Gizmo
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Freedom City Guidebook
Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide
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Absolutely. Remember that Impervious only works on Damage at a rank lower than the rank of the Impervious. Impervious 2 would stop Damage 1 and otherwise do nothing at all. Even a low caliber handgun is represented by Damage 3, making Impervious 2 very nearly useless.
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The vernacular can be a little confusing when it doubles up on word use, yeah! When we talk about 'Defensive Caps' we're talking about the collective balance between Defence Bonus and Toughness Bonus, in contrast to 'Offensive Caps' which is the same thing for Attack Bonus and Damage Bonus. (Damage Bonus would more accurately be Effect Rank because we're not always talking about Damage but Damage is a lot easier to say so there you go.) Which is about to be important because now she's over Defensive Caps. I know, sorry. We're getting there! A PL 10 character can have Defensive Caps averaging out to +10 each with up to a five point 'trade-off'. PL 10 Nightwing probably has +15 Defence and +5 Toughness whereas I might peg PL 10 Wolverine at +8 Defence and +12 Toughness, by way of example. Psy Strike isn't trading off at all meaning that she can have +10 Defence and +10 Toughness. Before she was under-capped with +9 Toughness, now she's over her caps with +11 Toughness. Before you just knock off a single rank of Protection I should also better explain one of the suggestions I made earlier. When I said Limited [Physical Attacks] would make sense I meant specifically limiting the Impervious, not the entire Protection effect. That's getting a little more complicated, admittedly and would look something like Protection 4 (Extra: Impervious, Flaw: Limited [Impervious to Physical Attacks]) [6PP] in Psy Strike's case. By limiting the whole power you'd be making it so that when facing energy attacks - which make up roughly half of what she'd be running into - she'd be operating with just +6 Toughness. That's not wrong it's just a weakness that's going to come up an awful lot. You could also buy Impervious on the part of her Toughness Bonus not coming from Protection, although that probably goes on the shopping list for upgrading her down the road rather than being a must-have at character creation. Impervious 4 is enough to stop small caliber handguns cold but not much else which seems about right for a novice telekinetic anyway! That said she'd get a lot more use out of a flat Protection 4 [4PP] than from Protection 4 (Extra: Impervious, Flaw: Limited [Physical Attacks]) [4PP] if you're picking and choosing. Her Offensive Caps look good, though and the Intelligence penalty is fine. I'd typically use Intelligence to represent her overall acuity and let a lack of Knowledge and other Skills represent her lack of education but that's more of a personal preference thing than actual advice. So long as you have a good in-character reason for it and know what you're getting into I've got no problem with her having less than Intelligence 10.
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A couple errors to point out and a couple suggestions: Taking a penalty on Intelligence isn't wrong by any means but I do want to make sure you understand that it's pretty unusual for the setting. Just a little below average intelligence is way bellow average superhero intelligence so make sure that's something you want to saddle her with for character reasons and not just a place to shave a couple of points. Without any powers her Grappling bonus would +3 Dexterity from Grappling Finesse, +10 Unarmed Attack = +13. With her powers she should have +6 Dexterity, +10 Unarmed Attack, +2 Super-Strength = +18. For clarity I'd notate that as "Grapple: +18 [Telekinesis]/+13". I'm not sure where "+16/+11/+21" is coming from, so let me know if I'm misreading something you've got there. Under-capping her defensive bonuses and taking +8 of her Toughness bonus from Defensive Roll is a recipe for a very frustrating play experience. As a PL 10 character her Defence and Toughness bonuses should even out to +10 each. If you're having trouble sparing the points for some telekinetic Protection I'd suggest dropping a rank of Defensive Roll and giving her costume some built-in Protection as Equipment. As it stands the first time she fails a Feint or Startle roll she'll be laid out in one hit. Speaking of caps, the Strike in her Telekinetic Array breaks them. Damage 9 + 4 from Strength/Mighty means a Rank 13 Effect, which is a DC 15 + 13 = 28 Toughness Save. Even if this is only meant to use her Melee Attack bonus at +8 that's too high; if she's using her Unarmed Attack bonus at +10 it's much too high! Remember, just like with Defence and Toughness, her Attack bonus and the rank of the Effect need to average out to her PL. +10 Attack means no more than a Rank 10 Effect, +8 Attack means she can go up to a Rank 12 Effect. That also means that her Blast is way under caps, at just +4 Base Attack for a Rank 9 Effect. It's not strictly necessary for every effect to meet PL caps but especially on a first character it's a much better idea to make sure they do. That attack would have her effectively operating as a PL 6 or 7 character rather than PL 10. I understand from her tactics section that she prefers close quarters combat anyway but I'd still suggest either finding a way to bring this effect up to caps or dropping it entirely for now and keeping it in mind as something to buy for her down the line when you've earned more PP by posting. Finally: Deflect is so bad. So bad. I know, it seems really cool! I won't get into the math or action economy in depth here but the bottom line is that it's just never going to do what you want it to do. Consider instead adding the Impervious Extra to her Toughness bonus to achieve the 'telekinetically bouncing bullets' effect, probably with Limited [Physical Attacks]. That would also give her the option to upgrade to Reflective down the line if it felt appropriate.
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Kimber bit back an insistence that she could do this, not an invasion but merely an assassination - or six - swallowing a graphic description of what she wanted to do to the Hounds. Bubbling anger and wishful thinking aside there was every chance it would be that last fight she ever picked and then where would that leave Tarva? Certainly not resting any more easily for the blood spilled on the blade of a scythe. Affecting an exhaled breath she didn't really need the poltergeist forced a faint smile. "You know you're the only thing that touches me, boon," she reminded the shadow witch. "If you don't want me going after them, I won't. For now. I should check in with Daphne, though. I left her on her own back at the Hall."
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Through ruby red lenses Midnight maintained eye contact with Leviathan for another long beat and the towering mass of muscle couldn't shake the uncanny feeling that the smaller man was somehow managing to look down at him. Without a word he strode forward in three long steps and reached under the sedan's back bumper. A little black disk about the size of a quarter came loose in his gloved hand and he held it up for Leviathan to see, an off-centre diode blinking dimly. The tracking device went back into Midnight's belt while the flat edge of a weighted throwing disk suddenly appeared in his other hand. Pressing the edge into the gap left by the lid of the trunk he pried it open in a single smooth motion. Inside were messily packed bundles of wire and electronics, what might have been a handful of cheap digital displays and pack after pack of wrapped explosives. Leviathan needn't have worried about a hostage but his presence of mind had at least prevented the chase from ending much more abruptly for all involved. Chillingly, however, he couldn't help but notice quite a lot of empty space presumably left by additional bomb making materials after they had been used.
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"I expect you to get angry because I cannot," Winifred answered, speaking slowly in an artificially low voice, cadence broken by deliberately even breaths. "Smith considers this sort of thing a largely typical Tuesday and Robin is too busy trying to take responsibility to get properly incensed but I can remain calm and collected and making pithy metaphors about firearms only so long as we are solving the problem." The head of her cane shook violently for a moment as one of the Victorian's legs nearly buckled underneath her but she willed herself to stay upright and in command of herself. "If you of all people are going to simply let this go without a fight I may very well lose my mind. I realize that may be something of an unfair imposition on you but there it is." After another pair of slow breaths she felt composed enough to allow a measure of grumpy irritation back into her voice. "And you're not 'dumb'. Don't say that."
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"I'm putting these away before I'm tempted to throw them at your face," Winifred explained flatly as she matched action to words and slipped the glass orbs back into her pocket. She turned back to look at Raina with her tapered jaw set with gritted teeth, using her hands to emphasize what she was saying. "You have issues with trust, you've made that clear. The word 'incessantly' comes to mind. That does not entitle you to speak down to me, now or ever." There was a note of hurt behind the tense frustration as the petite girl stopped leaning on the wall and stood with squared shoulders instead. Perhaps foolishly she'd expected more than the usual defence mechanisms from this conversation. "If I trusted the Academy I would be content to allow them to handle matters on their own, would I not? Would you for one minute actually talk to me instead of putting all of your energy into appearing untouchable, you stretched-out pyromaniac?! Do you seriously think you're the only one who-- who--" She had to stop there as her right hand began to tremble and she found herself unable to will it to steady. Leaning heavily on her cane Winifred closed her eyes again and focused on her breathing. "I haven't finished," she insisted between slow exhalations and one strangled sniffle. "I just... need a moment."
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"Now where's that vaunted American patriot spirit I'm told so much about?" Winifred asked with a snort, rolling her eyes. "But no. While I owe the Academy my gratitude you misunderstand my motivations. There's no learning to control the Alkahest, Sanderson. I'm living on borrowed time and my story does not end well." Perhaps that was why Archer hand't found quite so effective a point to prod with her compared to the others. On the other hand perhaps he simply hadn't had a good likeness of her parents from which to work. "However, you and Robin and Smith are my friends," she continued with a slight pause that suggested she'd been about to use a stronger word before propriety had reigned her in, "and someone hurt you. That goes well beyond wanting or trying or drafting to my thinking, nor is any amount of carefully crafted indifference going to do a damn bit of good when they take a second shot!" She stopped rolling the glass orbs in her hand with a clink and closed her eyes briefly. Exhaling slowly she counted backward from ten before she opened them again. "If the Academy is unable to ensure our safety it falls to us. As for the number of individuals who might wish us ill or want us to leave, recall that my childhood was markedly different from your own. You'll find me able to count very high indeed and I'm confident in my ability to break a great many trigger fingers, as necessary." She resumed her calmly rotations and looked away. "Still. If you can't be bothered at least ask Merlin to put his investigative skills to use."
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"Surprisingly they were not terribly invested in forcing me to endure an emotionally taxing conversation while contained to a small room full of people," Winifred idly mused as she took up a place next to Raina, leaning against the ledge. Reaching into a pocket she produced a pair of small glass orbs that sloshed with brightly coloured liquid and began rolling them about in one hand. The pyromancer was pretty sure she'd seen the alchemist use that same combination of chemicals to affect significant property damage when mixed. For a while she was quiet, with only the sound of glass rubbing against glass to disturb the silence. Eventually she spoke up, "It was put in him while at hospital, apparently. Packed him full of powder like a pistol, which is a terrible enough thing of course but I can't help but infer that our mysterious someone wanted a pistol to point at... us." She gestured away from the administrative building to the campus as a whole. "The student body as a whole, I expect; our Mr. Archer knew our little circle would explode rather than shatter is all. Still, I take having a pistol pointed at my head rather personally, don't you? I should like to know who was pulling the trigger so that I might express that properly."
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"'Because you're inventing it from whole cloth as you go' leaps to mind as a likely explanation," Winifred muttered just loudly enough for her classmate to hear her clearly, though from her expression alone Dr. Peshkov likely gathered the general sentiment regardless. More clearly she spoke up, "At the risk of sounding the uneducated provincial, you're talking about Hell as a... a nation? Rather, a whole category of literal, physical locations? The meaning of the word seems to have drifted considerably while I was indisposed." Phaedra was open enough about her origins and parentage, certainly but Winifred had assumed there was a degree of metaphorical language involved in her classmate's explanations. It was one thing to accept the idea of multiple possibly histories like the world from whence Smith had come but this had theological implications that did not sit altogether comfortably.
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ic The Ben Hur Invitational: Self Preservation Society (IC)
Gizmo replied to Quinn's topic in City Center
Midnight stopped the silent alarm projected above the Night Cycle's handlebars with a gesture, giving way to a map of the nearby streets showing the growing trail of destruction picked out in red. Concealed in the shadows of the alleyway he calmly activated his comlink. "Phalanx. West on Lexington. Go loud." With his speed and strength there was a good chance Mike would be able to tie things up before any of his other preparations needed to come into play but one of the airborne champion's most useful characteristics was being exactly what 'visitors' to Freedom City were expecting: a broad, brightly coloured target swooping in from on high. Being presented with that sort of obvious, immediate threat could make even a careful planner oblivious to other avenues of attack. "Ah, it has been too long since we've had a good race!" Redbird spoke up as the motorcycle peeled silently from its hiding place, quickly becoming a blur of black as it wove through traffic. Her voice carried a note of boisterous excitement and her rider could feel the bike's engine running just a little smoother, putting out just a little more power than usual. "Not a race unless something goes wrong," Midnight reminded the machine intelligence. His businesslike attitude would have been more convincing if he hadn't been in the process of taking them up over a ledge and into a forty-five degree lean to shave a few fractions of a second off of their time around a corner. The scoffing sound in his earpiece made Redbird's position clear. "Everything is a race, shadowwalker." -
Winifred briefly pulled a face at the unsubtle manipulation as their guide offered to allow them to be on their way but composed herself with a silent reminder that she was perhaps being unduly harsh. Dr. Peshkov was not an educator by trade and was volunteering his time for this, after all. She had to commend his self-awareness at least; 'angry blood' seemed like it would be a common result of conversing with him. "An invasion by the forces of Hell seems like an event that would be difficult to forget," she observed, giving him an opening to continue his story.
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"She's fine," Erik was quick to reassure Talya. "They weren't-- They did something to themselves, powered themselves up to fight me. 'Us', I guess." The swordsman looked back over his shoulder with a pained expression as he stepped over the remnants of the wooden barrier. "It's killing them. Min's doing what she can." He hurried to take the wailing newborn from Dimitri, pausing just long enough to place an appreciative hand on the other man's shoulder, ignoring the cold that immediately leeched the warmth from his fingers. "Hey niña, look at you!" he cooed, rocking her back and forth as he knelt down next to Talya, silently encouraging her to remain seated with his body language. He gave the quieter twin a tired smile, doing his best to be reassuring. "And check out this tough customer, huh? Going to let tu hermanna do all the talking?" Erik looked up to the Russian with a note of hesitation, about to reiterate Talya's question about the child's eye before stopping himself. It wasn't as if Frost was in a position to do a real examination just then and worrying over guesswork did them no good. "Listen, I-- I don't think there's anything to be done but can you go try to help Min? They're idiots but nobody deserves whatever's happening to them." Turning back to the blonde he asked, "How you holding up? Not exactly how we were planning to do this."
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I dunno, Midnight, Phalanx and Nevermore is a pretty fun combination in a World's Finest plus Damian sort of way! Er, no offence to Nevermore, of course.
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"Though I applaud the sentiment I can say with some authority that a division between those noble born and those less fortunate is nothing new," Winifred noted primly, tugging at the lapels of her white coat. "Colonialist ideals or no I think we may appreciate being the subjects of some great social experiment less than you may imagine." The idea of being forced to work more closely with Madison and her friends brought an acidic note to her voice. After the others had filled her in on the details she'd had trouble remembering she'd decided to avoid Celeste as completely as possible going forward, for both of their sakes. The alchemist still had a number of questions but the way Summers had phrased her answers suggested that she either didn't know who had created the implant in the first place or more likely that she wasn't willing to share that information with her students. Winifred was beginning to suspect that they themselves had been the ultimate target of the scheme and their instructor the unlucky catalyst but if they wanted more information they would have to get it themselves. She rose to her feet, her stature robbing the movement of some of its drama. "I wish you a speedy recovery, Mr. Archer. I take the... shall we say 'faith' you placed in us as a compliment, of sorts. Without putting too fine a point on things I can well empathize with being robbed of control. If I might be excused, Headmistress?" She turned to Summers, expression betraying nothing. "It might be best that someone catch up with Sanderson before some other unfortunate crosses her path and becomes the target of misplaced ire."
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The lean featured man in the passenger seat looked back at Leviathan, taking a slack-jawed moment to fully process the implied threat. Swallowing thickly he reached over and very deliberately pushed the button on the door down into its locked position before turning around to sit quietly with his hands in his lap. Though seemingly less traumatized his compatriots likewise made their surrender clear and the faint sound of police sirens grew louder over the rattle of the monorail running overhead. Behind the hulking hero the man in black finally spoke up. "What," the voice came, low and calm but with a quality like gravel being ground underfoot, "do you think you're doing?"
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Suppressing the momentary urge to argue for their inclusion Winifred gave the hounds a small wave as the door closed then followed in the direction of the parking lot. "I'm not sure how 'serious' you expect to get," she told Raina, adjusting the strap of her bag while considering how much she could reasonably fit into it. "I'd merely like to add some pieces to my current wardrobe that fit marginally better than an old tarp. I was hardly a clothes horse even in my own time." Deciding not to worry over fashion was certainly more expedient than trying to suss out what was or wasn't appropriate in the world of the present, especially when she was sure she lacked whatever specific quality allowed the taller girl to substitute projected confidence for haute couture. It wasn't as though any of their classmates were going to see her in the right outfit and abruptly discard their mingled fear and disdain. "Though if you think they should have a shop selling musical recordings I may wish to stop there as well, time permitting."
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I'll put either Midnight and Redbird or just the latter on her own up for this, depending on what might work better for you power level-wise.
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"This is going to be the Atlantean state dinner all over again," Becky muttered morosely to herself but Eve's reassurances were at least enough to convince her to pause her impromptu research and adjust the laptop display until her face was in frame again. "That's easy for you to say," the brunette grumbled, "but you know how quickly you make up your mind about people. I need to make a good first impression with them!" She repositioned herself until she was more comfortable, appropriating the throw resting across the back of the couch and pulling it around her shoulders. Looking somewhat placated despite her objections, she couldn't entirely avoid returning her fiancé's smile. "If you're planning on many it that sort of call you'd better have brought headphones or--" She was interrupted as a volleyball impacted unerringly with Eve's lap. "Sorry!" Kimber shouted from next to the net, hovering a meter or so in the air with her hands clasped in front of her and a guilty expression. "Maybe should have stuck to the telekinesis..."
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Leviathan's forethought and knowledge of applied physics was rewarded with strangled sounds of surprise and confusion from within the sedan as he brought it abruptly to a halt. One of the gunmen lost his grip on his weapon as he was hurled about the back seat, the firearm clattering noisily as it tumbled end over end across the cement. The other had better luck keeping his wits about him and unloaded his remaining ammunition into the hulking form filling the shattered remains of the rear window but he may as well have been using harsh language for all the good it did against Leviathan's thick hide. If he squinted in the low light the size-changing hero could make out a groaning silhouette slumped over the steering wheel while the fourth occupant struggled with the door handle on the passenger side, his fingers made clumsy by panic. Behind them all the sleek motorcycle pulled to an almost casual stop, tires whisper quiet despite the sudden deceleration. The black clad rider remained astride his vehicle, watching the proceedings with eyes that reflected the illumination of the car's taillights in deep crimson.
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"Stabilize. Right, yeah," Jack of all Blades repeated as he looked over his shoulder to face Min, latching onto the idea. "We just need to keep them going until Fleur fixes her portal flower then mi hemanita can--" He stopped abruptly as the thrashing against his pinning knee and hands slowed noticeably. "...kid? No, c'mon, don't do this!" Despite his protests the girl sagged and went terribly still, ichor pooling on the stone floor as it dripped from the corner of her slack mouth. The stricken look on his face made Erik look years older. "Dammit. Dammit!" Pushing himself to his feet, he looked around the room, looking somehow lost. "Ah, Dios, Talya! Florecita, can you... can you try to help the rest of them? I'll make sure everything's alright with the twins." There was a note of apology in his voice as he asked her to delay meeting the children but it was clear their attackers couldn't afford a lost moment.
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"Boon, you're not listening," Kimber spoke up softly once Tarva had had a chance to calm herself. Pulling back she shifted until she was kneeling beside the black haired woman with their clasped hands resting on her knees. When their eyes met her gaze was steady. "I'm going to that world and I'm going to deal with them." She put a little more emphasis on the word this time, squeezing Tarva's hand as she did. "There's no prison here where it would be safe to keep them and the people they were before died a long time ago anyway. I'm saying you won't have to be afraid of them. Ever."
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"I beg your pardon but I expect I speak for said group when I say that explanation is getting rather ahead of itself," Winifred spoke up, shoulders rigid but eyes flicking back and forth as she tried to decide whether to look directly into Archer's eyes on the monitor or into the lens on the camera a few inches above it. "That the metal protrusion attached to your neck was influencing your behaviour was a simple enough assumption to make but from whence did it come and to what end? How was it not detected before that night?" She might have just as well been in a classroom from her demeanour and the clipped tones of her questions but the thin line of her lips pressed together as she waited for answers spoke to how hard she was working to appear calm.
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"Want to run that by me again?" Ellie asked, letting her eyes flick in Mara's direction under a raised eyebrow just for a moment before snapping back to the bizarre animated outfit. For its part the lack-of-shoulders formed by the hoodie seemed to express surprise before the sleeves began to gesture emphatically. One arm pointed at the blonde engineer while the other waved in the air. Ellie slowly dropped out of her ready stance, bemused. "You think this is the guy's... costume?" She'd encountered heroes with some pretty fanciful getups over the years, not the least of which being armour that sprang forth from a pocket dimension but this was a little tough to believe. "So maybe it wasn't attacking him in the first place? Just trying to... put itself on?" At her uncomfortable expression the clothing folded its 'arms' and pulled off something of a haughty sulk.
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"You not going anywhere near them!" Kimber shouted back, more loudly than she'd intended. Fading into view of conventional sight the phantom pulled back her hood as she hurried over to the kneeling witch. Her bangs whipped about as though caught in an otherwise unfelt hurricane. Kneeling herself she wrapped her arms around Tarva's shoulders and draped herself like a cloak over the larger woman's back. "I'll deal with them," she insisted, quietly now but with a cold, hard edge. "I know how they fought Indira and Eve. This time no traps, no gladiator games. They won't know why or that you were ever involved. You won't have to be afraid of them any more."