Gizmo

Here's another example: The overlap between Harrier's Omegadrone armor and Glowstar's costume is subtle, but it helps tie them together as both being powered by the Terminus. Sometimes costume similarities can give an impression of association that isn't what you're actually going for... ...and sometimes that's exactly what you're going for. Being aware of what your character would look like standing next to other heroes can help you refine their specific look and help to avoid fashion faux pas!

Costume A couple of points should preface this section. First, as the guy who maintains the Visual Guide it should come as no surprise that I take costumes pretty darn seriously. Second, this is a superhero game. Your character needs a costume. We're pretty flexible when it comes to the definition of 'costume' but I don't care if John Constantine is part of the nuDCU or if you want to have Jim Butcher's lanky, literary babies, a superhero should generally look more like Dr. Strange than Philip Marlowe. With that out of the way, costumes may not seem like as big a deal in a forum format, but the outfit your character chooses to wear into battle against the forces of villainy says a lot about them. That message can get seriously muffled if they blend into the crowd of similarly costumed heroes. Two magic users, both in long, black robes offset by white elements? It's not necessarily Bad Overlap, but it's not great. Much better! Sometimes costume overlap makes sense, however: Phalanx and Fulcrum are both directly inspired by the Centurion in-setting, so the similarities in their outfits are entirely intentional. Paragons in Freedom City can get away with wearing blue and gold the same way Cowls can get away with copious amounts of black on black and red glowing eyes, thanks to the original Midnight. These commonalities help reinforce the associations those looks carry with them, and that's: Good Overlap

Powers It's a superhero site, people: your character's powers are a big part of what makes them different from everybody else in the world and from each other. That said, not all powers are created equal when it comes to overlap. Powers that are enhanced versions of things humans can already do, like Super Strength and Super Speed, are very common. Flight is a common one, too, but having actual bird-like wings isn't nearly so common. The ability to create ornate constructs made entirely of lava is pretty rare. The more specific an ability, the less room you have for overlap. Let's start with Super Strength, a staple power. Wander and Phalanx are both character with huge amounts of Super Strength. What's more, they went to the same school and were on the same super team, so comparisons were inevitable. How did their players differentiate them and find their separate niches? A bunch of ways: Origin: Wander got her powers from a vaccine that also left her the only survivor of a zombie infested wasteland. Phalanx received his as a Terminus Baby, and they manifested early in life. That meant that while the former was inclined to go all out as a matter of survival, the latter was very conscious of how fragile the world around him was. Application: The visual of Wander smacking something hard enough with her bat to leave a dent is a strikingly different visual than Phalanx punching his way through a brick wall to rescue hostages. Other Powers: Wander's compliment of powers make her a little to a lot better at just about anything physical, but they remain upgrades of existing, human capabilities. Phalanx, on the other hand, has a full Paragon suite, including flight, super speed and laser vision. By being aware of each other and their overlap, these two were able to coexist without competing for the 'Strong Guy' slot in their group of friends. And that's: Good Overlap Let's move on to something a little more specific. We've had a lot of interest in plant controller or chlorokinetics lately. These sorts of trends can be a bit maddening when it comes to calculating overlap; enough characters with the same power set appearing all at once can shift the context of the setting for everyone else. They're inevitable, however, for the same reasons a television executive will find a dozen pilot scripts with the same idea on his desk at once: we're all consuming the same pop culture and the same ideas are floating out there. Plant control traditionally isn't very common, so it stands out a little more when two or more characters share that power set. That just means you're going to have to work a little harder to separate yours from the pack! Let's use a few plant-themed Oddballs to illustrate the point. Four-Leaf Clover, Venus and Will O'The Woods can all control plants one way or another. Even so, they're very different from each other. Four-Leaf Clover's luck manipulation is a whole secondary power set that gives him versatility and let's him pull off tricks that other chlorokinetics couldn't. Will O'The Woods is really a plant controller in name only; once he creates his leafy blade, he's much more concerned with melee combat and mobility. Venus changes things up by combining plant manipulation with the Cowl archetype, an unusual and immediately striking choice. Good Overlap If each of those characters had been a standard 'makes vines grow to entangle foes, grows giant plants, talks to flowers' chlorokinetic, they'd have a lot of trouble finding unique moments when in the same thread and might even end up competing for spots in stories. You don't need Plastic Man and Elongated Man on the same team, even if one's a joker and one's a detective. There's just too much overlap between their very specific power sets. Then again, maybe you can make that work for you! Will and Vorpal here are both vaguely elfin sword fighters who can summon magical blades. That's a lot of overlap in both utility and flavor, and one of their players might want to rethink their concept accordingly. On the other hand, maybe these two are rivals who frequently partake in friendly (or not so friendly) sparring matches. Or maybe they work together to develop a tag team style, like Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fighting Darth Maul. They might even turn out to have related origins, explaining their similarities! Sometimes the difference between good overlap and bad overlap is all in the way you approach it.

Archetype Archetypes are the basic, foundational character types that you'll find common across all types of storytelling. Some are universal and some are specific to genre. If you spend much time of TV Tropes, you're probably already familiar with a lot of these. They can be great shorthand for getting across a character concept and in a lot of cases they'll be the foundation you start building your idea upon. Your character is going to overlap with others when it comes to archetype. That's the point! If they didn't overlap, well, it wouldn't be an archetype. Does that mean you don't have to worry about it at all? Well... no. In fact, it's very important to recognize which archetype or archetypes your character fits under, because it's going to determine which existing PCs you'll want to take a closer look at. To illustrate this, I'm going to be looking at one of the most recognizable superhero archetypes: The Cowl. The first Cowl most people will think of is Batman, and like him the archetype is always going to be a popular one. It's also a tricky one because these characters tend to be stand-offish and prone to working alone (at least in theory), and nothing makes an aloof loner look sillier than putting him next to another aloof loner. Consequently, anyone planning to play a Cowl needs to keep a sharp eye out for bad overlap. Let's take a look at some prominent Cowl PCs: You're going to notice some pretty striking similarities right off the bat. Costumes we'll be looking at more closely later on, so let's set that aside for now; powers and details, too. Instead, let's focus on the main traits of the Cowl archetype. Striking from the shadows? Check. Fading into the night before they can be thanked? Check. Using intimidation as a weapon? Check. So how do these four characters differentiate themselves? It's all in what they play up and what they avert. Arrowhawk is a great example of Good is Not Nice, with a cantankerous attitude. By contrast, Midnight II is a notably better teammate, but plays up the Quiet One aspect of being a Cowl. Crow focuses on being young and relatively inexperienced with the added twist of using magic gadgets, while Avenger is literally a Creature of the Night. Despite belonging to the same archetype, each of these characters is going to react to a given situation a little differently and each one has a different dynamic to bring to an interaction. Once you figure out which archetype your character best fits under, decide which aspects you want to focus on and which ones you want to downplay. This helps to define your character more specifically and gives them a niche apart from others in the same wheelhouse.

As some of you may already know, I've got a bit of a reputation as 'the guy who hates it when two characters overlap'. We joke around about it a lot, but I've started to realize that there's some confusion about just what I'm objecting to. Am I saying a whole character is bad? Why do I get so worked up? If it's just about being special and unique, why do I care when characters that aren't mine overlap? I decided it was time to explain a little more fully, because here's the secret: I don't actually hate overlap. Some overlap is inevitable, even necessary. Two characters who have absolutely nothing in common are going to have a pretty hard time relating to and interacting with each other. Any two player characters here are at least going to both be superheroes and operate in the same city. That sort of overlap gives them a shared history that ties the setting together and strengthens the bonds between characters. On the other hand, if everyone was playing exactly the same character, down to the smallest detail, things would get really boring really quickly. It's hard to have a conversation with someone who's different from you in every way, but it's just as hard when they agree with every one of your opinions, too. In other words, there's good overlap and there's bad overlap. I'm going to be taking a look at some of the areas where character concepts can overlap each other, using examples to illustrate both good and bad cases, and some where it's a moot point altogether. It should go without saying, but the board policy of Play What You Want still applies in full. This guide isn't here to tell you that you can't play the character you want to because someone beat you to the punch. In fact, I'm going to be discussing times where that might be a great opportunity, not an obstacle. Leveraging good overlap and avoiding bad overlap during character creation can help you design a character that's more satisfying to play and to play with. You can also think of the following as guidelines that are good to understand before you break them

(01:04:35) Gizmo: Wendigo post. (01:06:00) AvengerAssembled: See, on Anti-Earth, this is where the kids would be all "OK, well, we've only got one space in the jet. You two fight it out to see which one of you comes with us!" (01:06:13) Fox: Heh. No nookie for Eve! (01:07:11) Gizmo does not feel this twist had quite the impact he was going for. (01:07:22) Fox: It's a good twist! (01:07:57) AvengerAssembled: Not Becky! She was the best of us! (Seriously, Giz, it's exciting!) (01:08:04) Gizmo: Well, maybe if you hadn't all nailed your Sense Motive checks! (01:08:31) Electra: Man, poor Eve can't win. (01:08:47) AvengerAssembled: Didn't they get busy the night before? (01:08:54) Fox: Yeah, it's a good moment. And even without the sense motive rolls, Kimber's cheer is pretty disarming. (01:09:20) AvengerAssembled: It's true, she is! (01:10:51) Gizmo: (01:11:21) Gizmo: "(01:08:47) AvengerAssembled: Didn't they get busy the night before?" Well, they spent the night together, anyway. (01:11:46) AvengerAssembled: assumes that means characters did it like crazed weasels (01:12:55) Gizmo: Well, historically... 01:15:02) Fox: .....well. Traditionally, the wendigo is a human cursed for eating other humans.... (01:15:45) Electra: heheheh (01:15:47) AvengerAssembled: :o

So... yeah! Roll initiative!

While Indira stalked after Corbin towards the cabin, Becky let out a small sound and nearly doubled over, leaning heavily against the much shorter white-haired girl. Especially obvious in the biting cold of the clearing, Eve could feel that their local guide was burning up with what felt like a fever. "Don't... don't feel so well..." Inside the wooden domicile, the translucent specter floated about behind Sharl as he inspected the chimney. "Power source?" she asked, her expression perplexed but interested. "D'you mean like a robot? I'm not a robot, duh!" Her bright laughter echoed oddly as though coming from further away than she appeared to be, her nose wrinkling slightly. "Or... are you a robot? Oh! Are you a robot ghost?!" The azure apparition brought both hands to her mouth in delight over the sudden idea. Before Citizen could respond to the bewildering torrent of chatter, the door burst open to reveal his understandably irritated companions. The cabin's occupant yelped in excitable surprise, diving through the floorboards of the cabin before shooting back up into the open air behind Sharl, peering over his shoulder at the newcomers. "Oh jams, you scared me!" she chided ruefully once she got a better look at the pair, hovering toward them for a better look as if she were swimming through the air itself. "Rad! Your eyes are all like 'fwoosh'! And your eyes are all 'grr!' Do you guys all have for real super powers?" Once again failing to actually wait for an answer, she flew right out the door, passing disconcertingly through the pair standing there as easily as if it had been empty space. With a sudden, louder groan, Becky shoved Eve unceremoniously away and dropped to her knees. The pained sound deepened even as the telepath looked on while the brunette's hair lost its colour to become as white as her own, lengthening with alarming speed. With a sickening cracking, Becky's muscles expanded exponentially, ripping apart her hiking equipment. In the span of stunned moments, a creature more than twice Cobalt Templar's height hunched in her place, covered in grey fur and long white tufts, massive arms with impossibly long, clawed finger sitting over a second, smaller set of arms. A feral howl emerged from the beast's lupine muzzle, ringing throughout the forest. "Oh, wow," the ghost murmured with sober appreciation in the stunned silence that followed. "That's a good one..."

As the air filled with razor edged shard of ice, Jack and Jill bounded out of the way in opposite directions. While his sister took up a defensive stance, the swordsman flicked the lighter that had appeared in his gloved palm and turned his momentum with a downward kick that sent him soaring toward the Queen as a rapier of glimmering heat flashed into being. "Admittedly, that coulda been more diplomatic," he shouted to the other mortals, "but I betcha this'll be a lot faster!" With that the swashbuckler launched a furious assault of lightning quick jabs, only to find the fae monarch to be even more inhumanly fast than he'd been expecting. Only by bringing his full skill to bear was he able to land any hits at all, and even so he found himself doing more damage to her clothes than anything else. "Got a little quickness in you," he observed with a broad smirk. "That's be hot if it weren't for the duplicitous kidnapper thing."

Ooh, ouch. Toughness Save vs. DC 27. (1d20+7=15) Toughness Save vs. DC 27, HP reroll. (1d20+7=17) Ha! That becomes a 27!

Trevor let Erin take as much time cleaning the truck as she wanted to without comment, knowing both how much the vehicle meant to her and how little she was looking forward to the task at hand. "Back in the day, a race of microscopic aliens tried to colonize the Patriot's digestive tract," he explained in a completely serious tone when she inquired, the only noticeable inflection a touch of scorn given to the name of the Liberty Leaguer in question. "Ended up having to shrink themselves down to save him, but the full body scanner they used to find the alien ships in the first place should still be in the Manor."

Jack of all Blades Move Action: Auto-DC 36 Feint vs. the Queen w/ Skill Mastery and Fast Talk. Standard Action: Energy Sword Flurry. (1d20+20=27) So, that hits either way, but it's DC 25 if she beats the Feint and DC 32 if she doesn't.

Erik was not typically one for quiet moments of stillness. His restless nature was one of the reasons for his habitual, almost compulsive training and exercise; the athletic young man quickly became uneasy if he wasn't doing something immediate. At that moment, however, softly breathing in the dryad's light earthen scent as the fingers of his free hand stroked flowing white tresses, he found himself uncommonly at peace. It wasn't simply a question of another warm body pressed against his own, he knew. If that had been all it took to remedy his admittedly limited attention span he imagined his romantic history would have been considerably more successful. No poet, the swordsman found himself unable to put the difference into words even to explain it to himself. Fortunately, that didn't seem to bother him much either. "That was the plan," he answered Willow in a pleased murmur, dark blue eyes partially lidded. Much as he was content to remain where they were for the foreseeable future, he did still have his responsibilities. "Would you care to accompany me, Guardian?"

"Oh, for... Gonna kick his butt after this," Ellie groused in exasperation with a scathing look toward the door her brother had just disappeared through before pulling Mara over to the wall next to it before she could follow. "Marbar, you need to listen to me carefully right now, okay?" she addressed her girlfriend seriously, putting one hand on her shoulder blade and one on her cheek."The way your mind works is amazing. You don't just accept anything, you see angles no one else does and turn it around until you solve it. And when you find the answer, you only use it to make the world better."

I don't think I'll try the Beta myself, but it's encouraging that it's on its way!

Jack - Initiative. (1d20+9=25) Jill - Initiative. (1d20+4=7)

As the holographic youth stuttered out of existence for a moment, Becky yelped, moving the arms that had been wrapped around her torso for warmth to clutch her chest. The local girl had become increasingly nervous as the inexplicable weather got worse and now her eyes were wide and vibrating as small clouds of vapour signaled her heavy breathing. Even apart from the sudden shock, something seemed very wrong with the information desk attendant. The disruptions the Citizen's signal stopped almost immediately when he slid through the cabin's wooden walls. The timbers were spotted with mold and even a cursory glance revealed that multiple animals had taken refuge inside, despite the preternatural cold. A few chairs and other pieces of furniture stood here and there, most of them in desperate need of repair. It was clear that no one had lived there for a very long time. Which was when a translucent blue figure seeped through the brick of the fireplace's chimney and sped right up to Sharl's face, a beaming smile sitting under slightly darker beryl freckles and framed by long cerulean hair that floated as though lifted by an unfelt wind. "Oh, rad!" the surprisingly cheerful apparition enthused, bobbing up and down excitedly. "Are you dead too?!"

Okay, what they get out of that Sense Motive check is going to depend a little on where they are. Citizen can tell that he's apparently dealing with a friendly ghost, not a threat. The others all notice that Becky seems to be in bad shape. Wraith notices that her distress is at least partly physical; she's both shivering and sweating. Operating under the assumption that Sage has been paying attention the whole time, she can tell this is definitely serious. Genre-senses tingling serious.

Fulcrum's blow crashed against a sphere of mystic protection that sizzled into existence around her fist before disappearing again as the ancient sorcerer was sent tumbling end over end through the air helplessly. By the time he righted himself, Heka was clearly the worse for wear, bobbing unsteadily up and down in the air and sputtering, "The impertinence...!" On the ground, Blackfire and the Daka Man had made little progress freeing themselves from their frozen cocoons, but even the mere presence of the crystalline villain was proving weakening to the Terminus powered heroine.

Heka Toughness Save vs. DC 35. (1d20+12=21) Fails by 14, so stunned and staggered. The stun clears on his turn, but he's still in rough shape. Blackfire Break Free Attempt. (1d20+10=12) The Daka Man Break Free Attempt. (1d20+10=12) 21 - The Daka Man - Uninjured - Bound, Helpless 18 - Thrude - Uninjured - 3HP, Raging, All-Out Attack 2 18 - Diehard - Stunned, Staggered - Fatigued, -1 Constitution, Entangled, Charged, 18 - Khania - Uninjured 18 - Willow - Uninjured - 1HP 17 - Guy Fawkes II - Uninjured 17 - Dragonfly - Uninjured - 2HP 17 - Jill O'Cure - Uninjured 16 - Fulcrum - Uninjured - 2HP, -2 Constitution 9 - Heka - Staggered 8 - Blackfire - Uninjured - Bound, Helpless Thrude is up!

To clarify, I'm flavouring this as both Jack and Jill inside the 'shell', so Jack will be Interposing for his sister as needed.

With a grin that had heralded the end of petty thugs and beings of unimagined power, Jack held out his hand. His sister took it, and the pair turned to look upward. A hemisphere of crackling blue light appeared around them, expanding into a complete globe as the energy lift them off of the ground, hovering just a few feet in the air. Jill's finger's tightened around her brother's as her brow furrowed, and the field of light grew, and as it grew it gained form and definition. Limbs protruded, reaching outward and smoothing into silhouettes of lean muscle, massive feet dug into the soil and expanding fingers pushed downward as the form of a crouching figure emerged. Still it grew, a face emerging into sharp relief as details solidified, the glow dimming to take on the sheen on polished steel lit from behind. Within moments, the Farettis' estate was cast in the crouching simulacrum's shadow. Then, with the sound of creaking diamonds, the frame rose, standing to its full height, on par with the terrible monstrosity it faced. A helmet with a front cut in the shape of stylized spade framed a pale blue face suffused with a glow of power and an impassive countenance, and angular patterns seemed etched into its surfaces. Without warning the effigy brought its two mighty fists together and in a blinding flash fire erupted from within it, eyes transformed into twin novas even as ribbons of flame shot throughout its limbs, outlining muscle and armor. A great plume of embers adorned its head and a sheet of rolling inferno formed a cloak that unfurled from its shoulders to the ground dozens of feet bellow. And when those fists drew apart, a blazing sword formed between them, a weapon of fire and steel and fury and defiance. The living statue, the titan of old made real once more hefted its weapon with a familiar grace and sureness to point it squarely at the unspeakable creature. In a voice like laughing thunder it spoke, "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"

The pair looked upward for a long, unsteady beat, lightning and fury flashing above them, before Jill spoke. "So... do you have a plan?" "Actually... yeah, I think I sort of do," her elder brother admitted, failing to completely suppress a wince as he contemplated, averting his eyes from the roiling chaos of the Archeville-Thing. "You remember that one big move we talked about?" Jill gave him an uncomprehending look, frowning. "What? Which one?" she asked, struggling to clear her mind of the fog that sapped her courage and her concentration. "The big big move," Jack clarified with a deep breath, rolling his shoulders as he willed strength back into his limbs. His sister blinked at him a few times in response. "The... I thought you were kidding about that!" she cried in disbelief, surprise burning off some of the weariness that threatened to bring her down. The fencer nodded in agreement. "Oh, I totally was. So. Think you can do it?" One of Jill's eyes squinted slightly behind her crimson bandana mask as she looked up at the roiling engine of destruction and mind shattering wrongness. "...screw it," she decided finally, cracking her knuckles through her gloves. "Let's bash its faces in."

Jack slid several steps backward as he watched the horrifying transformation of Archeville into the towering creature beyond all reason, royal blue greatcoat flung backward in the wake of the forces being unleashed. Staring up at the behemoth, he managed an articulate, "...uh." A beat later he recovered from near shutdown of his faculties just enough to shout to the others, "Okay, well, forget what I just said, then!" Casting about for somewhere to anchor his grappling line to, he was forced to his knees as the beast let loose a song of madness. "A Pedro, como era calvo, le picaban los mosquitos," he choked out as words dropped uncontrollably from his lips, both hand pressed firmly over his ears as his feet kicked helplessly to right him. "Y su padre le decía, '¡Ponte el gorro, Periquito, que te pican los mosquitos'! Con el sonova...!" Slapping the ground beneath him with an open palm, the fencer shook his mind free of the loop with an effort that had his teeth grinding and his limbs aching as he stood shakily. Staggering over to his sister, he found her curled up upon herself, rocking back and forth as she muttered in a rapid, singsong voice, "¡A Atocha va una niña, carabí! ¡A Atocha va una niña, carabí! ¡Hija de un capitán, carabí urí, carabí urá...!" The young medic had her face buried in her knees, but at the sound of her brother approaching, Jill looked up, her expression frozen in horror as she gulped for air between verses. "¡Hija d-de un capitán...! Carabí urí, car... carabí... O-oh, Dios, that was..." Stumbling slightly as she faltered to her feet, she ran a hand over her mouth. "I could hear it in my head, I couldn't, I-" "I know," Jack interrupted simply, placing a hand on Jill's shoulder for mutual support, partly emotional and partly to keep the siblings from falling down again.

The group in now under a Partial Obscure effect on radio senses and Extreme Cold. Everyone not Immune to cold needs to make a DC 10 Fort Save or suffer 1 point of temporary Constitution damage. AA, I trust you'd know better than I what effect the Obscure would have on Sharl.