Avenger Assembled

Sa-Ur nodded her approval of the girl's plan, walking into the restaurant with the others as if she owned the place. She certainly had a regal bearing about her, if the viewer was inclined to be polite, something of the dignity and bearing that her daughter possessed that had attracted Corbin to her in the first place. "Yes, I would be remiss in my duties if I did not partake in your rituals." She took a seat between Quo-Dis and Corbin, and on closer inspection the teenagers realized she was not actually sitting at all, but rather floating a few fractions of an inch off the table. For her part, Quo-Dis shot Corbin a mortified look of apology as her mother studied Blake and Jessica. "Are you having-" "NO, Mother, they're not," said Quo-Dis, her pretty cheeks turning crimson as she hissed. "Please, they don't talk about that in public!" "Ohhhh." Sa-Ur nodded at that as if it explained a great deal, giving the two teenagers a look as her daughter ordered coffee for her. Meanwhile, inside Corbin's head, the teenager heard a voice. "I am SO SORRY!" thought an anguished Quo-Dis. "My mother thought my coming here was a bad idea, my father and I had to argue with her for AGES."

"I exist in a hermetically-sealed environment. I do not become sick," replied Caradoc elliptically. And it was true; his armor protected him against poisonous atmospheres and lethal contagions. He had personal knowledge of this. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Doctor. Your honesty does you credit." Feeling a little guilty, he turned and studied the robot again. It is a robot no one seems familiar with, he thought. and neither am I. Though visions of burning robotic cities and incinerated mechanical champions were easy to find in his memory, he'd never seen anything like this before.

Sharl held up his hand, looked at Gina uncertainly, then decided to head up the stairs. "Okay, I won't go out of the kitchen," he promised, "and I'll yell and come back right away if anything strange happens. After all this work, the last thing I want to do is cause any problems." If she didn't want him to touch her, that was okay. Maybe she was worried he'd clip through her or shock her or something; either way, he didn't want to make anything of it. He slowly, carefully made his way up the steps, unconsciously clinging firmly to the handrail. He knew intellectually that if he fell here, he'd fall a long, long way, but it was still a natural impulse after a lifetime of being around things as real as he was.

TT, should Geckoman, Doc Titan, and Edge head for the fight?

Casting his eyes around, Sharl picked the wall. With a curious look on his face, he reached over and ran his hands over the woodwork, his eyes widening. "Oh, wow...I can feel it! I can actually feel it! I'm tingling just a little, and I can feel the wood underneath" He pressed harder, feeling his skin come into contact with the surface, and pressed hard enough to actually make the wall creak slightly. "Oh, wow! This is totally sweet!" He turned to Gina, a huge smile on his face. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" Walking around, his feet sunk into the carpet, his body responding to his environment as if he'd been there his whole life. When he was done, he was standing right next to Gina. "Can I go upstairs?'

Firefighter Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 32 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 10 (+0) CON 20 (+5) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 18 (+4) Combat: 16 pp ATK: +4 (+10 Fireman powers) DEF: +10 (+2 flat-footed) Init: +4 Grapple: +9 Saves: 16 pp TOU +10 (+5 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +8 (+5 Con, +3) REF +7 (+0 Dex, +7) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 9 pp=36 r Climb 5 (+10) Demolitions 5 (+5) Diplomacy 5 (+9) Drive 5 (+5) Knowledge: Physical Sciences 5 (+5) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 3 (+5) Feats: 13 pp Distract (Diplomacy) Dodge Focus 6, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Ultimate Save (Toughness) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 64 pp Fireman Array 20 (PFs: Accurate 3, Alternate Powers 2) [45 pp] Drain Energy 10 (Extra: Ranged, PFs: Slow Fade 2 [5 minutes]) AP: Blast 10 (Extra: Autofire, Penetrating; PFs: Variable Descriptor 2 [any energy]) AP: Nullify 10 (any energy effect) (Extras: Targeted Area [burst], Effortless, PFs: Precise, Selective) Immunity 4 (environmental heat, radiation, suffocation) [4 pp] Impervious Toughness 10 (Flaw: Limited [Energy Only]) [5 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] Super-Senses 5 (Infravision, Vision Penetrates Concealment) [5 pp] costs abilities 32 + combat 16 + saves 16 + skills 9/36 + feats 13 + powers 64 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: This is a build for the Fireman, one of the iconic setting NPCs of the now-defunct Aberrantsuperpowered gameline published by White Wolf. (If you have a copy of the corebook, he’s the, uh, fireman on the cover). I’ve always liked the Fireman; he’s a genuinely good man who wants the best for everybody, in his personality he’s one of the closest things the setting has to a genuine superhero. He was one of the first people with superpowers to appear in public in that setting, saving the life of a busload of children trapped in a burning bus on the day that superpowers first began appearing in 1998. He’s one of the nicest, most personable guys in a White Wolf game, and I love that one of the canned adventures the PCs can take part in is assisting the Fireman’s run for the Presidency. Unfortunately for the Fireman, he’s a character in a White Wolf universe, and thus he’s in pretty serious jeopardy without the help of the PCs. And that’s if he _wins_. So why build this character? In game terms, because he helps me show “build for effects, not for power names”. The Fireman is an energy absorber built without Absorption, a power that’s not particularly well-put together or useful given that it breaks caps. He can absorb energy at a distance (I’d let him drain things like fires, electrical substations, and the like, as well as powers with energy descriptors), hold it in his body, and then fire it back at any target he likes. Mix Drain and Nullify to taste, depending your GM’s preferences. He can take some massive energy-based punishment thanks to his Impervious and Ultimate Toughness, letting him soak up a significant amount of damage. Structural fires and the like just aren’t going to do enough damage to get through his impervious. With his Immunities, he can walk into a burning building or a melting-down nuclear reactor and suck up everything there without a problem; he can also use his super-senses to _see_ inside a fire or a burning reactor without a worry. This guy actually would make a very effective fireman, and has been built with that philosophy in mind. He’s in great physical shape and very charismatic. If you like the power construction but not the concept, shuffle points around at will. His 20 STR could be spent elsewhere, for all that scores like that are pretty important for people with his job. He could use more feats and skills, certainly, and maybe you like him better as a brainy scientist type, or something else. Another idea would be to make his powers all Perception-range, which would certainly fit the concept of his power construction as well! OTOH, fires generally don't do a lot of dodging. If you stick with the fireman concept, there already is a superpowered firefighter in Freedom City, so maybe you guys can commute to work together! (She’s just immune to all fire effects, though, so she might get a little worried you’re after her job...)

Early January 2011 Brian wasn't sure what he'd been expecting at the arrival gate at Jordan International Airport, but the smiling African-American woman in the trim business suit and the cheerful fellow in the Claremont jersey who looked to be an upperclassman were certainly welcoming enough. The woman was holding up a "BRIAN HARRIS" sign, one she put aside as she caught sight of him. "There he is, Mark...Hello, Brian!" she said with a wave. "I'm Stephanie Harcourt, we spoke on the phone. This is Mark Lucas, he's one of our upperclassmen and he'll be assisting me on this tour. How was your flight?" she asked him cordially, steering them all out of the zone of exiting traffic so they could have a little more peace and quiet. "How much luggage did you bring?"

The flying Ultiman gave Corbin such a look, her eyebrows furrowing with anger, and he was conscious of a sharp look from his putative girlfriend as well. She did intervene on his behalf, though, when she looked at her mother and said aloud, "Mother, that's not fair. We're primates as well, and I happen to know that Corbin bathes regularly _and_ relieves himself indoors. And these are our friends Blake and Jessica, who do the same." I hope! she thought in that private part of her mind her mother couldn't read. "Very well," said the flying woman imperiously. She stared at Corbin's hand, then raised her own in the air in salute. "I am Sa-Ur, mother to Quo-Dis. May the blessings of whatever god-entities you worship fall upon you, Corbin Alphonse Hughes and Blake-Jessica. I shall speak in your language, in deference to your disability." "We weren't going to mate in the alley," Quo-Dis offered, sounding vaguely disappointed for a moment. "We were undergoing a mating ritual in the restaurant here, with Corbin and his friends." "Hmm." Sa-Ur frowned. "Very well, perhaps I was too hasty in my judgement. My apologies to you two. Neither of you are as...threatening as I feared. I wish to view this ritual."

Corbin arrived in the alley behind the restaurant just in time to see a glowing yellow circle in the air collapse into nothingness, revealing a hard-faced woman in black who looked down at Quo-Dis with folded arms. "...in a filthy alley, is it?" she finished a sentence that Corbin hadn't quite been able to hear. "This is why we send you to school? So you can...mate with them?" Quo-Dis stamped her foot on the ground hard enough to make the alleyway shake. "Mo-ther! For vril's sake, you need to let me have my own life! Why did you send me to Claremont if you didn't want me to live with the humans?" "I wanted you to learn from them!" Her mother fired back, still hovering in the air. "To learn about their culture and power, for the sake of our people! Not to mate with them in a barbaric alley! This place reeks of filth and decay, the squalor of a giant anthill! Why would you even want to be here in the first place?"

"No, ah, in the back..." Murdock pointed, but then afterwards kept his hands on the table so Miss Americana could work on him uninterrupted. "There was a space, and a mattress..." He didn't know much about people, but he was sure someone as beautiful and brilliant as Miss Americana didn't need to sleep in her laboratory. She had to have a much nicer bed elsewhere. "I did not know if it was a shelter against attack," he hazarded, "or a place to sleep when you were working. Or for a guest." He shrugged slightly. "I did not mean to pry. I would not have gone to a place where I was not welcome."

Luckily, Edge joined Geckoman at just the right moment, clapping Geckoman on the back. "Hey, Geckoman! Good to see you!" He hadn't worked with Chris in months, which was really too bad: Chris was a swell guy. ."How've you been?" A little belatedly, he gave a friendly hello to the new face. "Hello, I'm Edge! You must be from Freedom City too," he hazarded, figuring that Ashbury Park didn't get a lot of superheroes who weren't from the center of superpowers in North America. "So we all heard from Metropolis, eh? Is it just us, you think?"

No sooner had Dragonfly finished the burger than she felt the packing paper swell in her hand. Within mere seconds, another delicious-looking cheeseburger was there, dripping with sauce and bacon! It looked just as delicious as the first one, though was different enough in shape and weight that it was obviously not the same burger. Looking pleased at her enjoyment of his gift, Santa moved to address the crowd, handing everyone a jingly Christmas ornament before raising his own to the air. "Come, my friends! Let the magic of Christmas send you to your homes and your holiday with a recitation of the Christmas Oath!" He began to chant, his booming voice ringing out across the field as the elves, reindeer, and all others joined them; Lupita doing the same as she stood by Avenger. "Punish the naughty, reward the nice; Check the list not once but twice; Let those who chant humbug's spell beware my power: The Christmas Bell!" As the bells jingled, Santa boomed "Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas, and I'll see you all next year!" And then there was a wash of snow across everyone's vision, bright and cold, and they were right back where they'd started before meeting Adrian Eldritch, their new acquisitions from Santa Claus standing right next to them like newly-unwrapped presents.

'Caradoc' was a little unsettled yet at the company of so many geniuses, feeling the fragility of his disguise sharply against his skin. Leaving the others to greet the robot, he opted to make introductions to the only face he hadn't yet seen on the news. "Hello," the flying knight said to Doctor Titan, his perfect silver armor gleaming in the clear sunlight of January. "I am Caradoc. It is a pleasure to meet you as well," he said, his voice oddly flat despite the courtesy in the words. "Are you really a doctor?" the flying man asked, curiosity creeping into his voice.

Sketching in the dirt with their massive limbs, the bees outlined where they'd seen the symbol: a rectangular metal island some miles offshore. "ITZ COVERED IN BIRDZ AND FIZH, ZO WE THOUGHT IT WAZ OK." The rectangle was surrounded by reefs and debris, apparently making it the center of an ecosystem. "LOOKED LIKE A PLAZE WHERE PEOPLE UZED TO BEE, BUT THEREZ NOTHING THERE NOW." The bees all shuddered; evidently a tomb was no more pleasant a place for bees than it was for human beeings! Listening to the bees' description, a light bulb went off over Victory's head: they were talking about an aircraft carrier! And the remains of a flotilla, too, if what he'd seen with deliberately sunken ships turned into reefs. Somewhere, the last remnant of a navy, maybe the American navy, was still at sea, but now it was a threat to the world it once had guarded.

Velociraptor Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 52 pp STR 26 (+8) DEX 24 (+7) CON 26 (+8) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 12 (+1) Combat: 28 pp ATK: +6 (+12 unarmed) DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +11 Grapple: +14 Saves: 6 pp TOU +8 (+8 Con) FORT +8 (+8 Con) REF +8 (+7 Dex, +1) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 13 pp=52 r Acrobatics 8 (+15) Climb 2 (+10) Diplomacy 4 (+5) Intimidate 14 (+15) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 3 (+10) Survival 5 (+7) Feats: 21 pp Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Specialization: Unarmed (3) Dodge Focus (4), Evasion, Fast Overrun, Improved Crit (Unarmed) (2) Improved Initiative, Improved Overrun, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown Attack (2), Uncanny Dodge (olfactory) Powers: 32 pp Comprehend 3 (speak and understand all languages simultaneously) [6 pp] Device 3 (Holo-Watch) (Hard to Lose) [12 pp] -Morph 3 (humanoids) (Extra: Continuous) (PF: Precise) {10} Impervious Toughness 5 [5 pp] Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp] Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] Super-Senses 7 (Infravision, Scent [Accurate, Acute, Tracking olfactory sense], Tremorsense) [7 pp] Drawbacks: [-3 pp] Weakness (Extreme Cold) (uncommon, major) (-3) costs abilities 52 + combat 28 + saves 6 + skills 13/52 + feats 21 + powers 32 - drawbacks 3= 150 pts --- Design Notes: A velociraptor superhero? Believe it! This character is a people-sized dinosaur who can run as fast as a car, leap over chain-link fences, and scythe through a crowd of bad guys like wheat through chaff. He can also scent-trail his way across a city, sense patterns of body heat, and pick up vibrations on his vibraty-lizard tongue. Yeah, he’s pretty badass. I gave him a little holographic generator so he can pass for human on the street, and the ability to speak all human languages: once he learned to do that vibration thing in the back of his throat, he really didn’t have a lot of problems getting by. He’s also got a vulnerability to cold: not cold-based attacks per se, but cold-based environments will render him torpid and sick very fast. We don’t really know if velociraptors had that problem in real life, but I’m going with the idea that he did. So what’s this guy’s story? I can think of a lot of possible backgrounds. Maybe he’s a visitor from another dimension, a traveler or dimensionnaut who became stranded in this world of scuttling, soft-bodied mammals and has had to make his home here. Or maybe his dimension is a sinister one, run by a predatory saurian empire, and he’s chosen to change sides now that he’s in this place that’s so much nicer than the world he left behind. Or maybe he’s a time traveler, a member of a forgotten saurian civilization cast into the impossibly distant future millions and millions of years after his civilization’s death! Or maybe he’s a wild saurian trained to human ways, or a mutant or a lab experiment. Either way, he’s the great terror of a past age: a velociraptor on the loose! He doesn’t have claws because I don’t like to give a Lethal-Only Strike to superheroes. Treat him Power Attacking or maybe Critting as using claws, carefully aimed so as not to do serious damage to puny humans. If you want to make him your Wolverine, just make sure he’s in combat versus a lot of robots or other acceptable targets. Treat his, ah, carnivorous diet as a complication, along with any other quirks of reptilian anatomy you’d care to give him. You could drop the Comprehend to free up more points, making him face the same challenges as any other immigrant to Earth. You could lose the watch, too, but you don’t want his nature to be a Complication ALL the time...

"Yes, you can all go in!" called Jack, prompted by Trevor's quite reasonable question. "I appreciate the attention and all, but I'm just feeding this guy, since he and I aren't bothered by the weather. I'm not sure I'm really welcome in Stesha's church when she's around," he added with a faint, self-deprecating smile that covered his worries about bursting into flames, Taylor's assurances or not. "We'll be fine. It's pretty nice in there, go on in!" Mark took Faretti up on his suggestion, and led the way into the well-appointed building. "C'mon, Trevor, lets go stake out some Claremont seats!"

Inside, Quo-Dis was all business, taking Corbin's hand as she placed her order with him, then joining the others at their table. She was just sitting down when suddenly she bolted upright, her pretty blue eyes wide as she stared at nothing. "No! No, this is NOT a good time!" she yelled at nothing. "Vril take it, Ru-Sa-" Suddenly, she stopped. Blushing pink, she quieted when she realized everyone was staring at her, and bolted for the door, a look of intense concentration and teenage fury on her face as all the diners stared after her!

'Caradoc' tried to repress a surge of paranoia, and wasn't entirely successful. Deploy a robotic agent as scout and spy, he thought, wiping its memories of its true purpose while keeping core directives in its base memory, soon to be activated by its master! Inside his mind, though, the man inside the suit took a breath. I was greeted with open arms and with trust despite appearing a thousand times more suspicious. I will not cheapen the faith that was given me with paranoia now. "Welcome to Freedom City," he finally said, making a smooth landing and offering a hand to Protectron. "I want to be your friend."

Edge responded with alacrity to the summons from a member of the Freedom League, pecking his mom on the cheek goodbye before he walked out of his house and onto the streets of Freedom City. His breath was a cold mist before him in the January day, and unbidden he remembered his father's words about Doctor Metropolis, one of the few Leaguers Mark himself had never met. Don't understand we need a city spirit to clean up after everything. If the Centurion didn't need it, why does that Thunder need it? Captain Thunder had always been _that Thunder_ growing up. Pushing back a surge of uncharacteristic resentment, Mark pulled out his Young Freedom transponder, pressed a few buttons, and the colorfully-clad Edge popped into being on the quiet, nearly-empty beaches of Ashbury Park. He had no idea where he'd find the other heroes, but that was OK: he was sure they'd run into each other!

"Ho-ho-ho, I'm afraid that's a secret in my business," said Santa Claus with a broad wink. Putting a fur-mittened hand on Victory's shoulder, the right jolly old elf added, "Let's just say that little Desmond has been on the naughty list for many years, and I'm afraid he'll be there into the future." He looked depressed by that thought for a moment, his big shoulders slumping, before brightening at the sight of the latest arrivals. "Ah, speaking of which..." Avenger had arrived to wish everyone well, accompanied by a somewhat more together Lupita now dressed in a green cap and red outfit obviously borrowed from an elf close to her size. The Latina girl had much more color in her cheeks now, for all that she still tinkled with Christmas chimes to Erik's ears, and stuck close to the sweater-clad Avenger and Mrs. Claus. Before they could do more than greet each other, Santa Claus said, "My friends, I'm afraid it's time for us to say goodnight. Christmas City must begin our time of rest before our work starts all over again. But before that..." He pulled over his sack, which still burst with toys, and said, "I have something for all the heroes of Freedom City!" For Avenger, Santa reached into his legendary sack and produced a shimmering, luminescent star, shining with a magnificent, magical inner beauty. "This is for your wife and son," the king of Christmas said with a wink. "Put this on your tree, and both of them will have the most magnificent Christmas of all! As for you, take this." Digging deeper, he produced what turned out to be the crouching sculpture of a bat-man, ears extended high, wings out behind him, a magnificently produced work of art cast in shimmering black stone. "A symbol of the night, for the heroic night warrior who helped save Christmas! Cast from purest anthracite!" Avenger thanked Santa, because what else could you do? The elf moved on to Miss Americana, giving her a rosy-cheeked wink before saying "Your present is very large, my dear, and I'm not sure I'm strong enough to get it out by myself!" With Miss Americana's help, Santa produced for her...a vending machine full of Mountain Dew? But no, on closer inspection it was full of things like 'North Pole Ale' and 'Fizzy Milk of Human Kindness'. "An ever-flowing fount of refreshment," he said, pointing to the image of Santa himself where the money should be. "For the refreshing beauty of the North, next only to Mrs. Claus herself." He looked at her closely, and in her seat in Freedom City Gina distinctly heard Look in the storage compartment when you get home From there he turned to the Espadas siblings, waving a finger at them chidingly. "Ho-ho-ho, you two made things very difficult! How can I find a better sword for you, or a better shield for you?" He laughed again, then pulled over the bag. "I think you'll like it, though!" Brother and sister wound up pulling out an envelope, and for half a second they thought Santa had just given them a gift certificate before they looked inside. It turned out to be a week's stay, all expenses paid, at Ocean's Breeze, an expensive resort a few miles outside of town, far, far outside their price range on any normal day given Erik's salary and Gina's pension, complete with attached pictures of brochures that showed the completely wheelchair-accessible facility in lavish detail. "Better save that one for summer, though, ho-ho-ho!" And from there, to Dragonfly! "As for you, my little elf, what could I give you that your genius doesn't give you already?" As it turned out, what Santa could give her was a good-sized cloth bag about the size of a McDonalds' drivethru bag, and inside Mara found a carefully wrapped hamburger dripping with special sauce, bacon, and cheese, a sleeve of piping-hot and deliciously salty French fries, and a cunningly-baked pie filled entirely with apples! "An ever-flowing bag of nourishment," said Santa jovially, "made just the way you young people like it!" He winked, and turned at last to Victory. "Ah, my noble rocket of the skies. So many favors you have done me." Santa gave Victory a long, searching look. "I cannot give you what you deserve, but I can give you what you need." He reached into his bag one last time and pulled out...a set of keys, which he handed to the ace pilot. Victory looked at the keys and recognized the lion of the skies, the workhorse of the air: the Douglas DC-3! "It's in red and green and parked in a slot reserved for Kris Kringle at Jordan Airport. I used to use it for delivering presents during the war!" He laughed, putting his hands on his belly. "It's got a few surprises I think you'll like!"

Dr. Simian Think: Charlton Heston as a gorilla Mentioning bananas is a pretty reliable taunt for Dr. Simian. Johnny Rocket, Jack of all Blades, all the smart-mouth heroes of Freedom City know that jokes about bananas really do make Simian angry. If you use them enough, he'll start screaming like a gorilla and threatening to rip you limb from limb! Everyone knows that Dr. Simian is a courtly fellow, sipping his cognac and listening to his classical music on 78 RPM, occasionally slipping into the high tech suit of armor he built with his own genius to crush the machinations of humanity and their destruction of the natural world. But the truth is, the refined courtesy is a something of a disguise too, one he wears to mock and shame the filthy, degenerate humans all around him. The truth of the matter is that Dr. Simian loves bananas. When he's really alone, he sits in his easy chair like an addict with his cigarettes, peeling his bananas and imagining the wild. Dr. Simian never was in the wild; his parents were part of a semi-legal roadside attraction in rural New Jersey before they were bought up by Star Labs, but he bets the wild is really great. Animal against animal, the way it should be, with all this veneer of civilization stripped away and only brute force and raw cunning letting a man survive. But that world is forever barred to him: he's no forest-dweller, to give up all these niceties he enjoys so much. And if he went there, and surrounded himself with other gorillas, even found himself a mate, he'd...he'd be a pervert. If he mated with another gorilla, he'd be mating with an animal. But that's all right, he comforts himself with his bananas and his wine, listening to soft classical music play on his old record player. One day he'll uplift all his people and crush the human beings who have inflicted countless horrors on them, and one day all this ridiculous supervillain playacting, a habit he adopted from watching people like Sebastian Stratos in the days after his first liberation, will be something he set aside as easily as he set aside his cage and diaper so many years ago. One day, he won't have to worry about human beings anymore. One day his people will recognize him as the hero he knows himself to be. And for that day, he'll do anything. Anything. The Maestro Think: F. Murray Abraham, circa Amadeus The Maestro is one of the oldest lags in Freedom City, having debuted way back before the Second World War. He has the values of a different generation in a lot of ways; he still compliments black people on their fast-twitch muscle fibers and laments how unladylike modern-day female musicians are! That said, he does have some positive graces imbued by his age: he is the only Crime Leaguer never to have killed anyone in decades upon decades of supervillainy. That said, quite a few police officers have been left permanently deafened, for which he feels very little guilt. Honestly, he has no idea why he's still alive. Some quirk of genetics, musical talent, or perhaps decades upon decades of exposure to super-science, magic, and superpowers have transformed a mortal man into an ageless immortal. Truthfully, sometimes he wonders sometimes if he's alive at all: he's so old, and he's outlived so many people! He's even outlived classical music in general; composition in the genre having dried up and almost completely vanished in his lifetime. If he's honest with himself, and sometimes he is, that's why he hates contemporary musicians, especially kids, so very much. It's not because their music is nothing but ridiculous chords and freakish melodies, souless corporate ballads, incomprehensible foreign shilly-shally, and the rantings of cocaine-addled schoolboys and shrieking viragos who wouldn't know the soul of music if it came along and screamed loudly into their ears! Well, it's not _just_ because of that. It's because, when he gets right down to it, it's because they're alive and he isn't. They have families, futures, lifetimes of promise, and he's just a man who's outlived his time, his place, and even his genre. He's played the same tunes over and over again for nearly seventy years now, and he's honestly not sure he can ever write that well again. When those thoughts are in his head, the only way to get them out is to find some fool child with a Walkpod or whatever they're called, and blow out their eardrums with a 200 decibel bombardment!

Roleplaying Notes (The Crime League) Dr. Stratos: Think: Thaddeus Venture with weather control powers Sebastian Stratos talks a good game about being a classy, world-conquering mad scientist. He drinks champagne, eats fine food, and often has classical music playing when he captures and interrogates superheroes. He talks grandly about ‘the game’ played between superhero and supervillain and his masterful plans for uplifting the human race beneath the magnificent power of his beneficent wisdom; he speaks admiringly of his ‘friendly rivalry’ with such luminaries as Overshadow and Dr. Sin, and of the ‘grand jousts’ they enjoy together. Why, even Captain Thunder is “my old foe, heh-heh-heh!” But it’s a front. Stratos is a petty, scheming backstabber who’s much less clever than he imagines he is. These two qualities have helped him rise to power as head of the Crime League, and stay there. He drinks the champagne that the liquor salesman told him was top-quality, eats the overcooked and dry roast duck he got from cut-rate local caterers, and those interrogated by Stratos often have noted that he only seems to have about five or six classical pieces in rotation. He’s never met Overshadow or Dr. Sin; the first thinks he’s a worm and the second ‘has no idea who that is.’ He wants Captain Thunder to die, and be humiliated before he dies. He doesn’t really want to rule the world, not really: despite his genius and ambition, he’s just a petty thug in a lab coat who wants to use his inventions and superpowers to hurt people weaker than he is. Medea Think: Catharine Zeta-Jones as Azula and Mai in a dual role! Medea is bored. Bored, bored bored. She’s been active as a supervillain for sixty-odd years now, ever since World War II pulled her out of an alcohol-induced stupor in Athens, and honestly it’s starting to get old. Maybe it’s time for a new pasttime, maybe a new face? At this point her main attachment to supercrime is the money she makes. She’s killed a few people, and that was fun, and humiliated a few superheroes, and that was fun, but she’s smart enough to realize that she’s not going to get anywhere doing this. She’s not powerful enough to conquer the world, she’s not even powerful enough to kill the _really_ annoying superheroes who she’d like to put down without mercy, and these things both frustrate her greatly. She’d never admit it, but she actually likes fighting scary badasses like Midnight or wisecracking jerks like Jack of all Blades: they at least make things _interesting_. It’s only when fighting them that the old fire returns to her voice, and she hisses with the melodramatic rage that makes life worth living. She’s not anyone’s idea of a good person, having learned all the wrong things from thousands of years of immortal life, but she’s not the nihilistic monster that many sorceresses of her generation are. She could watch a human sacrifice without feeling anything more than annoyance at the possibility of bloodstains on her good dress, but she’d never take part in a plot to bring the Unspeakable One to Earth, or to help Malador destroy Adrian Eldritch, or anything else that would interfere with the hedonistic lifestyle to which she is accustomed. She likes this world, and she’d take action to save it if she thought it was in jeopardy. She’d gladly sell out her Crime League allies if the situation called for it, though she’s canny enough to go to ground for a long time afterwards. She’s got forever, after all. Though she has a reputation as a misandrist, truthfully at this point in her life she’s equally hostile to both genders. (She still prefers men, though, much to her ire, as a few very brave and canny superheroes have taken advantage of over the years) Orion: Think: Patrick Bateman with a gun Jack O’Ryan is obsessive-compulsive. This has served him very well in his career as a supervillain, just as it did as an assassin. Other guys get distracted with stupid speeches about their power or stupid ridiculous plans, but he’s there to do a job, and it’s one he wants to get it done as quickly and efficiently as he can. He lets that mask slip a little with the rest of the League when he’s on assignment: Stratos expects a certain degree of crazy if you’re going to work under him, and the money and backup are too good for him to turn down. He’s a mortal man in a world of gods, and it’s only his sheer skill that’s let him get this far. Before a hunt, he checks, rechecks, then checks his weapons, his strategy, and his exit with as much energy and skill as he can, then carries it out with gusto. He has absolutely no regard for human life: the only thing that keeps him from killing more superheroes is his knowledge they’d be less gentle on capturing him. O’Ryan has avoided long-term arrest or the death penalty by carrying out his killings outside the United States, using multiple fake IDs, and finally by the simple expedient of getting away with it most of the time. A vicious misogynist in the way only a Wall Street broker turned big game hunter can be, O’Ryan assumed that Lady Liberty (a soft liberal feminist with soft liberal feminine powers) would be an easy kill. When she survived the bazooka attack that would have killed her at the 4th of July march back when they first met, he blamed everyone but himself, then insisted it was his mistake that had let her live, not any powers of her own. He frequently patronizes prostitutes who dress like superheroines, especially Lady Liberty, and leaves them well-paid and with a strong desire to leave town for a few days. He never leaves a mark, but there’s something in his _eyes_...He thinks he could never kill a child, boy or girl, but if it ever happens he’d find out to his relief that it doesn’t actually bother him at all. Hiroshima Shadow: Think: Callisto from Xena, but made of radiation! It’s not actually true that Hiroshima Shadow wants to kill all Americans. (Make no mistake; she would if given the opportunity, but she has far more elaborate plans in mind) She (yes, I’m using the suggested origin for her in Golden Age) thinks it would be hilarious to burn their cities and incinerate their children, laughing wickedly, leaving the pitiful few survivors to suffer and live miserable, long-foreshortened lives in the radioactive rubbles of their squalid world. Ahahaha! She’ll settle for killing superheroes if she can, and that’s something she has indeed done. She has fairly negative thoughts about her own country, given the way they ‘betrayed the people’ at the end of the Second World War, and has a horrible plan involving the nuclear incineration of the country’s leaders, transformation of herself into Neo-Ameratsu, the nuclear goddess, and a centuries-long rule of an increasingly-irradiated Japan where she is worshipped as she sees fit. She speaks her Japanese with an archaic grammar that was old-fashioned even on her death in 1945. She works for the Crime League because she thinks they’ll give her the opportunity to wipe America off the map, and because (though they’d both deny it), she and Stratos think alike in that at the end of the day, they just want to hurt people weaker than they are. Occasionally she’ll adopt something, a pet or small child, and cosset it with affection before it finally dies of radiation poisoning hours or days later. When that happens, her constant fury will heat up even further, and she’ll begin hurting people with ever more gusto. She’s hit on Gamma, the Atom-Smasher a few times, but mostly to frighten him: Gamma is terrified of her, but often too embarrassed to fight off her affections when supervillains meet. She enjoys having that kind of power. Blackstar: Think Brian Blessed, circa Flash Gordon Blackstar is not the man he used to be. The Star Knight who took over his world and made it a shining utopia of peace, order, and tranquility (enforced at the barrel of a gun) is now Omega’s agent, a man at once driven by monumental rage and monumental fear. He knows perfectly well what will happen to the universe if Omega does use him as a tool to destroy all reality, watching recordings made by refugees and personal witnessing of dying universes was part of his Star Knight training. While he’s a monumentally arrogant thug, he’s not a nihilist, there are many things he likes about this universe! But then he thinks of the Star Knights and thinks of his murderous, monumental rage towards each and every one of the bastards who destroyed his perfect world and banished him to utter humiliation like a common criminal, HIM, the breaker of Sol-arr, HIM, the champion of a thousand battles for justice! And then, oh yes, the destruction of everything doesn’t seem so bad. He masks his inner doubts with a booming voice and commanding presence, dominating battlefields via sheer charisma and skilled tactics. If there’s a Star Knight on the field, though, he drops the act and attacks them without a word save his cold laughter. He doesn’t like Earth. Too cold, too primitive, too overrun with people as or more powerful than he is, people who he can’t bribe or intimidate to do what he wants. He misses the universe badly; the lovely men of Vega 9 with their soft bodies and angel hair, the green brandy analogue you can only get out in planets near the Galactic Core where the radiation chars the atoms of the wine ever so slightly as it ferments in orbital breweries, the music you can hear if you adjust your senses just right and fly up above the Sagittarius Arm and tune into the transmissions from Andromeda...when he thinks about it, it makes him sick at heart. He doesn’t just war against the Star Knights because he wants to see them all die in agony, perhaps their bodies piled atop the smoking ruins of Mentor, but because right now his hate is all he has left of the man he used to be. Devil Ray: Think Phil LaMarr, as himself! Devil Ray is really kind of a jerk. He’s the least subtle of all the League members about being a bad guy. He’ll routinely beat up hostages for fun, threaten others for kicks, and make lewd comments to terrified women he thinks are attractive. He thinks of himself as a kingpin of aquatic crime, but he’s really just a petty thug and all-around jerk. Contrary to stereotypes, he was actually born into quite a bit of money: he joined the Navy when his wealthy Prince George County parents cut him off after he impregnated one of the famiy’s housemaids, and saw the chance to steal his power armor as a chance to get back at his family and make them sorry he’d ‘died’ in the service. The truth was, they didn’t really care, particularly now that they have Maryland’s only native superhero, Baltimore Crab on speed dial. He thinks he’s a superstud but really isn’t; he thinks he’s a skilled tactician but he really isn’t. He’s something of an adrenaline junkie and at least has the virtue of physical courage: he’ll gladly mix it up with cops and superheroes alike, silent as befits a man who does a great deal of fighting underwater, barring the occasional burst of laughter when things are going his way. (Dragging non-powered guys underwater and watching their faces as they start to drown is one of his favorite things!) He’s currently in a physical relationship with Medea (he reminds her of her late husband, or at least her memories of him, and she unconsciously dates bastards so she never has to question her prejudices), and is self-confident enough to think that he’s man enough to trifle with her affections. If he ever pushes her far enough, he will find that he is sorely mistaken. Wildcard: Think Jim Carrey, circa 1996 Wildcard is...not that bad a guy? Sure, he’s no hero, but he’d never hurt anyone who wasn’t trying to hurt him first. He likes kids, puppies, and pretty girls, and a suitable sob story from any of those three are liable to get him to untie a hostage, look the other way as somebody is sneaking past him, and otherwise be pretty damn soft for a supervillain. He’s pretty manically cheerful half the time, and is the League member most likely to do cartwheels in a fight. If he gained knowledge of a superhero’s secret identity, he’d use it himself, he’s a very good gambler and not a man to give up a hole card, after all, but he’d never think of betraying that ID even to his friends in the League. Those guys are crazy half the time! He only drifted into supervillainy after getting his ass kicked by thugs repeatedly. When he’s sober, and calm, he’d rather be back in rural Nevada working at his dad’s filling station. But he usually isn’t sober or calm, and doubts are usually totally foreign to the man’s nature. He wouldn’t shoot a hostage, but he might make a superhero believe he would; or even better, make it look like the superhero believes it and doesn’t care. He’ll actually stay on the battlefield longer than his Crime League allies: he knows he’s a good luck charm and nothing more, and is terrified of being tossed back into the world of independent supervillainy. (He made a lot of enemies with guys in the Syndicates, and if people in costumes weren’t around to back him up.) He’s terrified of the rest of the League, and will do anything they tell him to do short of outright murder. And even then, if the guy who had to die was a jerk...He gets genuinely upset when heroes make fun of him or hurt him physically: this is supposed to be a game, man! And he’s supposed to be winning!

Volcano Hero 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 Blast/Unarmed) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +8/+20 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: 12 pp=48 r Bluff 7 (+10) Diplomacy 7 (+10) Intimidate 7 (+10) Knowledge: Current Events 4 (+4) Knowledge: Physican Sciences 4 (+4) Languages 1 (Native Hawaiian) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Search 4 (+4) Sense Motive 6 (+8) Feats: 16 pp Attack Specialization: Unarmed (2) Dodge Focus (6) Evasion, Improved Initiative, Fearless, Luck, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Uncanny Dodge (visual) Powers: 62 pp Volcano Array [24=4=28 pp] Blast 10 (PFs: Accurate 2, Indirect 2) 'lava blast' AP: Damage 10 (Extra: Targeted Area [burst]) (PFs: Accurate 2, Indirect 2) 'eruption' AP: Enhanced STR 16 and Super-Strength 4 (12 tons) 'Antean strength' AP: Trip 10 (Extra: Knockback) (PFs: Accurate 2, Indirect 2) ' Flight 5 (250 MPH) [10+1=11 pp] AP: Burrowing 10 (1000 MPH) Immunity 14 (Heat Damage, Life Support) [14 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] Super-Senses 6 (Darkvision, Vision Penetrates Concealment [Limited to Earth]) [4 pp] costs abilities 26 + combat 24 + saves 10 + skills 12/48 + feats 16 + powers 62 = 150 pts -- Design Notes: Continuing the theme for today, this is a hero who specializes in controlling volcanoes. He flies around on jets of magma, lifts things with “the strength of the earth” and can use various volcano-like effects against his enemies: localized tremors, jets of lava erupting from below, and generally does a pretty good job of being another kind of earth controller. He can fly around underground, too, navigating by sight with vision that cuts right through natural earth, and could potentially do a lot of damage if he confronted an enemy from the shelter of a couple hundred feet of rock. (True, that’s not very heroic, but it’s a really good trick for a one-off vs. a powerful foe!) I figure this guy is the greatest hero of Hawaii, born from an accident with the volcanoes there, or perhaps the son of the famous Volcano Sisters who live there. Having a hero who specializes in dealing with the angry earth is a great advantage when you live in a place where there’s a whole lot of violent eruptions, but he can function pretty well in other settings too. You could make him a Japanese hero as well if you want, a sharp contrast to the usual “hi-tech martial artist yakuza” stereotypes that seem to creep up around Asian heroes like so much old cotton candy on a stick. Naturally his powers allow for a lot of complications: he can pull his punches and otherwise be discreet mechanically, but a guy who makes lava burst up through the street and blast his enemies is going to be doing some damage to the surroundings! Give him actual Earth Control if you want him tossing rocks and such around: I figure he deals with volcanic eruptions by power-stunting Nullifys, or even more awesome by blasting holes and trenches in the earth to channel lava flows. He’s basically immune to anything a volcano could possibly throw at him (short of getting hit by a flung rock, which does happen around volcanos); don’t be afraid to go swimming in the lava pits or do something Superman-esque way down in the bowels of the Earth. They all thought putting you on the League was a waste of time, but when the Sub-Terrans show up or the Magmin invade, we’ll see who’s laughing then!

Tornado Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 32 pp STR 10 (+0) DEX 16 (+3) CON 16 (+3) INT 20 (+5) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +4 DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +4/+20 Saves: 11 pp TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF +7 (+3 Dex, +4) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 12 pp=48 r Bluff 7 (+10) Concentration 8 (+10) Intimidate 7 (+10) Knowledge: Physical Sciences 8 (+13) Language 1 (Spanish) (Base: English) Notice 6 (+8) Search 5 (+10) Sense Motive 6 (+9) Feats: 13 pp Dodge Focus 4, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Luck 3, Master Plan, Move-By Action, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 58 pp Tornado Array [42+1=43 pp] Damage 10 (Extras: Area [Cylinder], Duration [Concentration], Selective Attack) (PFs: Indirect 2) ‘tornado swarm’ AP: Move Object 10 (Heavy Load) (12 tons) (Extras: Damaging, Range [Perception]) (PFs: Indirect 2) ‘focused F5’ Flight 5 (250 MPH) (Flaw: Platform) [5 pp] Immunity 5 (Weather Effects) [5 pp] Protection 5 [5 pp] costs abilities 32 + combat 24 + saves 11 + skills 12/48 + feats 13 + powers 58 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Inspired by my earlier Weather Controller and Wizard of Oz builds, I give you a tornadokinetic, a character who specializes in the care, maintenance, and building of funnel clouds. He’ll fly in, hover over a target, and drop his big gun, a massive attack that’ll clear any group of minions close to his PL in a round or two. Tougher targets get knocked around by a focused F5, a titanic blast of wind strong enough to toss a man around like a toy, shake apart a tank like a ragdoll, and generally do some serious damage. Tornadoes are really ridiculously powerful, which means this guy can and will do some insane damage, particularly with power-stunting to let him summon the real ultimate power of the storm. One possible niche for a character like this to fill is the “hick from out of town”, the country superhero who’s now surrounded with all y’all city heroes. Make him the greatest hero of Oklahoma, given the way the region is so ridiculously prone to tornadoes. (Why do people live there? Stubborn! ) Sure, he looks like a hillbilly (and maybe he is), but he’s a highly competent hero and very powerful. I’ve gone with the background that he was some kind of meteorologist, or maybe a storm chaser, who got his powers after being sucked into a tornado himself. Or maybe he’s a third or fourth generation legacy hero from Kansas, his grandma having gotten her powers after being sucked through a tornado in 1939. I figure he flies inside the storm itself, riding the wind and giving him a platform from which he can be knocked off. Same visuals as the Tasmanian Devil, but in the air! Why doesn’t he have Air Control? Because Air Control sucks! He’s much better using ‘air control’ as a descriptor for powers like his Move Object and Damage than he is actually trying to do weird stuff like figure out a Perception Range Move Air around power: if you want him to backhand a regular storm or air elemental, have him stunt a Nullify off his big array and go to town. Other weather effects would also make sense, given the nature of his descriptors.

Sidekick PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 36 pp STR 20 (+5) DEX 18 (+4) CON 20 (+5) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+11 Melee/+15 Unarmed) DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +8 Grapple: +16 Saves: 9 pp TOU +8 (+5 Con, +3 Protection) FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF +7 (+4 Dex, +3) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 20 pp=80 r Bluff 8 (+10) Climb 4 (+9) Disable Device 8 (+8) Drive 8 (+12) Knowledge: Current Events 8 (+8) Knowledge: History 6 (+6) Knowledge: Pop Culture 8 (+8) Languages 2 (German, Russian) (Base: English) Notice 8 (+10) Pilot 4 (+8) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Survival 4 (+6) Swim 4 (+9) Feats: 17 pp Attack Focus: Melee (3) Attack Specialization: Unarmed (2) Dodge Focus (4) Evasion Improved Initiative Inspire (2) Power Attack Set-Up Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 36 pp Container 7 (Half-Genie Heritage) (PF: Subtle) [36 pp] Emotion Control 10 (Extras: Area [burst], Selective, Flaws: Hope Only, Range [Touch]) [10 pp] ‘inspiration!’ Immunity 2 (despair, fear) [2 pp] ‘plucky’ Luck Control 4 (cancel GM Fiat/HP expenditure, force reroll, spend HP for others, give HP to others) (PFs: Luck 5) [17 pp] ‘good ally, good friend’ Leaping 1 (x2) [1 pp] ‘speedy legs’ Protection 3 [3 pp] ‘tougher than he looks’ Speed 1 (10 MPH) [1 pp] ‘acrobatic training’ costs abilities 36 + combat 32 + saves 9 + skills 20/80 + feats 17 + powers 36 = 150 pts -- Design Notes: For those of you familiar with the backstory of my character Mark (Edge) Lucas and the tragic events of House of L, this is my attempt at a Year One version of Mark’s father Rick, the Silver Age sidekick-turned-reality-warper who broke the world to get his son back, then fled in shame when he realized he’d gone too far, that he’d been prepared to hurt children to build a world warped to match his own expectations and desires. This is Rick as he was when the Freedom League formed back in the early 1960s; a young, handsome fellow with an abiding love for superheroes, surprising skills and talents, a two-fisted combat style, and a powerful magical heritage of which even he is completely unaware. He still dresses like James Dean because he’s slow to catch up with fashion trends and thinks he’s cool, still talks like a watered-down version of a 1950s greaser. This is my version of a sidekick build, a character who’s decently effective on his own but much more effective as part of a team or working with another superhero. Sometimes these are built as Badass Normal acrobats, sometimes as smaller, weaker versions of the hero, but Rick here really could team up with just about anyone and do them a world of good. (And indeed, it’s in his backstory that he in fact did just this.) He can also punch bad guys in the face and hold his own in superhero combat, but he’s not so great or so powerful that he’ll ever think of himself as anything less than another guy off the street who got extremely lucky. You can use this as a build for Rick if you travel back to the Silver Age, where characters aware of the coming events of House of L can see in Rick’s naivete a firm, unflinching desire to build a better world for everyone, whatever the personal costs. It’s also a good build for a sidekick-style character in just about any setting; he’s a really, really good helpmates to heroes! Sure, most people don’t want to play sidekicks in a game like this, but if you do, here’s a pretty awesome sheet to do so! (He could use more Inspire, but again, this is Sidekick: Year One, before he learns all those awesome speeches). He’ll cost you 30 Sidekick points if you want to buy him, so if you want your own Rick Lucas, start saving now!