) Intimidate 14 (+15) Knowledge: History 10 (+10) Languages 2 (Seminole, Spanish) (Base: English) Notice 13 (+15) Sense Motive 13 (+15) Survival 3 (+5) Swim 1 (+5) Feats: 24 pp All-Out Attack Attack Focus: Melee 6 Challenge (Fast Startle) Dodge Focus 4 Improved Initiative Luck 3 Move-By Action Power Attack Startle Steadfast Takedown Attack 2 Ultimate Save (Will) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 26 pp Immunity 1 (aging) [1 pp] Impervious TOU 8 [8 pp] Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp] Protection 4 [4 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Steel-Drivin’ Array [10+11=11 pp] Strike 4 (PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty) (Extra: Penetrating) AP: Burrowing 5 (50 MPH) (Extra: Affects Others) (PF: Subtle) costs abilities 32 + combat 28 + saves 18 + skills 18/72 + feats 24 + powers 26 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: This is my build for John Henry, inspired by the DC Universe’s New Frontier version of the character. My take on this is that John Henry is a mythic legacy passed down from generation to generation like Freedom City’s Lady Liberty, but in this case is focused on the freedom and legacy of African-Americans. When the first John Henry died sometime in the 1870s, his spirit found a new successor, a courageous battler for his people and their salvation, and they’ve continued to tell their story through the generations. Now the hammer is a mythic instrument of power from which he can never be separated. This build would work just fine as a new version of the character, or as his Golden Age self from previous generations. John Henry’s legacy is one about working-class African-Americans surviving in a system dominated by powerful elites and new technology: equally heroic as Paul Bunyan and others, but also very different. He’s a badass abnormal with a lot of power; his hammer (which cannot be taken from him) is a threat to anyone with its Penetrating 4 and his use of Power Attack, and he can also use it to tunnel through the Earth. (Just as you’d expect him to be able to!) He’s a great builder, though no genius, an ability perhaps honed by decade upon decade of working with his hands. He stays on the move in a fight, walloping bad guys with powerful blows, and no crowd of Klansmen or CCCers can hope to slow him down once he’s in a real fight. He’s got massive saves, as befits a hero of this caliber, and with his Ultimate Will he can keep going even when everything in his body is telling him to stop and slow down. He’s also much faster than his enemies are likely to expect: his high Dex and Initiative give him a decent chance of beating someone to the punch, especially some guy with a steam-powered shovel working alongside him. He’s a natural fit for a team of American legends, playing to a story of American power and a legacy that the mainstream audiences may be uncomfortable dealing with. But that’s okay: John Henry just keeps driving his hammer. It’s what he’s here to do. If you don’t like this particular archetype, make him a ranged specialist for Pecos Bill, or perhaps add some ranks of Growth for Paul Bunyan. (Who’ll need Sidekick for his big blue ox, naturally). It’s up to you whether a character powered by myth is a magical one; you could easily come up with some science fluff about the collective gestalt and the power of the human psyche and make him basically a mental character. Or perhaps it is magic! It’s up to you. You can also remove the legacy aspect entirely and just make him Ultimate John Henry: i.e., is he just a crazy guy? But I rather like the image of a legacy of heroes since the 19th century, just not a legacy that most people really want to engage with. He makes an interesting ‘rebel’ character for a game set in the 40s; his story is mythic enough to make him part of, say, a government superteam, but he may see the cause of oppression as being one to fight beyond even fascism abroad. And who’s to say you can’t tell a story like that right here and right now?

A few minutes later, Sharl made his appearance, just finishing up the Coke and pizza that Gina had left for him in the fridge of his little room. He was back in his Tronik-wear, the black coat like a cape and black mirrorshades that the people of Tronik preferred. After all, unlike the others, he wouldn't get to pick how his 'avatar' looked: it was really him in there. "You guys should make sure to suit up once we're in there," he said, a little diffidently. "It'll make you fit in better." He'd explained to them why people in Tronik dressed the way they did: Bantam was a cold, dim little star and Tronik Island itself frequently was swept by storms from the shores of the ice mountains. (Though just as often, by storms from the deserts as well...) Still, they'd probably fit in okay: the coat and shades were only about as mandatory as a suit and tie had once been on the sidewalks of New York. Meanwhile, Daedalus had opened the hard-wired Internet connection at the Sanctum, re-establishing the back door that Sharl had left through those many months ago. He pulled Miss Americana over for a quick discussion of the technical aspects, making sure that Sharl would go back to the point in the network just before he'd been sucked into the datastream. "Even with two cyberkinetics on the team, the last thing we want to risk is anyone being sucked onto the global network by volume. From there, you'll have a clear path through to the backdoor in the ground sector on the main island."

Sage said nothing, but gave a silent nod of assent to Midnight as she went to join with the others. Shortly thereafter, she and the Gravois family disappeared in a discreet flash of light, the only sound as the little girl cried out in surprise! She'd been very brave, they all had, but this was a little much even for people from as grim a place as Anti-Earth. For his part, Mind-Master focused on the ceiling, his brow furrowing, and then gave a short laugh. "Come, then," he said to no one in particular, "chase me if you dare!" Overhead, when the noise above abruptly stopped, Edge felt a surge of joy quickly replaced by concern: not even he could convince himself that they'd been lucky enough that their pursuers had simply abandoned them, or had gone looking for the missing people, or gone looking for Mind-Master. Sure enough, from above came another sound, the sound of tremendous kilotons of rock in motion as the ground shook, and he wished they'd kept the terrakinetic. "What did they say about Terra Tyrant?" he called, facing the ceiling with the others! The roof didn't fall in, but he could feel the ominous sensation of the ground beneath their feet vibrating urgently. Seconds later, Supercape reappeared.

Matrix Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 18 pp STR 30 [16] (+10/+3) DEX 14 (+2) CON 30 [16] (+10/+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Melee) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +25 Saves: 9 pp TOU +10 (+10 Con) FORT +10 (+10 Con) REF +5 (+2 Dex, +3) WILL +7 (+1 Wis, +6) Skills: 36 r=9 pp Computers 15 (+15) Languages 3 (Chinese, Spanish, Russian) (Base: English) Notice 9 (+10) Sense Motive 9 (+10) Feats: 14 pp Attack Focus: Melee (4) Dodge Focus (4) Fearless Power Attack Second Chance (Computers checks) Takedown Attack Ultimate Save (Will) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 76 pp Enhanced CON 14 [14 pp] Enhanced STR 14 [14 pp] Flight 5 (250 MPH) [Dynamic] [10+1+2=13 pp] DAP: Super-Strength 5 (Heavy Load: 48 tons) Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 pp] Impervious TOU 10 [10 pp] Matrix Array [11+3=14 pp] Datalink 9 (anywhere on Earth) (PFs: Cyberspace, Subtle) [11+3=14 pp] AP: Mind Control 10 (Extra: Alternate Save [Reflex]) (Flaw: Machines Only) (PF: Subtle) AP: Quickness 11 (x10000) AP: Teleport 9 (anywhere on Earth) (Extra: Accurate) (Flaws: Long-Range Only, Medium [landlines]) (PFs: Change Velocity, Turnabout) Super-Senses 2 (Vision [Analytical]) [2 pp] costs abilities 18 + combat 24 + saves 9 + skills 9/36 + feats 14 + powers 76 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the Matrix movies, but here’s my stab at a build that emulates Neo, the putative protagonist of the film. He’s basically a cyberpunk Superman in play, flying around and goon-sweeping bad guys, controlling machines with his mind, and having a blast. I modeled his ‘bullet-stopping’ trick with Impervious rather than Deflect, given how expensive Deflect is for its cost. He’s got INT 10 and CHA 10 because he’s Keanu Reeves, and because despite his abilities the character never seemed terribly smart or social during his time in the movies. Despite that, with his +15 Computers and Second Chance feat, he could probably function successfully enough as a hacker in the ‘real world’ as the character did in the movie. OK, so you want to use this build: how do you explain a Matrix-style hero in the Freedom City universe; aka a place where the world is not running on a computer? (Well unless you’re Citizen, and indeed I’m contemplating buying a variant of this sheet for Citizen with the Metamorph feat...) A couple of ways: maybe he was empowered by an ancient cyberkinetic intelligence during his hacking efforts, giving him fantastic abilities to guard the world. Or perhaps those machines are from the future, empowering him to protect the present so that one day they may finally replace mankind? Or maybe his powers came from a more sinister source, like the Curator? Perhaps that worthy watches his every moment, gaining all the knowledge he can through his eyes. I could see this as a magical hero as well, or maybe a cyborg with all kinds of crazy internal implants. Or perhaps this is a hero of the multiverse, empowered with the stuff of reality to make all of Creation a better place. This is a fun way to build a tech-friendly hero with a very unusual skill and powerset. He’s not a technical powerhouse like the real geniuses, but he’s got all sorts of good tricks. Cut his Impervious, or maybe his Immunities too, if you want someone who’s a little more ‘in the world’. (Note that the big bad guys, perhaps that so-and-so with Heroic Duplication, can get through his Impervious by Power Attacking, or just being a slightly higher PL) Datalink is a murky power: we’re somewhat agnostic on how it actually works. Use it however your GM lets you, or just stunt off it for a variety of fun effects that I’ve tried to emulate on the above sheet.

Set PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 48 pp STR 26 (+8) DEX 16 (+3) CON 26 (+8) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+7 Melee/+10 Blast) DEF: +7 (+3 flat-footed) Grapple: +15/+25 Init: +3 Saves: 9 pp TOU +13 (+8 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +10 (+8 Con, +2) REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 56 r=14 pp Bluff 12 (+15) Intimidate 12 (+15) Knowledge: Arcane Lore 5 (+5) Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy 5 (+5) Language 1 (English) (Base: Ancient Egyptian) Notice 8 (+10) Ride 2 (+5) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Survival 3 (+5) Feats: 10 pp All-Out Attack Attack Focus (Melee) Challenge (Fast Taunt) Dodge Focus Fearless Move-By Action Power Attack Startle Takedown Attack Taunt Powers: 45 pp Comprehend 2 (speak to and understand animals) (Flaw: Snakes Only) [2 pp] Device 5 (Ankh of Set) (Hard to Lose) (PFs: Restricted 2, Subtle) [23 pp] -Blast 10 (PFs: Accurate 2) {22+3=25} AP: Dazzle 10 (visual) (PFs: Accurate 2) AP: Flight 5 (250 MPH) and Strike 5 (Extra: Penetrating) (PFs: Improved Crit, Mighty) AP: Super-Strength 10 (Heavy Load: ~800 tons) (PFs: Groundstrike, Shockwave [shadows]) Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison) [3 pp] Morph 2 (any humanoid) [4+1=5 pp] AP: Obscure 4 (50 ft) (visual) Impervious TOU 5 [5 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] Super-Senses 2 (Darkvision) [2 pp] costs abilities 48 + combat 24 + saves 9 + skills 14/56 + feats 10 + powers 45 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: So it came to pass that the dark god Set, enemy of his brother Osiris and nephew Horus, and thus antagonist of the Silver Age Freedom League while Horus stalked the Earth, fell in battle against his old nemesis the serpent Apep, or very nearly did anyway. What rose from the battlefield was a younger, weaker version of the god of chaos, the desert, and foreigners: a very different person. This Set was clever, yes, a schemer and planner, but he was not the backstabbing monster that he would one day be; that he had once been. Shocked at the legacy of the god he’d been, the younger Set offered his services to the other gods of Heliopolis and was quietly turned away. They knew his secret heart, or thought they did; Set was ever the schemer, ever the plotter, the man who had once betrayed all of Heliopolis to rule as god of the Hyskos. It turned out to be, of all people, his old rival Horus who took him aside and told him what he had to do: if he could go into the world of mortals and prove himself to be the champion he once had been, he could one day take back his place in the hall of heroes. But the world of mortals remembered Set too, and even summoned by an admirer the god has few friends. But that’s all right. Because they were right about one thing back on Helipolis. Set is always planning something. It’s a good thing Horus is there to keep an eye on him! This is my build for Set, a villainous legacy in the World of Freedom, as a hero to match his early historic relationship with humanity as well as his later reputation as a villain. (He’s also pretty close to a match for his brother/nephew Horus, and certainly much more sneaky) He’s got a lot of power in his ankh, which he can reduce down to nothing with a thought, he’s good at debuffing his enemies in a variety of ways, and he’s got good sneaky talents. Between his ability to put up a cloak of darkness, to blind his enemies directly, and to simply cut them in twain with a mighty blow of his ebony ankh, Set has a lot of options in combat. He also sweeps goons like no one’s business, as befits a god in combat with mortals. His impervious isn’t that high, but he can really take a hit: above all else, Set chooses to survive. He’s an interesting divine hero; one with a strong reputation as a villain, but who was a hero in the earlier myths. I’ve always bought the narrative of Set as the cunning survivor: when the Hyskos came, he sided with them because they were the stronger; when he was pushed into the Outer Darkness by his brethren, he learned from the Things there in order to survive. But survival isn’t enough for this desert god: alongside the heroes of Freedom City, he’s ready to become again the man he always believed himself to be. Note that Set is remembered as a bad guy from the 1960s and 1970s, but most people in Freedom City will not realize that that (or this) is an avatar of a god. He will likely have a very poor relationship with his native Egypt.

Ocular Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 34 pp STR 14 (+2) DEX 16 (+3) CON 20 (+5) INT 12 (+2) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 20 pp ATK: +5 (+10 Ranged) DEF: +10 (+2 flat-footed) Init: +3 Grapple: +7 Saves: 10 pp TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF +7 (+3 Dex, +4) WILL +7 (+3 Wis, +4) Skills: 60r=15 pp Concentration 12 (+15) Diplomacy 12 (+15) Medicine 12 (+15) Notice 12 (+15) Sense Motive 12 (+15) Feats: 16 pp Attack Focus: Ranged 5 Improved Aim Inspire 3 Leadership Luck 3 Move-By Action Power Attack Uncanny Dodge (mental) Powers: 57 pp Eyebeam Array [34+1=35 pp] Blast 10 (Extra: Autofire) (PFs: Improved Crit 2, Precise Shot 2) AP: Damage 10 (Extras: Area [Cone], Selective) (PFs: Progression 4 on Area) Immunity 1 (own powers) [1 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] Shield 5 [5 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Senses 10 (Accurate Acute Radius Ranged Mental Sense, Accurate Hearing, Tremorsense) [10 pp] Drawback: -2 pp Disability: Blind (common, minor) [-2] costs abilities 34 + combat 20 + saves 10 + skills 15/60 + feats 16 + powers 57 - drawbacks 2 = 150 pts --------- Design Notes: Here’s my spin on a character like Marvel’s Cyclops, a guy who can shoot powerful beams of destructive energy out of his eyes. He can strike with rapidfire beams of pinpoint light, or he can scythe through a whole area with a cone-shaped beam that starts at his eyes. (It’s tough to see a justification for the Cone Area _and_ the Ranged Extra, really, unless some sort of device is being deployed.) As with your typical Cyclops expies, the guy is a great leader and very observant, easily capable of rallying the troops while directing them from the front. (Inspire is a full-round action and takes an HP, so you should buy up Inspire as high as your Charisma can justify to get the maximum bonus) Note that unlike your typical eye-blasters, I’ve made this guy blind: I think it’s reasonable to say that someone who can shoot death rays out of their eyes might not be able to use them to see! Plus, that lets you have the quiet angst of guys like this without having the eyebeams that are forever turned on: instead, he’s bummed ‘cause he’s blind. His hearing and mental sense (fluffed as ‘radar’ that he developed since his vision was absent) let him get around much better than your typical blind guy, obviously, enough that he can function in combat, but he still can’t do Daredevil-style tricks like reading with his fingers or something. He also might have developed the mental abilities after a personal relationship with a psychic. He’s got lots of Luck; don’t be afraid to use it to stunt whatever you need off his big eyebeam array: he’s got pretty broad descriptors, and can get away with a lot. Penetrating Damage, different kinds of Area, a Full-Round Disintegrate? He’s a powerful character, and should be treated as such. If you drop the blindness angle, someone who shoots beams from his eyes has a decent chance of affording a Perception-range blast, seeing as how it’s hard to dodge somebody looking at you. All those HPs can go to acquiring more tradeoff feats, or you can drop a few to acquire them in play! As it is he’s got no problems clearing a room, and his Power Attack lets him smack much bigger and tougher looking guys right in the face if someone’s got them flat-footed. His natural rival is the Feral Canadian build from upthread, naturally.

The Patriot himself spoke his thanks, telling Miss Americana in a somewhat tinny voice. "I appreciate the assistance, Miss Americana. You've done sigil work today on this old man." He coughed and patted his chest a little, then added, "I'll take a well-done patch job over no job at all. You have my thanks, and the thanks of AEGIS as well." He shook her hand, his grip a little clammy: no surprise, since so much of his internal fluid reservoirs needed to be repaired and replenished when he was back in his regular holding facility. To Victory, when that worthy was awake (if numb in a great many places!), he said, "Thank you for your assistance, Agent Victory. You've sacrificed your own flesh and blood, metal and polymer it might have been, for me. That's not a favor I'll soon forget," he said, giving the younger man a level look. "You're already one of our top agents, but after this I'll remember you're one of our top people as well." He had a brief exchange with Sharl, but the latter was doing his best to stay out of the way.

"Hey!" At the suggestion he might sell the gang out, Lucky looked as offended as only a tiny cartoon gangster can, drawing himself up to his full height of not very much and looking daggers at Cobalt Templar. "I told you, I ain't no squealer! Nor stoolie, tattler, tattletale, tipster, turncoat, weasel, or whistle-blower!" "Yeah, nor agent provocateur neither!" spat Roxie from her position tied up by the fender she'd knocked loose from the Model A when she'd unsuccessfully tried to run down Wander. "No no, dollface, that would imply I was in bed with these coppas to begin with," Lucky corrected her, "you know, like I'd gone out with the idea that I was gonna get the Gang in trouble, maybe rat everyone out, and be gone from there." "Oh yeah! You're so smart, Lucky!" She beamed at him, and Lucky blushed.

Eventually they touched down at the school, the spring class schedule such that most students were inside. Not everyone was as trusted as Corbin, after all. Thinking a little painfully about all the things he'd never get a chance to see, Sharl looked around, his feet seemingly making solid contact with the ground beneath. Another week, and this will all be, what? Phantoms? A place I won't be able to see again, a place where I can only exist because I made some really good friends. "This place is huge!" he said in awe. "I can't believe all the space you have," he said, slowly turning around. "Do the buildings go underground? Or are they all this tiny?"

Jack[1] met Eli[2] while they were serving together in the Pacific. They both liked to draw, but Eli had managed to make a living at it! The two became fast friends. Jack followed Gil back to New York when the war ended in 1945. Jack never was a particularly talented artist, but damn few artists had a better work ethic. He also had an unexpected talent for doing business, and after he managed to get the rights for the Mighty Crusader, Jack Liebowitz vowed never to work with him again. So Jack wound up at Marvel, nee Timely, working with Lee and Kirby. Few people understood the art of the monster better than Jack; his science fiction fiends were always especially gruesome, the fates of their victims especially dire. He was a man who understood the power of horror, and how to use it to shock and enlighten his readers. He never did like the Code, and always preferred the work he did for Bob Gaines to any of his later stuff. But he freelanced for everyone who'd take him, and did fairly well for himself. He left the field in the late 1950s and worked in advertisting for a while, but he never did find a field he could really _believe_ in. When the Marvel boom started, Stan Lee rehired him at an even better salary, figuring Jack was the only guy who could get along well with Steve Ditko. It turned out to be one of Stan's better moves. The two recluses worked best together, and Jack managed to get Steve to work with him on Uncanny X-Men. Jack always worked best with members of an oppressed minority battling against a wicked power structure, and his new characters like Susan "Power Girl" Barnes and Deacon "Iron Fist" Carter helped inject life into the flagging title. His stories were as grim and gritty as the age allowed, often pessimistic tales of heroes who were the only salvation in a dark world: he proved a major influence on a young Frank Miller. Jack's best books are generally considered to be the eerie, nearly dialogue-free Uncanny X-Men #35 "Somebody Loves Me" and the grim, Code- pushing Dr. Strange #9 "Dark Dungeons". The cover for Dark Dungeons is on the cover of the recent "Marvel Masterworks" volume that collects his work, though my personal favorite of his work is the cover he did for the graphic novel edition of Batman: Year One. Ultimately, though, Jack was the wrong temperment for the new generation. Like his friend Steve Ditko, he didn't get along well with the fans; he was just too much of a recluse. He could give autographs, even quick sketches, but he hated conventions and the press. (He famously appears as a blank outline in various Marvel Bullpen stories of the 1960s) He left Marvel in 1970, joining Charlton during their brief flowering of the period. A savvy businessman, Jack kept a portion of the rights to all his characters, making him one of the few writer-artists to make a solid living. His grim, pessimistic view of a dark and gritty world made his writing a strong influence on Alan Moore's Watchmen. Indeed, Moore credited Ozymandius' famous "Haw-haw!" to Jack's notes. Jack supported himself with more advertising work in the interim, occasionally cropping up at Marvel or DC to freelance. Though Marv Wolfman always hotly denied it, a prelimary sketch from the period does greatly resemble the faceless, glowing monster that was the Anti- Monitor. He drifted out of sight until the 1990s, when a new generation of fans discovered him via the Internet. Jack liked the Internet fine, and soon established a thriving website and business. A line of comics published under his own name proved to be one of the few independent lines that survived the crunch of the 90s. Around that time, Jack started making occasional apperances at conventions, even once alongside his friend Steve Ditko. To the amazement of fans, he actually gave a few interviews about the old days for Men of Tomorrow. He makes a cameo appearance in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. He's had a mixed relationship with the Big 2 recently: his famously dogged adherence to canon has made him not fit in well in the era of Joe Quesada's Spiderman and Geoff Johns' Green Lantern, and he has made some enemies by quietly criticizing both. In 2007, his face appears on a milk carton in Spiderman 3; his most recent cameo was in Iron Man 2 where his picture loomed ominously above Robert Downey Jr. in a Stark Industries board meeting. At 87, Jack Chick is doing fine. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Chick [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Kane

Caryatid's mother's eyes widened at the site of Supercape, the woman taking a step back and putting her arms protectively over her children. "It's...it's..." Her husband looked equally flustered, and Caryatid had to murmur a sharp reminder that "this isn't him! This is the him from the other world!" The Gravois family were beginning to look frazzled, having gone from a middle-class lifestyle to an underground lair in the space of one night, but they were prepared for the future that awaited them. As for the other new face, Singularity was clearly Erin, but clearly _not_, eying the world with a furtive predator's eyes, the look of the smallest lion in the pride writ large on her face. "Good to see you, Supercape," interjected Edge. "I think we're ready to get the hell out of here. Mind-Master, it's been a pleasure. Tell Talos we'll do all that we can to make sure more people help Anti-Earth. Just because our teachers promote non-interference doesn't mean we can't come here and save lives."

Crabby Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 40 pp STR 30 [20] (+10/+5) DEX 16 (+3) CON 20 (+5) INT 10 (+0) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 18 (+4) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Melee) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +23 Saves: 9 pp TOU +10 (+5 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +8 (+5 Con, +3) REF +5 (+3 Wis, +2) WILL +7 (+3 Wis, +4) Skills: 76r=19 r Bluff 11 (+15) Climb 1 (+11) Diplomacy 11 (+15) Intimidate 15 (+19) Notice 12 (+15) Sense Motive 12 (+15) Stealth 12 (+15) Survival 1 (+4) Swim 1 (+11) Feats: 17 pp Attack Focus: Melee 4 Challenge 3 (Fast Intimidate, Fast Startle, Powerful Intimidate) Dodge Focus 4 Environmental Adaptation (Underwater) Improved Initiative Power Attack Startle Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 43 pp Enhanced STR 10 [10 pp] 'pinchy claws!" Immunity 3 (environmental cold, high pressure, suffocation underwater) [3 pp] Impervious TOU 10 [10 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] Speed 2 (25 MPH) (PF: Zig-Zag) [3 pp] Super-Movement 2 (Wall-Crawling 2) [4 pp] Super-Senses 2 (Darkvision) [2 pp] Super-Strength 3 (Heavy Load: 6 tons) [6 pp] costs abilities 40 + combat 40 + saves 9 + skills 19/76 + feats 17 + powers 43 = 150 pts ---- Design Notes: Here’s my build for yet another Totem hero; this time with a crab theme! I was inspired by the inclusion of a crab theme in the Totem archetype in the Archetype Archive; the idea seemed so odd I had to include it. So here’s a crab guy: he’s got strong pinchy hands, he can scuttle right up walls and into your bedroom window at night (to give you such a pinch!) and his armored crustacean body makes him bulletproof. He’s a good grappler, though not quite as skilled as my Octopus build up thread. His primary difference from my other aquatic builds is of course his scary nature: being crabby, he’s very good at being intimidating in combat, and using how scary he is as a weapon! (You think it’s just a lame joke? Look at a picture of a coconut crab sometime! Scary dudes). One possible change would be to find the points to give him more Super-Strength, perhaps at the cost of some Impervious, or maybe some Penetrating Unarmed to represent those pincy claws! Eyestalks and Elongations are another possibility: Radius Sight or Extended Sight being a natural way of representing that. If you want to make a Fiddler Crab, more Super-Strength Limited to one limb makes sense: you could also give him Regeneration or Anatomical Separation to represent his ability to let his claws drop off and grow another one: like many animal totems, you have a lot of potential abilities depending on how fast and loose you want to play with the biology. Maybe he owns a fast-food restaurant with a dour guy and a cheerful pixie man as his subordinates? Or maybe he was a plucky teenager pinched by a radioactive crab who turned his new abilities and fantastic crabby powers (look at how fast he scuttles!) to crime-fighting! His natural enemy is, of course, the Crushinator and his sidekick, Butter Lad! Complication: So Tasty? Believe it! He’s a natural part of an aquatic superteam as well, his high Charisma letting him function in worlds as crazy as diverse as a tidal beach. (Note that Speed defaults to Swimming underwater, so he gets by decently enough underwater as well)

Respiration Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 32 pp STR 10 (+0) DEX 20 (+5) CON 20 (+5) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 18 (+4) Combat: 20 pp ATK: +4 (+10 Ranged) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +9 Grapple: +4 Saves: 7 pp TOU +8 (+5 Con, +3 Protection) FORT +6 (+5 Con, +1) REF +8 (+5 Dex, +3) WILL +5 (+2 Wis, +3) Skills: 40 r=10 pp Climb 10 (+10) Diplomacy 11 (+15) Languages 2 (English, Japanese) (Base: Grue) Medicine 1 (+3) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Feats: 19 pp Attack Focus: Ranged 6 Dodge Focus 6 Improved Initiative Luck Move-By Action Power Attack Precise Shot Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 62 pp Corrosion 10 and Mimic 10 (any one power) (PF: Extended Reach [total 10 ft], Variable Descriptor 1 [blow/suck]) [52 pp] Flight 1 (10 MPH) (Flaw: Duration [Concentration]) [1 pp] Immunity 2 (suffocation) [2 pp] Protection 3 [3 pp] Resurrection 1 (1/week) [1 pp] Super-Movement 1 (Slow Fall) [2 pp] costs abilities 32 + combat 20 + saves 7 + skills 10/40 + feats 19 + powers 62 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: This is my build for Kirby, the hero of various Nintendo games and at least one anime. Kirby's signature ability in the game is to inhale his enemies and either spit them back out or devour them, taking their powers as his own. (Kirby...Kirby would be pretty scary in a universe less cartoonish than his native dimension, honestly). While I could have used DImensional Pocket or Snare with the Engulf modifier, maybe with some kind of limited Move Object, to represent his most famous ability: I've chosen to model his abilities as Corrosion linked with Mimic: he sucks it in, destroys it, and absorbs its powers with his own. Obviously sentient targets should be targeted only with the 'breath blast' that I think is another viable expression of that big power: note that with the Concentration duration on his Flight, he has to 'hold his breath' during transit and so if he does use his powers while flying, he starts to fall! He has Slow Fall rather than an Immunity to falling damage because he can fall any distance onto a surface besides spikes and do no worse than bounce, but if he falls into a bottomless pit he's in trouble! He can come back from the dead if he does die; Kirby is much more prone to resurrection than his mustachioed Super Smash Brothers colleague Mario. (This is because Kirby's game is aimed at younger children; he's competitive without being death-prone in that obnoxiously Nintendo way.) He's still not that tough, since getting smacked in the face even by low-level bad guys is always a serious problem for him. He's got the high Diplomacy and Charisma because...well, just look at him! He's freaking adorable! He's also a really good shot, and very good at goon-sweeping, just like a Nintendo hero should be. Obviously he'll need a _little_ adjustment in a superhero setting, depending on what you want to do with him. Maybe he's fresh from the Japanese national super-team? I've gone with the theory that he's some sort of Grue bio-weapon on the loose, a natural fit for the setting given his alien nature and protean powers. Maybe give him a little human buddy and make him a Stitch expy? But you could go with that however you wanted; maybe he's an alien in his own right, or a creature from magical dimension. Or maybe he's some kind of crazy mutant!

Harrier's power pike screamed like a damned soul as it charged with unholy Terminus energy, his shoulders hunching as he stood facing the crowd of innocents corrupted by the entropic fires of the Terminus. Despite his fear and disgust, despite all the other emotions stirring inside him, he forced himself to act: action was all that could save them now. Don't think. Don't feel. Just act. They know nothing of this save that it is a horror. Help them. "You and you!" he said, pointing to Jack of all Blades and Gabriel, "you must keep the mindless ones out of the building as long as you can. Wound them if you must. Bruises and blood and broken ear drums are nothing before the incineration of the soul in the ever-burning lightless flame of Entropy." To Nick, he said, "Come with me. Let us see if the sorcery of the dead can defeat the power of what lies beyond death." To Wander, sensing, if not a kindred spirit, at least someone who knew this was more than just a frightening day. "We can save these people. Come destroy what the Termius has wrought." And with that, he raised his pike high, charging it with power, and drove it deep into the heart of the theater floor. "We must go below to the heart of the building!"

Lois practically jumped for joy at the idea, not bothering to so much as ask her mother for permission as she headed off after Miss Americana. Joan followed; maybe Miss Americana rubbed her the wrong way, but she wasn't going to deprive her daughter of something she so obviously wanted. She'd just make sure to follow along and make sure nothing went down she'd have to deal with later, like Lois deciding she wanted to be like the girl with pretty superpowers and sit inside all day rather than going out and making something of herself.

For his part, Sharl sat alone in an empty room, Daedalus having gone to bed himself. He could have gone to the effort of sending himself back to Gina's house, but he hesitated to go backwards when he'd gone to so much time and effort to go forwards. Instead he reached into the little backpack he'd been carrying (no one having raised an issue about why he was carrying around literally material possessions) and pulled out the expensive laptop Gina had entrusted him with for his departure: Miss Americana would be taking it back with her when she left. "I can't believe this is my last night on Prime," he murmured to himself. How hard would it be to go back, knowing what he knew? He'd already said his face-to-face goodbyes with Gina anyway; he'd even left her a note tucked away where Emerson would find it and present it to her sometime in the morning. He cracked open the laptop and dialed up the only program on its hard drive: somewhat awkwardly, he stuck his finger in the IR port, and found himself sitting not on the artsy 70s couch in the Centurion's waiting room, but rather on a simple bed with a feather-stuffed mattress and soft pillows, in the very first draft of the room Gina had built for him on her computer at home. He set the 'computer' on his lap aside and laid down, feeling the familiar sensations of 'reality' all around him now that he was back where he belonged. "Well, almost..." It had been a long day, and back in the computer, it was easier than Sharl had expected to go to sleep; the little window that showed him still visible on the screen outside as he slept and dreamed.

With the program running and everyone needing a break, Daedalus took them down to the dispensary: the Centurion's food replicators were a few decades old now, but they worked as well as they had when they'd been installed in the early 1970s. For his part, after some hesitation, Sharl opted to indulge in the 50s-diner food the Centurion had evidently favored: hamburgers and french fries, and bubbling Coke on the side! "I'll make sure to go to the bathroom before I leave," he promised Miss A and Dragonfly. "I don't want you guys to have to clean up after me when I'm gone." Despite his nervous happiness at the thought of being back in Tronik, Sharl certainly didn't like the idea of leaving his friends behind. Especially Gina, wherever she was behind that mask. Probably back home. When they were done eating, Sharl, who needed no rest, went to carry out the long, involved procedure that was using the bathroom. He wouldn't miss having to scrub undigested, chewed food till it went down the drain.

Joan hrmed, obviously judging the answer, but said nothing more as they went about their tour again. She was torn. Lois obviously adored Miss Americana, certainly much more than she did her own mother, and who wouldn't? And Joan couldn't quibble with the results of the Lab, either. Well, you'd think that so many geniuses working together would be able to accomplish more, really, but she wasn't the type to just offer a criticism like that without a solution. She was still thinking about that when they all took a short break, and Lois made a beeline for her side. Whispering, the little girl said, "Mom, please don't cause trouble!" "What?" Joan gave Lois a look, glad to see her daughter was standing up for herself even if she obviously wasn't pointed in the right direction. "What do you mean cause trouble?" "You know...like you do!" She bit her lip and said, "I really really like it here, and things are really great. I don't want anything to mess it up!" "Darling," Joan whispered back patiently, "I'm not causing trouble. And we'll talk about having specific criticisms when you have a problem later. I know you like Miss Americana, and she's very fine. But you need to have a life outside your work just like your father and I do. You can't just..." She waved her hand. "sit inside all day working on a computer, not at your age." Having usually stressed physical prowess and the joys of struggle to make that point, Joan tried a new tactic with the gorgeous Miss Americana nearby. "You're growing up into a beautiful young woman," and that, glasses and snub nose and pot belly her daughter had and all, she believed with absolute fervor, "You don't want to spend all your teen years working in a place like this, do you?"