Gizmo
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While he maintained his silent, stoic demeanor, Trevor Hunter was frankly in no mood. He'd been surprised to learn about the stocks that Alex Albright had managed to quietly give to Erin, more so once some cursory mathematics that revealed that they constituted if not a fortune certainly enough to keep any individual in reasonable comfort for a long time to come. He was truly glad that the dimensional refugee no longer had to worry about supporting herself, but in all honestly he found the prospect of her moving out of the manor and into her own apartment disheartening. Regardless, the wealthy young man had enough experience with such matter to know that the AEON stocks were not yet money in pocket and that, properly managed, they could potentially grow into considerably more. As such, he contacted the best trader and all around business person he knew: his father, Ted Hunter. The elder man had sounded polite but distracted over the phone until his son had described the contents of this particular portfolio, at which point he had agreed to lend his expertise. As an after thought, Ted had noted it would be nice to meet Erica after hearing so much about her. There had been a long, awkward pause when Trevor had corrected him, the sort only a family of such laconic tendencies could have created. Finally, Ted had explained that his current projects would keep him from returning to Freedom City any time soon, and that the pair should join him overseas. Privately wondering if the real reason for the arrangement was so that his father could avoid a reunion with the eldest Hunter had formed the seed of a sour mood, layered upon by Trevor's not inconsiderable distaste for flying. They'd decided to take a commercial flight rather than one of the aircraft from the Midnight Manor's pool for inconspicuousness' sake, meaning they had to suffer through the lines and waiting that even first class entailed. By the time they boarded the plane, the dark haired young man was too weary to even muster up any shock when a bright blue uniform drew his eye to a familiar face. "...Mark," he greeted with a shallow nod after a beat. Regarding his friend's companion with a moment of recognition, he added a deeper nod. "Princess." Anyone who didn't know the reserved engineer would have had trouble realizing that he hadn't been expecting to see them both all along.
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Beckigo's defense is 24, so it does, thanks to the Aid! Toughness Save vs. DC 25. (1d20+14=17) Stunned and Bruised! 25 - Sage - Uninjured - 2HP 20 - Sharl - Uninjured - 2HP 19 - Wendigo - Bruised x1, Stunned 17 - Cobalt Templar - Uninjured - 2HP 15 - Ghost Girl - Uninjured - 2HP 5 - Wraith - Uninjured - 2HP
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Gather Information Check vs. DC 25. (1d20+10=30) Trevor knows everything.
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Hey Tifa, good call using Character Building to get help. I'd suggest staying away from Hero Lad, since it doesn't account for our House Rules and messes up your format, but it can give you a place to start. Couple of things with regard to the character herself before even looking at the mechanics, however. Naming a magic user 'Ravenna Blackwood' is, well... lets just say a lot of people are going to have trouble taking her seriously both in and out of character. If it sounds like something that would appear in a florid Teen Titans/Dresden Files crossover fanfic, that should probably be a red flag for you. It also important to remember that any magic user here should really be more Doctor Strange than the cast of Charmed, since this is a superhero site, not an urban fantasy site. There's some definite similarities, no question, but the genre conventions you can and can't get away with are markedly different. Just so we have some context to frame advice with, what's your background regarding superheroes? Have you watched Justice League Unlimited, read the actual comics, only seen the X-Men movies? It's fine either way, but knowing will help us give you examples you'll be more familiar with! Looking at the mechanical side very briefly, there's no reason to buy all of those powers separately. Use an Array! Save yourself bags of points! And goodness me, bring her up to combat caps. +5 Attack and +6 Defense on a PL10 character is just not feasible in practice.
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Erik's expression turned momentarily distraught at the abrupt lack of dryad in his arms, but quickly schooled it into a rueful smile. "Heh, believe me, you never have to apologize for that, pretty lady," he assured Willow with a light chuckle and a perfunctory bow expanded upon with a flourish of one arm. "I wasn't planning to head out until the evening anyway, if you'd care to practice a bit more," the swordsman offered nonchalantly. "Some simple pins and holds, perhaps?"
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A half dozen jokes of ranging good taste appeared half-formed in Trevor's mind, but he could not bring himself to bring any of them to utterance, instead merely raising one eyebrow toward the brim of his fedora. "Ah, no. Doesn't have to be," he replied after a moment's silence which brought them further down the staircase to a point where they could now see the lower level and the various tarp covered objects stored there. "Clothes shouldn't make such difference. Should empty your pockets, though."
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From his vigil at the warehouse window, Wail could clearly make out the furnace, and didn't need any particular technical knowledge to tell that if it wasn't yet an immediate danger to everyone present, it soon would be. The aging hero considered for a moment, hesitant to tip their hand while Wander was still under cover, but quickly decided that they were better off taking the group down and sorting out the specifics before anyone could hurt themselves. With a few long stride, he moved to the warehouse door and sent it crashing in with a single shove. "Alright, time to take the costume party somewhere without an exploding furnace!" the imposing figure demanded in a commanding voice that shook the entire building.
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The translucent young woman floated abruptly higher as Cobalt Templar rushed forward, reflexively getting out of the armored youth's way despite her ethereal nature. "Oh, oh jams..." she fretted, wringing her hands in concentration, doing her best to deduce what was going on as the wendigo weathered Corbin's blows with a frustrated howl. Finally, the phantasm dove downward, circling around to the creature's other side and waving her arms. "Hello, Miss Monster! Look at the glowy, blue ghost! That's right!"
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Ghost Girl Move Action: Fly over to wendigo! Standard Action: Aid Wraith's Attack. (1d20+10=18) Wraith gets +2 to her next attack! 25 - Sage - Uninjured - 2HP 20 - Sharl - Uninjured - 2HP 19 - Wendigo - Uninjured 17 - Cobalt Templar - Uninjured - 2HP 15 - Ghost Girl - Uninjured - 2HP 5 - Wraith - Uninjured - 3HP
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Although the gently curving staircase that wound downward into the earth disconcertingly lacked any kind of railing on the side open to the chasm, flood lights mounted in the far wall kept it well illuminated and shortly into their descent Trevor's hand found its way into Erin's own. "Lower level is mostly storage," he explained simply. "Gradually added to over the years for one reason or another. Tunnel leading out to sea for watercraft, too."
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Erik's breathing grew momentarily heavier against Willow's ear and he had to catch himself from letting the hand on the small of her back wander too freely. The slender woman's fickle balance of personality was maddening in all the best ways, but if they intended to get anything accomplished that evening, he was going to have to force himself to remain at least nominally focused. "Hey, you may have world-saving seniority on me, florecita, but don't forget this is my town," he mock-chided with a winning grin, snapping his teeth lightly in the air in her direction.
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Jill sighed as she rolled acrobatically out of the path of the Queen's assault. "And mi hermano breaks the landspeed record for zero to interdimensional incident," the medic noted, crouching behind a banquet table that had been overturned in the chaos. "I'm so proud." With a wave of her glowing hand, she willed walls of thrumming blue energy into being across the room's exits, barring the doors shut to prevent any further reinforcements from arriving.
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Doing her best to turn a sharp, involuntary intake of breath into a light cough, Ellie followed behind Mara into the Wreck room, carefully keeping her hands to herself and clasped behind her back. Evidently not fooled by her masterful exercise in subtlety, her brother shook his head theatrically. "Teenagers." Opposite Erik, four human sized robots stood at attention. The gangly frames didn't look particularly sturdy, and in fact had bright yellow circles painted on them when weak points would reside in a real opponent. Their heads were simple boomerang shapes on neck stalks, gleaming faintly with imbedded sensors. "Alright, like I said, we're not going for anything too crazy today, but I want to get a feel for where you're really at in practice," the fencer explained with a nod to the quartet of drones.
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Wendigo Toughness Save vs. DC 31. (1d20+14=31)
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"Aliens were already small," Trevor clarified as he led the way further into the Manor, past the display cases and monitor equipment toward the point where the cavern floor abruptly dropped away to open up into yet another curving staircase carved into the stone, descending into the lower levels. "Only the League had to shrink down. Heh..." Something amusing seemed to occur to the dark haired youth as he set foot on the first downward step. "Maybe if you're brave during your check-up, can look at the saucer afterward. Also, lollipop."
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Trevor quirked an eyebrow slightly at the mention of meeting the time-traveling founder of the Liberty League, but remained on topic. "Can see Atom instead, if you'd like," he noted seriously, stopping at the foot of the the staircase to look at Erin. He never would have suggested using the equipment in the Manor if he'd had any reason to doubt its safety, occasional bouts of ill-advised self experimentation aside, but there was little point checking for nanites if the process was only going to add more nagging worries in their place.
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The massive, hairy beast charged after Sharl as the holographic youth flew backward, raking one of her large, talon tipped arms through the air. The blow went wide of the evasive hero and the wendigo roared in anger, a canine sound of rage that was just human enough around the edges to be truly disturbing as the monster threw all four of her upper limbs back from her chest in a menacing display. The chipper phantasm from the cabin watched the display with rapt attention, looking rapidly back and forth between the scene's players. After a beat, she raised on hand into the air. "Um. You are the guys from Claremont Academy, right?"
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Wendigo Standard Action: Attack Citizen. (1d20+14=25) A miss! (She couldn't hurt him anyway, but she doesn't know that.) 25 - Sage - Uninjured - 2HP 20 - Sharl - Uninjured - 2HP 19 - Wendigo - Uninjured 17 - Cobalt Templar - Uninjured - 3HP 15 - Ghost Girl - Uninjured - 2HP 5 - Wraith - Uninjured - 3HP
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"Plus we are pretty darn charming," Jack agreed with an amiable nod at Nick's reasoning. Jill mimicked her brother's nod exactly as she stepped over to his side. "So charming." "Super charming." The siblings walked up the to sheriff's office and rapped smartly on the door, all affable smiles and peering curiously though windows. "Anybody home? I think we're in the right place..."
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Ellie's cheeks coloured noticeably, less from the brief kiss than her minor embarrassment. "Heh, guess I went a little overboard there," she admitted, chagrined. "In my defense, you can be pretty hard on yourself sometimes," the dark haired girl teased, pressing her forehead lightly against Mara's own. "Sounds like I'll just have to do a better job distracting you in the future..." A loud, pointed cough came from inside the Wreck Room before Ellie had a chance to elaborate on how she proposed to do that. "Any time, ladies," Erik's wry voice carried into the hallway.
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"Designed by Dr. Tomorrow," Trevor clarified as he moved the grandfather clock's hands into position and waited for the timepiece to slide away to reveal the downward staircase. A considerable amount of the technology in the Manor incorporated elements gleaned from the time traveler, and consequently featured a number of benefits that hadn't been readily obvious at the time but were much appreciated in the modern day. "Besides, been under a tarp for half a century, know it hasn't been tampered with." It wasn't so much that he thought Archeville could have gotten to Dr. Atom's equipment - Daedalus' lab he had his concerns about - if only because the deception would have been an unnecessary risk on the would-be conqueror's part, but the young man wasn't about to say no to a little added insurance, either.
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Fort Save vs. DC 28. (1d20+8=22) Is that against Damage or some other effect?
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Teams Here's some good news: you don't have to agonize over comparing your character concept with every single other PC on the board. With so much going on and so many characters, you might go an awfully long time indeed without running into a specific individual. On the flip side, however, you should pay extra attention to characters you'll be interacting with often. This doesn't necessarily have to be a literal team: if you're considering a teenage character, you should make sure to review the active Claremont student body and if you have a super genius in the works, it would behoove you to be familiar with the scientists at the Lab. Finding your niche in a group can be daunting, but if you can pull it off you'll make your character more useful and open the door to plenty of cool moments where you get to strut your specific talents. You might want to hop back to TV Tropes for some examples of common team dynamics and the specific personality types contained therein. For now, let's look at the line-up of Young Freedom circa-Graduation Day. It's important to realize that the characters in this group weren't originally designed to work together. Instead, they were created with traits that later allowed them to fit together well. Their roles in the group also helped define their character development. Functionally, we have a good mix of abilities, here, certainly, but that's not the main reason this combination worked so well. It was the variety of personalities and perspectives. They benefited from both good overlap and uniqueness. Edge and Cobalt Templar are both idealistic, but the former had received a series of harsh lessons in the year prior while the latter was inexperienced and determined to pull his own weight. Sage and Midnight II are both quiet, thoughtful characters which allowed them to form a very strong friendship. Wander's tragic origin served as a plot hook that made the entire team much more emotionally invested in the scene of the final battle. Templar made use of his passion for history, Midnight his superlative driving skills, Sage her telepathic communication. Now imagine if every one of them had taken a few ranks of Luck Control. Would Edge's powers have seemed as exciting? What if each of them had been fully capable of disarming a reality destroying bomb? Would getting Midnight in place have been as suspenseful? What if they had all come from Earth-EZO1 originally? Would Wander's return have been as poignant? Being a good team player means both being good at your job and knowing that you don't have to be good at everything. What does that mean for your character concept? Well, if you know you'll be working with a charming, smooth operator a lot of the time, it might be alright for your character to be prone to sticking his foot in his mouth. If you notice that your character's prospective group of friends are mostly the acrobatic, fragile types, Toughness shifting and the Interpose feat might be worth looking at. Being aware of overlap allows you to give your character weaknesses and strengths that will ultimately result in cool moments for both you and others.
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The Details The 'details' are everything else about your character! I'm talking about their hometown, their body type, their hair colour, their general disposition, their codename, everything. This is the point where you can either save a character from the pits of bad overlap or fumble right before the endzone. It's also a harder one to explain comprehensively because there are so many variables. Typically it's not going to be any one thing that makes or breaks you here, it'll be a combination. Let's go to some examples. Hey look, it's these two again! Both dressed in black, both named after birds and with white bird emblems on their chests, both using wondrous gadgets to make up for their lack of superpowers. That's got to be bad overlap, right? Actually, no! See, the contemporary Batman-expy in the sourcebooks is the Raven, a non-powered hero named after a bird. Arrowhawk and Crow together with the Raven I and II create a context where Cowls named after birds are common and part of an established tradition. That's the sort of thing that helps solidify the setting as more than just bits and pieces copied from DC and Marvel. The flavours of their gadgets are distinct as well, trick arrows and mystical trinkets respectively. If Crow were a crotchety old man or if Arrowhawk was wielding a magical bow, yeah, they'd be toeing the line, but as it is, I'm prepared to call this: Good Overlap Sometimes the little details that seem insignificant at the time can sort of sneak up on you. If we were actually publishing our stories as comic books, the sheer number of blond, blue-eyed super scientists probably would have raised a few eyebrows and launched a few Godwin's Law arguments, but nobody really noticed until the pattern really started to add up. Now, this didn't have any real negative effect on play, but players who were planning genius heroes of their own eventually decided it might be nice to break the mold a little! Like the other areas we've discussed, there isn't a specific line that you shouldn't cross when it comes to overlapping details. It's a matter of your best judgement, and there's plenty of gray. Let's say there are two characters who both have: Blue Eyes - Insignificant Overlap Ice Blue Eyes - Noticeable Overlap Ice Blue Eyes Without Pupils - Questionable Overlap Ice Blue Eyes Without Pupils, Bright Green Hair and Webbed Toes - Bad Overlap By the time we get to that last example, those two character better be from the same moon of Jupiter or whatever, because both of them having such outlandish features due to unrelated circumstances strains the suspension of disbelief to the breaking point. Some opportunities to differentiate your character with details include: Birthplace - Was the culture they grew up in very different? Why did they move to Freedom City? Appearance - Get specific! Do they have a crooked nose, long eyelashes, noticeable burns, frizzy hair? Disposition - Do they look scarier than they really are? Who do they have a soft spot for? Area of Interest - Give them an unexpected Knowledge skill, or ranks in Perform.
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Ghost Girl: Initiative. (1d20+3=15) Wendigo: Initiative. (1d20+3=19) I'm using a version of AA's Hellhound build cranked up to PL14 for the wendigo, incidentally. I'm also tossing Sage an HP for the obvious Complication. 20 - Sharl - Uninjured - 2HP 19 - Sage - Uninjured - 2HP 19 - Wendigo - Uninjured 17 - Cobalt Templar - Uninjured - 3HP 15 - Ghost Girl - Uninjured - 2HP 5 - Wraith - Uninjured - 3HP
