Avenger Assembled

December 10, 2010 Midnight Waterfrot Joan knew she really should be heading home, but the temptation to sneak into her costume and up to the nearby warehouse rooftop had been too powerful to ignore. Daedalus II is actually a Grue, the product of a mating between his father and Pseudo during their space travel?!? She'd have to investigate this story considerably more if she actually did anything with it, probably just tightening up whatever leaks existed in Daedalus' organization as well as double-checking that he wasn't just a secret Grue agent. You never can tell with shapeshifters. Distracted as she was with the file of early 80s mimeographs that her contact had liberated for her, she'd turned her back to the water, and so missed the arrival of the princess of Atlantis until she heard the thump on the dock behind her. Turning, she saw the battered young woman pulling her way across the dock. "Nereid!" Fusion had visited Atlantis more than once, and knew the princess fairly well. "Dear Lord..." Snapping the papers shut and caching them underneath a vent, Fusion leapt from the warehouse rooftop, gliding down to the battered young woman's side. Bleeding from her flanks and arms, Nereid looked like she'd been attacked by sharks or barracuda, toothmarks on her sides, and she looked up wildly, water briefly rising all around her until she recognized an ally. "Fusion, thank Triton," she gasped, her skin unusually pale. "They're right behind me! You need to get us off the docks now, before they..." Behind her, something very, very big was breaking the water, and as Fusion and Nereid watched, a gargantuan head broke the surface and two red eyes as big as her body watched her as a thing rose out of the water and gave a terrible roar that broke windows blocks away and rang out across the city "Holy-!"

Fortunate Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 30 pp STR 10 (+0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 14 (+2) INT 14 (+2) WIS 18 (+4) CHA 20 (+5) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Blast) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +2 Grapple: +6 Saves: 14 pp TOU +10 (+2 Con, +8 Protection) FORT +6 (+2 Con, +4) REF +8 (+2 Dex, +6) WILL +8 (+4 Wis, +4) Skills: 17 pp=68 r Acrobatics 8 (+10) Bluff 15 (+20) Knowledge: Pop Culture 12 (+14) Languages 2 (Japanese, Spanish) (Base: English) Perform (Cheesy Pop Music) 15 (+20) Notice 8 (+12) Sense Motive 8 (+12) Feats: 15 pp Attack Specialization: Blast (2) Distract (Bluff) Dodge Focus (4) Fascinate (Perform) Inspire (5) Second Chance (Perform checks) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 52 pp Blast 10 [20 pp] 'rose petal bombardment' Flight 3 (50 MPH) [6 pp] 'pop princess power' Immunity 1 (aging) 'she must have gotten a face lift' [1 pp] Luck Control 4 (spend an HP for another character, give HP to others, spend HP to negate HP/Fiat, force reroll) (PFs: Luck 5) [17 pp] ‘ting!’ Protection 8 [8 pp] 'too beautiful to be hurt' costs abilities 30 + combat 24 + saves 14 + skills 17/68 + feats 15 + powers 52 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: So I was thinking about Fortune Controllers based on my experience of playing Edge, and I realized that someone incredibly lucky could also be really annoying if you weren't careful. (I get around that with Edge by having him be a sympathetic idiot who is only gradually beginning to understand how different he is from everyone else.) So thinking about the combination, I produced this build: a generic pop princess and teen singing sensation who just happens to be an incredibly powerful luck controller. She's got max Luck for a Luck Controller of her PL, and with her maxed-out Luck Controller she can do some amazing things: she can shrug off bad fortune, give her opponents a really hard time, and generally make people wonder how someone with such tiny powers can be so successful! (Similar questions have been asked about her singing career, but I did make her among the best cheesy, sugary pop princesses in the world!) You can make up the backstory all you want: my mental map here is something like "Teen princess gets meta-treatments on the side, thinking superpowers might boost her flagging career, but she winds up with a whole lot more than she bargained for and has to fight crime for real!" You can do some nice stuff with someone transitioning from screaming tween (and older, ew!) fans to people cheering them on because they're actually doing something heroic: now that's character development! Buy up her feats and social abilities if you want her to be more of a business player; my idea here is that she hasn't learned that much about the business side of things yet. Luckily, she hasn't had to do so! She's much smarter than she looks, though. Obviously you can tweak the sheet too: in particular, you could give her the Probability Control that makes such a nice augment to Luck Control. But in my (admittedly limited to just one character) experience, Probability Control just doesn't come up as often as Luck Control. And besides, you can use the points to buy so many other exciting things! You don't have to make her a blaster, either, you could make her a more straightforward badass normal with higher combat scores. Either way, don't be afraid to chew the scenery a bit: Luck Controllers should be about _personality!_

Rav, If you want a shorthand, think: "Is this a DIRECT result of the Transform?" That's why I built the Transmuter with Corrosion and Create Object, so she has the power to directly make solid objects and do direct damage outside of Transform.

Angel Abilities: 50 pp STR: 22 (+6) DEX: 16 (+3) CON: 20 (+5) INT: 10 (+0) WIS: 22 (+6) CHA: 20 (+5) Combat: 16 pp ATK: +4 (+10 melee) DEF: +10 (+2 flat-footed) Init: +3 Grapple: +16 Saves: 11 pp TOU: +10 (+5 Con, +5 Protection) FORT: +10 (+5 Con, +5) REF: +5 (+3 Ref, +2) WILL: +10 (+6 Wis, +4) Skills: 17 pp=68 r Diplomacy 10 (+15)*, Intimidate 10 (+15)*, Knowledge (arcane lore) 5 (+5), Knowledge (history) 5 (+5), Knowledge (theology and philosophy) 10 (+10), Notice 14 (+20)*, Sense Motive 14 (+20)*, Feats: 21 pp Attack Focus (melee) 6, Dodge Focus 6, Fearless, Interpose, Luck, Skill Mastery (Diplomacy, Intimidate, Notice, Sense Motive) Startle, Takedown Attack, Ultimate Save (Will), Ultimate Skill (Diplomacy), Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 35 pp Comprehend 2 (languages: speak and understand one at a time) [4 pp], 'Tongue of Babel' Feature 1 (Cannot Be Lied To) [1 pp] 'angelic wisdom' Flight 3 (50 MPH), [6 pp] 'winged' Immunity 7 (aging, disease, poison, sleep, starvation and thirst, suffocation) [7 pp] 'angelic body' Light Control 1 (5 ft) (Flaw: Range [Touch]) 'halo' [1 pp] Regeneration 1 (Resurrection 1/week) (PFs: Persistent, Regrowth) [3 pp] 'immortal soul' Protection 5 [5 pp], 'divine armor' Strike 4 (PFs: Affects Insubstantial 2, Mighty) [7 pp] 'flaming sword' Totals: Abilities 50 + Skills 17 (68 ranks) + Feats 21 + Powers 35 + Combat 16 + Saves 11 = 150 -- Design Notes: Here’s a generic angel, based on the angel from the Archetype Archives. He’s got all the things an angel should have: he’s immune to Earthly concerns, can speak all languages, can’t be killed permanently, and he’s packing a flaming sword of righteousness which he can’t be deprived of. He’s also very charismatic, with a strong force of personality and extremely powerful soul. If he can’t lie, and he probably shouldn’t be able to, treat that as a complication, not a drawback. (What do you do if the Nazis ask you where the Jews are? You implore them to consider the state of their souls.) Angels are tough to build because they should be capable of doing a great many things, and it’s tough to pack all those things into a PL 10 build. I’d recommend playing characters like this: I had a lot of fun playing an angel myself, and when I get a character slot open again, maybe I’ll do just that! One possible way to change this build up is to give him some kind of big “Divine Power” array for massive power stunts: as it is he’s got the flaming sword to stunt off: 7 pp is nice and all, but you could do more. If you wanted to do that, maybe drop his STR and up the Strike even further: if you do that, though, make sure you give him a Divine Strength AP or something: angels really should be powerful. If you don’t want to do that, do what I’ve done with Freedom Angel and buy up the array with PP: Teleport and Healing, Create Object and Light Control: all these can be yours, if the price is right! Throw in a heaping helping of polite disdain for the ‘pagan gods’, and you’ve got yourself a pretty solid character. Another thing to think about is backstory. How exactly do you justify an angel from a monotheistic Heaven in a comic book world? My advice: don’t be afraid to fictionalize. Treat Judeo-Christian mythology as a good source for storytelling, but shift things around however much you want from the story you want to tell. I explained that Freedom Angel’s Heaven had lost its Almighty centuries ago, but you can shift that around how you want. Who’s to say that there’s only one Heaven and one Yahweh, anyway? It’s just a comic book story, folks: it’ll be OK. If we can play with other religions that have living followers, why not play with the ones out there in the deep water? I played Freedom Angel as a Wonder Woman expy, but there are plenty of other ways to make a character like this: there's at least one angel-as-Superman out there that was pretty cool. (And no, NOT the one from Worlds of Freedom...)

I'd allow the first, but not the second.

The bound, helpless robot Fleur is grappling takes no actions. Otaku (who Midnight has tracked down successfully) does...something. Gabriel is up.

"There's something down the hall. Something...a lot of somethings. Feels like rats." Fusion had felt rats before, and as she drew her teeth back in a snarl, she remembered just how unpleasant that had been. "I don't know if any of you have seen a rat swarm before, much less one jacked up on somebody's powers, but they're tenacious little bastards. They go for the throat, and they can climb walls and ceilings. If you've got some way to hit a whole lot of little things at once, get it ready. Right now, we're going to see them before they see us!" And with that, Fusion whipped out a tentacle and yanked open the door where she'd heard the noise.

Spending an HP for Fusion's complication there to surge without fatigue. OK, new round, Midnight is up: one injured robot standing (though grappled!)

"You perverted little sex toy!" Tentacles whipping around her in rage, Fusion stepped up and drove her fist into the second robot's smoking face, driving her hand deep as the robot's head jerked backwards, sparks and chunks of metal flying everywhere. "I'm going to rip you limb from limb, then use you to beat Takashi's head in!" With Fusion's second punch, the robot's head exploded with a shriek and gush of fluid and parts! Whirling, Fusion turned on the other robot, fighting mad!

"WE HAVE LIVED WITH NOTHING! BUT WITH YOU...PERHAPZ WE WILL HAVE EVERZING! WEEE WILL FOLLOW!" With some trepidation, but then a growing confidence, the bees followed Fleur through the portal to Stesha's green new world. The queen was the last to leave the prison-hive, buoyed by three of her strongest drones as the gigantic insect monarch made her slow, laborious way through the passageway: she could walk, at least, even if she wasn't light enough to fly even for so important a journey as this. Clanking along on gigantic chitin legs big as a person, the queen leaned on her fellows as she followed the last of them through the gate to the new world.

"The nearest source of daka crystals is probably going to be at the summit," said Edge, glancing up at the still-smoldering crater. "...but whatever the meteor hit up there is probably fried. Yeah, Hellion, if you can get Midnight and Phalanx out there," he said, talking over the discovery that the nearest daka deposit was indeed on the mountain's surface, but far enough away down the slope of the now torn-up and damaged side that they would certainly need a teleporter to get there. "Yeah, that'll work. Don't take too long; if it looks like you can't get it there, we'll need Phalanx at least against any kind of big monster. Psyche, you should come with us up the mountain," he suggested. "As thick as that smoke cloud is, if we can't see up there we'll need you to look through it until Phalanx gets back up. This is a bad situation, but we can handle this. We're Young Freedom. "

That'll find you plenty of daka crystals, Giz. There's a particularly large concentration up the mountain.

Beacon II PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 28 pp STR 14 (+2) DEX 16 (+3) CON 16 (+3) INT 14 (+2) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+10 Ranged) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +8 Saves: 10 pp TOU +10 (+3 Con, +7 Protection) FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 14 pp=56 r Bluff 6 (+8) Concentration 8 (+10) Diplomacy 6 (+8) Intimidate 6 (+8) Knowledge: Arcane Lore 6 (+8) Knowledge: History 6 (+8) Notice 6 (+8) Search 6 (+8) Sense Motive 6 (+8) Feats: 16 pp Attack Focus: Ranged (4) Dodge Focus (4) Improved Initiative Luck (2) Move-By Action Precise Shot (2) Power Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 58 pp Pharos Array [20+5=25 pp] Blast 10 AP: Create Object 6 (Extra: Moveable) (PFs: Progression, Subtle) AP: Dazzle 10 (visual) AP: Emotion Control 10 AP: Healing 10 (Extra: Ranged) (Flaw: Others Only) AP: Light Control 10 Flight 4 (100 MPH) (PF: Subtle) [9 pp] Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 pp] Protection 7 (Extra: Impervious) [14 pp] Space Flight 1 (1c) [1 pp] cost abilities 28 + combat 24 + saves 10 + skills 14/56 + feats 16 + powers 58 = 150 pts -- Design Notes: This is my build for the Beacon, the Golden Age legacy that's an obvious setup for a new PC in the Freedom City book. There's a build for the Beacon in the PDF Freedom City Archetypes and Legacies, and it's actually not bad, but this one's a little better: she can do almost all of the same things, but has a lot more flexibility in a lot of ways. She can fly in space and even reach the speed of light, and do a lot of other Green Lantern-esque tricks. (Beacon I is something of an Alan Scott Expy, so I used a picture of Jade to represent his successor!) There's no device associated with the Beacon legacy; the mystic light of Pharos is passed down from person to person without the need for material items. The Beacon legacy is a fun one, connecting you directly to German heroes of World War II (the twin Lightbearers who escaped their motherland and battled against the forces of darkness that the Nazis represented) and Beacon himself, a hero of the latter part of the Golden Age, not to mention all the bearers of the Pharos legacy back to ancient Egypt. One thing to think about is that the Golden Age Beacon was one of the first African-American heroes and his predecessors were German anti-Nazi twins: you don't have to be one of those if you're playing his successor, but it's a whole lot cooler if an 'outsider' legacy goes to something more interesting than a generic suburban white kid. As usual, big array, lots of Luck; power-stunt things you don't have. The Light of Truth mentioned under the description of the Magic Power (a ranged Nullify of deceptions) is a good thing for this kind of character. Switch Protection for Force Field; there are lots of good reasons to keep Force Field, I just don't like making a lot of Concentration checks when stunned. She still has a good Concentration score to deal with what happens when and if she gets stunned (i.e.; falling out of the sky!) This character could use higher saves, I went with the theory that she's new to her work and still has the saves of a relatively normal person. She has fun times; she flies around and blasts bad guys.

Terminus Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 40 pp STR 30 [20] (+10/+5) DEX 16 (+3) CON 20 (+5) INT 16 (+3) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 16 (+3) Combat: 28 pp ATK: +8 (+10 melee) DEF: +10 (+3 flat-footed) Grapple: +15/+25 Init: +7 Saves: 9 pp TOU +10 (+5 Con, +5) FORT +7 (+5 Con, +2) REF +5 (+3 Dex, +2) WILL +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 18 pp=72 r Bluff 8 (+11) Intimidate 12 (+15) Knowledge: Civics 8 (+11) Knowledge: Current Events 10 (+13) Knowledge: Tactics 14 (+17) Notice 6 (+8) Search 6 (+9) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Feats: 20 pp Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus: Melee 2, Dodge Focus 4, Evasion, Fearless, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Luck, Master Plan 2, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 35 pp Immunity 2 (aging, poison) [2 pp] Protection 5 (Extra: Impervious) [10 pp] Terminus Array [20+3=23 pp] Emotion Control 10 ‘gaze of the Coil’ AP: Enhanced STR 10 and Super-Strength 5 ‘Madrigal Strength’ AP: Strike 10 (Extra: Vampiric) ‘Terminus blade’ AP: Teleport 9 (anywhere on Earth) (PFs: Change Direction, Turnabout) 'Voidwalk' costs abilities 40 + combat 28 + saves 9 + skills 18/72 + feats 20 + powers 31 = 150 pts -- Design Notes: This character gets her powers from the Terminus. She's a terrifying monster in the World of Freedom, whether she got her powers directly from the Terminus itself or whether she's a mutant born in the years after Terminus energy poured into the bodies of unfortunate citizens of Freedom City. How to make a character like this heroic? Well, remember that Dark is Not Evil: A heroic character could easily be one of those infamous "Terminus babies" born right here in Freedom City, determined to fight for good and right despite the evil origins of her powers. Or maybe she's something a little darker yet: maybe she's from a dead world, or a native of the Terminus itself, and was a pupil of an Annihilist before she was able to see the light: now she seeks to undo the damage she did, or might have done, for all that she has powers that come from a very bad place to do it. I went with something like a darker Big Barda here; perhaps trained as one of the Madrigal Martinet's Harpies before becoming her own woman. (The white eyes are when she's really, really angry.) She's a really good fighter, and between her ability to blast people with the despair and fear causing gaze of the Terminus (treat her inability to cause kinder emotions as a Complication, maybe a drawback), her enhanced Strength, and her ability to summon a black blade drawn from the Void itself...well, she's a formidable lady. When you add that to her formidable combat prowess, she becomes a serious force to be reckoned with. She's earned every point of that monstrously high Intimidate bonus! Despite the grim appearance and powers, your best bet with this kind of character really is to play her like a Big Barda: She's a free woman, ready to live the life of a free person, and has a chance to build a better world. This works even if she's a Terminus baby; maybe she looks scary, maybe she's got her powers from the most evil place in the multiverse, but she's still a hero, even if some of the people don't believe her. The best way to do that is to be as boisterous and brave as she can, and the Void take the consequences!

"I have never tried," admitted Murdock, glad to be done with the examination. "It is not something I have ever drawn idly." It turned out Murdock could indeed draw and wield the pike without activating his armor, and soon enough he was sitting on the table with his arm at full extension, holding himself level as he held the crackling pike in his hands.The weapon was designed to target the weaknesses of enemies. The wet skin of a waterbreather, a robot's vulnerability to magnetism. The scanner in the head drives the mechanism. The chameleon circuits are in the butt." He didn't scan Miss Americana with those sensors, of course: she was his friend, and he was in a world where friends didn't work against each other!

"I do not understand many of these questions. But I have answered them before." Murdock had stayed outside of his armor, despite the advantages it would have given him on the visual acuity and other tests. Without looking up from his work, he added " Recently I met the other Omegadrone in Freedom City. He is in training here. It was difficult in some ways." He hmmed, continuing his slow, methodical hunting and pecking. "He was a product of a creche and so had never had normal mental functions before the loss of his connection to the Voice. He is...impaired in some ways that I am not. And luckier than others. He remembers nothing before his awakening in Daedalus' laboratory."

DC 30 Tou save, Gabriel: have an HP for the Fiat.

The Fusionbots took a heavy beating from the near-simultaneous attacks from the dark detective and the white-clad wonder, both of them sparking and jerking, the one blasted by Gabriel actually beginning to smoke! But they both stayed on their feet, the one nearest Gabriel (the one he'd targeted), giving him a creepy, malevolent leer. "You've got a pretty mouth there," she said with a wicked smile on her face, "We'll see about putting it to use! Ahahah!" She suddenly leaped over Gabriel's head, tentacles wrapping around her in a cephlapodic mating dance, a sight so utterly bizarre that it blinded Gabriel to an attack from the rear! The other robot Fusion came up from behind him and punched him in the head, tentacles sliding over his body as she did so in an effort to bring him very close indeed!

Robot #1 is injuredx2

Rooftop Guardian PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 60 pp STR 26 (+8) DEX 26 (+8) CON 26 (+8) INT 12 (+1) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 32 pp ATK: +8 (+12 Unarmed) DEF: +12 (+4 flat-footed) Init: +12 Grapple: +17 Saves: 10 pp TOU +8 (+8 Con) FORT +10 (+8 Con, +2) REF +10 (+8 Dex, +2) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 18 pp=72 r Climb 8 (+16) Intimidate 8 (+10) Knowledge: Arcane Lore 8 (+9) Knowledge: History 8 (+9) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Stealth 8 (+16) Survival 8 (+10) Feats: 13 pp Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2 Dodge Focus 4 Elusive Target, Evasion, Fearsome Presence 5, Improved Initiative, Improved Throw, Luck, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (olfactory) Powers: 12 pp Flight 3 (50 MPH) [6 pp] Immunity 1 (aging) [1 pp] Super-Senses 3 (Darkvision, Scent) [3 pp] Super-Strength 1 (Heavy Load: 800 lbs) [2 pp] costs abilities 60 + combat 32 + saves 10 + skills 18/72 + feats 13 + powers 12 = 150 pts -- Design Notes: A familiar-looking character, translated into Mutants and Masterminds. He doesn’t have claws or a strike because as I noted in the Lycanthrope build, it sucks to be undercapped in combat against human beings and ripping people up with claws and teeth isn’t terribly heroic in the Freedom City setting. Give him an HP if someone grapples his wings, you’d much rather have that than get one PP for it at character creation, trust me! He has real Flight, not Gliding, because again, more fun that way! Remember that Flight 3 is all you’re going to need if you’re chasing cars in an urban setting like this one. He’s also got great Stealth for hiding in dark shadows, and Climb for going up walls. He’d also need an HP for that ‘turning into stone by day’ complication if you really want to give him that: if he’s in a campaign that centers around his adventures (as in our threads here), by a strange coincidence most of his adventures will happen at night and he won’t really feel the bite of not being around during the day. I went with an immortal hero who can pass for human if he needs to, but if he does have a permanent monstrous appearance, you’d better give him an HP for that, and maybe get him a human ally to do some of his dirty work on the streets. A super-smart, super-charismatic industrialist is a natural enemy for him, along with an old girlfriend who might have a somewhat more aggressive agenda than he does: perhaps she’s taken to killing the criminals they once fought? But you can make up your own complications and backstory all you want; maybe he lives in a castle set atop a skyscraper, or in a cathedral with his friendly neighborhood vampire? Team him up with a hyperactive cat policeman and a costumed adventurer with wings and a beak if you want to put this guy in his old stomping grounds.

Farsider Hero PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 26 pp STR 30 [14] (+10/+2) DEX 16 (+3) CON 16 (+3) INT 10 (+0) WIS 16 (+3) CHA 14 (+2) Combat: 24 pp ATK: +6 (+8 ranged, +10 unarmed) DEF: +12 (+3 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +20 Saves: 12 pp TOU +8 (+3 Con, +5 Protection) FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3) WILL +9 (+3 Wis, +6) Skills: 12 pp=48 r Diplomacy 8 (+10) Intimidate 8 (+10) Knowledge: Civics 5 (+5) Knowledge: Current Events 5 (+5) Languages 1 (English) (Base: Farsider) Notice 7 (+10) Search 5 (+5) Sense Motive 7 (+10) Feats: 16 pp Attack Focus: Ranged 2, Attack Specialization: Unarmed 2, Dodge Focus 6 Elusive Target, Environmental Adaptation (low gravity), Evasion, Improved Initiative, Luck, Move-By Action Uncanny Dodge (mental) Powers: 60 pp Comprehend 2 (speak and understand all languages) [4 pp] Farsider Array [24+3=27 pp] Blast 12 'telekinetic blast' AP: Enhanced STR 16 and Super-Strength 4 (Heavy Load: 12 tons) ‘tactile telekinesis’ AP: ESP 6 (20 miles) (visual and auditory) (PFs: Rapid 5 (100k), Subtle) 'extra-sensory perception' AP: Telekinesis 12 (Heavy Load: 48 tons) Flight 3 (50 MPH) (PF: Subtle) [7 pp] Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9 pp] Protection 5 (Extra: Impervious) [10 pp] Space Flight 1 (1c) [1 pp] Telepathy 1 [2 pp] costs abilities 26 + combat 24 + saves 12 + skills 12/48 + feats 16 + powers 60 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: So you grew up on a farm in Kansas, not really questioning why your parents were older than your friends' parents, imbuing good old-fashioned all-American values from your family, your community, and the superheroes you watched on TV. When you were eighteen and first began to manifest your superhuman strength, flight, and ability to read minds and look through walls, your dad finally showed you the rocket they'd been keeping in the barn, with a message from your real parents: you're royalty, part of the royal family of Farside City, a secret colony of humans on the dark side of the Moon planted there by the Precursors uncounted milennia ago. You were sent away as a infant when an enemy overthrew and slew your parents and family, no doubt on her way to slaughtering all the good people of Farside City, conditioned in your rocket to grow up as a powerful champion of justice! So you grew up and became a superhero, determined to defend your new home! Until you found out that Farside City is actually still there! (Superheroes overthrew Lady Lunar a long time ago.) But they're a democracy now, and they don't really want any telepathic funny-looking people with strong accents hanging around. D'oh! Besides, you're really happier on Earth... Or maybe you're an ambassador. You're powerful, really, really powerful, maybe the strongest psychic born in Farside City since Lady Lunar killed off most of the royal family, and luckily you're short and fat enough that you can pass for a freakishly tall and skinny human being. The world of Freedom City is very different than Farside City; it's loud and boisterous and so overcrowded, and the people look and act so different, traveling wherever they want whenever it suits their fancy. But freedom and justice are the same here as they are back home, and even in triple lunar gravity your powers keep you going where your lesser brethern need to fall back on technological assistance. Just make sure to keep where you're really from a secret, as your people don't want any squatters coming in and lowering lunar property values. This character is a hero from Farside City, the Inhuman/Attilan expies of the Freedom City universe. There aren't a lot of Farsiders on Earth given the gravity issues and the legendary isolationism of the Farsiders, a product both of their culture and genetic tampering by the Preservers who placed them on the Moon uncounted ages ago. (Don't blame the Preservers; Farside City has limited resources and can't afford to overtax things.) His fellow Farsider hero, Mentac, was tragically killed (or WAS he?) in the Terminus Invasion back in 1993. He's basically a mentalist riff on the energy controller archetype, with the exception that he can fly into space with the help of his psionic powers: his broad descriptors make power-stunting a dream!

Murdock was easily led enough that he didn't object to Miss Americana's suggestion. With his usual laser-like focus, he locked in on the computer that she sat him down at, typing his name with a slow hunt-and-peck before he began taking one of a series of aptitude tests. He'd taken similar examinations with the Freedom League when they'd been studying him to determine if he truly was what he appeared to be, but he raised no objections, trusting that Miss Americana knew what she was doing. He didn't speak, instead facing the computer with grim determination as he went through test after test.

Yes, you're fine, SC, I knew you were in the process of making those.

I've tossed the concept up in the Refcave.

Battlesuit PL: 10 (150) Abilities: 38 pp STR 40/30/18 (+15/+10/+4) DEX 18 (+4) CON 24/18 (+7/+4) INT 20 (+5) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 20 pp ATK: +5 (+5 w/Growth/+2 flat-footed) DEF: +5 (+5 w/Growth/+2 flat-footed) Init: +7 Grapple: +27 max Saves: 10 pp TOU +15/+4 (+7/+4 Con, +8 Protection) FORT +9/+6 (+7/+4 Con, +2) REF +6 (+4 Dex, +2) WILL +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 18 pp=72 r Computers 8 (+13) Craft: Electronic 8 (+13) Craft: Mechanical 8 (+13) Disable Device 8 (+13) Intimidate 8 (+8/+10) Knowledge: Physical Sciences 7 (+12) Knowledge: Technology 8 (+13) Languages 1 (English) (Base: Chinese) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Feats: 8 pp Attack Focus: Melee Dodge Focus Improved Initiative Inventor Master Plan Power Attack Takedown Attack Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 60 pp Device 16 (Hard to Lose) (Mechsuit) [60 pp] -Enhanced STR 10 and Super-Strength 3 {16+2=18} -AP: Blast 10 (Extra: Area [Line] (+0) (Flaw: Unreliable [5 uses a day]) 'flamethrowers' -AP: Blast 10 (Extra: Area [shapeable] (+0) (Flaw: Unreliable [5 uses a day] 'missiles' -Flight 3 (50 MPH) {6} -Growth 6 (Extra: Duration (Permanent) [+0]) (PF: Innate) {19} -Immunity 9 (Life Support) {9} -Impervious Toughness 10 {10} -Protection 8 {8} -Super-Senses 5 (Accurate Analytical Extended Radio Sense) {5} Drawback: -4 pp Normal ID (uncommon, major) [full round action; must put suit on] costs abilities 38 + combat 20 + saves 10 + skills 18/72 + feats 8 + powers 60 - drawback 4 = 150 pts --- Design Notes: Here's a slightly tweaked take on the Battlesuit archetype: this lady doesn't just put on some tiny suit of armor to do her combat business in, she dons a gigantic mechsuit that bulks in at a massive twelve feet tall and several thousand pounds while she's wearing it. I figure the armor was originally intended as a combat battlesuit by the military, which is why it's maximized with various ways to bring the pain! She can Power Attack and hit as hard as the Centurion (though she'll need help from allies to actually hit anything that way), or just sweep her way through legions of goons in style. And hey, with a suit this big, she can afford to fit like a cupholder in there, or maybe a stereo. Growth 6 is a pretty healthy Growth, but you can easily make her bigger or smaller as the situation calls for it: don't go over Growth 12 for a PC in this game, though, your character would have way too hard a time getting around in city streets. I figure you can explain the Con bonus from the battlesuit by saying it augments her body with its life support systems, armoring her up and patching injuries, its sheer bulk protecting her from the worst sorts of injuries out there. With her PL-maxed Impervious and massive Toughness tradeoff, she can take a tremendous amount of punishment, so don't be afraid to go out there and mix it up! She's also got pretty good saves for a battlesuit, so there's that. Lots of different takes here: is she a genius solo inventor? Head of a multi-million dollar corporation? An army test pilot? I've gone with the idea that this is a very smart, very healthy, slightly anti-social lady who built her own battlesuit in her garage in her sparetime, but you can tweak her out of combat skills and feats however you want. Heck, maybe she stole this armor from people who wanted to do ill with it, and is now using it to fight for justice; perhaps the very same people who originally hired her to build the thing? She's PL 4.5 without her suit, which is about right for a decent superheroic character, even if most battlesuits have a much smaller (if any) tradeoff.