Gizmo

It came up in chat that Jack of all Blades has some tendencies which are not un-pirate-like. A nautical, swashbuckling adventure seemed inevitable. Also: awesome. But then I remembered! Everything is Better IN SPACE! It's not just true, it's science. With that in mind, the scintillating swordsman is looking to save some alien princesses and fight some evil emperors! The idea is for a thread in the vein of The Starjammers or Flash Gordon, presumably featuring Captain Kraken. Jack needs a few hearty rogues to serve as a crew ready to sail the solar winds to high adventure, so if you're cosmic and/or swashbuckling by nature, it's time to get your space legs! If a ref is willing to give me a hand with this too, that'd be excellent. I suspect more than a couple of rules questions will come up over the course of things.

I'm planning on putting 5 more PP into Jack's Strike to give it Autofire 2, at which point I'd like to start giving him some APs to reflect specific energy blade effects. If you get a chance, do you have any thoughts or advice for me? I'll be working with a pool of 23 PP. I was thinking about some obvious stuff like a Stunning electrical sword or a more general visual Dazzle effect, maybe a fire sword with a burning Secondary Effect. I guess I'm asking what's worth picking up and how to assign the small pool of points in the most economical manner.

24 -- Dark Star -- 5 HP -- Unharmed 21 -- Jester -- 3 HP -- Unharmed 19 -- Colt -- 7 HP -- Unharmed 18 -- Jack of all Blades -- 4 HP -- Unharmed 16 -- Doktor Archeville -- 4 HP -- Unharmed 15 -- Grimalkin -- 3 HP -- Unharmed 11 -- Woman on roof 2 -- Thugs ...I believe. For the sake of argument, Jack's going to chase the woman across the rooftops on his turn. How far did she get, Sand?

Erik snorted lightly at the shapeshifter's comic rictus as he sat down. He was silent for a long moment as he composed his thoughts into words. "I think it's a bad idea," he began frankly. "Don't get me wrong, I think you're right about the us being able to put that kinda money to good use, but if that's what we were about, the Doc coulda just set up a charity or something instead of funding the Underground and everything." Privately the admitted rogue suspected Archeville had his own reasons for forming the Interceptors; the scientist had a reputation as a manipulator and meddler. The thought didn’t bother Erik terribly. Archeville was incalculably smarter than he, and the fencer would simply have to trust the Doktor’s intentions were benign. "More than that, though, all of the sudden we’d have a ‘business side of things’, see?" he continued. "You get into rights to names and likenesses, which isn’t exactly easy with a secret identity. I don’t want to find out in a couple of years that somebody’s found a loophole in the contract and is charging me to wear my own mask." Erik ran a finger along the rim of his glass absently. "The biggest issue is trust. None of us exactly come off as the ‘shining armor’ type at first glance, and we’re nowhere near well known enough that we don’t have to take that into account. Who’s gonna trust ‘those guys who sell the action figures’ to handle something big or delicate? Hell, to handle anything? Our business is saving lives and stopping bad guys. I say we need to become the best there is at that before we even think about anything else."

Argh, okay so I spaced and accidentally equated PL 12 to Gold Status. Because it only takes 10pp to upgrade to PL 11, however, it turns out I still need 4pp before I can officially activate Midnight. *sigh* Talk about antici....

Alright, first I'm going to need Jack of all Blades bumped up to PL 12 to reflect his current PP total. I'm also going to shift his trade-offs back to +5 Attack/-5 Damage. Let's meet some caps! A third rank of Attack Specialization (sword) - 1pp A third rank of Equipment - 1 pp A seventh rank of Dodge Focus - 1pp I'll spend the 5ep to upgrade his coat and (finally) buy a grappling hook. I'll save the remaining 2pp for later. DONE BY SHAENTHEBRAIN EDIT: Just bookkeeping, but the actual stats on his sheet haven't been increased to reflect the effects on the new feats. His Attack with swords needs to be brought up to +17, as does his Defense, and his Toughness (with his greatcoat, naturally) is +7. The italics are a little wonky in his Equipment section, if someone has time to fix that, and I guess the title of the thread needs to be changed so that he's listed as PL 12. DONE BY SHAENTHEBRAIN

Jack shook off his disorientation with a grimace that melted into a snarl. Blind rage gripped his mind as the the deep blue hellfire blade in his hand flared with malicious glee. Focusing all of his willpower, the swordsman slowed his haggard breathing, shutting his eyes tightly as he forced himself to calm down. Stiff, aching fingers unclenched as the flickering energy construct was released to dissipate into the ether. When his eyes opened again, the pupils had receded to their normal size and Jack's thoughts were clear. Looking around him, he tried to take stock of the situation he had been largely oblivious to while his attention was on Force.

Jack's stunned through his turn, but with Burn knocked out it wears off right after that.

Well, from Sinestro's perspective, he's always been about saving the universe by providing justice and order. He just happened to think that the best way to do that was to rule over it with an iron fist. He put that on pause for a while because his ridiculous ego demanded revenge against the Guardians for kicking him out of the Corps, but I think deep down he never stopped thinking of himself as a Green Lantern; maybe even the only real Green Lantern, and certainly the best. That's probably why Hal ticks him off so much: everyone's always going on about how Jordan's the greatest Lantern ever. Screw that! He's just as weak and shortsighted as the rest of them! Only Sinestro has the vision required for true greatness! Hal merging with Parallax has got to be like your assistant getting the promotion you've been working toward for years. Well not this time, buddy boy! This time Sinestro's gonna show all a' y'all!

Stepping into the mercifully empty washroom, Erik leaned against a door of stall, crossing his arms and sighing. About five seconds later he realized that he was leaning against the door of a stall in the men's room of a bar and stood straight with a wince. "Well ew," he noted glumly. Looking vaguely upward, the fencer rubbed the back of his head with one hand. Lynn had a point; merchandise based on their heroic identities could likely raise a substantial amount of money for any number of good causes. Still, something about the idea nagged at him. The swashbuckler had to admit that he possessed a dramatic side, one prone to theatrical displays, but that had always been a release for him, not about impressing an audience. This kind of self-promotion felt like celebrity seeking. He certainly didn't relish the idea of worrying about how his image would effect the next quarter's profits. It was one thing for the Freedom League to sell toys and t-shirts, but a relatively unknown group like the Interceptors? Then again, maybe he was being selfish, trying to avoid additional responsibility when he should be trying to find new ways he could do good. No, that's not fair, Erik reflected, looking at himself in the mirror over the washroom sink. I can't do everything, and it would be stupid to try. His goal when he took up the identity of Jack of all Blades was to keep his neighbourhood safe. The definition of that 'neighbourhood' had expanded some since then, but the intent behind that vow remained unchanged. Perhaps one day his exploits would garner attention which warranted a line of sneakers and lunch boxes, but in the meantime he was disinclined to seek them out. His mind made up, he stepped back into the bar.

Heh, I think I saw a pic somewhere of the TARDIS itself as a Blue Lantern. I enjoyed the other picture from that Scans Daily post, which summed up Sinestro's philosophy regarding his spoilerific new costume change. As far as interesting oaths go, I've always been partial to the mantra of one Jack T. Chance: You who are wicked, evil and mean I'm the nastiest creep you've ever seen! Come one, come all, put up a fight I'll pound your butts with Green Lantern's light! Yowza.

Erik snorted. He'd certainly never considered himself a role model; widespread public acceptance aside, his behaviour was technically illegal and certainly not to be imitated. The acrobat was about to make a snarky joke about being too indie to sell out like that when Lynn mentioned fallen police officers. His grin immediately dropped a notch, though he recovered nearly as quickly, hiding his expression by taking a long pull of his drink. "Yeah, well, it's an idea, anyway," he replied noncommittally as he set the glass back down. Feeling a wave of his recent moodiness washing over him, he smirked and pointed a thumb to the back of the bar. "'Scuse me while I avail myself of the facilities, huh?" Standing up, he sauntered nonchalantly to the washroom, refusing to let his melancholy show in view of his friends.

Erik poked his tiny simulacrum uncertainly. "Hrm. Only if mine looks nothing like me - in the face, anyway. The last thing I need is to start handing out little shortpacked headshots." Picking the figure up, he moved the arms and legs around experimentally. "Give him a cleft chin or a moustache or something. He need double joints in the knees, too, to recreate my iconic, acrobatic poses." A touch of wryness entered the swashbuckler's tone as he set the toy back down in a traditional fencing stance. "Regardless, I don't think we're so hard up for funds we need to resort to licensing deals."

Groovy, I'll set something up once the PP awards are official. For the sake of argument, yeah durf, he's transferring in the middle of the year. The idea is that Summers found out about there was a new Midnight running around, and it didn't take much work to figure out Trevor's identity. As part of the informal brotherhood of guys who wait in shadows to scare the hell out of naughty men, he invited the kid to attend Claremont. I'm pumped, 'cause Midnight is sort of a challenge I've set for myself. Jack of all Blades plays to my natural verbosity, so I thought I'd give a more serious, laconic character a try. Filling out the questionnaire, I've gotten a better feel for his personality, and he's definitely someone I think I'll enjoy writing about.

*gnash gnash gnash* Clearly we need to set up a combined attack or a crippling number of debuffs here. Do Taunts from multiple sources stack? What's Phantom working on again?

Definitely, quote; they've both got the whole nocturnal thing going on, should make for some neat, spooky stories. What's the usual procedure for starting up at Claremont?

I haven't, actually, but I take your point! I guess Power Attack on projectile weapons always seemed a little odd to me. Are you willing the bullet to hit harder? I can buy doing more damage because of your deadly aim, but that's practically the opposite of what Power Attack represents! There should be some sort of Aim related +DC/-Defense feat for ranged attacks. ...actually, there probably shouldn't be, but you see what I'm saying.

The rock chucking is sort of a weird thing, huh? I mean, he's throwing a rock straight up, but it can do way more damage than a hand gun? I see how it works within the rules, but it's still pretty nuts. I guess it's the Power Attack that really does it.

As the thugs were set back down, Jack's energy sense alerted him to wisps on mystical power countering Dark Star's intentions. Following them back to their source, he caught sight of the woman on the rooftop just as Colt pelted her with a rock. Cocking an eyebrow, the acrobat took a step back and charged toward the far wall of the alleyway. With a great leap, he somersaulted through the air, coming out of it just in time to plant his feet on the wall and spring off upward in the opposite direction. Arcing over those below, he repeated the move to launch even higher. His free hand shot out to grasp the edge of the wall just under the woman's feet, his momentum allowing Jack to flip himself up to stand next to her, gravitational blade held casually at his side. "So," he said with a roguish grin, "come here often?"

Alright, so as described above, it looks like Jack will get himself up to the rooftop as a full round action. That makes it Doktor A's go, yeah?

March is pretty much here, which means that my new character, Midnight II, is about to go live! You can check out his deal from the link in my signature, but the basic idea is that he's a legacy hero, new Claremont student and a real 'justice from the shadows' type. I'd like to set up an arrival thread for him at the school, plus any other threads folks might be interested in. So, y'know. Let me know, and stuff.

"If a gal could have your attention, folks," Rose called to the occupants of the bank, slipping her hands into her pockets. Bey's hand went to his holstered weapon instinctively, but wavered in confusion when the young woman withdrew a pair of brass knuckles and placed them on her hands. "Sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to be taking all your money now, m'kay?" The customers and teller exchanged confused looks. "Now see here, miss," the security guard began. Rose sighed in irritation. "Argh, c'mon, this isn't a toughie." She pointed to herself, enunciating clearly. "Su-per-vill-ain. Questions? Comments? A demonstration, maybe." Drawing her arms apart, she brought them together with a thunderous clap, the resulting shockwave tossing the customers waiting in line back into the counter. Reacting swiftly, Bey drew his weapon and fired. His aim was true, catching Rose squarely in the back. Instead of dropping the criminal however, there was a slight shimmer as the she absorbed the bullet's kinetic energy. Turning to face the security guard, she smirked. "That'd be the 'super' part, right there." Using the confusion to is advantage, Erik quickly ducked into the office and unzipped his backpack, withdrawing a heavy greatcoat.

Though Jack of all Blades' mind took a moment to understand what was going on as the direction of gravity's pull suddenly reversed, his body reacted immediately. Spinning in the air, he landed firmly with both feet on the ceiling, coiling his legs above him. Launching downward he swiped quickly back and forth with his blade. "How'd you know I always wanted to go to space camp as a kid?"

Reflex save vs. DC 23. (1d20+15=33) Alright, so Jackie B will down/up off of the ceiling and make a couple Power Attacks against EDS, courtesy of a surge. Power Attack 5 (1d20+10=19) That's DC 27. He might fumble, I guess! Power Attack 5 (1d20+10=21) That's another DC 27.

Security Guard: Initiative (1d20+1=18) Jack of all Blades: Initiative (1d20+9=13) Jaci O' Cups: Initiative (1d20+2=3) Since Jack already has his bodysuit on under his civvies, I'm assuming it'll only take a couple of rounds for him to change. Call it artistic license in this case. Security guard shoots: Attack (1d20+3=17) That hits Rose, but her Absorption easily takes the +3 damage from the bullets.